The Gatehouse website record of a grant of murage for Poole granted 8/7/1433

Poole (Pole) was given a grant of murage dated 8/7/1433.

This was in the form of:-

Licence to crenellate
Other aid:- Staple port

Wording

Whereas the port of Melcombe is not sufficiently strong or populous for the protection of goods and merchandise brought thither against the king's enemies, whereby merchants, and notably John Roger, have suffered heavy loss, so that they are afraid to ship there and the king's customs suffer, and whereas the town and harbour of Pole are notably populous and the harbour is safe, and the mayor and burgesses of Pole, with the king's licence, propose to wall, crenellate and fortify the same; the king, by advice and assent of the lords spiritual and temporal and of the commonalty of England in the present Parliament, has granted licence for the said mayor and burgesses to fortify their town and orders that Melcombe shall remain a port until Hilary next, and after that shall be no port but a creek as it was before, and that Pole at the said feast shall begin to be a royal port, and its mayor shall have power to receive recognisances of the staple, and such other liberties and franchises as the mayor of Southampton has. {Cf. Rolls of Parliament, IV. p. 468.} By pet. in Parl.
----
Jan. 20. 1462. Westminster. 1 Edward IV.
Inspeximus and confirmation to the mayor and burgesses of Pole of letters patent dated 8 July, 11 Henry VI., being a licence to them to fortify the town and port of Pole, and granting that the port of Melcombe shall no longer be a port after St. Hilary but a creek, and that the mayor of Pole shall have power of receiving cognisances of the staple and other privileges as does the mayor of Southampton.
For 20s. paid in the hanaper

Granted by Henry VI. (Regnal year 11). Granted at Westminster. Granted by pet. in Parl..

Details of the petition which resulted in this grant can be seen at this link.

Primary Sources

Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1907, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry VI (1429-36) Vol. 2 p. 298 online copy
Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1897, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward IV (1461-67) p. 74 online copy

Secondary Sources

Coulson, C., 1995, 'Battlements and the Bourgeoisie: Municipal Status and the Apparatus of Urban Defence' in Church, Stephen (ed), Medieval Knighthood Vol. 5 (Boydell) p170n201
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 133n35
Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 198

Comments

The obtaining of the privileges for the new port would be the prime motive for this charter but the wording shows the use of the fear of French raids to aid the acceptance of the petition (Note that Poole is described a safe harbour before any walls). The actual walls built were slight and around the quay, not the town, and probably just represented the usual security from thieves and the facilities to levy and collect tolls.
POOLE 4012 908. Borough c.1248 (BF, p. 103). 1334 Subsidy £40.38. Market town c.1600 (Everitt, p. 471). See also Historic Towns in Dorset pp. 78-9. (Letters, S., 2003, Gazetter of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (Centre for Metropolitan History) online copy)

	Murage Home

	Grants
	Exemptions
	Petitions
	Other