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Country Rambles. 



to Croston. The mutilated alabaster effigies of knights 

 and ladies from the old Derby burial-place, form one of 

 the most interesting of the many attractions of remark- 

 able Ormskirk. Excepting a few portraits, these effigies, 

 strange to say, are the only extant art memorials of that 

 ancient line ! A tablet, an epitaph, even a gravestone in 

 honour of a Derby of the lang syne, is sought in vain. 

 Knowsley, the present seat of the family, seven miles 

 from Liverpool and two from Prescot, is celebrated for 

 the magnitude, rather than the symmetry, of its splendid 

 hall. Built at very various times, it presents as many 

 different styles. The park, nine or ten miles in circum- 

 ference, abounds with pretty bits of the picturesque given 

 by trees. Many of these, however, have the curious look 

 presented by such as growing near the shore, are 

 constantly wind-beaten. 



From various points near Lathom and Ormskirk there 

 is seen, in the Southport direction, to all appearance a 

 village spire. This indicates, in reality, Scarisbrick Hall, 

 one of the most striking and successful efforts in archi- 

 tecture the county possesses. The ancestors of the 

 Scarisbrick family having owned the estates for at least 

 seven centuries, we learn without surprise that, as in 

 other cases, where the present building now stands there 

 was once a black and white; further, that the family 

 being Catholic, it was well provided with outer defences, 

 and had its "secret chamber" for refuge in times of 

 persecution. The original was in 1799 the residence of 

 the philanthropic Mr. Eccleston at whose cost and under 



