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<DATE>2008-11-26</DATE>
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<NAME>Megan Marion</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A78259">
<STC T="W">C1113</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99895694</BIBNO>
<VID>153089</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
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<HEAD>The Ca&s;e of the Mannor of Epworth in the I&s;le of <HI>AXHOLM,</HI> in the County of <HI>Lincoln,</HI> concerned in the Bill for an Act for &s;et|ling the Level of <HI>Hatfield</HI> Cha&s;e, humbly pre&s;ented to the Right Honorable the Commons of <HI>England</HI> in Parliament a&s;&s;embled.</HEAD>
<P><HI>HAtfield</HI> Cha&s;e, and the places adjacent, lying contiguous in the &s;everal Counties of <HI>York, Lincoln,</HI> and <HI>Nottingham,</HI> and con|taining about &s;ixty thou&s;and Acres of Ground are all in one Level; concerning which, Sir <HI>Cornelius Vermeuden</HI> a Dutchman, in the &s;econd year of His late Maje&s;ty of ever Ble&s;&s;ed Memory, contracted with His Maje&s;ty, being Lord of the Soyl for the Draining thereof (and therein al&s;o for tho&s;e of <HI>Epworth,</HI> being about Thirteen thou&s;and Acres, and part of that Level, though no part of the Cha&s;e) wherein the King (graciou&s;ly intending not to prejudice the Commoners) declared, That the Commoners &s;hould fir&s;t be agreed with, before <HI>Vermeuden</HI> &s;hould begin the work.</P>
<P>The &s;aid I&s;le is wholly in <HI>Lincoln&s;hire,</HI> and the Mannor of <HI>Epworth,</HI> con&s;i&s;ting of twenty Towns, Thorps, and Hamlets (wherein the Tenants there are very numerous) is in length about &s;even miles, and lying between the River of <HI>Trent</HI> on the Ea&s;t, and <HI>Hatfield</HI>-Cha&s;e, and divers Man|nors in <HI>Yorkshire</HI> on the We&s;t, which are Drained through the Mannor of <HI>Epworth</HI> into the &s;aid River, and &s;o it becometh very advantagious to the Participants, but hurtfull to a great part of the Mannor of <HI>Epworth;</HI> which the Participants make a very Sink or Pan to receive the Waters ca&s;t up|on it, to ea&s;e and make dry <HI>Hatfield</HI> Cha&s;e, and the other Mannors which lie on the We&s;t.</P>
<P>The Tenants in the &s;ame Mannor claim Right of Common of Pa&s;ture, Turbary, and to dig Earth there at their plea&s;ures to improve their Upland, and other Priviledges, which they and their Predece&s;&s;ors have had time out of minde.</P>
<P>The &s;aid Mannor came to the Crown by Exchange in the Reign of the late Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> and the Tenants &s;ay that long before that, <HI>viz.</HI> In the time of King <HI>Edward</HI> the third, and now three hundred years &s;ince Sir <HI>John Mowbray</HI> was Lord of that Mannor, and made an approvement of the wa&s;tes there by vertue of the Statute; whereupon he and the Tenants came to an Agreement, and (be&s;ides &s;everal Grants which he made to particular Tenants) he made a Deed to Eleven of the Tenants particularly named, and to the re&s;t of the Tenants in general words, whereby he confirmed all their former Rights and Priviledges, and debarred him&s;elf and his heirs of all future Approvements by that Deed, being an anci|ent Charter now extant Again&s;t which Charter, and other Grants; there can be no Approvement by Law, without expre&s;s con&s;ent of the Tenants, All the Law-Books being clear, That again&s;t Common by Grant, there can be no Approvement.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Ground in Que&s;tion is <HI>7400</HI> Acres parcel of the &s;aid <HI>13000</HI> Acres within the Mannor of <HI>Epworth.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_THe Undertakers, who call them&s;elves Participants within the Level of <HI>Hatfield</HI> Cha&s;e &s;ay, they have a Decree in the Exchequer. The Te|nants &s;ay further, That the Participants have two Decrees, but the one Enterferes and cla&s;hes again&s;t, and almo&s;t wholly de&s;troys the other. The Participants &s;ay, Three hundred and &s;eventy of the Tenants con&s;ented. The Tenants an&s;wer; fir&s;t, That the Di&s;&s;enters are near three times as many, and many of them the greate&s;t Freeholds; and that tho&s;e who are named in the &s;aid Decree, are divers of them &s;uch as never had Right of Common; &s;ome are named three or four times over to &s;well up the number; and by the &s;irname only with a blank, and &s;ome by names never heard of before to li<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e in the I&s;le, and &s;ome were counterfeited. Secondly, They that did con&s;ent were drawn thereunto by &s;ore and very hard pre&s;&s;ures; neither is there any &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to be found upon Record, under the hand of any. Thirdly, The con&s;ent was onely a Submi&s;&s;ion to an Award of the Attorney-General, which Award was Decreed without ever hearing a Depo&s;ition re<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">d; neither was any of tho&s;e &s;aid to con&s;ent ever &s;erved with Proce&s;s to an&s;wer the Bill whereupon that Decree was obtained, being gained by <HI>Vermeudens</HI> practice and combination with four per&s;ons fined in Star-Chamber One thou&s;and pound a <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">eece for Riots, and &s;entenced to pay Two thou&s;and marks damages to <HI>Vermeuden,</HI> and to &s;tand committed to the Pri&s;on of the <HI>Fleet:</HI> Which four per&s;ons together with one <HI>Newland</HI> and Agent of <HI>Vermeudens,</HI> combined (that they might free them&s;elves from the danger of that &s;entence) to an&s;wer a Bill in the Exchequer at <HI>Vermeudens</HI> Suit, on the behalf of them&s;elves and others of the Pari&s;h of <HI>Haxey</HI> in general words (particularly naming none) and to confe&s;s (though fal&s;ly) the charge of the Bill to be true, being never &s;erved with Proces, nor having authority from the other Pari&s;hes, but &s;ub&s;cribed an authority to &s;ome of them&s;elves, with about eighteen hands which they got more to it, be|ing per&s;ons al&s;o fined or drawn in by them. The&s;e four per&s;ons, and the &s;aid <HI>Newland</HI> the Agent for <HI>Vermeuden,</HI> upon an information exhibited again&s;t them in Star-Chamber by &s;ome of the Town of <HI>Mi&s;terton-Relators,</HI> were for the&s;e and other abu&s;es done to the Countrey, &s;entenced to &s;tand on the Pillory with Papers, in the next Markets adjoyning, and to make re&s;titution of money extorted from &s;everal of the Tenants, under colour of execution of a warrant to a Serjeant at Arms; and one of them was &s;entenced to come to the Exchequer Bar with Papers in his Hat, and there to acknowledge his fal&s;e an&s;wer which he had given in that Court to the prejudice of the Country. The&s;e per&s;ons neverthele&s;s e&s;caped the &s;hame and puni&s;hment due unto them (by tampering with and taking off the pro&s;ecutors) by rea&s;on whereof the Sentence was omitted to be entred; yet the truth of this appeareth by the Note-Book yet exta<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">t in Star-Chamber, and may be proved by witne&s;&s;es yet living, who were by and pre&s;ent at the time of the Sentence. Fifthly, The Participants bribed the Te|nants Sollicitor. Sixthly, the Decree was ten years in gaining, aid is in length thirteen or fourteen skins of Parchment, which may ju&s;tly render jealou&s;ie and &s;u&s;pition in the obtaining.</P>
<P>The Participants &s;econd Decree was upon hearing of their own Bill, which was exhibited to &s;tay the Commoners Suits commenced at Law. This Decree declares, That the Parties who are not named in the former Decree, (which are very numerous) are not bound, and that they are at liberty to proceed at Law. And as to tho&s;e who are named, it declares that they are no othewi&s;e bound, but whil&s;t that fir&s;t Decree &s;tands unrever&s;ed; and in per&s;uance of that &s;econd Decree, the Tenants have had two Verdicts in the Title, Heir<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">n Taile and Feme Coverts are al&s;o declared by that Decree not to be bound: And that Decree e&s;tabli&s;heth the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion no otherwi&s;e with the Participants, then it was when that Bill was exhibited; &s;ince which, and after the Decree thereupon &s;everal verdicts have been at Law, and the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion con<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ued with the Inhabitants, till they were now lately forced out by extremity of drifts of their Cattel, for unrea&s;onable Scots or Taxes of the Court o<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> Sewers.</P>
<P>The Undertakers &s;ay they have been at great charges; the Tenant an&s;wer, That though they have been at great charges in the whole great Level, yet their charge hath been but little within the Mannor of <HI>Epworth,</HI> having made but one new Cut, and &s;coured an old Drain through the Mannor for their own advantage, and &s;topt up three old Drains, and diverted the head <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">a fourth, which were more beneficial to the Tenants.</P>
<P>The Participants alledge, That whereas other Mannors had but a t<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">rd part allotted for their proportion, <HI>Epworth</HI> had near half. The Tenants an&s;wer, the Lord having once approved, and no right in Law to approve again <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y rea&s;on of the &s;aid Charter, the Undertakers (coming in again&s;t Law) ought not to have a foot, but rather to make &s;atisfaction for the wrong they have done to the Country, all the be&s;t ground being taken from them, and the barren ground onely left to the Country. And this Ca&s;e being different from th<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">t of Draining in other places, why &s;hould not the Tenants now Drain and improve them&s;elves, being now willing and ready to make appear how they wi<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> do it. Be&s;ides,</P>
<P>The Undertakers &s;ay they paid a great &s;um of money to the Crow, and that they have General warranty. It is an&s;wered, the King gave warranty no otherwi&s;e in the true meaning, but upon the terms in the Contract expre&s;&s;ed. <HI>viz.</HI> That the Commoners &s;hould be agreed with, before the work &s;hould be begun. Secondly that the Tenants &s;hould be left in a better condition. Thirdly, The Land to be conveyed, was to be Wa&s;te, Boggy, and &s;urround|ed Ground; and accordingly in the clo&s;e of one of the Contracts, ga<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e warranty to his Attorny-General to pa&s;s the conveyance according to the true in|tent thereof. The Undertakers failed on their parts in all, and therefo<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e the King was abu&s;ed, the Country damnified, and they ought on all &s;ides to make recompence for doing what they were never &s;et on work to do, but by them&s;elves.</P>
<P>The Participants &s;ay they have &s;uffered very great damages by the R<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ots. The Tenants an&s;wer, That the Undertakers had a Commi&s;&s;ion of Oyer and Terminer to try the Rioters, why did they not then proceed in a Legal way of Ju&s;tice? and why not now, but that the Law is again&s;t them? The Tenants therefore have occa&s;ion to ble&s;s God, and thank His Maje&s;ty and the Parliament, for his Gracious Pardon; and under all, are bold to re&s;t upon the Law of the Land, by which they are ready to &s;tand or fall.</P>
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