On this day … 29 October 1252

King Henry III sealed a charter giving Preston a large slice of the land north of the town. This was the land that came to be known as Preston Moor, of which the present Moor Park was the central part.

Sometime after the creation of that part of the Forest of Lancaster known as Fulwood Forest in the late eleventh century Preston townsfolk began creating assarts, or illegal enclosures, in the forest on the edge of their then northern boundary. These incursions were recognised and legalised by the charter. In it they are named as a purpresture, a word used to denote ‘An illegal enclosure of or encroachment upon land or property belonging to another’, to quote the Oxford English Dictionary.

They had already been granted some access to the forest by King John, who in a charter dated 1199, allowed them to pasture their cattle on the land and take wood for house building. At the time, John was desperate for cash and it is possible he accepted payment from some of the Preston burgesses for their illegal assarts on his land.

The charter of Henry III was later confirmed in Preston’s charter of Elizabeth I which John Lingard, the historian and Catholic priest, transcribed and translated. It opened as follows:

‘Whereas it is known to us by an inquisition which we caused to be taken by our sheriff of Lancaster, that three hundred and twenty-four acres of land, as well of the old as of the new purpresture, which our burgesses of Preston in Amounderness have made under our enclosure of Fulwood, belong to our borough of Preston, and not to the said enclosure …’

The charter then sets out the extent of the grant of land:

‘… which purpresture reaches to the following boundaries, to wit: along the rivulet of Ennisbrock [Eaves Brook] at Ribbleton, as far as where that rivulet falls into the water of Sannocke [Savick Brook], and so proceeding along that water of Sannocke as far as the old dyke, which is the division between Preston and Tulketh …’

And then details the rights that were included:

‘… we have granted, and by this our charter have confirmed for ourselves and our heirs, that the burgesses aforesaid and their heirs shall have that purpresture for ever; and that on the moor towards our wood of Fulwood, without the cover of the said wood, and within the said boundaries, they may break up ground, and bring it into cultivation as they shall please, without any impeachment of our foresters or verderors …

Henry also granted the burgesses:

‘… their right of turbary [the right to cut turf or peat for fuel] and pasturage on the said moor, and of sufficient underwood in the same wood, without waste or impeachment of our foresters, or verderors aforesaid … and other liberties and free customs appertaining to the said purpresture, as is aforesaid.’

The boundary of what became the purpresture had been set out in more detail for Henry in 1228, in what was known as a perambulation of the forest, which was transcribed and translated by William Farrer, who added modern names (in bold) to the places described:

‘Item except Fulewood (𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝) by the bounds, to wit from the Hay of Ravenkel (𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐏𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞) unto the way of Dunepul (𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐫), and thence as the watercourse runs to Dupedale (𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝) and thence unto Lund to the upper head, and thence as the water course of Dupedale goes to Fulwude, and thence as that water course falls in Huctredescate (𝐔𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐝’𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞), and thence as the way goes to lower Coleford, and thence as it falls down to the Cadileisahe (𝐂𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐲-𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰) and thence unto the Hay of Ravnekil. And [herein] the men of Preston ought to have timber for their buildings and to burn, and pasture for their beasts.’

Cunliffe Shaw, who wrote the history of the Forest of Fulwood, included a later perambulation of 1338 that set out the extent of the forest after Preston had taken possession of its purpresture: See the accompanying plans.

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Source and images: The Fulwood Forest purpresture