Drake's Road Book of the Grand Junction Railway

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o observe the approach of another. A branch railway is in progress from Crewe, to Manchester on one side, and to Chester on the other. The tower of Coppenhall Church is the first object on

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d, as he perhaps thinks, unprofitable waste, is a scene gladly exchanged for verdant pastures and waving corn fields. Here is a whole family of mosses, all lying closely contiguous, and quaking under the foot of the pedestrian wanderer among their heathy labyrinths, "like a great jelly bag," as th

es, repaired in 1816. The church is in the later English style. There are Dissenting Chapels, and several Schools. Congleton contains 9,352 individuals. It is an ancient place, and is called Cogletone in Doomsday Book, but its origin has not been clearly ascertained. The town is situated in a valley, embosomed in richly wooded hills: the eastern part is old an

Vernon

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he distant view afforded on the W. of Beeston Cas

then taken by the Royalists, who were, after a long siege in 1645, compelled, from want of provisions, to surrender it; and the Parliamentarians dismantled it early the following year. The ruins consist of part of a tower which guarde

to a parish by act of parliament. It was formerly a dreary waste, but is now rapidly improving in fertility and increased population. On its enclosure, it first gave the title of Baron Delamere of Vale Royal, to Thomas Cholm

or fuel. Upon the highest hill stood the Saxon fortress of Finborrow, and near it the city of Eadesbury, both of which are said to have been founded by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. The ancient residence of the Chief Forester is all that now remains; this house is called

The name of this town is derived from its central situation with respect to the Wiches, or Salt Towns. A Roman station is supposed to have existed here, from the remains of a Roman road, and an intrenched camp. The Royalists were defeated here during the civil war, and the same fortune befel the Parliamentarian forces subsequently. The town is divided by the Grand Trunk Canal, here crossed by the river Dane; and the rivers Weyer, Croco, and Whelock, also run through th

., in the later English style of architecture. An effigy of brass in the interior of the church, perpetuates the memory of the pious Hugh; a curious font, and some other antiquities, may also be seen. Salt is the chief manufact

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he pleasant woodland glades of which are soon shut out by another cutting which takes us through Eaton, and by Eaton Hall, seat of Sir E. Antrobus. We now approach one of the most magnificent parts of the railway, and of the scenery skirting it; the Vale Royal Viaduct, over which the line passes for five hundred feet, and beneath which the river Weaver winds through the vale in graceful sweeps, girt with verdant meadows; on the E. it is crossed by the simple old bridge, now looking very humble, in the presence of its magnificent neighbour. The viaduct consists of five arches of immense span, it is built of a re

uperstition, for even in the eye of the Railroad itself are those living who speak with awe of the so-called prophecies, said to be made by the poor driveller Robert Nixon, the Cheshir

without

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diction, promised that till certain stones or rocks near Warrington came to Vale Royal, the prosperity of their family should continue. Unluckily, stones have grown locomotive of late, and "Birnam Wood doth come to Dunsinane," for the fatal rocks have become par

ugh a deep cutting b

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