A HISTORY OF FEATHERSTONE
INTRODUCTION
At the time of
writing (2016) it is just thirty years since the first issue of The Featherstone
Chronicle hit the streets (actually Featherstone Library). Also I met an
old acquaintance in Lidl car park and he told me someone was badgering him to
sell him the first ten editions of The Featherstone Chronicle. It set me
thinking. It has long been out of print so should I do a re-write? I cannot do
what I did last time, produce booklets, so I have decided to put it on the
internet.
THE CURRENCY
As time goes
by fewer people will remember pounds, shillings and pence. There are internet
sites that deal with these. The internet will also provide the means of
converting the amounts of money in these pages to present day values.
There is no point in me doing it here because if someone reads this in ten years
time the value would be out of date.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks are due
to John Goodchild and the staff of the Archives and Local History Section at
Wakefield District Library for providing help and encouragement, for assistance
from Pontefract Reference Library, the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, the
West Yorkshire Archives, the fellow members of the 1980's Featherstone Local
History Group, all those who bought the originals which persuaded me to carry
on and anyone else whose name I have forgotten in the last 30 years.
From 1863 to
1884 nearly all the information is from the Pontefract Advertiser. From
1885 onwards it is from the Pontefract and Castleford Express. The British Newspaper Archive was also a useful source. If from
elsewhere it will be acknowledged.
Irvin Saxton March 2016.
1086 to 1379
1086 THE
DOMESDAY BOOK
The first
documentary evidence of the existence of Ackton, Featherstone and Purston is
the Domesday Book. From this we know the whole area belonged to Ligulf in the
time of King Edward in 1066. When Edward died and William the Conqueror beat
King Harold in battle, Ligulf had his lands taken from him and they were given to Ilbert
de Lacy, one of William's supporters. He in turn gave others the right to
oversee large parcels of his estate called manors. Ackton, Featherstone and
Purston became separate manors.
In 1086 King
William sent commissioners into every shire to inquire who held the land in
King Edward's day, what it was worth then, who held it at the time of the
survey and its worth at that time.
The book was
written in a form of Latin shorthand. A translation was published by the
Yorkshire Archaeological Society in 1898.
It is:
"In
Aitone Ligulf had three carucates of land for geld, where two ploughs may be.
Now William has it of Ilbert. He has half a plough there, and two villeins and
six bordars with one plough and a half. Wood, pasturable, half a league in
length and four quaranteens in breadth. In the time of King Edward it was worth
ten shillings and is now the same."
"
"In Ferestane and Prestone and Harduwic (Hardwick) and Osele (Nostell)
Ligulf had sixteen carucates for geld, and six ploughs may be there. Now Ralph
and Ernulf have them of Ilbert. In the demesne three ploughs, and twenty
villeins and fifteen bordars with seven ploughs. Two churches are there and two
priests. Wood, pasturable, one league in length and one in breadth. In the time
of King Edward they were worth one hundred shillings and are now worth sixty
shillings."
If it is
assumed there would be about four in each family, then the approximate
populations in 1086 would be between 35 and 40 in each village. One of the
churches was in Featherstone and the other in Nostell, so if there was a priest
to begin the name of Purston it would seem his church no longer existed by this
time.
The
translation is not easy to understand because of words no longer in use.
Carucate and plough are roughly the same and mean the area of land that could
be ploughed in a season by one oxen team. Geld was the tax paid to the king.
The demesne was the manor house together with the lands adjacent to it which
were not let out to the peasants. A villein was a serf who was allowed to work
some land owned by the lord of the manor in return for so many days work on the
lord's land. A bordar was even lower down the social scale than a villein and
he had to do the more menial tasks required by the lord. A league was about
three miles and a quaranteen about a furlong (220 yards).
Most people
only had a Christian name, but surnames gradually came into use - many people
taking the name of the place where they lived. The three local lords became
known as William Pictavus, Ralph de Featherstone and Ernulf de Preston.
Note: The Featherstone in this survey was the area around the church in
what is now North Featherstone. There would probably be no inhabitants
between that and Purston. The Featherstone we know was nearly 800 years
in the future. Shown below are the original entries for the local area.
Thank goodness for the translator.
THE PLACE NAMES
That the Romans marched along the eastern flank of
Featherstone and Purston is not in doubt because the line of their great road Ermine Street is well documented. It ran in almost a straight line
from Doncaster passing Castlesyke Hill on the east side and Marlpit
Hill on the west side. It turned north a little to avoid the hill on which North Featherstone now stands and then headed for the Aire crossing at
Castleford.
It is unlikely
there were many locals about to see the Romans pass because the area was still
mostly forested. The land would have been gradually cleared for agriculture. The derivation of the place
names which, according to A H Smith's book The Place Names of the West
Riding of Yorkshire, were most likely established in the Old English
period about 600AD are:
Purston - Preost tun "Priest's farmstead"
Ackton - Ac
ton "Oak tree farmstead"
Featherstone
- Feoderstan "Four stones"
It is easy to
agree with the derivation for Purston, especially when it is remembered it was
called Preston for hundreds of years. Ackton has had many spellings
in its history. For probably ever since it was established the
locals have pronounced it Aketon, and this is preserved in Aketon Road in Cutsyke.
In his book Walks
Around Wakefield published in 1871 W S Banks writes of "Ackton or
Aikton", and Lorenzo Padgett in his Castleford and District in the
Olden Times published in 1904 consistently spells it Aketon.
It should be remembered the A in Ac ton was long in this Old English
name and as far as the oak tree is concerned is still preserved in how to say
acorn.
The version
for Featherstone is the most difficult. If Smith is correct there was a
cromlech (a trio of standing stones surmounted by a fourth) on the hill at North Featherstone, but the reason for such a cromlech is unknown and if
it existed there is no trace of it today.
Note: In the
Domesday Book the compiler added an "e" to all three local names. It
shouldn't be there because by looking at other place names it can be seen he
added the "e" to most names ending in a vowel and a consonant.
The remaining
problem is when and why Jackling was added to Preston. Over the years this changed to Purston Jaglin. Was it a priest's or monk's name? Was it the
name of the most prominent family? Unless some evidence turns up from the time
we may never know.
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
What was life
like in those far off days? King William began from the principle that because
he won at Hastings he owned all the land in the kingdom. He granted estates
to other men (called tenants-in-chief) to hold in return for well defined
services. One of these was to provide an agreed number of knights for the
king's armies. The tenant-in-chief guaranteed this by settling the knights on
the land in return for their military service. The land on which a knight
settled became known as a "knight's fee". The greater feudal estates
were called "honours", thus the knights of Ackton, Featherstone and
Purston belonged to the Honour of Pontefract. The knight lived in his manor
house surrounded by the lands he had kept for himself, the remainder of which
he allowed his peasants to use.
The houses of
the peasants lay on either side of a village street. They were built of wood
from the large amount of forest that still existed, or uprights and beams
supporting rubble and clay or wattle and daub. The floor was usually bare earth
and the roof was thatched. They did their farming in large open fields divided
into strips a few feet wide and about a furlong in length. The strips were
shared out by the peasants, and generally each peasant had strips in various
parts of the field to give each a share of the best if it was that sort of
field. When this system died out most fields were ploughed over and the strips
disappeared. Some were left as grazing land and can still be seen today. There
is one piece of this land at the Pontefract side of Farmer Copley's farmstead.
The strips are best seen when the sun is low or when snow is melting because it
melts at different rates in the humps and hollows.
There were two
or three fields and one was left fallow each year. There was meadow for the hay
harvest which provided winter feed for the animals, and rough grazing and
woodland where the animals could feed in the summer.
The peasants,
both villeins and bordars, had no legal right to leave their holdings; they
were bound to the soil. They had to grind their corn at the lord's mill, and
they could not give their children in marriage without his consent. They had to
work on his lands for an agreed number of days, and they had to give a tenth
part (a tithe) of what they got from their own land to the church. The peasants
would have to attend church on Sundays but would be unable to follow the Latin
words. Confession was compulsory, either to the parish priest or a travelling
friar.
The church was
used for other things apart from religion. A fugitive from justice could take
refuge in a church or churchyard. After 40 days he could confess and be
banished from the country without facing trial. As an alternative he could
elect for trial by ordeal. If fire was chosen he had to carry heated iron for
nine feet during mass. His hand was then bandaged and if there were no scars
after three days he was declared innocent. For trial by water the accused was
bound and lowered into cold water. If he sank he was innocent but if he floated
he was guilty because the water had rejected him.
One means of
keeping law and order was the tithing in which men had to be enrolled in a
group of ten. If a member of a tithing became involved in wrong-doing his
fellow members were obliged to produce him for trial or else pay a fine for
dereliction of duty and pay compensation to the injured party.
In the 12th
century there was a gradual change to a money system instead of bartering or
giving personal service. The peasants were allowed to pay rent instead of
working on the lord of the manor's lands, and further up the social scale the
lord of the manor was allowed to pay a knight's fee instead of being available
for military service.
The personal grainy photo below shows Farmer Copley's ancient field divided into strips.
The personal grainy photo below shows Farmer Copley's ancient field divided into strips.
THE CHANTRY
If there was a chapel in Purston in 1086 the compiler
of the Domesday Book forgot to mention it, but the odds are it wasn't there any
more. However, about this time the people of Purston would have found it a long
trail to All Saints' Church at (North) Featherstone, especially when the weather
was bad. Many other townships were in the same situation so it was agreed
chantries (chapels) could be built for the ease of the inhabitants of outlying hamlets.
The chapel of St John the Baptist in Purston was founded by Robert de Preston
(who was probably the son of Ernulf de Preston) in the 12th century.
Robert's son,
William de Preston, made an agreement with the canons of Nostell whereby they
granted him a chantry in the chapel at Purston. In return he granted to the
chapel and chaplain two bovates and 15 acres of his demesne land. To the canons
he granted half a bovate in Hardwick, six acres near the house of Thurbert de
Hardwick, and pasturage in Purston for the canons' sheep. The chaplain was to
be appointed by the prior on the advice of William.
The men of
Purston were to attend at Featherstone Church on certain feast days including
All Saints' Day. William also confirmed the gifts of land made by his father to
Nostell, and he agreed to grant a further bovate for the maintenance of a
deacon to serve in the chapel of Purston for the soul of Henry his son.
It was usual
for the priors or monks to take in important people who were dying through illness
or injury. William de Preston's son, Henry, had been received as a full canon
by the canons at Nostell. The canons also agreed to take William if he wished
to take the habit, and bury his body at the priory; and also his second wife
Aldid. (His first wife's name was Basilia).
THE CHURCH
The monks of
La Charite sur Loire, based at Pontefract, had been granted control of
Featherstone Church, but the founding of Nostell Priory some time after 1100
caused a readjustment of the overseeing of the local churches. The monks at
Pontefract released to the canons the church of St Oswald, a cemetery and a dwelling. In return the canons
agreed that Featherstone Church would in future receive the ecclesiastical
customs from West Hardwick. The notification of this agreement was issued by
Thomas II Archbishop of York,
and it included the names of Robert de Lacy, Amfrey (Amfrid?) (possibly a
descendant of Featherstone's first knight Ralph de Featherstone, Bernewin
(probably the priest), and Ralph the clerk (in holy orders?).
Robert de Lacy
earned the displeasure of King Henry I and he was banished. The king gave all
the local lands to Hugh de Laval. About 1120 Hugh and Archbishop Thurston of York arranged another exchange between the monks of
Pontefract and the canons of Nostell. The canons agreed to give up half a share
of a church in Pontefract, and in return the monks agreed to transfer
Featherstone Church to the canons. Thus Featherstone All Saints came under
the control of Nostell Priory.
FEATHERSTONE IN THE 13th CENTURY.
It is
estimated between 1086 and 1300 the number of people in the country doubled.
There was a considerable strain on the farm lands to provide enough food for
everybody. Consequently the price of wheat trebled during the same period. Some
tenants-in-chief saw the chance to increase their wealth by exploiting more of
their estates themselves and re-imposing labour services, which they had
earlier allowed their villains to commute to
a rent payment.
The villeins
really didn't have much choice. As their families multiplied the number of
strips in the fields that each had grew less. This gave the lord's bailiff the
chance to drive harder bargains with the villeins for fieldwork on the lord's
lands as the condition for releasing other lands for the villeins.
That some of
the local peasants were suffering hard times is shown by a grant by William,
son of Isolda de Preston and grandson of William de Preston, of one bovate of
land to the canons of Nostell towards the repair of the shoes of the poor.
Isolda de
Preston, daughter of William de Preston, gave to the chapel of St John the Baptist of Preston "all my tillage lands
upon Longlands near the way of Went which land butts onto Syrecroft". She gave five shillings a year rent due from
Thomas de Knarsborough to the church of St Oswald in Nostell plus one bovate of
land in Preston "with all the appurtenances viz that which Godfey Cooper
formally held of me and after him Thomas Knarsborough".
King John was
becoming at odds with the barons. He was demanding knight's fees almost
annually instead of only when the manor changed hands. He personally fixed the
fee, sometimes as much as three times what his father had charged. In those
days when a tenant-in-chief died and his heir was too young to inherit the king
would sometimes sell or grant the guardianship of the child to a third party
until he came of age, sometimes at a price which could not be recovered from
the estate by fair means. He would also
force widows to marry against their will.
At the levying
of a particular heavy knight's fee in 1214 the barons revolted and forced King
John to sign the Magna Carta. This limited the knight's fee to 100 shillings,
no more than a reasonable profit without waste of stock or chattels could be
taken from land under wardship, such estates would be returned to their heir in
good condition, and widows were not to be compelled to marry. The
tenants-in-chief were to treat their tenants in the same manner.
There was also
the provision for assizes to be held four times a year to sort out arguments
over the possession of land. The usual method of determining ownership was for
sufficient witnesses to be assembled to satisfy the court the claims made were
true.
After the
death of Ralph de Featherstone about 1244 one such case was to determine how
much land he held and who was heir to it. The witnesses were William de
Bretton, John de Sothulle, John de Saville, Stephen de Southkerby, Eudo de
Sutton, John de Smitheton, Adam de Preston, Alan son of Josiana, William de
Assartis and Robert le Daungerous.
They said on
oath Ralph de Featherstone had in demesne in Featherstone 30 acres of land
valued at ten shillings per year, one messuage 2s, five acres of meadow 2s 6d,
and pasture 14s. He also had in villeinage nearly three bovates of land at a
total of 11s, rent from free men 49s 3d plus one pound of pepper and two pounds
of cumin (probably in lieu of rent from a spicer).
It was decided
his daughter Olive age 16 was his heir, because his son Richard was born to his
wife Emma in the ten year period when they were living together, whereas Olive
was born after they were married.
It was about
this time the digging of coal began locally. At the Yorkshire Eyre of 1278 (a
court of itinerant justices) the wapentake jury complained Robert de Wetherly
was digging coal in the King's highway at Ackton to the detriment of the road.
The sheriff was ordered to repair the road at the offender's expense.
A change in
the law and order system occurred with the 1285 Statute of Winchester which
established the "hue and cry". This allowed any person wishing to
make an arrest to call upon the rest of the manor or parish to join him in
pursuit. Fellow parishioners were obliged to assist and shout out to
attract other people's attention. Anyone starting a hue and cry without good
cause was punished.
Social and
economic changes began to enfeeble the feudal system. With an increasing sale
of land, and marriages and inheritances between families, the original simple
formula of one man as the tenant of one knight's fee disappeared, and some
knight's fees were split into fractions.
One example
was Ackton, where Raynor de Ackton (son of Peter de Toulston) held just half
the knight's fee. Consequently when he died his successor had to pay 50
shillings to the receiver of the Honour of Pontefract.
COAL MINING BEGINS
There can be
no doubt coal digging increased in the next fifty years. Eventually a serious
dispute arose between Richard Fitz Robert of Featherstone on the one hand and
the Abbot of Kirkstall and the priors of St Oswald at Nostell, backed by the
tenants of Purston, Hardwick, Ackton and
Featherstone on the other, who claimed common of pasture.
The miners
were evidently digging up the coal on Featherstone Common which was the land
between Sewerbridge Beck and Green Lane. An agreement was reached in 1322 in which Richard
was allowed to dig coal in specified places from Pyllehyll corner to the ditch
between Fowehill and the moor. These names have been lost over time. Possibly
the corner was the junction between Green Lane and Commonside Lane, and Fowehill was somewhere in Ackton. An alternative
is the corner of Green
Lane and Featherstone Lane and the hill is that at North Featherstone crossroads.
In return for
this concession Richard was to be debarred from any further exploitation of the
moor except on payment of a reasonable charge. Also if any of his neighbours'
cattle strayed into the parts he was digging through lack of proper fences, he
was to drive them back and not impound them.
The Ordnance Survey map below shows the extent of Featherstone Common, and the enlargement shows "Old Coal Pit" between the N and E at the top of the map.
The Ordnance Survey map below shows the extent of Featherstone Common, and the enlargement shows "Old Coal Pit" between the N and E at the top of the map.
1337 KING EDWARD'S INVITATION
"That all cloth
workers of strange lands, of whatever country they may be, which will come
into England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland within the King's power, shall
come safely and surely and shall be in the King's protection
and safe conduct to dwell in the same lands (choosing where they
will) and to the intent the said cloth workers shall have the greater
will to come and dwell here our Sovereign Lord the King will grant
them franchises as many and as such shall suffice them."
What has this to do with our district? This
may be why there are two entries for "John of Flanders" in the Poll
Tax for Ackton taken 42 years later.
1379 THE POLL TAX
One method the kings of old used for raising
money was to declare a poll tax for which most people had to pay a sum of money
based on their income. Richard II had one in 1379 and the result has survived. The clergy, paupers and children under 16 were exempt,
and a husband and wife counted as one. The minimum was one groat, four pence, and
the local payers were:
ACKTON
John Clerkson
Richard Clerkson and Helen
Thomas son of John Beatrix
John de Kirkham and Alice
William Clerkson and Joan
John Hornon and Margaret
Robert de Balne and
Christine
Adam Doughty and Idonia
John de Flanders and Joan
Margaret their servant
John de Flanders
Thomas Ely and Joan
John Plumto their servant
Twenty-one persons named, thirteen paid 4d, total 4s 4d
Twenty-one persons named, thirteen paid 4d, total 4s 4d
FEATHERSTONE
Henry de Featherstone (draper) and Agnes 12d
John their son
4d
Robert Hipperon
4d
Richard his servant
4d
Elizabeth Wilcox
4d
Henry her servant
4d
Thomas Brown (tailor)
6d
William Rogerson and Agnes 4d
Cecilia their daughter 4d
Thomas Halden and Joan
4d
Alice de Featherstone
4d
Richard Hipperon
4d
Alice de Holme
4d
Alice her servant 4d
Alice del Mere
4d
John de Featherstone (merchant) and Alice 12d
Thomas Baghill (cobbler) 6d
Margaret Baghill
4d
John her servant
4d
Robert de Stanley
4d
William Elyne
4d
Henry Fox 4d
John Colet 4d
Roger Smith 4d
Margaret de Holdene
4d
Henry Bucktrout
4d
Thirty persons named, 26 paid 10s 4d.
Thirty persons named, 26 paid 10s 4d.
PURSTON
William de Quarmby (sergeant) and Agnes 6s 8d
Richard Williamson (blacksmith) and Alice 6d
Isabella their daughter 4d
Henry de Preston (merchant of beasts) and Alice 12d
Richard Williamson (blacksmith) and Alice 6d
Isabella their daughter 4d
Henry de Preston (merchant of beasts) and Alice 12d
John their son 4d
Margaret their daughter 4d
Thomas their servant 4d
Joan their servant 4d
Richard de Went and Isabella 4d
John de Went and Isabella 4d
Thomas Barker and Joan 4d
John Cooper 4d
Richard Thresher and Helen 4d
Joan their servant 4d
Richard de Went and Isabella 4d
John de Went and Isabella 4d
Thomas Barker and Joan 4d
John Cooper 4d
Richard Thresher and Helen 4d
William Lychurch and Diana 4d
Cecilia their daughter 4d
Cecilia their daughter 4d
John Tide 4d
William del Hall and Emma 4d
Cecilia Deling 4d
Emma her daughter 4d
Thomas Spicer and Emma 4d
John Walker and
Margaret 4d
Isabella their daughter 4d
John Heydson 4d
John Townend (tailor) and
Agnes 6d
Elizabeth Pinder 4d
William Adamson and
Joan 4d
John their son 4d
Agnes their daughter 4d
William Ralfson and
Isabella 4d
Thomas their son 4d
Alice their daughter 4d
Henry de Cotes 4d
Adam Hale and Agnes 4d
Joan their daughter 4d
John Aldull 4d
Richard de Preston
(blacksmith) and Alice 6d
John their servant 4d
Thomas their servant 4d
Robert Wright
(blacksmith) 6d
Alice his daughter 4d
Richard his servant 4d
Joan Sharpe 4d
Isabella del Sandal 4d
Richard Hardwick 4d
Matilda Tolus 4d
Joan Wainman 4d
William Hancock 4d
Alice his daughter 4d
William his son 4d
Alice his daughter 4d
William his son 4d
Hugh de Went 4d
Robert de Santinglay
(tailor) 6d
Thomas de Santinglay 4d
John Barn and Isabella 4d
Henry Lawson (weaver) and
Agnes 6d
Joan their daughter 4d
Emma Milner 4d
Margaret her daughter 4d
Robert Brewster (spicer) and
Isabella 12d
Eighty persons named, sixty paid tax, total 28s 10d.
Eighty persons named, sixty paid tax, total 28s 10d.
There are some odd things in this poll tax
return. There were nine married couples in Ackton but apparently no child over
sixteen. There were only two married couples in Featherstone which seems
strange. Both places had grown little if at all since 1086.
The population of Purston had at least
doubled in that period. William de Quarmby is described as a sergeant ie giving
service to a king or baron. He was taxed at 20 times the amount for a simple
peasant. His odd sum is half a mark. A mark was two-thirds of a pound, but
there was never a coin. It was only used in accountancy.
The tax return was in Latin and was published
by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in 1881.
