Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/142

Chap. IV- OF MANCHESTER. 113 But though his relative pofitions of the towns are thus greatly erroneous, yet his relative bearings of the coafts rauft necef- farily, from the progreflive particularity of his coafting and from the ftriking permanent nature of the marks in his defcription, be fufficiently exadt. If therefore we collate his pofitions of the towns with his bearings of the coaft, and determine the fite from both, though we mull expeft that determination to par- take of^the errors in the former, we fhall certainly come nearer the truth by this than by any other direction . I fhall hereafter (hew the Setantian port of Ptolemy, which is in 1 7 20' of eaftern longitude, to be within the mouth of the river Ribble and at the famous Neb of the Nefe. Rhigodunum therefore was certainly not at Ribchefter, becaufe this is not, as that is placed, forty Roman miles in a right line to the eaft of that fite ; being, as Richard's Itinerary will hereafter inform us, only twenty-three upon the road That port is alio placed in 57 45' of northern latitude, and Rhigodunum in 57 30'; a •circumftance that fhewsthe latter to be no-where upon the -Ribble aft all, as the channel of this river is fo far from lying to the fouth-eaft of its mouth, that it a&ually lies to the north- eaftofit. And as Rhigodunum is thus evinced from Ptolemy* s bearings of the coaft not to be Ribchefter, it may as eafily be evinced te be Blackrode only. I fhall hereafter prove Belifama to be the river Merfey, the mouth of which is placed by Ptolemy in 17° 30' and $y° 20' Rhigodunum therefore, being in i8°oo' and 57 30', is juft thirty miles to the eaft and ten to the north ef that mouth. This neceflarily confines us to the fouth of Lan- -cafhire in general. This neceflarily coxifines us to Blackrode in particular. Blackrode is the only ftation that in the leaft ap- -proaches the requifite diftances, and is exa&ly about thirty Ro- man miles or twenty-eight Englifh to the eaft of Black-Rock and about nine or ten to the north of it. Thus plainly does Rhigodunum appear to have been intended by Ptolemy for the Coccium of Richard and Antoninus, and to ^have been the capital of the Siftuntian dominions* And the Q former