Sunday, December 9, 2007

The Wirral Horn







In the year 1120,Randal de Meschines,Earl of Chester,created Alan Sylvester chief forester of the forest of Wirral and granted to him the manors of Hooton,Storeton and Puddington to hold upon condition that he performed the duties of forester and in addition that he blew or caused to be blown a horn at the Gloverstone in Chester on the morning of every fair day, to indicate that the tolls on all goods bought or sold inthe city or within the sound of that horn belonged to the Earl or his tenants.Alan Sylvester was succeeded by his son,Ralph,on whose death,without issue,Hugh Cyveliac, Earlof Chester,granted the same manors with the forestership to Alexander de Storeton on his marriage with Annabella, the daughter of Alan Sylvester. Alexander de Storeton again had only female issue and the forestership passed next to Sir Thomas Bamville, who married Agnes de Storeton,daughter of Alexander. Sir Philip Bamville, the heir of Sir Thomas, also left issue,three daughters only, the eldest of whom,Jane, married Sir William de Stanley,and brought the forestership as part of her dower,the title of her son,John Stanley, having been proved in 1346 before Jordan de Macclesfield,justice in Eyre to the Earl of Chester.in this family it remained until disafforested by King Edward 111 on the complaint of the citizens of Chester who represented that they were grievous sufferers from the freebooters who lurked in the forest. the Stanleys petitioned the king for renumeration for the loss of the profits attached to the office of chief forester, and were granted an annuity of twenty marks,which however seems to have been indifferently paid. The horn,however,which was the symbol of their tenure,has remained in the possession of the Stanley family ever since.



The above inscription was probably put on the horn sometime in the 18th century. Earlier this year the horn was on exhibition in the Wirral Museum in Birkenhead formerly the Town Hall, where I was lucky enough to see it and take some photos. It is the actual horn, not a replica and is probably about 900 years old.

3 comments:

Lilli & Nevada said...

Love the architect of the museum and wow that is some horn.

Gledwood said...

That museum is a beautiful building... looks French or Spanish to me not Liverpudlian! (Sorry IS the Wirral in Liverpool? Or across the water and separate from ? I really don't know I'm sorry!!)

That brightly golden sunset WOW! Did you do anything to enhance the colours of that or is that naturally how it turned out? It's amazing!!

Anonymous said...

Well documented piece made all the more interesting by the very close up pictures of both the Horn and the Museum. Enough history to make the Museum a "must see" when in the area.
Myles