1850-1851 D. James Augustine Wilkinson, E., who died at Scarisbrick, May 21, 1851.

1851-1891 D. Thomas Maurus Margison, L., on whose death (June 27, 1891) the chaplaincy

and mission was taken over by the secular clergy.

SCARISBRICK HALL.-A domestic chapel had existed at Scarisbrick for many generations, and was served for several years by the Jesuit fathers. A French priest, the Abbé Dorival, opened a chapel here on Nov. 1, 1821; in 1824, the Benedictines were invited to serve the mission, then held in a barn-like brick building.

1824-1826 D. Christopher Augustin Shann, L. 1826-1865 D. Richard Benedict Hoole, E., who died here March 4, 1865.

1865-1870 D. Peter Ignatius Greenough, L. 1870-1873 D. John Placid Hall, A.D.

PARBOLD, WIGAN.-Though the mission of Parbold (formed by the separation of the outlying districts, hitherto served by the priests of Wrightington Hall and Scarisbrick) dates only from 1884, the neighbourhood has been, for a time, the temporary residence of the community of St. Laurence. After the suppression of their home in Lorraine, the monks-such of them as were able to effect their escape-assembled at Acton Burnell, in Shropshire. Soon after the arrival there of the community of St. Gregory's, Prior Marsh, the superior of St. Laurence's, removed his family to Birkenhead (1795). In 1796 they went to Scholes, near Prescot; in 1797 to Vernon Hall, Liverpool; in 1802 to Parbold; and thence to Ampleforth, in Yorkshire, where it still flourishes.

At CULCHETH HALL a Benedictine was stationed between 1820 and 1822.

INCE BLUNDELL HALL.-For about forty years (1826-65) D. Peter Ignatius Greenough, L., was stationed at Ince Blundell.

GOOSNARGH.-The mission of THE HILL, Goosnargh, near Preston, was taken over from the Franciscan friars (who had served it since early in the eighteenth century) in 1833, and was served by D. Edward Vincent Dinmore, L., till his death. there, July 21, 1879.

LIVERPOOL, ST. AUGUSTINE'S.-In consequence of the increasing number of Catholics in the neighbourhood of the Liverpool docks, the mission of St. Augustine was opened about 1843, and was served from St. Mary's, in Edmund Street. When the church was opened, in 1849 (September 9th), the Rev. Charles Francis Cook, E., was appointed incumbent, with two fathers to assist him. On his death (April 3rd, 1858), the Rev. W. A. Bulbeck, G., was appointed his successor. Rev. Ralph Wilfrid Cooper, who retired in 1875, was the third superior of this busy important parish.

LIVERPOOL, ST. ANNE'S.-The growth of Liverpool in the direction of Edge Hill necessitated the foundation of a new mission in that quarter of the city. Land was bought in what were then the outskirts of the town, and a residence for the clergy erected in 1840. Six years later, the fine church of St. Anne's was opened. Much of the success of this early prosperity was due to the first incumbent, D. Thomas Maurus Margison, L.

1846-1848 D. Anselm Brewer, provincial, was in charge.

1848-1850 D. Wilfrid Cooper, who left on his election to the priorship of Ampleforth.

1850-1854 D. John Athanasius Clarkson, E. 1854-1865 D. William Bernard O'Sullivan, G.

1866-1868 D. John Carrol, E.

1868-1878 D. James Edmund Poole, L.; he died in Liverpool July 19, 1878

LEE HOUSE, PRESTON.-Another mission in the neighbourhood of Preston, placed under the Benedictines, was that of Lee House. It was formerly an old Franciscan mission, served by Father Germaine Helme, O.S.F., in 1745, who died a prisoner in Lancaster Castle in 1746. The Benedictine succession is as follows:

1859-1868 D. George Alban Caldwell, L. 1868-1870 D. Joseph Benedict Murphy, L. 1870-1871 D. Cyprian Tyrer, L., who died here July 6, 1871

1871-1874 D. J. B. Murphy again.

1874-1876 D. Thomas Augustine Atkinson, L., who died here March 26, 1876.

It only remains to be observed that on the reorganisation of the English Benedictine, congregation in 1890-91, the missions at that date served by the whole body in common were divided among the three monastic families constituting the English congregation. According to the arrangement then made, the following partition was effected:

To St. Gregory's, Downside, near Bath, were assigned the missions of St. Mary's, Liverpool; St. Mary's, Woolton; St. Benedict's, Hindley; and St. Bede's, Clayton Green. To St. Laurence's, Ampleforth, York, the churches of St. Peter and St. Anne, Liverpool; St. Augustine, Aigburth; St. Joseph, Brindle; St. Francis, Goosnargh; St. Mary, Leyland; St. Mary, Parbold; and St. Alban and St. Mary, Warrington. To St. Edmund's, Douay, were assigned St. Augustine's, Liverpool; St. Benet's, Netherton; St. Anne's, Ormskirk; and St. Elizabeth's, Scarisbrick.

I must not conclude this paper without a very sincere apology for its inordinate length, and, I fear, its very uninteresting character. For its many

faults of omission and commission I must take all the blame; begging those who are more familiar than I can hope to be with Lancashire names and districts to correct some, at least, of the errors that call for correction, and to supplement my meagre outline of Benedictine work in Lancashire. Unknown and lowly as that work has for the most part been, its long continuance and wide area can claim for it some small share of recognition, when a survey is taken of the religious agencies which have been at work in the county during the past three centuries.

EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT.

For making this Paper still longer, the Editor must assume the sole responsibility. Owing to the kind help of his friend, Mr. Joseph Gillow, whose knowledge of, and collections in print and MS. respecting this subject are unique, additions to the paper have been made, which the Editor believes cannot fail to gratify those interested in a somewhat obscure subject (part and parcel, indeed, of Lancashire history), especially genealogists who may here find a help to the identification of members of old Lancashire families, whose names, as infants perhaps, appear in the later Heraldic Visitations, but over whose subsequent lives there has hitherto hung an impenetrable, mysterious cloud.

Communications.

ON THE

TIDES AND DATUMS OF THE LANCASHIRE COAST.

To any one conversant with the Ordnance Maps, which were first published in England about the year 1847, from surveys conducted and commencing in 1841, after the Irish survey was completed, and which are now in course of republication from amended surveys, there may arise the thought "From what source are all the myriads "of heights, in figures, contours in altitudes of 25 feet on low levels, bolts and broad arrows on "church towers, and broad arrows without bolts on other fixed objects, and surface levels on roads "and streets, calculated and taken ?"

They are all calculated from the "mean tidal "level" of the sea, taken from an average of several observations at the site of the present level of the Old Dock sill, which, though long pulled down (and on which now stands the Custom House), is recorded on a marble slab inserted in the east wall of the Canning Dock at Liverpool.

The levels from this point extended over all England, commencing in 1841, and many thousands of these recorded levels were published by the Board of Ordnance in 1861, in a large octavo volume.