RichardB Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 The prisoner, having confessed of whom he obtained the songs, was taken before a magistrate, and committed to the house of correction, less as a punishment for any offence of his own, than to secure his appearance against the printer to whom "the trick of selling a straw, and giving something not worth one, was new" though a similar ruse had been practised just before Montgomery came to Sheffield, by a fellow who had in one night built a "Mushroom Hall" upon Crookes Moor, and on the following Sunday opened it as an alehouse ! http://books.google.com/books?id=Q5EVAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22crookes%20moor%22&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=%22crookes%20moor%22&f=false Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveHB Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 I turn to other customs relating to the ownership of land. Near the back of the Weston Park Museum is a house which bears the singular name of Mushroom Hall. It was so called because it was said to have been originally built in a single night. " The story was," says Hunter, " that it was built, covered in, and a pot boiled between sunset and sunrise, and this, it was alleged, gave a right to the ground on which it stood, according to the custom of the manor. It stood for many years, and with additions and improvements afforded what they thought a sufficient habitation for the family by whom it was first erected, and I believe occasioned some trouble to the commissioners when the commons came to be enclosed." It certainly caused trouble to the Enclosure Commissioners, and I have seen an advertisement on the subject by them in an old Sheffield newspaper. Now this is a very ancient and widespread custom, and we must remember that it was the kindling of a fire which gave the right. In Hampshire there was an old tenure called " keyhole tenure," by which if a squatter could build a house or hut in one night, and get his fire lighted before morning, he could not be disturbed. SH link .. Customs of Hallamshire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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