The Manor Court

(thank you for all the stars & hearts for yesterdays early start)

If you spend a while in Orton you'll hear this phrase – you might see it on the notice board – and oh so rarely you might wander past the Village Hall and hear that the ever so slightly secretive and teensy bit sinister sounding Manor Court is in Session...

The Manor Courts of England date back a millennia – the earliest record in Orton is from 1176 when Guy de Pennington was Lord of the Manor. They were the lowest Courts of Law in feudal Britain – and nowadays they are all but gone – but through chance, luck and perseverance the Manor Court of Orton survived changes to society, the redrawing of local land boundaries and the Enclosure Act. Today the Manorial rights are vested in the Freeholders of Orton & Raisbeck – a surprisingly active group. They collect rents for common and vested land, settle boundary disputes and uphold some quaint and very local bylaws.*

Orton is probably also unique for still having a functioning Pillory (often referred to as Stocks – however Stocks bound the feet whilst a Pillory bound the wrists and head). The Manor Court make occassional use of the Pillory in maintaining those aforementioned bylaws – and recently they've been looking a bit tatty – a combination of rotten tomato juice and a series of wet winters have taken their toll. Out and about today I saw that the foundations for the new Pillory had been laid – in an even more prominent position outside the village hall – no doubt to add to the shame of any incarcerated miscreant.

*Quaint local bylaws of Orton & Raisbeck punishable by Pillory include:
Dropping litter within the Manor boundaries
The ringing of inharmonious bells
Not knowing that "it's a local shop, for local people..."
The public consumption of chocolate not made in 'our' factory
Owning more than three ugly sheep

For Philosophy Friday this week it seems apt, in view of world events, to quote the 16th President of the USA;
"you can fool all the people some of the time,  and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time"