CONTENTS. BEGINNINGS OF THE MANCHESTER POST-OFFICE. By C Roeder ON Two VOTIVE RAG-BRANCHES AND A PRAYER-STICK IN THE MANCHESTER MUSEUM. By William E. A. Axon EDWIN BUTTERWORTH: HIS LIFE AND LABOURS. By Giles Shaw PAGE ON THE CHARTERS, DOCUMENTS, AND INSIGNIA RELATING TO THE THE 'HE development of our post-office is so intimately interwoven with the rise of the town, as a centre of commerce, and the simultaneous growth of the great system of high roads, that treatment of one cannot be excluded from a cursory consideration of the other. I have, therefore, to refer to all of them seriatim in the course of my account. A GLIMPSE OF MANCHESTER IN 1542. The first definite reference is towards the middle of the sixteenth century, temp. Henry VIII., when a statute, passed 1542, tells us that "Manchester is well inhabited for its trade, both in linen and woollen; the inhabitants have obtained riches and wealthy livings and have employed many artificers and poor folks, causing by their strict and true dealing the resort of many strangers from Ireland and elsewhere, with linen and wool and other necessary wear, for making of cloth, to be sold there." And again: "Many strangers, inhabiting in other townships, have used customarily to resort to the said town B |