Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

source of income for the court leet, but also a boon to Alcester’s abundant retailers and
innkeepers.
As the influence of the manor court declined, Alcester’s market probably
loosened its grip on local trading, both agricultural and industrial. 237
Defoe notes the
general trend towards dealing outside the official markets in the early eighteenth century,
as the countrywide importance of corn factors, graziers and their ilk was in its
ascendancy. 238
In order to stimulate trade, from 1765 the lord of the manor ceased to
charge tolls at Alcester’s fairs and markets except on the sale of horses. 239
However,
Alcester market was still noted for its trade in corn at this time. In autumn 1766 it was
visited by a large crowd protesting about food prices. 240
A few weeks later there is
evidence of farmers selling corn by sample, (a practice frowned upon by some), rather
than taking the whole load to market. 241
In the nineteenth century Alcester’s market
declined further; though corn was traded in sufficient quantities to merit the construction
of a Corn Exchange in the 1850s, it was never successful. 242
In the seventeenth century bull-baiting took place in the high street bull-ring, not
only providing entertainment, but also tenderising the meat ready to be sold by the
butchers in the nearby shambles. 243
Distinct areas were also allocated for the sale of
237 Saville, Alcester – a History, p. 38. By the next period the corn market was more prominent than the
trade in other commodities.
238 For example, corn factors, quoted by R. Allen, in Floud and Johnson, The Cambridge Economic History
of Modern Britain, vol. 1, p. 107.
239 Berrow’s Worcester Journal 10 Oct. 1765. Other local markets and fairs were also becoming toll-free at
the time. Berrow’s Worcester Journal 27 Aug. 1752 shows that, in common with many other towns,
Alcester decided to change the date of its fairs in line with New Style. (For example, the great October fair
moved from the week beginning 6 October to the week beginning 17 October.)
240 Adam’s Weekly Courant 14 October 1766.
241 Berrow’s Worcester Journal 11 December 1766.
242 Saville, ‘The story of Alcester market’, p. 10, describes how the Corn Exchange soon became a social
centre and the weekly market itself fell into abeyance before 1888.
243 Saville, ‘The story of Alcester market’, p. 7.
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