By Robin Greaves and Joan Clarke

On June 26th, 1609 Mr John Woodwarde, a surveyor, asked three men of Warton for their opinion on where the boundaries of Warton lay. Mr Woodwarde was making a”Rental and Survey” of the manor of Warton for King James I, who was at that time Lord of the Manor of Warton. The occasion was a formal one. Each of the men gave his deposition on oath. The written depositions survive¹and we are fortunate enough to have, in the Society archives, a translation from the Latin by Paul Booth and Margaret Clarke. There is nothing to say why these three men in particular were asked their opinion, but age must have been one factor. Though Robert Weathman was only 60, Robert Houseman was 80 and Thomas Wawen 90. (although in each case a cautious “or thereabouts” was added.) Some of the places the three men mention are still easily recognisable today, but some are now obscure.

Can you help?
Members of the research group who are looking into the history of Warton in the seventeenth century would like to identify all the places mentioned by the three old men in their depositions. Dr Marshall, who is leading the group, has suggested that we ask for help through the magazine. He points out there will be much detailed knowledge of the local terrain among the membership. So, please, if you think you know any of the places that have defeated us, do let us know.

This is what Thomas Wawen (aged 90) said :-

“the bounders of Warton begineth at Mears Beck upp Keare to Over Keare Bridge and so to the High Crosse in Barwicke Loone from theare to Juett Well, then to Shawe Wood to Weaves Bower, from thence over the Moss betwixt Yealand Moss to the Stoney Ford then the Troughe of Trowe”.

As far as these places can be identified they run anti-clockwise round a boundary much the same as that shown for Warton township on modern maps (allowing for the fact that till 1932 Lindeth, which is now part of Silverdale, was included in “Warton- with-Lindeth”). Leaving consideration of Meares Beck aside for the moment, Mr Wawen’s boundary ran, using modern terms, up the river Keer to “Over Keer Bridge”. Somewhere near the present Keer Bridge on the A6 between Carnforth and the motorway roundabout would make sense, but we don’t know where any crossing of the Keer lay in the seventeenth century. Then the boundary went on to “Barwicke Loone”. The modern boundary reaches Borwick Lane at the crossroads by Manor Farm. The farm would not have been there (J.A. Fuller Maitland article by M Gregson), but was there a cross? Or does “High Cross” just mean the crossroads? At this point the modern boundary goes north to Tewitfield. It seems probable, therefore, that “Juett” is a form of “Tewit”, but we have not been able to find this form anywhere else, nor indeed a well.

After Tewitfield (if that is the correct interpretation) Thomas Wawen’s directions are difficult to follow. Warton’s boundary today runs north of Hyning and across the crag to Cragfoot, but where along this line is Shaw Wood and Weates Bower? Beyond Cragfoot the boundary does indeed run, just as Thomas Wawen says, “over the mosse”. On the modern 1;25000 map the whole moss is called Leighton Moss, but on the 1848 6″/mile map the part west of the boundary is named, as Wawen names it, “Warton Moss”. After that Wawen names “Stonye Ford” which we have not been able to find (though there would have been need of a ford there).

Then comes “Troughe of Trowe”. If this is what we now call “The Trough”, Wawen is beginning to describe the boundaries of Lindeth, but he gives no further places on this boundary. Unless, that is, the “Meares Beck” he mentions at the beginning is not on the Keer as he seems to imply, but is the “Myers Dyke” that runs down from Myers Farm, i.e he has started his widdershins tour from the N.W and has assumed, without mentioning it, that everyone knew that the western boundary ran south across the sands to the Keer. (see Robert Weathman’s deposition below). However we need help here, in interpreting his guide lines.

This is what Robert Weathman (age 60) said:-

“The bounders of Warton be these followinge viz:- It beginneth at the Midd Stream of Kent, from the midd streame of Kent it goeth to Bearte Well, from thence to the Butt in Timberslacke, from thence to the topp of the Burnte Hall, from thence to the Hareapple Tree, from thence to the Healding Stone above the Holte Pott Heade, from thence to the Rydinge Stone, from thence to the Topp of Burn Barrowe”

We have not been able to make much sense of these names. It is possible that Weathman was going clockwise round the boundary starting, as he says, in the middle of the Kent channel and coming ashore at “Bard’s Well” (marked on the 1848 map near Shore Cottages) If, that is, this is the proper interpretation of “Bearte Well.” The boundary would then run inland to “Timberslacke”. Fortunately a “Timberslack” is marked on the 1817 Inclosure map for Silverdale. On that map it lies on a line labelled “the boundary of Lindeth and Silverdale“, and is roughly where West Lindeth House now is. After that we are lost. “Hare” the first element of “Hareapple tree” does seem to have been used for objects, stones, woods, hills etc, on a boundary², but of course that does not show where the boundary was. The only name for which we have an inkling is “Holme Pott Heade”. There is still a Potts Wood on the east side of Warton Crag, whose “head” could well have extended north to the boundary line.

This is what Robert Houseman (age 80) said :-

“the bounders of Warton begyn at Meares Beck, from thence going upp midd K[ear] to Over Keer Bridge, from thence to Juitt-well, from thence to Pearson’s House, and thence to the Trough of Trowebarrowe, from thence to the Stoney Forde, from thence to [ ] Mill from thence to Bearte Well.”

This seems to be a repeat, though rather less complete, of Mr Wawen’s evidence, but unfortunately does not clear up the confusion on the border of Lindeth. In fact by reversing the relative positions of “Stonye Forde” and “Trough of Trowbarrow” he has compounded the confusion.

On the same occasion as that on which these depositions were taken an earlier document was also studied, “a vardit of a Jurye bearing date the 6th of Maye in the 25th yeare of the reigne of our queen Elizabeth“, which would have been 1583. Unfortunately some words are illegible. This verdict was as follows;-

“First it beginneth along rawehedge betwixt at Juitt Well and so upp Just Fields. and Yealand Fields, and so to Dawes Park a little from Holmes Miers Yate, from thence to Waynebreake Stone beneath Pearsons from thence to the Create Stone betwixt Haddes House son of Hues the Leech , and now one Mawes of Yeallande from thence to the High Lynde, from thence to the Rough Glade, from thence overthwart the Moss [ ] the Stone Forde just upon Trowe from thence to the Rydinge Stone of Burnebar [ ] from thence to the Hareapple Tree, from thence to the Three Stones of Sand Banke from thence to Bearte Well, and so to the Middstreame of Kent.”

This seems to confirm what the three sworn men were saying. It places some of the names more accurately. “Hareapple Tree” is definitely in Lindeth, and so is “the Ryding Stone” which is now stated to be at a place called “Burnebar”, which may well be the same as “Burnebarrow” in Mr Weathman’s deposition. We also have, incidentally, what is possibly the earliest mention in our area of the medical profession – “Hues the Leech”.

So – can people help us with the following questions?

• Where is Meare’s Beck?
• What was the “High Cross” on Borwick Lane?
• Has anyone met “Juitt” as a form of “Tewit”?
• Does anyone know a well there?
• Can anyone identify “Shaw Wood” and “Weates Bower” on the northern boundary of Warton?
• Where was the “Stonye Ford”?
• Which was “Bearte Well” in Lindeth?
• Does anyone know of a “Butt” near West Lindeth”?
• Can anyone identify Burnte Hall? Hareapple Tree? Healding Stone? Rydinge Stone? Burnbarrowe? Burnebar? Three Stones of Sand Bank?

It has proved impossible to include a map which would be informative and yet small enough to fit the format of the magazine. We have consulted The modern 1:25000 O.S.maps (SD 36/46 & SD 56), and also the 1848 2 1/2/mile O.S. map, (sheets 18, 19, 24 & 25), and a Plan of the Inclosure of the Common and Waste Ground in Silverdale, 1817. We have photocopies of these in the archives and we intend to have them on display at meetings this winter, both for interest and so we can mark in identified places.

Notes

1. Lancashire Record Office LR2/200 ↩︎
2. A.H.Smith, English Place-Name Society, “English Place Name Elements, Part I”, Vol.XXV, 1956. ↩︎

Published in the Mourholme Magazine Issue 19 1992