A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



the amount due that year, the county being greatly depressed by the 

 frequent invasions of the Scots and other misfortunes."' 



How far mediaeval Lancashire took part in the woollen-cloth industry 

 cannot at this distance of time, and in the absence of documentary evidence, 

 be determined. All historians concur in admitting that a great influx of 

 Flemish weavers, patronized by Queen Emma, followed the Norman Con- 

 quest, and some of these are said to have settled in the north near Carlisle, 

 and to have founded the Kendal cloth industry." It is a matter of knowledge 

 that a weaving community who obtained a charter from Henry I were 

 settled at or near Preston in the twelfth century, and there was certainly an 

 ancient weavers' guild at York. Possibly similar guilds were attached to 

 the merchant guilds of Wigan and Liverpool ; at any rate some local woollen 

 cloth industry must have necessitated the fulling mills, which are repeatedly 

 mentioned in the mediaeval surveys, particularly in the parts of Blackburn- 

 shire and Salfordshire.** 



The grain crops raised on the manors varied a little with the situation of 

 the land. Oats constituted the staple crop of the county," and though some 

 wheat was sown on almost every manor or monastic estate it seems to have 

 been rather by way of luxury than of necessity, as a provision for the lord's 

 or abbot's personal and household requirements. Next to oats barley was most 

 plentifully grown, as it was used in brewing ; beans and peas were also sown 

 in great quantities. A certain amount of flax " and hemp was likewise raised 

 on nearly every manor for the requirements of the lord's establishment. 

 Grass for fodder was of course grown and mown wherever possible, and 

 doubtless occupied the greatest area of all. Blackburnshire, being partly 

 situated on spurs of the Pennine Range, was not favourably situated for grain 

 crops. One of its best cultivated and most fertile districts would be parts of 

 the valley of the Ribble about Clitheroe ; and at Standen Grange 35^ acres 

 of grass were mown in 1295, which ten years later (1304—5) had been 

 increased to 48 acres. Among grain crops oats predominated, the yield being 

 121 quarters 6 J bushels reaped in 1295 as against 2 quarters i bushel of wheat 

 in the same year, and ten years later being 187 quarters 3 J bushels of oats 

 as against 8 quarters 5 bushels of wheat reaped in 1 304—5. Of these oats 

 94 quarters were used again for seed, 5 J only were kept for provender, and 

 83 quarters were sold for profit, proving that the grange of Standen was 

 something more than a self-supporting establishment. 



At a slightly later time, in the year 1322, we obtain some details as to 

 the demesne manors of the honour. On the manor of Hale, near the 

 Cheshire border, there were 10 1 acres of demesne land, and 6 acres besides 

 that were sown with wheat ; the crops for three years ahead were sold to an 



66a 



Ca!. Close, 1341-3, pp. 257, 399. " Samuel Bros., Wool and Woollen Manufactures ofGt. Brit. 32. 



•^ Cf. Colne, De Lacy Inq. 131 1 (Chet. Soc. Ixxiv), 8. Burnley, ibid. 8. Cf. also the manor of Man- 

 chester, where the fiilling mill of the manor was extended at 26/. id. yearly in the inquisition of 1282 {Mame- 

 cestre, i, 143). Again, in the extent ofManchester for 1 322 (ibid, ii, 420) the fulling mill on Irk is mentioned. 



" A writer in the eighteenth century, describing Lancashire, says, ' The chief commodities are oats, 

 cattle;' Owen, Brit. Deficta, 236. 



" The Duchy Records, hereafter referred to, contain many entries of tithes of hemp and flax being paid 

 from the varying districts of Leigh and Tyldesley (Duchy Rec. ii (Supplement), i & 2 Phil, and Mary, 193, 

 m. U). Also ibid, i, 9 Eliz. 338, z^b ; also ibid. 16 Eliz. iii, 15, \zb. Tithes of hemp and flax at Ruf- 

 ford, Bretherton, and Croston. Also at Aighton 17 Eliz. and again 28 Eliz. ibid. 191, 3, S. Tithe of hemp 

 and flax at Kirkham. It is probable tithes had been paid in hemp and flax in these and other districts from 

 a very early period. 



272 



