l&l THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



their weary wanderings for employment, tired and dejected. 

 The cotton -manufacture was then beginning to rise in im- 

 portance ; the man and his sons obtained employment, 

 and it was not long ere they could again look down tbat 

 dale and see their own factor.es, their own workmen's 

 houses, and churches arid schools built by them for their 

 workpeople and their children. On the spot where they 

 halted this tower was built, and it stands prominently out 

 in the landscape as a beacon-tower of hope to the fainting 

 and the weary, an encouragement to the persevering, and 

 a fresh stimulus to the brave." 



C. Notices of Former Forests in Cheshire. 



The old Roman road from Northwhich to Chester led 

 through a dense forest, and the anonymous author which I 

 have quoted tells : 



" The whole of this country seems to have been at one 

 time a forest. We read of the ancient forest of Maccles- 

 field, that occupied a large portion of the eastern side of 

 the county, but which has now, in a great measure, given 

 place to villages and factories. Westward from it was the 

 Forest of Delemere, and still further west was the Forest 

 of Wirrall, which most probably covered the whole of the 

 peninsula of that name between the estuaries of the Mer- 

 sey and the Dee. The last, with the exception of a few 

 places on its borders near the sea, was, up to the time of 

 Edward J II., 'a desolate forest and not inhabited.'* It 

 was disafforested by the king. 



" Of the Forest of Macclesfield we have little, if any 

 thing, to say. As a forest, it has long ceased to exist. 

 The Forest of Delamere is, however, invested with more 

 interest, and with it are connected some very curious pas- 

 sages in history. The district in which it is situated was 

 originally inhabited by the British tribe, the Cornavii, 



* Oamden. 



