Borough

Morpeth lay on the Great North Road at the point where it crossed the River Wansbeck, some twelve miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It was described in 1673 as ‘a very fine town’, and its market was esteemed the best in Northumberland, ‘being sufficiently stored with corn, all provisions and living cattle, which from hence are dispersed to divers parts of the kingdom’. R. Blome, Britannia (1673), 181. As this description implies, Morpeth’s principal source of wealth was its large cattle market. J. Hodgson, Hist.

Lying on the Scottish side of the River Tweed at the point where it entered the North Sea, Berwick had been a key border fortress in medieval times. It was reckoned a good natural harbour at high tide, but nevertheless a town of ‘no trade because it affords no commodities for transportation. Fishing is their best, but they wholly neglect it, except only for salmon, which is very plentiful’. Six North Country Diaries ed. J.C. Hodgson (Surt. Soc.

Seventeenth-Century Newcastle was the metropolis of northern England and, in terms of population and wealth, was inferior only to London, Norwich and Bristol. Although not easily defensible, the town occupied a vital strategic site, commanding the intersection of the Great North Road as it crossed the River Tyne and the main east-west route between Tynemouth and Carlisle. It was also well-placed as a commercial centre, lying at the eastern end of the Tyne gap and near the heart of the northern coal field.

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Hertford was well established before the Norman Conquest, and returned Members to at least 16 medieval Parliaments. However, the town fell into severe decline as a result of the Black Death, and the franchise was allowed to lapse after 1376. During the early sixteenth century the local economy began to recover, mainly because its markets were increasingly frequented by traders from London buying grain, malt, and other staples.E. de Villiers, ‘Parlty. Bors. Restored by the Commons 1621-41’, EHR, lxvii. 180; VCH Herts. iii.

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