THE PROVINCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

cxviii.—THE WELSH MARCIE :—CIIESHIRE. — (('ontinued.) NANTIVICH, or Samptwich, formerly in importance ranking as the second town of this county, is placed in a low situation, 20 miles south-east by east from Chester, chiefly on the right bank of the river Weaver, which divides into two unequal parts a rich valley, containing some of the finest dairy-land in the county. It appears in Domesday Book under the simple designation of 117ek, a word indicating that salt was obtained there, and the Record mentions the salt-works to which for a long time the town owed its prosperity. Before the Conquest its revenues were unequally divided between the King and Earl Edwin, whose mansion of Acton lay immediately adjacent. It was protected by a fosse where not defended by the channel of the Weaver, and was the only tvich so protected. Earl Hugh, after the Conquest, granted it to William Malbedeng, from whom the barony subsequently received the appellation of Wick-Malbank. It was the only wick that the Earl did not retain as parcel of the demesne of his earl- dom. The last baron of the Malbedeng or Malbank family left only three daughters, coheiresses, among whom, in the sixteenth of Edward I., the barony of Nantwich (excepting a portion granted by the second Earl to an abbey he founded at Combermere) was divided, and shortly split into successive subdivisions, and new divisions of these subdivisions, until nearly the whole became reunited in the Cholmondeley family, by successive purchases made in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. The town was anciently under the government of the lord or his steward, who resigned the jurisdiction to a bailiff, but this officer was superseded by constables. Henry IL, in order to distress the Welsh, who carried on a great traffic in salt, ordered the brine-pits or Nantwich to be filled up, thus causing a considerable temporary shock to the prosperity of the town. On the restoration of peace, however, they were again opened, "and continued for many years the increasing source of wealth and employment to the inhabitants." Leland, in the reign of Henry VIII., says there were then 300 salt-works in operation. In the early part of Elizabeth's reign they were reduced to 216, some of which belonged to the Crown, some to the Earl of Derby, and others to families of distinction in the town and county. In the year 1624 they appear to have been further reduced to one-half in number, as pits of superior quality had been discovered in the vale of the Weaver, where the advantage of water-carriage is far superior ; so that the salt-works here have gradually declined, and are now entirely abandoned. The old Bait Spring, "supposed to have been the first discovered in the town, is still in existence, and notwithstanding its proximity to the river, from which it is distant only six feet, it still retains its original strength." In July of the year 1438 the town was "lamentably consumed" by fire, and again in December, 1583, the damage in the latter fire being com- puted at 2,30,000. Queen Elizabeth granted a commission for collecting money throughout England for rebuilding the town, and owing chiefly, it is said, to the great exertions of one of the Commissioners, John Maistorson, this was speedily effected, the Queen herself contributing 22,000, with the use of timber from the forest of Delamere. Some of the houses thus built remain at the present day. Between the 12th of June, 1604, and the 2nd of March, 1605, nearly 500 persons in the town were swept away by the plague. In the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. the tanning business was carried on here to a considerable extent. "The in- habitants of Nantwich possess an exemption from serving on juries out of the town, or associated with strangers. This privilege, which is very ancient, was confirmed in the reign of Elizabeth." Nantwich, of course, suffered much during the contests on the Welsh border, and in 1113 it was laid waste by the Welsh. In 1282, Edward I., on his visit to the town, granted to several of the inhabitants that their corn and other provisions should not be seized on account of the approach of the Welsh army. James I. visited the town in 1617, where he was enter- tained at the house of Mr. Wilbraham, of the Townsend. This family, in conjunction with that of Crewe, established a school for forty boys, called Blue Caps. A free school was also founded

by John and Thomas Thrush. Several almshouses were founded by members of the Wilbraham, Crewe, and other families.

We have already referred to the occupation of Nantwich by the Parliament and the siege by the Cavaliers. It was then only

surrounded by tund walls and ditches, that were hastily formed by the inhabitants and the neighbouring peasantry, who were incensed at the cruel conduct of the Royalists. "Time principal trade of Nantwich is now the manufacture of boots and shoes ; leather is also inanufactu'red, and a cotton factory gives employ- ment to above 100 hands." There are five fairs in the year, a

cattle market every Saturday front March to June. The church of St. Mary and St. Nicholas is "a noble cruciform structure, chiefly of the decorated style, with a whole internal length of about 156 feet, and a fine octagonal tower of 110 feet in height. There is a grammar-school, National school, Wesleyan school, chapels of

several deuoutinatious of Christians, a mechanics' institute, &c. The population of the township, which in 1851 was 5,426, had increased in 1861 to 6,225.

Macclesfield is situated 34 miles east by north from Chester, on the west side, and at the base of a range of high land on the borders of Cheshire, which forms part of the hill district of Derbyshire. The adjacent district is still called Macclesfield Forest. The Bollin flows through the town, the lower part of

which is called The Waters. .11-arle.!fehl, according to Domesday

Surrey, was one of the seats of the Earl Edwin of Mercia, where a court was kept for the hundred of Hamestane, and to which the third penny of the hundred was paid. Th eltall appropriated to the use of the court was remaining at the time of the Survey, with the pasture for kine, "which probably stretched along the

bank of the Bollin ;" and there was woodland, six tuiles in length

and four in breadth, contiguous to the Forest Hills, and contain- ing six enclosures for taking the deer and wild goats ; but the ravages of the invaders had reduced the value of the manor from /8 to 20s., "and in these ravages the ancient church appears to have perished, and is therefore unnoticed."

Macclesfield soon recovered from its decay, and though kept by the Earl of Chester in demesne, had a larger number of manors holding from it than tnost of his baronies. "It appears that at

this time the place w.as strengthened by a halts or fortification, which was repaired by the military tenants. The park and viva-

ries of Macclesfield, which had been alienated to the Davenports, were reunited to the manor by a forcible resumption of Randle Blundeville, The church,.situated on a portion of the manor

which had now become a distinct viii, was restored in a style of

considerable architectural beauty ; and independently of the local courts, the great justiciary of the Earl, in the course of his Cheshire circuit, occasionally fixed his tribunal at Macchsfield." After the extinction of the local jurisdiction of the Earl, the manor passed to the Crown, in which it is still vested. It was made a free borough by Earl Randle (probably the 3rd), who determined that it should consist of 120 burgesses, each of which paid 12d. to the Earl. In the forty-fifth of Henry 111. (1261), Prince Edward, as Earl of Chester, granted privileges therein to the burgesses of the same, with all liberties and free customs to the same belonging ; and further confirmations were granted by Edward III. (1334), Richard II. (1390), Edward IV. (1465), Elizabeth (1564), and Charles II., and under the charter granted by the last-named monarch, the corporation continued to be constituted till the Municipal Act of William IV. In the Civil Wars of Charles I.'s reign, Macclesfield was besieged amid taken by the Parliamen- tarians and held by Sir W. Brereton against the Cavaliers under Sir Thomas Acton, who battered the spire of St. Michael's Church with his cannon. The Presbyterian Royalists, when the "King of Scots" was making his attempt for the Crown in the Northern kingdom, held a meeting at Macclesfield, and resolved to raise four regiments of 700 men each for his service. In 1745 a party of 100 cavalry took possession of the town for the Young Chevalier, who arrived himself the same day, with 5,000 men and his artillery, slept there, held a council of war the next morning, and marched off to Derby. He passed through Macclesfield again on his retreat, and the Duke of Cumber- land following him, was received with great joy by the inhabit- ants. The limits of the municipal borough and township being coterminous, the most populous parts of the adjacent townships of Sutton and Hurdsfield were added to these by the Reform Act of 1832 to form a Parliamentary borough, which returns two Members to the House of Commons.

"The trade of Macclesfield was formerly the manufacture of silk, mohair, and twist buttons ; but this has been entirely superseded by the manufacture of all kinds of silk, from the narrowest ribbon to the different kinds of sarcenets,

plain and figured gros de Naples, satin, silk velvets, vest- Inge, and silk handkerchiefs of every description. It is now the chief seat in England for these branches of manufacture. Silk- throwing is also carried on extensively." The first silk mill was opened in 1756. In several of the mills power-looms have been introduced. The manufacture of broad silks was first introduced in the year 1790. "Many firms are engaged in the manufacture of silk trimmings, and the manufacture of cotton and alpaca goods is being introduced. The period between 1808 and 1825 was that of the great growth of Macclesfield. This has since scarcely been maintained to the same extent, and of late years the depres- sion in the silk trade has affected its prosperity.

Macclesfield is locally in the parish of Prestbury. The ancient church of St. Michael, situated on the brow of tbe hill, on the east side of the market-place, was founded by Eleanor, Queen of Edward I., in 1278; but the body of the church was greatly enlarged and rebuilt in 1740. There are also several chapels of other religious denominations. The free grammar-school was endowed with lands in 1502 by Sir John Perceyval, Lord Mayor of London, a native of Macclesfield, and refounded by Edward VI. There are also numerous other schools, almshouses founded in 1703, and other charities, a public library, &c. There are two markets a week, and four fairs in the course of the year, besides two fairs held at Sutton. There is good railway communication, and water communication with Manchester and other towns in Lan- cashire and Yorkshire by the Macclesfield and Peak Forest Canal, and by the Grand Trunk Canal with London and the intermediate counties. The population of the township, which in 1801 was 8,743, had in .1831 risen to 23,139, and in 1851 to 29,645, reced- ing in 1861 to 27,475. The population of the Parliamentary borough is, of course, considerably larger.

5.* ERRATUM. — In our account of the diocese allotted to Chester by Henry VIII., in our last impression, for Rutlandshire read Richmondshire.