WOLVERHAMPTON station is one mile from the town of WOLVERHAMPTON, a place of great antiquity, and the most populous town in Staffordshire. A monastery was erected here about the tenth century, but no remains of it now exist. St Peter's church is an ancient Gothic edifice, containing many interesting monuments, a curious font, and a stone pulpit, more than 800 years old, cut out of one block. In the church-yard is an ancient cross, covered with a profusion of rude sculpture. The chief manufacture of the town consists in locks and keys, japanned ware, and other articles of a similar description. 2 M. P. Pop. of par. 70,370. Two miles distant is Tettenhall, the church of which contains an antique font, and a curious painted window. Three miles distant from Stafford is Ingestrie Hall, Earl Talbot; near which is Tixall Hall, Sir T. A. C. Constable, Bart., and Shugborough, Earl of Lichfield. The latter was the birth-place of the celebrated naval commander and circumnavigator, Lord Anson. The Crewe and Chester Railway commences at Crewe, 166 miles from London, and leads by Nantwich, 34 miles; Calveley, 7 miles; Crow Nest, 14 miles ; Black Dog, 17 miles; to Chester, 20 miles; thence to Birkenhead, 16 miles. A steam-boat leaves George's Pier Head, Liverpool, for Monk's Ferry, 20 minutes before the train starts from Birkenhead, and returns to Liverpool on the arrival of the trains from Chester, carrying all passengers free. WARRINGTON is one of the principal stations on the line, being midway between Liverpool and Manchester. About half a mile from the station is the large and populous town of Warrington, on the north bank of the Mersey in Lancashire. It is one of the oldest towns in Lancashire, and was a Roman station. A bridge was built here over the Mersey by the Earl of Derby, for the purpose of enabling Henry VII. to pay him a visit with greater convenience. The principal manufactures are sail-cloths, coarse linens and checks, and in the vicinity are pin, glass, and iron-works. Vessels of 70 or 80 tons burthen can come up the river to within a short distance of the town. The church is of Saxon origin, and erected before the Conquest, but the injuries which it received during the civil wars have destroyed most of the traces of its antiquity. It contains some curious monuments, especially one to the memory of Sir Thomas Boteler and his lady. There are also chapels of ease, meeting-houses, free schools, &c. During the Civil Wars, Warrington was the scene of several severe conflicts. From the press of this town, the first newspaper ever published in Lancashire was issued, and it was also the first town in the country from which a stage-coach was started. Howard's work on Prisons was printed at Warrington, as were also the most of Mrs Barbauld's poems, the earlier writings of the late Thomas Roscoe, the works of Dr Ferrier, Gibson, and many others. In 1757, an academy was established here, which rapidly rose into celebrity, under the direction of Dr Aikin, Dr Priestley, Dr Taylor, Dr Enfield, and the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, but the esɩablishment was unfortunately broken up in 1783, and from its fragments a college was formed at York, which has been recently transferred to Manchester. Bradley Hall, in the neighbourhood of Warrington, is supposed to occupy the site of one of the castles of the Haydocks, a powerful family in Lancashire at the time of the Plantagenets. One M. P. Pop. of township, 18,981. About two miles and a half from Warrington station is WINWICK, which possesses the richest rectory in the kingdom, the patronage of which has been lodged in the hands of the Stanley family since the reign of Henry VI. According to tradition, this place was the favourite residence of Oswald, King of Northumbria, and near the church is pointed out the spot where he fell fighting against the pagans of Mercia, A. D. 642. St Oswald's Well, about half a mile to the north of the church, was originally formed, according to Bede, by the piety of pilgrims who visited the spot. The earth and water are supposed to be possessed of peculiar sanctity, and from it all the neighbouring Roman Catholic chapels are supplied with holy water. The church, a large irregular structure, of very remote antiquity, contains a number of interesting monuments and curious brasses. There are no less than thirty-seven endowed charities in the parish. Two miles and a quarter from Winwick is NEWTON JUNCTION STATION, (82 miles from Birmingham, 1942 from London,) where the Grand Junction Railway terminates, and the journey to Manchester or Liverpool is continued on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. LXVII. LONDON TO LIVERPOOL THROUGH DUNSTABLE, COVENTRY, LICHFIELD, STONE, KNUTSFORD, AND WARRINGTON, 206 Miles. |