A HISTORY OF DORSET 



vill of Bridport ' show that a new causeway was being constructed, 

 and other accounts mention considerable sums spent on the church."' The 

 inhabitants were sufficiently prosperous to repair and improve their own houses. 

 If further proof were needed the 'view of arms' in 1458 is conclusive 

 evidence of the increase of wealth and prosperity. Swords, bows and arrows 

 were the order of the day, as well as daggers, bills, poleaxes, and spears : ' the 

 defensive ' consisted of jacks, salets, bucklers, habergeons, and gauntlets. One 

 inhabitant possessed a gun in addition to a bow, twelve arrows, a sword, and 

 a buckler ; and he was ordered to provide twelve more arrows by the next 

 muster."' 



Nothing is more striking at first sight than the complete autonomy of 

 these towns, not unmixed with a feeling of rivalry in accordance with the 

 mercantile theory that the advantage of one town must necessarily be to the 

 detriment of another. This theory coincided with fact when both Weymouth 

 and Melcombe Regis coveted the harbour which lay between them, 

 or when the wool staple was removed from Melcombe Regis to Poole. In 

 both these instances the matter was decided by Act of Parliament, but in 

 general the relations between towns were settled by treaties between the 

 governing bodies. Probably the existence of common property in the 

 borough, the pasturage, fisheries, or reclaimed land,"* helped to foster the 

 sense of unity among the burgesses even if it only existed for the purpose of 

 maintaining those rights. Thus each town had its own miniature army, the 

 burgesses headed by the mayor or someone appointed by him."' To secure 

 peace within the borough the burgesses watched by turns ; if they failed to 

 perform this duty or did not watch for the whole time they had ' to make 

 answer to the Mayor and Commonalty.'"' In Shaftesbury there is some 

 account of this primitive police system : the ' Belman ' and three inhabitants 

 of the borough were ' to watch in p'son or finde sufficient p'sons in their 

 roomes to watch with the Belman eu'y night from nyne of the clock att 

 night until ffive in the morning.' "^ Each town also was responsible for its 

 own public works : the merchants of Lyme Regis built the Cobb for the 

 security of their ships soon after they rented the town of the king."* 

 At Wareham a ' Constitution of the Borough ' enacted ' that every 

 inhabitant endeavour his labour to amend and repair the key, in taking 

 and carrying away the dirt, stones, and rubbish thereabouts.' "' At Bridport, 

 where the burgesses were too poor to complete the repairs of the harbour, 

 they gained the assistance of ' the Church,' not that of 'the State.' Collec- 

 tors from the town went all over the country producing indulgences from the 

 Primates of England, the Papal Legates, numerous bishops, and the rector of 

 the parish church, to contributors towards the expenses of the harbour."' 

 Only in a very indirect sense did the towns seek help from ' the State ' ; sea- 



"' Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 492-3. '*' Ibid. 493- 



'" There were reclaimed lands in Poole ; see Sydenham, Hist, of Poole, 63. 



'" Foolscap sheet in the Corporation Archives of Lyme ; also Roberts, Soc. Hist, of Southern Cos. 10 1. 

 A mayor who did not wish to be troubled with the office turned the matter over to the lieutenants of the county. 



"° Case of John Rogger of Weymouth ; see Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 578. 



'" Though this document belongs to the latter half of the seventeenth century it doubtless describes the 

 early police system of Shaftesbury. C. H. Mayo, Rec. of Shaftesbury, 68. 



"• G. Roberts, Hist, of Lyme Regis, 15. 



'^ Hutchlns, Hist, of Dorset,! (Wareham), App. 126; 145 I, 'Constitutions of the Borough' (29 Hen. VI). 



"• Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 495. 



242 



