Bolton-le-Moors and the townships in the parish: an historical, statistical, civil, and moral account of the ... borough of Bolton ... including a curious description of the parish of Deane, etc. MS. notes

Front matter

B.O LT O N - LE - M OORS, TOWXSHIPS IN THE PAULS!! AN HISTORICAL, STATISTICAL, CIVIL, t\ND MORAL, ACCOUNT OF THE CO! ' ' E N'TslEY BOROUGH OF BOLTON, rx THE JHbisiort of the |jtmb«& of Salfoib, Crnuttg |).ilathte of ; nreu di de iceiptiok op THE PARISH OF DEANE, >F THI- . ■ * ' -: ■TE15- BY P. A. WHITTLE, F.A.S.-R., AUTHOB OF THE ' \OIENT AN*T> MOHEEN HISTOET OF PsTESTOH* J HISTOEI OF tYTHsUr, i OF BLACK*"* > 5CHOO! ■■: ITOR J notes oi ros tower; bistort of STOUT! t|V,-,t •■ r,mY OF BB01 ■ s'f-H; NOTES CM ., of 1843 ; etc .^m*'.. Bolton ranks sis the second ManufacturLnK Town in the County of Lancaster, ami the s Towii in point of Population in England. The whole neighbourhood and its associations form a most interesting portion of the kingdom ; and, ii lucidly written, will be a valuable topograpliical history to the residents, and those who dwell in its immediate vicinity.

" Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself has s This is my own my native land ! '* BOLT O.N : PRINTED BY JOHN CROMPTON, BRADSHAAVGATE. MDCCCIsV. CONTENTS. Preface and Introduction page*-! History of Bolton (Ancient) 30 Civil Wars, &c 3S The Garrison in 1641-2 38 Okey's Epitaph 53 Trade of Bolton in 1740, &c 66 Newspapers, &c 67 St. Peter's Churcb 73 A Day amongst the Tombstones. 86 A Glance at the Tombstones in the Parish Churchyard 89 Mortuary Statistics 96 Notices about the New Cemetery 101 All Saints' Church 102 St. George's Church 103 St. George's Cemetery 105 Holy Trinity Church 108 St. John's District Church 109 Christ Church .' 11! Emmanuel Church, &e 112 St. Stephen's Churcb 113 Progress of Architecture 114 St. Peter and Paul's Cath. Chapel 116 St. Marie's Catholic Chapel 117 Wesleyan Chapel 119 Bridge-street Wesleyan Chapel... ib.

Duke's Alley Chapel 120 Independent Chapel 121 Wesleyan Association Chapel ... 122 Methodist New Connexn. Chapel ib. Independent Methodist Chapel... 123 Hope Independent Chapel ib. Presbyterian Church ib. Jerusalem Chapel 124 Baptist Chapel 125 Wesleyan Cbapel, Bradshawgate. ib. Wesleyan Refugee Chapel 126 Wesleyan Chapel, Fletcher-street ib. Friends' Meeting House 127 Unitarian Chapel, Bank-street, and the other in Moor-lane ... ib. List of the Clergymen and Ministers of the various churches and chapels 128 Places of Worship, the Number of Sittngs, and Attendance ... 131 Loyalty and public spirit of the people of Bolton 132 i Bolton Exhibitors in 1851. ..page 134 Patriotic Fund 134 Rejoicing at the Coronation of Queen Victoria, in 183$ 135 Prince Albert's Visit to Bolton... 138 i Summary of Charities 141 j Free Grammar School 145 i Memoir of Mr. R. Aynesworth... 146 | Pariah Church Sunday School... 147 I Hulton's School ib. !

Preface

. " Stat sua cuique dies ; breve et irreparabile tempus Omnibus esl vitæ ; sed G_onam extenders factis, Hoc virtutis opus.'' — Virgil. Literature, History and Science, is a bright ray of that wisdom which pervades the universe. Similar to the sun, it enlightens, invigorates, rejoices, and warms the very medulla. By the aid of books, — beautiful books, — we collect around us all things, all places, men, and times ; by the sacred example of greatness, our passions are directed, and we are aroused to practice virtue. Literature and all its concomitants are of heavenly origin, and descended upon earth as manna, to alle viate and soften the evils of life. Have then recourse to books ; the sages who have written long before our days are to be admired, for they are to us as so many travellers in this wide, wide world — who stretch out their beneficent hands, inviting us, when scorned and ill-used by the world, to join theh* society, and gather knowledge and comfort from what they have written, — all that we have said is best known and appreciated by those who love sweet history and flowery bterature.

It has been reserved for our time to make the discovery that the prevalence of ignorance among the working classes is incompatible with the peace of society, and the establishment of go©d order. Knowledge is tranquilizing. The savage and the ignorant seek relief from the tedium of fife in violent emotions ; hence, in proportion as men are ignorant, they are cruel, and fond of ebriety, and other vices not to be mentioned here. The man who has entered the vestibule of knowledge finds himself exempted from this necessity, through the perpetual gratification afforded to him by the treasures successively presented him. If he is of an active disposition, he avails himself of his information to better his condition, and to employ his energies not in purposes hostile to society ; and if he be of a peaceful and contemplative disposition, he derives means of improved modes of teaching ; elementary knowledge can be communicated with much greater care now than formerly.

PREFACE.

. In tbe course of the last few years immense progress bas been made in this great work. From the soundness of the views now generally entertained respecting education, and the activity of well-intentioned men, the results may be more and more favourable. The pubbc will find that we have taken advantage of every important document which has laid in our way, — and that whatever is valuable on the subject of the local hist. Bolton, in the Harleian, Cottonian, and Lansdowne collections, in the British Museum, the Doomsday Survey of the Conqueror, the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of P. Nicholas in 1291, th Neville, the Valor Beneficiorum of Hen. 8th, and thc Ducatus Lancastriensis, &c, have been sedulously extracted to enrich this publication ; and whilst the remains of other times are preserved, the concerns of the age 4s which we live will by no means be neglected.

The rise and progress of the cotton trade forms a prominent part ; statistics are brought forward, as the pages of the work will testify, — and, in fact, everything that is valuable has been inserted, — and, it is hoped, will have a tendency to elevate the spot into the rank of a large and important manu facturing town. We shall be gratified to have it said of us, that we have brought the History of Bolton, out of manuscripts, deeds, conveyances, chartularies, books, rhagazines, newspapers, reports, bbraries, schools, and colleges, — to dwell in private houses, public libraries, in assemblies, to travellers by railway ; to be sent to and diffused over the country, for the information of* our fellow men. Eeader, if you are not an author, resolve never to be one. Of all parts that we can play in the world that of an honest and impartial author is the most dangerous.

It were better that an honest and upright man never write at all — for he cannot out a patent to please anybody, everybody, and nobody he can please everybody he would be the wonder ofthe world. How many, we ask, of the people who compose the g are able to give a correct opinion ofan excellent painting? \ we may with certainty state, one in a thousand. It is utterly impossible for any man to write honestly and not to give oifence, i'or envy and ill-will are sure to prevail, aud what one says one i vill reitei tuthor has published his work, the:, , lous enemy— the revenge — the ill -wil

PREFACE.

V aud petty spite ! a passage misquoted — a date wrong — such as a typographical error of a 5 instead of a 3, — a fact mis-stated, or a, part omitted, — a name given " James,'' instead of " John," anda thousand other petty annoyances, things in themselves of no great import, — mere trifles, — proof reading is sure to be correct in many cases, and incorrect in others, these are unavoidable. Sometimes the same attack clothed in various language, does an injury to half-a-dozen publications. Honesty has no remedy for this; — it cannot wield the same weapons. A few months dissipates all this, and the author is congratulated as having performed his task honestly and fearlessly. What is a writer ? What has been his reward in Ihe ? Consider that we have opened several clever books of late years; our eye has rested upon many au elegant passage or paragraph, where all the powers of language and the acuteness of human reason, sharpened by art and fiequent use, are em-. ployed in ample outpourings, to give a peculiar view of some passing event, or descanting upon a given subject, or in referring to bygone facts of great import, which if mental labour and literary merit ever obtained reward in England, would raise the wri above the great body of those who are honoured by the patronage of some high personage.

The wisdom, the vigour, the subtilty in many cases, aye, and strength of many passages captivated tlie mind of the author when written p but they brought a sad moral with them. We who had dreamt of employing our own talent (many years ago), in the world of letters, of seeking fame and recompense by mental exertion. We then asked ourselves — " What has been his reward in life ? " Who will ever hear of him ? What will be his suture destiny ? " How is he to proceed to gain a patent to suit the taste and prejudices of all ? This can never be effected; it is utterly impossible, whatever splendid language he may clothe his ideas in. A man who can shake public opinion to its foundation, who can rule and command the minds of thousands by the seeptre of his learning, may live unrecompensed. Yet he may have a few* generous friends or admirers.

The remuneration is but small, in comparison with his indomitable labours for the weal of the community. He who does all this, in ten cases out of twenty, dies almost forgotten. It is well known that this country is filled with a commercial people ; we most certainly are a nation of shopkeepers, and look to ourselves as to the pounds, shillings and pence, than to ♦ This is the Sic passim, in En| VI

PREFACE.

. all that can be effected by a literary man or historian ; when a Topographer appears and -wishes to publish a work, they gene rally say — "WTe have plenty of books, and have no time to read ; " " perhaps we may subscribe, but the times are hard, and we can purchase the book after it is pubbshed for half the price." This is the language, we are sorry to state, of too many of those who ought to encourage all men who uo possess a moderate share of talent. We have taken a view of the New Market House, and shall describe its rise in the present work. — " How to supply the wants of mao, Some few there Tete,* a native clan, Who, with prophetic strains, began Long since, with logic, dei p nnil sound, and, — That tL -onnd A noble covered Market." *Thos. Lever Rushton, Esq., and others. ON LANCASHIRE AND ITS PROVINCES.

(introductory to the history of bolton.) The original inhabitants of this part of Great Britain, according to Ptolemy, seem to have been the Setantii, or Sistuntii, Deiri, — dwellers among the waters,— and by others Brigantes. However, they were subjugated by Agricola, A. D., 79, who soon after established various forts and garrisons. In the Itinerary of Antoninus, three stations are only mentioned, Bremotonaccs or Longovicum, Coccium or Rerigonium, and Mancunium — these are Lancaster, Ribchester, and Manchester. Lancashire was one of the six divisions in that which was termed " Cœsarisensis Maxima." The remains of the Boman roads are depicted in the late survey made by the officers of the Boyal Ordnance, and are now pubbshed in parts. The Guethelin or Watling Steet extends from the river Mersey, in a northern dhection, near Preston, to Garstang and Lancas ter, thence to Carlisle.

During the occupation of the Romans, for the long period of 370 years, that conquering people intro duced the various arts of civilization ; but at theh departure all their improvements went to decay, and by the invasion of the Saxons, and the inroads ofthe Danes, the province became a scene of bloodshed and confusion. This is what all historians agree m. The Saxons estabbshed the kingdom of Demi, which included Lancashire, ia the year 547, under Ella. Forty years after, Adelfrid, the Kmg of Bernicia, (the country seated between the Roman walls,) manied Acca, daughter of Ella, King of Deiri ; (678) expelled her infant brother Edwin from the throne, and united the two provinces into the kingdom of Northumbria. A short period after he was dispossessed by Edwin, who was one of the most powerful princes of the heptarchy, and was converted to Christianity, and introduced the faith into his dominions.

Northumberland was united to the rest of the heptarchy under Egbert, in 827: it suffered much from the marauding of the Danes at various periods, and at the conquest fell under the yoke of William the Norman, in 1066. Edward the Confessor held the country between the INTRI VIII river Ribble and the M -Inch in tlie Doomsday Book is inserted under Cheshire, and a great portion of the Earl Tosti ; nearly the whole of the county towed upon Roger of Poictu, who afterwards forfeited these immense possessions. Then came the honor of hi and the palatinate, with Jura regalia, of which so much is given in Gregson's iaine's Lancashire. The wars of os, in 1461. made weary havoc during die space of 30 years. Th ra, in 1336, produi temporary depression, I towns are stated to have fallen into decay in consequence ; the religious houses became extinct, and hospitalitj a to this part of Lancashire.

Then came thc civil wars, ia 1642 to 164-8, which devastated the country.* The rebellion of 1715 and 1745 ca ances, but they had their day, and became extinguished. Lancashire has increased in commerce and manufactures, as is manifest to thc eye of every one possessing a knowledge of the state of the province. Many ancient forests and chases existed, they have undergone a complete change, and those parts are become populous, and trade has fixed its abode there. All the commons and mosses in the county are becoming cultivated, and are rendered fertile, exceptions in some places there are. To the east ofthe county, near Burnley, Clitheroe, and Colne, is the long Appenine ridge of mountains, which may be termed the back bone of England ; they arc heathery, bare, and rocky, scarcely capable of cultivation, but the immense quantity of stone for building procured from them, give employ to a vast number.

They an ■ 7 and cause a considerable quantity of rain to gather about them, and then pour it down in torrents, sometimes devastating tho country for miles round. They screen the country from the severe eastern blasts, and the climate is thus rendered milder. The principal waters are the Duddon, Leven, Ken, Lune, Wyre, Douglas, Ribble, and the Mersey, all ofwhich empty themselves into the Irish Sea, for the most part flowing in a westerly direction, and forming large estuaries, encumbered with sand banks ; the secondary streams are (which fall into the aforesaid rivers) the Alt, Brathay, Brock, Calders, the Conder, Darwen, Greta, Hyndeburn, Hodder, Irwell, Lostock, Medlock, Roch, Wenning, Winster, and \ arrow; many of these tributary waters afford assistance lie various manufactures of thc county. Agriculture is gettingonmost astonishingly, and cattle is bred all over,— theland ♦Bolton smffered most severely during the time of Charles 1st.

Introduction

. IX generally fertile and rich, — potatoes are cultivated on a large scale, — milk-farms are abundant, and the county is rich. No county abounds more with ancient famibes, who bear the name ofthe various hamlets, villages, parishes, and townships in the shire. Lancashire is well supplied with coal and cannel-coal. There are three principal geological ranges : the first at Worsley, and thence proceeds to the neighbourhood of Manchester, and thence northwards by Bury to Rochdale ; the second, of prin cipal tract, runs from Prescot by Wigan and Blackburn to Colne ; and the third, from Quernmoor to the Yorkshire border, Darwen, Bolton, Chorley, Standish, and Charnock-Richard, have collieries. Thus has coal been the means of feeding the various engines belonging to the immense establishments of manufacture which in a short period have completely changed the face of the country, and filled it with wealth and population.

Gildas, the ancient historian, wrote in Latin, of which the following is a translation, — giving an account of the state of the country in the year 550.* " The state of Britain was that the arts, commerce, and agriculture were carried on here. The natives, and others, who were a mixed race, no longer painted their bodies ; and depended fer their food on the precarious resources of the ehase only. The island was 800 miles long, and 200 broad, and embraced by the ocean in all its parts in a most splendid manner.! Britain is strongly defended, and enriched with noble rivers, strengthened and beautified with twenty-eight cities, and many castles, and forts innumerable, after the Roman fashion, fenced with walls and creneUed towers, gateways, and other pubbc buildings, hypocausts, baths and temples, whose roofs were mighty and aspiring ; adorned with forests of vast extent, spreading fields, pleasantly situated hills, framed for husbandry and food for cattle.

Mountains most convenient for the changeable pursuit of game and deer, — and sometimes pasture for animals which gave sustenance to man ; watered with clear fountains, and sundry brooks, spreading out *Yide " Manchester Times," July 28*, L853. — Simpson's History of the County of Lancaster. +Britannia, an island in the northern ocean, the greatest in Europe, in 55 B. C, was conquered by Julius Cæsar, during his Gallic wars, and first known .to he an island by Agricola, who sailed round it. It was a Roman province f, time of its conquest till the llth year of the Christian era. The inhabitants in the age oi" Cæsar were Druids as to their religion, wbich was incorporated with their laws and customs ; they used to paint their bodies, to render themselves inor« terrible in the eyes of their enemies.

The name of Britain was unknown to the Romans before Cæsar conquered it. Albion was the ancient name of Britain, jj-oin its white cliffs opposite Gaul. ft-

INTRODUCTION.

. X far and wide. Sands of the ocean beautiful ; fish in abundance and useful to all. Streams gbding forth with soft and sweet music, herbs adorning the brooks; and banks of rivers, and their tributaries, and springs of pure water gushing out abundantly in cold running rills throughout the land." This is the glowing description of Gildas, the historian of the 6th century, of the Deiri of Northumbria, or the County of Lancaster. This happened to be the state of the country 24 years aster the departure of the Romans, and noW 1300 years ago — from 1855. At what remote, very remote period of time, the spot on which any house was built, or when it was first peopled in the country about Bolton, can never be fully known. A few rude huts were seen through the reticulated forest trees, with grassy openings that went sloping downwards to the edge of the rivulet Croal, where the Ancient Briton, probably, at that time ferried himself over in his rude coracle, or wicker boat, covered wdth tbe hides of oxen.

God, we all must acknowledge, prepared the world for man, and in place of the naked granite spread out a rich carpet of verdure for him to tread upon, then threw upon it a profusion of the sweetest flowers. Thus let us by om* silence acknowledge that it never entered into the heart of man to conceive how the Great Creator laid the foundation ofthe world. When we look -upon the ancient names of the headlands, and hills, and valleys, and endeavour to trace a resemblar the language spoken by some neighbouring nation, we only glean a few scattered words, which leave us still in doubt, like a confusion of echoes, one breaking in upon the other ; a minglement of Celtic, Pictish, Gaulish, and Saxon sounds, where if for a moment but one is audible and distinct, it is drowned by other successive clamours which come panting up with a still louder claim, and in very despair we are compelled to step back again into the old primeval silence.

There we find geology looking daringly into the formation of the early world, and boldly proclaiming that there was a period of time when our island heaved up bare and desolate amid the silence of the surrounding ocean— when on its ancient promontories and grey granite peaks not a green branch waved, nor a blade of grass grew; and no bving thing, saving the tiny corals, as they piled dome upon dome above the naked foundations of this early world, stirred in the deep profound, which reigned over those sleeping seas.

INTRODUCTION.

. XI In 626 Edwin,* son of Redwald, was king of Northumberland ; this very year a grievous famine took place in the whole district of North Lancashire, particularly in the district of the mountains, forests, and chases of the Saxons, to the very edge of the mountains dividing Yorkshire from the former. The Danes having heard of this, they came not that year, as was usual during the autumnal season. The wolves were plentiful, and they found food in abundance, from a murrain amongst the cattle. These ferocious animals were seen trotting along tbe skirts ofthe forest in Tottington, which was interwoven with underwood, as almost to render it impassible for the hunting of the wild boar and deer — they bounded across the narrow roads and over the rivers, without leaving a single footmark, and made for lone houses and scattered folds and thorps; then they stopped, listened, and snuffed the air.

The good shepherds and hinds of the villages could only keep them off by lighting fires of wood. Sometimes they had severe conflicts with these ferocious animals, and killed ten or twelve at one conflict. Walls of stone were erected round the domiciles of many haUs, even six feet high, — the wolves could leap over these, aud destroy their oxen and sheep — poultry to a great extent, and horses were attacked in the sheds, and many were destroyed. These wolves were a plague to the country : they had burning eyes, bushy tails, and theh* howl was so desperate, that the whole ofthe provinces were occasionally raised to destroy them. During winter, these wolves committed most desperate ravages, and many were the means made use of to reduce theh number, this was at last effected by rewards being offered for the head of a wolf, — as may be seen hi the Saxon history of England.

When summer had come, the Danes and Norwegians made their appearanee in England, they came to York, and extended themselves into Lancashire (the land of waters), death and cruelty went w*ith them, burning farms, cottages, corn and haystacks — then came on the churches, abbeys, bbraries of manuscripts, towns, villages, thorps, tofts, and folds ; they robbed the people of what money they had, and of their provisions. This was a dreadful state of endurance, but such it was in those remote days — at last the Anglo- Saxon youths prepared for them, and gave them battle, and bloody was the conflict,— the Danes were beaten, and in a •Edwin was a founder of abbeys, churches, aud schools for the people, and was a beneficent king.

INTRODUCTION.

. very few years they forgot to resume then* visits and hazard theh lives any more, thus peace was restored to the people ; and continued till 1066, when William the Conqueror cann-, and the havoc he made amongst them by rapine and murder, to subdue them was horrible, — he put them as serfs under Norman rulers, — and at length completely became master of Britain. In 794 the country of the Danes was composed of islands, separated by an unquiet and rolling ocean, and off the penin sula called Jutland. The soil of this peninsula was barren, its few towns and villages cultivated very little, — as to fruit and other vegetables they had none: the rest consisted of vast solitudes, briny marshes, and uninhabited forests. In this dreary, miserable country dwelt a race of barbarians, who, weary of their home, and laughing at danger on the open sea, or wherever they went to gain spoils became noted robbers ; scoured the seas in their singular vessels ; landed on foreign coasts where they were least expected by the defenceless inhabitants ; swarmed upon their cbffs and strands like locusts pressed forward, each man in his rank, with his shield over his head, enclosed and drove before them whole herds and flocks, burned towns, villages, castles, lone farm houses, beautiful churches, abbeys, and monasteries, nor nuns or rebgious women were spared.

Well might these sea-robbers call themselves " Vikinger; or Sea- Kings," for they bore down all before them. Piracy was, in their estimation, no disgrace. If a Dane had a large family, one son was destined to keep at home, and look after domestic affairs, the rest went to sea as robbers. They always retu back in autumn, laden with the spoils from the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. They howled like wolves, they bit their shiel mad-dogs ; they leaped and roared like bulls, and were in very deed absolute wild demons. They showed no pity in battle or after it ; they crucified, and drove stakes through their prisoners. No wonder that when the peasants, tending their flocks on the high downs above our cliffs, saw a distant v. sail on the sea, followed by another and another, that they spread an alarm, drove their sheep, cattle, and swine inland. and fled with their trembling wives and children to the safest hiding place, or the nearest monastery, where the monks were offering up their prayers for the safety of the land. " The Danes ! " was a cry amongst the people that was fearful, — the monks and nuns elevated their crucifixes, and repeated their

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII holy hymns, in loud hosannas to the God of mercy, to save the people and preserve thc land in peace. Such were the Danes, or Northmen, who visited England. Indeed, it was then happy, thej' had plenty within their borders, as we read in their chronicles : they dwelt carelessly and in safety : but these Lodbrogs, brought blood and fire, and vapour and smoke, and destroyed their Getymbrian churches and domiciles. They came to our land, and robbed the people, and murdered them by hundreds, children and old age not ex cepted. One of the best and wisest princes that ever lived, was Alfred the Great, a king who during his lifetime kept them at bay, and who ruled the kingdom in happiness and glory. William the Conquerer, three years after he had taken possession of England, found that the Saxons in the north of Eng land, (Northumbria), which included what is now termed Lan cashire, extending eastward to the extremity of the penine chain of hills which divide Yorkshire from Lancashire.

These people rose en-masse against the oppression of the Nor man barons. William issued orders for laying waste that fertile country. — Their churches and houses, were reduced to ashes, the cattle seized and driven away, the implements of agricul ture were destroyed, and the inhabitants compelled either to seek subsistence in the northern part of Scotland, or perish miserably in the woods and forests, from cold and hunger. The fives of a hundred thousand persons are computed to have been sacrificed to this barbarous policy. Many of the noble Saxon families were reduced to beggary, and the ancient clergy, supplanted, and others from Normandy placed in their stead. He attempted to change the language of the country, for they understood not each other, and the jargon and confusion that prevailed was such that the ancient inhabitants were serfs in their own locality, — in short, nothing was left untried that had a tendency to obliterate every trace ofthe Anglo-Saxon constitution.

A mixture of French or Norman-gallic was introduced into the language of the people, as all terms in law, deeds and conveyances, do clearly shew. lie expebed the inhabitants, and made to himself and his barons, royal forests, chases, &c, for deer and other animals, and, being fond of hunting, caused many Anglo-Saxon churches and monasteries to be destroyed by the most severe edicts. Samuel Heywood, Esq., in his " Dissertation of the Ranks of the People," Svo. printed in 1818, p. 171., says— " the miserable situation of the district lying in and near Tottington, Ma -■

INTRODUCTION.

. Bury, the moras at Bolton, and other adjacent parts before the Conquest, is described in a M.S. account of Furness Abbey, copied by Dugdale, in his " Monasticon ; " — that most populous district was almost inaccessible, infested by a great num ber of wolves, and its inhabitants so thinly scattered, uncivi lized, and ungovernable, that the Saxon bishops abstained from the exercise of ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the churches committed to their care, while the rectors usurped the title of deans, to be lords of thc lands and viUas, in which churches were situated, and held them as theh own inheri tances." These vast domains have long since changed their forest like character ;* they are chiefly held in fee of tbe duchy of the county. All the hundreds (cantreds), or wapentakes are fees of the duchy.