John Shakespeare’s payment of a shilling for his muckhill may well have been a source of revenue for the town of Stratford (Shakespeare expert overturns fly-tipper myth about playwright’s father, 23 February), but the fine was imposed for breaching an order of the court (“contra ordinationem Curie”).
It was common for manorial courts of the time to make orders that occupiers of land carry out certain tasks and in default be fined or amerced, as my ancestor Robert Ashton discovered for similar offences.
