Rustling on The Open Plains of The Sheriffs Wild.......East.

[leigh kitchen]

Well not so much cattle rustling as sheep worrying is a long standing tradition in these here parts. And it's not so much open plains as flat fenland. And I suppose this is about a theft of a sheep rather than rustling.

Not much robbing of stage coaches around either, but perhaps that's mainly because, as it used to be said, a stage coach in Witchford was as rare a sight as a sailing ship in Ely (despite the Ely Cathedral being nicknamed "The Ship of The Fens")

In January 1839, Mr John Custance suffered the theft of "a fat wether sheep" stolen Sutton Row, Ely.

It was slaughtered at scene & skin & entrails left.

Via The Association for the Prosecution of of all kinds of Felony within the Hundred of Ely and South-Part of the Hundred of Witchford, Custance offered a reward of 5 Guineas (?5.25p) for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible.

A "wether sheep" is a young castrated ram - less aggressive than a ram, a trait perhaps taken into consideration by the thieves when they were planning to steal it.

A "Hundred" was a system used in various parts of the world, in England a Hundred was the common law divison of a shire for administrative, judicial & military purposes.

When the Saxons introduced the system between 613 and 1017, a hundred had enough land to sustain about 100 households which were led by a hundred-man or hundred eolder, responsible for administration & justice, & for supplying & leadership of soldiers.

Hundreds were under the control of a shire, in charge of which was a shire-reeve (sheriff), & could be split between counties as their bounderies were those of parish's as well as counties. They were divided into divisions or in half hundreds & into tithings, which contained ten households. Below that, the basic unit of land was called the hide, which was enough land to support one family and varied in size from 60 to 120 old acres, or 15 to 30 modern acres.

By the twelfth century the Hundred court was held twelve times a year, later increasing to fortnightly & then in 1234 to once every 3 weeks.

In some hundreds, courts were held at a fixed place, in others they moved with each sitting to a different location.

The main duties of the hundred court were the maintenance of the frankpledge system which originated n Anglo-Saxon & continued into Norman times & in which tithings - units of ten households were bound together and held responsible for one another's conduct.

All males over 12 years of age were joined in groups of approximately ten households, under a chief-pledge or tithing-man. This unit was responsible for producing any man of that tithing suspected of a crime.

Where the hundred was under the jurisdiction of the crown, the chief magistrate was a sheriff, but many hundreds being in private hands, with the lordship of the hundred being attached to the principal manor of the area and becoming hereditary, where a Hundred was under a lord, a steward was appointed in place of a sheriff.

The system developed over centuries, it did'nt have hereditary heads of Hundreds, a system of election developed, as did court systems, & by the 19th century different single purpose sub divisions of counties appeared, such as poor law unions, sanitary districts & highway distrricts. Groupings of Hundreds were used to define parliamentary constituencies at about the time this poster was issued, between 1832 - 1885.

Edited April 17, 2009 by leigh kitchen

[Mervyn Mitton]

Wow ! 5 guineas must be worth at least ?1000 today ?

Very interesting article - always good to be reminded of our history . The past shapes the future.

Mervyn

[Guest Rick Research]

And this would have either been a hanging or transportation offense....

My how times have changed. :beer:

[Mervyn Mitton]

Why did we ever stop doing this !