EARL FERRERS AND OKEHAM. 293 



it with money ; and the truth of this is apparent by the 

 many horse-shoes nailed upon the shire-hall door ; and 

 their badge is a horse-shoe.' This shire-hall is one of 

 the oldest mansions in the kingdom, and was built by 

 Wakelin de Ferrers, son of an earl of that name. 



Evelyn, travelling in 1654, writes in his Diary: 'I 

 took a journey into the northern parts. Riding through 

 Oakham, a pretty town in Rutlandshire, famous for the 

 tenure of the barons, who held it by the taking off a shoe 

 from every nobleman's horse that passed with his lord 

 through the street, unless redeemed with a certain piece 

 of money. In token of this are several gilded shoes 

 nailed on the castle gate.' And Gough, in his Camden, 

 asserts that the bailiff of the town had power to take a 

 shoe off the horse of any man of noble birth who declined 

 to pay the tribute money ; the amount to be paid being 

 left to the equestrian's generosity, while his liberality re- 

 gulated the size of the horse-shoe inscribed with his name 

 and title, which was set up to commemorate the event. 



The origin of this singular impost or tenure is not 

 known. A recent visitor, an army veterinary surgeon, 

 says : ' I was much amused about four years ago, when 

 marching through Oakham, a town in Rutlandshire, to 

 find a very arbitrary law in existence there. On looking 

 over the court-house, I found the walls literally covered 

 with horse-shoes, and some of them of the most exag- 

 gerated and fantastic shape, gilt and emblazoned with the 

 heraldic devices peculiar to their donors, and others the 

 simple shoe. When I questioned the worthy old guide 

 relative to the eccentricity of the act, he informed me 

 that it originated with Elizabeth. Her Majesty, when 



