( 160) 



MUSCOATES, 



In the parish of Kirkdale, and wapentake* of Ry 

 dale, four miles and a half s. w. of Kirkby-Moor- 

 side, contains a population of 65 inhabitants. In 

 Burton's Monasticon, the place is spelt Moscwat, 

 or Moswit ; in which we read that Agnes de Percy, 

 widow, gave to By land Abbey, pasture here for 3$ 

 cows, with their calves of one year old j which Hen 

 ry de Percy, her son, confirmed. 



There is nothing particularly interesting in this 

 village, the country being flat, the roads rather 

 neglected, and the houses scattered. In consequence 

 of the low situation of the country near it, great 



* The word wapentake, means the same as the word 

 Hundred, and is by some thought to be of Danish origin ; 

 but the custom to which it refers, was held in the time 

 of the Saxons. The Rev. J. B. Jefferson, in his History 

 ofThirsk observes; by the laws of King Edgar, every 

 freeman was obliged, to form a public assembly of the 

 wapentake ; to transact public business relative to it. 

 "When first this country, was divided into wapentakes, 

 hf who was the chief of it, and whom we now call chief 

 constable, as soon as he entered upon his office, appear- 

 ed in a field on a certain day on horseback, and all the 

 chief men of the hundred, met him with their lances 

 and touched his pike, which was a sign that they were 

 firmly united to each other ; which was expressed by 

 the touching of their weapons. The opinion of Sir 

 Thomas Smith, is different to this : he says that ancient- 

 ly, musters were made of the armour and weapons of 

 the several inhabitants of every wapentake, and from 

 those, who would not find sufficient pledges for their 

 fjpod behaviour, their weapons were taken away and 

 given to others ; whence he derives the word wapen- 

 take. 



