164 BRIDPORT HARBOUR. 



and becomes an historical entity, opinions have differed. 

 Some writers suggest that a port was in being as early as the 

 twelfth century, which is not improbable, but as the evidence 

 is so scanty we shall, I think, stand on firmer ground if we 

 say that the annals of the spot do not begin until the accession 

 of Edward I., that is, about 1272. 



I shall endeavour so to arrange the facts as to show the true 

 relationship between the somewhat disjointed fragments 

 of evidence which are at my disposal ; many of these contain 

 new matter and now appear for the first time, while others 

 have been printed by the editors of the 3rd ed. of Hutchins's 

 History and by Mr. Thomas Wainwright in his excellent 

 notes on the borough manuscripts of Bridport. All the refer- 

 ences are to documents among the national archives preserved 

 in the Public Record Office, unless the contrary is stated. 



I have occasionally rendered the Latin a little freely in 

 order to make a passage more intelligible, without, I trust, 

 altering the sense of the original text, but it is not always easy 

 to determine the precise shade of meaning which the Angevin 

 lawyers intended to convey to posterity by the use of certain 

 words. 



When Edward I. came to the throne in 1272 his advisers 

 are said to have believed that during the long reign of Henry 

 III. abuses had arisen with respect to prerogatives which 

 belonged to the Crown until they had been formally granted 

 to the subjects. Accordingly, in Edward's second year a 

 commission was issued ordering inquisitions in each county, 

 to enquire, with the aid of juries, as to the holders of royal 

 privileges, and whether any unauthorised persons were in 

 possession of such franchises or liberties. The results of the 

 inquisitions are contained in the records known as the Hundred 

 Rolls,which were compiled in 3 Edward I. (1274-5), and among 

 them is the following statement concerning Bridport's claim 

 to exercise rights with regard to ships visiting this part of the 

 coast : 



The jurors say that the abbot of Cernel and the prior of Fromton 

 take all wreck corning from the sea between two cliffs on each 



