Download the Full Version of the Ebook with Added Features ebookname.

com

Mastering Unix Shell Scripting Bash Bourne and

Korn Shell Scripting for Programmers System
Administrators and UNIX Gurus Second Edition
Randal K. Michael
https://ebookname.com/product/mastering-unix-shell-
scripting-bash-bourne-and-korn-shell-scripting-for-
programmers-system-administrators-and-unix-gurus-second-
edition-randal-k-michael/

OR CLICK HERE

DOWLOAD NOW

Download more ebook instantly today at https://ebookname.com

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

Pro bash programming scripting the GNU Linux shell Second

Edition Johnson

https://ebookname.com/product/pro-bash-programming-scripting-the-gnu-
linux-shell-second-edition-johnson/

ebookname.com

Pro Bash Programming Scripting the GNU Linux Shell 1st

Edition Chris Johnson

https://ebookname.com/product/pro-bash-programming-scripting-the-gnu-
linux-shell-1st-edition-chris-johnson/

ebookname.com

Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook 1st Ed 1st Edition Sarath

Lakshman

https://ebookname.com/product/linux-shell-scripting-cookbook-1st-
ed-1st-edition-sarath-lakshman/

ebookname.com

High Speed Devices and Circuits with THz Applications 1st

Edition Jung Han Choi

https://ebookname.com/product/high-speed-devices-and-circuits-with-
thz-applications-1st-edition-jung-han-choi/

ebookname.com
The unthinkable Who survives when disaster strikes and why
5th Printing Edition Amanda Ripley

https://ebookname.com/product/the-unthinkable-who-survives-when-
disaster-strikes-and-why-5th-printing-edition-amanda-ripley/

ebookname.com

Quick easy Asian tapas and noodles Editors

https://ebookname.com/product/quick-easy-asian-tapas-and-noodles-
editors/

ebookname.com

Venture Capital Contracting and the Valuation of High

technology Firms Werner Sollors

https://ebookname.com/product/venture-capital-contracting-and-the-
valuation-of-high-technology-firms-werner-sollors/

ebookname.com

Node js in Practice 1st Edition Alex R. Young

https://ebookname.com/product/node-js-in-practice-1st-edition-alex-r-
young/

ebookname.com

Building a Windows IT Infrastructure in the Cloud

Distributed Hosted Environments with AWS 1st Edition David
K. Rensin
https://ebookname.com/product/building-a-windows-it-infrastructure-in-
the-cloud-distributed-hosted-environments-with-aws-1st-edition-david-
k-rensin/
ebookname.com
Mabberley s Plant book A Portable Dictionary of Plants
Their Classification and Uses 4th Edition David Mabberley

https://ebookname.com/product/mabberley-s-plant-book-a-portable-
dictionary-of-plants-their-classification-and-uses-4th-edition-david-
mabberley/
ebookname.com
 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page iii

®
Mastering UNIX Shell
Scripting

Bash, Bourne, and Korn Shell

Scripting for Programmers, System
Administrators, and UNIX Gurus
Second Edition

Randal K. Michael

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page ii
 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page i

Mastering UNIX®Shell
Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com>

Scripting
Second Edition
Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page ii
 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page iii

®
Mastering UNIX Shell
Scripting

Bash, Bourne, and Korn Shell

Scripting for Programmers, System
Administrators, and UNIX Gurus
Second Edition

Randal K. Michael

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page iv

Mastering UNIX®Shell Scripting: Bash, Bourne, and Korn Shell Scripting for
Programmers, System Administrators, and UNIX Gurus, Second Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Randal K. Michael
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-18301-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or
otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States
Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or
authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978)
646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal
Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317)
572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no
representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents
of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation
warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by
sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be
suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is
not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional
assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact
that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential
source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the
information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make.
Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have
changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support,
please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside
the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from publisher.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered
trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other
countries, and may not be used without written permission. UNIX is a registered
trademark of The Open Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in
this book.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears
in print may not be available in electronic books.
 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page v

This book is dedicated to my wife Robin, the girls, Andrea and Ana, and
the grandchildren, Gavin, Jocelyn, and Julia — my true inspiration.
Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page vi
 Michael fabout.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:34pm Page vii

About the Author

Randal K. Michael is a UNIX Systems Administrator working as a contract consultant.

He teaches UNIX shell scripting in corporate settings, where he writes shell scripts to
address a variety of complex problems and tasks, ranging from monitoring systems to
replicating large databases. He has more than 30 years of experience in the industry
and 15 years of experience as a UNIX Systems Administrator, working on AIX, HP-UX,
Linux, OpenBSD, and Solaris.

vii
Michael fabout.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:34pm Page viii
 Michael fcre.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:35pm Page ix

Credits

Executive Editor Production Manager

Carol Long Tim Tate

Development Editor Vice President and Executive Group

John Sleeva Publisher
Richard Swadley
Technical Editor
Vice President and Executive Publisher
John Kennedy
Joseph B. Wikert
Production Editor
Project Coordinator, Cover
Dassi Zeidel Lynsey Stanford
Copy Editor Proofreader
Kim Cofer Candace English
Editorial Manager Indexer
Mary Beth Wakefield Robert Swanson

ix
Michael fcre.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:35pm Page x
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xi

Contents

Acknowledgments xxv
Introduction xxvii

Part One The Basics of Shell Scripting

Chapter 1 Scripting Quick Start and Review 3
Case Sensitivity 3
UNIX Special Characters 3
Shells 4
Shell Scripts 4
Functions 4
Running a Shell Script 5
Declare the Shell in the Shell Script 6
Comments and Style in Shell Scripts 6
Control Structures 8
if . . . then statement 8
if . . . then . . . else statement 8
if . . . then . . . elif . . . (else) statement 9
for . . . in statement 9
while statement 9
until statement 9
case statement 10
Using break, continue, exit, and return 10
Here Document 11
Shell Script Commands 12
Symbol Commands 14
Variables 15
Command-Line Arguments 15
shift Command 16
Special Parameters $* and $@ 17
Special Parameter Definitions 17
Double Quotes, Forward Tics, and Back Tics 18

xi
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xii

xii Contents

Using awk on Solaris 19

Using the echo Command Correctly 19
Math in a Shell Script 20
Operators 20
Built-In Mathematical Functions 21
File Permissions, suid and sgid Programs 21
chmod Command Syntax for Each Purpose 22
To Make a Script Executable 22
To Set a Program to Always Execute as the Owner 23
To Set a Program to Always Execute as a Member of the
File Owner’s Group 23
To Set a Program to Always Execute as Both the File
Owner and the File Owner’s Group 23
Running Commands on a Remote Host 23
Setting Traps 25
User-Information Commands 25
who Command 26
w Command 26
last Command 26
ps Command 27
Communicating with Users 27
Uppercase or Lowercase Text for Easy Testing 28
Check the Return Code 29
Time-Based Script Execution 30
Cron Tables 30
Cron Table Entry Syntax 31
at Command 31
Output Control 32
Silent Running 32
Using getopts to Parse Command-Line Arguments 33
Making a Co-Process with Background Function 34
Catching a Delayed Command Output 36
Fastest Ways to Process a File Line-by-Line 37
Using Command Output in a Loop 40
Mail Notification Techniques 41
Using the mail and mailx Commands 41
Using the sendmail Command to Send Outbound Mail 41
Creating a Progress Indicator 43
A Series of Dots 43
A Rotating Line 43
Elapsed Time 44
Working with Record Files 45
Working with Strings 46
Creating a Pseudo-Random Number 47
Using /dev/random and /dev/urandom 48
Checking for Stale Disk Partitions in AIX 48
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xiii

Contents xiii

Automated Host Pinging 49

Highlighting Specific Text in a File 49
Keeping the Printers Printing 50
AIX ‘‘Classic’’ Printer Subsystem 50
System V and CUPS Printing 50
Automated FTP File Transfer 51
Using rsync to Replicate Data 51
Simple Generic rsync Shell Script 52
Capturing a List of Files Larger than $MEG 53
Capturing a User’s Keystrokes 53
Using the bc Utility for Floating-Point Math 54
Number Base Conversions 55
Using the typeset Command 55
Using the printf Command 55
Create a Menu with the select Command 56
Removing Repeated Lines in a File 58
Removing Blank Lines from a File 58
Testing for a Null Variable 58
Directly Access the Value of the Last Positional Parameter, $# 59
Remove the Column Headings in a Command Output 59
Arrays 60
Loading an Array 60
Testing a String 61
Summary 65
Chapter 2 24 Ways to Process a File Line-by-Line 67
Command Syntax 67
Using File Descriptors 68
Creating a Large File to Use in the Timing Test 68
24 Methods to Parse a File Line-by-Line 73
Method 1: cat while read LINE 74
Method 2: while read LINE bottom 75
Method 3: cat while LINE line 76
Method 4: while LINE line bottom 77
Method 5: cat while LINE line cmdsub2 78
Method 6: while LINE line bottom cmdsub2 79
Method 7: for LINE cat FILE 79
Method 8: for LINE cat FILE cmdsub2 80
Method 9: while line outfile 81
Method 10: while read LINE FD IN 81
Method 11: cat while read LINE FD OUT 83
Method 12: while read LINE bottom FD OUT 85
Method 13: while LINE line bottom FD OUT 86
Method 14: while LINE line bottom cmdsub2 FD OUT 87
Method 15: for LINE cat FILE FD OUT 87
Method 16: for LINE cat FILE cmdsub2 FD OUT 88
Method 17: while line outfile FD
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
the south of the Thames.”[10] After suffering a defeat at Wilton
almost at the outset of his career, Alfred surprised and overthrew the
Danish camp at Eddington; Guthrum, their leader, and the whole of
his followers were taken prisoners, but afterwards liberated and
permitted to colonise East Anglia, and subsequently Northumbria, an
act of clemency which entailed most disastrous consequences upon
the different sections of the latter province. The Fylde now became
the legalised abode of numbers of the northern race, between whom
and the Saxon settlers perpetual strife was carried on; in addition
the restless and covetous spirit of the new colonists constantly
prompted them to raids beyond the legitimate limits of their territory,
rebellions amongst themselves, and conspiracies against the king;
insurrection followed insurrection, and it was not until Athelstan had
inflicted a decisive blow upon the Danish forces, and brought the
seditious province of Northumbria under his own more immediate
dominion, that a short lull of peace was obtained. In the reign of his
successor, however, they broke out again, and having been once
more reduced to order, agreed to take the name of Christians, abjure
their false gods, and live quietly henceforth. These promises, made
to appease the anger of Edmund, were only temporarily observed,
and their turbulent natures were never tranquilised until Canute, the
first Danish king, ascended the throne of England in 1017. The Norse
line of monarchs comprised only three, and terminated in 1041.
Reverting to Athelstan and the Danes we find that about ten years
after the subjugation of the latter in 926, as recorded in the Saxon
Chronicle, Anlaf, a noted Danish chieftain, made a vigorous attempt
to regain Northumbria. The site of the glorious battle where this
ambitious project was overthrown and the army of Anlaf routed and
driven to seek refuge in flight from the shore, on which they had but
a short time previously landed exulting in a prospect of conquest
and plunder, is a matter of dispute, and nothing authentic can be
discovered concerning it beyond the fact that the name of the town
or district where the forces met was Brunandune or Brunanburgh,
and was situated in the province of Northumbria. The former
orthography is used in Ethelwerd’s Chronicle:—“A fierce battle was
fought against the barbarians at Brunandune, whereof that fight is
called great even to the present day; then the barbarian tribes were
defeated and domineer no longer; they are driven beyond the
ocean.” Burn, in Thornton township, is one of the several rival
localities which claim to have witnessed the sanguinary conflict. In
the Domesday Survey, Burn was written Brune, and it also comprises
a rising ground or Dune, which seem to imply some connection with
Brunandune. From an ancient song or poem, bearing the date 937, it
is clear that the battle lasted from sunrise to sunset, and that at
night-fall Anlaf and the remnant of his followers, being utterly
discomfited, escaped from the coast in the manner before described.
This circumstance also upholds the pretentions of Burn, as it is
situated close to the banks of the Wyre, and at a very short distance
both from the Irish Sea and Morecambe Bay, as well as being in the
direct line of the road called Danes’ Pad, the track usually taken by
the Northmen in former incursions into the Fylde and county. In
addition it may be mentioned that tradition affirms that a large
quantity of human bones were ploughed up in a field between Burn
and Poulton about a century ago. Sharon Turner says:—“It is
singular that the position of this famous battle is not yet ascertained.
The Saxon song says it was at Brunanburgh; Ethelwerd, a
contemporary, names the place Brunandune. These of course are
the same place, but where is it?”[11] Having done our best to
suggest or rather renew an answer presenting several points worthy
of consideration to Mr. Turner’s query, we will, before bidding
farewell to the subject, give our readers a translated extract from
the old song to which allusion has been made:—
Athelstan king,
Of earls the Lord,
Of Heroes the bracelet giver,
And his brother eke,
Edmund Atheling,
Life-long glory,
In battle won,
With edges of swords,
Near Brunanburgh.
 The field was dyed
With warriors blood,
Since the sun, up
At morning tide,
Mighty planet,
Gilded o’er grounds,
God’s candle bright,
The eternal Lord’s,
Till the noble creature
Sank to her rest.
...
West Saxons onwards
Throughout the day,
In numerous bands
Pursued the footsteps
Of the loathed nations.
They hewed the fugitives,
Behind, amain,
With swords mill-sharp.
Mercians refused not
The hard-hand play
To any heroes,
Who with Anlaf,
Over the ocean,
In the ship’s bosom,
This land sought.
...
There was made to flee
The Northmens’ chieftain,
By need constrained,
To the ships prow
With a little band.
The bark drove afloat.
The king departed.
On the fallow flood
His life he preserved.
The Northmen departed
In their nailed barks
On roaring ocean.

Athelstan, in order to encourage commerce and agriculture,

enacted that any of the humbler classes, called Ceorls, who had
crossed the sea thrice with their own merchandise, or who,
individually, possessed five hides of land, a bell-house, a church, a
kitchen, and a separate office in the king’s hall, should be raised to
the privileged rank of Thane. Sometime in the interval between the
death of this monarch, in 941, and the arrival of William the
Conqueror, the Hundred of Amounderness had been relinquished by
the See of York, probably owing to frequent wars and disturbances
having so ruined the country and thinned the inhabitants that the
grant had ceased to be profitable.
During the earlier part of the Saxon era the clergy claimed one
tenth or tithe of the produce of the soil, and exemption for their
monasteries and churches from all taxations. These demands were
resisted for a considerable period, but at length were conceded by
Ethelwulf “for the honour of God, and for his own everlasting
salvation.”[12] In 1002, it is recorded in the Saxon Chronicle, that
“the king (Ethelred) ordered all the Danish men who were in
England to be slain, because it was made known to him that they
would treacherously bereave him of his life, and after that have his
kingdom without any gainsaying.” In accordance with the royal
mandate, which was circulated in secret, the Anglo-Saxon populace
of the villages and farms of the Fylde, as elsewhere, rose at the
appointed day upon the unprepared and unsuspecting Northmen,
barbarously massacring old and young, male and female alike. Great
must have been the slaughter in districts like our own, where from
the Danes having been established for so many generations and its
proximity to the coast and the estuaries of Wyre and Ribble, a safe
landing and a friendly soil would be insured, and attract numbers of
their countrymen from Scandinavia. The vengeance of Sweyn, king
of Denmark, was speedy and complete; the country of Northumbria
was laid waste, towns and hamlets were pillaged and destroyed, and
for four years all that fire and sword, spurred on by hatred and
revenge, could effect in depopulating and devastating a land was
accomplished in Lancashire, and the neighbouring counties, by the
enraged Dane. Half a century later than the events just narrated,
earl Tosti, the brother of Harold, who forfeited his life and kingdom
to the Norman invaders on the field of Hastings, was chosen duke of
Northumbria. The seat of the new ruler has not been discovered, but
as far as his personal association with the Fylde is concerned it will
be sufficient to state that almost on its boundaries, in the township
of Preston, he held six hundred acres of cultivated soil, to which all
the lands and villages of Amounderness were tributary. As a
governor Tosti proved himself both brutal and oppressive. In a very
limited space of time his tyrannical and merciless conduct goaded his
subjects to rebellion, and with one consent they ejected him from
his dukedom and elected earl Morcar in his stead, a step
commended and confirmed by Harold, when the unjust severity of
his brother had been made known to him. Tosti embraced the
Norman cause, and fell at the head of a Norwegian force in an
engagement which took place at Standford a few months before the
famous and eventful battle of Hastings.
We have now traced briefly the history of the Fylde through a
period of eleven hundred years, and before entering on the era
which dates from the accession of William the Conqueror, it will be
well to review the traces and influences of the three dissimilar races,
which have at different epochs usurped and settled on the territory
of the old Setantii; our reference is, of course, to the Romans,
Anglo-Saxons, and Danes. Under the first, great advances were
made in civilisation; clearings were effected in the woods, the
marshes were trenched, and lasting lines of communication were
established between the various stations and encampments. The
peaceful arts were cultivated, and agriculture made considerable
progress, corn even, from some parts of Britain, being exported to
the continent. Remains of the Roman occupation are to be observed
in the names of a few towns, as Colne and Lincoln, from Colonia, a
Colony, also Chester and Lancaster, from Castra, a Camp, as well as
in relics like those enumerated earlier. The word “street” is derived
from Stratum, a layer, covering, or pavement. Their festival of Flora
originated our May-day celebrations, and the paraphernalia of
marriage, including the ring, veil, gifts, bride-cake, bridesmaids, and
groomsmen, are Roman; so also are the customs of strewing flowers
upon graves, and wearing black in time of mourning. That the
Romans had many stations in the Fylde is improbable, but that they
certainly had one in the township of Kirkham is shown by the
number and character of the relics found there. This settlement
would seem to have been a fairly populous one, if an opinion may be
formed from the quantity of cinereal urns discovered at various
times, in which had been deposited the cremated remains of
Romans, who had spent their days and done good service in
levelling the forests and developing the resources of the Fylde. The
traffic over the Roman road through the district must have been
almost continuous, to judge from the abundance of horse-shoes and
other matters picked up along its route, and whether the harbour of
the Setantii was on Wyre, Ribble, or elsewhere, it is evident from the
course taken by the well constructed path that something of
importance, say a favourable spot for embarcation or debarcation,
attracted the inhabitants across the soil of the Fylde towards its
north-west boundary. Now arises the question what was the
boundary here denoted, and in reply we venture to suggest that the
extent of this district, in both a northerly and westerly direction, was
much greater in ancient days than it is in our own, and that the Lune
formed its highest boundary, whilst its seaward limits, opposite
Rossall, were carried out to a distance of nearly eight miles beyond
the existing coast, and comprised what is now denominated Shell
Wharf, a bank so shallowly covered at low water spring tides that
huge boulders become visible all over it. Novel as such a theory may
at first sight appear, there is much that can be advanced in support
of it. From about the point in Morecambe Bay, near the foot of Wyre
Lighthouse, where the stream of Wyre meets that of Lune at right
angles, there is the commencement of a long deep channel,
apparently continuous with the bed of the latter river as defined by
its sandbanks, which extends out into the Irish Sea for rather more
than seven miles west of the mouth of Morecambe Bay, at Rossall
Point. This channel, called “Lune Deep,” is described on the
authorised charts as being in several places twenty-seven fathoms
deep, in others rather less, and at its somewhat abrupt termination
twenty-three fathoms. Throughout the entire length its boundaries
are well and clearly marked, and its sudden declivity is described by
the local mariners as being “steep as a house side.” Regarding this
curious phenomenon from every available point of view, it seems
more probable to us that so long and perfect a channel was formed
at an early period, when the river Lune was, as we conjecture,
continued from its present mouth, at Heysham Point, through green
plains, now the Bay of Lancaster, in the direction and to the distance
of “Lune Deep,” than that it was excavated by the current of Lune,
as it exists to-day, after mingling with the waters of Morecambe and
Wyre. The course and completeness of Wyre channel from
Fleetwood, between the sandbanks called Bernard’s Wharf and
North Wharf, to its point of junction with the stream from Lancaster,
prove satisfactorily that at one time the former river was a tributary
of the Lune. Other evidence can be brought forward of the theory
we are wishful to establish—that the southern portion of Morecambe
Bay, from about Heysham Point, bearing the name of Lancaster Bay,
as well as “Shell Wharf” was about the era of the Romans, dry or, at
least, marshy land watered by the Wyre and Lune, the latter of
which would open on the west coast immediately into the Irish Sea.
If the reader refer to a map of Lancashire he will see at once that
the smaller bay has many appearances of having been added to the
larger one, and that its floor is formed by a continuous line of banks,
uncovered each ebb tide and intersected only by the channels of
Wyre and Lune. The Land Mark, at Rossall Point, has been removed
several times owing to the incursions of the sea, and within the
memory of the living generation wide tracts of soil, amounting to
more than a quarter of a mile westward, have been swallowed up on
that part of the coast, as the strong currents of the rising tides have
swept into the bay; and in such manner would the land about the
estuary of “Lune Deep,” that is the original river of Lune, be washed
away. As the encroachments of the sea progressed, the channel of
the river would be gradually widened and deepened to the present
dimensions of the “Deep”; the stream of Wyre would by degrees be
brought more immediately under the tidal influence, and in
proportion as the Lune was absorbed into the bay, so would its
tributary lose its shallowness and insignificance, and become
expanded to a more important and navigable size. About the time
that “Lune Deep” had ceased to exist as a river, and become part of
the bay, the overcharged banks of the Wyre would have yielded up
their super-abundance of waters over the districts now marked by
Bernard’s Wharf and North Wharf, and subsequently, as the waves
continued their incursions, inundations would increase, until finally
the whole territory, forming the site of Lancaster Bay, would be
submerged and appropriated by the rapacious hosts of Neptune. The
“Shell Wharf” would be covered in a manner exactly similar to the
more recently lost fields off Rossall; and as illustrations of land
carried away from the west coast in that neighbourhood, may be
instanced a farm called Fenny, at Rossall, which was removed back
from threatened destruction by the waves at least four times within
the last fifty years, when its re-building was abandoned, and its site
soon swept over by the billows; also the village of Singleton Thorp,
which occupied the locality marked by “Singleton Skeer” off
Cleveleys until 1555, when it was destroyed by an irruption of the
sea. Numerous other instances in which the coast line has been
altered and driven eastward, between Rossall Point and the mouth
of Ribble, during both actually and comparatively modern days might
be cited, but the above are sufficient to support our view of the
former connection of “Shell Wharf” with the main-land, and its
gradual submersion. If on the map, the Bay of Lancaster be
detached from that of Morecambe, the latter still retains a most
imposing aspect, and its identity with the Moricambe Æstuarium of
Ptolemy is in no way interfered with or rendered less evident. The
foregoing, as our antiquarian readers will doubtless have surmised,
is but a prelude to something more, for it is our purpose to
endeavour to disturb the forty years of quiet repose enjoyed by the
Portus Setantiorum on the banks of the Wyre and hurl it far into the
Irish Sea, to the very limits of the “Lune Deep,” where, on the
original estuary of the river Lune, we believe to be its legitimate
home. No locality, as yet claiming to be the site of the ancient
harbour, accords so well with the distances given by Ptolemy.
Assuming the Dee and the Ribble to represent respectively, as now
generally admitted, the Seteia Æstuarium and the Belisama
Æstuarium, the Portus Setantiorum should lie about seven miles[13]
to the west and twenty-five to the north of the Belisama. The
position of the “Lune Deep” termination is just about seven miles to
the west of the estuary of the Ribble, but is, like most other places
whose stations have been mentioned by Ptolemy, defective in its
latitudinal measurement according to the record left by that
geographer, being only fifteen instead of twenty-five miles north of
the Belisama or Ribble estuary. Rigodunum, or Ribchester, is fully
thirty miles to the east of the spot where it is wished to locate the
Portus, and thus approaches very nearly to the forty-mile
measurement of Ptolemy, whose distances, as just hinted, were
universally excessive. As an instance of such error it may be stated
that the longitude, east from Ferro, of Morecambe Bay or Estuary
given by Ptolemy, is 3° 40´ in excess of that marked on modern
maps of ancient Britannia, and if the same over-plus be allowed in
the longitude of the Portus Setantiorum a line drawn in accordance,
from north to south, would pass across the west extremity of the
“Lune Deep,” showing that its distance from the Bay corresponds
pretty accurately with that of the Portus from the Morecambe
Æstuarium as geographically fixed by Ptolemy. In describing the
extent and direction of the Roman road, or Danes’ Pad, in his
“History of Blackpool and Neighbourhood,” Mr. Thornber writes:
—“Commencing at the terminus, we trace its course from the
Warren, near the spot named the ‘Abbot’s walk’;” but that the place
thus indicated was not the terminus, in the sense of end or origin, is
proved by the fact that shortly after the publication of this
statement, the workmen engaged in excavating for a sea-wall
foundation in that vicinity came upon the road in the sand on the
very margin of the Warren. Hence it would seem that the path was
continued onwards over the site of the North Wharf sand bank,
either towards the foot of Wyre where its channel joins that of Lune,
and where would be the original mouth of the former river, or, as we
think more probable, towards the Lune itself, and along its banks
westward to the estuary of the stream, as now marked by the
termination of “Lune Deep.” The Wyre, during the period it existed
simply as a tributary of the Lune, a name very possibly compounded
from the Celtic al, chief, and aun, or un, contractions of afon, a river,
must have been a stream of comparatively slight utility in a
navigable point of view, and even to this day its seaward channel
from Fleetwood is obstructed by two shallows, denominated from
time out of mind the Great and Little Fords. The Lune, or “Chief
River,” on the contrary, was evidently, from its very title, whether
acquired from its relative position to its tributary, or from its
favourable comparison with other rivers of the neighbourhood, which
is less likely, regarded by the natives as a stream of no insignificant
magnitude and importance. As far as its navigability was concerned
the Portus may have been placed on its banks near to the junction
of Wyre, but the distances of Ptolemy, which agree pretty fairly, as
shown above, with the location of the Portus on the west extremity
of the present “Lune Deep,” are incompatible with such a station as
this one for the same harbour. The collection of coins discovered
near Rossall may imply the existence in early days of a settlement
west of that shore, and many remains of the Romans may yet be
mingled with the sand and shingle for centuries submerged by the
water of the still encroaching Irish Sea. Leaving this long-argued
question of the real site of the Portus Setantiorum, in which perhaps
the patience of our readers has been rather unduly tried, and
soliciting others to test more thoroughly the merits of the ideas here
thrown out, we will hasten to examine the traces of the Anglo-
Saxons and Danes.
Many, in fact most, of the towns and villages of the Fylde were
founded by the Anglo-Saxons, and have retained the names,
generally in a modified form, bestowed upon them by that race, as
instance Singleton, Lytham, Mythorp, all of which have Saxon
terminals signifying a dwelling, village, or enclosure. The word
hearb, genitive hearges, indicates in the vocabulary of the same
people a heathen temple or place of sacrifice, and as it is to be
traced in the endings of Goosnargh, and Kellamergh, there need be
no hesitation in surmising that the barbarous and pagan rites of the
Saxons were celebrated there, before their conversion to Christianity.
Ley, or lay, whether at the beginning of a name, as in Layton, or at
end, as in Boonley, signifies a field, and is from the Saxon leag;
whilst Hawes and Holme imply, respectively, a group of thorps or
hamlets, and a river island. Breck, Warbreck, and Larbreck, derive
their final syllables from the Norse brecka, a gentle rise; and from
that language comes also the terminal by, in Westby, Ribby, and
other places, as well as the kirk in Kirkham, all of which point out
the localities occupied by the Danes, or Norsemen. Lund was
doubtless the site of a sacred grove of these colonists and the scene
of many a dark and cruel ceremony, its derivation being from the
ancient Norse lundr, a consecrated grove, where such rites were
performed.
At the present time it is difficult, if indeed possible, to determine
from what races our own native population has descended, and the
subject is one which has provoked more than a little controversy.
Palgrave, in his “History of the Anglo-Saxons,” says:—“From the
Ribble in Lancashire, or thereabouts, up to the Clyde, there existed a
dense population composed of Britons, who preserved their national
language and customs, agreeing in all respects with the Welsh of the
present day; so that even to the tenth century the ancient Britons
still inhabited the greater part of the west coast of the island,
however much they had been compelled to yield to the political
supremacy of the Saxon invaders.” Mr. Thornber states that he has
been “frequently told by those who were reputed judges” that the
manners, customs, and dialect of the Fylde partook far more of the
Welsh than of the Saxon, and that this was more perceptible half a
century ago than now (1837). “The pronunciation,” he adds, “of the
words—laughing, toffee, haughendo, etc., the Shibboleth of the
Fylde—always reminds me of the deep gutterals of the Welsh,[14]
and the frequent use of a particular oath is, alas! too common to
both.” Another investigator, Dr. Robson, holds an entirely different
opinion, and maintains in his paper on Lancashire and Cheshire, that
there is no sufficient foundation for the common belief that the
inhabitants of any portion of those counties have been at any time
either Welsh, or Celtic; and that the Celtic tribes at the earliest
known period were confined to certain districts, which may be
traced, together with the extent of their dominions, by the Celtic
names of places both in Wales and Cornwall. From another source
we are informed that at the date of the Roman abdication the
original Celtic population would have dwindled down to an
insignificant number acting as serfs and tillers of the land, and not
likely to have much influence upon future generations. Mr. Hardwick,
in his History of Preston, writes:—“Few women would accompany
the Roman colonists, auxiliaries, and soldiers into Britain; hence it is
but rational to conclude, that during the long period of their
dominion, numerous intermarriages with the native population would
take place.” Admitting the force of reasoning brought forward by the
last authority, it can readily be conceived that the purity of the
aboriginal tribes would in a great measure be destroyed at an early
epoch, and that subsequent alliances with the Anglo-Saxons, Danes,
and Normans, have rendered all conjectures as to the race of
forefathers to which the inhabitants of the Fylde have most claim
practically valueless.
The dense forests with which our district in the earliest historic
periods abounded must have been well supplied with beasts of
chase, whereon the Aborigines exercised their courage and craft,
and from which their clothing and, in a great measure, their
sustenance were derived. The large branching horns of the Wild
Deer have been found in the ground at Larbrick, and during the
excavations for the North Union and East Lancashire Railway Bridges
over the Ribble, in 1838 and 1846 respectively, numerous remains of
the huge ox, called the Bos primigenius, and the Bos longifrons, or
long-faced ox, as well as of wild boars and bears, were raised from
beneath the bed of the river, so that it is extremely likely that similar
relics of the brute creation are lying deeply buried in our soil. Such a
supposition is at least warranted by the discovery, half-a-century
ago, of the skull and short upright horns of a stag and those of an
ox, of a breed no longer known, at the bottom of a marl pit near
Rossall. Bones and sculls, chiefly those of deer and oxen, have been
taken from under the peat in all the mosses, and two osseous relics,
consisting each of skull and horns, of immense specimens of the
latter animal, have been dug up at Kirkham. In the “Reliquiæ
Diluvianæ” of Mr. Buckland is a figure of the scull of a rhinoceros
belonging to the antediluvian age, and stated to have been
discovered beneath a moss in Lancashire.
 CHAPTER II.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO JAMES THE
FIRST.
When the battle of Hastings, in 1066, had terminated in favour of
William the Conqueror, and placed him on the throne of England, he
indulged his newly acquired power in many acts of tyranny towards
the vanquished nation, subjecting the old nobility to frequent
indignities, weakening the sway of the Church, and impoverishing
the middle and lower classes of the community. This harsh policy
spread dissatisfaction and indignation through all ranks of the
people, and it was not long before rebellion broke out in the old
province of Northumbria. The Lancastrians and others, under the
earls Morcar and Edwin, rose up in revolt, slew the Norman Baron
set over them, and were only reduced to order and submission when
William appeared on the scene at the head of an overwhelming
force. The two earls escaped across the frontier to Scotland, and for
some inexplicable reason were permitted to retain their possessions
in Lancashire and elsewhere, while the common insurgents were
afterwards treated with great severity and cruelty by their Norman
rulers. Numerous castles were now erected in the north of England
to hold the Saxons in subjection, and guard against similar
outbreaks in future. Those at Lancaster and Liverpool were built by a
Norman Baron of high position, named Roger de Poictou, the third
son of Robert de Montgomery, earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury.
When William divided the conquered territory amongst his followers,
the Honor[15] of Lancaster and the Hundred of Amounderness fell,
amongst other gifts, amounting in all to three hundred and ninety-
eight manors,[16] to that nobleman, and, as he resided during a
large portion of his time at the castle erected on the banks of the
Lune, our district would receive a greater share of attention than his
more distant possessions.
After the country had been restored to peace, William determined
to institute an inquiry into the condition and resources of his
kingdom. The records of the survey were afterwards bound up in
two volumes, which received the name of the Domesday Book, from
Dome, a census, and Boc, a book.
The king’s commands to the investigators were, according to the
Saxon Chronicle, to ascertain—“How many hundreds of hydes were
in each shire, what lands the king himself had, and what stock there
was upon the land; or what dues he ought to have by the year from
each shire. Also he commissioned them to record in writing, how
much land his archbishops had and his diocesan bishops, and his
abbots and his earls; what or how much each man had, who was an
occupier of land in England, either in land or stock, and how much
money it was worth. So very narrowly, indeed, did he commission
them to trace it out, that there was not one single hide, nor a yard
of land; nay, moreover (it is shameful to tell, though he thought it no
shame to do it), not even an ox, nor a cow, nor a swine, was there
left that was not set down in his writ.” The examination was
commenced in 1080, and six years afterwards the whole of the
laborious task was accomplished. In this compilation the county of
Lancaster is never once mentioned by name, but the northern
portion is joined to the Yorkshire survey, and the southern to that of
Cheshire.
The following is a translation of that part of Domesday Book
relating to the Fylde:—
Agemundernesse under Evrvic—scire (Yorkshire).
Poltun (Poulton), two carucates;[17] Rushale (Rossall), two carucates;
Brune (Burn), two carucates; Torentun (Thornton), six carucates;
Carlentun (Carleton), four carucates; Meretun (Marton), six carucates;
Staininghe (Staining), six carucates.
Biscopham (Bispham), eight carucates; Latun (Layton), six carucates.
 Chicheham (Kirkham), four carucates; Salewic (Salwick), one carucate;
Cliftun (Clifton), two carucates; Newtune (Newton-with-Scales), two
carucates; Frecheltune (Freckleton), four carucates; Rigbi (Ribby-with-
Wray), six carucates; Treueles (Treales), two carucates; Westbi (Westby),
two carucates; Pluntun (Plumptons), two carucates; Widetun (Weeton),
three carucates; Pres (Preese), two carucates; Midehope (Mythorp), one
carucate; Wartun (Warton), four carucates; Singletun (Singleton), six
carucates; Greneholf (Greenhalgh), three carucates; Hameltune
(Hambleton), two carucates.
Lidun (Lytham), two carucates.
Michelescherche (St. Michael’s-on-Wyre), one carucate; Pluntun (Wood
Plumpton) five carucates; Rodecliff (Upper Rawcliffe), two carucates;
Rodecliff (Middle Rawcliffe), two carucates; a third Rodecliff (Out
Rawcliffe), three carucates; Eglestun (Ecclestons), two carucates;
Edeleswic (Elswick), three carucates; Inscip (Inskip), two carucates; Sorbi
(Sowerby), one carucate.
All these vills belong to Prestune (Preston); and there are three
churches (in Amounderness). In sixteen of these vills[18] there are but
few inhabitants—but how many there are is not known.
The rest are waste. Roger de Poictou had [the whole].
When we read the concluding remark—“The rest are waste,” and
observe the insignificant proportion of the many thousands of acres
comprised in the Fylde at that time under cultivation, we are made
forcibly cognizant of the truly deplorable condition to which the
district had been reduced by ever-recurring warfare through a long
succession of years. There is no guide to the number of the
inhabitants, excepting, perhaps, the existence of only three churches
in the whole Hundred of Amounderness, and this can scarcely be
admitted as certain evidence of the paucity of the population, as in
the harassed and unsettled state in which they lived it is not very
probable that the people would be much concerned about the public
observances of religious ceremonials or services. The churches
alluded to were situated at Preston, Kirkham, and St. Michael’s-on-
Wyre. The parish church at Poulton was the next one erected, and
appears to have been standing less than ten years after the
completion of the Survey, for Roger de Poictou, when he founded
the priory of St. Mary, Lancaster, in 1094, endowed it with—“Pulton
in Agmundernesia, and whatsoever belonged to it, and the church,
with one carucate of land, and all other things belonging to it.”[19]
The terminal paragraph of the foundation-charter of the monastery
states that Geoffrey, the sheriff, having heard of the liberal grants of
Roger de Poictou, also bestowed upon it—“the tithes of Biscopham,
whatever he had in Lancaster, some houses, and an orchard.” It is
difficult to determine whether a church existed in the township of
Bispham at that date or not, but as no such edifice is included in the
above list of benefactions, we are inclined to believe that it was not
erected until later. The earliest mention of it occurs in the reign of
Richard I., 1189 to 1199, when Theobald Walter quitclaimed to the
abbot of Sees “all his right in the advowson of Pulton, with the
church of Biscopham.”[20]
The rebellious and ungrateful conduct of Roger de Poictou
ultimately led to his banishment out of the country, and the
forfeiture of the whole of his extensive possessions to the crown.
The Hundred of Amounderness was conveyed by the King on the
22nd of April, 1194, being the fifth year of his reign, to Theobald
Walter, the son of Hervens, a Norman who had accompanied the
Conqueror. “Be it known,” says the document, “that we give and
confirm to Theobald Walter the whole of Amounderness with its
appurtenances by the service of three Knights’ fees, namely, all the
domain thereto belonging, all the services of the Knights who hold of
the fee of Amounderness by Knight’s service, all the service of the
Free-tenants of Amounderness, all the Forest of Amounderness, with
all the Venison, and all the Pleas of the Forest.” His rights “are to be
freely and quietly allowed,” continues the deed, “in wood and plain,
in meadows and pastures, in highways and footpaths, in waters and
mills, in mill-ponds, in fish-ponds and fishings, in peat-lands, moors
and marshes, in wreck of the sea, in fairs and markets, in
advowsons and chapelries, and in all liberties and free customs.”
Amongst the barons of Lancashire given in the MSS. of Percival is
—“Theobald Walter, baron of Weeton and Amounderness,” but, as
Weeton never existed as a barony, it is clear that the former title is
an error. The “Black Book of the Exchequer,” the oldest record after
the “Domesday Book,” has entered in it the tenants and fees de
veteri feoffamento[21] and de novo feoffamento,[22] and amongst
others is a statement that Theobald Walter held Amounderness by
the service of one Knight, thus the later charter, just quoted, must
be regarded as a confirmation of a previous grant, and not as an
original donation. He was an extensive founder of monastic houses,
and amongst the abbeys established by him was that of Cockersand,
which he endowed with the whole Hay of Pylin (Pilling) in
Amounderness. He was appointed sheriff of the county of Lancaster
by Richard I. in 1194, and retained the office until the death of that
monarch five years afterwards. His son, Theobald, married Maud,
sister to the celebrated Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury,
and assumed the title of his office when created Chief Butler of
Ireland. The family of the same name which inhabited Rawcliffe Hall
until that property was confiscated through the treasonable part
played by Henry Butler and his son Richard in the rebellion of 1715,
was directly descended from Theobald Walter-Butler. The Butlers of
Kirkland, the last of whom, Alexander Butler, died in 1811, and was
succeeded by a great-nephew, were also representatives of the
ancient race of Walter, and preserved the line unbroken. Theobald
Walter, the elder, died in 1206, and Amounderness reverted to the
crown.
Richard I. a few years before his death presented the Honor of
Lancaster to his brother, the earl of Moreton, who subsequently
became King John, and it is asserted that this nobleman, when
residing at the castle of Lancaster, was occasionally a guest at
Staining Hall, and that during one of his visits he so admired the
strength and skill displayed by a person called Geoffrey, and
surnamed the Crossbowman, that he induced him to join his retinue.
How far truth has been embellished and disguised by fiction in this
traditional statement we are unable to conjecture, but there are
reasonable grounds for believing that the story is not entirely
supposititious, for the earl of Moreton granted to Geoffrey
l’Arbalistrier, or the Crossbowman, who is said to have been a
younger brother of Theobald Walter, senior, six carucates of land in
Hackinsall-with-Preesall, and a little later, the manor of Hambleton,
most likely as rewards for military or other services rendered to that
nobleman. John, as earl of Moreton, appears to have gained the
affection and respect of the inhabitants of Lancashire by his liberal
practices during his long sojourns in their midst. He granted a
charter to the knights, thanes, and freeholders of the county,
whereby they and their heirs, without challenge or interference from
him and his heirs, were permitted to fell, sell, and give, at their
pleasure, their forest woods, without being subject to the forest
regulations, and to hunt and take hares, foxes, rabbits, and all kinds
of wild beasts, excepting stags, hinds, roebucks, and wild hogs, in all
parts within his forests beyond the desmesne hays of the county.[23]
On ascending the throne, however, he soon aroused the indignation
of all sections of his subjects by his meanness, pride, and utter
inability to govern the kingdom. His indolent habits excited the
disgust of a nobility, whose regular custom was to breakfast at five
and dine at nine in the morning, as proclaimed by the following
popular Norman proverb:—
Lever à cinque, dîner à neuf,
Souper à cinque, coucher à neuf,
Fait vivre d’ans nonante et neuf.[24]

Eventually his evil actions and foolish threats so incensed the nation,
that the barons, headed by William, earl of Pembroke, compelled
him, in 1215, to sign the Magna Charta, a code of laws embodying
two important principles—the general rights of the freemen, and the
limitation of the powers of both king and pope.
About that time it would have been almost, if not quite, impossible
to have decided or described what was the national language of the
country. The services at the churches were read in Latin, the
aristocracy indulged only in Norman-French, whilst the great mass of
the people spoke a language, usually denominated Saxon or English,
but which had been so mutilated and altered by additions from
various sources that the ancient “Settlers on the shores of the
German Ocean” would scarcely have recognized it as their native
tongue. Each division of the kingdom had its peculiar dialect, very
much as now, and from the remarks of a southern writer, named
Trevisa, it must be inferred that the patois of our own district, which
he would include in the old province of Northumbria,[25] was far
from either elegant or musical. “Some,” he says, “use strange
gibbering, chattering, waffling, and grating; then the Northumbre’s
tongue is so sharp, flitting, floyting, and unshape, that we Southron
men may not understand that language.” Such a list of curious and
uncomplimentary epithets inclines us at first sight to doubt the strict
impartiality of their author, but when it is remembered that, in spite
of the greatly increased opportunities for education and facilities for
intercommunion amongst the different classes, the provincialisms of
some of our own peasantry would be utterly unintelligible to many of
us at the present day, we are constrained to admit that Trevisa may
have had just reason for his remarks.
In 1268 the Honor of Lancaster, the Wapentake of Amounderness,
and the manors of Preston, Ribby-with-Wray, and Singleton were
given by Henry III. to his son Edmund Crouchback, and in addition
the king published an edict forbidding the sheriffs of neighbouring
counties to enter themselves, or send, or permit their bailiffs to
enter or interfere with anything belonging to the Honor of Lancaster,
or to the men of that Honor, unless required to do so by his son.
Edmund was also created earl of Lancaster, and became the founder
of that noble house, whose possessions and power afterwards
attained to such magnitude as to place its representative, Henry IV.,
upon the throne, although nearer descendants of his grandfather
Edward III. were still living.
We have now arrived at the unsettled era, comprising the reigns
of the three Edwards and Richard II., and during the whole of the
time these monarchs wore the crown, a period of one hundred and
twenty-six years, the nation was engaged in continual wars—with
the Welsh under Llewellyn, the Scotch under Bruce and Wallace, and
the French under Philip. The reign of Richard II. was additionally
agitated by the insurrection of Wat Tyler. Looking at that long
uninterrupted season of excitement, we cease to wonder at the
riotous and disorganized state into which society was thrown. The
rulers, whether local and subordinate, or those of a higher grade,
were too actively engaged in forwarding the efficiency of the army,
to devote much attention to the welfare and proper government of
the people. Crimes and disturbances were allowed to pass
unpunished, and evil-doers, being thus encouraged to prosecute
their unlawful purposes, carried their outrages to the very confines
of open rebellion against all power and order. It was not until such a
dangerous climax had been reached that a commission, consisting of
the following judges, Peter de Bradbate, Edmund Deyncourt, William
de Vavasour, John de Island, and Adam de Middleton, was appointed
to deal summarily and severely with all offenders in the counties of
Lancaster and Westmoreland. During those troublesome times Sir
Adam Banastre and a number of others assaulted Ralph de Truno,
prior of Lancaster, and his train of attendants at Poulton-le-Fylde,
seized and carried him off to Thornton, where they brutally ill-used
and finally imprisoned him. An inquiry into the disgraceful
proceeding was instituted by order of Edward I., but the result has
not been preserved, at least no record of it has as yet been
discovered amongst any of the ancient documents concerning this
county. Leyland, who was antiquary to Henry VIII., alluding to the
death of the disorderly knight, says,—“Adam Banastre, a bachelar of
Lancastershire, moved ryot agayne Thomas of Lancaster by kraft of
kynge Edward II., but he was taken and behedid by the
commandment of Thomas of Lancaster.” The first part of the
quotation has reference to a quarrel between the earl of Lancaster
and Sir Adam, who for his own aggrandizement and to curry favour
with the king, as well as to divert the attention of that monarch from
his own misdeeds, declared that Thomas of Lancaster wished to
interfere with the royal prerogative in the choice of ministers; and,
professedly, to punish such presumption he invaded the domains of
that nobleman. An encounter took place in the valley of the Ribble,
not far from Preston, in which the followers of Sir Adam were
vanquished and put to flight. Their leader secreted himself in a barn
on his own lands, but, being discovered by the soldiers of his
opponent, was dragged forth and beheaded with a sword. Subjoined
is an account of a disturbance which occurred at Kirkham during the
same period, transcribed from the Vale Royal[26] register:—“A
narrative of proceedings in a dispute between the abbot of Vale
Royal, and Sir Will. de Clifton, knt., respecting the tithes in the
manor of Clifton and Westby, in the parish of Kirkham, A.D. 1337, in
the time of Peter’s abbacy. The charges alleged against Sir William
state, that he had obtained twenty marks[27] due to the abbot; had
forcibly obstructed the rector in the gathering of tithes within the
manor of Clifton and Westby; seized his loaded wain, and brought
ridicule on his palfrey: that he had also burst, with his armed
retainers, into the parish church of Kirkham, and thereby deterred
his clerks from the performance of divine service; had prevented the
parishioners from resorting to the font for the rite of baptism; and
that, having seized on Thomas, the clerk of the abbot of Vale Royal,
he had inflicted on him a flagellation in the public streets of Preston.
After a complaint, made to the abbot of Westminster, a conservator
of the rights and privileges of the order to which Vale Royal
belonged, Sir William confessed his fault and threw himself on the
mercy of the abbot of the Cheshire convent, who contented himself,
after receiving a compensation for his rector’s losses, with an oath
from the refractory knight, that he would in future maintain and
defend the privileges of the abbey, and would bind himself in forty
shillings to offer no further violence to the unfortunate secretary of
the abbot.”
During the reign of Edward III., Henry, earl of Lancaster, was
created duke of the county with the consent of the prelates and
peers assembled in parliament. This nobleman, whose pious and
generous actions earned for him the title of the “Good duke of
Lancaster,” received a mandate from the king during the war with
France, when there were serious apprehensions of an invasion by
that nation, to arm all the lancers on his estates, and to set a strict
watch over the seacoasts of Lancashire. These precautions, however,
proved unnecessary, as the French made no attempt to cross the
channel. In his will, bearing the date 1361, (the year of his death),
Duke Henry bequeathed the Wappentakes or Hundreds of
Amounderness, Lonsdale, and Leyland, with other estates, to his
daughter Blanche, who had married John of Gaunt, the earl of
Richmond and fourth son of Edward III. John of Gaunt succeeded to
the dukedom in right of his wife.
“In the ‘Testa de Nevill’,” a register extending from 1274 to 1327,
and containing, amongst other matters, a list of the fees and
serjeanties holden of the king and the churches in his gift, it is
stated under the latter heading:—“St. Michael upon Wyre; the son of
Count Salvata had it by gift of the present king, and he says, that he
is elected into a bishoprick, and that the church is vacant, and worth
30 marks[28] per an. Kyrkeham; King John gave two parts of it to
Simon Blundel, on account of his custody of the son and heir of
Theobald Walter. Worth 80 marks[29] per an.” In another part of
these records it is named that Richard de Frekelton held fees in chief
in Freckleton, Newton, and Eccleston; Alan de Singilton, in Singleton,
Freckleton, Newton, and Elswick; and Adam de Merton, in Marton;
also that Fitz Richard held serjeanties in Singleton, by serjeanty of
Amounderness.
The earliest intimation of members being returned to represent
our own district, in conjunction with the other divisions of the
county, is to the parliament of Edward I., assembled in 1295, when
Matthew de Redmand and John de Ewyas were elected knights of
the shire for Lancaster, and in his report the sheriff adds—“There is
no city in the county of Lancaster.” The members of parliament in
1297 were Henricus de Kigheley and Henricus le Botyler; in 1302
Willielmus de Clifton and Gilbertus de Singleton; and in 1304
Willielmus de Clifton and Willielmus Banastre. Henricus le Botyler, or
Butler, belonged to the family of the Butlers of Rawcliffe; Gilbertus
de Singleton was probably connected with the Singletons whose
descendants resided at Staining Hall; Willielmus de Clifton was an
ancestor of the Cliftons of Lytham, and here it may be stated that
Lancashire was represented in 1383 by Robt. de Clifton, of Westby,
and Ric’us de Hoghton; and in 1844 by J. Wilson Patten, now Lord
Winmarleigh, and Jno. Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham Hall. Thos.
Henry Clifton, esq., son of the last gentleman, and the Hon. F. A.
Stanley are the present members for North Lancashire.
During the Scottish wars of Edward III., John de Coupland, of
Upper Rawcliffe, valiantly captured David II., king of Scotland, at the
battle of Durham, and although that monarch dashed out Coupland’s
teeth and used every means to incite the latter to slay him, the
brave soldier restrained his wrath and delivered up his prisoner alive.
For that signal service Edward rewarded him with a grant of £500
per annum, until he could receive an equivalent in land wherever he
might choose, and created him a knight banneret.[30] “I have seen,”
says Camden, “a charter of King Edward III., by which he advanced
John Coupland to the state of a banneret in the following words,
because in a battle fought at Durham he had taken prisoner David
the Second, King of Scots:—‘Being willing to reward the said John,
who took David de Bruis prisoner, and frankly delivered him unto us,
for the deserts of his honest and valiant service, in such sort as
others may take example by his precedent to do us faithful service in
time to come, we have promoted the said John to the place and
degree of a banneret; and, for the maintenance of the same state,
we have granted, for us and our heirs, to the same John, five
hundred pounds by the year, to be received by him and his heirs’,”
etc.
For some time after a truce had been concluded with Scotland,
the war, in which the incident narrated occurred, continued with little
abatement, and in 1322 this county with others was called upon to
raise fresh levies. These constant drains upon its resources, and the
devastations committed by riotous companies of armed men, so
impoverished our district that the inhabitants of Poulton forwarded a
petition to the Pope, praying him to forego his claims upon their
town on account of the deplorably distressed condition to which they
had been reduced. The taxations of all churches in the Fylde were
greatly lowered in consideration of the indigency of the people; that
of Kirkham from 240 marks per annum to 120, and the others in like
proportion. Further evidence of the poverty of this division may be
gathered from a census taken in 1377, which states, amongst other
things, that—“There is no town worthy of notice anywhere in the
whole of the county”; and again, twenty years later, when a loan
was raised to meet the enormous expenditure of the country,
Lancashire furnished no contributors.
In 1389, during the reign of Richard II., it was enacted, with a
view to the preservation and improvement of the salmon fisheries
throughout the kingdom, “that no young salmon be taken or
destroyed by nets, at mill-dams or other places, from the middle of
April to the Nativity of St. John Baptist”; and special reference is
made to this neighbourhood in the following sentence of the bill:
—“It is ordained and assented, that the waters of Lone, Wyre,
Mersee, Ribbyl, and all other waters in the county of Lancaster, be
put in defence, as to the taking of Salmons, from Michaelmas Day to
the Purification of our Lady (2nd of February), and in no other time
of the year, because that salmons be not seasonable in the said
waters in the time aforesaid; and in the parts where such rivers be,
there shall be assigned and sworn good and sufficient conservators
of this statute.” The foregoing is the earliest regulation of the kind,
and the wisdom and utility of its provisions are evinced by the
existence of similar measures at the present day.
From the annals of the Duchy may be learnt some interesting
particulars relative to changes in ownership at that period of certain
portions of the territory comprised in the Fylde. In 1380 John of
Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, issued a “precept to the Escheator to give
seisin of the Lands of William Botyler in Layton Magna, Layton Parva,
Bispham, Warthebrek, and Great Merton,” etc.; and shortly
afterwards gave orders to “seize the Lands of William Botyler.” In
1385 mandates were issued by the same nobleman to his Escheator
to “seize into the Hands of the King and himself the Lands of
Thomas Banastre, (deceased, 1384), in Ethelswyk, Frekculton,
Claughton in Amoundernes, Syngleton Parva, Hamylton, Stalmyn,”
etc.; also those of “Emund Banastre, (deceased, 1384), in
Wodeplumpton, Preston,” etc. In the Rolls the subjoined entries also
occur:—
1381.
Grantors. Grantees. Matters and Premises.
John Botyler, Knt. Henry de Bispham, Enrolment of the Grant of the Manors
Richard de Carleton,
of Great Layton, Little Layton,
Chaplains. Bispham, and Wardebrek; lands in
Great Merton, and the whole Lordship
of Merton Town.
Henry de John Botyler, Knt., Enrolment of the Grant of the above
Bispham, Richard and Alice his wife. Manors, Lands, and Lordship, in Fee
de Carleton. Tail special.
1382.
Robert de William de Hornby, Enrolment of Grant of Lands, etc., in
Wasshyngton. Parson of St. Carleton in Amounderness, for a Rose
Michael-upon-Wyre, Rent per ann. 8 years, and increased
and William le rent £20 per ann.
Ducton.

There is nothing of interest or importance to recount affecting the

Fylde from the death of Richard II. until the year 1455, when the
battle of St. Albans, resulting in the defeat of Henry VI. and the royal
forces by the Duke of York, initiated those lamentable struggles
between the rival houses of York and Lancaster; and the inhabitants
of our section shared, like the rest, in the ruin and bloodshed of civil
war. Those contests, which lasted no less than thirty years, and
included thirteen pitched battles, were finally terminated in 1485, by
the union of Henry VII. with Catherine of York, daughter of Edward
IV.
In 1485 a malady called the “Sweating Sickness” visited the
different districts of Lancashire, and so rapid and fatal were the
effects, that during the seven weeks it prevailed, large numbers of
the populace fell victims to its virulence. Lord Verulam, describing
the disease, says:—“The complaint was a pestilent fever, attended by
a malign vapour, which flew to the heart and seized the vital spirits;
which stirred nature to strive to send it forth by an extreme sweat.”
 In 1487 the impostor Lambert Simnel, who personated Edward,
earl of Warwick, the heir in rightful succession to Edward IV., landed
at the Pile of Fouldrey, (Peel harbour) in Morecambe Bay, with an
army raised chiefly by the aid of the Duchess of Burgundy, and
marched into the country. At Stoke, near Newark, he was defeated
and taken prisoner, and subsequently the adventurer was made a
scullion in the king’s kitchen, from which humble sphere he rose by
good conduct to the position of falconer. Henry VIII., soon after his
accession in 1509, became embroiled in war with France, and whilst
he was engaged in hostilities on the continent, James IV. of Scotland
crossed the border, and invaded England with a force of fifty
thousand men. To resist this aggression large levies were promptly
raised in Lancashire and other northern counties, and on the field of
Flodden, in Northumberland, a decisive battle took place in 1513, in
which the Scottish monarch was slain, and his army routed. The
Lancashire troops were led by Sir Edward Stanley, and their
patriotism and valour are celebrated in an ancient song called the
“Famous Historie or Songe of Floodan Field.” In the following extract
certain localities in and near the Fylde are mentioned as having
furnished their contingents of willing soldiers:—
“All Lancashire for the most parte
The lusty Standley stowte can lead,
A stock of striplings stronge of heart
Brought up from babes with beef and bread,
From Warton unto Warrington,
From Wiggen unto Wyresdale,
From Weddecon to Waddington,
From Ribchester to Rochdale,
From Poulton to Preston with pikes
They with ye Standley howte forthe went,
From Pemberton and Pilling Dikes
For Battell Billmen bould were bent
With fellowes fearce and fresh for feight
With Halton feilds did turne in foores,
With lusty ladds liver and light
From Blackborne and Bolton in ye moores.”
 The office of High Sheriff is one of considerable antiquity, and in
early times it was no uncommon thing for the elected person to
retain the position for several years together. Annexed is a list of
gentlemen connected with the Fylde who have been High Sheriffs of
the county of Lancaster at different times, with their years of office:
—
1194 to 1199. Theobald Walter, of Amounderness.
1278. Gilbert de Clifton, of Clifton and Westby.
1287. Gilbert de Clifton, of Clifton and Westby.
1289. Gilbert de Clifton, of Clifton and Westby.
1393. Sir Johannes Butler, Knt., of Rawcliffe.
1394. Sir Johannes Butler, Knt., of Rawcliffe.
1395. Sir Johannes Butler, Knt., of Rawcliffe.
1397. Sir Richard Molyneux, Knt., of Larbrick (for life).
1566. Sir Richard Molyneux, Knt., of Larbrick.
1606. Edmund Fleetwood, of Rossall.
1677. Alexander Rigby, of Layton.
1678. Alexander Rigby, of Layton.
1691. Sir Alexander Rigby, Knt., of Layton.
1740. Roger Hesketh, of Rossall.
1797. Bold Fleetwood Hesketh, of Rossall.
1820. Robert Hesketh, of Rossall.
1830. Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, of Rossall.
1835. Thomas Clifton, of Lytham.
1842. Thomas Robert Wilson ffrance, of Rawcliffe.
1853. John Talbot Clifton, of Lytham.

It may be here noticed that Edmund Dudley, so notorious in

English history as the infamous agent of Henry VII. in the wholesale
and scandalous extortions that monarch practised upon his subjects,
held many and large territorial possessions in the county of
Lancashire, the reward in all probability of his unscrupulous services
to the king. After the death of his royal patron a loud outcry for the
punishment of Dudley was raised by the nation, and in the first year
of Henry VIII. a proclamation was issued inviting those subjects who
had been injured by Dudley and his fellow commissioner, Sir Richard
Empson, to come forward and state their complaints; the number of
complainants who appeared was so great that it was found
impossible to examine all their claims, so in order to pacify the
universal indignation, the two obnoxious agents were thrown into
prison on a charge of treason. From the Inquisition for the Escheat
of the Duchy of Lancaster taken on the attainder of Edmund Dudley,
in 1509, it is discovered that amongst his numerous estates, were
lands in Elswick, Hambleton, Freckleton, Thornton, Little Singleton,
Wood Plumpton, Whittingham, Goosnargh, and Claughton. Stow,
writing about the circumstances alluded to, says:—“Thereupon was
Sir Richard Empson, Knight, and Edmund Dudley, Esquire, by a
politicke mean brought into the Tower, where they were accused of
treason, and so remained there prisoners, thereby to quiet men’s
minds, that made such suit to have their money restored. On the
seventeenth of July Edmund Dudley was arraigned in the Guildhall of
London, where he was condemned, and had judgement to be
drawn, hanged, and quartered.... Henry VIII. sent commandment to
the Constable of the Tower, charging him that Empson and Dudley
should shortly after be put to execution. The Sheriffs of London were
commanded by a special writ to see the said execution performed
and done, whereupon they went to the Tower and received the
prisoners on the 17th of August, 1510, and from thence brought
them unto the scaffold on Tower Hill, where their heads were
stricken off.”
The most conspicuous event which happened during the
sovereignty of Henry VIII. was the Protestant Reformation. Henry,
having quarrelled with the Supreme Head of the Church at Rome,
determined to suppress all religious houses in his kingdom whose
incomes amounted to less than £200 per annum. Doctors Thomas
Leigh and Thomas Layton were appointed to inspect and report on
those in Lancashire; and amongst the number condemned on their
visit was a small Benedictine Cell at Lytham. This Cell owed its origin
to Richard Fitz Roger, who towards the latter part of the reign of
Richard I. granted lands at Lytham to the Durham Church, in order
that a prior and Benedictine monks might be established there to the
honour of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert. Its yearly revenue at the time
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookname.com