A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



the mayor of Wigan commencing about 1370/' 

 From a petition of Rector Wyot (1506-19) it 

 appears tliat, ' for a long time past,' the custom had 

 been that on a vacancy in the mayoralty the bur- 

 gesses elected three of their number and presented 

 them to the rector, who chose one to act for the 

 ensuing year.^ 



The rectors in the time of Henry VIII, and 

 probably much earlier, exercised their authority as 

 lords of the borough through a steward and a 

 bailiff, with an under-steward who was clerk of the 

 court.'" 



About 1560 Bishop Stanley began to assert his 

 rights as lord of the manor, and he challenged the 

 claim to hold markets,"^ fairs, and courts leet put for- 

 ward and exercised by the mayor and burgesses. Those 

 accused of withdrawing ' did not know ' whether suit 

 was due to the rector's law-day or leet, or to his three 

 weeks court, though * most of them had done so, 

 until now of late ' ; and they endeavoured to draw 

 attention from this aspect of the question by an 

 allegation of outrage upon the mayor by one of the 

 bishop's servants. Nothing seems to have been done, 

 except that the bishop confirmed Maunsel's charter 

 to the burgesses."* He yielded ' upon fear and for a 

 fine of money received,' according to Dr. Bridge- 

 man." 



Under Rector Fleetwood the struggle was more 

 determined. The corporation about 1583 laid claim 

 to the lordship of the manor, as lords improving the 

 wastes and commons, and letting the houses built 

 thereupon ; also digging for coal within the demesnes 

 of the manor, and in many other ways usurping the 

 rector's rights. They stated that a mayor, two 

 bailiffs, and sundry burgesses were annually elected for 

 the town and borough of Wigan, which had also five 

 aldermen, the Earl of Derby being one ; that 

 Maunsel's charter gave the burgesses all the liberties 

 in dispute ; and that the moot-hall was their in- 

 heritance. They had kept courts, taken waifs and 

 strays, &c., in accordance with their right. The 

 rector's reply traversed all this, alleging in particular 

 that the burgesses had no grant enabling them to 

 elect a mayor to be head of the corporation, though 

 they had done so ' for divers years ' by usurpation, 

 and that the appointment of aldermen was a recent 

 usage, ' without due rite.' °* A charter was granted 

 about this time, viz. in 1585.*' 



A decree in the nature of a compromise was made 

 in 1596 by the Chancellor of the Duchy. It was 

 ordered that the corporation should keep such courts 

 as they had usually kept, except the leets, and take 

 the profits to their own uses ; that, as to the leets. 



the rector should appoint a steward to sit with the 

 mayor and burgesses or their steward and take half 

 the profits. Clay and stone might be dug as cus- 

 tomary, but the ways must be mended as quickly as 

 possible, and any damage done to the moat round the 

 rectory must be repaired. As to the fairs and markets 

 and the profits arising from them, the corporation 

 should have them as before, but the rector's tenants 

 must not be required to pay any increase upon the 

 customary tolls. The rents claimed by the rector 

 must be paid, with arrears. The question as to the 

 improvement of the wastes does not seem to have 

 been decided.™ 



The corporation were then left at peace for twenty 

 years. Dr. Massie seems to have been very yielding." 

 Bishop Bridgeman, however, an able man and strong 

 in the royal favour, upon being appointed to the 

 rectory made a vigorous and fairly successful effort to 

 recover certain of his manorial rights as against the 

 corporation." The ownership of the markets and 

 fairs, with the tolls belonging to them, had been held 

 by the town for upwards of fifty years. On 1 7 Octo- 

 ber 1 61 7, being the eve of the fair, the rector sent 

 his man to the mayor, entreating him not to deal or 

 meddle with the fair until the controversy as to all 

 these matters had been decided, and inviting the 

 mayor and aldermen, &c., to meet him at the pentice 

 chamber next morning. At this conference the rector 

 desired them to allow him the rights his predecessors 

 had enjoyed, without any lawsuits ; they answered 

 that he had what his predecessors had, and ought not 

 to ask more. The mayor was bold enough to 

 challenge the rector's right to the manor, but met no 

 support from the burgesses, who acknowledged their 

 obligation to pay izd. for each burgage plot. On 

 matters of land-ownership no opposition was made ; 

 but when the rector claimed the fairs, markets, courts 

 leet, courts of pleas, and courts baron and other 

 privileges, the burgesses' reply seems to have been 

 firm and unanimous : 'They had a right to them and 

 hoped so to prove in law.' No compromise was 

 possible, the answer being that they were ' all sworn 

 to maintain the privileges of the town.' " 



A special tribunal was appointed, and at the begin- 

 ning of 1 61 9 a decision was given : the rector was 

 lord of the manor, with a right to the wastes and 

 court baron and suit and service of the freeholders 

 and inhabitants ; the moot-hall to be common to the 

 rector and corporation for the keeping of their courts, 

 of which the pentice plea and court of pleas should 

 be the corporation's, the leets at Easter and Michael- 

 mas being adjudged, the former to the rector and the 

 latter to the corporation ; the Ascension-day fair and 



^2 Early in 1406 Adam de Birkhead, 

 mayor of Wigan, and William de Mcde- 

 wall, clerk, for taking recognizances of 

 debts at Wigan, certified that in March, 

 1372-3, Sir William de Atherton came 

 before Thomas de Heywood, then mayor, 

 and Thomas Clerk, then clerk, and 

 acknowledged that he owed his brother, 

 Nicholas de Atherton, j^'ioo sterling ; 

 which he ought to have paid at the 

 Christmas next following, but had not 

 done so ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. bdle. 

 i, file 9, m. 38. 



®* Bridgeman, op. cit. 72. 



*^ Ibid. loi. Sir Thomas Langton, 

 who, as lord of Newton, was chief lord 

 of the manor, about this time laboured 

 hard to secure appointment as the rector's 



steward, and though rejected he took it 

 upon himself to act, making himself very 

 obnoxious to the corporation. In 1539 

 the mayor and burgesses complained that 

 whereas it had been their custom to elect 

 a mayor on the Saturday after Michael- 

 mas Day, Sir Thomas with a number of 

 associates had disturbed the election, and 

 declared that he would not take Adam 

 Bankes for mayor, though he had 

 been duly chosen. A few weeks after- 

 wards there was an invasion of the town 

 by the Langton faction, which necessitated 

 an inquiry by the Crown. It then 

 appeared that the disturbers asserted the 

 election of mayor to belong to the rector 

 of Wigan or his steward ; ibid. 108-11. 

 65 A book of tolls 1 56 1-7 is among 



72 



Lord Kenyon's deeds ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 4. 



55 Bridgeman, op. cit. 133-8. 



67 Ibid. 213. 



5S Ibid. 147-57. 



5' A contemporary paper copy is extant 

 at Wigan. In Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 

 253, m. 26, are copies of the earlier 

 charters. 



"" Bridgeman, op. cit. 157, 158. 



"1 Ibid. 213. Dr. Bridgeman affirmed 

 that 'none of his predecessors, except 

 Dr. Massie, were without the use and 

 possession of all those things which he 

 claimed ; or did at least claim and sue 

 for them as Mr. Fleetwood did.' Dr. 

 Massie was rector from 1605 to 1615. 



"Ibid. 205. 7' Ibid. 213-15. 



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