236 Country Rambles. 



five gables, though of late much disfigured; Lostock 

 Old Hall, Standish, Pemberton, Birchley, and Winstanley, 

 are all very interesting; and if Haigh Hall, the Lan- 

 cashire seat of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, be 

 less curious, archseologically, there is not one that will 

 compare with it in respect of gardens or romantic 

 approach. The walk through the wood, beginning at a 

 mile from the Wigan market-place, is in its way, for so 

 near a coal and factory centre, without a rival. 



For a charming bit of wild nature thereabouts, com- 

 mend us, however, to Dean Wood. Nothing, as regards 

 landscape and prospects of sylvan solitude, can be more 

 unpromising than the approach thereto through Hindley 

 and 1 Wigan. Two or three miles beyond the latter, 

 where the ground begins to rise, and trees and streams 

 of water make their appearance, it seems possible, after 

 all, that something picturesque may lie concealed; and 

 leaving the line at Gathurst, sure enough, we are by no 

 means disappointed. Turning up on the left, after a 

 few minutes along field-paths, the way changes into a 

 beautiful clough, in many respects not unlike Bamford 

 Wood, and which goes on improving to the end. Of 

 course it is not to be confounded with the Dean Wood 

 upon the slopes of Rivington; nor is the river below to 

 be confounded with the Rivington "Douglas." This 

 one, in truth, is the Lancashire Douglas pre-eminently : 

 a stream of fifteen miles' flow before entering the Ribble, 

 and the same with which tradition connects bloody 

 conflicts in the time of the Danes. A tributary comes 



