Page:The Grand junction railway companion to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham; (IA grandjunctionrai00free).pdf/74

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Grand Junction Line.

porate town, borough (by the Reform Bill), and a parish in the hundred of Macclesfield, county of Chester; it is situated on an eminence at the border of the forest to which it gives name, the river Bollin, or Jordan, running through the town. Pop, of the hundred, 123,429, of the town, 23,129; An. As. Val. £30,305. Its silk manufactures are very extensive; that of cotton has also been successfully introduced. Here are also manufactures of rope, nails, brass, and iron; and the vicinity abounds with coal, slate, and stone. The Macclesfield Canal runs to the eastward of the town. The elements of wealth are here prodigally lavished, and the rapid increase of trade evinces that the inhabitants estimate their advantages. The town has four churches, two of them perpetual curacies in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £2,000 by private benefaction and a Parliamentary grant, viz. All Saints. K.B. £50; P.R. £122; patrons, the mayor and corporation, with the sanction of the Bishop of Chester; and Christ Church, not in charge. P.R. £150; patron. Wm. Roe. Esq. Another church, dedicated to St. Michael, founded by Edward I, in 1279, was nearly rebuilt in 1740. It is a spacious Gothic edifice, with a lofty spire; it has attached to it a sepulchral chapel, and in it are many ancient monuments; it has also a modern painted window, which cost £500. The New Church, erected by William Roe. Esquire, in 1775, is endowed with £100 a-year by its founder. There are also places of worship for