Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-25 00:00:00

Y
THE NORTHERN TIMF,S.---LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY, JUL 25, 1857.

CONGRESS OF THE BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL
INSTITUTE AT CHESTER,

(FROM OUR OWN REPORTER

The various sections resumed their sittings yesterday
morning at ten o'clock.

lIISTORICIL SECTION.

The Lord Bishop of Che3ter presided over this section.

Mr. RossoN, of Warrington, read a paper on " the
Hallelujah Victory," the scene of which was near Mold.
The paper had reference to what took place in the sth
century in Britain, during the visit of St. Germanus, and
the general condition of England at that particular period.
It was called "the Hallelujah Battle" in consequence of
the enemy being defeated by a panic, and the leaders of
the victors calling upon their followers to shout out,
" Hallelujah."
The Rev. T Grosvenor read an interesting paper on the
history of St. John's Church, Chester, and the Rev. James
Raine gave some illustrations of magic in the middle ages.
A paper on the catalogue of books in Winchester College
Library, from Richard 11. to Henry VI., by the Rev. H.
Gunner, was also read.

has received considerable elucidation. To enter fully into it
here would be foreign to my present purpose. Suffice it to
say, that on the natural clearings in the forest, in valleys
bounded by gentle acclivities which poured down fer-
tilising streams, or on plains which here and there rose
clothed with verdure above the surrounding marshes►
settlements were planted, and step by step the
warlike colonists adopted the habits and developed
the character of peaceful agriculturists. We may
not be able step by step to trace the course of these
settlers, and to mark the progress of the Saxon dominion,
but in the absence of direct testimony much information
may be derived from the nomenclature of the locality. In
examining the district under consideration we find the
names of the most of the rivers, such as the Dee, the
Towey, the Douglas, and a few of the names of places, such
as Ince and Landicsn, of Gallic origin. Others, such as
Ringwall, Ness, Whitby, and Raby, are without doubt
Danish. The great majority of the names of townships,
parishes, and hundreds are decidedly Saxon. Proceeding
farther in our investigation we find two classes of Saxon
terminations, the one class indicative of habitation,. cultiva-
tion, an I settlement, as wick, a habitation or village ; ham.
a homestead, the original of the word home ; ton or town,
a collection of houses ; stele, a settled place, from which
steady is derived, and others of kindred significance. The
other class of terminations is indicative of the wildness
of uncultivated nature, such as wood, dell, den, a wooded
vaUey ; holt, a wood ; burst, a thicket ;. fold, an enclosure
in the woods; draw, another term far wood, Bze Now, it
is a remarkable fact, that these two classes of appellations
are not mixed up indiscriminately, but bear to each other a
certain definitive relation, the hams, tons, wicks, &a., being
within, and the holes, hurst., and dens being in a sur-
rounding border. These circumstances evidently indicate
that at the period when the nomenclature was given, the
population was divided into a series of isolated settlements,
surrounded by the original woods and forests, These were
the seperate jurisdiction or marks. This subject is not
entirely one of inference. Down to the reign of Charles
IC, Mark courts still existed in some parts of the country,
to determine the rights of common and boundary.
Instances of these are given by Mr. Kemble, in his work
on the Saxon Institutions. In South Lancashire, Billinge
appears to have been the centre of a mark, the original
nomenclature immediately around it being sienifi cativo of
cultivation and settlement, surrounded by mosses, woods,
and dells, of which the names alone survive. The intersection
of Danish names of places gives evidence of incursions
of the Northmen, and of their permanent settlement in a
portion of this district. These are found on the north east
side of the Dee, and on the east side of the Mersey, ex-
tending inland in an irregular carve. In Cheshire, we
have Frankby, Greasby, Irby, Raby, Heswall, Thingwall,
and Ness. In Lancashire, some of these names are re-
peated. For Greasby, we have Crosby ; Kirkby is
repeated ; for Raby, we have Roby ; besides Childwall
Widness, Formby, and West Derby, which gives
its name to the hundred. The name Thing-
wall also re-appears. It is interesting to find in the track
of the Northmen, piratical and sanguinary as they were,
traces of the love of law and order so characteristic of
Scandinavian and Teutonic blood. Thing -weld —the Hill
of Doom—the place of judgment—perpetuates the memory
of the rude justice of the Danish settlers—whether in the
Thingwall of Cheshire, the Thingwell of Lancashire, the
Tynwald of the Isle of Man, or the Dingwall of the north
of E..4catland —the name is uniformly attached to a low coni-
cal hill overlooking a plain, similar to the Areopagua of
Athens, where councils were held and judgment was ad-
ministered. The appropriation of this district after the
Norman Conquest, and its subsequent development and
progress, are matters of history familiar to all. I
have now to say a few words on the physical
changes which the surface has undergone since the
earliest times to which our inquiries have carried us back.
Gradual cultivation has done much to change the physical
aspect of the district. The mosses and marshes have been
drained, the thick woods have been cat down to such an
extent that in the Hundred of Wirral, where it was once

a popular rhyme—
" From Birkenhead to Hilbury,
A squirrel might hop from tree to tree"—
it is now difficult to obtain shelter from the westerly
blasts that sweep over the bare surface from the sea.
There have been changes in progres., however, of a more
e xtensive character to which I will now allude. It is a
singular fact that the Roman geographers entirely ignore
the country lying between the Dee and the Ribble, west
of Manchester. Neither in the Itinerary of Autonine, nor
in that of Richard of Cirencester, is the Mersey ever
alluded to. Ptolemy's description of the coast makes no
allusion to any river between the Seteia Portus, doubtless
the Dee, and the Belitama, generally identified will the
Ribble. This circumstance has given rise to much con-
troversy. However this may be decided, there can be

little doubt that so accurate a writer as Ptolemy would not
have omitted all mention of so important an estuary as the
Mersey, if it had then existed in its present form. The
question then arises—are there any indications giving
evidence of changes which would account for this omission,
and what is the nature of them ? If we examine the wide
extent of flat open country which extends from Formby
north eastward to Southport, North Moots, and the banks
of the Ribble, and inwards towards Halsall and Ormskirk,
we find, near Scarisbrick, the commencement of the peat
moue!, which are here on the surface of the ground, and
are cut and used for fuel. Proceeding onwards in the
direction of the sea, we find the peat has a gradual dp
towards the northwest, the drift sand taking its place on
the surface, until near the shore about Southport the peat
i I found to lie at a considersvde depth below the level of the
sea. Peat mosses, as is well knows, owe their origin to ob-
structed drainage and stagnant moisture. Mr. Lyell says,
" It is a curious and welt-ascertained fact, that many of
the mosses of the north of Europe occupy the place of
forests of pine and oak, which have many of them dis-
appeared within the historical era. Thus, in Mar Forest,
Aberdeenshire, large trunks of Scotch fir, which had
fallen from ego and decsy, were soon immured in peat,
formed partly of their perishing leaves and branches, and
in part from the growth of other plants. We also learn
that the overthrow of a forest by a storm about the middle
of the seventeenth century gave rise to a peat moss near
Loch-broom, in Ross-shire, where, in less than half a
century after the fall of the trees, the inhabitants dug
peat." In Hatfield Moss, and many others, Roman roads
have been found at the depth of eight feet below the
surface, and in most of our mosses, coins, axes, arms, and
utensils of Roman or British origin, have been discovered,
proving that for the most part our mosses are not of earlier
origin than the time of Julius Caesar. In the
present case, we know that at the time of its formation
the peat moss must have been above the level of
the sea; and since the part so depressed forms a continu-
ous line with the peat now in course of formation on the
surface, we have here decisive evidence of an importan t
change of level within a period comparatively recent.
Proceeding southwards along the coast, we -next arrive
successively at Birkdale and Ainsdale, ancient names of
townships decisively indicative cf the existence in former
times of wooded dells and valleys. Nothing bearing the
remotest resemblance to such an appearance is now to be
traced, nor do we find any such undulations of surface as
could suggest the idea of such phenomena ; on the con-
trary, a dull uniformity of heathy surface prevails, bounded
towards the shore by the irregular hills of drift sand con-
tinually accumulating. Further on, Formby is reached,
and here a very remarkable vestige of antiquity still
remains, proving demonstratively that changes of a var. im-
portant character have occurred within a period of time not
vary remote. I allude to the ancient gravoyarit or church-
yard situated among the sandhills, on the edge of the sea,
far removed from any human habitation position which
is about the last which would be selecf4d for the silent
sanctuary of the dead, exposed as it is to bt!, buried at any
moment by the sand-drift front
J..." 8 hills surrounding it.
Reasoning from the operAti°'... of ordinary human motives,
it is impossible to, res4:st the impression that at the time
when this Slal°i`..*ly was first set apart, the sea was much

--......—
e distant, and dm .
neighbourhood free from the accu-
' mor
nitaation.4
of
sand
whith I, 'weaten to bury this last resting-
place of the de d, and off. to
its memory. Hard by,
to the sea. If this little
the sluggish Alt winds its' *Ay
Nrn its own watercourse
stream, like all other rivers, 'Welt.
vela must have taken
to the sea, a great change in. the As.
excluded at high
place, since, at present, the sea hars.folSs.
up and
tides by flood-gates, to prevent the strehn . sacking
Advancing
overflowing the meadows higher up the &m t,.
I shore at
along the coast towards Liverpool, we. find% of thk
Crosby the first traces in this neighbourheo&cf 11/4 'e sub-
marine forests, which present themselves at inttthtleu. long"
the western shores of Britain, from north of the GOlkv.l7 .
far south as the banks of the Towey, and on soma ix,rtgi a
the eastern and southern shores also. The first rc-PO.-d0

notice of this submarine forest at Crosby is contained in. a
letter to the Gentleman's Magaziite of July, 1790,
bated' by the late Mr. George Holt, of Walton. He de'.-
scribes it as " emending upwards of a mile towards
Formby. What might have been its original extent, either
in that or any other direction, seems at present impossible

to ascertain ; but Tegtiges of it are visible dipping west-

wardly into the sea, which donbless covers a great part of

the land on which a considerable portion of it grew. There
are numberless trunks of trees standing. upright some
feet above the surface, in the very places where they must

have grown, with• their prodigious roots extending into
the ground in all' directions, in their natural positions.

The higher land to the east is formed almost entirely of
sea sand, and is sown with ling or bent, to prevent the

further enc;oachments of the sea, which, notwithstanding,
seems still to encroach, and by washing the foundations of
the sand-hills, to occasion the almost perpendicular. front

they exhibit to the west." Still nearer Liverpool; and,
indeed, within the limits of the borough, a similar forest

existed on the shore within the last fifty years, which was

familiarly known by the name of Wycherly Wood. Indi-

viduals were lately living who could have testified, from

their own knowledge, that about the latter end of the last

Century it was customary for cabinet makers who were

in went of a little dark-coloured wood for handles and

other purposes for which ebony is now used, to go down to
_ .

the shore at low water, and cut away the timber from the
numerous stumps of oak trees still remaining there, the
wood of which, though perfectly sound, was as black as

ebony. It is remarkable that all the remains of trees in

these situations exhibit unequivocal tokens of wilful

destruction, both from the visible marks of the axe and the

quantity of logs left to perish where they had been cut
down. Now, we read that Seutonius Paulinus, when he
overran the Isle of A.nglesea, ordered all the forests to be
cut down ; and it is extremely probable, from the Roman

and British remains found in bogs along with the relics of

the primeval forests, that the some course was pursued in

other parts of the kingdom by the Roman conquerors.
Could we be sure of this, it would fix a limit ba kward

within which the changes in question must have taken

place. That this supposition is not beyond the truth, other
circumstances to which we shall shortly allude tend to
confirm. In front of the town of Liverpool itself evidences

of similar changes still present themselves. In those
interesting relics of past times, the " Moore Papers," Sir

Edward Moore, writing in 1667, and referring to the land

extending northwards from the bottom of Chapel-street,
thus speaks—" Remember to build a wall all along the
bsnk side till you come to the town field; otherwise in
time lam afraid the sea will wear away the whole bai k.

For my great grandfather [this must have been about 1550],

William Moore, made a lease of the bank to one Grgney

for £lO fine and ss. per annum mot ; my grandfather,
Edward Moore, let it to one Pemberton for 30s.

a-year, and nlw it is so much worn away with the sea
that I cannot make 53. a•year of it." Again, speaking
of land situated at the angle between the mouth of the

pool and the sea, he says, " Remember that your tenant
cause a wall to be built to save the ground from wasting

away by ihe sea ; for this I'll aver, on the south side
next the pool, for a great way together, the tide hath taken
away of my land at least eight or ten yards." We now
arrive at the site of ihe famous pool, the cradle cf Liver-

pool. That this had been for ages the outfall of the
surface drainage of the high lands to the eastward, there
can be no doubt; and yet there are plain and decisive
evidences to show that the banks which formerly bounded
it., and the vegetation by which it was bozdered, are now
sunk many feet below the level of the sea. In the year
18n, in sinking the foundation far the Custom-house,
erected on the site of the pool, it was necessary to

penetrate to the solid rock. Li so doing several interesting
discoveries were made, the account of which I take from
the Liverpool, Courier of that date. it The top of the silt,
a deposit from the water of the dock, lay at nineteen feet
below the level of the quay. This was about three feet
in thickness, and near the bottom was a vein of fine sea
sand. Below this lay a firm blueish marl, in which were
intermixed lichen, fibres of plants and decomposed leaves.
Lower down branches of trees of different kinds were dis-
covered ; and deeper still, larger trunks of trees and roots
of considerable magnitude. Below the clay there lay a
stratum of black peat, about a foot in thickness, intermixed
with nutshells, leaves, and fragments of branches. This
rested on the rock, about 40 feet below the h'ghwater mark
of a2l feet tide. The stump of one very large oak tree
was found in its native bed, about 27 feet below highwater
level and about 6 feet below the bed of the dock. The
ramifications of the roots extended horizontally near the
surface of the rock, not less than 30 feet in diameter,
clearly proving that this must have been the original site
of the tree. Near this spot several stags' antlers were
found, and some fragments of bones." The opinion given
by the writer of the account is, that the substrata of the
old pool occupied the site of a wooded ravine or glen, and
that the trunks of trees, &c., may have been detached from
the sides of the glen and filled up the deep part of the
hollow. It is perfectly clear that at the time of these
deposits the relative levels of the land and water must
have been very different from their present condition.
On the south side of the town evidences of the en-
croachment of the sea are everywhere visible, but
time will not permit any particular description of them.
Passing over to the Cheshire side of the Mersey, the
same phenomena are exhibited. We may first notice the
appearances connected with Wallasey Pool, now
obliterated by the works connected with the Birkenhead
I docks. The water course and embouchure of the pool
have evidently been formed by the action of the running
water of the little stream the Birkett, which, taking its rise
in some marshy ground• within a few hundred yards of the
sea coast, drains the valley lying between the high lands
of Bidston and Wallasey. But at present, and for a long
period, this operation has been reversed, and the singular
appearance is presented of a stream the head waters of
which are scarcely raised above the sea level, and along
the whole course of which the tide rises and falls, unles
prevented by flood-gates, whilst the deposits of silt and
mud from, the sea water is gradually filling up the channel.
From excavationsmade at the head of the pool within the
last few years, it appears that the whole of the Leasowe
was formerly a marsh, into which the water shed from the
hills of Bidston and Wallasey, discharged its waters and
carried down silt and mud. The soil consists of layers of
marshy vegetation, in which are found imbedded trunks of
trees, prir.cipally hazle and alder. Pursuing our course
westward, we arrive next at the opening of the Leasowe
or flat valley, extending between the high lands of Wallasey
and Bidston. Here is situated the Leasowe LththouKe,
close on the edge of the seashore, and about this point
commence the visible remains of the submarine forest in
this part of the country. That the sea has here gained
enormously on the land is not a matter of supposition and
hypothesis, but can be proved by the testimony of many
now living, and the recorded statements of others no longer
in existence. Toe present lighthouse was erected in the year
1761, and was at that time a considerable distance inland,
at least half a mile. Another lighthouse then existed more
to seaward, ranging with the present one, which, by the,
encroachments of the sea, became uninhabitable, and, wasp
taken down. Mr. Robert Stevenson, it a parer li'd,d'
before the Wernerian society in th 18,„
o yeav
.-- E . 8,

enters at large into the particulars, and proves from the
testimony of aged persons examined by himself, that
within the previous thirty years the shore of the Leasowe
had lost by admeasurement 88 yards in breadth, and within
the memory of persons then living at least half a mile.
To prevent the further ravages of the sea, an emben'tment
was constructed which has since been several times in
dangerof bsing swept away by the high tides and storm.
The inferences from the whole of these facts appears to be
that anciently the estuary of the Mersey was confined
within very narrow limits ; that the peninsula of Wirral
stretched much further to seaward ; and that it is tar from
improbable that the slender stream of the Mersey dia.
charged its waters into a flat marshy district encircling
tisse ;nigh land of Wallesey (Wallas' Eye, or island), and
was thug in the time of Ptolemy undistinguished as a
neeigable river. Whilst the Mersey has thus almost
with the historical period started into existence as a
issevigable estuary, far different has been the fate of her
sesse,r stream the Dee. At the time of the'foundation of
cheeor by the Romens, the estuary of the river almost
washed the very walls, and for a period long succeeding,
Chester, As a port, ranked high in the commerce of the
county. Under the Plantagenet. monarchs, the first
indications of sating up began to manifest them-
selves. A quay was constructed down the river, near
Shotwicite protected by the Cestle, for embarketion to
Ireland, meth abteut the period when the Castle of Liver-
pool was founded 'with the same view. In the reign of
Elizabeth, Parkgate was established, and continued for a-
century and a half the port of passage to Ireland, and a
sort of outpert to —Chester. When the Dee Com-
pany was established, about 1720, the channel of
the river was diverted to the opposite coast, and commerce
well nigh forsook the ancient estuary of the Dee. We can
thus trace in the same district the operations of nature
closing one avenue of commerce, and at the same time
creating a new and neighbouring one to take its place.
There are few other physical changee-in the district but
such as have been originated or, aided by the hand of man,
constructing canals, deepening rivers, forming roads
covering the surface with a network of iron rails, draining,
planting, quarrying, and mining, and changing the Lee of
nature from a wild foreet,:interspered with cold marches,
to a hive of human industry, prosperity, and progress. It
is well to call to wind the circumstances melee which these
changes hare been effected, and to feel that whilst human
effort has been an instrument in the operation, it has still
been only an instrument, the- great powers of nature, to
which human skill and force •must ever be subordinate,
being wielded by a higher and a wieer Power, which rules
the destinies of men, and directs them according to His
gracious will and pleasure, to subserve to the highest and
noblest ends. •

After some discussion, a vote -of thsr.ks to Mr. Picton
was carried by acclamation.
Professor INLIRSDEN (Professor of Classical Antiquities
at Cambridge) next made some observations on the Greek
altar fJuo d near the Town hall, at Chester, in 1837.

SECTION OF ARCRITZOTURF.

Sir Stephen Glynne presided over this section, when an
interesting paper on the architecture of Chester cathedral
was read by Mr. S. H. Parker, F.S.A., of C embridge.

In the afternoon, the members of the Institute, accom-
panied by Mr. Parker, visited the cathedral, when a very
minute inspection of the edifice and its contents was male.

The twenty-s7xth anniversa-y of the irraugurttion of the
King of the Belgian 3 was celebrated et Brussels on Teesday
with the usual ceremonial.

M. K9ssuTu.—lt is hoped that this eminent patriot will
b able to visit Plymouth towards the close of bepteraber,
to deliver lectures i❑ Piymouth and Devonport.
The Crystal Palace Committee of Investigation have
published a request to the shareholders to withhold their
proxies until the views of the committee are placed before
them.

We do not believe that there is any foundation for the
statem,a made by some of the fereigiti j'urnalP, to the
effect that her Majesty is about to visit France this
autumn.

The Elberfiern Gazette states that a postal convention
has just been concluded between Austria and France, and
that the rate of postage between the two countries will
receive a Tensible diminution.

REPRESENTATION OF BfItMENGIIMI.—An announcement
was made by the Mayor of Bnlninghatn on Wednesday, at
a public meeting. that Mr. Mentz will, in a day or two, be
I,lcely to accept the Chiltern llundrals.—Birminjham.
Dai y Press.

In some of the earlier districts in this county reaping
will probably commence at the beginning of next week ;
indeed, in the neighbourhood cf Dawnton, it has already
commenced ; hat, generally, harvest work will not be
begun till the first week in August. Wheat is said to be
an excellent crop, above an average ; but barley is not se
well spokm of, Beaus and peas are a fair crop.— Wiltshire
Independent.

THE HEALTH or SIR JOHN .POTTER,—We regret to find
that alarming rumours, of a m-st ex.v,gerated kind, have
been circulated in reference to the alleged.serious illness of
Sir John Potter. We can confidently assure all the hon.
gentleman's friends that there is no cause whatever for
anxiety. It is true that Sir John WPS unwell at the begin-
ning cf this week, brit he is now almost, if not quite, restored
to his usual health, and he merely requires rest and
quiet to complete his recoyery--11fernehater Guardian.
THE DUBLIN ELECTION PETITION.—A. public meeting
of the liberal party in Dublin was held on Wednesday in
the 111,chanics' Institute, sor the purpose of taking
measures to prosecute vigorously the petition which has
been presented to th 3 House of Commons, praying that-
the present members for the city should be unseated,
inasmuch as their election was procured by bribery and
treating. There was a numerous attendance, and a strong
interest was shown in the proceedii:gs. Alderman
:ynolds and Mr. F. W. Brady addressed the meeting. A
subscription was opened, and a committee appointed

A NEST or SNAle7s.—A. most extraordinary sight was
witnessed same few days since in a garden at VAla Wood,
not far distant from Midhurst. The gardener had occasion
to take the glass off the eucamber bed, and in doing so
was greeted with the hissing of a good-sized snake. He
immediately called to his wife to bring a prong to kill it
with, but before she could do so the reptile had disappeared_
In searching for it, however, on one side of the bed, be
observed a large hole, in opening which he discovered.
between thirty and forty full-grown snakes, each one
averaging n2arly four feet in length. They were every
one of them killed, and laid oat in state on the footpath
for inspection.

EXTEN3IVE FißES,—Yesterhy morning►, a fire of a
serious character broke out in the extensive pile of

buildings known as the Poplar Saw Mills, situate in
High-street, Poplar, London. The premises in „iuestion
covered some hundred feet of ground, and were most
extensively fitted with steam machinery, independently
of which many thousand planks of deals. and other
valuable wold were stored in the place. Before an

engine had time to arrive, the flames shot forth with
the g'eatest fury from every opening in the premises,
and illuminated the whole of the eastern portion of the
metropolis. The engines of the London Brigade and
West of Euglaud, together- with those of the parish,
were as soon as possible in attendance, and a bountiful
supply of water having been procured, the firemen went
to work in a most praiseworthy manner; but they were
unable to get the flames subdued until the premises and-
all they contained were destroyed. Unfortunately, the
sufferer was uninsured. The origin of the fire could
not be ascertained Another fire took place in the premi-
ses belonging to Mr. Whinney, a cabinet-maker, situate in
Sackville-3rreet, Kingsland ; the workshops and their con-
tents were consumed. The loss will fall on the Globe and
London and Liverpool fire ofliceF. .
THZ FIRST VOYAGE or THE SHANNON.—The Shannon,
51, screw frigate, Captain Pee), made her passage to the
Cape in fifty-two days under sail, having experienced fine
weather all the way. She made 302 miles the last twenty-
four hours ; force of wind 8, and north ; and sailed fifteen
kno's without pressing her, wind abeam. Two fatal acci-
dents occurred on board during the passage—Mr. Coalier,„
1 masters' assistant, fell from aloft, struck the fore ,-:h[;Aela...
and fell dead into the water; and the ottQ.:,, 4-
I Brown, a boy of the first clan, who fell froe-,OW4'
i and was killed. Bat for the adinira'llo ..
by Cliffora's plan of lowering h 04.... -
was fitted, the bo3y of the. ua.lo-.
2 1105 have been recovc;',,, rap
' fell overboard, h.ye •
1 vessel was goiA9
sail, notAit'i•
lowers 4
lei,.:

inboard,
racility afforded
eitth which the frigate
..anate young officer could
,r the life of another boy, who
neen saved. On both occasions the
at from eleven to twelve knots under all
..tending which the boat was manned and
in little more than a minute. The boats were
ty feet cutters, the largest hung from mac-of-war's
davits, and carrying from snrenteea to twenty men
each, and weighing with gear complete, from two to
three tons.