Memorials of Manchester streets

Front matter

i

I

QJarnell HmoeraitJj Hibtarg

Preface

IF any gleaner can add a fresh grain of wheat to the historical harvest already garnered, it is presumable he may bring his grain, and be welcomed ; and although, as Solomon in his Wisdom averred, there is nothing absolutely new under the sun, the old may sometimes be disentombed to advantage, casting a redeeming light over the forgotten past.

The past, be it remembered, is never found isolated in Nature, but is interwoven inseparably with the present, thus forming a beacon-flame for the future. So, taking a dutiful lesson from the universal mother, I have endeavoured to blend " the quick and the dead " in this chronicle of Manchester men and their abodes.

It has been observed by the favourite author of " Our Village," that she valued much less any reputation she might gain as a writer of romance, than the credit to be derived from the less ambitious, but more useful, office of faithfully uniting and preserving those fragments of tradition, experience, and biography which give to history its living interest. To this article of Miss Mitford's literary creed the writer of " Memorials of Manchester Streets " is disposed to subscribe.

The series of chapters here presented was commenced in the Manchester Guardian six years ago, and has been continued at convenient intervals to a recent date.

In its collective form, the book has undergone careful revision, extension, and re-arrangement, in order that it viii Preface.

may be found reliable for reference and interesting to peruse. In furtherance of the same endeavour, numerous illustrations, original or rare, have been introduced. In these illustrations the writer feels a certain amount of confidence which the letterpress alone might fail to engender. Their interest will take a wider range. In addition to the connoisseurs who will prize them for their antiquity, and increase the number in compliment to the old town, many unlearned yet inquiring spirits will " read the pictures " with pleasure, though unable to peruse the author's portion of the volume. Even in this lettered age, not all are lettered ; and with the untaught the eye must be purveyor-in-ordinary to the intellect. Hence the value of characteristic engravings, which, telling their own interesting story, require no formal teacher.

The work is based on the earliest map of the town that can be considered authentic, aided by Buck's admirable South-West Prospect, taken in 1728, when our primitive Lancashire borough was Manchester only, and before her affairs had expanded into national or world-wide importance. In other respects the volume will speak intelligibly for itself, rendering unnecessary much prefatory matter.

In my parting paragraph I wish to acknowledge the receipt of sundry items of information — often coming unsought and unexpected, and therefore the more welcome. To name a few out of many aiders might seem an invidious course ; so I bow, in preference, to each kindly compliment, and in this wise lay aside the pen.

R. W. P.

Manchester, 1874,

Chapter I

hunt's bank.

A Glance beneath the Modernised Surface,

Etymology of Hunt's Bank — The Prison-House and its

Memories, .....

Old Buildings and New Improvements — Accidents — Mars and

Venus, ...

Views of Hunt's Bank, ....

Strangeways Walks, Stile, and Park — Eels in the Irwell, Wilfulness of the River Irwell,

List of Floods, .....

" Rambles by Rivers," ....

Forgotten Burial - Ground at Hunt's Bank — " The Pauper":

Manchester Prison-Life in Past Times,

House of Correction — " Spanking Roger " and the Footpads,

John Howard the Philanthropist — List of Prisoners,

The Chetham Library — Peculiar Features of Hunt's Bank,-

The Soldier's Return and Recompense,

Chapter II. Strangeways Hall — Colonel Hanson

The "Big Park" and the "Little Park " — Muffin - Crier

Drowned, .....

Modem Erections covering the Ancient Demesne, " The Weavers' Friend " — Meeting in St George's Field, Imprisonment and Funeral of Colonel Hanson, Monumental Inscriptions at Stand Chapel,

PAGE I

7 9

lO 12

18 19

20 21 22

Contents.

Chapter III. Long Millgate And Red Bank

The Old Apple-Market — Mr Charles Lawson,

Supposed Homes of the Flemish Weavers,

The Sun Inn and Poets' Corner,

Election Day at Chetham's Hospital, .

The College Reading-Room, .

Crumpsall Hall Described,

Rev. Joshua Brookes — Thomas Barritt,

Ye Mylnegate : its Fields and Gardens,

Antique Mansions and their Owners, .

A Millgateer Shot — Fall of Three Shops,

" Manchester's Improving Daily,"

Nathan Wood (" Patten Nat "),

The Last Bull-bait — A Conscientious Printer,

Scotland and Gibraltar,

Job Hindley, ....

33 35 36 38

39 40

41 44 45 46

Chapter IV

SMITHFIELD MARKET AND ITS. VICINITY.

Punch and Judy, . . . . .

Smithfield Market — Bookstalls,

Book- Hunting and Booksellers,

Bygone Periodicals — Illustrated Shop-Windows,

Diary of James Weatherley, . . . .

Literary Ephemerals and Undying Favourites,

50 51 52 54 56 60

CHAPTER V. god's acre.

The Cathedral Yard — Buried Generations,

Grave of Samuel Bamford's Mother

Accidents at Stanyhurst and at the New Bailey Brido-e"

Royalist Vicar of Kirkburton, . . " '

Murder at Mr Littlewood's, Pendleton,

City and Suburban " God's Acre "—Old Mortality

Sunday at Cartmel, . . _ ' '

63 64 66 68

71 72

Contents.

XI

Chapter VI. A Glance At Market Street And Piccadilly

PAGE

Geoffrey Gimcrack— The " Red Rover," . .75

The Meadows of Market Street, . . -76

Piccadilly in Past Times, . . . . -78

Daubholes and the Ducking-stool, . . . -79

Singers and Comedians, . ... 80

Farewell Addresses, . . . . . . 8 r

Popular Sportsman and Venerable M.P., . -83

Chapter VII. Royal Visit — The Great Gala Day

General Preparations,

Infirmary Pond and Fountains,

Arrival in Salford — Peel Park,

Entry into Manchester,

The " Iron Duke," .

Proceedings in the Exchange,

" Rise, Sir John Potter " — Triumphal Arches

The Illuminations,

Singing-Classes and Scholars at Patricroft,

The " Royal " Exchange,

87 88 89

91 92

93 94 95 97

Chapter VIII. Knot Mill

The Roman Wall in Castle Field,

Sir Lancelot du Lake and Tarquin, .

Carving of Tarquin's Head at Chetham's College,

" Ancient Ballad of Sir Tarquin," .

Metrical Family Legends,

Origin and Etymology of Knot Mill, .

The River Tib — Labre/s Fold,

Humphreys' Garden, Knot Mill, lOI

Xll

Contents.

Chapter IX. Aldport : Its Lodge And Park

A Locality of many Names and Aspects,

The Sylvan Heritage of the Derbys and the Mosleys,

Edward, " Lord of Darby," ....

The " Erie " of Derby's Epitaph,

Archery Butts in Aldport Lane and at Old Garratt, .

Lord Strange at Aldport Lodge — Beginning of the Civil War,

The Siege of Manchester in 1642,

Emblematic Carving on a Church Boss,

Supposed Church at Aldport : Authorities pro and con,

Luddite Riots in 1 8 1 2 — " Watch and Ward,"

Double Murder on Ancoats Bridge, .

Trials and Executions of the Rioters,

Ancoats Old Hall Described,

PAGE

112 114

ii6

117 118 116

Chapter X. Deansgate And Its Byways

Derivation of the Name, ....

Tonman Street — Statuette of Jupiter Stator discovered,

Stewart Street— Hale Churchyard,

Longworth Street — Aldport Weighing-Machine,

The Cockpit — The Windmill,

Labrey's Fold Revisited,

The Quay— The " Quakers' Folly," .

Brazennose Street — Cumberland Street,

Poorhouses — Almshouses,

Spinning Field — Tommy Lye the Jockey, - .

Kersal Moor : its Races and Ballads,

Wood Street — James and William Ogden,

127 128 129 130

131 132

137 139

CHAPTER XL

PICCADILLY REVISITED.

The Circus in Chatham Street—" Victorious Stump," John Wild the Pedestrian, ....

Library of Local Literature, ....

Characteristics of Piccadilly, ...

143 144 146

Contents. xiii

Chapter XII. Gore Street — Henry Liverseege

The Artist's Grave, ....

PAGE

. IS!

The Liverseege Memorial, .

. IS3

List of his Works, ....

• iSS

Little Red Riding-Hood,

. IS7

" Dirge for a Dead Painter,"

1 60

Chapter XIII. Literary Deansgate

Brief Summary of Deansgate, . . . .163

Mr Joseph Aston, . . . . . .164

His Friendship with James Montgomery, . . .165

Printing-office attacked by a Mob : Types thrown into

Mr Aston's Local and Dramatic Works, . . .171

Chapter XIV. The Old Churchyard

Its Rural Features Portrayed, . . . .170

Juvenile Branches and Parent Stems, . -177

Charity School in the Churchyard, . . . .178

Summer Camp — Rev. John Whitaker, . . -179 Rise and Progress of Letterpress Printers, Stationers, Binders,

Booksellers, and Newspaper Publishers in Manchester, . 1 80

Chapter XV. The Resting-place

Dr Samuel Hibbert-Ware, . . . •

William Robert Whatton, ....

John Palmer, .....

Rise and Progress of Printing and Bookselling concluded, The Market-Placein 1823, ....

Primitive Printing- Office, ....

189 190 191 193 194 199

XIV

Contents.

Chapter XVI. The Dene Gate Of Yore

Ridge Field and the Ridge Family, .

The Parsonage and its former Residents,

Buck's Prospect of the Parsonage Lands,

" Cherry Ripe " — " Saynte Mary Gayte,"

Burials at Cross Roads,

Everett and Montgomery in Sedgwick's Court,

Tombstone Inscriptions of the Sowler Family,

Chapter XVII. A Retrospect Of Deansgate

Looking Backward, ......

Jesse Lee — Valedictory Address, ....

" Sir Percy Legh," with a Glance at other Legends not included by Mr Roby in his unfinished " Traditions of England," .....

The Water-Poet's " Eagle and Child,"

The Sorrocolds and the " Pynners," .

The Old Coffee-House, ....

John Taylor's Description of his Entertainment,

Street Nomenclature,

213 214

CHAPTER XVII L

SMITHY DOOR BANK.

Picturesque Home of John Easby,

Randam Scenes from Life, .

Mrs Ann Hinde : Monumental Inscription, .

The Green-Gown School : Epitaphs on the Gravestone of the

First Master and Mistress, Present Value of the School Property, Robert Thyer : his Tenement and Gardens at Smithy Door

Bank, .

Ruminations on Victoria Bridge, The Trafford Arms— Fatal Panic in the Music Saloon

224 225 227 229

230 232

233 234

Contents.

XV

Chapter XIX. Over Salford Bridge

PAGE

The Irwell in the Last Century — Boathouse — Curious Bath, . 239 Spaw Street— The Salford Charter, .... 240 Early Impressions of Salford, . . . .242

Springfield Lane — Collier's Printworks, . . 244

Charles Broster — Sarah Brearcliffe, .... 245 Country Names and Town Streets, .... 246 The Cockpit and Cockfighting, . . . .247

Salford Cross and Court-House — Coronation Rejoicings, . 248

John Wesley Preaching — " Birds of Paradise," . . 249

Sal Ford— " Cherry Ripe," . . . -251

Buttercups and Daisies, . . . -253

CHAPTER XX. ST Ann's square and its silent inmates

Ancient Inlets to St Ann's Square — Trees Growing therein, . 258 Notes from the Diary of a Manchester Wigmaker, . 259

Inscriptions in St Ann's Churchyard, . . .260

Notices of the De Quincey Family, . . . .261

John Shaw — " House-warming " on the Site of the Old Punch- House, ...... 264

Latest Users of Sedan- Chairs — Mulberry Street, . .265

The Manchester Jacobites, . . . . .266

The First Exchange, . . . . .268

CHAPTER XXI. bits of our borough town.

Official and Mercantile Announcements — Glimpses of Manchester Life during the Last Century, . . 269-274

Hen Speaking on Shrove-Tuesday, . . . .273

Butter seized, Britannia and St George and the Dragon notwithstanding, . . . • .274

Clock Alley— " Hot Chelsea Buns," . . . .275 xvi Contents.

Chapter XXII. Earliest And Latest Epitaphs

PAGE

Inscriptions of the Taylor Family of Marshleach, . . 278

Tombstone Inscription of Humphrey Booth, of Salford, . 279

Centenarians — Gallant Amazon, . . . .280

Peculiar Entries from the Registers, . . . .281

Dutch Soldiers in Manchester ; their presence here accounted

for by the Revolution, . . . . .282

CHAPTER XXIII. THE bishop's grave

The Country Churchyard, . . . . .284

Monument at Heaton Mersey, . . .285

Biographical Sketch of Bishop Lee, . . . .286

Memorial Sermon by Dr Benson, . . . .287

Chapter XXIV. The Way Home

Remarks on the Early History of Manchester, . .288

Notice of John Higson, . . . . .288

« Rough Notes on Old Manchester," Essay purioined, . 289

Rebuilding of the Cathedral Tower, . . . .292

St Mary's of Doomsday Book, . . . 291-296

Contents.

xvii

Appendix

ON THE CHETHAM LIBRARY.

BY JAMES CROSSLEY, F.S.A.

Causes of Pleasure, ....

Visit to the Library, and Speculations thereon.

Mausoleums and Libraries compared,

Curiosities formerly shown at the Chetham Library,

Standard Books and their Authors, .

Pleasure and Value of Intercourse with Antiquity,

II. Old Manchester And Its Worthies

BY JAMES CROSTON, F.S.A.

England's Warriors and her Peaceful Worthies, Gossiping Delineations of the Ancient Town, Traces of the Roman Road, .

Brief Biographical Sketches,

. 318 319-333

. 322 333-383

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Publisher tenders his best thanks to those gentlemen who have kindly aided in the embellishment of these Memorials by the loan of artistic rarities.

Rural Sport ; or, a Peep at a Lancashire Rush-Cart

Frontispiece.

From the original painting by Alexander Wilson, in the possession of Mr Roger Wilson, Woodford, Cheshire.

"Rural Sport" is here reproduced by the Woodbury process, under the superintendence of Alfred Brothers. The artist has chosen Long Millgate as the scene of his Morrisdance, the date being 1821.

" The wakes ! the wakes ! the jocund wakes ! My wandering memory now forsalces The present busy scene of things, Erratic, upon Fancy's wings, For olden times, with garlands crown'd. And rush-carts green on many a mound."

Elijah Ridings.

Residence of the High Master of the Grammar

School, Long Millgate, 1821 . . . Title-page,

From a drawing by H. G. James.

PAGE

Seal of Old Manchester .... i

House of Correction, Hunt's Bank, aboiit 1766 . . 13

Facsimile of a drawing by Thomas Barritt. Strangeways Hall, 1746 18

From Berry & Casson's Plan.

XX Descriptive List of the Illustrations.

PAGE

Residence of the High Master of the Grammar

School 25

From a drawing by H. G. James.

View near the Old Apple-Market . . . . 26

Ancient Houses in Long Millgate . . . . 28

From "Views in Lithography of Old Halls, &c., in Manchester and the Vicinity." Six parts, folio, 1821. Drawn by H. G. James. Printed at H. F. James's Lithographic Press Ridge Field.

College Old Gate and Grammar School

From a drawing by F. Mackenzie, in "The Foundations."

The- "Red Rover" Stage Coach, in Market Street, 1823 75 The Infirmary, 1815 _„

The Queen's Visit to Manchester— The Great

Gala Day, 1851 gc

Drawn by George Hayes. Engraved by William Morton.

Remains of the Roman Wall in Castle Field, 1873 100 Original Sketch by F. A. Winkfield.

Outlet of the River Tib at Gaythorn, 1873 • 109 Original Sketch by F. A. Winkfield.

Emblematic Carving on a Church Boss . . 120

Facsimile Copy.

Ancoats Old Hall

Engraved by Henry Watkinson.

Statuette of Jupiter Stator, found in Camp Field . 128

Drawn by F. A. Winkfield.

The Key (Quay), 1746

From Berry & Casson's Plan.

The Liverseege Memorial

Dmwn on the Wood, by F. A. Winkfield. From an origmal sketch by George Richardson,

Descriptive List of the Illustrations. xxi

The Market-Place 194

Drawn by J. Ralston. Copied from a series of ten Lithographic Views, thus dedicated on the pictorial title-page : — " To the Boroughreeve, Constables, and the Commissioners acting under the Manchester Streets Improvement Act : This work is, with permission, respectfully inscribed by their obedient servants D. & P. Jackson, Repository of Arts, No. I Spring Gardens, 1823." The painter, named at the foot of the said emblematical title-page, was Mr Mather Brown, principal artist to H.R.H the Duke of York; the drawers on stone being A. Aglio and J. D. Harding.

PRINTING-OFFICE OF HaRROP'S "MERCURY," 1752 . 199

Facsimile.

South-West Prospect of Manchester, 1728 . . 204

By Samuel and Nathaniel Buck. Photo-lithographed by Alfred Brothers.

The chief feature of this rare and interesting view is the clear, winding -Irwell. The past and present appearance of the river has been thus contrasted by a local minstrel : — " Whoe'er hath seen dark Irwell's tide. Its sombre look and sullen glide, ' Would never deem that it, I ween,

Had ever brighter, gayer been. . .

When Irwell rolled by feudal tower.

By shady grove, and fairy bower ; When on her banks so oft was borne Sweet music of the hunter's horn. . . . Forests are here, but not of trees ; Forests are here, the homes of men ; Mancunium's sons are as the leaves Which bloomed upon the forest then."

Joseph Anthony,

Old Coffee-House and Shops, about 1774 . . 220

From a drawing by Thomas Barritt.

A few of Mr Barritt's unique sketches are preserved in the Greaves Collection, but the principal portion are treasured in the Manchester Scrap-Book, at the Chetham Library. In the catalogue thereof an interesting note has been appended by Mr Jones, the courteous librarian : — " This folio volume, presented by the late Earl of EUesmere, 1838, includes several articles subsequently added of local interest."

xxii Descriptive List of the Illustrations.

PAGE

St Ann's Square, 1746 256

From Berry & Casson's Plan.

Tombstone of Thomas de Quincey, in St Cuthbert's

Churchyard, Edinburgh ...... 263

Original Sketch.

The First Exchange, 1729-1792 . . 268

From Berry & Casson's Plan.

North-West View of Chetham's Hospital and

From a drawing by W. Orme.

Crumpsall Cottage, the supposed Birthplace* of Hugh

Engraved by Robert Langton.

Crumpsall Hall, the Birthplace of Humphrey Chetham 352

Engraved by Robert Langton.

*..j* The whole (save three or four othenvise named) of the Woodcuts have been drawn on the wood by Frederick A. Winkfield, of Ardwick, and engraved by CHRISTOPHER Davies, of this city, and Robert Paterson, of Edinburgh.

* A rival claim is advanced by Fuller in favour of the town of Oldham.

IWV^,

SEAL OF OLD MANCHESTER.

MEMORIALS

MANCHESTER STREETS.

Chapter I

hunt's bank.

' ' Old visions haunt the creaking floors, Old sorrows sit and wail ; While stUl the night-winds out of doors

Like burly baUiffs rail !

Old visions haunt the floor above ; The walls with wrinkles frown : And people say, who pass that way, 'Twere well the house were down."

Charles Swain.

'"T^HE subject to which we wish to draw the reader's -*- attention in our opening pages may seem unpromising, comprising, as it does, merely one hundred yards (be the same more or less) of new, commonplace surface, wherein the casual observer might see as little as Wordsworth's obtuse potter saw in the primrose by the river's brim, or as Sir Charles Coldstream perceived while listlessly peering into the crater of Vesuvius. Nevertheless, we have confidence in our chosen theme, and hope to extract something of interest by looking a little beneath

Memorials of Manchester Streets.

the surface, and by embracing the border line, or watery way.

Our first motto verse, selected from Mr Swain's poem entitled "Mortality,"' may require a few explanatory words to show its relevancy as a text to the present discourse. We know not whether the poet's haunted mansion consisted of mouldering bricks and mortar, or merely rose in the vividness of his fancy, to become tenanted by his iniagination ; but the prison-house to which the stanza is here applied was tangible enough. In the dungeon so long and sternly visible at Hunt's Bank the sorrowing inmates sat and wailed their fill, with little to cheer them save the visions of pleasanter days. The " night winds," sweeping across the tree-decked confluence of the two rivers Irk and Irwell^ would " rail " as they listed. The floors, being formed partly of rock, might scarcely be termed " creaking ; " yet the walls frowned in their own rude manner; and few persons expressed regret when the ancient Fleet, becoming superseded by the New Bailey, was ultimately taken down.

Hunt's Bank, Who was Hunt? Can any reader, howsoever learned in the art, mystery, or science of etymology, inform us .' His identity seems lost in the lapse of many ages, and he is now as insubstantial as the fabulous myth, — as shadowless as Peter Schlemihl. With his solid and more enduring " Bank " we have been familiar since our childhood. We remember that rugged ascent before the road levellers (how mercilessly they did level hereabout !) came to clear away the long row of miscellaneous houses, public and private, which lined the waterside between the two bridges. They were built upon the

Htmi's Bank.

rock, and partly overhanging the Irwell. Nor must we omit the flight of broad, easy steps leading gently to the Old Church, and to the narrow passage flagged with lettered gravestones. All these, with the addition of " Tin Brow " and sundry workshops, were swept away to form the wide new entrance into the town. The passage in question was known as "The Steeple End." The local habitations, and the names of those martyrs to improvement, were retained in the Directory to the year 1832, but in the succeeding issue of that useful record, in 1836, the whole of the antiquated cluster had disappeared, and its pages knew them no more. In the year last named, the newly-erected wall supporting the road fell into the river, destroying in its fall the dyeworks on the Salford side. Many years previously (in July 18 14), several houses and part of a soapery fell into the water, when three persons perished. Still earlier — October 1798 — a man missing his way near the Ring o' Bells Tavern, walked into the Irwell, and was drowned.

Of the opposite, or College side of Hunt's Bank, the quaint features of the olden time may still be traced in a truthful engraving, the handiwork of W. Orme and others, about the year 1794, wherein the College, being elevated on the rock, holds the premier position. The packhorse, a genuine relic of primitive Manchester, is seen jogging lazily along on the Strangeways side of the Irk. Upon the pathway, a loyal volunteer is seasonably introduced. He is pictured in characteristic uniform, with his sweetheart won to his side — ^the old life-story of love and war. Alas for the men of peace and unromantic trade ! Albeit the island of Lemnos is far away, and Mars and Venus have long ago descended to mythological shades, the chains of Vulcan, though invisible, still bind them together as of yore. Crossing the bridge, a picturesque cottage is shown, of which we have no personal recollection ; but with the adjoining house, the Castle Inn, we were familiar, inside and out Next appears the dungeon, with deserted cells, and into these we were wont to peer curiously and in play. The sylva of the scene is represented by a leafless solitary tree. The view is bounded by the church tower: the whole being historically described by Thomas Miller — whose descriptions are so uniformly agreeable, that it is grieving to see the hat sent round for him in his sad decline.

Of this scene a local bard-^Charles Kenworthy — writing in 1838, thus conveys his impressions in rhyme : —

" The ' Castle,' that long braved the flood, Where oft was brewed stout ale and good,

A CoUege Inn is seen : Where frowned the ancient dungeon wall Rise modern buildings, fair and tall.

And stables Palatine."

Mr Orme's picture would be an almost indispensable accompaniment to these memorials, had we not already secured two views of the same spot from different standpoints, and depicting the sarne period within a few years. If in the latter engraving we lose the front prospect of the Bank, we gain the surface of the river, even while the Irk was as yet uncovered, and urchins could pursue their duckchasing in the shallow stream.

Thus far have we written while thinking of an apocryphal Mister Hunt in connection with the nomenclature of the Bank. A clearer light has been cast on the subject by a

Hunfs Bank.

glance at the " Copy of a deed of infeftment, dated the 8th November 1422, of Thomas la Warre, twelfth baron of Manchester, of various lands and the advowson of the parish church, to feoffees for the use of the College." In this deed, minutely descriptive of our subject-matter, no mention is made of Hunt's Bank ; but the words Hunt Hull appear instead. As hull, in its obsolete sense, means hill, it will be manifest the place has derived its name from the sylvan chase. To a comparatively recent period rustic names and associations have allied themselves to this locality. Our Directories for 1788 and 1794 bear witness to the existence of "Strangeways Walks, Hunt's Bank," and also " Strangeways Stile." A few years earlier, Peter Romney, elder brother of George Romney, the famous Lancashire painter, thus alluded to the sylvan character of the district : —

" Beneath the deep and gloomy shade Of Strangeways woody park."

Even the river Irwell, though now laving the foot of Hunt's Bank darkly and unlovably, flowed on its ancient way, within our limited remembrance, a much clearer, purer stream, as a simple incident will show. One day, in the summer of 1825, while playing with a juvenile group near the then new iron bridge (named the Waterloo, the first stone being laid in 181 7), we observed an eel in the water, and pursued it along the river's bank, to which it closely swam. Several times we caught it in our hand, but could not retain the slippery struggler. We parted company at the junction of the Irwell with the Irk. This feat we should find some difficulty in performing now, even

Memorials of Manchester Streets.

were an eel thereabouts to tempt us, inasmuch as the traversed land— Waterworth's Field— is no longer an open meadow. On a portion of the space embankments have been constructed for railway uses ; while on each side of the river the ground has been raised as a bulwark against the oft-recurring inundations.

Although thus closely invested, and during the dry summer months effectually subdued, the Irwell makes a series of sorties in the rainy periods, which, sadly puzzle the besieging forces. Being a remarkably sympathetic river, it swells with emotion whenever its numerous tributaries become oppressed to overflowing. In this dangerous mood it breaks down or overleaps the barriers, chasing its retreating opponents even to their homesteads. It has been known to wash out the cradle containing the sleeping child, casting the novel boat adrift on the turbulent stream, afar from the gentler bosom of the weeping mother. Elsewhere it compels the elders to seek refuge in their upper storeys, while the youngsters make light of their troubles by floating upon the drawers in the lower rooms, guiding their raft with long brushes and brooms instead of oars. In the open fields upgrown people lose their way in its swollen waters, and are afterwards found drowned. Of the loss of property consequent on such reprisals we need not speak, as floating pigs, swimming sheep, rushing timber, are familiar enough, especially to the luckless wights who lose their balance in seizing the spoils of the flood. With the view of putting an end to this guerilla warfare between the land and the water forces, the neutral powers have been summoned to a conference. The authorities of Salford, acknowledging a defeat, are willing to pay a very heavy

Hunt's Bank.

war contribution, on condition that the Irwell will give material guarantees for a lasting peace. Let us hope the combined negotiators will deal gently with the erring one, remembering that persuasion is better than force. Let them stroke the mane of the wilful creature, after the Rarey fashion, rather than strike him on the forehead witli an iron bar, as Carter subdued the lion, On the outer wall of the Castle (afterwards the College) Inn, at Hunt's Bank, might be seen, prior to its removal, a series of interesting marks indicating the height of many inundations. As those hieroglyphics are no longer available, we take the liberty of transferring to our narrative a more complete and chronological record of the Irwell's freaks, lately furnished by a correspondent to the Salford Chronicle. The omission of a few comments, and the addition of several incidents and authorities, may be noted.

1616. Extraordinary great flood. Men stood upon Salford Bridge, and ladled up water with a little piggin, — Hollingwortk.

1649. A great flood. January.

(172 1. The river was made navigable for vessels of fifty tons.)

1767. Great flood. October.

1768. High floods.

1787. Great flood during seven days, which carried away a portion of Salford Bridge.

1799. Great floods, which did much damage. August.

1804. High floods.

(1806. Broughton Bridge built at the cost of Samuel Clowes, Esq. Rebuilt in 1869. Declared free of toll in 1872.)

1816. Great flood; water higher than in 1768. January.

1829. High floods. August.

1837. Very high flood ; water in New Bailey Street and Broughton Road ; cattle, furniture, and baby in cradle floating down the river. December.

1840. Great flood, which did considerable damage. January.

1843. The temporary foot-bridge, near the New Bailey, washed down by the swollen stream. October.

1852. High floods; the river overflowed its banks, causing much loss.

1 866. Great flood ; water in Strangeways ; serious loss of property. November. So remarkable was the height and breadth of this inundation, that an obelisk has been erected at Peel Park in commemoration thereof.

1870. High flood ; a little below the level of that in 1866.

To a thoughtful gazer, a river is always a suggestive object, especially when it happens, as in the present instance, to be our native stream ; and the sight of its waters carries us back to our buttercups and daisies, and when, like Ponce de Leon, we yearn and search for the priceless fountain of youth, which never can be twice found. "Rambles by rivers" is indeed a fruitful theme, and forms the title of a pleasant book, where fact and fancy, the present and the past, walk leisurely hand in hand, the descriptions being enlivened by pictured views. When the Avon is associated with Shakespeare, the Duddon with Wordsworth, the Lea with "the meek old angler, knight of hook and line," how can we fail to become interested }

Of the river Duddon we retain a pleasant memory.

Hunt's Bank.

albeit at second-hand, as derived from an artist's well-filled sketch-book. Mr William Hull, erst of Manchester, but latterly residing in the Lake district, once wandered in the footsteps of Wordsworth along the course of the Duddon. Perhaps Mr Hull had read Mr Thome's "Rambles by Rivers," and thence derived the hint. At all events, he strolled from Wrynose Fell, where the Duddon — "cradled nursling of the mountain" — rises, to its junction with the sea near the Isle of Walney. Within that space he delineated with his pencil the varied scenes described by the poet's pen. Flowers, stepping-stones, faery chasms, and tributary rills, ruins, open prospects, the "dark plumes of the blighted yew," the resting-place ; all were presented : and as we turned over those summer glories, leaf by leaf, at our winter fireside, the contrast gave a delight of its own. Of our simple choice, we sometimes prefer an artist's sketches to the finished painting composed therefrom. Many a suggestive charm, or delicate indication of the pencil, is lost in the sterner brush or more positive graver. Wordsworth and the Duddon may now be left to their repose: but are there not other authors, and other streams, and other pencils in Old England .■'