also a great extension of the silk manufacture from the province of Brittany, in France.

The first cotton linen weaver of whom there is any record in the district of Oldham, was a person named Lomas, or Lomax, who was an inhabitant of Glodwick in 1630, the fifth year of Charles the First. This Lomax was a son of Alexander Lomax, ancestor of Mr. Nathan Lomax, formerly a surgeon, at Dolstile, Oldham. The weaving of cotton-linen fustians became quite common in Oldham and the neighbourhood in the early part of the seventeenth century, as is evident from the frequent mention of linen websters occurring in the registers of Oldham church. Mr. Henry Wrigley, "a prosperous dealer in Manchester commodities, sent up to London," purchased the estate of Chamber Hall in 1646, from Messrs. Wood. These Manchester commodities were fustians, composed of Irish linen yarn and Cyprus cotton. Mr. Wrigley, who seems to have acquired his wealth in trade, was the son of Mr. Richard Wrigley, fustian manufacturer, of Manchester, who was the son of Mr. Henry Wrigley, of Salford, draper. In 1651, he served the office of high sheriff of Lancashire, and he appears to have died before 1665.

A further investigation of the subject points out the inadvertent commission of an error in page 46 of this work. It is there stated. that Mr. Abraham Clegg introduced the hat manufature shortly after the commencement of the last century. The fact is, Mr. Clegg re-introduced the manufacture, after it had fallen into obscurity for many years, and his family carried on the business to a greater extent than had ever been previously the case.

Upwards of three centuries ago, when the greater part of the parish of Oldham consisted of moors or lees (open fields), the hills afforded herbage to great

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