A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



leased or worked by the same family at Great Marsden and Colne,"' and in 

 1577 coal mines are mentioned at ' Falinge ' and at Spotland town (near 



Rochdale).'" 



In 1580 the leasing and working of coal at the Broadhead mine, Burnley, 

 were again a source of dispute,'" and the attorney-general is mentioned as 

 taking up the case for the crown. In the same year coal mines are mentioned 

 at other places in this district, notably at Pendle Forest and on Ightenhill 

 Manor.'" In 1583 coals are being dug at Todmorden "° and also at Tock- 

 holes, Livesey, and Lower Standen.'" In i 590 coal pits are a subject of dispute 

 at Bury Manor,"' and again at the same place in 1597,'" while in 1591 the 

 Townleys were again disputing concerning the leasing of their coal pits at 

 Great Marsden and Colne.'" 



The Ightenhill coal pit was again in dispute in 1598,"' and in 1599 the 

 claim to the digging of coals at Kearsley on Pilkington Manor was raised.'" 

 An intrusion on the premises of the queen's farmers of the Colne coal mines 

 took place in the same year.'" In 1601 coal pits are mentioned at Orrell"" 

 and at Harwood (in Blackburnshire) ; "" and there is a reference in 1602 to 

 the earl of Derby's coal mines at Kearsley in Barton-upon-Irwell.'" 



The struggle for the commons was the popular expression of the rising 

 spirit of opposition to the claims of exclusive privilege that has animated the 

 Lancashire people from the fifteenth century onwards. It was of a piece 

 with the sturdiness that bowed so reluctantly to the Norman yoke and that 

 enabled the bondmen on many manors to combine and buy off their dues of 

 service. This spirit, as has been shown, survived particularly in the descen- 

 dants and successors of these bondmen, that is in the copyholders who con- 

 tested for their rights of free pasture against the lord of the manor on which 

 they rented land and dwellings. 



Another form of this spirit was shown by the townsmen and burgesses 

 who contended with the lords of the manors for the control of their markets. 

 This struggle had been going on a long time, and was never more obstinately 

 waged than during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. At Lancaster, in 

 the reign of Henry VII, the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses were opposing the 

 claim of the duchy receiver to take customs and tolls there, and to the 

 allotment of Quernmoor Common.'" At Bolton le Moors, about the same 

 period, certain persons would not suffer the agent of Sir Edward Stanley, 

 farmer of the fairs and markets there, to collect the tolls for his master.'" 

 It was equally difficult to enforce the farming of the Mersey ferry at Run- 

 corn, where for two years a certain ' Harryson ' and others had provided four 

 boats in defiance of the king's farmer, and had taken over such passengers as 

 came to be ferried across.'" 



The ancient mediaeval exemptions from toll and lastage at fairs and 

 markets throughout the realm, which appertained to the citizens of London 

 and certain other towns, was falling into disuse, or at least the corporations 



"« Duch7 of Lane. Plead, cii, T. 10. '" Ibid, civ, H. 8. »'« Ibid, cix, A. 5. 



"' Ibid. A. 9. «» Ibid, cxxxi, A. 27. «' Ibid. A. 32. 



'" Ibid, div, L. 7. *» Ibid, cbaxii, H. 3. •« Ibid, clix, T. 7. 



'^_ Ibid, ckxxv, T. 12. «« Ibid, cxlix, H. 8. 



'^ Ibid, clxxxix, L. 7, and again ibid, cxciv, L. i. '" Ibid, cxlv, S. 5. 



«* Ibid, cciv, m. 4. "' Ibid, cii, D. 20. "' Ibid, i, L. 3 (Hen. VlII). 



'" Ibid, ii, S. 24 (no date, but attrib. to reign Hen. VII). "» Ibid, iv, A. 3. 



292 



