CHAPTER XVI. 



VIA CLIFTON JUNCTION. 



As the stern grandeur of a Gothic tower 

 Awes us less deeply in its morning hour, 

 Than when the shades of time serenely fall 

 On every broken arch and ivied wall, 

 The tender images we love to trace, 

 Steal from each year a melancholy grace. 



LIFTON JUNCTION may be regarded as 

 the railway entrance to east and central 

 Lancashire, since at this point, while the 

 original line runs on to Bolton, there is 

 divergence to Bury, whence, in turn, we 

 get to Accrington. After Molyneux Brow, 

 the first station is Ringley Road; then comes Radcliffe, 

 the village of the "red cliffs," renowned in legend and 

 in local family history, and in a few minutes more we 

 are near the birthplace of Sir Robert Peel. The cliffs 

 referred to, though bold and conspicuous, have none of 

 the picturesque beauty pertaining to Prestwich. Nor, 

 indeed, is the latter renewed until, after passing Bury, we 



