Amounderness hundred
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
Preston; Kirkham; Lytham; Poulton-Le-Fylde; Bispham; St. Michael-On-Wyre; Garstang
The whole of the above parishes are contained within the hundred or
wapentake of Amounderness, (fn. 1) which includes in addition the townships of
Alston with Hothersall in Ribchester, Forton and Cleveley in
Cockerham, and Fulwood, Myerscough, Bleasdale, Preesall and
Stalmine in Lancaster. (fn. 2) A very
large part of the area is the level
district on the western side known
as The Fylde, once 'the Wheatfield of Amounderness' (fn. 3) ; the
eastern part is more hilly and
Fairsnape Fell in Bleasdale attains
a height of 1,674 ft. above the
sea. The Ribble forms the
southern boundary; the next
important stream is the Wyre,
which is joined by the Brock,
watering the centre of the hundred, and flowing west and then
north to enter the sea by the
Wyre estuary. Leland writing
about 1535 says that the hundred had formerly been full of wood, the moors
being 'replenished with high fir trees,' but he found the seaward portion
'sore destitute of wood.' (fn. 4)
AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED
More than a century before the Conquest part of Amounderness
was given by Athelstan to St. Peter's Church, York, (fn. 5) but it does not seem to
have been retained. The district was then more extensive than at present. (fn. 6)
In 1066 it was held by Earl Tostig, the younger brother of King Harold,
slain at Stamford Bridge while taking part in the King of Norway's invasion.
Preston was the head of the whole district, which was in 1086 surveyed as
part of Yorkshire. (fn. 7) It is not called a hundred or wapentake in Domesday
Book, the name Amounderness being descriptive, like Lonsdale or Furness.
Since the Conquest the lordship has descended in the same way as the
honour of Lancaster, except for a few years at the end of the 12th and
beginning of the 13th century. John while Count of Mortain, between
1190 and 1193, gave to Theobald Walter the whole of Amounderness, with
the vill of Preston, the forest, all demesne lands, services of knights and
free tenants, &c, with all pleas of wapentake and forest, excepting only the
pleas pertaining to the Crown. For this Theobald was to render the service
of three knights' fees. (fn. 8) The grant was confirmed or renewed by Richard I
in 1194, (fn. 8a) and, though forfeited on John's accession in 1199, was restored in
1202, perhaps for life only. (fn. 9) Very soon afterwards Amounderness was again
in the possession of the Crown. (fn. 10)
Suit to the three weeks' wapentake court was a usual condition of tenure
of lands. (fn. 11) The profits of the pleas were estimated at 20s. in 1297. (fn. 12) The
Court Rolls of 1324–5, which have been printed, (fn. 13) show that the courts were
usually held at Preston, but sometimes at Ashton, Garstang Church, Poulton
and 'Yolrungegreve.' There are later rolls at the Record Office. (fn. 14)
The bailiwick of the hundred was granted to the ancestor of the
Singleton family, (fn. 15) and descended regularly to Banastre (fn. 16) and Balderston (fn. 17) and
to the heirs of the last-named. (fn. 18) On a division in 1564 it was assigned to the
Earl of Derby. (fn. 19) The duties of the office as held by William Banastre were
thus described in 1 323: 'Making executions of mandates of the king's courts
by writs and summonses and by summons of the king's exchequer by precept
of the sheriff; also of judgements of the county court of Lancaster and the
wapentake court of Amounderness; making summonses, attachments and
distraints by precept of the sheriff or keepers of the king's lands, and
executions of the sheriffs tourns.' (fn. 20)
Complaints were made in 1334 as to the administration of Henry de
Bickerstath, who held the office by grant from John Banastre and Nicholas
his brother (grantees of Adam Banastre), paying them £20 a year. Henry
was alleged to employ too many bailiffs in his circuit of the hundred, thus
laying a needless burden on the tenants. It was stated that Alan de Singleton
had performed his duties in person at his own charges. His son William
did the same, taking nothing from the men of the wapentake except by
their courtesy. His son Alan found it necessary to employ a bailiff, for
many assarts had been made and men had multiplied. This system had
continued, the number of officials gradually increasing. The acting bailiffs
recouped the annual rent they paid to the Singletons by charges on the men
of the wapentake for puture, &c. (fn. 21)
Several outlying members of the barony of Penwortham are found in
this hundred. There are a few references to the hundred in the records (fn. 22) ;
perhaps the most noteworthy is that, on the requisition of ship-money in
1640, it 'would neither assess nor pay.' (fn. 23)
The three weeks' wapentake court, which survived till recently, had
jurisdiction in personal actions where the debt or damages did not amount to
40s. The chief officer was a steward, appointed by the Crown in right of
the duchy. (fn. 24)
About 1580 inquiry was made as to the fisheries of the county, particularly as to the destruction of salmon and their fry in the Ribble and
Wyre. Sir Richard Shireburne and the other commissioners reported that
they had 'reformed' unlawful engines and nets, and had viewed all the
weirs, calls and gorses standing on the rivers named. They objected to two,
viz. one called Bessowe call on the Ribble and another recently erected on
the Wyre by William Kirkby of Upper Rawcliffe. (fn. 25)
Amounderness gave name to a deanery in the archdeaconry of Richmond
in the diocese of York. Adam Dean of Amounderness occurs in the Pipe
Roll of 1177–8 as paying a mark for some breach of the forest laws (fn. 26) ; also
in 1181–2 (fn. 27) and later. (fn. 28) He was Dean of Kirkham in 1104. (fn. 29) The deanery
was smaller than it afterwards became, there being also a Dean of Lancaster,
but it had attained its full jurisdiction before 1291, when it included the
parishes of Kirkham, Preston, Ribchester, Chipping, Garstang, Cockerham,
Lancaster, St. Michael's, Poulton (with Bispham) and Lytham. (fn. 30) The
names of several of the deans have been preserved. (fn. 31)