Hogkton Bottoms. 2 1 7 



immensely rich in scenery. Up here, too, it is that one 

 catches aboriginal Lancashire at its best, the dialect in 

 its prettiest modifications, and among the rural popula- 

 tion the primitive manners and customs. Towneley 

 Park, near Burnley, one of the most beautiful of the old 

 county family seats, is distinguished not more for its 

 associations than for the abundance of its venerable 

 trees. 



Taking a great bend towards the west, after passing 

 Stubbins, the line runs through Haslingden, Accrington, 

 and Blackburn, to a spot of immemorial celebrity. Five 

 or six miles from the last-named the Darwen flows 

 through a secluded vale called Hoghton Bottoms. At 

 times it is bordered by green and level meads; in certain 

 parts great lateral walls of rock make it uproarious. The 

 name refers to the very ancient and distinguished family 

 seated here ever since the time of Henry II., the resi- 

 dence up to the middle of the sixteenth century having 

 been not far from the edge of the water. Doubtless this 

 would be constructed chiefly or wholly of wood, for the 

 park, "in former tyme," says the old chronicler, was "so full 

 of tymber that a man passing through it could scarcely 

 have seen the sun shine at mid-day." Soon after the 

 accession of Elizabeth the existing hall, upon the top of 

 the hill, was erected, the builder being the celebrated 

 Thomas Hoghton, who on account of his creed was con- 

 strained to forsake his ancestral home almost immediately 

 after the completion, and thenceforwards live in exile 

 upon the Continent The story of the departure of the 



