Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/183

 i 5 4 THE HIS TOUTS * .BopbL redly in the line betwixt the old ford and the angle that the road now forms in order to reach the bridge* Here therefore* juft upon the ford of the Merfey, was a Roman ftation, though equally overlooked by antiquarians and forgotten hy tradition. * The ford was at the extremity of fcrae flat ipaftur*v and led dire&ly into a village which from it k denominated Latchford, It was formed by a fhoal of gravel upon a bed of mal-le, was about thirty yards in width, and had frfcquefttly in a dry funt- mer not more than twa feet of water upon* it;' And the road of accefs to it was by the lane atth&gngle ^6 Churdh-/VrceC>. atirtft the level fields which arc called the Broad-howley or Low-L grounds, and along the margin of the river; Juft at this ford the wildly varying hand of natnre had planted one of the moft remarkable fites for a fbrtfefs that .imagination' clan conceive! Immediately below the prefent dam of the river, thd current proceeding haftily to the fouth-weft was fuddenly diverted to th$ eaft, but, foon afterwards turning to the fouth, was. fooa com* pelled to flow directly over the old ford to the we£ ; thus coo* eluding the beautiful curve within < a few. yards, from! its coin* mencement. And within the compafe of this. 'ciihfe, I apjnehendv muft have been the ftatkni of the Bortians. ; This its jricinily' to the river, this its pqfition upon the ford* this the remarkable defenfibility of its fite, all concur to evince. - And this the nature of the ground contiguous fufficiently demonftratea of itfelf, as the curve is abiblutely the <toly< defenfihte groiind that id tit* all in the neighbourhood of the river tnA the ford. Upon a ftream whofe largenefs has made it frequently thi* boundary of kingdoms, and. whofe rapidity and deepnef* muft ever have made it formidable to paffing armies, thi* ford*, the only certain paflage over the river from, the month of its chatmei to the fhaliow at ThelwaH, muft neceflarily haw been a jftft of canfiderable importance in war; And upon? a bank' which fwsk the lownefs of its level (tirface eould afford 00 convenient poiition at all for a fbrtrefs, fuch a fite, marked out by the plaitxeft cha> ra&ers for the area of a fbrtrefs. and place* direflrly upon one eoA of the fond* xnuflt as necel&rily have, beeu of equal importance 4 m