Chap. 7.] 



PARISH OF RIBCHESTER. 



155 



people, whoso might has imprinted on the human brain a permanent 

 religious awe. The Eibchester camp was but a single link in that 

 vast chain that fettered Britain for three centuries." 



I may add that the cost of the excavations has been in the main 

 defrayed by Mr. Shortt, curator of the Cross Street Museum. " He has 

 been pecuniarly assisted by the proprietors of the EeraU to the extent 

 of one-sixth of the expense, which has amounted to £30. Originally 

 suggested to and ui-ged upon Mr. Shortt by the late Mr. Thompson 

 Watkin, the writer of "Eoman Lancashire," the undertaking was 

 persevered in, noswithstanding the loss of coimsel and advice sustained 

 by his death. A member of the nation in which he took so profound 

 an interest would think that such conduct would be acceptable to the 

 shade of the departed historian."' 



After the departure of the Eomans (says Baines), the city of Eib- 

 chester began to decline ; the Saxons, it is probable, found it in decay ; 

 and all that is said of it in the Domesday Survey is that Eebelcastre 

 is in the Hundred of Amounderness, among the sixteen villages de- 

 pendent upon Preston, and contains two carucates of land. 



After the Conquest it is probable that the ancient city regained some 

 of its former consequence, but its final overthrow was effected by the 

 Scotch invaders, under Bruce, in 1323, when, like Preston, it was 

 burned to the ground. ° 



In 1258, Edmund de Lacye was Lord of the Manor. 

 "In 1292, Eybelchestr' occurs as one of the places in which the 

 Prior of St. John of Jerusalem claimed to exercise certain feudal 

 privileges."— Whitt. Whalley, II., 460. 



" Among the charters found atPontefi-act Castle, in 1325, was one de 

 Moite de Eibblescestre, by which Eobert de Lacy demised to Eobert, 



^Mr. Shortt, whom it is my great 

 privilege to call my friend, has made a 

 suggestion which, had time permitted, I 

 should have been only too glad to have 

 adopted. The suggestion was that a 

 collection should be made of all the 

 Roman coins, etc., in the possession of 

 private individuals, Mr. Shortt under- 

 taking to write a description of them. 

 May I venture to express the hope that 



as many gentlemen as possible will fall 

 in with the idea, so that Mr. Shortt's 

 account may appear in the "History 

 of Rihchester ? " 



"" The second volume of ' The Lanca- 

 shire Legends,' published by Mr. Land- 

 reth, of Wigan, is said to contain a tale 

 entitled 'The Earthquake of Ribohea- 

 ter.'"—(" Palatine Note Book," June, 

 1883.) 



