Thanks Theo, putting the 700 years together with the Chinese origins got me to thinking it must be something to do with the black death - though I was confused by it having arrived in Dorset - though of course South West England was far more sparsely populated. Also many had been abandoned because the so called 'Medieval warm period`had come to a dramatic end by the end of the 13th Century and the first two decades of the 14th Century were a period of rapid cooling, non existing summers, and consequent failed harvests. After that one a quickie.
Which football stadium is closest to the river Mersey ?