Wateringbury Sheep Rustlers Confess (1584)

Post date: Aug 01, 2011 10:42:1 AM

At Rochester Assizes on 20th February 1584 Robert Middleton, butcher, and William Woodhouse, miller, of Wateringbury were indicted for grand larceny. On 2 February 1584 they broke into the close of Edward Coveney at Teston and stole 2 sheep (18s). On 16 February 1584 they broke into the close of John Catlett at Farleigh and stole 4 sheep (20s). They confessed and were 'allowed clergy'.

Grand larceny was a theft of anything over 12d which was clearly the case here. Grand larceny was a capital offence. Petty larceny (i.e. theft under 12d) was dealt with at quarter sessions by local magistrates whereas grand larceny went to the Assizes before a judge who was not from the area and who travelled on a 'circuit'. Kent along with Sussex, Surrey and Essex was part of the Home Circuit. Assizes in Kent were held mainly at Rochester in the Elizabethan era but also at Maidstone and Sevenoaks. Maidstone became the most frequent location for the Assizes in the seventeenth century. Larceny was the most frequent type of case dealt with at the Assizes.

Previous snippets have explained being 'allowed clergy' which was frequently applied, at least for men. Women had their own way of avoiding the full penalty of the law in the case of grand larceny (see Women burglars of Wateringbury)

For more snippets about crime in Elizabethan Wateringbury go to Shenanigans in Pelicans; Warlike riot in Wateringbury; Wateringbury man sentenced to death; Prosecuted for not going to Church; Women burglars of Wateringbury; Wateringbury riot and Wateringbury Constable indicted.