34? ' T HE HISTORY *ookf. The lefs extended fareft in the bojbro of which the .British yhnceniq/x %vas originally laid out, and the Roitvan-Brkifli Man- cnnjutn was originally ere&eil, was ftill diftinguiihed by its prit Jflartivc appellation, of Ardyeo Arden or the Greakt Woe& Thi* appellation was naturally given it by theftrft feeders in the vi- Cinjty of the pariih. And this appellation wis as naturally re- tained f<K it by the fijeceeding gener-a*ions of their dfefcendantsi Tfh# »a«M5^ . like many of the fame nature in thekbgdom, and like th$ appellations of raoft of the more remarkable ebje&$ vithia Jt, tfa* rivtrs, the fbrefts, and the towns,, continued equally the fame through the revolutions of the Saxon the Da- ni(h and the Norman fettlements among us. And the name of Arden appears therefore upon the face of our records, even in the reign of Edward the firft, as the name of a confiderable diftrift ipthe parifh ; the boundaries of the prefent Clayton being de- fcribed in our records a*r beginning from Hardens puffing along the margin of tyroyifejen, , edging; dpfely, to the ground of Sinderland, and terrainatipg' at the, <iptrtfnq r l*tod$ of Harden again 4 . This Arden had' now gradually receddd on ev6rj*fid4 of Main*- cunium, and had given up its more contiguous regions to the-, dominion of Jthe fpade and the pkmght . But it muft ftill have curved about the tpwn ill a large : arnpfokheatfer of woodsy and njxuft ftill haves maintained its hereditary pofljbfftons over '. the greateft part of the parifh* It muft ftill have covered ail the northern .parts of the parifti, the gentle knolls of Chetwocfd and the little hills of Blakeley. The name of Blakeley is derived froip the great woods which, at the period of the Sft*0ft eftabhfh- njent among us, lined the doping tides of the hills and ranged along the narrow levels of the vallies through the* whole com.- ppfs of the townfhip. The Saxon Bleac Black: or Blake imports the deep gloom of a confiderable wood. Hence, we have fa many, places diftLttguiiWd^hy this epithet in: England^- where no* ciccucnftances< of t foil^and : no r peculiarities ef w<atar gave oocafiqa to itj. Hence we have ; the< villages of Qkck'b^r nef aud Bkqkt o«to> in our county, Blakeley-Hurft near Wigan, and our own Blake-* t ley
