Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) EditionReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) Edition
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
Smithfield was a field outside the city gates at which horses were sold
and raced. In 1372, the horse dealers and drovers petitioned for a tax
on animals sold there to pay for cleaning the field. The city ordinance
reads as follows: "On Wednesday next after the Feast of St. Margaret the
Virgin came reputable men, the horse dealers and drovers, and delivered
unto the mayor and aldermen a certain petition in these words: 'To the
mayor, recorder, and aldermen show the dealers of Smithfield, that is to
say, the coursers and drovers, that for the amendment of the said field
they have granted and assented among them that for the term of three
years next ensuing after the date of this petition for every horse sold
in the said field there shall be paid one penny, for every ox and cow
one halfpenny, for every eight sheep one penny, and for every swine one
penny by the seller and the same by the purchaser who buys the same for
resale.` Afterwards, on the eleventh day of August in the same year,
Adam Fernham, keeper of the gaol at Newgate, Hugh, Averelle, bailiff of
Smithfield, and William Godhewe, weaver, were chosen and sworn
faithfully to collect and receive the said pennies in form aforesaid and
to clean the field of Smithfield from time to time during such term of
three years when necessary."
Many London houses were being made from stone and timber and even brick
and timber, instead of just timber and mud. However, chimneys were still
a luxury of the rich. They were made of stone, tile, or plaster. There
were windows of glass and a guild of glaziers was chartered by the King.
A typical merchant's house had a cellar; a ground floor with a shop and
storage space; a first floor with a parlor to receive guests, a spacious
hall for dining, and perhaps a kitchen; and at the top, a large family
bedroom and a servant's room. Stairwells between floors had narrow and
winding steps. Many single-roomed houses added a second-floor room for
sleeping, which was approached by a wooden or stone staircase from the
outside. Their goods were displayed on a booth outside the door of the
house or hung in the windows. They were stored at night in the cellar.
Over the booths swung huge signs, which had to be nine feet above street
level to allow a man on horseback to ride underneath. There were no
sidewalks. Street repair work for wages was supervised by a stone
master. The streets sloped down from the middle so that the filth of the
streets would run down the sides of the road. There were many wood chips
in the streets due to cutting up of firewood before taking it indoors.
People often threw the rubbish from their houses onto the street
although they were supposed to cart it outside the city walls and to
clean the frontage of their houses once a week. Dustmen scavenged
through the rubbish on the streets. Pigs and geese were no longer
allowed to run at large in the streets, but had to be fed at home. There
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