Catalogue description Short title: Needham v Harrison. Plaintiffs: Robert Nedeham and others. Defendants:...

Short title: Needham v Harrison.

Plaintiffs: Robert Nedeham and others.

Defendants: John Harrison and others.

Documents: depositions concerning Alderscliffe near Earl Sterndale, Derbyshire.

Taken 31 August, 26 Eliz.

Deponents for plaintiffs: Humphrey Goodwin of Crowborough, Staffordshire, yeoman, aged 75, deposed that 40 years ago inhabitants of Earls Sterndale enclosed the land of Alderscliffe whereupon he and others being freeholders said that this impinged their right of common and indicted them at the Assizes. The enclosures were legally cast down. When inhabitants of Earls Sterndale enclosed it again 20 years ago Francis [Talbot] Earl of Shrewsbury and others were commissioned to make a survey of the commons; Richard Frost of Fairfield, Staffordshire, husbandman, aged 87, whose memory goes back 73 years 'since he was 14' [to 1511], deposed that the commons were enclosed 70 years ago; Richard Bateman of Hartington, yeoman, aged 60, whose memory goes back 50 years [to 1534]; William Fletcher of Longnor, Staffordhsire, husbandman, aged 86, whose memory goes back 60 years or more [to 1524]; George Stadon of Hartington, webster, aged 72, whose memory goes back 40 years or more 'as long as he can remember' [to 1544]; Raphe Bradbury of Hawkesyore [Staffordshire], husbandman, aged 75, whose memory goes back 40 years or more 'as long as he can remember' [to 1544]; Nicholas Chadwick of Leelowe, Staffordshire, husbandman, aged 66, whose memory goes back 50 years [to 1534]; Robert Bradbury of Boothesley, Staffordshire, husbandman, aged 70 whose memory goes back 40 years or more [to 1544]; Hugh Manyfold of Watterhouses, Staffordshire, husbandman, aged 66, whose memory goes back 50 years [to 1534]; Henry Kyley of Bohesley, Staffordshire, husbandman, aged 60, whose memory goes back 40 years [to 1544]; James Buxton of Kingssterndale, husbandman, aged 74, whose memory goes back 'always' [to 1510]; John Oliver alias Smith of Longnore, Staffordshire, husbandman, aged 84, whose memory goes back 'always' [to 1500]; Edward Fox of Longnor, Staffordshire, webster, aged 80; Thomas Stadon of Earls Sterndale, husbandman, aged 34, deposed that he entered Alderscliffe 'in the right of [himself] and the inhabitants of Earls Sterndale' attached by 6 males and 1 female.

Deponents for defendants: Humphrey Goodwin of Crowborough, Staffordshire, yeoman, aged 75, deposed that the Earl of Shrewsbury now holds the manor and lands in question and that he had leased them to Henry Cavendish Esquire; Richard Bateman of Hartington, yeoman, aged 60, whose memory goes back 50 years [to 1534]; William Fletcher of Longnor, Staffordshire, husbandman, aged 86, whose memory goes back 60 years [to 1524], deposed that the fields in question were part of the manor of Hartington, not part of the farm of Earl Sterndale.

26 Eliz.

Andy Wood, The Politics of Social Conflict: the Peak Country, 1520-1770 (Cambridge UP, 1999)