J31 
LANCASHIRE. 
tainous land, not worth inclofing, but producing abun¬ 
dance of game. Blearfdale is in the hundred of Araoun- 
dernefs, and contains nearly 4000 acres of inclofed land, 
and about the fame quantity not inclofed. Myerfcough 
is fituated about eight miles from Prelton; and confifts of 
nearly 2200 acres, all inclofed; of which about 1600, be¬ 
longing to the king, is called Myerfcough Park, and is 
held under a leafe by Mr. Heatly. The ancient foreft of 
Fulwood comprifed a large quantity of land which is now 
inclofed; the nninclofed parts are about 908 acres. Pref- 
ton race-ground is a portion of the foreft. Previous to, 
and under the Norman dynafty, this county was diitin- 
guifhed as an honour, and was of the fuperior clafs of feig- 
niories, on which inferior lordlhips and manors depended, 
by the performance of certain cuftoms and fervices to the 
lords who held them. Landed honours originally be¬ 
longed to kings exclulively, but were afterwards granted 
in fee to noblemen. Thefe kept their honour-courts 
‘ r every year at leaft, oroftener if need be; at which court 
all the freeholders of all the manors that ftand united to 
the faid honour fhail make their appearance, which fui- 
tors fhail not fit, but ftand bareheaded.” That the honour 
of Lancafter exifted before the conqueft, is demonftrated 
by an agreement, ftill preferved, between king Stephen and 
Henry duke of Normandy. From this period till the reign 
of Henry III. the honour was held by feVera! great perfons. 
That monarch conferred it on his fecond foil Edmond, 
when it became an earldom. The title of duke of Lancajlcr 
was created by Edward III. in favour of Henry Plantage- 
net, whofe daughter and heirefs, Blanche, married John of 
Gaunt, fourth Ion of Edward III. for whom the privileges 
and revenues were confiderably increafed; he, being cre¬ 
ated duke of Lancafter on the death of his father-in-law, 
obtained a patent for advancing this county to the dignity 
of the palatinate. The court belonging to this duchy has 
the power of deciding every caufe relating to it: the offi¬ 
cers are, a chancellor, attorney-general, king’s ferjeant, 
king’s counfel, receiver-general, clerk of the council and 
regifter, furveyor of lands, attorney in the exchequer, at¬ 
torney in chancery, four counfellors, See. The offices of 
the duchy-court are at Somerlet place, London. There 
is a feal for the county palatine and another for the duchy; 
i. e. fuch lands as lie out of the county palatine, and yet 
are part of the duchy ; for fuch there are, and the dukes 
of Lancafter hold them, but not as counties palatine, for 
they had not jura regalia over thofe lands. See Chancel¬ 
lor of the Duchy, vol. iv. p. 87. and County, vol. v. 
p. 289. 
Lancafliire fends fourteen members to parliament; two 
for the county, and two for each of the boroughs of Lan¬ 
cafter, Liverpool, Prefton, Newton, Wigan, and Clithero. 
The county is included in the northern circuit, and the 
affizes are held at Lancafter, as are alfo the quarter-fef- 
lions. Lancaffiire contains 490 public bridges ; of which 
nine are repaired by the county, and the others by the 
different hundreds. 
A recent propofition in parliament, to open branches 
of the bank of England throughout our principal 
towns, renders it proper to notice the manner in which 
banking bufinefs is tranfacted in Lancafhire. There are 
in Lancafliire, we underftand, no banks of circulation; 
nor are the notes of the adjoining counties currently 
received. When a fale of goods takes place, payment is 
made by bills on London at two or three months’ date ; 
and, when thefe bills are difeounted by a Lancafliire ban¬ 
ker, the nett amount is paid over in bank-of-England 
notes; and a Angle Manchefter bank is in the habit of re¬ 
ceiving weekly from London upwards of 20,000k in bank- 
of-England notes for that purpofe; and the eftablilhed 
commiffion on bankingtranfa&ions in Lancafliire is £ per 
cent, which ftands in lieu of the advantage derived by 
other provincial banks on the circulation of their notes. 
Such is the general practice throughout a county which 
ranks as firft in extent of manufacture, and next to Mid- 
diefex in point of trade, Siordet's Letter to Sir J. Sinclair, 
LAN'CASTER, a lea-port, and the county town of 
Lancafhire, is fituated on the banks of the river Loyne, 
or Lime, 239 miles diftant from London. P’ew of the 
county-towns in England have been more negleCted by 
the hiltorian, or more inaccuratel)' deferibed by the topo¬ 
grapher, than this of Lancafter. That it was a Roman 
Itation is evinced by the Saxon termination cafer, or caf- 
tre ; and the fame is confirmed by the various remains of 
the domeftic economy of the Romans that are continually 
difeovered in the town and its vicinity. Dr. Leigh, in 
his Natural Kiftory of Lancafhire, See. deferibes and re¬ 
fers to various coins, pieces of pottery, burnt bones, Sec, 
that have been found in this town. In 1772, an altar- 
ftone, with an infeription, was dug up here. In the Ar- 
chteologia, vol. v. is a diflertation, by the Rev. Mr. Leigh, 
on certain Roman veftigia belonging to Lancafter. In¬ 
deed, whenever cellars, or fimilar excavations, have been 
made, in certain parts of Lancafter, a variety of Roman 
antiquities have been invariably difeovered; and particu¬ 
larly in the upper part of Church-ftreet, Lancafter. In 
October 1809, upon carrying a drain through this ftreet, to 
meet one from the caftle,the foundation of a ivall,cotnpofed 
of large hewn ltones, laid in regular courfes, was brought 
to light; alfo many fragments of a beautiful red fpecies 
of pottery, with figures embofled in relief. On one, there 
is Apollo playing on a lyre ; on another, a horfe in full 
fpeed. It would appear that it has been the cuftom to 
(lamp the maker’s name on the bottom of thefe veflels, as 
letters, forming part of fuch names, are yet frefli on fe- 
veral of the fragments alluded to. On one of them is 
ovintiliani. m. as diftinCl as if juft turned out of the 
maker’s hands. Several coins have alfo been found ; feme* 
fo much defaced, as to be incapable of being made out. 
One, however, of filver, is in tolerable prefervation ; an- 
toninvs is plainly legible round the head ; and on the re¬ 
verie is a figure of Juftice fitting. One of copper is in 
more perfect prefervation ; the infeription round the head 
is favstina avgvsta ; and on the reverie is a figure 
Handing, with this legend, ivnoni reginae s. c. 
Lancafter, however important it may have been as a 
military ftation, owes its chief celebrity to Edward III. 
who, upon the completion of the fiftieth year of his reign, 
folemnly, and in full parliament, created his third Ion, 
John of Gaunt, duke of Lancafter. By the charter granted 
at this period, the duchy of Lancafter was conftituted a 
fort of petty kingdom, and all the privileges of royalty 
conferred upon the duke within the county. During the 
civil wars between the houfesof York and Lancafter, this 
town fullered fo much by its adherence to the Lancaftrian 
line, that it was nearly depopulated, and even in the time 
of Camden was only the refidence of a few hulbandmen. 
Charles II. having confirmed its ancient charter with ad¬ 
ditional privileges, it began again to revive, and has ever 
fince been increafing in trade, extent, and population. 
The caftle, which has fucceffively been the fafeguard,. 
terror, and glory, of the town, is now fitted up as the 
county-gaol, with its neceflary appendages of a gaoler’s 
houfe, prifoners’ rooms, cells, work-ftiops, courts of juf¬ 
tice, &c. From the appearance of its prelent remains, 
and the commanding fituation on which it ftands, it muft, 
doubtlefs, have been a grand and magnificent objeCt in 
former times. Much as it has buffered from the changes 
it has more recently undergone, its architectural features 
are ftill entitled to general admiration. The encircling- 
walls embrace an area of 380 feet from eaft to weft, by 
350 from north to fouth. Within this fpace is a large 
court-yard, with feveral of fmaller dimenlions, and a num¬ 
ber of towers of various fliapes. The chief entrance is 
towards the eaft, and communicates with the town. It 
is a ftrongly-fortified tower-gateway, confifting of two fe- 
mi-oCtangular projections, which are perforated, near the 
bottom, with apertures for the difeharge of arrows ; and 
on the fummit are feveral bold machicolations, with em- 
brafures, &c. Within this entrance is the large court¬ 
yard already-mentioned, furrounded with towers and for¬ 
tified 
