BoAr:FNQ:Curiosities
http://www.rjplincs.plus.com/ariwxo3FNQ32.htm Latest
edit 2 Sep 2007.
Interactive
version ©2006 R.J.PENHEY
The Bourne Archive
FNQ
Fenland Notes and Queries. This will have been originally in
the quarterly Part 2, July 1889. Edited by W.H. Bernard
Saunders, F.R. Hist. Soc.
Articles 1 to 237 (April 1889 to October 1891) were
re-published as Volume 1, in 1891, by Geo. C. Caster,
This quarterly periodical which, from the second volume
(part 12) became associated with the name of W.D. Sweeting, took the form of a
forum in which people sent in questions about the history, ecology and so on of
the Fens
_ and the region’s environs and
others replied with some sort of answer. Some ‘answers’ seem to have been
spontaneous, so qualifying as ‘notes’. Editorial notes in the form [note] are
those of FNQ; those in the form [note] are those of RJP.
My thanks to the trustees of the
Willoughby Memorial Library for the loan of the copy from which the following
was transcribed.
Bourne Charities
32 – An Ancient Custom at Bourn. – The following
is a cutting from the Grantham Journal
of April 13th, 1889:--- In accordance with the provisions of the
will of William Clay, gentleman, of Bourn, in the year 1742, who gave land, the
rent of which is to be expended yearly in white bread, to be distributed among
householders and commoners in Eastgate Ward, the Constable’s Half-acre and the
Dike-reeves half-acre were let by auction on the Queen’s bridge on Saturday
evening. Mr. F.J. Shilcock, the auctioneer, read the conditions of sale, which
provided that two good loads of manure should be put on the land, that the
fence be kept in proper repair, and that the bush in the centre of the field be
not cut or injured in any way. The most curious part of the auction is the
manner in which the bidding is regulated. Two lads are started by the
auctioneer to run a certain distance for a prize. Whilst they are running the
bidding is carried on, and the person who has made the highest bid by the time
the lads return becomes the tenant for the ensuing year.
[See
Ball’s Charities:
3rd item of the 2nd group and last item of the 1st
group. The journalist seems to have read Ball’s list and confused this second
item with the one preceding it in the list, William Clay’s bequest to