Contents of the fikst volume

modo.
IN SALFORD HVNDRETO.

Rex Edwardus tenuit SALFOHD. Ibi in hidaa et xn carucatae terrae wastae, et foresta HI leuuis longa, et

tantundem lata, et ibi plures haise et aira accipitris.

RADECLIUE tenebat rex Edwardus pro Manerio. Ibi I hida et alia hida pertinens ad Salford.
Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae et ecclesia Sancti Michaelis tenebant in Mamecestre unam carucatam terrae,

quietam ab omni consuetudine prater geldum.

Ad hoc Manerium uel HUNDRETUM pertinebant xxi bereuuichse, quas tenebant totidem taini pro totidem

Maneriis, in quibus erant xi hidae et dimidia, et x carucatae terrae et dimidia.

Silua ibi IX leuuis et dimidia longa, et V leuuis et una quarentena lata.
Vnus eorum Gamel, tenens n hidas in Recedham, 1 habebat suas consuetudines quietas, praeter vi has,

furtum, heinfare, forestel, pacem regis infractam, terminum fractum a praeposito stabilitum, pugnam post

sacramentum factum remanentem. Ha2c emendabat XL solidis. Aliquae harum terrai-um erant quiete ab

omni consuetudine praeter geldum, et aliquotaa a geldo sunt quietas.

Totum Manerium SALFORD CUM HUNDRETO reddebat xxxvn libras et nil solidos. Modo sunt in

Manerio in dominio II carucatae, et VIII serui, et II uillani cum I carucata. Valeto c solidos hoc dominium.

1 Rochdale.

BOOK I. CHAP. III.]

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY.

57

De hac terra hujus Manerii tenent milites dono Rogeri Pictauiensis, Nigellus in hidas et dimidiam caru-

catam terra, Warinus II carucatas terrae, et alter Warinus i carucatam et dimidiam, Goiffridus i carucatam

terra?, Gamel n carueatas terrae. In his sunt in taini et xxx uillani, et IX bordarii, et presbyter, et X

serui. Inter omnes habent xxn carucatas. Valet vn libras.

IN LAILAND HUNDRETO.
Rex Edwardus tenuit LAILAND. Ibi I hida et n carucatse terrse. Silua n leuuis longa, et una lata, et

aira accipitris.

Ad hoc Manerium pertinebant xir carucatas terras, quas tenebant xn homines liberi pro totidem Maneriis.

In his vi hidae et vm carucatse terras.

Silua ibi vi leuuis longa et in leuuis et una quarentena lata.
Homines huius Manerii et de Salford non operabantur per consuetudinem ad aulam regis, neque mete-

bant in Augusto. Tantummodo I haiam in silva faciebant, et habebant sanguinis forisfacturum, et fosminae

passse violentiam.
De aliis consuetudinibus aliorum superiorum Manerioram erant consortes.
Totum Manerium Lailand cum HUNDRETO reddebat de firma regi xix libras et xvm solidos et II

denarios.

De hac terra huius Manerii tenet Girardus hidam et dimidiam, Robertas in carucatas terrse, Radulfus

II carucatas terras, Rogerius n carucatas terrse, Walterus I carucatam terras. Ibi sunt mi radmans, presbyter,

et xmi uillani et vi bordarii et n bovarii. Inter omnes habent vm carucatas. Silua in leuuis longa et n

leuuis lata, et ibi mi airse accipitrum. Valet totum L solidos. Et parta est Wasta.

Rex Edwardus tenuit PENEVERDANT. Ibi n carucatas terrae, et reddebant x denarios. Modo est ibi

castellum, et n carucatas sunt in dominio, et vi burgenses et in radmans et vm uillani et nil bouarii.

Inter omnes habent mi carucatas. Ibi dimidia piscaria. Silva et airae accipitrum, sicut tempore Regis

Edwardi. Valet in libras.

In his vi HUNDRETIS, Derbie, Neutone, Walintune, Blacheburne, Salford, et Lailand, sunt c quater xx

et octo Manerii. In quibus sunt quater XX hidas geldabiles, una minus.

Tempore Regis Edwardi ualebant CXLV libras et n solidos et n denarios.
Quando Rogerius Pictauensis de Rege recepit, valebat cxx libras. Modo tenet Rex, et habet in dominio

XII carucatas et IX milites feudum tenentes. Inter eos et eorum homines sunt CXV carucatas et ill boues.

Dominium quod tenuit Rogerius appreciatur xxm libris et x solidis. Quod dedit militibus, xx libris et xi

solidis appreciatur.

It is not easy to treat with distinctness of the origin and ramifications of property in

Blackburn hundred otherwise than by connecting it with the rest of the county of Lancas-

ter, which lies south of Ribble. At the period of the Domesday Survey, [finished A.D.

1086,] this extensive and most fertile part of the present county belonged to none, but was

separately surveyed under the title of the country Inter Hipam et Mersham.
In the time of King Edward, the whole of this district was the property of the Crown.

It had been granted soon after the Conquest (a vast donation) to Roger of Poitou : at the

time of Domesday, with the exception of the grants made by Roger, it had been taken in

exchange or resumed by the Conqueror, and, excepting certain knight's fees previously

granted by him, it remained in the Crown.
This Survey has many peculiarities and many difficulties. Among them one of the
VOL. I. I

58 HISTORY OF WHALLEY. [BOOK I. CHAP. IIL

most remarkable is the use of the word Hide, which, in every other instance with which I

am acquainted, is commensurate with carucate : yet in the Hundred of Derby, and I think

evidently in the rest of the district, "In unaquaque hida sunt sex carucatse terrse."

Another general distinction appears to be that where hides and carucates are mentioned

under the same manor, the latter appears to denote (and especially when combined with

the word " terrse,") land actually or anciently under the plough : I add " anciently," for

there are " carucata3 terrse vastse." And when an hide is defined as consisting of six

carucates, it must be understood to mean as much land as, if thrown into cultivation,

would employ so many ploughs drawn by eight oxen, for such was the ancient Caruca.

The term Hide also excludes meadows, woods, and commons. It is therefore land fit for

the plough, but never actually cultivated : in other words, native pasture land, properly

so called.

It must also be observed that the measure of woodland in every hundred, however the

woods might be dispersed, is added together and reduced to square miles ; a mode which,

however compendious, is obviously very inaccurate.
The word Manor, in its more extended sense, denoted the whole hundred.
The hundred of West Darby (at what period I do not know) has swallowed up those

of Newton and "Warrington.

The hundred of West Darby had two churches, Walton and Childwall. That of

Newton had one church belonging to the hundred, and a separate endowment of Saint

Oswald, belonging to the town of Winwick ; but as the whole hundred extended over

Newton and Winwick alone, it is not probable that there was more than one place of

worship. The church of St. Elphin (a dedication now lost) at Warrington was the only

church of that hundred. Blackburn hundred had two churches, Whalley and Blackburn.

Salford had those of St. Mary and St. Michael in Manchester, with one endowment only ;

and Lailand had one Presbytery, whose particular situation, by the inaccuracy of the

surveyors, is not ascertained.
Of these Winwick had an endowment of three carucates ; Whalley of two ; (to each of

which [churches] was annexed the manor of the town) ; Walton, Manchester, and War-

rington, a carucate each ; Childwall, half a carucate ; Blackburn two oxgangs ; and of the

Presbyter of Leyland hundred, we know not what or where was his provision. 1

Such was the ecclesiastical establishment of South Lancashire, at the time of Domes-

day ; an establishment adequate to the slender population of that period, and under which

there was probably a greater proportion of ministers to people than at present, but

attended with this inconvenience, that many villages were at the distance of fifteen

or twenty miles from their parish church, and without the convenience of chapels, which,

in the great parishes, they enjoy at present. What increase in the number of parishes had

taken place in 1292, when Pope Nicholas's Valor was made, and to what number they have

been further augmented at present, will be noticed in its proper place.

1 Presbyters, in Domesday, are frequently mentioned without churches.

BOOK I. CHAP. TIL]

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY.

59

In the whole of this district (the " Terra inter Bipam et Mersham ") the Survey of

the hundred of West Derby alone, excluding those of Newton and "Warrington, which now

constitute parts of it, has the advantage of having its manors and vills enumerated by

name. In the other hundreds they are grouped together, unless where some peculiarity

of custom or tenure rendered it necessary to specify the places so differing from their

neighbours. In this and in all the other hundreds, however, within this insulated district,

the same method is pursued. It begins with the town from which the hundred (or manor,

in its most extended sense) received its denomination ; gives a particular survey of that

and its immediate dependencies or berewicks, specifying the measurement of wood and

forest within the same, separately, from the general measurement of similar grounds within

the rest of the hundred ; then enumerates the several vills and manors, with their respective

owners, customs, tenures, and rents, as they had existed under the Confessor ; and lastly

recapitulates the same as then subsisting under the great change of property occasioned by

the Conquest. There were under King Edward sixty-seven vills or manors (I presume

that every vill was at least a manor, though some are divided into two, three, or four

manors), subject to the geld.

The grantees of Eoger of Poitou held of these 8 hides (each hide consisting of 6

carucates,) and 3 carucates. These several persons held in demesne 4 carucates, besides

which there were on the rest of their estates 46 villans, 1 radman, 62 bordarii, 8 slaves,

and 2 female slaves. On the part not granted out by Roger there were 3 carucates in

demesne, besides which the rest of the estate was occupied by 6 bovarii or herdsmen, 1

radman, and 7 villans.

The whole of the land included under hides and carucates when reduced to carucates

amounts to 85^, and, as even slaves male and female are enumerated, it may be inferred

that the whole population is stated, viz. 136 families ; a number very inadequate either to

the cultivation of the ground, or to the consumption of its produce. The whole, con-

sisting of at least 8,500 acres, was estimated at 161. 12*. which, supposing money to be

100 times its present value, amounts to no more than 1,660Z. or little more than 4s. per

acre; a mere quit-rent, which proves how advantageous was then the condition of a

tenant.
The customs of these manors, which extended, with little variation, over the other

hundreds within the district, will be explained here. Under the old Saxon government

the Thanes or Mesne Lords of the highest order paid two orse or thirty-two pence for

every carucate; and they were equally bound with the villains to repair the King's

houses and fish-ponds, and in the forests the haise (hedges or ditches by which they were

surrounded), and the buckstalls. For neglecting the performance of these services each

defaulter paid two shillings, and was bound after payment of the penalty to finish the

work. Each of these also was bound to send his reapers to cut the King's corn one day in

August.
With respect to the penal code if any freeman committed theft, or was guilty ot

forestalling, enticing away a slave, or breaking the King's peace, he incurred a penalty of
12

60 HISTORY OF WHALLEY. [BOOK I. CHAP. III.

forty shillings. It was a crude system of jurisprudence which classed together felonies

and breaches of the peace ; but the heavy penalty upon the last offence, equal at least to

2001. at present, proves our Saxon ancestors to have been a very turbulent and refractory

race. In the next place, if any one committed rape or manslaughter, or absented himself

from the Siremot, that is, the general assembly of the county, without reasonable excuse,

he incurred a penalty of ten shillings. As this district belonged to no county, it may be

doubted where the Siremot was held ; but the next article plainly distinguishes the

hundred court. If any man stayed away from the assembly of the hundred, and did not

attend the pleas of the same when summoned by the prsepositus, or chief constable, he

forfeited five shillings. If when the chief constable summoned anyone to assist him in the

discharge of his office such person refused, the penalty was four shillings. If anyone

wished to leave the King's lands and. inhabit elsewhere he paid forty shillings, and

migrated whither he would. Everyone paid a relief of forty shillings for entering upon

his father's land after his decease. Strange as it may seem there appears, to have been

no difference in this respect between the smallest and the largest estates. Besides these

are mentioned three distinct obligations, the breach of each of which incurred a penalty

of forty shillings : 1st. " Pugna, qua? post sacramentum factum remanebat," by which, I

suppose, is meant a breach of the peace after having entered into recognizances to keep

it. 2ndly, "Si constrictus justitia pra3positi alicui debitum solvebat," which seems to

mean, if a man paid any private debt after his goods had been pledged to the praepositus

for a sum due to the hundred. And, 3rdly, " Si terminum a praeposito datum non atten-

debat," i. e. if, having been bound by the same to attend on a certain day, he did not

appear.
Such were the laws and customs of South Lancashire before the Conquest.
NEWTON HUNDRET.
Whether it were that the remaining hundreds of this district were surveyed by less

able and accurate commissioners, or from whatever cause, there is, henceforth, no distinct

enumeration of vills and manors as in West Derby. The first peculiarity under Newton

hundred is that there was a church belonging to the whole hundred, as well as the church

of St. Oswald belonging to the town of Winwick, if indeed these were not different parts

of the same church. Each, however, had a distinct endowment. The quantity of wood

or forest land in this hundred (an area of more that sixty square miles) is remarkable.

The customs, excepting that the freeholders received pannage of hogs (a valuable payment

where there were so many woods) varied little from those of the neighbouring hundred.

The number of free men under King Edward is not enumerated ; but there were fifteen

drenghes, who held as many manors. At the time of the Survey the cultivated land was

reduced from at least 22 to 9 carucates ; and, in consequence, from a rent of 101. 10*. to

4J. At that period it was possessed by six drenghs, 12 villans, and 4 bordarii. Of these

the drenghs appear to have been military vassals of the next inferior order to thanes : the

BOOK I. CHAP. III.]

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY.

61

villans were evidently freemen, who held by rustic services. The bordarii, who were the

lowest rank of landowners, appear to have been such as held cottages and small portions

of ground by the service of cultivating the bord or demesne lands of the mesne lord, or

who made their payments in kind for the use of his table.

WALINTUNE (now WARRINGTON) HTJNDRET.
Walintune itself consisted of one hide, and had three dependent berewicks ; but to

the hundred itself appertained 34 manors, consisting of 1^ hide and 42 carucates. St.

Elfin, the church of the hundred, had the usual endowment of one carucate.
This appears to have been a cultivated tract, as there is no return of wood-land.

Here is, unfortunately, no distinct account of the population subordinate to the drenghs,

or mesne lords, excepting that there were seven homines, who held a large tract of land

within the same. The word homines appears to be studiously opposed to liberi homines,

who embrace the taini, the villani (as the word is used in its ancient and proper sense),

and the bordarii ; and therefore appears to mean those who, in later times, were called

villans, or held lands in villanage. But the feudal senses of the word homo are so various

that it is not easy to ascertain the precise meaning of it in this and similar passages of

Domesday.
The hundred of "Warrington appears to have been depreciated more than one-half

since the time of the Confessor.

IN BLACHEBTJRN HUNDRET.

It appears that at the original institution of hundreds Blackburn was become a con-

siderable place, otherwise it would not have superseded Whalley in giving denomination

to the wapentake. This preference, however, may have been occasioned as much by the

extent of the township as the populousness of the town, as there were within the place two

hides and two carucates of land. Two oxgangs (the only instance in which that fractional

measure is mentioned in this Survey,) are specified as the glebe of the church, and 46 acres

are the extent of the glebe at present. Yet I would not infer that an oxgang amounted

to 23 acres (as Mr. Whitaker has perhaps somewhat too hastily concluded with respect to

Kirkmanshulme, the ancient carucate belonging to the church of Manchester, that, because

it now consists of 246 statute acres, that was precisely the extent of the carucate). Both

the one and the other have probably been extended by inclosures ; for there was no town-

ship without common, and no common which has not, either wholly or in part, been

inclosed. The church of Whalley held its two carucates free from every custom, even

from geld, which, besides itself, was the privilege of Winwick only. This hundred, south

of Bibble, (for the parishes of Bibchester and Chipping then belonged to Amunderness,)

consists of about 300 square miles : of these 25 miles are returned as covered by wood.

2 HISTORY OF WHALLEY. [BOOK I. CHAP. III.

The forests, which are wholly unnoticed, occupied at least sixty more. If we continue to

understand the hide as consisting of six carucates, 1 and average every carucate at 100

acres Lancashire measure, there was, in corn-land and pasture, 9,150 acres, or nearly 20

square miles : there remain, therefore, little less than two-thirds of the whole extent for

wastes and commons appropriated to the several townships or manors. Of these King

Edward held in demesne Blackhurne, Huncot, Walton, and Pendleton, which are therefore

specifically mentioned in the Survey. But besides these, by that unhappy inattention

which mocks curiosity and baffles inquiry, throughout the survey of every hundred within

this district, excepting Derbei, 28 manors, without name or designation, are generally men-

tioned as having been held, under the former sera, by as many freemen. Neither will this

general enumeration give the number of villages or townships, at the time of the Survey,

since we are left in uncertainty whether, as in Derbei, single vills might not contain more

manors than one. The whole of this hundred, however, had been given to Roger de Busli

and Albert Greslet, who at the time of the Survey had re-granted, to certain " homines,"

eleven caracates and an half, which were not charged, as the grantors had acquitted them

of all burdens for the term of three years. And here again, by the same inattention which

marks almost every feature of the Survey as it relates to Blackburn hundred, no return

whatever is made of the part which these grantees retained, amounting to eight-ninths

of the whole, as to the mode of occupation, the value, or any other circumstance.
IN SALPOBD HTJNDRET.
In the manor of Salford, which denominated the hundred, were three hides and

12 carucates of land. Radcliff alone had been the immediate property of King Edward :

over the rest of the hundred, as over the whole of this district, he was only lord para-

mount.
In Manchester were two churches, respectively dedicated to St. Mary and St. Michael,

holding one carucate between them (we are not told whether in common), liable to the

geld only. In this hundred were somewhat more than 45 miles of native wood. To this

hundred, also, in King Edward's time, appertained 21 berewicks, held each by a Saxon

thane, for so many manors. They consisted of 11^ hides and 10 carucates ; or, according

to the account given of the hide in Derbei hundred, about 700 acres each. One of these

thanes, named Gamel, who held two hides in Recedham (certainly Rochdale) had certain

peculiarities in his customs which have been already explained. Nothing is said of the

castle, which, as it gave denomination to Castleton, must have existed before this time,

but was now probably in decay ; yet seems to have been afterwards restored, as the

burgesses of a decayed castle here are mentioned as late as the reign of Edward II. The

quantity of land held by Gamel will, I think, warrant the conclusion, that he was thane of

the four townships into which that parish is divided.

1 See under Derbei Hundred.

BOOK I. CHAP. III.]

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY.

63

At the time of Domesday a great revolution had taken place in the state of property

here. There remained in demesne two carucates, cultivated by eight slaves and two

villans, who occupied one carucate between them.
Of the rest of the hundred Roger of Poitou had already granted out, to be held by

military service, to one Nigel (qu. De Greslet ?) three hides and half a carucate ; to "Warm,

two carucates ; another Warm, 1^ carucate ; Goiffrid, one carucate (all Norman names) ;

and to Gamel, perhaps the old lord of Recedham, two carucates. These were occupied by

three thanes, 39 villans, eight bordarii, one presbyter, and eight slaves, holding in all 22

carucates. Here let it be observed that three hides and seven carucates are described as

equal to 22 carucates ; therefore, the hide, here, consisted of five carucates ; the demesne

consisted of three carucates. But this is far from accounting for the quantity of land

enumerated above, which amounts, at the same rate, to 93 carucates : this will be explained

by the difference in the rental. Under King Edward the hundred of Salford yielded

2TL 4s. At the time of the Survey it was reduced (undoubtedly by depopulation and

neglect) to 121.

It is very difficult to conceive the statement here given of the inhabitants to be meant

of the entire population ; yet how can any enumeration descend lower than slaves ? and

even comprehending these, only 63 families are accounted for in the hundred of Salford ;

and how should these consume the produce of 2,500 acres ; or how indeed cultivate the