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What
do we know about Hartford in Norman times?
The
only real record we have is the Domesday Book of 1086 which records for
“Herford”
"Isdem
GISLEBERTUS tenet HERFORD pro ii. maneriis. DODO tenuit sicut liber homo. Ibi
ii. hidae geldabiles. Terra est ii. carucatae. Ibi sunt iiii. villani et ii.
bordarii et faber habentes i. carucatam. In WICH una salina reddit ii. solidos
et alia dimidia salina wasta. Ibi i. acra prati. De hac terra tenet unus miles
dimidiam hidam et ibi habet i. carucatam et ii. bovarios et ii. bordarios.
Tempore regis EDWARDI valebat xx. solidos. Modo x. solidos."
which translates as:-
“IN ROELAU HUNDRED
The same Gilbert holds HERFORD. Dodo held it (as two manors in the margin) as a
freeman. There are 2 hides that pay geld. The land is for 2 ploughs. There are 4
villeins and 2 bordars and a smith having 1 plough. In Wich (Northwich) 1
salthouse renders 2s. and another salthouse waste. There 1 acre of meadow. Of
this a knight holds ½ hide and has there 1 plough and 2 oxmen and 3 bordars. TRE
it was worth 20s, now 10s.”
geld = tax (from ‘tax geldum’ – a periodic tax)
hide
= an area of land between 120 and 240 acres (usually 120)
waste = in this case most likely means destroyed in the invasion
villains and bordars = part of a hierarchy of men with greater or lesser degrees
of freedom - freemen, sokemen, villeins, bordars and serfs
TRE
= Tempore Regis Edwardi - 'In the time of King Edward' (Edward the
Confessor) i.e. before 1066
Gilbert is Gilbert de Venables. He was one of eight barons created by Hugh Lupus
and chose Kinderton as the seat of his barony. He was descended from Eudo. the
Earl of Blois, Byre and Charttes and fought at Hastings. The barony was a reward
for his bravery in battle.
He had a great passion for hunting and was from the village of Venables in
Normandy. Appropriately it appears that the name Venables may have been derived
from "venator abiles" - literally "an able hunter". Venables was in the barony
of Les Veneurs (the huntsmen), so named as the family were the hereditary
huntsmen of the Duke of Normandy. Interestingly the Grosvenor family name (Earls
of Chester) shares the same derivation "gros veneur" meaning "chief huntsman".
We
know that Cheshire resisted the Norman invasion and that resulted in large areas
being laid to waste by William the Conqueror. This was one of his standard tactics
in the face of resistance – he destroyed communities, dispossessed the people
and laid waste to the countryside so that there was no support for the people
fighting against him. That must have been a time of hardship and devastating
change as the battle was lost and a new hierarchy of lords took over the land.
Principal among these would have been Hugh D'Avranches also known as Hugh Lupus (the wolf), a nephew of
William’s, who was made the first Earl of Chester.
Following the subjugation of Cheshire the great hunting Forest of Mara and
Mondrum was created. It encompassed 6o square miles of the county and reached up
to the River Weaver. Since we know how these great Royal Forests were
administered we can guess a little about the lifestyle of the people who lived
within their boundaries.
The
term “forest” did not have its modern meaning. It was derived from the Latin
“foris” which meant “everything outdoors”, and was used throughout the Middle
Ages to describe a legally defined area of land in which the “beasts of the
chase” were reserved for hunting by the King or, at his pleasure, nobles and
high churchmen. In the case of Mara and Mondrum both the Earls of Chester and
the King used it. The forest of these times could be half grassland and heath
and not the unbroken canopy of trees we would imagine today.
William the Conqueror introduced afforestation after the invasion of 1066 and
reserved for his sole enjoyment the right to hunt Deer (Red, Roe and Fallow) and
Wild Boar – the beasts of the chase, collectively known as the “venison”.
To
protect these rights the areas were subject to Forest Law as opposed to Common
Law. This law protected not only the animals themselves but also anything that
they ate or provided shelter for them, collectively known as the “vert” (from
the Latin for green).
A
person attempting to kill or even disturbing a beast of the chase was guilty of
“trespassing against the venison”. A person felling a tree, grazing livestock
without permission, gathering firewood or protecting crops by fencing was guilty
of “trespassing against the vert”. It was illegal to carry a weapon in the
forest. Travellers were allowed a weapon for self-protection but had to stick to
the highways running through the forest.
It
should be borne in mind that before the introduction of Forest Law these things
would have been taken for granted as a way of making, or supplementing, a living
by exploiting the surrounding land.
The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle records the following about William:
“He
made great protection for the game
And
imposed laws for the same,
So
that who so slew hart or hind
Should be made blind.
He
preserved the harts and boars
And
loved stags as much
As
if he were their father.
Moreover, for the hares did he decree that they should go free.
Powerful men complained of it and poor men lamented it,
But
so fierce was he that he cared not for the rancour of them all”.
The punishments for breaking the Forest Law were harsh and
included blinding, castration and death. Later the need to raise taxes led to a
replacement of some of the physical punishments by a system of fines. The
forests were expanded to encompass more and more of England until at one time
nearly a third of the country was under Forest Law. Each expansion brought more
people under Forest Law and the resultant fines became a steady income stream
for the crown.
Very little of this Great Forest survives. Delamere (French for
'of the lake') is an example, if now extensively replanted with fir trees.
However, Marshall's Arm is Ancient Woodland due to the land being too steep to
clear for agriculture or housing and may even reach back to the days of the
Great Forest.
Ancient Woodland Definition
Land that
has had continuous woodland cover since at least 1600AD and may be:
Ancient Semi-natural woodland.
Ancient woodland sites that have retained the native tree and shrub cover
that has not been planted, although it may have been managed by coppicing or
felling and allowed to regenerate naturally.
Ancient Replanted Woodland.
Ancient woodland sites where the original native tree cover has been felled
and replaced by planting, usually with conifers and usually this century.
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