Plymouth (Plymmuth) was given a grant of murage dated 12/12/1377.
This was in the form of:-
Wording
Grant to the mayor, bailiffs and commonalty of Plymmuth of murage for six years, upon their petition, they having already granted, for the purpose of fortifying their said town, a fourth part of all rents of their tenements for three years . By the Great Council
Granted by Richard II. (Regnal year 1). Granted at Westminster. Granted by the Great Council.
Primary Sources
Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895,
Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1377-81) Vol. 1 p. 81
online copy
Secondary Sources
Coulson, Charles, 2009, Murage Grants (Handwritten list and notes)
Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 198
Comments
Was this a sort of Schedule A or rates? i.e. a property tax based on the rental value of houses. The implication is that it was not confined to rental value receivable (Coulson).
Evidently probable that the the burgesses were doing their best to raise the money that was needed (Coulson).
PLYMOUTH 2480 550. Borough 1439 (BF, p. 96). 1334 Subsidy £240. Plymouth may not have developed as a commercial centre until the thirteenth century, for which see the entry for Sutton Prior, Devon (q.v.) (Kowaleski, Local Markets, p. 70). In 1439, lands in Sutton Prior, Sutton Vautort and Cumpton were incorporated into Plymouth on account of ‘their proximity to the sea’ (CPR, 1461-7, p. 309). Plymouth was situated on the west bank of the river Plym, opposite Plympton, Devon (q.v.). Market town c.1600 (Everitt, p. 471). (Letters, S., 2003,
Gazetter of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (Centre for Metropolitan History)
online copy)
Record created by Philip Davis. This record created 17/01/2009. Last updated on 04/06/2012. First published online 5/01/2013.
