Chapter VIII: The Seventeenth Century (1)

Allusion has been already made to the superstitious side of the character of the Lancashire people; their belief in omens, charms, witchcraft and demoniac possessions lingered long. This is a fitting place to tell the tale of the "Lancashire Witches" and the so-called "demoniac possessions."

The belief that demons or evil spirits took possession of human beings is of very great antiquity, and the popular mind had firmly taken hold of this; whenever a case of this kind occurred, the priest was called in to exorcise the devil, and the Puritan divines were not slow in asserting that if a Roman Catholic could perform a miracle, they at least could turn out an evil spirit, and thus the superstition appears to have been rather fostered than rebuked. One of these demoniac cases[124] took place at an old half-timbered house called Cleworth Hall[125] (in the parish of Leigh), where there lived Nicholas, the eldest son of Edmund Starkie of Huntroyd (near Burnley); he had issue a son John and a daughter Ann, who, with five others, were said to have become "possessed," when John Darrell was called in to exorcise the evil spirit. This Darrell was a graduate of one of the Universities, and was subsequently domestic chaplain to Archbishop Whitgift, and Rector of St. Mary's, Nottingham.

An account of this singular instance of ignorance and credulity was written by Darrell and secretly printed in 1600. The various symptoms described are not incompatible with many diseases now known to the medical profession, and need not be described; to cure the patients, however, a conjurer of the name of Hartley was called in, who for his services was to receive 40s. a year and bed and board; but this did not satisfy him long, and on being refused additional pay, in the shape of a house and the land it stood on, he so affected the possessed ones that (as Darrell puts it) they "sent forth such a strange supernatural and fearful noyse and loud whupping as the like was neuer hard at Cleworth nor in England."

Mr. Starkie was naturally not satisfied with the treatment, and having applied to a Manchester physician in vain, he went to the famous Dr. Dee, then Warden of Manchester, who advised him to consult "some godly preachers" and get them to call a public or private fast day. The eldest son's vagaries were certainly peculiar: he would at times act like a madman or a mad dog, and he and his sisters, we are told (by Darrell), would howl and bark and join in a chorus "like a ring of five bells." The whole affair was doubtless a fraud, but, nevertheless, it shows in a marked degree the dense ignorance even of some of the well-to-do classes at that time: for we find that Mr. Starkie, after his futile appeal to the Manchester physician, Dr. Dee, and others, could only resort to the justices of the peace, who in their wisdom sent Hartley to the Lancaster assizes, where he was in solemn manner tried, condemned and hanged, not for the evident imposition and fraud, but for witchcraft, the strongest evidence against him being that he had on several occasions "drawn magic circles." But perhaps the most curious circumstance about the case is that at his execution the rope broke, whereupon, probably thinking to save his neck, he confessed that he was guilty; the plea, however, failed, and he was quietly hung up a second time. After Hartley's execution, John Darrell and the pastor of Calke, in Derbyshire, were called to Cleworth (in 1596), and they with thirty others spent a day in fasting and prayer, the result being (so we are told) that the whole seven were dispossessed, the devil coming out of their mouths in various forms, as a crow's head, a hedgehog, a toad, etc.

This and other impostures practised by Darrell and his associates led to a prolonged controversy, in which several pamphlets were printed in London, the author of one of them being Samuel Harsnett, who was afterwards Archbishop of York. Not very long after this, King James issued his "Dæmonologie," in which he advocated the putting to death of all witches.

In Pendle Forest, in the parish of Whalley, in a small cottage near Malkin Tower, lived in the beginning of the century a woman known as "Old Demdike," and her daughter; the mother's real name was Elizabeth Southerns, her daughter was Elizabeth Device _alias_ young Demdike. Old Demdike, who was over eighty years of age, was supposed to have made her house into a meeting-place for all the witches in the neighbourhood, and this led to a score of suspected persons (most of them women) being arrested and tried at Lancaster. Eight of these were known as the Witches of Samlesbury, the rest being associated with Pendle Forest. This trial created so much interest in the county that Thomas Potts, the clerk of the court, was ordered by the judges to collect and publish the particulars of the case. From this scarce book[126] may be obtained the full details of this notorious trial; for our present purpose a few particulars must suffice. The wretched old crone, Elizabeth Southerns, died in prison before the trial took place, having first made a confession to the effect that the devil had twenty years before appeared to her, and to him she had sold her soul, and had thus obtained her power; she also described the well-known method of taking away a man's life by means of the insertion of pins into a "picture of clay like unto the shape of the person" upon whom the revenge was sought. Anne Whittle, _alias_ Chattox, before the assizes not only admitted that she was a witch, but gave the names of many persons whom she had "bewitched to death," and several of the others made similar confessions. It seems somewhat strange that these prisoners should so easily be led to condemn themselves, and the reason may be either that they expected by so doing to escape capital punishment, or, what is equally likely, that they, having so long lived by the profession of witchcraft, really did imagine that they had the power they claimed to possess.

The whole trial appears to have partaken far more of the nature of persecution than an attempt to ascertain the truth. The leader of this persecution was Roger Nowell, of Read Hall, who, according to the clerk of the court, was "one of his Majesty's Justices in these parts, a very religious, honest gentleman, painful in the service of his country." Another agent against the Samlesbury prisoners was a priest called Thompson, who tutored the principal witness, Grace Sowerbutts, a girl of fourteen years of age, to accuse three of the prisoners of having bewitched her. To strengthen the evidence for the prosecution, Roger Nowell produced the deposition taken before him at his house, and it appears that he did not scruple to make the sons and daughters condemn their parents, and thus make them instruments for their destruction.

On the indictment against Anne Whittle being read, she pleaded not guilty, whereupon "Mr. Nowell, the best instructed of any man of all these particular poyntes of evidence against her and her fellows," requested that the prisoner's own confession made before him should now be "published against her," and this was forthwith done. Of the character of the evidence given by the various witnesses, the following are samples: Anne Whittle, to spite the wife of one John Moore, "called for her Deuill _Fancie_ and bad him goe bite a browne cow of Moore's by the head and make the cow goe madde; and the Deuill then in the likenesse of a brown dogge went to the said cow and bit her, which cow went madde accordingly and died within six weekes." Alice Chattox "at a buriall at the new church in Pendle did take three scalpes of people which had been buried, and then cast them out of a grave, and took eight teeth out of the said scalpes," which were afterwards used for purposes of witchcraft. They were not only accused of causing the deaths of various people and cattle by charms, but also of being the means of bringing about evil of every description. In the case of Elizabeth Device (the daughter of old Demdike), her own child, nine years of age, was "set upon the table in the presence of the whole court," and there declared that she knew her mother to be a witch, for she had several times seen her spirit in the shape of a brown dog come to her at her house.

Another extraordinary piece of evidence was that of James Device, a son of young Demdyke's, who first put himself out of court as a creditable witness by confessing that he had recently stolen a sheep, and then swore that he had seen a number of witches at his grandmother's house, who first partook of the stolen mutton and then went out of doors, where they "were gotten on horsebacke, like unto foales, some one colour, some of another, and Preston's wife was the last, and when shee got on horsebacke they all presently vanished out of sight."

Amongst the witches was one Alice Nutter, of the Forest of Pendle, whom Potts describes as "a rich woman" with "a great estate and children of good hope, and in the opinion of the world of good temper, free from envy or malice," and he adds, "Whether by the means of the rest of the witches or some unfortunate occasion shee was drawne to fall to this wicked course of life I know not; but hither she is now come to receive her triall both for murder and many other vile and damnable practices." The witnesses against this prisoner were the other accused and members of their families only.

At the conclusion of the trial, Alice Whittle, Elizabeth Device, Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewet, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock, Aliza Device and Isabel Robey were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, which sentence was duly carried out. Margaret Pearson was ordered to stand in the pillory in open market at Clitheroe, Padiham, Whalley and Lancaster, on four market days; the other prisoners were acquitted.

But this did not stamp out the Lancashire witches, for so long as the people continued to believe in their supernatural powers, so long would the supply be equal to the demand. In 1633 another batch of seventeen witches of Pendle were commanded to take their trial at Lancaster assizes, and, singularly enough, one of the convicting justices was the John Starkie who in 1596 was himself the subject of demoniac possession (see p. 114).

The chief witness in this case was a stonemason, who on oath declared that he had seen two greyhounds, with which he tried to hunt a hare; but they refused to run, and on his beating them, they immediately became transformed, one into Dickonson's wife, and the other into a little boy; the former put a kind of bridle on the head of the latter, and he became a white horse, upon which she jumped, and, placing the witness before her, she rode away with him to a place called Hoarstones (in Whalley), which was about a quarter of a mile off, where he found a number of persons coming, all riding on "horses of several colours." After this interesting congregation had feasted in the house, they adjourned to the barn, where he saw six of them kneeling and pulling at six ropes fastened to the roof, "at or with which pulling came flesh smoakeinge, butter in lumps, and milk." Whilst they were thus exercised they "made such foule faces that feared him, so that he was glad to steale out and run home." Margaret Johnson, though not one of the accused, confessed that she had been at a meeting at Hoarstones, where there were present between thirty and forty witches; she also said that "men witches usually have women spirits, and women witches men spirits," and that Good Friday was the "constant day for a yearly meeting of witches." All these prisoners were found guilty by the jury, but the judge delayed the execution of the sentence, and the matter in the meantime coming to the ears of the King, four of the convicted were sent up to London to be examined by the royal physicians and surgeons, and ultimately were brought before the King himself. The result of all this was an acquittal of the lot. It was upon this case of witch-finding that Heywood and Broome founded their play of "The Late Lancashire Witches," London, 1634, and Mother Demdike is one of the characters in Shadwell's "Lancaster Witches," a comedy, London, 1682. Harrison Ainsworth's novel, "The Lancashire Witches," has the same subject. After this, the "profession" of witchcraft appears to have gradually died out, but the demoniac possession was harder to slay, as the exorcising of these spirits was a power highly valued alike by Roman Catholic priest and Puritan divine. At Downham, near Clitheroe, a case was reported, with the usual "godly minister" as voucher[127] again, in 1696, and the Vicar of Walton-on-the Hill furnished an account of another case which had taken place about half a century earlier, and in which the priest at Madame Westby's (of Mowbrick in Kirkham) and the Rector of Croston having failed to effect a cure, the possessed one was sent to Dr. Sylvester, of Liverpool, who physicked the "devil out of him."

Towards the end of the century several other cases are on record where the priest is said to have exorcised the spirit. But the most famous instance of this class of deceptions was what is known as the "Surey demoniac," from its hero having lived at Surey, in the parish of Whalley. The boy who was possessed was one Richard Dugdale, aged nineteen, the son of a gardener, and he apparently had all the symptoms required for the occasion, and acted the part required of him to perfection. Amongst other things he was seen to vomit stones, silver and gold curtain rings; he could make himself "as light as a feather bouster," or as "heavy as a load of corn"; he had ventriloquial powers, and could speak out of the earth, and all these were accompanied with the more violent signs, such as convulsions, contortions, shoutings, and the like. The curious part of this is the ready credence which was given to it. Amongst those who subscribed their names to the account of this youth's performances, and asserted their opinions that the whole was true, and that this was a genuine case of diabolical possession, which was beyond the reach of the medical man, and could only be dealt with by prayer and fasting, were: the minister of Toxteth Chapel, near Liverpool; Samuel Angier, minister of Denton; Richard Frankland, M.A., sometime Vice-President of the Presbyterian College of Durham; Thomas Jolly, ejected minister of Altham; Henry Pendlebury, minister of Holcombe Chapel; Nathaniel Heywood, the ejected Vicar of Ormskirk; and Dr. Robert Whittaker, of Burnley; and besides these over thirty people gave evidence, many of them on oath, as to the truth of the details furnished before Hugh, Lord Willoughby, and Ralph Egerton, Esq., two justices of the peace. The first pamphlet, giving an account of "Satan's Strange and Dreadful Actings in and about the Body of Richard Dugdale," was published in London in 1697, and it called forth replies and counter-replies, the Rev. Thomas Jolly being one of the writers in support of the demoniac; and the Rev. Zachary Taylor, Vicar of Croston, one of those who believed the whole affair a "fanatical imposture."[128] For long years after this the belief in the efficacy of certain "charms," as well as the tales of the fortune-telling gipsies, lingered in the county, and even yet occasionally, on pulling down old barns and farmhouses, there are found hidden away amongst the rafters small boxes containing charms written on paper in a peculiar cipher, mixed up with signs of the planets, etc., the whole purporting to be all-powerful to drive away all evil spirits from the building;[129] these writings are probably not more than 150 years old.

The visit of James I. to Lancashire cannot be passed over, as it was in consequence of this visit that the King issued the famous "Book of Sports," which created such indignation in the minds of some of his subjects. Early in August, 1617, the King, on his return from Carlisle, reached Hornby Castle, the seat of Lord Monteagle, from whence he went to Ashton Hall, the home of Lord Gerard, and after staying there one night he went on to Myerscough Lodge, the seat of Edward Tyldesley, Esq. Here, on August 12, Sir Richard Hoghton, with a retinue of gentlemen, went to meet the King, who arrived in his coach, and having had pointed out to him where the forest began, his Majesty commenced to hunt, and during the day he killed a buck. On the following day the King again hunted in Myerscough Forest, and succeeded in slaying five bucks, after which he made a speech to the gentlemen present on the subject of "pipeing and honest recreation." On the 14th the town of Preston was in a high state of excitement, preparing for the royal visitor, and the good old town was full of strangers, who had come to welcome King James. On the 15th the King arrived at Preston, and proceeded to the cross in the market-place, where the Recorder made a speech and the Corporation presented to his Majesty "a bowle." Perhaps the good Prestonians were animated with a better spirit than that which stirred the Mayor of Chester on a similar occasion, when he exclaimed:

A cupp with gold unto your grace I'll bringe,
In hope to us you'll give a better thinge;
For Ile be sworne itt did not goe near our heart
When from so manie gold angells wee did parte.[130]

The Corporation then feasted the King at the Guildhall, probably at mid-day, as immediately afterwards the royal party repaired to Myerscough, where another stag was killed. The next day James I. stayed at Hoghton, where Sir Richard had invited a great company to meet him. Before dinner, notwithstanding the great heat of the day, they went out hunting, and after dinner (about four p.m.) the King went to look at the alum-mines which his host had recently opened. After an hour thus spent, they returned to the forest, and had varied fortune until evening, when they returned to a late supper. The following day was spent at Hoghton; there was no hunting. The Bishop of Chester preached before the King, and after dinner there was a rushbearing and piping in the middle court. This form of Lancashire wakes has often been described. This was probably a simple rush-cart, with its accompanying morris-dancers, etc., got up to entertain the King. In the evening there was a mask, in which many "noblemen, knights, gentlemen, and courtiers" took part; there were also some speeches and dancing, including "The Huckler," "Tom Bedlo and the Cowp Justice of Peace."[131] On this day a petition of the Lancashire people was presented to the King. In this it was represented that "they were debarred from lawful recreations upon Sunday after evening prayers, and upon holy days, and praying that the restriction imposed in the late reign might be withdrawn."

In May, 1618, King James issued a proclamation, in which he refers to his progress through Lancashire, where he had "found it necessary to rebuke some Puritans and precise people." These people, he thought, were Jewishly inclined, because they affected to call Sunday the Sabbath day. And the proclamation ends by declaring that his pleasure was that in Lancashire, after the end of Divine service, the people were not to be let or hindered or discouraged from any lawful recreation, such as dancing, either men or women, archery, leaping, vaulting, May games, Whitsun ales, morris-dancers, maypoles, or other sports. Those recusants and others who did not attend Divine service were, however, to be debarred from the sports. The latter clause was, no doubt, introduced to please the Bishops and the clergy, who were highly indignant at the proclamation itself. This order led to the issue in 1618 of "The Book of Sports." Charles I. made a somewhat similar order as to the due observance of wakes and fêtes on the anniversary days of the dedication of churches. From Hoghton the King went to stay with the Earl of Derby at Lathom House, from thence proceeding to Bewsey Hall, the seat of Thomas Ireland, Esq.

During his visit he knighted William Massy, Robert Bindloes, Gilbert Clifton, John Talbot, Gilbert Ireland, and Edward Olbaldeston. Frederick, the son-in-law of James, was crowned King of Bohemia in October, 1619, but after a very brief tenure he was dethroned in 1620, and after the battle of Prague fled to Holland. The Puritan party in this county had strong sympathy with the ejected "winter-king" as he was styled, and James seized the opportunity to urge Parliament to grant him two subsidies, one involving an assessment of 4s. in the pound on land, and 2s. 8d. on goods and chattels; and when the new Parliament met in 1624 a grant of £300,000 was made to recover the palatinate lost by Frederick. For the war with the Roman Catholic Powers which followed the Puritans were responsible.

Half the army raised for this service perished from sickness, and altogether the result was disastrous; and just when the feeling of discontent was beginning to manifest itself, the King died.

Charles I. was not slow to follow in the steps of his father in his manner of rule: subsidy followed subsidy, sometimes with the authority of Parliament, and sometimes without. And thus came about the contest between the King and the Commons, which led to the attempt to rule England without a Parliament. In 1635 the attempt was made to levy the tax known as Ship-money, for the equipment of a naval force. Humphrey Chetham was at that time High Sheriff of Lancashire, and to him was sent the writ for the collection within the county; on the back of this writ he wrote: "If you shall tax & assesse men according [to] their estate, then Liverpool, being poore and now goes as it were a beginge, must pay very little: letters patent are now forth for the same towne."[132] The whole county was assessed at £475, of which Liverpool had to find £15. In the same tax for 1636, Lancashire was put down to find one ship of 400 tons burden, 160 men, and £1,000; towards this, Preston was to raise £40, Lancaster £30, Liverpool £25, Wigan £50, Clitheroe and Newton £7 10s. each. Comparing these figures with some of those for the Yorkshire towns, it would appear that in this county there was no borough as rich as either Hull, which paid £140, or Leeds, which was called on for £200. In this same year (1636) Lancashire was ordered to find 420 foot soldiers and 50 dragoons.

After eleven years' interval a Parliament was again summoned to meet, on April 13, 1640, which only sat for three weeks; but on November 3 following the Long Parliament was convened, when Lancashire was represented for the county by Ralph Ashton (Parliamentarian) and Roger Kirby (Royalist); Lancaster, John Harrison and Thomas Fanshaw (both Royalists); Preston, Richard Shuttleworth and Thomas Standish (both Parliamentarians); Newton, Peter Leigh and Sir Roger Palmer (Royalists); Wigan, Orlando Bridgeman (Royalist) and Alexander Rigby (Parliamentarian); Clitheroe, Ralph Ashton and Richard Shuttleworth (both Parliamentarians); Liverpool, John Moore (Parliamentarian) and Sir Richard Wynn, Bart. (Royalist). If its members of Parliament represented the county, parties here must have been equally divided, as there were seven Parliamentarians and seven Royalists.

Amongst the first enactments of this Parliament which concerned this county was the abolition of the Duchy Court of Star Chamber and the repeal of the forest laws. The knights, squires, merchants, gentlemen and freeholders of Lancashire at this time presented a petition to Parliament representing that undue influence had been brought to bear at the election of knights of the shire, and they prayed that those who had been instrumental in bringing on arbitrary government should be dismissed from office. The next step was taken in 1641, when Parliament resolved to take command of the militia, and with this in view Lord Strange was removed from his office of Lord-Lieutenant of the county and Lord Wharton put in his place; at the same time a considerable number of justices of the peace known not to be well affected to the Parliament were struck off the commission and others appointed in their stead; and Mr. Ashton, Mr. Shuttleworth, Mr. Rigby and Mr. Moore, members of Parliament (all Parliamentarians), were despatched to Lancashire to see that the ordinance of the militia was put into force. We now find ourselves on the eve of those domestic struggles which ever since have been known as the Civil Wars, and in which Lancashire was destined to play no small part. At this time most of the old castles and fortresses had long ago been allowed to fall into disuse and ruin, but there still remained tenable the castles at Lancaster, Clitheroe, Greenhaugh and Liverpool, and the smaller fortified houses of Thurland, Hoghton, Latham and Greenhaugh, all of which were utilized to the utmost. In 1641 the revolt in Ireland was causing considerable anxiety in the minds of the Lancashire people, insomuch that they entreated Parliament to appoint a fleet of small ships to guard their coast, to prevent the Papists giving intelligence to the rebels, and to act as a defence for the "petitioners and other Protestants who inhabited the maritime parts opposite to Ireland."

The breach between the King and his Parliament gradually became widened, and early in 1642 Charles removed his Court to York, where he received a petition from Lancashire signed by 64 knights, 55 divines, 740 gentlemen, and about 7,000 freeholders, in which they express their satisfaction that the measures taken by the King had "weakened the hopes of the sacrilegious devourers of the churches patrimonie, and provided against all Popish impieties and idolatries and the growing danger of Anabaptists, Brownists, and other novellists," and then proceed to say that there is one thing which "sads our hearts," which is "the distance and misunderstanding between Your Majesty and Your Parliament."

To check the strong party of Royalists in the county, orders were issued to levy fines on the estates of the so-called "malignants," and other means adopted to, if possible, render them powerless when the struggle actually began. These precautions, however, were taken too late to be really effective.

On January 20, 1642, the King made a last attempt to come to terms with the House of Commons, and failing to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, Parliament ceased to seek for the royal assent to their Bills, and by an "ordinance" of their own took the entire control of the militia. In the meantime the King went to Yorkshire, but was refused admission to Hull. Both parties were now making active preparation for an appeal to arms, and when the King on June 2 indignantly refused to hand over all his powers to Parliament and become a King in name only, the negotiations between the two came to an end, and practically the Civil War began. On August 22, 1642, Charles reared his standard on the walls of Nottingham Castle, and his herald made the proclamation of war. Parliament now appealed to the King to lower his standard, but it was of no avail, and on September 9 the Commons published a declaration setting forth their view of the causes of the war.

The great civil strife which followed was not one war, but many wars. In Lancashire these were for the most part carried on by officers and troops raised in the various districts, assisted sometimes by the local militia; sometimes they besieged a town, and at other times only attacked a private house, but in every case the issue was one and the same--the King or the Parliament. Some time before actual war was declared at Nottingham and London, the troubles had begun in Lancashire.

The first outburst appears to have taken place at Preston, on June 20, 1642, when Sir John Girlington, the High Sheriff of the county, had convened a meeting at which to read the King's declarations and his answers to the Lancashire petition. The number of people attending this meeting was so great that it was adjourned to Preston Moor (just outside the town), and amongst those present were Lord Strange, Lord Molineux, Sir George Middleton, and Sir Edward Fitton. The meeting broke up in confusion; the High Sheriff and some 400 others rode up and down the moor crying, "For the King, for the King!" whilst the greater number rallied round the opposition party, and remained to pray for the uniting of King and Parliament.

From a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Commons, dated June 27, 1642, and signed by Ralph Ashton, John Moore, and Alexander Rigby, we learn that the High Sheriff had surprised the garrison at Preston and carried away all the powder in the magazine there, and that Lord Strange had taken away thirty barrels of powder and a great quantity of matches from Liverpool, and had also, with many armed forces, "repaired to a towne called Bury, about 20 miles distant from his own house."[133] These proceedings alarmed the people of Manchester, who at once took up arms, and many volunteers from the surrounding districts were mustered and trained. These volunteers, together with the militia, numbered some 7,000 men, who were said to be well furnished with muskets and pikes, and when Alexander Rigby witnessed these training, they were dismissed with shouts of "For the King and Parliament!"

Whilst these warlike preparations were proceeding, it appears incredible that Lord Strange, with Thomas Tyldesley, of Myerscough, and a small retinue, should have paid a visit to Manchester; yet such was the case, the ostensible reason of this being to attend a banquet (on July 15)[134] in the house of Mr. Alexander Green, who lived in that town.

During the dinner, Captains John Holcroft and Thomas Birch, who were active Parliamentarians, entered the town with an armed force, and beat to arms. Lord Strange, with his small band of followers, turned out, and a riot ensued, in which a man called Richard Perceval, a weaver of Levenshulme, was killed. This is said to have been the first blood shed in Lancashire in these wars, but strictly speaking the great struggle had not yet commenced. After this, the people barricaded the chief approaches to the town with gates and earthworks, holding themselves ready to withstand an invading force. At the same time Lord Strange was busy mustering men in the royal cause on the moors near Bury, Ormskirk and Preston, in consequence of which he was deprived of his Lord-Lieutenancy of Chester and North Wales, and subsequently denounced as a rebel guilty of high treason. Amongst the King's supporters, none were more zealous than the members of those old Lancashire families who had, on account of their adherence to the Roman Catholic religion, been deprived of the right to bear arms.

Manchester, although it may have had within its boundaries many stanch Royalists, was undoubtedly at this time an important stronghold of the rebels, and it was the first place in Lancashire which Lord Strange received instructions from the King to recover.

Manchester was ready for the attack, the town having been fortified in a rough-and-ready way.[135] On the night of Saturday, September 24, 1642, Lord Strange, accompanied by Lord Rivers, Sir Gilbert Gerrard, Lord Molyneux, Sir John Girlington, and others, with some 4,000 foot, 200 dragoons, and 100 light horse, marched to Manchester; they had also with them six or seven cannon, which were placed so as to rake the centre of Deansgate and on the lower end of the old Salford Bridge. The main body of the Royalists were stationed on the south side of the river, in the grounds of Sir Edward Mosley. On the Sunday, in the middle of sermon, people were called out of church to witness several "hot skirmishes," which continued to break out during all that day and on the Monday, when the siege really commenced, and continued during the whole week, and for all that time (if we must credit the chronicler) the artillery kept up a continual fire upon the town, yet did "little or no harm," save "killing one which stood gazing on the top of a stile." During this siege, Lord Strange's father died, and he then became Lord Derby. The command of the forces inside Manchester was given to Captain Bradshaw and Captain Radcliffe, who were assisted by Lieutenant-Colonel Rosworm; the inhabitants generally are said to have helped the soldiers, whilst some of the gentlemen were engaged night and day in making bullets. We are also told that the soldiers each day had prayers and singing of psalms at the street ends.

During the siege several attempts were made to force an entrance into the town; the troops in Salford made a vigorous attack on the old bridge, but were repulsed by Lieutenant-Colonel Rosworm, who maintained the post with thirty musketeers; another attack was directed against the head of Market Street Lane, but with no success. On the evening of the 27th Lord Strange sent a message to the townspeople, in which he offered to retire his troops if Manchester would give up its arms, and allow his force to march through the town, and give him £1,000 in money. To this a reply was sent to the effect that they were not conscious of any act committed by them which should "in the least kind divest" them of the "Royal protection, nor of any disobedience of his Majestie's lawfull commands;" they expressed their wonder that Lord Strange should come to them in this hostile manner to take away their arms; and, being by no means assured of the safety of their persons and goods if they delivered up their arms, they were resolved to retain them in their own custody. This decided refusal to yield resulted in a lessened demand, Lord Strange declaring that he would be satisfied if they gave up a part of their arms; this also was refused, and the siege was renewed.

On the last day of September the Earl of Derby, having received orders to join the King's army at Shewsbury, raised the siege, and after an exchange of prisoners withdrew his troops. It is impossible to ascertain with any degree of certainty how many were slain during this siege, but a Parliamentary authority gives the numbers as being on his side only five or six, whilst the Royalists lost several officers and 200 common soldiers. Certainly one of the slain was Thomas Standish, of Duxbury, a captain of the trained band of Leyland; he was shot by a bullet fired from the church steeple.

This, the first victory on the Parliamentary side, brought forth a declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, in commendation of the inhabitants of the town of Manchester for their valiant resisting of the Earl of Derby, and at the same time assuring them that payment should be made for all disbursements or losses.

The Commons also ordered that a public thanksgiving to God for the deliverance of Manchester should be observed in all the churches and chapels in Lancashire. The fortifications were now strengthened, and Manchester became the recognised headquarters of the Parliamentary army in this county, and the Earl of Derby, on his return from Warwickshire, took up his position at Warrington, and at the same time garrisoned Wigan. The Manchester people now raised several troops in their immediate neighbourhood, which were occasionally employed to disarm any place which it was thought might be used against them; thus the town of Bury was disarmed, although it belonged to the Earl; and whilst accomplishing this feat, they took the surplice from the church there and put it on the back of one of the soldiers, and "caused him to rid in the cart the arms were caried in, to be matter of sport and laughter to the behoulders." Probably out of a spirit of revenge, the Manchester people rased to the foundations the house of Sir Edward Mosley, called the Lodge, where the Earl of Derby was quartered during the siege. At the college they established a manufactory of gunpowder.

In December the Earl of Derby called a meeting of some of the leaders on his side, and they resolved to raise £8,700, to be assessed on the several hundreds of the county, and appointed collectors and treasurers for the same, and they also fixed the pay to be given to the forces raised; the rates were: captains of foot, 10s. a day; lieutenants, 4s.; "ancients" (_i.e._ standard-bearers), 3s. Horse soldiers received rather higher pay, varying from a captain's 15s. a day to a trooper's 2s. 6d. per diem, while sergeants were paid 1s. 6d., drummers 1s. 3d., corporals 1s., and common soldiers 9d.

During the rest of the winter, except here and there a skirmish, nothing of any great importance took place in Lancashire between the two parties, but in almost all the towns active preparations were made and garrisons stationed. Preston, Blackburn, Wigan, Bolton, and other boroughs, all assumed a warlike aspect.

Some of the miniature wars which took place have a comic aspect, as when Sir Gilbert Hoghton, on December 24, marched a body of men all the way to within a quarter of a mile of Blackburn in order to disarm that town, where they halted, when one of his men, having a small piece of ordnance, "plaied" most of the night; but the only damage he did was to knock the bottom out of a frying-pan. The recorder of this goes on to say, "they were afraid of coming near one another," and upon Christmas night Sir Gilbert withdrew his forces, and "his souldiers and clubmen were glad of it, that they might eate their Christmas pyes at home."[136]

Early in this month (December) there was a slight engagement at Chowbent, near Leigh, of which an account was sent (dated December 9, 1642) to a "Rev. Divine in London" by one of the combatants, from which it appears that as the people were going to church on the previous Sunday a post rode through the country informing them that the Earl of Derby's troops were coming. Whereupon "the countrey presently rose, and before one of the clocke" they had mustered about 3,000 horse and foot, who set out to meet the enemy, "encountering them" at Chowbent, and driving them back to Leigh, "killing some and wounding many." During the attack some of the "youths, farmers' sons," allowed their zeal to outrun their discretion, having "had little experience of the like times before this." They, being mounted, overrode their foot soldiers; and when the Earl's forces, having retreated to Lowton Moor, discovered that the enemy's infantry was left a long way behind, they turned about and began another assault, but were ultimately obliged to fly, leaving many killed and a couple of hundred taken prisoners. The scribe then goes on to say, if the attack should be repeated, the people in the district would be found to be on their guard, as the "naylers of Chowbent, instead of making nayles," had been busy making bills and battle-axes, and that they were determined to take as prisoners all the "greatest papists and most dangerous malignants, and carry them to Manchester to keepe house with Sir Cecil Trafford, that arch-papist who is there a prisoner. For now the men of Blackburn, Paduam [Padiham], Burnely and Colne, with those sturdy churles in the two forests of Pendle and Rossendale, have raised their spirits and have resolved to fight it out rather than their beef and fatt bacon shall be taken from them."

In the beginning of 1643 Sir Thomas Fairfax left Yorkshire, and for a time made Manchester his headquarters, and from this time forward the war in the county assumed a more serious aspect. Early in February Sir John Seaton, the Major-General of the Parliamentary troops, set out from Manchester, having under his command about 1,000 "firemen, horse and foot," and 600 "bill men, halberdiers and club men." The route taken for this march was by Bolton and Blackburn, from both of which towns additional troops were obtained. Preston had all along been held by the friends of the King--indeed, it had now become the headquarters of the Royalists, and the inhabitants had spared neither time nor money to render it, as they thought, safe and secure; around it they had thrown up an outwork of earth, within which was a wall of brick. As usual, we find considerable difference in the accounts of this attack on Preston. The Vicar of Dean, who was "an eye-witness" of the fight, writing to a divine in London, says that the assault was commenced by Sir John Seaton a little before sunrise; that the three companies from Manchester especially distinguished themselves, and that in an hour's time Preston was taken. The account ordered to be printed by the Commons in Parliament gives two hours as the time taken to effect an entrance, and states that the Major-General (Sir John Seaton) "behaved himself galantly at the end of Church Street, where the entry was made," there beating down the sentries and the soldiers stationed in the steeple of the church. Another authority[137] gives a more graphic picture: The Parliamentary force, he says, somewhat late in the evening of February 7, having passed the Ribble Bridge, drew up their main body in the fields, whilst some of their companies, led by some who knew the town well, were placed near the house of correction, so as to be ready to force an entrance through the Friargate Bars, whereas the forces generally were to assault the East Bars. The defending party fought well and bravely, but after the entrance was gained the invaders were allowed to march through the streets without resistance, yet as they passed along the soldiers with their muskets and pikes broke all the glass windows within reach.

The Parliamentary loss appears to have been slight, but of the Royalists over 200 were slain. Amongst the first to fall were the gallant Mayor, Adam Morte, and his son; the former was more than once heard to declare that before he would surrender the town he would set fire to it and begin with his own house.

Sir Gilbert Hoghton escaped and made his way to Wigan, but Lady Hoghton, Lady Girlington and Mr. Townley were all taken prisoners, and amongst the spoils taken were "three pieces of ordnance, a murdering piece, a great quantity of musquiets, and many horses, with two or three colours."

Most of the conquering forces remained in Preston and began to strengthen its fortifications, and erected a strong sconce upon the marsh outside Preston, so as to command the fords over the Ribble. To keep alive the enthusiasm of the soldiers, as well as to disarm a dangerous foe, an attack on Hoghton Tower was decided on, and with this object three companies were despatched from Preston on February 14. This fine specimen of a baronial residence was well situated and fortified; it was from its tower that Sir Gilbert Hoghton was wont to light his beacon to call musters of the friends of the King; on its walls were mounted "three great pieces of ordnance."

Sir Gilbert, as we have already seen, having escaped from Preston and gone to Wigan, and his wife being a prisoner, it is not to be wondered at that the little garrison at the Tower should be disheartened, and after a short parley give up the place.

The soldiers at once took possession, and whilst they were searching for arms and powder the place was blown up, and Captain Starkey and some threescore of his men were killed. This explosion was at the time put down as being caused by an act of treachery on the part of Sir Gilbert's soldiers, but subsequently it appears to have been admitted that it was due to the carelessness of the victorious forces. The author of "Lancashire's Valley of Achor" distinctly states that it was "fired by their neglected matches, or by that great souldier's idoll, tobacco;" and he further adds that they were "burdened with the weight of their swearing, drunkennesse, plundering and wilfull waste at Preston."

Within a few days of the taking of Hoghton Tower, troops were sent to reconnoitre Lancaster, where, finding the inhabitants either unprepared to resist or more or less in sympathy with them, they at once attacked the castle and took it, and thereupon released all the prisoners they found there, whether they were in gaol for felony or debt. At the castle were Roger Kirby, M.P. for the county, and Sir John Girlington, who appears to have escaped on finding that the castle could hold out no longer.

The town of Bolton had been left with only some 500 men, and taking advantage of this, on February 16 the Earl of Derby and the Major-General marched from Wigan towards it with about 1,000 horse and foot and got within a mile of the place without being discovered by the garrison, which, it seems, was "at prayer in the church." And now the Earl's forces made a fatal mistake: instead of making straight for the town, they went round by Great Lever, and in doing so their presence was discovered, and the soldiers were at their posts ready to receive the besiegers. The first assault took place at Bradshaw Gate, where three forts had been erected. The contest was a severe one. The fortification consisted of certain outworks and a mud wall, 2 yards thick, on the inner side of which was an arrangement of chains, which has not been clearly defined. One account says that the invaders, with iron bullets of five or six pounds weight, shot through the mud walls; whilst another faithful narrator scornfully reports that "they played children's play, for they mortally hit but one lad," and he, common report said, was one on their own side.[138] The same authority adds that "hither their wittie malice brought a new invented mischievous instrument," which consisted of "an head about a quarter of a yard long, a staffe two yards long or more put into that head, twelve iron pikes round about and one in the end to stab with. This fierce weapon (to double their scorn) they called a _Roundhead_." The Royalists, having forced the outworks, got possession of several houses, to some of which they set fire; they were, however, ultimately driven back and retreated to Wigan, taking along with them, it is said, two or three cartloads of dead bodies.[139] When the fight was over, 1,700 men came from Middleton, Oldham, Rochdale and Manchester to the assistance of the besieged town. The officers in command of the garrison at Bolton were Colonel Ashton, Captain Buckley, of Oldham; Captain Scoffield, of Rochdale; Captain Holt, of Bury; and Captain Ashurst, of Radcliffe Bridge.

The rebels had now got into their hands Manchester, Preston, Lancaster, and Bolton, the Royalists having their headquarters at Warrington and Wigan, whilst most of the other towns (including Liverpool) had as yet not been called upon to take any prominent part in the struggle; but it may be assumed that almost invariably the Roman Catholics, the older gentry, and most of the freeholders, were on the King's side. About this time an event took place which caused great excitement in the northern part of the county, and which had some influence on the future course of the war in that portion of the county. On March 4 a large Spanish ship appeared in sight, and being driven by the wind into the waters of the Wyre near Rossall Point, the captain, not knowing where he could land, put out his anchor and fired his cannon as a signal of distress; on a pilot boat being sent out, it was discovered that the ship was laden with ammunition intended for the use of the Parliamentary forces. The ship, which was described as being of "a great burden, such a one as was never landed in Wyre watter in any man's memory," was forthwith seized by the Royalists and brought into the mouth of the Wyre; whereupon the Earl of Derby with a troop of horse came to Rossall, and finding there in or about the ship Colonel George Dodding, of Conishead Priory, and Mr. Townson, of Lancaster, both Parliamentary men, he took them prisoners and ordered the ship to be burnt, which was accordingly done. The Preston commanders, for whose use this ammunition was no doubt destined, in the meantime got to know what was being done, and despatched four companies of foot towards Rossall; they passed the night at Poulton-le-Fylde, and the next day, sending out scouts, they discovered that the Earl and his men were on Layton Hawes, and not liking to meet his horsemen, they marched on to Rossall, where from the opposite side of the river they witnessed the burning of the Spanish ship; this, as she was probably stranded, was not complete, so that most of the guns which she carried (some being of brass) were not destroyed, and this the Parliamentary officers were not slow to take advantage of, and they forthwith sent up boats and carried away the ordnance down the Lune to Lancaster, where they were stowed away in the castle.

Whilst the Earl was in the Fylde district he was instrumental in raising many more troops for the King's forces, and after doing so he decided to attack Lancaster, and if possible recover the guns which by his want of forethought had been taken by the enemy. Accordingly on March 18 the Earl (according to his own account) presented himself with a few forces before the town, and the Mayor having refused to surrender, he (the Earl) "made bold to burn the greatest part of the town, and in it many of their souldiers, who defended it sharply for about two hours, but we beat them into the castle, and I seeing the tower clear from all but smoke, spared the remainder of that town and laid siege unto the castle." This attempt to recover the castle he abandoned; having been informed that Sir John Seaton with a large force was on his way from Preston, he resolved to steal a march on that town, now left almost defenceless. The account of this destruction of Lancaster as given by Major Robinson has a very different aspect; he asserts that there were very few soldiers in the town, except those in the castle, and consequently the firing of the houses was an unnecessary piece of cruelty; in the centre of the town many of the best houses were fired, and in one long street all the houses, barns, with the cattle in their stalls, were entirely burnt.

When the Earl left Lancaster he took with him many prisoners of war, amongst whom was the Mayor of that town. The Earl managed to march to Preston by a different route to the one taken by Colonel Ashton, who commanded the party sent to the relief of Lancaster, and thus on March 22 he reached Fullwood Moor, where he waited until after dark; in the meantime, however, the scouts from Preston had discovered his advance, and had alarmed the garrison. The Friarsgate Bar was strongly guarded, but the nearer the enemy came to it, it is said, the "weaker it waxed, for the townes men were generally disaffected to Parliament."[140] This is probably true, as after, according to one authority, two hours' fight[141] the town was regained. The next day many people from the country around Preston came into the town shouting, "God bless the King and the Earl of Derby!"

The Earl seemed now to be bent on recovering all that had heretofore been lost, and within a week of the taking of Preston (on the 27th) Bolton was again attacked, the Royalist force about two o'clock in the afternoon being drawn up on the moor outside the town, and a message sent to demand a surrender: this was refused, and towards dark the "minister of the town prayed with a company of souldiers, most of them townsmen. The end of prayer was the beginning of the fight."[142] The enemy made several assaults during the night, and at one time got close to the mud wall, but some forces from Bury coming to assist the besieged, the enemy were finally repulsed. There was probably very little loss on either side.

Colonel Ashton only arrived at Lancaster to find the town partially in ruins; he then marched on to the neighbourhood of Whalley. On the road he was followed by the Earl of Derby and his forces, and a slight engagement took place, after which the Royalists took shelter in the abbey, but were afterwards forced to retreat through Langho Green to Ribchester. Colonel Ashton and his men then proceeded to Padiham, where, "having a good minister, some hours were spent in thanksgiving" for their great deliverance.