Summer Rambles around Manchester. Reprinted, with additions, from the 'Manchester Guardian.'

Preface

. Two years ago I walked from London to Chester along the old coaching road, desirous of seeing what the prospects our fathers met with were like, and much was my surprise to find how great the difference was between the old days and the new ; the contrast between bustle and activity and life, on the one hand, and a dead, sleepy calm on the other. If, indeed, an Englishman fifty years ago could have seen the highways as they are now, even though the population may almost have doubled, he would have thought that his country had been overrun by foreign foes and destituted. In the second half of the present century even there were eighty or ninety coaches that stopped at inns, now useless, or put to the humblest of purposes, such as taverns, with the rooms vacant up stairs, or farm labourers' lodgings ; and not only were the roads alive with coaches, but there were private vehicles, post-chaises, market carts, and the many waggons that distributed the freight of the manufacturers.

Now we may sometimes walk for two miles without seeing a pedestrian or a vehicle, and when we do see the latter it is probably only a shandry or market cart going slowly to the nearest market town to make a sale or a purchase. The lanes are much more lonely than they were when Isaac Walton wrote his "Angler" or Shakespeare his "Henry IV." But the scenery is there as of old, the great inns only want customers, the elms and oaks, and old bridges and hills have not been moved, and the ancient churches, with their towers and spires, are there, too; but, alas! how changed these are in fifty years. Of the towns we see along the road, Thackeray has given a very fair description in " Pendennis," when speaking of Clavering ■ " The town, so cheerful at a distance, a few furlongs oft looks very blank and dreary.

Except on market days, there is nobody in the streets. The clack of a pair of pattens echoes through hali the place, and you may hear the creaking of the rusty old ensign of the Clavering Arms without being disturbed by any other noise ; and the stables are now cheerless and empty, except when on Thursdays the farmers put up there, and their tilted carts and gigs make a feeble show of liveliness in the place." The constant wonder is that Englishmen will go to foreign parts, and leave the beauty and interest of their own country behind. I have walked thr.ugh every county in England from Truro to Hexham, and all I can say is that I know very little indeed after twelve years' research of the sceues of interest and beauty that our island affords.

PREFACE.

. VI I am sure that if Gaze or Cooke, or any of the tourists' guides were to conduct an English expedition in any county, they would find much more to interest them than in all thetrips to Paris or Italy or Egypt. Nay, these are pretty well played out, and if we do not mind, our American cousins will be getting the upper hand of us, and they will send their own Gazes and Cookes to show us England. In the early part of last summer a gentleman came to Chester, which is almost the first resort of Americans, and he hailed from Philadelphia. He had brought a travelling carriage, and was about to hire horses for his journey through England. It was my good fortune to meet with him, but I must confess that I felt a little humiliated when he said that his wish was to visit Shrewsbury, Lichfield, Gloucester, Coventry, Wenlock, Tewkesbury, &c, and I thought what a rebuke he was to our own travellers.

But this should be fairly said, no means are afforded to Englishmen to know much about their country, in say, a journey from Lancashire to London. The railway sweeps them past everything, there are embankments and cuttings and tunnels, and when they stop at a station the sheds and offices give but a dreary prospect ; yet, if they only knew it, they have most probably been passing quaint country towns, shady lanes, and ancient churches, or, it might more properly be said, churches that once were ancient, for, as I bitterly know, there are few churches that have not succumbed to the merciless hands of a restoring rector or vicar. The ancient oak pews and black oak galleries (only now beginning to be the most valued part of a church) are all swept away, and bald, shadowless benches, like market fish-stalls, substituted.

Often have I conversed with country farmers whose giand fathers have sat in the ancienl pews, and they have one and all deeply regretted that some new comer to the parsonage that " knew not Israel " had swept away nearly all that they venerated, against the earnest wishes of the helpless congregation. There can be no doubt that much harm has been done in this direction ; but this is only an item, and the towers and spires have almost always escaped desecration, it is pleasing to add, and these, after all, constitute the chief parts of the landscape. Now and again, but* how rarely! we come across a church that has escaped, and here we have a treasure indeed — the high, black oak pews, the richlytoned oak galleries, and the whole edifice inside, when the sun shines from any quarter, a picturesque grouping of light and shade.

Unhappily — and I speak from exceptional opportunities of judging — it is the unfeeling way in which the old associations of the parish church goers have been dealt with that strengthens the cry for disestablishment. The anathema on those who remove their neighbours landmark which is pronounced when the Commination Service is sometimes read, receives a deep " Amen" from those who are and those who are not present. Beautiful as the scenery round Manchester is it is somewhat dimmed at

PREFACE.

. VII times by factory skoke ; still this has been very much diminished and kept in order. A greater grievance is the condition of the streams. The sur roundings of these, and the shapely pools and rapids, and wooded; banks, are all that could be desired by any artist, but those who have been in the habit of seeing Wales, or Derby, or Yorkshire, will hardly credit their eyes when they come to the upper waters of the Irwell, or the Medlock, or even the Mersey. There may be nothing actually deleterious in their waters to the health of the neighbouring inhabitants. But the evil is so pressing that great movements are being made to remedy it, and that, too, in Manchester itself; and when these come from such a quarter, success may be eventually looked for. If the days come, and they cannot be far distant, when Englishmen will enjoy what their own country affords, everyone and every interest will be bettered, the farmer, the hotel-keeper, the country tradesman, and certainly railway dividends.

Some time ago there were letters to the Times calling attention to the excessive prices charged at inns — " hotels," of course, the word was, though anyone prefers the English name, and I do not think any hostelry in England would lose in estimation if the exotic word were struck out, and "Inn" replaced on the signboard. The complaints were too often just, and perhaps in some cases any traveller, except a "commercial," was so " rara" an "avis" that it was considered right to make the most out of his temporary sojourn. Now, however, few complaints can lie in such a direction, and I give a list of prices collected for Black's guide and averaged — that seems fair : Country Town Inns. Town Hotels. Breakfast 1/6 to 2/- 2/- to 3/- Dinner 2/- to 3/- 3/- to 4/- Tea 1/6 to 2/- 2/- to 3/- Supper 1/6 to 2/- According to what is ordered.

Servants are generally charged 1/- per day 1/6. Now all this is moderate, and often the accommodation in country inns is fully equal to that we find in their more imposing fellows in large towns. There is one point, however, in all of them that needs to be looked into — the price of wines, and I took as many averages of these as I could from wine cards. Marsala, which is a somewhat under-appreciated wine, is charged at 4s. a bottle, and 2s. a half bottle. Now, the price for excellent, if a cask is taken, is 7s. 6d. a gallon, or is. 4d. a bottle, and 8d. a half bottle. So that even if 100 per cent profit was charged, which surely is not under the mark, the price would only be 2s. Sd. and is. 4d. Better-class after-dinner sherries may now be had at £^S per hogshead., and these are charged 6s. to 7s. per bottle. Now, a hogshead contains 320 bottles, which is 2s. id.

PREFACE.

. VIII per bottle, and surely 4s. ought to pay, or even less ; but the most erratic charges are made in clarets. I was charged, I remember, at a well-known inn at Oxford, almost an historical establishment, 6s. for a bottle of vin ordinaire, and very " ordinaire" it was, quite inferior to that which is sold at is. 2d. a bottle. I saw, lately, Moet andChandon's champagne charged on a wine card in a town in Kent 12s. a bottle, and I happened to be told by a wine merchant that he had sold it for 6s. (less 5 per cent) per bottle. Still this is of less importance than Marsala, or vin ordinaire, for if travellers want champagne and truffles they, of course, are prepared to pay. The landlords of the inns have, I am sorry to say, a counter indictment, for they may well add that except commercial travellers few ever are their guests, and their tariffs have not been altered since the old days when wines were double the cost, and members of Parliament and peers with carriages of four or six used to fill the roadside houses on their way to and from the metropolis.

The country round Manchester is still of great beauty, and abounds with the residences of merchant princes. Its natural advantages are in great contrast to the surroundings of Liverpool, where the land is flat and swept by sea breezes, which d.varfthe trees; and the terrible vapours of Widnes, sadly as they have blighted the foliage of western Lancashire, have not apparently damaged the trees that surround Manchester. Liverpool, however, has an advantage in the bracing air that of necessity must sweep over it. There are many parts which are in easy reach of the city, and are indeed but little known, like the high moors that lie beyond Saddleworth, and may be reached easily on any summer-day on foot. Then we are on the confines of Feather-fed Moss, a district that has many objects of interest, from Druidicial remains to rare specimens in fauna and flora.

The south-eastern part of the district includes the beautiful country that contains the vales of the Etherow, and the Goyt rivers — which unite near Stockport to form the Mersey. The southern ranges of Manchester include some of the most beautiful parts of Cheshire, with clear streams and woods and hills, and quite enough ancient architectural remains to illustrate an exhaustive work on the English styles, from the Norman Conquest to the present day. The north-west part is the land of the Irwell, and the hills and dales round Bury and Bolton. One great advantage which the tourist round Manchester has is that he can nearly aLvays come home by another route, or if time presses or weather threatens he is never far from a railway station. The "Cheshire lines," which the Midland has opened through Cheshire, has placed many scenes of historical interest and great beauty within easy reach of Manchester, and the railways that come in to Manchester at the Exchange have long done the same in other districts.

CONTENTS. PAGE. OUGHTRINGTON... ... ... ... ... ... I ASHLEV AND BOWDON ... 6 Knutsford to Mobberley... ... ... ... 13 Ordsall Hall, &c. 21 Cheshire Meres ... ... ... ... 27 Turton Tower, &c. ... ... ... 35 Royton Old Hall ..." 42 The Upper Mersey 46 Old Chester Cross... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 58 Middleton .. ... ... ... 63 Ormskirk ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 67 Adlington Hall 73 Eccles and Neighbourhood ... 77 Rochdale ... ... 82 Capesthorne Hall 91 Stockport Church ... ... ... 94 Prestbury ... ... ... ... 97 Lyme Hall .. 103 Radcliffe Tower and Church 107 Wilmslow ... ... ... ... ... ■■■ IJ3 Shaw Hall, Flixton ■■ 118 Altrincham and Bowdon ... ... ... ... ... •■■ I23 Wardley Hall I29 Hall-i'-th'-Wood, Bolton J35 Worsley Old Hall '39 Bank Hall, Warrington M3 Bury »47 East Hall, High Leigh *5i Smithells Hall x55 Trafford Park J59 CONTENTS.

X PAGE. The River Irwell ... .. ... ... ... ... 164 Part II 170 III 176 IV 181 _ V 185 Rostherne Mere and Church ... ... 191 Tonge Hall 197 Warburton ... ... ... ... ... 200 Prestwich ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... .. 206 Agden, Bollington, Carrington, &c. ... ... ... .. 210 Wythenshawe... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... 217 Mere 221 Towneley Hall ... ... ... ... ... ... LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. P ACE From Oughtrington Hill ... ... 3 Ashley Hall 7 Mobberley Church ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... 18 Ordsall Hall 20 Northwich Mere 28 Turton Tower ... ... ... 38 Roy:on Old Hall ... 43 Goyt Hall 46 Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, Stockport ... ... ... 49 Marple * 53 Old Chester Cross ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 59 Middleton Church... ... .. ... ... 62 Ormskirk Church ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 68 Adlington Hall ' 72 Eccles Church... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 78 Monks Hall, Eccles ... ... ...

So Rochdale Church ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 88 Capesthorne Hall... 90 Stockport Church ... ... ... ... ... .. 95 Prestbury Hall 98 Prestbury Church 99 Lyme Hall 102 Great Hall, Radcliffe 108 Radcliffe Tower 109 Radcliffe Church "o Wilmslow Church ... ... n4 Shaw Hall, Flixton 119 Old Mill, Dunham 124 Wardley Hall 128 Hall-i'-th'-Wood, Bolton 134 Worsley Old Hall .s Bank Hall, Warrington 1.4 Near Bury M6 East Hall, High Leigh 15° Smithells Hall LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XII PAGE. Trafford Hall 158 Source of Irwell 164 Lane by Upper Irwell * 165 Bacup 166 Old Houses, Bacup 167 Irwell Valley 168 Mill Pool, Irwell Valley 172 Mill Dam and Falls of Irwell 173 Summerseat ... ... ... ... ... 174 Peel's House, Bury ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 175 Stoneclough ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 176 Irwell Valley, Farnworth ... ... ... ... ... .. 178 7 Darly Hall * 179 Ringley 181 Bolton Canal ... ... ... ... ... ... 183 On Canal : Irwell Below... ... ... ... ... 184 On Irwell 186 Pool on Irwell ... ... ... 187 Entering into Bacup ... ... ... ... ... 188 On Bolton Canal ... ... ... ... ... ...

T_g Rostherne Mere and Church ... ... ... ... jg2 Tonge Hall Ig8 Warburton ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 201 Prestwich Church... ... ... ... ... ... . 207 Agden Hall 213 Wythenshawe Hall ... ... 216 Mere Towneley Hall _ OUGHTRINGTON. Oughtrington is situated on a high ridge of land that forms a spur of the Cheshire hills, and the scenery in every direction is of exceeding beauty. It was a most perplexing matter to select any spot that offered any superior attractions for a sketch, and, as usually happens under such circumstances, the one selected was far from being the best. The present owner of Oughtrington has apportioned part of his estate to building lots, and chosen the southern side of the hill, which looks towards the south, and commands views of what is called the "Cheshire Backbone;" and this certainly includes some of she finest scenery in England.

The sites of the villa residences are well chosen, and the houses do not interfere with each other. But what would the result have been if the ; houses themselves had been more picturesque ? Black and white exteriors, or early Hanoverian, according to the taste of the owners, would have suited the site admirably. The lanes here are very rural — not Surrey or Kent can boast of any which are more so, — and some of the hedgerows are extremely ancient. The lanes in many instances lie deep down between the hedgerows, and the passer-by would almost think that they had been scooped out. The following has been put forward as the received explanation of this peculiarity: "The rains of many generations have washed away the surface soils, especially in cultivated fields, and the slope of the ground has caused the material to be carried down.

The hedge has stopped its further conveyance, and thus caused the upper side of the hedge to be so much higher than the lower. Destroy the hedge, as is often done when one field has to be thrown into another, and you will have running parallel to the valley a genuine terrace, which some geologist hereafter, ignorant of the true cause, may put down as having been formed when the river stood higher than it does now. Many lanes which have all the appearance of being cut have been formed in this way; the ground on the other side has been flooded with rains, which have been stopped by the hedges, and the water has had a free course to wear the roadway down." Among the birds in the lanes here are to be found the greater number of those which form so charming a feature of the rural parts of England.

But some species, like the yellowhammer and goldfinch, are not nearly so plentiful as they were some few years ago, and the cause is not difficult to discover. Improved agricul ture and the clearing away of weeds to the roots of the ancient hedgerows have deprived these birds of the seeds on which they used to feed, and they naturally are not so ready to pair and propagate. Partridges are becoming scarce in England, and they have almost disappeared on some highly-cultivated estates owing to the want of cover, and the few opportunities they have of hatching. But on some properties in Lancashire,' like Mr. Weld-Blundell's and others in the western part, sufficient cover has been retained in a few hedgerows at intervals to preserve the species, and that with out at all affecting the farming interest.

With pheasants, of course, the case is different. They can be reared round keepers' or farmers' cottages, and taken every care of till the leaves begin to wither in the fall of the year. Birds of the thrush tribe, however, show no signs of diminution, and throstles, blackbirds, and fieldfares are just as plentiful as ever. This may be accounted for by the circumstance that their food is not interfered with, as it con sists of snails and worms of all kinds, which may be found always on the ground, and, it must be added, upon fruit in its season. In the lanes that lead from Lymm to Warburton, and from Warburton to Dunham Massey and Agden Hall, nearly every species of inland O UGLLTRLNGTON 3 bird may at times be seen, both those which stay with us all the year and those which are migratory. To the latter class it is not generally known perhaps that blackbirds belong, and anyone who is conversant with the beautiful district of which we are speaking would be apt to say that there are quite as many of these birds in winter as in summer.

So there are, and probably many more; but our own blackbirds have migrated across the Channel to more genial regions, and those we see in winter months are the immigrants from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. These FROM OUGHTRINGTON HILL, immigrants are somewhat smaller, and not so rich in plumage, and they visit our island with the fieldfare. The birds which migrate and which return to our shores always go back to their old locality, just as certainly as a salmon will find its own stream ; and the birds when they reach the North of Africa, which is a favourite winter resort with them, are equally as fond of their localities there; so that when we see a swallow or a blackbird arriving in our lanes we may be sure he is an old friend. A gentleman who lived in Norfolk once put a small silver ring on the leg of a swallow, and he has assured me that he saw the same ring for nine years in succession.

It goes without saying that game birds, excepting of course such as blackcock or grouse, which are only found on moors, literally swarm in this region. Oughtrington Hall was long the seat of a younger branch of the Leigh family of West Hall, and its history very briefly is this : The estate formerly belonged to William de Hutrington, who was a physician in the reign of the third Henry, and in the year when Cressy was fought he devised it to Thomas Wynne, with all its lands. It afterwards passed by marriage to a younger member of che Leigh family, and it remained with them for many generations. The last of this name was Trafford Leigh, whose uncle died in 1791 and left him his large estates, with an injunction to assume the name and arms of Trafford of Staffordshire. The crest he had to take was curious — perhaps unique in heraldry.

It is a man with a flail threshing out a heap of corn, and it rests on the following legend, which Hearne gives in his " Discourses." He says that the "arms" of "Trafard" are the most ancient in the kingdom ; and then he relates how at the time of the Conquest one of the Traffords and other gentlemen were defending a ford over the river against some Norman invaders, but they were at last out numbered and overpowered. Trafford took refuge in a barn, and at once donned a rustic coat and took up a flail. The Normans at last found him, and asked him why he so demeaned himself as to use a flail, and his reply was " Now thus." One hardly sees the point of his reply, unless, which is probable, he emphasised his remark with the flail he held. Had it been like " old Sir Thomas Erpingham's" — when ordering the memorable charge at Agincourt he threw on high his white baton with " Now strike !

" — it would have appeared somewhat more appropriate. But there the crest is, and it is the crest of Sir H. de Trafford also. This device is often quoted as a proof of the great antiquity of the family, but in fact it was only granted about the middle of the sixteenth century, when in the Visitation so many Cheshire and Lancashire gentlemen made additions to their arms. Still the legend was there before, and it probably dates back to a O UGHTRLNG TON. 5 very remote period, especially as it seems there is a ford in the beautiful Bollin river where tradition says the encounter took place. In iS 1 7 Oughtrington Hall was pulled down, or very nearly so, and rebuilt by Mr. Trafford. It has since been sold with 1,100 acres of land to Mr. Dewhurst, of Manchester. Mr. Dewhurst has built a church, and though we may not be able to compare it with the beautiful brick edifice at Ashley, which Lord Egerton has the credit of designing, it is a very good piece of architecture.

The nave is thirteenth century, or lancet, and the chancel is in the style which prevailed a century later. Not that we can quarrel with this, for we see, for example, in Chester Cathedral every style, from Norman, or it is just possible, Saxon, to " Batty Langley," though really in looking over Batty Langley's work again I feel bound to say there is some merit in his classic revivals. The church at Oughtrington has been most liberally built and endowed at the sole expense of Mr. Dewhurst, who is now the lord of the manor. The Leigh family, from whom he purchased the estate, and who assumed, as we have remarked, the surname of Trafford, would appear to have been the ancestors of many ancient houses. Within two miles of Altrincham is situated the fine old mansion of Ashley Hall, which is now the residence of an opulent farmer, who keeps the gardens and the house in excellent order.

It is a delightful abode, and the interior is but little altered since it was the resort and council-house of ten men of estates and dignity who sought to alter the succession to the English throne. The entrance hall is very noble, and the carved black oak staircase has many landings and nooks, that suggest armchairs and " monthlies " to pass away an idle hour. There is one fine oak-panelled room left, but the principal apartments are enriched with the beautiful plaster work that distinguishes the earlier part of the Carolean period. Some of this enrichment is in advance even of the best Carolean revivals of the present day, which are becoming, and justly becoming, so popular among architects. The estate of Ashley at one time belonged to the family of Dutton, who have been so prominent in Cheshire for centuries ; and in the fourteenth year of Edward I., Geoffrey Dutton made over Ashley Manor, with all its rights, to Hamon Dutton, who, in accordance with the custom of the time, assumed* the name of Ashley, so as to be, in old phraseology, " Ashley of that ilk," " ilk " being the north country word for "same."

The ten country gentle men who met at Ashley formed themselves into a club to decide how far they would support the claims of James Francis Stuart — ■ a name that Scott has himself helped to brand with infamy — to the throne. They were strongly in favour of rendering him all the help that they and their tenants could afford, and most probably they would have risen if there had been any encouragement in the fortunes of the unprincipled claimant. But news was at hand that altered the colour of their councils. The defeat of the Jacobites a.t Dunblane under Lord Mar and the treachery of Lord Lovat caused them to waver in their heroism, and the shocking cruelties which were practised by the Hanoverian monarch (new in his throne) upon the prisoners who were captured induced them to reconsider their position ; and accordingly it was put to the vote if ASHLEY HALL. they should or should not forsake their old traditions and bind themselves in allegiance to the House of Hanover.

Wisdom prevailed, though, it is said, only by the casting vote of Mr. Assheton, who at that time held the high office of Governor of Chester Castle. The portraits of these gentlemen were then painted, and they hung in Ashley Hall until quite a recent period. They now ornament some of the apartments at Tatton Hall. The Hall is kept just as one would wish it to be — not altered out of all knowledge by modernisms and the requirements of " society," but solidly furnished by a prosperous farmer, and perhaps not very dissimilar in comforts to what it was when the judicious committee of ten decided that under the changed aspect of events King George, even though he could not hold a conversation in English, was the best man to preside over the destinies of Great Britain. How one often wishes that antiquities could be preserved just as events and circumstances have left them to us.

The remains of an abbey are much more interesting if they are allowed to continue in ruins than if they are restored, and perhaps even made a luxurious residence for the proprietor. Even if they are allowed to lapse into farm buildings — as in many cases I could mention, where cattle feed in cloisters and chapter-houses, and chapels are converted into cart-sheds —even then there is more beauty and solemnity than when they are trans formed into gilded and tapestried salons, and of this class of monastic relics there are but too many. At Ashley there have been found the remains of ironworks of great antiquity, belonging, it is said with every degree of proba bility, to the period of the Roman occupation of Britain. The old park of Ashley slopes down to the beautiful river Bollin, and one fairly wonders now why the possessor of a place of such beauty should ever have troubled his head — to say nothing about risking it — whether a Stuart or a Hanoverian was seated on a throne.

Between Ashley station and Ashley Hall there is a new brick church. Now, brick is not a promising material to build a church with, and we know that excepting in rare instances, like the old square at Lincoln's Inn, or the Hall at Audley End in Essex, or Hurstmonceaux, and a few other old examples, no happy effects are likely to come from its use. But it is pleasant to have to say that this church is of unusual beauty. Its proportions are small, but the outline is good, and all the details are in exceedingly good taste; absolutely correct in all minutiæ, they seem to fit their places well. I was puzzled at first to think who the architect could be : not Scott, for it was beyond him ; and I put it down to Bodley, or it might be Austin, who has done admirable work lately; and I was exceedingly surprised to hear from the vicar that it was designed and every detail drawn by Lord Egerton of Tatton, who, he assured me, studied architecture in a London office.