Worsteds (Great Yarmouth) Act 1523
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1523 c. 3 |
| Year | 1523 |
(14 & 15 Hen. 8) C A P. III.
'BECAUSE it is discreetly considered in this Present Parliament, that the true making and draping of Worsteds, Sayes, and Stamins, is one of the most profitable Occupations of this Realm, and that the same Worsteds, Sayes, and Stamins, truly and substantially made and wrought, been right acceptable, and commodious Merchandises, as well in this Realm ofEngland , as in other foreign Regions and Countries; (2) for Establishment and good Order whereof, divers good and laudable Statutes, Acts, and Ordinances heretofore have been made and enacted; and namely, in a Parliament holden at Westminster the Third Day of June , in the Seventh Year of the Reign of the late King of famous Memory, Edward the Fourth; (3)sithen which Parliament the making of the said Worsteds, Sayes, and Stamins, hath much increased and been multiplied in the City ofNorwich , and in divers Towns and Places in the County of Norfolk ; (4) and because the Towns of Great Yarmouth , and Linn , in the said County, been Towns corporated, and the Inhabitants of the same Towns now daily practise and use the making and draping of the said Cloths of Worsteds, Sayes, and Stamins, more busily and diligently than they have done in Times past, to whom it is painful and costly to transport and convey their said Cloths to the said City of Norwich , or to Places within the said County of Norfolk which been far distant from either of the said Towns, to be searched and sealed by the Wardens of the Worsted-Weavers of the same City of Norwich , or County, according to the said Act of Parliament made the said Seventh Year of King Edward the Fourth:' (5) It is therefore ordained, established, and enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord, and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by Authority of the same, That the Craftsmen called Worsted-Weavers inhabited in the said Town ofGreat Yarmouth , shall have Power and Authority by this present Act, from henceforth to elect, and choose yearly for ever, in theMonday next after the Feast of Pentecost , One honest Man of the same Mystery and Occupation, being an Housholder within the said Town of Great Yarmouth , and having of his proper Goods and Chattels to the Value of Ten Pounds at the least, or Lands and Tenements to his own Use of Estate of Freehold, at least to the clear yearly Value of xx. s. to be Warden of the same Craft and Mystery for the Year next ensuing, (6) which Man so elected and chosen, shall personally appear before the Mayor of the said City of Norwich for the time being, the Monday next after the Feast of Corpus Christi then next ensuing, then and there to be sworn and charged by like Oath, concerning the true and substantial making of the said Cloths within the said Town of Great Yarmouth , as the Four Wardens of the said City of Norwich , by virtue of the said Act of Parliament made in the said Seventh Year of King Edward the Fourth, been charged and sworn for the same City of Norwich ; (7)and if the said Mayor happen to be absent the saidMonday after Corpus Christi , or else then refusth to receive or take the said Oath; then the said Warden so elect, within Four Days next after the same Monday , shall come before the Bailiffs of the said Town of Great Yarmouth for the time being, or before One of them, the other being absent, and then and there receive a corporal Oath for the true exercising of the same Office of Wardenship, after the Tenor of the Oath accustomably used to be given to the said Wardens of the said City of Norwich .
II The Warden of Yarmouth's Authority.
II. And that the said Warden of the said Town ofGreat Yarmouth for the time being, so elected and sworn, may ordain and appoint a Seal with this Letter Y . to be engraved in the same Seal, and may have full Power and Authority to view, search, seise, and seal in Lead with the same Seal so to be appointed and engraven, and none other, all Worsteds, Sayes, and Stamins within the said Town of Yarmouth , and Suburbs of the same, made, or to be made, and not elsewhere, in as large and ample Manner as the said Wardens of the said City of Norwich , and Wardens of the said County of Norfolk , or any of them, hath or have within the said City or County, or in any wise may do in that Behalf, by Authority or Virtue of the before remembered Act, made in the said Seventh Year of King Edward the Fourth, any Thing in the same Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
III Every Person shall mark his Worsteds, Says, &c. with his several Marks.
III. And that no Person inhabiting within the said Town ofGreat Yarmouth , or Suburbs thereof, weave any Worsteds, Sayes, or Stamins within the same Town, except he be an Englishman born, and have been Apprentice to the said Occupation, and without he weave therein such proper Mark as shall be limited and appointed by the said Warden of the said Town for the time being, elect, and sworn as is aforesaid, upon Pain of Forfeiture thereof to the King our Sovereign Lord; (2) and that every Warden of the said Town shall limit distinct and several Marks to every of the said Worsted-Weavers of the same Town of Great Yarmouth , and the same Marks by the said Warden to be registered in a Book.
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