A Brief History of the Langdyke Bush Meeting-Mound by Avril Lumley Prior
‘O Langley Bush! The shepherds’ sacred shade,
Thy hollow trunk oft gain’d a look from me,
Full many a journey o’er the heath I’ve made,
For such like curious things I love to see,
What truth the story of the swain allows,
That tells of honours which thy young days knew,
Of ‘Langley Court’ being held beneath thy boughs,
I cannot tell - this much I know is true.’
John Clare, ‘Langley Bush’, Helpestone, 1821
Fig. 1: ‘View of the Langdyke Bush and countryside adjacent taken on Helpston Heath near the hedge’ (Thomas Eyre, 1721)
ii. The Anglo-Saxon Court ‘æt Dicon [at the dykes]’ The earliest known reference to the Langdyke Bush appears in a charter of 948, in which King Eadred (945-55) bestowed upon his minister, Ælfsige, three hides of land at Ailsworth. The Old-English bounds, which survives as a mid twelfth-century copy, define Ailsworth’s contiguous boundary with Upton, Helpston and Bainton as being marked by the maman þorne or ‘common thorn’, the ancestor of the Langdyke Bush. We have no way of knowing for certain that the ‘common thorn’ was the meeting-place or moot of local dignitaries as early as 948. However, the ‘Hundred Ordinance’ compiled during the reign of Eadgar the Peaceable (959-75), prescribes local monthly courts and gives directives for the standardization of punishments for offenders, although high-ranking defendants could take their appeals to the Shire Court in Northampton or to the king. Therefore, it is feasible that by at least the 970s it was customary for a moot to assemble regularly at the thorn bush close to the junction of King Street with the ridge road. Indeed, the first reliable citation of a congress at the Langdyke Bush site is recorded in a document known as the ‘List of Sureties of Peterborough Abbey’, dated c. 972. The inventory states that Abbot Eadwulf of Peterborough purchased from Osgode of Bainton twenty acres of wood and fields ‘in the presence of the two hundreds æt Dicon’, where the Long Dyke or Langdyke Way [King’s Street] intersected the ridgeway.
The Nassaburgh Hundred Court In about 972, estates congruent with the two hundreds [early tenth-century administration units] that met ‘æt Dicon’ were awarded to Peterborough Abbey by Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester. These two hundreds became known by several different and interchangeable cognomen throughout the following centuries, namely the Upton Green, Langdyke and Nassaburgh Hundreds. The latter was derived from the nass [ness] or promontory, which protruded into the undrained fens between the Rivers Welland and Nene and the Burch or burh, the old name for the monastery and ‘vill’ or town of Peterborough. Confusingly, the Nassaburgh Hundred was called the Soke of Peterborough from 1329 to 1968, when it was supplanted by Greater Peterborough. By the thirteenth century, the Langdyke or Nassaburgh Hundred court apparently only convened twice yearly, roughly around Lady Day [25 March] and Michaelmas [29 September] ,and was attended by delegates from all the rural townships, whereas representatives from the ‘vill’ of the Burch assembled in Peterborough. Both courts remained under the overall jurisdiction of the abbot of Peterborough until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539. Unfortunately, the seventeen surviving court rolls record only the period from 1283 to 1528. Nevertheless, they specify that whilst on 6 October 1373 and 3 October 1384 the leet or half-yearly court was held at Langdyke at the centre of the double hundred, on 3 October 1452 and 4 February 1453, the courts met at Castor. Doubtlessly, by the mid-fifteenth century, the lure of a comfortable, indoor venue had become more appealing. However, by the early-eighteenth century, the court had been transferred to a house belonging to Lord Exeter at Helpston, now known as the Exeter Arms public house, where incidentally John Clare’s body rested on the eve of his burial.
iii. The Langdyke Bush: A Place of Execution? Without actually specifying any execution sites, the Quo Warranto Proceedings of 1330 confirm the abbot of Peterborough’s right to preside over the Langdyke or Nassaburgh Hundred Court, maintain a prison and gallows, execute capital offenders and outlaws and confiscate their assets. According to local folklore, a gibbet once stood on the Langdyke Bush mound. Since, there is no evidence of such a feature in Thomas Eyre’s sketch of 1721, we must assume that, if it had existed, it was removed before this date (Fig. 1). A purported gibbet-base lies in the garden of Manor Farm, adjacent to the Exeter Arms in Helpston, implying that during the early-eighteenth century convicts were hanged close to the court-house, possibly immediately after sentence was passed (Fig. 2). However, Abbot William of Woodford (1295-99) records that, throughout the rule of his predecessor, Richard of London (1274-95), condemned men were executed at the scene of crime in order that justice was seen to be have been meted out. Thus, perpetrators like John Stagge, a thief, and William Notting, convicted of killing his wife, were hanged at Upton, whilst Roger, son of Roger the bastard, found guilty of larceny, was despatched at Helpston. However, Richard Parys, a clerk of Castor and possible relative of Prior William Paris Peterborough, was sentenced to hang for felony but was fortunate enough to have escape with the forfeit of his goods and chattels upon the intervention of the Bishop of Lincoln. A case of friends in high places, perhaps?
Fig 2: The base of the Langdyke Gibbet? (A. M. Lumley Prior)
Unfortunately, there is no surviving evidence to enlighten us upon either the date of the installation of the Helpston gibbet or whether, criminals ever were executed at the Langdyke Bush and interred close to the cross-roads, beneath the shadow of the gallows. Research by Andrew Reynolds in the South and West of England has demonstrated that it was common practice during the later Anglo-Saxon period to dispense justice on the parish boundary, with the accused standing literally on the edge of society. If innocent, he would be welcomed back into the community or, if proven guilty, expelled or excommunicated. For more heinous crimes the delinquent was suspended between Heaven and Hell to await God’s judgement.
Conclusion
Analysis of all the available archaeological, documentary evidence and local tradition suggest that the Langdyke Bush site was used intermittently from the mid tenth century probably until the early 1700s for administrative and judicial purposes. Surprizingly, a formal excavation of the mound has ever been conducted, which leads us to speculate that eighteenth- and nineteenth-century antiquarians felt rather apprehensive about disturbing the possible grizzly remains of executed miscreants. Furthermore, the mound may have been shrouded in so much mystery and folklore that the local labour-force were too superstitious to delve into its interior. Thus, the site of the ancient thorn bush may have been as revered by John Clare’s generation as it had been by Anglo-Saxon predecessors. According to the poet, it became a favourite haunt for gypsies and rustic lovers, including the poet himself. An entry in his journal for 29 September 1824 states that, ‘last year Langley Bush was destroyd an old white-thorn that had stood for more than a century full of fame the Gipseys Shepherds & Herdmen all had their tales of its history and it will be long ere its memory is forgotten.’
‘Thy mulldering trunk is nearly rotten through.
My last doubts murmuring on the zephyrs swell,
My last looks linger on thy boughs with pain:
To thy declining age I bid farewell
Like old companions ne’er to meet again.’
John Clare, ‘Langley Bush’, 1821
- Fig 3: The Langdyke Bush site in 2000 (A. M. Lumley Prior)
The Langdyke Bush is situated on private land. Permission to visit the mound should be sought from Fitzwilliam Farm (Milton Estates).
{ 0 comments… add one now }