Lost Documents

[duckweed]

Meersbrook Estate, Norton Manor and Bishop's House documents have been missing for some time. They may be in an archive hidden away. All I know is that in Chantreyland it is stated that they were once in the possession of a Samuel Mitchell. The only reference to a Samuel mitchell that I can find is

Ward, J. 1908. Notes on some Derbyshire Antiquities from Samuel Mitchell's Memoranda. Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 30: 155-172

I think Samuel Mitchell was a historian and according to rumour had saved a lot of documents from destruction that were in a hay loft in Norton. The Charter giving the land at Norton Lees to John de Blithe was given to the British Museum and there it is still. There may be other documents deposited there or in some other archive. There are millions of documents throughout the country not catalogued but merely in some dirty box under a reference number.

Maybe if I could find out about Samuel Mitchell it might give me an idea where to look. Anyone know about him?

[neddy]

Meersbrook Estate, Norton Manor and Bishop's House documents have been missing for some time. They may be in an archive hidden away. All I know is that in Chantreyland it is stated that they were once in the possession of a Samuel Mitchell. The only reference to a Samuel mitchell that I can find is

Ward, J. 1908. Notes on some Derbyshire Antiquities from Samuel Mitchell's Memoranda. Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 30: 155-172

I think Samuel Mitchell was a historian and according to rumour had saved a lot of documents from destruction that were in a hay loft in Norton. The Charter giving the land at Norton Lees to John de Blithe was given to the British Museum and there it is still. There may be other documents deposited there or in some other archive. There are millions of documents throughout the country not catalogued but merely in some dirty box under a reference number.

Maybe if I could find out about Samuel Mitchell it might give me an idea where to look. Anyone know about him?

Some mention in the 19th Century British Library Newspapers search Samuel Mitchell and Norton I jumped to hit 300+ for a cursory glance.

edit, -also look at 188 -a number of old deeds from muniment room Beachief hall

[duckweed]

Some mention in the 19th Century British Library Newspapers search Samuel Mitchell and Norton I jumped to hit 300+ for a cursory glance.

edit, -also look at 188 -a number of old deeds from muniment room Beachief hall

Apparently he had something to do with cataloguing Pegge's manuscripts for Beauchief Abbey so Beauchief Hall would make sense. I have found by googling around that he left all his papers to the British Museum (assume they meant Library) Apparenty the British Library have several letters between him and Hunter. Also he gave somethings to Bateman (not sure what) which is now part of the Bateman collection which was in Weston Park now in some undisclosed store. His will is in Sheffield Archives or at least copy of it. This is not going to be an easy search as the Bateman collection is inacessible, the Sheffield Archives about to be, and it is a long way to the British Library.

[RichardB]

...

Maybe if I could find out about Samuel Mitchell it might give me an idea where to look. Anyone know about him?

No idea if this is him or not. Any idea on a decade for Mr Mitchell please ?

[RichardB]

No idea if this is him or not. Any idea on a decade for Mr Mitchell please ?

Barbrook II was first documented in 1850, in an unpublished letter to Thomas Bateman from Samuel Mitchell. The latter had excavated the site but revealed nothing of significance.

Source

[RichardB]

A number of partial excavations of the site have been carried out. The most notable of these were by William Bateman and Samuel Mitchell in 1824 and by Thomas Bateman in 1848.

Source

[RichardB]

Mr. Samuel Mitchell, of Sheffield, who issued a prospectus, in 1855, of a History of the Hundreds of High Peak and Scarsd, but who died, in 1869, without accomplishing his object, bequeathed

his collections to the British Museum; a good deal of condensed information, chiefly relating to the churches of the High Peak, will be found in Add. MSS. 28,111, and there are some most useful pedigrees in 28,113.

Source

and :

The multitudinous collections of the diligent Dodsworth, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, are in a great measure derived from the National Records; and, now that the originals are so easily accessible to the public, these compilations are, to no small extent, superseded. Moreover, Mr. Samuel Mitchell collected the cream of them, so far as Derbyshire is concerned, and Mr. Henry Kirke published in the Reliquary, for April, 1872, all the Church Notes of this county, with but few exceptions, that can be thence gleaned.

and :

Mitchell's Derbyshire Collections. Add. MSS. 28, 108, f. 297. t Inq. post Mort. 33 Hen. VI., No. 33.

and :

The church of Clown, however, was not altogether appropriated to the Priory of Worksop, as implied by Glover, but only the advowson, together with a portion of its revenues. At least this appears to be indicated by the Taxation Koll of 1291, wherein Clown is entered as an " ecclesia " (not vicarage) worth 6 13s. 4d. a year, and the Prior of Worksop as deriving a pension of 2 from the same parish. According, also, to Mitchell's Derbyshire Collections,! the convent of Worksop received a pension of that amount from the parson of Clown, of which a recovery was suffer- ed, 29 Henry VIII., on the very eve of the dissolution of the monasteries. This pension (according to Mr. Mitchell) arose from the gift of Robert de Mennill (son of Gilbert de Mennill) and Eobert his son, of all their rights in the church of All Saints at Clown, and was confirmed by Edward IL, at Lincoln, on the 4th February, in the ninth year of his reign.

and more, bored now he he

[RichardB]

The death is announced of Mr Mitchell, of Sheffield, well known for many years as a zealous antiquary.

In 1831 Mr Mitchell, in turning over the records in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, found in the 40th volume of Dodsworth's collection evidence of the fact that Sheffield had been destroyed by fire during the civil wars in the time of Henry III, an event which had subsided into oblivion.

About this time, in conjunction with his friend, the late Thomas Bateman, of Youlgrave, Mr Mitchell was engaged in exploring the barrows of North Derbyshire. The result of these explorations was described at the time in a volume by Mr Bateman and tbe well known Museum at Lombardale was enriched by numerous trophies, testifying to the perseverance of the explorers.

Mr Mitchell was a valued contributor to various antiquarian publications. On the formation of the Sheffield Architectural and Architectural Society at the beginning of this year, Mr Mitchell, though in failing health, came forth to render his assistance, and was appointed one of the vice presidents.

Mr Mitchell died in his sixty sixth year.

The Building News - September 25, 1868.

Source

[RichardB]

1861 Census, with Eliza (wife). No guarantee it's him, but, right age, wealthy (presumably) with a bit of time on his hands ...

[RichardB]

Possibly him, no way of knowing :

Samuel Mitchell, Merchant, h. Broad Lane (Baines 1822)

Samuel Mitchell, Merchant, h. Endcliffe Place (Whites 1833)

[RichardB]

1861 Census, with Eliza (wife). No guarantee it's him, but, right age, wealthy (presumably) with a bit of time on his hands ...

1841 ... could be him, if so not short of a bob or two.

Near neighbours Flockton the Architect, Greaves the Merchant, Sir A J Knight the Physician ... discuss

[duckweed]

I think to be a historian in those days you had to have a fair bit of money

. I've found some of his collection went to Bateman which was eventually given to Weston Park so is presumably mostly in store.

Some stuff seems to be in the British Library including correspondence between him and Hunter and the 1377 charter gifting the land on which Bishops House now stands to John de Blithe.

So it looks like I have 3 places to search, the Bodliean, the Bateman collection, and the British Library.

[neddy]

The death is announced of Mr Mitchell, of Sheffield, well known for many years as a zealous antiquary.

In 1831 Mr Mitchell, in turning over the records in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, found in the 40th volume of Dodsworth's collection evidence of the fact that Sheffield had been destroyed by fire during the civil wars in the time of Henry III, an event which had subsided into oblivion.

About this time, in conjunction with his friend, the late Thomas Bateman, of Youlgrave, Mr Mitchell was engaged in exploring the barrows of North Derbyshire. The result of these explorations was described at the time in a volume by Mr Bateman and tbe well known Museum at Lombardale was enriched by numerous trophies, testifying to the perseverance of the explorers.

Mr Mitchell was a valued contributor to various antiquarian publications. On the formation of the Sheffield Architectural and Architectural Society at the beginning of this year, Mr Mitchell, though in failing health, came forth to render his assistance, and was appointed one of the vice presidents.

Mr Mitchell died in his sixty sixth year.

The Building News - September 25, 1868.

Source

Gen Cem-

8300- 1868 -9290 L 100-14 Sep 1868 -17 Sep 1868-Samuel Mitchell 66-Steel merchant-The Mount- MI

I have put 'samuel mitchell and sheffield' into newspaper searches, very interesting I may be some time. :)

[duckweed]

Gen Cem-

8300- 1868 -9290 L 100-14 Sep 1868 -17 Sep 1868-Samuel Mitchell 66-Steel merchant-The Mount- MI

I have put 'samuel mitchell and sheffield' into newspaper searches, very interesting I may be some time.

Anything you can find out about him would be great. I think he wrote a history of the Town Burghess?

[RichardB]

Gen Cem-

8300- 1868 -9290 L 100-14 Sep 1868 -17 Sep 1868-Samuel Mitchell 66-Steel merchant-The Mount- MI

I have put 'samuel mitchell and sheffield' into newspaper searches, very interesting I may be some time.

Looking forward to it Neddy - see you whenever ...

[neddy]

October 18 1828.

AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE BURGERY OF SHEFFIELD, COMMONLY CALLED THE TOWN TRUST.

Read 10th October before the Literary & Philosophical Society, by Saml. Mitchell

Amid the bright effulgence of our national annals, unsullied by the stain of foreign invasion for nearly eight centuries, though the clouds of civil discord have sometimes obscured them, nothing shines with so mild and beautiful a lustre as those religious and municipal institutions which have arisen amongst us as civilisation advanced., or as the piety, charity or public spirit of our ancestors dictated. Time, and the more devastating will of a capricious Prince, have levelled the noblest of these institutions in the dust; and though we must admit the policy of the fatal blow, we cannot look upon their fallen greatness without a sigh or a feeling of regret that an attempt at reformation should not have preceded their destruction.

There are a few, however, lowly in their origin, slow in their advancement, and to humble, probably, to be much affected by the tempest which prostrated the mighty oaks under whose shade they had been fostered, which have survived till our own times, and of which we are now receiving the benefits, without in many cases, recollecting the hand who planted them, or to whom our gratitude is due for their preservation.

It cannot be uninteresting to say the least of it, to trace the streamlet of charity to its source, to note its fertilizing influence, and the beautiful verdure springing up wherever its pellucid waters flow.

It teaches us, that the noblest and most durable monument a man can raise to himself, must be that which is founded on the welfare of his fellow creatures.

The name of the third Thomas de Furnival lives at Sheffield, while those of the rest of his family are no more. The name of Earl Gilbert is familiar to the humblest inhabitant of Hallamshire, though neither brass nor marble exist to record it; while those of his fathers, more valiant, and perhaps, better men, slumber quietly with them in their splendid tombs.

It is my design to lay before you, in the present Essay, a short account of a native institution remote in its origin, but of modern usefulness of which none can doubt. In doing so, it will be necessary to carry you back to former ages, and to introduce you to the times of our early Henries and Edwards.

We cannot contemplate these

"distrustful days, and days of blood"

without a feeling of commiseration for the wretched state of the vassal population of the time, exposed to all the horrors of intestine commotion, and forced alternately to submit to the King of his rebellious Nobles as the tide of victory happened to flow; but, at the same time, we recollect with pleasure that it was in these times that the foundation of England's liberties was laid, and the seeds of that Constitution were sown of which we are now enjoying the abundant harvest.

The latter years of Henry 111 were marked by continual contests between Monarch and his Barons. England was torn by faction to its centre; every place in the Kingdom felt more or less the blasting breath of civil war, and we shall find that, during this period, Sheffield had its share of calamity.

In the year 1264, the discontent of the Barons broke out into actual rebellion; and though the fight at Northampton, in April of that year, gave a temporary advantage to the Kings party, the decisive Battle of Lewes, on the 14th May following, placed Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in a situation in which he could lord it over the kingly dignity and direct the executive according to his will.

His triumph was of short duration. On the 8th of May 1265, Prince Edward escaped from the custody of his keepers, and collecting his friends around him, on the 4th August fought the battle of Evesham, which was fatal to the life and fortunes of de Montfort, and set the captive King at liberty.

It was about this time that an event happened to Sheffield which has not been noticed, I believe, by any of our historians, but was of dreadful importance at the time, being, no less than a conflagration by which the town was destroyed.

As soon as Henry 111 was released from captivity, writs were issued to the several Sherrifs of counties requiring them to take inquisition of such persons as were considered as enemies and rebels to the King, whose lands were to be seized into the hands of the Crown. These writs were made returnable at Westminster, on the feast of St. Edward, 1265; and it was from this inquisition, commonly called "De Rebellious," preserved by Dodsworth in the 40th vol. of his MSS fol. 226 to 230, that we learn the important fact of the burning of Sheffield by fire. The record states, that

"Nichs.de Stayston fuit cü Düo Jo: d'Eyvill eü eg :and ar:ad Combustioné de Saffield."

This fact was not known to Mr. Hunter when he published his Hallamshire; but in a correspondence I have recently held with him on the subject he fully agrees with me that no other than the modern Sheffield can be meant by the term "Saffield" made use of in the inquisition; and Dodsworth seems to have been so clearly convinced of it, that he has placed the word "Sheffield" in the margin of the record opposite the above passage .-

The etymology does not differ materially from the "Seafield" of Domesday Book; and in the returns of Ralph Murdac, Sheriff of Derbyshire, 34 Henry 11., the castle of this place is distinctly called "Saffield."

The party by whom Sheffield was consumed, appears to have been led by John D'eyvill, of a right turbulent spirit, of whom Dugdale's account in his Baronage is singularly deficient. He was a staunch adherent to the cause of the Barons, and on the 4th of June, 1264, while the King was captive, was appointed "Curtos pacit," or Lieutenant, of the whole county of York. In the same year, he was summoned to a Parliament or Council which was to meet at London in the Octaves of St. Hilary; and on the 30th May, 1265, after the escape of Prince Edward, a rescript was addressed to him to assemble all the forces he could muster, and join the army of Simon de Montfort, at Worcester.

It was most probably in his march from Barnborough, which (with Egmanton,Co.Notts.) was the seat of his Barony, that Sheffield felt the weight of his vengeance, which it must have drawn upon itself either by the generally disaffected state of the inhabitants to the cause of the Barons, or by the adherence of the chief of the house of Furnival to the fortunes of his King.-

To whatever cause it may be attributed, there can be no doubt of the fact, that Nicholas de Stayston and other men of note were attained, and their lands seized into the hands of the Crown, because they had been with John D'Eyvill, with horse and arms, at the burning of Sheffield.

John D'Eyvill's estate was most likely confiscated, as we find this restless man again in arms against the regal authority, until a general pardon was promulgated under Dictum De Kenilworth, in November, 1266. The inquisition I have recited is of considerable value, inasmuch as it tends to clear up one or two doubtful points in our local history.

We have only direct evidence in it of the destruction of the town; but we may presume that the Castle of its Lords, which had existed from a period at least as early as the reign of Henry 11 shared the same fate.

It furnishes a key by which we discover the reason of that somewhat singular licence to Thos. De Furnival to construct and embattle a Castle here. This was granted by Henry 111 in the 54th year of his reign, six years after the fire; and there can be little doubt that it was necessary, on account of the total destruction of the former edifice.

Dugdale tells us, that he got a Charter "to make a Castle of his Manor-house at Sheffield" and though this is somewhat at variance with the Charter itself, as exemplified in the answers to the Quo Warrants of 9 Edward 1, nothing is more likely than the former building being little better than a substantial Manor-house, it was intended to grant the power to strengthen and embattle it, so as to render it capable of sustaining a regular siege.

The words of the Charter give license to de Furnival "costrum lapideum construere firmare et kernellare," to build strengthen, and embattle a Castle of stone, "apud manerium suum de Sheffield." -

The second expression, "strengthen," would give some countenance to Dugdale's idea that it was a former building which was intended to be renovated and fortified.

This record furnishes also the best evidence I am acquainted with, that Thos de Furnival, the head of his House, espoused the cause of his King against the rebellious Barons. No direct mention of him is made in the records of the time, connecting him with these troubles; but the circumstance of his obtaining leave to "make his House strong" when the rebellion had only just subsided, indicates a degree of confidence in his fidelity on the part of his Sovereign which would never have been shown towards an enemy.

Add to this, that he retained peaceful possession of all his lands, while confiscation reigned every where around him; and we must believe that he remained firm in his allegiance, though the example of his uncles would have led him to an opposite course.

In 1264, we find William de Furnival and his brother, Gerard de Furnival, imprisoned; the one in the Castle of Windsor, and the other in that of Norwich, as captives of the King; and they were both restored to liberty under the auspices of Simon de Montfort.

And on October 12, 1265, Henry 111 granted to Henry, eldest son of the King af Almaine, the Manor of Gringelay, Co.Notts., which was William de Furnival's, but which was forfeited on account of his rebellion with Simon de Montfort.

I would take this opportunity of correcting what I believe to be an error, into which Mr. Hunter and others have inadvertently fallen, by too implicitly trusting to the guidance of Dodsworth.-

They suppose that William de Furnival was dead before the year 1259, or 44 Henry 111.; but we have proof of no less authority than the Foedera?, that William de Furnival was, as I have just shown, living, and in rebellion, in 1264 and 1265.

It is probable that he died soon afterwards, as his wife Alda was a widow in the 52 Henry 111.

Thomas de Furnival, who was Lord of Hallamshire at this time, was brother and heir of Gerard De Furnival, son of Thomas de Furnival, who was slain in Palestine, and nephew of Gerard and William of whom we have just made mention.

After having refounded his Castle, he died sometime before the 7 Edward 1., (1279) leaving Thos de Furnival the The third heir to all his vast possessions.

This man is called by Mr. Hunter, "Thos. Lord Furnival, the great grantor," on account of his charitable disposition and truly patriotic character. In the year 1296, he had a Charter from Edward 1 for a weekly market at Sheffield on Tuesday, and a yearly fair on the eve, day, and morrow, of the Holy Trinity; and himself granted the celebrated Charter to all his free tenants of the town of Sheffield, to which I shall have more particularly to call your attention. It is the instrument by which the Town Burgesses are supposed to hold their lands, and the original is now in their custody.

It is in Latin, much abbreviated, and having a seal of yellowish appended to it, bearing the arms of Furnival within a circle of radii.

"Omnibus Christi Fidel bus hoc presens scriptum visuris vel audituris, Thomae de Furnivall tertius, filius et heres Domini Thomae de Furnivall salutem in Domino sempiternam. Noveritis me dimisisse concessisse et feudi firmam dedisse, omnibus liberis tendentious meis de villa de Schefeld et eorum heredibus, omnia tofta terras et tenementa quae de me tenent in villa predicta de Schefeld. Tenendis et habendis de me et heredibus meis, predictis tenentibus et eorum heredibus, cum omnibus pertinenciis suis, , predictis toftis terris et tenementis infra villam de Scheffeld et extra pertinenti bus, in feudo et hereditate, libera quiete bene et in pace inperpetuum; ita quod libera warranna mea per predictos tenenes non impediatur, nee in aliqua perturbetur. Reddenda inde annuatim mihi et heredibus meis predicti tenentes et eorum heredes sexaginta et octo solidos, novem denarios et quadrantem argenti, ad duos anni terminos, seiliect medietatem ad natale Domini, et medietatem ad nativtatem beati Johannis Baptistae, pro omnibus seviciis et demandis. Salvis mihi et heredibus meis fideliter escaetis et sectis curiae meae de tenentbus predictis. Preterea volo et concedo quod curia dictae villae de Schefeld de tenentibus meis predictis teneatur infra predictam villam, de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas, per ballivis meis, sicut ac tenus usitatum est tempore antecessorum meorum. Et si ita contingeret quod dicti tenentis mei vel aliquis eorum super transgresione aliqua in dicta curia mea sint amerciani, volo et concedo pro me et heredibus meis quod amereiantur per pares suos et hoc secundum qualitatem delieti. Ad haee volo et concedo pro me et heredibus meis, quod dieti tenentes et eorum heredes tam ementes quam vendentes sint quiet; per totum Hallumschire ubieunnque ex omni exactione et petitione tolneti sicut illi solebant tempore antecessorum meorum imperpetuum. Et ego predictus Thomas et heredes mei haee omnia predicta cum pertinencis, predictis sient predictum est, predictis tenentibus meis et eorum heredibus contra omnes gentes was rantizabimus inperpetuum. In cujus rei testimonium presenti scripto ad modum sirographi confectosigilla partium alternatim sunt apposita. Hiis testibus, Domino Roberto de Ecclesale Domino Edmundo Foliot militibus, Thoma de Schefeld Thoma de Munteney Roberto de Wadislay Radulpho de Wadislay Thomo de Furneus Willielmo de Darnale Roberto le Breton tunc senescallo de Hallumschire et aliis. Datum apud Schefeld quarto Idus Auguti anno Dni M CC nonagesimo septimo."

There are three great objects comprehended in this grant, and though its provisions may appear trivial in modern eyes, they were of very great importance to our ancestors.

[Firstly] It exonerated them from all the base and uncertain services by which they had previously held their lands, and substituted a certain annual payment in money; it freed them from all the grievous exactions to which they were continually exposed under the name of Reliefs, Wardships, Aids, Sentages, benevolences towards making the Lord's eldest son a Knight, and towards marrying the Lord's daughters; and indeed, from all those demands which, for any cause, (and sometimes they were made with no cause at all) could be levied on the hard earnings of a frequently oppressed tenantry.-

The only saving to the grantor was of fealty, escheats, and suit of court.

It does not appear that the inhabitants were ever obliged to grind their corn at the Lord's mill, though such a reservation would be by no means extraordinary.

Secondly, it provides for the due administration of public justice within the Manor, ordaining that the Courts Barons should be holden by the Bailiff's once every three weeks, as they had been heretofore in the time of the grantors's ancestors; that the amercements of the tenants should be laid by a Jury of their equals, (pares,) not subject to the arbitrary will of the Lord's offices; and the punishment should not be excessive, but apportioned to the measure of the offense. This is the origin of our present Court of Requests.

Thirdly, that his tenants and their heirs, as well buyers and sellers, should be free from all exaction and asking of toll throughout the whole of Hallamshire, as they had been heretofore in the time of his ancestors. An important privilege, where the toll was regulated by the conscience of the Lord or his Bailiff's; and the only answer to a complaint of oppression in this way was, in most cases, a reference to the dungeons of the adjoining Castle.

Great suits have arisen from time to time between the Burgesses and the successive Lords of the Manor, as to the persons who were exempt from toll; and in 1637,

"it was agreed by the Burgerye, that if John Staniforth (the Lord's Steward) doe pceed in suit against Richard Roberts for standing in the market to sell his goods, he the said Richard shall be defended by the said Burgerye att the towne's charge, it being conceived it is of publique concern and against the priviledges of the towne by their Charter."

And again 18th September 1684, it was agreed

"by vote of the Town Burgesses and other inhabitants, that "all such persons as shall be, by counsel learned in the law, adjudged to be meant to be free tenants in the towne's patent from the Lord Furnivall, shall be defended from paying any tolls for their standing in the markets at the costs and charges of the said towne."

Who were finally considered exempt, I have not learnt.

A general condition in the grant, that the free warren of the Lord should in nothing be impeded or disturbed by the tenants, shows that the tenacity exhibited by great landed proprietors respecting their game is by no means of modern origin.

I have been sometimes tempted to think (though I am aware of the very weak foundation on which I build my hypothesis) that we are remotely indebted to the unwelcome visit of John de Eyvill for this munificent grant.

Not more than thirty-two years had elapsed since the destruction of the town by fire, and in those early times it is not likely that it would soon recover from so terrible a visitation. No attempt was made for six years to renovate the Castle, and it was not finished much before 1278. Little would be done towards repairing the town till the Lord's mansion was rebuilt; and the Thos. de Furnival so often named was not of full age, and therefore had not the custody of his lands till two years afterwards.

It would be natural for him to commiserate the wretched state to which his tenantry was reduced by their unlooked-for calamity; and he might feel disposed to rouse their exertions, and induce them to toil cheerfully towards the re-edifying of the town, by conferring this munificent act of charity upon them, in addition to gaining the privilege of a market and fair, to encourage strangers to traffic amongst them.

I am aware that all this is purely imagination, and the graver historian would altogether reject it.-

It may also be urged, that this is not a solitary instance of feudal proprietors enfranchising a portion of their dependants about the same period of time; and that the inhabitants of Stannington, Hallam, Moorwood, and Fulwood, with his tenantry at Ughill, Nether Bradfield, Thornsett, Hawksworth, and Wightwistle, also felt the effects of de Furnival's bounty, though not all exactly in the same way.

I would observe, that the word "tofts," mentioned in the grant to the town of Sheffield, is by some writers understood to signify the sites of houses destroyed by fire.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

[neddy]

Oct 25 1828

AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE BURGERY OF SHEFFIELD, COMMONLY CALLED THE TOWN TRUST.

Read before the Literary & Philosophical Society of Sheffield, 0ct. 10, 1828 by Samuel Mitchell

( CONTINUED)

After much circumlocution, as it will very likely be dominated, I have just brought you to the threshold of our subject : the public body, commonly called the "Town Collector and his assistants," but whose proper and more ancient title is that of the Burgesses and free Tenants of the Town of Sheffield, having been always considered guardians of the privileges conferred upon us by the Lord Thos.de Furnival, many have supposed that the lands now vested in the Burgesses for public and charitable uses were the identical lands granted to the free tenants in 1297; but this is not altogether the case.

It was a grant in fee, to all his free tenants, of all the tofts, lands, and tenements, which they respectively held of de Furnival in the town of Sheffield, at the yearly rent of £3. 8s. 9½d. But the Burgesses never paid any such rent, which they must have done, if the tenaments had fallen into their possession .-

They did, however, for many years after 1680, pay the annual rent of £2. 15s. 2½d to the Lord of the Manor, which has induced most persons to believe that it was for that proportion of the enfranchised lands which had fallen into their possession, insomuch that the late Mr Wheat, who appears to have been a firm believer of the truth of that opinion, has entered the above amount in the accounts of 1780, or thereabouts, as

"Rent recd. for Town's waste and premises comprimised in Furnivals grant."

But there is a remarkably curious document still existing, which, I think, has hitherto escaped observation, dated 13 July, 1566, and entitled " Ffeodû firme ville de Sheffelde."

"My Lordes Rents for the fee ferme of the Burgery, and gatheryd by the saide Burgesses and payde to my use,"

which shows distinctly of whom the rent of £2 15s 2½d. was then collected, and consequently who were in possession, under the title of Freeholders, of that relative proportion of the lands granted by Thos.de Furnival.

This rent is said

"to be payde to my Lorde's ferme greve of Hallam yerly as hathe ben accustomed tyme out of mynd of man, as is apparannt by my Lorde's rentalls and his auditor. boke in the allowances of ano.viijvi. vto."

From this rental, it appears that lands of the annual value of 10s 3d. had fallen into the hands of the Lord of the Manor probably by escheat: 8s. 5d. is described as Church land and 7s. 2d. per annum has been constantly paid by the twelve Capital Burgesses to the Town Burgesses as the share due from them of the Burgery rents ; Hugh Spooner paid 2d. for " Abbey Lande, " parcel of the possessions of the neighbouring Monastery of Beaucheif ; and remainder was divided in different proportions among upwards of thirty freeholders.

We have also a rental made, October 1565,

" appteyng. to the Burgerye of Sheffelde, and due feaste day of the Natyvytie of our Lorde, and Midsomr. by even porcyons unto the sayde Burgasses, and to be employed at the dyscreacion of the sayde Burgasses."

amounting to £7. 7s. per annum, which shows that the lands from which the Burgesses derived their revenue were quite distinct fro those on which fee-farm rents rested.

The fee-farm rents were for many years collected and paid to the Steward or Greave of the Manor, without making their appearance in the Burgesses' books until about the year 1680, when the decrease in the value of money probably rendered their collection troublesome, and the amount was then paid out of the public fund of the freeholders, as one of the general burthens to which the town was subject.

A solitary attempt to gather the chief rents was made in 1727, and in 1786, when the Earl of Surrey was empowered, by Act of Parliament, to dispose of all his due and improvable rents here, and to apply their proceeds to the construction of the present market, the Town Burgesses purchased the fee simple of this rent, by which it was for ever extinguished.

An attentive observer will perceive that, though the rent reserved by de Furnival £3. 8s. 9¼d., only £2. 15s. 2½d. was either demanded or paid since 5 Henry V111.

It remains then, that we should account for the difference of £13. 8s 9¾d. ; and I believe I shall not be wandering far wrong, in thinking that this annual sum was remitted to the inhabitants by some chief of the house of Furnival, or Talbot, by a charter, which if it ever existed, has been lost or destroyed, or which remains for some future historian to discover.

I imagine that this sum was released for the purpose of being applied to pious, charitable , and public uses, and represents a part, at least, of the estates vested in the present Town Burgesses.-This property seems to have been under the control, in the earliest notices that we have of it, of the Vicar and Church-graves, or Churchwardens, and to have been applied "for the reparacion and amendment of severall brydgs and wayes within the parishe of Sheffield ; and to the reparacion of the Churche ther ande to the releffe of the moste nedye and indegent persones inhabytynge within the said parishe."-

This is the reason why an agreement of 1 Henry V11., which is still extant, is made between Sir John Plesaunce, Vicar of Sheffield, on the part of the town, and William Hyll, master mason, that Hyll should rebuild the Lady's Bridge for the sum of 100 marks.

Several additions were from time to time made to this fund by the gift of individuals who wished that their souls might be remembered in the prayers of the faithful, and the whole annual review was £27. To the above uses this sum was entirely appropriated till the 30 Henry VIII., when it is recorded that three Priests having been of ancient time supported by the alms, pious largesses, and general contribution of the inhabitants, for the celebration of devine service, and for assisting the Vicar in the administration of the Sacraments, and in visiting the sick.

It had been found necessary, in consequence of the falling off of these alms, to devote the sum of £17 per annum to their support, besides 9s. 4d. for an obit. The Commissioners for the dissolution of colleges and chantries, under the statute 1 Edward V1., seized the lands so appropriated into the hands of the Crown, and the proceeds were paid to the Kings receiver during the whole of that reign.

In the 1st Mary, a petition was presented to her Majesty from Robert Swift and William Taylor, on the part of the inhabitants, praying that the estates so seized might be restored ; and upon the request of Francis, Earl of Shrewsbury, the Queen was pleased to grant letters patent, dated 8th June. 1554, 1st of her reign, vesting them in body corporate, to be called "The Twelve Capital Burgesses and commonalty of the Town and Parish of Sheffield" for ever.

They are described as being of the annual value of £17.9s. 4d. of which a certain sum was to be applied to the support of the Vicar in devine ordinances, and in the administration of the Sacraments; and the remainder to be appropriated to the repairing of the Church, of bridges, and highways, and to the relief of poor inhabitants within the parish.

Having thus shown the manner in which nearly two-thirds of the town estates were disposed of, it now only remains for me to trace the descent of the portion left, after the mighty slice which had been carried away for the use of the Church. And with respect to this, the property which, before the Reformation, had been in the hands of the Vicar and Churchwardens, was now transferred into the custody of some of the principal inhabitants, who took upon themselves the name of the Burgesses and Free Tenants of the Town of Sheffield, whether by Royal Charter, order in Chancery, or merely the common consent of the freeholders, I am not able to determine.

Greater regularity was, however, observed in the conduct of the Trust; and a book of accounts was commenced in 1565, entitled

"The Book as well of the Burgesses Rents there, as also of the reconyge of the same: howe and after what manner the sayde Rents are ymployed, as by God's grace wherein shall appear, made and begoyne in the yere of our Lord God M. Vc.LXV."

It does not appear that there was at this time any limited number of Burgesses; but it is probable that the whole body of freeholders (not so numerous as at present) considered themselves the Burgesses and free tenants, and that they met together at least annually, to choose one of their members to be a Collector of the rents and revenues of the town, then amounting to £7.7s. per annum, and to pay all demands on this fund for the public and charitable uses intended by the donors.

In 1568, two Collectors (instead of one) were chosen ; and this practice was continued till 1574, after which one Collector only was chosen, and he remained in office sometimes for two, and even three years.

The Collector was originally little more than the servant of the Burgesses; in 1593-4 he was allowed 2s 6d. for his fee, and nothing of importance was decided upon, or any extraordinary appropriation of the funds made, without first calling the "Burgerye" or freeholders together.

During the 17th century, the Collector was for many years allowed the sum of £3., wherewith to make a feast, thereby following the good example which the Cutlers Company had set them. We find no limited number of Burgesses till 1676, when there were thirteen, besides the Collector.

At a meeting however, in 1684, it is recorded that there were twenty Burgesses and ten inhabitants or commonalty present, although the decree of the Commissioners for charitable uses in 1681, had expressly limited the number to thirteen. From this important decree, dated 33 Car .2d 6th September, which settles the constitution of the Charity as it now stands, we first learn the specific and principal uses to which the funds were and had been applied.

It first recites a commission of charitable uses, and that the several messuages, lands, and tenements named in the said commission were theretofore given of ancient time for the repairs of a bridge in Sheffield called Lady Bridge; for cleansing and keeping in order, for the common use and benefit of the inhabitants of Sheffield, a pond or pool called Barker Pool; for repairing of causeways and highways; and other charitable and public uses in the said town of Sheffield.

It found that for upwards of sixty years then past, the premises had been constantly leased by certain of the inhabitants, sometimes under the name of the Burgesses and major part of the Burgesses of Sheffield; at other times, by the name of the Burgesses, or the major part of the Burgesses and Free Tenants; and by other names; and the proceeds had been applied to the objects before named.

But that of late the tenants of the premises had refused to take leases thereof, or to pay any increase of rent, whereby the profits of the estate were misconverted contrary to the intent of the donors. The Commissioners, therefore, calling the tenants before them, did adjudge and decree that the said lands and tenements should be vested in thirteen inhabitants (then named) their heirs and assigns, for ever, upon trust for the charitable uses aforesaid.

And the Commissioners did further adjudge and decree,

" That when any three or more of the said then Trustees, or of any succeeding Trustees of the premises should die, then the survivors should convey over the premises to the use of such survivors ; and also to the use of such other persons ( inhabitants within the said town of Sheffield as should from time to time be, in that behalf, nominated and appointed by the greater part of the then inhabitants within the said town upon the charitable Trusts aforesaid, so that the estate in Law of the premises might not remain in Trustees, under the number of twelve, for above the space of six months together."

-- Wheat's MS.

The Trustees under this decree soon afterwards, and until 1699, made leases in which they styled themselves

"Trustees appointed by a decree of Charitable uses, bearing date the 6th day of September, in the 33d year of the reign of our Sovereign King Charles the Second over England, &c., for Lands to Charitable and other public uses within the Town of Sheffield, in the County of York."

But from 1699 to 1711, they adopted something like the old appellation of "Burgesses or Free Tenants of Sheffield, in the County of York ;" and their seal bears the motto of "Sheffield Free Tenants," encircling two sheafs of arrows in saltier between two pheons.

There are regular entries in the books, as has already been noticed, of the election of a Collector either annually or at short periods; but of the elections of the early Trustees, we have little or no information. In 1690, we are informed they consisted of thirteen persons ; viz, William Sympson Esq., Thomas Chappell, Gent., Thos. Barlow, Gent., Robert Soresbies, Gent.,Wm. Cooke, Gent., Thos. Barlow, Gent., Lyonell Revell, Gent., Thos. Marriott, Gent., Thos. Britland, Gent., John Webster, William Burley, Joseph Bayes, Robert Nicholls, and Joseph Butler.

But sometime about 1711, in direct defiance, as it would seem, of the decree for charitable uses, the freeholders had limited the number of trustees to seven, whom they denominated the Town Collector and his assistants. This continued till the death of the Town Clerk, in 1777. The Trustees were then advised by Counsel to call a meeting of the freeholders for the special purpose of choosing additional Trustees to make up the number mentioned id the decree.

In July, 1778, five additional Trustees were elected by the freeholders ; and soon afterwards, the old Trustees made a deed of feofment of the freehold estates belonging to the Trust to two nominal Trustees and their heirs, to the only use and behoof of the seven old Trustees, and the five newly-elected Trustees, their heirs and assigns for ever, in trust, nevertheless, for the several charitable and public uses and purposes in the decree named ;- and in 1784, on the election of the five Trustees to fill vacancies when occasioned by death, the then remaining Trustees, by lease and release, ( reciting the said decree and feofment, ) conveyed the said old estates to the new Trustees and their heirs, to the uses of the old and new Trustees on the Trusts mentioned in the said feofment.

This mode of transferring the estates and preserving the succession in law of the premises, was continued till a recent Act of Parliament obtained by the Trustees rendered it no longer necessary. It would be both tedious and useless to follow the history of this Trust into all the particulars of the last thirty years,. In 1792, an amicable Bill was filed in the Court of Chancery, proposing a scheme for the future application of the Trust funds, and for an alteration in the mode of electing Trustees.

This Bill was referred to the Master to make his report thereon; the opinions of eminent Counsel were taken on the subject; but the result, I believe, was that no sufficient reason being shown for altering the mode of election, and that as the Court could not possibly enlarge, and would not be disposed to limit, the ample discretionary power given by the decree of 33d Car. 11., to apply the Trust funds to almost all the objects named in the new scheme, the opinion of the Master seemed unfavourable to the Trustees, and no further proceeding was made in the suit.

In April, 1811, on a proposal to apply for an Act of Parliament for lighting and cleansing the town, a serious disagreement arose between the Trustees and the inhabitants, the particulars of which it is now needless to enquire into ; but at a meeting called in July, 1811, to elect three new Trustees, the popular feeling rose to such a height on the question, who were to be considered as entitled to vote, that the meeting separated without attaining its object, and new Trustees were not elected till November, 1817.

In 1811, another friendly Bill was filed in the Court of Chancery, praying that a decree might issue stating what class of persons was entitled to vote ; and a decree was accordingly made by the Vice-Chancellor, 26th April, 1817, that the right of election vested in the inhabitants of the town of Sheffield, being freeholders,- It is not yet decided whether the Trustees should be freeholders, or merely respectable inhabitants ; but the opinion of Mr. Leach is, that the Trustees having been always in ancient time chosen from the freeholders, that mode of election ought still to be adhered to ; and it seems quite clear, that if the word inhabitants, as electors, be considered by the Court of Chancery to mean freeholders, that the same word, "inhabitants," made use of in the decree 33d Car.2d., as some person eligible to the office of Trustees, should be a freeholder also.

The last public document connected with this Trust is the Act of Parliament, 7 and 8 Geo. 1V., entitled, "An Act for facilitating the execution of certain Trusts for charitable and public purposes within the Town of Sheffield, in the County of York." This received the Royal Assent, 14th June, 1827.-

After reciting the deed of Thomas de Furnival, the decree of the Commissioners for charitable uses, and two decrees of the Court of Chancery in 1814 and 1817, it provides that a majority of seven Trustees may sign deeds and leases, which formerly required the consent of the whole body of thirteen to render them effectual ; that the Trust estates shall vest in the new Trustees on their election, without any deed or instrument being executed to preserve the succession as formerly ; that the accounts of the Trustees shall be exhibited to the freeholders annually, on the 11th or 12th day of May ; and that notice shall be given in the Sheffield Newspapers, in addition to , or in lieu of the ancient practice of giving notice by the bellman previous to the election of new Trustees.

A clause had been introduced into the Bill to render the Trustees a body corporate, which I believe, was thrown out in its passage through the House of Lords.

The property vested in the Trustees consists of freehold lands and tenements within the town, and I will have already endeavoured to show the source from which they were derived. No addition has been made to these since the Reformation that I am aware of, except by the purchase of a house in Blind-lane, bought by Nicholas Sanderson, in 1718, for £40, ; and some encroachments on the waste, which have sometimes occasioned disputes and suits of law between Burgesses and the Lord of the Manor.- Several exchanges were made with the Duke of Norfolk or Earl of Surrey about the year 1780, whereby the property, which was very much intermixed with the Howard estates, was brought into more compact form.

No inconsiderable portion of the estates in the town has from time to time been thrown open to the public, and the income lost, by widening and improving the public streets and passages. The present annual value is about £1,400.- The Trustees have also about 44 acres of old enclosure, and 33 acres allotment of common, in Upper Hallam, producing an annual rent of nearly £100. About two acres was purchased in the present century of the representative of Lord John Murray ; and a small cottage was bought of one Beal many years ago ; but how the greater part of these lands were acquired by the Burgesses, I am not able to determine. I have a notice, however, of a surrender of the Burgesses to George Bamforth to uses in 1695, of certain lands in Hallam, called Slalee, Upper Hallam Field, Hallam Field Wood, Lees or Oxcroft, &c. containing altogether about twelve acres, which had been given by Robert Hall, Gent, and Alice his wife, to feoffees, which may form part of these lands. The first entry of rents received for Hallam lands is in 1692; and in 1701, they were the annual value of £22. 11s.

A portion of the Trust funds have, from time to time, been invested in shares in the different turnpike roads leading to and from the town, whenever the Trustees have thought it for the advantage of their townspeople to promote improvements of that kind. The interest on these shares bring some profit to the Charity. But by far the greatest revenue accruing to them, is derived from that profitable speculation, the Navigation of the River Dun.

Various schemes were in agitation as early as 1703, to unite with the Corporation of Doncaster to open a water communication between Sheffield and Hull. It was in 1726 that the Trustees became adventurers in this navigation; and as savings of the Trust estate were not sufficient to answer the calls made on account of the same, the then Trustees borrowed from time to time considerable sums of money on their own bonds or notes to answer calls made during the progress of the work; and these sums were afterwards gradually paid off out of savings of the Trust estate. The dividends amount to £1,000 per annum. The Town Burgesses, are ex-officio, in conjunction with the twelve Capital Burgesses and the Governors of the Grammar School, Trustees of Birley's Charity Estates.

It is interesting to notice the progressive increase in the value of the town estates:-

£. s p. 1565 they amounted to 7 7 0 per anm.

1588.......................... 8 9 8 ------

1598.......................... 10 13 2 -----

1610.......................... 11 8 4 ------ 1621......................... 18 10 10 ----

In 1626, the Trustees were enabled, by their savings to place money out at interest.

In 1631, the proceeds of the estates were …………………….................£20 3 0

1653.…………………………….............. 31 1 6

1680.……………………………...............41 18 4

1702.……………………………...............73 12 4

The bridge over the River Don, as it is the first named in the decree of the Commissioners for charitable uses, so it is, without doubt, the most ancient object to which the proceeds of the trust estates were applied. Its existence is recorded in the reign of Henry 11. It was rebuilt, as we have already noticed, 1 Henry V11. It was called "Our Lady's Bridge," and is so denominated in the Burgesses accounts, where notices of its repairs commence in 1566. Its name was derived from the circumstance of a Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin, standing at the West end of the bridge, under the wall of the Castle.

In 1573, mention is made of the "Little bridge at Castle-green, on this side Lady's Bridge," which was perhaps erected over a part of the Castle Ditch. The entries of occasional repairs of the bridge and its approaches are very numerous, and absorb a great portion of the Trust funds in these earlier times.

In 1621, Justices Wombwell and west came to view it ; and charges occur for going to the Sessions of Pontefract, and in "petitions about the bridge." An unsuccessful attempt was probably at this time made to throw the burthen of supporting it on the Riding at large.

It had much need of repair, and a considerable sum was expended on it in 1622 and the following year.

In 1664 or 5, it was much damaged by a great flood.- Labourers waited at the bridge, and at "Lady's Bridge Stairs, " to break the ice as it came down,-

After the great thirteen weeks frost of 1683, men were also employed to break the ice above the bridge.

In 1689, the expense of repairs was at last transferred to the West-Riding fund; and after that period, few entries occur respecting it, except for paving and watching. It was, however, widened by the town in 1761. In 1675, a "chain, two locks, and stone stoops," were provided for the gate at Lady's Bridge; and as late as 1707, the "chain" was in existence, Thomas Marshall having kept it for the burgesses for several years past.

The other bridges kept in repair wholly, or in part, by the Burgesses, were the Sheaf or Sheer as it is called in 1579 and 1588; the "Little Bridge at Barker Powle," 1621 to 1670 and Truelove-gutter Bridge, in 1677. In 1680, a "cawsey" was made over the river from Mill-sands to Bridgehouse, in the place where the Iron Bridge now stands.

TO BE CONTINUED

[neddy]

November 1 1828

AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE BURGERY OF SHEFFIELD, COMMONLY CALLED THE TOWN TRUST.

Read 10th October before the Literary & Philosophical Society, by Samuel. Mitchell

[concluded from our last]

The decree of 1681 describes the Barker Pool as having been from ancient time cleansed, repaired, and kept in order, by the Burgesses. Mr. Hunter supposes this reservoir to have been constructed early in the fifteenth century. It was existing at least in 1566, and from that time almost yearly entries occur of its repairs. In 1672, it was considerably enlarged. It was the chief source from which the inhabitants received their supply of water, and the surplus flowed in an open stream through principal street to the river. On the establishment of a Water Company, it became of little use; and being soon afterwards voted a public nuisance, it was destroyed about 1793, and the site was let by the Trustees for building purposes.

The public wells were a great accommodation to the town in early times. Notices of monies expended in their construction or support are to be continually met with in the accounts. We first find mention of the Burtland Well in 1626; Water-lane Well or pipe. 1650; Townhead Well 1636; Workhouse Well, in 1650; Westbar Well, and Robinson Well, in 1665; Flint Well 1671; the "Trowes" or Troughs in Coalpit-lane, 1673; Pond Well, in 1692; and the Well at Church-gates in 1696; after which period we have New-street Well, Bower-spring Well, and the Little and Great Well in Trippet-lane.

It is a matter of regret that these public springs should not have been better attended to in late years. They would contribute much to comfort and cleanliness in such a populace town as Sheffield; and small as would be the supply from them, we have only to refer three years back to prove that, occasionally at least, it would be very acceptable. Very few of them now exist, but some are re-opened.

The crosses with which the piety of our ancestors had adorned the town, were kept in order by the Burgesses. The Market Cross and Irish Cross were rebuilt, or thoroughly repaired, in 1568. This appears not to have been done without opposition, for they were obliged to keep a watch by night over them; and Mr. Rodes, a Justice of Peace, was applied to promulgate rewards for the apprehension of such as might damage them.

They were repaired and painted in 1590. Of the Townhead Cross, which existed in 1736, no mention is made. It is almost needless to say, that all these crosses have disappeared.

From the reign of Henry V11., the strictness of feudal laws began gradually to relax; the Nobles were no longer able to bring large bodies of men into the field, either to assist or to oppose their Sovereign; property became more divided, and a different mode was adopted to provide for the defense of the realm, each wapentake being obliged, as in Saxon times to send its quota to the general armament.

Each township or parish of the wapentake was bound to furnish a certain number of men according to its extent and ability, and to provide proper harness for its band of warriors. The charge of this at Sheffield fell upon the Burgesses' fund.

From the year 1569, we find continual entries of the purchase, and keeping in order of the "harness" belonging to the town, particularly during the time that the country was in alarm about threatened Spanish invasion.

In 1569, four township men were equipped and set forth to "serving of Queen's Majestye," at the "commandment of my Lorde Darcye and the rest of the Commyssioners," and at the charge of £9. 5s. 6d. Two others were furnished in 1579.

In 1585, "seven harnes men" were sent to the muster on Tinslawe Moor; in 1588, the Earl of Shrewsbury took the muster in the Castle Fold; and in 1598, eight trained soldiers were furnished with armour, &c. Afew extracts will show the kind of accoutrements used at this time :-

1573-"Mem. Harnes bougte of Wm. Graye, my Lorde's man, for the use of the towne, remaining in these men's hands following:- In James Holdsworthe's custodie, a corslett, viz., a breste-plate, a back pese and a head pece, and morrys pike heade.- In Wm. Elles' handes, a callyver, a burganett, a flape and touchbox, in Edward Hellyfelde handes, 2 jackes and a sallett, 2 stele cappes, a bawe and sheafe of arrowes, and a payre of splentes and 27 cheynes."

1580 - "paid my Lord's armorer for a corslett, 33s. 4d.; for 2 callyvers, with all their furniture, 4 markes." - Paid for a corslett and two pykes, 30s 8d.

1585.- "Making a iron cheane for the standard, 1s."

1595.-"For two swordes, duble hilted,13s."-A dagger, 1s;" with many other entries.

There is an inventory of the town's armour taken 1602, when it consisted of "two black and one whit corslett, with 3 hede peces, and 2 other hede peces; towe callyvers, a flape and touchbox, 2 swords and one dagger, four pykes and tenne gyrdles."

In 1641, just before the civil wars broke out, the Burgesses provided themselves with twenty-two new muskets, at the charge of £21. 15s. 7d.

The repair of highways was one of the objects named in the decree of 1681 to which the Trust funds were to be applied. Monies were occasionally expended for this purpose; but for many years, and indeed, during the whole of the last century, assessments have been levied on the inhabitants for this necessary purpose.

Sometime after the dissolution of colleges and chantries, 1 Edward V1., the Chapel of our Lady at the Bridge was converted into almshouses, which were sustained by the Burgesses. They were rebuilt in 1656 to 1658, from the ruins of the Castle, as we have these entries respecting it:- "Preparing a way to tumble stones for the Almshouses, 9d." - "Tumbling and carrying stones, 10s 6d."- "For a rope to draw stones out of the dungeon, 1s 10d."- They were finally destroyed when the bridge was widened in 1761.

The workhouse was entirely built by the Trustees in 1628 to 1632, and was constantly kept in repar by them. They were accustomed from time to time, also, as they saw occasion, to assist the Overseers by donations for the support of the poor, probably in times of extraordinary distress. These donations were frequent in the seventeenth century. In 1683, £20 were paid to the Overseers "towards the reliefe of the necessitous poore in the storm."

Sums were occasionally expended in repairing the "town's part of the Church-yard wall," and the Church -gates and stile. In 1659, there was paid for "tymber, &c., about the Church-gates and the house over the same, £8. 7s. 10d."

The Ecclesiastical benefice at Sheffield was miserably poor, and the Burgesses thought it an act of charity to subscribe something towards the support of the Vicar, with the express sanction as it appears, of the inhabitants at large. From 1683 to 1703, the town contributed sometimes £10 per annum sometimes more. The twelve Capital Burgesses and well disposed individuals rendered their assistance; yet the living in 1688 was not worth more than £90 per annum, including these donations. An attempt to increase it by the purchase of the small tithes seems to have proved abortive.-

Repairs were done at the Vicarage in 1683 and 1695.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we have sundry payments for the Pillory made 1571, and renewed 1634;-

Cage in 1612; renewed 1630, and taken down 1660;

Cuckstool, with two chains and two locks, 1579; renewed 1635; -

Pinfold 1571, and passim; -

The stocks first named, 1573;-

The Nare Butt and Far Butt in the Wicker, 1571;-

The Gibbett mended 1570.

6 H.V1., John Kay hung at Sheffield for horse stealing--

10 H. V11., John Dore hung at Sheffield for murder.-Sheffield Court Rolls.

The officers belonging to the Burgesses and paid by them, were the Town Clerk; the Beadle; 1589; Clerk of the Market 1571,; Bellman 1592; the Swineherd, (or perhaps pinder) 1571; the towns Paor, 1580; the Ringers, 1586; and lastly though they were by far the most expensive appendages to this little municipal body, the Pipers or Wayts.

The wayts are first mentioned in 1567, and from that time there occur more entries and special regulations concerning them than it will be at all necessary to recount. Their dress may be learnt from an entry 1567, "Paid for three yards of whyte clothe for the Pyper or Wayte of the Towne, after 1s. 5d. the yard, 4s. 3d." And 1580, "Paid for two yards of red flannel to make the Wayte his coat agaynst Christmas 14s. 4d." "Paid for 2 yards of whyte cotton to lyne parte of the said coate." "Paid for buttons , silk facynge, and lyning to the body of the said coate, 1s. 4d.; They had also silver badges. Many can recollect these ancient and useless officers, who are now extinct.

In the time of Queen Elizabeth, part, if not the whole of the Queens taxes laid on the town, was paid out of this public fund. The Jury's dinners at the Sembly quest were also provided.

The township quota to the County Rate was sometimes paid, though it was more frequently raised by assessment on the inhabitants at large.

The Coroners fees were often discharged by the Trustees; and we have this curious entry-"Pd. to the Coroner 8s. for the fee of three persons that were slain with the fall of two trees that were burned down at my Lord's funerale, January13, 1590." This was at the burial of George, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury.

The passing of paupers and vagrants, rogues, prisoners, and suspected persons form items in these accounts. We have a specimen of the intolerance of the Elizabethan age in 1591:- "Charges in carryinge a younge maid to Mr. Rookesbie, who was suspected of Papistrie, 1s." Great precautions were taken against the introduction of the plague; and 8th May, 1570, Anthony Hibbert had 1s. "to kepe his house, because he had benne at Collg of Rotherham, where they dyed of the plagge." In 1586, Edward Hellifield was paid for three weeks "watching the towne when the plague was in Doncaster last year;" and 1592, the constables had 8d. for conveyinge a maid furth of the town yt. came from London in the time of the plague."

The Burgesses put themselves to great expence in treating the Nobility and superior Gentry of the neighbourhood, and such "persons of qualitie" as happened to pass through the town. The Lords of the Manor were often entertained, and a few extracts may be so far interesting as to show us the relative value of some of the necessaries and luxuries of life:-

1651, -"Two quarts of wine when the Justices were at the towne, 3s. 4d." "Creswick for a day's labour, 10d." "Hire of a horse to London 6s. 4d."

1656,-"A quart of sack, 2s."

1661,-"For a mutton to send to the Earl of Arundel, 14s."

1663,-"Thirteen gallons of wine to which was sent to my Lord as a present, 39s."

1680,-"A veale and a mutton to send to the Earl of Arundel, 2s 6d."

1687,- "For 4 doz. bottles of wyne, £3. 12s."

1701,- "127 gallons of ale at the proclamation of Queen Anne, £6. 7s."

1703,- "For 7 gallons Claret, 3 gallons whyte wyne, and 6 quarts of Sherry, to treat the Lady Howard;" and "Tobacco-pipes had to the Hall the night Lady Howard was there."

We are not told whether she smoked.

In the year 1693, we have "Charges of entertaining the Lord Archbishop of York and his companie, £18. 6s. 8d." The Prelates of the Diocese were often entertained at the public expense; and the account of the feast in 1711 is so curious, that I shall make no apology for inserting it entire.

"A Bill of Charges of my Lord Archbishop of York's Treat, 12th and 13th May, 1711

£. s. d.

Halfe a load of white wheat.............................................0 7 0

26 gallons of ale, and carryage up from the Coffee-house 1 15 6

A pair of ribbs and a rump of beef 61 lbs. at 3d a lb.........0 15 3

Four tongues, and 3 lbs suet ............................................. 0 5 3

11 chickens....................................................................... 0 3 2 ½

Pd. Elizabeth Newbould for 6 chickens, 3 pecks of meal a peck of malt to feed them and the geese & other things, ............................................ 0 13 6½

6 geese.............................................................................. 0 3 6

11 lbs salmon, 3 lobsters, 2 crabbs................................... 1 0 0

Paid a messinger for bringing sparagrasse from Doncaster 0 1 0

To Mr. Hall, for coffee, tea, lemons, and oranges.......... 0 17 6

James Crawshawe, for sparagrasse.................................. 0 2 5

Mrs. Drake, for a sack of malt, butter, cream, 2 piggs,

baking bread, a chair-woman, &c...................................... 1 19 2

Beef for gravy, and for veal, mutton, and lamb.................... 1 2 5

4 lbs and ½ of trouts............................................................ 0 1 6

A pike, ½ a dozen of pidgeons, and a messinger................. 0 6 0

To Mr Gasgoine, as by bill, (sweetmeats).......................... 0 18 8

Mr Ashmore, horses, servants, &c...................................... 7 17 6

Atkynson, for attendance and herbs..................................... 0 5 0

A loade of coales to Vicarridge...........................................0 2 10

Saml. Silcock, for a guide................................................... 0 4 0

Mrs. Pegg for wine.............................................................. 0 12 6

__________

£19 13 9 "

The expenses incurred at the Proclamations of Peace, the Proclamation of the Sovereigns of England, from Charles 1. downwards, (including the Lord Protector, 1656,) were always paid by the Burgesses. The ringers on these, and all other joyful occasions, especially for victories, were well rewarded. Money was occasionally given to persons going out to service, especially when about to undertake a journey to London; and cases of extreme individual distress were not forgotten.

Engines and buckets were provided for the use of inhabitants in case of fire. They occur as early as 1620, and were continued till the establishment of regular companies for insurance against that destructive element rendered them comparatively unnecessary.

Such were the principal objects to which the proceeds of the public estates were applied from the year 1565 at least, to about the year 1700. During the eighteenth century, the funds were still employed for many of the purposes enumerated, and some of them outlived the year 1800. I shall extract a few entries from the books of account, presenting them in chronological order, to show the progressive increase and improvement of the town, and to illustrate its general history.

"Paid to Hellifield, the constable, for setting watche and warde the space of 9 weeks, endyd in July, 1583, 13s. 4d."

On what occasion this could be, I have yet to learn, unless it was necessary to the safer custody of the Queen of Scots, then confined at the Castle.

1637,-Charges of 2 men from Wakefield to have set children on work, 2s 7d.

1644,- "Pd. to Robt. Stacie, when my Lord of Manchester's army tooke this Castle,£6"

"For making the Centriehouse, 22s," "For graving clodds (for making the bullworks,) and for other work at the Centriehouse, £3. 7s.

Though no event of importance occurred at Sheffield beyond the siege of its Castle, during the civil wars between Charles 1. and his Parliament, yyet the town was alternately and frequently occupied by the forces of each party; and the constable's accounts of the time show that heavy assessments were laid on the inhabitants for the support of such troops as either passed through or permanently occupied the place.

Great confusion must have prevailed. None of the Burgery rents were collected, nor any account entered from 1647 to 1650.

1681,-"Pd for taking the number of communicants, 2s."

And 1685,- "Making a survey of the town's land, and drawing out an account of all the inhabitants in the town and parish, 10s."

These I have not been fortunate enough to meet with.

1682,- "Lett out to 20 scissorsmiths on bond, £200"- This was probably at a time when this branch of trade was greatly distressed . Goods were afterwards obliged to be taken in part payment of this loan.

1686,- "Spent at a meeting at Coffe-house, 1s. 8d."

1688,-"Charges expended when the alarm was sent from Chesterfield that Birmingham and other places were on fyer. £7. 15s. 10d.;" and "to Thos. Johnson, that he had disbursed to quiet the rabble when the alarm was, 4s." These serve to show the agitated state of the country at the time of the Revolution.

1694,- "Given the ringers the first day the new bells were hung. 2s. 6d.;" and for "knolling the day the Queen (Mary 11) was buried, 3s.

1698,- "Paid the Master of the House of Correction at Wakefield, for bringing his prisoners to the Sessions. 5s."

1700,- "To the workmen at laying the foundation of the Hall, 10s." This was the Town- Hall, then erecting at the Church-gates. The Duke of Norfolk gave £100, to the work, on condition that he and his successors should have liberty to hold their Manorial Courts therein.

1710,- "spent towards making the Charity-table in the Church, £37. 7s. 6½d."

1712,-"Charges at the horse race to get horses, £1. 3s. 6d." The first notice I have found of these extinct meetings.

1715,- "Spent at a meeting ay Ezra Calton's about chusing a 3rd man to pay the poor, 3s."

1715, Dec.-"pd. ringers for the news from Preston twice, 8s. 6d. "-"Charges of the Lances."- "Paid for the heads, and putting on, £2. 10s.; paid T. Nowe for deal for the handles and his work, £2. 2s. 3d. -£4. 12s. 3d.

8th Nov,- "Spent at John Morton's abt. the people that went to Leeds, 6s." "Candles and ale at Town's Hall on news of the Pretender gone, 3s."-A proof of the loyalty of the good people of Sheffield..

9th May, 1722,- The freeholders agreed to subscribe £120, towards building the New Church.

1724,-"Money received of the comedians for the use of the Towne's-Hall the last somer, 30s."

1723, June 5,-"Paid at Mr Watson's when news came of the Duke of Norfolk's release from the Tower, £1. 5s. 6d."

1726,-"Pd. for the entertainments at Cutlers'-Hall, and the return of Mr. Smith and Mr. Steer from London, with the freeholders, when the Navigation Act was gained, £10. 0s. 3d." The books abound with expenses about the Navigation at this period.

1734, Dec. 4,-"Paid Mrs. Parkin for the lamps, £3. 15s. 11d." This was the first attempt made to light the town. The expences of providing this indispensable necessary increased from time to time, and were paid by the Burgesses until a late Act of Parliament relieved them from the burthen.

1735,-"Pd. for a cry to put down gaming-houses, 4d.

1740,-Nov 6,-"Pd Mr Giddings, of London, for the Evening Post, Votes &c to Michs. 1740, £1. 13. 11d." The Trustees were formerly accustomed to provide Newspapers, Gazettes, &c., for the use of the town.

1740, Nov 15,-" To the ringers when the Bishop [of Gloucester] came to consecrate the New Church, 5s" "To the soldiers, for keeping the rabble out of the Church, 5s"

1743, May 12th,-"Drawing the petition to have Scotch Grays removed, 5s."

1745, Oct. 10,-"To expences at Lord Malton's when we went about raising the Blews, 2s. 6d.

1746, January 28,-"To Mr. Dale, for guns, £41.12s. 7d.--April 18,-"Expended at the Cock on the news of defeat of the rebells, £3. 1s. 6d."

1753,-"Spent at a meeting with the Master Cutler about building a public room, 7s. 3d."

1756, July 16,-"Expended in ale given to the populace when the Marquis of Rockingham came to town to enlist men into Napier's regiment, £18.0s. 4d."--August 21,-Pd. for horse-hire to Justice Wrightson's on account of the riot, 7s. 6d."-"Paid the expences of obtaining the discharge of rioters to York Castle, £43. 14s. 6d."

1759,-"Paid the town's subscription for corn for the relief of the poor, £20."

1757, Feb. 6,-"Pd. cricket players, on Shrove Tuesday, to entertain the populace, and prevent the infamous practice at throwing at cocks, 14s. 6d."

1768,-"Expences to and at Halifax to view the waterworks, £3. 16s. 3d."-"Pd. for five tin pipes to try the water at Crooks Moor, 2s."

1782,-"Pd. prosecuting Fearne, for the murder of Nathan Andrews, £14. 19s." This man was hung in chains on Loxley Chase.

1799,-Towns subscription to the charity to purchase flour,£10."

1791,-"To Richd. Morton, as a loan from the town's estate towards, the support of the fish scheme, £180."- "Godfrey Fox, for allowance of the military, £149. 12s. 3d."

1793, March 11,-"To Mr. Ward, for printing sundry notices, declarations, &c., same £10. 9s."

Nov. 5,-"Expences of ringers when the first stone of the Infirmary was laid, £2.4s."

1796, Feb 13,-"Justices' Clerk's fee for swearing constables at the time of the riots,21s."

1799,-"Subscription to armed association cavalry and infantry, in Sheffield, £50.

1800,-"Soup for the poor, £10. 10s. ;and donation, £20." "Pd. subscription to new bells at Trinity Church, £25."

1803,-Paid for a horse, being a donation from the town to Mr. Fenton, the Liut. Col. of the Sheffield Volunteer Infantry, £63."

1804,-"To the Commander of the Sheffield Volunteer Infantry, being a subscription ordered by the Trustees of the town to the same, £100."--This was by no means the only subscription of the kind. Very considerable sums were expended in the support of both foot and horse regiments, and in fostering a loyal and patriotic spirit amongst the inhabitants to resist the threatened invaasion.

I observe, with much pleasure, a payment in 1806, to F. chantrey, for a bust of the late Rev. J. Wilkinson, £10. 0s. -This was the foundation of our Sculptors fame, and no money could be more usefully spent or have conferred greater honour on the country.

1808, June 23,-"To the workmen, on laying the foundation stone of the new Town-Hall,(which was built by the Burgesses in 1808, when the ancient one was removed, and the site thrown to the street,) 21s."

But I find I m now relating events which must be fresh in the recollection of most of those who now hear me, and I shall not detain you much longer.

The most considerable and constant expences to which the town estates were liable from the year 1800, were lighting and cleansing of the public streets. From this great burthen, they were relieved by an Act of Parliament obtained at the expense of the Trustees in 1818. The repairs of highways are now entirely paid by assessment of the inhabitants; the most ancient objects, the support of Lady's Bridge, Barkers Pool, &c., are either removed, or are not now under the cognizance of this Trust; the public wells are, perhaps too much neglected ; the wayts are abolished ; and the Burgesses have unlimited authority to apply their funds to such "charitable and public purposes" (to use the words of the decree) as may seem to them most proper,-

The purchase of a small portions of land, or buildings, for the purpose of widening the public streets and passages of the town, though sometimes expensive, is, in my opinion, one of the most useful objects to which the Trust funds can be applied; and the Trustees have constantly taken advantage of such opportunities as have offered themselves, to beautify and improve the town this way. The promotion of schemes for the formation of roads or canals, to expedite transmission of manufactures of the town to distant parts, -or for the obtaining of more copious and constant supplies of water, and the encouraging the erection of handsome public buildings, - seem to me objects of great public utility, -

The different institutions and charities of the town have each received donations from these funds when occasion has seemed to require it; and the inhabitants generally have great reason to be satisfied with the competence and the attention which the present Burgesses display in the management of their important Trust. I must apologise to you for the length of my Essay, and thank you for the patience with which you have heard it.

Many here present will probably say, that the facts I have brought forward are mere trifles, and in reality they are so; but it is of trifles such as these that the web of history, whether local or general is woven; though "light as air," it is the duty, as well as the pleasure, of the historian to embody them, and give them an "habitation and a name."

And if, in the course of my remarks this evening, I have been enabled to rub off one dark spot from the mirrow of time, or set in a clearer point of view one solitary fact in our local or national annals, I shall have the satisfaction of thinking that my labour has not been altogether in vain.

End.

[RichardB]

Gen Cem-

8300- 1868 -9290 L 100-14 Sep 1868 -17 Sep 1868-Samuel Mitchell 66-Steel merchant-The Mount- MI

I have put 'samuel mitchell and sheffield' into newspaper searches, very interesting I may be some time.

Well woth the wait Neddy, an excellent and informative post. Thank you.

(I've tidied up a little as I read, hope you don't mind)

[vox]

Well woth the wait Neddy, an excellent and informative post. Thank you.

Same here. Excellent.

[neddy]

Well woth the wait Neddy, an excellent and informative post. Thank you.

(I've tidied up a little as I read, hope you don't mind)

I wish owd Sam had tidied it up as he wrote it, it were sendin me eyes funny. :blink:

[duckweed]

Looking forward to it Neddy - see you whenever ...

Thank you for putting it on. Quite a read.