Anniversaries 1068 to 1578

Following on from last week’s blog post, in which we delved into the history of Loughborough in the years ending with an 8, we shall continue with our journey.

We got to 918 when Britain regained control of its country from the Danes. Here's a bit more!

The year is: 1068

William I (aka The Conqueror) was the King responsible for commissioning the Domesday Book, which was the survey that listed all landholdings in England, along with the name of their current holder. Loughborough has an entry in this book – total population at the time 39 households, which in relation to other settlements appearing in the Domesday survey was a very large population.

It was in 1068 (or maybe 1069, depending on which sources you consult) that William I marched northwards from Westminster, through Warwick, Leicestershire, Nottingham and into Yorkshire, building castles along the way. His mission was to put down rebellions and it is said the area surrounding Loughborough suffered greatly during his march.

The year is: 1228

The Old Rectory in Loughborough, tucked away on Rectory Place, next to the new development of houses on Steeple Row, may well have been in existence before 1228, but it is from 1228 that the first written evidence is found, when the Old Rectory was acquired from the Cortlinstoke family by the church. There’s a full history of the Old Rectory over on the Old Rectory and Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society blog.

The year is: 1238

When Ranulf de Blondeville, 6^th Earl of Chester, 1^st Earl of Lincoln, and Lord of the Manor of Loughborough died in 1232, the lordship of Loughborough passed to the Despenser family. Sadly, the first title holder, Hugh, who appears to have been popular with his monarch, King Henry III, died, despite being under the care of one of Henry’s physicians. Hugh was succeeded by his son, also called Hugh.

Not entirely sure what happened in the intervening 300 years but –

The year is: 1538

This is the year that sees the beginning of the keeping of the Parish Records – a book in which all births, marriages and deaths are recorded, the book being kept in the Parish Chest.

The year is: 1558

Queen Mary I had made Sir Edward Hastings, 2^nd Earl of Huntingdon, a Knight of the Garter, and in 1558 she granted him the title Baron Loughborough, as a reward for his bravery and loyalty. It is believed that Sir Edward was the first of the Lords of the Manor to live in the Manor House.

Later in 1558, Queen Elizabeth 1 acceded to the throne.

Tragically, also in 1558, there was a protracted outbreak of the plague, which lasted intermittently for 100 years, and killed nearly 300 people in the space of 18-months. There's a bit more about the later plagues on my blog.   

The year is: 1578

It was in 1578 that repairs were made to the whipping post, and the stocks. The whipping post was a wooden post to which the person to be punished was tied, in order to be whipped. The stocks were a wooden frame with holes cut out for the person being punished to put their hands and head through, where they stayed for a couple of hours whilst people threw all sorts of things at them.

Where exactly these instruments of punishment were in 1578, I don’t, know, but from 1688 both the whipping post and the stocks were near The Shambles, on the corner of Market Place and Market Street, where the phone shop is now, that was once Potters Toy Shop and Clemerson’s department store. The Shambles was the area beneath the court leet - a meeting place for local government – and was where butchers slaughtered animals.     

More information on medieval punishment can be found at:

http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-torture-and-punishment/stocks.htm  

  

and

  

http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-torture-devices/stocks-torture-device/

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Anniversaries 1068 to 1578. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/01/anniversaries-1068-to-1578.html [Accessed 28 January 2018]

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Lynne