HISTORIC SITES OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE. HISTORIC SITES OF Lancashire and Cheshire. A WAYFARER'S NOTES IN THE PALATINE COUNTIES, HISTORICAL, LEGENDARY, GENEALOGICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE. BY JAMES CROSTON, F.S.A. _Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain; Member of the Architectural, Archæological and Historic Society of Chester; Member of the Council of the Record Society._ Author of "On Foot through the Peak," "A History of Samlesbury," "Historical Memorials of the Church in Prestbury," "Old Manchester and its Worthies," "Nooks and Corners of Lancashire and Cheshire," etc., etc. JOHN HEYWOOD, DEANSGATE AND RIDGEFIELD, MANCHESTER; AND II, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, LONDON. 1883. TO JOHN LEIGH, ESQ., OF THE MANOR HOUSE, HALE, CHESHIRE, THE PRESIDENT AND ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE REPRINTING OF THE RARER POETICAL LITERATURE OF THE SPENSERIAN AGE, IN TESTIMONY OF LENGTHENED FRIENDSHIP AND LITERARY OBLIGATION, AND IN APPRECIATION OF HIS EFFORTS TO RESCUE FROM OBLIVION THE LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS WHICH CAST THE HALO OF ROMANCE ROUND MANY OF THE OLD HALLS AND MANOR HOUSES OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED WITH THE BEST WISHES OF HIS SINCERE FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The favourable reception accorded both by the Public and the Press to a former work--NOOKS AND CORNERS OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE--has encouraged the Author to prepare the present volume, which is issued with the hope that it may be found not less worthy of acceptance. Like the one which preceded it, it illustrates, in a certain degree, the history and romance of the two Palatine counties, the Author's aim having been to give to particular localities an individuality and freshness, by presenting in an entertaining and popular form the "sites" of remarkable scenes and incidents of bygone days. "England," says a well-known writer, "is pre-eminently the country (compared with the rest of Europe) in which the monuments that embody historical associations, and link the present with a far-reaching past are most thickly strewn;" and in Lancashire and Cheshire the soil is plentifully studded with the memorials of ancient days, that stand out in refreshing and instructive relief among the crowding evidences of modern power and civilisation--places hallowed by associations and as the homes of those whose memories we would not willingly let die, and scenes that are identified with much of the history, tradition and romance of the centuries that are gone. No pretention is made to what is commonly called the dignity of history, which usually means the placing of important personages and great events in prominent relief without regard to minor incidents or the relations the figures in the background bear to the occurrences recorded, the Author's purpose