A village with the prestige of a city
Woudsend has been described as ‘a village with the prestige of a city’ in ancient documents. This ‘city prestige’ was thanks to the presence of stately waterfront mansions, the Midstrjitte shops, the butter weighing house, the ‘Gentlemen’s Lodgings’ on the Dyk and the village’s striking 25 pubs.
Rumour has it that…
…that Woudsend actually should have been afforded the same rights as a city. These rights were granted by counts, dukes and bishops in the Middle Ages. Conditions stipulated that a village had to have trading connections and a jurisdiction of its own, that it had to organise an annual fair as well as having its own trading premises at its disposal, i.e. a weighing house. Woudsend met all of these criteria at the time, yet still remained ‘only’ a village. The story goes that the then administrators visited Woudsend several times and that they regularly provoked the village inhabitants, who were soon known for being stubborn, self-willed and inflexible, unwilling to submit to ‘the powers that be’ in place at the time. This may account for the village being refused its city rights. But the self-confident people of Woudsend don’t really care…