A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



Strelleys, their respective owners. Before the 

 dissolution of the religious house of Lenton the 

 prior had permitted Sir Henry Willoughby, 19 then 

 lord of Wollaton and owner of the coal-mine 

 within the manor, to make ' one sowth (sough) 

 from his sayd colemynes thorowgh certeyne of 

 the landes ' of the priory ' for the advoydyng 

 and conveye of the water from the sayd cole- 

 myne, for which sowthe there was yerely re- 

 servyd vnto the sayd pryor and to his successors 

 8 rookes of coles.' On the Dissolution this 

 reserved rent was commuted to 12s. in money 

 paid yearly to the king by Sir John Willoughby, 

 son and heir of the Sir Henry, who at his 'greate 

 costes and charges ' had originally made the 

 sough. The extant Star Chamber proceed- 

 ings w relating to the rival coalpits of Sir John 

 Willoughby and Mr. Nicholas Strelley are 

 imperfect, but apparently the competition for the 

 custom of the shire of Nottingham and of the 

 ' schyres of Leicester and Lyncoln, being veray 

 baren and scarce centres of all maner of fuell,' 

 led Nicholas Strelley to employ John Roberts, 

 Thurstan Roberts, and others to ' synk a newe 

 colpitt yn a certain place comenly callid Sterley 

 fylde next adioyning to the myne of cawlys or 

 cawle pities' of Sir John Willoughby, who com- 

 plained that his neighbour 'of his malycyus 

 mynd ' intended to 'drowne and distroye with 

 water such pittes and cole mynes ' as he had in 

 his lordship of Wollaton, and, in fact, declared 

 roundly that Strelley 's workmen had under- 

 mined the freehold and proper soil and coal-mine 

 of Wollaton, ' gathered and gatte a great sub- 

 stance and multitude of his colys,' and so 

 hollowed the ground as to turn the water into 

 the Wollaton pits. In consequence Sir John 

 Willoughby had appealed to the law, an action 

 of trespass was begun, and writs of capias directed 

 against the miners. 



Strelley pointed out to the judges in the Star 

 Chamber that coal could not be got from his mine, 



but to the grett costys and charges of your said subgett 

 by cause of the depnes of the same and specyally for 

 that suche grett abondance of water gadereth and 

 renneth thorghovvte the saide coole workys and myne 

 that it is not possyble to gayte any colys there but 

 by the meane of a soghe or drayn wheche must be 

 tr'nched by a grete space in length and deper then 

 the said coole worke wheche soghe or drayn cannot 

 be cast or made but to an onreasonable cost and charge 

 to the makar and so it is ... that your said sugett 

 nowe of late hath sonken a certen coole pytt within 

 hys said lordship of Strylley on the sowthe part of the 

 same on the syde adjoyning to the sayd manor of 

 Wollaton thynkyng and entendyng that the water 

 resortyng to the worke within the same pytt schold 

 and myght be lafully and well convayd from thens by 



19 Proc. Ct. Aug. xxv, no. 40. Sir Henry died 

 about 20 Hen. VIII. 



n Cf. Star Chamb. Proc. Hen VIII, bdle. 1 8, 

 no. 115 ; bdle. 22, no. 94. 



a certen olde soghe or drayn being within the said 

 lordship of Wollaton without eny maner of hurt 

 damage or los of the said Sir John Wylloghby. 



This naive expression of a design to avoid ex- 

 pense by using the old Wollaton sough may 

 afford a better explanation of Willoughby's oppo- 

 sition than the pleasant insinuation of Nicholas 

 Strelley that his rival's ' veray malyce and evyll 

 wyll ' was due to the fact that ' your said subget 

 hath more plentie of the comodytye of coolys 

 lefte within hys said lordship of Strelley then 

 the said Sir John hath within hys maner of 

 Wollaton.' Strelley, however, complained that 

 by a counter work Willoughby had prevented 

 his use of the Wollaton sough, the new mine 

 could not be drained, and the ' poor men ' his 

 miners had been dragged up to Westminster and 

 put to ' dyvers and menyfold other vexacions 

 trowbyll and costys.' The final decision of the 

 Star Chamber is not forthcoming ; probably some 

 compromise or pecuniary adjustment ultimately 

 settled the matter. 



In the following reign (of Edward VI), when 

 Wollaton Manor through the death of Sir John 

 Willoughby without issue is found in the posses- 

 sion of his nephew Henry Willoughby, esq., the 

 famous mine served by the sough originally 

 granted by the Prior of Lenton had become 

 ' so decayd,' as the owner represented to the 

 Court of Augmentations, that he was obliged 

 to ' synke other cole pyttes.' To drain them 

 of water he begged licence to make a new sough 

 in the king's lands late the possession of Lenton 

 Priory, the ' same sowgh to begynne at the 

 water of Lyne on the sowth easte of a certeyn 

 More called Helle and so thoroughe a lytle closse 

 called Allwell now yn the holdyng of one John 

 Chapman and so thenes overthwarte a lane ynto 

 another closse Safron Platte now yn the holdyng 

 of John de la Pyerre and so throwgh the common 

 fcldes of Lenton towne dyrectly ascendyng unto 

 the sayd colemyne.' The opening out of fresh 

 supplies of coal did much to enrich the Wil- 

 loughbys, and it is said that Sir Francis of that 

 name built Wollaton Hall mainly from the 

 profits of his mines, the Ancaster stone employed 

 having been received in barter for pit coal. 

 But while the Willoughbys increased in sub- 

 stance, the Strelleys declined, and as early as 

 1620 we find 21 an ominous entry in the ' Hall 

 Book ' of the Corporation of Nottingham con- 

 cerning certain merchants of London ' who 

 have interest in the coal mines at Strelley ' 

 and this interest, it is possible, was that of the 

 foreclosing mortgagee. 82 



Before quitting the early history of the mines 

 of Wollaton and its neighbourhood it may be 

 worth while to mention an action at law of the 





326 



" Rambles round Nott. (1856), 259. 

 " The Strelleys had certainly been borrowing 

 money in large sums a few years before. 



