This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.

DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO THE CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTORS OF THE
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY COMPANY.

DRAKE’S
ROAD BOOK
OF THE
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY

FROM
BIRMINGHAM TO LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER,
ILLUSTRATED BY AN
ACCURATE MAP, AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS:

To which is appended

THE VISITER’S GUIDE
TO
BIRMINGHAM, LIVERPOOL, AND MANCHESTER.

TO THE

CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTORS

OF THE

GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY COMPANY,

THIS

Second Edition

OF

THE ROAD BOOK,

IS,

BY PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

BY THE

AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER.

ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE
SECOND EDITION.

The courteous reception given to the First Edition of the Grand Junction Road Book, and the substantial proofs of approbation which a rapid sale has afforded, render it a duty as proper as it is pleasant, for the Author and Publisher to return their joint thanks for the liberal patronage already bestowed on their work; and to engage a continuance of the same, by their assurances that in the present edition every possible improvement has been carefully effected in its various departments. Spirited wood and steel engravings [v] of the most important spots on the line have been introduced, and much new and interesting matter supplied. The whole of the information concerning fares, regulations, stations, and accommodation in towns on the route, has been recast, corrected, and enlarged; and a brief but comprehensive directory added, under the head of “Visiter’s Guide,” page 97, containing lists of public buildings; institutions of all kinds; places of worship of all denominations, with names of the officiating ministers; principal show rooms and manufactories; times of arrival and departure of mails at the post office; hackney coach fares; bankers, inns, boarding houses, omnibus offices, newspapers, canal conveyances, waggon warehouses, packets, &c., &c., for Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool. The exceeding utility of this new division of the volume will be obvious to every one. The Map has also been revised, and greatly improved; and the “Grand Junction Road Book” again makes its bow to the public, in full expectation that its old fame and new merits will be rightly appreciated.

Birmingham, September 1, 1838.

SONNET
BY WORDSWORTH,
ON
STEAM BOATS, VIADUCTS, AND RAILWAYS.

Motions and means, on land and sea at war
With old poetic feeling; not for this,
Shall ye, by Poets even, be judged amiss!
Nor shall your presence, howsoe’er it mar
The loveliness of nature, prove a bar
To the mind’s gaining that prophetic sense
Of future change that point of vision, whence
May be discover’d what in soul ye are.
In spite of all that beauty may disown
In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace
Her lawful offspring in Man’s art; and Time,
Pleased with your triumphs o’er his brother Space,
Accepts from your bold hands the proffer’d crown
Of hope, and smiles on you with cheer sublime.

CHAPTER I.
BIRMINGHAM.

NAME—HISTORY—MANUFACTURES—PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS, &c., &c.

Our native town of Birmingham, of whose celebrity and importance we are justly proud, demands our first attention in this our Itinerary; although the numerous publications which give more circumstantial particulars respecting it than the brief limits of the present work will admit, render it an unnecessary task here to occupy many pages with our notice.

In our after topography and history of towns on the “Grand Junction” line, we shall have occasion to allude to their several claims to the honours of “hoar antiquity;” but none it would appear can boast of more remote fame than our own brave old town of Birmingham, or, as it has been variously written, Bromycham, Bremecham, Bermyngham, and Bromnsycham, the etymology of which terms have served to puzzle the learned in such lore for years gone by, and will do for years to come. What never can be positively settled, always proves a most fascinating subject for argument. Mr. Hutton, the antiquary, imagines the derivation to be this: wich, or wick, being used to signify a town or village, and brom, from the broom growing in the vicinity. But we must leave the subject for more voluminous writers. The late Mr. Hamper, our especial antiquary, traced the orthography through no less than one hundred and forty variations. In proof of Birmingham being a place of no very recent creation, the prodigious accumulation of scoria produced by the smelting of iron, at Aston furnace, may be referred to; as also the great number of exhausted coal mines, on a large common within a few miles, called Wednesbury Old Field. Both these must have been the work of many centuries, as is proved by the fact, that in the former, the mass of scoria has not perceptibly increased within the memory of that remarkable individual, “the oldest inhabitant,” though constantly receiving additions. It appears that the Britons were acquainted with the use and manufacture of iron previously to the Roman conquest, as they are described with chariots armed with scythes. It requires no very great stretch of imagination to suppose Birmingham (the Bremenium of the Romans) to have been a chief station for the fabrication of such weapons. In Doomsday Book, “Bermengeham” is noticed; and the manor and lordship were held by the De Birmingham family and their ancestors, during the reigns from Henry I. to Henry VIII., when John Dudley, afterwards Duke of Northumberland, being in possession of Dudley, and desirous of adding to it the manor of Birmingham, contrived, by a series of villanous artifices and perjury, to wrest it from Edward de Birmingham, and add it to his own possessions. On the attainder and execution of the duke, in the reign of Mary, the manor escheated to the crown; and in 1643 a descendant of the family, through the female line, was raised to the peerage, by the title of Baron Ward, of Birmingham, changed afterwards to Viscount Dudley and Ward, and Earl of Dudley. The remains of the ancient manor house have long been removed to make way for improvements; its former name, “The Moat,” (now called Smithfield,) and two neglected effigies in St. Martin’s church, of a crusader and an ecclesiastic of the De Birmingham family, are all that remain to tell of their former greatness. Few historical events seem to have disturbed the good people of Birmingham except the civil war of the seventeenth century, when they proved themselves staunch adherents to the parliamentarians, and did good service to their partizans, against Prince Rupert and his troops, at which time some earth works thrown up at Bordesley, conferred the name of Camp Hill on a part of it. The prince afterwards set fire to the town, but obligingly desisted from further demonstration of such warm regard, on being handsomely bribed to that effect. The riots of 1791 are so frequently brought to the minds of our town’s people by present allusions, that it needs not to dwell here on the disgraceful theme. Turning to a pleasanter topic, we will briefly glance at the manufactures which made an anonymous poet formerly exclaim,—

“Europe’s grand toy-shop, art’s exhaustless mine—
These, and more titles, Birmingham, are thine.”

It is amusing to look back to the condition of Birmingham in Leland’s time, (Henry VIII.,) who describes it as inhabited only “by smithes that use to make knives and all manner of cutting tools, and lorimers that make bittes, and a great many nailors.” Camden, in the reign of Elizabeth, speaks of it as “swarming with inhabitants, and echoing with the noise of anvils; but the upper part rising with abundance of handsome buildings;” and his continuator, Bishop Gibson, in the reign of Anne, mentions “its artificers in iron and steel, whose performances in that way are greatly admired both at home and abroad.” Prior to the restoration of Charles II. the town only consisted of one long street, extending from the hamlet of Deritend to the present Bull-street, and contained barely 5,000 inhabitants. Now, the probably correct amount would stand thus: streets, 340; houses, 22,000; population, 200,000. Birmingham was created a borough by the Reform Bill, and sends two members to parliament. The honours of a mayor and corporation are now added to its civil dignities.

Among the almost innumerable branches of trade and manufacture at present carried on, are light and heavy steel goods, (here called toys,) brass and iron foundery, sadlery, military accoutrements, fire-arms, swords and cutlery of various kinds; jewellery, gold, silver, and plated goods; buttons, medals, japannery; gilt, silver, ivory, bone, and other toys; glass, wood-turnery, metal-rolling, tools and implements of all kinds; mill machinery of all sorts, and steam engines on every known principle. Casting, modelling, die-sinking, engraving, and other processes connected with the various manufactures have been brought to the greatest perfection; also the cutting of glass, of which there are many brilliant specimens in the show-rooms of the town, especially those of Messrs. Rollason, Price, Henderson, Mrs. Bedford’s, &c. The great establishment at the Soho, near Birmingham, is intimately connected with its manufacturing interests, as under the superintendence of Messrs. Boulton and Watt, great improvements were effected in all kinds of machinery, and the power of steam applied to every mechanical purpose. From their ingenious coining mill, the greater part of the copper money of George III. was issued. Mr. Boulton died in 1809, aged eighty-one, and Mr. Watt in 1819, aged eighty-three. They were both interred in Handsworth church, where a marble bust commemorates the former, and a statue, by Chantrey, the latter.

In the magnificent show-rooms of Mr. G. R. Collis in Church-street, (formerly Sir E. Thomason’s,) splendid specimens of the chief native manufactures are collected, and their mode of manufacture shown to all respectable visitors. Mr. Phipson’s pin manufactory, which in this seemingly small article employs so great a number as one thousand persons, is another large establishment; and the articles of oriental gorgeousness and diversity, displayed by Messrs. Jennens and Betteridge, at their japanned ware and papier maché manufactory, in Constitution-hill, are full of brilliant designs and adornment. The show-rooms of Messrs. Mapplebeck and Lowe, Osborne, and others, contain a great variety of hardware and cutlery.

Of ponderous machinery, none perhaps is more interesting than that of the metal rolling mills; there is positive grandeur in the great power employed, and the accuracy with which it is adjusted to the end required. The button manufacture is a principal source of wealth to the town, and many of its chief families may trace back their origin (their honourable origin—far more truly honourable than the anxiety occasionally shown by present full-blown importance to disguise it) to a humble fabricator of these small and indispensable articles. They are made of all kinds and descriptions, to suit all markets; as were buckles likewise, some years since; but fashion, that mighty revolutionist, has driven them from their once prominent station in the toilet of the exquisite of former days; and knees and shoes, and dainty spangled and high heeled slippers, fit for feminine feet, have all laid by the buckles which used to glitter in cut steel and silver delicately worked, or set with brilliants; and of so comely dimensions, as well nigh to cover the pretty insteps of our grandmothers. As a source of great wealth to our native town, we must regret the abolition of ornamental buckles. Steel tools, and lighter, tasteful articles, form another great branch. The first steel-house, or factory, gave the name “Steelhouse-lane” to the street. Guns were first made in the reign of William III., and in times of war have constituted an important part of our trade. Silver, brass, and iron are all wrought to a great extent, in every known variety of manufacture. To enumerate all the productions of Birmingham were nearly an impossible task, had we space; as it is, we must rest here, and proceed to notice a few of the chief buildings and institutions which would attract the observation of a stranger.

First, of the first class, ranks our noble and magnificent Town Hall, in Paradise-street, a Grecian temple of the Corinthian order, standing on a rustic basement, and built of marble from Anglesea. It is of recent erection; from the design, and under the direction of Mr. J. Hansom, of Hinckley, and contains a splendid hall, 140 feet long, by 65 feet wide, and 65 feet high, adapted for great public meetings, and for the performances of music at the Triennial Festivals; [7] it also contains spacious saloons, committee rooms, etc. Its organ is the finest in the kingdom. The new Free Grammar School, in New-street, is a large and handsome building, in the Gothic style, from a design by Mr. Barry, of London. The exhibition rooms of the Birmingham Society of Arts, New-street, form a handsome building, admirably adapted for the purpose; and the annual exhibition, of ancient and modern masters, is inferior to no provincial one. Another spacious suite of rooms was erected a few years since, by a dissentient party of the artists; but, having returned to the parent institution, their gallery since has been occupied by the highly interesting, valuable, and well-arranged Museum of Natural History, collected by Mr. Weaver, in the various branches of geology, ornithology, entomology, mineralogy, conchology, &c. The Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, in Paradise-street, have now purchased this splendid collection, which, joined to the one they already possess, will form one of the finest Museums in the provinces. It is liberally supported and patronised by the neighbouring nobility and county families. The General Hospital, Blue Coat School, Dispensary, and Asylums, are worthy of all praise for their essential utility as charities. The former is mainly supported by the proceeds of the Triennial Festivals; the others by liberal subscriptions, with which the inhabitants of Birmingham appear ever ready to increase the usefulness of charities having for their end the alleviation of misery, in whatever form it exists. The new Market Hall, extending from the Bull-ring to Worcester-street, is a spacious and commodious building, though the internal arrangement might be greatly improved, by a little more attention to order and neatness on the part of the various trades-people who have stalls there. The market having formerly been held in the open street, may, in some degree, account for this. Nearly opposite the hall stands a statue of Lord Nelson, by Westmacott, with a miniature man-of-war beside him, on a pedestal surrounded by an iron rail and lamps.

The Churches most remarkable for architectural beauty, are, St. Philip’s, in the Doric style, with a graceful tower and cupola: Trinity Church, Bordesley, designed by Mr. F. Goodwin, much in the style of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge; it is a fine example of the Ecclesiastical Gothic: St. George’s, also Gothic, but of far inferior beauty; St. Martin’s, which has been a fine old edifice, with a tapering spire, but is now disfigured by a brick shell: St. Paul’s, Christ Church, St. Thomas’s, St. Peter’s, St. Bartholomew’s, St. Mary’s, All Saints’, and others are of less striking appearance. Many of the dissenting congregations have handsome and spacious meeting-houses and chapels, particularly the Catholic Chapels; Unitarian Meeting-houses; Independent Meeting-house, Carr’s-lane; Mount Zion Chapel; Scottish Kirk, &c. Schools are connected with all, and with the numerous National, Lancasterian, Infant, and other schools, combine in distributing knowledge, in however a small degree as yet, among the useful and industrious classes. The excellent school for the instruction of Deaf and Dumb children is pleasantly situated at Edgbaston: there are also various Asylums for the young, the helpless, and the immoral (repentant, of course).

The Old Library, in Union-street, contains a valuable collection of 40,000 volumes, and commodious reading rooms. The New Library, in Temple-row, is a more recent and smaller establishment. Divers conglomerations of novels, called “Circulating Libraries,” also exist for the benefit of the sentimental. The Philosophical Institution has a convenient Lecture-Theatre and Museum in Cannon-street, with a resident Curator. Subscribers have the privilege of introducing strangers to the lectures. The members of the Mechanics’ Institution at present have lectures in the same building, until the erection of one suitable for them. Strangers are admitted to the Mechanics’ lectures on payment of one shilling. The Botanical and Horticultural Society have extensive gardens and conservatories at Edgbaston, situated on rising ground, and commanding a beautiful and richly-wooded expanse of scenery. The exhibitions of plants, fruits, &c., when a brilliant company generally assembles, are scenes of great gaiety.

The Conservatories and Greenhouses, are the erection of Mr. T. Clark, of Lionel-street, Birmingham, whose manufactory for Metallic Hothouses, &c., is very extensive.

A Cemetery has been recently laid out and planted on the north side of the town, at Key Hill, where a large excavation in a hill of gravel renders the spot striking and even picturesque: a neat Chapel is erected for the performance of the funeral service.

In 1813 an Act of Parliament was obtained for the erection of a Proof House for all fire-arms made in the town, which are subjected to a very severe test. The hall and other premises are in Banbury-street, and have quite a military and formidable appearance.

The News Room, on Bennett’s-hill, and the different banking establishments, are handsome buildings, many of them of considerable architectural beauty. The Theatre is large, and inferior to few out of the metropolis, though the indifferent encouragement given to the drama in Birmingham, causes it to be comparatively but little used. It is capable of accommodating 2,500 persons, and contains to the front, a suite of Assembly Rooms, Billiard and Coffee Rooms, &c. There were formerly two smaller theatres, and an amphitheatre for equestrian performances, all three of which have been converted from their dissolute ways, and become pious and holy conventicles for divine worship. Temporary amphitheatres have frequently been erected since, and a permanent one is in progress. For more circumstantial particulars and descriptions of these and other edifices, we must refer our readers to the “Picture of Birmingham,” [11] or other more lengthy histories.

The environs of the town, especially Edgbaston and Harborne, contain many tasteful residences, erected by the wealthier merchants and tradesmen; whose pretty suburban villas have all gardens and pleasure grounds attached. In the neighbourhood of Birmingham are many fine old houses, or halls, as they are called, well deserving of a visit from the antiquary or artist; and the far famed glories of Warwick, Kenilworth, Shakespeare-sainted Stratford, Guy’s Cliff, and other places of renown, are within a short drive.

In this brief survey of the past and present condition of Birmingham, it will be seen how rapidly its greatness and importance have been achieved by the perseverance, spirit, and ingenuity of its inhabitants. We may expect as rapid, and almost as great improvements from the additional consequence and advantages it will receive from the great works now nearly completed. The finished line of railway from London to Liverpool through this place, may, with confidence, be looked to as another great era in its history, from whence to date still increasing wealth, power, and intelligence.

CHAPTER II.
ROUTE.
BIRMINGHAM TO WOLVERHAMPTON,
Fourteen Miles.

BIRMINGHAM AND VAUXHALL STATION.

Distance to Liverpool and Manchester, 97¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

^*_*^* Those printed in small capitals are market towns.

The Birmingham Station of the Grand Junction railway, closely adjoins that of the London and Birmingham, which greatly facilitates the arrangements of travellers proceeding along the entire line. Until the completion of the permanent buildings, those at Vauxhall have been temporarily used. To a stranger coming into the station-yard for the first time, the whole scene is one of great novelty: the long train of treble-bodied coaches, waiting under a broad covered way for passengers and baggage; the bustle and animation of the host of porters, guards, conductors, &c.; the amazement depicted on some of the faces of the lookers-on; the state of “intellectual complication” evinced by others, especially those who, having various items of property to convey with them, are tremblingly solicitous for the welfare of sundry “red-striped carpet bags, trunks with wrappering over,” bandboxes which will be ruined by a drop of rain, and fish-baskets which have a mortal antipathy to be squeezed. Other important-looking passengers make up their minds to take things as a matter of course, and not betray any vulgar surprise; and from their extremely over-done nonchalance, would fain persuade you they had made a journey round the globe in a first-rate train, and reached the antipodes by a tunnel. These valiant and adventurous individuals are by far the severest sufferers by the anti-cigar-act, passed by the Company, for which the unsmoking part of the community, especially the fair sex, are greatly indebted. The traveller may refer to the company’s regulations at full, in the appendix at the end of this volume. Supposing all preliminaries adjusted, we commence our journey.

Passing the station at Vauxhall, (closely adjoining to which are Vauxhall Gardens,) the railroad proceeds by Duddeston, and passes over the Coleshill road near Saltley Chapel, a small pigeon-house like edifice to the E. of the line. Aston Church soon appears on the W., above the rich woods surrounding it; and the high chimney of the Birmingham Water Works (lately established to supply the town) is passed on the E. The steam engines, Hercules and Atlas, erected here for pumping the water from the reservoir, into the pipes for conveyance to Birmingham, are perhaps the grandest and most perfect of their kind ever fabricated. Yardley Village and Perry Barr form the distant view. The railroad now passes over the Aston embankment, and a viaduct of ten arches, beneath which runs the high road to Sutton, and the Fazeley Canal. From this point the last view is gained of the town of Birmingham, on the W.; and on the E. a prospect of Gravelly Hill, now nearly levelled, and the village of Erdington. A short distance onwards the line passes the front of Aston Hall, a fine old baronial residence in the Elizabethan style of architecture, erected by Sir Thomas Holt in 1620, and in which he entertained Charles I. previously to the battle of Edge Hill. It is situated in a fine park, richly ornamented with stately timber of ancient growth, and thriving modern plantations. All the views of this fine old mansion are strikingly beautiful; but the one commanded from the railroad line, looking up the avenue of lofty elms, (which the line crosses,) is the most imposing.

James Watt, Esq., the present proprietor, has, it is said, expended £10,000 in preventing the line of railroad from passing through his park, which the Company intended it to do; and in consequence of this opposition a great curve appears in the course of the line at this part. Iron works in the neighbourhood have been in operation from remote antiquity. [14]

The Church, which re-appears at several points of the line, is a beautiful and venerable structure, with a fine tapering spire, and remarkably musical bells, the sweet tones of which will scarcely reach the ears of railroad travellers. Part of the village of Aston is observable from the railroad, and also the grounds and fish-pans of its “Tavern,” a spot much frequented by tea (and ale) drinking parties from Birmingham.

One very agreeable feature of the scenery on the line, is the unspoiled freshness and verdure of the ground on either side. The idea most persons entertain respecting such astounding innovations on ancient usages as steam carriages and railroads is, that they spread desolation around their path, and that the track of a locomotive engine must necessarily be as devastating in its effects as that of a lava course. We candidly confess to something akin to this suspicion ourselves. But all “Grand Junction” patrons must be gratified to find such expectations disappointed so pleasingly in the cheerful aspect of the fields, groves, and “little running brooks,” closely bordering the excavations or embankments. Cattle are quietly feeding just on the other side the fence, and gay wildflowers already enamel the newly-made banks. Sometimes, certainly, a horse or cow may be abruptly interrupted in a quiet meditation by the rapid rushing by of a “Centaur” or “Alecto,” with its lengthened tail of many ponderous joints; and one accident, very singular, if true, occurred lately. A certain luckless individual of the pig family, having too far indulged an imprudent spirit of investigation on the Bilston portion of the line, had his curly conclusion very summarily amputated by a passing train:—he turned round briskly to ascertain the extent of his calamity, when another train, whirling along in an opposite direction, coming in contact with his head, put a period to the enterprising animal’s existence by an instant decapitation. We might draw a wise and serious moral from this “cutting” event, but the fact presents a sufficient warning to all persons inclined to incur the penalty of two pounds in sterling coin, and limbs ad libitum, for the sake of a promenade on the forbidden ground. “Digression is a sin,”—on the defunct pig’s head be ours! But for his tragic history, we should, ere this, have introduced the hill of these parts, Barr Beacon, to our readers; it appears to the N.E., crowned with a dense grove of trees. The intervening scenery is cheerful and cultivated, but not picturesque. The village of Witton shortly appears to the E., with Barr lying on the N.E. The bridge here passed is on the boundary of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, which latter county the line now enters. Aston Hall and Church again come in sight beyond Witton, and form a beautiful rear view, which is soon shut out by the banks of the excavation, precluding all prospect save of their own sloping sides, the pebbles and markings in which are made, by the rapidity of passing, to appear like flying lines.

Perry Barr Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 3½—Liverpool and Manchester, 94 miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

At this station, the line makes a considerable curve in an opposite direction to that hitherto followed, and passes Handsworth, (the church appearing among wood on the W.,) also Lea Hall, on the W., and over two bridges, named from J. Gough, Esq., through whose estate the line runs for two miles. Pleasant, quiet-looking scenery skirts the road for some distance, and about a mile from the last bridge, a view is gained of Perry Hall, seat of J. Gough, Esq., nearly encompassed by a grove of oak trees. At Hampstead Bridge, the old Walsall road crosses the line; and on either side the prospect is pleasantly varied by wood and water. Hampstead Hall, which lies near, is nearly concealed by its rich woods from the passers on the railroad. The line shortly enters a cutting, of from sixty to seventy feet deep; emerging from which into the open country, West Bromwich, and Sandwell Park, the seat of Earl Dartmouth, appear on the W., and Barr on the E. We now pass

Newton Road Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 6¾—Liverpool and Manchester, 90¾ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

West Bromwich has rapidly risen to importance from the rich iron and coal mines which abound in its vicinity. The great Gas Works are situated here, which supply the chief part of Birmingham, Wednesbury, Dudley, Bilston, Darlaston, and other places with gas; the main tubes extending to the aggregate length of 150 miles. There are two handsome churches, the one ancient, the other modern. Population, 15,330.

The site of the present splendid mansion of Sandwell, was, in the reign of Henry II., occupied by a priory of Benedictine Monks. Charley Mount, pleasantly situated on a hill, appears W. of the line, Ray Hall and Burslem, or Bustleholm Mill, on the E. Before passing Tame Bridge, Barr Beacon again appears, heading the distant view. Friar Park is on the W., with the town and church of Wednesbury (usually pronounced Wedgebury), towering above the trees. Walsall appears from the same point, lying N.E. of the line.

Dudley, a town in the centre of the mining district, lies 5½ miles W. of the line. Population, 23,050. The ancient castle is a ruin of great beauty and interest, situated on an eminence, and surrounded with fine wood and beautiful walks. Stupendous cavern-quarries, canals, and labyrinthine excavations, extend under the Castle Hill. The limestone is remarkably rich in fossil treasures; trilobites, or, as they are vulgarly called, “Dudley locusts,” have been found here in great variety, but from the eagerness of collectors, and the inadequate supply of these ancient creatures yielded by the rocks, they have become scarce and costly, instead of “not particularly valuable,” as stated by a contemporary before alluded to.

Wednesbury is a town of ancient origin, having been fortified against the Danes by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, in 916. Extensive collieries enrich the vicinity, and tend greatly to darken the complexion of both houses and inhabitants; the workers of the black diamond hereabout being a marvellously murky fraternity. Various manufactures of iron are here carried on, and the air is generally redolent of the fumes of coal-smoke in no small degree. The market is on Friday, and fairs May 6, and August 3.

Walsall boasts an equally ancient history with the former place, and was fortified by the same princess. It stands conspicuously on the summit and acclivities of a limestone rock, which is crowned by the church, the lofty spire of which forms a fine object. Market on Tuesday; fairs September 24, Whit Monday, and Tuesday before Michaelmas day. Proceeding onwards we pass under

Bescot Bridge Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 9½—Liverpool and Manchester, 88 miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

The main road from Wednesbury to Walsall crosses this bridge; pass Bescot Hall, (Mr. Marshall’s,) on the E., and reach

James’s Bridge Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 10¼—Liverpool and Manchester, 87¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

The high road from Walsall crosses here to Darlaston, (seen in the distance on the W.,) another town in the iron and coal district, and, according to tradition, the seat of Wulphere, king of Mercia, who put his two sons to death for embracing Christianity. On the hill at Berry Bank, are the remains of a large castle and entrenchments, and near by, a Barrow, which it were heresy to doubt were the residence and grave of this redoubtable personage. The chief manufactures of this, as of the neighbouring towns, consist of various iron and steel goods. The whole district is abundantly traversed by canals, tram-roads, &c., for the convenient conveyance of merchandise, and presents to the passing traveller less subject for praise in point of beauty, than for admiration and surprise, at the closely-placed engines, mills, coal-pits, iron-mines, and factories, which greet him on all sides, with hissing, curling volumes of white steam, or thick massy clouds of rolling smoke. Should the traveller journey through this strange neighbourhood by night, the novel and wild, not to say, grand, effect of the fires, must strike him forcibly. Huge furnaces glowing on the earth, from a dark wayside forge; tall chimneys, themselves not seen in the gloom, vomiting forth flames and fiery-coloured smoke, or a long range of glowing hillocks, where flickering blazes play from the charcoal burning within: add to these, the dusky figures of the men and boys employed in the works, and a stranger will have a scene before him, in which the “fearsome” is oddly enough blended with the grotesque.

In the distance, S.W. of the line, appear the Rowley Hills, a ridge of trap or basaltic rock, which, at the time of its elevation, upheaved and broke through the coal strata. The stone being hard and compact, the hills are quarried for paving flags, &c.

“The principal mass of these (trap rocks) occurs in the southern part of the county, overlying the coal-field which surrounds the town of Dudley. It there constitutes the material of a group of hills, beginning on the S. of that town, and terminating about half-way between Halesowen and Oldbury, a little beyond the village of Rowley. These hills consist of very pure basalt, which in the neighbourhood of Birmingham is called Rowley rag, because the village of Rowley is situated on one of these basalt hills; and this hill appears to the eye to be the highest of the whole range. These hills are all covered with soil; but quarries have been opened in many of them, and the basalt of which they are composed is employed for mending the roads. The streets of Birmingham are likewise paved with it. The columnar structure, though very frequent, is far from universal in this trap, which very commonly occurs in large spherical masses, decomposing on the surface into concentric layers. An amygdaloidal variety containing calcareous spar and zeolite occurs S. of Dudley. The highest point of the Rowley Hills is stated by Dr. Thompson to be 900 feet above the Thames at Brentford.”—Conybeare and Phillips’s Geology of England and Wales.

Passing through a cutting of considerable depth, we arrive at

Willenhall Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 12—Liverpool and Manchester, 85½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

The small town of Willenhall, at the period of the Norman survey, was called Winehala, the Saxon term for victory, probably from the great battle fought near it in 311. The village began to flourish in the reign of Elizabeth, when the iron manufacture was first established here: at present, it is noted for its collieries and flourishing trade in locks, and other articles of hardware. Population, about 5,900.

Nothing of particular interest occurs on either side of the line, till, in approaching the long Wednesfield tunnel, the geological traveller will observe the remarkable section formed by the excavation through the outcropping beds of coal, which in this part rise at a great angle towards the surface, and are worked in the neighbourhood by open cuttings. The complete change which this abrupt ending of the coal-field causes in the aspect of the country is very singular. On one side all is black and murky; on the other, green and bright.

The tunnel is 180 yards in length, and the effect of a long train of carriages passing rapidly under, is novel and grand, nor less so the appearance of their emerging from the dark archway, to the expectant spectators at the

WOLVERHAMPTON STATION.

Distance to Birmingham, 14¼—Liverpool and Manchester, 83¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

The panting and smoking engine, like a huge beast, rushing along with fiery jaws, and “such a length of tail behind,” might, in a dark night, be easily suspected of being “no canny.” Divers kinds of vehicles, from post-chaises and landaus, to caravans and omnibii (as a refined friend of ours pluralizes these universal conveyances) are in attendance at this station, to convey passengers to the town of Wolverhampton, one mile distant, or to their future destination.

Wolverhampton is a place of considerable antiquity, and was called Hanton or Hampton prior to the year 996, when Wulfrana, sister of King Edgar, and widow of Aldhelm, Duke of Northampton, founded a college here, endowing it with so many privileges that the town was called in her honour, Wulfranis Hampton, of which its present name is evidently a corruption. The College continued till the year 1200, when Petrus Blesensis, who was then dean, after fruitless attempts to reform the dissolute lives of the brethren, surrendered the establishment to Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, and it was subsequently annexed to the deanery of Windsor. In 1590, the greater part of the town was destroyed by a fire, which continued burning for five days. In the parliamentary war, Wolverhampton aided the royalists, and Prince Rupert fixed his head-quarters here, while the king was encamped at Bushbury.

The town is situated on an eminence, on the N.W. side of the great midland coal-district, and the neighbourhood abounds with iron, coal, and limestone. The manufacture of locks, forms here as in the other towns in the vicinity, the staple trade, to which may be added, smith’s and carpenter’s tools, machinery of all kinds, furnishing ironmongery, &c. The modern streets are well-built and lighted, and contain many handsome and substantial houses. A public Subscription Library and News-room, occupy the lower part of a commodious building, in which, assemblies and concerts are likewise held. A Literary and Philosophical Society is established, but not yet supported in a manner at all proportioned to its merits; a circumstance not reflecting much honour on the professedly intelligent and “higher” classes of the inhabitants. The Mechanics’ Institution is in a more flourishing condition, for obvious reasons, being patronized by the more knowledge-loving part of the community. The Theatre is opened occasionally; it is a small and unpretending structure. Races are annually held in August, in an extensive area near the town, and are well attended. In the centre of the market-place stands a cast-iron column, forty-five feet high, surmounted by a large gas lantern, which was intended by its sanguine projector to enlighten the whole town and suburbs, but, alas for the great designs of short-sighted humanity!—its sphere of usefulness is unfortunately restricted to the attic and chamber windows of the houses immediately contiguous.

The Collegiate Church is an ancient and exceedingly beautiful cruciform structure, in the early decorated style of architecture, with a handsome square embattled tower rising from the centre. It contains a curious and elaborately-carved stone pulpit, formed of one entire block, an ancient font, and several interesting monuments. In the church-yard is a column, twenty feet high, greatly enriched with sculpture of various designs, supposed to be of either Saxon or Danish origin. There are several other churches in Wolverhampton, and many religious establishments belonging to various sects of dissenters; also a Free Grammar School, Blue Coat Charity, National, Sunday, and other Schools. The population of Wolverhampton is about 25,000; it has a market on Wednesday, and a fair on July 10.

CHAPTER III.
WOLVERHAMPTON TO STAFFORD,
Fifteen Miles.

On quitting the station at Wolverhampton a good view is obtained of the town and fine old Church, with the hills of Rowley Regis in the distance. Tettenhall Wood and the Clee Hills soon add to the beauty of the southward view; and the line is skirted by fine trees and fresh verdant meadows, over which a peep of the distant landscape is gained at intervals. Show Hill, and Low Hill houses are pleasantly situated on the ridge of a hill to the E., and beyond them appears Bushbury Hill, a point of the same elevation, with its old village Church, built about 1460; this is perhaps the most pleasing part of the line we have yet traversed. The Wrekin appears in the distance to the W., and nearer, the lofty and tapering spire of Brewood (or Brood) Church, rises from its girdling woods. Moseley Court, the ancient seat of J. G. Whitgreave, Esq., lies E. of the line, whence but little of the house is visible, being surrounded by stately oak groves. In this venerable mansion, Charles II. was temporarily concealed, when on his way to Bentley. Wrottesley Park, seat of Sir John Wrottesley, Bart., Chillington Park and Hall, the noble residence of T. W. Giffard, Esq., and the village of Codsall, form portions of the scenery to the S.W. All this part of the line from Wolverhampton is on an embankment, which, however, does not exceed fifteen feet at the highest point. On the E. appears Hilton Park, seat of H. E. C. V. Graham, Esq., and on the W., Pendeford Hall. The villages of Shareshill and Featherstone, lie E. of the line. A bridge here crosses it, bearing the felicitous name of “Paradise;” happy mortals, to reach such blessed bourne! But our stay is brief indeed; Paradise is left far behind, and we pass onwards under and over many a bridge of great and small degree; for the railroad even renders a common dirty gutter, a thing of so great importance, that a stately and ponderous arch must be erected for its insignificant accommodation! Verily, we grow aristocratic in our indignation at such upstart doings. The honourable fraternity of Ditch, Gutter, and Co., may, with a good grace, quote the old fable, and exclaim, “How we apples swim;” they are marvellously promoted since “an hundred years ago.” The Stafford Canal passes under, and the railroad over, a handsome iron bridge, between the village of Coven on the W., and Aspley on the E. side of the line.

The wide moorland called Cannock Chase, lies E., and is for some distance seen from the line. It was in earlier times, a forest or chase belonging to the Mercian kings. In one part, Castle Hill, now enclosed by the boundary of Beaudesert Park, seat of the Marquis of Anglesea, is an ancient British encampment, surrounded by a double trench, occupying about fourteen acres. Near it are the remains of a moat, enclosing an oblong square of three acres, called the Old Nunnery, where a Cistercian Abbey was founded in the reign of Stephen, which was shortly after removed to Stoneleigh, in Warwickshire. Cannock Chase, or Heath, contains upwards of 25,000 acres; in some parts, containing extensive sheep walks.

Four Ashes Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 20—Liverpool and Manchester, 77½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

If the reader be a passenger in a mixed train, the diminished speed will here allow him a better chance of observation; and a fine view may be enjoyed on the eastward, of Cannock Chase, with its undulating scenery; and westward, Summerford Park, seat of the Hon. E. Monkton, the little town of Brewood, and the Wrekin. Passing on, nothing of interest occurs until the arrival at the next, the

Spread Eagle Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 21½—Liverpool and Manchester, 76 miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Here the railroad crosses the old Roman road called Watling-street; the ancient prætorian highway, reaching from Dover, by St. Albans, Dunstable, Towcester, Atherstone, Shrewsbury, &c., to Cardigan; in many places it is scarcely perceptible, while in others it continues firm for several miles. And who can pass such a junction of roads, without a backward glance at past years and events? without a thought of the thousand “changes of time and tide” that this ancient track has witnessed: the millions of human footsteps it has received:—the proud and victorious Roman, exulting in his country’s greatness and conquests, and contemptuously spurning the savage natives, whose natural rights he invaded:—the rapacious and desolating Dane:—the wily Saxon:—the adventurous Norman: and now the compound people, we English, who, not content with the ways of our fathers, must needs cross them with our refined and scientific innovations. In sooth, this ancient road were a fitter subject for an epic poem, than a guide-book gossip.

Passing the Spread Eagle station, the villages of Water Eaton and Stretton, are seen on the W., and Rodbaston Hall, with Cannock Chase behind, on the E. The turnpike road here runs parallel with the line for some distance. At Quarry Bridge, a short distance from Penkridge, is a fine quarry of red sandstone, which has furnished a handsome material for several bridges in the vicinity. From hence the church of Penkridge, and the next arch over the line, forms an interesting picture, to which the near arch of Quarry Bridge serves as framework.

The church is shortly after passed, on the E., and arriving at the bridge over the river Penk, a lovely view of the surrounding scenery presents itself. The river appears on both sides, winding gracefully along, between meadows and groves; on the E. is the Old Bridge, beyond which appears Teddesley Park and Hall, the seat of Lord Hatherton, with our old friend Cannock Chase in the distance. Westward the eye ranges over the near objects to Preston Hill and Longridge, altogether forming a delightful prospect.

Penkridge Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 24—Liverpool and Manchester, 73½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Penkridge is supposed by Camden to have been the Roman Pennocrucium; its modern name seems derivable from the river Penk, on which it stands.

The town, from its low situation, is liable to frequent inundations. It has no market-day, but two great cattle fairs are held here, on April 30, and first Monday in September. The Church was made collegiate by King John. Penkridge contains about 3,000 inhabitants. Quitting Penkridge, the villages of Thickerscote and Silkmoor appear in the distance; and shortly after leaving Acton Trussel to the E., and Levedale on the W., Dunstan Church, appears above the bank of the railway, on the E. The next object of interest is Stafford Castle, the tower of which is seen just before arriving at

STAFFORD STATION.

Distance to Birmingham, 29¼—Liverpool and Manchester, 68¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Stafford is a borough and market town; contains 8,512 inhabitants. This place, which is of great antiquity, was anciently called Stadeford, from the Saxon Stade, signifying a place on a river, and the trajectus, or ford, across the river Sow, on which it is pleasantly situated, about six miles from its confluence with the Trent.

The entrance from the London road, is by a neat bridge over the river, near which was one of the ancient gates. The houses are in general well-built, and many of them are handsome and modern erections; the streets well paved, and the environs of the town abound with elegant mansions and villas. Assemblies are held in a suite of rooms in the Town Hall, and races take place annually in May. The chief branch of manufacture is that of shoes, and the tanning of leather is carried on to a considerable extent. Stafford is also renowned for its ale, in common with the surrounding neighbourhood. The market is held on Saturday, and fairs on April 5, May 14, June 25, October 3, and December 5.

From the year 700, this place has been gradually acquiring importance, and castles have been built and rebuilt by successive princes and possessors. In 705, it is said to have been the residence of the pious St. Bertalin, son of a Mercian king, and we may well imagine a royal hermitage to have formed an attractive nucleus for a future city. Ethelfleda, Countess of Mercia, erected a castle here in 913, and fortified the town with walls and a fosse. It appears to have increased greatly in extent and importance, and is in Doomsday Book called a city, in which the king had eighteen burgesses in demesne, and the Earl of Mercia twenty mansions. William the Conqueror built a castle here, to keep the barons in subjection, and appointed as governor, Robert de Toeni, the progenitor of the house of Stafford. It was rebuilt in the reign of Edward III., and in the parliamentary war was garrisoned for the king, but taken by the parliamentary troops, and finally demolished. The lover of picturesque relics of the olden time, must regret the utter destruction of this, and many other strong holds; but the knowledge, that the iron-handed tyranny upheld by these feudal dens, is for ever gone by with their departed strength, is a glorious and surpassing compensation. Where would be our railroads, if moss-trooping barons and slavish serfs formed, as they once did, the population of England?

The castellated building which now forms so prominent a feature in the landscape on approaching Stafford, is a modern erection, on the ancient site, commenced by Lord Stafford, (then Sir George Jerningham); only one front, flanked by two round towers was completed; these now contain some ancient armour and other curiosities. The County Hall is a spacious and handsome building of stone, occupying one side of the Market-place. The County Gaol is also a large and modern erection, well adapted for the classification of prisoners, who are employed at their trades, and receive a certain portion of their earnings on discharge.

The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, formerly collegiate, is an ancient and spacious cruciform structure, in the early style of English architecture, with a lofty octagonal tower rising from the intersection. The north entrance is richly ornamented, and the interior beautifully arranged, the piers and arches are of the early English, passing into the decorated style. The east window is an elegant specimen of the later English. In the north transept is an ancient font of great beauty, highly ornamented with sculptured figures and animals. There are many ancient monuments; amongst the most conspicuous, are those of the family of Aston, of Tixall. There are two other Churches, one, St. Chadd’s, originally in the Norman style, but much and incongruously altered; also, places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The Free Grammar School was refounded by Edward VI.; there are also National and other Schools, and a variety of Public Institutions, among which the Infirmary, and Lunatic Asylum are the chief.

In olden times, a Priory of Black Canons existed here, founded in 1151; a small part of whose ruined abode remains, in the shape of a farm house, two miles east of the town. There were likewise, a House of Friars Eremites; a Priory of Franciscan Friars, and other monastic establishments, all dismantled at the dissolution. The most celebrated native of Stafford, is Isaac Walton, the angler, a name well-beloved by all votaries of the (so called) “gentle sport,” though there are and have been many who rather think with the Poet, that

“The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet
Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.”

Byron.

CHAPTER IV.
STAFFORD TO WHITMORE,
Fourteen Miles.

In leaving Stafford station, the Castle appears to the W. and the Town, E. of the line. Beacon Hill is seen immediately over the latter. On proceeding a short distance through a flat country, the little village of Aston is passed on the W., and Creswell Hall, (Rev. T. Whitley,) on the E., which, encompassed by richly wooded grounds, and overlooking the meanderings of the little river Sow, forms a fine object in the general landscape. The house is a plain, neat structure. Much of the ground here is marshy, and abounds with willows, whose light silvery foliage agreeably diversifies the meadow and woodland scenery; amid which, on the W., peeps the pretty tower of Seighford Church.

Passing two successive cuttings of no great depth, and through a marshy district adorned by poplar and willow trees, we arrive at

Bridgeford Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 32¾—Liverpool and Manchester, 64¾ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

On the E. is Bridgeford Hall, the estate of J. Reynolds, Esq., formerly a Convent. Some remains of the ancient buildings still exist in different parts of the hall and garden.

A story of a subterranean passage also belongs to this relic of olden times, which passage, says tradition, leads to Ellenhall, about two miles distant; and we have been told that in digging a well a few years since the passage was discovered.

A picturesque Mill stands near the Hall. Passing Chebsey W., and Whitgreave on the E., we reach Shallowford, where a few scattered cottages represent the honours of the Village, and the Sow, which almost emulates the winding propensities of the fair river Wye, meanders quietly among the meadows. At Shallowford Bridge, which is chiefly built for the convenience of farmers, whose cattle and teams are constantly traversing it, a person is generally stationed with a red flag to give a signal for trains to slacken their speed at this part, if cattle are passing at the time.

A pleasant but not very interesting portion of the line brings us to

Norton Bridge Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 35—Liverpool and Manchester, 62½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Two miles and a half W. of this station lies the small town of Eccleshall, which at the time of the Conquest belonged to the See of Lichfield. In 1200, Bishop Muschamp obtained a licence from King John, to embattle the episcopal residence; which was much repaired, or rebuilt, by Bishop Langton in 1310. During the parliamentary war it was so much damaged in a siege, previously to being taken by the parliamentarians, as to be unfit for the further residence of the church-militant commanders-in-chief, until Bishop Lloyd rebuilt it in 1695; since which time it has continued to be the episcopal palace of the See of Lichfield and Coventry. The grounds and woods belonging to the palace are pleasant and extensive. The church was the sanctuary of Queen Margaret, after Lord Audley’s defeat by the Earl of Salisbury, at Blore Heath. It is a spacious structure, in the ancient English style of architecture, and contains several monuments.

The town of Stone lies three miles E. of the line, and is not seen from it; the name is traditionally derived from a monumental heap of stones, which, according to the custom of the Saxons had been placed over the bodies of the princes Wulford and Rufinus, who were here slain by their father king Wulphere, on account of their conversion to Christianity. [See page 20.] The king himself becoming subsequently a convert, founded, in 670, a college of Secular Canons, dedicating it to his children, in expiation of his crime: and to this establishment the town is supposed to owe its origin. The prevailing manufacture is that of shoes. Population, 7,808.

Although none of the towns in the great district called the Potteries, are upon or even seen from the line of route, yet they lie so near, that it would scarcely be well to omit all mention of this great manufacturing neighbourhood, which encloses about ten square miles of country, covered with scattered villages, and containing about 20,000 inhabitants. Although the making of articles of pottery has been carried on here from a remote period, yet the manufacture was of inferior importance, until the great improvements effected by Mr. Wedgewood in the latter part of the last century; since which time the excellence and beauty of the wares, have produced a most extensive traffic both in England and abroad. The exports of earthenware and china to the United States alone, amount to 60,000 packages annually. The several species of ware invented by Mr. Wedgewood, varied by the industry and ingenuity of the manufacturers into an infinity of forms, and differently painted and embellished, constitute nearly the whole of the fine earthenwares at present manufactured in England, which are the object of a very extensive trade. The chief towns and villages in the Pottery district are, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Burslem, Lane End, Shelton, Etruria, Tunstall, Lane Delph, and others.

Proceeding from Norton Bridge, through some pretty, common-place country, we pass Baddenhall, Field Cross, and Brockton-house on the W., and Coldmese on the E., and soon gain a view of Swinnerton Park and Hall, seat of T. Fitzherbert, Esq., which, with the small grove-like woods scattered through the landscape, forms, as the quaint Dugdale would say, “a verye faire prospect.” The next small representation of a village is Mill Meese, with its old Hall standing close beside the line; the water-mill wheel, formerly accustomed to have no rival sound interrupt its rumbling, splashing solo, now seems wofully outdone by the rapidly rolling trains, and lifts up its unheard voice in vain. The river Sow still flows close to the line. Westward lie the villages of Walford and Aspley, but too much concealed by wood to be discovered in passing. Trentham Park, seat of the Marquis of Sutherland, is perceived on the N.E. The mansion is a modern structure; the surrounding grounds are very extensive, abound with fine timber, and greatly adorned by lakes, formed by the river Trent, which flows through the park.

Standon Church, with the richly wooded country round, forms a pleasing object W. of the line.

Passing on, another Swinnerton Park appears on the E., there being two of that name. Hill Chorlton and Chapel Chorlton, with the picturesque church tower of the latter, appears W. of the traveller. A short distance of pretty wooded scenery intervenes, and then a shallow cutting, passing which, Maer Wood is seen on the W. Maer Hall, seat of J. Wedgewood, Esq.

Shortly after, the line enters a deep cutting, which ends at

WHITMORE STATION.

Distance to Birmingham, 43¼—Liverpool and Manchester, 54¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

CHAPTER V.
WHITMORE TO CREWE,
Ten and ¾ Miles.

An extensive heathy bog is traversed by the line, after leaving Whitmore station, and, as we have heard an ancient tradition anent it, will tell the tale for the edification of our readers, “extenuating nothing.”

Once upon a time there was a large forest in this part, and when the Romans were amusing themselves with hunting our worthy ancestors, a large body of the ancient Britons took refuge therein. In order to come at them these terrible Romans set fire to the forest, which burnt in a very fearful and dreadful manner; but our information does not extend to the exact measure of scorching endured by the miserable prisoners within this fiery fence, or whether they escaped by flight, or were consumed wholesale in the burning forest, which, with the accumulation of vegetable matter during past ages, has formed the bog, now “passed with the swiftness of tornado-blast,” by “Wildfires” and “Rockets.”

Opposite the Bog-house is one of the highest points of the line, the road inclining towards Liverpool one way, and towards Birmingham the other. Snape Hall is prettily situated among rich woods on the E. of the line; and a short distance farther Barr Hill appears on the W. It is a considerable elevation, and on a clear day, Liverpool may be seen from it. Madeley Parks and Manor House lie W. of the line. The latter is the seat of Lady Cunliffe, daughter of Lord Crewe, to whose family, the adjoining land, formerly a fine deer park, anciently belonged. Hay House, a small, old, brick building, stands close to the line of railway on the E. One cannot help feeling an odd sort of commiseration for these ancient abodes of the last generation, which have stood, and grown old and grey, in the once quiet and out-of-the-world nooks where the convenience of the farmer, or the retired taste of the small country squire, had located them; and now, to see the iron ribs of the innovating railroad carried up to their very threshold, has something of sadness in it, even in the midst of our modern pride and gratulation. It is like pert youth, exhibiting and vaunting of its strength and valorous deeds, to decrepid and helpless age. But what have we to do with such dreams? “Locomotives” wait for no man’s fancies, and we must e’en follow their course. Soon after passing which, we reach

Madeley Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 46—Liverpool and Manchester, 51½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

The village, which is rather eastward of the line, consists chiefly of cottages and farm houses in the Elizabethan style. The Church is an ancient and interesting structure, with a fine set of bells. An eccentric, named Samuel Stretch, noted for his penurious habits, bequeathed, in 1804, a great bell, to be tolled every night at eight o’clock, as a guide to persons wandering about at such late and improper hours; he having accidently fallen into a ditch, the consequences of which disaster eventually caused his death. The small town of Woore lies three miles W. Passing several slight cuttings, and again gaining the open country, a fine prospect appears, including Checkley Wood, Doddington Park, on the W., Heighley Castle on the E., and the Welsh Hills in the distance. Doddington Hall, seat of Lieut. Gen. Sir John Delves Broughton, Bart., is a splendid mansion of comparatively modern erection. A fortified house was erected here in 1364, by Sir John Delves, the venerable ruins of which still remain. The park is finely wooded, and includes a very noble avenue of ancient oaks. Heighley Castle partakes the traditionary honour so lavishly bestowed on such places, of having been “battered down” by Cromwell. It has been said, “no man can be in two places at once, unless he be a bird.” And our renowned Oliver must needs have been wonderfully endowed with this ornithological ubiquity, if we are to allow a shade of credence to the countless and unaccountable stories of his sieges in propria personá. A lofty embankment and two viaducts carry the line through the pretty valley of Wrinehill; the Hall and Mill forming very pleasing objects in the scene. The line here enters Cheshire. Betley and Betley Mere form the next view, after emerging from a short excavation, called Bunker’s Hill. Betley Court, the residence of J. Twemlow, Esq., with its surrounding woods and fields, and the pretty mere or lakelet in front, afford a very pleasing view.

In the rear distance, S.E., is a fine view of Boond Hill and Mow Copp, on the round summit of the latter is a stone monument, distinctly seen. These hills, which lie at a considerable distance, join in the landscape for some space. Chorlton is the first village we pass in Cheshire, and Wybunbury, a place of much more importance, is concealed by the woods about the former, except the Church, which peers above them. This Church was rebuilt in 1595; it is a spacious structure, with carved wooden ceilings, and a lofty pinnacled tower, which leaned so much to the N.E., that a few years since it was found requisite to place it erect, when some alterations were made in the body of the Church. To the W. is Basford Hall, soon after passing which, we arrive at

Basford Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 52—Liverpool and Manchester, 45½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Crewe Hall, the mansion of Lord Crewe, which appears E. of the line, is a large and handsome quadrangular structure of red brick, surrounded by finely undulating grounds, and a lake of considerable extent.

CREWE STATION.

Distance to Birmingham, 54—Liverpool and Manchester, 43½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Nantwich, four miles W. of Crewe, contains 5,350 inhabitants, and has a market on Saturdays, and fairs, chiefly for cattle, on March 26, second Tuesday in June, September 4, and December 4.

Previously to the Conquest, the wealth of this place consisted in its numerous brine springs. Its origin is attributed to the Britons; and its name appears to be derived from the British word Nant, a brook or marsh, and the Saxon vic, by corruption wich, a vill, or settlement. The latter term seems generally attached to the names of towns where salt is made. This town has had its full share of plague, pestilence, and war, in times past, and twice suffered greatly from fire, in the years 1438 and 1583. During the civil war it staunchly supported the parliament.

The town is situated on the banks of the river Weaver, in a level and fertile tract of country. Most of the houses are of timber and brick, covered with plaster, with projecting stories, and large bay-windows. There is a small Theatre and Assembly-room. In the time of Henry VIII., there were three hundred salt works; this number has been gradually reduced, in consequence of superior mines and springs being discovered elsewhere, and now only one spring remains. Shoes, gloves, and cotton goods are the chief manufactures now, and cheese the principal agricultural produce. The Church is a spacious and venerable structure, in the decorated and later English styles, comprising a nave, with lateral aisles, a chancel, transepts, and an ornamented octagonal tower, rising from the intersection. There are Meetings and Chapels for Dissenters, and various Schools. John Gerarde, whose fine old work, called Gerarde’s Herbal, is familiar to every botanist, was a native of Nantwich, born in 1545.

CHAPTER VI.
CREWE TO HARTFORD,
Eleven and ¾ Miles.

Quitting the Crewe station, around which is little to attract the traveller’s notice, the line proceeds nearly without a curve, and for some distance enables the passengers of one train, to observe the approach of another. A branch railway is in progress from Crewe, to Manchester on one side, and to Chester on the other. The tower of Coppenhall Church is the first object on the W. This Church is an old wood and plaster structure, of the style prevalent in the reign of Elizabeth, and looking almost as if modern times had forgotten it, so quaint and old it is.

Passing the Church and Village, we arrive at

Coppenhall Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 56—Liverpool and Manchester, 41½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

The country near the line in this part becomes flat, boggy, and uninteresting; for though an ancient moss is a scene of uncloying interest to a naturalist, and contains many a treasure to reward the patient seeking of the botanist; yet, in the cursory glance of a railroad traveller, its sombre, and, as he perhaps thinks, unprofitable waste, is a scene gladly exchanged for verdant pastures and waving corn fields. Here is a whole family of mosses, all lying closely contiguous, and quaking under the foot of the pedestrian wanderer among their heathy labyrinths, “like a great jelly bag,” as the graphic authoress of “Wood Leighton,” that most graceful, good, and womanly book, quaintly describes a like spot. Coppenhall Moss, Leighton Moss, Warmington Moss, and, for aught we know, half a score more, compose the near view, with the welcome variety afforded by Warmingham Wood in the distance.

The towns of Sandbach and Congleton lie on the E., but are not seen from the line. The former contains about 7,200 inhabitants. The market is on Thursday, and fairs on Easter Tuesday and Wednesday, and the first Thursday after September 11; and a cattle and pleasure fair on December 27, for cattle and wearing apparel. In the market-place are some ancient crosses, repaired in 1816. The church is in the later English style. There are Dissenting Chapels, and several Schools. Congleton contains 9,352 individuals. It is an ancient place, and is called Cogletone in Doomsday Book, but its origin has not been clearly ascertained. The town is situated in a valley, embosomed in richly wooded hills: the eastern part is old and irregularly built; the western is modern. In the environs, especially on the banks of the river, are many elegant mansions and villas. The market is on Saturday; the fairs on the Thursday before Shrovetide, May 12, July 12, and December 22. The Market-house, containing a handsome Assembly-room, was built in 1822, at the sole expense of Sir E. Antrobus, Bart.

Minshull Vernon Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 58¾—Liverpool and Manchester, 38¾ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Here the scenery becomes more interesting, from the distant view afforded on the W. of Beeston Castle Hill, and the high lands in Cheshire and Wales.

Beeston Castle was founded by Ranulph de Blundeville, about 1220, and was made a royal garrison, in the war between Henry III., and the confederate Barons. In 1643, Beeston Castle was held by a detachment of the Parliamentarian forces, then taken by the Royalists, who were, after a long siege in 1645, compelled, from want of provisions, to surrender it; and the Parliamentarians dismantled it early the following year. The ruins consist of part of a tower which guarded the principal entrance to the inner court, flanked by semi-circular bastions, and surrounded by a moat, excavated in the solid rock. The outer walls were defended by eight round towers, irregularly placed, and are now covered with ivy.

On the N.W. appears Delamere Forest, which continues to form part of the railroad prospect for some space. This tract, which includes the ancient and royal forest of Delamere, was uninclosed till 1812, when it was erected into a parish by act of parliament. It was formerly a dreary waste, but is now rapidly improving in fertility and increased population. On its enclosure, it first gave the title of Baron Delamere of Vale Royal, to Thomas Cholmondeley, Esq., the proprietor of the ancient possessions of the Cistercian monks of Vale Royal, whose sumptuous Abbey was completed in 1330, by Edward I., and cost £32,000. There are races in March, called the Tanfield Hunt.

Delamere Forest, comprising about 10,000 acres, once contained a great number of red and fallow deer: it exhibits a pleasing variety of well-wooded hills, rich valleys for pasturage, waters affording plenty of fish and water-fowl; and mosses, producing an abundance of peat and turf for fuel. Upon the highest hill stood the Saxon fortress of Finborrow, and near it the city of Eadesbury, both of which are said to have been founded by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. The ancient residence of the Chief Forester is all that now remains; this house is called the Chamber of the Forest; and at convenient distances around it are neat lodges for the keepers of the several walks. Five thousand acres of the forest have been planted with forest trees within the last twenty years. The remaining portion is sold or allotted to private individuals.

Journeying on, we pass Lea Hall, a plain, old-fashioned building, close to the line, and can just perceive Over Church above the trees; this part of the line being more clothed with wood than that we have recently described. Here the Middlewich Canal is crossed, and is seen on the E., in which direction, two miles from the line, lies the town of Middlewich, containing about 4,800 inhabitants, with a market on Thursday, and fairs on Holy Thursday, Aug. 25, and Oct. 29. The name of this town is derived from its central situation with respect to the Wiches, or Salt Towns. A Roman station is supposed to have existed here, from the remains of a Roman road, and an intrenched camp. The Royalists were defeated here during the civil war, and the same fortune befel the Parliamentarian forces subsequently. The town is divided by the Grand Trunk Canal, here crossed by the river Dane; and the rivers Weyer, Croco, and Whelock, also run through the parish. The chief trade consists in salt obtained from powerful brine-springs: there are also some silk manufactories. The church, being built at various periods, presents an assemblage of different styles of architecture: it has a handsome tower. Here are also dissenting meetings, and a free school, which, like many like establishments, fulfils, but in a very limited degree, the intentions of its founders. Delamere Forest and Over Church again form the westerly view.

The small straggling town of Over lies about a mile W. of the line; it contains 2,930 inhabitants; has no market, but fairs on May 15 and Sept. 25. The church was re-built in 1543, by Hugh Starkey, Gentleman Usher to Henry VIII., in the later English style of architecture. An effigy of brass in the interior of the church, perpetuates the memory of the pious Hugh; a curious font, and some other antiquities, may also be seen. Salt is the chief manufacture. In the extreme distance on the S.E., a clear day allows a tolerable view of the Derbyshire hills from this part of the line; Stanthorne Hall, seat of Richard Dutton, Esq., also E., is passed immediately before reaching the

Winsford Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 61¼—Liverpool and Manchester, 36¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Bostock Hall, seat of James France France, Esq., and Wharton, would be seen E. from the railroad after leaving the station, but that the line enters a shallow cutting; the banks of which hide the view “just at the very time when they should not.” An opening gives a glimpse of the woods about the house, and that is all. The next peep is westward again, at Moulson: and after passing another cutting (this word cutting is an inelegant term, which does not fall into our prose with ease; but we cannot avoid it, belonging, as it does, to railroad phraseology) we gain a view of Vale Royal Park and New Park on the W., the pleasant woodland glades of which are soon shut out by another cutting which takes us through Eaton, and by Eaton Hall, seat of Sir E. Antrobus. We now approach one of the most magnificent parts of the railway, and of the scenery skirting it; the Vale Royal Viaduct, over which the line passes for five hundred feet, and beneath which the river Weaver winds through the vale in graceful sweeps, girt with verdant meadows; on the E. it is crossed by the simple old bridge, now looking very humble, in the presence of its magnificent neighbour. The viaduct consists of five arches of immense span, it is built of a reddish stone, and is a noble erection. The traveller will do well to be alert and on the “look out” in this part, or the view will escape him. Westward lies Vale Royal Park, rich in the grandeur of its ancient woods, and nearly hidden among them is Delamere Abbey, the old and venerable seat of Lord Delamere. Little remains now of the ancient building, which was not, as described by Warton in his Elegy, seen “high o’er the trackless heath,” but was seated in a deep valley on the banks of the river Weaver. The present mansion consists of a centre and two wings of red stone. The great hall is a magnificent apartment.

The marvellous enlightenment of the 19th century, great as we deem it, has not yet penetrated those holes and corners of prejudice and credulity, which serve for the hiding places of superstition, for even in the eye of the Railroad itself are those living who speak with awe of the so-called prophecies, said to be made by the poor driveller Robert Nixon, the Cheshire sage. It so happens, very oddly, that predictions are sometimes remembered when verified, and not before. So was the curious and very oracular one of the past year, so often quoted,—

“A summer without a spring,
And an autumn without a king,”

which no one can deny was very remarkable indeed—only it was too disloyal to be circulated till certainty had secured its truth. Poor Nixon wishing, doubtlessly, to compliment his patrons, the Cholmondeley family, with a “May-the-king-live-for-ever” kind of benediction, promised that till certain stones or rocks near Warrington came to Vale Royal, the prosperity of their family should continue. Unluckily, stones have grown locomotive of late, and “Birnam Wood doth come to Dunsinane,” for the fatal rocks have become part of the grand viaduct, which, far from bringing ill to the noble Delamere, is a link in the mighty chain now weaving, which shall bind together art, science, talent, wealth, and greatness, for the good of all who are so blessed as to live in the age of RAILROADS.

The line passes through a deep cutting before arriving at the

HARTFORD STATION.

Distance to Birmingham, 65¾—Liverpool and Manchester, 31¾ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

CHAPTER VII.
HARTFORD TO WARRINGTON,
Twelve and ¼ Miles.

Proceeding from the Hartford station, the banks of the cutting conceal much of the scenery. The small and scattered village of Gorstage appears on the W. From Hartford station to Acton station the evenness of the ground renders a train visible to a spectator, at either place, the entire distance.

The town of Northwich lies two miles E. of the railway; has a market on Friday, and fairs on April 10, for cattle only, August 2, and December 6. Camden is of opinion, that the brine springs here were used by the Romans, and says, the town was anciently called Hellah-Du, or the Black Salt Town. The town has a very antique appearance, and contains a church very remarkable for its semi-circular choir, and for the curious decorations of the roof of the nave, which consist of numerous figures of wicker baskets, similar to those used in the process of salt-making. The commercial prosperity of Northwich, is entirely dependent upon its numerous brine springs and extensive mines of rock salt; in which article the trade is so great, as to produce an annual export of 100,000 tons from the springs alone. They were discovered at a very early period, and are usually more than one hundred yards in depth. The brine, being raised by pumps set in motion by steam-engines, is conveyed by pipes into pans, thirty or forty feet square: these are fixed over furnaces, the heat arising from which, causes the water to evaporate, and the salt to crystallise; it is then drained and dried, and is fit for sale. The mines of rock salt were discovered in 1670, the upper stratum, lying about sixty yards below the surface of the earth, is ten yards thick. About 1772, a second stratum, ten feet thick, and of superior quality, was discovered, at the depth of one hundred and ten yards, the intermediate space being occupied by a solid mass of stone. This latter bed alone is worked by the following process:—A shaft is sunk, and on reaching the mine a roof of salt is left, supported by pillars of the same material. As the excavation proceeds, the fragments are raised in buckets by means of steam-engines. The pits form an area of two, three, or four acres, and when illuminated, present a singularly beautiful and magnificent appearance; the light being reflected from all points in every variety of hue, as from a promiscuous assemblage of mirrors and prisms. This fairy palace was the scene of an elegant entertainment, given by the spirited proprietors, to about a hundred of the members of the British Association, during the meeting at Liverpool, in 1837.

From an account published in 1818, it appeared that 200,000 tons of manufactured salt, and upwards of 40,000 tons of rock salt, were landed at Liverpool during the preceding year, and that upwards of 280,000 bushels are annually sold for internal consumption, by far the greatest proportion having been obtained in this neighbourhood; since that period the business has materially increased. The river Weaver and the Grand Trunk Canal afford great facilities for water-carriage from Northwich; and three hundred vessels are employed in the salt trade alone, which return laden with coal.

Passing through one or two slight cuttings, the line commands a fine view of Grange Hall, which stands on a well-wooded hill, near to the railway on the W. Eastward, is the village of Weaverham, and Winnington Hall, and, in the distance, the Overton Hills. The cutting at Acton Heath terminates near the

Acton Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 68¼—Liverpool and Manchester, 29¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Having left Acton, the prospect is much impeded for some distance by the frequent cuttings through which the line passes; in the intervals, the Overton Hills appear on the W. Aston Hall (seat of the late H. C. Aston, Esq.) and grounds are shortly seen on the E., and immediately in front lies Dutton Wood. The traveller now approaches the magnificent viaduct crossing the river Weaver and the valley of Dutton.

This gigantic structure exceeds in magnitude anything of the kind yet accomplished in this country, or perhaps in Europe, not even excepting the Menai Bridge. The Viaduct is of the Gothic order, formed of red sand-stone procured from the neighbourhood of Bolton and Runcorn; it consists of twenty arches, of sixty feet span, and sixty feet in height, and the battlements add twelve feet more to the height; the whole length is 1,400 feet: 700,000 cubic feet of stone have been used in the work—the whole cost was £50,000.

The grandeur of this stupendous work is greatly enhanced by the richness and beauty of the adjacent country.

Completion of the Dutton Viaduct. On Friday, January 9, 1837, was performed the ceremony of laying the last, or key stone, of the magnificent viaduct across the Weaver, at Dutton. A party of the directors from Liverpool attended, and were met by Mr. Locke, the engineer, and the resident engineers and contractors on the line. Mr. Heyworth, as the senior director present, after placing the last stone in its bed, addressed the party. He congratulated the workmen (of whom about one hundred and fifty were present) on their steady perseverance and diligence in bringing to perfection so noble a work: he rejoiced to find, that, in the erection of this, the greatest and first structure of its kind in the kingdom, no life or limb had been sacrificed. Mr. Locke, the engineer, and the Rev. W. Stanhope, also addressed the meeting. The health of the workmen was then given by Mr. Locke, amid hearty cheers. In the evening, the viaduct was illuminated with torches, and fireworks were displayed in great abundance; during which time the workmen were regaled with a good dinner and excellent cheer.—Chester Courant.

The traveller who would enjoy glimpses of railroad views, must bear in mind the velocity of his conveyance, and prepare to “see whatever can be seen,” or the most important objects will have glanced by the windows of his comfortable locomotive arm-chair coach, before any second person can warn him of their presence. Emerging from a cutting, which immediately succeeds the viaduct, Dutton Hall is observed on the E. backed by wood. A short distance farther, a fine rear-view is obtained (only by outside passengers we fear) of the Weaver, the vale of Dutton, Cogshall Park beyond, and in the distance the range of Derbyshire Hills. Passing between Bird Wood and Dutton Wood, we reach the tunnel at Preston Brook, 110 yards in length, over which the Chester road passes.

Preston Brook Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 72½—Liverpool and Manchester, 25 miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Preston, though a small place, is one of considerable traffic, from its vicinity to the salt districts, and to the Grand Trunk Canal.

Frodsham lies three miles W. of the line at this part; it has a market on Saturday, and fairs on May 15, and August 21. The principal branch of trade is salt refining, besides which, there are flour mills and cotton factories. This place is mentioned in Doomsday Book, as being the property of the Earl of Chester. The town, situated on an eminence on the banks of the Weaver, near its confluence with the Mersey, consists of a broad street, a mile in length; at the E. end is a bridge of four arches over the Weaver, and at the W. end anciently stood a Norman castle; another street leads to the Church, an ancient structure, partly in the Norman style of architecture.

Norton Priory, the residence of Sir Richard Brooke, Bart., is seen on the W. A religious establishment formerly existed here, some ancient parts of which are included in the present mansion. The Duke of Bridgewater’s canal runs through the park. In the rear of Norton Priory, as seen from the railway, is the now busy and important town of Runcorn, containing 10,326 inhabitants.

In 915, Ethelfleda, sister to King Edward the Elder, widow of Ethelred, King of Mercia, built a town and castle near the river Mersey, at this place, some traces of which are still visible. In 1133, William Fitz Nigel founded here a monastery of canons regular, which, in the reign of Stephen, was removed to Norton Priory above mentioned.

Runcorn is a place of considerable resort for bathing, and has been recently much enlarged, and improved by handsome buildings, &c. The township abounds with fine stone quarries, from which great quantities are sent by water to Liverpool, Manchester, &c. Here are extensive chemical and soap works, in connexion with which a chimney of 273 feet in height, and of great beauty, has recently been erected. The church is in the early and later styles of English architecture. Near Runcorn are the fine ruins of Halton Castle, situated on a steep eminence, and commanding an extensive and beautifully varied prospect, including the Mersey estuary, the Welsh mountains, and richly-wooded scenery in Cheshire and Lancashire. This fortress was demolished during the civil wars. Eastward, passing Keakwick, and Daresbury, where is a fine old church, The Elms appear. Passing which we arrive at

Moore Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 75—Liverpool and Manchester, 22½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

The pretty village of Moore is not seen from the line. Richly-wooded country lies on either side the road now, and occasionally peeping through the trees, the masts of vessels passing on the Mersey may be observed. The Mersey Viaduct is next traversed. This, though far less grand in appearance than the Dutton Viaduct, is a fine erection of 200 yards in length, consisting of twelve arches, nine being small, and three of larger span, beneath which the river Mersey, and the Mersey and Irwell Canal pass. Shortly after leaving the viaduct the town of Warrington is seen on the E., and westward lies Penketh, and the small white buildings at Fiddler’s Ferry.

WARRINGTON STATION.

Distance to Birmingham, 78—Liverpool and Manchester, 19½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Warrington forms a pleasing view from the approaching trains.

It contains 19,155 inhabitants, and is by some writers supposed to have been originally a British town, and on the invasion of the Romans under Agricola, in 79, to have been converted into a Roman station. This supposition rests chiefly on the circumstances of three Roman roads tending hitherwards to a ford over the Mersey; the vestiges of a castrum and fosse, still discernable; and the discovery of Roman coins and other relics near the ford. On its occupation by the Saxons, it obtained the name of Weringtun, from Wæring, a fortification, and tun, a town. The river was passed by ford till 1496, when Thomas, first Earl of Derby, erected a stone bridge in compliment to Henry VII., when on his visit to Latham and Knowsley. In the reign of Henry VIII., Leland, speaking of Warrington, says, “It is a pavid towne of prety bignes, the paroche chirce is at the tayle of the towne; it is a better market than Manchestre.” In the civil wars of 1643, the Royalists of the place betook themselves to the church, which they fortified, but the Parliamentarian battery dislodged them from their military sanctuary. The town is pleasantly situated on the Mersey; the streets are chiefly narrow, but contain some good buildings.

Prior to the construction of the railroad between Liverpool and Manchester, seventy stage-coaches passed through Warrington daily; now only four run. The manufactures comprise muslin, calico, velveteen, sailcloth, (which was formerly the staple trade,) pins, files, hardware, glass, malt, soap, and ale of strength and quality renowned. Railways, rivers, and canals, facilitate trade materially. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday; the fairs commence July 18 and November 30, continuing ten days. There are cloth halls, and various public buildings, and a fine old church, dedicated to St. Helen; the architecture exhibits traces of various styles and periods. Two ancient sepulchral chapels remain, and contain some magnificent monuments of the Boteler, Massey, and Patten families. There are two other churches, and various dissenting chapels and meetings, Free Grammar School, Blue Coat School, and many others, also Hospitals and other excellent institutions.

CHAPTER VIII.
WARRINGTON TO NEWTON JUNCTION,
Four and ¾ Miles.

Passing on from Warrington, the line commands a view W. of Busey Hall, (seat of Lord Lilford,) a fine old mansion, surrounded by wood; a little farther, is Burton Wood and Bold Heath and Park, (seat of Sir Henry Houghton,) also on the W., Orford Hall (seat of Hon. Mrs. Hornby) on the E., and Billinge Beacon Hill N.W. The spire of Winwick Church is seen shortly before arriving at

Winwick Station,

which, though not mentioned in the Company’s list, has, since the opening of the railway, been used as a station, for the accommodation of persons in the vicinity.

Winwick Church is a beautiful and ancient edifice, with a lofty spire; and is said to be coeval with the establishment of the Christian religion in this country.

Winwick Hall, residence of the Rector and Lord of the Manor, the Rev. J. J. Hornby, is near the church. This living is one of the wealthiest in the kingdom. Between the village of Winwick and town of Newton, is an elevated piece of ground, called Red Bank, from its having been, in 1648, the scene of a battle between Oliver Cromwell and the Scots, when the latter were defeated with great slaughter.

A short distance brings us to the

Newton Junction.

CHAPTER IX.
NEWTON JUNCTION TO LIVERPOOL.
Fourteen and ¾ Miles.

Having to describe the railroad branches to Liverpool and Manchester, we shall now continue our account along the Liverpool part of the line, and in the next Chapter take the “Newton to Manchester” portion. Leaving the Newton Junction, and turning to the left, the E. becomes North, and the W. we must call South. The constant traffic on the Liverpool and Manchester line, and the numerous trains journeying to and fro, render it a much more busy and stirring scene than the Birmingham railroad is at present.

The Grand Junction Company rent the use of this Liverpool and Manchester railway at 20,000 per annum. The exact length of the Liverpool and Manchester railway, from the station, Lime-street, Liverpool, to Water-street, Manchester, is thirty miles and three quarters, and thirty yards.

A short distance from the Junction is the Sankey Viaduct, a grand and stupendous work; the arches are nine in number, and fifty feet span; the embankments leading to and from it, are from sixty to eighty feet above the level country. Newton Common and Race-ground, the stand on which is a conspicuous object, lie to the N., with the Billinge hills behind, Burton Wood S., and the Sankey Canal winds along from either side. After passing

Collin’s Green Station

Bold Hall (seat of Sir Henry Houghton) appears to the S., and we soon enter on the Parr Moss, passing the Sutton copper works on the N.

St. Helen’s and Runcorn Junction Station.

Here the St. Helen’s line branches to the N., and the Runcorn Gap Railway, S. Shirley Hall lies on the N. side. On the S., is the Engine-house, where an engine is stationed to assist trains in ascending the Sutton inclined plane. Proceeding through the Sutton cutting, and under several fine arches, the

Lea Green Station, (top of Sutton incline,)

at the summit of the elevation, is gained, and Rainhill level entered upon. The village of Sutton and Grove Hall are nearly hidden from view by the surrounding trees.

Kendrick’s Cross Station, Rainhill.

From Rainhill station the line passes through a short cutting, and then descends the Whiston inclined plane. Prescot Church is on the N. side, with Ellsby Hills and Halton Castle on the S.

The town of Prescot, one mile N. of the line, lies principally on a substratum of coal, several mines of which are excavated to its very edge. The district has long been noted for the superior construction of watch tools and motion-work. The drawing of pinion-wire originated here; and small files, considered to be of great excellence, are made and exported in large quantities. Coarse earthenware, especially sugar moulds, are here made from the clay of the neighbourhood, which is particularly adapted to the purpose. The plate-glass works at Ravenhead are very extensive and celebrated. The concave and convex mirrors, and large plate-glass, being equal, if not superior to any produced on the Continent. The Church is ancient; the spire, which was rebuilt in 1789, is 156 feet high, and is a fine object from the railroad. In the Church are several monuments, one by Sir Francis Chantrey, R.A., is of great beauty. John Philip Kemble, the tragedian, was born at Prescot, in 1757. The view of the Cheshire hills in the southward distance, is rich and extensive.

Knowsley Park, seat of the Earl of Derby, appears on the N. The mansion has evidently been erected at different periods; its most ancient part is of stone, and is said to have been raised by the first Earl of Derby, for the reception of his son-in-law, King Henry VII., in whose honours the Earl had been mainly instrumental. Great enlargement and decoration of the mansion took place on occasion of this royal visit: a handsome stone bridge was thrown across the Mersey at Warrington, and an embankment or causeway thrown up across the marshes to the rising ground on the Cheshire side. Many valuable and interesting pictures adorn the mansion, which is surrounded by a beautiful park.

Several coal, lime, and marble works are passed on either side; and while traversing the Huyton embankment, Preston church, the Hazels, seat of Joseph Birch, Esq., and the church and village of Huyton are observed on the N. On the S. appears Childwall park, hall, and church; beyond, is Woolton hall, seat of N. Ashton, Esq.; the whole scene finely wooded.

Huyton Gate and Roby-lane Gate Stations

are shortly passed; the village of Roby lies S. of the line, and closely adjoining it. Proceeding onwards, along a pleasant but not very interesting part, Summer-hill house is seen, the seat of Thomas Case, Esq.; also, the little church of Notting Ash and Childwall hall, a seat of the Marquis of Salisbury.

Broad Green Station.

A few yards from the station, on the N. side, is a place for the landing of cattle, sheep, &c. The line now enters the Olive Mount excavation, which is an immense chasm, cut in the solid rock, to the depth of from 50 to 70 feet, the precipitous rock forming a grand wall on either side. The village of Wavertree lies S. of the line, after emerging from the Olive Mount ravine; Spekelands, the residence of Mrs. Earle, lies also on the S., and on the N. is the residence of C. Lawrence, Esq. Here the Liverpool tunnels commence; one, for conveying passengers, &c., into the Company’s station-yard in Lime-street, turns off on the right hand, and is 2,230 yards long, 25 feet wide, and 17 feet high. The other, for the conveyance of goods, direct to the docks, in a straighter continuation of the line, is 2,250 yards long, 22 feet wide, and 16 feet high. Engines are stationed on each side of the line at this part, each of forty-horse power, to draw the trains up the inclined plane of the tunnel, in coming out of Liverpool, and let them down on their arrival from Birmingham. The locomotive engines being attached to and detached from the trains at this station.

“A Friend to Railways,” in a letter to the Editor of the Railway Magazine, May 1838, thus describes the mode of drawing the trains up the inclined plane:—

“At the upper end of the tunnel, which is 2,250 yards long, there is one pair of engines on each side of the road; it being found that a much more regular motion is given by this means to the carriages. The engines are high-pressure, with side-levers, similar to marine engines; the connecting-rods, however, are reversed, and work the crank downwards, and are connected to a horizontal shaft of great strength running across and under the road in a tunnel, upon which shaft a large drum-wheel is placed that works the rope. In each engine-house is a raised platform, upon which the man stands who works the engines; this platform leads to a balcony on the outside of the engine-house, from which the man can look down the mouth of the tunnel; a signal is given by means of an air-pipe running through the tunnel, so formed at the upper end as to produce a sound when the air is forced into it from the lower extremity. This, I believe, is the invention of Mr. King, of Liverpool. The engine-man on hearing the signal, opens the steam-cock, and the engines start instantly. This work was designed by Mr. Grantham, of the foundery of Messrs. Mather and Dickson, of Liverpool, where the machinery was constructed.”

Having now given an account of the whole journey, we must proceed to a brief history and memoir of Liverpool itself.

CHAPTER X.
LIVERPOOL.

Liverpool is an ancient sea-port, borough, and market town, 205 miles from London, containing 205,964 inhabitants, exclusive of 10,000 seamen.

Of its remote antiquity but little can be asserted, amidst the great contrariety of opinion which is held on this subject. Liverpool is not noticed in any of the Roman Itinera, neither does the name occur in the Norman survey. After the conquest it was granted by William, to Roger de Poictiers, together with all the land between the Ribble and the Mersey, and subsequently forfeited. It was thereupon granted to the Earls of Chester; and on forfeiture by their descendants, to Edmund, son of Henry III., as parcel of the honour of Lancaster; and it remained an integral part of the duchy possessions, until its alienation by Charles I., in 1628.

Various opinions have been hazarded regarding the etymology of the name, without reference to the most ancient documents in which it has been discovered. John, whilst Earl of Moreton, and in possession of the honour of Lancaster, confirmed a grant made by his father, Henry II., to Warin de Lancaster, of Liverpul, with other places, under a certain reddendum. In subsequent records it is written Lyrpul, Lythyrpul, &c., signifying, probably, in the ancient dialect of this country, the “lower pool.” Some deduce its etymology from a pool frequented by an aquatic fowl, called a “Liver,” or from a sea-weed of that name; others, and with much more reason, from the ancient British word Lir, “the sea,” and a spreading water or pool, viz., the sea pool, or sea-water pool.

Camden says the Castle was built by Roger de Poictiers, in 1089; it certainly was erected at a very early period. In October, 1323, Edward II. dates his orders, &c., from Liverpool Castle; and in April, 1358, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, resided there for a month. It was demolished by order of Parliament, during the commonwealth, and in 1715, its site was granted by Queen Anne, to the corporation, who built St. George’s Church upon it. On King John ascending the throne, at his brother’s death, he again came into possession of the honour of Lancaster, and granted a charter to the town of Liverpool, which Henry III., in 1229, confirmed, made the town a free borough, instituted a guild merchant, and granted additional privileges. These charters have been confirmed, and further ones granted by succeeding sovereigns. The several mandates for fitting-out and providing vessels for the royal service, addressed by Edward II. and III., and subsequent kings, afford proof of its then being a place of extensive trade at this early period; and the fact of the royal order for the prohibition of the export of grain, in the time of Richard III., being transmitted to Liverpool only, is also a proof of its then being the only shipping port in the country. Leland, in 1558, described it thus: “Lyrpole, alias Lyrpoole, a pavid towne, hath but a chapel, Walton, a iiii miles off, not far from the se, is paroche chirche. The king hath a castell there, and the Earle of Darbe hath a stone house there. Irisch marchants cum much thither, as to a good haven. After that Mersey water cumming towards Runcorne in Cheshire liseth among the commune people the name, and is Lyrpole. At Lyrpole is smaule costume payid that causith merchants to resorte. Good marchaundis at Lyrpole, and much Irisch yarn that Manchester men do by ther.” Liverpool appears to have declined, probably from the baneful influences of the wars of York and Lancaster, until the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, when, in a petition from the inhabitants to the Queen, it is described as “Her Majesty’s poor decayed town of Liverpool.” Its poverty may be understood from the fact, that when Charles I. levied his iniquitous and despotic tax of ship money, this town was rated at £26 only, while Bristol was rated at £1,000. In the civil war Liverpool was alternately held by the Parliamentarians, taken by Prince Rupert, and retaken by the Parliament. In the reign of William III., that monarch, with part of his train, embarked at this port for Ireland, previously to the battle of the Boyne; and regiments and privateer vessels were here equipped against the Pretender and the French.

Times and manners are somewhat changed here since 1617, when one of the orders of the common-council demanded, “that every council-man shall come to council clean-shaved, and in his long clothes.” Slander and gossip were very severely punished by the civic dignitaries, it being a law, “that if any man speak ill of the mayor, he shall lose his freedom.”

The most important feature in the history of this place, is the extraordinary rapidity with which it has risen into a degree of splendour and importance, without example in the history of any commercial country. Among the causes which have produced its elevation to a rank but partially inferior to the metropolis, are, its situation on the shore of a noble river, which expands into a wide estuary; its proximity to the Irish coast; its central position with respect to the United Kingdom; its intimate connexion with the principal manufacturing districts, and with every part of the kingdom, by numerous rivers, canals, and railroads, and the persevering industry and enterprising spirit of its inhabitants. Without the romance, we may see among them the reality of the merchant-nobles of Genoa and Venice; and the grandeur which pervades the modern buildings of our English port may scarcely be outvied in stateliness, and certainly not in fitness and utility, by any palace-city of the past.

As we passed along the busy quays of these crowded docks, and thought of the wealth conveyed by the winged couriers of the ocean there congregated, the following gorgeous lines in Marlow’s Jew of Malta, occurred to us: perhaps the expectant owners of argosies bound hitherward, deal not quite so largely as the poet’s Croesus, in jewelled treasures; but we cannot very honestly change amethysts into tobacco, nor bags of fiery opals into bales of cotton wool; the circumstances of the case may therefore be allowed to vary a little, without our transposing the terms:—

“As for those Samnites, and the men of Uzz,
That bought my Spanish oils, and wines of Greece,
Here have I purst their paltry silverlings,
Fie! what a trouble ’tis to count this trash!
Give me the merchants of the Indian mines,
That trade in metal of the purest gold;
The wealthy Moor, that in the eastern rocks
Without control can pick his riches up,
And in his house keep pearls like pebble stones;
Receive them free, and sell them by the weight:
Bags of fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts,
Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds,
Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds,
And seld’ seen costly stones of so great price,
As one of them, indifferently rated,
And of a caract of this quality
May serve, in peril of calamity
To rescue great kings from captivity.
This is the ware wherein consists my wealth,
And thus methinks, should men of judgment frame
Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade,
And as their wealth increaseth, so inclose
Infinite riches in a little room.
But now—how stands the wind?
Into what corner peers my halcyon’s bill?
Ha! to east? yes:—see how stands the vane?
East and by south, why then I hope my ships
I sent from Egypt, and the bordering isles,
Are gotten up by Nilus’ winding banks:
Mine argosies from Alexandria,
Loaden with spice and silks, now under sail
Are smoothly gliding down by Candy shore
To Malta, through our Mediterranean sea.”

We have, ere this, noted many a merchant (not of Venice) to whom we have mentally applied Salarino’s words to Antonio; and few will grudge the space we here occupy, by a quotation so apt and beautiful:—

“Salorino. Your mind is tossing on the ocean;
There, where your argosies with portly sail,
Like seigniors and rich burghers of the flood,
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,—
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That curtsey to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
—My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run,
But I should think of shallows and of flats,
And see my wealthy Andrew docked in sand,
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs,
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church,
And see the holy edifice of stone,
And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks?
Which touching but my gentle vessel’s side,
Would scatter all her spices on the stream,
Enrobe the rolling waters with my silks,
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing. Shall I have the thought
To think on this; and shall I lack the thought
That such a thing be-chanced, would make me sad?
But, tell not me; I know, Antonio
Is sad to think upon his merchandise.
Antonio. Believe me, No; I thank my fortune for it,
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place: nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year:
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.”

Shakspeare.

The commerce of the port may be divided into three branches: first, the trade with Ireland, whence a variety of produce, chiefly grain, cattle, &c., is imported, the gross value of which has amounted annually to £4,497,708, exclusive of linen and manufactured wares. Liverpool enjoys about two-fifths of the Irish trade. The chief exports are British manufactured goods, salt, coal, and general merchandise. The second principal branch of trade is that with the United States of America, of which it engrosses more than three-fourths of the whole commerce of the kingdom. The chief import is cotton wool, and from this port Manchester and the manufacturing districts are supplied with the raw material. Tobacco is also imported to an alarming extent. The average quantity annually introduced for the contamination of our atmosphere, being 7,623 hogsheads—what a fearful store of materials for smoking the brains, and dusting the nostrils of our fellow-creatures! A great quantity of American flour is also imported. The third branch of the trade is that with the West Indies, which commenced about the middle of the seventeenth century, and which was previously engrossed by London and Bristol. Sugar, rum, and coffee, are the chief luxuries we receive thence through the other ports. The trade with the East Indies is smaller; the imports are cotton, indigo, hides, ginger, pepper, and sugar. With the ports of the Mediterranean and Levant seas, Liverpool has considerable traffic, importing wine, fruits, lemon and lime juice, olive and other oils, barilla, and brimstone. From Egypt is brought cotton; and from the Baltic sea-ports, timber, tallow, &c. The gross receipts of the customs at this port alone, exceed the sum derived from the nine other principal ports of the three kingdoms (London excepted), viz., Bristol, Hull, Newcastle, Leith, Glasgow, Greenock, Dublin, Belfast, and Cork. Vessels from, and bound to, all parts of the globe, are congregated here; and there is scarcely a place in the world accessible to the British flag, to which a ready conveyance is not afforded from this enterprising port.

The harbour is capacious and secure: at the entrance of the river is the Black Rock Lighthouse, erected on a point of rock on the western coast. A floating light is also placed eleven miles seaward from the mouth of the river.

For the security of the shipping in the port, and for the greater facility of loading and unloading merchandise, immense ranges of docks and warehouses, extending upwards of two miles along the eastern bank of the river, have been constructed, on a scale of unparalleled magnificence; and forming one of those characteristics of commercial greatness in which this town is unrivalled. The docks are of three kinds:—the wet docks, which are chiefly for ships of great burden, employed in the foreign trade, and which float in them at all states of the tide, the water being retained by gates; the dry docks, so called because they are left dry when the tide is out, are chiefly appropriated to coasting vessels; and the graving docks, which admit or exclude the water at pleasure, are adapted to the repair of ships, during which they are kept dry, and when completed are floated out by admitting the tide. The Canning Dock is chiefly occupied by sloops from the north coast, which import corn, provisions, and slate, and convey back the produce of the Mediterranean, the West Indies, Portugal, and the Baltic: it has a quay 500 yards in length. The Salthouse Dock is for vessels in the Levant, Irish, and coasting trades: the quay is 759 yards in extent. George’s Dock has a quay 1001 yards in length. The King’s Dock is appropriated to vessels from Virginia and other parts, laden with tobacco; which article is exclusively landed here, and occupies a range of warehouses 575 feet in length, and 239 in depth. The Queen’s Dock, 470 yards long, with a spacious quay, is chiefly occupied by vessels freighted with timber, and by those employed in the Dutch and Baltic trades. The Brunswick Dock is larger than any of the preceding, and receives vessels laden with timber. Prince’s Dock is 500 yards in length, with spacious quays, and along the west side is a beautiful marine parade, 750 yards long, and eleven wide, defended by a stone parapet wall, from which is a delightful view of the river and the shipping: it is much frequented as a promenade. To the westward of these are the Clarence Dock and Basin, appropriated solely to the use of the steam vessels trading to and from the port: there are several smaller docks, and considerable additions are contemplated. When these are completed, the whole range of docks will be two miles and 820 yards in length, exclusively of the openings to the several docks: the total area of water space contained in them is upwards of ninety statute acres, and the extent of the quays in lineal measure is 12,511 yards, or upwards of seven miles; yet spacious as they are, they are still considered inadequate to the increasing commerce of the port. Several ranges of commodious baths are situated in the vicinity of the docks; there are hot, cold, floating, and medicated vapour baths.

The new Custom-house is a superb and beautiful edifice, in the Grecian style of architecture, 454 feet in length, 224 in depth, with three principal fronts of great magnificence. The Exchange buildings, erected by the late Mr. John Forster, form sides of a quadrangular area, in the centre of which is a monument to the memory of Lord Nelson. The north front of the Hall forms the fourth side of this square. This is a stately and magnificent structure in the Grecian style, with four elegant fronts, and contains on the ground floor a council-room, and apartments for the mayor, town clerk, pensioners, and corporation. The grand staircase leads into a spacious saloon, splendidly decorated with royal portraits by Lawrence, Hopner, Phillips, &c. Two spacious ball-rooms, and two richly furnished drawing rooms, decorated with marble pillars, chandeliers, &c., are entered from the saloon. A grand banquet-room, refectory, &c., &c., fitted up with great taste and splendour, are also comprised in this grand suite of apartments. The Public Subscription Libraries are numerous and well selected. The Athenæum contains a news-room and an extensive library. The Lyceum is a handsome edifice of the Ionic order; contains a library, coffee-room, lecture, and committee-rooms. The Union News-room, Exchange News-room, Medical and Law Libraries, are all well supported. The Royal Institution is a spacious and handsome edifice, containing on the ground floor, lecture, reading, and school-rooms; on the first floor, a large room for the Literary and Philosophical Society, a library, museum, spacious exhibition rooms for the Liverpool Academy of painting, &c. On the roof is an observatory, and behind are a laboratory and a theatre for chemical and philosophical experiments. This institution was formed in 1814, for the advancement of literature, science, and the arts; and the members were incorporated by royal charter, in 1822. Professors, lecturers, and masters are appointed by the society. The Botanic Gardens near Edge Hill, and the Zoological Gardens, are valuable additions to the rational and profitable amusements of the inhabitants. There is a Theatre, Amphitheatre, and Circus, the former for the drama, the two latter for equestrian performances and pantomimes. The Wellington Rooms, for balls, are admirably adapted for such gay scenes. The summer races in July continue four days, the course lies five miles to the N.E. of the town. The grand stand is capable of accommodating 2,000 persons. The chartered market days are Wednesday and Saturday, and for corn, Tuesday and Friday. The Market-houses are numerous, handsome, and commodious.

The corporation of Liverpool have an income of above £100,000 per annum, a great portion of which is expended in the improvement of the port and embellishment of the town. The Churches of the Establishment are about twenty-four in number, some of them of great architectural beauty. In addition to the Churchyards, there are two extensive Cemeteries, one near Edge-hill; the other occupying a large tract of ground, excavated as a quarry for stone used in the building of the docks, and converted into a depository for the dead, at an expense of £21,000; it is tastefully laid out, and has a suitable chapel for the performance of the funeral service. The buildings dedicated to religious purposes by the several sects of Dissenters, are about forty in number, some of them of considerable beauty. The Public Schools are very numerous, and so well supported as to render them valuably and most extensively useful. That for the indigent blind, was established in 1791; 120 pupils now receive instruction in various branches, and are taught spinning, basket-making, the weaving of linen, sacking, carpeting, the making of list shoes, twine, worsted rugs, and other trades, by which they may earn a livelihood; they are also instructed in music. Asylums and Institutions, too numerous to be here enumerated; Hospitals, Infirmaries; Societies for the assistance and relief of aged seamen, and other humane and admirable purposes, are, by the munificence of the inhabitants, all enabled to administer in no small degree to the wants and misfortunes of suffering fellow-beings.

Among the distinguished natives of the town may be noticed Jeremiah Horrox, the astronomer, born 1619, at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool. He is supposed to have been the first person who ever predicted or observed the transit of Venus over the sun’s disk. He died on the 3rd of January, 1641, a few days after completing his treatise on the transit which took place in the November preceding. George Stubbs, the animal painter, born 1724. William Sadler, who invented the application of copper-plate prints to the embellishment of earthenware. William Roscoe, author of the lives of Lorenzo de Medici, and of Leo X. He died in 1831, aged seventy-nine, equally beloved and regretted for his excellence as a man, and for his ability as an author. The Rev. William Shepherd, author of the life of Poggio Brachiolini, &c., an elegant writer, and earnest reformer. Dr. Currie, the intelligent biographer of Burns, was also a native of Liverpool, as was the gentle-minded and truly feminine poet, Felicia Hemans.

The manufactures of Liverpool, are chiefly such as are connected with the port and the shipping, the promotion of its commerce, and the supply of its inhabitants. There are several very large sugar refineries, extensive potteries, glass-houses, breweries, tanneries, salt and copperas works, iron and brass foundries, foundries for cannon, anchors, chain-cables, and steam engine machinery, manufactories for steam-boilers, engines, also guns, small arms, sails, cordage, watches, tobacco, snuff, and soap. There are numerous mills for grinding corn, mustard, colours, and dye-woods: the manufacture of soap exceeds that of any place in England. The average number of watches made annually, is 11,500, a number greater than any town, except London. Ship-building is carried on to a great extent; several men-of-war have been launched from the dock-yards; and in the building of steam vessels, Liverpool takes the lead of all other ports. The trade of the town is greatly facilitated by the extensive inland navigation in every direction, by which it is connected with the manufacturing districts and chief towns in the kingdom. No less than five water conveyances fall into the Mersey, viz., the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal, Sankey Canal, Chester and Ellesmere Canal, and Weaver Navigation, opening communication with Manchester, Bolton, Hull, South Lancashire, Birmingham, Worcestershire, South of England, and Wales.

The information required by the traveller respecting inns, coach-offices, &c., will be found in the Appendix; together with a list of places of amusement and interest, worthy the attention of a stranger in this great and truly splendid sea-port.

CHAPTER XI.
NEWTON JUNCTION TO MANCHESTER,
Fourteen and ¾ Miles.