transverse iron rod for perusal on the spot. Works by Jewell and Ussher; Calvin and Baxter; Burroughs and Foxe; Gouge and Burgess; John White, of Eccles; Isaac Ambrose, of Garstang; Robert Bolton, of Blackburn; and many others,

are embraced in the fifty-two volumes. The old dark oaken case is surmounted by the carved inscription—“The gift of Humphrey Chetham, Esquire, 1655."1 North of Turton,

1 At Gorton there is a similar case with fifty-six volumes. Like gifts to the parish churches of Manchester, Bolton, and Walmsley have not been preserved. (W. E. A. Axon, East Lancs. Review,' Nov. 1890.)

and a short distance to the west of Holcombe Hill, on the western verge of the ancient forest, is Edgeworth. The Children's Homes, founded there by the late Mr Barlow, accomplish, by well-regulated industries and Christian munificence, much beneficent work for hundreds of orphan and other destitute children, and have made a portion of the bleak upland literally “rejoice and blossom as the rose." The little ones are benignly mother'd in these admirable homes. Farther over a little is Entwistle Moor, where neolithic remains were found in 1886.1

3

Along the Holcombe range, northwards, rises Harcles Hill (1216 feet), no doubt the " Arkilles" that appears in the word "Arkilleshow," nearly seven hundred years ago; and a little beyond stood the Pilgrim's Cross referred to, we apprehend, in the word “Pilgrimscrosschahe" of the same remote period. The "chahe," or schaw, has long since disappeared, and the shaft of the cross has also gone, but the massive stone socket remains on the moor. Not far off is the rifle-range of the Ramsbottom Volunteers. And close at hand is Bull Hill (1371 feet), the highest point in the Holcombe range, where neolithic remains have been found. At a lonely spot away at the northern end

1 By Mr T. Wilkinson: 'East Lancs. Review,' June 1890.

Just under the crest of Harcles Hill the 88th Connaught Rangers were under canvas for some time after service in India, and preparatory to embarking for the Crimea. It is said that only eight of the brave fellows returned. One came back to Ramsbottom-Edward Lacy.

of the moor, on its eastern slope, near where the old road dips down into Stake Lane, is "Ellen Strange "-no doubt a corruption of Ellen's Cairn. Here a heap of stones has marked the spot where Ellen, at some remote period, met an untimely end. The ancient custom was for passers-by to cast a stone on the pile, now mostly vanished; but aged natives have been known, in recent times, on passing, to pay the simple memorial tribute. A few yards down Stake Lane is Robin Hood's Well, with an ancient well-hewn coping-stone over it of ample dimensions. Down this lane, in more barbarous times, bulls were staked for baiting; and near Stake Lane Bar, where four roads meet, a gibbet stood, where wretched criminals were hung in chains. To the north of the Holcombe range, beyond Alden Clough, towers the truncated conical hill called Musbury Tor1 (1115 feet). It was the "Laund," or specially preserved hunting-ground, to furnish the table of kings and nobles in ancient royal forest days. Its boundaries marched with

Heywood, it is said, was the Justice of the Peace who arrested the notorious Guy Fawkes.

On the eastern side of the Irwell, and opposite the northern end of the Holcombe range, as seen from about Ramsbottom or Shuttleworth, the bluff hill end called Windy Arbour protrudes-concealing Horncliffe ridge, long noted for its