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Rolls Of The Great Court Baron Of Tinsley


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<p style="text-align: center">This article first appeared in the Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society and is reproduced here by kind permission of the Society. [Footnotes have been retaied in their original places in the pagination of the original]</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>

<p style="text-align: center"><strong>THE ROLLS OF THE GREAT COURT BARON OF TINSLEY<br />

By LILIAN BATLEY</strong></p>

<br />

<p>This collection, deposited in the Sheffield Public Library among the Wentworth Woodhouse archives, comprises 212 rolls, dating intermittently from 1284 to 1805, but more frequently from mid-15th to mid-18th century.</p>

<p><br />

The first is a <strong>quit claim of Walter le Bret to his kinsman Sir Henry de Tinsley</strong>, renouncing his moiety in the Manor of Tinsley and other properties which they had held jointly, inheriting from William de London.<br />

<br />

Guest <strong>[1]</strong> says William de London had held in the <strong>Honour of Tickhill</strong> by the serjeanty of receiving a hawk at Michaelmas and keeping it through the winter, to have from the Lord 7½d. per day for the maintenance of himself anid his horse, and later, under the Wentworths and the Denmans, there was the same service and the same recompense. Tinsley Park would be an admirable place for the keeping of a hawk. Tinsley lands were part of the Honour of Tickhill, subinfeudated to a line of mesne lords who owed allegiance and military service (a Knight's fee) to the lord of <strong>Tickhill Castle.[2]</strong> Keeping the hawk seems to have been a commutation of service.<br />

<br />

The <strong>second roll</strong> is a <strong>report of a plea</strong> heard at York before the Justices the King's Bench that <strong>Henry Brake and his wife Leticia of Brynsford</strong> had been unjustly disseised by four named persons of their freehold tenement rights in the common pasture.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>With the <strong>third</strong> (of about 1300) begins the regular series of tenant lists, giving details of holdings with rents and services. It is the last roll dealing with <strong>Henry de Tynneslawe who died 1319</strong>. Within a few years the male line failed and through heiress Isabel the manor passed to the <strong>Wentworths</strong>. From Joan, Isabel’s sister, were descended the Denman family, who come to our notice when in 1453 <strong>Thomas Denman</strong> and <strong>Thomas Wentworth</strong> held the court jointly. This partnership can be traced until 1556. After that date the manor was held entire by the Wentworths.<br />

<br />

The <strong>third roll</strong> is especially long and informative. A certain <strong>Leticia of Tinsley</strong>, for instance, holds a bovate of land (about 15 acres) for two shillings a year, paid at the stated times, Pentecost and Martinmas, (November 11th), and she will perform</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>

<p style="text-align: center;">&quot;the usual services&quot;.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Leticia also holds a toft for eight-pence a year, paid at the stated times, and will reap four days in autumn with one man and give one hen at Christmas and fifteen eggs at Easter.<br />

<br />

In the same roll we find further explanation of the &quot;usual services&quot;. The tenants in Orgreave must plough one day a year with such plough as they possess, reap one day in autumn and find a man for one day a year &quot;to make the lord's millpond&quot;.<br />

<br />

[1] Historic notices of Rotherham, p591</p>

<p> </p>

<p>[2] G.Marsden, “Old Tinsley”, Edgar Allen Magazine, p. 586:</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>William Heryng</strong>, who holds a bovate of land for three shillings and sixpence a year, must supervise the labourers for three days in autumn (his food to be provided by the Lord) and must be in charge of workers at the mill, if necessary. He must also ride as Squire to the Lord of the Manor on his own horse, if he has one. If he has not, the Lord will find him a horse and he will come at the Lord's wish when the latter orders him.<br />

<br />

<strong>William Clarel</strong> who holds a toft in Tickhill must find hospitality for the Lord of the Manor when he comes to Tickhill to do ward at the Castle there, a service mentioned only once again, in 1515. The Clarel family are noticeable in the history of Tickhill of the 14th and 15th centuries. From them the <strong>Fitzwilliams</strong> are descended.<strong> [3]</strong><br />

<br />

The last mention of riding as Squire to the Lord occurs in the roll of 1551. The other services, namely ploughing, reaping and work at the mill-pond, are mentioned through the Tudor period, sometimes with the remark that the tenant is not sure what the services are. In the 17th century there is a different term,</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>

<p style="text-align: center;">&quot;common-day works&quot;</p>

<p> </p>

<p>which the English Dialect Dictionary explains as</p>

<p> </p>

<p>&quot;work on the highways&quot;.<br />

<br />

The early rolls are written in Latin; the occasional use of English begins in the Tudor period. In the 17th century the heading is commonly in Latin, the rest in English. The Latin style is wordy and repetitive, but space and time were saved by the use of abbreviations. There are strange words that find no place in the Classical Latin dictionary:</p>

<p> </p>

<p style="text-align: center;">&quot;bargainzavit, loppaverunt, abcarriaverit&quot;</p>

<p> </p>

<p>and others. Not infrequently, English words creep in, either for greater accuracy, as, for instance, &quot;sepem, Anglice, the far-more yate&quot; (i.e. gate), or when Latin has no reasonable word, as, &quot;ergastulum, Anglice pinfold&quot;. The Roman ergastulum was a workhouse, a place of correction for slaves and debtors, hardly the same thing as the pound for stray animals.<br />

<br />

Not before 1688 do we learn how &quot;the Great Court Baron&quot; was summoned, (in spring and autumn, by the testimony of our rolls), or its place of meeting. <strong>Mr. Hoole, Bayliffe</strong>, (possibly William Hoole), was required by the steward of the manor, <strong>John Dickson</strong>, to summon the court to be held at the house of John Hoole, situate in Tinsley, on May 16th at two o'clock in the afternoon. He must</p>

<p> </p>

<p style="text-align: center;">&quot;summon and warn all freeholders, suitors, resiants and sworn officers within the said manor to be then and there ready to perform their respective suits and services&quot;.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>He must also &quot;'summon and warn twenty and four resiants of the said manor of the more honourable and sufficient inhabitants there that they be at the said next court ready to do their services upon the homage or jury for the business of that day and to enquire of such articles and things within the said manor as shall be given them in charge at their perils&quot;.<br />

<br />

[3] Hunter, South Yorkshire, p. 52.<br />

<br />

The bailiff was also to be there to perform his duty and services and make a due return of the warrant and precept or answer to the contrary at his utmost peril.</p>

<p><br />

Though 24 jurors were always to be summoned, the homage list rarely exceeds 12 or 13 names, given in the groups of four in which they were sworn. There was an occasion in 1664 when <strong>Sam Shaw</strong> was fined 6s. 8d. &quot;for denying to serve of the jury in open court&quot;: Quite often they &quot;present&quot; members of their own panel for misdemeanours.<br />

<br />

It seems likely that the house of John Hoole was <strong>Tinsley Hall</strong>, still occupied in the 1850's by the Hoole family. Probably it was the place called by Hunter a manor-house, built by the second Earl of Strafford, very possibly for the occupation of his agent, <strong>Richard Burrows</strong>, gentleman, who appears frequently in the rolls both for the fines he had to pay and the offices he held.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Tinsley Hall Farm stood on the site until about 1930. An old well discovered beneath the Hall Farm garden wall could have belonged to the earlier manor of the de Tinsleys.<strong> [4]</strong><br />

<br />

Nine or ten o'clock in the morning was a more usual time of meeting. Business done, the jurors were entertained to dinner and drink, the bill for which was £1 13s 0d in 1733. But this was not the end of the matter. We read that on November 8th 1660</p>

<p> </p>

<p style="text-align: center;">&quot;The jury have day given to decide on ye verdict till Rotherham Fare next&quot;, and in 1678 &quot;This day three weeks the jury are to meet to give their verdict&quot;.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>This seems to be a survival of the regular three-weekly meeting which had been the custom for manorial courts.<br />

<br />

Next after the jury list on a typical roll of Tudor times come the names of the defaulters. The <strong>Earls of Shrewsbury</strong> always head the list of absentees and were fined more heavily than any one else, 12d. for instance in 1517 when Ralph Reresby had to pay 6d, and the other defaulters 4d. The Shrewsbury fine was 3s 4d in 1525 and for some years, except for a few entries in Elizabeth's reign of 12d. again, and finally ten or twenty shillings in Stuart times. <strong>Earl Gilbert</strong> escaped the usual amercement in 1593 because was &quot;in the service of the Lady Queen&quot;.<br />

<br />

The copyhold tenants (&quot;by indenture at will of the lord&quot;) are listed next, and are more ready to attend. A roll of 1583 shows 23 of them attending, two had excuse (essonium) and none were fined. By contrast, on the same day, seven freeholders attended, two had excuse, one had died and five made default. The copyholders were clearly more anxious about their tenure.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>After a gap in the rolls from 1614 to 1640 they take on a different character. Copyhold tenants are no longer enumerated, only the greater freeholders are fined for default; details of sale or inheritance are rarer, and the contents are most commonly lists of presentments for routine offences:<br />

<br />

[4] G.H.Marsden, Edgar Allen Magazine. p. 621.<br />

<br />

for swine unringed and unyoked, gaps and smoughts in hedges and fences or in the pinfold, ditches not scoured, baulks ploughed up absence from common day works. Fines were small. Each swine either unringed or unyoked cost the delinquent 2d., a smought <strong>[5</strong>] 2d., a gap 4d. A roll of 1653</p>

<p> </p>

<p>&quot;laid a pain that all swine be sufficiently rung at all times and sufficiently yoked from the first of March until all the corn be got&quot;.<br />

<br />

The use of the common pasture was obviously carefully watched. In 1641 <strong>Thomas Beardsell</strong> was fined 12d. for</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>

<p style="text-align: center;">&quot;putting into our stinted pasture a whole beast instead of a half&quot; <strong>[6]</strong> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>and on the same day a further 12d. for</p>

<p> </p>

<p>&quot;putting one horse and one mare into our stinted pasture instead of two beasts&quot;.</p>

<p>(Horses crop the grass more closely than beasts.)</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>

<p>Widow Ludlam was let off lightly at 4d. for an &quot;unlawful cow&quot;.<br />

<br />

To break the pinfold or rescue the pinder (that is to seize animals as they were being driven off by the pinder) was still a relatively expensive offence (3s. 4d.) in the mid 17th century. This sum had been fixed a century earlier when fines were comparatively heavy.<br />

<br />

An interesting roll of 1559 lays down that :</p>

<p> </p>

<p>- no one shall tether mare and foal in the fields &quot;reserved to the lord&quot; (penalty 3s. 4d.),</p>

<p> </p>

<p>- no one shall drive his animals through the reserved fields of the lord of the manor more than twice in 14 days (12d.)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>- or leave any gate open around the reserved fields (12d. for each default),</p>

<p> </p>

<p>- or put any scabby houses or sick animals on the common pastures (40d.)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>- or leave any gate open (12d. for each one so left) after carrying wood (boscum) out of Tinsley Park,</p>

<p> </p>

<p>- and any one having dead swine or other dead animals within the manor must bury them immediately after death</p>

<p> (40d. penalty for each one).<br />

<br />

There is no longer mention in the rolls after 1640, as so commonly in the earlier ones, of cutting down or carrying off timber from Tinsley Park, as for instance when in <strong>1602 Nicholas Hadfield</strong> felled a &quot;spyre&quot; in Tinsley Park and carried it thence (12d.), and <strong>John Dent of Brinsworth</strong> felled and carried away a &quot;burthen of greenwood forth of the same&quot; (4d. fine).<br />

<br />

It had been forbidden fifty years earlier for anyone to carry off wood within the manor, whether dry or green, without permission of the lord, the fine being 2d. per bundle &quot;when found&quot;. Sometimes the hedges and fences themselves were carried off, as when in <strong>1613 Widow Archdale's</strong> servant girl broke a hedge (or fence - Latin sepem) and carried off a bundle of the said fencing, for which the widow was fined 4d.<br />

<br />

Presentments were made by the bylawmen (a word of very variable spelling), there being two for Tinsley and two for Catcliffe. They were appointed at the court held in the autumn for one year. It was an unpaid and obviously unenviable task and we are not surprised to find bylawmen defaulting in their office.<br />

<br />

<strong>[5]</strong> Gap at the bottom of a fence or hedge. (O.E.D.)</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>[6]</strong> A &quot;halver&quot; occurring once in the rolls is an animal held in partnership (Eng.DiaI.Dict.). Perhaps &quot;half a beast&quot; means the same, or possibly a young or small animal.<br />

<br />

For <strong>April 13th 1650</strong> we have entries, &quot;<strong>ffrancis ffrench, bylawman for Catcliffe</strong>, for not appearing at this court to bring his bill of presentments, 6s. 8d: George Okes and John Niccolson for not appearing at this courte, being specially summoned to take their oaths to operate the office of bylawmen for Catcliffe, either of them&quot;. The amount of their fines is illegible.<br />

<br />

A bylawman of <strong>1643</strong>, one <strong>James Cocke</strong>, had had an unsatisfactory record: for swine unrung and unyoked, for</p>

<p> </p>

<p>&quot;putting his mare on the Nether More, whereas he should not for that he had let all his Yates<strong> [7]</strong> to others (12d.), for one day a-wanting att ye commonday worke (2d.) and for not paying the pinder wages (12d.)&quot;.<br />

<br />

The pinder, the two affeerers (who revised and collected the fines) and the overseer of the highways, occasionally mentioned, were the other sworn officials appointed by the manorial court. The last name on the roll was that of the steward (senescallus) of the manor.<br />

<br />

The pinder (usually one each for Tinsley and Catcliffe) held office for several years and was sometimes a woman. Our rolls have no other mention of the pinder's wages than that given above. Orwin<strong> [8]</strong> says he was entitled to collect dues from every suitor in the manor at Christmas as wages. He made a fixed charge for animals impounded, 2d. for a horse, 1d. for a beast, swine or sheep, and according to an Elizabethan roll must collect the money before releasing the animals.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The pinder's work was obviously an important part of the village economy. The offence of rescuing the pinder or breaking the pinfold was always fined heavily. To keep the pinfold in repair was one of the communal tasks.<br />

<br />

As well as money perquisites the pinder of the Tinsley manor had the use of some small pieces of land. The roll of May 1680 gives a long account of a dispute as to whether an outgang adjoining the Tinsley Park and two common or pinder pieces, one in High Field and the other in Turnholme Fields, were in the manor of Tinsley. It provides an interesting case of hearsay evidence.<br />

<br />

<strong>George Okes</strong> said, though he &quot;came not before the jury to be sworn&quot;, he had heard his late father several times say that Mr. <strong>Richard Burrows</strong>, commissioner about forty years ago for the late Earl of Strafford, hearing that the freeholders of Catcliffe had let the parcel of ground called the outgang for a year to one Thomas Boler for fifteen shillings or thereabouts, sent for the said Boler and demanded the fifteen shillings rent for the use Earl of Strafford as the said parcel of ground was his Lordship's land.Thomas Boler handed over the fifteen shillings. George Okes senior had further said that when <strong>Mr. Halton</strong> surveyed the Lord Howard's lands in Catcliffe he was told by him (Okes) about the rent paid to the Earl Strafford for the outgang and forebore to measure it saying he would be loath to set difference between those two great Lords.<br />

<br />

[7] Yate – right of pasture, So “gate”. (OED)</p>

<p>[8] The Open Fields, p128<br />

<br />

<br />

<strong>Seth Shepley</strong> said on oath that he believed he was leader of the chain when Mr. Halton measured the Lord Howard's lands and he did not measure the outgang. William Shepley on oath confirmed about the rent paid by Boler and said that he had heard <strong>Richard Wood of Catcliffe</strong> say that his mother had been pinder of Catcliffe for thirteen or fourteen years together and had the benefit of it (the outgang) yearly save in every third year when the middle field which it adjoined was fallow and that then it was eaten in a stinted way by the inhabitants of Catcliffe with the said middle field.<br />

<br />

As to the common or pinder pieces, he said that his father about thirty years ago was pinder of Catcliffe for some twelve years together and had the benefit thereof and sometimes let the same for rent. His wife Margaret had told him that she being pinder of Catcliffe for fourteen years together had the benefit thereof and let the same for 3s. 4d, a year some-times,</p>

<p> </p>

<p>&quot;and when the fields were enclosed, Seth Shepley of Leeds and Mr. Staniforth had the greater piece and Mr. Staniforth the lesser piece, since sold to Mr. Soresby.&quot;<br />

<br />

The homage, upon their oaths, presented and found that all these three parcels of ground lay within the boundary of the manor of Tinsley.<br />

<br />

The quotation gives the only mention in the rolls of the enclosing of the Tinsley fields, which must have been done by private arrangement some years before 1680. Perhaps Mr. Halton's measuring activities were part of the procedure.<br />

<br />

The documents provide some evidence as to the amount of literacy in the area. In Stuart times the homage were required to sign the verdict. On two occasions we find that as many as seven out of the twelve of them had to make their mark; but the common figure is three.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Spelling both of proper nouns and of other words is very haphazard, phonetic in a rough and ready way. In <strong>1662 Thomas Storkey </strong>was presented &quot;for his parte in the pinfould being not so feshant (sufficient); Samuewell Shaw for four swhine unroung&quot;.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>At another time <strong>William Austwicke</strong> had swine that were &quot;verie unrewley&quot;.<br />

<br />

The manor of Tinsley could boast several noble tenants besides the Earls of Shrewsbury and their successors to the lands, the Howards. In the 17th century there was a knighthood or baronetcy in the families Reresby, Swyft, Anstruther and Bright. There was a Sir Henry Clifford who in 1517 encroached on Tinsley lands at Jordan Dam for the benefit of his &quot;Kymber-rwodde Milnes&quot;.<br />

There are several &quot;gentlemen&quot;; among them John Staniforth, William Spencer and, especially noticeable, Charles Laughton. Hunter <strong>[9] </strong>shows him as a member of a family of minor country gentry who settled at Howarth near Rotherham in the 1640's.<br />

<br />

[9] South Yorkshire, p. 36.<br />

<br />

The bylawmen paid respect to his rank by always presenting him as Mr. Laughton, and he was several times presented. Thus, in 1662; &quot;Mester Laughton, one gap in Turnhoulme Lane, 4d., in the panstone ing, one smught, 2d.&quot; Other people were plain John Twigg or William Booth or Widow Beardsell. Widows appear frequently in the rolls. Obviously they continued to occupy their late husbands' tenements, probably sending an employed labouring man to do their share of the communal work, though some entries imply that women did attend in person. For instance: - &quot;Widow Harwood (she was called Diana) for not appearing upon warning given for repairing the highway one day, 1s. 0d.&quot;; &quot;Widow Hadfield for being away from the commonday works seaven days, 1s. 8d.&quot;, but &quot;Widow Ludlam,, one labourer absent, 1s. 0d.&quot;<br />

<br />

A few unusual names occur. In late Tudor times there was a Milo Kay, a Marmaduke Hallyly, about 1660 an Onesephorus Austwicke, in 1640 a Christian Brooke, later a Christian Challoner and a Christian Shepley. We notice Parker Barnard (or Barnett) not only for his unusual name but for his numerous misdemeanours. He was presented for swine not ringed, for not scouring various dykes and ditches, for gaps in the overfield and the pinfold, for being behind four days in the common work (6s. 0d.) and he exasperated the court by &quot;not commoning with his draught, 10s 0d.&quot; These were two exceptionally heavy fines. There was another one of 3s 4d. for missing the commonday works and 3s. 4d. for a rescue of the pinder. But in spite of all he was later, in 1670, a member of the homage and bylawman for Tinsley. A case of poacher turned gamekeeper?<br />

<br />

The chief concern of the manorial court was with the tenants as agriculturalists. Of additional trades and professions we see only sporadic evidence. Not until the isolated 19th century roll (of 1805) do we have mention of a schoolmaster, one Gerstner, and he is named because he was bailiff also. Three &quot;clerici&quot; are mentioned in Henry VIII's time and Thomas Swyft, &quot;parson of the parish of Wykersley&quot;, who was at one time precentor at York.<br />

<br />

In 1676 there was Robert Sorsby, a &quot;Doctor in Divinity&quot;, who held lands in Catcliffe and was probably the Mr. Soresby mentioned above. In 1732 Hammond Turner, “clericus&quot; did fealty for lands at Whitehill which he purchased from Widow Wright. He was still &quot;clerk&quot; in Treeton in 1753, having purchased several more lands and tenements. He had a fellow cleric in John Stacey.<br />

<br />

In the roll of 1495 Thomas , Archbishop of York, figures amongst the defaulters and was fined 12d. This was Thomas Scott, otherwise Thomas Rotherham, who had in 1480 founded the College of Jesus at Rotherham. From 1517 we note that the Provost of the College was a freeholder of two messuages in Brinsworth, but by 1551 the college had been dissolved and for the following ten years the &quot;former&quot; Provost is still named, but pays no fine for default. The rolls have an explanatory note, that the property was in possession of the Sovereign. A similar story is implied at the same period for the chantry priest of the Reresby family at Thrybergh.<br />

The last provost of Rotherham College was Robert Pursglove who has a splendid tomb at Tideswell. <strong>[10]</strong><br />

<br />

A &quot;Doctor of Physick&quot; finds mention, one Dr. Heathcote, who died in 1732, seised of eight closes in Orgreave for which he paid an annual rent of 7d. His son and heir, a minor, was present in court on November 15th and paid the lord a relief of 1s. 2d.<br />

<br />

The village blacksmith, George Barnsley, in 1737 occupied a messuage and lands thereto belonging at a yearly rent of 6d. They were held of the lord of the manor in &quot;free and common socage and by fealty and suit of court&quot; by the Hon. Elizabeth Finch, heiress to her grandfather, John Savile. Barnsley was tenant of another messuage and lands which he sub-let to Ann Oven at a yearly rent of 2s. 0d.<br />

<br />

The Shepley family was so numerous that we have exceptional mention of trades to distinguish them. Seth Shepley of the late 17th century was a wheelwright, William Shepley a cooper. The latter was once in trouble for having his daughter tend sheep on the little moor (fine one shilling).<br />

<br />

On one occasion, however, in 1563, we are given the occupations of a group of men fined in court; but they were all ten foreigners, coming from Rotherham. They had caught three pike, two tench and other fish within the manor. They included Christopher Byllam, draper, Robert Wilson, butcher, Thomas Dawson, tanner, George Grimes, yeoman, Hugo Daw, barber, and two William Parkers, father and son, both pewterers.<br />

<br />

Even the Earls of Shrewsbury had to be presented for misdemeanours. In 1593 the very honourable Earl Gilbert had enclosed three acres of the common waste called the Over Moor, without leave of the lord. But his father, Earl George, had in 1568 caused much more trouble. On the bank of the Don, on the Nether Moor pastures near Bugdarnall Ford, he had caused to be erected an instrument called a &quot;drane or winderre&quot; (English words given) and with it loaded on to his boat stones called &quot;iron stonne&quot; and carried them to his Jordan iron mill. Almost every day at his pleasure and without leave of the lord he had his ironstone carried to a piece of waste at the border of the Tinsley manor, to be put down there and allowed to lie, to the harm of the manor and every inhabitant having right of pasture there. With his wagons he damaged the herbage growing there to the value of 20 shillings per annum. Further complaint was that he was keeping the water of the mill dam called Jordan Dam <strong>[11]</strong> at too high a level with his iron and heavy weights (to guess at a doubtful reading) to the harm of the tenants of adjacent land. Unfortunately we have no further record of the case.<br />

<br />

[10] Guest in The Reliquary, Vol. XVII, p. 6.<br />

[11] Jordan Dam was a pool in the River Don near Templeborough.<br />

<br />

<br />

It was necessary when the land was used communally to keep the customs strictly. Hedges and fences around the three fields and the common pastures must be well looked after, hedges and ditches abutting on to the highway must be in good order, rights of way maintained, rails restored if pulled down to water cattle at High Bank, hay made at the specified time, boundary stones not removed. &quot;No foreigner or stranger inhabiting forth of the lordship of Tinsley should put any manner of quick goods into the Town Field. (Penalty for every horse, cow, bullock, heifer, 6d., for every sheep 3d.)&quot;<br />

<br />

Still more undesirable &quot;foreigners&quot; were the vagrants against whom laws were passed in Tudor times. In 1567 Simon Dawson was presented and fined five shillings because he sheltered five suspect persons called vagabonds, contrary to the pain laid in the court. Forty years later John Beighton was fined (but only 4d.) far sheltering beggars and other vagrants. The law of 1572 had laid down a fine of 20 shillings.<strong> [12]</strong><br />

<br />

The reader of these rolls enjoys revealing glimpses of the way of life in Tinsley, Orgreave, Brinsworth and Catcliffe for over four centuries, with the big exception that crime was not dealt with at the manorial courts. The lords were tenacious of the last remnants of their feudal rights. Military service and any kind of serjeanty disappeared in the 16th century, but suit of court was exacted as late as 1753. As quoted above, a relief, or fine on inheritance, was paid by Dr. Heathcote's heir in 1732. Surprisingly, the roll of this late date has a copy in Latin.<br />

<br />

Amercements, except for default, are rare in the 18th century. Their heyday was the 17th. The last pains were laid in 1733, about a particular gate to be repaired in the way leading from Catcliffe &quot;into the Cow Moor, and where tenants' lands abut on the highways hedges to be plasht and ditches scoured on forfeiture of one shilling for every rood in default&quot;.<br />

<br />

The last document in this collection is the isolated one of 1805, which gives a list of the tenants of Catcliffe and the area of land they hold.</p>

<p>NOTABLE FAMILIES</p>

<p><br />

1. Swyft (Swift)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hunter<strong> [13]</strong> says that the Swift family was common and respectable in the district of Sheffield and Rotherham. Very numerous they certainly were as tenants of the manor of Tinsley, if not always completely respectable in official eyes.<br />

<br />

[12] M. St. Clare Byrne, Eliz. Life in Town and Country, p. 151.<br />

[13] Hallamshire p. 363 and foll.<br />

<br />

The one case of manslaughter mentioned in the rolls involves Hugh Swift who held a messuage and four acres of land in Brinsworth. In 1382 he killed Hugh Brakes and fled the kingdom.<br />

<br />

A John Swift of Henry VII's reign gave much trouble. He had fixed stakes and other devices to catch the lord's fish in Holme Brook, had fished in reserved waters, had done some illicit digging up of the lord's ground, had along with others cut and carried off the lord's wood, both dry and green, and had, again with others, refused to do his annual two days boon work for four years. Another John Swift, who held of the lord by military service, died that same year (1495) leaving William, his son of thirty years of age, as heir. The latter had to give a heriot to the lord, but we are not told what it was, whether chattel or money. Parson Thomas Swift of Wykersley has been mentioned above. According to Hunter, Sir Thomas, priest, made his will on February 8th, 1524.<br />

<br />

The court of 1517 had several dealings with the Swift family. John Swift had inherited some freehold land in Brinsworth, but the jurors did not know by what service he held it. John was commanded to come to the next court and show evidences as to the conditions of his holding. On that same day four Swifts, including Joanna of Catcliffe, were presented for cutting down the lord's wood (12d. fine each); John was further amerced for over-burdening the common pasture with his animals (2d.), for enclosing a piece of the common land (2d.), and if he did not leave it open as before he would be fined 3s. 4d. William was fined 2d, for poaching. He had caught and killed hares, partridges, pheasants and other &quot;beasts of the warren&quot;.<br />

<br />

An unusual entry of a few years later concerns Thomas Swift. The jury were given a day on which they were to see whether or not Thomas had ploughed certain lands he had been told to plough at the last court.<br />

<br />

In 1537 two Swifts were &quot;gentlemen&quot;, Thomas named as a member of the homage and Robert as having made default. He was fined fourpence, the usual amount at that time for that rank. Thomas some years later sold land called Capelwood Fields to Richard Fenton (see below-Bright), but the new owner for five years and more refused the services entailed, namely supervising the lord's workmen and riding with the lord.<br />

<br />

Robert, who lived until 1561, at some time became styled &quot;Esquire&quot; (armiger) and then his fine for default was the same as that of Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury-2s. 0d. He lived at Broom Hall and, with his brother, William Swift of Beighton, had from Henry VIII an extensive grant of Abbey lands and the advowsons of Sheffield and Beighton, for the consideration of £532 6s. l0d.<br />

<br />

Robert's elder son Robert, who predeceased his father, had only daughters through whom his extensive property passed to other families; but the second son William had an only son and heir, Robert, whom we meet in the roll of 1606 as Sir Robert. His fine for default, he being a knight, was 2s. 6d. His son-in-law was Sir Robert Anstruther who died in 1644, as we find from the rolls. Robert's son, Barnham Swyft, was by Charles I created Viscount Carlingford, but died soon afterwards, in 1634, leaving an only child, an infant daughter Mary.<br />

<br />

According to Hunter she married a profligate of the court of Charles II, one Fielding, who scattered the Swyft property to the winds. All we learn from the Tinsley rolls about this branch of the family is that in 1676 the heirs of Lord Carlingford paid &quot;for the Tyth Barn a grayne of pepper at Martinmas&quot; and for lands in Bradmarsh 6d. at Pentecost.<br />

<br />

Other Swifts there were, however. Edmund was fined 6d. for default in 1670 and for not opening his water courses, 4d. in the previous year. William Swift, yeoman, of Brinsworth, bought land of Seth Shepley of Leeds in 1695. He died about 1732 leaving to his brother and heir, another Edmund, considerable lands let to tenants in Brinsworth and Catcliffe. Relief of 11s. was due to the lord of the manor. Edmund was present in court on November 15th 1732, paid his relief and did his fealty.<br />

<br />

Another Swift, Joseph, is mentioned in the last suit roll, of 1753.</p>

<p><br />

2.Shepley</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The Shepley family figures most noticeably in the 17th century rolls, but we have earlier mention of them too. A Seth Shepley was a tenant at will in 1561. Six years later Seth Shepley was a freeholder, and the name occurs in the homage lists over a period of forty years. Probably this was one and the same Seth Shepley. In the following century the clerk of the records had to differentiate three co-existent Seth Shepleys.<br />

<br />

In his early days a pain of 40d. was laid that the first Seth Shepley must &quot;before next May 1st make his gate at Meare Oke, putting a stone at its foot so that the wind would not keep it open&quot;. He was fined 12d. five<br />

months later for not doing it. He died in 1602 and James and John,-presumably his sons, each paid 12d. for relief on inheritance. A William Shepley was a contemporary.<br />

<br />

In the rolls of the Stuart period entries about the Shepleys are so numerous that only a few can be mentioned. James was pinder for Catcliffe in 1640. Presently we note Seth the Elder, William and Thomas, both fined on various occasions for gaps, gates and swine unrung, and William also as member of the homage. In 1644 Seth junior was a bylawman, James still a pinder. Then comes the time of the three Seth Shepleys one &quot;of Hackenthorpe&quot;, one &quot;a husbandman&quot; and one &quot;a wheelwright&quot;.<br />

<br />

At the court of 1655 out of thirteen members of the jury four were Shepleys; Seth Shepley of &quot;Cold Aston&quot; who had to make his mark when signing the record, Seth Shepley of Catcliffe, William Shepley, and Seth Shepley, wheelwright: Both William and Seth of Catcliffe died in 1665,the latter leaving one messuage, one oxgang (about 15 acres) and the sixth part of a &quot;land of land&quot; <strong>[14] </strong> with appurtenances at a yearly rent of 1s. 2d, to Seth Shepley of Leeds, who came and did his fealty. As noted above, he received a piece of land at the time of enclosure. Margaret 5hepley, who could not write, wife of William Shepley, has been mentioned as pinder of Catcliffe for fourteen years.<br />

<br />

There was a strange case in 1668 when jurors, upon oath, said that Seth Shepley had purchased a cottage and lands in Tinsley from Robert Burrows. Shepley denied in open court to be found purchaser and was fined (the sum is illegible).<br />

<br />

The family continues prominent in the records, the last mentioned member being Shepley Kesteven who in 1737 inherited lands in Catcliffe from his grandfather Seth Shepley.</p>

<p>3. Staniforth</p>

<p> </p>

<p>We first meet a John Staniforth as a member of the homage panel of 1533. But we soon see that there were two John Staniforths, one living in Darnall and holding lands in Tinsley, the other of Tinsley.<br />

<br />

Hunter<strong> [15] </strong> says that a John Staniforth held a messuage and croft in Darnall and a parcel of wood and meadow in Tinsley Park in 1402. By the mid 16th century the John Staniforth of Darnall had freeholds in Tinsley, Brinsworth and Catcliffe. Hunter calls him &quot;yeoman&quot;.<br />

<br />

His grandson, John Staniforth, gentleman, died in 1661 owning Barley Wood and certain grounds at Hill Fields, &quot;but by what yearly rent we know not&quot;, said the manorial jury. According to Hunter he was a principal agent to the Earl of Arundel and Surrey. His son, also John, failed to appear at the court in November 1661 &quot;to find his office and pay his relief&quot;, and was fined 13s. 4d, Three years later he had still not done his fealty.<br />

<br />

The court of 1661 also presented that Jonathan Staniforth, gentleman, of Rotherham, had purchased a mesuage and certain lands in Catcliffe from Charles Laughton, gentleman.<br />

<br />

We return to the Tinsley Staniforths. John evidently held a considerable amount of land. He was fined 6d. when most tenants paid 2d. for default. In April 1537 he was given seven days to mend certain of his fences, with a threatened fine of 13s. 4d. for every breach discovered, a most unusual sum. At the same court he was fined 6s. 8d. for cutting down the timber of the lord, Thomas Wentworth. At the autumn court, on October 7th that year, he was presented for not having mended the fences, (but penalty only 2d.) was fined 3s. 4d. for having cut down and carried off 40 oaks from Tinsley Park, 3s. 4d. for having allowed his animals to destroy eight acres of the lord's woodland. Further he must repair his fences round the &quot;hard corne fields&quot; before All Saints' day and those around the Waye Fields before the holiday (festum) called the sede holidays, penalty in both cases 6s. 8d.<br />

<br />

[14] Land: often taken as measure of land area, value varying with local custom (O.E.D.)<br />

[15] Hallamshire, p. 422.<br />

<br />

Twenty-one years later a John Staniforth was enjoined sufficiently to repair his house with straw and mortar before the Festival of Saint Peter in Chains (August 1st), penalty 3s. 4d. This entry is one of many that show how up to Stuart times the Saints' days of the Church were used to denote appointed dates.<br />

<br />

Henry Staniforth, a tenant at will of Elizabeth's reign, was fined 8d. for cutting down two oak trees growing on the land in his tenure, without consent of the lord.<br />

<br />

The family is prominent in the rolls for ordinary manorial matters, both amercements and offices held, all through the Tudor and Stuart periods. An extraordinary entry is that of September 24th 1589 when Nicholas Staniforth agrees to allow the inhabitants of Tinsley to go, on asking his permission, over Chappell Flat into Holywell Field for 14 days every year when the field is fallowed. At the end of the 14 days the inhabitants shall &quot;sufficientlie fence and hedge the same&quot;.<br />

<br />

There must have been an interesting scene on May 14th, 1670. The jury presented on oath that John Staniforth of Darnall had encroached on the land belonging to the lord of the manor between Parker Spring (i.e. wood) and Barley Wood. Presumably &quot;the matter in variance&quot; was a boundary dispute. Six men testified on oath for William, Earl of Strafford; John had nine witnesses. The jury laid a pain of 10s. that he must lay open the land encroached by Michaelmas next. On October 11th he had not yet laid open the piece of land at Parker Spring. But several encroachments, said the jury, had been left out (left open?) since the pain was laid and John Staniforth &quot;humbly submits&quot; to the Honourable the Earl of Strafford.<br />

<br />

The two families figure in the latest rolls of the mid 18th century, the tenant being always now styled gentleman.</p>

<p>4. Bright</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The name is first seen in the roll of 1519. The heirs of Thomas Bright are fined 4d. for default. The next mention is of a Thomas Bright of Carbrook who bought lands called Hering Fields and certain woods and closes adjacent to the fields from Richard Fenton and was to pay 3s. 7d. a year for rent. He did his fealty on September 23rd, 1598.<br />

<br />

Richard Fenton, owner of Carbrook village according to Hunter, <strong>[16</strong>] had in 1553 inherited from his father lands called Capelwood Fields, but being a minor (16 years old) was ward &quot;for body and marriage&quot; of the lord of the manor, Thomas Wentworth, and had his uncle, Hugh Smith, for guardian.<br />

<br />

[16] Hallamshire , p.417<br />

<br />

The latter made Richard heir to three bovates held in socage, in Tinsley. He was then 23 years of age and a considerable landowner, paying a comparatively heavy fine (12d.) for his frequent defaults.<br />

<br />

Stephen, son of Thomas Bright, held the Hering Fields part of the estate before the date of his father's death, given by Hunter as 1616. He bought the manor of Ecclesall and built the famous Carbrook Hall. His name occurs in Harrison's list<strong> [17] </strong> as one who had to send a man and horse to the annual muster in the Wicker, a condition of the tenure of some of his lands.<br />

<br />

Stephen's son John, whom from 1660 onwards we find called Sir John Bright, Bart., was a prominent Parlimentarian in the Civil War, governor of Sheffield Castle for a short time, and a distinguished soldier under Cromwell. In our records he figures frequently as fined for default, not a matter for surprise since he lived most of the time at his new estate at Badsworth near Pontefract and only rarely at Carbrook Hall. Once he was amerced 2s. 6d. &quot;for not opening his dike to take the water at Carbrugh land's end&quot;.<br />

<br />

Sir John had no son to survive him in spite of four marriages, and the baronetcy became extinct. His daughter Catherine married a Sir Henry Liddell of Co. Durham, We meet their son (John Liddell-Bright but known in the Tinsley rolls as John Bright Esq.) and his sister-in-law Mrs. Ann Liddell in the roll of 1712. She was by then the widow of John Bright's younger brother, Henry Liddell. Her Carbrook lands were bequeathed to her cousin, Mrs. Whetham, who appears in the suit rolls of 1737 and 1753. &quot;Henry West of Carbrook&quot; is written against the name of John Bright crossed out. It would seem that Henry West acquired John Bright's lands held of the manor of Tinsley, The properties at Ecclesall and Badsworth passed to John's son, Thomas Bright.<br />

<br />

My sincere thanks are offered to Miss Meredith and Miss Walton of the staff of the Sheffield City Library for their unfailing help; and to Mr. G. H. Marsden for kind permission to quote from his articles on &quot;Old Tinsley&quot;.<br />

<br />

[17] In Hunter's Hallamshire, p. 404.</p>

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Hi Bayleaf, great piece of detective work to find this, the translation makes it readable.

I managed to find in the Sheffield Archives :---

Ref. WWM CI-3 Manor of Tinsley, 1-4 Two copies of the Account of the Division Of Tinsley 10. EDW. III (1336)

Consists of 3off A3 copies of the original.

Unfortunately I can only make out some of the names,Henricus de Tyneslawe, Johannes de Breton, Johes de la Hay, Roger Swyft, Robt. Breton, Will Clarel of Tykehill, Robt. de Hartley, if someone with knowledge of Latin could translate this it would be a goldmine for family history researches.

I have copies of the Rolls but I can't put them up here due to the Sheffield Archive Stamps on each of the 3 sheets.

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