Stratford sub Castle Village Website
Salisbury, Wiltshire UK
Old Sarum - a very Rotten Borough indeed
BACKGROUND
Before the Reform Act of 1832 there was no uniformity in the distribution of English parliamentary constituencies. Each county had two MPs, regardless of the size of the county.
There were two types of MP:
County MPs had to own land worth £600 p.a. and usually were from the great landed families of the country;
Borough MPs had to own land worth £300 p.a. Often they were local squires, landed gentry or the sons of the aristocracy.
The Borough Franchises had grown haphazardly, the 203 boroughs having 402 MPs between them.
OLD SARUM
There were a number of different types of borough franchises. Old Sarum was a Burgage borough, of which many became known as 'Pocket Boroughs' because one person would buy the majority of the burgages in the locality. (Expression "He has it in his pocket" = has total control.)
In 1691 Thomas Pitt bought the Manor of Stratford and Old Sarum for £1,000 from the Trustees of James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury, and thus obtained control of this nomination/burgage borough of Old Sarum. Other members of the Pitt family later held the seat, most notable William Pitt, (the Elder) Lord Chatham, who became Prime Minister of England in 1766.
Voting took place under an ancient elm tree situated on the southern slopes of Old Sarum. The tree became known as The Parliament Tree and survived until 1902.
A commemorative board mounted on a sarsen stone can be found adjacent to a footpath between The Portway and Castle Road. It commemorates that the Parliament Tree was sited 'near this spot'.
There is a benchmark on the rear of the sarsen stone - details in this article about Benchmarks around Stratford sub Castle.
A plaque citing William Pitt's connection to Stratford sub Castle is mounted on the wall outside Mawarden Court. More information about the Pitt Family who lived there is on this page.
The Parliamentary Reform Act of 1832 disenfranchised Old Sarum but its reputation lives on.
As recently as 2007, Old Sarum was mentioned in the House of Lords by Lord Avebury:
"Before 1832, there were the rotten boroughs, of which perhaps the most notorious was Old Sarum in Wiltshire "
Sources:
www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/constitu/parlrep.htm accessed 5 April 2017
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_and_pocket_boroughs Accessed 5 April 2017
www.parliament.uk accessed 5 April 2017
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldhansrd/text/70518-0003.htm Accessed 5 April 2017
This article supplies the answer to Question No. 40 in the website's
Local History Photo Quiz.