THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Allusion has been already made to the superstitious side of the
character of the Lancashire people; their belief in omens, charms,
witchcraft and demoniac possessions lingered long. This is a fitting
place to tell the tale of the "Lancashire Witches" and the so-called
"demoniac possessions."
The belief that demons or evil spirits took possession of human beings
is of very great antiquity, and the popular mind had firmly taken hold
of this; whenever a case of this kind occurred, the priest was called
in to exorcise the devil, and the Puritan divines were not slow in
asserting that if a Roman Catholic could perform a miracle, they at
least could turn out an evil spirit, and thus the superstition appears
to have been rather fostered than rebuked. One of these demoniac
cases[124] took place at an old half-timbered house called Cleworth
Hall[125] (in the parish of Leigh), where there lived Nicholas, the
eldest son of Edmund Starkie of Huntroyd (near Burnley); he had issue
a son John and a daughter Ann, who, with five others, were said to have
become "possessed," when John Darrell was called in to exorcise the
evil spirit. This Darrell was a graduate of one of the Universities,
and was subsequently domestic chaplain to Archbishop Whitgift, and
Rector of St. Mary's, Nottingham.
An account of this singular instance of ignorance and credulity was
written by Darrell and secretly printed in 1600. The various symptoms
described are not incompatible with many diseases now known to the
medical profession, and need not be described; to cure the patients,
however, a conjurer of the name of Hartley was called in, who for his
services was to receive 40s. a year and bed and board; but this did not
satisfy him long, and on being refused additional pay, in the shape of
a house and the land it stood on, he so affected the possessed ones
that (as Darrell puts it) they "sent forth such a strange supernatural
and fearful noyse and loud whupping as the like was neuer hard at
Cleworth nor in England."
Mr. Starkie was naturally not satisfied with the treatment, and having
applied to a Manchester physician in vain, he went to the famous Dr.
Dee, then Warden of Manchester, who advised him to consult "some godly
preachers" and get them to call a public or private fast day. The
eldest son's vagaries were certainly peculiar: he would at times act
like a madman or a mad dog, and he and his sisters, we are told (by
Darrell), would howl and bark and join in a chorus "like a ring of five
bells." The whole affair was doubtless a fraud, but, nevertheless,
it shows in a marked degree the dense ignorance even of some of the
well-to-do classes at that time: for we find that Mr. Starkie, after
his futile appeal to the Manchester physician, Dr. Dee, and others,
could only resort to the justices of the peace, who in their wisdom
sent Hartley to the Lancaster assizes, where he was in solemn manner
tried, condemned and hanged, not for the evident imposition and fraud,
but for witchcraft, the strongest evidence against him being that he
had on several occasions "drawn magic circles." But perhaps the most
curious circumstance about the case is that at his execution the rope
broke, whereupon, probably thinking to save his neck, he confessed that
he was guilty; the plea, however, failed, and he was quietly hung up a
second time. After Hartley's execution, John Darrell and the pastor of
Calke, in Derbyshire, were called to Cleworth (in 1596), and they with
thirty others spent a day in fasting and prayer, the result being (so
we are told) that the whole seven were dispossessed, the devil coming
out of their mouths in various forms, as a crow's head, a hedgehog, a
toad, etc.
This and other impostures practised by Darrell and his associates led
to a prolonged controversy, in which several pamphlets were printed
in London, the author of one of them being Samuel Harsnett, who was
afterwards Archbishop of York. Not very long after this, King James
issued his "Dæmonologie," in which he advocated the putting to death of
all witches.
In Pendle Forest, in the parish of Whalley, in a small cottage near
Malkin Tower, lived in the beginning of the century a woman known as
"Old Demdike," and her daughter; the mother's real name was Elizabeth
Southerns, her daughter was Elizabeth Device _alias_ young Demdike.
Old Demdike, who was over eighty years of age, was supposed to have
made her house into a meeting-place for all the witches in the
neighbourhood, and this led to a score of suspected persons (most of
them women) being arrested and tried at Lancaster. Eight of these
were known as the Witches of Samlesbury, the rest being associated
with Pendle Forest. This trial created so much interest in the county
that Thomas Potts, the clerk of the court, was ordered by the judges
to collect and publish the particulars of the case. From this scarce
book[126] may be obtained the full details of this notorious trial;
for our present purpose a few particulars must suffice. The wretched
old crone, Elizabeth Southerns, died in prison before the trial took
place, having first made a confession to the effect that the devil had
twenty years before appeared to her, and to him she had sold her soul,
and had thus obtained her power; she also described the well-known
method of taking away a man's life by means of the insertion of pins
into a "picture of clay like unto the shape of the person" upon whom
the revenge was sought. Anne Whittle, _alias_ Chattox, before the
assizes not only admitted that she was a witch, but gave the names
of many persons whom she had "bewitched to death," and several of
the others made similar confessions. It seems somewhat strange that
these prisoners should so easily be led to condemn themselves, and the
reason may be either that they expected by so doing to escape capital
punishment, or, what is equally likely, that they, having so long lived
by the profession of witchcraft, really did imagine that they had the
power they claimed to possess.
The whole trial appears to have partaken far more of the nature of
persecution than an attempt to ascertain the truth. The leader of this
persecution was Roger Nowell, of Read Hall, who, according to the clerk
of the court, was "one of his Majesty's Justices in these parts, a very
religious, honest gentleman, painful in the service of his country."
Another agent against the Samlesbury prisoners was a priest called
Thompson, who tutored the principal witness, Grace Sowerbutts, a girl
of fourteen years of age, to accuse three of the prisoners of having
bewitched her. To strengthen the evidence for the prosecution, Roger
Nowell produced the deposition taken before him at his house, and it
appears that he did not scruple to make the sons and daughters condemn
their parents, and thus make them instruments for their destruction.
On the indictment against Anne Whittle being read, she pleaded not
guilty, whereupon "Mr. Nowell, the best instructed of any man of all
these particular poyntes of evidence against her and her fellows,"
requested that the prisoner's own confession made before him should
now be "published against her," and this was forthwith done. Of the
character of the evidence given by the various witnesses, the following
are samples: Anne Whittle, to spite the wife of one John Moore, "called
for her Deuill _Fancie_ and bad him goe bite a browne cow of Moore's
by the head and make the cow goe madde; and the Deuill then in the
likenesse of a brown dogge went to the said cow and bit her, which
cow went madde accordingly and died within six weekes." Alice Chattox
"at a buriall at the new church in Pendle did take three scalpes of
people which had been buried, and then cast them out of a grave, and
took eight teeth out of the said scalpes," which were afterwards used
for purposes of witchcraft. They were not only accused of causing the
deaths of various people and cattle by charms, but also of being the
means of bringing about evil of every description. In the case of
Elizabeth Device (the daughter of old Demdike), her own child, nine
years of age, was "set upon the table in the presence of the whole
court," and there declared that she knew her mother to be a witch, for
she had several times seen her spirit in the shape of a brown dog come
to her at her house.
Another extraordinary piece of evidence was that of James Device, a son
of young Demdyke's, who first put himself out of court as a creditable
witness by confessing that he had recently stolen a sheep, and then
swore that he had seen a number of witches at his grandmother's house,
who first partook of the stolen mutton and then went out of doors,
where they "were gotten on horsebacke, like unto foales, some one
colour, some of another, and Preston's wife was the last, and when shee
got on horsebacke they all presently vanished out of sight."
Amongst the witches was one Alice Nutter, of the Forest of Pendle, whom
Potts describes as "a rich woman" with "a great estate and children of
good hope, and in the opinion of the world of good temper, free from
envy or malice," and he adds, "Whether by the means of the rest of the
witches or some unfortunate occasion shee was drawne to fall to this
wicked course of life I know not; but hither she is now come to receive
her triall both for murder and many other vile and damnable practices."
The witnesses against this prisoner were the other accused and members
of their families only.
At the conclusion of the trial, Alice Whittle, Elizabeth Device, Anne
Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewet, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock,
Aliza Device and Isabel Robey were found guilty and sentenced to be
hanged, which sentence was duly carried out. Margaret Pearson was
ordered to stand in the pillory in open market at Clitheroe, Padiham,
Whalley and Lancaster, on four market days; the other prisoners were
acquitted.
But this did not stamp out the Lancashire witches, for so long as the
people continued to believe in their supernatural powers, so long would
the supply be equal to the demand. In 1633 another batch of seventeen
witches of Pendle were commanded to take their trial at Lancaster
assizes, and, singularly enough, one of the convicting justices was the
John Starkie who in 1596 was himself the subject of demoniac possession
(see p. 114).
The chief witness in this case was a stonemason, who on oath declared
that he had seen two greyhounds, with which he tried to hunt a hare;
but they refused to run, and on his beating them, they immediately
became transformed, one into Dickonson's wife, and the other into a
little boy; the former put a kind of bridle on the head of the latter,
and he became a white horse, upon which she jumped, and, placing the
witness before her, she rode away with him to a place called Hoarstones
(in Whalley), which was about a quarter of a mile off, where he found
a number of persons coming, all riding on "horses of several colours."
After this interesting congregation had feasted in the house, they
adjourned to the barn, where he saw six of them kneeling and pulling
at six ropes fastened to the roof, "at or with which pulling came
flesh smoakeinge, butter in lumps, and milk." Whilst they were thus
exercised they "made such foule faces that feared him, so that he was
glad to steale out and run home." Margaret Johnson, though not one of
the accused, confessed that she had been at a meeting at Hoarstones,
where there were present between thirty and forty witches; she also
said that "men witches usually have women spirits, and women witches
men spirits," and that Good Friday was the "constant day for a yearly
meeting of witches." All these prisoners were found guilty by the jury,
but the judge delayed the execution of the sentence, and the matter in
the meantime coming to the ears of the King, four of the convicted were
sent up to London to be examined by the royal physicians and surgeons,
and ultimately were brought before the King himself. The result
of all this was an acquittal of the lot. It was upon this case of
witch-finding that Heywood and Broome founded their play of "The Late
Lancashire Witches," London, 1634, and Mother Demdike is one of the
characters in Shadwell's "Lancaster Witches," a comedy, London, 1682.
Harrison Ainsworth's novel, "The Lancashire Witches," has the same
subject. After this, the "profession" of witchcraft appears to have
gradually died out, but the demoniac possession was harder to slay,
as the exorcising of these spirits was a power highly valued alike by
Roman Catholic priest and Puritan divine. At Downham, near Clitheroe,
a case was reported, with the usual "godly minister" as voucher[127]
again, in 1696, and the Vicar of Walton-on-the Hill furnished an
account of another case which had taken place about half a century
earlier, and in which the priest at Madame Westby's (of Mowbrick in
Kirkham) and the Rector of Croston having failed to effect a cure, the
possessed one was sent to Dr. Sylvester, of Liverpool, who physicked
the "devil out of him."
Towards the end of the century several other cases are on record
where the priest is said to have exorcised the spirit. But the most
famous instance of this class of deceptions was what is known as the
"Surey demoniac," from its hero having lived at Surey, in the parish
of Whalley. The boy who was possessed was one Richard Dugdale, aged
nineteen, the son of a gardener, and he apparently had all the symptoms
required for the occasion, and acted the part required of him to
perfection. Amongst other things he was seen to vomit stones, silver
and gold curtain rings; he could make himself "as light as a feather
bouster," or as "heavy as a load of corn"; he had ventriloquial powers,
and could speak out of the earth, and all these were accompanied with
the more violent signs, such as convulsions, contortions, shoutings,
and the like. The curious part of this is the ready credence which was
given to it. Amongst those who subscribed their names to the account of
this youth's performances, and asserted their opinions that the whole
was true, and that this was a genuine case of diabolical possession,
which was beyond the reach of the medical man, and could only be dealt
with by prayer and fasting, were: the minister of Toxteth Chapel, near
Liverpool; Samuel Angier, minister of Denton; Richard Frankland,
M.A., sometime Vice-President of the Presbyterian College of Durham;
Thomas Jolly, ejected minister of Altham; Henry Pendlebury, minister
of Holcombe Chapel; Nathaniel Heywood, the ejected Vicar of Ormskirk;
and Dr. Robert Whittaker, of Burnley; and besides these over thirty
people gave evidence, many of them on oath, as to the truth of the
details furnished before Hugh, Lord Willoughby, and Ralph Egerton,
Esq., two justices of the peace. The first pamphlet, giving an account
of "Satan's Strange and Dreadful Actings in and about the Body of
Richard Dugdale," was published in London in 1697, and it called forth
replies and counter-replies, the Rev. Thomas Jolly being one of the
writers in support of the demoniac; and the Rev. Zachary Taylor, Vicar
of Croston, one of those who believed the whole affair a "fanatical
imposture."[128] For long years after this the belief in the efficacy
of certain "charms," as well as the tales of the fortune-telling
gipsies, lingered in the county, and even yet occasionally, on pulling
down old barns and farmhouses, there are found hidden away amongst
the rafters small boxes containing charms written on paper in a
peculiar cipher, mixed up with signs of the planets, etc., the whole
purporting to be all-powerful to drive away all evil spirits from the
building;[129] these writings are probably not more than 150 years old.
The visit of James I. to Lancashire cannot be passed over, as it was
in consequence of this visit that the King issued the famous "Book of
Sports," which created such indignation in the minds of some of his
subjects. Early in August, 1617, the King, on his return from Carlisle,
reached Hornby Castle, the seat of Lord Monteagle, from whence he went
to Ashton Hall, the home of Lord Gerard, and after staying there one
night he went on to Myerscough Lodge, the seat of Edward Tyldesley,
Esq. Here, on August 12, Sir Richard Hoghton, with a retinue of
gentlemen, went to meet the King, who arrived in his coach, and having
had pointed out to him where the forest began, his Majesty commenced
to hunt, and during the day he killed a buck. On the following day
the King again hunted in Myerscough Forest, and succeeded in slaying
five bucks, after which he made a speech to the gentlemen present on
the subject of "pipeing and honest recreation." On the 14th the town
of Preston was in a high state of excitement, preparing for the royal
visitor, and the good old town was full of strangers, who had come
to welcome King James. On the 15th the King arrived at Preston, and
proceeded to the cross in the market-place, where the Recorder made a
speech and the Corporation presented to his Majesty "a bowle." Perhaps
the good Prestonians were animated with a better spirit than that which
stirred the Mayor of Chester on a similar occasion, when he exclaimed:
A cupp with gold unto your grace I'll bringe,
In hope to us you'll give a better thinge;
For Ile be sworne itt did not goe near our heart
When from so manie gold angells wee did parte.[130]
The Corporation then feasted the King at the Guildhall, probably
at mid-day, as immediately afterwards the royal party repaired to
Myerscough, where another stag was killed. The next day James I. stayed
at Hoghton, where Sir Richard had invited a great company to meet
him. Before dinner, notwithstanding the great heat of the day, they
went out hunting, and after dinner (about four p.m.) the King went to
look at the alum-mines which his host had recently opened. After an
hour thus spent, they returned to the forest, and had varied fortune
until evening, when they returned to a late supper. The following
day was spent at Hoghton; there was no hunting. The Bishop of Chester
preached before the King, and after dinner there was a rushbearing
and piping in the middle court. This form of Lancashire wakes has
often been described. This was probably a simple rush-cart, with its
accompanying morris-dancers, etc., got up to entertain the King.
In the evening there was a mask, in which many "noblemen, knights,
gentlemen, and courtiers" took part; there were also some speeches
and dancing, including "The Huckler," "Tom Bedlo and the Cowp Justice
of Peace."[131] On this day a petition of the Lancashire people was
presented to the King. In this it was represented that "they were
debarred from lawful recreations upon Sunday after evening prayers, and
upon holy days, and praying that the restriction imposed in the late
reign might be withdrawn."
In May, 1618, King James issued a proclamation, in which he refers to
his progress through Lancashire, where he had "found it necessary to
rebuke some Puritans and precise people." These people, he thought,
were Jewishly inclined, because they affected to call Sunday the
Sabbath day. And the proclamation ends by declaring that his pleasure
was that in Lancashire, after the end of Divine service, the people
were not to be let or hindered or discouraged from any lawful
recreation, such as dancing, either men or women, archery, leaping,
vaulting, May games, Whitsun ales, morris-dancers, maypoles, or other
sports. Those recusants and others who did not attend Divine service
were, however, to be debarred from the sports. The latter clause was,
no doubt, introduced to please the Bishops and the clergy, who were
highly indignant at the proclamation itself. This order led to the
issue in 1618 of "The Book of Sports." Charles I. made a somewhat
similar order as to the due observance of wakes and fêtes on the
anniversary days of the dedication of churches. From Hoghton the
King went to stay with the Earl of Derby at Lathom House, from thence
proceeding to Bewsey Hall, the seat of Thomas Ireland, Esq.
During his visit he knighted William Massy, Robert Bindloes, Gilbert
Clifton, John Talbot, Gilbert Ireland, and Edward Olbaldeston.
Frederick, the son-in-law of James, was crowned King of Bohemia in
October, 1619, but after a very brief tenure he was dethroned in 1620,
and after the battle of Prague fled to Holland. The Puritan party in
this county had strong sympathy with the ejected "winter-king" as he
was styled, and James seized the opportunity to urge Parliament to
grant him two subsidies, one involving an assessment of 4s. in the
pound on land, and 2s. 8d. on goods and chattels; and when the new
Parliament met in 1624 a grant of £300,000 was made to recover the
palatinate lost by Frederick. For the war with the Roman Catholic
Powers which followed the Puritans were responsible.
Half the army raised for this service perished from sickness, and
altogether the result was disastrous; and just when the feeling of
discontent was beginning to manifest itself, the King died.
Charles I. was not slow to follow in the steps of his father in his
manner of rule: subsidy followed subsidy, sometimes with the authority
of Parliament, and sometimes without. And thus came about the contest
between the King and the Commons, which led to the attempt to rule
England without a Parliament. In 1635 the attempt was made to levy the
tax known as Ship-money, for the equipment of a naval force. Humphrey
Chetham was at that time High Sheriff of Lancashire, and to him was
sent the writ for the collection within the county; on the back of this
writ he wrote: "If you shall tax & assesse men according [to] their
estate, then Liverpool, being poore and now goes as it were a beginge,
must pay very little: letters patent are now forth for the same
towne."[132] The whole county was assessed at £475, of which Liverpool
had to find £15. In the same tax for 1636, Lancashire was put down to
find one ship of 400 tons burden, 160 men, and £1,000; towards this,
Preston was to raise £40, Lancaster £30, Liverpool £25, Wigan £50,
Clitheroe and Newton £7 10s. each. Comparing these figures with some
of those for the Yorkshire towns, it would appear that in this county
there was no borough as rich as either Hull, which paid £140, or Leeds,
which was called on for £200. In this same year (1636) Lancashire was
ordered to find 420 foot soldiers and 50 dragoons.
After eleven years' interval a Parliament was again summoned to meet,
on April 13, 1640, which only sat for three weeks; but on November
3 following the Long Parliament was convened, when Lancashire was
represented for the county by Ralph Ashton (Parliamentarian) and
Roger Kirby (Royalist); Lancaster, John Harrison and Thomas Fanshaw
(both Royalists); Preston, Richard Shuttleworth and Thomas Standish
(both Parliamentarians); Newton, Peter Leigh and Sir Roger Palmer
(Royalists); Wigan, Orlando Bridgeman (Royalist) and Alexander Rigby
(Parliamentarian); Clitheroe, Ralph Ashton and Richard Shuttleworth
(both Parliamentarians); Liverpool, John Moore (Parliamentarian) and
Sir Richard Wynn, Bart. (Royalist). If its members of Parliament
represented the county, parties here must have been equally divided, as
there were seven Parliamentarians and seven Royalists.
Amongst the first enactments of this Parliament which concerned this
county was the abolition of the Duchy Court of Star Chamber and the
repeal of the forest laws. The knights, squires, merchants, gentlemen
and freeholders of Lancashire at this time presented a petition to
Parliament representing that undue influence had been brought to bear
at the election of knights of the shire, and they prayed that those who
had been instrumental in bringing on arbitrary government should be
dismissed from office. The next step was taken in 1641, when Parliament
resolved to take command of the militia, and with this in view Lord
Strange was removed from his office of Lord-Lieutenant of the county
and Lord Wharton put in his place; at the same time a considerable
number of justices of the peace known not to be well affected to
the Parliament were struck off the commission and others appointed
in their stead; and Mr. Ashton, Mr. Shuttleworth, Mr. Rigby and Mr.
Moore, members of Parliament (all Parliamentarians), were despatched to
Lancashire to see that the ordinance of the militia was put into force.
We now find ourselves on the eve of those domestic struggles which ever
since have been known as the Civil Wars, and in which Lancashire was
destined to play no small part. At this time most of the old castles
and fortresses had long ago been allowed to fall into disuse and ruin,
but there still remained tenable the castles at Lancaster, Clitheroe,
Greenhaugh and Liverpool, and the smaller fortified houses of Thurland,
Hoghton, Latham and Greenhaugh, all of which were utilized to the
utmost. In 1641 the revolt in Ireland was causing considerable anxiety
in the minds of the Lancashire people, insomuch that they entreated
Parliament to appoint a fleet of small ships to guard their coast, to
prevent the Papists giving intelligence to the rebels, and to act as a
defence for the "petitioners and other Protestants who inhabited the
maritime parts opposite to Ireland."
The breach between the King and his Parliament gradually became
widened, and early in 1642 Charles removed his Court to York, where he
received a petition from Lancashire signed by 64 knights, 55 divines,
740 gentlemen, and about 7,000 freeholders, in which they express their
satisfaction that the measures taken by the King had "weakened the
hopes of the sacrilegious devourers of the churches patrimonie, and
provided against all Popish impieties and idolatries and the growing
danger of Anabaptists, Brownists, and other novellists," and then
proceed to say that there is one thing which "sads our hearts," which
is "the distance and misunderstanding between Your Majesty and Your
Parliament."
To check the strong party of Royalists in the county, orders were
issued to levy fines on the estates of the so-called "malignants," and
other means adopted to, if possible, render them powerless when the
struggle actually began. These precautions, however, were taken too
late to be really effective.
On January 20, 1642, the King made a last attempt to come to terms
with the House of Commons, and failing to arrive at a satisfactory
conclusion, Parliament ceased to seek for the royal assent to their
Bills, and by an "ordinance" of their own took the entire control
of the militia. In the meantime the King went to Yorkshire, but
was refused admission to Hull. Both parties were now making active
preparation for an appeal to arms, and when the King on June 2
indignantly refused to hand over all his powers to Parliament and
become a King in name only, the negotiations between the two came to an
end, and practically the Civil War began. On August 22, 1642, Charles
reared his standard on the walls of Nottingham Castle, and his herald
made the proclamation of war. Parliament now appealed to the King to
lower his standard, but it was of no avail, and on September 9 the
Commons published a declaration setting forth their view of the causes
of the war.
The great civil strife which followed was not one war, but many wars.
In Lancashire these were for the most part carried on by officers
and troops raised in the various districts, assisted sometimes by the
local militia; sometimes they besieged a town, and at other times only
attacked a private house, but in every case the issue was one and the
same--the King or the Parliament. Some time before actual war was
declared at Nottingham and London, the troubles had begun in Lancashire.
The first outburst appears to have taken place at Preston, on June 20,
1642, when Sir John Girlington, the High Sheriff of the county, had
convened a meeting at which to read the King's declarations and his
answers to the Lancashire petition. The number of people attending
this meeting was so great that it was adjourned to Preston Moor (just
outside the town), and amongst those present were Lord Strange, Lord
Molineux, Sir George Middleton, and Sir Edward Fitton. The meeting
broke up in confusion; the High Sheriff and some 400 others rode up and
down the moor crying, "For the King, for the King!" whilst the greater
number rallied round the opposition party, and remained to pray for the
uniting of King and Parliament.
From a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Commons, dated
June 27, 1642, and signed by Ralph Ashton, John Moore, and Alexander
Rigby, we learn that the High Sheriff had surprised the garrison at
Preston and carried away all the powder in the magazine there, and
that Lord Strange had taken away thirty barrels of powder and a great
quantity of matches from Liverpool, and had also, with many armed
forces, "repaired to a towne called Bury, about 20 miles distant
from his own house."[133] These proceedings alarmed the people of
Manchester, who at once took up arms, and many volunteers from the
surrounding districts were mustered and trained. These volunteers,
together with the militia, numbered some 7,000 men, who were said to
be well furnished with muskets and pikes, and when Alexander Rigby
witnessed these training, they were dismissed with shouts of "For the
King and Parliament!"
Whilst these warlike preparations were proceeding, it appears
incredible that Lord Strange, with Thomas Tyldesley, of Myerscough, and
a small retinue, should have paid a visit to Manchester; yet such was
the case, the ostensible reason of this being to attend a banquet (on
July 15)[134] in the house of Mr. Alexander Green, who lived in that
town.
During the dinner, Captains John Holcroft and Thomas Birch, who were
active Parliamentarians, entered the town with an armed force, and beat
to arms. Lord Strange, with his small band of followers, turned out,
and a riot ensued, in which a man called Richard Perceval, a weaver of
Levenshulme, was killed. This is said to have been the first blood shed
in Lancashire in these wars, but strictly speaking the great struggle
had not yet commenced. After this, the people barricaded the chief
approaches to the town with gates and earthworks, holding themselves
ready to withstand an invading force. At the same time Lord Strange
was busy mustering men in the royal cause on the moors near Bury,
Ormskirk and Preston, in consequence of which he was deprived of his
Lord-Lieutenancy of Chester and North Wales, and subsequently denounced
as a rebel guilty of high treason. Amongst the King's supporters, none
were more zealous than the members of those old Lancashire families who
had, on account of their adherence to the Roman Catholic religion, been
deprived of the right to bear arms.
Manchester, although it may have had within its boundaries many stanch
Royalists, was undoubtedly at this time an important stronghold of the
rebels, and it was the first place in Lancashire which Lord Strange
received instructions from the King to recover.
Manchester was ready for the attack, the town having been fortified in
a rough-and-ready way.[135] On the night of Saturday, September 24,
1642, Lord Strange, accompanied by Lord Rivers, Sir Gilbert Gerrard,
Lord Molyneux, Sir John Girlington, and others, with some 4,000 foot,
200 dragoons, and 100 light horse, marched to Manchester; they had also
with them six or seven cannon, which were placed so as to rake the
centre of Deansgate and on the lower end of the old Salford Bridge.
The main body of the Royalists were stationed on the south side of
the river, in the grounds of Sir Edward Mosley. On the Sunday, in the
middle of sermon, people were called out of church to witness several
"hot skirmishes," which continued to break out during all that day
and on the Monday, when the siege really commenced, and continued
during the whole week, and for all that time (if we must credit the
chronicler) the artillery kept up a continual fire upon the town, yet
did "little or no harm," save "killing one which stood gazing on the
top of a stile." During this siege, Lord Strange's father died, and he
then became Lord Derby. The command of the forces inside Manchester was
given to Captain Bradshaw and Captain Radcliffe, who were assisted by
Lieutenant-Colonel Rosworm; the inhabitants generally are said to have
helped the soldiers, whilst some of the gentlemen were engaged night
and day in making bullets. We are also told that the soldiers each day
had prayers and singing of psalms at the street ends.
During the siege several attempts were made to force an entrance into
the town; the troops in Salford made a vigorous attack on the old
bridge, but were repulsed by Lieutenant-Colonel Rosworm, who maintained
the post with thirty musketeers; another attack was directed against
the head of Market Street Lane, but with no success. On the evening
of the 27th Lord Strange sent a message to the townspeople, in which
he offered to retire his troops if Manchester would give up its arms,
and allow his force to march through the town, and give him £1,000
in money. To this a reply was sent to the effect that they were not
conscious of any act committed by them which should "in the least kind
divest" them of the "Royal protection, nor of any disobedience of his
Majestie's lawfull commands;" they expressed their wonder that Lord
Strange should come to them in this hostile manner to take away their
arms; and, being by no means assured of the safety of their persons and
goods if they delivered up their arms, they were resolved to retain
them in their own custody. This decided refusal to yield resulted in a
lessened demand, Lord Strange declaring that he would be satisfied if
they gave up a part of their arms; this also was refused, and the siege
was renewed.
On the last day of September the Earl of Derby, having received orders
to join the King's army at Shewsbury, raised the siege, and after
an exchange of prisoners withdrew his troops. It is impossible to
ascertain with any degree of certainty how many were slain during this
siege, but a Parliamentary authority gives the numbers as being on his
side only five or six, whilst the Royalists lost several officers and
200 common soldiers. Certainly one of the slain was Thomas Standish,
of Duxbury, a captain of the trained band of Leyland; he was shot by a
bullet fired from the church steeple.
This, the first victory on the Parliamentary side, brought forth a
declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, in
commendation of the inhabitants of the town of Manchester for their
valiant resisting of the Earl of Derby, and at the same time assuring
them that payment should be made for all disbursements or losses.
The Commons also ordered that a public thanksgiving to God for the
deliverance of Manchester should be observed in all the churches and
chapels in Lancashire. The fortifications were now strengthened, and
Manchester became the recognised headquarters of the Parliamentary army
in this county, and the Earl of Derby, on his return from Warwickshire,
took up his position at Warrington, and at the same time garrisoned
Wigan. The Manchester people now raised several troops in their
immediate neighbourhood, which were occasionally employed to disarm
any place which it was thought might be used against them; thus the
town of Bury was disarmed, although it belonged to the Earl; and whilst
accomplishing this feat, they took the surplice from the church there
and put it on the back of one of the soldiers, and "caused him to rid
in the cart the arms were caried in, to be matter of sport and laughter
to the behoulders." Probably out of a spirit of revenge, the Manchester
people rased to the foundations the house of Sir Edward Mosley, called
the Lodge, where the Earl of Derby was quartered during the siege. At
the college they established a manufactory of gunpowder.
In December the Earl of Derby called a meeting of some of the leaders
on his side, and they resolved to raise £8,700, to be assessed on the
several hundreds of the county, and appointed collectors and treasurers
for the same, and they also fixed the pay to be given to the forces
raised; the rates were: captains of foot, 10s. a day; lieutenants,
4s.; "ancients" (_i.e._ standard-bearers), 3s. Horse soldiers received
rather higher pay, varying from a captain's 15s. a day to a trooper's
2s. 6d. per diem, while sergeants were paid 1s. 6d., drummers 1s. 3d.,
corporals 1s., and common soldiers 9d.
During the rest of the winter, except here and there a skirmish,
nothing of any great importance took place in Lancashire between the
two parties, but in almost all the towns active preparations were made
and garrisons stationed. Preston, Blackburn, Wigan, Bolton, and other
boroughs, all assumed a warlike aspect.
Some of the miniature wars which took place have a comic aspect, as
when Sir Gilbert Hoghton, on December 24, marched a body of men all
the way to within a quarter of a mile of Blackburn in order to disarm
that town, where they halted, when one of his men, having a small piece
of ordnance, "plaied" most of the night; but the only damage he did
was to knock the bottom out of a frying-pan. The recorder of this goes
on to say, "they were afraid of coming near one another," and upon
Christmas night Sir Gilbert withdrew his forces, and "his souldiers and
clubmen were glad of it, that they might eate their Christmas pyes at
home."[136]
Early in this month (December) there was a slight engagement at
Chowbent, near Leigh, of which an account was sent (dated December
9, 1642) to a "Rev. Divine in London" by one of the combatants,
from which it appears that as the people were going to church on the
previous Sunday a post rode through the country informing them that the
Earl of Derby's troops were coming. Whereupon "the countrey presently
rose, and before one of the clocke" they had mustered about 3,000
horse and foot, who set out to meet the enemy, "encountering them" at
Chowbent, and driving them back to Leigh, "killing some and wounding
many." During the attack some of the "youths, farmers' sons," allowed
their zeal to outrun their discretion, having "had little experience of
the like times before this." They, being mounted, overrode their foot
soldiers; and when the Earl's forces, having retreated to Lowton Moor,
discovered that the enemy's infantry was left a long way behind, they
turned about and began another assault, but were ultimately obliged
to fly, leaving many killed and a couple of hundred taken prisoners.
The scribe then goes on to say, if the attack should be repeated,
the people in the district would be found to be on their guard, as
the "naylers of Chowbent, instead of making nayles," had been busy
making bills and battle-axes, and that they were determined to take
as prisoners all the "greatest papists and most dangerous malignants,
and carry them to Manchester to keepe house with Sir Cecil Trafford,
that arch-papist who is there a prisoner. For now the men of Blackburn,
Paduam [Padiham], Burnely and Colne, with those sturdy churles in the
two forests of Pendle and Rossendale, have raised their spirits and
have resolved to fight it out rather than their beef and fatt bacon
shall be taken from them."
In the beginning of 1643 Sir Thomas Fairfax left Yorkshire, and for a
time made Manchester his headquarters, and from this time forward the
war in the county assumed a more serious aspect. Early in February Sir
John Seaton, the Major-General of the Parliamentary troops, set out
from Manchester, having under his command about 1,000 "firemen, horse
and foot," and 600 "bill men, halberdiers and club men." The route
taken for this march was by Bolton and Blackburn, from both of which
towns additional troops were obtained. Preston had all along been held
by the friends of the King--indeed, it had now become the headquarters
of the Royalists, and the inhabitants had spared neither time nor money
to render it, as they thought, safe and secure; around it they had
thrown up an outwork of earth, within which was a wall of brick. As
usual, we find considerable difference in the accounts of this attack
on Preston. The Vicar of Dean, who was "an eye-witness" of the fight,
writing to a divine in London, says that the assault was commenced
by Sir John Seaton a little before sunrise; that the three companies
from Manchester especially distinguished themselves, and that in an
hour's time Preston was taken. The account ordered to be printed by the
Commons in Parliament gives two hours as the time taken to effect an
entrance, and states that the Major-General (Sir John Seaton) "behaved
himself galantly at the end of Church Street, where the entry was
made," there beating down the sentries and the soldiers stationed in
the steeple of the church. Another authority[137] gives a more graphic
picture: The Parliamentary force, he says, somewhat late in the evening
of February 7, having passed the Ribble Bridge, drew up their main body
in the fields, whilst some of their companies, led by some who knew the
town well, were placed near the house of correction, so as to be ready
to force an entrance through the Friargate Bars, whereas the forces
generally were to assault the East Bars. The defending party fought
well and bravely, but after the entrance was gained the invaders were
allowed to march through the streets without resistance, yet as they
passed along the soldiers with their muskets and pikes broke all the
glass windows within reach.
The Parliamentary loss appears to have been slight, but of the
Royalists over 200 were slain. Amongst the first to fall were the
gallant Mayor, Adam Morte, and his son; the former was more than once
heard to declare that before he would surrender the town he would set
fire to it and begin with his own house.
Sir Gilbert Hoghton escaped and made his way to Wigan, but Lady
Hoghton, Lady Girlington and Mr. Townley were all taken prisoners, and
amongst the spoils taken were "three pieces of ordnance, a murdering
piece, a great quantity of musquiets, and many horses, with two or
three colours."
Most of the conquering forces remained in Preston and began to
strengthen its fortifications, and erected a strong sconce upon the
marsh outside Preston, so as to command the fords over the Ribble.
To keep alive the enthusiasm of the soldiers, as well as to disarm a
dangerous foe, an attack on Hoghton Tower was decided on, and with
this object three companies were despatched from Preston on February
14. This fine specimen of a baronial residence was well situated and
fortified; it was from its tower that Sir Gilbert Hoghton was wont to
light his beacon to call musters of the friends of the King; on its
walls were mounted "three great pieces of ordnance."
Sir Gilbert, as we have already seen, having escaped from Preston and
gone to Wigan, and his wife being a prisoner, it is not to be wondered
at that the little garrison at the Tower should be disheartened, and
after a short parley give up the place.
The soldiers at once took possession, and whilst they were searching
for arms and powder the place was blown up, and Captain Starkey and
some threescore of his men were killed. This explosion was at the time
put down as being caused by an act of treachery on the part of Sir
Gilbert's soldiers, but subsequently it appears to have been admitted
that it was due to the carelessness of the victorious forces. The
author of "Lancashire's Valley of Achor" distinctly states that it
was "fired by their neglected matches, or by that great souldier's
idoll, tobacco;" and he further adds that they were "burdened with the
weight of their swearing, drunkennesse, plundering and wilfull waste at
Preston."
Within a few days of the taking of Hoghton Tower, troops were sent to
reconnoitre Lancaster, where, finding the inhabitants either unprepared
to resist or more or less in sympathy with them, they at once attacked
the castle and took it, and thereupon released all the prisoners they
found there, whether they were in gaol for felony or debt. At the
castle were Roger Kirby, M.P. for the county, and Sir John Girlington,
who appears to have escaped on finding that the castle could hold out
no longer.
The town of Bolton had been left with only some 500 men, and
taking advantage of this, on February 16 the Earl of Derby and the
Major-General marched from Wigan towards it with about 1,000 horse
and foot and got within a mile of the place without being discovered
by the garrison, which, it seems, was "at prayer in the church." And
now the Earl's forces made a fatal mistake: instead of making straight
for the town, they went round by Great Lever, and in doing so their
presence was discovered, and the soldiers were at their posts ready to
receive the besiegers. The first assault took place at Bradshaw Gate,
where three forts had been erected. The contest was a severe one. The
fortification consisted of certain outworks and a mud wall, 2 yards
thick, on the inner side of which was an arrangement of chains, which
has not been clearly defined. One account says that the invaders, with
iron bullets of five or six pounds weight, shot through the mud walls;
whilst another faithful narrator scornfully reports that "they played
children's play, for they mortally hit but one lad," and he, common
report said, was one on their own side.[138] The same authority adds
that "hither their wittie malice brought a new invented mischievous
instrument," which consisted of "an head about a quarter of a yard
long, a staffe two yards long or more put into that head, twelve iron
pikes round about and one in the end to stab with. This fierce weapon
(to double their scorn) they called a _Roundhead_." The Royalists,
having forced the outworks, got possession of several houses, to some
of which they set fire; they were, however, ultimately driven back and
retreated to Wigan, taking along with them, it is said, two or three
cartloads of dead bodies.[139] When the fight was over, 1,700 men came
from Middleton, Oldham, Rochdale and Manchester to the assistance of
the besieged town. The officers in command of the garrison at Bolton
were Colonel Ashton, Captain Buckley, of Oldham; Captain Scoffield,
of Rochdale; Captain Holt, of Bury; and Captain Ashurst, of Radcliffe
Bridge.
The rebels had now got into their hands Manchester, Preston, Lancaster,
and Bolton, the Royalists having their headquarters at Warrington and
Wigan, whilst most of the other towns (including Liverpool) had as
yet not been called upon to take any prominent part in the struggle;
but it may be assumed that almost invariably the Roman Catholics, the
older gentry, and most of the freeholders, were on the King's side.
About this time an event took place which caused great excitement
in the northern part of the county, and which had some influence on
the future course of the war in that portion of the county. On March
4 a large Spanish ship appeared in sight, and being driven by the
wind into the waters of the Wyre near Rossall Point, the captain, not
knowing where he could land, put out his anchor and fired his cannon as
a signal of distress; on a pilot boat being sent out, it was discovered
that the ship was laden with ammunition intended for the use of the
Parliamentary forces. The ship, which was described as being of "a
great burden, such a one as was never landed in Wyre watter in any
man's memory," was forthwith seized by the Royalists and brought into
the mouth of the Wyre; whereupon the Earl of Derby with a troop of
horse came to Rossall, and finding there in or about the ship Colonel
George Dodding, of Conishead Priory, and Mr. Townson, of Lancaster,
both Parliamentary men, he took them prisoners and ordered the ship
to be burnt, which was accordingly done. The Preston commanders, for
whose use this ammunition was no doubt destined, in the meantime got to
know what was being done, and despatched four companies of foot towards
Rossall; they passed the night at Poulton-le-Fylde, and the next day,
sending out scouts, they discovered that the Earl and his men were on
Layton Hawes, and not liking to meet his horsemen, they marched on to
Rossall, where from the opposite side of the river they witnessed the
burning of the Spanish ship; this, as she was probably stranded, was
not complete, so that most of the guns which she carried (some being of
brass) were not destroyed, and this the Parliamentary officers were not
slow to take advantage of, and they forthwith sent up boats and carried
away the ordnance down the Lune to Lancaster, where they were stowed
away in the castle.
Whilst the Earl was in the Fylde district he was instrumental in
raising many more troops for the King's forces, and after doing so he
decided to attack Lancaster, and if possible recover the guns which
by his want of forethought had been taken by the enemy. Accordingly
on March 18 the Earl (according to his own account) presented himself
with a few forces before the town, and the Mayor having refused to
surrender, he (the Earl) "made bold to burn the greatest part of the
town, and in it many of their souldiers, who defended it sharply for
about two hours, but we beat them into the castle, and I seeing the
tower clear from all but smoke, spared the remainder of that town
and laid siege unto the castle." This attempt to recover the castle
he abandoned; having been informed that Sir John Seaton with a large
force was on his way from Preston, he resolved to steal a march on that
town, now left almost defenceless. The account of this destruction
of Lancaster as given by Major Robinson has a very different aspect;
he asserts that there were very few soldiers in the town, except
those in the castle, and consequently the firing of the houses was an
unnecessary piece of cruelty; in the centre of the town many of the
best houses were fired, and in one long street all the houses, barns,
with the cattle in their stalls, were entirely burnt.
When the Earl left Lancaster he took with him many prisoners of war,
amongst whom was the Mayor of that town. The Earl managed to march to
Preston by a different route to the one taken by Colonel Ashton, who
commanded the party sent to the relief of Lancaster, and thus on March
22 he reached Fullwood Moor, where he waited until after dark; in the
meantime, however, the scouts from Preston had discovered his advance,
and had alarmed the garrison. The Friarsgate Bar was strongly guarded,
but the nearer the enemy came to it, it is said, the "weaker it waxed,
for the townes men were generally disaffected to Parliament."[140] This
is probably true, as after, according to one authority, two hours'
fight[141] the town was regained. The next day many people from the
country around Preston came into the town shouting, "God bless the King
and the Earl of Derby!"
The Earl seemed now to be bent on recovering all that had heretofore
been lost, and within a week of the taking of Preston (on the 27th)
Bolton was again attacked, the Royalist force about two o'clock in the
afternoon being drawn up on the moor outside the town, and a message
sent to demand a surrender: this was refused, and towards dark the
"minister of the town prayed with a company of souldiers, most of them
townsmen. The end of prayer was the beginning of the fight."[142] The
enemy made several assaults during the night, and at one time got
close to the mud wall, but some forces from Bury coming to assist the
besieged, the enemy were finally repulsed. There was probably very
little loss on either side.
Colonel Ashton only arrived at Lancaster to find the town partially
in ruins; he then marched on to the neighbourhood of Whalley. On the
road he was followed by the Earl of Derby and his forces, and a slight
engagement took place, after which the Royalists took shelter in the
abbey, but were afterwards forced to retreat through Langho Green to
Ribchester. Colonel Ashton and his men then proceeded to Padiham,
where, "having a good minister, some hours were spent in thanksgiving"
for their great deliverance.
On April 1, Wigan, one of the headquarters of the Royalists, was
stormed and taken after a very short struggle by Colonel Ashton's
forces; but, according to Rosworm, owing to some treachery the place
was vacated the same night, the soldiers having first taken some
prisoners and much spoil, and having placed "great heaps of woollen
cloth of the drapers in the streets." Wigan was again taken on April
28 by Colonel Ashton, who, having burnt the gates of the town, took an
oath from the townsmen never again to bear arms against the King.
Warrington was now garrisoned by the Earl of Derby. It was defended on
one side by the river Mersey, which was crossed by a bridge of four
arches; over this bridge was a narrow roadway, and on the centre pier
stood a watch-house which had formerly been used by the Austin Friars
as an oratory. The other sides of the town were defended by mud walls,
with gates at the principal entrances; outside these walls outworks had
been thrown up. Against this stronghold Sir William Brereton's forces
and a large detachment from Manchester laid siege on April 1 (1643),
but they only succeeded in getting possession of Sankey Bridge and "a
fayre large house of one Mr. Bridgeman's."[143] They withdrew their
troops after a three days' siege and some smart fighting, the reason
alleged for this being that the Earl of Derby set fire to the centre of
the town, and threatened to burn down the whole place rather than it
should be taken.
Lancaster towards the end of April was again taken by the Parliamentary
forces, and the pieces of ordnance from the Spanish ship (see p.
139) were removed to Manchester, and very shortly afterwards (May
19) Warrington, after withstanding a week's siege, was obliged to
surrender, partly, it is said, because provision ran short. After these
various warlike proceedings, it is not astonishing that funds began
to fail, and for want of the sinews of war, many preferred to return
to their usual occupations, and thus the leaders of both parties were
surrounded with difficulties. Whilst the Parliament could and did order
the estates of the delinquents to be confiscated, the Royalists could
only levy voluntary rates, which fell heaviest on those whose estates
had thus been seized. The tide of war seemed now to have turned against
the Earl of Derby, who, to add to his other defeats, made an attempt,
and failed, to regain the magazine in Liverpool. The Royalists were
further disheartened by the removal from their midst of the Earl of
Derby, who was ordered by the Queen to betake himself to the Isle of
Man, which was then menaced by the enemies of the King; here he landed
on June 15, 1643. Shortly after this Hornby Castle[144] was taken
by the Parliamentary forces, and there now only remained Thurland
Castle and Lathom House in the hands of the Royalists; and as the Earl
of Derby, Lord Molyneux, and Colonel Thomas Tyldesley were all out
of the county, the enemy began to realize that they were almost in
possession of the whole county. Before the departure of these leaders
much plundering by the soldiers was reported in the Fylde district,
where Lord Molyneux and Colonel Tyldesley were for a time stationed; at
Kirkham, Clifton, St. Michael's and Laton, cattle were taken and houses
sacked. About this time Colonel Alexander Rigby (whose name hereafter
appears more prominently) came armed with a commission from the Commons
to raise forces in the hundreds of Leyland and Amounderness, and to get
the soldiers so raised ready for war in the least possible time. His
efforts were successful, and in nearly every parish in the district
he met with some support. Encouraged by this, he, about midsummer,
undertook to take Thurland Castle, which was then held by Sir John
Girlington,[145] who had around him "many disperat caviliers;" his
castle was well fortified and provisioned. Colonel Rigby was supplied
(in addition to the men he had raised) with forces from Salford and
Blackburn Hundreds. Alexander Rigby's own account of this siege is
that during the greater part of the conflict, which lasted seven weeks,
he was threatened by the forces of Westmorland, which were drawn up
within his view; to these forces were added the Royalists from the
Cartmel and Furness district. Having decided to deal with these forces
before attacking the castle, he took "500 foot, 2 Drakes, and 3 small
troops of horse" (part of his army which lay before Thurland), and
marched thirty miles "over mountain and sea, sands and water," and
when in sight of the enemy (near Dalton) they "committed themselves
to God's protection and began their worke with publike prayers." From
some cause, which is not recorded, he goes on to state that the enemy,
before a blow was struck, began to retreat, and were soon dispersed,
throwing away their arms, and leaving their guns and ammunition
behind them. Colonel Rigby took some 400 prisoners, including Colonel
Huddleston, of Millom. After this exploit the little band of soldiers
turned back to Thurland in the best of spirits, and endowed with such
enthusiasm that in a very short time Sir John Girlington surrendered,
on condition that he and his wife should be allowed free passage
into Yorkshire. The castle was at once demolished. A portion of the
ancient walls and an entrance doorway are all that now remains of this
fortified house of the Tunstall family.
The next step to be taken was, of course, to attack Lathom, which was
now the refuge and headquarters of the few Royalists left. This strong
fortress was built on the site of an older building in the time of
Henry VI., and according to the ballad of "Flodden Field," "this bright
bower of Lathom" had "nine towers on high": above these rose what was
known as the Eagle Tower; it stood on a flat, boggy piece of ground,
and was surrounded with a wall some 2 yards thick, on the outside of
which was a moat 8 yards wide and 2 yards deep. On each of the nine
towers there were six pieces of ordnance. Into this stronghold a few
faithful followers of the Earl of Derby (who was now in the Isle of
Man) had retreated, and were determined to assist the Countess in
maintaining it against all comers; with this in view, they proceeded
to garrison it and to procure from the surrounding neighbourhood
provisions to enable them to withstand a prolonged siege. These
precautions were not taken too soon, for on February 24, 1643-44, a
meeting was held in Manchester, when it was resolved that forthwith
an attack should be made on Lathom, the conduct of which was given to
Colonel Alexander Rigby (a lawyer), Colonel Ashton of Middleton, and
Colonel Moore of Bankhall.
On February 27, 1643-44, the Parliamentary forces took up their
position about two miles from the house, and on the following day a
letter from Sir Thomas Fairfax requiring the delivery of Lathom was
sent to the Countess, to which she replied that she "much wondered
that he wold require her to give up her Lord's house without any
offence on her part done to the Parliament," and she asked for a
week's consideration, "both to resolve the doubts of conscience and to
advice in matter of law and honor."[146] This modest request was not
at once granted, but after some further parley, and various proposals
having on both sides been made and rejected, her ladyship ended the
matter by saying "that though a woman and a stranger divorced from her
friends and rob'd of her estate, she was ready to receive their utmost
vyolence, trusting in God both for protection and deliverance."
The siege was now begun in earnest, though the object seems to have
been rather to starve out the garrison than to take the place by storm;
sorties were frequently made by the cavaliers, and from time to time
shots were fired at the walls and towers by the enemy. One chronicle
adds they were intended either to "beate down pinnacles and turretts,
or else to please the women that came to see the spectacle." After
the siege had continued for nearly a month, Colonels Ashton and Moore
appear to have begun to despair of success by ordinary weapons of war,
and thereupon addressed a letter to the ministers of Lancashire asking
them to "commend their case to God," so that "the Almighty would crowne
their weake endeavours with speedy success."
Towards the end of April another summons was sent to the Countess
demanding immediate surrender, to which she replied in person to the
messenger, "Carry this back to Rigby; tell that insolent rebell he
shall neither have p'sons, goods nor house; when our strength and
p'visions is spent, we shall find a fire more mercyfull than Rigby, and
then if the providence of God p'vent it not, my goods and house shall
burne in his sight; myselfe, children and souldiers, rather than fall
into his hands, will seale our religion and loyalty in the same flame."
During the last few days the only thing that gave any anxiety to the
gallant band within Lathom was a large mortar-piece from which the
besiegers were continually sending fireballs and grenades into their
midst. To get possession of this a sally was made, and after some smart
fighting it was captured and dragged within the walls.
After this the spirits of the invaders appear to have been somewhat
daunted, and at the end of nearly four months Rigby, hearing that
Prince Rupert was coming to Lancashire, withdrew his troops to
Eccleston Green, and ultimately marched them to Bolton. During this
siege Rigby is said to have lost 500 men. Prince Rupert, on his arrival
in the county, kept clear of Manchester, and marched straight towards
Bolton, near to which town he was met by the Earl of Derby. Bolton
was probably not well prepared to receive such a force as that led
against it by the Prince and the Earl; the town was also destitute of
ammunition, and had it not been for the timely appearance of Colonel
Rigby with the remains of his forces, resistance would have been out
of the question; but even as it was, the Boltonians gallantly and
successfully drove back the enemy on the first assault, who, however,
shortly rallied, and, returning to the attack, soon effected an
entrance into the town, where little or no opposition was offered.
This latter attack[147] was led in person by the Earl of Derby with
200 men, and after he had entered the town the other forces poured in
on every side. Rigby fled, leaving some 2,000 of his men behind him,
many (if not most of them) being slain on the spot, the Prince having
ordered that no quarter was to be given to any person in arms. Another
account accuses the Cavaliers of having "killed, stripped, and spoiled"
all the people they met with, regarding "neither the dolefull cries of
women nor children," and also of having brought out some "husbands on
purpose to be slaine before their wives' faces." Many other outrages
are said to have been perpetrated. All the records of this siege agree
that the return of killed and wounded was very heavy, and it may safely
be assumed that at least 1,500 were slain.[148] The colours from the
Bolton soldiers were sent in triumph to Lady Derby at Lathom. Prince
Rupert now marched on to Liverpool, where he found that Colonel Moore,
the governor of the town, was prepared to resist him, having a strong
garrison, and also being able to rely on the assistance of the sailors
in port. To find provisions for this garrison Colonel Clifton is said
to have taken all the sheep he could find on Layton Hawes (in Bispham).
In the early part of June the siege began, but not for three weeks
was the Prince able to take the town. The assaults were frequent, and
resulted in serious losses to the leaguers, but at last it became
evident that further resistance was useless, so the wary governor,
having first shipped off his arms, ammunition, and goods, left the
north entrance to the town undefended, and thus admitted the enemy,
who (according to Seacome) put to the sword all they met on their way
to the high cross (where the exchange now stands). A large number of
prisoners were taken, and the Prince seized the castle.
After a flying visit to Lathom, Prince Rupert continued his march
to York[149] at the head of 20,000 men, where he joined the Duke of
Newcastle. On July 2 the great battle of Marston Moor was fought,
which, if it did not decide the contest between the King and the
Parliament, left the cause of the Royalists in the North of England
utterly ruined and hopeless. After this event, Lord Fairfax, taking
advantage of the turn of tide in his favour, sent 1,000 horse into
Lancashire to join the forces from Cheshire and Derbyshire, for the
purpose of keeping a watch upon the movements of Prince Rupert, who had
withdrawn the King's army into Westmorland and Cumberland.
Parliament was not slow to perceive the importance of retaining
Lancashire, and at once ordered a grant of £3,000 for the soldiers
there, and provisions were made to provide pensions for widows and
children of those who had been slain; but this money was not to come
out of the general exchequer, but "out of the several sequestrations of
papists and delinquents within the respective hundreds of Blackburn,
Leyland and Amounderness, or out of the assessments provided for
that purpose; and no one was to receive more than four shillings and
eightpence per week." Prince Rupert again put in an appearance in
Lancashire, and engagements of a not very serious character took place
at Ormskirk, Up-Holland, near Wigan, and Preston. Liverpool being in
great danger of being lost to the Royalists, Lord Derby made an attempt
for its relief, but was repulsed with a heavy loss, and on November 1,
1644, the town was surrendered to Sir John Meldrum.
The close of the year 1644 found the Parliamentary forces in possession
of all the fortified places in the county, except Lathom House, and
in the following year the Royalists were defeated at Naseby and at
Rowton Heath, near Chester, the latter entirely putting to an end
the King's design, which was to march into Lancashire and attempt to
regain what had there been lost. In the meantime, the Parliamentary
party were determined to wrest from the Royalists their last holding
in the county, and for this purpose, in July, 1645, General Egerton,
with 4,000 men, began the second siege of this apparently invincible
stronghold; for a long time they were unable to approach near enough
to the house to enable them to use their heavy guns against it, but
were content to lie behind a ditch at some distance from the walls.
After withstanding this siege all the autumn, the garrison, for want of
provisions, was obliged to yield, and on December 4 Lathom House, which
was described as the glory of the county, was given up to the enemy.
The greater portion of the house was pulled down and cast into the
moat. The Earl and his Countess were now in the Isle of Man.
A little before this second siege, another of the Earl of Derby's
strongholds was taken and destroyed--Greenhaugh Castle, in Garstang
parish. Though small, this was said to be "very stronge, and builded
so that it was thot impregnable with any ordenance whatsoever," and,
moreover, it had only one door, and the "walls of an exceeding
thickness."[150] This castle was entirely demolished. As far as
Lancashire was concerned, the war for the present was over, but its
effects upon the people had, as may easily be imagined, been very
severe, and this fact was fully recognised by the Parliament, for on
the occasion of a general fast (September 11, 1644), it was ordered
that one-half of the money collected in London and Westminster was
to be sent for the relief of Lancashire, "where, in some parts, the
people had nothing left to cloathe them, or bread for their children
to eat, in consequence of the unheard-of spoil, rapine and cruelties,
lately committed by the enemie." In this year, the Parliament took to
itself the patronage of all the church livings in the duchy, and as the
Royalists had forcibly taken the duchy seal from the Vice-Chancellor
(Christopher Banister), a new seal was made.
The cause of the King was now considered as hopeless; nevertheless, one
further attempt was made to revive the spirit of loyalty to the Crown.
General Sir Marmaduke Langdale, having collected a considerable number
of men in the north of Lancashire and in Westmorland, joined them to
the forces raised in Scotland, and placed them under the command of the
Duke of Hamilton; this united army, consisting of 15,000 foot and 6,000
horse,[151] crossed the Border on July 4, 1648, and shortly afterwards
marched through Kendal, _en route_ for Lancaster and Preston, with a
view of ultimately reaching Manchester. In the meantime Cromwell had
started for the North, gathering forces as he went, and on August 16
he reached Stoneyhurst. The Duke of Hamilton's army was now stationed
near Walton-le-Dale, on one side the Ribble, and Sir Marmaduke
Langdale's forces on Ribbleton Moor on the other, so that the latter
held a position between the two main forces. Cromwell at once advanced
against Sir Marmaduke; the manner of doing so will be best told in his
own words[152]: "There being a lane very deep and ill up to the enemies
army and leading to the town, we commanded two regiments of horse, the
first whereof was Colonel Harrison's, and the next my own, to charge up
that lane; on the other side of them advanced the Battel, which were
Lieutenant-Colonel Reads, Colonel Deans, and Colonel Prides on the
right, Colonel Brights and my Lord Generals on the left, and Colonel
Ashton with the Lancashire regiments in reserve.
"We ordered Colonel Thornhaugh and Colonel Twisletons regiments of
horse on the right, and one regiment in reserve for the lane, and
the remaining horse on the left; so that at last we came to a Hedge
dispute, the greatest of the impression from the enemy being upon our
left wing; and upon the battel on both sides of the lane, and upon our
horse in the lane, in all which places the enemy was forced from their
ground after 4 hours dispute, until we come to the town, into which
our troops of my regiment first entered, and being well seconded by
Colonel Harrisons regiment, charged the enemy in the town and cleared
the streets.... Colonel Deans and Colonel Prides outwinging the enemy,
could not come to so much share of the action.... At the last the enemy
was put into disorder, many men slain, many prisoners taken, the Duke
with most of the Scots horse and foot retreated over the bridge, where,
after a very hot dispute betwixt the Lancashire regiments, part of my
Lord Generals and them being at push of pike, they were beaten from the
bridge, and our horse and foot following them, killed many and took
divers prisoners, and we possessed the bridge over Darwent and a few
houses there, the enemy being driven up within musquet-shot of us where
we lay that night.... In this posture did the enemy and we lie the
most part of that night; upon entring the town, many of the enemy's
horse fled towards Lancaster, in the chase of whom went divers of our
horse, who pursued them near ten miles, and had execution of them, and
took about 500 horses and many prisoners. We possessed in the fight
very much of the enemy's ammunition; I believe they lost four or five
thousand arms. The number of slain we judge to be about a thousand, the
prisoners we took were about four thousand."[153]
During the night the Duke, with the remnant of his army, retreated
towards Wigan, and though they were hotly pursued, after some fighting
by the way they got into that town, where they remained for the night,
and on the morrow continued their flight towards Warrington. Wigan,
Cromwell describes as "a great and poore town, and very malignant,"
and he adds that the Duke's army plundered the inhabitants "almost to
their skins." Cromwell followed the retreating foe, and the two armies
again engaged near Winwick, when another 1,000 of the enemy were slain,
the rest being driven on to Warrington Bridge, which they found so
well fortified that they faced about, and again prepared to meet their
pursuers. Cromwell, considering (as he put it) "the strength of the
pass," agreed to give quarter and civil usage, on the surrender of the
officers and soldiers of the town as prisoners of war; these terms
being accepted, the Duke and his army marched off into Cheshire.
The account of the fight at Preston given by Sir Marmaduke Langdale
does not materially differ from that of the Parliamentary leader,
but he frankly admits that his forces were utterly beaten, his foot
soldiers being totally lost. The inhabitants of the various districts
in which these battles had taken place again suffered most acutely, so
much so that the Mayor and Bailiffs of Wigan and several ministers in
the county sent to London an appeal for immediate relief. This appeal
refers to "the lamentable condition of the county of Lancaster, and
particularly of the towns of Wigan, Ashton, and the parts adjacent,"
and sets forth that these districts had borne the heat and burden of
both the wars "in an especial manner above other parts of the nation";
that the plague of pestilence had been raging for three years; that
there was a scarcity of all provisions, grain the most in use being six
times its usual price. All trade was utterly decayed, and it "would
melt any good heart to see the numerous swarms of begging poore and
the many families that pine away at home not having the faces to beg."
Some of the poor, being on the point of starvation, had eaten carrion
and other unwholesome food, "to the destroying of themselves and the
increasing of the infection," the plague being entirely attributed to
the "contagion from the wounded souldiers left there for cure."
Liverpool also suffered much from the wars. In July, 1648, letters were
received by Parliament from the Governor of Chester, representing the
sad condition of that garrison, especially as to the convenience of
the harbour and the revolt of the ships. The town itself was said to
be but small, "and much decayed," by reason of the war and the loss of
the Irish trade, and also by "the free quarter of the soldiers."[154]
The plague, also, about this time appeared in Liverpool and Warrington.
During the next month the Deputy-Lieutenants were ordered to keep some
horse soldiers near Lancaster, as that town was considered of special
importance from a military point of view.
In the early part of 1649 the danger of further disturbance in the
north appeared to have passed, and an order was given to demolish
Clitheroe Castle and to disband the forces in the county; but as some
of them refused to be broken up, Major-General Lambert was despatched
with orders to disband them, by force if necessary.
On January 30, 1649, the King was executed for high-treason, and the
Commonwealth established, and thus the long struggle was brought to a
close; but Lancashire had not yet seen the last of the Civil Wars; for
in August, 1651, Charles II., the uncrowned son of the "martyr King,"
passed through the county on his way to Worcester; and, as was no doubt
foreseen, this passage was not effected without a struggle with the
strong Commonwealth party in the county.
The young King's forces marched over Ellel Moor to Lancaster, where he
was proclaimed King at the market-cross; through Preston and Chorley,
and on to Warrington bridge, where their progress was opposed by a
company of foot, who were soon overwhelmed by numbers and forced
to retreat, allowing the King and his followers to pass over into
Cheshire. Cromwell in the meantime was in pursuit with an army of some
10,000 men, which at Preston was increased by another 6,000 under the
commands of Generals Lambert and Harrison. On the other side, the Earl
of Derby, having been sent for from the Isle of Man, was endeavouring,
but almost in vain, to raise men in Lancashire. With such forces as he
could get together (probably not more than 1,500 men), the Earl marched
to Wigan, where he was met (in Wigan Lane) by Colonel Lilburne, and
after a short but sanguinary battle he was slightly wounded and his
followers utterly routed. The fighting was so severe that the Earl lost
five colonels, the adjutant-general, and four lieutenant-colonels.
With some thirty men as an escort the Earl escaped and made his way
to Worcester to join the King. After the battle of Worcester the
Lancashire Earl was again a fugitive, and on his way to Knowsley he
was taken prisoner on the road, about half a mile from Nantwich in
Cheshire, by Captain Oliver Edge, and lodged in the castle at Chester.
Notwithstanding that Captain Edge, on the Earl's surrendering, had
given him a promise of quarter, he was tried by court-martial at
Chester, and found guilty, the sentence being that he should be
beheaded in the market-place of Bolton, which sentence was carried out
on October 15 (1651), in the presence of a large crowd of people, who
are said to have been "weeping and crying and giving all expressions of
grief and lamentation."[155]
The Civil Wars were now over, and attention was again turned to local
matters. Manchester was one of the first towns to dismantle its forts,
throw down its outer walls, and remove its gates; this was done in
1651. In the same year the court-leet ordered a gibbet, which had been
erected in the corn market-place "for the punishment of the souldiers,"
to be taken down. Manchester, as a reward for her adhesion to the
Parliamentary cause, was allowed to return a member of Parliament in
1654.
One would have thought that the dire troubles through which Lancashire
passed would for a time at least have removed all desire to again take
part in the contest between King and Parliament; but the spirit of
some of the old Royalists still remained, and on the death of Cromwell
(September 3, 1658) a league was formed to restore the monarchy, in
which Lancashire was to have taken a prominent part; the son of the
renowned Sir Marmaduke Langdale was to command the forces of this
county, and amongst his supporters were the son of the "martyr Earl,"
Sir Thomas Middleton, and others. This crude attempt was frustrated by
a signal defeat in a short engagement at Northwich, where the fugitives
were scattered in all directions, some to Manchester and some to
Liverpool, where they found no sympathy but met with hard blows.
The religious condition of the county during the Commonwealth will
be dealt with hereafter (Chapter IX.). Amongst the other effects of
the events of the last ten years was the lowering of the whole social
tone, the retarding of anything like education, or mental or material
progress. Art, science, trade, commerce, and every branch of industry,
must have been almost stagnant, whilst sickness, poverty, and crime
were enormously increased. It was reported in 1655 that alehouses had
become the very bane of the county. In the hundred of Blackburn alone
over 200 of these had "to be thrown down."[156]
Manchester having been all through the Civil Wars a stronghold of
the Parliament, it probably did not suffer quite as much as some of
the other towns, and we are therefore not surprised to find that
many improvements were made there very shortly after the close of
the troubles; thus, in August, 1653, was established there the first
public library, the origin of which was the gift by John Prestwich "of
severall Bookes unto the inhabitants of the towne of Manchester, to be
kept in some convenient place for a liberarie for the use of the said
towne."
From an indenture bearing the afore-mentioned date, it will be seen
that the Pendleton or Jesus Chapel, on the south side of the collegiate
church, had been selected for the repository for these books; but being
now in "great ruine and decay, the roofe thereof being fallen," the
holders of the inheritance of it conveyed it to trustees, to the intent
that it should be repaired and afterwards used for a library. This
collection of books has now long ago been dispersed, and was probably
never a large one.
In 1656 the first town-hall was built; previous to that date the old
wooden booths were used for the court-leet, etc. In these days, when
football has become such a popular game as to render it one of the
great national sports, it is interesting to find that in 1655 the
Manchester Jury ordered all persons to be prosecuted who were found
playing football in the streets. Nearly fifty years before this it
had been found necessary to have "officers for yᵉ football" regularly
appointed. This playing in the streets was not confined to Manchester;
indeed, at Kirkham on Christmas Day, until quite a recent date, the
streets were entirely given up to the followers of this popular pastime.
At the Restoration Manchester was prepared to welcome the newly-crowned
King, and on April 22, 1661, the train-bands, under John Byrom, and the
auxiliary band of Nicholas Mosley, together some 360 men, assembled
in the field "in great gallantrie and rich scarffes, expressing
themselves with many great acclamations of joy." They afterwards
marched to the collegiate church, preceded by forty boys, "all cloathed
in white stuffe, plumes of feathers in their hats, blew scarffes,
armed with little swords hanging in black bells and short pikes
shouldered." In the church was a large concourse of people, who, says
the chronicler,[157] "civilly and soberly demeaned themselves all the
whole day, the like never seen in this nor the like place." A sermon
was preached by the Warden, Richard Heyrick, and a civic procession
afterwards paraded the town. On arriving at the conduit which supplied
the town with water, there was a long halt, in order that the
"gentlemen and officers" might drink his Majesty's health "in claret
running in three streams from the conduit." This stream afterwards ran
for the public use until after sunset. Lancaster celebrated the event
by presenting to the King "their small mite as a token of their joy by
surrender of their fee farm rents of £13 6s. 6d., which they purchased
of the late powers."
On October 7 following, 582 of the inhabitants took the oath of
allegiance. In 1688 an assessment for the town gives the names of
500 ratepayers, who lived in seventeen streets or lanes; eighteen
years later (in 1679), when the oath of allegiance was again taken,
there were about 800 attestors. These figures give some idea of the
population of Manchester at this period. The trade of the town was now
very much extended, a considerable business being done with Ireland
and London. From the former yarn was purchased, which was woven and
returned; and from the Metropolis cotton wool was purchased, which came
from Cyprus and Smyrna, and was manufactured into fustians, dimities
and other fabrics. The appearance of the town towards the end of the
century underwent a great change; its old narrow streets and lanes were
somewhat widened, and the time-worn houses of wood and plaster gave
place to more substantial erections of stone and brick. There had also
been established, by the bequest of one of Manchester's merchants,
Humphery Chetham, of Clayton Hall and Turton Tower, the Chetham
Hospital and Chetham Library, the latter being the first really free
library opened in England.
Preston had now greatly increased, and was a prosperous town of about
6,000 inhabitants. In 1682 Kuerden describes it as being "adorned with
a large square or market-place," and its streets as being "so spacious
from one end thereof to the other, that few of the corporations of
England" exceeded it. In the centre of the town was "an ample, antient
and well-beautifyed gylde hall," under which were "ranged two rows of
butchers' shops", and here once a week was a market for linen cloth,
yarn, fish, and general agricultural produce, as well as cattle,
sheep and pigs, and here and there were the houses of the wealthy,
mostly built of brick and "extraordinarily addorning the streets."
Preston had also its workhouse, public almshouse and school, and the
old building formerly occupied by the Grey Friars served as a kind of
reformatory for "vagabonds, sturdy beggars, and other people wanting
good behaviour."
During the reign of Charles II. two guilds were celebrated at Preston,
to which people came from all parts of the county. Liverpool towards
the end of the reign of Charles II. began rapidly to develop. Blome,
writing in 1673, states that Liverpool was a bold and safe harbour, in
which ships at low water could ride at 4 fathoms, and at high water 10
fathoms, and that amongst the inhabitants were many eminent merchants
and tradesmen, whose commerce with the West Indies made it famous.
Emulating Manchester, it had then recently erected a town-hall, which
was "placed on pillars and arches of hewn stone," having under it an
exchange for merchants. This hall was built on the site where the old
market cross had stood for a very long period. In the middle of this
century (1650) the town consisted of Water Street, near to which was
the tower, owned by the Stanley family, the Custom-house, Dale Street,
Castle Street, Chapel Street, Tithebarn Street, Oldhall Street, and
Jaggler's Street, and on its rocky eminence, looking down upon the
town, still stood the castle. In 1654 the first attempt to light
the streets was made, the order given by the authorities being that
"two lanthorns with two candles burning every night in the dark moon
[_i.e._, when there was no moon] be set out at the High Cross and at
the White Cross, and places prepared to set them in every night till
eight of the clock."
A very large portion of the land on which Liverpool stood at this
time belonged to Edward Moore (afterwards Sir Edward), of Bankhall,
and from his "rental"[158] we may gather much curious detail as to
the tenure and character of the various lessees; the rent appears to
have been paid partly in cash and partly in kind or service--thus,
one tenant paid £1 a year, three hens, and three days' shearing;
another, £1 6s. 8d. and the same boon hens and service. The pool from
which the town took its name is frequently mentioned, and a note
singularly foreshadows a branch of trade which subsequently became very
advantageous to Liverpool. Moore called one of his tenements Sugar
House Close, because a great sugar merchant from London came to treat
with him for it; and it was agreed that he was to build up to the front
street a goodly house four stories high, and at the back a house for
boiling sugar.
At a little later period the establishment of extensive potteries in
Liverpool introduced a new trade, but as early as 1665 a coarse kind of
earthenware was made at Prescot, and the carting of it through the town
was said so to "oppresse and cut out the streets," that the Corporation
levied a toll of 4d. for every cartload. The Liverpool potteries are
said to have been the earliest works of the kind in England.
The question of what to do with the wandering beggars appears to have
met with a rough-and-ready answer from the Liverpool authorities, and
in 1686 they sent round the bellman to warn the inhabitants not to
relieve any foreign poor, and, to prevent any mistake, they ordered
that all those on the relief list should wear a pewter badge; and so
strictly were these regulations enforced, that a burgess was fined 6s.
8d. for harbouring his own father and mother without giving due notice
to the officials.
The first regular post-stages between the various parts of Lancashire
and the rest of England were slow in developing, as we may infer from
the fact that in 1653 three merchants (two Londoners and a Cornishman)
made a proposal to the Government to work the inland and foreign letter
office, and to establish a stage between Lancaster and Carlisle. This
arrangement was probably not carried out. The roads all over the county
were at this period in a dreadful state, and were not materially
improved until the establishment of the turnpike system.
The educational advantages had now somewhat improved, the increase in
public schools towards the close of the century being considerable.
The experience of one boy will serve as a sample of how, no doubt,
fared others. William Stout, the son of a well-to-do farmer, who lived
at Bolton Holmes, near Lancaster (where his ancestors had lived for
generations), records[159] that he was first sent to a dame school, and
afterwards to the Free School at Bolton (about the year 1674), but when
he was between ten and twelve years of age he was, especially in the
spring and summer season, taken away for the "plough time, turf time,
hay time and harvest, in looking after the sheep, helping at plough,
going to the moss with carts, making hay and shearing in harvest;" so
that he made small progress in Latin, and what he learnt in winter he
forgot in summer; as for writing, he depended upon a writing-master
who came to Bolton during the winter.[160] One of the earliest
recollections of the writer just quoted was of his sister being sent up
to London to be touched by Charles II., on which occasion she received
a gold token worth about 10s., which she afterwards wore round her
neck, "as the custom then was." The royal touch was not in this case
efficacious. William Stout afterwards settled in Lancaster as a kind of
general dealer and merchant, especially in groceries and ironmongery,
and from his diary may be gleaned several interesting details of the
state and trade of Lancaster, which at that time (end of seventeenth
century) did a considerable shipping business to London, Ireland,
Virginia, Barbadoes, and other ports.
In 1689 the war with France much interfered with this trade, and the
cheese from Cheshire and Lancashire, which required twenty ships yearly
to carry it to London, had all to be taken by land. The rate for the
carriage in this way was from 3s. to 5s. a hundredweight in summer.
Iron was obtained in the crude state from the bloomeries of Cartmel
and Furness. Tobacco was largely imported into Lancaster directly from
Virginia, the trade being carried on partly by exchange of goods; thus,
one John Hodgson, of Lancaster, sent out £200 value of English goods,
for which he obtained in Virginia 200 hogsheads of tobacco, and made by
the barter a net profit of £1,500, tobacco then selling at 1s. a pound.
Sugar bought at Bristol and Liverpool was refined at Lancaster, but
none seems to have been imported at this time. Our diarist in 1695 was
collector of the land-tax of Lancaster, which was 4s. in the pound, and
amounted to £120, so that the rateable value was only about £600.
One curious funeral custom is worth recording. "I went" (writes Stout)
"to Preston fair to buy cheese," the market for cheese being mostly
at Garstang and Preston fairs. "At this time we sold much cheese to
funerals in the country, from 30 lbs. to 100 lbs. weight, as the
deceased was of ability; which was shrived into two or three" (slices
or pieces) "in the lb., and one with a penny manchet given to all
attendants. And it was customary at Lancaster to give one or two long
biscuits, called Naples biscuits, to each attendant, by which from
20 to 100 lbs. was given." The providing of the penny manchet at the
funeral often formed a paragraph in the deceased person's will, and
the doles given to the poor on these occasions were often considerable.
The last Herald's visitation to the county was made in 1664-65 by Sir
William Dugdale, and from it we discover that many old families of
the last century have entirely died out, whilst others of more humble
origin have succeeded them. The incompleteness of the pedigrees (to
say nothing of their glaring inaccuracies) is striking, and one is
surprised to find how many families, undoubtedly entitled to bear
arms, neglected to enter their descents. The seventeenth century saw
the birth of a new order of men in Lancashire, who in many cases rose
to opulence and became the founders of what developed into county
families; there were the clothiers--they in many instances sprang from
the lowest social grade, but by industry and thrift acquired their
positions. The clothier purchased the wool (or kept large quantities
of sheep), and delivered it to persons who took it to their own
homes, and having there made it into cloth, returned it then to their
employers. This business was usually carried on in the towns of the
county, which were now rapidly springing up, and the demand for the
kind of labour required quickly drew workmen from the surrounding
agricultural districts. Amongst the most prominent centres for this
trade were Manchester, Oldham, Bolton, Rochdale, Ashton, Bury, and
Blackburn. In the manorial and other records of this period we find
frequent references to "loomhouses," "bleachouses," "woolmen," and
"clothmakers." These pioneers of the wool trade, the clothiers, often
lived in large town-houses, adjacent to and communicating with which
were their warehouses for the wool and manufactured goods. The contents
of one of these establishments is furnished by the inventory attached
to the will of Anthony Mosley, of Manchester, clothier, proved at
Chester, April 30, 1607. The will itself, after providing for the
family of the testator and bestowing several hundred pounds for
charitable purposes, concludes with a clause to the effect that the
testator's "walke millers" (_i.e._, fullers) shall each have a cloak
of 10 or 11 shillings a yard; that every one of his servants shall
have 40s. each; that at the funeral a dinner shall be provided, and
"a dealing to the poor of 2d. a piece"; and finally that the parson
who shall make the funeral sermon is to be rewarded with 20s. for his
pains. The dwelling-house consisted of the hall, the parlour, and the
kitchen, with chambers over them; also a chamber over the warehouse,
a brewhouse, a "bolting-chamber,"[161] an upper loft, and cellars.
The stock of cloth in the warehouse was valued at £255, and the stock
at various fulling-mills was estimated at another £740, whilst the
various trade debts owing to the deceased amounted to £1,260. The
household effects are not given in detail, but are given as "household
stuffe and cloth," and valued at nearly £600, beside £22 of plate. In
1613 there was a heavy decline in the wool trade, to remedy which a
Royal Commission was appointed, and subsequently Acts of Parliament
passed to remove the impost on cloth, which had been put on by the
Merchant Adventurers' Company, who for some years had an almost
complete monopoly of dyeing cloth. The establishment of a free trade
in dyeing once more revived the trade, and dyers were found in all our
Lancashire towns where woollen cloth was manufactured, and alongside
them were found fulling, or, as they were then called, walk mills.
Coal, ironstone, and flags where obtainable also now began to find a
ready market. Towards the close of the century the making of fustian
and other so-called cotton[162] goods, which had almost been confined
to Manchester, began rapidly to be taken up by the surrounding towns,
one of the first of these being Bolton.
Lancashire had not yet established a printing-press,[163] though
booksellers and stationers were not unknown in the larger towns; and a
fair number of authors from this county had furnished materials for the
printers of the Metropolis, amongst whom were Isaac Ambrose, Vicar of
Preston and Garstang; John Angier, pastor of Denton; Nehemiah Barnet,
minister of Lancaster; William Bell, minister at Huyton; Seth Bushell,
Vicar of Preston; Henry Pigott, Vicar of Rochdale; Charles Earl, of
Derby; Edward Gee, minister at Eccleston; John Harrison, minister of
Ashton-under-Lyne; William Leigh, Vicar of Standish; Charles Herle,
Vicar of Winwick; Richard Hollingworth, a Fellow of Manchester College;
and Richard Wroe, Warden of Manchester; Joseph Rigby; Alexander Rigby;
William Moore, Vicar of Whalley; Jeremiah Horrox, the astronomer;
Nathaniel Heywood, Vicar of Ormskirk; and a number of writers for and
against Quakers (see Chapter IX.). One reason, perhaps, of this absence
of the printing-press was that not until 1695 was the censorship of
printed matter swept away.
On the restoration of Charles II., as a reward for faithful services to
the House of Stuart during the Civil War, it was intended to establish
a new order of knighthood; this intention was ultimately abandoned,
but those in Lancashire who were to have been honoured were Thomas
Holt, Thomas Greenhalgh, Colonel Kirby, Robert Holt, Edmund Asheton,
Christopher Banastre, Francis Anderton, Colonel James Anderton, Roger
Nowell, Henry Norris, Thomas Preston,--Farrington,--Fleetwood, John
Girlington, William Stanley, Edward Tildesley, Thomas Stanley, Richard
Boteler, John Ingleton, and C. Walmesley, all of whom had an estate of
the value of at least £1,000.
William III., on his way to Ireland, before the battle of the Boyne,
embarked from Liverpool on June 14, 1690, and he probably met with
but a poor reception from the Lancashire people, as everywhere in the
county the Roman Catholics were dissatisfied at the expulsion of the
Stuarts by the House of Orange. The unpopularity of the King gave
rise to many plots against him, the last of which was known as the
"Lancashire Plot," which, according to one authority,[164] was not only
the parent but the companion of all the other conspiracies, and its
origin was owing to the politics of James II., who, hoping to regain
the crown, concerted with his friends, before his departure for France,
that they should raise a ferment in England, and that some trusty
person should be commissioned to carry out this scheme.
The person selected for this commission was Dr. Bromfield, who, to
suit his purpose, passed himself off as a Quaker,[165] and passed
rapidly through the North of England to Scotland, sowing the seeds of
discontent as he went along. From Scotland he proceeded to Ireland,
and then returned to Lancashire, intending to make that county the
centre of action. Caryl, Lord Molyneux, had, in 1687, been appointed
Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire in the place of Lord Derby; and it was to
his house at Croxteth that Dr. Bromfield first proceeded on his return
from Ireland; and here he found at all events a sympathizer, if not an
active partisan.
From Croxteth he went to an inn at Rhuddlan, in Flintshire, where he
stayed for some time, and soon had a considerable number of visitors.
From this place he made frequent visits to Ireland, by this means
keeping up a safer communication with the exiled King and his friends
in Lancashire. Suspicion having fallen on him, the vessel in which he
crossed to Ireland was seized, but with the assistance of the landlord
of the inn at Rhuddlan he made his escape and repaired to Ireland,
where King James made him a Commissioner of the Mint. The Lancashire
Plot included the murder of the King, and Colonel Parker, according
to De la Rue, was the person who first propounded this portion of the
plot to Lord Melford. Dr. Bromfield now found it absolutely necessary
to have an active agent, who was to be at once unscrupulous and
trustworthy. Such a man he thought he had secured in John Lunt, an
Irishman by birth, but who was successively a labourer at Highgate, a
coachman, a licensed victualler at Westminster, and one of King James's
Guards, with a promise of a captaincy. Moreover, he was not a man of
good character, as he had been tried for bigamy.
This Lunt, having followed the King to France soon after his
abdication, was sent from thence with the rest of the guards to Ireland
in May, 1689, and there renewed his acquaintance with Bromfield. Being
assured that the people in Lancashire only waited the King's commission
to rise in arms on his behalf and restore him to the throne, he at
once undertook to be the bearer of the commission. Meanwhile the
conspirators in Lancashire, evidently being eager for the rising, sent
over to Ireland Edmund Threlfall, of Ashes, in Goosnargh, to fetch the
needful commissions, and accordingly he and two others embarked in
a "pink" (_i.e._, a small ship) called the _Lion of Lancaster_, and
sailed down the Lune by night without any Custom-house certificate.
This vessel had been used to fetch cattle from the Isle of Man for the
Earl of Derby, and the sailors were led to believe that this was again
their destination on this occasion; but Threlfall induced the captain
to make for Dublin, where they duly arrived, and having received the
commission and obtained a passport from Lord Melford, they re-embarked
on board the pink, which, to prevent suspicion, was laden with iron
pots and bars and other commodities, and they anchored in the Lune
near to Cockerham on the morning of June 13, 1689. Whilst in Dublin,
Threlfall and Lunt had met, and had now returned together in the pink,
and as soon as she was anchored in the Lune they were put ashore,
before the arrival of the Custom-house officers, whose practice and
duty it was to go on board every vessel as she entered the harbour.
Lunt, with that carelessness which so often distinguishes conspirators,
left on board his saddle-bags, which contained some of the commissions,
and finding out after he got ashore that he had done so, he asked one
of the sailors who was returning with the cock-boat to the ship to
bring them after him to Cockerham; but before this could be done the
officers came on board, and discovering the papers, set off in pursuit
of their owners; but not finding them, they handed the documents over
to the authorities.
The discovery of these papers caused considerable excitement, and
they were carefully examined by the Earl of Devonshire, the Earl of
Macclesfield, the Earl of Scarborough and Lord Wharton, who were all
in Manchester on army business, and they recommended that warrants
should be issued to apprehend Lunt and Threlfall. In the meantime the
two conspirators had taken shelter at Myerscough Lodge, near Preston,
where lived Thomas Tyldesley, who was one of the foremost supporters
of their cause. Here they divided such of the commissions as they had
brought with them, Lunt setting off to deliver those for Lancashire,
Cheshire and Staffordshire, whilst Threlfall took those for Yorkshire
and Durham.
Lunt afterwards went to London to buy arms and enlist men to be sent to
Lancashire. At this time Irishmen came into the county in such numbers
as to rouse suspicion, and in October the justices of the peace at the
adjourned quarter sessions at Manchester sent a letter to the Secretary
of State, in which it was stated that the gaols were full of Irish
Roman Catholics, that many others were staying at Popish houses, and
that boxes with scarlet cloaks, pistols and swords had been sent from
London to Roman Catholic gentlemen now absent from home.
The warrants against Lunt and Threlfall were, no doubt, issued, but
it was not until August that an arrest was made, when Lunt and Mr.
Abbot, the steward of Lord Molyneux, were apprehended at Coventry
when they were returning from London. They were cast into prison as
enemies to the King, and soon afterward Charles Cawson, the master of
the ship which brought Lunt and Threlfall from Ireland, was arrested
on a similar charge. Cawson was taken from Coventry to London, where
he gave evidence before the Privy Council as to his taking Threlfall
to Ireland, and bringing him and Lunt back, also as to the papers
left in the pink at Cockerham. Meanwhile Threlfall, having despatched
his business in Yorkshire and Durham, where he assumed the name and
title of Captain Brown, and probably not knowing that a warrant had
been issued against him, returned home to Goosnargh, where he remained
for some time concealed, waiting for a chance to get away to Ireland.
Ashes, which had been the home of this family for several generations,
was well adapted for a place of concealment, not only from its retired
situation, but from its peculiar structure, its centre wall being
at least 4 feet thick, and containing two cavities large enough to
hide half a dozen men in; add to these advantages that the house was
surrounded by a moat, and on every side were sympathizing neighbours.
All things considered, perhaps Threlfall was as safe here as anywhere
had he used ordinary caution, but on August 20 (1690) he was surprised
near his house by a party of militia, and as he offered to resist, he
was killed by a corporal who was one of the party. At the trial in
Manchester in 1694, one John Wilson, of Chipping, made a deposition
that Threlfall had told him that he had twenty Irishmen ready for his
troop, who had been at his house and in the county waiting for several
months.
In the February following a deposition was made before the Mayor of
Evesham, in Worcestershire, that divers persons in that neighbourhood
had received commissions from King James to raise two regiments of
horse, two of dragoons, and three of foot for Lancashire, and that in
various places were hidden arms, etc., especially in the houses of Mr.
Blundell, of Ince, and John Holland, of Prescot; and further, that the
deponent had seen and heard read a letter from the late Queen in the
hand of Lord Molyneux's son, which gave assurance from the French King
of assistance in arms and men. This information led to the imprisonment
of several leading Lancashire Roman Catholics.
In the May following, Mr. Robert Dodsworth declared on oath to the Lord
Chief Justice Holt that the troops in Lancashire were to be joined by
the late King's forces for Ireland, while the French were to land in
Cornwall, and the Duke of Berwick was to cause a diversion in Scotland,
but that no rising was to take place until the late King landed in
Lancashire, which he had promised to do within a month.
John Lunt in November was committed to Newgate, where he was kept for
twenty weeks, and then bailed out to appear at the Lancaster Assizes,
where he appeared in August, 1690, and was then committed to Lancaster
Castle on a charge of high-treason. Here he remained until April,
1691, when he was brought to trial and acquitted, partly because the
Custom-house officers were unable to swear to the papers, and partly
because Charles Cawson, the master of the ship, had in the meantime
fallen sick and died. Lunt, notwithstanding his long imprisonment and
narrow escape from the scaffold, appears almost immediately to have set
about raising men and collecting arms for the proposed insurrection.
The destruction of the French fleet off the Hague on May 20, 1692,
dispersed all thoughts of an invasion and for awhile partially arrested
the designs of the conspirators.
The progress of the conspiracy was now slow and spasmodic, and was
seriously checked in May, 1694, by the arrest and committal to the
Tower of Walter Crosby, on whom were found papers containing many
details of the proposed insurrection; but more fatal even than this was
that Lunt turned traitor, and on June 15, 1694, made a full confession
of all he knew to one of the Secretaries of State. This, then, is the
Lancashire Plot as given by the Court advocates, who, if they erred
at all, would certainly not do so in favour of the conspirators. As
far as Lancashire is concerned, the whole matter was at an end, except
that the following gentlemen were all tried at Manchester in 1694,
viz.: Caryl, Lord Molyneux, Sir William Gerard, Sir Rowland Stanley,
Sir Thomas Clifton, William Dicconson, Esq., Philip Langton, Esq.,
Bartholomew Walmsley, Esq., and Mr. William Blundell.[166]
It is but fair to add that the various accounts published regarding
this so-called Lancashire Plot contain many variations and
inconsistencies, and it is no easy matter to decide which of these
various writers is correct; a full account of the trials is now,
however, in print, to which the curious reader is referred.[167] The
result of these trials was that the prisoners were acquitted, the
witnesses not being considered worthy of credit; but subsequently the
House of Commons, by a vote of 133 to 37, resolved that there were
grounds for the prosecution of the gentlemen at Manchester, as it
appeared that there was a dangerous plot carried on against the King
and his Government; this resolution was also confirmed by the House of
Lords.
The Lancashire gentlemen at the next assizes prosecuted Lunt and two
others, who were the chief witnesses against them, and they were all
three convicted of perjury.
During the reigns of James I. and Charles II. several towns applied
for and got fresh powers by royal charter; this was the case with
Preston and Liverpool and several smaller towns--amongst the latter
were Kirkham and Garstang. At a very early period a market was held
at Garstang, but it was not incorporated until 1680, when Charles II.
granted a charter whereby the inhabitants were declared to be a "body
corporate by the name of the Bailiff and burgesses of the Borough of
Garstang." From 1680 to the present time the Bailiff has regularly been
elected.
The birth of many new trades in Lancashire dates from the seventeenth
century, although many of the national industries were followed here
at a much earlier period. We now find numerous references to various
trades on the tokens, which were somewhat extensively issued in
Lancashire in consequence of the great scarcity of small change shortly
after the execution of Charles I. Some of these local tokens were of
superior workmanship, and of material calculated to stand the wear to
which they were subjected. They represented pennies, half-pennies and
farthings.
About 150 varieties of these Lancashire tokens were issued before the
close of the seventeenth century,[168] some of which indicate the
trade followed by the issuer, and thus furnish some clue to the spread
of certain industries within the county. A study of them gives the
following results:
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TOKENS.
-----------------+-------+-------------------------------------------
TOWN. |NUMBER | TRADE INDICATED.
|ISSUED.|
-----------------+-------+-------------------------------------------
Ashton-under-Lyne| 4 | 1 mercer, 1 tallow-chandler, 2 unclassed.
Blackburn | 6 | 4 mercers, 2 apothecaries.
Bolton | 5 | 2 dealers in tobacco, 3 unclassed.
Burnley | 1 | a mercer.
Bury | 1 | ? a saddler.
Chadderdon | 1 | an innkeeper.
Cheetham | 1 | a farrier or blacksmith.
Chorley | 5 | 1 dealer in tobacco, 1 cordwainer,
| | 3 unclassed.
Chowbent | 1 | a woolman.
Clitheroe | 5 | 1 dealer in tobacco, 1 grocer, 1 draper,
| | 2 unclassed.
Colne | 1 | a merchant.
Crosby | 1 | a draper.
Garstang | 1 | a tallow-chandler.
Halliwell | 2 | 1 dealer in tobacco, 1 unclassed.
Halton | 1 | unclassed.
Haslingden | 1 | unclassed.
Heaton | 1 | a tallow chandler.
Holland | 1 | unclassed.
Huyton | 1 | a grocer.
Kirby | 1 | a vintner.
Kirkham | 2 | 1 grocer, 1 unclassed.
Lancaster | 8 | 1 apothecary, 1 woolman, 6 unclassed.
Little Lever | 1 | unclassed.
Liverpool | 12 | 1 sugar merchant, 2 merchants or
| | shop-holders, 1 grocer, 1 apothecary,
| | 1 draper, 6 unclassed.
Manchester | 15 | 1 chapman, 4 grocers, 2 apothecaries,
| | 1 innkeeper, 7 unclassed.
Milnrow | 2 | 1 shoemaker, 1 unclassed.
Newton | 2 | 1 dealer in tobacco, 1 unclassed.
Oldham | 1 | unclassed.
Ormskirk | 6 | 1 grocer, 1 draper, 4 unclassed.
Poulton-le-Fylde | 1 | a draper.
Prescot | 2 | 1 mercer, 1 unclassed.
Preston | 8 | 7 grocers, 1 apothecary.
Risley | 1 | a dealer in tobacco.
Rochdale | 6 | 1 grocer, 1 dealer in woollen goods, 4
| | unclassed.
Shaw | 1 | unclassed.
Tarleton | 1 | unclassed.
Turton | 1 | unclassed.
Warrington | 17 | 2 clothiers, 2 woollen-drapers, 2
| | apothecaries, 1 sugar-dealer, 1
| | draper, 1 grocer, 8 unclassed.
West Houghton | 1 | unclassed.
Whalley | 2 | unclassed.
Wigan | 8 | 1 apothecary, 1 armourer, 1 grocer,
| | 1 tallow-chandler, 4 unclassed.
-----------------+-------+-------------------------------------------
Amongst the unclassified several tokens bore religious emblems, such
as "the bleeding heart" and the "dove and olive branch"; and the
"eagle and child" was a favourite design. Crests or family arms were
also often used, but in these cases there is nothing to indicate the
occupation of the person who issued the token.
During the century to which the Lancashire plot just recorded formed
a fitting close, Lancashire had witnessed many stirring events--the
monarchy had been destroyed, the Commonwealth set up, and the rule of
kings again established; Roman Catholics had persecuted Protestants,
and Puritans had tried their best to repress Roman Catholicism; and
in each and every case this county had done its share: if battles
were to be fought, the Lancashire lads were in the thick of them; if
religious creeds had to be repressed, in their mistaken zeal, there
again were the people of this county to the fore. But, notwithstanding
wars, plagues, persecutions, insurrections, and a host of minor evils,
Lancashire still progressed, her towns increased in number and in size,
and her sons were leading the van in all matters of trade, commerce
and enterprise. Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, and other large towns
were attracting to them men, not only from the surrounding districts,
but from all civilized countries; whilst the woollen and other
goods manufactured in the county had already obtained a world-wide
fame. Amongst other industries introduced during this century was
bell-founding, which trade was carried on in Wigan with considerable
success as early as 1647, and many church bells in the surrounding
districts came from this foundry.
[Illustration]
[Footnote 124: The author read a paper on "The Lancashire Demoniacs"
before the Hist. Soc. of Lanc. and Ches. (vol. xxxv.), in which this
subject is more fully gone into.]
[Footnote 125: This case does not belong to the seventeenth century,
but it is inserted here as bearing upon the subject, and only occurred
four years before the century began.]
[Footnote 126: "The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the County
of Lancaster, with the arraignment and trial of nineteene notorious
Witches, etc., etc.; London, 1613." Reprinted by the _Chetham Soc._,
vol. vi., old series.]
[Footnote 127: See _Lanc., and Ches. Ant. Soc._, x. 215.]
[Footnote 128: Some of these tracts are now very scarce.]
[Footnote 129: One of these was found near Rochdale a few years ago.
(See "History of Rochdale," p. 535.)]
[Footnote 130: Satirical poem, Hopkinson's MSS., xxxiv. 85.]
[Footnote 131: "Nicholas Assheton's Journal," _Chetham Soc._, xiv.]
[Footnote 132: Liverpool Municipal Records.]
[Footnote 133: The _Chetham Society_, vols. ii., xlii., and lxvi.,
contained full details of the Civil War in Lancashire. From this source
many of the following particulars are taken.]
[Footnote 134: In a tract dated July 5, 1642, entitled "The Beginning
of the Civil Warres in England, or Terrible News from the North," Lord
Strange is reported to have approached Manchester with a considerable
armed force on July 5, and drawing up at a little distance from the
town, demanded that the inhabitants should deliver up their magazines.
On their refusal to give them up, he marched against the town, outside
of which he was met by "ten small companies set in a faire battalion,"
and a skirmish took place, which lasted several hours, and resulted in
the withdrawal of the Royalist forces with the loss of twenty-seven
men. The tract then states "that this is the beginning of the Civill
Warre, being the first stroke that hath been struck, and the first
bullet that hath been shot." There is much reason to doubt the
correctness of this reported fight, as no mention of it is made by
contemporary authorities.]
[Footnote 135: These fortifications consisted of posts and chains,
and barricades of mud. They were erected under the superintendence of
Lieutenant-Colonel Rosworm, a German engineer, at a cost of £30.]
[Footnote 136: A slightly different version of this is given in
"Lancashire's Valley of Achor."]
[Footnote 137: Major Edward Robinson, "A Discourse of the Warr in
Lancashire," _Chetham Soc._, lxii.]
[Footnote 138: "Lancashire's Valley of Achor."]
[Footnote 139: "A punctuall relation of the passages in Lancashire this
week" (February 14, 1642).]
[Footnote 140: This is Major Robinson's statement.]
[Footnote 141: Major Robinson says he "discharged that little pece of
ordenance they carried with them divers times," and then walked into
the town.]
[Footnote 142: "Lancashire's Valley of Achor."]
[Footnote 143: Edward Bridgeman, late M.P.]
[Footnote 144: This castle was afterwards ordered to be dismantled. Its
position rendered it difficult to attack, as it stood on an eminence
from which the ground sloped rapidly in every direction. It was entered
by the large windows on the east side, and the entrance thus gained,
the victory was assured.]
[Footnote 145: This castle was first taken by Colonel Ashton, in June,
1643, but Sir John Girlington, having got hold of it, reoccupied it.]
[Footnote 146: For full details of these two sieges see "Civil War
Tracts," _Chetham Soc._, ii.]
[Footnote 147: Seacome's "Memoirs of the House of Stanley."]
[Footnote 148: In Salford Chapel, "for poor distressed Bolton," the
very large sum of £140 was collected ("Vicar's Chronicle").]
[Footnote 149: By way of Blackburn and Colne; at the latter place a
slight skirmish took place on June 25. At Kirkham, between May and
September, 1644, no accounts of the vestry were kept, because "Prince
Rupert's army" had command of the county, and many of the parishioners
had fled. In 1642 the soldiers "pulled asunder the organ pipes in the
church."]
[Footnote 150: "A Discourse of the Warr in Lancashire."]
[Footnote 151: Another authority gives 32,000 (Burghall's "Civil War in
Cheshire").]
[Footnote 152: Lieut.-General Cromwell's letter to the Hon. William
Lenthall.]
[Footnote 153: Burghall put the killed and wounded at 4,000, and adds
that they took 6,000 prisoners!]
[Footnote 154: Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser., 1648-9, p. 219.]
[Footnote 155: For full details of this historic incident see "Stanley
Papers," "Civil Warr in Lancashire" (Chetham Society), Seacome's
"Memoirs," Hughes' "Boscobel Tracts," etc.]
[Footnote 156: State Papers, Dom. Ser., iv. 240.]
[Footnote 157: Heawood's "Coronation."]
[Footnote 158: Published by Chetham Society, vol. xii., old series.]
[Footnote 159: "Autobiography of William Stout"; London, 1851.]
[Footnote 160: A few years afterwards he was sent to a school in
Westmorland, where he was taught both Latin and Greek.]
[Footnote 161: The place where the meal was bolted = sifted.]
[Footnote 162: The cotton trade had not yet arisen. These goods were
coatings, and made of wool.]
[Footnote 163: One solitary book, "A Guide to Heaven from the Word,"
is said on doubtful authority to have been printed at Smithy Door,
Manchester, in 1664.]
[Footnote 164: Kingston's "True History of the Several Designs and
Conspiracies against his Majesty's Person and Government, as they were
carried on from 1688 to 1697."]
[Footnote 165: For full details of this "plot" see the late Mr.
Beamont's introduction to "The Jacobite Trials in Manchester, 1694"
(_Chetham Soc._, xxviii.), and also Dr. Abbadie's "True History of the
Late Conspiracy," etc.; London, 1696.]
[Footnote 166: All well-known Lancashire men, except Sir Rowland
Stanley, who lived in Cheshire.]
[Footnote 167: _Chetham Soc._, xxviii.]
[Footnote 168: See _Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc._, vol. v.]
[Illustration]