Manchester: Its Political, Social and Commercial History, Ancient and Modern

Plan of the Boroughs of Manchester and Salford-"Twelve Miles Round
Manchester ”——Table of Distances of Market Towns.

ERRATA AND ADDENDA.

Page 305, line 15.-Instead of "for years," read "for three years."

Page 306, line 20.--Mr. Rose's salary has since been increased.

Page 345, line 13.-For "42,099 824 in 1836, read “£42,699 8 24 in 1826."

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

Lancashire has not inaptly been styled the workshop of England. This honorable distinction, though little flattering to the vanity of some, is one which has been slowly earned by the inhabitants of the extended circuit to which it is applied, and more especially by that section of the population whose history is about to be traced.

Manchester, the manufacturing metropolis of the north, was originally a dense forest, the domain of birds and beasts. Gradually, Celtic emigrants from the continent spread northward, and, covering districts now familiarly known to us, reached at length the banks of the river Medlock, and planted a station there about the time (parvis componere magna) of Darius' great expedition to Greece and the establishment of the Consulate at Rome. These early occupants of the forest were in course of time supplanted by or mingled with the Brigantes of York and Durham, who felt or fancied a necessity to discharge their overgrown population, and sent them to seek their fortune among the wilds of Lancashire and Westmoreland. unwarlike trader of our day will have difficulty in picturing to himself these early tenants of the "country of waters," who led a roaming life among the densely-wooded plains of Lancashire; spurning all control, and despising every exercise save that of the chase or the battle-field. The threatenings of unquiet neighbours rendered necessary the adoption of some means of defence, and thence arose those numerous places of refuge of which the en

The

campment in Castle Field was one. This station, constructed of stone taken from a large quarry at Collyhurst, was styled (according to Whitaker-but each author has his favorite title,) Mancenion, or the Place of Tents. It was erected in the midst of extensive woods, some twelve acres of which were cleared for the purpose, and was bounded and secured to the south by the Medlock, to the west by a precipitous bank, and to the east and north by a deep fosse, cut through the rock at a great expenditure of labour. Though formed by rude and unscientific workmen, the encampment was well calculated for the object for which it was chiefly designed,-namely, as a place to which cattle might be driven in times of danger, and whither the young, the infirm, or the aged might also resort for safety. A hollow way conducted from the fort to a ford of the river.

This seedling of the existing town had been planted little more than a century, when, about the year of our Lord 72, the successful Roman invaders attacked the Brigantes of Yorkshire and Durham, freed the Sistuntii from their yoke, and in its place imposed their own authority upon the thinly-scattered people of this province. Julius Agricola was the leader of these forces, which entered the country from the south, and forded the river at Stretford in their advance upon Mancenion, the occupants of which attempted to retard their progress by an irregular system of bush-warfare. The Roman general continued to advance, until, partly by force of arms, partly by soft words, he obtained possession of this strong-hold, and received some of the chiefs as hostages for the good faith of the conquered people, who, thenceforward, were compelled to abandon the fort and take up their quarters without the northern barrier. Lancashire being thus subdued, the soldiers of the imperial city, casting aside. the sword and the buckler, entered with their usual

alacrity upon the erection of defences necessary to render more secure the newly-acquired province, which afterwards was marked out as one of the six divisions of Britain. A small section of the Roman army, a cohort raised in Friezland, and thence deriving its name, retained possession of the fort of Mancenion for a long series of years, which glided away in comparative quiet and inactivity, varied only by the regular round of military duties. Once conquered, the people of Lancashire submitted patiently to the mild sovereignty of their masters, whose presence was a protection from those intestine feuds which had too frequently arisen between the people of the contiguous provinces.

To Britain, indeed, the Roman invasion was the source of mighty advantages. Probably with a view to the more perfect and easy subjection of the province, Agricola encouraged the people to abandon their wandering course of life, and to plant colonies in the most agreeable and fertile districts of the country. Thus, under protection of the military stations in Lancashire, arose Warringtoa, Colne, Lancaster, Ribchester. Aldport, the original of Manchester, had a similar origin about the era of the reign of Titus. The people were generally constituted in clans, and planted themselves round the tented habitation of the chief, whose dwelling usually stood conspicuous above the rest. Their huts were, of course, rudely formed, and their only decoration was the trophies of the chase or the spoils of war. In person our wild ancestors resembled their degenerate offspring even as little as in their pursuits. They wore their hair long, and turned over to the back; their beard was suffered to grow in wild luxuriance upon the upper lip; in battle their bodies were naked, painted with images of birds and beasts and creeping things; and they wore a girdle round the loins. In peace they were covered with the skins of

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