A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Pontefract."* From the number of fairs and markets and the amount of general 

 traffic that would necessarily ensue it must be supposed the roads of Lanca- 

 shire had improved considerably since the beginning of the thirteenth century. 

 King John was a traveller who stayed for little, and yet though he once, in 

 1206, passed from CarHsle to Chester through Lancaster he never repeated 

 the experiment, but always travelled back by the Yorkshire route."" No 

 particulars are furnished of his route except that he stopped at Lancaster, and 

 a week later arrived at Chester. The journey was undertaken in February, 

 when the tracks must have been worse than usual, a fact which would not 

 tend to produce a favourable impression on the royal mind. 



That definite attempts were made to mend the roads for commercial 

 purposes we know from an entry in the De Lacy Compotus, by which the 

 bailiff required the tenants of a certain manor to keep the roads towards the 

 Chester markets in repair."* Where it was necessary roads were actually cut, 

 as that made by the bailiff of Clitheroe manor through Accrington wood."' 



Travelling was of course performed on horseback, as wheeled vehicles 

 were only known for purposes of slow transport, and were drawn by oxen. 

 The perils of the way were great, as many lawless men lurked in the forests. 

 Travellers therefore went as far as possible in companies, and well armed. 



The appointment of special commissioners and of itinerant justices would 

 necessarily give some faint breath of court atmosphere, and the visit of 

 Edward II after the execution of his uncle of Lancaster, though doubtless 

 entailing a heavy purveyance, would bring some show of unaccustomed 

 pageantry into the dull lives of this northern population. We do not know 

 whether any improvements in transit accompanied the king's visit, though 

 it involved expenditure on the castle at Liverpool."* 



The fourteenth century was notable for the building of bridges where 

 there had previously been fords or ferries. Warrington bridge existed in 

 1305, and tolls were granted for its repair."' It was rebuilt in 1364-8, 

 and apparently a third time in the fifteenth century."" When in 1495 

 Henry VII visited the countess of Richmond at Lathom House, the earl 

 built a new bridge over the Mersey at Warrington for the occasion."^ 



The fourteenth century was also the period when towns began to be 

 paved, and even in Lancashire a few grants of pavage arc entered."' Certain 

 public regulations were also occasionally issued for the removal of filth from 

 the public highway, and for the restraining of pigs and other animals from 

 wandering in the streets at will. 



It was during the same century that manor-houses began to be substituted 

 for castles as feudal residences. In some cases the original peel "' or turreted 

 tower was retained and a chamber or great hall built on to it, and to the 



'*• The writer has gone fully into this matter of the old mediaeval routes in an article in the Economic 

 Rev. July, 1897, entitled ' English Towns and Roads in the 13th Century.' 



"' King John's Iters, in description of Pat. R. by T. Duffiis Hardy, 1835. 



"* De Lacy Compotus, 151 ; tenants of Longdendale, 1304-5, under Halton (Cheshire). 



'" L.T.R. Misc. Enr. Accts. Accounts of John de Lancaster, in charge of the honour of Lancaster &c 



^ Annab of the Lords of Warrington. '" Ibid. 200. "" Ibid. 354. 



"^ Pat. 2 Edw. Ill m. 34— Grant to men of Liverpool of three years' pavage ; and again in 1336 • Pat. 



10 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 43 d. Pavage to men of Wigan for five years was granted in 1336 • Pat 10 Edw III 



pt. 1, m. 43 <^. • ' 



"^ Peel is not uncommon as a place name, e.g. in Widnes, Hulton, &c. 



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