Without the borough bounds however the system of Norman judicature prevailed; and the rural tenants who did suit and service at the Cellarer's court were subjected to the trial by battle.
The execution of a farmer named Ketel who came under this feudal jurisdiction brought the two systems into vivid contrast.

Ketel seems to have been guiltless of the crime laid to his charge; but the duel went against him and he was hung just without the gates.

The taunts of the townsmen woke his fellow farmers to a sense of wrong.

"Had Ketel been a dweller within the borough," said the burgesses, "he would have got his acquittal from the oaths of his neighbours, as our liberty is"; and even the monks were moved to a decision that their tenants should enjoy equal freedom and justice with the townsmen.

The franchise of the town was extended to the rural possessions of the Abbey without it; the farmers "came to the toll-house, were written in the alderman's roll, and paid the town-penny." A chance story preserved in a charter of later date shows the same struggle for justice going on in a greater town.