108 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN ENGLAND, 



In 1541 (32 Hen. VIII, caps. 18 and 19), a still larger list of 

 greatly decayed towns is given. They are York, Lincoln, 

 Canterbury, Coventry, Bath, Chichester, Salisbury, Winchester, 

 Bristol, Scarborough, Hereford, Colchester, Rochester, Ports- 

 mouth, Poole, Lynn, Faversham, Worcester, Stafford, Buck- 

 ingham, Pomfret, Grantham, Exeter, Ipswich, Southampton, 

 Great Yarmouth, Oxford, Great Wycombe, Guildford, Strat- 

 ford, Kingston-on-Hull, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Beverley, Bedford, 

 Leicester, Berwick. These are named in the first act. In 

 the second are Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Bridport, Dorchester, 

 Weymouth, Plymouth, Plympton, Barnstaple, Tavistock, Dart- 

 mouth, Launceston, Liskeard, Lostwithiel, Bodmin, Truro, 

 Helston, Bridgwater, Taunton, Somerton, Alcester, Maldon, 

 and Warwick. There is scarcely a town in England which 

 is not represented to be in the same declining condition. 

 In these acts, the rebuilding of the houses is prescribed. 

 All that had been in existence twenty-five years before are 

 to be rebuilt, and within three years, under the penalty of 

 the forfeiture of sites to the mesne lord or king as the case 

 may be. 



In the next year, certain towns are again specified, which 

 seem to have suffered more than others, or to be more urgently 

 in need of reparation. By 33 Hen. VIII, cap. 36, all houses 

 which were in existence forty-five years before in Canterbury, 

 Rochester, Stamford, Grimsby, Cambridge, Derby, Guildford, 

 Dunwich, the Cinque Ports, Lewes, and Buckingham, are to 

 be rebuilt within two years, and in default the corporation is 

 to become the owner of the vacant sites. 



Lastly, by 36 Hen. VIII, cap. 4, the same remedy is to be 

 applied to the same complaint in the case of Shrewsbury, 

 Chester, Ludlow, Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Carmarthen, Mont- 

 gomery, Cardiff, Swansea, Cowbridge, New Radnor, Presteign, 

 Brecknock, Monmouth, Maldon, Abergavenny, Usk, Caerleon, 

 Newport, Lancaster, Preston, Liverpool, and Wigan. It is 

 observable that in these lists we do not, as a rule, find any 

 of those wasted and decayed boroughs which had become 



