A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



and they were allowed, on payment of ^41 to Samwell, 

 to keep the hospital as well as the chapel of St. Katha- 

 rine, to serve as a chapel of ease for the sick. After 

 tliis the rights of the corporation were unchallenged. 

 As leprosy died out, one poor man or woman was main- 

 tained up to 184.0, when the last beneficiary died, and 

 the considerable endowments of the hospital were 

 applied to the reduction of the rates. An investiga- 

 tion by the Charity Commissioners was hampered by 

 a refusal of the corporation to produce the records, and 

 in 1857 the Attorney-General filed an information in 

 Chancery and the facts were made public. After long 

 discussion, the property of St. Leonard's was assigned 

 to thesupportof the grammar school in July 1864. The 

 lands of the charity are described in det.iil in the town 

 terrier of 1586.^ 



The town property was administered by the mayor 

 and chamberlains, who had power from the 14th 

 century to let out lands under their common scal.*^ 

 The existence of a common seal seems to be implied in 

 the reference to the letters patent of the town in the 

 charter of 1227 — an addition to the charter of 1200 

 which it mostly repeats. In 1282 it is definitely stated 

 that the common seal has been attached to certain 

 letters patent,'^ and there is at the Record Office one 

 such letter patent to which a seal was formerly at- 

 tached.** The oldest known common seal of North- 

 ampton appears to have belonged to the early 13th cen- 

 tury. It was circular, i| in. in diameter and bore an 

 embattled tower with closed portal, the walls and 

 battlements charged with fourteen irregular quatre- 

 foils. Over the battlements appears the head of a 

 knight, to the left, holding a crossbow and a banner- 

 flag ; in the field a sprig and leaves of foliage. The 

 inscription was sicillum : commune : norhamptone.** 

 The mayor's official seal, of less rude design, appears to 

 have been made early in the 14th century,^ and is 

 perhaps to be associated with the charter of 1299. It 

 was used for sealing letters accrediting freemen in other 

 towns and returns of writs by the bailiffs,** authenticat- 

 ing exemplifications of deeds enrolled on the Town 

 Memoranda Rolls*' and adding authority to private 

 deeds when the seals of the parties were not well 

 known.** It was circular, l| in. in diameter, and bore 

 a triple-towered castle, walls masoned and embat- 

 tled, doors open, supported by two lions passant 

 guardant of England ; in the field above, a reticulated 

 pattern. The inscription ran : • s' maioritatis ville 

 NORHAMTONiE.** Thcse two seals were in use down 

 to the last quarter of the 17th century** and were prob- 

 ably destroyed when superseded. The common seals 

 of 1667 and 1796 are in the keeping of the corporation. 

 That of 1667 is oval, and ^ in. long, and bears a 

 circular triple-towered castle, flanked by two lions, 

 with the inscription northamptoni.k 19 caroli 2 r. 

 ANCI.I.S. The common seal of 1796 is also oval and is 



ij in. long, bearing on a shield the town arms of a 

 castle and two Uons. The inscription runs : North- 

 ampton charter renewed xxxvi GEO. III. The com- 

 mon seal now in use, made in 1879, is circular, 2} in. in 

 diameter, and bears on a shield the borough arms, with 

 the inscription, castello fortior concordia. 



Impressions are extant of three other town seals. 

 There were two seals for use under the Statute of 

 Merchants for sealing recognizances ; the mayor's seal 

 and the clerk's counterseal. A letter from the burgesses 

 in 1 3 19 to the Chancellor reports that they have elected 

 their mayor to keep the great seal and a clerk, their com- 

 burgess, to keep the small one.^"- In 1351 Edward III 

 appointed one of his yeomen to keep the smaller seal, 

 but as he could not execute the office in person, it fell 

 back into the hands of the Northampton clerk.*'^ In 

 1408 the clerk lost the smaller seal, and the mayor 

 sent him up to the Exchequer to get it renewed.*' The 

 inscription on the mayor's seal (circular, i| in.) is 

 s' REGIS edwardi AD recogn' dekitorum. The design 

 is like that for London. The inscription on the clerk's 

 counterseal is 



S : cl'ici : de : stat : m'cat : norhton, 

 and it bears a representation of St. Andrew onhiscross.** 

 The cloth seal, of which a cast is preser\ed at North- 

 ampton,** was used for stamping Northampton cloth 

 which had paid the subsidy. Only three other instances 

 of a cloth seal are mentioned in the British Museum 

 Catalogue of Seals, whilst there are seventeen distinct 

 examples of town seals under the Statute Merchant.** 

 The Northampton cloth seal is an inch in diameter, 

 and bears a king's head in the centre and round it the 

 inscription, s' : panorum : norhamton :*' 



The open fields lay to the north and east of the 

 town, the meadows to the south being used for 

 pasture after haytime. There is a good map of the 

 lands formerly belonging to St. Andrew's Priory in the 

 year 1632 ; it shows a North Field, a Middle Field, and 

 a South Field, as well as Monkspark, Rushmill 

 Meadows and the Priory Leaze, and the town lands, 

 including the recently acquired Gobion's manor, are 

 indicated scattered among the other holdings.*' 

 Among the borough records is a deed of 1373 which 

 mentions lands lying in the North Field (Whetehul, 

 Nether Whetehul, and Bartholomew furlong), in the 

 East Field (Monkespark furlong) and the South Field 

 (Rrerewong and Mede furlong) as well as the Port- 

 mede.** There are constant references to the town 

 meadows and pastures. In 1 391 it was ordered that no 

 freeman should graze more than two beasts in the 

 common pastures without payment.* In 1553 the 

 assembly ordered ' That no man shall keep moor for 

 his franchis than iij bestes upon the commons in 

 alle, and that they be his owne . . . upon payne of 

 xld . . . Item that the Cowe medowe, the horse 

 medowe next ytt and Rawlines holme shal be kept 



" Printed in full by Strjcantion, ut 

 lupra, pp. 42-4. 



•' BoTO. Rtc. i, 251. 



" Scrjcantion, Lrpcr Hcifilali of 

 NoTtbampt. p.io. 



•• E«ch. K. R. Rilli7/2. 



"* Cal. oj Srali, liril. Mm. ii, p. 

 141. For reproduction lee Boro. Rtc. ii, 

 142. 



'» It it afHxcd to a deed of 1337. (Add. 

 Cb. 729). 



•• Bofo. Rtc. i, 380, 3S4. 



" e.g. Add. Ch. 732, 735, 22371. 



" e.g. Add. Ch. 729, 730, 731, 22368. 



" Cal. oJ Seals, Brit. Mus. ii, p. 141. 



»° Add. Ch. 6132 (1684) bean the 

 common seal. For an ex.implc of the 

 personal seal of a mayor of Northampt. 

 lee that of Robert Fitr. Ilcury, mayor 

 1279 and 4 timet aftcrwardn, reproduced 

 in Scrjcanlion, Leper Hospitals of North- 

 ampt. p. 49, from Northampt. Corp. 

 Deedi, C 23. 



•' Anct. Correip. x«xv, 19S. 



" Cat. Pal. 1350-54, p. 99. 



•• Anct. Correip. Ivii, 29. 



22 



•• Sec Boro. Rcc. ii, 142 ; Cat. of Seali 

 Bril. Mus. i, p. 145. 



" It is in the collection of the North- 

 ants. Arch. Soc. in their rooms at the 

 I.adlci' Club, Northampt. 



•• Cal. of Seals Brit. Mus. i, p. 141. 



" Sec lioro. Rec. ii, 142. 



•' A copy ii in the public library, 

 Northampt., the original, made by Marcus 

 Pierce, being in Meiirs. Markham'i office, 

 Guildhall Road. 



•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C, 42. 



' Bofo. Rec. i, 253-4. 



