78 History of the 



A brief summary of the trial is given by Baines in his 

 History of Lancasliire, (</) from which I have taken the liberty to 

 quote. " In the course of the proceedings it ai)peared that in the 

 district of Brandwood there were a number of freehold tenements, 

 and a large piece of waste or common land, called Tooter hill and 

 Reaps Moss, to which the owners of the freeholds claimed rights 

 in severality in respect of their tenements. About the year 1S14, 

 while Lord Byron was lord of the manor of Rochdale, they agreed 

 to enclose and divide a part of the common amongst them ; and 

 in pursuance of this agreement, a stone wall was built round a 

 certain portion of it containing one hundred and forty-five 

 customary acres ; a part of this land, amounting to little more 

 than eight acres, formed the cause of the present action, but the 

 result involved the title to the whole enclosure and common, and 

 to the valuable coal and other minerals beneath the surface. The 

 (juestion at issue was, whether Brandwood, which confessedly lies 

 within the ambit of the manor of Rochdale, formed part of that 

 manor, or whether it had not by ancient acts of ownership been 

 separated from it. 



" On the part of the plaintiff, the descent of the manor of 

 Rochdale was distinctly shown by the manor rolls to rest in him ; 

 and it was proved in evidence that the occupiers of lands in 

 Brandwood, and even the defendant himself, had paid certain 

 customary rents for the waste of Brandwood ; and that the lord of 



Burdett and of me, at Kirby Mallory), acting for him and me, you can write 

 to Mr. Kinnaird in answer to this, as I am too remote for immediate corres- 

 pondence; or if not things are but where they were. In either case I bear 

 you no enmity whatever on account of our long litigation, which you can 

 hardly regret more than 1 do. I have the honour to be, your very obedient 

 humble servant, 



NOKL BVKO.N. 



To J. Dearden, Esq., Rochdale. 



P.S. — I give you my honour that I have not consulted with my lawyer on 

 this point, nor made any one acquainted with tlie proposition. I have, how- 

 ever, no objection to your advising with your own on the subject. 



(d) Vol. ii. p. 052. 



