The History of the Church and Manor of Wigan/Adam de Walton

by George Thomas Orlando Bridgeman

I presume that Adam de Walton was the Rector presented at that time. Master Adam de Walton, Parson of Wigan, was summoned to appear at Lancaster on the octaves of the Holy Trinity, 20 Edw. I. (9 June, 1292), to show by what warrant he claims to have a market, and fair, and emends of assize of bread and beer in Wigan. And by what warrant he claims for himself and his men of the same town to be quit of suit to the county and wapentake; and to have a free borough, infangenthef, and utfangenthef, in the said town, privileges which pertain to the crown and dignity of the King, without the licence and will of the King himself and his predecessors, the Kings of England. And Master Adam came and produced two charters, made by the lord Henry, father of the King that now is, to a certain John Maunsell, formerly parson of the same church, of which the one is dated in the 30th year of his reign.^[1] This charter was conceded and confirmed by the said King, for himself and his heirs, to his beloved and faithful John Maunsell, parson of the church of Wigan, that his town of Wigan should be a borough for ever; that the burgesses of the same borough should have a Merchant-Guild, with a hanse, and all the liberties and free customs to that guild belonging; and that no one who is not of that guild should make any merchandize in the aforesaid borough except by the will of the same burgesses. He also conceded to the same burgesses and their heirs, that they should have sok,^[2] sak,^[3] tol,^[4] them,^[5] and attachment, within the said borough, and infangenthef,^[6] and utfangenthef,^[7] and that they should be free, throughout the whole land, and through all the sea-ports, of toll, lastage,^[8] pontage,^[9] passage,^[10] and stallage,^[11] and that they should do no suit to county or wapentake for their lands which they hold within the aforesaid Borough; he also conceded to them that whatsoever traders should come to the Borough aforesaid with their merchandise, from whithersoever they came, whether foreigners or others, so that they entered the land peaceably, and with the King's permission, should pass safely and securely to the aforesaid Borough with their merchandize, and should remain there in security, and safely return from thence upon paying the customary dues; and he commanded that the said vill of Wigan should be a free Borough for ever. By the other Charter of the same King Henry, dated in the 42nd year of his reign, the said King conceded, for himself and his heirs, to his beloved and faithful John Maunsell, parson of the Church of Wigan, that he and his successors, parsons of the said Church, for ever should have a market at their Borough of Wigan on Monday in every week, and two fairs there for six days, namely, on the Vigil, the day, and the morrow, of the Ascension of our Lord, and on the Vigil, the day, and the morrow of All Saints, unless that market and fair should be to the injury of neighbouring markets and fairs. Wherefore he claims by these charters to have a market and fair in the aforesaid vill, and emends of bread and beer on the days of the market and fairs as a liberty appurtenant and annexed to the said market and fair, &c., and so in like manner on every day throughout the whole year. And in like manner he claims for himself and his men of that vill that they should be free of suit to County or Wapentake, and that he should have a free borough with infangenthef and utfangenthef, and to make attachments, which pertain to the aforesaid liberties, by his bailiffs in the same vill; but attachments for pleas of the crown, and the execution of briefs and precepts determinable by the King's Justices, or the county, are made by the King's bailiff. Subsequently the aforesaid Master (Adam) said that he did not claim Utfangenthef although it was contained in his charter. William Inge, who prosecuted on behalf of the crown, pleaded that he (Master Adam) had arrogated to himself the emends of assize of bread and beer on the authority of the aforesaid charter for a market and fair, whereas these liberties are not to be inferred from the said charter. He also says that the same Master Adam took emends of assize of bread and beer in the said vill on every day in the year, and that he exercises the liberty of infangenthef and utfangenthef otherwise than he ought to do. He also says that the same Master Adam and his bailiffs of the said vill had before them, on pleas of sacrabord, felons accused of felonies committed beyond their jurisdiction, and those felons had put themselves upon a jury of their country. He had tried that matter by men of the aforesaid town, whereby some had been improperly condemned, and some had been freely dismissed. Master Adam says that he does not claim to determine pleas de vetito namio^[12] in the said Borough, nor has he ever determined them, neither has he abused the aforesaid liberties, as is laid to his charge, and he begs that this may be inquired into. A Jury was accordingly impanelled, consisting of William le Butiller, Robert de Lathun, Nicholas de Leycestre, Henry de Kyghele, and John de Ewyas, knights, William de Moeles, Henry de Tyldesley, Richard de Urmeston, Alan de Bisheton, Nicholas Blundel, Robert de Bolde, and Alan de Halshal, who stated upon oath that the aforesaid Master Adam and his predecessors from the time of the making of the said charters have been used to hold fairs and markets in the said borough, and when any one is convicted of breaking the assize of bread and beer he is amerced in the court of the same Master Adam in the aforesaid vill, and if he should be convicted once, twice, thrice, or more, he is always amerced for a fault of this kind, and not punished in any other way by judgment. And as to infangenthef they say that a certain Roger de Asheton caused a certain William le Procuratur detected with the stolen goods in his possession to be attached by the said Master Adam's bailiff for a certain ox which he asserted that the aforesaid William had stolen in Hasphulle (Aspull) in the Wapentake of Salford, and accused him of felony, and the said William procured Henry Crowe to be his warranty, who came to the next court, and warranted him, and said that he would procure good warranty at the next court. On this the suitors and the burgesses of the town discharged William le Procuratur, the felon, and detained the aforesaid Henry Crowe in prison for three weeks, until the next court, when the said Henry Crowe came and acknowledged the robbery, and was hung by judgment in the absence of the Coroner. And the aforesaid William is yet living. The jurors were asked who was then the bailiff of the aforesaid court. They said it was a certain Matthew le Clerk, who was now present. They were asked whether Master Adam had consented to this proceeding, or permitted it. They said he had not. They also said that a certain Hugh Ashegh had caused a certain Nicholas Wade to be attached by the said bailiff in the said vill, who was taken with the stolen goods in his possession, for a certain tabard and sword stolen in the vill of Preston, and had prosecuted him at the first court; but at the second court no one had appeared to prosecute, nor yet at the third or fourth court. And so the suitors and the burgesses agreed to discharge the prisoner without taking any further steps in the matter. They also said that the same Master Adam takes a capital toll and emends of assize of bread and beer on every day of the year, as well as on the market and fair days. They also said that the said Master Adam is quit of suit to County or Wapentake, and that his predecessors have been so from the time of the making of the aforesaid charters, but not from ordinary fines and amercements because at the last itirneray here the men of the said Borough gave to the Wapentake of Makerfeld a hundred shillings as their common fine.

The Community of the said vill, by twelve men of that vill who came to answer for the vill concerning the acquittance of the said William Prokeratur and Nicholas Wade, had nothing to say about this, but as to the court and liberty of the said vill they said these belonged to the Parson of the Church of Wigan, and they were suitors there. Whereupon it was decided by that jury, after inspection of the charter, that King Henry, by his charter, had conceded sok and sak and infangenthef, &c., to the burgesses of Wigan and their heirs, and not to the parson of the church; and the aforesaid burgesses, who, according to the form of the said charter, ought to have the said liberties, had neither hitherto made use of them, nor claimed them; and the said Master Adam and his predecessors from the time of the making of the said charter, by their bailiffs, had exercised the said liberties. Since, however, they were not conceded to the Parson, and the aforesaid bailiffs and suitors by the decision of the court at . . . had let the said William le Procuratur and Nicholas Wade go free, when, by the law and custom of the realm for the observance of the. King's peace, the truth of the matter ought to have been inquired into at the suit of the King, which could not be done by the said bailiffs and burgesses because the principal act was done beyond their jurisdiction. It was decided that the Borough with the liberties contained in the first charter should be taken into the King's hands during the King's pleasure, and the sheriff is ordered to account for the issues thereof. And as to the market and fair which he claims by another charter, and the taking emends of the assize of bread and beer on the market and fair days, the aforesaid Adam should retain them for the present, but because he had punished the transgressors of this assize, after being convicted three or four times, at his discretion, and not judicially, therefore he is at the King's mercy for this. And the suitors of the said court are likewise at the King's mercy for their fault.

The liberties claimed by the Parsons were, however, afterwards restored, on the application of John Byrn, guardian of the land and heiress of Robert Banastre, patron of the said church, on behalf of the said heiress, who said that the predecessors of the aforesaid Master Adam had died in seisin of the said liberties as of the right of the aforesaid church: and that the aforesaid Master Adam had answered by himself, of his own accord, without seeking the help of his patron or the ordinary of the place; the value of the said court being thirty shillings a year.^[13]

Master Adam de Walton was still living and Parson of the Church of Wigan in 1299-1300, when it was shown that the course of a certain water in Standish and Hagh had been unjustly diverted by William de Bradeshagh, and Mabill, his wife, to the injury of the said Adam in Wigan.^[14] Adam de Walton was Chancellor of the church of Lichfield from 1276 to 1292, when he was made Precentor of that Cathedral.^[15] He resided partly at Lichfield, and from the following presentment of the Lichfield jury in the Plea Rolls of 21 Edw. I. (1293) he was evidently regarded by the beggars of that day as a liberal dispenser of alms. The jury reported that a certain mendicant, Thomas de Sestreshire (Cheshire), together with a multitude of other paupers, came to the house of Master Adam de Walton within the close of Lichfield to receive alms, and the door of the said Adam's house being opened Thomas hastened to enter with the other paupers, and owing to the great pressure John le Wryere, the porter (claviger) of the said Master Adam, struck him with a stick on the head in order to keep him back, and the said Thomas fell, and, being trodden under foot by the multitude of other paupers, he was suffocated. The jury, together with the jury of the Hundred of Offlowe, being asked if the said John had struck Thomas feloniously, said that he had not, and that the blow was not the cause of his death, for he had been suffocated by the pressure of the crowd.^[16]

Adam de Walton died in August, 1303.^[17]

1. According to the printed copy of the Wigan charters in the Wigan Free Library, this charter was dated at Wodestok, on the 26th of August, 30 Hen. III. (1246).
2. Sok, or socage, was a tenure of lands by which a man was enfeoffed freely, or in fee simple, without any military service, relief, ward, or marriage, paying only to the lord a stated rent in money or provisions.
3. Sak was the privilege or franchise, enjoyed by the lord of a manor of determining in his own local court the disputes of his tenants; so that in this case the men of Wigan would be tried by their own townsmen.
4. Toll or thol, in the Saxon charters, was the liberty of buying or selling, or keeping a market. In later times it signified the customary dues or rent paid to the lord of a manor for his profits of the fair or market, or it sometimes implied a liability to pay such dues by traders in any market.
5. Them, or theam, was a franchise which gave to the lord of a manor an absolute jurisdiction over his villeins and natives.
6. Infangenthef was a liberty granted from the King to some lords of a manor to try all thieves, being their tenants, within their own court.
7. Utfangenthef was a similar liberty of trying foreigners or strangers apprehended for theft within their own fee.
8. Lastage was the custom exacted in markets for selling wares by the Last, or wholesale quantity; a Last of pitch was twelve barrels, of hides or skins twelve dozen, of corn, ten quarters, of leather 200 skins.
9. Pontage was a fee, custom, or toll levied on travellers or passengers over a bridge, towards its repair and maintenance.
10. Passage was a similar toll levied on persons passing any spot, with or without carriages.
11. Stallage implied the dues assessable on persons who erected stalls in any fair or market.
12. Placitum de namio vetito; this suit was the remedy of a person whose cattle, &c., had been wrongfully impounded, or impounded in some place not warranted by prescription or other right.
13. Plac. de quo waranio, 20 Ed. I. Rot. 2 d.
14. Extracte Reddisseisinar' Cancellar' de anno 28 Edw. I. (Abb. Rot. Orig. I. 113.)
15. Le Neve's Fasti, In the cathedrals of the old foundation there is a chancellor of the church as well as of the diocese.
16. Plita Corona, Stafford, 21 Edw. I. m. 23.
17. Le Neve's Fasti.