Madeley for the last 900 years has been associated with Wenlock. It
formed part of the possessions of the Church of St. Milburgh in the time
of King Edward (son of the Great Alfred) at the commencement of the tenth
century, and is mentioned as such in Domesday. It shared the privileges
which the many franchises obtained by the Prior of Wenlock conferred.
These privileges and exemptions from taxation gave, Mr. Eyton observes,
to each acre of land a two-fold value. On the other hand it suffered
from the occasional extortions of the Priors, and inconveniences from
being subject, as all lands of the Borough were, to the Mother Church of
Holy Trinity, Wenlock. It was subject to the Courts of Wenlock, and as
early as 1267 a case is mentioned in which the Provost of Wenlock and the
Prior were engaged in _disseizen_ one of the tenants of the Prior at
Madeley.
The Bailiff and his peers, together with the Recorder, were Justice of
the Peace, with a Jurisdiction co-extensive with the Borough.
These officers had Constables in the several divisions of the Borough,
termed Allotments, sometimes Constablewicks. The men selected for the
office appear to have been men of substance, standing, and integrity; and
upon them devolved the duties of maintaining the laws, of collecting
monies for the king &c.
Here, for instance, are the “Articles which the constables” of Madeley
and Little Wenlock were called upon “to present upon oath.”
1.—What felonies have been committed and what default . and by and
in-whom.
2.—What vagrant p’sns. and sturdy beggars have passed through yo’r.
limitts unpunished, and whether the same and impotent poor of yo’r.
p’ share provided for, and poor children bound apprentices according
to Law.
3.—What Recusants of about the age of sixteen are in yo:e limitts,
and who absent themselves from church on ye Lord’s Day, and how many
sabbaths.
4.—Who have profaned the Sabbath by swearing, labouring or otherwise.
5.—What Ingrossers, forestalled, or . . . of the market, of cow or
cattle, or other dead victuals are within yo’r limitts, or any
Badgers or Drovers of cow or cattle.
6.—Who make mault to sell of corn or grain or tythe or tylth not
being their own . and are not licensed thereunto.
7.—What Masters or Servants give or take greater wages than is
appointed by Justices of the Peace according to Law.
8.—What cottagers or inmates are evicted, removed or maintained, and
by whom, and how long.
9.—What unlawful games, drunkenness, tipling other evil rule or
disorder hath been in Inns, ale houses &c. and by whom.
10.—What Servants have departed from their masters, and what masters
have put away their servants within the compass of their time.
11.—Who use gunns, or take or destroy hawks or hawk’s eggs, of
pheasants, partridges, younge deer, hares, snipes, fish, or fowl,
with snares or other engines whatsoever for that purpose against the
Law.
12.—Who use unlawful weights or measures or buy by a greater and sell
by a lesser weight or measure.
13.—Whether watch and ward be duly observed and kept according to ye
statute; that is to say, between Ascension Day and Michaelmas in
convenient places, and who has made default therein.
14.—What highways have been repaired and what have been neglected.
15.—Who have sold beer, or syder, or perry, &c. unlicensed, or who
hath evaded ye assize of bread and drink unlawfully, either the
bakers or assizers.
16.—What butchers have killed or sold meate on the Lord’s Day, or
sold any unwholesome flesh at any other time.
17.—Who have any assault, battery, or bloodshed.
18.—Who have profanely sworn or cursed, and how often.
19.—What common brawlers, drunkards, scoulds, eavesdroppers,
talebearers, and such disordered p’sns are within y’re limits.
20.—Who have sold ale or beer on the Sabbath day, or who have been
drinking or tipling in any alehouse on that day.
As the reader may surmise, from references to recusants and others who
refused or neglected to attend church, or to acknowledge the supremacy of
the King as the head, these instructions were drawn up and submitted by
the Bailiff to the Constables of Madeley, Little Wenlock, Beckbury, and
Badger, in the early part of reign of William and Mary.
Vagrants and sturdy beggars, it appears, were to be strictly looked
after; they swarmed through the country, giving themselves up to
pilfering; the women breeding children whom they brought up to the same
idle way of living, so that, according to a writer about that period,
(1677) there were 100,000 paupers in England. Harsh measures were
therefore resorted to: the law of Settlement was passed, and once more
the poor were reduced to bondage to the soil from which they had been
emancipated a century or two before. By this law, which remained in
force 130 years, and which was not repealed till the close of the last
century, the poor were imprisoned within their allotments; and upon the
complaints of the Churchwardens or Overseers, any two Justices of the
Peace had power to lay hold of the new comer and within forty days remove
him to the Parish in which he was last settled, unless he could prove
that he was neither a pauper nor a vagabond, or that he rented a tenement
of the value of £10 per annum.
Here, for instance, is a copy of a letter addressed to the constables of
Madeley.