The churchyard, even more than the church itself, had its secular and popular uses, which came down from ancient time. The fairs, the markets, the sports and the wrestlings[49] which took place within its enclosing walls, and of which we obtain faint intimations, were but the survival of the festivals sanctioned by the early church, when the wake, or fair of the patron saint was kept. This again, with its bull-baiting, its rude sports and its temporary stalls, may be linked on to the earlier rites of heathen times, when beasts were brought to the Temple for sacrifice, and when the people built booths about it, in which to hold a three days' feast. The annual or biennial fair, and even the Sunday market, were quite usual in the churchyard, before the boroughs obtained a special privilege for them. And though an express statute in 1285 forbade the practice, neither this nor the later injunction of the Church were heeded. In 1300 the town of Cockermouth complained that its market was spoilt by the bartering carried on at Crosthwaite Church, where not only flesh and fish were sold at festivals (and this distinctly smacks of an ancient sacrificial practice); but that corn, linen, cloth and other commodities were conveyed thither every Sunday for barter. In 1380 the town of Appleby was suffering from a like cause. Merchants were carrying their goods to sell in the churchyards of the surrounding district on Sundays, to the detriment of the accredited market.[50] If this was done in other places of the district, it was certainly done at Grasmere, for the market town of Kendal was sixteen miles distant on a road often impassable.[51] [49] See Coulton's _Chaucer and his England_, where miracle-plays and dances are added to the list. [50] Calendar Patent Rolls, 4 Richard II., p. 1. [51] Browne MSS. It was not until the seventeenth century that markets were established in the neighbouring towns of Hawkshead and Ambleside, after Grasmere had in vain attempted to secure the privilege.[52] [52] Rydal Hall MSS. A good deal of informal business besides was conducted in the churchyard, such as sales proposed or private bargains struck. Of proclamations and sale notices made within the church or garth we have abundant evidence; and for these the clerk received generally a fee of 2d. No doubt the "citation" we hear of for tithe wool due to Squire John Fleming (1631) was made at the church. The prohibition against cutting wood in Bainrigg (1768) which the Rev. J. Wilson suggested should "be given at our church of sunday" and which was to deprive the holder of his winter fuel, has been preserved.[53] In recent times, according to Edward Wilson, the notices were given out by the clerk in the yard, outside the so-called men's or western door. [53] Rydal Hall MSS.