A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



In the regions to the north of Amounderness, Earl Tostig's manors com- 

 prised the greater part of territories known as Lonsdale, Kendal, Cartmel, and 

 Furness. Under his capital manor of Grindleton, which lay across the Kibble 

 facing the most northerly point of the land between Kibble and Mersey, were 

 grouped the twelve manors which constituted the territory known as Bowland. 

 Intermingled with Tostig's vast estate were: (i) Torfin's chief manor of 

 Austwick, in Yorkshire, with two adjacent manors in that county, the three 

 distant manors of Caton, Claughton, and Warton, in Lancashire, and eight 

 manors in Westmorland; (2) Chetel's Yorkshire manor of Bentham, with 

 Wennington, Tatham, and Farleton, in Lancashire ; (3) a small group of 

 manors near Lancaster (Ashton and Cockerham) ; (4) Gillemichael's great 

 Westmorland manor of Strickland, including Kirkby Kendal. All these 

 manors we may look upon as having belonged to followers of Tostig, holding 

 as thegns under the earldom of Northumbria. Evidence of this seems to be 

 afforded by the fact that the regions lying between the Duddon and the 

 Kibble, including Kendal, but excluding those manors which lay in Ewcross 

 wapentake and in Bowland, were united for the levying of geld into a division 

 assessed for 500 carucates. 1 Perhaps this ownership also explains the com- 

 plete break up of these estates after the conquest and their re-arrangement 

 in new manorial groups. 



Having thus examined the physical divisions of the embryo county of 

 Lancaster, we may next consider the personal and statistical condition of 

 these districts at the time of the conquest, as revealed in Domesday Book. 

 Passing over, for the moment, the royal demesne, and turning to the manors 

 held in thegnage and drengage, we find a few thegns in possession of a 

 larger franchise than the majority enjoyed. Between Kibble and Mersey, 

 the most important of these was Ughtred, thegn of Roby, Knowsley, Kirkby, 

 Little Crosby, Maghull, and Achetun (i.e. Bickerstaffe) , in which manors he 

 held two hides, woodland two leagues in length and as much in breadth, 

 and two eyries of hawks. Altogether seventeen manors in West Derby 

 hundred had been in the possession of ' Uctred.' In the case of Kirkdale we 

 are able to identify the owner with the thegn of Roby, because he is sub- 

 sequently stated to have certain franchises in connexion with Kirkdale and 

 Little Crosby ; it is therefore probable that it was the same Ughtred who 

 held Aughton, and the three manors of Dalton, Skelmersdale, and Uplither- 

 land, a manor in Lathom, another in Hurleton (including Scarisbrick), and 

 a moiety of Martin. As Lathom at an early date gave its name to the family 

 who were for centuries settled there, and under whom Hurleton and 

 Scarisbrick were held by the yearly service of 8s., or at the Domesday 

 rate of 32^. for the carucate ; and as the same family also held Roby, 

 Knowsley, Huyton, and Tarbock for one knight's fee, it seems probable that 

 Ughtred of 1066 was the predecessor of the Lathoms, and possibly immediate 



1 In the districts north of the Ribble the incidence of ' hundreds ' consisting of 1 2 carucates in groups of 

 7 (84 car.) is remarkable. Thus Amounderness consisted of 4 parishes containing 1 68 carucates, or two groups 

 of '7 hundreds.' Lancaster, Cartmel, and Furness contained 248^ car. or 3^ car. less than three groups of 

 ' 7 hundreds,' Kendal contained exactly 84 car., or one group of ' 7 hundreds.' Again, the Yorkshire dis- 

 trict of Craven, including Ewcross wapentake and Bowland, contained 504 car. 6 bov., or 6 bov. more than 

 six groups of ' 7 hundreds.' Thus the component parts of Lancashire north of the Ribble, with Kendal and 

 Craven, contained 1,005 car. 2 bov., a total which closely approximates to 12 groups of '7 hundreds' 

 (12x7x12 = 1,008 car.). Mr. Round has called attention to these groups of 7 hundreds in feudal England, 

 78-9. 



