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76 HISTORY OF CORN MILLING: vol. iv.
Ill- the time of Ranulph Earl of Chester, of which toll-hope sixteen
make a crannock : the aforesaid keeper and milners have,
and of long time have had, another measure called a Tolle-Hoope
the great
1400. damage and extortion of the common people, to the yearly value of
forty shillings : And so continued by ten years.
'-J^^^^^' Now
7. Inquisition, ^f the which Tolle-Hoope thirteen make a crannock : To
[The true toll-hoop is said to be the one-sixteenth of a crannoc. According
Text, ante, p. 18. to the calculation at Dublin in 1320, the crannoc was equal to eight pecks ; the
capacity of the Chester toll-hoop being therefore half a peck. But little reliance
is to be placed on these varying local measures of capacity. ]
„ . They say also that where any man or woman doth
^^^ °^ ^
poor.
bring three or four bushels to the said mylnes to grind,
the milners aforesaid do take of every sack two hand-
fuls, or three, at the least, to the use of the said keepers and milners
whereof which they ought to take nothing : In extortion of the
common people, and worth by the year twenty shillings and more :
And so they have continued by ten years and more.
[This complaint claims a custom of grinding small quantities, for the poor,
toll free ; and two centuries later we really find such a custom definitely stated at
Ibid., post, p. 100. an inquisition regarding Dee Mills :
" The inhabitants of the said city do for the
most part grind their corn and malt at the said mills with great ease to themselves,
especially the poorer sort, who usually grind their pecks and small portions of
corn without paying any toll for the same."]
How men of Thy say also that where men did come of the parts
Wirrall came to of Wirhall by water in a little boat with a certain
grind at the
quantity of grain, to the said mylnes to "^^
grind, against
"^^"
the purification of our blessed ladie [February 2] in the
. . . year of the reign of King Richard the Second, then came the
said milners, by the assent of the said keeper, and made the said
five men to swear upon the holy evangels within their hands, how
many men were partners in the said corn : It was admitted by
them that fourteen were partners ; and upon that they took of every
man a penny, afore they would grind, besides the toll ; In extortion
and grievous damage of the common people, to the value of fourteen
pence.
[Wirral is the peninsular portion of Cheshire lying between the Dee and the
Mersey. The charge of one penny for each man owning a share in the little
boat's cargo, in addition to the usual toll, may be evidence of the sharp business
qualities of the millers, but cannot be alleged as an abuse of the legal customs of
the mill, for the Wirral men were not citizens of Chester, to whom alone the
customs applied ; and, in fact, these adventurers were doubtless absenting themselves
from their own local mill, as the Dee millers very readily perceived, and were
surcharged as all other than citizens might be, at the discretion of the millers.]
8. Installation
^' The foregoing tremendous verdict wrought the
of Keeper, desired effect. Thomas de Mostyn and his satelHtes
1409-
promptly disappeared before the close of the year 1400,
clerk and
Henry de Strangways in that year being **
keeper of the mills of Dee for life" ; being succeeded,
June 9, 1401, by Robert Castell, gentleman, as '' clerk
and approver." Under him, as deputy, served John,