INDUSTRIES 



the following proclamation for the season of 

 Lent was issued to the towns' fishers and fish- 

 mongers : ' Master Mayor commands on Her 

 Majesty's behalf that all men keep this season 

 of Lent according to the laws of the realm in 

 such case provided. And that no fisher or fish- 

 monger, or any other person offering any fish to 

 sale, that they offer to putt to sale any manner 

 of fish but such as shall be good and seasonable 

 for man's body and not corrupted. And that the 

 same persons do sell their herrings ' at the rates 

 already quoted. 85 



The fishing in the Trent was strictly regu- 

 lated as regards the nets employed. John 

 Howit was presented in 1637 for fishing with a 

 shove net, and fined 2s., 3S whilst George Bucher, 

 for similarly offending in the Leen to the value 

 of 2oJ., was dealt with in the same manner. 37 



On 5 February 1644-5, tne council let to 

 William Clarke the fishing in the Trent, both 

 above and below the bridges, to hold from 

 Candlemas last for one year, paying IOJ. per 

 annum at Lammas next, provided he let Master 

 Steven Hall have fishing there as he useth to 

 have, giving him reasonable allowance. 38 In 

 1657 the constables' jury presented certain 

 children for ' fishing on the Lord's day.' M In 

 1686, Nathaniel Bates was presented for fishing 

 in the mayor's pools with ' quick ' (live) bait. 40 



Some account of the present state of the 

 fisheries of the shire will be found in the section 

 devoted to sport, since at the present time they 

 are better considered from that point of view, 

 while the natural history of the various species 

 found in the Trent is dealt with in the first 

 volume of this history. 



TANNING 



The tanning trade was in early activity in the 

 county. Tanner appears as a surname in Newark 

 documents of laSo. 1 A saddler and cordwainer 

 are mentioned in the town records of the same 

 place in 1328. By agreement between the Prior of 

 Lenton and the burgesses of Nottingham regard- 

 ing Lenton fair, the great commercial mart for the 

 county in mediaeval times, it was enacted that 

 the men of Nottingham buying and selling hides, 

 tanned, or with the hair on, or skins, dry or 

 fresh, 2 passing to and fro between their town and 

 the aforesaid fair, with their carts, wagons, and 

 packhorses, should be quit of toll and custom. 3 

 The tanners' quarter in Nottingham was the 

 View Tannatorum, known in the vernacular as 

 Barkergate. 4 In 1385 all tanners dwelling in 

 Little Marsh on the south side were presented 

 before the Mickletorn jury for ' blocking up the 

 common water called Lene, with stakes, poles, 

 and turves, and laying leather therein to the 

 detriment of the people passing by.' 5 In 1395 

 all tanners were presented for selling leather not 

 well tanned, and for selling the same each in his 

 own house, without view of market, or being 

 placed in the market for sale. 8 Among present- 

 ments by the Mickletorn jury in 1396 we find 



35 Rec. Bora. Note, iv, 24.5. M Ibid, v, 182. 



37 Ibid. 184. JS Ibid. 



"Ibid. 292. <0 Ibid. 331. 



1 Brown, Hist. Newark, i, 190. 



1 At Nottingham, the skinners inhabited Pilcher- 

 gate, dealing in skins, dressed with the hair and wool 

 on, also in furs. Deering, Nottinghamia, 98. 



3 Stevenson, Rec. Bora. Nott. i, 63. 



4 Ibid. 439. Evidences of a former extensive 

 tanning trade have been found between Turncalf 

 Alley and Bridge Street, where the great number of 

 horn snuffs and old vats point, says Blackner, to the 

 whole of the ground having been occupied by fell- 



that of John Albayn, who came into the market 

 at Nottingham, on Easter Eve, and there fore- 

 stalled and bought a cart full of tanned hides 

 from Richard Hudson of Bredon, to the great 

 prejudice and deception of John de Linby, John 

 Ball, Thomas Holland, and Edward de Wheatley, 

 because they had spoken with the aforesaid 

 Richard for the aforesaid hides, and were all but 

 agreed to the price, when the aforesaid John 

 came secretly and against the statute of our lord 

 the king, and bought the hides for a greater 



sum.' 



On 28 November 1502 the tanners of 

 Nottingham agreed together not to sell any 

 manner of leather until the same had been 

 sufficiently tanned, searched, 8 and sealed, upon 

 pain of forfeiting to the craft 4^., and to their 

 light 9 4^. 10 The searchers themselves were on 

 the other hand as strictly overseen by the munici- 

 pal authorities. Thus, in 1503, John Sybthorp 

 was presented for selling leather to the king's 

 people not sufficiently barked (tanned). 11 



We gather from the Chamberlains' Rentals of 

 1 5 74 that the Leather Hall was ' a house over 



mongers ; Hist. Nott. 210. Among his many interest- 

 ing reminiscences of old Nottingham, Mr. Granger 

 recalls the fact that, seventy-two years ago, entering 

 Narrow Marsh from Drury Hill, the pedestrian suc- 

 cessively noticed Tanner's Hall Court, Vat Yard, Pelt 

 Alley, and Leather Alley ; Granger, Old Notts. 45. 



* Stevenson, op. cit. 273. 



6 Ibid. 271. 7 Ibid. 319. 



8 The appointment was a yearly one, Richard 

 Pickard and Thomas Willoughby holding office in this 

 year ; ibid, iii, 89. 



9 Mr. Stevenson suggests that this was a saint's 

 light maintained by the Tanners' Company. 



10 Stevenson, op. cit. 309-10. 



11 Ibid. 327. 



337 



43 



