MISCELLANEOUS. 



679 



tenderest clieese. Some essayed in 

 vain to make the like in other 

 places, though from thence they 

 fetched both their kine and 

 dairy-maids : it seems they should 

 Jjave fetched their ground too 

 (wlierein is surely some occult ex- 

 cellency in tliis kind), or else so 

 good clicese will not be made. I 

 bear not the like commendation 

 of the butter in tiiis county, and 

 perchance tliese two commodities 

 are like stars of adifFerent horizon, 

 so that the elevation of the one to 

 eminency is the depression of the 

 other.' 



Dr. Leigb, in his Natural His- 

 tor}' of Cheshire, and Dr. Camp- 

 bell, in his Political Survey, attri- 

 bute tlie peculiar flavour of the 

 Cheshire cheese to the abundance 

 of saline particles in the soil of 

 this country ; and the latter ob- 

 serves, that in the neighbourhood 

 of Nantwich, where the brine 

 springs most abound, the clieeseis 

 esteemed to be of the most supe- 

 rior quality ; the opinion tliat 

 prime clieese is produced exclu- 

 sively from pastures under which 

 salt springs are found, is now ex- 

 ploded.* In Mr. Wedge's General 

 View of the Agricultme of Che- 

 shire, publi.-hed in nQ^, may be 

 found a copious accounc of the 

 process of clieese-making, as prac- 

 tised in this county. Mr. Hol- 

 land, in his late Survey, calculates 

 that the number of cows kept for 



the dairy in Cheshire is about 

 32,000 ; and that the quantity of 

 cheese annually made from them 

 is about 11,500 tons -.t The 

 greater part of theCheshire cheese, 

 particularly that of the south part 

 of the county, is sold to the Lon- 

 don cheesemongers, through the 

 medium of factors, who reside in 

 the neif.'hbourhood : some is sent 

 by the Mersey to Liverpool ; some 

 itdand, by the Staffordshire canal ; 

 and a considerable quantity by 

 oth.er canals, to the markets of 

 Stockport and Manchester. 



It is certain, from the record of 

 Domesday, tliat salt was one of 

 the principal articles of commerce 

 in this county, from a verj' early 

 period ; and that it produced a 

 considerable revenue to the crown 

 before the Norman conquest ; the 

 king having two-tiiirds, and the 

 Earl of Chester one-third of the 

 tolls; in which manner it conti- 

 nued to the time of Hugh Lupus. 

 It appears that the JViches, as they 

 are called in the Survey, werevery 

 productive in the reign of Edward 

 tiie Confessor. Wiien Hugli Lu- 

 pus wasfiist created Earl of Ches- 

 ter, the sultvvoiks belonging to 

 the king and tlie earl, at Middle- 

 vvich and Nantwich, having before 

 produced a rent of 16/. per ann. 

 were wholly disused and unpro- 

 ductive; and those at Nantwich, 

 whence the king and earl Edwin had 

 derived an income of 20/. per ann. 



• The richest and best cheese is said to be produced from land of an inferior na- 

 ture ; but the greatest quantitj' from the richest land. Among the places and dis- 

 tricts most celebrated for making the prime cheese, may be reckoned the neighbour- 

 hood of Nantwich, for a circuit of five miles ; the parish of Over ; the greater part 

 of the banks of the river Wever ; and several farms near Congleton and Middle- 

 wich, among which we have heard that of Croxton Hall particularly mentioned. 



t This calculation probably is over-rated ; we are inforcnec^ that the quantity 

 annually sent out of Cheshire, from the port of Chester, and by various canals, is 

 about 4,000 tons only ; about four-fifths of which is the produce of the county. 



