RECAPITULATION OF ANCIENT GRANTS, &c.
In 1246, Henry the third, for the bettering of this Borough, granted to the burgesses, and their heirs, one fair, annually, for eight days, viz. on the eve, the day, and the morrow of Holy Trinity, and five days following. He also granted them and their successors that whilst resident in the Borough, they should be acquitted of toll, pannage, and murage, throughout the whole kingdom. He likewise granted to them and their heirs, in fee-farm for twenty marks of silver, yearly, the tolls of the bridge at Kelim, and all along to Dourbeck where it falls into the Trent, and of Eperstone, and the bridge of Mirald and of Retford, and of all other places where the burgesses of the town of Nottingham were wont to take toll.
On the 27th November, 1279, Edward the first, granted the town in fee-farm to the burgesses, paying for the same £10. per annum; he also granted that they should have a market on every saturday, with stall, tollage, stalls, and other liberties and free customs belonging to the same. He likewise gave them a court to plead the writ of a certain patent of the common law, and to have the amendment of the assize of bread and beer,* and the pillory and the ducking stool+, and wrecks# and waifes@ and to have a bailiff of themselves, when to them should seem expedient to the keeping of the said town and its appurtenances.
In 1336, Edward the third confirmed all the liberties which had previously been granted to the town, and further granted that the inhabitants should not be put on Juries at the assizes, or recognise any matters with foreigners on occasion of lands and tenements either without or within the said Borough; he also exempted them from all tolls and foreign services.
In 1424, King Henry the sixth confirmed most of the before mentioned grants, &c. and also of his royal will and favour, further gave unto the bailiffs and burgesses a court of record for the relief of complaint and also of all manner of pleas of debt, accounts, Covenants, trespasses as well by force and arms as otherwise done, and other contracts, causes, and matter whatsoever within the town aforesaid, to whatsoever sum the aforesaid debts, &c. may amount. He also granted them the use of the office of escheator and clerk of the market, and also the clerk of assay. And lastly granted to them a fair yearly, for four days, viz. on the eve, and the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, and for two days immediately following the same. All of which charters, grants, &c. were allowed by the several kings until the time of James the first, who not only confirmed the same, but also incorporated the Borough anew, in form and manner following.
*The power of settling the assize of bread and beer,
was a privilege, commonly granted to corporate bodies, conformably with
a statute of Henry the second.
+ The ducking stool, or tumberel, "was an engine of punishment,
which used to be in every liberty, having view of frank-pledge, for the
correction of scolds and other unquiet or disorderly women. This machine
was in use in this country during Saxon times, and is mentioned in Doomsday-book,
under the appellation of the cathedra stercoris, as the delinquents
used to be placed in the chair, and ducked in stinking water." Holland’s
Hist. Worksop.
#Wreck, by the ancient common law, was where any ship was lost at
sea, and the goods or cargo thrown upon land; in which case, the goods
were adjudged to belong to the king.
@Waifs, bona waviata, were goods stolen, and waived or thrown away
by the thief in his flight, for fear of being apprehended. These were
given to the king by the law, as a punishment upon the owner, for not
himself pursuing the felon, and taking away his goods from him.
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© A P NICHOLSON | PAGE LAST UPDATED: 29 MAY 2003