BROMSGROVE COURT LEET
Bromsgrove Court Leet exists today to preserve and uphold the traditions of the past, as a source of pride for the people of Bromsgrove and to support local businesses, schools, organisations and charities in a ceremonial role.
Each year the court organises Ale Tasting evenings in local inns and holds the Fair Day each year on the closest Saturday to midsummer to celebrate the 1199 Charter granted to the town by King John (see events page for more details).
At the Autumn Court on 7th November 2019 Ms Joanne Slade was unanimously elected as the first female Bailiff and head of the Ancient CourtLeet and Court Baron of the Manor of Bromsgrove. Click here for the article in the Bromsgrove Standard:
The court leet was a historical court in England and Wales. At a very early time in medieval England the Lord of the Manor exercised or claimed certain jurisdictional franchises. The most important of these was the "view of frankpledge" and its associated police jurisdiction. Some time in the later Middle Ages the court baron, when exercising these powers, gained the name of leet, and, later, of court leet. The quo warrantor proceedings of Edward I established a sharp distinction between the court baron, exercising strictly manorial rights, and the court leet, depending for its jurisdiction upon royal franchise.
The court leet was a court of record, and its duty was not only to view the pledges but to try by jury, and punish, all crimes committed within the jurisdiction. The steward of the court acted as judge, presiding wholly in a judicial character, the ministerial acts being executed by the bailiff.
The court leet began to decline in the fourteenth century, being superseded by the more modern magistrates' courts, but in many cases courts leet operated until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century. The courts leet survived for formal purposes until their legal jurisdiction was abolished in 1977 The courts were formally abolished in 1998 but the term may still be found in ceremonial use, for example at Bromsgrove, Alcester, Warwick and Henley in Arden.
Bromsgrove Court Leet Archiving Project
A project to catalogue documents held in the archives at The Hive has resulted in the Bromsgrove Court Leet Archives being made available to the public for the first time.
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In 2008 the retiring Custodian of the Records, Mr Martin Gorman, a solicitor in Bromsgrove, deposited five large boxes of dusty documents with the Worcestershire County Archive Service. Included within the boxes were 17 Court Rolls dating from 1726 to 1891, presentments from 1737 to 1901, various legal documents from 1573 to 1910, the agendas and papers from Autumn and Spring Court meetings from 1892 to 1912 along with various menus and press cuttings.
At the Spring Court meeting in 2023, the current Custodian of the Records, Jo Slade proposed to the members of the Court that the deposited boxes be professionally catalogued so that a complete record of what is stored can be made available. The cataloguing process included cleaning the documents, giving each document a number and recording the contents of each document. From this record the Senior Archivist team have uploaded the information to the online database which is available for anyone to explore. Researchers interested in viewing the documents can do so in the search rooms in the Archives Department at The Hive.
An event hosted by the Bailiff Philip Thomas was held was held at The Hive in Worcester to celebrate the end of the cataloguing stage of the project and announced that the catalogue entries are available to view online.
Guests included Deputy Lieutenant Dr Umesh Udeshi and High Sheriff of Worcestershire Charles Moyle JP. Members of Bromsgrove Court Leet, representatives from local historical societies and employees from The Hive and Explore the Past were also in attendance.
To explore Bromsgrove Court Leet archives visit Explore the Past online or at The Hive in Worcester.
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