City Watch Horn

City watch horn, about 1675. Saved from the Elizabethan Council House fire and inscribed with the names of the four head constables for Salisbury in 1675 – George Clemens, Peter Phelpes, Thomas Shergold and Thomas Wansborough. These men would have sounded the horn to raise the alarm at times of strife or danger.

Constables were elected for a year and unpaid. Their role was extensive and challenging – they ensured citizens went to church, did not swear and stayed at home if they caught the plague. Highway maintenance, vagrancy and tax collection were also in their remit. If they failed to do the job, constables could be fined or imprisoned.