270 History of the 



prickly thorn at the bottom of the pool when old " Abb o'th Yate," 

 was baptized. On complaining of the injuries he had sustained in 

 the process of immersion, Abb was consoled by being assured that 

 it must have been his sins that were pricking him. 



Bull-baiting was formerly a common sport in Rossendale. The 

 Baiting ground at Bacup was on " Hammerton Green," {£) as it 

 was called— the site of the present Corn Mill yard, and near to a 

 low building known as the " Witching hoile." A stake was fixed 

 in the centre of the ground, to which the Bull was tethered by a 

 rope, when its canine tormentors were let loose upon it, amidst the 

 yelling and cursing of a brutalised mob. At Boothfold, until within 

 recent years, the stake with a ring attached stood near to the 

 " Pack Horse." 



To show that the practice of Bull-baiting was at one time 

 familiar to the inhabitants, a little circumstance may be mentioned. 

 A very old Rossendale man, recently deceased, one day attended 

 a Camp Meeting held in a field at Sharneyford. An acquaintance 

 afterwards inquired if he had got to the meeting in time. " Yea," 

 was the reply, " I just geet theer as they were teein' t' bull to th' 

 stake," meaning, of course, that the preacher was just about opening 

 the services. 



But Rossendale was by no means singular in its relish for this 

 degrading practice. In Manchester, in former times, "amongst 

 the heaviest fines, or, as they were called, ' amercements,' on the 

 butchers, were those for selling bull-beef, the bull not having been 

 previously baited to make the flesh tender enough for human food." 

 (Ji) A strange commentary this on the morals and civilisation of 

 our forefathers. 



Tradition says that the narrow defile or gorge, called the 

 " Thrutch," through which the river Irwell, the turnpike road, and 



{g) John Hammerton, probably the owner of the Green in question, was 

 one of the Trustees of the " Old School House," Bacup, in 1773. 



(/i) Introduction to the Manchester Court Leet Records published by the 

 Chetham Society, and edited by John Harland, F.S.A. p. 2. 



