252 Country Rambles. 



On the extreme south-western margin of the county, 

 where the simple rustic streams we found near Marple, 

 the Goyt and the Etherowe, after uniting their strength, 

 and receiving the waters of the Tame, the Irwell, and the 

 Bollin, at length become glorious as the estuary of the 

 Mersey, there remain for us, in conclusion, two of the 

 most interesting places in Lancashire. These are Speke 

 Hall, near Garston, and the village of Hale; the latter 

 possessed of some fine archaeological fragments, with, 

 close by, the park and gardens appertaining to the 

 residence of Colonel Blackburne. 



Speke Hall is a most charming example of genuine 

 Elizabethan work, affording, both inside and out, some 

 of the best and most characteristic features of the better 

 kind of domestic architecture which came into general 

 use soon after the middle of the sixteenth century. To 

 compare small things with great, it may be described as 

 a miniature Bramhall. It stands only a few minutes' 

 walk from the edge of the estuary, and in the olden time 

 would often, no doubt, be approached from the water, to 

 which an avenue or arcade of lofty trees at present 

 shows the way. In front the ground is level, consisting 

 of green fields which reach to the garden fence. The 

 want of elevation, as at Scarisbrick, rather hinders full 

 appreciation of the singular beauty of the building, at all 

 events until we draw near enough to perceive that, like 

 nearly all other mansions of the kind, it was originally 

 protected by a moat. This has long since been 

 superseded by turf, the bridge alone remaining to show 



