score of a Ryot committed by some few of the inhabitants upon which petition the report of Master Say and Master Darley which is to come before you is grounded The Freeholders title is as followeth The Freeholders and Commoners within the Mannor of Epworth in the Isle of Axholm have time out of minde had common appendant to their several tenements for all manner of cattel levant and couchant thereupon at all times of the yeer in and through all the wasts and commonable grounds within the said Mannor whereof the grounds in controversie are the greatest part and was alwayes of the best nature and in confirmation of this their ancient right Sir John Mowbray sometime Lord of the said Isle having made an approvement of a great part of the said grounds to himself as Lord did about three hundred yeers since grant unto the Freeholders by an ancient Charter in French but here translated into English by William Riley keeper of the Records in the Tower as followeth THis Indenture between their thrice honored Lord Sir John Mowbray Lord of the Isle of Axholm and of the honour of Brember of the one part Rawlin of Brumham William of Brumham Roger of Brumham John of Thetilthorp Thomas Melton Jeoffery Laundels Vincent Bavant John Gardner John Cutwulf Rich. of Belwood and John at Hagh his Tenants of the Isle of Axholm and all the Tenants and resiants within the said Isle on the other part witnesseth That all the said Tenants and resiants have supplicated their said Lord Sir John Mowbray to have remedy of divers claims touching their right and divers debates and grievances to them made by the Ministers of the said Lord Sir John Mowbray upon which supplication it is agreed that the said Sir John Lord aforesaid hath granted for him and for his heirs to the said Rawlin William Roger John Thomas Jeoffery Vincent John John Richard and John Tenants aforesaid to their heirs to all having their estate or parcel of their estate and to all the other tenants and resiants within the Isle of Axholm and to their heirs and to all that hereafter shall have their estate all the things underwritten That is to say That the said Sir John nor his heirs shall not approve any waste Moors Woods Waters nor make or shall make any other approvement of any part within the said Isle of Axholm And that the said Rawlin William Roger John Thomas Jecffery Vincent 33. Ed. 3. Note that at that time the Freeholders had had Common time out of mind John John Richard and John and their heirs and those that shall have their estate or parcel of their estate and all other Tenants and Resiants within the Isle of Axholm shall have their Common which is appendant to their Free-tenement according to that which they have had and used time out of minde And also that the aforesaid Rawlin William Roger John Thomas Jeoffery Vincent John John Richard and Joan and their heirs and all those which their estate or parcel of their estate shall have and all other the tenants and resiants within the aforesaid Isle may dig in the Moors and Marshes Turfs Trees and Roots found within the Soil of the said Moors and Marshes And that one pound containing one half acre be made at the cost of the said tenants and maintained hereafter by the said Lord and his heirs in Belton-car and one other in Haxey-car containing as much and that they be made in places for the most ease of the said tenants And that no chase of beasts of commoners be made but once a yeer and that the said Beasts be not otherwise driven but to the Pound of the Pasture where they shall be taken and there the beasts of the said Tenants to be delivered by the tenants aforesaid or by their servants and saving alwayes to the said tenants and to their heirs and to their servants that they may take their beasts and receive them in the Drift or before the drift so that the drift of beasts of strangers be not thereby disturbed And that in the severalities of the said Lord adjoyning to the places in which they have Common which are open and not inclosed no beasts of the said tenants and Commoners be taken nor impounded but easily driven out And that the said tenants and resiants and their heirs and all those which their estate or parcel of their estate shall have may dig and take Turf or other Earth for the walls of their houses and for all other necessaries of the said houses and for to inclose the walls of their Messuages or Mansions And to dry Flags in all the said wastes for to cover the ridges of their houses and walls and for bringing of Trees to repaire the river of Trent where cause of repairing is and to make them new And that the said Rawlin William Roger John Thomas Jeoffery Vincent John John Richard and John aforesaid and all other the Tenants and Resiants their heirs and all those which shall have their estate or parcel of their estate hereafter be not for the future amerced or grieved for default of not appearing to ring their swine And that they may put hemp to be rated in all the waters of the Isle except the Skires which are severed to the said Lord Sir John Mowbray and that the said Lord nor his heirs nor his Ministery make no molestation nor grievance to the dogs of the forenamed Tenants and Resiants aforesaid nor to their heirs nor to those which shall-have their estate or parcel of their estate and if they do the Tenants shall have their recovery at the common law And that the aforesaid Rawlin William Roger John Thomas Jeoffery Vincent John John Richard and John Tenants aforesaid and all the other Tenants and Resiants their heirs and all those which hereafter shall have their estate or parcel of their estate may fish through all the waters and wastes of the said Isle without impediment of the Ministers of the said Lord Sir John Mowbray except the Skires aforesaid And also that they may dig Turf and all other manner of earth in all the wastes aforesaid to carry and improve their land at their pleasure And that none of the Tenants aforesaid or of their heirs or of those having their estate impeached of Trespass by the Ministers of the said Lord be amerced for Trespass without answer given in Court and then by their Peers to be fined and taxed if they be amerciable And the said John granteth that all the Tenants and their heirs and all those which shall have their estate which are bound to inclose the Woods of the Lord may take Vnderwood to make them new hedges or to repair them as much as shall be necessary That is to say _____ This blank place cannot be read in the Deed. in the places of the said Woods _____ of the said Tenants their heirs and of those which shall have their estate without being impeached
or grieved by the Ministers of the said Lord Sir John Mawbray And the said John granteth for him and his heirs that all the things Articles aforesaid be of effect and force in the law as well to those which are generally named Tenants and their heirs as those which shall have their estate or parcel of their estate as to those which are named by proper names and their heirs and those which shall have their estate or parcel of their estate And if in the Articles aforesaid there be any point which may have divers interpretations or intendments that it shall be taken to the best advantage of the names or of the Tenants aforesaid and of their heirs or of those which shall have their estate and not otherwise In witness whereof the Parties aforesaid have interchangeably put their Seals Given at our Mannor of Epworth the first day of May in the yeer of the Reigne of Edward the Third after the Conquest thirty three The testimony of ancient witnesses in depositions upon record in the Exchequer make it clearly appear that all things have gone according to this Deed within the said Mannor till now of late that the projectors usurped a possession against law Upon that Deed when I first undertook to Solicite this business for the Freeholders I took the several opinions of Sir Robert Berkeley Master Maynard and Master Hale not making any of them acquainted with the others opinion because I would be certain of the validity of the said Deed and the chief question I put in writing to them was whether the Deed did debar the King of improvement to which I had their several judgements it did Sir Rober Berkeley giving it thus under his hand which I have yet to shew saith he I think it doth if the Lord Mowbray had estate in Fee For as I conceive it is more then a covenant and makes the improvement by the King unwarranted by Merton or any other Statute Ro. Berkeley Master Hale gave his answer which I have also under his hand thus saith he I conceive the Deed is a real discharge and bindes the lands into whose hands soever it comes and consequently the king cannot improve He further adds That he conceives the benefit of this Deed extends to all the tenants aswell those that are not named as those that are named and gives his reasons 1. Because the Lord cannot inclose against those that are named and consequently there can be no improvement against any 2. Which he saith he principally doth rely upon because it is a real discharge of the wast of that liberty of improvement which the statute gave him and that though tenants be not a sufficient name of purchase at this day in point of interest it is in point of discharge Math. Hale Master Maynard gave his opinion that it past an interest and therefore the King could not improve against it It is clear by several inquisitions upon record in the Tower First That the said Sir John Mowbray dyed seised of all the said Isle and namely In bundello Escaet de Anno Regni Regis Edw. tertii quadragesimo tertio par 2. num 7. sic continetur Inquisitio capta apud Kirton in Lyndsey die Sabbati prox ante festum Annunciationis beatae Mariae virginis Anno Regni Regis Edw. tertii post conquestum quadragesimo tertio coram Waltero de Kelsey Escaetore Domini Regis in Com. Lincol. virtute brevis Domini Regis eid Escaetori direct huic inquisitioni consuti per sacramentum Richardi de Belwood This Belwood and Melton are two named in Deed of Mowbray Willthelmi de Burnham Johannis Fowler Thome de Melton Johannis Tanchard de Eppworth Will. Gray de eadem Will. Bellingham de eadem Will filiâ—â— Gilberti de eadem Will. Elers de edem Johannis Bird de eadem Henrici Withe de eadem Roberti de Swynton de eadem Jurat qui dicunt super sacramentum suum quod Johannis de Mowbray Chivalr defunctus obiit seisit de Insula de Axholâ— c. Et dieunâ— quod Johannes filii praedicti Johannis de Mowbray est filius haeres predicti Johannis de Mowbray Chr. defunctus proâ—inquior est aetatis quinque Annorum amplius In cujus rei testimonum predicti jurat huic Inquisitioni sigilla sua apposueris c. In bundello Escaet de Anno sexto Richardi secundi nu m. 58. _____ continetur sic Inquisitio capta apud Gaynsburgh die Martis prox post festum sacrae Petronellae virginis Anno Regni Regis Richardi secundi post conquestuÌ„ sexto coram Will. de Skipwith Escaetore domini regis in com Lincol. virtuta brevis dict Domini regis eidem Escaetor direct per sacramentum Roberti Sheffield de Butterwick c. Qui dicunt super sacramentum suum quod Johannis Mowbray Chr. obiit seisit de Manerio de Epworth cum pertinent ut de feodo in Insula de Haxiholm c. post cujus mortem dominus Rex Edvardus aevus Regis nunc seisivit manerium predictum cum pertinen c. ratione minoris aetatis Johannis Mowbray comit Nottingham fil haered dict Johannis Mowbray Chr. qui mortuus est c. The long continued race of the Mowbrayes Dukes of Norfolk also appears in the Tower to be Lords of the said Mannor and how John Lord Mowbray father of this John that made the Deed being in rebellion with those Barons that accompained the Duke of Lancaster who was beheaded at Pomfret was amongst all the rest of the Lords in that insurrection restored by Act of Parliament Ann. 4 Ed. 3. to all his lands And how Elizabeth dowager of Thomas lord Mowbray who was grandchild to this John that made the Deed had her assignation of dower through all the Mannor of Epworth Ann. 2. R. 2. The manner of keeping this Deed hath been in a Chest bound with iron in the parish-Church of Haxey being the greatest town within the Mannor by some of the chief Freeholders who had the keeping of the keys which chest stood under a window wherein was the portraicture of Mowbray set in ancient glass holding in his hand a writing which was commonly reputed to be an emblem of the Deed till now of late that the glass was broken down this also appears in the depositions in the Exchequer That the said Mowbray did in his time approve to himself much of the wasts as lord â—ppeareth by many ancient Deeds bearing date before this Deed yet extant in the Isle whereby after he had inclosed the same he granted to others those inclosures The Freeholders had a Tryal Verdict Judgement and Execution upon it in Micaelmas Term 1651. at the Exchequer Bar by order of that Court in the name of Thomas Vavasour a gentleman of an ancient family son of Henry Vavasour son of Thomas Vavasour the Grandfather son of Henry Vavasour the great Grandfather who married Jeane one of the daughters of Robert Ait-hall to
TO THE PARLIAMENT OF THE Commonvvealth OF ENGLAND And every individual Member thereof THE DECLARATION OF DANIEL NODDEL Solicitor for the Freeholders and Commoners within the Mannor of Epworth in the Isle of Axholm in number about 1200 besides new erected Cottages on the behalf of himself and all the said Commoners discovering the plot and design of Master John Gibbon and his fellow-projectors to gain a possession of the said Freeholders ancient inheritance in their commonable grounds there contrary to law Printed at London and are to be sold at the seven stars in Pauls Church-yard neer the great North-door 1653. The Declaration of Daniel Noddel Solicitor for the Freeholders and Commoners within the Mannor of Epworth c. Right Honourable YOU are under God the supreme power of this Commonwealth of England and the grand Trustees thereof to preserve the lives liberties and estates of all the people therein according to law and therefore I come unto you and lay before you once more the cause concerning the livelihood of many thousand men women and children within the Mannor of Epworth in the Isle of Axholm for whom I have been intrusted now almost eight yeers as Sollicitor and as the case now stands am bound in conscience not to keep silence lest by that means destruction come upon them and me through ignorance I make no doubt but your honors have all heard of a pretended great Ryot some yeers past committed in the said Isle for that hath been cryed up into the late Act of Oblivion wherein there is an exemption from pardon touching the pretended Ryots in those parts but I am perswaded that you have not heard half so much of the proceedings that have been at law by the Freeholders there for the recovery of their ancient right to 7400 acres of commonable grounds being the ground in controversie between the Freeholders and certain Undertakers who now term themselves participants in the Level of Hatfield-chase but are no part of the said chase of which about twenty yeers since the Freeholders were dispossessed by force of Armes under colour onely of the late Kings illegal Patent by those great Ryoters the first Undertakers or rather projectors when divers of the Commoners were murdered and shot to death and many wounded who did but turn againe as worms trod upon will do in the just defence of their undoubted right of possession when they could have no proceedings at law Replevins being forbidden them by order of the Exchequer and the possession wrested and held from them by Star-chamber orders their persons many of them being imprisoned and many inforced by Pursuivants and Serjeants at Arms to lye from their habitations in the fields under hedges being usually termed rebels and threatned to be hanged at their doors and plagued with multitudes of Star-chamber proces some forced to flye out of the kingdom at that time having their goods illegally distrained and sold for issues out of the then Kings-bench others to sell and morgage their lands to purchase and unjust peace against the villanous and tyrannical forcible entries and intrusions arrests and imprisonments brought upon them by the said participants contrary to law No Right honorable The plot and design of the Undertakers especially that Machiavel Master John Gibbon who both is Solicitor for himself and his fellow-projectors is not to tell you of those things but to keep you hoodwink't I desire to use it with reverence to the intent you shall but onely see an ugly shape of a late pretended Ryot held forth before you in a most partial wicked and erroneous report of Master Say and Master Henry Darley two members of the Committee at the least of fifty of the late Parliament for the Isle of Axholm and Master Gibbons great coached and feasted friends for by that report of theirs your Honours shall never see the title of the Freeholders to the said lands nor the proceedings that have been had at law whereby they have recovered them No these must all lye whist and damped with the great noise of a Ryot and throwing down houses though built upon the Freeholders own ground and with their own wood which the projectors and their tenants got and digged out of the said grounds and were fitter for dog-kennels as my friend Master Spittlehouse hath set forth then to come in competition with those great Ryots committed by the projectors at their first entrance upon those grounds in the horrid massacres forcible entries intrusions imprisonments and oppressions aforesaid I say the said report will present onely to your eye the mention of a Ryot nothing at all of the title and proceedings at law for that Master Say and Master Darley would not suffer to be made forth when it was offered by the Freeholders neither durst Master Gibbon and the rest of his fellow-projectors produce any although they set forth and tell the late Parliament in their petition the lands are setled upon them by good assurances and that it will so appear upon the examination of the business and although the whole matter of the petition was referred to the Committee which was also the Committee for Sir Arthur Haselrige and Primate with some addition of late Members to it And therefore because Master Gibbon and his fellow projectors having now no remedy either in law or equity are got into a By-way a Ryot the only fig-leaf to cover their nakedness to gain possession in those grounds which they never yet legally had and by delusion if possible to draw in your honors extraordinary power to effect it insinuating as if the whole drainage in those parts containing 60000 acres lying in the Counties of York Lincoln and Nottingham will for want of a settlement be overthrown and so aime at an Act of Parliament and therein to hedge the ancient inheritance of the Freeholders in the said grounds through which the Undertakers did but at their first coming into those parts desire to cut a drain because else they could not drain Hatfield-chase and many other Mannors as is cleared by the proofs I do again humbly entreat leave to tender the Freeholders title and to clear up the same more fully to your honors against any information of Master Gibbon or his counsel whatsoever humbly beseeching you on the behalf of all the Freeholders and Commoners to secure the same and their possession unto them for no other end but as your honors shall direct by way of a just and equitable improvement for their own and the Commonwealths good against the violation of those that against law and equity endeavor to usurp a possession And next thereunto I shall humbly and truly inform your honors of the proceedings that have of late yeers been in your ordinary Courts of Justice concerning the grounds in question And lastly Shall set forth the Participants petition in the late Parliament verbatim whereby they hope now all their hopes are gone both in law and equity to gaine a possession meerly upon the