Source: Harrison, William. Transactions- Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol 20: 1902. Manchester: Richard Gill. Daisy digital of Print. p. 1-15.
THOUGH not perhaps so densely wooded as Lanca- J- shire, Cheshire seems to have possessed at the time of the Norman Conquest at least a fair quantity of wood. We find in Domesday a frequent mention of wood, and sometimes of coppice, hays, and aeries of hawks. In what is now the Macclesfield hundred we read of wood- land nine miles in length and six miles in breadth con- tiguous to the forest hills, and containing six enclosures for taking the deer and wild goats. In Wirral, rather singularly, there is mention of woods only in Prenton, Somerford, and Mollington, though in later times there was the tradition, similar to what has been found in other places, that a man might have gone from tree top to tree top from the Meoles stocks to Birkenhead. And the very name Birkenhead, " the promontory of the birches," as well as such names as Woodchurch, Woodside, and Capenhurst, indicates that there was no lack of trees.
The development of the forests in Cheshire followed in many respects a different course from that of the Lanca- shire forests, in consequence of the earlier creation of the palatinate of the earldom of Chester. The forest rights from immediately after the Conquest belonged not to the king, but to the Earl of Chester. They were, therefore, not affected by the Charter of the Forest, and, this being so, there were no perambulations resulting from the charter, and there is an absence of all reference to the county in the proceedings attendant on the agitations in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. When Hugh d'Avranches, known as Hugh Lupus, obtained from the Conqueror the earldom of Chester, to hold "as freely by the sword as the king held his realm by the crown," he set himself within his miniature king- dom to imitate his liege lord in creating forests, or, at any rate, making additions to those already existing. This was done before Domesday, for we find in that record such statements as these in regard to Kingsley and Weaverham, "The earl placed this in his forest," or " Of this land the earl put three hides in the forest." There were four great forests in Cheshire Maccles- field, Mara, Mondrem, and Wirral. The original areas are shown by the margins of green colour in the accom- panying map. Lists of the townships or vills contained in them respectively will be found in the second edition of Ormerod, vol. iii. 541, ii. 105, 356.* MACCLESFIELD FOREST occupied a large area at the eastern end of the county, its boundary passing up the Goyt to its source, then down the Dane, and by North Rode, Gawsworth, Prestbury, and Bullock Smithy to Otterspool, and so up the Mersey to the Goyt again. A detailed perambulation of its boundaries, made in 1619, will be found in Earwaker's East Cheshire, vol. ii., p. 5. MARA and MONDREM were for many purposes linked together, and it is not easy to say precisely where the boundary line between them ran. In the Harl. MS., quoted in Ormerod, which contains a list of the vills, they are said to be within the forest (not forests) of Mara and Mondrem, as if there were but one. This way of speaking of them may have been because they adjoined, and because the hereditary forestership of both came to be in the same family. They appear, however, to have been distinct, for in the reign of Edward I. claims to the forestership of both were allowed in one case as to Mara only, and in another as to Mondrem only. * As the facts cited in what follows are largely culled from Ormerod, references are only given where some other authority is to be quoted. It is a matter of regret that the Cheshire Forest Rolls at the Public Record Office, which still await transcription, have not been available.
THE HEREDITARY FORESTERS. In each of the great forests was a master forester, who (except in the case of Macclesfield) held lands by serjeanty on the condition of serving as forester. Thus Kingsley was in the reign of Henry I. conferred by Ranulph the first, third Earl of Chester, on Ranulph de Kingsley by service of the office of master forester of Mara and Mondrem. And Alan Sylvestre, about 1120, had con- ferred upon him the manors of Storeton and Puddington to hold by cornage as bailiff or forester of Wirral. In each case the service was originally a burden, an obligation attaching to the estate, and on failure to perform which the estate would be forfeited. But the burden soon changed into a privilege. The forestership was not without its advantages, in direct emolument, in control over others, and in dignity. As it was attached to the estate it became hereditary, and so developed into a freehold office. The foresters thus became known as hereditary chief foresters, or foresters in fee, and for centuries they wielded a great power in their respective jurisdictions. The forestership of Mara and Mondrem passed by marriage to the Dones, and although in the reign of Edward I. a moiety of that of Mara was adjudged to belong to a Grosvenor of Little Budworth, under a charter granted between 1153 and 1160, and a share in that of Mondrem to belong to a Weever, the whole ultimately came to the Dones, whose seat was at Utkinton.
The forestership of Wirral passed by successive *R<cmarriages to the families of Storeton and Bamville, and ultimately to that of Stanley (c. 1310). The horn by right of which the forestership was held has been handed down and is preserved by Sir John Errington. A re- presentation of it appears in Sulley's Hundred of Wirral. The master forestership of Macclesfield seems to have been held in gross without any estate. It was granted to Richard de Davenport about A.D. 1166, and (perhaps because it was not attached to any estate) appears, as Ormerod says, to have ultimately become "rather an honorary office, and to have been gradually superseded so far as its active powers were concerned by that of the stewards, who were appointed and removed at pleasure until the reign of Edward IV., when the office of Master Forester of the Forest of Macclesfield and also the Stewardship of Macclesfield (including the Hundred and Forest) were granted to Thomas, Lord Stanley, and the heirs male of his body, in which family the said rights have continued uninterruptedly, excepting the intrusion of Sir William Brereton during the usurpation." In Macclesfield there were also eight subordinate hereditary foresters, who held their estates on the tenure of performing forest duties in their respective districts, and one such forester who held office apart from any estate. The following is the list in the sixteenth year of Edward I.: Ricardus de Vernon held Marple and Wibbersley (Merphull and Wybberlegh) by grant from Randolph, Earl of Chester; Robertus de Downes held Downes and Taxal (Dounes and Taksale) of ancient tenure; Thomas de Orreby held his forestry of ancient tenure by homage without any tenement; Johannes de Sutton held Sutton and Disley (Dystelegh) of ancient tenure; Grym de Stanlegh held Stanlegh of ancient tenure; Henricus de Worth held land which was Orme's per grant from Randolph, Earl of Chester; Ricardus de Heghlegh held Heghlegh (in Sutton) by grant from Randolph, the earl; Adam of Sutton held lands in Sutton per grant from Hugh; Jordanus de Dystelegh held his own land of Dystelegh per grant from Randolph, the earl (Eanvaker's East Cheshire, ii. 6, 7, 88, 90). These subordinate foresters in consideration of the duties they were called upon to fulfil were allowed certain special privileges. They might take foxes, hares, squirrels, weasels, otters, pikes, hawks, and eagles, and might have fishing and fowling, the right shoulder of beasts taken in the forest, and of beasts found dead all but the fore quarters, which were to be sent to Macclesfield. They had cropping of wood for their own beasts; wood for enclosing, building, and burning without hindrance; bark of all oaks cast down, given, or sold, and all millstones found in the forest; and were to be free of pannage through all the forest, while having themselves certain rights of pannage. And they had also the perquisite called pelf, which enabled them to tithe, as it were, the beasts, poultry, clothing, corn, vessels, and furniture of the hapless dwellers in the forest. Something similar to the subordinate forestership of Macclesfield seems to have existed at Delamere. Sir William Troutbeck, in the reign of Edward IV., when challenged by a writ of quo warranto, claimed in fee the manor and vil of Budworth-le-Frith, in the forest of Delamere, with power of building and enclosing so as to be safe from the beasts of the forest, and to have free warren of rabbits, and power of felling and selling wood and underwood without the interference of any forester or verderer, and pasture for hogs without payment of pannage. Also in right of the manor to be sole forester within certain bounds, viz., from Stanford Bridge along the king's highway to Northwich, then to Darlegh Brook, then to the bounds between Rushton and Olton to Yanelegh Mill, and between Ayton and Alpram toTorpley and so to Stanford Bridge. And in right of the bailiwick he claimed a variety of subsidiary rights, amounting practically to an exclusion of the chief forester. Whether the claim was -allowed or not does not appear.
In Mara and Mondrem, and later in Macclesfield also, we find appointments, generally for life, of surveyors, or supervisors and equitators (riders), and the office must have been of some value as we find it often granted in reversion, i.e., during the lifetime of the existing holders, and to come in force after their deaths. The nature of the rights exercised by the superior foresters is set forth in the claim made by Richard Done in 1302, when his pretensions were challenged by a Grosvenor, but were nevertheless allowed. The record shows that he claimed to have the forestership in fee of Mara and Mondrem, and to have eight under-foresters and two gargons distributed over the villages in the forest. He claimed the latter pannage, windfallen wood, half the bark of all fallen oaks; all sparhawks, merlins, and hobbys found within the forest; all swarms of bees, the right shoulder of every deer taken, and all but the horns and sides of stricken deer found dead in the forest, besides waifs and strayed beasts. He claimed to have all money for agistment of hogs from the feast of St. Martin to Christmas. Under the name of pelf he claimed, when the lord's venison should be found within any man's house, the best of the beasts and of the household stuff, the residue being forfeited to the lord. But the chief claim and the one most burdensome to the dwellers within the forest was that of puture. This was claimed of every one holding more than a certain quantity of land. Two under-foresters and one gargon were to be provided with supper, lodging for one night, and breakfast next morning. They would then pass on to another house, and making the circuit of their district would come again to the same house after an interval of six weeks. THE COOMBES. The Coombes in Macclesfield Forest are sometimes referred to in connection with tenures. Thus lands in Sutton were held by the service of finding one hunter to follow the dogs of the earl in his chase in "les Coumbes" within the forest of Macclesfield. The holder of the manor of Cheadle was under the obligation of making his portion of the hay (fence) around the chase in the Coombes. The vil of Chelford was granted subject to the service of repairs of the hays in Macclesfield Forest. And the manor of Bolyn at Wilmslow was held subject to the service of finding thirty-three men for the making fast "les Coumbes" within the forest of Macclesfield whenever the king hunted there, and the making of seventy-two and a half rods of hedge in the said Coumbes. Cheadle, Chel- ford, and Wilmslow are, it will be noted, all outside the forest bounds. Ormerod does not tell us exactly where or what the Coombes were. He says they were probably earthworks or a kind of forest pale constructed for a retiring place in case of danger, and were probably situated near the Chamber of the forest. He might have been a little more definite as to locality, for there is, I find, a place called Coombes, not far from Forest Chapel, lying, as its name implies, in a hollow of the hills. But he is wrong, I think, in regarding it as a retiring place in case of danger. According to the custom of hunting in Norman times, the game was driven into an enclosure by a crowd of beaters raised by the conditions of land tenure from all the surrounding district (see Cambridge Antiquarian Society, x. 284). So early as the tenth century, as we find from a law tract of the period quoted in Social England (vol. i., p. 126), the thane's duty included, at the king's summons, the maintaining of a deer fence for the king's vill; the geneat or peasant's duty included the hewing of deer fences and keeping up hedges; and the cottar's duty included, if summoned so to do, making the king's deer fence. This accords with what we find here. We have seen that there are by the conditions of tenure fences or hedges provided for, to be remade or repaired whenever the earl comes to hunt, and men are to be found to make them fast, or perhaps the meaning is to guard them (pro stabilitatc facienda). The lie of the ground in a natural coombe would facilitate capture, and so there is a reason for choosing this particular spot, which seems perfectly adapted for the purpose. The Chamber in the forest just referred to was, no doubt, a hunting-box or lodge for the forester. It is named in Saxton's map of 1579 and mentioned by Webb. The present ordnance map shows "Old Chamber," now a farm house, close to Forest Chapel, and between it and the Coombes. We can imagine the liveliness of the scene on these now lonely moors on a day when the earl hunted the hurrying to and fro of forester and seneschal, each full, no doubt, of self-importance; the gathering, perhaps, of fair ladies safely placed in the Chamber commanding a view of the Coombes; the careful disposing of the tenantry and their serving-men behind the fences; the baying of the hounds, now distant, now near, as the hunt progresses in other parts of the forest ; the excitement as the stag is at last seen to approach; the anxiety lest it should be allowed to slip, to the high displeasure of the earl; and the final triumph as it is forced to enter the Coombes, there to see every means of escape cut off and its doom sealed. So fared it in the good old times, now dead! EXEMPTIONS AND PRIVILEGES. In course of time many exemptions from the rigour of the forest exactions were granted. The Church, as we might expect, was foremost in claims of this kind. Thus, the manor of Tarvin, which included the townships of Kelsall and Hockenhull, was in the hands of the bishops of Coventry and Lichfield, and by means of ecclesiastical privilege obtained exemption from the control of the foresters of Delamere. So also Irby, Sutton, Eastham, and Bromborough, four manors held by the abbey of St. Werburgh, were exempted from puture, though situate within the forest of Wirral. The same abbey obtained a charter from Edward I. giving them a part of the venison from Delamere, and afterwards a mandate to the forester to allow them to take deer to a certain extent themselves. Burton in Wirral, as part of the possessions of the bishopric of Coventry and Lichfield, enjoyed immunity from the lawing of dogs jure ecclesice, though not apparently from puture. The prior of Birkenhead claimed to be exempt from puture to a certain extent, though not wholly, and also to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the foresters, when not taken in the fact. In the reign of Edward I. he successfully applied for permission to enclose thirty acres of forest land. And the foundation charter of Vale Royal disafforested the manors of Weaverham and Over, which hitherto had been part of the forest of Mara, they being within the liberties of the abbot. The borough of Frodsham, with Overton, Netherton, Bradley, Mukesdale, and Woodhouses, was also ex- cepted. In some other cases we have instances of puture being released, wholly or in part, as at Wallasey and Little Stanney in Wirral, Rushton and Eaton in Mara. Liberty of assarting or enclosing was claimed at Poulton (Polton) and Seacombe (Secum), and at Haswall (Hasel- wall). A right to enclose and cultivate the wastes in North Rode was granted in the thirteenth year of Edward II. and in the same year a similar right was granted in regard to Ashton, in the forest of Mara, as well as a right of pasture. Another privilege was the grant of timber for various purposes. Here again the Church is to the fore. The Charter of Vale Royal gave the monks the privilege of carrying wood from the forest for fuel and necessary repairs, and on its being disputed a precept was obtained confirming the privilege. Later on, in the first year of Henry VII., the then abbot obtained a mandate for the delivery to him of eight oaks for the repairs of his monastery. The forester was directed at various times to supply oaks for the repairs of the college at Bunbury, of Chester Castle, the Dee Mills, Frodsham Bridge, Stanford Bridge, Northwich Bridge, "the Hall of Pleas" and common oven at Middlewich, and the highway at Holmstreet. At Yeardsley-cum-Whaley, Wm. Jouderell, for the repair of his house in 1357, obtained a grant of two oaks out of the forest of Macclesfield; and John de Macclesfield in 1398 petitioned for a grant of six oaks from the wood of Lyme for his mansion in Macclesfield.* Full text can be read at http://www.archive.org/stream/1902transactions20histuoft/1902transactions20histuoft_djvu.txt
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