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Markets and fairs
Created 21 June, 2008
Hoddesdon market has had a long history, and for its origin we must go back to the reign of Henry III. In 1253 a Richard de Boxe, then holding a manor which took its name from him, received in addition to the grant of free warren (i.e., the right to hunt freely wild animals) for this manor, the following grant of the right "to hold a market at his aforesaid manor of Hoddesdon on 'Thursday of each week and that for ever there may be a fair once a year lasting for three days: on the eve, the day: and the morrow of Saint Martin (November 11th) unless that fair and market be to the annoyance of neighbouring markets and fairs." Who this Richard de Boxe was, to obtain such a grant for a small town such as Hoddesdon then was, we do not know; but it looks as though he had some influence, or it may be that it was a case of money talking in those days, as it does to-day.
Although the last clause in the charter was one that was frequently inserted in these old grants, it was one that inevitably led to trouble and friction, and this was so in our case. We find that it did not at all suit the worthy Bailiffs of Hertford, who from about 1460, tried repeatedly to stop the holding of the market at Hoddesdon, saying that Henry VI, when staying in that town, had granted them the right of a weekly market to the exclusion of any other within seven miles thereof. This perennial dispute was not finally settled till 1560, when by a decree of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster of that time, the right of Hoddesdon to continue to hold its weekly market on Thursdays was upheld. In 1468 Edward IV inspected the charter of Henry III and confirmed it to Sir John Say of Broxbourne, his heirs and assigns-the market 'rights having come into his hands as the owner of Baas manor. These Say estates were subsequently purchased by Sir 'William Cecil, conveyed by him to his second son Robert, Earl of Salisbury, and so have descended in the family to the present Marquess. In 1535 Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex, owner of the market rights by his marriage to Mary, daughter of Sir William Say, petitioned that the date of the fair might be changed, and in the same year the King, by letters patent, after inspecting the original charter, re-granted the market to be held on Thursdays as before, but stipulating that the date of the fair should be changed to the Feast of the Translation of St. Martin (July 3rd to 5th).
In January, 1560, Queen Elizabeth incorporated the "vill'' of Hoddesdon and founded a grammar school here. By her charter she granted to it the tolls and customary profits arising from the market which she states "used commonly to be levied in the market and used to pertain to nobody." It is a little difficult to explain how the Queen was so misinformed, but documents at Hatfield offer a reasonable explanation. One dated 1581 is entitled "A note how the Free School at Hoddesdon hath been maintained ever since the town was incorporated.'' The first item in this states "There hath been received of the profits of the fairs and markets by the sufferance of the Lady Bowcher (Bourchier) in her time and ever since by the sufferance of Sir William Cecil 66s. 8d."
This Lady Bourchier was Ann, wife of William Parr, Earl of Northampton, and daughter of the Henry Bourchier mentioned above and also Baroness Bourchier in her own right. It was not until 1595 that the Free School ceased to exist; but from 1571 Sir William Cecil, who by this time had bought the Say estates, was in receipt of the rents from the stalls and shops in the market place.
The market grew with the increase of traffic on the roads, and before the end of the century was famous for its dealings in malt.
There were quite a number of stalls, some permanent, some pitched, and now the only survivals of these are the buildings which succeeded them, the projecting block of shops and houses from the Cannon Stores to Stagg's shop. The block of houses known as " Middle Row'' shown in old prints and standing about where the War Memorial now is, was removed by Mr. Peter Christie in 1857.