THE

WESTERN DEPARTMENT

OF

ENGLAND.

N an INTRODUCTION to the NORTHERN DEPARTMENT of England (recently published) I noticed, at some length, the Origin and Progress of the Board of Agriculture;

Described the Plan and Execution of the original Reports; also the Plan of the reprinted Reports;

Defined the requisite qualifications of a Reporter

Explained my Plan of Reviewing them, by DEPARTMENTS; and sketched the Outlines and Characteristics of the six Agricultural Departments, into which England aptly separates.

The WESTERN DEPARTMENT is thus distinguished:'This extends from the banks of the Mersey to the Somersetshire Avon and its banks. On the west, it is bounded' by the Welch mountains; on the east, by the minor hills of Staffordshire, and the uplands of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire;-its southern bounds being given by the Chalk Hills of Wiltshire, and the Sedgemoors of Somersetshire.

'It comprises an almost uninterupted succession of VALE DISTRICTS, which accompany the Mersey, the Dee, the Severn and the Avon, to their respective confluxes with the sea. Thus, by natural character, it is discriminately marked.

And it is not less so, by Agricultural produce. The entire Department, excepting the higher Lands of Shropshire and Herefordshire, the Cotswold Hills of Glocestershire, and the higher parts of the Mendip Hills of Somersetshire, may be said to be almost wholely applied to the produce of the DAIRY: Cheeses of different qualities being

2

WESTERN DEPARTMENT OF ENGLAND.

its common (or prevailing) production. Fruit liquor, however, may be mentioned as another product that signalizes this natural division of the kingdom.'

This Department comprizes within its outlines,-part of Lancashire (the north side of the Vale of Warrington),parts of Flintshire and Denbighshire,-nearly the whole of Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Glocestershire, with parts of Wiltshire and Somersetshire.

The REPORTS which will require to be examined, as relating to this Department, are the following; namely, CHESHIRE, by Wedge, also by Holland.

FLINTSHIRE and DENBIGHSHIRE, by Kay.

SHROPSHIRE, by Bishton, also by Plymley.
HEREFORDSHIRE, by Clark, also by Duncumb.

WORCESTERSHIRE, by Pomeroy.

GLOCESTERSHIRE, by Turner, also by Rudge.

WILTSHIRE, by Davis.

SOMERSETSHIRE, by Billingsley.

CHESHIRE.

CHESHIRE.

THE NATURAL DISTRICTS, incident to this County and its environs, are the vale of Warrington, the valley or district of the Wyches,-and the vale or district of Chester. The northeastern quarter of Cheshire forms part of the Mountain, or Northern Department; and has been noticed.

See NORTH. Depart. P. $22.

My own knowledge of the three natural districts, now to be considered, has arisen in the following manner:→!

In September, 1792, I first entered the county, by the Bridgewater Canal, from Manchester toward Chester; where I stopt some days, to examine its ample vale, and to gain some knowledge of its Cheese Dairy.

In August, 1798, I entered it, by Congleton; and spent some days, in the valley of the Wyches; where I saw somewhat more of its Dairy, in that most celebrated district of Cheshire Cheese making; thence passing from Northwyche to Warrington.

In 1799, I entered the vale of Chester, by the way of Llangollen and Wrexham, to Chester; passing, thence, by Frodsham, to Warrington.

In July, 1800, I entered it by Ruthen and Mold, to Chester; thence, by Eastham-Ferry, to Liverpool.

And, in August, 1800, I crossed the northwestern peninsula, from Rock House to Parkgate; thence, to Chester; leaving the county, by the great road to Shrewsbury.

THE VALE OF WARRINGTON. This district was spoken of, in reviewing the Lancashire Report (see the NORTH. DEPART.:)-It extends from the head of the estuary of the Mersey, to near Manchester:-a distance of about twenty miles. Its width is irregular; as it spreads, on both sides, among the rising grounds which form its outlines. About Warrington, it is eight or ten miles in width; extending from near Newton, in Lancashire, to the gently rising

B-2

grounds

grounds about Budworth, in Cheshire; which form its natural division from the valley of the Wyches.

Its elevation is inconsiderable, and its surface extraordinarily level. The Bridgewater Canal passes from end to end of the vale, without a Lock; but is of course somewhat elevated above the river at its lower extremity.

The soil, as far as my observations have gone, is principally of a rich sandy nature. Nevertheless, much cool strong Land is observable: notwithstanding the prevailing substratum would seem to be soft, red-sand rock.

The whole appears to be in a state of mixed cultivation. Much Arable, as well as much perennial Herbage, is seen on both sides of the vale.

The VALLEY of the WYCHES *.-This district accompanies the Wever and its principal branch, the Dane, from Congleton, to its junction with the Mersey; where it unites with the base of the vale of Warrington, (as has been noticed)-from which it is principally separated, by the rising grounds of Budworth, &c.,-situated between the Ring and the Wever; and from the vale of Chester, by Delamere Forest, and an irregular line of Hills, which stretch across the country, in a north-andsouth direction. The towns of this district are NORTHWYCHE, MIDDLEWYCHE, NANTWYCHE and CONGLETON.

The surface of the upper parts of the district, between the Dane and the Wever, is extraordinarily flat, and of considerable width. The central parts are somewhat more diversified, in surface; and more contracted in extent. The lower part is still more confined,-almost closed,

by the near approach of the Delamere Hillocks. At its base, below Frodsham, a flat of rich Marsh Land is seen.— A proof of the extraordinary levelness of this quarter of the Island is given by a Canal, which reaches from Manchester to Middlewyche, a distance of forty miles,without the assistance of a single Lock.

The Soil varies. The banks of the Dane are mostly sandy;-with a few heathlets interspersed; much resembling the Lands of East Norfolk.-But those of the Wever, toward Nantwyche, are of a cold clayey nature;a true cheese-dairy Soil. In the environs of the towns, the Soil is mostly rich; and, in the lower parts of the district,

In the established pronunciation of the County and its nejghbourhood, the y, in this appellation, is pronounced long.