the Way, and at Foot of the Mountains, that otherwife it would not be much frequented.

Bolton, four Miles from Bury, is a Staple for Fuftians of divers Sorts, especially thofe called Augsburg and Mi lan Fuftians, which are brought to its Markets and Fairs from all Parts of the County: Here are alfo Medicinal Waters. The old Earl of Derby was beheaded here for proclaiming King Charles the Second.

Kirkham, fix M. from the Irish Sea, ro from Preston, ftands near the Ribble, and has a Free School well endowed with three Mafters, by Mr. Colborn, Citizen of London. It is fituate in that Part of the County called Field Land, between the Ribble and a little River fome Miles S. of Lancafter. In many Places on this Coaft the Inhabitants gather great Quantities of Sand, which having lain fome Time, they put into Troughs with Holes in them, pour Water on it, and boil the Lees into a white Salt.

Ormskirk, 10 M. from Liverpool, is a handfome T. with a good inland Trade, but is of moft Note for a bituminous Earth, from which an Oil resembling that of Amber is extracted, that preferves raw Flefh, and ferves the Country People inftead of Candles; and in the adjacent Country there is a Mineral Spring, called Maudlin Well, handfomely walled in and covered; the Waters of which have performed notable Cures. 'Tis impregnated with Sulphur, Vitriol, Oker, and a marine Salt, united with a bitter purging Salt. It used to throw up marine Shells in great Quantities, notwithstanding it is fituated far from the Sea or any Salt Rivers, till they found a Way to keep them down together with the Sand, by laying Mill-ftones upon the Spring.

Hawkshead, 30 Miles from Lancaster, 263 from Lond. is a Town of good Trade in Cloth, in that Part of the Country which lies towards Cumberland and Weftmoreland; it ftands on the River Fofs. Between this Place and the River Dudden is the Promontory, properly called Fournefs, which has the Ile of Walney lying along by it, and a fmall Arm of the Sea betwea. The Entrance to it is defended by a Fort called the Pile of Fouldery,

4

Fouldery, fituated upon a Rock in the middle of the Water.

Cartmel, 248 M. from London, lies among the Hills called Cartmel Fells, and has a Harbour for Boats, where the River Ken falls into the Ocean. Here is an elegant Church built in the Form of a Cathedral, once a Priory of Canons regular, and a good Market for Corn, Sheep and Fish.

At Wray/holm Tower in this Neighbourhood, a medicinal Spring was lately difcovered, which is much frequented in Summer for the Cure of the Stone, Gout, Worms, Itch, &c.

Poulten lies near the River Skippon, and the Mouth of the River Wire, which advances its Trade, and it is noted for a good Pearl-fishing.

The antient Places of moft Note in this County are, Mancunium, (Manchester) which feems to have taken Part of its Name from the Roman one; and what is now called Knock Caftle, where many Antiquities have been found, was the Scite of the Roman Caftrum : the Foundation of the Caftle Wall and Ditch ftill remain in Caftlefield, as it is called.

Ribodunum (Ptolemy's Rigedunum) is no other Place than Riblechefter, which produces a Variety of Roman Remains; and, as inconfiderable as it is now, gave Rile to Prefton. A great many Roman Coins have been found at Coln and Burnley, both fmall Market Towns.

Bremetonacum is Overburrow, where the Lac falls into the Lon; it carries Antiquity in the latter Part of its prefent Name, and has the Tradition of the Inhabitants on its Side, who tell of a fpacious City that was there formerly, and from the Evidence of Roman Coins, Infcriptions, &c.

Holland Priory, originally a College for Canons fecular; but in 1319, was converted into a Priory of Bex nedictines: it is now a Parochial Church.

ClitheroCaftle, built about the Year 1178,it ftands at the foot of Pendle Hill. Gleafton Caftle, erected about the Year 1340, to prevent the inroads of the Scots.

fley.

Principal Seats of the Nobility and Gentry.

The Duke of Hamilton's, at Ashton-hall.

Lord Willoughby of Parham, at Shaw-place and Wor

Haigh, Sir Roger Bradfhaigh's Bart.

Lord Viscount Molineux, at Croxteth-hall

Mr. Cheetham, at Turton-chapel.

Hulme, the Seat, of the Bland's, Lords of the Town of Manchester, by Marriage with the Heirefs of the Mofelie's.

Kirkby-cross-boufe, the Seat of the Kirkby's, who have been Owners of it fince the Conquest. Bigland, the Seat of John Bigland, Efq;

CHESHIRE

S divided from Lancashire on the N. by the River Merfee, has a Corner of Yorkshire on the N. Eaft; Derbyshire and Staffordshire on the E. and S. E. Shrophire and Part of Flintshire on the S. and Denbighshire, the W. of Flintshire, and the Irish Sea on the N. Weft Corner, where a Cherfonefe, 16 M. long and feven broad is formed by two Creeks of it, which receive all the Rivers of the County. 'Tis 54 M. in Length, and 25 where broadeft. It contains one City, namely Chefter, 12 Market Towns, 610 Villages, in which are 86 Parish Churches and 38 Chapels. The Air of this County is more ferene and mild than that of Lancashire, and the Soil moftly good. The low level Ground fo abounds in Grafs and Corn, that K. Edward the First ftiled it the Vale Royal of England. On the Borders of Staffordshire and Derbyshire, 'tis full of fmall Rifings. In this Shire is a peculiar Sort of Ground, called Moffes, a Kind of moorish, boggy Earth, very ftringy and fat, out of which are cut Turfs in Form of Bricks, and dried in the Sun. In thefe Moffes, efpecially the black

Sort,

Sort, are found Fir-trees fometimes 6 Feet or more under Ground, which ferve the Country People for Candles, Fuel, and for fmall Timber Ufes. The Product of this County is more particularly Cheese and Salt. Its Cheese is commended as the best in England; the Cheddar Cheefe of Somerfetfhire only excepted. This County affords great Store of all Sorts of Provisions, Corn, Flefh, Fifh, and the beft of Salmon; and it drives a confiderable Trade, having within itself Saltpits, Mines and Metals. It was erected into a County Palatine by William the Conqueror. It fends two Members to Parliament for the County, and two for

Chefter, or as it is commonly called Weft Chefter, 182 M. from London, a large, fine, well built City, full of wealthy Inhabitants, who by its Neighbourhood to the Severn and to Ireland drive a confiderable Trade; fo that Shopkeepers have very good Bufinefs, as may be feen by the great Fairs held here every Year; to which Abundance of Tradefmen and Merchants come from all Parts, but particularly from Bristol and Dublin. That it was eminent in the Roman Times is unquestionable from the numerous Spoils of their Grandeur found here, as Vaults, vaft Foundations, Coins, Altars, Pavements of chequer Work, and the like.

The Houfes are, generally speaking, diftinguished from all the Buildings in Britain; they are for the most Part of Timber, very large and fpacious, but are built with Galleries, Piazzas, or covered Walks before them, in which the People who walk are fo hid, that to look up or down the Streets one fees no Body ftirring, except with Horses, Carts, &c. and yet they may be faid to be full of People. By the fame Means alfo the Shops are as it were hid, little or no Part of them being to be feen, unless one is under thofe Rows, or juft oppofite to a House. This was formerly reckoned the Glory and Beauty of Chefter, but now its Difgrace and Deformity ; for to obtain this Convenience of walking dry from one End of the Street to the other when it rains, the Houfes are leffened, whofe Fronts would otherwife come out into the Streets as far as thofe Galleries; alfo the Shops

are dark and clofe, and many Ways incommodious ; yet with all this Inconveniency and Difadvantage 'tis a very handsome City; and in thofe Streets where the Rows do not cloud the Buildings, there are very large and well built Houfes. The Streets are generally ftraight, large, and very broad, and croffing one another in right Lines, meet in the Center as at Chichefter; and the principal are four Strects as at that City, E. W. N. S. The Walls of the City are firm, and built of very large Stone. On the S. Side of the Town, and on a rifing Ground furrounded in Part by its River, is a very ftrong and stately Castle, to which the Walls on that Side join, and from thence 'tis a most agreeable Walk round the whole City upon the Walls, only 'tis intercepted by fome of the Towers over the Gates. 'Tis kept in good Repair, and has always a ftrong Garrifon; for 'tis of very great Importance when any Military Preparations are making for Ireland, or any Disturbance raised on that Side the Country, it being a good Place for Magazines. Befides the Streets already mentioned there are many public Edifices, the Crofs, with the Town House and Exchange in the Middle, which is a neat Building fupported by Columns 13 Feet high, of one Stone each. From the City Walls there is a Profpect of Flintshire, and the Mountains of Wales.

Here is a noble fine fpacious Bridge with a Gate at each End, and about a Dozen Arches over the Dee, which here falls into the Sea; 'tis the largest and longest River on the W. Side of Britain, between the Severn and Clyde, but a strange River both for the Force of its Current and the Quantity of its Waters in the Winter Seafon, and upon hafty Rains or Snows; for then the Mountains of Wales, from whence they come, pour down fuch Floods, that the Height of the Waters is fometimes very frightful; and not many Years ago, fuch an Inundation happened here, as drowned and drove away all their new built Key, with all the Warehouses newly erected there, and all the Goods that were in them, to the incredible Lofs of the Merchants, &c.

There