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Christianity in this country subsequent to the withdrawal of the 
Roman legions about A.D. 418. 
We have very satisfactory evidence that a British church 
existed previous to that time. Upon the departure of the 
Roman troops the country was subject to the incursions of 
the Saxons, and a great wave of paganism again overwhelmed 
the land. The British were driven to the western parts of 
the island, and no attempt was made by them to preach 
Christianity to the Saxon invaders. This work was left for 
the mission sent by Gregory from Rome in 597. Augus- 
tine, with a band of some 40 monks, landed in Kent during the 
reign of Ethelbert, who, having married a Christian princess, was 
inclined to look with favour upon the new doctrines which 
Augustine taught. Within the year following the arrival 
of Augustine more than ten thousand persons renounced their 
idolatry and embraced the Christian Faith. History informs us 
how Paulinus, one of the associates of Augustine, accompanied 
Ethelburga, the daughter of Ethelbert, to Northumbria on her 
marriage with Edwin, the sovereign of that district; how the 
king himself was baptised, and Christianity declared the accepted 
faith by the decree of the national Witan ; how Paulinus was 
subsequently consecrated Archbishop of York, and how he 
occupied himself in missionary labours in various parts of the 
kingdom up to the time of Edwin's death, in 688, at the battle 
of Heathfield. 
The generally received theory with regard to the Crosses at 
Burnley and Whalley is that they were erected to commemorate 
the visit of Paulinus to this district upon one of his missionary 
excursions, and that he then introduced Christianity into this 
part of the country. Dr. Whitaker in his History of Whalley 
refers to this, and his statements may be here briefly reviewed. 
He speaks first of an account which is preserved to us entitled 
** De Statu Blagborneshire.” This ancient manuscript states that 
Augustine (who at the wish of the King Ethelbert preached in 
England and taught the Christian faith), came to Whalley, and 
that in the Churchyard certain stone Crosses were erected and 
called by the people the ‘‘ Crosses of the blessed Augustine,” and 
were known by that name up to the time at which he wrote. 
Now it is almost certain that Augustine was never in this part of 
the country at all, and Dr. Whitaker then goes on to shew that 
the writer of this account must have erred in attributing to 
Augustine, what he (Dr. Whitaker) considered to be the work of 
Paulinus. This theory is also accepted by Harland and Wilkinson 
in their ‘‘ Legends and Traditions of Lancashire,” and has been 
repeated in almost every instance in which the matter has been 
referred to by other writers. The evidence set forth by Dr. 
Whitaker of the presence of Paulinus in this district can scarcely 
