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It is amazing what goes un-noticed a little higher off the ground than the shop windows into which we peer.
I was sat in Thame the other day, having a rest after trudging up and down the outdoor market, when I happened to look up at the wall above a shop.
.
.
A Six & a halfpence Bazaar.
What an unusual sum of money!
Why not a whole round 6d?
This brings to mind a song that was written many years ago about dear old Woolworths.
There’s a wonderful emporium, just opened in our town,
By a celebrated merchant prince of very great renown.
Where you can furnish out a flat for less than half a crown,
And there’s nothing over sixpence in the store.
It’s owned by Mr Woolworth and it’s like Aladdin’s cave.
There’s everything you want there from the cradle to the grave.
If you buy a wedding ring, just think how much you’ll save,
For there’s nothing over sixpence in the store.
There really are some bargains here, that cannot be denied,
In the soap department once, a charming lady I espied.
I said, “How much are you, Miss?” She of course replied.
“Well, there’s nothing over sixpence in the store!”
Last Sunday I was in Amersham, Old Town at the Heritage Day celebrations when I spotted this, high up under the eaves of a cottage.
.
.
24 June 1811
The Magistrates acting for this Hundred
have given peremptory Order to the
Constables and other Peace Officers to
apprehend all Common Beggars, Ballad
Singers and other Vagrants so that they
may be dealt with according to Law.
The area here, where I live, is known as 'The Chiltern Hundreds'. There are three of them.
A hundred is a traditional division of an English county, and the three hundreds of Stoke, Desborough, and Burnham are in Buckinghamshire. These three hundreds are situated in the hilly, wooded Chiltern Hills, which were once notorious as a hiding place for robbers.
It seems a bit sad to me to group Ballad singers in with vagrants and beggars.
And I like the term 'Peace Officers'. I wonder if these are a 19th century version of 'Plastic Plods'?....sorry.. Police Community Support Officers.
It's obvious I must stop looking at the ground. The second notice of 1811 was particularly good. Still readable after all this time. Oooo fancy being arrested for singing ballards.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this is the original though?
ReplyDeleteIt is protected up there under the eaves. Nearly 200 years old? I wonder if it was renovated in the Victorian era...they loved doing lots of restoration work. I shall investigate further.