Murage facts for kids

Murage was a special kind of tax in the Middle Ages (a long time ago!) that people paid to help build or fix the strong walls around towns. This happened in places like England, Wales, and Ireland.

What Was Murage?

The word murage usually meant this specific tax for town walls. But sometimes, it could also mean other help for walls, or even the walls themselves! Most of the time, it was used for walls that protected towns from attackers. However, it could also be used for walls that protected against floods or the sea. This tax was collected in many towns in Ireland and in parts of France that belonged to England.

How Did Murage Work?

The king would give permission for a town to collect murage. This permission came in a special document called letters patent. It was usually for a limited time, like a few years. But building big walls took a long time! So, towns often had to ask the king to renew the permission again and again. Sometimes, the king's letter would even say that the money was specifically for fixing and looking after the walls. Later in the Middle Ages, many towns had a regular way of collecting this murage money.

First Murage Grants

The very first time murage was granted was for the town of Shrewsbury in 1218 (or actually, June 26, 1220!). Other towns that got early murage grants included Bridgnorth, Stafford, Worcester, Oxford, Gloucester, and Bristol. Many of these towns were in the west of England. They were often in danger from attacks from Wales.

Murage in Wales

Even though the English king's laws didn't always apply directly in Wales, some Welsh towns still got murage grants. The first one was for Hay on Wye in 1232. This was just a year after the town was burned down by Llywelyn the Great, a powerful Welsh prince. Other towns in Wales or near the Welsh border that got these grants included Oswestry, Radnor, Abergavenny, Carmarthen, Monmouth, Knighton, Montgomery, and Clun.

Not many murage grants were made after 1283. This was after King Edward I had finished his Conquest of Wales. One reason the king's permission might have been needed for trade in Wales was that many merchants were from England or other countries. Welsh towns needed the king's approval to tax these powerful traders.

What Were the Walls For?

Some of these murage taxes helped build walls around towns for the very first time. Other times, like in Worcester, the money was used to make the walls bigger. This would bring new parts of the town, called suburbs, inside the protected area. Or, the money was used to fix old walls that were already there. For example, Canterbury received murage grants many times between 1378 and 1402 to repair its existing walls.

Murage in Ireland

In the Lordship of Ireland (parts of Ireland controlled by the English king), murage was used to build walls around many cities. These included Dublin (starting in 1221), Galway (1270), Trim (1289–90), Fethard (1292), Castledermot (1275), Kilkenny, Drogheda, Youghal, Dundalk, and Naas.

Much of Ireland was not under the king's control. So, cities that were loyal to the king really needed walls to protect them from attacks by Gaelic Irish raiders. In Dublin, there was a big problem with murage money in 1311–12. It turned out that none of the money collected for murage had actually been spent on fixing the city walls!

A Murage Legacy

There's a famous old pub in Newport, South Wales, called "Ye Olde Murenger House". It was built around 1530. Its name comes from the "murenger," who was the person in charge of collecting this special tax!