A History of Lancashire

by Henry Fishwick

Manchester having been all through the Civil Wars a stronghold of the Parliament, it probably did not suffer quite as much as some of the other towns, and we are therefore not surprised to find that many improvements were made there very shortly after the close of the troubles; thus, in August, 1653, was established there the first public library, the origin of which was the gift by John Prestwich “of severall Bookes unto the inhabitants of the towne of Manchester, to be kept in some convenient place for a liberarie for the use of the said towne.”

From an indenture bearing the afore–mentioned date, it will be seen that the Pendleton or Jesus Chapel, on the south side of the collegiate church, had been selected for the repository for these books; but being now in “great ruine and decay, the roofe thereof being fallen,” the holders of the inheritance of it conveyed it to trustees, to the intent that it should be repaired and afterwards used for a library. This collection of books has now long ago been dispersed, and was probably never a large one.

In 1656 the first town–hall was built; previous to that date the old wooden booths were used for the court–leet, etc. In these days, when football has become such a popular game as to render it one of the great national sports, it is interesting to find that in 1655 the Manchester Jury ordered all persons to be prosecuted who were found playing football in the streets. Nearly fifty years before this it had been found necessary to have “officers for yᵉ football” regularly appointed. This playing in the streets was not confined to Manchester; indeed, at Kirkham on Christmas Day, until quite a recent date, the streets were entirely given up to the followers of this popular pastime.

At the Restoration Manchester was prepared to welcome the newly–crowned King, and on April 22, 1661, the train–bands, under John Byrom, and the auxiliary band of Nicholas Mosley, together some 360 men, assembled in the field “in great gallantrie and rich scarffes, expressing themselves with many great acclamations of joy.” They afterwards marched to the collegiate church, preceded by forty boys, “all cloathed in white stuffe, plumes of feathers in their hats, blew scarffes, armed with little swords hanging in black bells and short pikes shouldered.” In the church was a large concourse of people, who, says the chronicler,[157] “civilly and soberly demeaned themselves all the whole day, the like never seen in this nor the like place.” A sermon was preached by the Warden, Richard Heyrick, and a civic procession afterwards paraded the town. On arriving at the conduit which supplied the town with water, there was a long halt, in order that the “gentlemen and officers” might drink his Majesty’s health “in claret running in three streams from the conduit.” This stream afterwards ran for the public use until after sunset. Lancaster celebrated the event by presenting to the King “their small mite as a token of their joy by surrender of their fee farm rents of £13 6s. 6d., which they purchased of the late powers.”

On October 7 following, 582 of the inhabitants took the oath of allegiance. In 1688 an assessment for the town gives the names of 500 ratepayers, who lived in seventeen streets or lanes; eighteen years later (in 1679), when the oath of allegiance was again taken, there were about 800 attestors. These figures give some idea of the population of Manchester at this period. The trade of the town was now very much extended, a considerable business being done with Ireland and London. From the former yarn was purchased, which was woven and returned; and from the Metropolis cotton wool was purchased, which came from Cyprus and Smyrna, and was manufactured into fustians, dimities and other fabrics. The appearance of the town towards the end of the century underwent a great change; its old narrow streets and lanes were somewhat widened, and the time–worn houses of wood and plaster gave place to more substantial erections of stone and brick. There had also been established, by the bequest of one of Manchester’s merchants, Humphery Chetham, of Clayton Hall and Turton Tower, the Chetham Hospital and Chetham Library, the latter being the first really free library opened in England.

Preston had now greatly increased, and was a prosperous town of about 6,000 inhabitants. In 1682 Kuerden describes it as being “adorned with a large square or market–place,” and its streets as being “so spacious from one end thereof to the other, that few of the corporations of England” exceeded it. In the centre of the town was “an ample, antient and well–beautifyed gylde hall,” under which were “ranged two rows of butchers’ shops”, and here once a week was a market for linen cloth, yarn, fish, and general agricultural produce, as well as cattle, sheep and pigs, and here and there were the houses of the wealthy, mostly built of brick and “extraordinarily addorning the streets.” Preston had also its workhouse, public almshouse and school, and the old building formerly occupied by the Grey Friars served as a kind of reformatory for “vagabonds, sturdy beggars, and other people wanting good behaviour.”

During the reign of Charles II. two guilds were celebrated at Preston, to which people came from all parts of the county. Liverpool towards the end of the reign of Charles II. began rapidly to develop. Blome, writing in 1673, states that Liverpool was a bold and safe harbour, in which ships at low water could ride at 4 fathoms, and at high water 10 fathoms, and that amongst the inhabitants were many eminent merchants and tradesmen, whose commerce with the West Indies made it famous. Emulating Manchester, it had then recently erected a town–hall, which was “placed on pillars and arches of hewn stone,” having under it an exchange for merchants. This hall was built on the site where the old market cross had stood for a very long period. In the middle of this century (1650) the town consisted of Water Street, near to which was the tower, owned by the Stanley family, the Custom–house, Dale Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Tithebarn Street, Oldhall Street, and Jaggler’s Street, and on its rocky eminence, looking down upon the town, still stood the castle. In 1654 the first attempt to light the streets was made, the order given by the authorities being that “two lanthorns with two candles burning every night in the dark moon [i.e., when there was no moon] be set out at the High Cross and at the White Cross, and places prepared to set them in every night till eight of the clock.”

A very large portion of the land on which Liverpool stood at this time belonged to Edward Moore (afterwards Sir Edward), of Bankhall, and from his “rental”[158] we may gather much curious detail as to the tenure and character of the various lessees; the rent appears to have been paid partly in cash and partly in kind or service—thus, one tenant paid £1 a year, three hens, and three days’ shearing; another, £1 6s. 8d. and the same boon hens and service. The pool from which the town took its name is frequently mentioned, and a note singularly foreshadows a branch of trade which subsequently became very advantageous to Liverpool. Moore called one of his tenements Sugar House Close, because a great sugar merchant from London came to treat with him for it; and it was agreed that he was to build up to the front street a goodly house four stories high, and at the back a house for boiling sugar.

At a little later period the establishment of extensive potteries in Liverpool introduced a new trade, but as early as 1665 a coarse kind of earthenware was made at Prescot, and the carting of it through the town was said so to “oppresse and cut out the streets,” that the Corporation levied a toll of 4d. for every cartload. The Liverpool potteries are said to have been the earliest works of the kind in England.