Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/253

 1920 THE BRIDGNORTH COMPANY OF SMITHS 245 glazier, gunsmith, horn-comb-maker, ironmonger, joiner, lock- smith, mathematical instrument-maker, goldsmith, and clock- maker,^ needle-maker, painter, pewterer, point-maker, saddle- plate-maker, shingler, tobacco-pipe-maker.^ The company owned various articles which were passed on annually to the successive officers. They included the book and composition (i. e. charter) of the company and various weapons and appur- tenances, viz. a musket, flask, a ' twich-box ' (touch-box), two head-pieces, a sword, a dagger, two girdles, a mould, a halberd a ' worme ',^ a bullet-bag, a flask leather, a rest, a pair of bando- liers, a ' scower ', and an iron hook upon a pole (evidently a fire- hook, such as may still be seen at Raunds church, Northampton- shire, and elsewhere). Reference is occasionally made to the company's chest, its locks and keys. Many entries relate to the repairing and cleaning of the above-mentioned weapons, &c. In the seventeenth -century entries there are numerous references to waiting on the bailiffs at St. Luke's fair, St. Leonard's fah% and Shrovetide fair,* also to warding at these fairs and at the assizes. Beyond these entries there is but rare notice of any- thing outside the company's affairs. In 1634 the ' sickness- time ' is mentioned ; in 1640 there is a hint of coming trouble in the entry ' when the soldiers came through the town ' ; under 1659-60 the sum of 8d. is entered ' for gunpowder at the king's proclamation '. Year by year the election of the two wardens and two assis- tants is noted ; in the earlier period covered by the volume sureties for them are mentioned. There was also the steward, and the man in trust, whose duty was to keep one of the keys of the chest and also to take the bonds of the wardens to the use of the company ; from 1643 there was also a clerk. Up to 1659 detailed accounts of expenses are entered annually ; after that date no details are given, merely the total expenditure of the wardens, the amount being often under £1. From 1727 to 1752 most of the annual entries are signed by a person who has ' super- vised ' or ' inspected ' them. The election meeting was regularly held on or near Corpus Christi Day ; as a rule there was another meeting, often in November, for the admission of freemen. All ^ For other Shropshire clock-makers see Shropshire Notes and Queries, 17 November 1896, p. 108. ^ For tobacco-pipe-makers in the seventeenth century see Privy Council Register, 31 March 1639, quoted by G. Unwin, Industrie^ Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, p. 147 n. 1. of a ramrod for withdrawing a charge from a musket '. ' Scower ' may be the same as ' scouring-stick ', which, according to Halliwell-Phillipps, Z)ic<. of Archaic and Prov. Words, was used in cleaning the barrel of a gun. fair under a grant of 33 Edw. III(T. F. Dukes, Aniiquities of Shropshire, 1844, pp. 47-8).
 * Annandale, Imperial Dictionary, explains ' worm ' as ' a spiral wire on the end
 * St. Luke's fair was established xmider a grant of 10 Hen. Ill, and St. Leonard's