Link to website listing Lancashire words - https://folkcustoms.co.uk/a-glossary-of-lancashire-dialect/
Acre : Unit of area standardised by Edward I at 40 rods x 4 rods but this varied in different parts of the country. Today it is 4840 sq yds or 4072 sq metres
Acre Tax : Drainage Tax of 1787
advowson : Right to presentation to an ecclesiastical benefice.
affeerer : Officer of the manorial court whose duty it was to assess monetary penalties.
agist : To pasture or to pay for pasture. (usually at a fixed price)
Agistment (giste, gyest, gyst, and variants) – the contract for taking in and feeding horses or cattle
belonging to other people on one’s pasture land, for the consideration of a periodic payment of money;
the profit derived from such pasturing.
agnate : Any male relation on the father's side.
Ale taster – an officer appointed annually from the copyholders whose job was to check the quality,
measures and price of bread and ale (in compliance with the Assize of Bread and Ale).
Amercement – a fine imposed by the court for wrongdoing. Sometimes written over the head of the
name of the wrongdoer, and always written in the left-hand margin of the entry.
Alienation : the transfer of a holding by sale rather than by inheritance. A feudal tenant was unable to alienate without licence from the lord (the King in this case) who would collect a fee from granting the transfer.
Apothecary derives from apotheca - a place where spices, herbs and wines were stored. From C13th, the name came to mean a person who stocked these items and sold them from a shop or a street stall.
Attornment - Transfer of tenant's dues after death of previous landlord
Bait and slate cattle – to set a dog upon cattle and sheep.
board - a flat wooden surface such as a table top (supports usually noted separately)
boll - a grain measure of 2 to 6 bushels or 140lbs
boyler - cooking vessel of iron, tin or cooper - an early form of saucepan or kettle
Buckstall – a large net or snare between trees to entrap deer into an enclosure and keep them out of the
townfields.
Capellanus – chantry priest or chaplain. Used with both meanings in the rolls where an intent of a
surrender is written in English - generally used ‘chaplain’ as the translation. (Latin)
Cartbote right to take wood to make or repair carts.
Catch – in Slaidburn the ‘catches’ were on part of the townfield of Barcroft to the north of Town Head.
The rolls also mention catches in West Bradford and Newton in Bowland. A catch was a parcel of land
in the townfield granted out to a copyholder, who grew crops thereon, but the rest of the township’s
tenants appear to have had grazing and pasturing rights upon the catches after the crops had been
harvested. See Porter’s PhD thesis and survey of Barcroft taken in 1577 (TNA DL 44/278).
chaldron - measure of a volume of coal equal to 25.5 cwt (36 bushels)
close stool – commode with a pan
Clove of gillyflower (cloves) at Easter " : The witnesses to such deeds were chosen carefully being people of standing in the community. Other witnesses would be adjoining landowners and tenants who could vouch directly for the transaction.
cob & lid - wicker basket with lid to carry on the arm
Coinage (English) : There were no coins equal to £ or shillings until Henry VII's reign. [12 d (pence) = 1 s (shilling); 20 shillings = £1]. For accounting marks were used worth 13s 4d (ie 2/3rd of £1); a noble was worth 6s 8d (ie 1/3rd £1 & half a mark); quarter noble was worth £1s 8d; the grout was worth 4 pence; In the C15th a master craftsman might earn 6d a day. One pound (£1) in 1450 would be worth about £1217 in 2019. A mark = about £811
Common of pasture was the right to pasture cattle on common land.
Court of Wards and Liveries : A Court formed in 1540 that administered funds received by the Crown for its right of wardship, marriage and livery. Land held of the Crown in chief, either by Knight Service or Grand Serjeanty was subject to Royal guardianship if it fell by inheritance to a son under 21 or a daughter under 14. The Crown had the right to the management and profits of it until either the minority ended or the ward was given in marriage during minority. The Crown also had the right to choose a spouse !
croft - piece of enclosed ground for tillage or pasture - usually arable near a house.
Deer : Red Deer : Adult male - staggs; 4th year male - staggarts; Adult female - hinds; offspring - calves.
Fallow Deer (smaller than red deer) : Adult male - Bucks; 4th year male - Sores; 3rd year male - Sorrel; Adult female - Does; Offspring - Fawns
def : is short for defendant or deforciant. (also see Quer)
demesne : Part of a piece of land retained by the Lord of the Manor for his own use, with the rest being tenanted or used for common or waste.
delph : quarry (from OE "delf")
Drift - The driving of cattle, moving them together in herds or flocks.
Edish time – pasturing rights for tenants’ beasts in the common fields after the hay and corn had been
harvested.
Ell – a unit of measure used for cloth, one ell in England being 45 inches or 1.25 yards in length.
Ester/aster house – hostery/hostelry. See also the inventory of Alexander Spencer of Downham 1620
(Lancashire Archives) which mentions an ‘oster house’.
escheat - a legal process, now abolished, whereby tenure of land used to revert to the Crown in the case of freehold property and to the Lord of the Manor in copyhold, on the tenant's death without heirs.
essoin - Lawful excuse - an excuse for failure to attend the King's court when summoned.
ewer - pitcher with a wide spout for carrying water
executor - person charged with duty of carrying out the terms of a will.
Fall – a measure of land equivalent to a perch. Fell out of use in Slaidburn sometime after 1700.
Fee An area of jurisdiction of a lord of the manor. "in fee" : means hereditarily; fee simple was a freehold estate in land ehich passed at death to the common law heir.
Feoffment The act of granting a fee in trust; the deed conveying the gift
Fill Dyke the month of February
Firebote right to take wood for fuel.
Fine – a contract or agreement, and also the amount of money paid to the monarch on entry to copyhold
land.
Firehouse – a basic dwelling house with one fire(place).
Flaight/fleight/flight – a turf.
Fleath/fleathwatt – probably fleawort, a plant grown in gardens for herbal uses/remedies and also said
to repel fleas.
Floodgap – A fence across a stream, probably associated with the flooding of riverside meadows. (this
definition from the online Yorkshire Dictionary). See ‘Stanyard’ below.
Fother/foder – a cart load (of turves).
Fret – a wheel fret was an iron hoop around the edge of a wooden cart wheel.
flaxen - cloth made from flax of various quality - common cloth called brown the best called Holland
Flitch the side of an animal, salted & cured
flock bed – bed stuffed with wool & bits of cloth etc
Fodge small bag of wool fleeces left over - not enough to make a full bag of 240lbs
Foldbote right to take wood to make sheep folds.
forest : For centuries the word forest meant a place of deer rather than trees. The owner of the forest had rights to keep deer, appoint forest officials, hold Forest Courts and collect fines. Forests were also commons with pre existing common rights for landowners and commoners (i.e. to pasture and for woodcutting etc).
fosse, vallum and pale : ditch, earth bank and fence used to enclose deer paks and restrict the movement of deer thus improving their quality and to enable easier hunting. These enclosures were also used to breed horses and to graze cattle. Pre-conquest enclosures had been on a smaller scale with launds being level tracts of land free from wood and fenced with haiaes or heys / hays. Hey is often to be found in the Lancashire area suffixed to a name.
Gald – a tax based on land ownership, from geld, Danegeld, ‘gaeld’ (for example, see SCR 25, a plea
concerning payment of galds for the wars of Henry VIII).
Gavelock – an iron crowbar or lever.
Gelding - a castrated horse
Gelt sheep - a castrated sheep
Giest / gyste - pasture let out during the summer for cattle at a fixed price per head
Gimlin - large shallow tub for salting bacon
Gipsey Yorkshire term for spring that suddenly appears
Girdle - a chain made of precious metals and worn around the waist with an end hanging almost to the ground
God's penny small payment made to seal a bargain or money given to hire a servant
Greave – an officer elected annually from the copyholders who was responsible for collecting the rents
due to the lord of the manor.
Gressums : sums or payments arising due to a new lord of the manor or new tenant.
Haybote right to take wood to make/repair fences.
Hide 1) A land measure outside the Danelaw that varied according to region from 60 to 100 acres.
Hide 2) A peasant's land holding - varied depending on land quality : better quality = smaller. Amount considered adequate to support one free family.
Hide : 3) was originally the area of land that an eight-ox team pulling one plough could complete in a year. This area varied with the quality and nature of the soil. It could vary between 60 - 180 acres. A bovate or oxgang was an eighth of this area.
Hogget 1) Young sheep not yet shorn; 2) swine reared for slaughter
Hollen Wall about two & a half yards high used to internally shield draughts.
Homage Pledge or loyalty sworn bt tenants to their lord of the manor. A formal submission of tenant to lord was undertaken in return for a fee.
Honour aggregation of manors
Housebote right to take wood to build/repair houses.
Hub – a thick, square sod pared off the surface of a peat bog when digging for peat
Hubbleshow – a 16th century word for a noisy uproar, commotion or disturbance.
Ignes/Ingnes – appears to mean inmates or lodgers, rather than ‘fire’. (latin)
Inmate – a subtenant or lodger.
Intent – conditions attached to a surrender of copyhold land, such as the surrenderor retaining rights in
the surrendered lands for his lifetime, or for repayment of a mortgage of the lands, etc.
jacke – device for turning a spit.
Jack's land scraps of land mostly unuseable in a common field
jagger horse - pack horse
Johanna – This name has been translated as ‘Jennet’ rather than ‘Joan’ because in the parts of the
rolls in English, such as intents of surrenders, the clerks almost always use ‘Jennet’. Farrer did the
same in his Honor of Clitheroe court roll transcriptions (Latin)
jointure - property settled on a woman at marriage to be hers on the decease of her husband.
Judicator – a judge or doomsman. These men are to be found listed at the start of many of the main
courts and they owed suit of court, just as ordinary tenants also did. They were the principal
freeholders of the manor. (Latin)
Knopp – a wooden tub sometimes used for steeping
Laithe - a barn
Lancashire dialect & words : http://folkcustoms.co.uk/a-glossary-of-lancashire-dialect/
Lease and release - was the post medieval transfer of property by granting a lease for a year and then releasing the grantor's rights the following day.
Light - probably a pane of glass from a leaded window.
Ling/lyng – moorland plant used for thatching, etc.
Lordship is a manorial holding.
lumber – disused articles of furniture (odds and ends)
Manor : an estate held by a landlord, who himself was a tenant of the Crown or of a mesne Lord. A manor could be large enough to spread over several parishes.
The Lord of the Manor retained part of the land called "demesne", for his own use, with the rest being tenanted or used for common or waste.
Mansion house – a dwelling house, not a mansion in the modern sense.
Mark – 13s. 4d. Noble – 6s. 8d. (both old units of money).
Mease/Meese – a messuage or dwelling.
Messuage – a dwelling house, possibly including outbuildings, and the plot of land on which they lie.
Metiendo grana – reaping corn/grain (harvesting) in autumn; from Latin ‘meto’ – to reap or mow. (Latin)
Micher – a thief. Also ‘petimycher’ and variants, a petty thief.
Moor greave – officer appointed from the copyholders by the court to check the common pastures for
overstinting, etc.
Moughstead – a place in a barn for stacking up hay or corn after harvesting.
noggin - small drinking vessel holding 1/4 of a pint
Oxgang – in England an oxgang was generally around 20 acres of land, but in Grindleton it was 18
customary acres. Sometimes called a bovate.
Oxgang land – ancient enclosed land (compare with rod land, see below).
Pain – ‘laying a pain’ in court, that is, the court making an order with a financial penalty for non-
compliance, for example, failure to mend open hedges before a certain date in the future. Often written
as ‘payne’ in the earlier rolls.
pannage right to feed pigs in manorial woods.
Parson - is derived from the Latin persona and literally means an important member of the parish.
Pattenmakers : Company of the City of London received its Royal Charter in 1670 although it was founded in the C14th.
Pattenmakers made wooden “undershoes” which were rather like clogs and protected shoes against the mud in the streets. Easily confused with pattern maker !
Pich/pyche/pitch – an implement used to catch fish.
piggin – small wooden vessel or pail with one long stave to serve as a handle
Piper – a person who plays a pipe, especially an itinerant musician.
piscary right to fish in manorial waters.
Placea/platea – open ground or space, but can also mean street. (Latin)
ploughbote right to take wood to make/repair ploughs.
quer : is an abbreviation of querent or plaintiff and def is obviously short for defendant or deforciant.
The Quarter days and Rent days through the year were:
Lady Day : March 25th. (Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin)
Michaelmas : September 29th (Feast of St Michael & All Angels)
Christmas : December 25th. (Feast of the Nativity)
Midsummer : July 6th (up to AD 1754 thereafter June 24th)
Rendering of a rose" was simply a formal acknowledgement of a nominal rent in kind being paid.
Rescue (reskowes, rescouse, etc.) – the seizing of distrained or impounded livestock from a bailiff or
other officer of the manor such as a constable, or from the pound or pinfold.
Riggot – a half castrated or imperfectly castrated male animal (horse or sheep).
Ringstaff/ringgarth/ringyard – a wall, fence or hedge to prevent livestock on the common pastures
entering meadows and cultivated land where crops were grown in the townfields. There is a
ringstaff north of Slaidburn village up to Woodhouse Gate that was made from hedges.
Rod land – land which had been cleared. According to William Farrer ‘This was land presumably
brought into cultivation at a period subsequent to the Domesday Survey, and which, having been taken
in and enclosed from the wastes, had been ridded, i.e., cleared of trees, stocks, stones, &c. Unlike
oxgang land, the unit of which was the oxgang, a variable quantity representing the amount of land
which a single ox could plough in a year, rod land was always measured by a rod, generally seven yards
long’.
salter : a deer leap which allowed wild deer to leap into the park but not to escape.
Scindendo gramen – cutting grass (presumably hay making). (Latin)
Sess – A tax towards payment of township expenses, for example, the costs involved in a constable
taking a criminal to York castle.
Spire – A sapling, especially a young oak or ash tree.
Stanyard – a device attached to a bridge to hold back water during heavy rain and high waterflow. (one was used at Holmehead bridge across the Hodder)
Stint – A ‘stint’ or ‘gate’ was a pasture right defined as a fixed number of animals. A common or
pasture may be said to be ‘stinted’ in that each grazier holds a certain number of stints, and a formula
adjusts their value for different livestock (e.g. one stint = one ewe with lamb, four stints = one horse,
etc.). The stinting formulae vary between commons and pastures. A stint is sometimes expressed in
terms of a 'beastgate' or 'cattlegate' (the right to graze one horned beast on common land), with a formula
which converts the beastgate into alternative types of livestock (e.g. one beastgate = ten sheep).
Stithy – an anvil
Stoned horse – a stallion or uncastrated colt.
Stot – a young, castrated ox
Surrenderor : person conveying the property
Surrendereee : person receiving the property
thegn : a person who held the land as a freeman
turbary : right to dig on common land for peat or turf for fuel.
turkey : woolen material woven in the same way as a Turkish carpet
vaccaries : stock rearing farms from the latin vacca : cow
voyder : basket used to clear the table of dirty dishes and broken food
Wager of law – a defendant pleads not guilty on oath and then brings witnesses (compurgators) who
also swear on oath that they believed the defendant is innocent.
Wain/wayne – a cart of 2 or 4 wheels drawn by a horse(s) capable of carrying heavy weights. A turf
wain was a cart for carrying turves.
wapentake : Danelaw for a "Hundred"
Without – translated from the Latin word ‘extra’. Used frequently in the rolls when an offender who
had committed an offence within the manor was not amerced because they lived outside the jurisdiction
of the manor.
Wyandotte : a breed of chicken originating in the United States. (See South Petherton section)