What is a Town Reeve?

The role of Town Reeve dates back to Saxon times, when the tun-gerefa was the headsman of his tribe. In the period after the Romans departed and the Saxons gradually gained control of Britain, c. 440 – 1066, the country was divided into administrative units, comprising shires, and towns or ‘tuns’. The ‘tun’ was administered by an assembly with a tun-gerefa, or Town Reeve, as its leader.

After the Norman invasion in 1066, this system was superseded by the introduction of Majors, Bailiffs and Stewards, to manage the larger towns. By the Tudor period, most towns and cities were electing a Major, or ‘Mayor’, as their official representative, but Bungay has always liked to “dew different” and decided to retain the Reeve as the community’s figure-head.

In early documents, the Reeve is referred to as Primer Feoffee, and headed a group of elected feoffees. They were responsible for dealing with property and bequests given by local benefactors, and administrating the income to benefit the townspeople. They also dealt with maintaining law and order, street lighting, water-supply, sanitation, fire-fighting, road repairs, night watchmen, and many other aspects of public life. The administration of charitable funds and the maintenance of almshouses remain an important part of the Trust’s activities today.