A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



if he could, while the men who bade him get it kept their gates and fences 

 so well maintained that ' no distress could be drawn out but by force.' l 

 Earlier in the year he sent to the council a petition presented by the poor 

 inhabitants of Newark, complaining of ' being overrated towards the business 

 of shipping.' They pleaded that because of the smallness of their trade, the 

 poorness of the people, and the removal of ' gentlemen and able men who 

 formerly dwelt there and contributed to the taxes,' the levy of 45 towards 

 ship-money was more than the weak estate of the town could support.* The 

 council required the sheriff to examine the allegations, and if the town were 

 overcharged then the proportion was to be ' eased,' but what was taken off 

 was to be levied in the county elsewhere, ' which is either too easily rated, or 

 may better bear it.' * As a result Newark was eased of 4.0, which was 

 imposed on the rest of the county. 4 



Sir Thomas Williamson, sheriff for the next year, was able to collect 

 600 or 700 towards the charge on the county, but spent it at a later date 

 in raising a garrison for the king at Newark.' 



Meanwhile the attention of the king was being directed to Scotch 

 affairs, and already in December, 1638, and January, 1639, the lord- 

 lieutenants of the northern counties, Nottingham among them, had been 

 notified that by reason of ' the extraordinary and unexpected occasion ' at 

 hand they should prepare the forces and strength of their counties to prevent 

 such disorders as might otherwise fall on the kingdom.' An order also went 

 out that, owing to the great want of armourers, gunsmiths, swordmakers, and 

 bandoleer-makers those skilled in these trades should be allowed to set up and 

 exercise any of the said trades as freemen of the corporation of any of the 

 Nottinghamshire towns, as of all the counties of the north. 7 In February, 

 1639, Captain Roger Bradshaw reported to Windebank concerning the 

 Nottinghamshire horse and foot. The footmen numbered 1,033 besides 

 officers, the arms of the pikemen were ' passable,' but for ' musketeers ' 

 he had ' defected a great number by reason of the weight and length, 

 some weighing 18 or 20 Ibs., for no man is able to do service with 

 them.' The horse numbered sixty-one, and both horse and arms were 

 good, except a few pistols which he had ' defected.' The magazine was 

 2 1 lasts of powder, 2j tons of match, and 2 tons of lead. 8 In 1640, 300 foot 

 soldiers, fifty horses, and seventeen carters were required from the county, * 

 and the lord-lieutenant promised they should be in readiness at time and 

 place appointed. The numbers actually sent were 300 men and three 

 drummers. 10 Although the war with Scotland was nominally ended 

 by the Treaty of Ripon, the strain it had involved on the revenue made 

 the Long Parliament a necessity, and with the Long Parliament came the 

 Civil War. 



The period of the Civil War was one of the most eventful in the history 

 of Nottinghamshire. There was a strong royalist element in the county, and 



1 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1639, '5- ' Ibid. 1638-9, 234, and 1639, '34- 



Ibid. 1639, '34- 4 Ibid. 1639-40, 465. 



4 Pror. of Committee for Advance of Money, i, 90. In March, 1 662, Sir Thomas was ' discharged 500 ship- 

 money levied in co. Notts, during his shrievalty, and by him paid in 1 648 for the use of the garrison of Newark.' 

 Col. S.P. Dam. 1661-2, 312. 



Ibid. 1638-9, pp. 155, 307. 'Ibid. p. 373. 



Ibid. 444. 'Ibid. 1640, p. 272. "Ibid. p. 544. 



342 



