The Sheriff of Nottingham

You may think you know the story of Robin Hood but who really was the Sheriff of Nottingham?

One possible candidate is Roger de Lacy (formerly Roger Fitz Eustace) who was the 7^th Baron of Halton and Constable of Chester. His father John, the 6^th Baron of Halton, was the son of Albreda de Lizours by her second marriage to Richard Fitz Eustace of Halton Castle in Cheshire.

Albreda was a member of the de Lacy family and was a cousin of Robert de Lacy who was a descendant of Ilbert de Lacy who was the first Lord of Pontefract Castle. Robert and his wife Isabella were childless so his nearest blood relative was Albreda and after his death all his lands across Yorkshire and Lancashire including Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire and Clitheroe Castle in Lancashire passed to her and from her to Roger on condition that he changed his name to de Lacy.

Although the family were Barons of Halton, John, his son Roger and his son John are all recorded as being born at Lincoln: John in 1150, Roger around 1171 and John in 1192. Roger’s father, John, was killed in 1190 in Tyre during the Holy War and there is speculation that Roger Fitz-Eustace also fought with Richard I at the Siege of Acre. Thomas Dunham Whitaker in his History of the Original Parish of Whalley and Honor of Clitheroe, records this as a fact, but I think that it may have been another brother, Richard, that the records refer to.

Before he left for the crusade, Richard I had appointed William Longchamp as Chancellor, Bishop of Ely and joint justiciar with Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham; Longchamp was to rule the south and Hugh de Puiset the north. But Longchamp raised an army and marched north to oust Hugh and become acting head of both state and church. He was loyal to Richard, but his strong administration, his heavy taxation to pay for the war and his contempt of the English made him very unpopular and he gained a reputation as an ‘overbearing and intolerable tyrant’. So when John, the king’s brother, known by the title Count John of Mortain, came to England in 1191 he became the focus for a rebellion.

When Longchamp besieged Lincoln Castle to remove Gerard Camville, the Constable there, and replace him with someone more loyal, Count John retaliated by taking the unguarded castle at Nottingham. He told Longchamp that if he did not end his siege he would ‘visit him with a rod of iron and such mighty host that he could not withstand’.

The two men were squaring up for a fight when the Archbishop of Rouen, sent by the king, arrived from Messina to sort it out. He arranged a compromise: Longchamp left Lincoln and Count John gave back Nottingham. But as soon as the Archbishop left the country Longchamp tore up the agreement and entrusted the custody of the castles at Nottingham and Tickhill to Roger Fitz Eustace and gave him orders to hang the two Constables who had conspired to surrender the castles to John. In revenge, John plundered Roger’s estates including taking Pontefract Castle from him.

Meanwhile King Richard decided to return home from the Holy Land, but having belittled the part played by other countries in the fall of Acre, including having the banner of the duke of Austria thrown into the moat and replaced by English banners, it was perhaps no surprise that the duke, Leopold II, took him captive as he crossed Austria on his way home, having been shipwrecked off the coast of Italy, and imprisoned him in Durnstein Castle. He was told that he must pay a ransom of 150,000 marks or be turned over to Philip of France. His brother John eventually agreed to pay the ransom, but only after suggesting that he would pay to keep Richard in custody!

Later, wanting to guard his lands in Normandy against the French king, Richard I built Chateau Galliard between 1197 and 1198. Reputedly one of the finest medieval castles ever built it was located high on a hill overlooking the river Seine about twenty miles from Rouen and Richard boasted that it was impenetrable.

Richard was killed in 1199 after being wounded by a bolt from a crossbow and Roger de Lacy, as he was now named, swore loyalty to John. He found favour with the new king and had Pontefract Castle returned to him. In 1201 he was in command of a hundred knights defending the king’s borders in Normandy and in 1202 he was controlling shipping along the Seine. In 1203, the French king, Philip, besieged him in Chateau Gaillard and although the French eventually managed to capture Chateau Galliard they had to starve the defenders into submission rather than take the castle by assault and Roger de Lacy is said to have given a heroic account of himself and his role in its defence.

In 1210 Roger and his troops were sent to restore order in the Welsh marches. He had the reputation of being a ‘stern warrior’ and a story is told that when he heard that the Earl of Chester was surrounded by a Welsh army at Rhuddlan Castle, Roger gathered minstrels, singers, beggars and vagrants from a fair at Chester and went to rescue the Earl. The Welsh, thinking that they were an army, fled. He is reputed to have become ‘the terror and scourge of the Welsh’ because of his cruelty during his role in their subjugation. For his ferocious temper and the pitiless way he executed his prisoners he was nicknamed ‘Yclept’ or ‘Helle’ by them.

The story of his inheritance of the de Lacy estates also reveals more about him. An old legend tells that Roger had an elder brother, Richard, who had returned from the Holy Land with leprosy. In those days lepers were regarded as being dead so they could not inherit. But Richard, rather than going to the leper house went to Clitheroe to plead with Robert de Lacy to leave his lands to Albreda Fitz Eustace. The inheritance had not gone unchallenged however. The Dean of Whalley was a relation of Robert’s wife Isabella and he had hopes of claiming the land for himself. The legend tells that soon after the death of Robert de Lacy, Roger rode north to Clitheroe to claim the de Lacy inheritance for his grandmother. He was met at the castle by the Dean who told him that his will was a fake and that he, the Dean, had the genuine one which left the lands to him. Into the midst of this argument came a holy hermit clad in leper’s clothing. He told them that he could prove the inheritance as he had a copy of the genuine will.

The Dean warned Roger that the hermit should be tied down to prevent him using his magical powers. But when a guard approached him the hermit seized him and hurled him to the ground. Several guards managed to hold back the hermit and as they did so, the Dean noticed a parchment concealed within the hermit’s cloak and he grabbed it and thrust it into his own cloak. He didn’t try to conceal his action, saying that the parchment must contain Robert de Lacy’s will which had been given to the holy man for safe keeping. However, the parchment he produced a moment later was the forgery. And although the hermit protested that this will was not the real one and urged that the Dean should be searched, Roger believed that it was genuine. But the hermit broke free from his guards, leapt at the Dean, and as he held him down by his throat with one hand, he tore open his cloak with the other, to reveal another parchment hidden within its folds.

He passed this parchment to Roger, who unrolled it to find that it was a copy of the will that left the estates to the Fitz Eustace family, provided that they became known by the name of de Lacy.

Roger was furious and demanded that the unscrupulous Dean should be hanged immediately. But the hermit intervened, saying that he had promised Robert de Lacy that he would protect the Dean. The furious Roger demanded to know how the hermit dared question his authority. At this the hermit threw off his leper’s cloak to reveal himself dressed in a full suit of armour, covered by a surcoat, on which was emblazoned the Fitz Eustace crest and Roger recognised him as his elder brother Richard.

Roger died in 1211 at Pontefract Castle and was buried at Stanlow Abbey in Cheshire, which had been founded by his father, John, in 1178. He left an area of land on the outskirts of Clitheroe for the foundation of a leper hospital which was named St Nicholas’s.

Whether he was in fact the Sheriff of Nottingham that lives on in the legends of Robin Hood no-one can be sure. But his character certainly fits the profile and Roger Fitz Eustace ‘Helle’ de Lacy appears to have been the right man at the right time.

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Champion Lancastrians

As a Lancastrian born and bred I’m always pleased to enjoy the reflected glory of the achievements of people, past and present, who have been born or lived most of their lives in the county.

Although these people are not direct members of my family they are part of the larger family of Lancastrians of which I feel a part. It gives me a warm feeling of satisfaction to tell people from other parts of the world that a person they admire comes from Lancashire, which is why I decided that it was time to record the achievements of some of these people, so that other Lancastrians could join me in praise of our fellow countymen and women.

And it’s surprising how many there are. Some are well known names such as Lord Leverhulme, the producer of Sunlight Soap, Henry Tate who gave cubed sugar and an art gallery to the nation, and Robert Peel, who is credited with the formation of the modern police force. Then there are entertainers such as Gracie Fields and Eric Morecambe, opera singers like Eva Turner and Kathleen Ferrier, and artists like L.S. Lowry and Helen Bradley who have given people so much pleasure.

There are others who you may be surprised to know are Lancastrians; writer Richmal Crompton, author of the Just William books came from Bury and Joseph Briggs who was the manager of the Tiffany Studio in New York came from Accrington and donated his collection of Tiffany Glass to the people of the town. And did you know that Barry Mason, the co-writer of Tom Jones’ hit Delilah comes from Wigan? Or that Hartley’s jam originated in Colne?

Then there are more still who have achieved a quieter revolution and who deserve to be named. Jeremiah Horrocks, for example, who was the first to witness the transit of Venus across the Sun at Hoole; yet this talented astronomer died at the age of only twenty-two, leaving me to wonder what he would have achieved if he had lived longer; though he does have a crater on the moon named after him.

Writing Champion Lancastrians posed not so much the problem of who to include, but who to leave out. During my research I was amazed by the number of talented people who, over hundreds of years, have achieved so much, not only for their county, but also for their country. In the past lists have been made of Lancastrians and during my research one thing that struck me forcibly was the dearth of women and I decided that this book should strike a better balance by acknowledging as many women as possible in their own right, including Edith Rigby from Preston who campaigned for votes for women and also remembering the ones who quietly helped their husbands such as Jane Livesey, the wife of Joseph Livesey who helped establish the Sunday School that has eventually become the University of Central Lancashire.

I began my record of Champion Lancastrians with the birth of the county in the twelfth century. From Robert de Lacy, parts of whose Norman buildings still remain, through John of Gaunt, the first hereditary Duke of Lancaster, to those who are still making their mark on the county to the present day, in the reign of our present Queen, the Duke of Lancaster.

Some were born in Lancashire, died in Lancashire and lived here all their lives. Others were born here and moved away to achieve their fame and fortunes elsewhere, such as Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of the well known children’s novel The Secret Garden, who was born in Manchester and used Lancashire as the setting for many of her stories. And I’ve also taken the liberty of including some, such as Kitty Wilkinson, who were born in another place but lived here for most of their lives and did so much for Lancashire that they cannot be disregarded.

The inclusion of Kitty Wilkinson was never in question. Her story is one that I remember my father telling me when I was a only a child and his admiration for her and what she achieved for the people of Liverpool by allowing her neighbours to wash their clothes and bedding at her own house, an act which eventually led on to the provision of public wash houses and baths, has always remained with me.

There are many scientists, inventors, artists and social reformers for whom we have cause to be grateful. There’s the Duke of Bridgewater whose heart was broken by Elizabeth Gunning and who gave up all contact with women to build a canal with the help of engineer James Brindley who could neither read nor write; brave men like the crew of the Lytham lifeboat who rescued those stranded on the Mexico one stormy night in December; Wallace Hartley the bandmaster whose music calmed the passengers on the Titanic and who was swept to his death from the deck of the sinking ship yet is buried in Colne cemetery; the Whitworth doctors who moved from treating horses to curing bishops and princesses; Preston football star Tom Finney; and in the year of the 90^th anniversary of the Somme who can forget the sacrifice made by The Accrington Pals?

Then there are modern campaigners such as Pat Seed from Garstang, whose fund is still raising money for the provision of medical equipment to help cancer sufferers. There’s Fred Dibnah from Bolton, who enthused the whole nation with his love of steam engines; Nick Park from Preston, whose creations Wallace and Grommit are loved by everyone, young and old; and Josephine Cox from Blackburn, whose books are eagerly awaited by thousands of avid readers.

And as for the title? Well, that’s another family matter. When speaking of anything that pleased her my grandmother would declare it to be ‘champion’. It’s a good old Lancashire word and sums up the county’s sons and daughters; not just the fifty I’ve written about here but everyone who promotes the Lancastrian values of courtesy, consideration and concern for their county and its inhabitants.

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The Wakes Weeks

Up until around 1600, when the Lancashire coastline underwent a change and the sea receded, Blackpool was just that - a small lake. By 1750 there were a couple of dozen cottages and by 1789, when a book titled A Description of Blackpool was published by William Hutton, the population had risen to 400 people.

The growth of Blackpool as a seaside holiday resort only came about during Victorian times, when the mill workers, with one or two week’s holiday and cash in their pockets, began to look for some excitement beyond the boundaries of their home towns and found, that with the building of an extensive network of railways, they could take their Wakes Weeks holidays beside the sea.

The mill towns of Lancashire used to close down completely for a week or even a fortnight during the summer. Even today some shops, offices and factories still close for the local holiday, some newspaper deliveries cease and the schools ‘break up’ in time for the majority of the population to take their annual summer holiday.

Many people believe that the Wakes Weeks began with the introduction of factory work, especially the cotton weaving mills, but in fact their origin lies much further back in history.

The wakes have their beginnings in the middle ages. They were originally a religious festival when villagers would hold a feast of dedication of their local parish church. And it’s interesting that many of the usual saints to whom parish churches are dedicated have their feast days in the summer months. St Barnabas on 11^th June, St John on 24^th June, St Philip and St Paul on 29^th June, St Thomas on 3^rd July, St Christopher on 25^th July, St Mary on 15^th August and St Bartholomew on 24^th August.

The name ‘wakes’ is the same as the one applied to funerals and refers to the custom of holding an all-night vigil in the church on the eve of the festival.

The main custom of the festival was the ‘rushbearing’, when all the old rushes that were strewn on the church’s packed-earth floor were swept out and fresh ones were ceremoniously carried in. The rest of the day was then a holiday.

During the 16^th century, the wakes holidays came under attack from the puritan population who had many strongholds in the Lancashire area. They disapproved of the drinking and revelling that took place and in 1571 the festivities were banned from churchyards in the archdiocese of York , which at that time included the county of Lancashire . Yet in 1633, King Charles I wrote:

“Of late, in some counties of our kingdom, we find that, under the pretence of taking away abuses, there hath been a general forbidding…of the feasts of the dedication of churches, commonly called wakes. Now our express will and pleasure is, that these feasts, with others, shall be observed…”

However, it was only a few years later that the civil war erupted and Oliver Cromwell and his puritan followers completely banned all festivities.

When the monarchy was restored in 1660, wakes and rushbearing festivals were quickly revived. In a description of the festival at Warton in North Lancashire where the church is dedicated to St Oswald whose saint’s day falls on the 9^th August, John Lucas, writing in the early 18^th century said:

“The feast of dedication…is now annually observed on the Sunday nearest to the first of August, and the vain custom of dancing, excessive drinking, etc., on that day being for many years laid aside, the inhabitants and strangers duly spend the day in attending the service of the church and preparing good cheer within the rules of sobriety in private houses…They cut hard rushes from the marsh, which they make up into long bundles, and then dress them in fine linen, ribbons, silk, flowers, etc.; afterwards the young women take the burdens upon their heads and begin the procession…which is attended with a great multitude of people, with music, drums, ringing bells and all other demonstrations of joy…”

But although this sounds very idyllic, the wakes holidays still drew much criticism for their drunkenness and unseemly behaviour, and in Rochdale in 1780 Dr Hind, a local vicar, forbade the rushes to be brought into his church.

The custom of rushbearing, however, did not die out. It thrived in many areas and also gave rise to the custom of morris dancing, when dancers became a part of the procession that followed the rushes to the church. It is still practised in some local churches today and in other areas of the country, notably Derbyshire, the festival is also associated with well dressing.

The traditional wakes holiday too continued and often was accompanied by the arrival of a travelling fairground. Writing about Middleton in the 19^th century, Samuel Bamford records that:

“On the Monday there began a fair of ‘dealers in nuts, oranges and Eccles cakes,…and shows, flying boxes(swing boats) and whirl-a-gigs’ …”

With the coming of the industrial revolution the wakes survived because many workers simply didn’t turn up when the traditional holiday came. So mill owners decided that they might as well close their factories down for a week at this time to allow them to clean and overhaul the machinery.

Then, as the railways made travel easier, millworkers began to spend their holidays in seaside resorts like Blackpool . The whole of one town and its surrounding area would grind to a halt and the workers would all head off to the coast. Resorts such as Blackpool, and for the slightly more discerning Morecambe, would be filled with holidaymakers. And it was because of this overwhelming exodus of people to the seaside that neighbouring towns grew into the habit of holding their Wakes Weeks holiday at different times. Blackpool simply couldn’t have accommodated the whole of Lancashire in one week.

By 1846 the railway had been extended to Blackpool South, hotels were built and gas lighting was installed along the streets. By 1863 the railway had been extended to Blackpool Central and the North Pier opened. 1870 saw the opening of the promenade and now the population was 7902. The Aquarium was opened in 1874, with an amusement park in front of it.

Families and whole streets of people would simply move their lives from the grimy industrial cotton towns to the coast for one week of the year. In 1884 an article in the Pall Mall Gazette describes the arrival of holiday makers in Blackpool .

“Every train brings crowds of them, with huge carpet bags, tin boxes and bundle handkerchiefs,…It is the habit of half a dozen families to go to the seaside together, and take tea at each other’s lodgings.”

Of course you must remember that part of this luggage contained food as the lodgings didn’t supply all the food, but merely cooked what holiday makers took with them. The later growth of ‘full board and lodging’ was fairly radical.

By 1891 the Blackpool Tower Company had been formed to build a replica of Paris ’s Eiffel Tower (although half the height) on this spot. Blackpool Tower was opened on the fourteenth of May 1894 at a cost of £45,000. A big wheel was installed on Coronation Street in 1896, although it was later dismantled in 1929 for not being exciting enough!

So the wakes festivities and fairs that had originated in local village churchyards continued in Blackpool with the building of the Pleasure Beach , the greatest wakes fair of all!

By 1900 the population had exploded to 50,000 – and that was not counting the summer visitors. But perhaps the greatest innovation of all came in 1879, when Blackpool was the first place in the world to introduce electric lighting. Electricity led to the beginning of the trams in 1885 and perhaps more importantly for the resort, a display of lights, in an attempt to extend the summer season – the Blackpool Illuminations.