my service above-named; the Houses may be removed by him within the Borough; and I appoint a Market to be kept on Thursday, and my Burgesses shall have Toll of the Merchandises, that shall be sold within their Houses (above-mentioned); of the Forfeitures also, which shall be made within their Houses, they shall be themselves Justices, and they shall have the amends thereof. These Customs and Quittances and Liberties, and all other Things whatsoever, which may be found better or more free in any other Borough, to them I grant and confirm, and will they shall have and hold firmly. The Forfeitures made on the Market-day are mine, wheresoever they shall be in my Borough.

These are the witnesses:

Henry de Druvall

Fulk Basset

Walter (The Chaplain)

Bartholomew (The Clerk)

William (The Chaplain) Turstin

Walter the son of Turg

Philip de Coule

William de Estfeld

John Cabus

Young William

and the whole Halimote* of Colham.

*The Halimote or Hallmote or Halmote was the court baron, so called from the court in which it was held. The etymology is from the meeting of the tenants of one hall or manor. It has been sometimes, but we believe improperly confounded with the word Folkmote, which signifies a meeting of citizens, The name Halmote is still kept up in several places in Herefordshire. Rees's Cyc,

This document, which is in the possession of the lords of the manor and borough, is written on parchment, exactly as represented in the foregoing fac-simile; it is nine inches by five, and has had a curious seal appended by a strip of parchment and inclosed in a sort of cushion of an oblong shape, about four inches in circumference, and very much resembling a flat pin-cushion, covered with coarse linen cloth. The grant itself is in a very fine state of preservation; we have seen many grants of a similar nature and of about the same age, but few in a more perfect condition, or in which the writing is more legible. Like most of the public documents of that age it bears no date, but is clearly proved, from the collateral evidence already adduced in the preceding section, to have been written in the reign of Henry II. and most probably after the civil wars or about the year 1170. For it appears from other sources that Gilbert Basset was at that period possessed of the honor of Wallingford, in which Uxbridge was included*, and the grant in question is addressed, to "all Barons of the Honor of Wallingford."

Madox's Firma Burghi, p. 17, 18,

Origin of the Market.

From the curious document just exhibited, it is demonstrably proved that Newcourt, in his great work on the Diocese of London, is incorrect, as to the origin of our present market. His words are these: "About the 22. of Edward I. Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, procured a market to be held here on Mondays, (which is now on Thursdays, as above-said,) and a fair yearly," &c. See Newcourt, vol. i. p. 650. We have proved that the market was founded in the 12th. Century, and it is now kept on the same day as was appointed by the Lord of the Honor of Wallingford. The market which Henry de Lacy procured to be kept was an additional one. See Inquisition, 6. Ric. II. (1382.) It has been long discontinued.

That the grant, made by Gilbert Basset to the burgesses of this town, conferred valuable and extensive privileges, may be inferred from a circumstance mentioned in a manuscript in the possession of the lords of the manor and borough. One Simon Privoweth, in the seventh year of the reign of Edward II. (1313) paid the lord of the manor a fine of twenty shillings for his freedom; a sum by no means

inconsiderable at that period as will appear by a reference to the price of provisions. It is stated in Fabian's Chronicle, that at this time the best wheat was sold in London for two shillings per quarter-the best ox for six and eight pence-the best sheep for eight pencethe best goose for two pence-a fat pig for a penny--and six of the best pigeons for a like

sum.

The Basset Family.

The family of Basset is very ancient and noble. In the reign of Henry I. and of King Stephen, Ralph Basset and Richard his son, were successively Justiciaries of England*. We have no doubt it was one of these that signed, as a witness, the ancient grant of the Church of Hillingdon to the Church of Evesham. See chap. iii. sect. 1.

scended Gilbert and Fulc.

From these de

Gilbert as has

been already noticed became lord of the Honor of Wallingford, and Fulc was made Bishop of London in the reign of Henry III. (1241.) He succeeded to the inheritance of his brother Gilbert, and was a man of great influence in his dayt. Matthew Paris says,

* Dugdale vol. i. p. 378.
+ See Kippis's Bio. Brit.

"he was the anchor of the whole kingdom and the shield of stability and defence."

It was most probably under the influence of Gilbert Basset, who was lord of Wallingford, that that town was induced to distinguish itself, in the cause of Henry II. and his mother Maud against Stephen. There is preserved by Brady* a charter conferred by Henry on the burgesses of Wallingford, granting them unusual privileges, in consideration of their service to the king, in these contentions. It is not improbable, that as the king rewarded the burgesses of Wallingford thus, their Lord also received corresponding tokens of royal beneficence; and the liberty alluded to in the grant which founded the market, may have been a mark of Henry's favour to Basset, for service rendered him in his struggle for the crown.

The present Francis Basset, lord de Dunstanville and Basset, is a descendant of one of the branches of that family.

*See Brady, Appendix, No. 4.