LANCASHIEE. 



271 



down, between Runcorn, on the Cheshire side, and Widnes, the estuary of the 

 Mersey has a width of 7,500 feet, but is nevertheless crossed by a mao-ni- 

 ficent railway viaduct. Widnes is a town of evil odour, with chemical works, 

 soap factories, bone-manure works, and copper- smelting houses. Continuino- our 

 journey, we soon obtain a sight of the small town of Garston, after which house 

 succeeds house in a continuous city, which is half hidden by the rigging of the 

 innumerable ships and steamers lying at anchor in the roadstead or crowding the 

 docks. This is Licerpool. 



This powerful city has only risen into importance in recent times. It is not 

 even mentioned in the list of towns and villages in the Domesday Book. 



Fig. 133. — Liverpool. 

 Scale 1 : 300.000. 



5 Miles. 



The first reference to it occurs in the year 1172, when Henry II. was preparing 

 to invade Ireland, and embarked his troops in the estuary of the Mersey. In 1338, 

 when Edward III. made a general levy upon the vessels and sailors of his 

 kingdom, Liverpool was as yet of such small importance that out of a total of 

 700 vessels and 14,141 men it was called upon to furnish a solitary barge manned 

 by six mariners. Even as recently as 1571 the citizens of Liverpool, when 

 appealing to Queen Elizabeth to reduce their taxes, referred to their town as a 

 "poor decayed place."* About 1700 Liverpool had hardly 5,000 inhabitants; 

 but the gradual silting up of the Dee, and consequent destruction of the port of 

 Chester, proved of advantage to Liverpool, whose merchants, about this period, 



* Weale, " Public Worses of England." 



