Published in Windlesora 17 (1999)
© WLHG
When Windsor was granted its charter by King Edward I in 1277, one of the clauses read:
“And that our itinerant justices in the county of Berks, . . . from henceforth hold their eyers in the said borough, and also that the chief gaol of our said county be in the same borough; and the delivery of the said gaol be made there.”
What this meant was that all the criminals in the county should have been brought to Windsor and kept in the gaol until their trial. The burden of finding food for the prisoners was on the people of Windsor. Those found guilty were often executed, but those who were not found guilty and those who had to pay fines were then released into the town with no means of getting back home. This may sound like a bad situation for Windsor, but it was even worse for the rest of the county. In 1315 the people of Berkshire petitioned King Edward II explaining their problems. As Windsor is in a remote corner of the county many of the prisoners had to travel long distances. Some parts of the county were eight or nine days journey away and someone had to be paid to accompany the prisoner. Accusers and witnesses also had to make this long journey and many of them could not afford to be away from home and therefore would not travel and the case had to be dropped. Criminals were taking advantage of the fact that they would not be brought to justice even if they were caught.
Many of those that started the journey escaped or were rescued. If the escape was made while passing through Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire, they could not be caught and tried there.
Prisoners who arrived in Windsor were not looked after properly as the people of Windsor could not afford to sustain the gaol and many died before their case was heard. The phrase used in the petition was “prisoners die immediately” so many of them probably died from disease rather than starvation.
The petition also pointed out to the King that he was losing revenue because of the fines and forfeits that were not paid. The gaol had been in Wallingford and they asked that it should be returned there.
At first the King said that he would not have the gaol in any other castle but his own, but on 12th June 1315 he commissioned William de Bereford, John de Foxle and John de Westcote to investigate the problem and report back to him suggesting a suitable remedy. The document commissioning the men copies much of the original petition but does not dwell quite so heavily on the amount of money the King was losing. They must have made a very strong case as the prison was eventually removed from Windsor, not to Wallingford, but to Reading.
Pamela Marson
References
Calendar of Patent Rolls, Membrane 4d June 12 1315
Annals of Windsor, Tighe and Davis, London 1858
Windsor Local History Group 