A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
In each hide there are 6 carucates of land. The whole is worth 8 pounds and 12 shillings. And the demesne of this manor which Roger held is worth 8 pounds. There are now in demesne there 3 ploughs and 6 oxherds and 1 radman and 7 villeins.
In Neweton Hundred
In Neweton [Newton in Makerfield] there were 5 hides, T.R.E. Of these 1 was in demesne. The church[1] of that manor had 1 carucate of land, and St. Oswold of that vill (Winwick) had 2 carucates of land quit in all (things) (per omnia).
The other land of this manor 15 men who were called drengs (drenchs)[2] held as 15 manors, but they were berewicks of this manor, and between (them) all they rendered 30 shillings. The wood(land) there (is) 10 leagues long and 6 leagues and 2 furlongs broad, and there (are) eyries of hawks.
The freemen of this hundred, except 2, were subject to the same customs (erant in eadem consuetudine) as the men of Derberie [West Derby], and in addition (plus) to those they reaped on two days in August in the king's cornfields (culturis). Those two (men) had 5 carucates of land and the forfeiture of bloodshed, and of an outraged woman (femine violentiam passe), and the pannage (pasnagium) of their own men. The king had the other (forfeitures).
This whole manor used to pay in rent (de firma) to the king 10 pounds and 10 shillings.
Now there are there 6 drengs (drenghs) and 12 villeins and 4 bordars. Between (them) all they have 9 ploughs. This demesne is worth 4 pounds.
In Walintune Hundred
King Edward held Walintune [Warrington] with 3 berewicks. There (is) 1 hide. To that manor used to belong 34 drengs, and they had as many manors, in which there were 42 carucates of land and 1½ hide. Saint Elfin held 1 carucate of land quit from every due except geld. The whole manor with the hundred used to pay in farm (de firma) to the king 15 pounds, less 2 shillings.
Now there are in demesne 2 ploughs and 8 men with 1 plough. These men hold land there. Roger 1 carucate of land, Tetbald 1½ carucate, Warin 1 carucate, Ralph (Radulfus) 5 carucates, William[3] 2 hides and 4 carucates of land, Adelard 1 hide and half a carucate,[4] Osmund 1 carucate of land. This whole (demesne) is worth 4 pounds and 10 shillings. The demesne (of the chief manor) is worth 3 pounds and 10 shillings.
f. 270.
In Blacheburn Hundred
King Edward held Blacheburne [Blackburn]. There (are) 2 hides and 2 carucates of land. The church had 2 bovates of this land, and the church of St. Mary had 2 carucates of land in Wallei [Whalley] quit from every due. In the same manor (there is) wood(land) 1 league long, and as much broad, and there was a hawk's eyry there.
To this manor or hundred belonged 28 freemen holding 5½ hides and 40 carucates of land as 28 manors. The wood there (is) 6 leagues long and 4 leagues broad, and they were subject to (erant in) the aforesaid customs.
In the same hundred King Edward had Hunnicot [Huncoat] of 2 carucates of land, and Waletune [Walton-le-Dale] of 2 carucates of land, and Peniltune [Great Pendleton] of half a hide.
The whole manor with the hundred used to pay in farm (de firma) to the king 32 pounds
- ↑ It is uncertain whether the church of Wigan or the church of Walton-on-the-Hill is here referred to. This hundred, as the name suggests, was probably carved out of the hundred of West Derby, in which the parish of Walton-on-the-Hill was the most important, and contained most of the demesne manors. The great inquest of service made in A.D. 1212 records that 'Robert de Walton holds the third part' of the church of Winwick, two-thirds being held by Richard, the parson of Winwick. The parson of Walton-on-the-Hill at that date was named Robert de Walton, so that there appears to have been some ancient connexion between Winwick (the parish in which Newton lies) and Walton-on-the-Hill. The fact that Newton is not in the parish of Wigan militates against the identity of that church as 'the church of that manor' (Newton). On the other hand, the ecclesiastical manor of Wigan has always been taken as rated at one carucate of land.
- ↑ In the hundreds of West Derby and Salford the tenants of manors are described as thegns, in the hundreds of Newton and Warrington as drengs, and in the hundreds of Blackburn and Leyland as freemen. This apparently puzzling classification was merely due to the variable names by which the tenants of manors were locally known, or to the variable terms employed by the clerks who made the returns from the different manors. That there was no real difference between those described by these three names is well illustrated by the return for Newton hundred. 'Fifteen men whom they call drenchs hold the other land of this manor as 15 manors, but they were berewicks of this manor' (of Newton). 'The freemen of the hundred of Newton, except two, were in the same custom as the men of [West] Derby.' The matter illustrates the Mercian conquest of this ancient portion of Northumbria in the year 923. Little wonder that a century and a half later official terms belonging to both these kingdoms should be found in ordinary use within this hybrid region.
- ↑ William Fitz Nigel, baron of Halton, co. Chester. See above, note 4, p. 285.
- ↑ This appears to be Whiston 2 car. with car. belonging to the church of Prescot, and 4 car. in Parr and elsewhere, perhaps in Windle.
