Wateringbury Riot (1583)

Post date: Aug 09, 2011 7:17:1 PM

Wateringbury did not suffer from last night's riots, but in Elizabethan times on two occasions Wateringbury people were in trouble at the Assizes for riot. One case in 1596 is the subject of an earlier snippet (Warlike riot in Wateringbury). In an earlier case at the Rochester Assizes of 4th March 1583 Thomas Olyphe, Thomas Wylles, Nicholas and Thomas Moyse, William Oliphe, William Yomans, yeomen of Wateringbury were indicted for riotous assembly and assault. On 1 December 1581 they assembled riotously at Mereworth Park, belonging to Henry Neville, Lord Abercavenny, and assaulted William Rolfe, his servant. The verdict is not known.

Thomas Moyse was a Church warden, 3 years later, and a significant contributor to the poor law assessment of that year, 1586, so involvement in this riot did not seem to have adversely affected his social or financial standing in the community.

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