The principal part of the town formerly lay round the castle, and the place where the town now stands was a wood. Leland says, "the fairest parte of Pontefract standith on the toppe of the hille wher was after the conquest a chapel with a few sparkeled houses. The chapel was caulled St. Leonardes in the frithe (wood), and as I can learne this part of the town was called Kirkeby."

Cambden says "Saxonicis temporibus Kirkby vocabatur, sed Normanni a fracto Ponte, Gallice Pontfract nominarunt," It was customary with the Normans to call their towns and villages after the names of bridges, and this might induce them to do so in England; but as there is not a river within two miles of this place, and before the drains were made, the wash was not only supplied from the high springs, but frequently heightened by excessive rains, it must consequently have been here that the said bridge was built, and came to decay, which gave the present appellation to this ancient borough. And this is rendered the more probable, because by an inquisition taken in the reign of Edward II. it appears that one John Bubwith held the eighteenth part of a knight's fee," Juxta veterem Pontem de Pontfract," and a place at this day called Bubwith-house terminates this wash; so that it is presumed it must be this bridge, which being broken down, gave occasion to the Norman lord to change the name of this town from Kirkby to Pontefract. That this must have been the situation is the more apparent, when we consider that

east corner of the castle, and is now in a ruinous state; the lower was situated near the wash, about six hundred yards below the castle, and was internally demolished in the year 1766, the materials sold, and the large dam filled up and converted into a meadow.

I

before the late alteration of the roads, by which the stream called the Wash is now confined to a narrow channel, upon any violent rains or sudden thaw, it so swelled and overflowed as to be scarce passable, particularly before the drains were made from hence to the river. Nor does there appear 'from the high situation of the town to have been any necessity for a bridge elsewhere.

Such are the varying opinions respecting the name of this place. The last seems most probable and supported by the clearest evidence. The orthography of the name in the latin charters, would induce the belief, that it must refer to the breaking of some bridge; and as there is no other place near the town where a bridge was built but over the wash, the breaking down of this must have given name to the place. But as names are arbitratory, and frequently imposed from mere whim and caprice, or from accidental circumstances, which in many instances are not handed down, no certain conclusion can be made; and we must remain satisfied with what is most probable.

The castle is supposed to be of Saxon origin; and the site of it is perfectly agreeable to their mode of fortification. While the Romans formed their camps on a plain, or on the level ground, and defended them by a foss and a vallum, the Saxons raised the area of their camps and castles, if the ground was level, or selected hills as placés best adapted for defence and security. The elevated rock, on which the castle is built, stands wholly insulated, its sides originally steep and craggy, forms one of those appearances, which indicate some great convulsion of nature, by which rocks have been rent assunder; and the various strata of earth washed

away. A site like this, without much trouble or expence, might soon be converted into a keep or castle; and it is not probable that the Saxons would neglect it during the period of their dominion. In support of this opinion, since the demolition of the castle, it has been found that the keep of the great round tower stood upon a raised hill of stiff hard clay, of which materials the Saxons usually made their keeps.

After the conquest, Ilbert de Lacy having received a grant of the place, and in the tenth of William, all his vast possessions being confirmed to him, he soon after began to erect the castle. This noble structure cost immense expence and labour, and no one, unless in possession of a princely revenue could have completed it. This formidable fortress and magnificent palace was carried forward for the space of twelve years, with unremitting attention, and in the year 1080 was finished. Ilbert de Lacy, when he laid the foundation-stone of the castle, called the name of the town Pontfrete, because the situation, as he conceived, resembled the place so called in Normandy, where he was born *.

Vid. M. S. PED. of T. Wilson, in Biblioth, Leed. This authority is deserving of more credit, as T. W. copied from Hopkinson, who transcribed whatever was valuable from the records of the castle, previous to its demolition,

SECTION VI.

The history and pedigree of the Lacies, Lords of Pontefract, till the failure of the male line, and the union of this family with Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster.

THE noble family of the Lacies came in with the Conqueror; and if we are allowed to judge from the extent of their possessions, they enjoyed a considerable degree of his favour. Ilbert* received the gift of one hundred and fifty manors, or the greatest part of so many in the west of Yorkshire, ten in Nottinghamshire, and four in Lincolnshire. These possessions were confirmed to him in the tenth of William †.

William the Conqueror, after a turbulent and unquiet reign of twenty years, departed this life; and as his eldest son Robert, who had rebelled against him during his own life, was heir to the Dukedom of Normandy, he sent William to England previous to his death, desirous, that he might enjoy the British throne. William succeeded, by the favour of Lanfrank, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Eudes, his fathers steward, who delivered to him all the royal treasures, and secured the cinque

*His brother Walter, received considerable possessions as a reward for his services, in Herfordshire and other counties. He died before the survey, and all his estates had devolved to his eldest son Roger, who enjoyed one hundred and twenty lordships. Vid. Doomsday, Herf.

DUDG. 99. This account agrees with the Hopk. MS.

ports in his interest. As he expected his right to the throne would be disputed by his brother Robert, he endeavoured to ingratiate himself by every act of popularity. He courted the English, and they became strongly attached to his interests, and resolute to maintain his cause against all opposers. He confirmed the grants made by his father to the Norman barons, of all the lands they held, that they might be secure in the possession of their property. Among others, Ilbert de Lacy obtained a confirmation of all the customs belonging to the castle and honour of Pontefract, as he had enjoyed them during the former reign. He founded the collegiate chapel of St. Clement, in the castle; and dying soon after the accession of William Rufus to the throne, left his vast possessions to his eldest son Robert*, called Robert de Pontefract, from the circumstance of his being born here.

William Rufus, confirmed to this Robert all the lands of which his father died seized; and he appears to have acquired the lordship of Blackburnshire, now one of the hundreds, in the county of Lancaster, bordering on his own estates in Yorkshire, from Roger de Busli, and Albert de Greslet, and

* He left a younger son called Hugh; but according to the law of primogeniture, the whole estates went to Robert. This law was introduced into Europe by the feudal system; and was essential to the support of it. The Saxon law of gavel-kind, the original law of all nations, by which a father's property, whatever it was, was equally divided among all his children, was abolished, as incompati ble with duties imposed by this system. The clergy had laboured much to introduce the canon law, which sanctioned primogeniture, as divinely appointed; and as this harmonized with the feudal system, it became at length firmly established. If the law of primogeniture be examined, it appears to have no foundation in reason or equity; and could never have obtained in society, but in connection with the factitious system which required personal service to be rendered to the king, for the lands held of him.