Market town

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Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing them from villages and cities. A town may be correctly described as a market town or as having market rights even if it no longer holds a market, provided the right to do so still exists. When the dutch hoe revolutionised agriculture in Europe by making crop production more efficient, traders set up stalls on a particular day of the week, coinciding with the arrival of the merchants who would then sell the goods. This necessitated the creation of larger markets in a centralized location of the town to help efficiently sell and distribute the goods.

[edit] England

In pre-19th century England, the majority of the population made their living through agriculture and livestock farming. Most lived where they worked, with relatively few in towns. Therefore, farmers and their wives brought their produce to markets that were held after worship in the grounds of their church. Market Towns were an important feature of rural life, as some place names remind us: Market Drayton, Market Harborough, Chipping Norton and Chipping Sodbury — chipping being derived from a Saxon verb meaning to buy.

Market towns often grew up close to fortified places, such as castles, in order to enjoy their protection, Framlingham in Suffolk being a notable example. They tended to be located where transport was easiest, such as at a crossroads or close to a river ford. Market towns were given priority for local railway lines when they were first built in order to ease the transport of goods. In Calderdale, West Yorkshire, there are several market towns quite close together to take advantage of the new trains. The placement of Halifax, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden illustrates one such example.

The English Monarchy set in place a system of limits whereby a new market town could not be established within a certain traveling distance of an existing market town. This limit was usually a day's worth of traveling to and from the market, and buying or selling goods. If the travel time exceeded this standard, a new market town could be established in that locale. As a result of this limit, market towns often petitioned the Monarch to close down the illegal market of another town. The distances are still law in England today, but other markets can be held provided that they are licensed by the holder of the Royal Charter which tends nowadays to be the local Town Council. Failing that, a licence can be granted by the Monarch.

The most obvious feature of the traditional market town is a very wide main street or marketplace, with room for market stalls and booths to be set up on market days. A market cross often stood in the centre of the town, as a way of obtaining God's blessing on the trade. The cross was also a reminder "not to defraud by cheapening". This is often taken to suggest that market traders were dishonest, however, this is not the case. It is a warning to townsfolk not to barter the traders so low as to make it not worth their while to return. The best remaining examples of market crosses in England are at Chichester and Malmesbury. In Scotland, the crosses are called "mercat crosses". There would often be a market hall, with administrative quarters at the first floor level, above the covered market. Market Towns with smaller status include Minchinhampton, Nailsworth and Painswick near Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Colchester claims to be England's oldest recorded market town.

A Market Town may or may not have rights concerning self-government, which is the usual meaning of "town". Newport, Shropshire is in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, but is separate from Telford. In England, towns with such rights are usually distinguished with the additional status of Borough. It is generally accepted that, in these such cases, when a Town was granted a Market, it gained the additional autonomy conferred to separate towns.

The National Federation of Market Traders (NFMT), situated in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, has 36,000 members and has close links with other market traders' federations throughout Europe. Despite some common misconceptions, all market customers have the same rights as they would when shopping with any other retailer and, therefore, can buy with confidence.

[edit] German language area

The medieval right to hold markets (German: Marktrecht) is similarly recollected in the names of many towns in Germany and Austria which have the prefix Markt, for example Markt Berolzheim or Marktbergel. Other terms used for market towns were Flecken in northern Germany or Wigbold and Freiheit in Westphalia.

Market rights occurred in the Carolingian Empire: in 800 Charlemagne granted the title of a market town to Esslingen am Neckar. The conferment was one of the regalia in the Holy Roman Empire as mentioned in the Constitutio by Frederick I Barbarossa at the 1158 Diet of Roncaglia. With the rise of the territories it passed to the princes and dukes as the basis of German town law.

The local ordinance status of a market town (Marktgemeinde or Markt) is perpetuated through the law of the German state of Bavaria, Austria and the Italian Province of Bolzano-Bozen. Nevertheless the title has no further legal significance, as it does not grant any privileges.

[edit] Norway

In Norway the medieval market town (Norwegian kjøpstad from the old Norse kaupstaðr) is a Norwegian town which had been granted commerce privileges by the king or other authorities. The citizens in the town had a monopoly over the purchase and sale of wares and operation of other businesses, both in the town and in the surrounding district.

Market towns were first created in Norway in the 12th century to encourage businesses to be concentrated around specific towns. Import and export was to be conducted only through market towns to allow oversight on commerce and to simplify imposition of excise taxes and customs duties. It served to encourage growth in areas which had strategic significance, providing a local economic base for construction of fortifications and population for defense of the area. It also served to restrict Hanseatic League merchants from trading in areas other than those designated.

Norway included a subordinate category to the market town, the small seaport (Norwegian lossested or ladested), which was a port or harbor with a monopoly to import and export goods and materials in both the port and for a surrounding outlying district. Typically these were locations for exporting timber and importing grain and goods. Local farm goods and timber sales were all required to pass through merchants at either a small seaport or a market town prior to export. This encouraged local merchants to ensure trading went through them, which was so effective in limiting unsupervised sales (smuggling) that customs revenues increased from under 30% of the total tax revenues in 1600 to more than 50% of the total taxes by 1700.

Norwegian “market towns” died out and were replaced by free markets in the 1800s. After 1952 both the “small seaport” and the “market town” have simple town status.