Marion. \ \ 7 



by its beech-trees, a long and noble avenue, if con- 

 templated through an opera-glass never to be forgotten, 

 for then the half-mile of leafy colonnade is brought 

 close to the eye, a green and moving stereoscopic 

 picture. 



When at Gawsworth it is a pity to let slip the oppor- 

 tunity of visiting Marton, for the sake alike of its fine 

 old hall, ancient church, and renowned oak. The hall, 

 like so many others in this part of the country, is a 

 black and white of the time of Elizabeth, supplying, in 

 the material, yet another illustration of the ancient plenty 

 in Cheshire of magnificent trees; Lancashire, though it 

 contains many old halls and manor-houses of the same 

 character, presenting a far more considerable proportion 

 of stone ones. In the old "magpies," very generally, so 

 vast is the quantity of wood that one is disposed to 

 exclaim Surely when this house was raised a forest must 

 have been felled. Inside there are many very interesting 

 relics, as one would expect in a primitive seat of the old 

 owners of Bramhall. The church, built in 1343, is in 

 the style of Peover and the oldest portion of Warburton, 

 the aisles being separated from the nave by oaken pillars. 

 As for the "Marton oak," it needs only to say that in 

 dimensions it is an acknowledged rival of the Cowthorpe, 

 the circumference at a yard from the ground being fifty 

 feet, and at the height of a man more than forty feet. It 

 can hardly be called a "trunk," if by that word we are 

 to understand a solid mass of timber, the inner portion 

 having long since decayed, leaving only a shell, though 



