Worsley Hall. 247 



general. Building, drainage, and the changes incident 

 to town-extension, have obliterated many of the best 

 localities; still, so long as the Birkdale sandhills remain 

 intact, it will preserve no trifling part of the reputation. 

 The want at Southport is more sea. The tide not only 

 goes out to an incredible distance, but always seems 

 reluctant to return. It is in respect of this that 

 superiority is so justly claimed by Blackpool, the sea at 

 the latter place, save on exceptional days, being always 

 within view, always grand and inspiring. 



South Lancashire, via the original Liverpool and Man- 

 chester line, or that which runs through Barton, offers 

 few attractions to the excursionist, being flat and very 

 seldom relieved by wood and water. The best part of 

 the country traversed by the line in question is that which 

 holds Worsley Hall, the seat of the Earl of Ellesmere, 

 the ground here rising into a terrace which commands 

 a view over the whole of the great plain bounded upon 

 the opposite side by Dunham Park. The summit of the 

 lofty tower at Wren's Wood, a little to the west of the 

 hall, overlooks or allows of glimpses of no fewer than 

 six counties. Hence it is itself seen from great distances. 

 The grounds pertaining to the hall, access to which 

 is granted at certain times, supply an excellent example 

 of high-class professional laying-out, without exciting the 

 sense of surfeit such as at Alton is scarcely avoidable. 

 The woodland paths are pretty, and in autumn the flori- 

 cultural part emulates even Vale Royal. The hall, just 

 beyond the village, upon the left hand, is the third of the 



