A liberty was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

unit originating in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, traditionally defined as an area in which

regalian right ''Jura regalia'' is a medieval legal term which denoted rights that belonged exclusively to the king, either as essential to his sovereignty (''jura majora'', ''jura essentialia''), such as royal authority; or accidental (''jura minora'', ''jura a ...

was revoked and where the land was held by a mesne lord (i.e. an area in which rights reserved to the king had been devolved into private hands). It later became a unit of local government administration. Liberties were areas of widely variable extent which were independent of the usual system of hundreds and

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

s for a number of different reasons, usually to do with peculiarities of tenure. Because of their tenurial rather than geographical origin, the areas covered by liberties could either be widely scattered across a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

or limited to an area smaller than a single

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

: an example of the former is Fordington Liberty, and of the latter, the Liberty of Waybayouse, both in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. In northern England, the liberty of Bowland was one of the larger tenurial configurations covering some ten manors, eight townships and four parishes under the sway of a single feudal lord, the

Lord of Bowland The Lordship of Bowland is a feudal barony associated with the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. The lordship fell into disuse between 1885 and 2008, during which time it was widely believed to have lapsed; it was revived in 2008. In 18 ...

, whose customary title is

Lord of the Fells Lord of the Fells is a customary title of the Lords of Bowland. The title is thought to have become customary during the high medieval period as a description of the Lords' rugged upland demesne. Bowland Fells, more widely known as the Forest ...

. Up until the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, such lords would have been lords paramount. Legislation passed in 1836 ended the temporal jurisdiction of the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

and the Bishop of Ely in several liberties, and the Liberties Act 1850 permitted the merging of liberties in their counties. By 1867, only a handful remained: Ely, Havering-atte-Bower,

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

and Haverfordwest. St Albans was subsequently joined to the county of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

in 1875. The Local Government Act 1888 led to the ending of the special jurisdictions in April 1889: the Isle of Ely and Soke of Peterborough became administrative counties, while the three remaining liberties were united to their surrounding counties.

Inner and Middle Temples

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

and

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

, which occupy an area in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

known as The Temple, describe themselves as liberties based on letters patent from 1608 and retain a large degree of independence to the present day. They are extra-parochial areas, historically not governed by the City of London Corporation, and are today regarded as local authorities for most purposes. They are also outside the

ecclesiastical jurisdiction Ecclesiastical jurisdiction signifies jurisdiction by church leaders over other church leaders and over the laity. Jurisdiction is a word borrowed from the legal system which has acquired a wide extension in theology, wherein, for example, it is ...

of the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. They geographically fall within the boundaries of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, but can be thought of as independent

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

s. The local government functions of the Inner and Middle Temples are allocated by the

Temples Order 1971 The Temples Order 1971 is an Order in Council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the ...

which provides that the Sub-Treasurer of the Inner Temple and the Under-Treasurer of the Middle Temple may exercise any function of an Inner London borough defined in either of ss.1(4) or 6 London Government Act 1963 which is not expressly excepted by an Act or Order. Exceptions in the 1971 Order include various matters associated with housing, planning, public welfare and health; the effect is usually to direct such excepted powers or responsibilities to the Common Council of the City of London. The

City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temples. The force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region, o ...

have policed the Temples since 1857 by consent rather than by imposition.

List of liberties

* Allertonshire * Alverstoke Liberty * Beaulieu Liberty * Bentley Liberty * Liberty of Berrick Prior * Bircholt Franchise and Barony * Blackfriars, London * Bolingbroke Soke * Bowland,

Forest of Bowland The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (howe ...

, Forest and Liberty of Bowland * Breamore Liberty * Liberty of

Brickendon Brickendon is a village in the civil parish of Brickendon Liberty in the district of East Hertfordshire about south of the county town Hertford, and is served by Bayford railway station. Centred on a traditional village green and a village pub ...

(Hertfordshire) *

Precinct of Bridewell Precinct may refer to: * An electoral precinct * A police precinct * A religious precinct * A shopping precinct or shopping mall ** A Pedestrian zone Places * A neighborhood, in Australia * A unit of public housing in Singapore * A former el ...

* Bridgnorth Liberty *

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...

* Liberty of the Clink *

Coldharbour, City of London Coldharbour, also spelled Cold Harbour, Cold Harborough, Cold Herbergh, Cold Herberge, and Cold Inn, were two London neighbouring estates in the since dissolved parishes of All-Hallows-the-Less and All-Hallows-the-Great, in today's Dowgate Ward ...

Dibden Dibden is a small village in Hampshire, England, which dates from the Middle Ages. It is dominated by the nearby settlements of Hythe and Dibden Purlieu. It is in the civil parish of Hythe and Dibden. It lies on the eastern edge of the New ...

Liberty *

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Soke * List of liberties in Dorset * The Liberties, Dublin *

Liberty of Durham The Liberty of Durham was a regional division of the North of England under the control of the Bishop of Durham. The liberty was known variously as the "Liberty of Durham", "Liberty of St Cuthbert's Land", "The lands of St. Cuthbert between Tyne ...

* East Medina Liberty * East Smithfield Liberty * Ely Place Liberty *

Ely Rents Liberty Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place was a liberty and from 1866 to 1930 a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was part of the ancient parish of St Andrew Holborn. The southern boundary was the street no ...

* Liberty of

Glasshouse Yard The Liberty of Glasshouse Yard was an extra-parochial liberty adjacent to the City of London. The liberty took its name from a glass manufacturing works established there. The area now forms part of the London Borough of Islington. Formation ...

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln a ...

Soke * Liberty of Hallamshire * Havant Liberty *

Hatton Garden Liberty Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place was a liberty and from 1866 to 1930 a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was part of the ancient parish of St Andrew Holborn. The southern boundary was the street now ...

* Haverfordwest * Royal Liberty of Havering * Franchise of Hexhamshire * Horncastle Soke * Liberty of Howdenshire *

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

* Isle of Ely * Kingswood Liberty, Surrey * Liberty of Langbaurgh/

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

* Langport Liberty *

Lodsworth Lodsworth is a small village and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It is situated between Midhurst and Petworth, half a mile north of the A272 road. It lies within the South Downs National Park, just to the north o ...

* The

Minories Minories ( ) is the name of a small former administrative unit, and also of a street in central London. Both the street and the former administrative area take their name from the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate. Both are ...

* Liberty of the Mint, Southwark * Soke of

Mountsorrel Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants, increasing to 8,223 at the 2011 census. Geography The village is in the borough of Charnwood, surround ...

, Leicestershire *

Liberty of Norton Folgate Norton Folgate was a liberty in Middlesex, England; adjacent to the City of London in what would become the East End of London. It was located between the Bishopsgate ward of the City of London to the south, the parish of St Leonard, Shoreditc ...

* Old Artillery Ground Liberty (part of the Liberties of the Tower of London) * Orton, Staffordshire, a liberty in Wombourne Parish *

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

* Soke of Peterborough * Pevensey Lowey * Liberties of Priorsdale, Alston Moor * Portsmouth and Portsea Island Liberty *

Liberty of Rufford The Liberty of Rufford was an extra-parochial liberty in the County of Nottinghamshire. It extends southward from the vicinity of Ollerton, for more than six miles, along the banks of the Rainworth-water, and consists of 10,221 acres. It is defin ...

* Richmondshire *

Liberty of Ripon The Liberty of Ripon or Riponshire was a liberty possessing separate county jurisdiction, although situated within the county of Yorkshire, England. The liberty was under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York, a privilege claimed to have ...

Romney Marsh Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until ...

Liberty *

Liberty of the Rolls The Liberty of the Rolls was a liberty, and civil parish, in the metropolitan area of London, England. The Liberty was probably created in the late medieval period by its removal from the Farringdon Without Ward of City of London,London 800-121 ...

* Ryme Intrinseca * Liberty of St Albans * Liberty of St John, Midhurst * St Martin's le Grand * Liberty of the Savoy (Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster) * Liberty of Saint Edmund *

Precinct of St Katharine The Royal Foundation of St Katherine is a religious charity based in the East End of London. The Foundation traces its origins back to the medieval church and monastic hospital St Katharine's by the Tower (full name ''Royal Hospital and Collegiat ...

Liberty of Saffron Hill Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place was a liberty and from 1866 to 1930 a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was part of the ancient parish of St Andrew Holborn. The southern boundary was the street n ...

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is deriv ...

Liberty *

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

Liberty *

Slaidburn Slaidburn () is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. The parish covers just over 5,000 acres of the Forest of Bowland. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Slaidburn lies near the head o ...

, Manor and Liberty of Slaidburn * Liberty of the Soke, Winchester * Borough of Southwark * Southwell and Scrooby * Stoborough Liberty *

Lowey of Tonbridge The Lowey of Tonbridge is the name of a large tract of land given to Richard Fitz Gilbert (1024–1090) in West Kent, England by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest of England. Richard was a cousin of William's, both being descende ...

* Tower division, Liberties of the Tower of London * Liberty of Trysull * Liberty of Tynedale * Wenlock Franchise * West Medina Liberty * Liberty of Westminster * The Liberty of Westover or West Stour * Whitefriars, London *

Whitby Strand Whitby Strand was a wapentake and liberty in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was one of thirteen wapentakes across the old North Riding of Yorkshire. The division of the area into the Liberty and Wapentake of Whitby Strand occurred in ...

Liberty *

Wells St Andrew Wells St Andrew, or St Andrew Liberty, or derivations thereof, was a liberty, ecclesiastical parish, and later a civil parish, containing Wells Cathedral (which is dedicated to Saint Andrew) and surrounding land, in Somerset, England. History ...

* Wombourne Liberty

Ireland

The term "liberty" was used in Ireland after the Norman conquest. *Liberty of

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

; later divided into the liberties of Wexford,

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

, Carlow and

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

*Liberty of Meath; later divided into the liberties of Meath and

Trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), ...

*Liberty of Ulster *Liberty of the Archbishop of Dublin, which at one time covered much of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

city south of the River Liffey

Prison liberties

The term "liberty" was also used in England for a demarcated area in the vicinity of a prison in which convicts could live upon regular payment of fees. Examples include the Liberty of the Fleet in the City, and the Rules of the Bench in Southwark.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty (Division) Former subdivisions of England

Inner and Middle Temples

List of liberties

Ireland

Prison liberties

See also

References