The Lordship of Bowland, an ancient English title connected with the Forest of Bowland in the northwest of England, was once thought lost and was only recently rediscovered.[1] It disappeared from sight in 1885 when the estates of the Towneleys, one of Lancashire’s great aristocratic families, were broken up following the death of the last male heir. For much of the twentieth century, experts thought that the Lordship of Bowland belonged to the Crown. In 1938, the Duchy of Lancaster had acquired some 6,000 acres (24 km2) of the Forest of Bowland, now known as the Whitewell Estate, near Clitheroe, and it was believed the Lordship of Bowland had been acquired with it.
It was only when a researcher checked the terms of the sale that the truth emerged. In fact, the 1938 purchase, while it included mineral, sporting and forestry rights, specifically excluded the Lordship of Bowland itself. Further research then revealed that the Lordship had in fact been retained by an extinct Towneley family trust. In 2008, Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan stepped forward on the family’s behalf to claim the title of 15th Lord of Bowland. Controversially, he then went on to auction the title.[2][3] The 16th Lord of Bowland was later revealed to be a Cambridge University don who specialises in the history of Lancashire, its place names and dialects and has ancestral links to the Forest.[4][5][6]
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The ancient origins of the Lordship lie in the Forest and Liberty of Bowland thought to have been created by William Rufus sometime after Domesday and granted to his vassal Roger de Poitou, 1st Lord of Bowland, possibly to reward Poitou for his role in defeating the army of Scots king Malcolm III in 1091-2. The Forest and Liberty of Bowland, along with the grant of the adjacent fee of Blackburnshire and holdings in Hornby and Amounderness, came to form the basis of what became known as the Honor of Clitheroe.
From an early date, the Lord of Bowland was also known as Lord of the Fells,[7] a subsidiary title reflecting the upland character of much of his demesne and analogous to the medieval Scottish title Lord of the Isles.
Before 1095, Roger gave control of the Forest and Liberty into the hands of his neighbour Robert de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract. These lands then became part of the holdings confiscated from Robert de Lacy, as a supporter of Robert Curthose in conflicts with Henry I of England. (These supporters, who included Roger de Poitou, lost their lands and were exiled.) During the period of Robert de Lacy’s banishment, his English estates were held by Hugh de la Val until Hugh’s death circa 1130 when William Maltravers married his Hugh's widow and obtained a grant of the de Lacy estates for a term of years. King Stephen, after his accession to the throne in 1135, restored the lands to Robert de Lacy. Robert's lands were then inherited by his eldest son Ilbert II de Lacy.[8][9]
In 1311, the Honor of Clitheroe was subsumed into the Earldom of Lancaster. After 1351, it was administered as part of the Duchy of Lancaster, with the Duke (from 1399, the Sovereign) acknowledged lord paramount over the Forest and the ten manors of the Liberty. As lord paramount, he was styled Lord King of Bowland.
Territorially, the Lordship of Bowland covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes. The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill (Crook) , Leagram, Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby).[10] Harrop was included within the Forest.
In 1661, the manors contained within the former Honor of Clitheroe, including the Forest and Liberty of Bowland, were granted by the Crown to General George Monck as part of the creation of the Dukedom of Albermarle. Monck had been a key figure in the restoration of Charles II.[11] The Lordship of Bowland then descended through the Montagu, Buccleuch and Towneley families.
Henry IV of England assumed the throne in 1399 and the Duchy of Lancaster, of which the lordship was part, descended with the English Crown until the Restoration of Charles II.
The Lordship was in abeyance between 1885 and 2008.
2008-2009 15th Lord of Bowland Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan
2009-present 16th Lord of Bowland William Bowland [12]
In April 2010, it was reported that the 16th Lord had revived two ancient historic offices of the Forest of Bowland: those of Bowbearer and Chief Steward.[13][14] Robert Parker of Browsholme Hall became Bowbearer. However, the appointment of Charles Bowman as Chief Steward was short-lived.[15] Later that year, the Cambridge University Heraldic & Genealogical Society published a history of the Lordship.[16]
In April 2011, the 16th Lord made an official visit to the Forest with his Bowbearer in attendance.[17][18] A month later, former Steward to the Honor of Clitheroe Michael Parkinson, a partner with chartered surveyors Ingham & Yorke of Clitheroe, assumed the role of the Chief Steward, the first formal appointment since 1922.[19][20][21][22]
In 2000, Australian writer Linden Salter published the historical novel The Major's Minion featuring the character of Lord Bowland.[23]