On some ancient battle-fields in Lancashire, and their historical, legendary and aesthetic associations

Front matter

ANCIENT BATTLE-FIELDS ON SOME ANCIENT BATTLE-FIELDS in LANCASHIRE AND THEIR Historical, attb Associations. BY CHARLES HARDWICK, Author of a " History of Preston and its Environs," " Traditions, Superstitions and Folk- Lore," " Manual for Patrons and Members of Friendly Societies," &c. MANCHESTER : ABEL HEYWOOD & SON, OLDIIAM STREET. LONDON : S1M1KIN, MARSHALL, & Co., STATIONERS' HALL COURT. 1SS2. TO GEORGE MILNER, Esq., President, AND TO THE COUNCIL AND MEMBERS OF THE MANCHESTER LITERARY CLUB, THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED EY ONE OF ITS FOUNDERS. CHARLES HARDWICK. Q

Preface

To the transactions of the Manchester Literary Club (1875-8) I contributed four papers on "Some Ancient Battle-fields in Lancashire." These essays form the nuclei of the four chapters of the present volume. Their original scope, however, has been much extended, and the evidences there adduced largely augmented. I have likewise endeavoured to still further fortify and illustrate my several positions, by citations from well-known, and many recent, labourers in similar or cognate fields of enquiry. I am aware that the precise locality of any given battle-field is of relatively little interest to the general historian, the causes of the conflict and its political results demanding the largest share of his attention. Consequently, doubtful topographical features are often either completely ignored, or but slightly referred to.

Such a course, liowever, is not permissible to the local student. Scarcely anything can be too trifling, in a certain sense, to be unworthy of some investigation on his part. This is especially the case with respect to legendary stories, and traditional beliefs. Their interest is intensified, it is true, to the local reader or student, but the lessons they teach, on patient enquiry, will often be found in harmony with larger or more general truths, and of which truths they often form apt illustrations. "Alas!" truly exclaimed "Verax," in one of his recent letters in the Manchester Weekly Times, " it is hard to disengage ourselves from inherited illusions. They become a part of our being, and falsify the standard of comparison." Modern science may be able to demon strate that many of the conceptions respecting physical phenomena dealt with in these legendary stories are utterly at variance with now well-known facts.

This may be perfectly true, but human nature is influenced in its action, quite as much by its faiths, beliefs, and superstitions, as by the more exact knowledge it may have acquired. Subjective truths are as true, as mere facts or actualities, as objective ones. Thomas Carlyle forcibly expresses this when he asks — "Was Luther's picture of the devil less a reality, whether it were formed within the bodily eye, or without it? " Mr. J. R. Green, in his " Making of England," says-— " Legend, if it distorts facts, preserves accurately enough the impressions of a vanished time." And these impressions being emotionally true, whether scientifically correct or not, have ever been, and will continue to be, powerful factors in the formation of character, and in the progressive development of humanity, — morally, socially, and politically, Our predecessors felt their influence and acted accordingly, and many of the presumedly ex ploded old superstitions survive amongst the mass of mankind to a much greater degree than we often acknowledge or even suspect ; although many of their more repulsive forms may have undergone superficial transformation amongst the more educated classes.

Referring to superstitious legendary reverence as a marked feature in the religious characteristics of the seventeenth century, the author of "John Inglesant, a Romance," places in the mouth of the rector of the English College, at Rome, in the seventeenth century, the following words : — " These things are true to each of us according as we see them ; they are, in fact, but shadows and likenesses of the absolute truth that reveals itself to man in different ways, but always imperfectly, as in a glass." X The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that, in the year 685, " it rained blood in Britain, and milk and butter were turned into blood." Of course, educated persons do not believe this now ; but our conventionally educated predecessors did, and their conduct was sensibly influenced by such belief.

The Chinese think them selves much superior personages, in very many respects, to the " barbarian " European, yet the following para graph " went the round of the papers " during May, in the present year : — " The Kaiping coal mines have been closed in deference to the opinion expressed by the Censor, that the continued working of them would release the earth dragon, disturb the manes of the empress, and bring trouble upon the imperial family." From the very nature of many of the subjects in vestigated, and the character of the only available evidence, some of the inferences drawn in the following pages can only be regarded as probabilities, and others as merely possibilities, and they are put forth with no higher pretensions. In such matters dogmatical insistence is out of place, and I have studiously endeavoured to avoid it. C. II. 72, Talbot Street, Moss Side, Manchester. August, 1882. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

— Early Historical and Legendary Battles. The Arthur of History and Legend. King Arthur's presumed Victories on the Douglas, near Wigan and Blackrod. Historical works are chiefly records of battles, squabbles and intrigues of diplomatists and politicians. More details now required as to the domestic habits and conditions of the people, and the degree and kind of intellectual and moral culture which obtained at any given period of their history. Progress of man from the savage to a more civilized condition. Records of many battles survive, the sites of which are either unknown or involved in the greatest obscurity. Many genuine historical events are inextricably interwoven with mythical and traditionary legends. The Roman conquest of the Brigantes. Remains of some of these conflicts in Lancashire.

The narratives of Gildas, Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and some others, combinations of historic truths with a mass of tradition, superstition, and artistic fiction. Wales the birthplace of much us European mediajval fiction. Views of Sig. Panizzi, Professor Henry Morley, Mr. E. B. Tylor, and Mr. Fiske. The Arthurian legends the "source of one of the purest streams of English poetry." Notwithstanding untrustworthy strictly historical elements, they enshrine much genuine legendary national faith as well as superstition. The Rev. John Whilaker's belief in Arthur's historical verity. Other advocates of this view : Mr. Haigh, Henry of Huntingdon and Professor Fergusson. Arthur's traditionary tomb at Glastonbury, opened A.D. 11S9. Mr. Haigh s exposition of the fraud then practised. Welsh traditions thereon.

The Rev. R. W. Morgan's views. William of Newbury's contempt for Geoffrey's fictions. Shakspere's almost total absence of reference to Arthur. Sir Edward Strachey's comments on the erroneous geography in Sir Thomas Malory's work. Mr. J. R. Green's views. Sir G. W. Dasent, on the paucity of trustworthy historic record from about A.D. 420 to A.D. 7jO. The deeds of other heroes, especially those of Urien, of Rheged, assigned to Arthur by the mediæval romance writers. Doubts as to the authenticity of the authorship and dates of the composition of the works of Gildas and Nennius discussed. No mention of Arthur by either Gildas or the Venerable Bede. Mr. Haigh's defence of the old histories, and his conjectures as to the authors. Nennius says the second, third, fourth, and fifth of Arthur's twelve great victories were gained on the banks ''of a river called Duglas, in the region Linuis."

The Rev. John Whitaker's contention that these battles were fought on the Douglas, near Wigan and Blackrod. The archæological and traditional details advanced in support thereof. Opening of the huge barrow " Hasty Knoll," and excavations at Parson's Meadow and Pool Bridge, in the last century, where remains were found, which Whitaker and others regarded as conclusive evidence that some ancient battles had been fought in the localities. Derivation of the word Wigan. Geoffrey's single battle on the Douglas, in which Arthur defeated Colgrin. Mr. Haigh's arguments respecting the dates of these conflicts. His advocacy of the Wigan sites, and identification of another battle on " the liver Bassas," i.e., Bashall Brook, near Clitheroe. I Iis hypothesis that Ince is a corruption of Linuis. Probability of the exploits of Cadwallon or Cadwalla, king of the Western Britons, being inextricably interwoven with the legendary ones of the heroes of the Arthurian romances.

Views of Lappenberg. Mr. II. H. Howorth and Mr. Haigh on the appropriation by the Britons and Danes of the deeds and heroes of their enemies or neighbours. Hollingworth, in his "Mancuniensis," refers to the Roman conquests in the district by Petilius Cerealis, and afterwards speaks of Arthur's great victory near Wigan, and gives credence to the legends about the giant Tarquin, his castle at Manchester, and his combats with some of Arthur's knights. Bishop Percy on the historical truth underlying legend in such ancient ballads as "Chevy Chase," and the confusion of incidents and heroes. Professor Boyd Dawkins on "the date of the conquest of South Lancashire by the English." Mr. J. R. Green's views. During the seventh century many sanguinary battles were fought, the sites of which are now unascertainable.

Ethelfirth's great victory at Bangor-Iscoed. Some of the struggles of this period may have been absorbed by the romance writers into their stock of Arthurian legends. The Rev. John Whitaker and Tarquin's castle at Manchester. Sir "Launcelot du Lake." Martin Mere. Gradual growth of legendary heroic fiction. Mr. Tylor's view. The Arthurian legends enshrine some of the oldest Aryan myths, and are the source of some of our noblest poetry. Sir George Ellis on the foundation of mythic legends. Mr. Fiske on artistic legendary development. Mr. E. A. Freeman and Mr. Fiske on the historical and legendary Charlemagne. Some of the deeds of Charlemagne, probably absorbed into the latter Arthurian legends. Mr. H. II. Howorth on Saxo-Grammaticus. Historical and legendary Crom wells, Alexanders, and Taliesens.

Mr. Rains-Jackson on Arthurian accretions. Mr. F. Metcalfe on Alfred the Great and trial by jury. " The famous story of Theophilus." The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox on the distri bution of ancient Aryan mythic heroes. Historical novels. Opinions there on of Sir Francis Palgrave, Dean Milman, Arminius Vambery, and Leslie Stephen. Historic and æsthetic truth distinct but not antagonistic. The ideal and the real, or subjective and objective truths. Shakspere's treatment in the character of Macbeth. Artistic truths not necessarily individual or strictly biographical or historical facts, but result from wider generalisation, and possess an inherent or subjective vitality of their own. Views of Thos. Carlyle, Gervinus, R. N. Wornum, Dr. Dickson White, M. Mallet, and Tennyson. Nennius's tenth battle, said by some, but on very inconclusive evidence, to have been sought on the Ribble.

Chapter II

— The Defeat and Death os King Oswald, of Northumbria, by the Pagan Mercian King, Penda, at Maserseld (A.D. 642.) The Legend of the Wild Boar, " the Monster in former ages which prowled over the neighbourhood of Winn'ich, inflicting injury on Man and Beast." The Venerable Bede and the Saxon Chronicle's account of the battle. The site disputed. Some suggest Winwick, in Lancashire, others Oswestry, in Shropshire. Dean Howson's suggestion. Different ortho graphies and etymologies of the name Maserseld. The subject phonetically and topographically considered. Views of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Howell W. Lloyd. St. Oswald's Well, at Winwick. Its sanctity and legendary connection with the death of St. Oswald. The inscription on the church dedicated to St. Oswald. Hollingworth's view, in " Mancuniensis."

Geoffrey of Monmouth's statement that the battle was fought at a place called Burne. Oswald's previous victory over Cadwalla at Heavenfield. Bede's narrative, and his relation of the miracles performed by the Saint's bones, and even the earth taken from the spot on which he fell. Curious coincidence revealed during the excavations at "Castle Hill," Penworthan, in 1S56. Penda, not Oswald, the aggressor, consequently the site of the battle-field may be presumed to be within the Northumbrian rather than the Mercian territory. Bryn, Brun, or Burne in the Fee of Makerfield. The great barrow or tumulus called *' Castle Hill," near Newton. Nennius says the battle was fought at Cocboy. Cockedge. Latchford. Probable etymology. Professor Dwight Whitney on the difficulties inherent in topographical etymology.

Winwick, a place of victory. At " Winfield " Herman defeated Varus, A.D. 10. Present appearance of the 'Castle Hill." Mr. Baines and Dr. Kendrick's descriptions. Opening of the tumulus in 1S43. Description of its contents by the Rev. Mr. Sibson and Dr. Kendrick. A burial mound haunted by the ghost of a " White Lady." Traditionary burial-place of Alfred the Great. Professor Fergusson and B. E. Hildebrand on the contents of Odin and Frey's "howes," near Upsala, opened in 1S46-7. Similarity to those found at " Castle Hill." Dr. Robson's description of two burial mounds opened at Arbury, in 1S59-60. The contents consisted of burnt bones and wood, rude pottery, a stone hammer-head, and a bronze dart. Etymology of Arbury. The "Mote Hill," at Warrington. removed in 1S52. Opinions respecting the date of this tumulus of Pennant, Ormerod, W. T. Watkin, and John Whitaker.

The Rev. Mr. Sibson thought it a "tumulus or burial-place, raised after the battle fought at Winwick." Dr. Kendrick's description of its contents. Christian and Pagan modes of sepulture contrasted. De scription of the latter in " Beowulf," the oldest Anglo-Saxon poem extant. Date of first erection of a church at Winwick unknown. The date of the erection of the church at Oswestry. St. Oswald's church, according to Domesday book held " two carucates of land exempt from alt taxation.'''' In 1S2S, three large human skeletons found eight or ten feet below the floor of the chancel, uncoffined, and covered with a heap of large stones. St. Oswald's Well. Opinions of Baines respecting the saint's wells at Winwick and Oswestry. "Cae Naef," or "Heaven's Field," site of Oswald's previous victory over Cadwalla.

Dennis-brook. Sharon-Turner, Camden and Dr. Smith's views of this site. Some of the Oswestry traditions evidently have reference to Oswald's previous victory. The dedication of the church to St. Oswald could not have proceeded from the then British Christians. Contests between the disciples of Augustine and Paulinus, and the earlier British Church. The Welsh word "tie" means simply hamlet, homestead. Penda's defeat in the following year near the river Vinwid. Mr. T. Baines's conjecture as to the site being near Winwick. The evidence, however, conclusive as to Winwidsield, near Leeds. Mr. J. R. Green on Oswald's and Penda's policy. Cromwell's victoiy at " Red Bank," near Winwick, in 1648. Supposed crest of Oswald. Rude sculpture of a " chained hog." Baines's legend of a "monster in former ages, which prowled over the neighbourhood inflicting injury on man and beast."

Other demon-hogs. Mythical monsters, "harvest-blasters," huge worms, serpents, dragons, and wild boars, common in the North of England. Several instances cited. Mr. Haigh's argument as to the site of the poem Beowulf being near Hartlepool, Durham. Dr. Phene on Scandinavian and Pictish customs on the Anglo- Scottish Border. Aryan myths of the lightning and the storm cloud. Mr. Walter Kelly on ancient Aryan personifications of natural phenomena. Stormy winds, howling dogs or wolves. The ravages of the whirlwind that tore up the earth, the "work of a wild boar." Lancashire superstition that pigs can "see the wind." Monstrous boar slain in the Greek legend of the Kalydonian hunt. Origin of modern heraldry. Totems or beast symbols amongst many ancient as well as modern nations or tribes. Instances.

Views of Mr. E. B. Tylor, the Rev. Isaac Taylor, and others. The boar favourite helmet crest or totem amongst the Teutonic invaders. Sacred to the goddess Freya. The "boar of war." Illustrations from the Anglo-Saxon poems Beowulf, the Battle of Finsburgh, the Scandinavian Edda, and the ancient British poem Gododin. The boar probably the crest of Penda. St. Anthony's pig. Re-crystallisation of ancient myths around relatively more modern nuclei. Illustrations from the works of Keightley, Mackenzie, Wallace, Bishop Percy, Sir John Lubbock, Arminius Vambery, John Fiske, and the Vedic hymns. Origin of modern surnames. Many beast, bird, or flower symbols. Examples. Shakspere's reference to the bear symbol of the Earl of Warwick and the boar of Richard III. "Pitris," or ancestral spirits. Their supposed action in the storm and the battle-field.

Icelandic kindred customs and superstitions. Professor Gervinus on the importance and conditions of such critical enquiry. Views of Professor Tyndall and Mr. J. A. Farrar.

Chapter III

— Battles in the Valley of the Ribble near Whalley and Clitheroe. Wada's Defeat by King Eardulph, at Billangahoh (Langho,) A D. 798, and Contemporary Prophetic Superstitions. The Victory of the Scots at Edisford Bridge in 1138. Civil War Incidents during the struggle between Charles I . and the English Parliament. Wada's defeat recorded in the Saxon Chronicle and by Simeon of Durham. The Murder of Ethelred (a.d. 794) by Wada and other con spirators. The murderous and lawless characteristics of the age illustrated. Sharon-Turner's summary of these characteristics. Superstitious forewarnings : whirlwinds, lightnings, and fiery dragons. Ravages of Danish pirates. Treasons and civil wars. The locality of Wada's defeat undis puted. The names of places still retained, with only sueh phonetic changes as philologists anticipate.

A probable ancestor of Wada men tioned in the "Traveller's Tale." The Legend of St. Christopher. Other chieftains referred to in the same poem : " Hwala, once the best." and Billing who " ruled the Wœrns." Wratling-street. Wade and his boats. Beautiful scenery in the Ribble valley around the battle-field. Tumuli. One superficially opened by Dr. Whitaker, without result. When the mound was entirely removed in 1836, the remains of a buried chieftain (probably Alric son of Herbert) were discovered. Tradition concerning the battle. Two other " lowes " or " mounds," apparently tumuli, on the opposite bank of the river. Some confusion in the descriptive references to these mounds. Observations of Dr. Whitaker, Canon Raines, Mr. Abram and others. Second visit of the present writer to the locality in 1S76.

Curious circular agger. Supposed ancient artificial grout at " Brockhole Wood-end." Geological phenomena. Possibly the " lowes " outliers of the partially denuded glacial "drift." Further excavations necessary. Probable direction of the battle. Dr. Whitaker's argument as to the southern boundary of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria discussed. Mr. J. R. Green on Anglo-Saxon bishoprics. King Eardulph dethroned. Other superstitious warnings attendant thereon. Patriotism and rebellion. The fight at Edisford Bridge in 113S. The Bashall Brook the '• Bassus "according to Mr. Haigh. Bungerley "hyppingstones." Capture of Henry VI., after the battle of Hexham in 1464, by the Talbots of Bashall and Salebury. Civil war incidents during the struggle between Charles I. and the English Parliament. Cromwellian traditions respecting the destruction of Clitheroe and Bury castles. Captain John Hodgson's details of Cromwell's march by Clitheroe and Stonyhurst to the great battle at Preston.

Chapter IV

— Athelstan's great Victory at Brunanburh, A.D. 937, and its connection with the great Anglo-Saxon and Danish Hoard, discovered at Cuerdale in 1S40. Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian invasions of Britain. First arrival of the Danes, A.D. 7S7. The Anglo-Saxons and Ancient British inhabitants Christians, the Scandinavians Pagans. Savage warfare of the period. Progress of the invasion. Ella, king of Northumbria and Ragnar Lod brog. The real and mythic Ragnar. Halfden's settlements in Northumbria. Athelstan succeeds to the throne ofWessex and its dependencies. Sub mission of the Welsh and Scots. Marriage of Editha, Athelstan's sister, to Sihtric, king of Northumbria. Sihtric's relapse into paganism and repudiation of his queen. Sudden death of Sihtric. Athelstan's vengeance falls upon his sons by a former wife, Anlaf and Godefrid, the former of whom fled to Ireland, and the latter sought refuge with Constantine, king of the Scots.

Athelstan dominant king of all Britain. Revolt of the Scottish king and his defeat. Powerful combination of Athelstan's enemies. Their defeat and rout at Brunanburh. Difficulty as to the exact date of the battle. British Christian chiefs, as on previous occasions, espoused the cause of the pagan invaders, and fought against their hated rivals of the party of St. Augustine. Defeat of Athelstan's two governors, Gudrekir and Alfgeirr. Athelstan's arrival at Brunanburh. Anlaf's stratagem in the guise of a harper. Similar story related of King Alfred. Improbability of both being historically true. Mr. T. Metcalfe's doubts on the subject. Anlafs midnight assault of Athelstan's camp frustrated. Details of the great battle. Total rout of Anlaf and his allies. Five " youthful kings " and seven of Anlaf's earls slain.

Flight of Anlaf to Dublin. Importance of the victory. The famous Anglo-Saxon poem. Claims to the title of first king of England discussed. The causes of the site of the battle being at the present day merely conjectural. The influence of the after Danish and Norman-French conquests. Suppression of evidence. Henry of Huntingdon's views on the subject. Mr. D. Haigh on the destruction of ancient Runic inscriptions by the disciples of Augustine and other Christian missionaries. Archbishop Parker's labours in the saving of Anglo-Saxon MSS. from destruction in the sixteenth century. John Bale's account in 1549 of the wholesale destruction of MSS. during his day. Thorpe, Dr. Grundtvig, and J. M. Kemble's testimony to the ignorance of the Anglo-Norman copyists. The great "Cuerdale find" in May, 1S40.

Mr. Hawkins's description of the treasure. Its great value at the time of its deposit. The latest coins minted a short time previously to the great battle of Brunanburh. Dr. Worsaae's analysis of the " hoard." Various places suggested as the probable site of the battle : Colecroft, near Axminster, Devonshire ; near Beverley, and at Aldborough, Yorkshire ; Ford, near Bromeridge, Northumberland ; Banbury, Oxfordshire ; Bourne, Brumby, and the neighbourhood of Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire. A Bambro', a Bam bury, and some other places have likewise found advocates. Their respective claims discussed. The present writer's position that the Cuerdale hoard was buried owing to the disastrous defeat of the allies under Anlaf near the "pass of the Ribble." The tradition respecting its burial and non-disinterment.

The three fords at the " pass," at Cuerdale, Walton, and Penwortham, opposite Preston. Evidence of the coins. Discovery of Roman remains at Walton, in 1855. Revival of the tradition. The hoard at Cuerdale all silver. Finds of Roman hoards not uncommon in the county. Other battles known to have been fought in the neighbourhood. Two great Roman roads, and some vicinal ways pass near the locality. From the positions of the belligerents, the " pass of the Ribble " a very probable site of the conflict. The certainty of its having taken place in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Anlaf, the Dane, ruling chief of Dublin, head of the Confederacy. The ports of Ribble and Wyre suitable for the landing of his vessels, and for his after escape to Dublin. From a topographical and military point of view, "the pass of the Ribble" a very probable site of the conflict.

The name Brunanburh, in some presumedly corrupted form, very common. Examples. Name of place of conflict variously written by the older historians. Doomsday book defective in South Lancashire, in consequence of its ravaged condition ; still many corrupted names remain to furnish important etymological evidence in favour of the author's position. These evidences and readings in old maps and deeds discussed in detail. Origin of the names Brindle (Brunhull, in Saxton's map) ; Bamber (Brunber), Brownedge (Brunedge). Mr. Wreddle's view that Wecndune is a mistake for Weordune. Origin of the names Wearden and Cuerden. Etymological and philological evidence considered. Probable modern remains of Ethrunnanwerch in Etherington and Rothelsworth. Other names of places in Lancashire which require consideration.

Proofs that the battle was fought not far from the sea shore and not in the interior of the country. Other evidence of Athelstan's connection with the district. His grant of Amounderness to the Cathedral church at York, A.D. 930. The Harleian MSS. " Mundana Mutabilia," of the early part of the seventeenth century. Tumulus named " Pickering Castle," near Roman vicinal way. Etymological origin of the word " Pickering " discussed. "Pickering Castle," a probable corruption of "Bickering Castle," or the castle or tumulus of the battle-field, Ancient stone coffin in Brindle church-yard. Discovery of Ancient British burial urns at " Low Hill," near Over Darwen, in 1867. Ancient traditions respecting a battle in the neighbourhood of Tockholes in Roddlesworth valley. Concluding remarks in support of the view that the country south of the "Pass of the Ribble" is the most probable site of Athelstan's great victory.

More recent battles in the neighbourhood. Bruce's foray in 1323, Cromwell's victory in 164S, and Milton's sonnet thereon. The number of troops engaged. Legends connected with the battle. The Siege of Preston under Wells and Carpenter in 1 71 5. March of the "Young Pretender," in 1745. Doggrel ballad : "Long Preston Peggy to Proud Preston went."

Appendix

. The disposal of St. Oswald's remains. The dun bull, the badge of the Nevilles. The Genesis of Myths. Anglo-Saxon Helmet. ERRATA. On page 51, line 21, insert marks of quotation ( " ) after — :' or without it2' Transpose the note on page 65, beginning — " Borworth , in his Anglo- Saxon Dictionary," to page 64, and place the * after " massacre, etc.," at the end of the sixth line from the bottom of the text. Transpose the note commencing on page 64 to page 65. " For " Downham IN Yorkshire," (page 143, fourteenth line from the bottom), read •'Downham into Yorkshire:'1

Chapter I. Early Historical And Legendary Battles

THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY, LEGEND, AND ART. KING ARTHUR'S PRESUMED VICTORIES ON THE DOUGLAS, NEAR WIGAN AND BLACKROD. fp*s«||]T has often been remarked, and with some truth, jf$ Raj that our standard historical works, until very ' ' recent times at least, contained little more than the details of battles, the squabbles and intrigues of diplomatists and politicians, and the pedigrees of potentates, imperial or otherwise. Now-a-days we seek to know more of the domestic habits and conditions of the mass of the population, and the degree and kind of intellectual and moral culture which obtained amongst a people at any given period of their history. But man's advance from the savage to his present relatively civilized condition has been one of fierce and sanguinary strife, and the piratical and freebooting instincts which he inherited, along with some of his nobler attributes and aspirations, from his remote ancesters, are by no means extinguished at the present time, although, in their practical exhibitions, they may generally assume a some- B what more decorous exterior.

Still courage and physical endurance, however rude and uncouth in outward aspect, as well as heroism of a higher mental or moral order, ever possessed, and ever will possess, a strange and un controllable facination ; and the associations, social, political, or religious, attendant upon the more prominent of the bloody struggles of the past, excite, in a most powerful degree, the emotional as well as the imaginative elements of our being. This is notoriously the case when any special interest is superinduced, national or provincial. "All men naturally feel more interested in the historical associations of their own race than they do in those of any other portion of mankind. The soil daily trodden by the foot of any reflecting being, — the locality with whose present struggles, progress or decay, he is practically acquainted, whose traditions and folk-lore were first fixed in his memory and his heart, long before more exact knowledge or cultivated judgment enabled him to test their accuracy or correctly weigh their value, — must possess historic reminiscence not only capable of com manding his attention, by exciting in the imaginative faculty agreeable and healthy sensations, but of teaching him valuable lessons in profound practical wisdom."* It might be said, without much exaggeration, that if the soil could be endowed with vocal utterance, we might learn that the surface area of the earth which has not sustained the shock of battle at some period of the world's history is not very much greater than that which has felt the tread of armed men in deadly conflict.

In the early * His. Preston, LANCASHIRE BEFORE THE ROMAN OCCUPATION. 3 historic and pre-historic times, when clan or sept fought, as a matter of course, against clan or sept, for the privilege of existence or the means to secure it ; or when baron or other chieftain " levied private war " against his neighbour, from ambition, passion or greed, numberless fierce and bloody struggles must have taken place of which no record has been preserved. The names of many important ancient battle fields have been handed down to the present time, the sites of which are either utterly unknown or involved in great obscurity. Some genuine historical events have been so inextricably interwoven with the mythical and traditionary legends of our forefathers, that it is now impossible to detect with exactness the residuum of historical truth therein contained.

The battle-fields and all authentic record of the battles themselves amongst the inhabitants of Britain prior to the Roman conquest are, of course, utterly lost in the gloom of the past. Nay, we know, with certainty, very few even of the sites of the struggles of the Britons with the victorious Roman legions. The locality we now denominate Lancashire was, at that time, inhabited by the Volantii and the Sistuntii, Setantii, or Segantii, and was included in the " county of the Brigantes," a numerous and warlike tribe which frequently "measured blades" with the imperial troops. There exists, however, no record to inform us where any specific conflict took place, notwithstanding the numerous archæological remains which attest the after-presence of the conquerors. Yet we know on the best authority that the Brigantes espoused the cause of the Iceni, who inhabited the Norfolk of the present day, and were defeated by Ostorius Scapula, in the reign of Claudius.

Soon after the death of Galba, an insurrection broke out amongst them, headed by a chief named Venutius, who had married the Brigantine queen, Cartismandua, a woman infamous in British history as the betrayer of the brave but unfortunate Caractacus. This royal lady like wise played false with her husband, but Fortune refused to smile on her second perfidy. She escaped with difficulty to the territory occupied by her Roman allies, and Venutius remained master of the " country of the Brigantes," and for a considerable time successfully resisted the progress of the imperial arms. Petilius Cerealis, however, in the reign of Vespatian, after a sanguinary conflict, added the greater portion of the Brig antine territory to the Roman province. The final conquest was effected about the year 79, by Julius Agricola, in the reign of Domitian.