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Alan Shelley’s Principles about this Website

Alan Shelley’s Principles about this Website

Family, Friends, Farming, Fonts, Folk-right & Freedom My biographical philosophy is pretty simple to follow. The family comes first, and everything emanates from that. I have been blest with outstanding good fortune and am well aware of this. English history, its landscape, town, and countryside has always been an essential element of my being. As an inherited commoner and freeman with land in Sudbury, Suffolk, farming has a natural part in my interests. I have been fortunate to have enjoyed…

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Talk on Borough Freedom

Talk on Borough Freedom

Freedom in England and Wales There are many interesting traditions in England that date back even before the Norman Conquest. Laws applying to customs remain in force until they are displaced by statutory Acts of Parliament. Ancient rules and regulations apply to common lands, grazing rights, rights of way, to hunting and fishing, among others and especially to the defence of our personal liberties. It is not so long ago (1830s) that our country was very much governed by the…

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Puddingstones

Puddingstones

Megalithic (puddingstone) Marker I recently came across an interesting article by Gerry Smith in the Autumn 2024 Suffolk Review. He brings to light the theory of Dr Ernest A. Rudge about ‘puddingstones’. Puddingstones are minor megaliths (surfaced like plum puddings) that crop up in various places. The theory is that they were placed by Neolithic man as ‘way-markers’ to aid the distribution of Flint loads from its sources. In other words they marked the ‘Flint-ways, in much the same as…

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Road to Serfdom

Road to Serfdom

(Socialism vs Free-market) A great deal has been written of the freedom thought to be had by employing those powerful philosophies of either ‘Socialism or Fascism’ to govern a population. Famously a book was published in 1944 that is worthy of consideration regarding their consequences. These were the views, at that time, of Frederich Hayek, an Austrian-British economist. He argues that there must be freedom in economic affairs. That centralised planning by government would inevitably lead to ‘totalitarianism’. His central…

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The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour

(A cultural exploration) During the 18th century it was considered a necessary adjunct to a good education to visit places of classical antiquity. It was seen as an important rite of passage for the young aristocrat to travel through Europe by carriage lasting for as long as a year. Typically they would travel through France to Paris visit Switzerland to see the Alps and travel around Italy. This would include Venice, Florence, Rome, and Milan. Some would travel further into…

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Historic Courts

Historic Courts

Descriptions of Courts Courts Baron. Courts Leet. Customary Courts of the manor. Courts of Pie Poudre. Courts of the Staple. Courts of the clerks of the markets (or clerk of the market). Hundred Courts. Law Days. Views of Frankpledge. Common law (or Sheriffs’) county courts as known before the passing of the M1 County Courts Act 1846. Changes to legislation: There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Administration of Justice Act 1977, Part II . Part II Specific Courts…

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Heritage/ Town Lands

Heritage/ Town Lands

Following the nomadic period and ignoring the Roman conquest, people were beginning to settle in tribal territories. This was the family kinship system much as the Clans in Scotland. Boundaries were jealously guarded. The tribal system became modified by King Offa who appears to have introduced the Feudal organisation. When King William conquered England, all lands were deemed to be under the ownership of the King. For many subsequent years, the land has been distributed among members and associates of…

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Disruptions in the Countryside

Disruptions in the Countryside

I feel something needs to be said about the apparent gathering discordance developing in the countryside at large. There seem to be a rising number of factors disrupting the settled landscape. This has to some extent, become more apparent when combined with a period of deep depression following the Covid epidemic and an economic turndown in general. Firstly, the countryside has come under the economic pressures of an expanding population. The richer element of society is taking a larger slice…

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Admission to Borough (town or city) Freedom

Admission to Borough (town or city) Freedom

An Aide Memoire Recently, there has been a little confusion regarding the suitability of candidates and of their initiation. My following comments will apply singularly to borough (hereditary) freedom. I fully understand the dwindling nature of the uptake of candidates and am sympathetic toward its restoration. Firstly I will eliminate those seeking ‘Honorary’ freedom by alternative means. For example associate freemen of trade gilds/guilds. Such gilds are autonomous and possibly may engage associates of their gild. The Town Mayor’s Office…

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Abstract Reflections

Abstract Reflections

Of schoolboy walks through Dingley-dell on the way to church on Sundays ‘Righteousness’ or rectitude is the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable. It can be considered synonymous with “rightness” or being “upright” or to-the-light and visible. It can be found in several religions and traditions. “ He does not die that can bequeath, Some influence on the land he knows. Or dares, persistent, interweave. Love permanent with the wild hedgerows”. Of the Norman church, St Mary’s,…

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