When Thomas Mauduit, our Lord of the Manor, set up his market town, it is likely that many of the burgage plots would have been taken by private individuals who would build private houses rather than use them as a trade premises.
It goes without saying that a person leasing one, two or three plots for a private house would be someone of substance.
The operation of a market town was very much as it is today. The main market would have been one day a week, and producers and traders would set up stalls to sell their wares. In that respect, nothing has changed. Mr Longley arrives with his trailer on Friday morning, sells his goods outside the library in our now much smaller marketplace and he will set up somewhere else on other days. There are many towns where the market and market-day are still a major affair in the main street of the town.
A successful market town will spawn other businesses. Market traders will need something to drink. Most will need something to eat. A travelling trader could not cater for these needs. Almost all visiting traders would bring their goods to town on a cart, drawn by a horse, and a cart could easily develop a fault on the way to town, or a horse could lose a shoe. A market town must have a good blacksmith available. All the visiting traders have to pay the necessary fees for the privilege of trading in the town, and someone has to ensure that law and order prevails, so we must have someone who can handle figures and someone who can make sure that everybody pays.
It is easy to see that a town will develop around a successful market.
Over time, more and more local traders could see the wisdom of renting one of these burgage plots to sell their wares more often than once a week, in the developing town. Maltsters and brewers saw great advantages in producing and selling ales locally. It may have been a fairly slow process, but our town was expanding.
Our town, as all other new market towns, was set out in straight rows of plots. Unless some authority insists that this remains the rule, Fred will realise that if his plot stands out just a little bit, he is likely to attract business away from Tom and Bill farther down the street. When you look at the map of Market Place in 1780, it is easy to see that this may have been going on for some time.
