2 54 History of ' the 



of no mean order. As a local geologist he took a foremost 

 position, being F.G.S., and twice elected the President of the 

 Manchester Geological Society. He was an authority on the 

 Geology of this district, as his contribution to the present work 

 bears witness, and his papers on his favourite subject in the 

 different geological magazines are numerous and valuable. Mr. 

 Aitken died at Urmston on the 29th July, 1884, in his 64th year. 



• Henry Cunlifife was born at High Field, Rossendale, on the 13th 

 October, 1825. He was the author of " A Glossary of Rochdale- 

 with-Rossendale Words and Phrases" (published after his death), 

 and other works, amongst which is a Novel entitled " Forest and 

 Factory : A Tale of Northern England," the scene of which is 

 placed chiefly in Rossendale. In his preface to the first named 

 work he has the following interesting remarks on the Rossendale 

 and adjacent dialects : "This Glossary, although dealing with the 

 forms current within a very small area, contains all the best words 

 used by a greatly extended population, and upwards of fifteen 

 hundred which do not occur in any Glossary hitherto published. 

 My endeavour has been to give orthographical consistency, or, in 

 other words, literary form, to the dialect — or rather dialects, for 

 there are two — prevailing within the parish of Rochdale. . . . 

 It appears that Rooley Moor and the ridge westward, which cross 

 the parish and constitute the division between the two dialects, 

 have at some early period been the barriers obstructing communi- 

 cation between two distinct peoples dwelling on their opposite 

 sides and in the adjacent valleys. On the northern or Rossendale 

 side, from Bacup to Edenfield, the ' Rossendale twang,' as the 

 local dialect is called, prevails in its full strength ; while nowhere 

 in the valley of the Roche — on the southern side — is \hs. patois 

 which gives immortality to the writings of Tim Bobbin more racy 

 than it is in the doughs and hamlets on the slopes of Rooley Moor. 

 The mountainous belt which separates the two districts is some 

 three miles broad, but, narrow as it is, I have resided on both sides 

 — in each instance for a period of twenty-five years — and neces- 



