BRIDPORT HARBOUR. 165 



side of the weir (or sluice, gurges) belonging to the borough of 

 Bridport, by what authority they know not. And they say that 

 the prior aforesaid does not allow the burgesses to take tolls in 

 the harbour (portus) belonging to the borough which they were 

 accustomed and ought to take, nor had he allowed them for 

 sixteen years past, to the damage of the borough of half-a mark 

 (6s. 8d.) yearly. 



Hundred Rolls. Extract roll No. 1, m. 2. 



By a strange oversight Hutchms (Vol. 2, p. 3) renders the 

 most important passage in the above extract as follows : " the 

 said prior of Frompton does not permit the burgesses of the 

 same borough to take the tolls they were accustomed," &c., 

 thus omitting the crucial words, which show (l)that a harbour 

 and not a market toll is referred to, and (2) that a haven did 

 then exist and that the town claimed to own it. Although 

 we have this direct testimony that there was a harbour 

 (portus) in the year 1274, I think that a very limited inter- 

 pretation should be placed upon the word ; indeed, the 

 expression " Bridport Mouth," as used in the Stuart and 

 Georgian periods, would be a more accurate description of the 

 place, the accommodation being probably restricted to 

 piles driven into the sides of the river for mooring purposes. 

 We may be sure that neither piers nor wharves were then 

 to be seen. 



To continue the story, Edward I., having obtained these 

 returns from all parts of the country, took further action in 

 such cases as were unsatisfactory, by means of the legal process 

 known as a writ of Quo Warranto, which required the defendant 

 to show by what authority he held the privilege in question. 

 The King was apparently desirous of investigating the rival 

 claims disclosed by the last mentioned extract, but it was not 

 until a few years later that a plea was entered upon the rolls 

 which form the records of a court of Assize held at Sherborne 

 in 8 Edw. I. (1279-80) before the Justices itinerant, the case 

 for the burgesses being set out in these terms : 



Borough of Brideport. 



The jury present that there is a certain stream of fresh water 

 which reaches to the sea, in which boats come to land (applico) as 



