The township of Oldham at the time under notice, appears to have comprised from thirty to forty farms of moderate extent, and here and there a few cottages with a considerable amount of moorland, lying in a state of nature. The village of Oldham, though scarcely deserving of the name, consisted of little more than twenty dwellings, lying in groups, clustering along Goldbourn, now Church-street, and Coalpit-lane, now High-street. It is not surprising a church and school should have been erected long before, when we consider the great extent of adjacent country destitute of such institutions.

The local manners of the population during that age are entitled to a brief notice. The inhabitants of this part of the country were formerly remarkable for their attachment to the chase, and this ancient predilection for field sports is not yet altogether extinct. As for the general character of the district, Camden remarks: "you may determine the goodness of the country by the temperament of the inhabitants, who are extremely comely." The gentry and yeomen were distinguished for their hospitality and manly exercises.
With respect to hospitality and dress, the manufacturers were not much behind the landed gentry. The girls who were employed in the woollen spinning rooms of that day, have been thus described:

" And in a chamber close beside,
Many fair maidens did abide,
In petticoats of flannel red,
And milk-white kerchers on their head,
Their smock sleeves like to winter's snow,
That on the western mountains glow,
And each sleeve with a silken band
'Was fairly tied at the hand.
Which pretty maids did never lin,
But in that place all day did spin."

The dress of the men chiefly consisted of short woollen frieze coats, foreign fustian waistcoats, wollen
breeches, and hats of felt; such as were better

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