Lordship of Bowland

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The Lordship of Bowland is a manorial lordship associated with the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. The lordship fell into disuse between 1885 and 2008, during which time it was widely believed to have lapsed; it was revived in 2008. [1]

Contents

In 1885, the estates of the Towneleys, an aristocratic family, were broken up following the death of the last male heir. These included the Forest of Bowland. In 1938, the Crown, in the form of the Duchy of Lancaster, acquired 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) of the forest, known as the Whitewell Estate, near Clitheroe; it was generally assumed that the Lordship of Bowland had been transferred to the Crown.

It was subsequently discovered that the sale of Whitewell Estate, while it included mineral, sporting and forestry rights, specifically excluded the Lordship of Bowland itself. In fact, ownership of the title had descended to an extinct Towneley family trust. Consequently, in 2008, Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan, disposed of the Lordship by private treaty. [2] [3]

The 46th Lord of Bowland was later revealed to be a Cambridge University don who specialised in the history of Lancashire, its place names and dialects, and had ancestral links to the Forest. [4] [5] [6] [ dead link ] [7] [8]

The current 47th Lord of Bowland is Brady Brim-DeForest, Baron of Balvaird. He assumed the customary title of Lord of the Fells in 2023. [9]

History

Fair Snape and Parlick fells in northeastern Lancashire FairSnapeFell.jpg
Fair Snape and Parlick fells in northeastern Lancashire

While a lineage for the barony can be traced back speculatively through the Earls of Northumbria to Oswiu and his marriage alliance in 638 AD with the Urien kings of Rheged, [10] [11] the roots of the modern lordship are Norman.

Although Roger de Poitou is recorded as tenant-in-chief of the manors of Bowland in Domesday, what we now understand as the Forest and Liberty of Bowland was created by William Rufus sometime after 1087. It formed part of a larger parcel of lands granted to his vassal, either to reward Roger for his role in the defeat of Dolfin of Carlisle and the army of Scots king Malcolm III in 1091-2 or as a result of the confiscation of lands from Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria in 1095. These lands came to form the Barony, later the Honor of Lancaster in the 1090s. By the late twelfth century, the disparate holdings within the Honor of Lancaster had cohered to form what became Lancashire, first explicitly recognised as a county in 1194. [12]

In turn, the Forest and Liberty of Bowland, along with the grant of the adjacent fee of Blackburnshire and holdings in Hornby and Amounderness, came to form the basis of what became known as the Honor of Clitheroe. Ownership of the Forest followed the same descent as the Honor, ultimately passing with the rest of the de Lacy lands [13] [14] to the Earldom of Lancaster. After 1351, it was administered as part of the Duchy of Lancaster; from 1399, as a possession of the Crown up until the Restoration. During this period, the lords of Bowland were styled “Lord Kings”. The Forest ceased to be a part of the Honor in 1835.

Territorially, the Lordship of Bowland covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes. The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram, Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby). [1] Harrop was included within the forest. [15]

In 1661, the manors contained within the former Honor of Clitheroe, including the Forest and Liberty of Bowland, were granted by the Crown to General George Monck as part of the creation of the Dukedom of Albemarle. Monck had been a key figure in the restoration of Charles II. [16] The Lordship of Bowland then descended through the Montagu, Buccleuch and Towneley families before passing by private treaty to William Jolly, who then became the 16th Lord of Bowland. [17] The caput or seat of the barony is Clitheroe Castle.

In 2023, the lordship of Bowland was sold for an undisclosed sum to an American purchaser.

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de Lacy

de Lacy is the surname of an old Norman family which originated from Lassy, Calvados. The family took part in the Norman Conquest of England and the later Norman invasion of Ireland. The name is first recorded for Hugh de Lacy (1020–1085). His sons, Walter and Ilbert, left Normandy and travelled to England with William the Conqueror. The awards of land by the Conqueror to the de Lacy sons led to two distinct branches of the family: the northern branch, centred on Blackburnshire and west Yorkshire was held by Ilbert's descendants; the southern branch of Marcher Lords, centred on Herefordshire and Shropshire, was held by Walter's descendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waddington, Lancashire</span> Human settlement in England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bradford, Lancashire</span> Human settlement in England

West Bradford is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England, 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Clitheroe. The population at the 2011 census was 788. It covers some 2000 acres of the Forest of Bowland. In Domesday, it is recorded as Bradeford and in the thirteenth century, Braford in Bouland. It was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. "West Bradford" was introduced in the nineteenth century at the start of postal services to distinguish the village from the city of the same name.

In Old English law, a Bowbearer was an under-officer of the forest who looked after all manner of trespass on vert or venison, and who attached, or caused to be attached, the offenders, in the feudal Court of Attachment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grindleton</span> Human settlement in England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honour of Clitheroe</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Mitton</span> Human settlement in England

Great Mitton is a village and a civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It is separated from the civil parish of Little Mitton by the River Ribble, both lie about three miles from the town of Clitheroe. The combined population of both civil parishes at the 2011 census was 266. In total, Great and Little Mitton cover less than 2000 acres of the Forest of Bowland, making it the smallest township in the Forest. Historically, the village is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was transferred to Lancashire for administrative purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord of the Fells</span>

Lord of the Fells is a customary title of the Lords of Bowland. The title is thought to have become customary during the high medieval period as a description of the Lords' rugged upland demesne. Bowland Fells, more widely known as the Forest of Bowland, is an area of barren gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England. A small part lies in North Yorkshire, and much of the area was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Easington, Lancashire</span> Human settlement in England

Easington is a civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, with a population in 2001 of 52. The Census 2011 population details have been grouped with the parish of Slaidburn. Before 1974, it formed part of Bowland Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It covers just over 9000 acres.

References

  1. 1 2 Forest of Bowland official website
  2. ↑ "Lord of Bowland title sold at auction". Lancashire Telegraph. 31 October 2009.
  3. ↑ "Lordship snapped up". Lancashire Evening Post. 1 November 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  4. ↑ "Buyer of aristocratic title revealed". Lancashire Evening Post. 10 November 2009. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  5. ↑ "New Lord of Bowland is don at top university". Lancashire Telegraph. 13 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "Mystery Lord refutes 'status symbol' claims". Lancashire Evening Post. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Lord of the Fells, Guardian of History" (PDF). Rural Life. November 2014.
  8. ↑ "NFRA Reg. No. H1418910-98 - National Feudal Register and Archive". 13 February 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Other Notices | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  10. ↑ David Rollason, Northumbria, 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom (Cambridge University Press 2008)
  11. ↑ JEA Joliffe, "Northumbrian Institutions", English Historical Review, 41 (1926), 1-42
  12. ↑ G H Martin, ed. (1991). "An Introduction to the Lancashire Domesday": The Lancashire Domesday. London: Alecto Historical Editions. pp. 35–36.
  13. ↑ Clitheroe Historic Town Assessment Report Lancashire County Council Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ William Farrer, The court rolls of the honor of Clitheroe in the county of Lancaster (1897)
  15. ↑ "Genuki: In 1822, the following places were in the Parish of Slaidburn:, Yorkshire (West Riding)".
  16. ↑ Thomas Dunham Whitaker, An History of the Original Parish of Whalley and Honor of Clitheroe (Routledge & Sons: Manchester 1872)
  17. ↑ "The Lordship of Bowland | Forest of Bowland AONB". www.forestofbowland.com. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
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