SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



borough perhaps arose about the same time, but the 

 earliest charter extant is that of 1301, by which 

 Thomas Grelley granted and confirmed to ' his bur- 

 gesses of Manchester ' certain privileges and liberties. 

 The burgesses were to pay izd. & year in lieu of all 

 services, but no land in the town fields seems to have 

 been attached to a burgage. From this it may perhaps 

 be inferred that the townsmen were traders and 

 artisans, as in modern times. Provision was made for 

 the sale of a burgess's land, burgage and goods.^* 

 The heir, on succeeding, was to give the lord some 

 arms as relief The reeve was to be elected and re- 

 moved by the burgesses ; it was his duty to be a 

 witness of all acquisitions of land within the vill. 

 Certajn pleas were to be heard in the borough court, 

 called the portman mote or law mote ; but charges 

 of theft were reserved to the lord's court. Suit to 

 the lord's mill was required, and pannage for swine in 

 the lord's woods ; '* the swine were, however, excluded 

 from the park of Blackley. The fines payable to the 

 lord for various offences were limited by the charter, 

 in most cases to small sums ; an exception was the 

 fine of 20J-. for wounding on Sunday." 



Beyond this the town did not advance, no royal 

 confirmation of its position as a borough being 

 obtained. Hence in 1 359, after a full inquiry, it was 

 decided that Manchester was a market-town, but not 

 a borough.'* The duty or privilege of sending a repre- 



sentative to Parliament and the additional taxation 

 imposed on boroughs were avoided. In one respect, 

 perhaps, it declined in liberty, for its special portmote, 

 once held four times a year under the lord's bailiff, 

 had by the 1 6th century become amalgamated with 

 the court leet.'' It may, however, be urged that the 

 court leet, instead of governing the ancient barony, 

 had become nothing more than the borough court of 

 the town of Manchester.*" 



The records of the court, extant from 1552, have 

 been printed,'" and afford a lively picture of the 

 government and progress of the town. The courts 

 were held twice a year ; in October, when the officers 

 were appointed for the twelve months, and at Easter. 

 The number of the officers increased from time to 

 time with the development of the town ; new duties 

 being found for them, and the increase of streets 

 requiring more supervision. Those elected in 1552 

 were the borough-reeve, catchpoll, two constables, 

 market-lookers for corn, for fish and flesh and for 

 white meat ; mise-layers and gatherers, sealers of 

 leather, ale-conners, burleymen and scavengers for 

 different portions of the town, afi^eerers and appraisers; 

 fifty-nine in all." A swineherd was appointed in 

 1567 ;*' a beadle "for rogues appears in 1573, and 

 in 1578 are found officers for wholesome bread, for 

 fruit, for the conduit, for seeing the orders as to ales 

 and weddings being executed, and for seeing that hats 



were exported linen cloth, coals, bake- 

 stones and iron. A burgess was by the 

 charter free of tolls, unless he used the 

 stall or shop of a stranger. The profits 

 of the tolls and stallage were ^^6 131.41/.; 

 Mamecestre, i, 287. 



'5 A burgess might freely sell land which 

 he had not inherited, but his heir had a 

 right of pre-emption ; inherited land could, 

 as a rule, be sold only with the heir's con- 

 sent. A burgess might sell his burgage 

 and buy another, or transfer it to a neigh- 

 bour ; if he sold it, wishing to leave the 

 town altogether, he must give the lord 4</. 

 He could transfer his personal chattels to 

 anyone within the fee without the lord's 

 interference, and in case he had no heir 

 could bequeath his burgage and chattels to 

 anyone. 



In 1 3 1 2 Sir John La Warre, lord of 

 Manchester, granted Thomas Marecall 

 and John Bibby plots of land in the market- 

 place ' for a half-burgage ' — ad dimidium 

 hurgagium — measuring 40 ft. by 20 ft., at 

 rents of 6d. sterling each ; Manch. 

 Corp. D. One burgage was called the 

 Kennel ; it was opposite the gates of the 

 lord's manor house ; ibid, dated 1333,1340, 



1345- 



85 The swine were allowed to go mto 

 the woods freely during summer time, but 

 not in mast-time. 



S7 A small facsimile of the charter is 

 printed as a frontispiece to Mamecatre ; 

 the text and a translation are printed in 

 the same work, ii, 212-39. Professor 

 Tait has printed the text so as to show its 

 agreement or otherwise with the charters 

 of Salford and Stockport, and has given. a 

 commentary and translation, in Mediaev. 

 Manch. 62-119. 



The borough portmote was in 1 320 held 

 four times a year. To its meetings every 

 burgess was bound to come, either in 

 person or by his eldest son or his wife ; the 

 burgess, being usually a trader, might often 

 be absent from the town on business. If 

 necessary a law mote might be held between 

 the hall motes for the more speedy ad- 



ministration of justice. The profits of 

 the port motes and law motes were esti- 

 mated at 131. 4^/. a year; Mamecestre, ii, 

 287, 315. The customs of the charter 

 seem to have been in full force. 



8^ In 1 341 it was declared that there 

 was no city or borough within the wapen- 

 take of Salford ; Inq, Nan, (Rec. Com.), 



The record of the inquiry of 1359 is 

 printed in Mamecestre^ iii, 447-50 ; see 

 also Dep, Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 339, 

 346. It appears that the officers of the 

 Duke of Lancaster had fined certain per- 

 sons in Manchester for breach of the assize 

 of bread and ale, also for breach of the 

 peace ; whereupon Sir Roger La Warre 

 put forward his claim to hold the vill of 

 Manchester as 'a borough and market 

 town' with amends of the aforesaid 

 breaches and with various other liberties, 

 particularly those to ' a borough and 

 market-town' appertaining. The jury, 

 after due consideration, reported that Sir 

 Roger did not hold the vill as a ' borough,' 

 nor had his ancestors so held it ; but they 

 had, from time without mind, held it as a 

 * market-town,' enjoying all the liberties 

 claimed by Sir Roger both in the vill and 

 in the manor of Manchester. Afterwards 

 an agreement was come to between the 

 duke and the lord, the latter agreeing to 

 pay 50 marks ; but this sum was remitted 

 on 8 Jan. 1359-60, Sir Roger La Warre 

 having justified his claim. 



The names of the burgage-holders in 

 1473 are printed in Mamecestre, iii, 487- 

 91. About ninety burgages are accounted 

 for, and the rents, together with the rents 

 for the lands in the town, amounted to 

 j^8 oj. ^d. The market tolls were leased 

 for £i 6s. id. 



'9 Tait, Mediaev. Manch. 57. 



'*" The usual heading of the record is 

 Curia cum visufranci plegii, but in Sept. 

 1562 it is in English, 'The Portmouthe' 

 &c. ; Manch. Ct. Leet. Rec. i, 75. 



■"1 Edited by the late J. P. Earwaker, 

 and published at the expense of the cor- 



poratioa ia 1884 and later years. The 

 printed series, in twelve volumes, extends 

 from. 1552 to 1687, and 1731 to 1846. 

 The records from 1642 to 1646, 1666 to 

 1669, 1688 to T730 are missing. The 

 Manchester Constables' Accounts from 

 i6i2to 1647 and from 1742 to 1776 have 

 also been printed in three volumes. Atten- 

 tion may be directed to the lists of un- 

 common or provincial words added to 

 each volume. 



^2 Ct. Leet Rec. i, 1-4. Three sets of 

 burleymen were appointed for the districts 

 of (i) Marketstead Lane, (2) Deansgate, 

 (3) Withy Grove, Hanging Ditch, Mill- 

 gate, and so to Irk Bridge. Seven sets ot 

 scavengers were appointed to look after the 

 cleansing of the following streets : — (i) 

 Marketstead Lane, (2) Deansgate and St. 

 Mary's Gate, (3) Old Marketstead, (4) 

 Smithy Door, (5) Fennel Street, (6) Mill- 

 gate and Hunt's Bank, and (7) Hanging 

 Ditch and Millgate. The growth of the 

 town is shown by the increase in the 

 number of these districts, and the modifi- 

 cations of their arrangement. 



Only fifty-four officers were appointed 

 in 1562, but sixty-six in 1572 and seventy 

 in 1582 ; ibid, i, 75, 147, 229. The 

 number had sprung up to ninety-three by 

 1601, to 117 in 1661, and to 135 in 

 1761. 



Two or three officers were specially 

 appointed * for the making clean of the 

 market-place ' ; in 1570 two of them were 

 women ; ibid. 1, 1 34. The same catch- 

 poll was usually re-elected from year to 

 year ; but this officer disappears before 



1731- 



^^ Ibid, i, 112, He had to collect the 

 swine every morning, blowing his horn as 

 a signal, and take them to CoUyhurst ; 

 ibid, i, 114, 117. For an anticipatory 

 order see i, 15. 



■** Ibid, i, 158 ; a fresh order was made 

 in 1614 ; ibid, ii, 293 ; also iii, 161. As 

 time went on he had assistants provided. 

 There are many particulars as to his dress; 

 e.g. iii, 242, 



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