of near 70 feet from the water in the river Weaver, which flows beneath. The village of Moilton may be distinguished to the left, by the spire of its church; and to the westward may be seen the chimnies of Vale Royal Abbey, the seat of Lord Delamere. There is nothing remarkable in the appearance of the present mansion; it is rather low in its elevation, and consists of a centre and two wings, built of red stone: there is but little about it to remind us of the ancient monastic edifice, except, indeed, the noble woods which surround it—these well accord with the ideas we form of the wealth, and ease, and enjoyments of the holy men who constituted those brotherhoods.
The family of Cholmondeley were the reputed patrons of the prophet Nixon, whose visions, it would appear, have great credit among the peasantry even of the present time, who look at the Viaduct with a sort of ominous fear, regarding it as a fulfilment of one of them, viz., "That when the rocks near Warrington should visit Vale Royal, the sun of this ancient family should set." The stone of which the viaduct was built did come from the Hill Cliff quarry; hence the good villagios are now filled with expectancy, while the nobleman who is the subject of their
