A Survey of the AINSTY, or County of the City of YORK.

A'

INSTY is a Diftrict on the Weft Side Fork, un

der the Jurifdiction of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs of the City, to which it was annexed 'the 27th of Hen. VI. before which Time it was a Hundred, or Weapontack, of the Weft-Riding of the County of York; and it has ever fince then been called the County of the City of York.

*

The Name of Ainfty is an odd Appellation, which Mr. Camden fays fome derive from the Word Ancienty, to denote its Antiquity; but he is of Opinion it comes rather from the German word Anftoffen, implying a Bound or Limit. There is little Reafon for this Conjecture, for it is certain this Diftrict was called the Ainftylong before it was joined to the City. In fome old Writings, copied in the Juridical Part of this Work, it is conftantly called Ancitty, by which Name it was probably known when it was a Weapontake of the County at large, and ftyled fo from the old northern Word Anent, yet well known amongst us to fignify contiguous, oppofite, or near the City itself.

The whole District, or Weapontack of the Ainfti, was anciently a Foreft, but disforested by the Charters of King Richard I. and King John. For the firft of which Grants the Inhabitants paid † nineteen Pounds and ele ven Pence; and for the latter, that the Men of this Weapontack, and their Heirs, as the Charter expreffes it, fhould be for ever free from Foreft Laws, Account was made to the King of the Sum of one hundred and twenty Marks and three Palfryst. Sir Thomas Widdrington writes that the City of York has very antiently laid Claim to this Jurifdiction, by a Charter from King John, as appears by the Pleas before King Edw. I. An. Reg. 8.

*Camden's Brit.

+ Mag. Rot. 5 Ric. I. Rot. 5. a. Exchequer, p. 274. lit. a.

when

Everwicfcire. Maddox's

Maddox 282. d. Wapontack foreft. per Cartam Dom. Rot. Pipe. 2 Ric. I.

Mag. Rot. 10 Joh. Rot. 18. a. de Anifti, r. c. de lib. pro babend. quiet. Regis et quod non fuit amplius in Forefta.

when the Mayor of this City did produce a Charter of King John, by which he claimed the Hundred of the Ainfty; which Charter, upon Inspection, was found rafed in the Date in the Word Quarto. Upon the Search of the Rolls in the Exchequer *, it was found that King John, in the fifteenth Year of his Reign, did grant to the Citizens of York the Town of York, in FeeFarm for the Rent of one hundred and fixty Pounds and because the Hundred aforefaid was not fpecified in the Charter of Anno Quarto, and also because that Charter was rafed, Judgment was given against the Mayor and Citizens, the Charter quafhed, and the Mayor committed to Prison, but shortly after bailed.. The Fourth of Edward I. the Mayor and Bailiffs were also fummoned to anfwer the King, quo Warranto †, they held the Weapontack of the Ainfty; and Sir Thomas Widdrington, from whom this Paragraph is taken, fays, it may be doubted whether they had any good Warrant faving for the Leet, and fome other Liberties, till the 27th of Henry VI. by whofe Charter or Patent it was annexed to the City 1.

It is plain, however, that the City has much more antiently laid Claim to this Wapontack; for befides the Pleas which Sir Thomas Widdrington writes were held about it, 8th of Edward I. we find a Grant of the fame King to the City, for Reftitution of their Mayoralty and Liberties then seized into the King's Hands, either for Non-payment of their Ferm, or for Failure in their Proof of the Claim, wherein the Ainfty is particularly mentioned. A Copy of which, dated the 9th of Edward I. follows in thefe Words,

De Libertatibus Reftitut. Civibus Ebor §.

"REX dilecto fuo Jobanni de Lithegraynes Vicecom, "Ebor. et Cultodi Civitatis fue Ebor. Salutem. Sciatis quod de Gratia noftra fpeciali reddidimus Civibus "noftris Ebor. Majoratem ejufdem Ville cum Villa et "Libertate ejufdem, cum Pertinentiis que nuper capte "fuerint in Manum noftram per Confiderationem Curie "noftre

In the Receipt of the Exchequer in rotulo majore; also, + In Parvo Record. Rot. 8.

De annex. Hundred. de Aynfty Com. Cju. Ebor, pat. 27. Hen.. VI. p. 1. m. 14. Turre Lond. § Pat. 9. Ed. I. m. 16.

noftre tanquam forisfacte, habend. et tenend. eifdem "Civibus eodem Modo et cum eifdem Libertatibus et Pertinentiis, quo eas habuerunt ante predictam Captionem earundem in Manum noft. ita quod de firma debita et aliis que ad nos pertinent ibidem de cetero "refpondeant per Annum, ficut prius fieri confuevit. Commifimus etiam eifdem Civibus Wapontack de xc Aynefty cum Pertinentiis, quod clamant pertinere ad Civitatem predict. tenend. ufque ad feftum afcenfionis Domini proxime futurum, et tunc eis inde fcire fa*ciemus Voluntatem noftram. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod eifdem Civibus predicta majoratem Villam et Libertatem tenend. in Forma predicta; et eis predictum Wapontack tenend. ficut predict. eft una cum omnibus de predictis Villa et Wapontack, a fefto S. "Michaelis proxime preterito perceptis.

"In cujus Rei, &c.

T. R. apud Roth. xx. Die Novem.”

12

The Boundary of the Ancitty,or Weapontack Miles. of the City of York, is thus computed, from the Confluence or Meeting of the Rivers Ouse and Nid at Nun-Monkton, on the North of the City to the Confluence of the Rivers Wharf and Oufe on the South, which is in Computation

From the Meeting of the Rivers Wharf and Oufe on the South, to the Town of ThorpArch on the Weft, is by Computation

On the Weft it is bounded by the County of York, from the Town of Thorp-Arch to the Town of Wilftropp upon Nidd, by the OutRange of the Parishes of Thorp-Arch, Bickerton, Cattle-Bridge, and Wilftropp, by Compu

tation

On the North it is bounded with the River Nidd, from the Town of Wilftropp to the Confluence of the River Ouse at Nun-Monkton, which is

In all

6

3

32

John Leland fays, That the Franchifes and Libertys of York ftretch far about the City, especialisk by the Enclofyngs of divers Rivers; and one Way it cometh to the very Bridge of Tadcaster upon Wharf. The Citizens have

* See the Map.

afferted