At the distance of three miles north from Warrington all traces of manufacturing proximity are lost; we are close to the village of Winwick: this sequestered spot, which forms almost a rural oasis in the manufacturing districts, is supposed by Archbishop Usher and other eminent antiquarians to have been the site of Cair-Guintguic, one of the twenty-eight British cities which according to Gildas existed at the time of the Roman invasion. Traces have been discovered which seem to prove that the great Roman road between Warrington and Wigan was constructed in this direction.

A better authenticated tradition identifies Winwick with the favorite residence of Oswald, King of Northumbria, and points out the vicinity of its, venerable church as the spot in which he fell fighting against the pagans of Mercia, A.D. 642. This church, belonging to the richest rectory in the kingdom, stands on a little hill adjoining the wood and rookery.

Few parishes in England have so large a number of endowed charities as Winwick. There are no less than thirty-seven enumerated in the Report of the Charitable Commissioners. There was some years ago a laudable custom of remitting the year's rent of their cottages to six poor laboring families, selected for industry, piety, and general good conduct. A painted board stating this fact used to be exhibited outside the cottages of the families thus distinguished, and was regarded justly as an honorable mark of distinction by the inhabitants.

At Winwick, the Scottish army under Baillie, after the defeat of the Duke of Hamilton near Wigan, made a vain attempt to stop the progress of Cromwell. After a brief resistance, the Scotch were forced to yield themselves prisoners, on the single condition of having their lives spared: they were carried prisoners to Warrington.
 

Extracts  from "The Pictorial History of the County of Lancaster," published by George Routledge, London, in 1854.

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