THE MANOR OF ABNEY. 13! 



both of whom, in 12 Henry III. (1227), are proved by a fine 

 of that date to have been in possession of the " Manor of 

 Abney." 



From another Rufford charter (fol. 127) we obtain the 

 knowledge that Richard de Grey made a grant to the Abbey 

 of " half of the manor of Abney, which he had of the grant 

 of Lancelin de Stokes and Amicia, his wife, and the ancestors 

 of the said Amicia." 



In 1473, the Abbot and Convent of the Virgin Mary at 

 Rufford leased the grange of Abney to Ralph Eyre, of Offerton, 

 for 86 years. ^ 



From these evidences, there seems little doubt that a moiety 

 of the manor of Abney — evidently that portion which bears the 

 name of Grange — was either held under the lord or actually 

 owned by the Abbey of Rufford.- The former supposition, as 

 will be seen by succeeding events, is probably the correct one, 

 for quoted hereafter is the proofs that the whole of the manor 

 was owned, in the year 13 17, by Robert Archer, a member of 

 a family who were lords at this time of at least three other 

 manors — Hucklow, Stoke, and Highlow. It is not improbable 

 that all were owned by the same member of the Archer family, 

 and that the manor of Abney having been settled now on one 

 of the sons, it was found necessary — ^possibly for the first time 

 — clearly to delineate the exact boundaries. Mr. Pym Yeatman* 

 says that : " There is an inquisition post-mortem of Ralph 

 le Archer, of Great Hucklow, 32 Edward I. (1303), when he 

 was found seized of a messuage and land in Great Hucklow, 

 held by the service of keeping the King's forest of High Peak with 

 a bow and arrows." Ralph, his son, died 12 Edward III. 

 (1338), and was succeeded by his son and heir, Thomas le 

 Archer, aged 26 years. " The Archers," he says, " acted as if 

 they were members of the Albini family called by another name." 



1 Wolley, ii., 80. 



2 There is no proof that the Abbot, or any subsequent owner of Grange — 

 which comprises less than one-eighth of the whole estate — ever claimed half 

 the waste. 



^ See p. 132. 



■• Sec. viii., p. 391. 



