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killed. He took th' 'ose pipe threaw one o' th' upper windows, an' when he coom back, either th' ladder had been skifted or he slipped. He jerked hissel' reawnd, but he coom deawn reet on t' railing spikes yon.-Och! They carried him in, brave lad, and laid him on t' table

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theer, an' when t' doctor opened his cloas o'er t' breast, t' blood spurted eawt i' two streams agen t' window. But he never moved. T' doctor said he wur dead. It wur Dr Smith. He wur a clever un. Aw look'd mysel', quietly, after t' doctor left, and there wur just two red spots, near th' heart, where t' spikes had gone.

One neet, Tom W Kitty window wur low,

"Marlocks? 1 Yeigh! there wur marlocks. teed a sheep-horn to Kitty Hamer cat tail. an' poo'd deawn; and t' cat, fair mad, tha knows, went in, like leetnin', at t' top, an th' horn fet t' window a raddlin' slap, an' brast in t' panes. Then there wur ructions. The young monkeys abeawt wur hutchin 2 fain, but Kitty suspected Tom, an' went reet away an' towd his mother. But Tom wur before her. Jane feawnd him i' bed. It couldn't be Tom! Nawe! but Tom o' th' time wur wackerin' i' th' neest! 4 An' Nellie Dover roasted t' cat i' th' 'oon.5 But that wur no marlock. It happen wur a mistake. O' maks o' gabble went on, but Nutta foak wur o' meterly thick for o', tha knows. Yeigh! An' they seyn as how Jim B- wur freetint at th' spirits o't' dead sheep. We lowft. Jim hissel would lowf, fro' t' yure o' t' yed to t' toe nails, if he yerd an owd crayter a-tellin' as how he e'er wackered at the ghowsts o't' gawmless 7 sheep! Jim wur al'ays a kind, good-natured lad, never no mak' o' ill in him-no lumber, no mischief, tha knows, but full ov o' maks o' mirth an' marlocks. Many a time he rock'd t' keyther & for me for half-an-hour ov an ev'nin' when eawr M-- wur a babby. Aw used to ax him to sing for me, an' he did. What did he sing? Th' hymns out o' yo'r owd Dundee book-Eh! ay, bless him! And Jim could contrive aboon a bit. He could rock his mother's keyther, an' tred treddles i't' bruk wi' th' other youngsters, at t' same time. How did he do that? He got bits ov bant 10 and teed them together, an' took th' end wi' him to t' bruk, and gev it a poo neaw, an' a poo then, to keep t' keyther gooin'! He's a greyt mon 11 neaw noan so easily freetunt noather-but he's noan preawd, an' he doesn't forget th' owd Nutta foak. Jim would a sliftered some o' t' cleawds o'er th' owd place, if he'd ta'en Nutta Factory an Nutta Ho'. If he'd coom, we'd 'appen have marlocks agen. Marlocks! Yeigh, but Nutta were preawd as

6 Clannish.

1 Frolics, pranks. 2 Fidgety or restlessly delighted. 3 "Tom" survives, after an honourable career as an active member of one of the learned professions. 4 Trembling in the nest-bed. 5 Oven. 7 Witless, silly. 8 Cradle. 9 To paddle on the smoother stones in the bed of the brook like a weaver working the treadles of his loom. - 10 Band, string. 11 The Mayor-twice-elected-of one of our great Lancashire towns.

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weel as pratty, tha knows, an' could howd up it yed wi' o' its marlockin, i' them owd days. Nobry e'er wanted to lev Nutta, but like someheaw, when theyn gone, they dunnot care, or as it's noan so yezzy1 for 'em to coom back agen.'

Thus Nuttall under the Grants was evidently a pleasant and desirable place. Its memories of those times, now many years ago, are interesting and refreshing still. But the appearance of the village is sadly changed. Two of its three factories were burnt down, and have not been rebuilt. The third remains: but, for many years, only a few of the dwelling-houses have been tenanted. Yet much of the charm of the old environment remains, in the steep wooded banks of the river, from which the fields sweep up on the eastern side to Top o th Hoof, and in the demesne of Nuttall Hall, which comes within about two hundred yards of the village gates.

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51

CHAPTER V.

T

HOLCOMBE VILLAGE.

1

HE pastoral village of Holcombe is perched about half way up between the valley of the Irwell and the Hey House Level on Holcombe Hill top, on which the Peel Monument stands. It occupies the coom at the south-east end of the Holcombe range, overlooking Ramsbottom. At its northern end a bold height juts out towards the valley. On the crest of this eminence, prominent and picturesque, stands the parish church, which, from far and near, forms a graceful and conspicuous object in the landscape.

The old chapel of Holcombe existed in 1513, and probably was built at a much earlier date. In 1645 the tithes of Tottington were given by order of Parliament to the chapels of Edenfield and Holcombe.1 In 1706 it is stated that Eatonfield or Edenfield and Holcombe were always, within living memory, served by the same curate; that both of them were consecrated in Queen Elizabeth's reign; that in the reign of Charles I. the Bishop compelled

1 See Place Names, p. 21, supra.

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