Short title: Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster v Joddrell. Plaintiffs:...

Short title: Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster v Joddrell.

Plaintiffs: Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster [at the relation of Anthony Bennett].

Defendants: Edmond Joddrell.

Documents: depositions concerning Bowden, Derbyshire, with plan of Bradshaw Hall and Ollerenshaw Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire; these are now filed at MPC 1/209.

Taken 9 September, 4 James I.

Deponents for plaintiffs: Anne Arnefield of Birchall, widow, aged 67, whose memory goes back 60 years [to 1538], deposed that Anthony Bennett and his ancestors have owned land on Wilkin Hill all of her remembrance and that she had heard that 'their elders have enjoyed the same time out of memory of man'. Her father, stepfather and brother pay a rent to the king for the lands in variance but she does not know how much; Margaret Bowden, widow of John Bowden of Bugsworth, aged 62; William Olin of Hanley, Cheshire, yeoman, aged 63; John Browne of Bradshawe Edge, yeoman, aged 71; Edward Bennett of the Hill, yeoman, aged 67; Henry Bagshaw of White Hill in the parish of Chapel-en-le-Frith, esquire, aged 70, whose memory goes back 40 years [to 1558]; Leonard Shawcross of Fernilee, gentleman, aged 44 'about 3 weeks after michaelmas'; Thomas Moult of Eccles, yeoman, aged 51; Robert Ollerenshaw of Tunstead, yeoman, aged 54; Roger Deane of Alstonlee, yeoman, aged 72; Margery Crossley of Turnstead, widow, aged 60, deposed that Mr Joddrell had ejected her and her sisters from their tenement and 'used her hardly' after the death of her father and has taken other such tenements into his hands; Thomas Moult of Eccles, yeoman, aged 51; Robert Ollerneshare of Tunstead, yeoman, aged 54; Stephen Crossley of Tunstead Mill, husbandman, aged 76; William Oliver of Hanley, Cheshire, husbandman, aged 63; Thomas Bowes of Bugsworth, husbandman, aged 18.

Deponents for defendants: Stephen Croster of Tunstead mill, husbandman, aged 68; Anne Bennet of Hawkeshurst, widow, aged 76, deposed that in all of her memory the plaintiff and their predecessors as tenants of the land have yielded labour services to the defendant for the tenure of the land; John Boler of Chapel-en-le-Frith, gentleman, aged 65, deposed that the land in question are part of the manor of Edmond Joddrell. They are freehold lands and render rents paid to him. He has seen the rentals; William Bennet of Irdlington [Adlington?], Cheshire, husbandman, aged 60 years and more; John Gaskill of Handley, Cheshire, husbandman, aged 60; Henry Bagshawe of Whitehill in parish of Chapel-en-le-Frith, esquire, aged 70; Roger Goodwin of Hurdlow, gentleman, aged 57, deposed that at an assize at Derby 30 years ago the Countess of Shrewsbury attempted to prove that the landholders of Bowden had done suit at her court at Ashford. She produced written evidence to support the claim. Other documents were produced that 'more anciently proved' that the lands were freehold and were not part of the Countess's manor.

For an item extracted from this piece see

MPC 1/209