ment that the king would call upon the abbot to carry out his answer. The king thereupon appointed commissioners to find out what tolls had been paid, on whose land the ships and boats making the passage landed, what tolls for seven years would enable the abbot to carry out the work, and what tolls would then suffice for the maintenance of the causey, how many causeys and bridges would be required and of what dimensions, and whether the work would be to the loss or prejudice of any.[1] In 1332 commissioners were appointed to supervise the causeway between the Withebrigg by Langwath and the Claybrig towards Wragby, and the bridge of Claybrig, which were reported to be in a dangerous state by default of those who were bound to repair them, and to make inquisition who are to blame in the matter.
In later days Mr. Stonehouse[2] tells us the roads in the Isle of Axholme were in a very bad state, almost impassable during the winter even on horseback. Attempts were made to lay a causeway with Yorkshire flags wide enough for a horse to walk upon, and during the high prices of 1810–12 the causeways were completed from one village to another, and the corn was delivered on horseback. Mr. Stonehouse says a person may still walk on these flags from Owston to Haxey, thence to Epworth, through Belton to Crowle and Luddington. Even on the Wolds, where the conditions were better, the roads must have been very bad, for in 1709 Vincent Amcotts writes that his '4 mares and mother's 2 leaders were stuck between Brinkle and Harrington with a small load of hay, which I bought for 12s. 6d.'[3]
Another point of interest relating to the Lincolnshire industries is their distribution. William of Malmesbury, writing in the time of King Henry I, speaks of Lincoln as one of the most populous places in England, 'an emporium of men coming by land and by sea.'[4] And we find shops or stalls of a more of less permanent character at Stow, 1231–4.[5] Still, in those times shops must have been few even in the large towns, and it was at markets and fairs that for the most part clothing and the necessaries of life were obtained. We have seen how the bishop of Lincoln advised the countess to purchase her robes, wines, &c., at Boston Fair;[6] no doubt he himself did so. The canons of Bolton Abbey also constantly attended Boston Fair,[7] and there they purchased their best cloth, which could be conveyed by water as far as York. The system that prevailed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries would of course be considered highly inconvenient now, but those were days of fewer wants, and people used to buy goods that would last.[8]
Most necessaries of life were produced on the manor, and villagers purchased things they wanted of one another. Thus at Ingoldmells in the fourteenth century, while we read of bakers and 'tipplers,' as on every manor, we find the tenants purchasing of one another malt, beans, flour, corn, timber, nails, and divers 'merchandise'.[9] The extremely coarse clothing of the villein or labourer was mostly made at home, and there too, as now, the pig was fed.[10] So there was not much occasion to go to markets or fairs, the groceries which are now in every house did not exist, and if a man wanted to go he had better opportunities than now, for there were markets in several places where now there are none. Gradually, however, such a fair as that at Boston declined in importance. Instead of the large sums received in 1283,[11] from 1591 to 1690 the rents received for the shops in the mart-yard were £51 to £72 a year, the next twenty years about £42, 1731–40 they dropped to £11 10s., in 1741 to £5 13s.[12] Evidently the habit of 'going shopping' was coming in. The markets and fairs for horses, cattle, and sheep continued, but clothing, groceries, &c., were purchased at the shops as now. Hence the increase in the population of the market towns, followed by an increase also in the larger villages where there was custom enough for more than one small shop.
For the causes which led to the gradual decay and final extinction of certain other local
- ↑ Cal. of Pat. Rolls, 1334–8, p. 449. In 1580 there was a suit concerning the right of the queen as lady of the manor of Deeping to levy tolls from persons passing along the bank by the water of Welland leading from Deeping to Crowland; there were three bars at three several places on the bank: at Waldron Hall, 'at ye crosse in the Eaye,' and at Crowland Hurne. [Excheq. K. R. Depos. 22 Eliz. Trin. 1, Lincoln.]
- ↑ History of the Isle, 45.
- ↑ Hist. of Ormsby, 176.
- ↑ Rerum Angl. Scriptores post Bedam, 290.
- ↑ Final Concords, 245, 259.
- ↑ See preceding article on 'Social and Economic History.'
- ↑ Whitaker, Craven, 458, 472. In 1313 the canons purchased at Boston Fair half a piece of cloth with fur for the lady of Stiveton, 71s. 4d.; one robe for Ralph de Otterburn, 19s. 4d.; furs for Sir Adam de Midelton for 2 years' wear, 19s. Ibid. 471.
- ↑ In some instances our grandmothers' gowns, quite 100 years old, are in existence still, and very handsome they are; and Mr. Stonehouse tells us that fifty yeas or so before he wrote (1839) a servant girl got up at three o'clock in the morning to spin, and was clad chiefly in linsey woolsey garments, women in many instances wearing the same gowns and cloaks as their mothers. Hist. of the Isle of Axholme, 47.
- ↑ Ingoldmells Court Rolls, 26, 50, 84, 99, 114.
- ↑ The pedlars, too, with their packages must not be forgotten.
- ↑ See preceding article on 'Social and Economic History.'
- ↑ P. Thompson, Boston, 344, 346.
