The Chamber-Ryves for the current year A Baylye for the small tools. "Thomas Walter one of the sergeants parsell of their rents." 5 0 0 The rents (apart from the mills) were only £1 58. (of which David Cradocke, the complaisant juror of 1560, paid 16s.). "Wheat and Barley on two market-dayes" "Thomas Caston for his fyne on Dyscharging hym from all office". Mr. Thomas Voyell paid in " One largesse that was geven towardes the Reparynge of the m'ket house by his father" 0 3 4 300 1 10 0 The only remaining entry is curious at least for the name it contains: Recd. of Harrye Rethianghes paid for Redemyng one barr of yron that was seisyd upon 034 This name I have copied correctly, but I must confess it has puzzled me. This statement of that part of the town revenue that passed through the mayor's own hands is fairly typical. The old shopkeeper seems to have been active in enforcing payment of arrears from defaulting officials, but even he had to leave the Sergeant's account in arrears at the end of his year. 2. The statement of his disbursements is unusually full. Evidently he was one of those keen men of business who, while taking good care that the public interests shall not suffer in their keeping, are equally careful to reimburse themselves for every penny they expend in their official capacity. The items are not classified in any way, but have been obviously copied from a memorandum book, in which every trifle was entered at the time of payment. Here are some of the earliest : "For expenses in rydyng to Carew for me and thoose that were with me about the musters" xijd. One wonders what the mayor's companions thought of his economy in travelling expenses. Of course, the journey to Carew was to see Sir John Perrot, then in the zenith of his power and influence. A little later 2s. was paid, for "wyne and suger sent to Sir John Perott." The "musters" account for several shillings, some of which were spent in repairing "peces," presumably muskets. The "clenyng of tenn head peces" cost 3s. 4d. The ringers who rang on the Queen's Accession-day, November 17th, 1581, were paid 8s. Here is another entry, which recalls a name that has long since, as a personal name, disappeared from Pembrokeshire, and, as a place-name, survives only in its more modern form of Cartlett. If the conjecture of an eminent philologist is correct, it is itself a survival from the speech of the pre- Celtic, probably pre - Aryan, population of Pembrokeshire : "Item payd Cathlot for kepynge the boye for xxvij wyeks at viijd. per wyeke, xviijs. 8d. Rec'd of that of vj persons, vjs., rest to me Item pay'd for his clothes sence xijs. viijd. vijs. xjd. in It may be remembered that among the paupers St. Thomas parish in 1578, one was John Cathlott, who, with the others on the list, received 4d. per week.1 Judged by this standard the payment for "the boye," whoever he may have been, was rather liberal. A few lines below there comes one of those unaccountable payments for Temperness. "Payd Mr. Price for Temperniss" 1 Archæologia Cumbrensis, October, 1903, p. 309. 1lb. Temperness lies on the extreme western boundary of the borough, between the roads to Dale and to Little Haven. We shall find evidence of litigation to settle the exact course of the boundary line at this point. Rent from Temperness appears frequently among the sums received by the mayor or the chamber-reeve. The name is as unmistakably Scandinavian as Haverford itself. The statement of disbursements is divided into two parts. The first, from which the above are taken, amounts to £29 19s. 7d. This includes the fees of the two judges, £6 13s. 4d., the fee-farm rent, £3, and other routine payments. The remainder, £19 12s. 6d., was chiefly expended on the church. Expenditure on the "market-house" is mixed up with that on the church. As on these days, and for nearly two centuries later, there were many butchers' standings in the churchyard, the joints being hung from hooks fastened in the walls of the church. The market-house was probably abutting on the churchyard. The The "old pork-wall," where the pork-butchers laid their wares, is still standing between Upper and Lower Tower Hill, under the north-west corner of the churchyard. The "markethouse" itself I am unable to locate. One is tempted to suggest the site of the present fish-market, at the south-west corner of the churchyard, facing Dew Street. This building was formerly known as "the buttermarket," being used for that purpose before the building of the present market-house, in or about 1826. The opening of the butter-market, in 1730, is the subject of a print now hanging in the Council Chamber. An ox is being roasted in the presence of the City Fathers, arrayed in their insignia of office. There is a tradition. that, before it was built, one of the gates of the churchyard stood there. This tradition may, however, be a confusion of the churchyard gate with the West Gate of the town, which stood just above it, near the site of the house which, though it has ceased to be an inn, is still known as the "Blue Boar." In this account for 1581, there are several entries of money spent on the "gaet," but whether this is the West Gate or one of the churchyard gatesand if the latter, which of them-there is nothing to indicate. Before the destructive restoration of 1842, the mayor's pew, with its stately canopy, stood at the east end of the nave, against the south wall of the chancelarch, looking westward. Two or three seats in front of this, reserved for the chief magistrate, would be known as the "corporation seats," and would be occupied by the aldermen, councillors, and officials, on the frequent occasions when the corporation attended in state. To them the following entries would refer : Item for mattynge of thre pues Item for nayles Item for towe yards of lynsye wollsye for the mayor's peu ther to remayne Perhaps also the next entry : Item payd, Mr. Canon for vij rayles vijs. jd. vijd. ijs. vjd. vs. xd. But we have lingered long enough over Mayor Walter's account for 1581. William Walter was mayor again in 1592, and for the third time in 1597. The financial statement for 1592 is much briefer than for 1581. The receipts amounted only to £27 1s. 8d., made up as follows: Mill-rent for the year ending Michaelmas, 1592 Fines of Appleships From Richard Harys, Chamber-reeve, to paye the Bay liffe 500 £27 1 8 The The mill-rent has been doubled since 1581. disbursements were £28 12s. 4d, so that there was a balance due to the mayor of £1 10s. 4d. He had included in his payments 12s. 11d., arrears due to them from 1590, when he had been Chamber-reeve under the mayoralty of John Kynner; and also 2s. "due to my wyff unpaid of money lent lent upon weights." Weights and measures figure more than once in the account, e.g.: For thre pewter pots, sealynge and caradge vijs. vjd. Proceedings about the purchase of the church and living were in progress. Delivered to John Kynner to tak advise a Bout the Churche. iilb. Paid Butler for the bringing of a letter to London about the Church vjd. Other legal proceedings kept the mayor busy. There had been a riot of some kind. To Mr. Grafton and his man for his advyse about the vijs. vjd. There was some dispute about the boundary of the town. Bestowed upon the Jurors that ware up the country to enquier upon the lancarr after verdytt Item to William Howell towards his chardge being a witness out of the countrye ijs. viijd. iijd. The jurors and witness who were so liberally rewarded for their trouble had probably been " up the country as far as Temperness, not quite two miles from the Guildhall. For the "lancarr" or "landskarr" appears to have been the "Big Stone" of Temperness. Attached to this financial statement is a carefully prepared and most interesting list of the documents which had come into his hands as mayor, and which he was handing over to his successor. One of these was: |