Monument record 2416/6/4 - Medieval bakehouse

{1}Two bakehouses are recorded in the town in 1292, one with a solar above lying in the ‘marketstede’ worth 36/- per annum and the other in le Westende worth 24/-. Although the majority of virgate tenements lay in West Street there is no evidence to suggest that the two bakehouses were intended for use by agricultural versus burgage tenants. These are variously recorded during the 14th and 15th centuries. All the tenants in the town, including those holding burgages by the charter of 1214-22, were required to use the lord’s bakehouse.

Only one or two tenants paid for licence to bake in their own houses, though orders had to be issued in court to stop some tenants from doing so illegally by 1500. It is clear that the value of the bakehouse in the West End was declining significantly compared to that in the market place. Hence in 1471-2 they were valued at 12/- and 6/- respectively, while in 1491-2 it was 13/4d and 3/- and in 1542 it was 13/4 and 6/-. By 1545-6 only the bakehouse in the market place is listed, at 13/4 and by 1565 both had ceased to function and had become merely ordinary tenements. In 1565 the former bakehouse in the market place was described as ‘a common furnace by virtue of ancient useage has licence to bake for all tenents of the Lord’. The disappearance of the bakehouses in the first half of the 16th century reflects a general trend at this time rather than any special circumstances in Oundle and is part of the overall transition from medieval to post medieval.

In 1307-8 there is a mention of four shops and one solar are said to lie in the market place opposite the cross, presumably the square pile of shops inccluding the bakehouse recorded in 1565.

<1> Foard G.; Ballinger J.;, 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Oundle, Section 3.1.2.6 Bakehouse (Report). SNN102637.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2012 3:59PM