Before reaching Runcorn, we stopped to land some passengers at another
little port, where there was a pier and a lighthouse, and a church within
a few yards of the river-side,--a good many of the river-craft, too, in
dock, forming quite a crowd of masts. About ten minutes' further
steaming brought us to Runcorn, where were two or three tall
manufacturing chimneys, with a pennant of black smoke from each; two
vessels of considerable size on the stocks; a church or two; and a
meagre, uninteresting, shabby, brick-built town, rising from the edge of
the river, with irregular streets,--not village-like, but paved, and
looking like a dwarfed, stunted city. I wandered through it till I came
to a tall, high-pedestalled windmill on the outer verge, the vans of
which were going briskly round. Thence retracing my steps, I stopped at
a poor hotel, and took lunch, and, finding that I was in time to take the
steamer back, I hurried on board, and we set sail (or steam) before
three. I have heard of an old castle at Runcorn, but could discover
nothing of it. It was well that I returned so promptly, for we had
hardly left the pier before it began to rain, and there was a heavy
downfall throughout the voyage homeward.
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