There was an old house at Harrogate, with some fields belonging to it, and denominated a messuage, which was of more value, as having common right upon the Forest. It belonged to an old woman, and at her decease to her husband. Metcalf went to the latter, and bought his contingent right in the house and land; and the old woman came to him soon after, to sell her life-estate in it also. They agreed; and including both the net sum amounted to eighty pounds. In about three weeks after this purchase, he sold it for upwards of two hundred pounds.
A road being projected between Harrogate and Harewood-Bridge, six miles in length, a meeting was held, (the late Lord Harewood, then Mr. Lascelles, being one ofthe party) to contract with any person who might be thought proper to make it. A great number of estimates were delivered, but Metcalf obtained the contract. It was to be completed before the winter set in; and being a stiff-clay soil, it was judged expedient to cast the whole length before they began to stone it: on these accounts he agreed with the gentlemen, that no carriages should pass whilst the road was making; and, by way of prevention, had sluices cut at each end of the lane, and wooden bridges, which he took up occasionally, thrown across, for his own carriages to pass over with the materials. He also hired two houses, at a distance from each other on the road, to entertain strangers who travelled on horseback, and the people employed in the undertaking, as there were not sufficient in the country. The short period he had contracted to complete the work in, obliging him to use the readiest methods, he had a wheel-plough drawn by nine horses through the forest, as the best and most expeditious way to get upthe roots of whin and ling, in parts where they were strong; and being obliged to superintend the progress of the work, he obtained leave from the innkeepers at Harrogate to engage a substitute in his absence. He completed his contract in the time allowed, to the satisfaction of the gentlemen trustees, and of the surveyor; and received for the work, twelve hundred pounds.
There then being about a mile and an half of road to be made through part of Chapel-Town to Leeds, Lord Harewood and other gentlemen met at the Bowling-Green in Chapel-Town, to receive estimates;—and Metcalf got the contract. He also widened the arch of Sheepscar-Bridge; and received for that and the road together near four hundred pounds.
Between Skipton and Colne in Lancashire there were four miles of road to be made, and estimates were advertised for. A number of gentlemen met, and Metcalf’s proposals had the preference. The materials were at a greater distance, and more difficultto be procured, than he expected; and a wet season coming on, made this a bad bargain; yet he completed it according to contract.
He next engaged for two miles on the Burnleigh road, which he completed; but was not more a gainer.
He then agreed for two miles of road which lay through Broughton to Martin; and two miles more which lay through Addingham, and over part of Romell’s Moor. The same trustees acted for those roads, as for that of Colne. These he completed, and received one thousand three hundred and fifty pounds from Mr. Ingham of Burnleigh and Mr. Alcock of Skipton.
After this, a meeting was held at Wakefield, to contract for making part of the road between that town and Halifax.—Metcalf engaged for four miles which lay between Mill-Bridge and Belly-Bridge; and finished this also, though it was an extremely wet summer.—He then took three miles more which lay between Belly-Bridge and Halifax, and completed it.—And also agreedfor five miles which lay between Wakefield and Checkingley-Beck, near Dewsbury.
The trustees of the road, (Sir Rowland Winn, —— Smith and W. Roebuck, Esqrs.) meeting at Wakefield, to let part of the road leading to Pontefract, and likewise from Wakefield to Doncaster, Metcalf took three miles and an half which lay between Hag-Bridge and Pontefract, and one mile and an half on the Doncaster road, from Crofton through Foulby; all which he completed. The road from Wakefield, to Pontefract, Doncaster, and Halifax, being under the management of one company of trustees, Mr. Allen Johnson was treasurer for one part, John Mills, Esq; for another, both of Wakefield; and Mr. Valentine Stead, and Mr. William Cook, for the other parts: By the payment of these four gentlemen he received six thousand four hundred pounds.
A road was then advertised to be let from Wakefield to Austerland, intended to lead through Horbury, Almondbury, Huddersfield, Marsden, and Saddleworth. A meetingwas held at Huddersfield, for the purpose. Sir John Kaye, Colonel Radcliffe, ’Squire Farrer, and several other gentlemen attended, and Metcalf agreed with them from Black-Moor Foot to Marsden, and from thence to Standish-Foot; also from Lupset-Gate, thro’ Horbury, about two miles and an half. At that time none of the road was marked out, except between Marsden and Standish-Foot, leading over a common called Pule and Standish: the surveyor took it over deep marshes; but Metcalf not expecting it to have been carried that way, thought it a great hardship, and complained to the gentlemen, alledging it would be a much greater expence: they answered, that if he could make a complete road, he should not be a loser; and they were of opinion, that it would be necessary to dig the earth quite out of the marshes, until they came to a solid bottom.—Metcalf, on calculating that each marsh, upon an average, being three yards deep, and fourteen broad, would make two hundred and ninety-four solid yards of earth in every rood, which, to have carried away, would have been extremely tedious and expensive—and not only so, but that the road lying East and West, would fill with snow in winter, (as it usually falls in that direction, when the wind is in the North)—argued the point privately with the surveyor and several of the gentlemen: but they all seemed immoveable in their former opinion. Metcalf then appeared at the public meeting, and the subject was again brought forward; but knowing that it would be to little purpose to hold a contest with them, he said, “Gentlemen, as you seem to have a great deal of business before you to-day, it appears quite unnecessary to trespass upon your time on this head:—I propose to make the road over the marshes, after my own plan; and if it does not answer, I will be at the expence of making it over again, after your’s:” which was consented to. And as he had engaged to make nine miles of the road in ten months, he began in six different parts, with near four hundred men employed. One of theplaces was Pule and Standish common, which he cast fourteen yards wide, and raised in a circular form. Water in several places ran across the road, which he carried off by drains; but found the greatest difficulty in conveying stones to the places for the purpose, on account of the softness of the ground. Numbers of clothiers usually going that way to Huddersfield market, were by no means sparing in their censure, and held much diversity of opinion relative to its completion. But Metcalf got the piece levelled to the end, and then ordered his men to bind heather, or ling, in round bundles, and directed them to lay it on the intended road, by placing the bundles in squares of four, and laying another upon each square, pressing them well down. He then brought broad-wheeled carts, and began to load stone and gravel for covering. When the first load was brought and laid on, and the horses had gone off in safety, the company huzza’d from surprise. They completed the whole of this length, which was about half a mile; and it was so particularlyfine, that any person might have gone over it in winter, unshod, without being wet. This piece of road needed no repairs for twelve years afterwards. Having finished the nine miles within the limited time, he took three miles from Standish to Thurston Clough, which he completed;—and afterwards six miles and an half from Sir John Kaye’s seat to Huddersfield; and from thence to Longroyd and Bridge toll-bar, about a mile and an half;—also four bridges, their spans twenty-four feet each; together with six bridges, the spans of which were nine feet each. When all this work was finished, (the gentlemen having promised that he should be no loser) a meeting was called, and Metcalf attended: he assured them that the work he had completed extra to his first bargain, in the marshes and other places, deserved five hundred pounds: after some debate, he was allowed three hundred pounds; though it was well worth the first-named sum. He had made about twenty-one miles in the whole, for which he received four thousand five hundred pounds.
In the building of bridges, where the foundations were bad, he laid on a sufficient thickness of ling where it could be got, otherwise of wheat straw; he next laid planks five inches thick, with square mortises cut through; and driving in a number of piles, he made the foundation secure.—He then laid springs for the arch upon the planks, which caused all to settle regularly when the weight came on. And though he built many arches, of different sizes, by taking this method none ever fell.
He undertook three turnpike-houses upon the Wakefield and Austerland roads, and completed them all. Believing there was a stone-quarry on the South-East side of Huddersfield, in ground belonging to Sir John Ramsden, he bored secretly in the night-time before he undertook the road, and was successful in finding it. After finishing the road, having some vacant time, and having likewise discovered the quarry, Sir John gave him liberty to lead away stone. He now took houses to build, particularly one belongingto Mr. Marmaduke Hebdin, nine yards wide, twenty-three yards long, and twenty-one feet from the foundation to the square of the building;—it had twenty chimnies or pipes: And this he also completed.
He undertook the road from Dock-Lane head, in Yorkshire, to Ashton-under-Line, in Lancashire; also from the guide-post near the latter place, to Stockport, in Cheshire; and also between Stockport and Mottram-Longdale: the whole length being eighteen miles. He set men to work in different parts, with horses and carts to each company; and though he lost twenty horses in one winter, he was not discouraged; observing that “horse-leather had been dear a long time, but he hoped now to reduce the price.” Notwithstanding this misfortune, he completed the whole, including a great number of drains and arches, which were all done to the satisfaction of the trustees and surveyor; and received for the work four thousand five hundred pounds.
He then took eight miles more which required several drains and arches.—He raised one hollow nine yards, and built sufficiently on each side to keep up the earth, with battlements on the top; for which he received two thousand pounds.
One day being met by Sir Geo. Warren, who inquired if he was at leisure, and being answered in the affirmative, he desired to see him at his house at Poynton. Metcalf went, and agreed to make about five miles of a private road through the Park.—He took twelve or fourteen horses of his own, and brought large quantities of stone into Sir George’s grounds, for the use of draining. For this he received several hundred pounds, and great favours also from Sir George and his lady.
A road was to be made between Whaley and Buxton, in Derbyshire, to avoid a hill: it went over a tedious piece of ground called Peeling Moss; the whole road being four miles in length, with some part strong rock, which was to be blasted with gunpowder.—Intaking this road, Metcalf met with strong opposition from a son of one of the commissioners; but Peter Legh, Esq; of Lyme, and another gentleman, supporting Metcalf, he gained the point, and completed the undertaking, with several drains and fence walls; for which he received near eleven hundred pounds.
He next took a mile and an half of High-Flats, between Huddersfield and Sheffield; and finished it likewise, to the amount of three hundred pounds.
Eight miles of road were next advertised to be made between Huddersfield and Halifax. A meeting was held, and several persons attended with estimates for making it. One part was very rocky, and full of hollows, and the ground in a very bad situation, particularly between Elland and Saltershebble, and through a place called Grimscar Wood, which was very boggy and rough. Many were of opinion that it was impossible to make a road over that ground. But by building up the hollows, and lowering thehills, Metcalf accomplished it:—And it is worthy of remark, that he never undertook any road which he did not complete, altho’ he has taken many which persons who had their sight durst not engage in. He finished the road, with a great number of fence walls and drains, to the satisfaction of the surveyors and trustees, and received for it two thousand seven hundred and eleven pounds.
A little after this, a road was advertised to be made between Congleton and the Red-Bull Inn, in Cheshire, about six miles in length; but the materials were about three miles distant in several places. A meeting for letting this road was held at a place called Audersley, which Metcalf attended; and being a stranger in that part, he fortunately met with three gentlemen who knew him, viz. —— Clows of Macclesfield, —— Downs of Sigleigh, and —— Wright of Mottram, Esqrs. two of them Justices of the Peace.—They said to the trustees, “Gentlemen, you have only to agree with this man, and you may be assured of having your work well done.”The road, however, was not let that day, the business being deferred until another meeting to be held at Congleton, where Metcalf and others attended with estimates.—“Gentlemen,” said Metcalf, “I am a stranger to you, and you may with reason question my performing the bargain; but to prevent any doubt, I will first do one hundred pounds worth of work, and afterwards be reasonably paid as it goes forward; the hundred pounds may lay in the treasurer’s hands till the whole is completed, and then to be paid.” On this proposal, and the three gentlemen’s recommendation at the former meeting, they agreed with him, although there was an estimate given in lower than his by two hundred pounds. He completed the road, to the great satisfaction of the surveyor and trustees, and received three thousand pounds.
During the time that Metcalf was engaged in making this road, having one day occasion to stop at Congleton, he met, at the Swan inn there, one Warburton, a capital farmer, who lived about a mile distant. This manwas remarkable for sporting large sums in various ways, and no sooner saw Metcalf, than he accosted him thus: “I understand that you play at cards.”—Metcalf replied, “Sometimes, but not often;” being much surprised that a stranger should know he had that propensity. Warburton offered to play him for five or ten pounds, the best of five games at put; but this he thought fit to decline: in the presence of his friends he would not have feared to play for twenty; but being in a strange place, and having a large undertaking relative to the turnpikes, he concluded that it would be highly imprudent to game. The farmer, however, persisting in his desire for play, Metcalf, after a little consideration, determined to try the effect of ridicule on his new acquaintance, saying, “I have not now time; but if you will meet me here this day fortnight, I will play you, the best of five games, for a leg of mutton, four-pennyworth of cabbage, and five shillings worth of punch.” The farmer, pleased with any prospect of engaginghim, agreed to the wager, and insisted that the money should be deposited with the landlord; which was accordingly done. During the interval, Warburton spread the story of his engagement to play with a blind man; and, thinking it a good joke, invited many of his friends to the entertainment. Metcalf came at the time fixed, having first engaged a friend from Buxton to accompany him, whose chief business it was to see that his adversary did not play tricks with the cards. Three guineas to two were offered to be laid on Warburton; and Metcalf’s friend observing this, expressed a wish to take the odds, if agreeable to him: to this, Metcalf replied, that he meant only to amuse himself by playing for mutton and cabbage; and, that if any sums were laid, he would forfeit his wager. When all parties were assembled, Metcalf, out of joke, proposed to his adversary to club for all the articles, and treat the company; but this he positively refused, alledging that he had collected his friends for the purpose of seeing the matchplayed. On this, Metcalf called to the landlord for a fiddle, and playing on it for a little while, was asked by the farmer what he meant: “To enable you,” said he, “to tell your children, that when you played with a blind man, youplayed to some tune!” They then went into a large room, and were followed by a crowd of people, amongst whom were two Justices of the Peace, and several clergymen. The game now began, and Metcalf won the two first; his adversary got the third, and pulling out his purse, offered to lay five guineas on the rubber: this was a tickling offer to Metcalf, but having resolved against playing for money, he made shift to overcome the temptation. Metcalf won the next game; and, of course, the rubber. On this the farmer laid a large sum on the table, and offered to play for the amount; but Metcalf would only play for liquor, for the good of the company. The farmer agreeing, they began again, and Metcalf presently won two games, when a gentleman present shewed a great desire to play with him for money,but in vain; so winning this rubber also, he saddled his antagonist with the whole score, and not satisfied with the triumph already gained, began to banter him sorely on hischildishmanner of playing, and telling him, that when the road work should cease for the Christmas holidays, he would come to his house, and teach him to play like aman.
The quantity of liquor yet to come in being large, detained many of the company until five in the morning; and Warburton, who had got pretty drunk, by way of comfort, declared before parting, that of twenty-two fine cows, he would rather have lost the best, than have been beaten so publicly.
Metcalf apprehending that he might now be solicited by many to engage in play, and considering the importance of his other engagements, called aside Mr. Rolle, the surveyor of the road, and begged of him to give sixpence, upon condition of receiving five pounds, if he (Metcalf) should play any more at cards for eighteen months, the time allotted to finish the road. Mr. Rolle approvinghighly of this, they returned to the company, and Metcalf making the proposal, received the surveyor’s sixpence publicly; and thus put an end to all further importunity.
Here Metcalf finds it his duty to suspend, for a while, his road-making narrative, to introduce, for the last time, the mention of the much-loved Partner of his cares, whom he had brought into Cheshire, and left at Stockport, that she might avail herself of the medical advice of a person there, famed for the cure of rheumatic complaints, of which description her’s was thought to be:—But human aid proving ineffectual, she there died, in the summer 1778, after thirty-nine years of conjugal felicity, which was never interrupted but by her illness or his occasional absence.
In his treatment of her, Metcalf never lost sight of the original distinction in their circumstances, always indulging her to the utmost that his own would allow; but she had no unreasonable desires to gratify. She died in the sixty-first year of her age, leaving four children; and was buried in Stockport church-yard.
In 1781 the road between Wetherby and Knaresborough was let.—He undertook that part which led through Ribston and Kirk-Deighten, till it joined the great North road, leading from Boroughbridge to Wetherby; and also built two toll-houses upon the road; and received about three hundred and eighty pounds.
Metcalf had a daughter married in Cheshire, to a person in the stocking business. The manufacturers in this line, in the neighbourhood of Stockport, talked of getting loads of money; and Metcalf thought that he would have a portion of it also: he accordingly got six jennies and a carding engine made, with other utensils proper for the business; bought a quantity of cotton, and spun yarn for sale, as several others did in the country. But it cost him much trouble and expence, before he got all his utensils fixed: the speculation, likewise failed; and a time came when no yarn could be sold without loss. Then Metcalf got looms, and other implements proper for weaving calicoes, jeans, and velverets:—for having made the cotton business an objectof particular attention, he was become very well acquainted with the various branches of it. He got a quantity of calicoes whitened and printed, his velverets cut, dyed, &c. and having spun up all his cotton, he set off with about eight hundred yards of finished goods, intending to sell them in Yorkshire, which he did at Knaresborough and in the neighbourhood; and his son-in-law was to employ his jennies until he came back. On his return, coming to Marsden near Huddersfield, where he had made a road some years before, he found that there was to be a meeting, to let the making of a mile and an half of road, and the building of a bridge over; the river that runs by the town, so as to leave the former road, in order to avoid the steepness of a hill. At the persuasion of some of his friends, he staid till the meeting, and agreed with the trustees. The bridge was to be twelve yards in the span, and nine yards in breadth. These too he completed, and received a thousand pounds; but the season being wet, and the ground over which he had to bring his materials very swampy, and at a distance from the road, he lost considerably by it.
In 1789 he was informed that there was a great quantity of road to be let in Lancashire: he accordingly went, and took a part between Bury and Eslington, and another part from Eslington to Ackrington; as also a branch from that to Blackburn. There were such hollows to fill, and hills to be taken down, to form the level, as was never done before: in several of the hollows the walls were ten yards high, before the battlements were put on the top. He had two summers allowed to finish this work in; but the trade in Lancashire being brisk, made wages very high, and the navigation at that time cutting through the country so employed the men, that it was a very difficult matter to procure a sufficiency of hands. The first summer the rains were so perpetual, that he lost about two hundred pounds; but in the next he completed the whole work, and received by the hands of Mr. Carr of Blackburn three thousand five hundred pounds; and, after all, was forty pounds loser by it.
In the year 1792 he returned into Yorkshire; and having no engagement to employhis attention, he bought hay to sell again, measuring the stacks with his arms; and having learnt the height, he could readily tell what number of square yards were contained, from five to one hundred pounds value. Sometimes he bought a little wood standing; and if he could get the girth and height, would calculate the solid contents.
From that period he has settled on a small holding at Spofforth, near Wetherby; and his house is kept by a daughter and son-in-law.
At Christmas, 1794, he paid a visit to the present Colonel Thornton, and his mother, at Thornville-Royal; and the reception he met with was such as fully reminded him of former days at Old Thornville, where he had spent many Christmasses. The truly respectable Relict, and the worthy Representative, of his late Commander, always receive Blind Jack with a condescending affability, highly flattering to one in his humble station.
Having known the streets of York very accurately in the earlier part of his life, he determined, on the commencement of the last year, to visit once more that ancient city,where he had not been for the space of thirty-two years: He found alterations for the better in Spurriergate, Blakestreet, the Pavement, &c. and being now in the neighbourhood of Middlethorp, where he had, in the year 1735, spent a half-year so happily, he resolved to have anotherlookat it, in the possession of its present worthy master. From Mr. Barlow’s house there is a road which leads to Bishopthorpe; and this road he clearly recollected, though sixty years had elapsed since he had gone that way before: so retentive was his memory on this occasion, that he discovered an alteration in the hanging of two gates by a wall-side near the above mansion. At Mr. Barlow’s he staid several nights, which, he scarcely need add, were spent most agreeably, he endeavouring to make his fiddle speak the satisfaction and hilarity felt by its owner. Returning to York, he spent a few nights at the house of another friend; and setting out on the 10th of January, 1795, he walked to Green Hammerton, in his way to Thornville-Royal, in about three hours and an half, beingten miles; proceeded to Thornville that night, and to Knaresborough next morning the 10th, which being the birth-day of Sir Thomas Slingsby’s eldest son, and which was kept with the utmost festivity, he resolved to spend at the worthy Baronet’s. Here he closed the festive season of Christmas, after a tour of some weeks amongst his friends;—to whom, in particular, he submits, with the utmost deference, this imperfect Sketch of a LIFE, with which only can terminate his grateful remembrance of their numerous favours.
FINIS.
Transcriber’s Notes.1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.3. For clarity the l. s. d. currency symbols have beenitalicised.
Transcriber’s Notes.
1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.
2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
3. For clarity the l. s. d. currency symbols have beenitalicised.