alth. Droitwich is
governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 1856 acres.

A Roman villa, with various relics, has been discovered here, but it is
doubtful how far the Romans made use of the brine springs. Droitwich
(_Wic_, _Salturic_, _Wich_) probably owed its origin to the springs,
which are mentioned in several charters before the Conquest. At the time
of the Domesday Survey all the salt springs belonged to the king, who
received from them a yearly farm of L65, but the manor was divided
between several churches and tenants-in-chief. The burgesses of
Droitwich are mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but they probably only
had certain franchises in connexion with the salt trade. The town is
first called a borough in the pipe roll of 2 Henry II., when an aid of
20s. was paid, but the burgesses did not receive their first charter
until 1215, when King John granted them freedom from toll throughout the
kingdom and the privilege of holding the town at a fee-farm of L100. The
burgesses appear to have had much difficulty in paying this large farm;
in 1227 the king pardoned twenty-eight marks of the thirty-two due as
tallage, while in 1237 they were L23 in arrears for the farm. They
continued, however, to pay the farm until the payment gradually lapsed
in the 18th century. In medieval times Droitwich was governed by two
bailiffs and twelve jurats, the former being elected every year by the
burgesses; Queen Mary granted the incorporation charter in 1554 under
the name of the bailiffs and burgesses. James I. in 1625 granted another
and fuller charter, which remained the governing charter until the
Municipal Reform Act. King John's charter granted the burgesses a fair
on the feast of SS. Andrew and Nicholas lasting for eight days, but
Edward III. in 1330 granted instead two fairs on the vigil and day of St
Thomas the Martyr and the vigil and day of SS. Simon and Jude. Queen
Mary granted three new fairs, and James I. changed the market day from
Monday to Friday.

DROME, a department in the south-east of France, formed of parts of
Dauphine and Provence, and bounded W. by the Rhone, which separates it
from Ardeche, N. and N.E. by Isere, E. by Hautes-Alpes, S.E. by
Basses-Alpes, and S. by Vaucluse; area 2533 sq. m.; pop. (1906) 297,270.
Drome is traversed from east to west by numerous rivers of the Rhone
basin, chief among which are the Isere in the north, the Drome in the
centre and the Aygues in the south. The