Old Ashburton

                                                  Early history

1310 (see below) is the usual date given for the origin of a market at Ashburton. However, in his Presidential Address to the Devonshire Association, J S Amery says that in the Cartulary of Buckfast Abbey there is a grant from Roger de Nunant for the safety of his soul and that of his wife Alice. The wording is: 'Libertate, tamen, retenta eundi et redeundi michi et hominibus meis per uiam de Norbroc ad niewfort , ad forum de Aspernetune - To myself and my men, however, I retain free right of way from the North Brook road to the New Ford, on our way to Ashburton market' .*

Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Assocation, vol 56, Plymouth 1925, p48

Dr Samantha Letters, in the Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516, says that the reference is to a charter of Henry de Nunant, and to an earlier one of his father Roger. She dates it to before 1176-77, when Roger de Nunant died.

http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/gazweb2.html - Accessed 9-05-2016

1310 (the third year of the reign of Edward ll)

'King Edward II granted a market at Asperton on Saturdays, to Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, and a fair for three days at the festival of St. Lawrence.'

Ref given as Rot. Cart. 3 Edward 11.21 in Magna Britannia, vol6 part 2, Lysons 1822, p12

Rot. Cart is Rotuli Chartarum, or Charter Rolls. In the National Archives?

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J S Amery quotes from a legal action in 1630 between, amongst others, Thos. Prideaux and Thos. Ford.* Nicholas ffabyan of Ashburton, tanner, 'confirmed that the Pillory, Cage or Prison house of the Boro did stand within the said Market House and that the Stocks for the said Boro sometimes stood within the said market house and sometimes in the said market-place.'

Mr Amery gives a reference of 6th Charles I (1630), and says the action was in the Exchequer. This might be E 134/6Chas1/Mich2, which concerns the mortgage of 'The toll and other things within the manor of Ashberton (Devon)' The participants were Thomas Prideaux senior and junior, Thomas Harris and Richard Harris, versus Sir John Brune, Knt, Thomas Ford senior and junior and William Abarrow.

Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Assocation, vol 56, Plymouth 1925, p72

It seems likely to be linked to the document from the following year in the National Archives, 'Accounts of the profits of the market, Prideaux and Harris v. Ford and Others.' At least part of the dispute concerned the weighing of wool and yarn.

A 'common beam', a device for weighing commodities such as wool, was often housed within market halls. It was a legal requirement to use this official measure, and its importance was such that tolls could be levied on its use. Goods could be forfeited if alternative beams were used.

Two rival beams were set up in Ashburton, one by Thomas Prideaux and one by William Abarrow, who both claimed the profits. Thomas Prideaux 'did walk up and down the said market...with a sword by his side, and did threaten the said William Abarrow,' claiming that his father would spend a thousand pounds to ensure that he could retain the profits. He unhung the weights belonging to William Abarrow, threatened the market people if they did not use his own beam, and overturned stalls. He '[did] terrify them much.'

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk, 7 Charles I ref E 178/5236, quoted in The Agrarian History of England and Wales vol 4:1500-1640, Ed. Joan Thirsk, Cambridge 1967 p483

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Andrew Quick, first elected member for the borough in 1712, procured for it two...fairs, on the first Tuesday in March and the first Thursday in June, and these fairs are still held upon those days.

Ashburton and its neighbourhood, Charles Worthy,printed and publ L B Varder, Ashburton 1875, p7

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In November 1845 the Western Times reported that potatoes were still in short supply. They were selling at 1s for 20lb at the weekly fair, double the price of the same week the previous year. Flour was 2s 4d for 12lb, compared to 1s 8d the previous year. Labourers' wages were unchanged - the newspaper demanded that 'things must change, and that soon'.

Western Times  29 November 1845 p5 col1

Potato blight was rife in the summer of 1845 - notably the cause of the Irish famine

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu

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1848. James Foster, described as an elderly fish-dealer, was summoned for selling fish from a stall in East Street. Robert Bowden, one of the Surveyors of the Highways, had told him to stop the practice after complaints, but Foster ignored his warnings. The defendant said that he had sold fish there for 41 years.

Mr S Mann, the 'market man', stated that the fish market had been near the Shambles since 'time immemorial'. He believed it had been the market place for 300 years.

During the course of the case it was stated that the sheep and bullock market had also been held in the streets for as long as anyone could remember.

The magistrates imposed costs of 14s 6d, and because these were heavy the fine was only 1s.

In 1849 a petition (called a 'memorial') was sent to Lord Clinton concerning the dangerous state of the market hall, presumed to be the oldest in the county. As the receiver of all the tolls of the market and fairs, the petitioners hoped that Lord Clinton would build a new market hall: one of their concerns was to have  a place for the sale of fish, rather than have it sold in the open street as at present.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 28 July 1849 p8 col4  

The three clock dials from the old market house were overhauled by Mr J Horson, and refitted in the tower of St Lawrence Chapel.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 14 June 1851 p4 col1

Not everyone was happy with the new Town Hall. A correspondent to the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette in 1851 accused the new lessee of the market of enforcing arbitrary rules and tolls. No-one, it was alleged,  was allowed to carry anything through the street, or display anything in a window, without paying such tolls.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 25 October 1851 p4 col3

The March fair has a large supply of cattle, and the November fair is a great sheep mart.
White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon 1850 p462 

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In June 1851 Cecil Torr's grandfather wrote to his father 'People say that Ashburton Fair is past, and the apples are safe' In other words, Torr explains, the danger of frost was over by the first Thursday in June.
Small Talk at Wreyland, Cecil Torr, Cambridge University Press 1918, Adams and Dart  edition 1970, part 1 p 41

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The market, an excellent one, is held on Saturday; and the fairs on the first Thursdays in March and June, the 10th of August and the 11th of November.
Slater's Directory of Berks, Cornwall and Devonshire, 1852-53, p5

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There was panic in the autumn of 1854, as the price of corn rose steeply. Millers and bakers had low stocks, as they thought demand would slow after the harvest. Anybody holding corn was reluctant to sell.
Western Times 28 October 1854 p5 col4

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The Market Hall, with the pannier, fish and corn market, was put up for sale in 1915. This came with the Lordship of the Manor. The bidding started at £500, and Mr H M Firth of the Knowle finally bought it for £1400.

Western Times 12 March 1915, p3 col3
See the 1920s area of the Virtual Museum for sale particulars of the Town Hall in 1927

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'Cattle market day came monthly, on the third Saturday. The Friday evening before the custodian of the Market Hall - a Mr Coleman - fenced in the bottom of North Street. At every five yards in the curb of the pavement there were square iron holes about nine inches deep. Short iron uprights 4ft high were placed in these. Spikes at the top supported horizontally the long wooden "two by fours" comprising the fence. Thus the street became a fenced compound for the cattle and the pavements were left free for pedestrians.'

'On market days North Street was left in a terrible mess from the animals, and after the advent of the Bowdley water supply the street was hosed and the mess sent down into the sewers.'
Prof John Satterley, Ashburton in Late Victorian Days, Transactions of the Devonshire Association, vol 84, Torquay 1952, pp 32, 26                                                             

The May 1872 cattle market was the first being held with the benefit of the new railway line.
Western Times 10 May 1872 p7 col2

In 1906 a special train was laid on to bring dealers to the March fair.
The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 2 March 1906 p12 col5

1907 It was proposed that a cattle market was built in Ladwell Orchard. There was some discussion at a meeting of the Urban District Council as to who should bear the costs of covering the stream that flowed through it.

At the same meeting Mr J Fogden, hairdresser, had sent a 'very long letter' to the Urban District Council, enclosing a bill for taking preventative measures to stop cattle breaking his windows at a recent fair. The Council denied liability.
Western Times 13 September 1907 p6 col6                 

                                                        The Cattle Market in the 1920s

Cattle markets were held frequently, the animals brought in by drovers or farm labourers. The bleating of the sheep and the shouting of the men created havoc in the streets. Manure was often deposited in the street by the animals and keen gardeners would appear with a bucket and shovel to remove the deposit for enriching their soil - many people grew vegetables in their gardens, and took great pride in the size and quality of their produce.