PREFACE 



shires and Ireland by way of Chester, Liverpool, Formby, Preston, and 

 Lancaster on the other. 



Such is a brief outline of the causes and conditions which have 

 made the Lancashire of to-day. To give some account of the race of 

 men who utilized these natural conditions for the development of their 

 native county, and of the gradual growth and ultimate result of their work, 

 is one of the main purposes of this history. In this and in other direc- 

 tions the design and scope of The Victoria County Histories differ materially 

 from any other county history hitherto published. The plan of execu- 

 tion is described in the general advertisement, and will be found to 

 embrace natural history ; pre-historic, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon remains ; 

 a topographical account of each parish, township, and manor ; chapters on 

 ecclesiastical history, architecture, agriculture, industries, social conditions, 

 schools, sport, and family history. In dealing with the wide field of 

 learning, the services of specialists in the various branches of knowledge 

 here represented have been secured, with the object of placing upon record 

 in a scientific and entirely original manner as much matter touching local 

 history and its kindred subjects as may be contained in a work of limited size 

 and cost. The chapters on pre-historic, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon remains 

 are admittedly brief and fragmentary ; but there is, unfortunately, no such 

 interest or activity of research in these directions as to encourage the 

 hope that greater light may be thrown locally upon these periods of 

 history within the era of the present generation.^ In the department of 

 natural history a great amount of work has been and is being done.* 



In the department of topography only one important history of the 

 county has been written. In 1836 Edward Baines, M.P. for Leeds 

 (i 834-1 841), published A History of the County Palatine and Duchy of 

 Lancaster in four quarto volumes, a work which since then has been 

 slightly enlarged, but not greatly improved, in an edition edited by John 

 Harland, F.S.A., in two quarto volumes issued in 1 868-1 870, and 

 another edition by James Croston, F.S.A., in five quarto volumes 

 issued in 188 8- 1893. A more scholarly work dealing with a portion 

 of north-east Lancashire is The History of the original Parish of Whalley and 

 Honor of Clitheroe by Thomas Dunham Whitaker, LL.D., F.S.A., 1801.* 

 The same author also wrote An History of Richmondshire, two volumes, 

 1823, a work dealing with part of the ancient archdeaconry of Rich- 

 mond, in which were formerly included the Lancashire hundreds of 

 Lonsdale and Amounderness. In scope, however, this work can hardly 

 be described as a topographical history, consisting merely of historical 

 collections illustrated by engravings of local scenery painted by Turner. 



Valuable collections of historical materials in the history of the 



1 The published worb illustraiing this department are The History of Manchester, by the Rev. John 

 Whitaker, 1771-5 ; Roman Lancashire, by W. Thompson Watkin, 1883. 



' The Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak in Derbyshire, by Charles Leigh, Doctor 

 ofPhysick, 1700. 



» A second edition was issued by the author in 1806, followed by a third edition in 18 18. In 

 1872 a fourth edition, revised and enlarged, was edited by John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., and the 

 Rev. Ponsonby A. Lyons, B.A. 



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