FORESTRY 



<lisgrace in 1232 did not recover it when two years later he obtained again the lordship of Hornby 

 which he had also temporarily lost.^° From that date Upper Wyresdale continued to form part of 

 the royal forest. It has an area of 17,319 acres. 



Myerscough had belonged to the demesne of the hundred of Amounderness which John 

 count of Mortain gave to Theobald Walter before 1 1 94, when King Richard regranted it to 

 Theobald with the forest of Amounderness, the venison and all pleas of the forest, except pleas of 

 the crown.^' It is not clear when it was incorporated in the royal forest, but evidently before 

 1249, when accounts of the issues of the forests of Wyresdale, Lonsdale, and Amounderness were 

 rendered. ^^ It extends to 2,707 acres. 



This perambulation of the forest^' remained unchallenged down to 1277, when it wasrenewed. 

 In 1298 it was again renewed.^" 



Early forest proceedings in the county are illustrated in the Pipe Rolls. In 11 70 the county 

 proffered 200 marks for respite from the regard of the forest.^^ In 11 75, as the result of the eyre 

 of the forest justices, the county owed j^93 131. ^d. for waste of the forest, riddings made therein 

 and other pleas.^' In 1 178 amercements of one mark or less were due from thirteen persons, 

 mostly clergy, for trespass against the forest, and two years later the archdeacon of Chester owed ^^5 

 under the same heading.^' In 11 80 the county proffered j^78 ly. ^.d. and again in 11 85 fifty 

 marks to have respite from pleas of the forest.^* In 1186 the men of Lancaster, that is of the 

 county, who dwelt within the forest, gave fifty marks for respite from the forest regard,''' whilst 

 persons were amerced for keeping dogs contrary to the assize of the forest, for having cows in the 

 forest, and for offences against the vert.^* Two years later Stephen de Walton, parson of Walton 

 on the Hill, was amerced one mark for making a lodge in the forest.^' In 1 2 1 9 a forest eyre was 

 made in twenty-two counties and places. In Lancashire William Butler of Warrington, Alan de 

 Pennington, Michael le Fleming of Furness, Henry de Redman of Levens, and William de 

 Thornton, clerk, were commissioned to make inquiry at Lancaster from the octave to the quindene 

 of Peter and Paul the Apostles, by the oath of the verderers and foresters of fee what riddings 

 {essarta) had been made and sown with corn in the county since the king's coronation without 

 permit, by whom, by whose authority, and by whom held ; the number of acres, by whom 

 sown, and the value of each sowing. And the same inquiry was to be made of riddings 

 not yet sown, and whether they formerly bore heavy wood or coppice wood ; and 

 also as to riddings made in the woods of the crown demesne and in the woods of other 

 persons. The commissioners were further directed to take all such riddings into the king's 

 hand and put to sureties those who had assarted them, for their appearance before the 

 chief justice of the forest on the morrow of the Assumption. Mandates were also sent to the 

 verderers and foresters to assist in the proceedings.^* In December, 1222, a great storm burst over 

 England which caused enormous destruction in the forests. On 26 December mandates were sent 

 to the verderers and foresters of forty-five forests throughout England, including that of Lancaster, 

 to view the wind-fallen timber, to appraise it, and to stay removal of the same and of all fallen 

 limbs until the receipt of further instructions.^' Early in 1224 letters close were sent to the 

 sheriff to summon all foresters and regarders for the election of new officers to complete their 

 number, and to elect twelve knights to view trespasses done in the forest, preparatory to the 

 advent of the forest justice to those parts.^" In 1228 Roger Gernet, forester in fee of the king's forest 

 in the county, obtained a confirmation of the custody of the forest without interference of the sheriff 

 for a yearly farm of £i2, for which he and his ancestors had formerly paid ^^lo ;" and the year 

 following the inhabitants of the forest were confirmed in the possession of the liberties granted 

 to them by John count of Mortain, and confirmed in 1199.''' In preparation for a forest eyre in 

 1 23 1 the sheriff of Lancaster was directed on 20 April to summon the lords spiritual and temporal, 

 the abbots, priors, knights and free tenants dwelling within the metes of the forest to appear at 

 Lancaster upon a day to be assigned by the justices of the forest to come to pleas of the forest ; and 

 from each vill within the metes of the forest to summon four men with the reeve and the foresters 

 of those vills ; and also all men dwelling outside the forest who sued pleas of the forest and those 



'* Cal. Chse, 1227-31, p. 68 ; Cal. Pat. 1232-47, p. 73. In Cal. of Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 79> '^e grant 

 to the earl is incorrectly calendared as a ' charter disafforesting the valley of Wyresdale.' 



" V.C.H. Lanes, i, 352 ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. il. " Lanes. Inq. (Rec. See. xlviii), 170. 



" Lanes. Pipe R. 420 ; Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 103. 



'" Cal. Pat. 1272-81, p. 237 ; Cal. Close, 1296-1302, p. 191. " Lanes. Pipe R. 16. 



« Ibid. 27. '' Ibid. 38, 41. '' Ibid. 42, 55. 



'* Ibid. 60, 67. '' Ibid. 60. " Ibid. 68. 



^^ Cal. Pat. 1216-25, pp. 21 1-18. Lands reclaimed by the knights and freemen of the county within 

 their own demesne woods were to be left in their possession in accordance with John's carta de/oresta. 



^ Ibid. 360-2. '° Ibid. 482. 



" Cal. Chart. R. i, 68. '' Ibid. 93. 



439 



