Talk:Market town

Abolition of market towns

Deleting reference to the "original purposes" of market towns being abolished, "ensuring that they can never be created again". It is not clear what exactly this means, but in any case the citation of the Hereford Markets Act 2003 doesn't support the text however interpreted. The Act doesn't say anything about the creation of market towns and affects only Hereford. Queens1798 (talk) 19:37, 19 February 2017 (UTC)

Clarification needed

Perhaps it is just me, but the following text from the section on "England and Wales" is not very clear. I wonder why it was essential that Oxford was founded near an ox-bow lake upstream of Runnymede, whether the 1232 fair and market was inside the town walls of Oxford or inside the town walls of Hallamshire, how Edward I "tested" a market, how did the defeat of de Montfort facilitate this, and why was the Model Parliament summoned just so its members could go on a walk in the country. JonH (talk) 18:45, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

The Provisions of Oxford of 1258 were only possible because of the foundation of a town and university at a crossing-place on the River Thames up-river from Runnymede, where it formed an oxbow lake in the stream. Early patronage included Thomas Furnyvale, lord of Hallamshire, who established a Fair and Market in 1232. Travelers were able to meet and trade wares in relative safety for a week of "fayres" at a location inside the town walls. The reign of Henry III witnessed a spike in established market fairs. The defeat of de Montfort increased the sample testing of markets by Edward I the "lawgiver", who summoned the Model Parliament in 1295 to perambulate the boundaries of forest and town. (unsigned)

It is pretty unclear - Runnymede is 67 miles from Oxford by modern road, with all sorts of more significant places in between, so I really don't see why it needs mentioning. It all needs unscrambling or cutting. Johnbod (talk) 03:00, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

Agreed: garbled and incomprehensible. In addition to the points already made, I fail to see how the Provisions of Oxford were "only possible" because of the foundation of a town and university at Oxford; or in what sense the Model Parliament was "summoned ... to perambulate the boundaries of forest and town". (The American spelling of "travelers" also rings a few minor alarm bells.) I'm also sceptical about the immediately preceding sentence: "The term [?'market town'] derived from markets and fairs first established in 13th century after the passage of Magna Carta, and the first laws towards a parlement." The whole passage was added by an IP in this edit of August 2016. In their next edit the IP added two sources to the bibliography: Paul Brand, The Making of the Common Law (1992) and Nigel Saul, The Oxford History of Medieval England (1997). It would probably be worth checking those to see if any of this can be unravelled and clarified; otherwise, just cut. GrindtXX (talk) 13:16, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

PS. I have just noticed that the same IP's next edit was to add a similarly dubious claim about the legal "abolition" of market towns which was challenged and deleted a few months later – see the section immediately above this one. GrindtXX (talk) 13:23, 4 October 2021 (UTC)