The Market Place

BOURNE SPRANG UP around a crossroads that has remained the central point of the town to this day although there have been many changes over the centuries caused by a rising population and the invention of the internal combustion engine.

Whereas it was once a quiet place to be, except perhaps on market days, it is no longer safe to stand in the middle of the road while new buildings have appeared and others changed their role. When the town was little more than a crossroads, there was no difficulty in naming the streets because they were identified by the direction in which they ran, i e north, south, east and west but by 1825, the names had been changed to Northgate, Westgate, Southgate and Star Lane and today we know them as North Street, West Street, South Street and Abbey Road.

Major changes in the appearance of the town centre have run hand in hand with the increase in prosperity although the majority of the buildings around the town centre date from the 18th and 19th centuries and most have survived comparatively intact. What has changed dramatically is the use of the space created by the intersection of the two roads, once quiet thoroughfares for pedestrians and horse drawn traffic and today major trunk roads known as the A15 and the A151 which leave no room for the rural activities of yesteryear.

The market was held here from the earliest times under a royal charter granted to the Lord of the Manor of Bourne, Baldwin Wake, by King Edward I in 1279 and the original charter document, dated two years later, is now in the British Museum. It gave permission for the market to be held on a Saturday and this tradition has continued until the present day although a Thursday market was later added and this has become the more popular of the two.

The manorial rights were subsequently acquired by the Cecil family whose distinguished member William Cecil was the first Lord Burghley, and this entitled his descendants, the Marquesses of Exeter, to receive the market rents. The family eventually sold his ownership of the market rights to Bourne Urban District Council and they subsequently passed to South Kesteven District Council in 1974 during the re-organisation of local government and this authority now collects the market tolls and is responsible for its administration.

Weekly markets were the main places for trading in England and almost all had a market cross around which goods and produce were sold such as butter, cheese and poultry, hence the surviving name in many towns of the butter cross and its variations. Bourne too had its own stone cross on the west side of the market place and was similar in shape and size to that which still exists at Swinstead. It is referred to in 1586 by the historian William Camden (1551-1623) who visited the town while writing a survey of the British Isles in which he described it as being ten feet high on an octagonal base with three steps, and added: "It was a place of sanctuary and around it worship was wont to be held."

This was certainly the focal point of the village in times past where visiting monks and priests preached the word of God and John Wesley, the evangelist and founder of the Methodist movement, is reputed to have called at Bourne in 1782 and addressed townspeople from the steps of the market cross although this visit is disputed by some people.

Stalls in those days were known as shambles, small premises for the sale of fish and meat and let out to townsmen and traders, all clustered around the market place and often rented by the same families for several generations. Craftsmen such as shoemakers and tailors carried out their work visible to the public with the master sitting in the centre and his apprentices on either side. By the early 19th century, the town hall in Bourne had become dilapidated and a site occupied by a house adjoining the Bull Inn (now the Burghley Arms) on the east side of the market place was chosen for a new building in 1821 but this too was to have a shambles or set of stalls underneath, and from this arrangement sprang the eventual street market that became a familiar sight in the town during the 20th century.

The market cross in Bourne is known to have survived until 1803 although its fate after that is unknown. A much later feature of the market place was the Ostler memorial fountain, erected in 1860 in memory of a local benefactor but removed to the cemetery in 1960 because it was causing a traffic hazard.

The market place was also the spot where villagers gathered to meet and talk and to discuss the momentous events that affected their lives. The relief of Mafeking after a prolonged siege during the Boer War (1899-1902) was celebrated in the market place on 18th May 1900 when an effigy of the Boer leader, Paul Kruger, was suspended on a rope strung between the Town Hall and the hardware shop on the corner of West Street and South Street, then occupied by F J Clarke and now by Harrison and Dunn. The effigy was later retrieved by townspeople and ceremoniously burned.

There were many other similar celebrations for events of royal and national importance. It was also the venue for a more elaborate version of the weekly markets although also dealing in livestock such as horses, cattle and sheep and the annual statute fairs for the hiring of servants.

The arrival of the motor vehicle changed the appearance of most market towns and soon began to cause congestion in the streets. The general market continued in the town centre, along the western kerbsides in North Street and West Street, until the closing years of the 20th century when increasing traffic flows made road conditions too hazardous for shoppers and on Thursday 13th December 1990, it was moved to a purpose built paved area behind the Town Hall where it is still held today while the market place we once knew has now become the town centre.