Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/335

 $6* THE HISTORY 1 ' : fcoflk K . » • for fevera! yards betwixt two courfes of gravel, one a yard iii Rcight above and the other about a foot In depth* below, fpre*l* fn£ about two niches in thicknerfc at the nctrthiifn 'etttl, wiieri the pit was found, and reguhrrfy n&rrbW-ing from it afcrofs'fhe! face of the road. Thfs hadeividentlyiiWrfore;^ upon the road by the Romans from tHfe materials 6f the pit uporf dhe fide of it, as they caft up theneigfttiouHng ground to form the bafis of the road. And this n'atti realty ^^d'ifp^fed itfejf,aSit ffew frbiff ifhe fhovel, in thd thtckeA c6iirfe' imMe&idttij und& tHef hand* and* in thethinrieft layer at thfe^ar^eft-extteiilityfrotn it. ;f have collected cinders .myfelf frclm the* Team, mikeff ! witlifbrner weighty metallic matter that fhewed the coal-fire to have be- longed' to Ibme forge in the Caftle-field." ; And r T have myfelf picked out feveral large fragments bfrbfck &onV the gVaVel Mike- diately under the feam, which* mirf^lfa^^to it rbtrrfitfrom ^ neighbouring<MedIock and laid upon tfhdMV)"f ^r&d'bdfore if." And the Romans and the Saxons appear actually and equally ufing coal in the provinces ofBritairf. 1 " Within the Weft-Riding itoanv beds of coal-clnddi-s heaped tfip irf thi L acHaceiit fields, 'foriib* years ago was found a quantity of R6hiaH cokfe v^ry careftrlljr repofited in one of them u . And as early is tlfcyear 852 a grahf was? madte of fome lands 'by the abbey of Peterborough, tinder the fefervation of certain boons' and jitfytoiend hi ji khidtto the mo r ' naftcry, : tfrife night's entertainment, thirty ;ffiiflmg^,. ahdon? horfe, ten veflels of Welch ale, J fix Hundred' Ibavfefc,' Wd' dxerf ready-killed, and two calks of rortxmoii die, lixty cait-tdads of wood, and twelve of £p££an foftil oV £it coai M : :; ' The'exten- five' beds of coal therefbfe, l with ivhich the kltigdorn 6f Eng- land, in general and the ^fbciii&s' bf Manchdfter lh particular fcre fo* happily ftored,/ muft have been firft noticed by the Ikilt and firft opened by the labour of the Britons, and fbme time before the arrival of the Romans among us. And the nearer quarries in the concfirring ' confines of Bradford Newton 'and Manchefter muft' naturallv have firft attfadted' the notice, arul have firft invited the inquiries, "of the Britons. The* current of the
 * F Yofkfhire rfttd in the nfeigliboiVHt)tik itt ; tton^Wi&leyl antfS