AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



PRESTON 



confirmed all in I227. 83 Edward III in 1328 con- 

 firmed the foregoing acts of his progenitors, adding 

 liberty of a weekly market on Wednesday and an 

 annual fair of five days, 27 to 31 October. 34 This 

 charter was granted five months after the holding of 

 the first recorded guild merchant, at which it was 

 expressly stated that ' the king gives the freedom to 

 the burgesses which are in the guild and to none 

 other/ w The guild is not named in any of the 

 charters, but may be implied in the 'customs of 

 Newcastle/ which town certainly had a guild in 

 the time of Henry III. 86 The charters here de- 

 scribed are known by their recital in later confir- 

 mations ; only one, that of 1 1 99, is preserved at 

 Pregton. 



In 1292 the borough was called upon to show its 

 authority for the rights of lordship exercised, and the 

 bailiffs and community replied that their liberties 

 and fair were granted by charter, except gallows and 

 infangenthef, which were derived from ancient 

 custom, this latter being also the origin of their 



weekly market. 87 The town had a moiety of the 

 Ribble fihery. 38 



The Custumal of Preston in its present form may 

 date from the charter of 1328, 39 but had probably 

 originated long before and been augmented from 

 different sources. 40 The need of such a document 

 had been shown by the proceedings of 1292. The 

 first clauses, beginning ' Ita quod/ without an intro- 

 ductory phrase, establish the guild merchant with 

 exclusive rights of trading, except at the burgesses' 

 will. It appears that anyone 41 could become a 

 burgess if he liked ; all that was necessary was for 

 him to pay I 2d, to the ' prefect ' and then the 

 ' pretors ' would assign him a burgage plot, which 

 must have a frontage of 1 2 ft. at least, and on which, 

 should there be no dwelling, he must build one 

 within forty days. 42 Various clauses regulate the 

 procedure in market 43 and court 44 ; a burgess was 

 expected to attend three port-motes in the year, and 

 must attend each great port-mote. 45 The fines, except 

 in one or two cases, were not to exceed 1 zd. i6 ; trial 



all appurtenances, white gloves being 

 payable at Preston fairs ; Lytham D. at 

 Durham, 3 a, 2 ae, 4 ae, Ebor. no. 3. The 

 grantee was rector of Whittington, and 

 his son Henry gave the tenement to 

 Lytham Priory ; ibid. no. 2. 



38 Abram, op. cit. ; dated Westminster, 

 16 Mar. 1226-7. 



The same king at Windsor, 29 Oct. 

 1252, allowed that an appropriation of 

 324 acres which the burgesses had made 

 under Fulwood belonged to the borough 

 and not to the king's wood. The boun- 

 dary reached to Eves Brook from Ribble- 

 ton Scales to the point where the brook 

 fell into the Savock, and then along the 

 Savock to the old dyke which formed the 

 boundary between Preston and Tulketh. 

 Thus the land seems to have been what 

 was later known as Preston Moor. The 

 burgesses had liberty to cultivate the land 

 as they pleased, up to within 40 perches 

 of the cover of Fulwood, and their old 

 rights of turbary outside and of fencing 

 wood within Fulwood were admitted ; 

 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P* 4°6. 



In 1227 a five years' grant of dead wood 

 from Fulwood for burning had been made 

 to the men of Preston ; CaL Pat. 1 225-3 2, 

 p. 112. 



84 Abram, op. cit. 4 ; dated Westmin- 

 ster, 27 Nov. 1328. Four charters were 

 produced — those of Henry II, John, and 

 Henry III (2). The inspeximut is re- 

 corded in Chart. R. 2 Edw. Ill, m. 1, 

 no. 6. 



35 Abram, op. cit. 8. The first clause 

 of the Custumal seems to be referred to — 

 'That they [the burgesses] may have a 

 guild merchant with hanse and other 

 customs and liberties appertaining to that 

 guild .' 



86 The charter, dated 18 Sept. 1235, is 

 printed in Farrer, op. cit. 414. It may 

 have been merely a confirmation of the 

 liberties referred to in the charter granted 

 by Henry II to Preston. It allowed a 

 guild merchant with all its liberties ; the 

 burgesses might pass through the king's 

 dominions, trading freely, and quit of 

 toll, passage, pontage, ulnage, &c, and 

 themselves have in their borough soc and 

 sac, toll, infangenthef, and other jurisdic- 

 tions. Similar liberties for Preston are 

 recorded in clause 4 of the Custumal. 



In 1 55 1 two inhabitants of Preston 

 complained that they had been compelled 



to pay tolls at sundry places in Yorkshire. 

 For Pontefract it was alleged that the 

 right to charge dues was earlier than the 

 exemption claimed $ Duchy of Lane. 

 Plead. Edw. VI, xxviii, E 2. 



37 Plac. deQuo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 385. 

 The charter they alleged was that of King 

 John (1199), still extant. They paid ^15 

 a year to the king for their liberties. The 

 weekly market, nominally held on Wed- 

 nesday, was actually on Saturday. As the 

 charter did not specify the liberties, and 

 as the burgesses were not able to prove 

 the customs of Newcastle, the town lost 

 its cause for the moment. The * gallows ' 

 does not reappear. 



88 Ibid. 387. The lord of Penwortham 

 had the other moiety. 



89 The Custumal is printed in Engl. 

 Hist. Rev. xv, 496-500, with a commen- 

 tary by Miss Mary Bateson, who divided 

 the document into forty-eight paragraphs. 

 She considers that the phrase at the end, 

 de lege Bretonica, refers to the laws of 

 Breteuil, on which the statutes of a 

 number of early English boroughs were 

 founded ; ibid. 73, 302 — see especially 

 p. 318, where the phrase lex Britannte 

 occurs. A reduced facsimile of the Cus- 

 tumal is given in Fishwick's Preston, 16. 



The date is inferred from the heading 

 which Randle Holme prefixes to his 

 transcript — 'Libertates Gilde Mercatorie 

 confirmate per Edwardum Regem.' 



40 Miss Bateson considers that the first 

 four paragraphs have come from a royal 

 charter, and that clause 36 was at one 

 time the ending. Clause 47 is a sentence 

 from 32, and 35 seems to be included 

 in 4. 



41 Even a * native ' who obtained ad- 

 mission to the guild and remained a year 

 and a day undisturbed became absolutely 

 free $ clause 3. 



In the phrases 'burgensis de curia' 

 (no. 18, 20, 22) and * burgensis de villa' 

 (no. 32) Miss Bateson sees an opposition, 

 as if the distinction between out and in- 

 burgesses had already been fixed. The 

 'burgensis de curia' of no. 20 may be an 

 error for 'pretor de curia.' 



43 Clauses 5, 6, 16. A curious pro- 

 vision was that \d. was to be paid to the 

 pretor's servant for his testimony to the 

 fact of entry. A disputed title was 

 settled by the oath of the tenant's 'prepo- 

 situs * and two neighbours at least, 



93 



affirming that he had held it a year and a 

 day 5 no. 7. 



A burgess might sell his burgage, but 

 the next of kin had a right of pre-emp- 

 tion. If he had only one burgage he 

 must on selling pay 4^. for liberty to go ; 

 no. 30. 



Nothing is said of an annual rent to 

 be paid for the burgage, but this was 

 probably izd. In an undated charter 

 William de Euxton granted a burgage in 

 Preston to Richard the Smith, a rent of 

 izd. being payable to the lord of the fee ; 

 Towneley MS. OO, no. 1099. 



No plot of land is named in the Cus- 

 tumal as appurtenant to a burgage, but 

 from charters and inquisitions it may be 

 inferred that some land was normally 

 held with a burgage. 



In later times it was customary for a 

 burgess to pay yd. on * renewing his free- 

 dom ' at each guild celebration $ Abram, 

 op. cit. 65 (quoting Kuerden). 



43 Among other by-laws it was ordained 

 that if a burgess bought anything and gave 

 an earnest or instalment the seller might 

 rescind the bargain on repaying double the 

 earnest j but should the purchaser have 

 handled his purchase he might either 

 retain it or accept 5$. from the seller 

 instead; Custumal, no. 12. A stranger 

 might not share in any bargain with one 

 of the burgesses ; no. 29, 



44 One rule was that if anyone were 

 taken and convicted for robbery or breach 

 of trust {infidelitas) the prosecutor should 

 ( do justice ' on him ; no. 19. 



45 Clause 10. A burgess was not to 

 be compelled to go with his lord on a 

 military expedition unless he could return 

 home the same day ; no. 43. 



46 Clause 9. If one burgess wounded 

 another and they desired to agree their 

 friends might impose a penalty of ^.d. for 

 each thumb-length of wound in a covered 

 part of the body and %d. for each in an 

 open place. The assailant must also 

 make good any money loss due to the 

 wound and pay the doctor ; no. 21. The 

 final clause of the by-law seems to mean 

 that the wounded man should swear upon 

 his arms that he had been wounded and 

 was willing to accept the composition 

 agreed upon. If a burgess should be fined 

 1 zd. three times for breach of the assize of 

 bread and ale, the fourth time he should 

 pay a heavier fine, or else go to the cuck- 



