PREFACE. CONS YONSIDERING the number of publications which have been issued about Liverpool, the obtrusion on the public of two rather bulky volumes may seem to require some apology. Possibly this may be afforded by the very multiplicity of the works alluded to, which necessitates a large amount of collation and arrangement to bring the information within the scope of the ordinary reader. Apart, however, from this, there are other reasons which render the present time opportune for a work of this description. Although histories, guides, and handbooks are so numerous, there are extremely few which present any indications of original research. For the most part they are meagre in the information given; the same superficial history is repeated in each; the same errors are perpetuated from one to the other. To this sweeping charge there are some honourable exceptions. Thomas Baines was the first to depart from the beaten track, and to bring into the field the results of the examination of original and contemporary documents. Mr. James Stonehouse, also, has rendered good service in securing a large amount of floating traditional information on manners, customs, and localities. Mr. I have endeavoured to follow in the same track. At the present day the inquiring mind of the public is not content with the apocryphal narratives which satisfied our credulous predecessors. Information at first hand is demanded as the basis of all veritable history. In this way, documents of the most miscellaneous kind, if contemporary with the period treated of, frequently constitute materials of the utmost value. It has been my effort in the following pages to bring together, from every available source, a true record of the rise and progress of my native town. In addition to the documents already brought to light which afford original information on the history of the town, there are doubtless many others extant amongst the papers of our old borough and county familiespackets of letters, rent-rolls, inquisitions, wills, &c.which, if examined and collated, would assist in the illustration of Liverpool life in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This task must be left to future inquirers. But it is especially in the topographical portion of this work that the present time is peculiarly opportune. The improvements and changes in the Liverpool streets and buildings during the last half-century have been so great, and the extension of the suburbs so enormous, that the very aspect of the town and neighbourhood, and those legends and traditions which grow up in every locality, and impart a flavour and raciness to its associations, are in danger of being forgotten. Towards the illustration of this part of the subject I may claim to have possessed certain advantages. The nature of my avocations for many years has necessarily made me familiar with the various districts of the town, |