A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



30 13*. \d. for lead ore ; ,6 13$. $d. for passage and stallage and toll for cows at Chapel- 

 en-le-Frith ; 25*. for pannage of pigs ; and 37*. 6d. for agistment. 1 



The extant court documents of this period are irregular in occurrence, but it would 

 seem from one or two at the Public Record Office, and others among the Belvoir MSS., that 

 two chief forest courts of general inquiry were held yearly in addition to the smaller and 

 more frequent swainmotes. At such courts there were presentments of every kind of forest 

 offence, but there was no power of final adjudication, such being reserved for the eyres or 

 forest pleas of justices. 



A court ('turnus') was held at Tideswell on I August, 1398, under Sir John Cokayne 

 as chief steward, when the jury made presentments as to lands of the abbeys of Basingwerk 

 and Lilleshall and the priory of Lenton. John de Sale, boothman (herdsman) of Edale, was 

 presented for receiving 2 marks for the sale of wood. Other charges were the inclosing of a 

 piece of waste at Whitehall Bridge, and the making a weir at Rydale. The foresters also 

 presented several cases of venison trespass. 8 



The main items of the accounts for 1404-5 closely approximate to the previous ones 

 just cited, but there is a fresh sub-heading, namely ' new herbage,' for which 30 was 

 received. This must refer to some extensive new clearing or assart ; it was at Stokehill, in 

 the Hopedale ward of the forest, and is described as formerly pertaining to Welbeck abbey, 

 but then to the nuns of Derby. This year the perquisites or fines from the various courts 

 amounted to 56 us. 2d. 



The expenses and salaries of this year amounted to 319 5*- ioW., which left a balance 

 by 66 12s. n%d. A heavy item in the expenses was the building of a new mill at 

 Maynstonfield, 12 41. id. There were also repairs of the mills at Hayfield and Castleton, 

 whilst a pair of millstones for Beard cost los. A small item of some interest is 2d. for a key 

 to the door of the toll-booth at Chapel-en-le-Frith. 



Sir Philip Leche appears as bailiff and receiver in the accounts of I4i6-i7. 8 He had 

 just succeeded his father, Sir Roger Leche, who had held the like offices for six years. The 

 chief items of receipt are much the same as in the previously cited statements : the ' new 

 herbage ' again appears at 30. The court fees came to 40 1 2s. 2d. Sir Philip, in addition 

 to being bailiff and receiver of the High Peak, is described as constable of the castle and Master 

 Forester, for which he received 18 51. a year. 



The accounts for 14356 include rents for lands called ' Wynlandes ' (spelt ' Wynne- 

 lands ' and ' Wenlandes ' in other accounts).* From this and subsequent statements it appears 

 that the payments or rents for these ' Wynlands ' came from places such as Monyash, 

 Chelmorton, Overhaddon, Bakewell, Ashover, etc., which were on the verge of the forest, 

 and sometimes in other hundreds (Wirksworth and Scarsdale) outside the limits of the High 

 Peak. The word naturally suggests, to forest students, the Venlands (possibly fen lands) of 

 Dartmoor, which were the parts adjacent to the moor proper. The Venland parishes paid a 

 composition to the Duchy of Cornwall to cover the straying of their cattle and stock over the 

 bounds into Dartmoor Forest. In like manner these Wynland or Venland districts round the 

 Peak Forest appear to have at this time paid some due or assigned some rents for a like reason 

 to the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1439-40 Sir Richard Vernon (who had been appointed bailiff 

 of the High Peak and Master Forester in 14.22) enters on the back of his accounts proper, his 

 receipts as bailiff of the land called Wynnelandes, which amounted that year to j88 n. 6 At 

 a later date these outlands were termed ' Wydelands,' ' Widlands,' and ' Widelands,' which 

 may be taken to mean lands wide of the forest centre. 



In 1440-41, 300 shingles were provided at a cost of i6s. 6J. and shingle nails at iSd. 

 for re-roofing the ' Camera in campana,' or Chamber in the Forest. In the following year the 

 large sum of j os. lid. was spent on repairing with specially cut piles the great pond 

 (stagnum) of the Campana, 6 which still remains. 



A single appointment was made by Henry VII. in March, 1503, to the joint offices of 

 bailiff, receiver, collector, and barmaster of the High Peak. The person appointed was 

 Thomas Savage, archbishop of York ; the patent gives him authority to discharge his duties 

 by deputy in the same way as had been done by his predecessor Thurstin Allen. At the 



1 Mins. Accts. Duchy of Lane. xxii. 373. 



3 Duchy of Lane. Ct. R. T YiV- In the feudal Hist, ef Derbyshire this and some Belvoir MSS. 

 records, temp. Hen. IV. and Hen. VI. are erroneously cited as ' Forest Pleas.' 

 8 Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxii. 375. * Ibid. xxii. 377. 



6 Ibid. xxii. 378. 6 Ibid. xxii. 380. 



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