or bourn gate mills,* and which when swollen with rains, rendered oftentimes the road quite impassable, before it was carried in the drains to Knottingley, or to serve the mills. But this stream retains not its name above a bowshot, as by an inquisition, taken during the reign of Edward the second, the doubt seems to be cleared up concerning Pontefract bridge; for it appears that one John Bubwith held the 17th part of a knight's fee,† nigh the old bridge; juxta veterem pontem de Pontfract, and at this day a place called Bubwith-house terminates the stream.

Kyrkeby oppidum quod recentes vocant Pontemfractum. Oppidum de Kyrkbye olim adjacebat Ponti, quem incolae, quia jam præ senio ruinas agebat, vulgari lingua Brokenbrige vocabant. Distat hic pons nostris temporibus ad quingentos passus ab oppido. Sed jam ita usu inolevit, ut ex Brokenbrige invalente lingua gallica per nortmannos, in anglia Pontfrete vocetur.}}

The opinion of a respectable antiquarian, that the name Pontfract was given originally to Castleford, and that on the decay of the place,§ the inhabitants fled here, and granted to their new abode the same name, is erroneous and unsatisfactory. It is also incorrectly stated, that a bridge was built at Castleford at so early a period, for although we find it noted, that when the navigation was formed there, the old Roman road appeared some feet below the surface of the ground, shelving towards the bed of the river; yet the following historical fact evidently proves that no bridge was built anterior to the conquest. William the Conqueror, in the year 1070, receiving intelligence that the castle of York was besieged, and, that a general revolt had taken place amongst the English in the north, aided by the Scots and Danes; levied a formidable army, at the head of which he marched towards the rebels, vowing in his wrath, that by the splendor of God's face,' he would not leave a Northumbrian alive to stir up future insurrections. In a word, William so executed his design, and with such unrelenting cruelty, that the whole country between York and Durham was made a dreary desert, and remained so for the space of nine years.

*The upper mill was situated within a short distance from the north east corner of the castle, and is now occupied as a manufactory for sacking; the lower one is situate about 600 yards below the castle, near the Knottingley road. This was internally demolished, in 1766, and the materials sold. The meadow in which it stands was formerly a large sheet of water.

A barony consisted of thirteen knights' fees and a third part of another, and yielded a yearly revenue of 400 marks, or 2661. 13s. 4d. Spelman.--Du Cange.--Gloss. in Voc. Baro Baronia. A knight's fee, in the time of Henry III. was 15l. a year inheritance, which was then held to be a convenient revenue to maintain a knight. Cam. Brit. De grees of State.

Gent's Historia Compendiosa Romana ii. 27.
Camden's Mag. Brit. by Gough, folio 238, a.

Leland's Collect. iv. 45 et seq. Mon. Ang. Ex chronico, Torcvallensi aut, incert. sed scrip. temp. Richardi primi.

R. Hoveden, col. ii, 258.

C

Whilst on his bloody and desolating march, William came to Pontefract, then styled Kirkbye, when he discovered that the rebels had destroyed the bridge over the Aire at Ferrybridge, and the waters being much swollen, he despaired of obtaining a passage for a considerable time. Impatiently did he wait here three weeks, when one of his Norman knights, called Lisours, (probably the same person afterwards called Lascy,) discovered a ford by which William and his forces passed the river. It is most probable that this ford was at Castleford, for the very name implies that the stream was fordable here.

Drake states it positively to have arisen from the old Legeolium of Antoninus; and, Leland says, as far as I can gather this is the town anciently called Legeolium,' where the roman garrison was kept; which, according to Hoveden the historian, was situated at Casterford,† now called Castleford.‡ At this village, about two miles distant from Pontefract,§ was fought a bloody engagement between the Danes and Saxons under Edred, in the year 950. Polydore Virgil, an Urbinet Italian, and canon of St. Paul's in the days of Henry VIII, supposes Pontefract to be the Camulodunum of the Romans; yet Hollingshed states this to be an error, and places Camulodunum as far distant as Colchester.

* Anton. Iter. v. et vi.
Ran Higd. Simon Dun.

Besides the number of coins dug up in the castle garth here, there have been discovered other monuments of Roman elegance. T. Wilson, F.R.S. in a letter to the author of Eboraeum, states, that he had seen at Castleford several fragments of a tesselated pavement, which had been discovered in a garden adjoining to the bean-field.

From Pontfract to Castelleford village, two miles moste by enclosid ground. One shoid me there a garthe by the chirch-yarde, wher many straungg thinges of foundation hath been found, and hee said, that ther had been a castelle but it was rather sum manor place.' Leland's Itin. 46.

SECTION II.

FROM the grant of the possessions made by the Norman Conqueror to Hyldebert or Ilbert de Lascy,* (as in Domesday Book survey is noted,) it is evident, that this place was a borough in the time of Edward the Confessor, but how long it enjoyed the privilege anterior to this period is uncertain.

The possessions of Ilbert are thus recorded in Domesday Book survey: MANOR: In Chirchebi.---Forn had half a carucate of land to be taxed, and there may be half a plough there. Ilbert now has it, and it is waste. Value in king Edward's time five shillings.

MIN TATESHALL sunt. xvi car. træ. sine geldo ubi poss. ee viii car. Hoc

M

hb. rex.

Nc. nt. Ilbtus ibi II car. et Lx burgenses minatos VII coteros, et xvi vill et viii bord hntes XVIII car. Ibi. e. æcola et pbr. et 1 piscaria et III mold. redd XLII sol. et III ac pti Silua past I lev. lg. et dim. lat. Tot I lev. et dim. lg. et dim. lat. T. R. E. ual xx lib. m M xv lib. Infra hanc ceta. ctinet elemosina paupium.

AD EUNDE manor adiacet. H. soca. Manestorp. Barnebi. Silcheston. Simul v. car. træ. et dim. ad gld. ubi poss. ee v. car. Ibi sunt Ix uilli et III bord. hntes III car.

'MANOR.---In Tateshall, there are sixteen carucates of land, not taxed, where there may be nine ploughs.' The king had this manor. Ilbert now has there four ploughs and sixty small burgesses, and sixteen cottars, and sixteen villanes, and eight bordars, having 18 ploughs. There is a church there, and three mills pay 42s. and three acres of meadow. Wood pasture one mile long, and half broad. The whole one mile and a half long and half broad. Value in king Edward's time 201. now 152. The alms land of the poor is contained within this limit. To the manor belong the soke of these Manesthorpe (Mensthorp,) two carucates: Silchestone (Silkstone,) one and a half carucates: Barnebi (Barnby,) two carucates: To be taxed together, five and half carucates, where there may be five ploughs. There are there nine villanes, and three bordars having four ploughs. Tateshall or Tanshelf, forms part of the present town of Pontefract, although not within the borough, and Kirkby was included as a part of the manor of Tateshall. Places during the Saxon era derived their names from families resident in them, but in the time of the Normans it was the reverse. The family name of Tate continued in Tanshelf until within a short period, and the word ham signifies a villa. The alms house mentioned is that of St. Nicholas.

MANOR, manerium, a manuendo, (because of the residence of the owner,) seems to have been a district of ground, held by lords or great personages, who kept in their own hands so much land, as was necessary for the use of their families, which were called terræ dominicales, or demesne lands, being occupied by the lord or dominus manerii, and his servants. The other or tenemental lands, they distributed amongst their tenants. The residue of the manor being uncultivated, was termed the lord's waste,' and served for public roads, as well as common pasture for the use of the lord and his tenants.--- HORN's Mirror Just. lib. i.

BURGESSES, (burgarii et burgenses,) were men of trade, or inhabitants of a borough or walled town.---DOM. Boc.

COTTARS, (cottarii, sax. cote,) a cottage, were not servile tenants, but had a free socage tenure, and paid a stated firm, in provisions or money, with occasional customary services; and generally occupied small tenements, with a curtilage, at a small rent.--REG. RICH. app. 66. Cotarii debent talliari ad voluntatem domini, facere servita incerta; nihil dare, nihil vendere, nihil proprium habere, nec possunt acquirere nisi ad promotionem domini sui.---Ex lib. irrot. Eccl. Christi Cantuar, f. 221.---COWELL.

BORDARS, (bordarii,) were boors or husbandmen, holding a little house and a smal plot of ground. They also waited at the tables, and were employed in other offices in their master's house.

COTTAGES, a gall. bord, a cottage.---Co. Lit. 5.

A law was enacted by king Athelstan, that no Saxon could enjoy the dignity of a thane,* without possessing a church; and if the population was such, as to deem it advisable to erect a church in the seventh century, it may have probably been accounted a borough from that period. Boroughs, during the time of the Romans, were certain plots of ground where the warriors pitched their tents; and, from whence theye might haue easie accesse unto their aduersaries, if anie outrage were wrought, or rebellion moued against them.'t They were generally walled about with stone walls, containing many acres of ground, with houses, &c. within, and had diverse gates or ports ;f from whence the term burgh or borough came to signify a walled or fortified place; as castles were built for the defence of towns.§ The land, &c. within the limits thus erected, might belong to the crown, the clergy, or the baronage. In burghs, during the Saxon period, every freeman who occupied a house, and paid the rent,|| was termed a burgess, and enjoyed various privileges, the impost being light.

Dr. Cowell states the word borough to be derived from the French word burg, i. e. pagus; or from the Saxon word, borhoe, pignus; or as is stated in Mr. Lye's dictionary, from burg, a city, town, tower, or castle.f it is very probable, that it was taken for those companies of ten families which were pledges for each other, and hence comes the word view of frank-pledge. It is also defined to be a place of safety and privilege, by Somnor; and Glanville affirms, that in the reign of Henry II., boroughs possessed such great privileges, that a bondsman, or servant remaining in one for a year and a day, was made a freeman. Alfred the Great, the Numa Pompilius of his time, first divided all England into shires, (Sax. scyre, to branch or divide,) or counties, the

VILLANES, (villani,) were employed in rustic works of the most sordid kind.---They belonged chiefly to lords of manors, and were either villanes regardant annexed to the manor or land, or villanes en gross, annexed to the person of the lord, and transferrable by deed, from one owner to another. They could not quit the service of the lord with. out his permission, and if they ran away, were reclaimed like goods and chattels. They and their posterity were in bondage, and had sometimes the name of native applied to them.---M: 756. They were frequently emancipated in prodigious numbers, in order to be enrolled as soldiers.---SULLIVAN's Lect. 25 p. 28, 259.

CARUCATES, (carucata terræ,) was a quantity of land, uncertain in its contents, and the tribute levied upon it was termed carugium. Bract. lib. 2. c. 17. c. 26. It sometimes contained houses, mills, pastures, meadow, wood, &c.---Co. Lit, sec. 119. Dr. Thornton says, a carucate contained 100 acres, six score to the hundred, but were more or less according to the lightness or stiffness of the soil.

PASTURE, (pastura.) This pasture most probably stretched along the site of the present town, through fryar-wood gardens to Carlton and South Hardwick, on the side of which all way the Roman road to Legeolium passed.

*Thanes were not members of a tithing, but the family of a thane was considered a tithing within itself, the thane being responsible for all its members---WILKINS* leges Saxon. p. 16. They were in war time, the flower of the Saxon armies, and in peace swelled their monarch's train, adding greatly to the splendor of his court.--HENRY'S Hist. of Britain, iii. 238.

+ Hollingshed's Chronicles, i. 216, b. 60.

|| Gabel, gavel, (gablium, or rent, was a customary duty or service, yielded to the king or other lord. Any impost upon goods, also tribute or any kind of payment or tax.---Janus. Angl. p. 129.

Gough's Camden's Brittannia, i. clx.

counties into hundreds, and the hundreds into tithings: so that he may be properly said to be the first institutor of pledges. By the Saxon laws, persons removing from place to place, were obliged to find pledges, before they were permitted to reside. The word pledge signifies, the suretyship, undertaking, or answering for another, and was given for another's good behaviour.*

mesnes.

Free boroughs and burgesses, were so called from their freedom in buying and selling without disturbance, and were exempt from toll, and granted by charter. Brady also states, that parliament boroughs are either by charter, or are towns holden of the king in ancient deLindewood upon the provincial, (ut singula ac sensibus) thus writes: Aliqui interpretantur burgum esse castrum vel locum ubi sunt per limites, habitacula plura constituta:' and again, Burgus dici potest villa quæcunque, alia a civitate in qua est universitas approbata.' In the king's expeditions every five hides appear to have furnished one man, and from the state of the population, the burgh of Kirkbye would only have one man to raise.†

Boroughs are ancient towns so incorporated with power to hold plea by writ of ex gravi querela or the like; from whence come burgesses to parliament; and this makes a difference between a borough and a town. So that upland towns, that are not ruled and governed as a borough is, are called towns, although they are enclosed with walls, as Ludlow, and the like. And every borough is a town, though every town is not a borough.

Some boroughs are by prescription, some by charter, and some by act of parliament. The borough of Pontefract at first was one of the boroughs invested in the baronage.‡

A borough intrinsically, is a circumscribed jurisdiction, and has peculiar officers, and rights. Therefore it is very reasonable to suppose, that all occurrences, not cognizable at law, in the courts at Westminster, arising therein, were originally confined and limited to the bounds of such borough. And this position is demonstrable from the foreign plea, in a personal action, always allowed, where the debt was not contracted in, and the defendant lived without the borough. This is also corroborated, by the burgesses being exempt from serving on juries, at the assizes. For all acts committed or to be done, without such borough, are foreign and extra-judicial, as to the same.

Bracton lib. 3, tract 2, cap 10.

If the king send an army any where, one soldier shall go for five hides of land, and for his victuals and pay, every hide shall give four shillings for two months.---Com. Berokescire. Dom. Boc.

The names of all the towns in England, and which are so incorporated, and which not, are of record in the exchequer. And all charters are recorded in the several offices, for public use...-FINCH. Tetlow's Historical Account of Pontefract.