THE CASE AND PROCEEDINGS Of at least Sixty Gentlemen Participants and Purchasers for valuable consideration of Lands in the Levell of Hatfield Chace the Counties of York Lincolne and Nottingham AND MORE THEN Two hundred of their Tenants Who have been dispoiled of their Estates by the inhumane and barbarous Ryots of the Inhabitants of the Mannor of Epworth whereof some have been murthered others wounded the Church with their Houses demolished and the materials thereof with their Goods taken from them by force For which cause they the said Rioters were exempted in the last Act of Generall Pardon Humbly presented to the Consideration of this present PARLIAMENT for Redress and Reparation of their so great Losses and Dammages As it was also to the several PARLIAMENTS sitting in the Years 1651 and 1654. LONDON Printed in the Year 1656. The State of the CASE THe late King owner of the severall Mannors of Hatfield Thorne Fishlacke Dowsethorpe Stainford Snaith Cowicke and Rawcliffe in the County of Yorke Crowle Epworth Wroote and Missen in the County of Lincoln and of Misterton and Gringley in the County of Nottingham the wastes of all which lying contiguous and so hurtfully surrounded by the severall Rivers of Trent Bickersdicke Idle Torne Dunne and Ayre that it yeelded little or no profit to the Commonwealth but on the contrary nourished beggars and idle persons and the said King having a Chace of Red-Deer through five of those Mannors the rest were much annoyed and opprest thereby did resolve by the advice of his Council as well for the easing of his charge and increase of his revenue as for the improvement and reducing of so great a quantity of drowned and boggy ground to be made good meadow arable and pasture for the advantage of the Commonwealth did by advice of his Councel under the Great Seal contract with Sir Cornelius Vermuyden to drain and lay dry the same being in all about 600000 Acres of Land at his own charge and in recompence thereof he should have one third part And thereupon directed Commissions to severall Gentlemen of those Countries to treat and agree with all such as pretended right of Common within those severall Mannors which took effect with all the Mannors unanimously except the Manners of Epworth in the County of Lincolne and against the Commissioners within that Mannor Sir Robert Heath being the then Attorney Generall exhibited an Information in the Exchequer Chamber whereupon 370 Commoners who were all that at that time could be discovered to have right of Common there came and submitted to such an Award as Sir John Bankes the then Attorney Generall should make therein who upon severall hearings of all parties and their Council made an Award that of 13400 Acres belonging to that Mannor which was then drained among the rest of the levell 6000 Acres should be allotted the Commoners as their part or proportion lying next the Towns and so preserved for ever at the charge of the said Sir C. V. and the remaining 7400 Acres should be set out in the remotest parts of those washes to Sir Cor. Vermuyden and his participants for their third part and for the late Kings part in right of his interest as Lord of the soyle and this by consent was decreed in the Exchequer Chamber and possession accordingly established with Sir Cor. Vermuyden and his Participants and their Assignes who being in peaceable and quiet possession did manure build and plant a Town called Sandtoft and a Church therein and placed a Minister whereto resorted above 200 Families of French and Walloon Protestants who fled out of their native Country for fear of the Inquisition only to enjoy the free exercise of their Religion here who builded and planted above 200 habitations for husbandry and plowed and tilled much of the said 24500 Acres of Land to the great advantage of the Commonwealth and quietly enjoyed the fruits of such their labours till about June 1642. at which time some of the Inhabitants thereabout pretending they had right of Common said they were not bound by the said Decree and taking advantage of the distractions of those times rise in tumults break down the fences and inclosures of 4000 Acres destroyed all the Corn growing and pulled down the houses built thereon Then the Participants petitioned the Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester who gave express order to quiet those Ryots but all was in vain as will appear by the severall Reports made upon a full Examination of the whole Business and hearing both parties concerned In the year 1645. the Participants being thus grievously oppressed and contrary to Law cast out of their possessions upon their address to the then Parliament by Petition they were pleased to make these Orders following Viz. Wednesday 10th Decemb. 1645. WHereas the Participants in the draining and Tenants and Inhabitants of the Levill of Hatfield Chace and parts adjacent in the Counties of Yorke Lincolne and Nottingham have petitioned this House informing that after the expence of at least 200000lb in those Works the Tennants of the Mannor of Epworth being part of that Draining consenting to a Decree passed in the Exchequer for settlement of the proportions agreed on and set out of that Mannor and ever since enjoyed by the Participants and their Tenants till of late and since the distractions of these times divers of the unruly Inhabitants of the said Mannor have in a tumultuous manner thrown down and laid waste a proportion of at least 7400 Acres of Land and destroyed a very great quantity of Rapes and Corn growing by forcible keeping and depasturing their Cattle thereon demollished very many houses burned others cut and burned the Plowes beat and wounded those they have found ploughing or have resisted them in any their outragious acts and now threaten the drowning of the whole by cutting of the banks and misusage of the sluces and resist the Participants in levying Taxes for repair of the Works to the great dammage of the Commonwealth in generall and scandall of the Justice thereof in case it should not be restrained and the offendors punished For restraining of the like outrages for the future and for preservation of the peace of the Country It is Ordered by the Lords in Parliament assembled That the Sheriff of the said County of Lincolne and Justices of Peace there shall upon complaint made to them by the Participants of the said Levell or their Agents punctually pursue the Statutes made in the 13th year of King Henry the 4th for suppressing of Ryots and routs and shall call to their assistance if need require the trained Bands of the said County and the Parliaments forces next adjoyning to be ayding and assisting unto the Participants in guarding and keeping the Sluces and Sewers reedifying and repairing what hath been so demolished and levying the Taxes legally imposed tending to the preservation of so good and beneficiall a work to the Common-wealth and for the setling of this businesse It is further ordered
yet the Inhabitants aforesaid ceased not to Ryot c. whereupon the said Participants petitioned the Parliament in the year 1651. which was referred to a Committee of the then Parliament the 10th of January following who upon full examination of the whole matter and Witnesses upon Oath on both sides made the Report following viz. THE REPORT OF THE Committee OF PARLIAMENT BY vertue of an Order of Parliament of the 10th of January 1651. we have taken into Consideration the Petition of the Participants in the Drainage of the Levell of Hatfield Chace and upon Examination of severall Witnesses upon Oath We finde That the Petitioners at the Expence of 175046lb or thereabouts did Drain and lay Dry about 60000 Acres of Land lying contiuguous within the Counties of York Lincoln and Nottingham which Land was not worth before 3 shillings 4 pence per Acre and made the same worth 10 shillings 12 shillings 16 shillings and some 20 shillings per Acre That in June 1642. the Petitioners had been in a quiet possession by the space of 10 years of about 7400 Acres of that Land lying within the Mannor of Epworth That in 1642. John Allen John Crosse Leonard Cowling William Spaven Thomas Noble James Stokeham Edward Baffendale Thomas Meggot Edward Wyldbore Edward Earle and William Wake Robert Hawksworth Thomas Thomkinson John Wilson William Carryer Robert Snell John Garland and divers others in a Tumultuous manner came into the Levell within the Mannor of Epworth and there brake down the Fences and put in their Cattle and destroyed about 160 Acres of growing Corn and Rapes and then divers of the Inhabitants of Haxey came in amongst them and continued Rioting from day to day till they had laid wast about 4000 Acres of the Drained Land and pulled down severall Houses thereon standing That about that time Captain Kingman since dead with divers others of the Mannor of Epworth pull'd up a Navigable Sass planted in Vickerdicke which cost the replanting 1500lb at the least That shortly after Thomas Peacocke Thomas Burton and divers others severall daies during the flowing of the Spring Tides forced open a Sewer called Snow Sewer planted upon the River of Trent for venting the waters out of the Levell and during the ebb shut down the inner doors whereby the waters could not get out this course they used till they had drowned about 8000 Acres of Corn and Rapes then growing and the Corn stacks generally half way with most of the Habitations by the space of Ten weeks That the Tenants thus expulsed from their Habitations complained to the Committee of Lincoln who gave them an Order to open the Sluce and let out the waters which Order being brought the said Peacocke Burton and others with Muskets defended the Sluce and refused to give obedience That in the year 1647. upon the Bill depending in the Exchequer exhibited by the Petitioners against the Inhabitants severall Orders were made for the establishing the possession with the Petitioners and Order given to the Sheriff to assist them and then Daniel Noddel an Attorney at Law Thomas Taukersby Robert Browne Thomas Hill of Epworth and Richard Jarvis of Owston with divers others to the number of 400 persons came upon the place Armed with Swords and Muskets to resist whereby those Orders were fruitless That the Petitioners being still kept out of their Possession brought their Bill to hearing then the said Daniel Noddel the Soliciter for these Inhabitants got in to his assistance Lieutenant Col. John Lilburn and Major John Wildman and while the Cause was hearing the Inhabitants began to Ryot on 3400 Acres which was yet kept up That upon Complaint thereof to the Court of Exchequer they sent an Injunction and a Writ of Assistance to the Sheriff to quiet the possession till the hearing of the Cause but in his presence the Fences are thrown down by multitudes and the Riotors by force fetch away the Tenants Cattle and Impound them and refuse to admit Replevins and force them to Redeem them at what Rate they please That the persons Acting in these last Ryots on the 3400 Acres were Thomas Hill of Epworth Robert Johnson Alexander Fox John Watson junior Thomas Glew John Johnson Richard Mane Constable Richard Procter Thomas Hallifax William Elmer John Artus Jehosaphat Tayler John Granger Peter Clerke of Belton William Robinson Thomas Bernard George Peacocke Jeffery Whitaker of Epworth William Whash of Belton John Brocke Samuel Clayton William Pepplewell junior Ralph Wray Alexander Fletcher Charles Laund Robert Young Robert Pycocke William Pycocke Robert Chesman Alexander Pitts John Foster John Pettyner Matthew Dale John Robson William Parkinson Thomas Granger John Hallifax Charles Teaâ—e Edward Hallifax William Swindall Henry Cleire Richard Rose William Thomson Robert Teale Richard Bernard Thomas Clearke Thomas Tayler Matthew Hallifax Thomas Davis senior John Davis junior Peter Bernard High-Constable John Bernard all of Belton William Whiteacre senior William White-acre junior Thomas Browne Alexander Mawe sonne of John Mawe John Clearke Alexander Clearke senior John Loughton Thomas Coggan sonne of George George Chapman Alexander Clearke junior John West George Cutforth Alexander Cutforth Alexander Chapman Thomas Loughton William Crashawe Robert Foster Thomas Stutting Richard Bernard Frances Isle Robert Willson George Wells Peter Chesman Richard Cockes and John Hall all of Epworth Simon Wright William Moody John Moody and Robert Moody of Belton Richard Tayler William Goldsmith Charles Kelsey Robert Barrow John Wells Gregory Johnson Thomas Travers Samuel Maggott Roger Philipson Robert Dawson Thomas Cooper Henry â—ayler William Barker Thomas Coggan and James Moody all of Haxey That the Tenants being thus Treated repair severall times to Michaell Mouckton a Justice of the Peace he refuseth to grant any Warrants or Pursue any Legal course for their preservation but on the contrary gives severall Encouragements to the Riotors and some of them being indicted at a Session for a notorious Ryot and found Guilty it was moved by some of the Justices that they should be fined 4 or 5 Marks apiece the said Mouckton moved openly that they should be fined but 6 pence and it was carried that it should be but 12 pence apiece That in February 1650. upon full hearing in the Exchequer a Decree was made for establishing the Possession with the Petitioners which was published upon the place in the presence of divers of the Inhabitants who having now gotten the influence of Lilburn Wildman and Noddel declared that they would not give any Obedience thereunto nor to any Order of the Exchequer or Parliament and said they could make as good a Parliament themselves some said it was a Parliament of clouts and that if they sent any Forces they would raise Forces to resist them and proceed to the defacing of the Church and within ten daies time the totall demolishing the whole Town of Santoft and other Houses thereabout to the number of 82 Habitations besides Barns Stables and other Outhouses pull down and break in pieces a Windmill and
the said Committee of Parliament and also again heard what could be alleadged on either side touching the said Report have certified unto the Council that they do finde the substance of the said Report warranted by the said Depositions and nothing materially objected by the said Inhabitants and Tenants against the same and upon consideration of the whole matter have certified their opinions that the 7â—00 Acres of Land in the said Report mentioned ought to be setled in the possession of the Participants and the same quieted with them and that a speciall Commission issue to try the Ryoters that as well the Offenders may be punished as the Sufferers repaired in a Legall way according to Justice as by their said Certificate Registred together with the said Report amongst the Acts and Orders of the Council more at large appeareth Of all which the Council having taken mature consideration and approving the said Certificates and the Opinions therein delivered and finding by the said Report that the said Participants have been by the Ryotous tumultuary proceedings and evil practises of divers persons in the said Report particularly named violently thrown out of the possession thereof the Corn and Rapes there growing to a great value wholly destroyed the Houses there built by them for habitation in a great number and even the whole Town of Santoft ruinated and demolished and the Church defaced the Sasses pulled up and all the said Improvement endeavoured to be again laid waste and the Participants kept from their possession thereof by force notwithstanding a Decree made in the Court of Exchequer upon the said Improvement and divers Orders and Injunctions since there issued for the preservation of the Participants possession and prevention from those Ryots and disturbances which although seconded with Writs of Assistance to the Sheriffs have been from time to time contemned and disobeyed to the great affront of Justice dammage to the Commonwealth in generall and the prejudice of the Interest of the State in the Feefarm Rent of 1228lb by the year reserved out of the said Improved Lands all which hath been of late promoted by the countenance and encouragement of Lieutenant Collonel John Lilburn Major John Wildman and one Daniell Noddell a Solicitor which three by compact and agreement with divers of the said Inhabitants were to have and measured out to themselves 2200 Acres of the said Participants Lands for their reward in undertaking to defend the said Inhabitants from their Ryots past and to maintain them in possession of the rest of the said 7400 Acres against the said Participants for the time to come as by the Report amongst other foul miscarriages and misdemeanors committed and done by the said persons and divers others therein particularly mentioned appeareth The Council thereupon finding it necessary in this case where the Decrees and Orders of the Courts of Justice have been with a high hand disobeyed and resisted to the endangering of the Peace of the Commonwealth through the opposition of turbulent and seditious spirits to apply the Military Power in Aid and Assistance of the Civil Government and Execution of Justice Do hereby Order Require and Authorize the Forces of the Army quartering in the said Levell of Hatfield Chace or within the said Counties of Yorke Lincolne and Nottingham or any of them or any others that are or shall be in those parts to be aiding and assisting to the Officers of Justice and the said Participants in Draining of the said Levell for setling establishing and keeping the possession of the said 7400 Acres of the late improved Lands within the Mannor of Epworth in the said Report mentioned with the said Participants and also for executing the Decrees and Orders of the said Court of Exchequer or any other Courts of Justice touching their possession therein and for preventing such Ryots and Outrages for the future and in respect of the great Dammage suffered by the Participants and their Tenants it is further Ordered That the Commissioners of the Great Seal for the time being do Award a speciall Commission of Oyer and Terminer to the Judges of Assize for the said respective Counties to try the Ryoters and to punish them according to Law and Justice and to enquire of the Dammages suffered as aforesaid by the Participants and their Tenants to the end they may have just Reparations for the same Given at the Councill of State at Whitehall the 31 day of August 1613. Signed in the Name and by Order of the Council of State Anth. Ashly Cooper John Thurloe Secretary Wednesday 31. August 1653. At the Council of State at Whitehall Ordered THat the Report made to the Council concerning the business of Hatfield Chace in Lincolnshire be humbly presented to the Parliament and Collonel Thomlinson is desired to present the same accordingly But notwithstanding this and the former Orders and Letters of the Parliament and Council the said Inhabitants still continued in their ryotous and rebellious posture not giving any obedience unto them not the Decrees and Orders of the Court of Exchequer nor Precepts of the Court of Sewers standing in defiance and opposition to all Authority Upon the Petition of the said Participants and their Tennants and Remonstrance of the Commissioners of Sewers to His Highness and Council An Order of reference was made the 15th of Aprill 1656. to the Lord Commissioner Fines Lord Lambert Major Generall Desbrough Lord Lisle Lord Strickland or any three of them to consider of the said Petition and report there opinion therein to the Council whereupon the said Lords request Major Generall Whalley to call both Parties before him and to examine the whole matter in the said Petition set forth and make report thereof unto the said Committee which accordingly he did The Remonstrance of the Commissioners of Sewers May it please your Highness IN pursuance of your Highness Letters Pattents bearing date the sixth of July last Impowring us amongst others to provide for the safety and preservation of the Westriding of the County of Yorke as also of the Improved Lands within the Levell of Hatfield Chace and parts adjacent within the Counties of Yorke Lincolne and Nottingham as also by vertue of severall former Commissions severall Rates or Scots have been imposed by severall Decrees and Laws of Sewers according to the tenor of the Statute But when the Officers appointed thereunto endeavoured the collecting and distraining for those Rates assessed upon the Improved Lands within the Manner of Epworth in the Isle of Axholme and County of Lincolne aforesaid severall the Inhabitants of the said Isle have evilly intreated menaced and wounded the said Officers and their Assistants and riotously rescued their distresses from them And being not contented with their having in a forcible manner dispossessed the Participants of the said Improvement of 7400 Acres or thereabouts of their Lands as we are credibly informed for which and divers other offences they are excepted out of the generall Act of Pardon they have necessitated
destroy all the Corn and Rapes on the 3400 Acres That the Dammages by severall testimonies appear to be 80000lb and upward That the Land being thus laid wast the Church defaced the Town with all the Houses Mill and Outhouses depopulated and Corn destroyed Lilburn Wildman Mouckton Noddel Confederating an agreement is made with severall men of the Mannor of Epworth that in Consideration of 2000 Acres of the Land so laid wast to be given to Lilburn and Wildman and 200 Acres to Noddel they should defend them from all those Ryots past and to that purpose were to maintain the said Inhabitants in possession of all the rest of the 7400 Acres before laid wast and keep them drie and Deeds Sealed accordingly That then Lilburn and Noddel Jasper Margrave and George Stovin of Crowle with others come to Stantoft Church on the Lords Day where the French Congregation of Protestants were gathered and forced them from thence and Lilburn told them they should not come thither unless stronger than they That then Lilburn and Noddel go to another Mannor called Crowle and there they agree with some of that Mannor to assist them to get their Commons again as Epworth had done where they advise them that they should Impound the Tenants Cattle and if they Replevied to Impound them again and break their Fences and eat up their Crops and so tire them out untill they attorned Tenants to them which they did accordingly That the Tenants being thus terrified and seeing their condition was to be like their Neighbours they take Leases from Jasper Margrave and George Stovin who gave bonds to save them harmeless and so the Petitioners by the former force and this practice were outed of their possession of both those Mannors That at the making of those Leases Noddel declares openly in the presence of 20 persons that he would lay 20 shillings with any man that as soon as Lilburn came to London there should be a new Parliament Lilburn should be one and call this Parliament to an account further adding that they had now finished this of Lincolnshire meaning gotten the Land from the Petitioners they would go into Yorkshire meaning the rest of the Levell and do the like there and then they would give the Attorney Generall work enough to do That Noddel said at another time that now they had drawn their Case they would Print it and nail it at the Parliament door and if they would not do them Justice they would come up make an Outcry and pull them out by the ears That when they had made the Agreement before mentioned for the 2200 Acres to be divided as aforesaid then Lilburn Wildman and Noddel cause to be measured and take into their Possessions the proportions above mentioned and agree with severall persons to Let proportions thereof Lilburn repairs the House that was built for the Minister and partly pull'd down by the Riotors and puts his servants into it to keep the possession thus attained and having forc't away the Minister and Congregation imployes the Church to the use of a Stable Cow house and Slaughter-house to lay hay and straw in That Wildman being present at the Examination of severall Witnesses produced by the Petitioners who proved that Wildman was present when Lilburn made the bargain that they two in Consideration of 2000 Acres to them and 200 to Noddel of the Land so laid wast should defend the Inhabitants from all Ryots past and to come and at their charge maintain them in the Possession of the remaining 5200 Acres all but the Charge of a triall that was to be in Michaelmas Term following and that he was present when the Deeds were Sealed to Lilburn and himself of the 2000 Acres both which he denied with great Imprecations and invocations of Judgments to fall on him if he were either Party or Privy or was to have had any advantage thereby till a Deed was produced which being shewed him he confessed to be his own Hand and Seal in which he did Covenant as in that Deed is exprest The Inhabitants say in their Defence that the Lands before the Draining fed Cattle fit for the Butchers but the Witnesses being cross Interrogated say that it was overflown with water in Summer before the Draining and that in May June and July and all the Summer long they took Fish in severall places unless in a very drie Summer and that they went in Boats Swan-hopping in Summer They also say that Snow Sewer was pulled up to defend the Isle from the coming of Sr Ralph Hausby then of the Kings party They also say that the Sass was pulled up by the Command of one whom they knew not but he told the Inhabitants that he was a Captain of Sr John Meldrums Noddel in defence of his coming with 400 men to oppose the Sheriff produceth Witnesses who Depose they heard one say Mr Gibbon sent to invite him to come And in his Examination in the Exchequer he saith he came to apprehend Mr Gibbon upon a Warrant Noddel also produceth Witnesses who say he hath been accounted well-affected to the Parliament But as to the Charges of Draining the quiet possession of the Petitioners for ten years the matter of Force and Ryot in destroying Corn in opposing the Sheriff and throwing down the Fences pulling down the Houses and Windmill and fetching away the Tenants Cattle by force denying Replevins depopulating the Town of Santoft defacing the Church forcing away the Minister and Congregation on the Lords Day the Contract of Lilburn and Wildman for 2000 Acres to them and 200 to Noddel the practice with the Tenants of the Mannor of Crowle the language spoken against the Parliament and the Dammage done to the Petitioners and their Tenants no Defence is made The Parliament being Dissolved before this Report was made to the House the Council of State send for that Report and made Reference thereof to a select Committee of the Council and joyned Mr Scabell and upon severall Examinations of Depositions taken in the Court and hearing of both sides this ensuing Order was made THE ORDER OF THE Council of STATE THe Council of State having heretofore upon the Petition of the Participants in the Draining of the Levell of Hatfield Chace in the Counties of York Lincolne and Nottingham preferred unto them the 14th of June last relating unto a Report drawn up upon full hearing by a Committee of the late Parliament concerning divers Ryots and Outrages and other unlawfull Actions committed within the Isle of Axholm by the Inhabitants and Tenants of the Mannor of Epworth in the said County of Lincolne and Misterton in the County of Nottingham against the Participants in the said Draynage and the Improvement thereof did thereupon referre the said Report unto a select number of Persons to be considered of and they to report their Opinions concerning the same to the Council who having compared the said Reports with the Depositions of Witnesses examined on both sides before