Forest of Rossendale. 281 



under the direction of the Chancellor of the Duchy, the Right 

 Hon. Edward Lord Newburgh, were appointed to inquire into 

 certain differences which had arisen between Edward Rawstorne, 

 Esq., his Majesty's Copyhold tenant, and some inhabitants of the 

 Forest, respecting the same. This decree was afterwards confirmed 

 by the same Court in the year 1785, on a trial between the owners 

 of the mills and certain of the inhabitants who had evaded the 

 mulcture by having their grain ground elsewhere. 



I am by no means certain that the decree of 1638 can not be 

 legally enforced, but to attempt it in these days would simply be 

 absurd. Imagine being compelled to have all the yarn produce 

 woven into cloth in the district, or all our cowhides converted into 

 leather and manufactured into shoes in the district. The cases are 

 parallel — it is only the times and the ideas that are changed. 



No doubt in earlier days, when travelling and conv^ance were 

 difficult, the establishment of the soke mills was a boon to the 

 inhabitants, and therefore there was some show of justification for 

 enforcing the support of the mills so established, and yet it seems 

 strange to us, in these days of free and unrestricted trade, that a 

 person, if he cared to incur the cost of transit of his corn, should 

 not in past times, as well as now, have had the right of grinding it, 

 or of having it ground, wherever he chose. 



I have in my possession copies both of the original decree of 

 1638 and the confirmatory decree of 1785. They are interesting 

 documents, but they need not be given at length. I may mention 

 that the millers were under obligation to grind the corn within 

 twenty-fours hours after it was brought to them, otherwise the 

 owner had liberty to take it elsewhere to be ground. The 

 payment for grinding was at the rate of a thirtieth part for corn 

 grown in the Forest, and the sixtieth part for corn grown "forth of" 

 or out of it. Coin was scarce in those days, and therefore payment 

 was made in kind. 



As late as the year 1859, a placard was extensively posted 

 throughout Rossendale, reciting the old decree of 1638 relating to the 



