Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/319



the time of making said Grant until he sold and conveyed the same to the said Brown without disturbance, and that the said Brown held the same until he sold and conveyed to the said Thomas Fleetwood without disturbance, and that the said Thomes Fleetwood had held and enjoyed the same for near four years without disturbance, and was then seized in fee thereof. But because it had been doubted whether the said Letters Patent and Grant made by King Henry the Eighth to Sir Thomas Butler were good and valid in the Law, because they were under the Seal of the Duchy of Lancaster, and not under the Great Seal, and because it appeared unto her said Majesty, that the said King Henry the Eighth, her Father, had promised that the said Sir Thomas Butler, should have the said Grant either under the Great Seal or the seal of the Duchy of Lancaster, She willing to perform her Father's promise and to remove all doubts, and for greater security of the said Mannour, unto the said Thomas Fleetwood and his heirs, and in consideration of the faithful services done by the said Thomas Fleetwood to her said Father, and to her Brother King Edward the Sixth, and to her, did give, grant, and confirm unto the said Thomas Fleetwood, his heirs and assigns, the Mannour of Layton, otherwise Great Layton, with its rights, members, and Appurtenances, in the said county of Lancaster, and all and singular the Messuages, Houses, Buildings, Tofts, Cottages, Lands, Tenements, Meadows, Feedings, Pastures, &c. &c. &c, Fishing, Wrecks of the Sea, Woods, Underwoods, &c. &c. &c, commodities, emoluments and Hereditaments whatsoever, with their Appurtenances, situate, lying, and being in the Vill, Fields, or Hamlets of Layton, otherwise Great Layton, aforesaid, which were of the said Thomas Butler, and which the said John Brown afterwards sold to the said Thomas Fleetwood as aforesaid, To hold the same unto the said Thomas Fleetwood his heirs and assigns for ever."

Reverting to the market and fair above-mentioned we find that in 1292 Sir William le Botiler was called upon to show upon what right he laid claim to free warren in Layton, and two other places. In proving his case, the knight stated that his privileges extended to markets, fairs, and assize of bread and beer, in addition to which he affirmed that wreck of the sea had been the hereditary rights of his ancestors from the accession of William the Conqueror. The jury acknowledged the title of Sir William in each instance, ordaining that the same markets, fairs, etc., should continue to be held or exercised as aforetime. It would appear that the market took place each week on Wednesday, the chief merchandise offered for sale being most likely cattle and smallware. There are now no remnants of the market, which must at one era have been an assembly of no mean importance, beyond the names of the market-house and the market-field. The cross and stocks have also succumbed to the lapse of years, the latter being a matter of tradition only, with all, even to the oldest inhabitant.

In 1767 a petition was presented to the House of Parliament,