[447] Worcester, Eng. Guilds, 378.
[448] Frequent cases indicate that where the common lands played an important part in the wealth or industry of a borough the burgesses long preserved an interest in municipal affairs. Thus, in Haverford West, where the townsfolk up to 1832 took a very real part in the election of their officers and the control of business, the common meadow still contained over a thousand acres. (Report on Mun. Corporation, 233, etc.) And at Berwick-on-Tweed, where also affairs were administered by the whole body of burgesses, the annual value of the lands whose profits went to the freemen was near £6,000. (Ibid. 31.)
[449] Piers Ploughman, pass. xi. 239.
[450] Merewether and Stephens, ii. 590-2.
[451] Norwich Town Close Evidences, p. 16. A copy of this volume (a private publication printed in connection with the Town Close case in 1885) may be found in the British Museum.
[452] Norwich Town Close Evidences, 18-19.
[453] Ibid. 17.
[454] It was at this time that the mayor was given power to distrain for sums levied on the commonalty. (Hist. MSS. Com. xi. part 3, 186-7.)
[455] Hist. MSS. Com. xi. 3, pp. 187, 240. Gross, ii. 155-6.
[456] Report on Markets, 62.