Memorials of Barnstaple; being an attempt to supply the want of a history of that ancient borough

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MEMORIALS OF BARNSTAPLE; being an attempt to supply the want OF A HISTORY OF THAT ANCIENT BOROUGH. By JOSEPH BESLY GRIBBLE. THE HISTORY OP A TOWN IS UNITED WITH THAT OP THE KINGDOM TO WHICH IT BELONGS, AND WITH THAT OF THE AGES THROUGH WHICH IT HAS STOOD. TOULMIN. BARNSTAPLE : PRINTED AT THE NOP.TH DEVON JOURNAL OFFICE, BY J. AVERY. 1830. "Albeit unused to tread historic ground ; " although but a mere intruder into the ranks of literature ; I have ventured to stand forward, as the memorialist of the place, where, some forty years ago, "I first drew vilal air." Whilst Towns of minor importance, and compai'i tively of no antiquity, have had their " histories " sent forth to the world ; that a place distinguished above most others in the extensive county in which it is situate — a walled town in the days ofthe Saxons ; one ofthe most ancient boroughs in the kingdom ; a naval port in tlie reign of Edward the third, and represented as such in a regal council held by that monarch at Westminster; furnishing on several occasions ships for the navy of Queen Elizabeth, but particularly in aid of the renowned Drake against the Spanish armada ; a garrison town in the revolution of 1642, and taking a prominent part in the events of that period ; in former years, as at present, the metropolis of the North of Devon !

That Barnstaple, thus distinguished, should PREFATORY ADDRESS. have so long remained without any public record of the principal events of its history, isto be lamented ; inas much as many valuable relics of days long past have doubtless been lost beyond recovery. It may also be charged as a reproach on many of her sons, whose talents and resources well fitted them for the execution of such a work. Only one attempt, that I am aware of, has ever been made towards the accomplishment of this object ; and that, as will be seen, was defeated by the death ofthe individual who had engaged in it. It is more than probable, that could I in the first instance have viewed this undertaking in all its bearings, with its attendant difficulties, labour, anxiety, and ex pense, I should have shrunk from the task, and never have commenced it at all ; but before I could thus con template it, 1 had advanced so far as to be unable to make good a retreat.

The origin of this work may be thus shortly traced. In December, 1826, an official document, relative to the insecure state and inefficient government of the town prison, was put into my hands, with a request that I would embody the information it contained, in a Letter to the Editor of (he North Devon Journal ; I complied ; the letter was inserted, and a second followed. The question between the Corporation and the Inha bitants, as to the liability of the respective parties to rebuild the prison, now excited a very lively interest, aud of course, a corresponding spirit of inquiry. Docu ments, which might haply throw light on the subject, were eagerly sought after, and many valuable records V were, in consequence, brought under review, which might otherwise never have emerged from the obscurity to which they had been consigned.

Chapter I

Derivation of Name — Situation — Soil— Ancient History — Descent ofthe Castle Manor — Barnstaple Castle — Priory of St. Mary Magdalen — Manor of Hogg's Fee — Old Town — Chapels and Chauntries — Appendix. Barnstaple, or Barum*. like most ancient towns, has, during the lapse of ages, and a succession of rulers, * Barnstaple is so well known by this appellation, that a letter sent from any part of England directed to Barum, would reach ils destination. 1 am unable to say more in explanation of the term, than that it is taken as the Latin for Barnstaple. Query — Win not the Roman name of the town ? Its not having been so recorded, is no positive evidence against the hypothesis. Yarum, the ancient name of Yare, in Yorkshire, is not in the Roman Itinerary. Since the above was penned, a clergyman residing near Salisbury, has kindly furnished me with the various etymologies of Sarum ; none of them however, throw (as I had hoped they might) any light on the origin of the term we have been discussing.

The genlloman B been variously named. Leland says, " the olde name " of the towne was in the Britaine Tunge Abertawe, " by cause it stood toward the mouth of Tawe Ry ver.' This the Saxons changed to Berdenestaple ; corrupted, as Leland supposes, from Abernesse, with the addition of staple, for a market. It may be found in the following public documents, designated thus : — - In Domesday Book, Barnestaple ; — Exon Domesday, Bardestaple, Barnestable ; — Records in the Tower, reign of Edward the First, Berdstaple ; — Edward the Third, Barnastaple, Barhestapel, Berdstapel ; — Richard the Second, Barnastaple ; — Henry the Eighth, Barnestapoll, alias Barstaple. Leland writes itBerstaple ; — Risdon and Prince, Barnstaple. SITUATION. Barnstaple stands on the North Bank of the River Taw*, in the Deanery to which it gives name, and in the Hundred of Braunton, Devonshire's. It occupies referred to suggests the following as the derivation of Barum: — " Johnson derives the word Barren, from the Saxon, Bare.

" Whatever the country about Barnstaple may be now, it is easy " to imagine that it once sufficiently answered to the meaning of " barren, to make the term applicable to it as an etymology." Another gentleman offers as a definition, " Barum, Heb. B_r. " either grain or open country; the market town, or town in the vale." * From Tav, of the same signification as Tavy, Taivy, Teivi ; a Water or River. — Chappie's Add. to Risdon. t Anciently called Devonia, Dommonia, Danmonia. Domnonia ; and in l_xo_ Domesday, Devenescira, Devrescira. a central position between the undermentioned towns; Southmolton 11§ Miles. Ilfracombe 11^ „ Torrington 10| „ Bideford 8 „ Appledore, via Bideford 11 „ „ lnstow Ferry 8 „ It is situated in longitude 4° 4' w. ; latitude 51° 12' n. ; distant from London, via Taunton anil Salisbury . . 192^ Miles „ „ Bristol and Bath .... 217| „ Bristol, via Taunton and Bridgewater . 96-J „ „ „ * Simonsbath.

Dunster, and > r 87 Bridgewater ... j „ „ Simonsbath, Dunster, Sto-'i _- 80 gursey, Pawlet, and Cross) " Bath 96$ „ Exeter, via Chuuileigh and Crediton . . 37| „ „ ,, Southmolton and Chumleigh 41 „ Taunton 51 „ Plymouth , 571 __ Falmouth, via Oakhampton aud Launceston 100J „ „ „ Holsworthy and Launceston 95 „ Swansea, across the Channel from Ilfracombe 35 „ Linton, (Valley of Rocks) 18 „ Clovelly 20 „ The distances of places not printed in italics, are copied from Mog-g-'s edition of Patterson's roads. The remainder have also been procured from authentic sources. * Persons travelling on horseback, will find the ride over Exmoor a very pleasant one in summer. The spirited improvements made cannot better describe the situation of the town, with its surrounding scenery, than in the following language, borrowed from a modern tourist.

I make the extract more readily, because it is from the pen of a stranger ;1 such a picture, if drawn by a native, might, perhaps, be thought too highly coloured : — " As we approach Barnstaple, the view from some " of the high grounds is very grand ; composed on " one side of Barnstaple Bay, and on the other of an " extensive vale, the Vale of Tawton, carrying the eye " far and wide into its rich and ample bosom ; although " it is one of those views which is too great a subject " for painting. The approach to Barnstaple from the " low grounds, is as beautiful as from the higher ; the " river, the bridge, the hills beyond it, and the estuary " in tlie distance, make, altogether, a good landscape. " The town itself, also situated about nine or ten miles " from the sea, stands in a pleasant vale, shut in by "• hills, forming a semi-lunar cove around it.

When " the tides are high, it is almost insulated ; the flat " grounds which lie immediately about it, make an " agreeable contrast with the hills. Once these grounds by J. Knight, Esq. have quite changed the face of this extensive, aud once barren waste. The first effect of this gentleman's liberal outlay of capital, was an excellent road, extending throughout his allotment of the forest ; (as it is commonly termed, though scarcely a tree is to be found throughout the whole tract.) It is much to be regretted that Mr. Knight's intention of making good the small portion of road that remains, should have been thwarted by the opposition of another proprietor. The worst of it is, however, passable in a carriage. There is a respectable inn at Simonsbalh, which is sixteen miles from Barnstaple, aud fifteen from Dunster.

" were little better than marshes; but by proper " draining, they are now become beautiful meadows. " In a word, Barnstaple is the pleasantest town we " have met with in the West of England." — Gi/pin's Observations on the Western parts of England. SOIL. The soil of Barnstaple consists chiefly of a stiff yellow clay*, intermixed with small pebbles, and extending from within two feet of the surface, to seven or eight feet in depth, where a stratum of beach is found, usually about four feet in thickness ; after which comes a soft (shelfyt) rock. This has been excavated to the extent of forty feet, and found to be the same throughout. Water of an excellent quality is almost invariably met with near the top of this rock, so that wells are scarcely ever required to be sunk to a greater depth than from ten to fifteen feet.

These several strata are in one place intersected by two veins of stone, each about twenty feet wide, and running parallel, fifteen or sixteen feet apart, in a southerly direction from Hardaway Head down to the river. One of these is a bastard limestone (Elvint), excessively hard ; the other is of a softer description, and contains mundic and spar. It is also accompanied by a blue clay (Flugent), which has been cut through to the depth of twenty feet, and contains springs of soft water. * The town and neighbourhood are supplied with bricks, made from this material. t So termed by miners. ENQUIRY INTO THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE TOWN. Of the history of Barnstaple previous to the Norman conquest, little is known ; there is, however, much to be said in favour of its pretensions to high antiquity.

Tradition informs us that Athelstan, after driving the ancient inhabitants of Damnonia* beyond the Tamar, on his return from Cornwall, took up his abode in Barnstaple for a short time. We are told from the same source, that, finding the town walls in a decayed state, he caused them to be repaired, and subsequently built a castle here. The following remarks are offered on the foregoing statement, as being quite consistent with a desire to give it no more than its due weight in the scale of evidence. First, then, we are not called upon in receiving this account as true, to believe a mystery. Tradition, which so delights in romance, here states nothing but what is likely to have occurred in the ordinary course of things. What more probable, than that Athelstan, after having expelled his troublesome foes, the Britons, from the North of Devon, should take measures to secure the district from invasion and plunder, which he might justly fear, both from the enemies he had just expelled, * Devon and Cornwall, until the days of King Athelstan, did, from the beginning, continue one province, under the common name of Danmonia.

Athelstan, coming with a mighty army, after sundry conflicts, at length drives the Brittains over the Tamar into Cornwall ; upon which the inhabitants of these two provinces at first obtained the distinction of the Eastern and Western Danmonii. — Prince's Worthies of Devon — Introd. and also from the Danes, both of whom had, by turns, infested and ravaged this part of Wessex* ? Secondly, — Barnstaple was exactly suited for the establishment of a military station, both as to its local situation, and the facilities it possessed for being easily fortified ; even supposing it not to have been then walled. If we believe, as with good reason we may, that the Monarch visited the town at this period, we cannot refuse our assent to the remainder of the tradition +. * One of the seven kingdoms of Ihe Saxon heptarchy.

It comprehended the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, Hants, and Berks. Was founded a. d. 529, and finally swallowed up all the other states, which were united in 827 into one monarchy. •f The circumstance of Athelstan's having certainly frequented the neighbourhood of Barnstaple, must not be overlooked; it affords fair presumptive evidence in favour of the tradition. Risdon tells us that be had a palace at Umberleigh* ; that he founded a church at Atherington, which he endowed with two hides of land; and auother, similarly endowed, at High Bickington. Of the latter, he says, — " The church of Bickington was founded by King Athelstane, " who gave to God and it one hide of land, as appeareth by the " donation, a copy whereof, for the antiquity thereof, I here insert. " * Iche Athelstane King, Grome of this home, geve and graunt to " ' the preist of this Chirch, one Yoke of mye Land frelith to holde, " * woed in my holts House to buyld, bitt grass for all hys beasts, " ' fuel for hys Hearth, pannage J for hys sowe and piggs, world " * without End." ' * In the parisli of Atherington, about six miles from Barnstaple, and three from High Bickington.

The house bears evident marks of great antiquity. + Saxon term for a wood. X The feeding of swine upon mast in the woods ; also, the money paid for such a license. — Bailey. Lastly,— If there be no direct evidence in favour of the presumption that King Athelstan founded the castle, there is certainly none against it. Except this Monarch, the work has only been attributed to Judhael de Totnes, who is said by some to have built, by others to have rebuilt, and by others to have repaired and beautified the edifice. That he should have improved and made additions to the castle, on being presented with the Manor by his Royal Master, is probable enough ; but there does not appear to be any ground for believing that it owed its origin to Judhael de Totnes. The privileges with which Athelstan is said to have endowed Barnstaple, will come under our consideration in another part of this work.

DOMESDAY. That interesting and important national register, Domesday Book*, contains several articles relating to Barnstaple, and those persons who had possessions *An ancient and most valuable record, made by order of William the Conqueror; and containing a register, from which judgment was to be given upon the value, tenure, and services of all lands in England, except the counties of Durham, Cumberland, Northumberland, and Westmoreland, which were not included in the survey. The title by which this book is known, is of very uncertain origin. The vulgar notion that it takes its name from Doomsday, as being unerring and final in its decisions, is unworthy of being adopted. A more probable supposition is, that which Stow refers to in the Book of Bermondsey where it is said to have been laid up in the King's Treasury, in a place called Domus Dei, whence the corruption of Domesdav. — Ency.

Metrovol. therein, in the reign of William the Conqueror. — Transcripts of these, with a translation, will be found in the Appendix [a] to this chapter. Both having been procured from the Keeper of His Majesty's Records, their correctness may be relied on. Extracts are also given from " Exon Domesday." The curious but authentic picture which Domesday Book presents of the degrading state of vassalage in which the great body of our progenitors wore out their existence, cannot but render it interesting to all who feel the value of the privileges, which, as Englishmen, they now enjoy*. We must now treat of Barnstaple, as forming three distinct properties; — the Castle Manor, comprising the ancient Burgh or Town within the Walls ; — the Fee of Magdalene, or Priory of Saint Mary Magdalene ; — and the Manor of Hog's Fee.

The two former, if not the latter (which had probably only a Court Baron), exercised separate jurisdictions, down to the reign of James the First. * During one period of the feudal system, a vassal, though he might be a person of some rank, could not marry without the consent of his Lord, and that permission he was often obliged to purchase. His superior might compel him to marry whom he pleased, or invest with a similar power any one to whom he chose to sell it. When a tenant died, his heir became the Lord's ward : during his minority he was exposed to insult and oppression, and when he became of an age to claim his property, he was made to pay whatever sum might be demanded of him, before he could obtain it. It was not until the thirty-second of Henry the Eighth, that any man could devise his own property ; previous to this time, the privilege was confined to a few cities and boroughs only. c THE CASTLE MANOR.

This Manor was granted by William the Conqueror, soon after his accession, to one of his favourites, iS&^S&i Jddhabl de Totnes, a distinguished Norman, son of Alured, Earl of Brittany. Judhael retained the barony during the life of his Royal Patron, but was dispossessed of it by his successor, and banished the kingdom. He had no doubt taken a part in the revolt from William Rufus, in which so many of the Norman barons engaged ; and as the penalty of which they paid the forfeiture of their newly-acquired honors. 108R_f_"iam } William Rufus kept the Manor in his own hands during his reign ; as did also 1 'the _.rSDtry } Henry the First ; from whom it passed as crown property to 1135, Stephens STEPHEN ; wllO bestowed it Oil Henry de Tracy, by whom it was enjoyed during that King's reign ; but on the accession of Henry the Second, the property* was divided, a purparty tile^swond. } being given to William de Broase, great grandson of Judhael de Totnes ; in which state it "ffi^| remained until the seventh year of Richard the First, when de Broase purchased the remainder of the barony from Oliver de Tracy (son and heir of * The Manor is here termed " The Honour and Castle of Barum."

Honour is particularly applied in the English customs to the more noble kind of Seignories or Lordships, whereof other inferior Lordships or Manors depend. As a Manor consists of several Tenements, Services, Customs, &c. so an Honour contains divers Manors, Knight's Fees, &c. — Enc. Perthen. Henry de Tracy) ; one of the conditions of the sale was, an annuity of .620 per annum. He thus became possessed of the whole Manor, but did not long enjoy 1109, John. \ it, for soon after, in the reign of King John, " being fallen into displeasure upon suspicion, ye Kinge " tooke against hym, flyeth into France, and there " died* ; his wief and eldest sonne William were " emprisoned, and famished unto death." The estate again reverted to the crown, but a portion of it was given to Henry de Tracy ; the other moiety was restored to Reginald de Broase, son of William, 'tJ.'™..1.; I the reign of Henry the Third, this came back to the crown about the end of that reign J. l2.h_F?,rrd} Oliver de Tracy (who inherited a moiety of the Manor from Henry de Tracy) dying in 1273, his portion came by virtue of a marriage with his only daughter, Eve, to Guy de Brienne, through whose daughter, Maude, it came by marriage first to Nicholas, Lord Martyn, and afterwards lo her second husband, * His grandson (son of the Lord Reginald Broase) met a still more iguominious fate ; " in the 14 yeere of King H. 3, he was " hanged by Leolin, Prince of Wales, whoe tooke him in adultery " wth his wief." + The Barony of Barnstaple had, at this period, twenty-eight Knight's Fees attached to it.

X No subsequent distinct notice is taken of this moiety of the property ; probably it was given to the possessor of the other portion, without any record of the grant being preserved. 1St„IsecoWndr.d} Jerfery de Camville *, who died in 1308 ; when it descended by inheritance to William, Lord Martyn, soil of Lord Nicholas Martyn, and Lady Maud. His death took place in 1314. He left issue, by Elinor, daughter of Reginald Fitzpiers, and widow of John Lord Mohun, of Dunster, three children — William, Elinor, and Joan. Elinor was married, but died without issue. Joan married Nicholas Lord Audleigh, of Heleigh ; she died in 1322. Her brother, William Lord Martyn, of Ceamoys, Dartington, and Barnstaple, succeeded to his father's honours ; he married Margaret, daughter of John Lord Hastings, but died in 1325, leaving no issue ; and the barony fell, consequently, to his elder sister, ,3_h.Thdi._.d} Elinor, wife of Phillip de Columhiers ; who, leaving no heir, the estate came, in the seventeenth of Edward the Third, to James Lord Audleighj, of Heleigh and Rougemont, * A writ of Quo Warranto was served on Jeffery, to shew by what right he exercised certain privileges. — See Chronological Record, a.d. 1281. t Prince says this nobleman was born either at Dartington or Barnstaple, and " that the Castle at Barnstaple was the place of " his principal mansion and inhabitance."

The same historian speaks much of the " Heroic Acts of this Right Noble Lord ; '' particularly of " that immortal action of his at Poictiers, in France, " which of itself is sufficient to eternize his memory. The Knight, " with his four esquires, went to the foremost front of all the battle, and there did marvels of arms. This, his noble conduct and valour, so pleased the brave prince (Edward the Third), that as a testimony thereof he settled five hundred marks in land upon by virtue of his descent from Joan Martyn. His Lordship was twice married. His first wife was Joan, daughter of Roger Mortimer, by whom he had issue, Nicholas, Roger, and Joan. His second, Isabel, daughter of Lord Strange; by her he had one 'th. secondrd \ daughter, Margaret. He died in 1385, having made an entail of the barony to his heirs male, with a remainder in the crown, and which now descended to his eldest son, Nicholas Lord Audleigh, who survived his father but four years, and died without issue.

His brother, Roger, having been some time deceased, the male line of this noble family became extinct, and the Manor, by virtue of the entail, became once more vested in thecrown. Richard the Second granted it to Robert Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was to hold it only until the conquest of Ireland should be accomplished ; after which, Richard gave it to his brother-in-law, " him iu England, of annual revenue ; a considerable estate in those " days. The noble-minded Knight divided this gift between his " four esquires, saying, they had deserved it as well as he, and had " more need of it. The generous prince, highly pleased hereat, " praised his bounty as much as his valour, and so doubled his " former pension to him into a thousand marks a year." " He appointed that there should be about his corpse five great " tapers, and five mortars of wax, burning on the day of his funeral ; " as also £40 sterling then distributed to poor people, to pray for " his soul; aud to the monks of Hilton Abbey £10, to pray for " his soul." — Prince's Worthies of Devon. — See also Baker's Chronicles, p. 124.

John Holland, Duke of Exeter, who was executed SoHun_y } by KinS HenT the Fourth, in the second year of his reign. It does not clearly appear by whom the Manor was held during this and the two succeeding reigns ; but various individuals are supposed to have had grants of it, probably for short periods. In the reign 1t4he'F._nhrd} of Edward the Fourth, we find it given by that Prince to his Queen ; the next grant we 14th3;?hirda.ri1} And recorded is by Richard the Third, in the first year of his reign, who gave the " Castle and " Borough of Barnstaple," to Thomas Evingham, who enjoyed the honour for but ffieTwS, J a short Peri°d. Ia the first of Henry the seventh it was granted to Sir John St. Leger, who was also soon deprived of it; the Monarch bestowing the Manor on his own mother, The Countess of Richmond, for her life.

This last grant was made in 1487, subsequent to which no particular account can be given of the Barony, until the reign of 1553, Mary. } Queen Mary, when it was finally alienated from the crown by that Princess, who granted it, by letters patent, to Thomas Marrow, of the county of Warwick, Esq. from whom it came, by hereditary descent, to his son, Samuel Marrow, who, in the eighth year ofthe reign ESth. } of Elizabeth, sold it to Sir John Chichester, Knight*, for the sum of four * The Baronetcy now enjoyed by this family, was not conferred until 1651. hundred guineas* ; who, by a deed of confirmation and release, bearing date August 17th in the same year, conveyed the Manor, with all its Privileges, Rents, Market Tolls, &c. excepting only the site of the Castle, which he reserved, to The Mayor and Corporation of Barnstaple.

The terms of sale were as follows : — A rent in perpetuity of fourteen pounds eighteen shillings, and two fish dinners annually ; the Bailiff, on paying the said rent, to receive back one shilling, for the use of the Corporation, for every Court there held in a year, towards the Sheriff's * It is worthy of notice, that the Barony of Barnstaple was, in the reign of Henry the Third, valued at £420 per annum ; £15, (or two hundred acres of land) being then the worth of a Knight's Fee. The difference in the relative value of the pound of silver coin alone made that sum equal to £1,260 at this period; but if we take into account the proportionate value [see Appendix, B] of money and merchandize in the two reigns, we cannot possibly rate a property which, in the time of Henry the Third, was worth £420, at less than £4,200 in the reign of Elizabeth.

Thus it appears, that the Manor of Old Barum went off at the inglorious sum of one tenth of a single year's purchase of its former value. Whence this enormous depreciation ? It is to be accounted for in two ways. First, — It is probable, that in the valuation made of the Borough in the reign of Henry the Third, was included the variously named imposts, by which, in common with other places, it contributed to the public revenue ; all of which were either abolished, or merged into a general land tax; but as we cannot in this way account for all the deficiency, we premise, Secondly, that most of the tangible property belonging to the Borough must have beeu alienated from it by successive proprietors. One thing is, however, certain ; that in whatever way the Manor became thus reduced in value, but little more than " the honour " of it fell to Mr. Marrow. dinner ; and also four-pence for proclaiming every such Court, to the use of the said Bailiff.

The " Fish Dinners" were compounded for, about the year 1774, in a way highly creditable to the one party, and very beneficial to the other {see Chanties, under " Paige's Gift " ), as it presumed the cost of such dinners would now more than double the annual rent. The most remarkable circumstance connected with the descent of the Manor of Barnstaple, to its present proprietors, remains to be recorded ; nameiy, that at the time Sir John Chichester became the purchaser of it, it was mortgaged to the Corporation, for two hundred pounds . The question naturally arises — Why did not that body (who, as mortgagees of the property, undoubtedly might have done so) purchase it themselves ? We can imagine but one reply to this query ; that the state of their funds was such as to make it more desirable to add two hundred pounds to their coffers, than it was then convenient to withdraw a similar amount.

Nothing surely but an absolute want of money could have prevented their making so desirable a contract; it will however be seen, that their subsequent speculation was by no means a bad one. The Castle Court Rental, which probably consists of nominal rents paid on lands virtually sold, at a remote period, produces but a trifling fixed sum. The Tolls, on the contrary, have progressively increased to upwards often times their amount in the fifteenth year of the reign of Elizabeth. The whole income derived by the Corporation from the Manor, is as follows : — Castle Court Rents, in sums of One Penny -j £ s. d. and upwards, (averaging, on 1 14 distinct V. 6 11 9| properties, Is. lies, each) .... I Penny-Halfpenny*, comprising all Tolls -^ received (tbe Sheep Market and Tollsery/ excepted) from the 31arket, and during/" the Annual Fair J Sheep Market, (including the Horse Fair) 46 0 0 Tollserv, or Toll paid on Homed Cattle j - ,rt _ ._ ■ r, J 6 10 0 sold at the ran- ) £166 1 9| The Tolls are let by auction annually, in the month of November.