TRADES AND INDUSTRIES
The most valuable and complete evidence of
economic conditions within the city in the 17th
century lies in the series of indentures, (fn. 1) etc., concerning various TRADES AND INDUSTRIES.
The earliest of these is the incorporation of the
Cappers in 1564; there are others for the Blacksmiths
and Cutlers, 1609; the Gild of the Mercers, 1622; the
Joiners' Gild, 1600; the Barbers' and Surgeons' and
Glasiers' Gilds, 1608; the Clothiers' Gild, 1616; the
Sadlers' Gild, 1633; the Blacksmiths' and Cutlers'
Gild, 1662; the Glovers' Gild and White Tawers'
Gild, 1687; the Sadlers', Rope Makers', Stationers'
and Bookbinders' Gilds, 1686; the Goldsmiths',
Cutlers' and Blacksmiths' Gilds, 1686; the Free
Tailors' Gild, 1685; the Barbers' and Glasiers' Gild,
1685; and the Gild of Mercers, 1698.
The formation of the Company of the Cappers, who
had complained of encroachments by the Mercers,
was granted by Thomas Adams, mayor, who ordained
that the company should have power to elect or remove
its own wardens and masters, and to make orders
for preserving the wealth and good order of the company; election to the freedom of the gild required
the consent of the mayor. The mercers were to be
permitted to sell off, within the next twelve months,
all such wares as they had in their shops and houses,
unless the cappers should buy up such stores. Half
of all the fines and fees of the company were to go to
the corporation of the city. If the company should
not furnish enough wares for persons accustomed to
come there, the mayor should revise the gild's
liberties. On the election of each new mayor, the
gild was to pay 10s. to the steward of the city, for
the use of the corporation.
The Blacksmiths and Cutlers in 1609(?) complained
that certain persons not belonging to the city were
selling there all manner of ironware and knives on
market days. Hence some nine blacksmiths and two
cutlers, being free of the gild, were to be known as
the Master, Wardens, Company and Fellowship. No
non-members might sell iron or cutlery save on the
usual fair days of St. George and Whit Monday. A
fee of £6 admitted to the gild, with a good and
sufficient breakfast to the Master, Wardens, and
others; £3 of the £6 was paid to the mayor. Apprentices, however, who had served seven years were to
be admitted for 3s. 4d. Ten shillings and a couple
of well-fed capons were due to the mayor yearly, and
all disorderly quarrels not appeasable by the company
were to be brought before the mayor.
The Gild of Mercers, incorporated in 1622, has
already been referred to. None of the other gilds
gave so much detail in their indentures, but a few
points are noticeable. The Joiners said they were
being invaded by both married and single men under
thirty who were not of the gild; they fixed a fee of
£6 for strangers, and 3s. 4d. for apprentices. The
Tailors found it necessary to make special provision
that no alien born out of the king's dominions, being
by craft a tailor, should be admitted save after an
agreement with the master and wardens, and a corporal oath before the mayor. Any non-citizen must
pay £5 to the company and £5 to the mayor. The
Tailors agreed to provide part of the equipment of
the city company of the Militia, as anciently they
used, just as the Blacksmiths and Cutlers were bound
to supply arms, weapons, and artillery for His Majesty.
There were apparently 20 Merchant Tailors. The
Barbers, Surgeons and Glaziers together numbered
only seven persons; the Clothiers included cloth
workers, dyers and fustian makers; the Mercers
by 1698 consisted of only four persons. (fn. 2) It is
perhaps not unsafe to connect this exclusive policy
with the undoubted fact that Chichester tradesmen
of the 18th century formed a small aristocratic society
and were closely connected with the professional,
artistic or military groups, as is seen very clearly in
the life of William Collins, the poet.
Although there is a fair amount of information
about the 17th-century city companies, it is surprising that there is no medieval evidence as to craft
gilds. Most of the ordinary crafts are mentioned,
together with some of the luxury or ecclesiastical
crafts, but there is no hint of their organisation into
gilds, except that the Tailors' Gild (gilda parmenterie)
paid 2s. to the Earl of Cornwall in 1299. (fn. 3) This
is probably because there were few members of each
craft. The main business of the city was overseas
trade, for which the Gild Merchant sufficed. In the
14th and early 15th centuries evidently some of the
more prosperous citizens had also lands and tenements
in London and were members of some of the great
London gilds. The financing of the wool trade with
the staple at Calais was probably facilitated by this
fact. (fn. 4)
The principal medieval craft was needlemaking,
which lasted almost into the 19th century. The industry began in the 13th century, if we may trust the
evidence of names (le Nedeler and le Aguiller), (fn. 5) but
decayed after the destruction of the suburb of St.
Pancras during the siege of 1642. The last needlemaker, who was working in 1783, was Mr. Scale, the
parish clerk. (fn. 6) There were weavers, dyers, tailors and
all the usual crafts, but only one or two examples of
each. Thomas Dubeletmaker was a godson of William
Neel in 1418. (fn. 7)
MARKETS and FAIRS
The MARKETS and FAIRS of Chichester were
evidently of great importance to the surrounding
district. The market from the 12th century, (fn. 8) and
probably much earlier, was held on Wednesdays and
Saturdays and belonged to the Earls of Cornwall (fn. 9)
and earlier overlords, probably until the grant of the
city to the citizens in 1316, when it passed to them.
Wednesday was for the cattle market held in East
and North Street. Friday was added as a market
day by the charter of James II. (fn. 10) Some tenants of
the bishop owed the service of making booths in
Chichester market. (fn. 11)
The earliest record we have of a fair at Chichester
was that granted by Henry I about 1107–8 to Ralph
Bishop of Chichester, to be held for eight days at the
time to be fixed by the bishop. The feast selected
was that of St. Faith the Virgin (6 October), but in
1204 licence was given to change the time to the
vigil of the feast of the Holy Trinity and eight days
after. (fn. 12) This fair was known as the Sloe Fair from a
sloe tree in the field near the North Gate, where it
was held. It is doubtful, however, whether the time
of the fair was changed, as the pie-powder court
(curia papilionis) for it is said to have been held as
late as the 18th century in the upper room of the
Canon Gate, from the vigil of St. Faith (5 October)
to the eve of St. Edward the Confessor (12 October). (fn. 13)
Bishop Robert Rede complained that on Monday
before St. Denis, 1407, Thomas Pacchyng, the mayor,
ordered that no man of the city should sue any plea
in the bishop's court of 'pypoudrez'; so that only two
persons pleaded, one of whom the mayor imprisoned. (fn. 14)
The bishop's gavelmen of Cakeham (fn. 15) were bound
to 'cart or pack' every day to Chichester if required
and to cart straw to Chichester Fair. Packing to
Chichester might be required even on Sundays.
There were special sheds (logias) in Chichester for
the straw brought in for the fair. (fn. 16) The fair at Selsey
which Henry I granted to Bishop Seffrid between
1126 and 1133 to be held on the vigil, feast and
morrow of St. Lawrence the Martyr (9, 10, 11 August)
was apparently transferred to Chichester at a later
date. (fn. 17) In 1254 a fair was granted to Richard, Earl
of Cornwall, to be held on the vigil, feast and morrow
of St. Michael, the fair being publicly proclaimed by
the sheriff. (fn. 18) In 1288, however, Edmund, Earl of
Cornwall, claimed two fairs in the city. (fn. 19) The
Michaelmas fair held in the eastern suburb was
stated by Richard FitzAlan to be no fair, but merely a
congregation of men held each year outside the suburb
in a spot within the Hundred of Box, and he claimed
the profits by reason of his hundred. It was counterclaimed that the fines and amercements had been in
the seisin of Richard, King of the Romans and Earl
of Cornwall, and that Richard FitzAlan could only
have claimed such tolls and dues 'per presentationes
factas in pleno hundredo,' whereas neither he nor his
ancestors had ever held such a hundred. (fn. 20) The
same Richard FitzAlan claimed, however, that he
held a fair on the vigil and feast of St. James (24–5 July)
every year, near the Hospital of St. James outside the
city. (fn. 21) This fair was claimed by Edward I in 1289,
who commanded the sheriff to proclaim it in his
name. (fn. 22) In 1500 the mayor was given permission to
hold a fair yearly on St. George's Day (23 April) and
the two following days and to hold a court of piepowder. (fn. 23) The fairs at Chichester in 1889 (fn. 24) are
reported to have been as many as five or six, which
took place on 4 May, Whit Monday, 5 August, 10 October, and 20 October. Evidently slight adaptations of
dates had taken place for the three most ancient fairs.
The Corn Market was said to belong to a private
company, and farmers and merchants subscribed so
much a year for using it.