Bridge, Abram, near Tyldesley, passed away to his long home at the ripe old age of 99 years. Had he lived to the 21st March next he would have been a veritable centenarian. To the last he retained his faculties, and up to within a few weeks of his death used occasionally to do a little work in the fields which in his earlier years he was wont to cultivate. He was a sensible, intelligent old man, and when in good health heartily enjoyed to talk of the "olden times." The recent severe weather proved too much for him, and he at length succumbed to pure exhaustion consequent upon his great age.

THOM.-Mr. Alexander Thom, for forty years the Queen's printer for Ireland, died recently, in his seventy-ninth year. He was the founder of that wellknown book, "Thom's Directory," one of the most carefully-compiled manuals of the sort in the country.

TORR.-After lingering for a week, in a condition for the most part unconscious, Mr. John Torr, senior M.P. for Liverpool, died on January 16th, 1880, from paralysis, at his residence, Carlett Park, Eastham, Cheshire. Mr. Torr was the son of a Lincolnshire squire, and was born on the 10th October, 1813. He received his education at the school of the Rev. Richard Pain, at Aspley Guise, near Woburn Sands, Bedfordshire. Migrating to Liverpool in 1835, he took a junior position in one of the leading mercantile offices there. He speedily developed great business capacity, and became a partner in the firm, and since that time he has been to the fore in Liverpool in all movements for the social amelioration of the town. His most active work of late years was devoted to the scheme for the establishment of a bishopric for Liverpool, to which he contributed the sum of £10,000, and of which he was the moving spirit. He was a member of the Dock Board, the chairman of the Liverpool Exchange Company, and a director of a great number of public undertakings. Up to his death, Mr. Torr retained an intimate connection with his native county, where he held a farm, and, as a gentleman amateur, carried on cattlebreeding. He became duly recognised as one of the leading citizens of Liverpool, and was always foremost in philanthropic work. It was only of late years he entered on parliamentary life, having been returned for Liverpool in 1873, upon the death of Mr. S. R. Graves. The remains of the deceased were removed on the morning of the 20th from Carlett Park, Eastham, Cheshire, to the Liverpool landing stage. A procession was then formed, and walked to the Central Station, where the remains were placed in a train for conveyance to Lincolnshire. At the landing stage a large number of the leading citizens of the town assembled, including members of the Dock Board, Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, and other local bodies. Several private carriages, including the Mayor's state equipage, followed the procession from the stage to the station. The funeral took place at noon on the 21st, at Riby, Lincolnshire. The Rev. David Stewart, of London, and the Rev. J. M. Holt read the service. The chief mourners were the Rev. W. Torr, the son of the deceased, Mrs. Torr, Mr. and Mrs. Bushell, of Benbow; Mr. and Mrs. Knight, of Bruce, Cornwall; and Mr. Herbert Torr.

WARD.-Thomas William Ward, a well known and deservedly popular city official, died at his apartments, at the new Town Hall, Manchester, on the

morning of the 9th ult., aged 51 years. He was formerly for fifteen years porter at the old Town Hall, in King-street, and afterwards, upon the appointment of a house steward, became the Mayor's attendant. Having been ailing for some time, he repaired to Torquay, but returned home on the day preceding that on which he died. Mr. Ward's death is much regretted, not only by officials in superior positions, but by the members of the City Corporation generally. His remains were interred on the 14th ult. in the Salford Borough Cemetery.

WRIGLEY.-Mr. Thomas Wrigley, of Timberhurst, head of the firm of James Wrigley and Sons, paper manufacturers, Bridge Hall Paper Mills, near Bury, died on the 26th ult. Mr. Wrigley, who was about 72 years of age, had been ill for some months. He was a magistrate of the Bury division, and a deputylieutenant, and was high sheriff of Lancashire in 1872. He leaves three sons and a daughter. His wife, the daughter of the late Edmund Grundy, of Parkhills, and sister to Messrs. Grundy, solicitors, Bury, died many years ago. On the 30th, deceased's remains were interred in the burial ground connected with the Unitarian Chapel, Bury. On the coffin was the following inscription:"Thomas Wrigley, born 27th June, 1808: died 26th January, 1880." The Unitarian burial ground has been closed for some years, and in order to inter Mr. Wrigley an order had to be obtained from the Home Secretary.

TO READERS, CORRESPONDENTS, AND CONTRIBUTORS. J. B.—Your “HALL O' TH' WOOD," with both illustrations, will appear in our next. The "STANDLEY BARN CHARITY" and the "SALFORD CHAPEL CHARITY," commonly called "THE BOOTH CHARITIES.”—This article is again unavoidably held over, owing to its great length. We shall give an instalment of it in our next. P. A. L.-Your esteemed favour was not prepaid.

TO ADVERTISERS.

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I. THE OLD HALLS OF SALFORD HUNDRED.-1. HALL I' TH' WOOD, NEAR BOLTON, 81 LANCASHIRE (with_Illustration).

2. NEW HALL, PENDLETON (Demolished). BY JOHN PLANT, F.G.S., SALFORD. 85 II. A COMPLETE LIST OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR LANCASHIRE AND THE SEVERAL BOROUGHS WITHIN THE COUNTY FROM THE YEAR 1295 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 87 (Continued)

III. OLD EARTHEN VESSEL, CONTAINING COINS, FOUND AT BARTON-UPON-IRWELL. BY 90 ROBT. LANGTON, MANCHESTER (with Illustration).

Annual Subscribers, who pay 7s. in advance, will be entitled to have early copies of the magazine forwarded monthly to any address within the United Kingdom, post free. Post-office orders (or value in postage stamps) to be made payable to Mr. J. F. MATTHEWS, Swinton, near Manchester. Early orders for single copies of future numbers are requested, as a limited number only will be printed monthly. Single copies supplied by post for 7 stamps. All communications to be addressed to Mr. J. F. MATTHEWS, 106, Manchester Road (near the Market Place), Swinton. Swinton, 28th February, 1880.

THE OLD HALLS OF SALFORD HUNDRED.

TIME

IMBER houses were very general throughout this country during the latter part of the sixteenth and the succeeding century, and were often very splendid. The town halls of Hereford and Leominster, and a house in Ludlow are very perfect examples of street buildings. The towns of Chester, Shrewsbury, Leicester, Warwick, and Ipswich furnish others more or less perfect. The counties of Chester and Salop are noted for country mansions of this class. In the former, Moreton Hall-1559—wholly composed of wood and plaster, is a particularly fine example of the arrangement of timber buildings of this period; as also, and possessing considerable difference in its features, is Park Hall, near Oswestry, Shropshire. In the timber houses of earlier date there was not such a free use of glass, windows being less united and repetitive,

while the detail was of a purer character. Ockwells, Berks, is an interesting specimen of this date (Henry VI. and Edward IV.). Bramhall Hall, Cheshire, another of those remarkable buildings, retains the peculiarity of a front presenting one continuous window on each floor-the glazing very varied in pattern, and enriched by circles of stained glass. Rimmer, in his Ancient Streets and Homesteads of England, speaks somewhat disparagingly of the antiquities of Lancashire in comparison with its neighbour Cheshire; nor in his "Halls of Lancashire" is he anything but cursory in his historical notices of them, quoting Malmesbury Hall as the most ancient (date Edward III., probably not later than Henry V.), and Ordsall and Salmesbury, near Preston, as specimens of brick and timber work combined. In the latter— built of brick, ornamented with blue diamonds (according to Whitaker the most ancient brick front in the country)-the cornice, deep and boldly projecting, is executed in wood and plaster. Speke Hall, which is without doubt the finest half-timbered house in the county, was built by Ed. Norreys in 1598 (according to inscription over door). Black and white or timber and plaster houses are general in Lancashire, where oak and clay abounded, while stone was comparatively scarce. As these materials admitted of fewer varieties in construction (the exteriors of Lancashire are less beautiful than those in localities where stone abounded. Ordsall, close to Manchester, at present occupied as a farm date about 1500), is an exception; as also Salmesbury (date fourteenth century), near Preston, before mentioned. The harsh contrast of the black timber and plaster has been quietened, in some instances-as Chorley and Hall-i’th’Wood-by mixing yellow ochre with the plaster, and the effect was good. The latter erection has lost much, if not the whole, of the latter distinguishing feature. Timber roofs of the fifteenth and sixteenth century may be divided into two classes, the trefoil or hammer beam (see Morris's Examples of Roofs), and the flat-arched, of which Rufford Hall is a fine example. Smithells Hall, near Bolton, in a room now or lately used as a brewhouse, is a fourteenth century roof, formed of two wind braces in the form of quatrefoils. The principals are not placed at regular intervals, but in pairs, and the width of each pair is little more than half the distance between them. The original windows still remain in this room-" Decorated period." It was the ancient banqueting hall.

In commencing a series of engravings of the Old Halls of the Hundred of Salford, we have, as a slight tribute to the memory of its quondamresident, selected, for the post of honour, one which will be readily recognised as the homeliest memorial of the poor, but intelligently endowed weaver, who, within its antiquated walls, planned and carried to perfection that peacefully revolutionising invention, the spinning "mule," by means of which, and an untold wealth of coal, his native Lancashire has been placed in the fore front of the world as a cotton manufacturing district. Our visit to Hall-i'th'-Wood during the past month reminded us once more of the sad fact, that the old structure is gradually but surely falling into a ruinous condition. Shall it be said of Lancashire, that the memory of Crompton merely suggests the borrowed protection of a generous Lubbock ?

HALL-IT-WOOD is a three-story structure of considerable antiquity,

standing upon an elevated piece of rocky ground at the extremity of the township of Tonge, in the parish of Bolton, and within two miles of the new Town Hall Square of the town of Bolton. At the foot of the acclivity flows the Eagley Brook, which divides Sharples and Tonge townships. Owing to the disforesting process which has been gradually carried on in this and neighbouring districts during the past century, the title of the old hall has become singularly inappropriate. Indubitable evidences of its former applicability are, however, readily found, not only in local history and topography, but in the reliquary remains and gigantic roots of the excellent timber which once flourished around the old homestead. The style of the building is evidently two-fold. The many-gabled body, with bewildering staircases and numerous rooms, and which dates from the last quarter of the fifteenth century, is superior half-timbered work of the period, while the later, or front portion, which is principally of cut stone, with mullioned windows, dates from the middle of the seventeenth century—the two different periods marking the beginning and the end of the line of the Tudors. The year 1483 has, with some historic support, been fixed as the date of the founding of the wood and plaster portion. Alexander Norris, son and heir of Christopher Norris, of Tonge, is credited with the addition of the stone front and square porch made some time about the year 1648. The date and initials

cut upon a recessed stone over the porch door, clearly point to him and his wife. Their daughter Alice brought the old Hall into the possession of the Starkies through her marriage with John Starkie, of Huntroyde,