Forest of Rossendale. 



I 21 



THE ACCOUNTS OF GEORGE ASHWORTH OF 

 LENCHES, GREAVE OF THE FORREST OF 

 ROSSENDALE, FROM MICHAELMAS 1744 TO 

 MICHAELMAS 174S, WITH ALL HIS RECEIPTS 

 AND DISBURSEMENTS UPON ACCOUNT OF 

 THE MILITIA SOLDIERS OF Ye Sd. FORREST, 

 AS FOLLOWS:— 



Received by an Assessment, Allowance to ye collectors 



deducted /20 16 Si 



Disburst : — 



To Work done by ye Gunsmith 



To Musket, Hen. Hargreaves, Laneside 



To 6 Warrants 



To Expenses with ye Clarks 



To Expenses Laying a Lay 



To Expenses Drawing and Paying 



To Writing Militia Book 



To 28 Principalis and Posts 



To Fetching and taking care of 6 muskets 



Cash in Hand 



It will not be inferred that the few muskets mentioned here 

 were all that the militia of the Forest possessed. To do this would 

 be to place things in rather a ludicrous light. It must be presumed 

 that our local soldiers were accoutred as fully as the times allowed, 

 and that these were only a few necessary expenses entailed in their 

 equipment. 



The " Principalis and Posts," which constitute the heaviest item 

 in the bill, were probably used in the construction of butts for 

 musket practice, though these were as often as not merely sodded 

 mounds of earth ; or in the erection of a temporary shelter during 

 the hours of drill. The following list is copied from an old M.S. 

 volume in the possession of the late George Hargreaves, Esq., J. P., 

 of Newchurch, and is entitled 



