Because the city ditches deteriorate from being fouled by animals, public proclamation is to be made four times a year, from street to street and gate to gate, that all owners of animals are to keep them away from the ditches. Any animal found in a ditch is to be seized and kept by the gate-keepers until its owner has paid, towards repair of the ditches or towards murage, one penny per foot [i.e. the number of legs] of the animal. Whichever gate-keeper captured the animal shall be rewarded with a quarter of this fine. Every gate-keeper shall take oath annually to seize and detain all animals found in the ditches and to pay the redemption fines towards murage, without any withholding.

[In the agreement of 1344 between the city and Richard Spynk concerning upkeep of the city defences, to whose costs Spynk had made very large contributions, this chapter's provisions were reaffirmed. Additional detail was also given (perhaps representing subsequent interpretation or elaboration of the custom): the proclamations were made on 2 February, a moveable date in late May, 1 August, and 29 September; the fine was 1d per foot for citizens, but 2d per foot for non-citizens. Furthermore, a fine was set for citizens who hung their cloths (probably a reference to cloth-makers, dyers or fullers) on the walls, in the archways built into the walls, or on the adjacent ground which gave foot-passage along the course of the walls.]