father, Ranulph Meschines, had, in the late reign, been gifted with much property in Lancashire. In the 29th of Henry the First, A.D. 1129, Ranulph succeeded to his father, having been named, by way of distinction, Ranulph de Gernons, from his birth-place, Gernon, a castle in Normandy. His opposition to the king, "de facto," arose from two motives; first, from the loss of his patrimonial earldom of Cumberland, which Stephen had given to Henry, Earl of Northumberland, son of the king of the Scots; and, secondly, from his alliance with Maud, daughter of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the base brother of Maud the empress, who was collecting aids in favour of her claim. Ranulph Gernons was a brave, yet subtle warfior. In the year 1141 (6th Stephen), he surprised the city of Lincoln and manned it for the empress. Afterwards, he and his father-in-law, the Earl of Gloucester, took the king prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, along with many other nobles, among whom was William Peverel, lord of Nottingham. Three years later, Ranulph Gernons obstructed the attempts of Stephen to build a fort against Lincoln Castle. But, subsequently, at the siege of Wallingford, we find the same insidious earl fighting on the side of the king, yet so much mistrusted, that he was imprisoned until he gave hostages and rendered an oath of obedience. Yet he again rebelled, and was repulsed at Lincoln as well as at Coventry. At a later period he came to an agreement with Henry, Duke of Normandy, and David, King of Scotland, to invade the English king, but failed in his engagement. Soon afterwards he was apprehended by Stephen, and not allowed his liberty until he had yielded up Lincoln and all his strongholds, and given up Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, his nephew, for an hostage. But having obtained his freedom, he exposed his hostage to imminent danger, by regaining his castles and by making every exertion to recall young Henry out of Normandy. The last trait of Ranulph Gernons' versatile and dishonourable career, was his agreement of forbearance with Robert, Earl of Leicester, the king's favourite, in consideration of which there was restored to him the constableship of Lincoln Castle and county, with all his other hereditary rights or equivalents, and several forfeited estates. So powerful was Ranulph then become, that it is said, no doubt with exaggeration, he had possessed himself of a third part of the whole realm. Lastly, we are informed that, at the close of the reign of Stephen, certain lands, of which the Earl of Chester had taken forcible possession, including those between the Ribble and the Mersey C (formerly belonging to Roger de Poictou, and subsequently to William Peverel, lord of Nottingham, then deceased), were, by the consent of Stephen, sanctioned, it is also said, by Maud the empress, and Henry, Duke of Normandy (afterwards Henry the Second), confirmed to the family of Ranulph Gernons. Sir Peter Leicester has also assured us, on the authority of Dugdale, that King Stephen gave to Ranulph Gernons all the lands of Roger de Poictou, from Northampton to Scotland, except what belonged to Roger de Montbegon, in Lincolnshire.[Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. i, p. 25.] Among the possessions thus gifted, were the town and wapentake of Salford. § 4. RANULPH GERNONS ENDOWS THE ABBEY OF LENTON, IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, WITH LANDS FOR THE FOUNDATION OF A CELL, OR HERMITAGE, AT KERSALL, NEAR MANchester. It has been shewn that William Peverel, the first lord of Nottingham, founded the Cluniac priory of Lenton, in Nottinghamshire. Several reasons were also advanced for the supposition, that Cluniac monks had been first introduced to the vicinity of Salford by their great benefactor, and that they had constructed the rude cell or oratory of Ordshal, formed from a cave which had been previously dedicated to Odin. That Ranulph Gernons, when he took possession of the town of Salford and lands adjoining, found certain Cluniac monks of Lenton already settled there, amounts to a very strong probability, and nothing more. In such a case, he might have made an original grant of lands for their support, or have otherwise confirmed them in the possession of territory which they might have previously enjoyed under the patronage of their former bountiful promoter, William Peverel. The deed, however, by which a cell near Manchester first became attached to the Cluniac priory of Lenton, is less presumptive of Ranulph Gernons having been a confirmer of lands previously granted at Kereshal, or Kersall, than of his having been himself an original founder. At this early period it would appear, that the manorial demesnes of Salford included the flat marshy valley to the north of the town, often overflowed by the Irwell, which here makes a sudden bend, as far as the high broken banks and stony knolls of Kersall, or Broughton. Accordingly, with the lands of Kersall, situated on the opposite shore of the river, Ranulph Gernons endowed a cell, or hermitage, for the reception of Cluniac monks, which he attached to the priory of Lenton, in Nottinghamshire. Such appear to have been the real circumstances of the foundation, devoid of all conjecture. Yet they are by no means at variance with the probability, that the monks introduced to Kersall had previously possessed the cell of Woden, at Ordeshall. On such a supposition, they might have merely removed to the vicinity of other crossing places of the Irwell, near Kersall, or Broughton, equally perilous with the ford of Ordeshall, and, no doubt, equally used ;-for it might be geographically explained, that, with the view of avoiding a détour by Manchester, these fords were continuous with a cross pathway, which, in its diversion from the Roman track near Broughton, leading from Ribchester to Mancunium, intersected another ancient course conducting to Veratinum [Warrington], until it joined, near Hulme, the road to Condate [Kinderton]. According to this view, the Cluniac monks of the cell of Kersall undertook the ancient guidance across the hazardous fords of the Irwell, when the river was dangerously swollen; an office of monastic hospitality and mercy, which met with many parallels throughout Christendom. If religious meditation first tempted pious men to people dreary solitudes, an equally urgent motive was the activity and usefulness of a social tendency, most religiously enforced by the Benedictine and Cluniac rules. But, without hazarding more speculations, we at length arrive at historical certainty : In the year 1780, Dr. Farmer discovered a deed which had been used as a lining to the cover of an old book. It consisted of a piece of parchment, six inches deep and four broad, which had suffered a little from being worm-eaten. This relic proved to be an original deed, which designated Ranulph de Gernon, Earl of Chester, as the real founder of the religious house of Kersall, or Kereshal. The following is a transcript of it from Cole's MSS., in the British Museum : R. Consul Cestria episcopo Cestria, archid' et omnibus ordinatis Dei et constab' Cestr' dapif'. B...... justiciariis, vicecomitibus, ministris et ballivis, et omnibus hominibus suis, clericis et laicis, Francis et Anglis, salutem, Sciatis, me concessisse et dedisse Deo et sanctæ Mariæ et monachis Sanctæ Trinitatis de Lenton in elemosinam Kereshelam, locum ad servicium Dei edificandum, et pasturam, et ad se dilatandum de essartis et piscariis et de rebus illis omnibus quibuscumque se dilatari et aisiari poterint. Quare volo et firmiter præcipio quod prædicti monachi bene et honorifice prædictam elemosinam solam et quietam et liberam de omni seculari servicio habeant, ne aliquis meorum super timorem Dei, et meum amorem temerè perturbet. T. Mathild. comitissa Cestriæ, et Kad waladr rege Waliarum, et Willielmo filio Alani, et Symone Corbet, et Roberto Dapifero, Ric Pencerna, et Henr. Pultrell, et Willielmo capellano apud Cestr. Such was the charter discovered between sixty and seventy years ago, which leaves no doubt whatever that Ranulph Gernons, the fourth Earl of Chester, was the actual founder of the Cluniac cell of Kersall, near Manchester. Ranulph Gernons, at the close of his life, endowed other religious houses besides those of Lenton and Kersall, among which was the monastery of Stoneley, in Warwickshire, and of Trentham, in Staffordshire. He was also a benefactor to the monks of Saint Werberg, in Chester. He died, as some genealogists state, on the 16th of December, 1153 (18th Stephen), "et portoit de gueulles au lion rampant d' argent à la cowe estant." Others assign this event to the various dates of 1155 or 1156. The death has been generally attributed to poison, administered by William Peverel, lord of Nottingham, in revenge for the forfeiture which had taken place of his heritable estates in favour of his victim. It is even added, but without any evident proof of the charge, that Maud, Countess of Chester, was privy to the assassination. William Peverel fled the kingdom, and became an exile for life. Ranulph Gernons was succeeded by Hugh Kevilioc, the fifth Earl of Chester. About this time the troublesome reign of Stephen came to a close. Henry the Second is said to have conferred the Honour of Lancaster upon "William de Bloys, third son of King Stephen, lord of the Egle and Earl of Mortaigne and Boloign, who married Isabel, daughter of William de Warren, third Earl of Warren and Surrey." He became the fourth Earl of Warren and Surrey. § 5. ALBERT [SENEX], LORD OF MANCHESTER, GIVES TO THE CHURCH OF MANCHESTER It is now time to turn our attention to the ecclesiastical affairs of Manchester, rather than to those of the contiguous town of Salford. There are a few bequests recorded of Albert [Senex], serving to connect his name with the lordship of Manchester, of which were four bovates of land ceded to Ulric of Manchester for five shillings per annum, whose descendants were stated to have long continued in possession of that land, and three bovates to Robert de Bracerigge, in consideration of four shillings annually. This baron also gave four bovates, or ox gangs, of land to the church of Manchester from his lordship "in elemosinam." The donation is supposed to have comprised a glebe in and near Denesgate, intermediate to the older and the newer town of Manchester. As it was gifted for the use of the "persona," or parson of the adjoining church of Saint Mary, it gave to the land the name, which a portion retains to the present day, of "the Parsonage." § 6. THE OLDER CHURCH OF SAINT MICHAEL, IN ALPORT, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN, BY THIS In the grant which has been cited, the four bovates of land are gifted, not to the two churches, but to "the church" ["ecclesia"] of Manchester. We may therefore suppose, that the more ancient church of Saint Michael, situated in the older town, named Alport, was long before this time in a neglected state, the chief memorial of its presence having been perpetuated in the annual fair, or feast of dedication, which would continue to be held in its vicinity. One great cause of this state of neglect must have been owing to the removal of the town of Manchester to a more northerly site, by which the older church of Alport would be no longer surrounded with habitations;-in proof of which, it may be collected from manorial documents of a later date, that Alport was at that time in the process of being converted into a park, where there was "a wood invested with oak, and yielding a pannage (or feeding for swine), an aery of hawks, herons, eagles, honey, and bees." Another cause of neglect was referable to the law enacted in the time of the Saxons, that when more than one church rose up in a parish, the younger participated in the endowment of the older one, even to a third, and shared with her in all tithes and oblations, save the church scot, which was continued to the mother-church, as an acknowledgment of her superiority. Consequently, a parish became unwilling to disperse her tithes among a greater number of poor clerks than the cure of souls demanded. A last conspiring cause may be referred to the adjacent rival oratories of Ordsall and of Kersall, belonging to the Cluniac fraternity, whose religious offices were transcendantly influential, far exceeding those of the secular clergy. It was reported of a monk of the tenth century, that in clambering to the summit of Etna, near reach of this mouth of hell, he heard from within the devils complaining, how many departed souls had been wrested from their dominion by the prayers of monks of the Cluniac order. These circumstances may sufficiently explain the decay of Saint Michael's Church in Alport, rendering it unnecessary to refer the event to the practice of the Conqueror, who, in taking in a forest and stocking it with wild animals, would demolish many family dwellings and religious houses. The exact site where the church of Saint Michael stood is perfectly unknown. As it was often customary to build a church dedicated to the archangel on the loftiest portion of the selected land, a suggestion arises, that it should be sought for on the south of Castle-field, not far from the site where three fragments of stone were actually discovered a few years ago, supposed to have belonged to an ecclesiastical structure. These interesting relics, hitherto incorrectly reported, have fortunately met with preservation in the museum of the Manchester Natural History Society. Two of them will be now described. A third is reserved for future comment. The one which represents a human face, perfectly beardless, has nothing remarkable in it, with the exception of what has been taken for hair turned back, but which might rather indicate a sort of cap, or covering for the head, especially if the countenance be assigned to a female, and not to a man." But much may be said on both sides." It is, in height, one foot ten inches; and, in breadth, one foot six inches. It is not easy to make a conjecture on the portion of ecclesiastical structure from which this fragment might have been detached, whether from some vaulted ceiling, or from some parapet, or even buttress, &c. waist. This relic might have expressed a saint, or might have been one of the figures grouped in a rood. The height is two feet four inches, and the breadth one foot four inches. § 7. ALBERT [SENEX] IS A CONSIDERABLE BENE FACTOR TO THE ABBEY OF SWINESHED, IN Albert [Senex] was a considerable benefactor to the abbey of Swineshed, in Lincolnshire, whence probably the supposition, an erroneous one, in the book of Furnes, that it was founded in 1148, in the time of Stephen. Gervase Holmes has also stated, from a MS. of Leland, "Swineshed conobium Bernardinorum a Latimerio temporibus Stephani regis inchoatum." In a confirmation charter of King Henry the Second, the different donations which formed the endowment of Swineshed Abbey are enumerated. "H., Dei gratia, Rex Angliæ, confirmed to God, and to the church of the Holy Mary of Swynesheved, and to the monks there serving God, in the place among the willows, in the marsh of Swynesheved, in which the abbey was founded, along with all the culture of meadow and a fourth part of the marsh there, and two piscina, and the mill of Burtoft, and the mill of Sudwella, and THE MILL OF MAINCESTRIA, &c., &c., &c.; and whatever Robert Greslei and Albert his son, the founders of the aforesaid abbey, gave to the same and confirmed by their charters."-[See Dugdale's Monasticon for the authority.] We also find, from Kuerden and the Testa de Nevil, that Albert [Senex] gave to the monks of Swineshed one croft, named Witacres, near Manchester. "Albertus Gredly dedit monachis de Swinshou 1 croft voc. Witacres [or Withacres], in elemosinam." Albert [Senex] was interred at Swineshed, where a monumental effigy still exists. But whether it commemorates him, or his father, cofounders of the monastery, is uncertain. § 8. THE DESCENDANTS OF ALBERT [SENEX] AND HIS INFEFTMENTS. Albert left behind him one son, Albert [Juvenis], and three daughters, severally married. Emma, his youngest child, received, in marriage to Orme Fitz-Ailward, or Eward, one knight's fee in Dalton, Parbold, and Wrightington, which then became subfeodary to the manor of Manchester, and also one carucate in Eston, for ten shillings annually ;-which Eston was, according to Dr. Ormerod's successful researches, not Ashton-sublimam, a berewick of Manchester (as is generally supposed), but Orm-Eston, now Urmstone, in the parish of Flixton. As a consequence, the alienation of the church and manor of Assheton, attributed to this marriage, is a most incorrect supposition. [From "the Stanley Legend," a genealogical memoir in the seventh vol. of the Collect. Topogr., &c., by Dr. Ormerod.] The same Albert [Senex] is also said to have given to Henry Fitz-Siward a carucate of land in Flixton, for ten shillings. Another infeftment was in favour of Thomas Perepoint of three carucates of land in Rivington, for the fourth part of a knight's service.-[Gregson's Lancashire, page lxix.] But let us now pause.-Among Lancashire genealogists there are numerous irreconcilable contradictions and obscurities regarding the succession of feudal infeftments of this particular period. For instance, in the year 1158, William de Bloys, third son of King Stephen, who possessed the Honour of Lancaster, died; but by whom he was immediately succeeded in that dignity, or whether it remained with the crown, is not very intelligible. An obscurity, no less perplexing, pervades the infeftments of the barones comitatûs, as well as the whole of their history;-for which reason, I have omitted noticing the numerous contending accounts which have been given of the Greslets, father and son,-Albert Senex, and Albert Juvenis. As it is quite impossible to reconcile these contradictions, and as the labour is, honestly, not worth the trouble, I shall (with, perhaps, some little |
