CHAPTER II. 



" The claims of long descent." — Trn'N'vson. 



"ITTE have already (a) briefly traced the possession of the 

 ' ' manorial rights to the property in Rossendale within the 

 Hundred of Blackburn, from the time of the Norman Conquest, 

 down through the intervening centuries to their present ducal 

 owner. A similar duty devolves upon us in regard to the Free- 

 hold rights of the lands in Brandwood, in the Township of Spot- 

 land, and embraced within Salford Hundred. 



In furtherance of this intention, we have recounted how that 

 about the year 1200, during the reign of King John, Roger de 

 Lacy, one of the Lords of the Honor of Ciitheroe, granted to the 

 monastery of Stanlaw in Cheshire, that portion of Rossendale 

 called Brandwood ; and that in the second year of the reign of 

 Edward III. (1328), the grant in question was ratified and 

 confirmed in favour of the Abbot and Monks of Whalley, the 

 legitimate successors of the original grantees, the monastery hav- 

 ing been established at the latter place on its removal from Stanlaw 

 in Cheshire, on account of the inundation of the sea. We have 

 also seen that the Abbot of Whalley, in the seventeenth year of 

 Edward III. (1343), successfully contested the claim on the part 

 of Richard de Ratcliffe, Master Forester, of a right to demand and 

 take puture of the Foresters. 



This large and important tract of land (Brandwood) was 

 formerly embraced within the Manor of Rochdale, but, as will 

 immediately appear by a decision of the Court, became separated 

 from it owing to the circumstance of the grant before mentioned. 



(a) In Book II. Chnp. 1. 



