EXPLANATION OF THE COINS. 19 No. 3. (Obverse).-IMP. TETRICUS, P. F. AVG. (Reverse).— SALV. PVBLICA,-The Public Welfare. [The edges of this Coin are much jagged, but the impression is good]. No. 4.—(Obverse).—CONSTANTINVS, P. F. AVG. (Reverse).— COMITI AVGGVV,-To the tutelar Friend of the Emperors, (meaning the Sun or Apollo, whose effigy is inclosed). (Exergue), P. LN.,) probably, Pecunia Londinensis, or Coin struck at London. [This is a very perfect specimen, and not at all worn]. No. 5.-(Obverse).—IMP. LICINIVS, P. F. AVG. (Reverse).GENIO POP. ROM. (Exergue), P. LN. [This Coin is also in excellent preservation]. No. 6. (Obverse).-CONSTANTINVS AVG. (Reverse).—BEATA TRANQVILITAS,-Happy Repose! and on an altar, surmounted by the Sun's orb, - VOTIS XX., signifying a vote of the Senate for the Emperor's preservation for 20 years. (Exergue), P. LON., which leaves no doubt of its London mintage. No. 7.-(Obverse).—IMP. LICINIVS, P. F. AVG. (Reverse).— GENIO POP. ROM. (Exergue), P. LN. [This is a different die from No. 5, though the inscription and device are the same, except that this Coin has the letters S. F. near the middle of the reverse, probably intended for Sæculi Felicitas]. No. 8.-(Obverse).—IMP. CONSTANTINVS, P. F. AVG. [Reverse).-SOLI INVICTO COMITI,-To the Invincible. Attendant Sun! with the detached letters T. F., perhaps signifying, Temporis Felicitas. (Exergue), CARL., probably struck at Cærleon. No. 9.-(Obverse).-CRISPVS NOB. CAES.,-Crispus the most Noble Cæsar. (Reverse). VIRTVS EXERCIT., -The Valour of the Army! and on a banner supported by two accumbent figures, VOT XX., with the detached letters T. F., see Nos. 6 & 8. [The exergue is not legible, though the whole impression, in other respects, is very perfect;probably this Coin was struck after the victory of Crispus over the Franks and Alemanni, A. D. 322.—See Gibbon, vol. II. p. 253. The sitting figures may be symbolical of the two subdued nations]. Chesterton has the addition "under Lyme," in Camden's Britannia, but which has been long disused: we are desirous, however, of tracing this affix, which belongs to Newcastle, and several other towns and villages near the borders of Cheshire, to some intelligible source; for the point, as regards the town of Newcastle, has hitherto remained in the utmost obscurity. Leland, the ancient tourist, among his memoranda of castles in Staffordshire, speaks of Newcastle under Lyne as being named of a brook running thereby, or of a hill or wood, so called.† We lay no stress on the mistake of Lyne for Lyme, which is still, and ever likely to be, a common error; but the charters of the borough, and the most ancient records,‡ give it, properly, under Lyme. Turning again to the venerable Camden,|| we find in his description of Cheshire, that he quotes Lucius the monk, (an author, then scarce, and as old, almost, as the Conquest), who wrote, amongst other notabilia of that county, that it was shut in and separated from the rest of England, by the Wood Lime. This naturally sends us to examine the Cheshire border; and commencing near the northern extremity, we find Lyme Handley, the seat of the Legh family, contiguous to Macclesfield Forest, which would separate Cheshire from Derbyshire, and is stated in Ormerod's History, to have been part of the forest of Lime, so called, by reason of its standing on the Limes, or border of Cheshire,§ then advancing into Staffordshire along the high grounds of Cloud Hill, Mow Cop, Linley, (probably Limeley) Wood, Bignall Hill, Apedale, Podmore Hall, Fynney Green, Madeley Park, and Woore, we get to Audlem, (Old Lime, or Aldelime, as it is written in Domesday); ¶ and this is the only tract, which, according to Lucius, can * Gibson's Camden, p. 530. + Edition, 1711, vol. VII. p. 23. ↑ Vide Rot. Lit. Claus. vol. I. p. 66, &c. || Gibson's Edition, p. 555. § Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. III. p. 336. [ 205, a. DISSERTATION ON LYME WOOD LANDS. 21 have separated Cheshire from the rest of England. The country is now mostly denuded of its woody honours; but it is identified as the Lime Woodlands, by incontrovertible evidence, connected with the names of places in Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Salop, as we now proceed to show.— We hardly venture to assert that Ashton-under-Line should be under Lyme, though we find it so written in an old Rental, inserted in a recent History of Lancashire.* We therefore commence with Lyme Handley (the affix Handley, probably, signifying End-ley, the uttermost ley or pasture, and meant to distinguish it from Old Lyme at the other extremity). We pass over a good deal of ground at present unexplored, to Chesterton-under-Lyme, (whose ancient name of Mediolanum, we dare not transform to Mediolimam, though such discrepancies are often found in ancient writers). We then come to Bure-wardes-Lyme, (of which we shall give a short dissertation in our history of Burslem); we have then Newcastle-under-Lyme, Madeley-under-Lyme, Whitmore-under-Lyme,† Norton in Salop, (described as "juxta nemus quod Lima dicitur,” in the Cartulary of St. Peter's Abbey, Shrewsbury), Betton-under-Lyme, also in Salop, and Old Lyme (Audlem in Cheshire). After having got together these various attestations to the truth of Monk Lucius' description of Lyme Woodlands, with some pains and research, we were most agreeably fortified in our conclusion, by meeting with a copy of the charter of Randle Blundeville, Earl Palatine of Chester, of the date of 1218, in which, after granting certain privileges, and prescribing certain services, to his Barons, (for he had his local Parliament), he expressly declares, that in regard of the great services they did him in Cheshire, none of them should do him service beyond the Lyme, (extra Limam), but at their Corry's Hist. vol. II. p. 508. + Cal. Rot. Cart. 115, 176. * Vide Collectanea Topographica and Etymologica, vol. I. p. 26. own free will, and his cost.* Here, then, is a clear solution of the matter; for Randle, at that time held, by grant from the Crown, Newcastle in Staffordshire, (extra Limam, in reference to Cheshire), as well as other extensive possessions out of his own county, and he very properly exempted his Barons from services beyond the Cordon of Wood Land, the nemus Lima by which Cheshire was shut in from the rest of England, commencing to the north of Macclesfield, and extending at least as far as Audlem in a south-easterly direction. Camden brings another ancient witness to prove that the woods were interminable, (" silvæ infinita continua" is the original Latin), in the vicinity of Magdalea in Staffordshire,† (which can be no other than Madeley-under-Lyme), bordering on a lake of rather marvellous virtues, situate at the foot of a hill called Mahull; and which Dr. Plott conjectured to have been under the hill on which the castle of Helegh was seated.‡ * Sir P. Leycester's Antiquities, p. 163. + Camden (Edition 1586), p. 517. + Plott, p. 44. PARLIAMENTARY UNION OF TOWNS. 23 CHAPTER II. GEOGRAPHICAL PARLIAMENTARY UNION OF TOWNS TO FORM THE BOROUGH.- EARLY THE District, which, under the Reform Act, constitutes the BOROUGH OF STOKE-UPON-TRENT, comprises the several Townships of TUNSTALL, BURSLEM, HANLEY, SHELlton, PenkHULL, with Boothen, Lane End, Longton, Fenton Vivian, FENTON CULVERT, Hamlet of SNEYD, and Vill of RUSHTON GRANGE,* which extend into the three parishes of WOLSTANTON, BURSLEM, and STOKE-UPON-TRENT. The township of Tunstall alone is in Wolstanton; the township of Burslem, the hamlet of Sneyd, and vill of Rushton Grange, are within the parish of Burslem; and the remaining townships are within the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent. The town of Stoke is the nominal head of the borough, though not the largest town; but that parish, embracing within its limits. the principal part of the borough, the paramount title of STOKE was very properly assigned to the associated district. We shall notice what concerns the District at large, before we introduce an account of the several towns and places in * Vide Act, 2 W. IV., c. 45. |