Various opinions have been hazarded regarding the etymology of the name, without reference to the most ancient documents in which it has been discovered. John, whilst Earl of Moreton, and in possession of the honour of Lancaster, confirmed a grant made by his father, Henry II., to Warin de Lancaster, of _Liverpul_, with other places, under a certain _reddendum_. In subsequent records it is written _Lyrpul_, _Lythyrpul_, &c., signifying, probably, in the ancient dialect of this country, the “lower pool.” Some deduce its etymology from a pool frequented by an aquatic fowl, called a “Liver,” or from a sea-weed of that name; others, and with much more reason, from the ancient British word _Lir_, “the sea,” and a spreading water or pool, viz., the sea pool, or sea-water pool. Camden says the Castle was built by Roger de Poictiers, in 1089; it certainly was erected at a very early period. In October, 1323, Edward II. dates his orders, &c., from Liverpool Castle; and in April, 1358, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, resided there for a month. It was demolished by order of Parliament, during the commonwealth, and in 1715, its site was granted by Queen Anne, to the corporation, who built St. George’s Church upon it. On King John ascending the throne, at his brother’s death, he again came into possession of the honour of Lancaster, and granted a charter to the town of Liverpool, which Henry III., in 1229, confirmed, made the town a free borough, instituted a guild merchant, and granted additional privileges. These charters have been confirmed, and further ones granted by succeeding sovereigns. The several mandates for fitting-out and providing vessels for the royal service, addressed by Edward II. and III., and subsequent kings, afford proof of its then being a place of extensive trade at this early period; and the fact of the royal order for the prohibition of the export of grain, in the time of Richard III., being transmitted to Liverpool only, is also a proof of its then being the only shipping port in the country. Leland, in 1558, described it thus: “_Lyrpole_, alias _Lyrpoole_, a pavid towne, hath but a chapel, Walton, a iiii miles off, not far from the se, is paroche chirche. The king hath a castell there, and the Earle of Darbe hath a stone house there. Irisch marchants cum much thither, as to a good haven. After that Mersey water cumming towards Runcorne in Cheshire liseth among the commune people the name, and is Lyrpole. At Lyrpole is smaule costume payid that causith merchants to resorte. Good marchaundis at Lyrpole, and much Irisch yarn that Manchester men do by ther.” Liverpool appears to have declined, probably from the baneful influences of the wars of York and Lancaster, until the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, when, in a petition from the