Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/252

 qhip. VII. O F • M A N C H E S T:E R. 221 did the puny Tib receive from the Siftuntians the' fame appella- tion as the mighty Tay*. And thus did a fhort mountain- tor- rent participate the denomination of the long and majeftk Thames, i. > ' ! . • Thefe aJL obtained general anH undiftinguifhing names. But others received names particular and appropriate. The little Current which riies in the townfhip of Gorton, crofles the road to Stockport}; and pafles along the Mctfs^fide, which often fwtells in .a momfc6tir.aAd afiinihte;a ! momentary fiercenefsj tfurlowing a deeper channel for itieif, and battening! i» grdateftftite torthtf neighbouring I r we 11, was denominated Oor-aun, Corne* or Little Stream. And the feme descriptive appellation, was originally given to the rivulet that waiters the anient Coriniunr, Durocorn- ovium,orCirencefter, as itisAill continued in theprefent half-foft- ened denomination of the Ciren «* Chntfii 4 : Such al'fo Was thfe briik ftream that Springs at the fbfct of an hill in the chapelry of Shaw, pufhes its^ hafty current by Ryton Ghatherton ancf Blakeley* and formerly fallied into the Irwell at Hunt (bank, But retarded by the variety of mills upon its current, -and almoft ftagnated by the multiplicity of dams within its channel, near the conclufion of its courfe it now ffcarcely covers the level of its deep bed r and only murmurs round the ftepping-.ftoneaf that fometimes flretch acrofs its channel. Its former briflcnefs however is, plainly evinced by its prefent utility, by the force which it, contQwnicatcs to fo many mills at To little a diftance from. each .other. And from the natural livelinefs of its cur- rent it acquired the figurative appellation of Iwrck, Irke, or Roe- buck ; as fome rivers, in Wales have received their. denomina- tion from the leaping' goat, the rooting hog or the milklefs ewe,^ and others in Wales and one in Shropftiire, like this, from the fwiftly-footed roe s ; : ' . But fome of our rivers muft have" certainly received their de- nominations before or during the exiftcnce of the Britifl* fortrefs, and long previoufly to the conftru&ior* of the Roman-Britiflv town. The large and important current of the Merfey, which* ranges, along the confines ofi the pari/h>for.many miles together,; mud:
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