Page:The Grand junction railway companion to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham; (IA grandjunctionrai00free).pdf/53

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Grand Junction Line.
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singular appearance to strangers, who with difficulty can persuade themselves they are not up one pair of stairs in the house; in these gallaries are, however, the shops of most of the light and fashionable businesses. The wall, which surrounds the city, is not the least remarkable object; it forms a pleasant promenade, and from it may be seen Rowton Moor, the site of that disastrous battle which Charles the First witnessed from one of the towers.

Of the ancient castle, said to have been erected by William the Conqueror, only a small portion remains; the modern one is, perhaps, the finest edifice in the city; the grand entrance is formed on the model of the Acropolis at Athens. It contains an Armoury, Barracks, Court of Justice, Offices of the Palatinate, County Jail, and Shire Hall.

The Cathedral is a spacious and irregular pile, formed of red stone; this was originally a nunnery, founded by Walpherus, king of Mercia, for his daughter. St. Werburgh, to whom it was dedicated. It subsequently became the abbey church of a monastry of Benedictines. At the dissolution of the monastery. Henry VIII, endowed the cathedral, for the maintenance of a dean, six prebendaries, six minor canons, and other officers. We have not space to comment on the interior; the reader must see it, and it will amply repay the trouble of a visit; it contains some of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in the kingdom. St. John's Church; a Roman hypocaust and sudatory, with