Verdict in His Lordships Favour

29/03/1787

Information

At the assizes of this date, before Mr Justice Butler and a special jury, was a second hearing of a case whereas Joseph Hopkins was plaintiff and the right Honourable the Earl of Peterborough and Monmouth defendant. This case had been tried at the previous lent assizes on an action brought by the plaintiff, who was trying to recover possession of an estate of about £100 per annum, held within the last few years by him and his predecessors on a lease for life granted by the late Earl of Peterborough in about the year 1728. This estate, on the lives becoming extinct, had fallen into the hands of the present earl, and due to the plaintiff not being able at that time to prove his further interest therein to the satisfaction of the court, a verdict was then given against him. In the present action the plaintiff claimed the estate, as before, by virtue of a lease for 500 years, said to have been granted by the late earl, under the title of Monmouth. after a trial of seven hours, as verdict was again given in favour of his lordship the Earl of Peterborough. (Hereford Journal)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.

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Misbehaving Monks

08/07/1515

Information

The abbacy of Robert Kirkton was a time of extremes for both the monastery and the town. His great building projects have left us the New Building on the church and the Great Gate that now leads to the dean's offices. However, beyond this gate, he had allowed thirty tenements to fall into utter decay before turning the ground into a park for his deer! Running side by side with his grand projects was lax management and slipping morals. Kirkton himself 'wriggled and squirmed' when it came to repaying a debt to Henry VIII. When William Atwater, Bishop of Lincoln, visited the monastery on this day, he found many things 'out of order'. He reported that monk, John Walpole, was being seditious amongst his brethren. He also reported that he had stolen certain jewels from St Oswald's shrine, and what he could lay his hands on elsewhere, and given them to women in the town. So much for his vow of celibacy! It was also reported that certain monks haunted a tavern near the monastery - probably in the Boongate area - and gave themselves up to singing and dancing in the dormitory until 10 or 11 p.m., to the consternation of the rest of their brethren. (Gunton, Symon, The History of the Church in Peterborough, ed. Symon Patrick, 1990)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.