84 



Extracts from the Records of the 



shoulde be allowed to the said Corrector for his attendance and paynes In per- 

 formance of wch order the said justices now assembled doe order and appoynt 

 that for the Hundred of Pottern and Canninges the house of correction in foimer 

 tyme w thin the Devizes being also w th in the said hundred of Pottern and Canninges 

 shall now alsoe hereafter be employed for the punishmen 1 of such offenders as 

 shalbe sent thither by virtue of the said order And that Alexander Webb of the 

 Devizes aforesaid sbalbe the said Corrector and have allowed him yerlie for his 

 stipend xxx s to be levied of the inhabitants of the said hundred and of the in- 

 habitants of the Burrough of the Devizes according to the said order. 



"And also that the house called the Church house in Urchfont w l hin the 

 hundred of Swanborough shall likewise be employed for the house of Correction 

 for the same hundred And that John Heyes of Urchfont aforesaid shalbe 

 Corrector there And that he shall have yerlie for his stipend xx 9 to be levyed 

 as aforsaid. 



"And that the blynde house in Great Bedwyn w%in the hundred of Kynward- 

 ston shall likewise be imployed for the house of Correction for the same hundred 

 And that Willm Pearcy of Great Bedwyn aforesaid shalbe Corrector ther And 

 that he shall have yerlie for his stipend xx 8 to be levied as aforesaid." 



The hundreds as administrative areas here figure in a position of 

 some importance ; each is dignified by the establishment within it 

 of a separate place of confinement, which it is also called upon to 

 maintain. But it is nevertheless the Court of Quarter Sessions 

 which prescribes these arrangements and it may be doubted whether 

 their introduction had the effect of enlarging in any sensible degree 

 the executive powers of the high constables. 



These functionaries (holding an office of venerable antiquity) were 

 elected, and no doubt sworn in, at the Quarter Sessions. Indeed a 

 suggestion that the constable of the hundred of Kingsbridge was 

 exercising his office unsworn sufficed for an order of the court that 

 he be examined on this point by Sir Henry Knyvet. Their term of 

 office was limited by the court to three years. To the Quarter 

 Sessions also did the hundred juries make their presentments when 

 the matter of them was of a magnitude which lay beyond the 

 jurisdiction of the hundred court. On one occasion a string of pre- 

 sentments is entered emanating from the jurors of the Borough of 

 Devizes. 



XII. — County Rates. 



The two following extracts are proofs that a careful supervision 

 was exercised over the collection of rates ; and that the power which 



