POLICING IN BARLICK 01
Posted: 14 Apr 2018, 05:35
POLICING IN BARLICK 01
We have news that after the closure of the police front desk in Barlick in January, Colne has closed as well. I deplore any cuts in a core public service like the police and you won't be surprised to hear that I decided to look at the history of local policing.
There has always been a need in society for some measure of control and going back into the mists of time I suspect that even primitive Stone Age societies had some form of sanction that could be exercised against wrong-doers. This system of control was the norm in villages during the Dark Ages, the first official change we see is by the Normans as they established their rule in England after the Conquest in 1066.
The Normans were good administrators and kept the Anglo-Saxon system for keeping local order but introduced elements of their own. They introduced the 'frankpledge' which was a system whereby individuals had to promise to be of good behaviour. It carried with it a punishment if the promise was broken. Under this system the villagers were responsible not only for their own conduct but that of their families and the community as a whole. They were all responsible and in a community of say ten families a senior man called a 'tythingman' was appointed to supervise the 'King's Peace', a phrase which still carries legal weight today. There was also a requirement that in any pursuit of a felon, everyone over 12 years old had to join in the 'Hue and Cry'.
Under the Normans the “constable” became important. This came from the Latin 'comes stabuli', 'master of the stable' and was at first a high office, however by a century after the Conquest and certainly up to the Middle Ages, there were men called constables taking over the role of the tythingman. In 1166, it was made law that villages were to report to the sheriff’s 'tourn' (court) anything they thought suspicious about their neighbours. Manorial (or leet) courts gradually took over from the sheriff’s courts and elected constables, usually on an annual term.
In 1285 the Statute of Winchester overhauled the system of policing. This introduced 'Watch and Ward' whereby watchmen were appointed to patrol the larger communities during the hours of darkness. All householders could be called on to take their turn as watchmen and they were also required to keep arms in the house and turn out at any time at the behest of the Sheriff. This statute and the Justice of the Peace Act of 1361 was the basis of law enforcement until the Metropolitan Police were founded in 1829. However, in the villages the old system prevailed until 1856 when the County and Borough Police Act came into force which empowered the appointment of Inspectors whose duty was to revise law and order enforcement right down to village level using money levied from local rates.
I've done it again haven't I. Run out of space. I'll continue next week.
Barlick special constables in 1916.
We have news that after the closure of the police front desk in Barlick in January, Colne has closed as well. I deplore any cuts in a core public service like the police and you won't be surprised to hear that I decided to look at the history of local policing.
There has always been a need in society for some measure of control and going back into the mists of time I suspect that even primitive Stone Age societies had some form of sanction that could be exercised against wrong-doers. This system of control was the norm in villages during the Dark Ages, the first official change we see is by the Normans as they established their rule in England after the Conquest in 1066.
The Normans were good administrators and kept the Anglo-Saxon system for keeping local order but introduced elements of their own. They introduced the 'frankpledge' which was a system whereby individuals had to promise to be of good behaviour. It carried with it a punishment if the promise was broken. Under this system the villagers were responsible not only for their own conduct but that of their families and the community as a whole. They were all responsible and in a community of say ten families a senior man called a 'tythingman' was appointed to supervise the 'King's Peace', a phrase which still carries legal weight today. There was also a requirement that in any pursuit of a felon, everyone over 12 years old had to join in the 'Hue and Cry'.
Under the Normans the “constable” became important. This came from the Latin 'comes stabuli', 'master of the stable' and was at first a high office, however by a century after the Conquest and certainly up to the Middle Ages, there were men called constables taking over the role of the tythingman. In 1166, it was made law that villages were to report to the sheriff’s 'tourn' (court) anything they thought suspicious about their neighbours. Manorial (or leet) courts gradually took over from the sheriff’s courts and elected constables, usually on an annual term.
In 1285 the Statute of Winchester overhauled the system of policing. This introduced 'Watch and Ward' whereby watchmen were appointed to patrol the larger communities during the hours of darkness. All householders could be called on to take their turn as watchmen and they were also required to keep arms in the house and turn out at any time at the behest of the Sheriff. This statute and the Justice of the Peace Act of 1361 was the basis of law enforcement until the Metropolitan Police were founded in 1829. However, in the villages the old system prevailed until 1856 when the County and Borough Police Act came into force which empowered the appointment of Inspectors whose duty was to revise law and order enforcement right down to village level using money levied from local rates.
I've done it again haven't I. Run out of space. I'll continue next week.
Barlick special constables in 1916.
