WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



government as holders of money or lands for the use 

 of the Jesuits, Franciscans, or secular clergy. 1 



The prosperity of the town does not seem to have 

 been affected by the Civil War or later troubles. 1 In 

 1673 it was thus described: 'Warnngton is seated 

 on the River Mersey, over which there is a curious 

 stone bridge, which leadeth to Cheshire. It is a very 

 fine and large town, which hath a considerable market 

 on Wednesdays for linen cloth, corn, cattle, provisions, 

 and fish, being much resorted to by the Welshmen, 

 and is of note for its lampreys.' 5 



Dr. Kuerden, who passed through the town about 

 1695, recorded his passing the Mersey 'over a fair 

 stone bridge of four arches,' and 'through the Market 

 Gate to the height of the market ' ; then ' keeping 

 the road northward over the common at a distance of 

 about half a mile stands a spacious hall or mansion 

 called Bradshaw. . . . You meet with two roads, 

 one leading to Bewsey Hall on the left, and that on 

 the right towards a fair hall with a spacious garden 

 and orchard belonging to Mr. Jonathan Blackburne, 

 justice of the peace.' Then he crossed the Orford 

 Brook by 'an arched bridge of stone,' and through 

 'a plashy way' to Hulme. 4 



About 1730 Warrington looked 'a large, populous, 

 old built town, but rich, and full of good country 

 tradesmen. Here is particularly a weekly market for 

 linen ... a sort of table linen called Huk-a-back or 

 Huk-a-buk.' The writer adds : ' I was told there 

 are generally as many pieces of this linen sold here 

 every market-day as amount to 500 value, sometimes 

 much more, and all made in the neighbourhood of 

 the place.' 5 



Judge Curwen in 1777 was less complimentary: 

 'Streets narrow, dirty, and ill-paved; like many 

 other towns, with a gutter running through the 

 middle, rendering it inconvenient passing the streets. 

 This town abounds in dissenters, and has an academy 

 for young preachers of that persuasion.' 6 



The most notable institution in the modern history 

 of the town was the Academy just referred to, founded 

 in 1757 for the education of candidates for the minis- 

 try among the Protestant Nonconformists. It endured 

 for nearly thirty years, when, owing chiefly to internal 



WARRINGTON 



dissensions, it was dissolved, a similar institution at 

 Manchester (the 'ancestor' of Manchester College, 

 Oxford) replacing it in i 786. John Seddon, minister 

 of the Presbyterian congregation, was its projector ; 

 among the tutors were John Taylor, Joseph Priestley, 

 F.R.S.; John Aikin, sen.; Reinhold Forster, William 

 Enfield, George Walker, F.R.S.; Gilbert Wakefield, 

 Nicholas Clayton, Pendlebury Houghton, and John 

 Holt. Most of these have a place in the Dictionary 

 of National Biography.' Thomas Barnes, president of 

 the Academy after its transference to Manchester, was 

 a native of Warrington. 8 



Among other natives or residents calling for some 

 notice were the Ven. James Bell, a Marian priest 

 executed at Lancaster in 1584;" Charles Owen, a 

 resident Presbyterian minister ; 10 Edward Evanson, 

 an Anglican divine who became heterodox ; " John 

 Macgowan, a baker and satirist. Thomas Percival, 

 a physician, founder of the Manchester Literary and 

 Philosophical Society, was born at Warrington in 

 1740.'' Peter Litherland, the inventor of the lever 

 watch, was a Warrington man ; and John Harrison, 

 of chronometer fame, resided in this town. Samuel 

 Fothergill (1715-72), a Quaker minister, brother of 

 Dr. John Fothergill, resided here. 13 John Blackburne 

 of Orford and Anna his daughter were famous for 

 their studies of plants and birds. Michael Adrian 

 Hankinson, O.S.B., became bishop of Port Louis, 

 Mauritius." Among artists Hamlet Winstanley, a 

 painter of note, who died in 1756 ; !4 and John 

 Warrington Wood, a sculptor, who died in 1886, 

 were natives. 



In addition, many others might be named, as 

 William Beamont of Orford, the indefatigable local 

 historian, who died in 1889. His son, the Rev. 

 William John Beamont, the two Kendricks, John 

 Fitchett, Thomas Kirkland Glazebrook, George 

 Crosfield, William Wilson, John Fitchett Marsh, 

 and Peter Rylands have found places in the Dictionary 

 of National Biography. K 



The printing press was not regularly established 

 until the eighteenth century. The first newspaper, 

 the Warrington Advertiser, was published here in 1756, 

 but soon ceased. It was issued from the Eyres Press, 



