The Story of Poole (Page 2)

3. William Longespee and the Royal Charters

By 1200AD William Longspee was the Lord of the Manor and was regularly visited by his half brother King John who came to hunt Red Deer on the Canford estate.

Longspee died in 1226. His tomb lies in Salisbury Cathedral which he and his wife the Lady Ela had been instrumental in building and represents the finest example of early English architecture that can be seen anywhere.

The Canford Magna estate passed to his son William Longspee II who, like his father, wanted to go on the Crusades.

In order to raise funds for the Seventh Crusade Longspee leased out Canford and other manors and also arranged for the sale of a charter of liberties to the Burgesses of La Pole or Poole which was now a significant community on the southern shores of the Canford estate.

This proved to be a significant turning point for Poole because the Longspee Charter of 1248 granted a small measure of freedom from feudal rule by the Lord of the Manor. This permitted the people of Poole to elect six burgesses to form a Borough Council, with the Lord of the Manor retaining the right to choose a leader or Port-Reeve from among the six.

4. Mayor Making and Beating the Sea Bounds

The ancient rights bestowed by Longspee and Montacute are upheld each May with the Annual Mayor Making ceremony held in the Council Chamber of the Civic Centre at Poole.

Following time honoured traditions the new Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Sheriff are elected, each having well defined responsibilities for their period of office.

The mayor in addition to his normal duties carries the honorary titles of Mayor of the Staple, Clerk of the Market and Admiral of the Port of Poole.

One of his duties as Admiral is to uphold the sea boundaries of the port in a ceremony which has its roots in the Winchelsea Certificate of 1364, which formally recognised the sea boundaries of the borough and gave Poole the same rights of jurisdiction at sea as the Cinque Ports.

Introduction |Previous | Next

site designed and maintained by david anderson

visitors to this page: 8535