" Pots and Pans" 147 



such is the ancient and proper spelling of the name) up 

 to the time of the death of the last representative, had 

 been seated here from times anterior to the Conquest, 

 thus reminding one of the Traffords of Trafford Park. 

 The hall, a quaint relic of the past, now tenanted by 

 Mr. Broderick, is to a considerable extent, of temp. 

 Henry VI. By taking the leftward path, over the 

 heather, opportunity is acquired for mounting the lofty 

 crest, said to have been once occupied by "Bucton 

 Castle;" a fortress, to say the least of it, semi-fabulous, 

 though there is no reason to doubt that in the Armada 

 times, Bucton, like Alderley Edge, was used as a 

 signalling station. In case of need, flames shooting up 

 from the topmost peak, would be visible, on clear nights, 

 at a distance of at least twenty miles. 



Reference was made, a page or two back, to Seal Bark. 

 For this we quit the line at Greenfield, first ascending 

 past " Bin Green " to the " Moorcock," vulgarly " BilFs- 

 o'-Jack's," from the heights around which the outlook 

 over the adjacent country is once again marvellous. Very 

 curious, too, and in itself well worth the climb, is the 

 far-seen rock "Pots and Pans," well, if not elegantly, so 

 named, for on drawing near it is discovered to be an 

 immense mass of millstone-grit, left there since the 

 glacial period, with about a dozen roundish cavities upon 

 the top, the largest of them more than a yard across by 

 about fifteen inches in depth, and nine of the group 

 usually holding water. Local superstition, as would be 

 expected, attributes these singular basins to the Druids, 



