Old Sarums parliamentry seat, I walk past this every day and it sits in a tiny little overgrown site with very little light, but for the record.........
Rotten boroughs were one of the curiosities of the British electoral system. Rotten boroughs were a product of a system that did not want change, where fathers passed on constituencies (and the power as a MP that went with this) to their sons as if they were personal property. In many such boroughs the very few electors could not vote for whom they truly wanted due to the lack of a secret ballot or simply due to the lack of a candidate desirable to their political philosophy. The term rotten borough came into use in the 18th century, and was used to mean a parliamentary borough with a tiny electorate, so small that voters were susceptible to control in a variety of ways. The word "rotten" had the connotation of corruption as well as that of long-term decline.
Typically, rotten boroughs had gained their representation in parliament when they were more flourishing centres, but the borough's boundaries had never been updated, or else they had become depopulated or even deserted over the centuries. Some had once been important places or had played a major role in England's history, but had fallen into insignificance as for example industry moved away.
For example, in the 12th century Old Sarum had been a busy "city" reliant on the wealth expended by its own Sarum Cathedral within its city precincts, but it was abandoned when the present Salisbury Cathedral (also called "New Sarum") was founded nearby on a new site, which immediately attracted merchants and workers who built up a new town around it. Despite this dramatic loss of population, the borough of Old Sarum retained its right to elect two members of parliament.
Many such rotten boroughs were controlled by landowners who gave the seats in parliament to their politically like-minded friends or relations, or even went to parliament themselves. Commonly they sold them for money or other favours; the peers who controlled such boroughs had a double influence in Parliament as they themselves held seats in the House of Lords.
Interesting.
What I find wonderful about photography is that you look differently or with more attention to our surroundings and capture it. I like that.
What I find wonderful about photography is that you look differently or with more attention to our surroundings and capture it. I like that.