BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 



severall from the purification of Saynt Mary the 

 Virgin untyll the invention of the holy crosse in May 

 and hkewise from the assumption of our lady unto saynt 

 luke day the evangeliste upon payne of xld. every 

 beast.'* In 1556 the right of common was re- 

 stricted to freemen ' downlying and uprising and 

 dwelling within the liberties ' and further regulations 

 enforcing this restriction were passed in 1 599. Rules 

 were laid down in 1582 for the times for throwing open 

 The Cow Meadow, St. George's Leys, Balms Holme 

 and the Foot Meadow, and there were regulations from 

 time to time as to the branding of the cattle, the turn- 

 ing out of diseased beasts and the nuisances caused by 

 curriers or fullers, whilst from time to time the rates 

 payable for depasturing beasts and the numbers al- 

 lowed gratis to each freeman were altered. The freemen 

 enjoyed rights of common during ' the open tide ' not 

 only in the lands owned by the corporation but in those 

 of other proprietors, and Henry Lee describes a dis- 

 pute between the freemen and Mr. Bryan, the owner 

 of Marvells Mills and Millholm, in 1648, about the 

 date on which Millholm and Footmeadow were thrown 

 open. The freemen declared it should be Midsummer 

 day ; Bryan claimed as right the nine days' grace which 

 custom had sanctioned.* The Chamberlain's accounts 

 frequently mention the town bull.* They show that 

 280 horses and 103 cows were depastured by freemen 

 on the town commons in 1692 and 233 horses and 221 

 cows in 1698. The annual branding of the freemen's 

 cattle by the town chamberlain became the occasion of 

 a public holiday and a town feast.* 



In 1778, in spite of the opposition of the corpora- 

 tion,* an act was passed for enclosing the open fields.' 

 That the scheme was in contemplation as far back as 

 1752 appears from a lease in that year of a farm in 

 Northampton Fields for fifteen years ' if the open fields 

 remain so long unenclosed.'* The fields of Harding- 

 stone, Kingsthorpe, Moulton and Duston had been 

 enclosed between 1765 and 1776. The commissioners' 

 award under the act of 1778, dated 24 June 1779, is at 

 the County Hall. It assigns to the corporation 133 

 acres of land in five allotments, and to the freemen, 

 at the special request of the corporation,* 87 a. I r. 

 29 p. on the raceground, to be subject to a horse- 

 race to be held between 20 Julv and 20 October every 

 year. Trustees were appointed for the management of 

 the new commons created by the award.** In 1870 

 the town held 189 a. o r. 39 p. of commons, including 

 the Freemen's common on the racecourse (formerly part 

 of Northampton Heath), where every freeman could 

 pasture 6 head of cattle at fixed rates ; the Old Com- 

 mons, vested in the corporation, comprising Mid- 

 summer Meadow, Cow Meadow, Calves Holme, 

 Baulms Holm and Foot Meadow ; and the New Com- 

 mons, also vested in the corporation.^' Under the 

 Northampton Corporation Markets and Fairs Act of 

 1870,** the freemen were given certain rights in the 

 New Commons in return for giving up their rights in 



a portion of the Cow Meadow for the building of the 

 present Cattle Market (1870-73). In 1882, under the 

 Northampton Corporation Act of that year,** the 

 freemen's rights of common of pasture and all other 

 rights in the freemen's commons were sold to the 

 corporation for a perpetual annuity of £800, to be 

 paid yearly to the Freemen's trustees.** This marks 

 the end of the common pastures of the town as such ; 

 the racecourse is now preserved as an open recreation 

 ground for the growing popui.ition of the northern 

 part of the town, whilst Cow Meadow, Calvc^holme 

 and Midsummer Meadow serve that purpose in the 

 south. The laying out of pleasure walks in Cow 

 Meadow began as far back as 1703, when the assembly 

 authorised the expenditure of ^^30 in planting trees, 

 making walks and ' other occasions and conveniences 

 to be ornamentall and useful.' The discovery of a 

 chalybeate spring, called Vigo Well from the vkiory of 

 1702, had roused the hope of making Northampton 

 a fashionable watering place.** In 1784 a new walk 

 was laid out from St. Thomas of Canterbury's well 

 to Vigo well, planted with trees ' to form an agreeable 

 shelter ' and fenced to preserve them from the cattle.*' 

 Sincel884further park lands and pleasure grounds have 

 been acquired by the town, which owned, by 1921, 

 409 a. 3 r. 26 p. for these purposes. Of these Abington 

 Park was acquired in 1 895 and 1 903, 20 acres being 

 presented to the corporation, with Abington Hall 

 by Baroness Wantage in 1893, and the rest being pur- 

 chased by the town ; Victoria Park in St. James' End 

 was acquired partly by purchase, partly by the gift 

 of Earl Spencer in 1898 and 1910 ; Far Cotton Recrea- 

 tion Ground and Kingsthorpe Recreation Ground by 

 purchase in 1912 and 1920, and Dallington Park 

 (22 a. 3 r. 28 p.) by the gift of Messrs. C. E. and T. D. 

 Lewis, in 1921.*' 



The first reference to a fair at Northampton is 

 found in the charter of Simon II granting to the 

 monks of St. Andrew's priory a tenth of the profits 

 of the fair held on All Saints' Day in the church 

 and churchyard of All Saints** which is described 

 (1180-11S3) as eccksia de foro in Northampton?-^ The 

 fair may have grown out of the church wake, and 

 be older than the Conquest. On 9 November 1235 

 Henry HI by letters close forbade the holding of either 

 market -^r fair in the church or churchyard of AH Saints, 

 and ordered them to be held henceforth in a waste 

 and empty place to the north of the church — the pre- 

 sent market square.^* The inspiration of the reforms 

 undoubtedly came from Robert Grosseteste, Arch- 

 deacon of Northampton from 1221.^* The date of 

 this and many other letters of Henry HI which con- 

 cern the fair makes it clear that it went on well into 

 the second half of November in the 13th century, and 

 the parliamentary petition of 1334^2 states that at that 

 time it lasted from All Saints' Day (No-vember l) to 

 St. Andrew's (November 30). It came to be associated 

 especially with the feast of St. Hugh (November 17), 



» Ben. Rtc. ii, 21 5 ; Kc following pagei 

 for detailed rcfcrcncei to regulations here 

 quoted. 



• Lee, Coll. p. 106. 



• BoTo. Rec. ii, 2Z2-3. 



• Ibid, ii, 223. 



• See A»»embly Bookt for 7 Feb. 1770; 

 20 Sept. and 14 Nov. 1776. 



' iS George III, c. 77 (T>rivau Act). 



• Norihanii. .V. and Q. i, 3 (1886). 



• See Assembly Book, 18 Sept. 1778. 



'• Ibid. 2 March 1778. 



" Pari. Papers, 1870, vol. 55. Return of 

 all Boroughs possessing common lands, p. 22. 



" 33 and 34 Vict. c. 45. (Local Act). 



" 4; and 46 Vict. c. 212. (Local Act). 



'• Information from Mr. A. E. Chick. 



" Morton, Natural Hist, of Nortbants. 

 (1712), p. 279, says the waters are good 

 for the stone. 



23 



" Boro. Ree. ii, 262-3. 



" Information from Corporation Tear 

 Book, p. 43. 



" Cott. MS. Ve«p. E xvii, fo. 6. 



" Serjeantson, Hist, of Cb. of All Saints, 

 Nortbampl. p. 14. 



» Cal. Close, 1234-1237, pp. 206-7. 



" V.C.H. Nortbants. ii, lo-ll. 



" Pari. R. ii, 85. 



