Page:Mediaevalleicest00billrich.djvu/148

 to William of Stapleford and others, and £1 13s. 0d. received of Ralph Gerin from his collection, and £2 9s. $17 1⁄2$d. received from the collection in the town." The rest of the money required to make up the total cost of £22 17s. 10d., viz., £3 10s. 0d., he received "of John Alsy, Mayor, by tally." We also hear of money being collected for this purpose in the Parish Churches of the town, and generally of "gifts and perquisites to the bridges of Leicester." Sometimes the fines inflicted by the Guild Merchant were ear-marked for this pious use, as when John Joy, in 1357, was condemned to pay 6s. 8d., "in aid of the bridges of the town"; and when it was ordained that for every beast found trespassing in the crofts within the town of Leicester, 4d. for every head, and 1d. for every foot, should be paid "for mending of the bridges, ways, gates and other necessaries for the common utility of the town."

In 1574 it was agreed that the Mayor and common burgesses should give 2s. apiece, and the Fortyeight 1s. apiece, towards (inter alia) "the repairing of the bridges." Surveyors of bridges refusing to serve were to forfeit 10s., "which shall go to the use of the said bridges."

In 1365 the North Bridge and the West Bridge were repaired. The former cost £4 8s. 0d., and the latter £4 8s. 7d. The expense of these repairs was borne by the common fund, with the assistance of (1) a special toll of the North Quarter, (2) collections made in the churches of St. Martin, St. Nicholas, and St. Peter, and (3) private donations. The total cost of the two bridges being £8 16s. 7d., £3 4s. 8d. was provided by voluntary contributions, and the remainder from the general fund (tallage and guild entries), and a special toll.

As a result, probably, of the disturbances related by Henry of Knighton, which occurred in the neighbourhood of Leicester Abbey in 1329, a grant of pontage for three years for the repair of the bridge at Leicester was obtained by the Earl in the following year. This tax was collected by one Geoffrey Ridel, who complained in 1332 before the Guild Merchant that he had been 110