I recently started following a Facebook page entitled Angry People in Local Papers. One story recently highlighted was reported in the Southampton Echo. Perry McMillan, a taxi driver and long-term Southampton FC fan, has made a presentment to the city’s ancient court leet about the colours with which the Itchen Bridge is illuminated.
Though rare in England today, in medieval and early modern times, leet courts were commonplace. Members of the community would routinely make presentments on a wide variety of grievances. These often related to failures to follow specific local regulations, improper behaviour or disputes over the management of property.
The medieval records of the Southampton court leet have been lost. Those that survive only go back as far as 1550 but they provide a vivid insight into the everyday lives of historic communities and the often petty – but very familiar – disagreements between neighbours.
