Page:The History of the Church & Manor of Wigan part 1.djvu/169

Rh owners of the lordship and manor of Wigan: that the charter granted to John Mansell by Henry 3rd, by which the town was made a free borough, was forfeited by a Quo Waranto, and that afterwards, by the grant of King Edward the 3rd, the same was renewed and confirmed unto the then parson of Wigan, with the limitation that the said parsons should enjoy the same; which hath been the case until of late years the Mayor and burgesses of Wigan by reason of some grant or agreement given to them by Thomas Stanley late bishop of .... have usurped the same." [The last part of the first membrane of this document is very faint]. The complainant denies that the Moot hall is the inheritance of the said burgesses or that they and their predecessors have lawfully kept "courtes Baron, courtes leetes, and other courts, fairs, [and] markets" and taken all "wayffs and strays" within the said town, or received the profits thereof except for the last 34 years, during which time they have wrongfully usurped the same: that the said defendants had no right to pull down a wall or building erected by Hugh Langeshawe upon the Wawkmilne green, nor to stay the building of any houses or erections upon the waste ground."

The suit resulted in a compromise, by which the Mayor and burgesses acquired certain rights which had formerly belonged to the parsons. The decree which was delivered in 39 Eliz., 1596, is as follows, — It is ordered by the court that the said Mayor and burgesses and their successors shall and may from henceforth keep all such courts as by them and their predecessors have heretofore been usually kept only by themselves (except the leets) and take the profits thereof to their own uses; and as touching the leets that are to be kept there [at the Moot hall] the complainant may from time to time appoint some discreet man to sit as his steward with the Mayor and burgesses or their steward, and the profits of the leets to be equally divided between the plaintiff and defendants. Touching the digging of