350 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



tile-Moors, and BtirsJem, with some small annuities, and surplice* 

 fees. The Rev. John Lawton is the present minister. 

 In the chapel-yard is a plain altar-tomb inscribed : 



" In Memory of JAMES BRINDLEY, of Turnhurst, Engineer, wb was inter- 

 red here, September 30, 1772, aged 56.'* 



This ingenious man resided at Turnhurst, a mansion in this pa- 

 rish, and is well known as the inventor of the modern system of ar- 

 tificial canal navigation.* 



BIDDULPH, is the most northerly parish of Pirehill North, and 

 borders on Cheshire. The source of the river Trent is in the 

 neighbourhood of Mole Cop, a rocky ridge, near the boundary be- 

 tween Cheshire and Staffordshire. A considerable extent of moun- 

 tainous land projects from Mole Cop to the north-west. 



This is an extensive parish, and is divided into four hamlets, 

 namely, Over, Middle, and Lower Biddulph, and Knipersley. The 

 manor of Biddulph was in the Conqueror's hands, but he soon af- 

 terwards bestowed it upon Omuis, who had several sons, the eldest 

 of whom inherited it, but having only daughters, it passed by them 

 into other families. Middle Biddulph was given by Aliva to Roger, 

 her cousin, her uncle Edward's son, who took upon him the sur- 

 name of Biddulph, and in his posterity it continued to the year 

 I59S; and Over Biddulph to Thomas, the son of Qrraus, another of 

 her uncles : but Nether Biddulph went by Aramintia 4 who married 

 Henry Verdon, to the Bagleys and Mainwarings.f 



The Church of Biddulph is an ancient structure of stone, with a 

 low square tower, and is situated on a gentle eminence. In the 

 interior, near the altar, on the north side of an altar-tomb on the 

 south side of the chancel, is the following epitaph in capitals : 



" Goe gentle stranger, press not neere 



To qvestion who's intoombed heere. 



Here lies the man, ah mee noe more 



Lest thov this sacred dvst adore. 



Hi-s honor'd name's conceal'd from thee 



To keepe thee from Idolatrie. 



Svffi.ce it onely here to find 



He was a man of mortal! kind. 



The composition of his spirit 



The exposition of his merit. 



Are theamcs all hvmane thoughts transcend 



Matters t' admire not comprehend. 



* A memoir of this gentleman will be given in our account of the Grand 

 Trunk Canal. 



f Magna Britannia, Xo. 62, p. 76. 





