Forest of Rossendale. 41 



Among the records of the Court of Chancery preserved in the 

 Tower of London, and in the Patent Roll of the 2d year of the 

 Reign of King Edward the Third (1328), p. i. M. 24, is contained 

 a confirmation of the foregoing Grants, as follows : — 



" For the Abbot and Monks of Whalley. 



" The King to all whom it may concern, Greeting. [Here is given a 

 detailed enumeration of the many Gifts and Grants made to the Abbot and 

 Monks when in their Abbey, at Stanlaw in Cheshire, and afterwards when 

 they had removed to their new abode at Whalley, and it proceeds :] — The 

 gift, also grant and confirmation, which Roger de Lacy, formerly Constable of 

 Chester, made by his deed, to the said Abbot and Monks, of Four Oxgangs (/) 

 of Land with the Appurtenances in Rochdale, and of the pasture which is 



called Brendwood in the Forest of the said Roger The gift 



also which John de Lacy, formerly Constable of Chester, made by his deed to 

 the said Abbot and Monks, of cutting Hay in his Forest of Rossendale 

 . Grant and Confirm those things for ourselves, and our heirs, as much 

 as in us lies, to the aforesaid Abbot and Monks now residing at Whalley and 

 their Successors. In witness, &c., the King at York." 



Among the Eecords preserved in the Treasury of the Court of 

 Receipt of Exchequer, on a Roll endorsed "Pleas of the Crown 

 and of Trespasses before the Justices in Eyre, in the County of 

 Lancaster, in the 17th year of King Edward IIL," (1343) is an 

 Account of a suit between the Abbot and Convent of Whalley 

 and Richard de RatclifTe, Master Forester, for puture of the 

 foresters ; in which, strangely enough, the Forest of Rossendale is 

 spoken of as being included within that of Pendle ; and which 

 affords some glimpses of the condition of a portion of the district in 

 the earlier periods of its history. In ancient Law, the term Puture 

 (Putura) had reference to the custom, or privilege, which the 

 Foresters had of claiming meat and drink, gratis, for themselves, 

 their horses and dogs, from the tenants within the bounds of a 

 forest. The document is one of considerable length, but I shall 

 extract only those portions which relate immediately to the district 

 under consideration. 



(/) For an explanation of the term an " oxgang of land," see Ante, Chap. 

 I., Book Second. 



