A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Duchy of Lancaster. 

 England differenced 'with 

 a label azure. 



much more extensive than the present township. Since 

 the Conquest Salford proper has always been re- 

 tained by the lord of the land 

 ' between Ribble and Mersey ' 

 as part of his demesne, and 

 has therefore descended with 

 the honour of Lancaster, re- 

 maining to the present day a 

 manor of the king as Duke of 

 Lancaster. The headship of 

 the hundred has likewise been 

 retained by it. 



The men of Salford in 1 168 

 paid £i^ los. to the aid for 

 marrying the king's daughter.'' 

 An increase of 4/. for the half- 

 year appears in the rent of the manor of 1 201.'' In 

 I2z6 the assized rent of Salford was 23/.,'* and the 

 vill, with its dependencies — Broughton, Ordsall, and 

 a moiety of Flixton — paid 1 1 zs. tallage.'' 



The waste included wide strips along Oldfield 

 Road, the road leading to Pendleton, and others. 

 The inhabitants' pigs used to stray at will on this 

 waste.'* 



The ' town of Salford and the liberties of the same ' 

 are frequently referred to in the Court Leet Records. 

 Oldfield Lane seems to have been the most important 

 liberty ; in 1 601 it had a separate bylaw man." 



About the year 1230 Ranulf Blun- 

 BOROUGH deville, Earl of Chester, erected his 

 vill of Salford into a free borough, the 

 burgesses dwelling therein being allowed certain pri- 

 vileges." Each burgage had an acre of land annexed 

 to it, and a rent of l zd. had to be paid to the lord at 

 the four terms — Christmas, Mid-Lent, Midsummer, 



and Michaelmas. Succession was regulated," and 

 right of sale admitted.^" 



A borough-reeve was to be freely elected by the 

 burgesses, and might be removed at the end of a 

 year. A borough court or portman mote" was 

 established, in which various pleas affecting the bur- 

 gesses were to be decided before the earl's bailiffs by 

 the view of the burgesses." No one within the hun- 

 dred was to ply his trade as shoemaker, skinner, or the 

 like, unless he were ' in the borough,' the liberties of 

 the barons of Manchester, &c., being reserved. The 

 burgesses were free from toll at markets and fairs with- 

 in the earl's demesnes, but were obliged to grind at 

 his mills to the twentieth measure and to bake at his 

 ovens ; common of pasture and freedom from pannage 

 were allowed them, as also wood for building and 

 burning. 



A little earlier, viz. on 4. June 1228, the king had 

 granted a weekly market on Wednesdays and an annual 

 fair on the eve, day, and morrow of the Nativity of 

 St. Mary, at his manor of Salford.^' 



By encouraging the growth of the borough as a 

 trading place the lord derived an increasing rent ; in 

 1257 it amounted to about ;Ci2 a year." The extent 

 made in 1346 shows that there were then 129^ bur- 

 gages in addition to 1 2 acres in the place of another 

 burgage, each rendering the i zt/. yearly rent. There 

 were also a number of free tenants paying over ^8 I os. 

 for lands in Salford and adjoining it. The profits of 

 the portmote were valued at I zs. a year. The total 

 was therefore nearly £16 a year." 



The records of the portmote court from 1597 to 

 1669 are in the possession of the corporation. The 

 head of the Molyneux of Sefton family, as hereditary 

 steward of the hundred, presided, except during the 



22 Farrer, Lanes. Fife R. 12. 

 2»Ibid. 131. 



^^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc, 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 137. A toft in Sal- 

 ford by the bridge produced an additional 

 i2d. ; ibid. 138. 



25 Ibid. 135. 



^ Encroachments on the waste are fre- 

 quently noticed in the Ct. Leet Rec. (Chet. 

 Soc.) ; e.g. an encroachment in 1634 

 between the lands of Mr. Prestwich and 

 the highway leading to the Irwell, 9 yds. 

 in breadth and 50 yds. in length ; ibid, ii, 



'5- 



"J Ibid, i, 28. In 163 1 it was forbidden 

 to allow swine to 'go abroad in the streets 

 within the liberties of the White Cross 

 bank and Shawfoot stile ' (leading to 

 Broughton Ford) ; ibid, i, 239. 



28 The original charter, with seal ap- 

 pended, is in the possession of Salford 

 Corporation, at Peel Park Museum. It was 

 printed, with notes and translation, by 

 J. E. Bailey in the Pal. Note Bk. 1882 ; 

 and more recently by Professor Tait in 

 his Mediaeval Manch. 62, &c., with anno- 

 tations which have been freely used in the 

 present account of it. 



The privilege of immunity from tolls in 

 other fairs and markets of the county was 

 claimed in 1541 against the mayor of 

 Preston ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 161. 



23 On the death of a burgess his widow 

 might remain in the house with the heir, 

 80 long as she remained unmarried. As 

 relief the heir gave arms — a sword, or bow, 

 or spear. 



'^^ A burgage might not be sold to 

 religious. In any sale the heir had a right 



of pre-emption. A burgess who sold his 

 burgage was free to leave the vill, taking 

 all his goods, on paying 41/. to the lord. 



^^ It is called * Laghemote * in clause 3. 



^2 The pleas belonging to the borough 

 included robbery, debt, and assault if no 

 blood was shed. The fines were restricted 

 in amount. For breach of the assize of 

 bread or ale the offender forfeited \zd. to 

 the lord for three offences, but on a fourth 

 he was put in the pillory (^acet assisam 

 ville). A debtor who failed to appear paid 

 a fine of izd, to the lord and 4^/. to the 

 reeve. If one burgess assaulted another 

 the former might make his peace ' by the 

 view of the burgesses,' i.e. by a composi- 

 tion approved by them ; he paid lid. to 

 the lord. 



" Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 54. In 1588 

 the fairs were said to be on Whit Monday 

 and 6 Nov. j Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and 

 Gen. Notes, ii, 131, 



^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 205. The 

 receipts for a half year were : Assized rent 

 of the borough, 65s. 3</., and ^od. ; toll of 

 the borough, at farm, 401.; perquisites of 

 courts, 55. id. — 1 1 31. lod. ; to which was 

 added (ts. %d. paid by Agnes, the reeve's 

 widow, for the wardship of her daughter's 

 land. 



5S Add. MS. 32103, fol. 145, &c. The 

 free tenants were ; — 



Henry de Pilkington, three islands of 

 land by the bank of the Irwell, by charter 

 of William de Ferrers to Robert son of 

 Thomas de Salford, at 6j. %d. rent. ; John 

 Bilby [Bibby], the common oven, with 4 

 acres, at 45. ; John de Radcliffe, 63 acres 

 approved from the waste in Salford, 

 ■Pendleton, and Pendlebury, at 311. 6d.; 



206 



Thomas de Strangeways, 15 acres from 

 the waste ; John de Leyland, 5 acres, at 

 zs. 6d. ; Robert Walker, John de Stanlow, 

 and Adam Wright, in common 3 acres, at 

 Ii. 6d. ; Henry de Bolton, 34 acres, at 

 I ys. jd. ; Roger de Manchester (?), 6 J 

 acres, at 31. ^d. ; Henry Marche, 1 acre, 

 at 6d. ; Robert de Hur', 2 acres, at is. ; 

 William Magotson, i acre, at 6d. ; Thomas 

 de Pilkington, 2 acres, at izd. ; Thomas 

 Geoffreyson, 5 acres, at ys. 6d. ; Henry 

 son of William de Salford, 5J acres, at 

 2{. gd. 



All the above tenants were obliged to 

 grind the corn growing on those lands to 

 the twenty-fourth measure, but had rights 

 of pasture and turbary. 



Other tenants were Roger Dickeson, 

 Maud Linals, Ellen Shokes, and Henry 

 son of William de Salford, John de Rad- 

 cliffe and Henry de Pilkington held some 

 other lands ; the latter claimed the right 

 to keep the pinfold, but had to provide 

 lodgings at the lord's vfill in two of his 

 burgages. 



Many of the free tenants held burgages 

 also. The most considerable burgage- 

 holders, however, were John de Prestwich, 

 with fourteen and a fraction, and Henry de 

 Worsley, with about the same. The other 

 holdings ranged from half a burgage up to 

 five. Among the burgesses were Adam de 

 Pendleton, Alexander de Pilkington, John 

 de Oldfield, James de Byrom and John 

 his brother, and the heir of Geoffrey de 

 Trafford. 



The sheriff's compotus of 1348 shows 

 a similar total ; it states that John de 

 Radcliffe had the water-mill at a rent of 

 66s. Sd. 



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