A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.
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'The hundred of Leyland: Introduction and map', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp1-2 [accessed 8 November 2024].
'The hundred of Leyland: Introduction and map', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online, accessed November 8, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp1-2.
"The hundred of Leyland: Introduction and map". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1911), , British History Online. Web. 8 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp1-2.
In this section
TOPOGRAPHY
THE HUNDRED OF LEYLAND
Containing The Parishes Of
Leyland; Penwortham; Brindle; Croston; Hesketh-With-Becconsall; Tarleton; Rufford; Chorley; Hoole; Eccleston; Standish
Before the Conquest the hundred and manor of Leyland were the king's, and both seem to have been conterminous except for Penwortham. King Edward in 1066 held in demesne in Leyland I hide and 2 plough-lands, with a wood 2 leagues long by 1 broad in which was an eyry of hawks, while twelve berewicks appurtenant were held by twelve free men for as many manors. In these there were 6 hides and 8 ploughlands, with woods 6 leagues long by 3 leagues and I furlong broad. In Penwortham were 2 ploughlands, held by King Edward. The men of the hundred had the same customs as those of Salford. The manor of Leyland and hundred together rendered £19 18s. 2d. yearly to the king. Penwortham rendered 10d. (fn. 1)
In 1086 Girard held 1½ hides of the land of the manor, Robert 3 ploughlands, Ralph and Roger 2 plough-lands each, and Walter 1 plough-land; 4 radmans, a priest, 14 villeins, 6 bordars, and 2 neatherds had 8 ploughs, but part of the land was waste or unoccupied. The woodland had decreased to an area of 3 leagues by 2 with 4 eyries of hawks. The value was 50s. Penwortham had a castle, and was worth £3. (fn. 2)
The lordship of the hundred descended, in the same way as that of West Derby, (fn. 3) to the Dukes of Lancaster and the Crown. The principal officer was the bailiff of the hundred, who in 1212 was Gerald de Clayton. (fn. 4) In or before 1246 his descendant Robert de Clayton sold his bailiwick to William de Ferrers, lord of the land 'between Ribble and Mersey,' (fn. 5) from whom it passed to a younger son William, ancestor of the Groby family. As in the case of other lands of the younger William de Ferrers the bailiwick became divided between several tenants, who were known as the 'lords of Leylandshire, (fn. 6) but by the beginning of the 17th century was held in moieties by Shireburne of Stonyhurst (fn. 7) and Rigby of Burgh. (fn. 8)
As more than half the hundred was within the barony of Penwortham it might have been expected that conflicts would arise between the bailiffs of the hundred and of the barony. This, however, does not seem to have been the case, perhaps because both officers were officers of the Duchy, (fn. 9) but the hundred courts were held at Eccleston, a place central enough, yet outside the limits of the barony. Some notices of the wapentake occur. (fn. 10)
The subsidies show the relative wealth of this part of the county. In 1237 a contribution of one-thirtieth of movable goods yielded £28 5s. 2d., or rather more than an eighteenth part of the total raised from the county. (fn. 11) In 1332 another subsidy, the basis of the later 'fifteenth,' produced a few shillings more, being under a tenth of the gross collection. (fn. 12) According to the county lay fixed in 1624 Leyland Hundred had to contribute £9 towards each £100 required from the county. (fn. 13)
According to the certificate of the general muster of 1574 the men furnished with weapons by the county included 259 from this hundred, viz. 59 archers and 200 billmen; the unfurnished men were 40 archers and 90 billmen. (fn. 14)
On the formation of the diocese of Manchester in 1847 the whole of this hundred was included in it.