Grants of markets and fairs appear to have been made by kings in former
times by way of favour to the holders of manors, rather than from a wish
to accommodate the people who shared the privileges. Madeley market was
granted by the necesstous king, Henry III., to the Prior of Wenlock, July
6, 1269. He also granted an annual fair, to be held on three days;
namely, on the vigil, the day, and the morrow of St. Matthew the apostle.
The market was to be held on Tuesdays, but it fell into disuetude, and
was either removed to or revived in another portion of the same manor;
and the inhabitants of the village for many years, had no market nearer
than Ironbridge or Dawley. The old market was at one time held at Cross
Hill, in an open space where a group of cottages now divide the roads.
It was also held at one time in a building which served as a market hall,
now the property of Mr. Legge, adjoining the barn in which king Charles
was lodged. Subsequently it was removed to Madeley Wood; and afterwards
to Ironbridge, which was at that time a rising place. Ineffectual
attempts were made in 1857 to re-establish a market, but nothing
effectual was done till 1869, when an energetic committee was appointed,
of which Mr. Legge was Treasurer and the writer of this article was Sec.,
which succeeded in establishing the market, first in the open street and
secondly in treating with the lord of the manor, through his agent, W. R.
Anstice, Esq., for the erection of a suitable building, on condition that
a scale of tolls was adopted sufficient to cover the outlay. The market
has proved of great advantage to the town; not only to purchasers but to
tradesmen, by causing more ready money to be spent in the town than
formerly.