A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



3/. \d. No foreigner of the craft shall trade 

 save at the two fairs. No tanners shall cast any 

 dead horse, mare, or gelding, or any hog, dog or 

 other such carrion, on the streets, ways, ditches, 

 or any ground of the town save in the mareholJ, 

 under a like penalty. The master shall yearly 

 between 6 March and 4 April bury the bones 

 that have been cast in the marehold under 

 penalty of 35. ^d. No beast to be slaughtered 

 save in the marehold. The master to pay 

 yearly 6j. 8;^. to the mayor for the constitution 

 of the craft. All fines to be divided between 

 the town chamber and the craft. 



By 1606 it is evident that the laws governing 

 the craft of tanners or whitawers had fallen into 

 abeyance, for the assembly agreed and ordered': — 



'That the Tanners of this Corporation upon paie- 

 ment of the sume of fourtie shillings which they are 

 in arrerayes shall have a new constitution with such 

 orders as they shall think fit for the better government 

 of their companie and as their councell shall advise 

 them to be agreable with the lawes of this land for 

 and upon the olde Rent accustomablie paide for the 

 same.' 



It is possible that all these elaborate restrictions 

 and regulations may have acted beneficially in 

 the earlier times, but by the eighteenth century 

 signs are not wanting that commerce had out- 

 grown such swaddling clothes. The increase in 

 the population and the greater facility for trading 

 between the different English markets, as well 

 as with the Continent, enhanced competition 

 and resulted in business being placed on an 

 entirely new footing, though the fact remains 

 that the old style produced excellent results as 

 regards the marketable article of commerce. 

 It needs but to examine the cap of estate of the 

 Black Prince (probably made of oil-dressed 

 leather) preserved in Canterbury Cathedral, or 

 the shoes (chiefly made of tanned or curried 

 leather) made in the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries exhibited in the Guildhall and 

 Northampton museums, and the excellence and 

 permanence of the constituent materials are 

 evident. 



That tanning was an important industry in 

 many villages of the county, often handed down 

 from father to son, is plainly shown, both from 

 parish registers and local wills. Owing to the 

 length of the process ^ some considerable capital 

 was required, so that anyone embarking in this 

 branch of the leather business must needs be a 

 man of substance. The Judkins family, tanners 

 at Brixworth and Heyford, furnish a good ex- 

 ample. A member of the family, Thomas 

 Judkins, started a tan-yard in Northampton, and 

 in 1588 was one of the bailiffs of the town. It 

 was probably owing to the reimposition in Tudor 

 times of the earlier restrictive enactments (which 

 had gradually fallen into disuse) that it became 



' Northampton Boro. Rec. n, 298. 

 ' ' A year and a day,' see ante. 



necessary for him to come to Northampton. As 

 a freeman of the town and no longer a 'foreigner' 

 he would escape many of the irritating and ham- 

 pering regulations imposed on such as resided 

 even a few miles beyond the borough boundary. 

 That he resided near St. Peter's is probable from 

 the records of baptism of his children in the regis- 

 ter of that parish. Possibly it is his old yard that 

 is advertised for sale in 1729, 'at the back of St. 

 Peter's Church,' ' as we cannot trace any other 

 tan-yard in the vicinity. A Thomas Judkins 

 appears as mayor in 1 60 1 and again as bailiff in 

 1625, and as chamberlain of the town in 1635-6. 



We find, however, after the first few years of 

 the eighteenth century that the restrictions be- 

 came relaxed, and that the conditions relating to 

 buying or selling, whether of the raw material or 

 leather, tend to be left more and more to the 

 contracting parties. That the tanners valued 

 their exclusive rights and fought hard against 

 the rescinding of their privileges granted to them 

 in Elizabeth's reign is, however, evident from 

 two cases of a century or more later. 



At the October assembly, 1669, it was stated 

 that William Knight, a tanner of Abthorpe * near 

 Towcester, a foreigner ' and no freeman, had 

 lately in open market bought on several Saturdays 

 several raw hides of foreign butchers, contrary to 

 the orders, customs, and constitutions of the town 

 of Northampton, and that these hides, being both 

 foreign bought and foreign sold, were forfeited, 

 seized and sold by Mr. William Wallace and 

 Mr. Edward Ivory, the bailiffs, according to ancient 

 usage and custom. It was further stated that 

 William Knight had commenced a suit at com- 

 mon law against the bailiffs, and it was resolved 

 by the assembly to support the bailiffs in resisting 

 the action. The cause came on for trial at the 

 Northampton assizes in 1670, and the judge or- 

 dered the case to be referred. William Knight, 

 however, became ' sensible of his error,' and in- 

 stead of persevering in his action petitioned the 

 corporation to be admitted as a freeman. At an 

 assembly held in September, 167 1, he made due 

 submission, and promised to purchase the hides 

 again of the bailiffs, whereupon it was ordered 

 that he be admitted a freeman, at such rates as 

 the mayor and aldermen should determine.^ 



In 1708 the tanners petitioned the assembly to 

 stop George Morgan of Slapton, and Joseph 

 Tomes of King's Sutton, country tanners, from 

 buying great quantities of cow hides in open 

 market, to the breach of the freedom of the town. 

 The tanners stated they had gathered ;^iO towards 



' Northampton Mercury, 29 Feb. 1729. 



' See MS. Bodleian Library, MS. Top. Northants 

 9, fol. 1 1 7, and not Althorpe as stated in Northampton 

 Borough Rccord$, ii, 298. 



^ The ' foreigner ' lived within ten miles of North- 

 ampton, but any person not being a freeman of the 

 town was so designated. 



* Northampton Boro. Rec. ii, 299. 



312 



