GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE
Earl Randle 'the Good' had no son to succeed him, and when he died the
earldom passed to his nephew John the Scot, the son of Randle's eldest
sister. John married the daughter of Llewellyn the Prince of Wales, so
that peace was secured for a time between the Welsh and the earl's
subjects. He did not live to enjoy his earldom long, however, and he too
died without an heir. His wife was suspected of causing his death by
poison.
Henry the Third was at this time King of England. He had looked with
anxious eyes upon the growing power of the Earls of Chester. Now that a
suitable opportunity presented itself, the king decided to take the
earldom into his own hands, his excuse being that he was unwilling that
so fair an inheritance should be divided 'among distaffs', meaning the
sisters of John the Scot. So he gave them each a portion of land and a
husband, and appointed John de Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln, as custodian
of Cheshire.
A few years later Henry bestowed the earldom on his son Edward, and from
that time down to the present day the title of Earl of Chester has
belonged to the son and heir of the reigning monarch. The present
Prince of Wales is also Earl of Chester. One of Edward's first acts was
to confirm to the barons and the people of Cheshire all the liberties
and privileges which Randle had formerly granted them.
Some of these 'liberties' are set forth in the Charter which John the
Scot gave to the people of Chester: 'Know that I have conceded and by
this my present charter confirmed to all my citizens of Chester that no
merchant should buy or sell any kind of merchandise which has come to
the city of Chester by sea or by land, except these my citizens of
Chester themselves and their heirs, or in accordance with their will,
and except in the established fairs, that is on S. John the Baptist's
day and at the feast of S. Michael. Likewise I have conceded and by this
my present charter confirmed to my citizens of Chester, to have and to
hold their guild merchant, as freely as they held it in the time of my
uncle, Lord Randle, Earl of Chester.'
Similar charters were given to other Cheshire towns. Earl Randle, who
was one of those who saw King John sign the Great Charter, gave to his
baron, Sir Robert de Stokeport, a charter for his town of Stockport,
with permission to hold markets and fairs, receiving in return the
market dues and tolls. Hamon de Massey gave a charter for a weekly
market to the inhabitants of Altrincham. Congleton received its charter
in the reign of Edward the First from Henry de Lacy, whose statue you
may see on the front of Congleton Town Hall. Macclesfield boasts of
charters received from Randle Blundeville and from Edward the First,
though by the latter the citizens were compelled to grind their corn at
the king's mill and bake their bread in the king's oven, paying a toll
of one shilling each for this privilege.
In the thirteenth century the merchants and traders of a town formed
themselves into guilds, which drew up sets of rules for the regulation
and protection of their trade and industries. The merchants met at fixed
times in their guild-hall, where they elected the officers of the guild,
an alderman, a steward, a chaplain, and an usher, and where they
transacted the business of the guild. By these laws no merchant could
buy or sell goods in the town unless he was a member of the guild. All
the members subscribed to the guild, and if one of their number fell
into poverty, or was unable to work and provide for himself, he received
a sum of money every year from the common chest.
The little schoolroom in the churchyard of Nantwich was the old Guild
Hall. The guilds became very rich in time, and bought property and built
homes for poor people who had belonged to the guild, and schools where
their children might be taught.
The workmen also who worked for the merchants wanted their own guilds,
and craft guilds were formed by the different trades of a city, each of
the guilds receiving a charter of its own. Several charters of this kind
may be seen in the muniment room of the Chester Town Hall.
In mediaeval towns those who were engaged in a particular trade lived
near to one another in the same street, to which they often gave the
name of their industry. The name of Shoemakers' Row still survives at
Chester to tell us where the shoemakers' shops were to be found. Newgate
Street was formerly Fleshmonger Lane, and was the chief place of
business of the butchers. The Skinners lived in 'Castle Drive', and a
portion of Bridge Street known as Mercers' Row was given over to the
mercers, drapers, and haberdashers. The trade guilds were formed in the
same way as the merchant guilds. Each had its own officers and
meeting-place. The Phoenix Tower takes its name from the crest of one of
the city guilds, which used the tower as its council-chamber.
While the merchant guild looked after the interests of the trades, the
town itself was governed by a mayor and aldermen, who were responsible
for the good behaviour of the inhabitants. They also fixed the prices at
which food and other necessaries of life were to be sold, and had the
control of all markets and fairs. Commonhall Street takes its name from
the old Common Hall in which the mayor and aldermen of the city met for
their deliberations. The old hall has long since disappeared. The mayor
and the magistrates administered justice in the Penthouse or Pentice,
which used to stand close to S. Peter's Church in the centre of the
city.
During the two great fairs of the city of Chester a large white glove
was suspended from the tower of S. Peter's as the symbol of welcome to
all strangers to bring their wares into the city for sale. In the church
of S. John's is an ancient grave-slab with glove and scissors carved
upon it. The slab once covered the remains of a glover; glove-making has
always been one of the chief industries of Chester. Another slab shows
by the hammer and horseshoe engraved upon it that it belonged to the
tomb of a smith.
[Illustration: TOMBSTONE OF A GLOVER, S. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHESTER]
One of the privileges of the Shoemakers' Guild was that of providing the
ball for the annual game of football played on the Roodee on Easter
Monday. The mayor and all the city guilds came to watch the game, which
unfortunately did not always end happily, for we read that 'great strife
did arise', and many of the players were haled away to be dealt with by
the Mayor at the Pentice court. The saddlers provided a silver bell as a
prize for the winner of a horse-race on the Roodee.
But the greatest event of the year in mediaeval Chester was the
performance of scenes from the Scriptures--mystery plays, as they were
called--at the Festival of Whitsuntide. The city guilds bore the whole
of the expense and chose the players to perform them, each guild being
responsible for one scene. Thus the painters and glaziers performed the
Shepherds' Watch and the Angels' Hymn; the vintners acted the part of
the Wise Men of the East; the butchers the Story of the Temptation; the
glovers the Raising of Lazarus. Scenes from the Old Testament were
included, the linen drapers performing the story of Balaam and the Ass,
and the watermen of the Dee, appropriately enough, the story of the
Flood.
The plays were put into English verse by Randal Hignet, a monk of S.
Werburgh's, and no doubt were originally performed by the monks as a
means of instructing the people in the outlines of the Christian faith.
As the abbey church was found to be unsuitable they were performed
publicly in the streets, in order 'to exhort', as a clerk of the Pentice
said, 'the minds of the common people to good devotion as well as for
the common weal and prosperity of the city.'
Twenty-five scenes in all were played, and the performance lasted for
three days. On the first day the people saw scenes representing the
Creation of the World, the Banishment from the Garden of Eden, the Birth
of Christ and the Vision of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Wise
Men; on the second day the Passion and Resurrection of Christ; and on
the third day stories illustrating the founding of the Christian Church,
the Lives of the Saints, and the final Advent of Christ and the Day of
Judgement.
The plays were performed on movable stages fitted with wheels. The
stages consisted of two stories, the upper one being left open for the
plays, the lower one covered with curtains that it might serve as a
dressing-room. The first performance took place at the Abbey Gate. The
stages then passed one by one to the Water Gate, where a second
performance was given. The plays were acted for the third and last time
in Bridge Street.
People crowded into Chester from all the country round on these
occasions, for the pope granted one thousand days of pardon to all who
witnessed the plays. The abbey also grew in wealth, for every one was
expected to visit the Abbey Church and lay some offering at S.
Werburgh's shrine. To provide a passage for the crowds of pilgrims, side
aisles were built round the choirs of famous churches, and behind the
high altar a vacant space left where the shrines of saints were placed.
The Cheshire towns which grew in importance during the thirteenth
century as a result of the great increase in trade were situated on or
near the great roads of Cheshire, which were still, in the main, the old
roads laid by the Romans. Their position was generally one of great
strength, having been chosen in early times in order that men might be
able to beat off the attacks of enemies. Chester was, as you have
already seen, guarded on two sides by a bend of the river Dee, and was
the meeting-place of Roman roads. Northwich on the Watling Street,
Middlewich on Kind Street, and Stockport were all built at a point where
two rivers meet. Runcorn, Lymm, and Altrincham are on sandstone heights
protected on the north by the Mersey; Macclesfield is astride the main
road in East Cheshire, and Nantwich on the highway into Wales. It was
only by means of the roads that commerce between the towns could be kept
open. The 'Welsh Row' of Nantwich recalls the days when the principal
trade of the town was with the wool-weavers of Wales, a trade that was
too often interrupted by the fierce outbreaks on the border.