to the Arch Bp and the Bp of Ely, who said they knew no such thing; but because Marsh and Forth were gone home to Wigan, I desired the Lords to set downe a day certaine when we should be heard, who have now appointed 3rd October next for us to attend them at Lambeth about it
Memorandum: The last hearing before the 4 Lords was the 23rd of February, 1618, when they made the finall order betwixt me and the Wigganers."[1]
The order is as follows:
"Whereas upon two petitions tendred to the King's Majesty, the one by the Town of Wigan, the other by Dr. Bridgeman, parson of Wigan, about certeine differences between them concerning the mannor of Wigan, and ffaires, marketts, Leets, courts of pleas, and Moot Hall ther: it pleased his Majesty to refer the said matter to the Lord Arch Bishop of Canterbury, the Lord Bp of Ely, the Lord Chief Justice of England, and the Lord Chief Justice of the common pleas, to hear and end the said differences, or to certify his Majesty of the state thereof; we the said Comissioners having accordingly heard the councell learned in the Law on both parts att large five severall times, and the said parties submitting themselves to our determination (the one party, namely Dr. Bridgeman, doing it in person, the other, namely the Corporation, appearing by some of their Burgesses authorized under their town seal to conclude in the name of their corporation), we doe therefore order and determine the said differences as followeth:
| The Mannor | Imprimis we find that Wigan is a mannor, and that the parson hath shewed us many evidences and Records for the same, as also for the Wasts and soyl thereof, and the sute and service thereof by the freeholders and inhabitants therein. Therefore we order that the parson and his successors shall quietly have and hold the Mannor of Wigan as in their own |
- ↑ Wigan Leger, fol. 18, 19.
