NOOKS AND CORNERS OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE. Of this work 600 copies have been printed, the whole of which were subscribed for before publication. NOOKS AND CORNERS 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,” etc., etc. JOHN HEYWOOD, DEANSGATE AND RIDGEFIELD, MANCHESTER; AND 11, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, LONDON. 1882. JOHN HEYWOOD, PRINTER, HULME HALL ROAD, MANCHESTER. [Illustration] PREFACE. This volume is not put forth as professedly a history of the places described, the Author’s aim having been rather to seize upon and group from such accredited sources of information as were available, the leading facts and incidents relating to special localities, and to present the scenes of human life and action in a readable and attractive form by divesting, in some degree, the tame and uninviting facts of archæology of their deadly dulness; to bring into prominent relief the remarkable occurrences and romantic incidents of former days, and, by combining with the graver and more substantial matters of history an animated description of the physical features and scenic attractions of the localities in which those incidents occurred, to render them more interesting to the general reader.