SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



These respective herds were spread over a fairly wide tract of country in 

 the forest places, styled ' booths,' a word which has locally survived to this 

 day in many parts ot north-east Lancashire/" Those of Trawden were 

 apportioned to five cowkeepers, those of Pendle and of Rossendale to eleven 

 respectively. The average stock kept at each 'booth' was apparently about 

 40 cows, one bull, five to six steers, six to seven heifers, 1 2 to 15 yearUngs, 

 and 15 to 16 calves of the year. The average number of calves reared was 

 about two from every five cows, so that the increase was only at the rate of 

 forty per cent., while sixty per cent, of the cows were, from the point of 

 view of stock-raising, unprofitable. No doubt murrain, exposure, the ravages 

 of wolves, which at this time infested the forest of Blackburnshire, the 

 ignorance of the attendant herdsmen, and other detrimental causes resulted in 

 a heavy mortality of young or new-born stock. *" 



No details are given for the herds of the demesne vaccaries of the 

 honour of Lancaster in the forests of Wyresdale and Bleasdale." A hundred 

 years before, as has already been mentioned, the sheriff looked after them for 

 the king, who then held the honour. It is probable that they were now let 

 to farm, as we know they were twenty-five years later. Other vaccaries of 

 the county were those of the Manchester barony, in the forest of Horwich, 

 but of these herds no details are given. 



A comparison of the rents of these ' cowplaces ' is possible, but owing to 

 their varying area, apt to be misleading. However, we learn that in 1 3 1 1 

 the twenty-seven places for cows in the forests of Blackburnshire, plus four 

 places at Accrington, were let for a sum of ^15 loj., at an average of loj. 

 yearly per vaccary. In Horwich in 1322 eight 'cowplaces' brought in a 

 rent of ^C^Q-" Obviously these were larger or richer and could pasture more 

 cattle. In the same year the vaccaries of the demesne forest lands of the 

 honour of Lancaster, namely, Wyresdale and Bleasdale, were let to farm 

 for a total rent of £,i\ \\s. 



The oxen raised at the vaccaries were bred primarily for draught and to 

 work at the plough, but a large surplus was often on hand and was either 

 transferred to the various farms as required or sold at the nearest market. 

 A great number were annually sold from the Accrington booths, where out 

 of 317 oxen mentioned, 98 were kept for use, and 213 were sold. The milk 

 from the vaccaries was churned into butter and salted for winter use or made 

 into cheese. No less than 156 cheeses and 27I stones of butter are mentioned 

 in the De Lacy Compotus Roll of 1295. Attached to the 'cowplaces' 

 were stud farms, where a stock of draught and saddle horses were annually 

 reared, wherewith to supply the earl's or the king's requirements for war, 

 travel, or draught purposes. 



With these herds belonging to the demesne lands of the two honours it 

 is interesting to compare the stock of a small monastic establishment at the 

 beginning of the fourteenth century, only fifteen years after the De Lacy 



" The Widnes Vaccary is entered separately and had 46 cows, 2 bulls, and 3 5 yearlings, but only 

 12 calves of the year. Cf. 'Higham Booth,' ' Crawshaw Booth,' 'Barley Booth' in the Pendle Forest 

 district. 



" Cf. Prof. T. Rogers, Agric. and Prices (ed. 1 866), i, J 3. ' The losses of stock sustained by the mediaeval 

 farmer were enormous.' 



" Particulars of stock which might be maintained in Wyresdale and Bleasdale, 1249-97, are given in 

 Lanes. Inj. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. xlviii), 170, 221-2, 290. 



" Mamecestre (Chet. Soc), ii, 387-8. 



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