PONTEFRACT AND ITS MANORS
By JOHN O. E. HOLMES – 2004
PAGE ONE
IN THE BEGINNING
Pontefract, together with much of the surrounding area was given to Ilbert DeLacy
and became "The Honour of Pontefract". This was divided into
"Manors" and each Manor had its own Lord, Steward and Manor
Court. In the Manor all the land belonged to the Lord, and when he
wished to change ownership he had to attend the Manor Court and if the
new owner was suitable he was admitted and a fine paid to the Lord. If a
tenant died without heir then the land reverted to the Lord as
"Escheat" and a new tenant had virtually to buy from the Lord.
Other land was "Glebe" land and this was owned and worked by the
Lord, and tenants of the remainder of the manor usually had to do a
certain amount of work for the Lord as part of their tenancy. In time
this would become an Annual Payment.
The former borough of Pontefract was made up of four parts. First, what
became the Borough in 1484; Secondly, the more important (at the time)
the Manor of Tanshelf; Thirdly, the Manor of Monkhill and fourth, the
Pontefract Park. Part of Tanshelf was Carleton and the usual title was
"Tanshelf cum Carleton".
Each Manor has had a different History and this article is an attempt to
outline what has been discovered by the Author. Since writing about the
Manors other information has come to light and this has been added.
PONTEFRACT MANOR
Originally the area of the town was known, at least in part, as West Chepe. For a
history of the change, "Pontefract, its Lords and its Name and its
Castle" (recently re-printed) gives much detail that need not be
repeated. In 1484 the locals bought from the Lord (by this time the
King) the right to be virtually self-governing. In return they had to
make an annual payment, called "The Fee Farm Rent", based on a
charge of one shilling (5p) per toft or croft. This rent gave the Burgage holder the right to vote for the election of the Burgers (twelve
in number) who ran the affairs of the town, and the two members of
Parliament. The Burgers appointed as their leader a Mayor, often against
his will, who was responsible for the town money and also the Election
of the members of Parliament.
While the annual rent remained the same, and was devalued by inflation, its
collection was important because of the right to vote. Thus the town
kept rent books, some of which have survived to this day, and provide,
possibly the only central record of land ownership in Pontefract going
back to the seventeenth century.
In the seventeenth century various local gentry bought land freehold and
sold it leasehold, thus retaining the right to vote, but
"re-cycling" their money to buy more burgages. These leases
were usually at a pepper-corn rent and could only be broken if the
leaseholder did something to disqualify the freeholder from voting.
The Fee Farm Rent books were saved among the Borough records, the earliest
one found being for 1679, although others are listed and Richard Holmes
prints an assessment for 1657 in his Book of Entries on page 54. The Fee
Farm Rent Book for 1679 has been transcribed by the Author who also has
copies of the remainder. Perhaps the best Fee Farm Rent Book is the one
for 1814/15 which is amongst the St. Giles Records. This not only lists
the properties, but the neighbours on North, South, East and West,
although one side is usually the road. The Books list the Burgage Owners
in "Walking Order" usually starting at the South Western side
of Ropergate, going straight to Gillygate, down then up Gillygate then
along the North of Market Place up into Cornmarket and so on. Many of
the entries will list one or two of the previous owners, thus it is
possible to follow back the chain of ownership for many properties.
These leases did mean that the freeholder had to retain the deeds to prove
ownership, and when these became of no value as the rules for voting
changed in 1830, they were put on one side and have now found their way
into collections which in their turn have been sold or lent to various
record offices.
Various Lord Galways accumulated deeds and these are now with Nottingham
University Library. The Frank family accumulated many muniments over
about three hundred years and these are now with Sheffield Libraries.
Viscount Winn of Nostell and his ancestors accumulated various deeds and
papers and most of these are now at Leeds Libraries at Sheepscar. These
papers are mainly indexed and can be seen, on request. The Author has
obtained copies of many, and has also indexes to more. A great deal of
time is needed to study them.
The 1484 Charter basically made the Lord the Mayor, the Steward became the
Town Clerk and the Jurors (12) became the Burgers. There were various
local privileges attached to the charter rights and these were usually
let out by tender to locals who then had the right to collect and would
be supported by the Council when appropriate.
The Borough had the right to the Windmill, which was however situated in
Tanshelf Manor, they also had various tolls on sales of Wool, Hides,
etc. Also the Town’s bakehouse (situated in Salter Row) and the right
to charge outsiders for passing down Penny Lane (now Wakefield Road) for
the privilege. Another duty was the town’s water which again
originated in Tanshelf, but was fed into tanks which are still in Market
Place adjoining the town pump (although now dry).
A considerable amount of the running of the town rested with the Church
Vestry Meeting who were responsible for the Poor Law money collection
and also various other matters. As the Vestry could levy a rate they had
possibly more power than the Council, although there was never the same
pomp with their meetings.
The Council achieved real power under various acts in Victorian times and
the minute books of the time show how the Council took on various powers
and had to modernise their way of managing the affairs of the town.
At different times there were various minor scandals when it was discovered
that monies had not been collected, or that officials had been slack in
their duties. Another source of income for the Lord of the Manor was the
selling of "The Waste" of the Manor. This was, basically, land
which had no tenant, which automatically belonged to the Lord. We thus
find that at various times the Council sold off land in "The
Butts" in "Beech Hill" and off Harropwell Lane where a
path was closed and the adjoining owner bought it. Usually it was a case
of merely reducing the width of the road, but in Victorian times the
minutes record that the owner of land adjoining the Mill Pond at Mill
Dam enclosed the pond, but the Councillors "As Lords of The
Manor" claimed it and were able to sell their rights.
Tenants were not able to enclose or fence their land without permission of the
Lord of the manor. In Charles II time the Council bought a new Charter.
This cost £150 and the money was advanced by John Frank, who was Mayor
at the time. The money had to be repaid, with interest and it was
decided at a "Town’s Meeting" that the Council should sell,
firstly the right to enclose, and secondly that the Annual rents could
be commuted by the payment of a lump sum. Copies of many of these deeds
are preserved in the Corporation Deeds and make interesting reading.
Particularly interesting is one in which an occupier in Friar Lane (now
Bluebell Yard) was empowered to enclose a manure heap in Friar Lane, but
he was not allowed to put a fence round it! In addition, if the Council
decided to make Friar Lane into a proper road, the licence to enclose
should be null and void. It was in fact, a way of removing an unpleasant
pile from his front door.
Various maps exist of the Borough, the earliest found was the lands of Mr.
Pierrepoint (an ancestor of the Harewoods) which showed lands he owned
in 1704. This is at the Leeds Library at Sheepscar amongst the Harewood
Papers. There is also with it a list of the owners of the strips shown
in the fields. Perhaps the most interesting point is that Cobblers Lane,
Water Lane, Mill Lane and Holmfield lane are clearly marked as "The
Ancient Way from London to Edinburgh". This route crosses the beck
just below the three arched bridge and supports the suggestion that this
was the broken bridge from which Pontefract gained its name.
In 1742 Paul Jollage published a map of the town which is probably quite
accurate in that many enclosures can still be identified to this day. It
has been re-printed by Pontefract Museum in two sizes.
Other maps are Hepworth’s of 1777 which has a key, but which is difficult to
follow for the town centre. There is also an enclosure map of 1800.
Copies of this are at Wakefield, but an enlarged scale copy of the town
centre is at Pontefract Library. There is also a list of owners to go
with this, which some years since, the Author Indexed by field number,
as the Enclosure Act book lists by owner only.
A little later than this is Shipton’s survey of 1821. This was
commissioned by the Vestry meeting and the survey that goes with it not
only shows owners but lists tenants of individual properties. The same
field numbers are used as for the enclosure map. (Not surprising since
Shipton also drew the enclosure map). The records of St. Giles included
a copy of the survey, whilst the map is again at Sheepscar.
In 1849 came the first large scale Ordnance Survey town map at a scale of
1/1050 which gives excellent detail. This was followed in 1896 by maps
which show most of the town at a scale of 1/500. Details on this goes
down to gullies in the roads. Since then there have been various
Ordnance maps and the area covered has been extended.
PONTEFRACT CHARTERS
At this point it is perhaps appropriate to note the Town Charters. The
Charters were the result of the need for the King or his underlings to
raise capital, and the desire of the inhabitants to be free to do as
they wished.
The first Charter dated 6th June 1194, was granted by Roger DeLacy and
empowered the Burgesses to buy, sell or bequeath Manor land subject to
the payment of a fine payable to the Headborough or Praetor for the
DeLacy’s. The Burgesses were also empowered to try their own
delinquents and they were also free to move merchandise for sale without
Toll or tax within DeLacy lands. The cash payment was 300 marks plus the
fines and rents paid from time to time.
Charter No. 2 was dated 1st May 1278, from Henry DeLacy and gave the right to
the Burgesses to erect stalls in Market Place, for which they paid a
rent to the Praetor. This cost forty pounds.
The next Charter was granted by Henry VI as successor to the DeLacys, and
confirmed the grants of the previous charters. In 1477 Edward IV
declared that all Henry IV’s lands and privileges had been without
proper legal right and were therefore confiscated. He then confirmed to
Pontefract their former privileges, but without stating what payment was
made.
The next charter is possibly the most important. Dated 28th July 1484, it
granted the rights of a Borough, replacing the Headborough with a Mayor,
and empowered the townspeople to appoint com-burgesses who correspond to
the later Councillors. Other privileges were granted to hold their own
Watch and have a gallows and gaol as well as Markets. There was some
doubt as to the legality of this so it was confirmed on 9th August, the
same year.
On 1st December 1488, Henry VII confirmed the privileges of the earlier
charters. The Fee Farm rent was fixed at £49 13s 4d per annum, which
never increased, and was in fact later reduced. This was finally
commuted in 1967 when the Corporation paid a lump sum of £795 6s 8d.
The next Charter was from Edward VI on 15th May 1550 and simply
confirmed the earlier privileges.
When James VI of Scotland became James I of England, he also confirmed the
earlier privileges and also defined the procedure for electing the
Mayor. This charter also added the right to collect tolls on certain
roads.
After the Civil War when Charles II was on the throne the privileges were
confirmed on 20th February 1676. It was also stated that the Town Clerk
and the Recorder should both have their appointments confirmed by the
Crown.
The last Charter was granted by James II on 23rd march 1684, and made little
new matter. Since the above, any changes to the administration of the
town have been by Acts of Parliament.
PONTEFRACT PARK
The Park was for many years a separate District in spite of the fact that
there were only three houses in it. For many years it was leased to
Viscount Galway’s family, a copy of the lease for The Honour of
Pontefract, 1729 is amongst the Frank papers at Sheffield (BFM972).
The Park Hill has been used for a water tower and underground reservoir
since Victorian times. During the digging of the reservoir, Roman
artefacts were found and it was thought that it could have been a Roman
signal Camp.
Mention is made in Lord Galway’s Lease of the right to mine coal, but it would
appear that this was of a minor nature in the 18th Century.
On the division of the Park between the Duchy, the Park Trustees were
prohibited from digging for any minerals. About 1871 the Trustees
obtained powers to dig for coal and by 1872 Mr James Rhodes had reached
the Haigh Moor bed of coal at 495 yards, the start of the Prince of
Wales colliery. For many years until Nationalisation the Pontefract
Ratepayers benefitted from the sale of coal from beneath the Park,
although it was all removed by underground tunnels. There was at one
time, a brick quarry just inside the gates. This became a pond, but was
filled in and now is part of the playing field area.
Rights for Pontefract and Tanshelf landowners to graze their animals were a
disadvantage to cultivation. The land was owned by the Duchy of
Lancaster and when it became more useful to have land enclosed,
agreement was reached for the town of Pontefract to have some 362 acres
as their own, while the Duchy became absolute owner of the remaining 600
acres or so of inferior land. About the same time new roads were made,
the first is now Park Lane (going to Featherstone) while the second runs
to Glasshoughton and avoided the rather difficult route now known as
Monkhill Lane and Spital Hardwick Lane.
At first the Park was administered by Commissioners, four of the biggest
Ratepayers in Pontefract, and two of the biggest Ratepayers in Tanshelf.
Later Acts of Parliament placed it under the control of The Pontefract
Street Commissioners and then under the Borough when they took over the
powers of the street commissioners. At the time of the division a survey
was made and with it was a map showing owners and what the fields were
used for.
Again there is a copy of the survey amongst the Harewood Papers at Leeds,
which the Author has transcribed and typed out. At one time there were
many trees in the park and at the time of the Division these were
carefully divided up and reserved. There were two lodges at the gates -
these were rebuilt in the 1930s, but have since been sold. A further
house was down by the lake and was used for the sale of Ice Cream and
sweets, but was demolished some years since.
The lake is entirely artificial and was dug in two parts. Boating has taken
place for many years, as has fishing. At one time swimming was allowed
at the northern end and there was a wooden hut for changing. This was
discontinued many years since, as was the paddling pool near the
entrance opposite the Prince of Wales access road.
During the Civil War and later, mention is made of racing in the park, and an
eighteenth century deed of the Council reserves the right of access from
Halfpenny Lane at race times. In 1919 The Pontefract Race Company were
granted a new lease and since then racing has become more professional.
The company is still "Private" and has become a National
Institution although the dividends are only token compared with the
assets and turnover.
Parts of the Park were ploughed up during the war, then some parts were used
for the tipping of domestic rubbish before being soiled over, and parts
made into playing fields. In recent years numerous trees have been
planted.
©John O.E. Holmes, 2004
PAGE TWO |
PAGE THREE
Other studies by John Holmes
Pontefract Elections
Pontefract Mill Hill Sand Tunnels
Pontefract and its Manors Part Two - The New Hall
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