Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/162

Chap, V. OF -M; A NCHESTER. 1.33 and at the fbtrth-eafterly point of the whole proje&ion, tipon the extremity of a bank that Hopes gently in one regular decline from . the neighbouring hills to the channel of the river, mud the Siftuntian Britons have placed the town of Rerigonium. The river was, a natural barrier upon two fides. A fofTe undoubtedly ran aprofs the ifthmus. And a great foreft fwept exten- fivejy round it upon all l Such was. the fitp of Rerigonium in the time of the Bri- tons. And fuch was it in the time of the Romans alio*. What originally changed the nature of the fite, tore away the angular proje&ioa of the ground, and opened a way for the river to gain as much upon the bank as the bank had before ufurped upon the river, it may feeni impoflibl§ to afc^rtain at this diffcnt period of time. But, as I have mention- ed ahoye* the popular tradition refers the deftru&ion, of tb? town j to th^ ravages of ai}, earthquake.^ And fuch an awful crfmVulfion muft have certainly been the original caufe, have at once ;f perhaps choakqd up the former channel of the river on thq eaft and fbuth l?y*the falling iapf the banks, and, loofening the foil of the remainder, have rendered it lefs able to bear the wholtf colleded weight of waters that now rufhed upon it. The more pointed part; of the proje&ion perhaps was fwept. away immediately, and the right ling of the original bank was left tq be gradually preyed upon by the current. And fince thefe de T predatjons have continued from,pgs to age, the r^ver has acquired i*ew fQrce as it obtained more advantages, all the arts of pre- ventive industry have been hitherto inefFe&ual, and the ftrearn bears every day more forcibly upon the fite of the town, By this remarkable eataftrophe it ( the fite of Rerigonium the Caer pf the Britons and th$ Caftrum of the' Romans mutt have been totally .carried away, and the vifible and in vifible remains of both have been equally buried* where fbme have been a&ually difcovered, under the level bed of fands which forms the meadows on the fbuthern fhore of the Ribble. And, in confequence of this reitfarkable 1 cataftrophe, the .river, having formed a; deep curving/ indent into . the northern bank, now . < ; winds