LANCASHIRE. 



361 



Bq>r. rated from tliat of Litchfield by Henry VIII.; it 

 is divided into the two archdeaconries of Richmond 

 and Chester, and is included in the northern circuit. 

 Before the conquest of Britain by the Romans, 

 t/iat part of the county bordering on Yorkshire was 

 inhabited probably by the Brigantes, while other 

 parts were occupied by the tribes of the Voluntii and 

 the Sistuntii ; and, in the later ages of the Roman 

 empire, Lancashire was included in the province 

 called Maxima Ccesariensis. The remains of the 

 Roman roads are still discernible in various parts of 

 the county ; the principal of these was, according 

 to some authorities, the more northern portion of 

 the Watling Street, and it extended from the Mersey 

 in a northern direction, near Preston, Garstang, and 

 Lancaster,to Carlisle. By the invasion of the Saxons, 

 the province became a scene of bloodshed and con- 

 fusion. The banks of the river Douglas witnessed, 

 it is said, four successful battles of the renowned 

 British prince Arthur against these intruders. The 

 Saxons established their kingdom of Deiri, which 

 included Lancashire, about the year 547, under Ella. 

 Forty years after, Adelfrid, the king of Bernicia, the 

 country seated between the Roman walls, having 

 married Acca, the daughter of Ella, king of Deiri, 

 expelled her infant brother Edwin from the throne, 

 and united the two provinces into the kingdom of 

 Northumberland. A short time after, however, he 

 was dispossessed by Edwin, who was one of the most 

 powerful princes of the heptarchy, and who, becoming 

 a convert to Christianity, introduced the new faith 

 into his dominions. Northumberland was united to 

 the rest of the kingdoms of the heptarchy under Eg- 

 bert in the year 827 : it partook of its full share of 

 suffering from the piratical Danes, and at the conquest 

 fell under the iron yoke of William the Norman. The 

 period when Lancashire was first formed into a 

 county, and when the boundaries of its parishes were 

 marked, cannot be ascertained with any precision. 

 In the survey of Doomsday book, Lancashire is not 

 described under its proper title, but the two hundreds 

 north of the Ribble are included in Yorkshire, and 

 the country between the Ribble and Mersey is in- 

 serted under Cheshire. This latter portion was held 

 by Edward the Confessor, and the chief of the north- 

 ern part by Earl Tosti ; nearly the who'e of the 

 county was bestowed by the conqueror on Roger of 

 Poictou, who afterwards forfeited these immense 

 possessions. The generality of topographers, follow- 

 ing Camden's authority, have stated that the county 

 was first made palatinate, with jura regalia, as fully 

 enjoyed by the earl of Chester, by a patent to John 

 of Gaunt, when created duke of Lancaster; but it is 

 certain, from the patent rolls in the tower, that these 

 privileges were conferred by a grant to the duke of 

 Lancaster, father-in-law to John of Gaunt, in the 25th 

 of Edward III. The extent of the duchy must not 

 be confounded with the limits of the county, the for- 

 mer anciently comprising vast estates lying in various 

 parts of the kingdom, the appanage of the duke, 

 possessing its own courts, and governed by its own 

 officers. Lancashire was distinguished in the six- 

 teenth and seventeenth centuries by the prevalence 

 of popular superstitions relative to witchcraft. In 

 1594, Ferdinand, earl of Derby, died, probably from 

 the effect of poison, and his death and previous suffer- 

 ings were attributed by himself and his attendants to 

 magic and sorcery; in 1612, nineteen poor women 

 were arraigned and tried as notorious witches at the 

 summer assizes at Lancaster; and, in 1633, other 

 persons were accused, in consequence of which an 

 investigation took place before the king and his phy- 

 sicians, when the discrepancies in the evidence of the 

 witnesses occasioned the acquittal of the prisoners. 

 The national delusion on this subject, however., long 



survived this period, though it has now happily dis- 

 appeared before the progress of knowledge ; and the 

 phrase of " Lancashire witches " has of late years 

 been applied by way of compliment to the females 

 of this county on account of their personal charms. 

 During the great civil war, Lancashire was the seat 

 of various skirmishes, sieges, and battles, particularly 

 that of Preston, 1648, in which Cromwell defeated 

 the duke of Hamilton, who had intended to penetrate 

 into England, and deliver the captive monarch. In 

 the rebellion of 1715, Lancashire was again the seat 

 of war, though the inhabitants were in general well 

 affected to the house of Hanover. In 1745, the young 

 chevalier passed through the county in his way to the 

 south, but in a few weeks returned with some preci- 

 pitation. Henceforward the most striking point in 

 the history of Lancashire is the astonishing increase 

 of its commerce and manufactures, as detailed in 4he 

 description of the various towns in which they have 

 been established. 



The outline of the county of Lancaster is extremely 

 irregular; it is divided from Yorkshire and Westmore- 

 land by moors, mountains, and rivers, and on the 

 west side the coast is indented by bays and harbours. 

 There is a great variety of soil and surface, but in 

 general it is not well adapted for cultivation; hence 

 the ancient thinness of its population, shown by the 

 comparatively small number of parishes into which 

 it is divided. The northern detached part, commonly 

 called the hundred of Furness, but belonging to that 

 of Lonsdale, partakes of the romantic character of 

 the neighbouring district of the lakes. It is a wild 

 and rugged region, abounding in iron-ore and slate, 

 and covered with groves of underwood, successively 

 cut down and converted into charcoal for the supply 

 of the iron furnaces. The county includes some 

 mountain heights of considerable elevation, among 

 which the most remarkable are Pendle Hill, two 

 miles east of Clithero, according to the trigonome- 

 trical survey of England, 1803 feet above the level 

 of the sea; Rivington Hill, near Boltoir, 1545 feet; 

 Wittle Hill, 1614 feet; and Coniston Fell, in Furness, 

 2577 feet. The more southern part of the county 

 may be regarded as consisting of two unequal por 

 tions; the smaller one extending between the borders 

 of Westmorland and the Ribble, and the larger in- 

 cluding the country between that river and the Mer- 

 sey. Lancashire is watered by numerous rivers, of 

 which the following are navigable : the Mersey, the 

 Ribble, the Lion, or Lune, the Irwell, the Douglas, 

 the Wyre, the Ken, the Leven, the Dudden, and the 

 Crake. The principal lakes are, Winandermere, be- 

 tween this county and Westmoreland; Coniston-mere, 

 in the centre of the Fells of Furness; and Easthwaite 

 Water, situated between the two preceding. Lan- 

 cashire is not only furnished with navigable rivers, 

 but also intersected by numerous canals. (See Ca- 

 nals.} The soil in the northern part of the county 

 or hundred of Lonsdale, is less productive than else- 

 where, being chiefly sands or marsh land; furtlu-r 

 south, about Garstang, the country is famous for a 

 fine large breed of horned cattle ; and the tract be- 

 tween the road from hence to Preston and the sea, 

 called Fylde or Field, is level land, producing a large 

 quantity of oats. The parts eastward of this district, 

 comprising the old forests of Wyredale and Bowland, 

 are mountainous, and generally barren. In the south- 

 ern parts of the county, on the banks of the Tame 

 and Irwell, are rich and fertile meadows ; and in the 

 neighbourhood of Manchester and other manufactur- 

 ing towns, the land is highly cultivated. Lancashire 

 is noted in the annals of gardening as having furnished 

 the first potatoes which were raised in England ; and 

 wliat are called fancy flowers, especially the auricula, 

 are here cultivated more generally than in any other 



