HISTORY, DIRECTORY, & GAZETTEER, of the COUNTY PALATINE of LANCASTER in TWO VOLUMES |
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of hats. As early as the year 1482, a great alarm existed in this county, on account of the introduction of machinery for the abridgement of manual labour, as applied to the fulling of hats, which operation had hitherto been performed by the action of the hands and feet; and it is probable, though there is no positive evidence of the fact, that the journeymen hatters of Oldham were amongst the number of those who petitioned parliament, with some success, to forbid the use of the new machines; however that may be, the hat manufacture has continued to prevail in this place ever since, and it is now carried on to a greater extent here, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, than in any other town in the British empire. The coal mines in this neighbourhood open an important branch of trade, and give employment to a large number of persons. Every township in the parish has its collieries, and the quality of the coal obtains for it a preference in the Manchester market. The quantity of fuel dug up yearly from the numerous beds is immense, and the supply seems inexhaustible. The coal strata, as well as all the other minerals, dip here to the S.S.W., or, as it is technically called, to the two o'clock sun; and coal is found at all the distances, from the surface to a depth of 150 yards. The beds vary in thickness, from half a yard to five feet. The trade and trafiic of the neighbourhood, both in coal and in the various branches of the manfacture, are essentially promoted by the inland navigation; and the Oldham Canal, which commences at Hollinwood, on the west side of the town, and communicates with Manchester, Ashton-under-Line, and Stockport, as well as the Rochdale canal, which passes through the heart of the township of Chadderton, co-operate to enrich and improve this district. To add to the number and to the facilities of conveyance, a railway is projected from Oldham to Manchester, and it is difficult to imagine a more advantageous situation for the application of this new mode of conveyance, whether with regard to the easy inclined plane on which the road may be constructed, or the vast weight of coals and merchandise which daily pass in this direction. A chalybeate spring was discovered at Lees, about a mile from Oldham, 30 years ago, which acquired a considerable degree of celebrity. "This spring," says Dr. Walker, of Huddersfield, "is distinguished from the great majority of chalybeates, by the presence of aluminous earth;" "it owes its impregnation to its contiguity to coal pits, and perhaps to the decomposition of pyrites so abundant in this district." The saline contents of a quart of the Oldham spa water, the Doctor found, by analysis, to be as follows: Sulphate of iron, 21-0; sulphate of alumina, 5-6; oxyde of iron, in solution with carbonic acid, 4-0; sulphate of lime, 1-4. The indiscriminate use of this water is strongly condemned, and when there is a feverish state of the system, it is absolutely forbidden; but, as a tonic remedy, it is entitled to confidence, and it is strongly recommended in scorbutic and scrofulous complaints, and indeed in all that class of cutaneous diseases connected with constitutional debility. "When properly used," says our authority, "this spring seldom fails to renovate the appetite and spirits, and to amend the general health and strength."* About four years ago ................................................................................................
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