M A N C II ETS T E R. 
Northumbrian kingdom. Edward the Elder, king of the 
Mercians, is faid to have fortified and rebuilt a confider- 
able part of it, which time and violence had united to de- 
ftroy. At the period of the grand Domefday furvey, two 
churches appear to have exilted here, called St. Mary’s 
and St. Michael’s. Albert de Grelley obtained from the 
Conqueror the lordlhipof the manor. In 1301 his grand- 
fon, Thomas, granted a charter to his burgefles of Man- 
chefter, conliituting their town a free borough. Lord de 
la Warr, the lalt male heir of this family, laid the foun¬ 
dation of the collegiate church, which tended, in no fmall 
degree, to promote its increafe and improvement. This 
town in early times was a place of fanfluary, and one of 
the eight places to which that privilege was confirmed by 
Ilenry VIII. in 1540. The year following, however, it 
was removed to Cheller, which the ftatute declares “had 
a Itrong, gaol and a mayor; and had not the wealth, cre¬ 
dit, great occupings, and good order, which Manchefter 
had.” In 1605, a peltilence raged here, and carried off 
upwards of 1000 perfons. Upon the breaking out of the 
civil war between Charles I. and the parliament, Man¬ 
chefter decidedly efpoufed the republican caufe, and fuc- 
cefsfully refilled feveral lieges by the royal army, under 
the earl of Derby. Notwithllanding thefe circumftances, 
however, the inhabitants feem to have honoured the ref- 
toration of Charles II. with particular marks of joy. 
From this Ihort fketch it will readily be perceived that, 
in an hillorical point of view, Manchefter is only entitled 
to a very fmall (hare of general attention ; though, regarded 
as a manufacturing town, it is defervedly diltinguilhed 
above every other in England. When it firlt began to be 
noted for its manufactures is uncertain ; but in the time 
of Edward VI. Manchefter cottons, Manchefter rugs, and 
Manchefter friezes, are frequently mentioned in various 
aCts of parliament. In 1650, its trade is defcribed as 
“ not inferior to that of many cities in the kingdom, 
chiefly confiding in woollen friezes, fuftians, fack-cloths, 
mingled (tuffs, caps, inkles, tapes, points, &c. whereby 
not only the better fort of men are employed, but alfo the 
very children by their own labour can maintain them- 
felves. There are, befides, all kinds of foreign merchan- 
dife brought and returned by the merchants of the town, 
amounting to the fum of many thoufand pounds.” About 
this time great quantities of linen yarn feem to have been 
imported here from Ireland, which, being wrought into 
cloth, was relhipped for the Irifh market. It was not, how¬ 
ever, till after the middle of the lalt century, that Manchef¬ 
ter rofe to a pre-eminent rank among our manufacturing 
towns; a rank for which it is chiefly indebted to the inge¬ 
nuity and invention of Mr. Hargreaveand fir Richard Ark¬ 
wright. Previous to the year 1760, all the cotton yarn ma¬ 
nufactured in the country was fpun by hand, upon that 
well-known domeltic inftrument called a one-thread wheel. 
Shortly after this period, Mr. Hargreave conftruCted a ma¬ 
chine denominated a jenny , by which one perfon was ena¬ 
bled to fpin from twenty to forty threads at a time. Thefe 
machines foon came into general ufe, but were much li¬ 
mited in their employment till the year 1775, when fir Ri¬ 
chard brought the improvements of bis predeceffor to 
much greater perfection. This gentleman, having efta- 
blifhed his extenfive manufactories here, made Manchef¬ 
ter the principal l'eat of the fpinning-trade, the rapid in¬ 
creafe of which produced a correfponding increafe in the 
buildings and population of the town. The quantity of 
cotton manufactured at Manchefter during the laft twelve 
months, is eftimated, upon a moderate calculation, at 
three hundred thoufand bags, reckoning each bag to 
weigh upon an average two hundred and three quarters. 
A fhock of an earthquake was felt here on Sunday the 
14th of September, 1777. The fame fhock was felt alfo 
at York, Lancaller, Liverpool, Chefter, Birmingham, 
.Derby, and Gainfborough; but within this circuit, the 
diameter of which mult be 130 or 140 miles, with greateft 
violence at Manchefter, which appears to have been the 
centre of it. In the churches, it being in the time of di- 
Vol. XIV, No. 972. 
2 fit 
vine fervice, the greateft ronfufion prevailed. The con¬ 
gregations, fufpeCting that the galleries or the roofs were 
falling in, endeavoured to efcape with the utmoft preci¬ 
pitation. Several people were thrown down and trample*! 
on, and fome few had their limbs broken. Nor is it to 
be wondered at that they were fo terrified, as the pillars 
and walls evidently tottered, and the motion was fo great 
as to toll the bells in the Collegiate and St. Mary’s 
churches. However, no Jives were loft, nor did any very 
material injury enfue. 
A calico-manufaCtory, valued at above ioo,oool. was 
deftroyed by fire on the 15th of March, 1792. 
In point of commercial and political importance, though 
not a corporation, Manchefter is undoubtedly the fecond 
town in the kingdom. The whole population, according 
to the parliamentary cenfus of iSoo, amounted to 84,053 
perfons, of whom 44,500 were engaged in different branches 
of trade. The amazing increafe of population in this 
town is fhown by returns obtained in the years 1773 anti 
1811. In the former year there were 29,951 perfons ; and 
in the latter 98,573. The parifn of Manchefter compre¬ 
hends feveral of the contiguous townfhips, the whole 
population of which is 136,370. A clergyman at this 
place has l’tated the following faft: Examining the regii. 
ter of the collegiate church for fix years, viz. from Ja- 
nuaiy 1, 1807, to the 31ft December, 1812, he found, 
from the flgnatur^s, that fo many as 9,756 perfons had 
been married within that period who were not able to write 
their own names. 
As Manchefter, notwithftanding its extent and political 
importance, is not a corporate town, the government is 
veiled in a headborough, called the boroughreeve, and 
two conftables. Thefe are chofen annually from the 
inoft refpettable of th<? inhabitants by a jury impannelled 
by the fteward of the manor, at the courts ltet, which are 
held by the lord of the manor twice every year, at Eafter 
and Michaelmas. The boroughreeve is ufually one of 
the gentlemen who has ferved as conliable for the pre¬ 
ceding year, and is treated perhaps with more refpett 
(the paraphernalia of a mace-bearer excepted) than any 
mayor in the kingdom. The chief duty of this officer is 
to prefide at public meetings, and to diftribute certain 
charities, denominated “boroughreeve charities;” all the 
judicial functions connected with the police being exe¬ 
cuted by the conftables and their deputies. A court of 
requefts is held every month for the recovery of fmall 
debts ; and every Wednelday and Saturday feveral refpec- 
table magi ft rates fit in the court-room of the New Bayley 
for the adminiftration of jultice in pleas of almoft every 
defeription, whether civil or criminal. Quarter feffions 
alfo are held four times a-year; and, from prefs of buli- 
nefs, the court is fometimes obliged to continue its-fittings 
for nearly a fortnight. 
This town is divided into two portions by the river Ir- 
well, which receives the Irk at a Ihort diftance from the 
collegiate church. The fituation of Salford is very fimi- 
lar to that of Southwark, the communication between the 
two towns being kept up, as in London, by three bridges 
thrown acrofs the river at different places. The molt an¬ 
cient of thefe is called the Hanging Bridge, fometimes 
the Old or Salford Bridge; and is fuppofed to have been 
originally founded in the time of the Romans. The pre- 
fent, built in the reign of Edward III. was formerly very 
dangerous for foot-paffengers, but in 1778 it underwent a 
thorough repair and extenlion. Blacktriars bridge, eras¬ 
ed about fifty years ago, is conftruCted entirely of wood, 
and flagged for foot-paffengers only. But the finelt bridge 
over the Irwell is the New Bridge, commonly called the 
New Bayley Bridge, which was founded in 1785, and is 
conftruited wholly of (tone. It confifts of three large 
arches, and a fourth of fmalier dimenfions, left open in 
fupport of the duke of Bridgewater’s right to a towing- 
path to his quay in Salford, agreeably to the tenor of the 
act, enabling his grace to form his extenfive canals. Six 
bridges are here thrown acrofs the Iik, the chief of which 
