THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO JAMES THE FIRST.
When the battle of Hastings, in 1066, had terminated in favour of William
the Conqueror, and placed him on the throne of England, he indulged his
newly acquired power in many acts of tyranny towards the vanquished
nation, subjecting the old nobility to frequent indignities, weakening
the sway of the Church, and impoverishing the middle and lower classes of
the community. This harsh policy spread dissatisfaction and indignation
through all ranks of the people, and it was not long before rebellion
broke out in the old province of Northumbria. The Lancastrians and
others, under the earls Morcar and Edwin, rose up in revolt, slew the
Norman Baron set over them, and were only reduced to order and submission
when William appeared on the scene at the head of an overwhelming
force. The two earls escaped across the frontier to Scotland, and for
some inexplicable reason were permitted to retain their possessions in
Lancashire and elsewhere, while the common insurgents were afterwards
treated with great severity and cruelty by their Norman rulers. Numerous
castles were now erected in the north of England to hold the Saxons in
subjection, and guard against similar outbreaks in future. Those at
Lancaster and Liverpool were built by a Norman Baron of high position,
named Roger de Poictou, the third son of Robert de Montgomery, earl of
Arundel and Shrewsbury. When William divided the conquered territory
amongst his followers, the Honor[15] of Lancaster and the Hundred of
Amounderness fell, amongst other gifts, amounting in all to three hundred
and ninety-eight manors,[16] to that nobleman, and, as he resided during
a large portion of his time at the castle erected on the banks of the
Lune, our district would receive a greater share of attention than his
more distant possessions.
After the country had been restored to peace, William determined to
institute an inquiry into the condition and resources of his kingdom.
The records of the survey were afterwards bound up in two volumes, which
received the name of the Domesday Book, from _Dome_, a census, and _Boc_,
a book.
The king’s commands to the investigators were, according to the Saxon
Chronicle, to ascertain—“How many hundreds of hydes were in each shire,
what lands the king himself had, and what stock there was upon the land;
or what dues he ought to have by the year from each shire. Also he
commissioned them to record in writing, how much land his archbishops had
and his diocesan bishops, and his abbots and his earls; what or how much
each man had, who was an occupier of land in England, either in land or
stock, and how much money it was worth. So very narrowly, indeed, did he
commission them to trace it out, that there was not one single hide, nor
a yard of land; nay, moreover (it is shameful to tell, though he thought
it no shame to do it), not even an ox, nor a cow, nor a swine, was there
left that was not set down in his writ.” The examination was commenced
in 1080, and six years afterwards the whole of the laborious task was
accomplished. In this compilation the county of Lancaster is never once
mentioned by name, but the northern portion is joined to the Yorkshire
survey, and the southern to that of Cheshire.
The following is a translation of that part of Domesday Book relating to
the Fylde:—
AGEMUNDERNESSE UNDER EVRVIC—SCIRE (YORKSHIRE).
_Poltun_ (Poulton), two carucates;[17] _Rushale_ (Rossall), two
carucates; _Brune_ (Burn), two carucates; _Torentun_ (Thornton),
six carucates; _Carlentun_ (Carleton), four carucates; _Meretun_
(Marton), six carucates; _Staininghe_ (Staining), six carucates.
_Biscopham_ (Bispham), eight carucates; _Latun_ (Layton), six
carucates.
_Chicheham_ (Kirkham), four carucates; _Salewic_ (Salwick),
one carucate; _Cliftun_ (Clifton), two carucates; _Newtune_
(Newton-with-Scales), two carucates; _Frecheltune_ (Freckleton),
four carucates; _Rigbi_ (Ribby-with-Wray), six carucates;
_Treueles_ (Treales), two carucates; _Westbi_ (Westby), two
carucates; _Pluntun_ (Plumptons), two carucates; _Widetun_
(Weeton), three carucates; _Pres_ (Preese), two carucates;
_Midehope_ (Mythorp), one carucate; _Wartun_ (Warton), four
carucates; _Singletun_ (Singleton), six carucates; _Greneholf_
(Greenhalgh), three carucates; _Hameltune_ (Hambleton), two
carucates.
_Lidun_ (Lytham), two carucates.
_Michelescherche_ (St. Michael’s-on-Wyre), one carucate;
_Pluntun_ (Wood Plumpton) five carucates; _Rodecliff_ (Upper
Rawcliffe), two carucates; _Rodecliff_ (Middle Rawcliffe), two
carucates; a third _Rodecliff_ (Out Rawcliffe), three carucates;
_Eglestun_ (Ecclestons), two carucates; _Edeleswic_ (Elswick),
three carucates; _Inscip_ (Inskip), two carucates; _Sorbi_
(Sowerby), one carucate.
All these vills belong to _Prestune_ (Preston); and there are
three churches (in Amounderness). In sixteen of these vills[18]
there are but few inhabitants—but how many there are is not known.
The rest are waste. _Roger de Poictou_ had [the whole].
When we read the concluding remark—“The rest are waste,” and observe the
insignificant proportion of the many thousands of acres comprised in the
Fylde at that time under cultivation, we are made forcibly cognizant of
the truly deplorable condition to which the district had been reduced by
ever-recurring warfare through a long succession of years. There is no
guide to the number of the inhabitants, excepting, perhaps, the existence
of only three churches in the whole Hundred of Amounderness, and this
can scarcely be admitted as certain evidence of the paucity of the
population, as in the harassed and unsettled state in which they lived it
is not very probable that the people would be much concerned about the
public observances of religious ceremonials or services. The churches
alluded to were situated at Preston, Kirkham, and St. Michael’s-on-Wyre.
The parish church at Poulton was the next one erected, and appears to
have been standing less than ten years after the completion of the
Survey, for Roger de Poictou, when he founded the priory of St. Mary,
Lancaster, in 1094, endowed it with—“Pulton in Agmundernesia, and
whatsoever belonged to it, and the _church_, with one carucate of land,
and all other things belonging to it.”[19] The terminal paragraph of the
foundation-charter of the monastery states that Geoffrey, the sheriff,
having heard of the liberal grants of Roger de Poictou, also bestowed
upon it—“the tithes of Biscopham, whatever he had in Lancaster, some
houses, and an orchard.” It is difficult to determine whether a church
existed in the township of Bispham at that date or not, but as no such
edifice is included in the above list of benefactions, we are inclined
to believe that it was not erected until later. The earliest mention
of it occurs in the reign of Richard I., 1189 to 1199, when Theobald
Walter quitclaimed to the abbot of Sees “all his right in the advowson of
Pulton, with the _church of Biscopham_.”[20]
The rebellious and ungrateful conduct of Roger de Poictou ultimately led
to his banishment out of the country, and the forfeiture of the whole
of his extensive possessions to the crown. The Hundred of Amounderness
was conveyed by the King on the 22nd of April, 1194, being the fifth
year of his reign, to Theobald Walter, the son of Hervens, a Norman who
had accompanied the Conqueror. “Be it known,” says the document, “that
we give and confirm to Theobald Walter the whole of Amounderness with
its appurtenances by the service of three Knights’ fees, namely, all
the domain thereto belonging, all the services of the Knights who hold
of the fee of Amounderness by Knight’s service, all the service of the
Free-tenants of Amounderness, all the Forest of Amounderness, with all
the Venison, and all the Pleas of the Forest.” His rights “are to be
freely and quietly allowed,” continues the deed, “in wood and plain, in
meadows and pastures, in highways and footpaths, in waters and mills, in
mill-ponds, in fish-ponds and fishings, in peat-lands, moors and marshes,
in wreck of the sea, in fairs and markets, in advowsons and chapelries,
and in all liberties and free customs.” Amongst the barons of Lancashire
given in the MSS. of Percival is—“Theobald Walter, baron of Weeton and
Amounderness,” but, as Weeton never existed as a barony, it is clear that
the former title is an error. The “Black Book of the Exchequer,” the
oldest record after the “Domesday Book,” has entered in it the tenants
and fees _de veteri feoffamento_[21] and _de novo feoffamento_,[22] and
amongst others is a statement that Theobald Walter held Amounderness by
the service of one Knight, thus the later charter, just quoted, must be
regarded as a confirmation of a previous grant, and not as an original
donation. He was an extensive founder of monastic houses, and amongst
the abbeys established by him was that of Cockersand, which he endowed
with the whole Hay of Pylin (Pilling) in Amounderness. He was appointed
sheriff of the county of Lancaster by Richard I. in 1194, and retained
the office until the death of that monarch five years afterwards. His
son, Theobald, married Maud, sister to the celebrated Thomas à Becket,
archbishop of Canterbury, and assumed the title of his office when
created _Chief Butler_ of Ireland. The family of the same name which
inhabited Rawcliffe Hall until that property was confiscated through
the treasonable part played by Henry Butler and his son Richard in the
rebellion of 1715, was directly descended from Theobald Walter-Butler.
The Butlers of Kirkland, the last of whom, Alexander Butler, died in
1811, and was succeeded by a great-nephew, were also representatives of
the ancient race of Walter, and preserved the line unbroken. Theobald
Walter, the elder, died in 1206, and Amounderness reverted to the crown.
Richard I. a few years before his death presented the Honor of Lancaster
to his brother, the earl of Moreton, who subsequently became King John,
and it is asserted that this nobleman, when residing at the castle of
Lancaster, was occasionally a guest at Staining Hall, and that during
one of his visits he so admired the strength and skill displayed
by a person called Geoffrey, and surnamed the Crossbowman, that he
induced him to join his retinue. How far truth has been embellished
and disguised by fiction in this traditional statement we are unable
to conjecture, but there are reasonable grounds for believing that the
story is not entirely supposititious, for the earl of Moreton granted to
Geoffrey l’Arbalistrier, or the Crossbowman, who is said to have been
a younger brother of Theobald Walter, senior, six carucates of land in
Hackinsall-with-Preesall, and a little later, the manor of Hambleton,
most likely as rewards for military or other services rendered to that
nobleman. John, as earl of Moreton, appears to have gained the affection
and respect of the inhabitants of Lancashire by his liberal practices
during his long sojourns in their midst. He granted a charter to the
knights, thanes, and freeholders of the county, whereby they and their
heirs, without challenge or interference from him and his heirs, were
permitted to fell, sell, and give, at their pleasure, their forest woods,
without being subject to the forest regulations, and to hunt and take
hares, foxes, rabbits, and all kinds of wild beasts, excepting stags,
hinds, roebucks, and wild hogs, in all parts within his forests beyond
the desmesne hays of the county.[23] On ascending the throne, however,
he soon aroused the indignation of all sections of his subjects by his
meanness, pride, and utter inability to govern the kingdom. His indolent
habits excited the disgust of a nobility, whose regular custom was to
breakfast at five and dine at nine in the morning, as proclaimed by the
following popular Norman proverb:—
Lever à cinque, dîner à neuf,
Souper à cinque, coucher à neuf,
Fait vivre d’ans nonante et neuf.[24]
Eventually his evil actions and foolish threats so incensed the nation,
that the barons, headed by William, earl of Pembroke, compelled him, in
1215, to sign the Magna Charta, a code of laws embodying two important
principles—the general rights of the freemen, and the limitation of the
powers of both king and pope.
About that time it would have been almost, if not quite, impossible
to have decided or described what was the national language of the
country. The services at the churches were read in Latin, the aristocracy
indulged only in Norman-French, whilst the great mass of the people
spoke a language, usually denominated Saxon or English, but which had
been so mutilated and altered by additions from various sources that
the ancient “Settlers on the shores of the German Ocean” would scarcely
have recognized it as their native tongue. Each division of the kingdom
had its peculiar dialect, very much as now, and from the remarks of a
southern writer, named Trevisa, it must be inferred that the _patois_
of our own district, which he would include in the old province of
Northumbria,[25] was far from either elegant or musical. “Some,” he
says, “use strange gibbering, chattering, waffling, and grating; then the
Northumbre’s tongue is so sharp, flitting, floyting, and unshape, that we
Southron men may not understand that language.” Such a list of curious
and uncomplimentary epithets inclines us at first sight to doubt the
strict impartiality of their author, but when it is remembered that, in
spite of the greatly increased opportunities for education and facilities
for intercommunion amongst the different classes, the provincialisms of
some of our own peasantry would be utterly unintelligible to many of us
at the present day, we are constrained to admit that Trevisa may have had
just reason for his remarks.
In 1268 the Honor of Lancaster, the Wapentake of Amounderness, and the
manors of Preston, Ribby-with-Wray, and Singleton were given by Henry
III. to his son Edmund Crouchback, and in addition the king published
an edict forbidding the sheriffs of neighbouring counties to enter
themselves, or send, or permit their bailiffs to enter or interfere with
anything belonging to the Honor of Lancaster, or to the men of that
Honor, unless required to do so by his son. Edmund was also created
earl of Lancaster, and became the founder of that noble house, whose
possessions and power afterwards attained to such magnitude as to
place its representative, Henry IV., upon the throne, although nearer
descendants of his grandfather Edward III. were still living.
We have now arrived at the unsettled era, comprising the reigns of the
three Edwards and Richard II., and during the whole of the time these
monarchs wore the crown, a period of one hundred and twenty-six years,
the nation was engaged in continual wars—with the Welsh under Llewellyn,
the Scotch under Bruce and Wallace, and the French under Philip. The
reign of Richard II. was additionally agitated by the insurrection of Wat
Tyler. Looking at that long uninterrupted season of excitement, we cease
to wonder at the riotous and disorganized state into which society was
thrown. The rulers, whether local and subordinate, or those of a higher
grade, were too actively engaged in forwarding the efficiency of the
army, to devote much attention to the welfare and proper government of
the people. Crimes and disturbances were allowed to pass unpunished, and
evil-doers, being thus encouraged to prosecute their unlawful purposes,
carried their outrages to the very confines of open rebellion against
all power and order. It was not until such a dangerous climax had been
reached that a commission, consisting of the following judges, Peter de
Bradbate, Edmund Deyncourt, William de Vavasour, John de Island, and
Adam de Middleton, was appointed to deal summarily and severely with all
offenders in the counties of Lancaster and Westmoreland. During those
troublesome times Sir Adam Banastre and a number of others assaulted
Ralph de Truno, prior of Lancaster, and his train of attendants at
Poulton-le-Fylde, seized and carried him off to Thornton, where they
brutally ill-used and finally imprisoned him. An inquiry into the
disgraceful proceeding was instituted by order of Edward I., but the
result has not been preserved, at least no record of it has as yet been
discovered amongst any of the ancient documents concerning this county.
Leyland, who was antiquary to Henry VIII., alluding to the death of the
disorderly knight, says,—“Adam Banastre, a bachelar of Lancastershire,
moved ryot agayne Thomas of Lancaster by kraft of kynge Edward II., but
he was taken and behedid by the commandment of Thomas of Lancaster.”
The first part of the quotation has reference to a quarrel between the
earl of Lancaster and Sir Adam, who for his own aggrandizement and to
curry favour with the king, as well as to divert the attention of that
monarch from his own misdeeds, declared that Thomas of Lancaster wished
to interfere with the royal prerogative in the choice of ministers; and,
professedly, to punish such presumption he invaded the domains of that
nobleman. An encounter took place in the valley of the Ribble, not far
from Preston, in which the followers of Sir Adam were vanquished and put
to flight. Their leader secreted himself in a barn on his own lands, but,
being discovered by the soldiers of his opponent, was dragged forth and
beheaded with a sword. Subjoined is an account of a disturbance which
occurred at Kirkham during the same period, transcribed from the Vale
Royal[26] register:—“A narrative of proceedings in a dispute between
the abbot of Vale Royal, and Sir Will. de Clifton, knt., respecting the
tithes in the manor of Clifton and Westby, in the parish of Kirkham, A.D.
1337, in the time of Peter’s abbacy. The charges alleged against Sir
William state, that he had obtained twenty marks[27] due to the abbot;
had forcibly obstructed the rector in the gathering of tithes within the
manor of Clifton and Westby; seized his loaded wain, and brought ridicule
on his palfrey: that he had also burst, with his armed retainers, into
the parish church of Kirkham, and thereby deterred his clerks from the
performance of divine service; had prevented the parishioners from
resorting to the font for the rite of baptism; and that, having seized on
Thomas, the clerk of the abbot of Vale Royal, he had inflicted on him a
flagellation in the public streets of Preston. After a complaint, made to
the abbot of Westminster, a conservator of the rights and privileges of
the order to which Vale Royal belonged, Sir William confessed his fault
and threw himself on the mercy of the abbot of the Cheshire convent,
who contented himself, after receiving a compensation for his rector’s
losses, with an oath from the refractory knight, that he would in future
maintain and defend the privileges of the abbey, and would bind himself
in forty shillings to offer no further violence to the unfortunate
secretary of the abbot.”
During the reign of Edward III., Henry, earl of Lancaster, was created
duke of the county with the consent of the prelates and peers assembled
in parliament. This nobleman, whose pious and generous actions earned
for him the title of the “Good duke of Lancaster,” received a mandate
from the king during the war with France, when there were serious
apprehensions of an invasion by that nation, to arm all the lancers on
his estates, and to set a strict watch over the seacoasts of Lancashire.
These precautions, however, proved unnecessary, as the French made no
attempt to cross the channel. In his will, bearing the date 1361, (the
year of his death), Duke Henry bequeathed the Wappentakes or Hundreds of
Amounderness, Lonsdale, and Leyland, with other estates, to his daughter
Blanche, who had married John of Gaunt, the earl of Richmond and fourth
son of Edward III. John of Gaunt succeeded to the dukedom in right of his
wife.
“In the ‘Testa de Nevill’,” a register extending from 1274 to 1327, and
containing, amongst other matters, a list of the fees and serjeanties
holden of the king and the churches in his gift, it is stated under the
latter heading:—“St. Michael upon Wyre; the son of Count Salvata had
it by gift of the present king, and he says, that he is elected into a
bishoprick, and that the church is vacant, and worth 30 marks[28] per an.
Kyrkeham; King John gave two parts of it to Simon Blundel, on account of
his custody of the son and heir of Theobald Walter. Worth 80 marks[29]
per an.” In another part of these records it is named that Richard de
Frekelton held fees in chief in Freckleton, Newton, and Eccleston; Alan
de Singilton, in Singleton, Freckleton, Newton, and Elswick; and Adam de
Merton, in Marton; also that Fitz Richard held serjeanties in Singleton,
by serjeanty of Amounderness.
The earliest intimation of members being returned to represent our own
district, in conjunction with the other divisions of the county, is to
the parliament of Edward I., assembled in 1295, when Matthew de Redmand
and John de Ewyas were elected knights of the shire for Lancaster,
and in his report the sheriff adds—“There is no city in the county of
Lancaster.” The members of parliament in 1297 were Henricus de Kigheley
and Henricus le Botyler; in 1302 Willielmus de Clifton and Gilbertus de
Singleton; and in 1304 Willielmus de Clifton and Willielmus Banastre.
Henricus le Botyler, or Butler, belonged to the family of the Butlers
of Rawcliffe; Gilbertus de Singleton was probably connected with the
Singletons whose descendants resided at Staining Hall; Willielmus de
Clifton was an ancestor of the Cliftons of Lytham, and here it may be
stated that Lancashire was represented in 1383 by Robt. de Clifton, of
Westby, and Ric’us de Hoghton; and in 1844 by J. Wilson Patten, now Lord
Winmarleigh, and Jno. Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham Hall. Thos. Henry
Clifton, esq., son of the last gentleman, and the Hon. F. A. Stanley are
the present members for North Lancashire.
During the Scottish wars of Edward III., John de Coupland, of Upper
Rawcliffe, valiantly captured David II., king of Scotland, at the battle
of Durham, and although that monarch dashed out Coupland’s teeth and
used every means to incite the latter to slay him, the brave soldier
restrained his wrath and delivered up his prisoner alive. For that
signal service Edward rewarded him with a grant of £500 per annum,
until he could receive an equivalent in land wherever he might choose,
and created him a knight banneret.[30] “I have seen,” says Camden, “a
charter of King Edward III., by which he advanced John Coupland to the
state of a banneret in the following words, because in a battle fought
at Durham he had taken prisoner David the Second, King of Scots:—‘Being
willing to reward the said John, who took David de Bruis prisoner, and
frankly delivered him unto us, for the deserts of his honest and valiant
service, in such sort as others may take example by his precedent to do
us faithful service in time to come, we have promoted the said John to
the place and degree of a banneret; and, for the maintenance of the same
state, we have granted, for us and our heirs, to the same John, five
hundred pounds by the year, to be received by him and his heirs’,” etc.
For some time after a truce had been concluded with Scotland, the war, in
which the incident narrated occurred, continued with little abatement,
and in 1322 this county with others was called upon to raise fresh
levies. These constant drains upon its resources, and the devastations
committed by riotous companies of armed men, so impoverished our district
that the inhabitants of Poulton forwarded a petition to the Pope, praying
him to forego his claims upon their town on account of the deplorably
distressed condition to which they had been reduced. The taxations of
all churches in the Fylde were greatly lowered in consideration of the
indigency of the people; that of Kirkham from 240 marks per annum to 120,
and the others in like proportion. Further evidence of the poverty of
this division may be gathered from a census taken in 1377, which states,
amongst other things, that—“There is no town worthy of notice anywhere
in the whole of the county”; and again, twenty years later, when a loan
was raised to meet the enormous expenditure of the country, Lancashire
furnished no contributors.
In 1389, during the reign of Richard II., it was enacted, with a view
to the preservation and improvement of the salmon fisheries throughout
the kingdom, “that no young salmon be taken or destroyed by nets, at
mill-dams or other places, from the middle of April to the Nativity of
St. John Baptist”; and special reference is made to this neighbourhood in
the following sentence of the bill:—“It is ordained and assented, that
the waters of Lone, Wyre, Mersee, Ribbyl, and all other waters in the
county of Lancaster, be put in defence, as to the taking of Salmons, from
Michaelmas Day to the Purification of our Lady (2nd of February), and in
no other time of the year, because that salmons be not seasonable in the
said waters in the time aforesaid; and in the parts where such rivers be,
there shall be assigned and sworn good and sufficient conservators of
this statute.” The foregoing is the earliest regulation of the kind, and
the wisdom and utility of its provisions are evinced by the existence of
similar measures at the present day.
From the annals of the Duchy may be learnt some interesting particulars
relative to changes in ownership at that period of certain portions of
the territory comprised in the Fylde. In 1380 John of Gaunt, duke of
Lancaster, issued a “precept to the Escheator to give seisin of the Lands
of William Botyler in Layton Magna, Layton Parva, Bispham, Warthebrek,
and Great Merton,” etc.; and shortly afterwards gave orders to “seize
the Lands of William Botyler.” In 1385 mandates were issued by the same
nobleman to his Escheator to “seize into the Hands of the King and
himself the Lands of Thomas Banastre, (deceased, 1384), in Ethelswyk,
Frekculton, Claughton in Amoundernes, Syngleton Parva, Hamylton,
Stalmyn,” etc.; also those of “Emund Banastre, (deceased, 1384), in
Wodeplumpton, Preston,” etc. In the Rolls the subjoined entries also
occur:—
1381.
GRANTORS. GRANTEES. MATTERS AND PREMISES.
John Botyler, Knt. Henry de Bispham, Enrolment of the Grant
Richard de Carleton, of the Manors of Great
Chaplains. Layton, Little Layton,
Bispham, and Wardebrek;
lands in Great Merton,
and the whole Lordship
of Merton Town.
Henry de Bispham, John Botyler, Knt., Enrolment of the Grant of
Richard de Carleton. and Alice his wife. the above Manors, Lands,
and Lordship, in Fee Tail
special.
1382.
Robert de Wasshyngton. William de Hornby, Enrolment of Grant of
Parson of St. Lands, etc., in Carleton
Michael-upon-Wyre, in Amounderness, for a Rose
and William le Rent per ann. 8 years, and
Ducton. increased rent £20 per ann.
There is nothing of interest or importance to recount affecting the Fylde
from the death of Richard II. until the year 1455, when the battle of
St. Albans, resulting in the defeat of Henry VI. and the royal forces by
the Duke of York, initiated those lamentable struggles between the rival
houses of York and Lancaster; and the inhabitants of our section shared,
like the rest, in the ruin and bloodshed of civil war. Those contests,
which lasted no less than thirty years, and included thirteen pitched
battles, were finally terminated in 1485, by the union of Henry VII. with
Catherine of York, daughter of Edward IV.
In 1485 a malady called the “Sweating Sickness” visited the different
districts of Lancashire, and so rapid and fatal were the effects, that
during the seven weeks it prevailed, large numbers of the populace
fell victims to its virulence. Lord Verulam, describing the disease,
says:—“The complaint was a pestilent fever, attended by a malign vapour,
which flew to the heart and seized the vital spirits; which stirred
nature to strive to send it forth by an extreme sweat.”
In 1487 the impostor Lambert Simnel, who personated Edward, earl of
Warwick, the heir in rightful succession to Edward IV., landed at the
Pile of Fouldrey, (Peel harbour) in Morecambe Bay, with an army raised
chiefly by the aid of the Duchess of Burgundy, and marched into the
country. At Stoke, near Newark, he was defeated and taken prisoner, and
subsequently the adventurer was made a scullion in the king’s kitchen,
from which humble sphere he rose by good conduct to the position of
falconer. Henry VIII., soon after his accession in 1509, became embroiled
in war with France, and whilst he was engaged in hostilities on the
continent, James IV. of Scotland crossed the border, and invaded England
with a force of fifty thousand men. To resist this aggression large
levies were promptly raised in Lancashire and other northern counties,
and on the field of Flodden, in Northumberland, a decisive battle took
place in 1513, in which the Scottish monarch was slain, and his army
routed. The Lancashire troops were led by Sir Edward Stanley, and
their patriotism and valour are celebrated in an ancient song called
the “Famous Historie or Songe of Floodan Field.” In the following
extract certain localities in and near the Fylde are mentioned as having
furnished their contingents of willing soldiers:—
“All Lancashire for the most parte
The lusty Standley stowte can lead,
A stock of striplings stronge of heart
Brought up from babes with beef and bread,
From Warton unto Warrington,
From Wiggen unto Wyresdale,
From Weddecon to Waddington,
From Ribchester to Rochdale,
From Poulton to Preston with pikes
They with ye Standley howte forthe went,
From Pemberton and Pilling Dikes
For Battell Billmen bould were bent
With fellowes fearce and fresh for feight
With Halton feilds did turne in foores,
With lusty ladds liver and light
From Blackborne and Bolton in ye moores.”
The office of High Sheriff is one of considerable antiquity, and in
early times it was no uncommon thing for the elected person to retain
the position for several years together. Annexed is a list of gentlemen
connected with the Fylde who have been High Sheriffs of the county of
Lancaster at different times, with their years of office:—
1194 to 1199. Theobald Walter, of Amounderness.
1278. Gilbert de Clifton, of Clifton and Westby.
1287. Gilbert de Clifton, of Clifton and Westby.
1289. Gilbert de Clifton, of Clifton and Westby.
1393. Sir Johannes Butler, Knt., of Rawcliffe.
1394. Sir Johannes Butler, Knt., of Rawcliffe.
1395. Sir Johannes Butler, Knt., of Rawcliffe.
1397. Sir Richard Molyneux, Knt., of Larbrick (for life).
1566. Sir Richard Molyneux, Knt., of Larbrick.
1606. Edmund Fleetwood, of Rossall.
1677. Alexander Rigby, of Layton.
1678. Alexander Rigby, of Layton.
1691. Sir Alexander Rigby, Knt., of Layton.
1740. Roger Hesketh, of Rossall.
1797. Bold Fleetwood Hesketh, of Rossall.
1820. Robert Hesketh, of Rossall.
1830. Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, of Rossall.
1835. Thomas Clifton, of Lytham.
1842. Thomas Robert Wilson ffrance, of Rawcliffe.
1853. John Talbot Clifton, of Lytham.
It may be here noticed that Edmund Dudley, so notorious in English
history as the infamous agent of Henry VII. in the wholesale and
scandalous extortions that monarch practised upon his subjects, held
many and large territorial possessions in the county of Lancashire, the
reward in all probability of his unscrupulous services to the king.
After the death of his royal patron a loud outcry for the punishment of
Dudley was raised by the nation, and in the first year of Henry VIII. a
proclamation was issued inviting those subjects who had been injured by
Dudley and his fellow commissioner, Sir Richard Empson, to come forward
and state their complaints; the number of complainants who appeared was
so great that it was found impossible to examine all their claims, so
in order to pacify the universal indignation, the two obnoxious agents
were thrown into prison on a charge of treason. From the Inquisition for
the Escheat of the Duchy of Lancaster taken on the attainder of Edmund
Dudley, in 1509, it is discovered that amongst his numerous estates, were
lands in Elswick, Hambleton, Freckleton, Thornton, Little Singleton,
Wood Plumpton, Whittingham, Goosnargh, and Claughton. Stow, writing
about the circumstances alluded to, says:—“Thereupon was Sir Richard
Empson, Knight, and Edmund Dudley, Esquire, by a politicke mean brought
into the Tower, where they were accused of treason, and so remained
there prisoners, thereby to quiet men’s minds, that made such suit to
have their money restored. On the seventeenth of July Edmund Dudley
was arraigned in the Guildhall of London, where he was condemned, and
had judgement to be drawn, hanged, and quartered.... Henry VIII. sent
commandment to the Constable of the Tower, charging him that Empson and
Dudley should shortly after be put to execution. The Sheriffs of London
were commanded by a special writ to see the said execution performed and
done, whereupon they went to the Tower and received the prisoners on the
17th of August, 1510, and from thence brought them unto the scaffold on
Tower Hill, where their heads were stricken off.”
The most conspicuous event which happened during the sovereignty of Henry
VIII. was the Protestant Reformation. Henry, having quarrelled with the
Supreme Head of the Church at Rome, determined to suppress all religious
houses in his kingdom whose incomes amounted to less than £200 per
annum. Doctors Thomas Leigh and Thomas Layton were appointed to inspect
and report on those in Lancashire; and amongst the number condemned on
their visit was a small Benedictine Cell at Lytham. This Cell owed its
origin to Richard Fitz Roger, who towards the latter part of the reign of
Richard I. granted lands at Lytham to the Durham Church, in order that a
prior and Benedictine monks might be established there to the honour of
St. Mary and St. Cuthbert. Its yearly revenue at the time of suppression
was only £55. A little later, in 1540, the larger monastic institutions
suffered the fate of the smaller ones; and amongst the chantries closed
were two at St. Michael’s-on-Wyre. All Catholic places of worship were
closed by a proclamation, bearing the date September 23rd, 1548, and
issued by the lord protector Somerset on behalf of the young king Edward
VI. On the death of that monarch in 1553 the crown descended to his
sister Mary, only daughter of Catherine of Arragon; and one of her first
acts was to re-establish the old faith and re-open the churches and
chantries which her predecessors had closed. Mass was again celebrated
in the churches of St. Michael’s-on-Wyre, Kirkham, and Singleton, as in
former days, the officiating priests being:—
Kirkham Thomas Primbet, annual fee £2 10s. 0d.
Singleton Richard Goodson, ” ” £2 9s. 0d.
St. Michael’s-on-Wyre, Thomas Cross ” ” £4 13s. 10d.
In the early part of this reign a grand military muster was ordered to
be made in the county palatine of Lancaster, and towards the 300 men
raised in the Hundred of Amounderness the Fylde townships contributed as
follows:—
Warton 4 men.
Carleton 8 ”
Hardhome with Newton 8 ”
Much Eccleston 5 ”
Clifton 6 ”
Bispham and Norbreke 5 ”
Freckleton 5 ”
Thilston 8 ”
Thornton 8 ”
Out Rawcliffe 4 ”
Upper Rawcliffe and Tornecard 1 ”
Pulton 3 ”
Weton 3 ”
Threleyle 6 ”
Little Eccleston and Larbreke 6 ”
Little Singleton and Grange 5 ”
Newton with Scales 3 ”
Layton with Warbrick 8 ”
Elliswicke 5 ”
Kelmyne and Brininge 5 ”
Kirkham 3 ”
Westbye and Plumpton 8 ”
Rigby with Wraye 8 ”
Lithum 5 ”
Much Singleton 7 ”
Plumpton 11 ”
The commanders of the regiment were—Sir Thomas Hesketh, Sir Richard
Houghton, George Browne, John Kitchen, Richard Barton, William Westby (of
Mowbreck), and William Barton, Esquires.
Dodsworth, who lived in the latter part of the sixteenth and early part
of the seventeenth centuries, informs us that sometime during the year
1555 “a sudden irruption of the sea” took place near Rossall grange, and
a whole village, called Singleton Thorp, was washed away by the fury of
the waves. “The inhabitants were driven out of their ancient home, and
erected their tents at a place called Singleton to this day.” It has been
surmised that Singleton Thorp was the residence of Thomas de Singleton,
who opposed Edward I. in a suit to recover from that king the manors of
Singleton, Thornton, and Brughton. The site formerly occupied by the
ancient village is now called Singleton Skeer. Dodsworth also declares
that the Horse-bank lying off the shores of Lytham was, in 1612, during
the reign of James I., a pasture for cattle, and that, in 1601, a village
called Waddum Thorp existed between it and the present main-land.
In January, 1559, about two months after the accession of Elizabeth,
another muster took place throughout the several counties of the kingdom,
and subjoined are enumerated the bodies of soldiers furnished by the
different Hundreds of Lancashire:—
BLACKEBURNE HUNDRED—407 harnessed men, 406 unharnessed men.
AMOUNDERNES HUNDRED—213 harnessed men, 369 unharnessed men.
LONDESDALL HUNDRED—356 harnessed men, 114 unharnessed men.
LEYLONDE HUNDRED—80 harnessed men, 22 unharnessed men.
SALEFORDE HUNDRED—394 harnessed men, 649 unharnessed men.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED—459 harnessed men, 413 unharnessed men.
Sum Total of harnessed men 1919.
Sum Total of unharnessed men 2073.[31]
An epidemic, described by Hollinworth as a “sore sicknesse,” prevailed
in this county during some months of 1565, and carried off many of the
inhabitants.
Queen Elizabeth on her accession wrought another change in the national
religion, but taking warning from the outcries and disturbances produced
by the sudden and sweeping policies of Henry VIII. and Mary, proceeded
to affect her purpose in a more deliberate manner. She retained some of
her Catholic ministers, taking care, however, to have sufficient of the
reformed faith to outvote them when occasion required, and appointed
a commission to inquire into the persecutions of the last reign, with
orders to liberate from prison all those who had been confined on account
of their attachment to Protestant principles. In her own chapel she
forbade several Popish practices, and commanded that certain portions of
the services should be read in the English tongue. Shortly afterwards a
proclamation was issued, ordering that all chantries should conduct their
services after the model of her own chapel. This comparative moderation
was succeeded at a later period of her sovereignty by sterner measures,
and many Catholic recusants were placed in confinement, being subjected
to heavy penalties and degradations. During the same reign the military
strength of the nation was again ascertained by a general muster. The
gathering took place in 1574, when six gentlemen of our neighbourhood
were thus rated:—
Cuthbert Clifton, esq., to furnish:—Light horse 1, Plate-coate 1, Pyke 1,
Long bows 2, Sheaves of arrows 2, Steel caps 2, Caliver 1, Morion 1.
James Massey, George Alane to furnish:—Plate-coat 1, Long bow 1, Sheaf of
arrows 1, Steel cap 1, Caliver 1, Morion 1, Bill 1.
William Hesketh to furnish of good will:—Caliver 1, Morion 1.
William Singleton, John Veale to furnish:—The same as William Hesketh
doth.
The whole complement raised in the Hundred of Amounderness consisted of—5
Light horse, 1 Demi-lance, 2 Corslets, 17 Plate-coats, 11 Pykes, 22 Long
bows, 22 Sheaves of arrows, 27 Steel caps, 15 Calivers, 20 Morions, and
10 Bills.
Father Edmund Campion, the notorious Jesuit, was apprehended in 1581,
immediately after travelling through Lancashire endeavouring to spread
the doctrines of his faith, and imprisoned in the Tower. Under the cruel
influence of the rack he divulged the names of several persons by whom he
had been received and entertained whilst on his journey, and amongst them
were Mrs. Allen of Rossall Hall, the widow of Richard Allen, and John
Westby of Mowbreck and Burn Halls. Shortly before his execution Campion
deplored his compulsory confession in a letter to a friend in these
words:—“It grieved me much to have offended the Catholic cause so highly,
as to confess the names of some gentlemen and friends in whose houses I
have been entertained; yet in this I greatly cherish and comfort myself,
that I never discovered any secrets there declared, and that I will not,
come rack, come rope.”
The following extracts are taken from some manuscripts in the Harleian
collection, and will explain themselves:—
“Names of such as are detected for receiptinge of Priests,
Seminaries, etc., in the County of Lancashire.
“This appeareth by the presentment One named little Richard receipted
of the Vicar of Garstang. at Mr. Rigmaden’s of Weddicar by
report.
“This appeareth by the presentment Ricard Cadocke, a seminary priest,
of the Vicar of Kirkham. also Deiv. Tytmouse conversant in
the Company of two widows—viz.
Mistress Alice Clyfton and Mistress
Jane Clyfton, about the first of
October last, 1580, by the report
of James Burie.
“This also appeareth by the Richard Brittain, a priest receipted
presentment of the Vicar of in the house of William Bennett of
Kirkham. Westby, about the beginning of June
last, from whence young Mr. Norrice
of Speke conveyed the said Brittain
to the Speke, as the said Bennett
hath reported.
“The said Brittain remayneth now at the house of Mr. Norrice of
the Speke, as appeareth by the deposition of John Osbaldston.
“Diocese of Chester
“Amounderness Deanery
Cuthb. Clifton, Esq. Obstinate.
Will. Hesketh, gent. Obstinate.
John Singleton, gent. Obstinate.”
At that period it was customary to levy a tax of live stock and different
articles of food on each county, for the supply of the royal larder, and
Sir Richard Sherburn, of Carleton and Hambleton, and Alexander Rigby, of
Middleton, near Preston,[32] ratified an agreement with the treasurer
and controller of Elizabeth’s household, that Lancashire should provide
annually forty great oxen, to be delivered alive at her majesty’s
pasture at Crestow. Afterwards the sums to be contributed by each Hundred
for the purchase of these animals was arranged, and Amounderness rated at
£16 10s. 0d. per year. The latter agreement was ratified by Sir Richard
Sherburne and Edward Tyldesley, of Myerscough, amongst others. Grievous
complaints were made in the Fylde and other parts of the county of the
desecration of the Sabbath by “Wakes, fayres, markettes, bayrebaytes,
bull baits, Ales, Maygames, Resortinge to Alehouses in tyme of devyne
service, pypinge and dauncinge, huntinge and all manner of unlawfull
gamynge.” A letter praying that these profanations might be reformed
was signed by the magistrates of the several districts, amongst whom
were Edmund Fleetwood of Rossall, and R. Sherburne of Carleton, etc.,
and forwarded to London. A commission of inquiry was appointed, and
after an investigation, the commissioners charged all mayors, bailiffs,
and constables, as well as other civil officers, churchwardens, etc.,
to suppress by all lawful means the said disorders of the Sabbath,
and to present the offenders at the quarter sessions, that they might
be dealt with for the same according to law. They also directed that
the minstrels, bearwards, and all such disorderly persons, should be
immediately apprehended and brought before the justices of the peace, and
punished at their discretion; that the churchwardens should be enjoined
to present at the sessions all those that neglected to attend divine
service upon the Sabbath day, that they might be indicted and fined
in the penalty of twelve pence for every offence; that the number of
alehouses should be abridged, that the ale-sellers should utter a full
quart of ale for one penny, and none of any less size, and that they
should sell no ale or other victuals in time of divine service; that
none should sell ale without a license; that the magistrates should be
enjoined not to grant any ale-licenses except in public sessions; that
they should examine the officers of the commonwealth to learn whether
they made due presentment at the quarter sessions of all bastards born
or remaining within their several precincts; and that thereupon a strict
course should be taken for the due punishment of the reputed parents
according to the statute, as also for the convenient keeping and relief
of the infants.[33]
In 1588, the year following the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, Philip
of Spain, urged on by an ambition to conquer the kingdom of England and
re-establish the Romish religion, equipped an immense fleet, consisting
of seventy-two galliasses and galleons, forty-seven second-class ships of
war, and eleven pinnaces, to which he gave the name of the “Invincible
Armada.” The rumour of this invasion spread great alarm throughout the
country; and the magistrates, gentry, and freeholders of Lancashire
were summoned to meet Lord Strange at Preston, to consider what steps
should be taken for the defence of their coast, on which, at Peel in
Morecambe Bay, it was deemed probable the Spaniards would attempt a
landing. So doubtful does Elizabeth appear to have been of the loyalty
of her Lancashire subjects that Lord Strange was commanded to append
to his summonses the words,—“Fayle not at your uttermost peril.” Nor
were these suspicions on the part of the queen without good reason, for
the principal landed proprietors and gentry of the county were members
of the Romish Church, and it was to be feared that they would be only
lukewarm in repelling, if not, indeed, active in encouraging, an enemy
whose professed object was the restoration of their religion. Baines,
in reviewing the Reformation, says,—“In the county of Lancashire it was
retrograde. The Catholics multiplied, priests were harboured, the book
of common prayer and the service of the Church, established by law, were
laid aside; many of the churches were shut up, and the cures unsupplied,
unless by the ejected Catholics.” Numerous crosses on the highways, as
well as the names of several places, as Low-cross, High-cross, Norcross,
etc., also testify to the Romish tendency of the inhabitants. Cardinal
Allen, who had for many years been living on the continent at Douai and
elsewhere[34] was suspected of having, in conjunction with Parsons, the
Jesuit, instigated Philip to this invasion. The harbour of “Pille,”
(Peel) is described in the Lansdowne manuscripts as the “very best haven
for landings with great shyppes in all the west coast of England, called
St. George’s Channel,” and further in the same folio we read:—“What the
Spanyerd means to do the Lord knows, for all the countrie being known to
Doctor Allen, who was born harde by the pyle,” (Rossall Hall was the
birth-place of Allen,) “and the inhabytentes ther aboutes all ynfected
with the Romish poyson, it is not unlike that his directione will be used
for some landinge there.... One Thomas Prestone (a papyshe atheiste) is
deputye steward, and commandes the menrede, and lands ther, wch were
sometyme appertayning to the Abbeye of Fornes.”
Whilst preparations for resisting the Spaniards were being pushed forward
with as much expedition as possible, the “Invincibles” appeared in the
English Channel, and arranged themselves for battle in the form of a
crescent. The British fleet, numbering only thirty-four ships of war, and
sundry private vessels equipped for the occasion, under the command of
Lord Howard, sailed out to engage them. A series of actions took place,
and although nothing decisive had been effected, the advantage seemed
to be leaning towards the English fleet, when eight fire-ships drifted
in amongst the Armada and threw them into utter confusion. This _coup
de maître_ took place on the 29th of July, 1588. The panic-stricken
Spaniards, fearing that the whole of their ships would be destroyed in
a general conflagration, severed their cables, and fled. A westerly
gale, however, sprang up, and wrecked many of the vessels on the coast
between Ostend and Calais; the shores of Scotland and Ireland were also
covered with fragments of their ships and bodies of their mariners, while
tradition asserts that one of the galleons was stranded on the Point of
Rossall, where it was attacked by the country people, either for the sake
of pillage or in the hope of capturing it. Whether one or both of these
desires actuated the rustics they were doomed to disappointment, for the
Spaniards successfully resisted their first attempt, and escaped on the
returning tide, before further efforts could be made by the little band
on shore. Two cannon balls were formerly to be seen at Rossall Hall, and
it was stated that they were the identical ones fired by this vessel, as
a parting salute, when she sailed away. They were found on removing some
of the walls belonging to the old mansion.
The annexed is a list of free-tenants residing in the Fylde district
about the year 1585, the 27th of the reign of Queen Elizabeth:—
Molyneux, Sir Richard, of Larbrick, knight.
Clifton, Thomas, of Westby, esq.
Rigby, Edward, of Layton and Burgh, esq.
Veale, John, of Mythorp, esq.
Butler, Henry, of Out-Rawcliffe, esq.
Parker, William, of Bradkirk, esq.
Westby, John, of Mowbreck, esq.
Kirkby, William, of Upper Rawcliffe, esq.
Singleton, George, of Staining, esq.
Hesketh, William, of Little Poulton, esq.
Stanley, Thomas, of Great Eccleston, esq.
Warren, ⸺, of Plumpton, esq.
White, Nicholas, of Great Eccleston, gent.
Rogerly, George, of Lytham, gent.
Banister, William, of Carleton, gent.
Sharples, John, of Freckleton, gent.
The dress of the priests previous to the Protestant Reformation is
thus described by Harrison:—“They went either in divers colours like
plaiers, or in garments of light hew, as yellow, red, greene, etc., with
their shoes piked, their haire crisped, and their girdles armed with
silver; their shoes, spurs, bridles, etc., buckled with like mettall;
their apparell chiefly of silke, and richlie furred, their cappes laced
and buttoned with gold; so that to meet a priest in those days, was to
beholde a peacocke that spreadeth his taile when he danseth before the
henne.” “The manners and customs of the inhabitants of Lancashire,”
writes John de Brentford, “are similar to those of the neighbouring
counties except that the people eat with two pronged forks[35]; the men
are masculine, and in general well made, they ride and hunt the same
as in the most southern parts, but not with that grace, owing to the
whip being carried in the left hand; the women are most handsome, their
eyes brown, black, hazel, blue, or grey; their noses, if not inclined
to the aquiline, are mostly of the Grecian form, which gives a most
beautiful archness to the countenance, such indeed as is not easy to be
described, their fascinating manners have long procured them the name
of Lancashire witches.” Leyland in his “Itinerary” says:—“The dress
of the men chiefly consists of woollen garments, while the women wear
those of silk, linen, or stuff. Their usual colours are those of green,
blue, black, and sometimes brown. The military are dressed in red, which
is vulgarly called scarlet.” In the time of Henry VIII. the custom of
placing chimneys on the tops of the houses was first introduced amongst
the English; before that period the smoke usually found its way through
an opening in the roof or out of the doorway. The houses of the middle
classes were for the most part formed of wood, whilst those of the
peasantry were built of wattles plastered over with a thick coating of
clay. The few stone mansions existing in Lancashire were the residences
of the nobility or of the most opulent gentry. Harrison, referring to the
improvements in accommodation gradually gaining ground, remarks:—“There
was a great, although not general, amendment of lodging; for our fathers,
yea, and we ourselves also, have lien full oft upon straw pallets, on
rough mats, onelie covered with a sheet under coverlets made of dagswam
or hopparlots, and a good round log under the head instead of a bolster
or pillow, which was thought meet onelie for women in childbed; as for
servants, if they had anie sheets above them, it was well, for seldome
had they anie under their bodies to keep them from the prickly straws
that ran oft through the canvas of the pallet, and raised their hardened
hides.” Holinshed, also, notices the better style of entertainment at
the inns of Lancaster, Preston, etc.; at which he tells us the guests
were well provided with “napierie, bedding, and tapisserie,” and each was
sure of resting “in cleane sheets wherein no man had been lodged since
they came from the laundress.” Camden, writing of our more immediate
neighbourhood a little later than the period we are now discussing,
says:—“The goodly and fresh complexion of the natives does sufficiently
evince the goodness of the county; nay and the cattle too, if you will;
for in the oxen, which have huge horns and proportionate bodies, you will
find nothing of that perfection wanting that Mago, the Carthagenian, in
Columella required. This soil (Amounderness) bears oats pretty well, but
is not so good for barley; it makes excellent pasture especially towards
the sea, where it is partly Champain; whence a great part of it is called
the File, probably for the Field. But being in other places Fenny ’tis
reckoned less wholesome. In many places along the coast there are heaps
of sand, upon which the natives now and then pour water, till it grows
saltish, and then with turf boyl it into white salt.” Several of these
salt manufacturies were located near Lytham, and it is very likely that
the two brass pans and an ancient measure, discovered about forty years
since deeply imbedded in the peat not far from Fox Hall, were used in the
production of salt somewhere in that vicinity.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]