EDITORIAL NOTE

The present volume is the second to be published as a product of the partnership between the Cheshire County Council and the University of London Institute of Historical Research. The history and nature of that partnership, begun in 1971, are outlined in the editorial note to Volume Two of the Cheshire History, which was published in 1978. The University again records its deep appreciation of the generosity both of the County Council and of the Leverhulme Trust, which has continued to make substantial grants towards the cost of compiling the Cheshire History. Warm thanks are also offered to the University of Liverpool for its continuing support of the History, particularly in making available for the editorial staff a room in the History Department at Liverpool.

Many people have helped in the course of the compilation of this volume. Some of them, notably the headmasters of schools whose history is recorded below, are named in the footnotes to the articles with which they were concerned or in the preamble to the list of illustrations. They are all most cordially thanked, as are also those who kindly gave access to buildings. Among those who made documentary material available a particular debt of gratitude is acknowledged to the Revd. Canon K. R. Maltby, for access to diocesan material, and, as with the preceding volume, to Mr. B. C. Redwood, the Cheshire County Archivist, to Miss A. M. Kennett, the Chester City Archivist, and to their respective staff; among the much-used material in Miss Kennett's care is the Thomas Hughes Collection belonging to the Chester Archaeological Society, whose permission to consult their documents is gratefully recorded. It is a pleasure also to thank Mrs. Anne McLoughlin for help in running the Cheshire V.C.H. office and, once again, Professor A. R. Myers of the University of Liverpool for his wide-ranging support and encouragement.

The structure and aims of the Victoria History as a whole are outlined in the General Introduction published in 1970.