A history of the area from pre-Roman times including chapters on the geology, Roger of Poitou, the Lords of the Manors, the sporting rights, the thirty townships, the church, pioneers in education, the Court Leet records, the Civil War and the siege of Manchester, non-conformity, trade, the Manchester Jacobites and the 'Fifteen', the 'Forty-Five', communication, the Reform Bill, the Old Halls, and the Great War.