Cheshire Day
The historic county of Cheshire, stretching from Wirral and the Welsh borders in the west to Longdendale (‘the panhandle’) and the Peak District in the east, was almost certainly established in the 920s as part of the arrangements for the administration and defence of north west Mercia. Although the precise year of Cheshire’s foundation is unknown, 2021 has been designated as a fitting date to mark the 1100th anniversary.
The commemorative events include the holding of the first Cheshire Day, an opportunity to celebrate the county’s distinctive history and to bring communities together to express their pride in a shared inheritance despite the separation into different local authorities since 1974. The Diocese of Chester is one of the few institutions which still adheres, in broad terms, to the county’s historic boundaries.
Several long-established counties already hold similar days, almost all relating to significant events in their history. Lancashire Day is on 27 November, the day in 1295 when the county sent its first representatives to parliament. This is marked each year by proclamations read by town criers and is an opportunity to promote tourism and community events. Others to hold their own county days include Shropshire (23 February, the feast day of St Milburga, first abbess of Wenlock priory), Staffordshire (1 May, the anniversary of the founding of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons) and Cornwall (5 March, St Piran’s day, a traditional local holiday). The Days are often characterised by the flying of the county flag and the marketing of visitor attractions. They also have the potential for school projects and for raising awareness of the county’s special features.
The date chosen for Cheshire Day is 30 March. Cheshire is unique among English counties in having its own Magna Carta, quite separate from that issued by King John at Runnymede in June 1215. The Cheshire Magna Carta was granted to his barons by the earl of Chester, Ranulf de Blundeville (builder of Beeston castle), at an unknown date probably a few weeks later than the king’s in 1215. The original does not survive but the earliest surviving text is in a confirmation issued by King Edward I on 30 March 1300.
The fact that the Cheshire barons sought their own Magna Carta, in preference to King John’s, is evidence of a high degree of autonomy in the government of Cheshire at that time. In the 1190s, a local monk called the earl of Chester a ‘prince’ and wrote that the county was ‘accustomed to answer in its assemblies more to the sword of its prince than the crown of the king’. Taxes in Cheshire were normally paid to the earl, not the king. Serious offenders were normally tried in the earl’s courts, not the king’s. So the Runnymede Magna Carta, much of which was a series of promises of good government by the king in matters of finance and justice, was largely irrelevant in Cheshire. This prompted the local barons to press for a Cheshire equivalent, granted by their earl. The Cheshire Magna Carta dealt with some of the same issues as King John’s, but also had some clauses specific to the county. For example, it exempted the barons from an obligation to fight for the earl beyond the county boundaries. It also confirmed the right of those living on the barons’ estates to plead ‘thwertnic’ if accused in the earl’s courts: a peculiar custom (meaning a ‘thorough no’ or blanket denial) which was liable to see them transferred to the barons’ jurisdiction and away from that of the earl. Another clause permitted Cheshire people to sell dead wood they had collected in the earl’s forests (such as Delamere); elsewhere in England, wood could only be gathered in the king’s forests for one’s own use.
In the centuries which followed, these special privileges disappeared, as Cheshire was assimilated into the mainstream government of England. Ranulf de Blundeville’s line of earls died out in 1237 and Cheshire came into the hands of the crown, although initially its distinct status and customs were respected: hence King Edward I’s willingness to confirm the Cheshire Magna Carta on 30 March 1300. By then, in recognition of its special position, Cheshire was beginning to be called a ‘county palatine’, a term which only ceased to apply officially in 1830. As the date of the earliest surviving text of the document which highlights the county’s special status, 30 March is therefore a very appropriate day on which to celebrate Cheshire Day.
References[edit]
- Magna Carta of Chester Magna Carta of Chester
- White, G. J. (2020). Emeritus Professor of Local History, University of Chester.
- White, G. J. (2015). The Magna Carta of Cheshire. Retrieved from http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/read/feature_of_the_month/May_2015_6
- Leatherdale, D. (2015). The country with its own Magna Carta. Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-33553426
Cheshire Day[edit]
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