Winchester was given a grant of murage dated 8/3/1484.
This was in the form of:-
Wording
Whereas Edward III by letters patent granted the city of Winchester to the citizens to hold at fee-farm, rendering 100 marks yearly at the Exchequer, and now from the supplication of the mayor and citizens the king understands that the city is one of the ancient cities of the realm and of old chosen before others for coronations and burials of the king's progenitors and is now so impoverished by pestilence, the removal of traders, and the ruin of eleven streets, seventeen parish churches and 987 messuages within the last eighty years that it does not suffice for the payment of the said farm and 60s. yearly to the master or warden of the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen by the city, of the grant of the king's progenitors and divers rents payable to the king at the hands of the sheriff of Southampton amounting to 51l. 10s. 4d. for each fifteenth and for the repair of the walls and gates of the city; the king hereby releases to the mayor and citizens 20l. yearly for ever from the said fee-farm.
By p.s.
Granted by Richard III. (Regnal year 1). Granted at Westminster. Granted by p.s..
Primary Sources
Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1901,
Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III (1476-85) p. 376-7
online copy
Record created by Philip Davis. This record created 12/02/2009. Last updated on 03/05/2012. First published online 5/01/2013.
