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

SECtION OF ANTIQUITIES.

Dr. GUEST, of C.Aius College. Cambridge, presided.
An interesting paper "on the changes in the physical
features of North Cheshire and South Lancashire, with

reference to the early occupation of the country," was read
by M. J. A. Picton, of Liverpool. The paper was as

follows :

In tracing back the history of any locality, it will be
invariably foand, that the physical conformation of the
country has exercised a most important influence on its
destiny and progress. The configuration of the mountains,
the direct'on of the valleys, the course of the rivers, the

easiness or difficulty of access and intercourse, the nature
of the sail and climate, must have influenced the original
settlers in every district, and have given the first impulse

to a long chain of circumstances continued to the present
day. Some of these physical influences are of a permanent
character, the operation of which is uniform from age to

age. The geological forces which have elevated the

..,
mountain ranges, and laid bare the wide alluvial plains,
embrace within their scope, periods far too vast far the

history of man. The limits which these grand features
impose on the powers of the human race, confer the yams
special character on the inhabitants of particular districts
in every period of history. The population of the moun-
tain tracts in North Wales, and the Highlands of Scotland,
must hive subsisted before the time of the Romans, much
in the same manner as they do at present. The

discovery of particular minerals, coal, copper .or

iron, introducing new branches of industry also,
impart a permanent character to particular
I)calities. There is, however, much in the physical
confirmation of every country which is slowly and silently,
bat continually undergoing changa, and imperceptibly
affecting the condition and destinies of the people inhabit-

ing it. Some of these changes are independent of human
influence. The Valley of the Nile, one of the earliest
seats of civilisation, and the abode of one of the mightiest
nations of antiquity, is year by year stealthily encroached

upon by the sandy desert : contracted in its dimensions,
diminished in its fertility, and is threatencld by ultimate

absorption and abandonment. The country of Palestine,
once flowing with.milk and honey, the glory of all lands,
the seat of the commerce of Tyre and Sion, and of the
Phoenician manufacturbs- and enterprise, has by sinister
influences independent of human means, been reduced
to comparative sterility awl unproductiveness. Others
of the physical changes are owing in whole or in part to
hnman effort or neglect. The Oampagaa of Rime, once a

smiling landscape teeming with an industrious and
happy population, is now, owing to sheer indolence and
the neglect of common precaution, little better than a pes-
tilential marsh, tainting the air, and destroying human

life by' its poisonous exhalations. On the other
hand, the vast plains of Holland and Flanders,
torn from the sea by human industry, are main-
t&ned in fertility and richness by the constant appli-
cation of labour and skill. Our present inquiry
relates to the physical conformation of North Cheshire
and South Lancashire—the district extending for some
distance on both sides of the Mersey—the changes which
have taken place therein, and the influence thereby
exercised on the early settlement and progress of the
district. Geologically speaking, the whole of the tract
under consideration belongs to the new red sandstone
series—the coal fields of St. Helen's and Whiston on the
north, and of Neston on the south, rising to within a
workable depth from the surface. The surface is more or
leis undulating—the eminences in no case rising more than
300 feet above the sea level. In the upland parts the
sandstone rock comes to the surface; in the depressed and
level portions the surface is almost uniformly composed of
a stiff tenacious clay, containing limestone boulders. In
the neighbourhood of the sea this is overlaid by drift sand,
and more inland, in the flat country, it is covered by a
considerable depth of peat, the production of ancient
mosses. Of the aspect and condition of the surface,
before and during the occupation of the Romans, we know
little by direct testimony. The descriptions of the Roman
geographers are meagre in the extreme. From what we
know of the country at a subsequent period, it is not diffi-
cult to arrive at a tolerably correct idea of its primeval
condition. There is little doubt that at this period the

landscape presented an alternation of dense forest and
dreary marsh, with the highest summits such as those at
Roswell, Helsby, and Everton, raising their naked brows
above the wooded slopes. When the Romans penetrated into
this district, in the reign of Claudius, the west midland
portion, including the county of Chester, was occupied by
the Cornavii, a comparatively quiet and peaceable race.
Roads were constructed through the country ; many settle -
ments established, of which Chester was the chief; and we
read of little arising during the Roman dominion to disturb
this district. The north side of the Mersey was in the
possession of the Brig lutes, a -fierce and warlike tribe, who
were contiugly in a state of rebellion, and were not finally
subdued until the reign of Severus. The country between
the Mersey and the Ribble appears to have been left to the
exclusive occupation of the native tribes. There is no
Roman station in the district west of Manchester and
Colne, except an outlying post at Warrington, to protect
the passage of the Mersey. Not a single Roman road
crosses the country, and no Roman remains have been
found in it, so far as lam aware. In fact, the aspect of the
landscape was so forbidding that it cannot be a matter of
surprise that it was altogether neglected by the Romans,
who had always an eye in their conquests to the useful
and productive. In this part of the country very few
ancient British remains exist One of the most interesting
is the circle called the Calderstones, standing at the inter-
section of the townships of Allerton, Woolton, and Waver-
tree, about three miles from Liverpool. When the Saxons
invaded Britain, the country south of the Mersey fell under
the dominion of the Myrcna-ric, or kingdom of Monis,
whilst the north side of the Mersey which preserved its
independence to a later period became part of the
Kingdom of Northumbria. The Mersey seems in all
periods of our history to have presented a more formidable
barrier to union than the mountain chain between
Lancashire and Yorkshire. At no time do the two sides
of the Mersey ever appear to have been united under one
government. Evert to this day there is much more resem-
blance in the t tysique—the speech, and manners, between
the people of Lancashire and Yorkshire, than between the
former and their Cheshire neighbours. The Lancashire
corfirormation of body, mind, and dialect, is more thoroughly
Saxon than those of Cheshire, in which there is a
considerable admixture of the old Celtic blood. The
Saxon settlement swept away almost every vestige of the
ancient polity of the country, and established entirely new
landmarks and boundaries. The mode in which this was
effected is a study of singular interest, which has only of
late years been at all understood, but by the recent inves_
tigations of Lappenberg, Palgrave, and Kemble, the subject