River Irwell

Manchester.

Bury on Irwell Water, four or five miles from Manchester, but a poor market.

There is a ruin of a castle by the parish church in the town.

It longed with the town sometime to the Pilkingtons, now to the Earls of Derby.

They burn turf also.

Yarn in times past made at Orwick, a... miles from Manchester.

Yarn sometimes made about Bury, a market town on Irwell.

Now for lack of wood the blow shops decay there.

For surely the Vale of Cliviger, seen in its spring garment, when the fresh green of the buds that have burst is thrown up by the rich purple of those that are bursting, is one of the glories of Lancashire.

Bacup and Rawtenstall flank the highlands of the Forest of Rossendale and Deerplay Moor, where the Irwell takes its rise.

Blackburn, which is only separated from the beautiful Ribble Valley by a low range of hills, has the heights of Darwen to the south, while on the west it shares with Preston the country round Haughton Towers.

Preston itself occupies its own commanding position at the head of the Ribble Estuary, with the green country of Haughton Bottoms and Samlesbury Bottoms to the east, and the picturesque villages of the Fylde to the north.

The former being consigned largely to women and children, the latter to the men.

Manchester becoming eventually the collecting and distributing centre, partly because of its geographical position at a point where many valleys converge.

Partly no doubt because it stood at the crossing of two main roads, originally Roman, partly on account of its situation on the Irwell, which, as we have seen, was diverted in geological ages.

Quite recently, in a history of Halifax, some extracts have been published from the diary of one of the farmer weavers of whom we have been speaking.

Martin Mere toward Latham is the greatest mere of Lancastershire, a four miles in length, and a three in breadth.

Salfordshire Manchester Bury on Irwell Water, four or five miles from Manchester, but a poor market.

There is a ruin of a castle by the parish church in the town.

It longed with the town some time to the Pilkingtons, now to the earls of Derby.

They burn turf also.

Yarn in times past made at Orwick, a... miles from Manchester.

Yarn sometimes made about Bury, a market town on Irwell.

Now, for lack of wood, the blow shops decay there.

The wolf, ferocious and cowardly, has disappeared from its lurking place in the forest, but there are still retained the evidences of its occupation in the names Wolfenden, Wolfenden Booth and Wolfstones.

that a species of wild oxen ranged the hills and hollows where now domestic animals graze is proved by remains of horns and bones from time to time disentombed from the debris deposited in the valleys by the mountain streams whose courses have been diverted or whose beds have been narrowed and appropriated to other uses the different varieties of the deer tribe it is well known were denizens of the forest and no doubt supplied both food and raiment to the partially clothed human inhabitants in this and surrounding neighbourhoods names having reference to the deer and its kindred are plentiful throughout the district there is deer-play stacksteads stagsteads staghills cridden or cribden which says the historian of wally is pretty obviously caerudon the hill of stags it is precisely such an elevation as that animal affects during the heat of summer while the fallow deer graze on the plains or slopes beneath and it might continue to merit an appellation acquired in the remotest ages of antiquity till within less than three centuries of the present time bay cup or bay cop the cop or hillock according to the same authority where the deer stood at bay rock cliff or rather row cliff as it is given in ancient documents the cliff that afforded shelter to or was the favourite haunt of the row book stag hills heart hill buck earth and others wild animals of an inferior class were also plentiful such as the badger the otter the fox the wild-cat and the weasel and in regard to the ubiquitous squirrel it is affirmed that without once touching terra firma it could traverse the forest leaping from bough to bough of the thick intermingling trees from rottenstall to its extreme eastern limits at rossendale is not rich in relics but for extent and importance the dyke or dykes at broadclough near bacup eclipse a multitude of lesser remains to be found in other localities the work is described by dr whitaker as an entrenchment to which no tradition is annexed that may serve to ascertain either its antiquity or the end it was designed to answer the same monument of antiquity is alluded to in a paper entitled the battle of brunanbur and the probable locality of the conflict by mr t t wilkinson who remarks that its construction can only have been suggested by temporary necessities since it has evidently been abandoned in an unfinished state the work extends from the farm called dyke's house to the edge of whitaker's clough but is not continuous throughout its entire length being obliterated or levelled in the centre for a considerable space the entrance to the north-easterly end being through a cleft or cutting in the earthwork i am not aware that any considerable relics have been found within the forest which would connect the district more immediately with the military presence of the saxons and danes but this may have arisen for want of the frequent use of the plough in the fields so strong however are the probabilities in favour of the conjecture that the dyke constituted a portion of the line of defensive works in connection with the great battle-strife of brunanburh that it is not at all unlikely some other memorials of the time may yet be discovered in the locality the beacon remains on the neighbouring hills which may have been successively used by britons romans saxons and danes are highly interesting monuments of antiquity the one on thievely pike is distinctly marked and is a complete circle in the form of a basin the circumference round the centre of the embankment being about eighty feet many of the stones within the ring and in the immediate vicinity bear evident marks of having been charred or scorched by fire on a clear day a magnificent view is obtained from the pike embracing to the west hamildon hill and the country stretching far beyond to the irish sea to the north-west pendle hill ingleborough and penny ghent while due north are worsthorn and beadle hill to the east black hamildon and inclining a little further south studley pike more southerly still tooter hill below charnyford and the bleak profile of blackstone edge while nearly due south are coop law cribden musbury tor holkham hill and beyond the great plain of lancashire occupying as it does a central position the beacon lights of thieveley would blazon forth their ominous signals and answering fires would soon flare on every surrounding hill this is no vague and substantial picture of the imagination the existing vestiges of occupation by one or other or all of the primitive tribes in succession speak a language that can scarcely be misunderstood the river irwell takes its rise in cliviger in a large tract of moorland which at one time constituted a part of the forest owing however to the carelessness or indifference of the proprietors residing in bakeup booth or probably to the superior cunning or unscrupulousness of those of this extensive tract was lost to rossendale and became a part of the pack road called the limer's gate winds along the rossendale side of the cliviger ridge and from thence away onward over the hill to yorkshire this is one of the most ancient roads in the locality and in past times was the favourite route from the west across the country to the adjoining counties being travelled not only by the common people but by the ecclesiastics and nobles of the land in all the pomp of ancient dignity and with the train of followers and retainers who in bygone days more than at present constantly hovered near the footsteps of those born to high estate it is in the immediate vicinity of this ancient track now so overgrown with grass and brown heath as scarcely to be distinguished from the other parts of the moor that the river irwell takes its rise and we may with propriety assume that its neighbourhood would be a familiar and welcome halting-place for man and beast rossendale from time immemorial has been a favourite hunting-ground and there are doubtless still to be found in the forest sportsmen as stout of heart and lithe of limb as ever cleared dyke or ditch in the blithe days of yore but alas the quality of the sportsman's game has woefully degenerated from its pristine excellence Gone from within its bounds is that right royal brute, the stag.

The wild boar and the wolf have given place to a civilisation which tolerates not their existence.

Even the wily fox has disappeared from its hillsides, and no frugal housewife now laments her spoliated hen-roost.

This latter possesses a good deal of picturesque and quiet beauty, and is a favourite resort of some of our Lancashire authors and artists.

on the morning in question the valley was seen to advantage the mountain streams were fringed with myriads of icicles pendent from the overhanging vegetation and viewed from a distance appeared like streaks of silver threading the brown heath along the margin of the main stream the spray which had fallen upon the rushes in trickling down had been arrested in its course by john frost and made to assume the most fantastic and beautiful forms but the excursionists had now reached the farmhouse at fore edge to which there is a passing allusion in edwin waugh's tale of the barrel-organ here by the thoughtful hospitality of mr brookes a repast in the shape of luncheon at once rich and substantial awaited the company the president with his usual wisdom remarked by way of advice that a geologist above all mortals should be studiously careful to fortify well the inner man in order to enable him successfully to pursue his arduous labours by field and fell whatever differences of opinion may exist amongst the fraternity on certain points they appear at least to be thoroughly agreed on this the sentiment of the president was received with universal acclaim here in the bleakest and barest of situations yet in the midst of unexpected plenty the excursionists spent a pleasant half-hour till they were vino ciboche gravati on leaving the hospitable cot of oud bill the party proceeded to complete the ascent to the summit of the hill and thence followed the ridge in the direction of brandwood moor the view from the crest at this point is very fine embracing as it does the rossendale valley and its several offshoots and the whole of the surrounding hills the characteristic features of these are a rounded equality of surface smooth and almost unbroken they do not as a rule present those rugged craggy precipitous outlines which distinguish the limestone formations and for that reason they are not as picturesque in appearance as the hills in some other parts of the country nevertheless they are noble in their proportions and in their garb of russet brown and whilst they are less attractive to the spirit of the adventurous climber they are safer to the ways of the more contemplative pedestrian from a geological point of view their quarries and the causes that have contributed to the formation of the whole strata of which the hills are composed are full of interest If the Rossendale Hills are not greatly distinguished for their height, at least they are remarkable for their number.

Enumerating the highest of them, and beginning with the Cliviger Range on the eastern confines of the district, we have Thieveley Pike, 1,474 feet above sea level, Durplay or Deerplay Hill, 1,429 feet, noted as being the place where the River Irwell takes its rise.

Heald Moor, 1,417 feet, the moorland ridge to the right of the Irwell Springs.

Manchester.

Bury on Irwell Water, four or five miles from Manchester, but a poor market.

There is a ruin of a castle by the parish church in the town.

It longed with the town sometime to the Pilkingtons, now to the Earls of Derby.

They burn turf also.

Yarn in times past made at Orwick, a...miles from Manchester.

Yarn sometimes made about Bury, a market town on Irwell.

Now for lack of wood the blow shops decay there.

Terms and conditions apply.

martin mere toward latham is the greatest mere of lancastershire a four miles in length and a three in breadth salfordshire manchester bury on irwell water four or five miles from manchester but a poor market there is a ruin of a castle by the parish church in the town it longed with the town some time to the pilkingtons now to the earls of derby pilkington had a place hard by pilkington park three mile from manchester bolton upon moor market stondeth most by cottons and coarse yarn divers villages in the moors about bolton do make cottons neither the site nor ground about bolton is so good as it is about berry they burn at bolton some canal but more sea coal of the which the pits be not far off they burn turf also Yarn in times past made at Orwick, a... miles from Manchester.

Yarn sometimes made about Bury, a market town on Irwell.

Now, for lack of wood, the blow shops decay there.

Wild boars, bulls and falcons bred in times past at Blakely.