Stow on the Wold
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Stow on the Wold Workhouse and Poor Law Union Page Contents The Union Workhouse was erected in Maugersbury in 1836. It was renovated in 1929 and became an Old People's Hospital called East View.
Records
When the town needed to extend outwards instead of
becoming more concentrated by infilling, the direction was first South across
New Street or Sheep Street (alternatively known as Back Street c.1600.)
68
Later the main area of new building was East of Well
Lane, in Maugersbury's territory, and nearly 100 small houses were built there
in the earlier 19th century.
70
The same period also saw the building of the Union
Workhouse in 1836,
71
after which Union Street is
called; the workhouse was remodelled after 1929, and later became an old
people's hospital known as East View.
72
Notes :-
In 1829 the Stow Lying-in Benefit Society was founded,
and in 1893 a branch of the Cotswold Benefit Nursing Association was started in
Stow.
94.
The effects of the fighting were made worse by
visitations of the plague in 1644
28
and 1646.
29
Smallpox was said to be rife in Stow in 1758, though
the churchwardens denied it.
30
There were smallpox epidemics in 1831, 1833,
31 and 1852.
32
The altitude and exposed
position of Stow were reputed to make it on the whole a healthy town.
33
Notes :-
For the purposes of parochial government the ancient
parish was probably divided into its three constituent parts (the town,
Maugersbury, and Donnington) by the 16th century, and as early as 1389 there was
a separate clerk for each.
5
In
1566 there were four churchwardens in all, apparently two for the town and one
each for Maugersbury and Donnington,
6
as in
1826.
7
By the early 19th century one of the wardens of the
town was the rector's nominee.
8
The office
of parish clerk and sexton, evidently a prized one, was filled by election by
the parishioners.
9
Donnington was a separate poor-law parish by 1718,
10
and by the late 18th century the town and the two hamlets were quite
distinct in the civil functions of parish government.
11
The separation had probably
become effective after the Act of 1662, when a poor-rate was said to have been
first set,
12
for the houses built on the
east side of the town after that time were
(until the late 19th century) outside its boundaries.
13.
Maugersbury had, in addition to
its churchwarden, one overseer and two surveyors; c. 1770 the lord of the
manor was one of the surveyors.
14.
Apart from its churchwarden, Donnington's overseer may have
been the hamlet's only officer, for in the early 19th century the chief farmer
there seems to have performed, as overseer, the functions of a vestry.
15.
Expenditure on the poor of Donnington rose sharply
compared with neighbouring parishes at the end of the 18th century and by 1813
had reached a level more than ten times that of 1776. It then fell, and remained
fairly constant until 1834. Maugersbury, with the growing urban element in its
population, had by the late 18th century a higher expenditure on the poor, which
increased less sharply but continued to increase after 1824.
16
Roadwork and the payment of
some rents by the parish were the only steps taken to alleviate the problem.
17
In the town of Stow, the coming together of main roads
and the existence of the market and fairs and of an industrial population
apparently produced special problems of poor relief and highway maintenance. No
exceptional means or methods, however, were devised for dealing with these
problems, although there may have been a select vestry for dealing with poor
relief by 1822.
18
In addition to the churchwardens there were two
overseers, and two surveyors who presented separate accounts and were made
responsible in 1825 for repairing the town well.
19
In
1834 a small majority defeated a proposal to appoint a paid assistant overseer.
20
Two conditional
contributions in 1691 and 1710, towards a workhouse were apparently lost because
no workhouse was built.
21
In 1712 Quarter Sessions
ordered that a combined workhouse and house of correction should be established
at Stow in the "Eagle and Child"
22
but no later reference to
this institution has been found.
Expenditure on poor relief in the late 18th century
increased more than average for the area, and remained high. A school of
industry with 22 children in 1802 had apparently closed by 1812,
23
it may have been in the malthouse, locally reputed a
poor-house, in Digbeth Street.
24
In 1816 many paupers from
Stow appealed to the justices for relief,
25
and at about that time the
proportion of poor receiving regular outdoo relief increased.
26
In addition the vestry encouraged ad hoc remedies: in 1829,
for example, it subsidized the voluntary emigration to America of a barber and
his family, and in 1830, during a bad winter, sponsored a coal committee to
administer funds raised by subscription. Small economies included the ruling of
1823 that the parish doctor should attend confnements only if application had
previously been made to the vestry.
27
To deal with health problems, the vestry in the 18th
century kept a pest house,
28
and
in 1831 and 1833, following outbreaks of smallpox, temporary boards of health
were set up.
29
A burial board was formed in 1855, and a new graveyard was
opened south of the town beside the Foss Way. A nuisance removal committee
existed in 1859 when a nuisance inspector was appointed.
30
The town and the tow hamlets all became part of the
Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834,
31
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Highway District in 1863
32
Under the Local Government Act of 1872 the town and the urban part of
Maugersbury (which was transferred to Stow civil parish in 1894) were placed
under a local board and subsequently became an urban district.
33
Donnington
and the rest of Maugersbury became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary
District under the Act of 1872, and were transferred in 1935 to the newly formed
North Cotswold Rural District, in which the Stwo urban district was merged the
same year.
34
The town of Stow was
thereafter under a parish council, which in 1961 met monthly.
35
Parish council powers were conferred on Maugersbury parish
meeting in 1945, but from 1948 to 1955 Stow and Maugersbury shared a common
parish council.
36
Notes :-
Charities - The almshouses known after their 16th
century benefactot as Shepham's Almshouses presumably derived from the medieval
hospital in Stow reputedly founded by Ethelmar.
90
By his will dated 1476
William Chester provided for the building or re-building of eight almshouses, in
admission to which members of the Holy Trinity guild were to be given
preference. The almspeople, who were to go to church daily, received 8d a week (
12d for a man and wife living together) and were attended by a nurse. The
almshouses were in use in the mid-16th century,
91
and at the end of it were
reorganized and rebuilt along with the school by Richard Shepham, apparently on
the site where the 19th century buildings survived in 1961. The new
arrangements, by which nine almspeople (with no nurse) were each to receive 1s a
week, were ratified by a royal charter of 1612 making the bailiffs and burgesses
of Chipping Norton (Oxon) governors of the almshouses. In addition, the
almspeople benefited from the income of £200 given for their clothing by Jordan
Mince by will dated 1768; from the income of £100 spent on their fuel, under
the will of Edward Pitman, dated 1817; from a share of the £12 a year given to
the poor of Stow by William Cope by will dated 1691 (the remainder being divided
among the poor not in the almshouses) ; and from half the income, spent on fuel,
of £300 given by Mrs Mary Hicks by will dated 1805. In the 19th century, and
probably earlier, the administration of all these charities and the selection of
almspeople was left to the rector and churchwardens.
92
In the mid-19th century the almshouses were rebuilt in two
terraces, of six and three, the terrace of six facing south; formerly all nine
had been in a single terrace facing north across the churchyard.
93
The almshouses and almshouse charities, together with
other parochial charities, were reorganized under a Scheme of 1889. Nearly all
the other charities were for distributing bread: Lady Juliana Tracy gave £50
before 1702, Thomas Compere £150 in 1715, John Greyhurst £50 in 1716, Joshua
Aylworth £100 in 1720, Richard Freeman £20 soon
afterwards, Danvers Hodges (d 1721) a £3 rent charge, Sarah Chamberlayne £50
by will dated 1734, and Thomas Selwyn or Selvin, a £1 rent charge at an unknown
date. The capital sums were all laid out in land. Townsend's gift, by will dated
1682 of 2s a week for bread, was in fact used for education along with the sum
given by him specifically for that purpose.. Half of Mary Hicks's gift (see
above) was for bread and beef, and the immemorial rent-charge of 13s-4d on the
Court House was by 1828 used for bread,
94
although earlier it had been used for church repairs,
95
John Harvey Olney, by will
proved 1836, gave £200 in trust for distributing coal and blankets.
96
All these charities were for the whole ancient parish of Stow;
there were two separate charities for Maugersbury, £10 for distributing bread,
given by Sarah Chamberlayne by her will dated 1734 but apparently lost by 1828,
and an allotment for the poor's fuel made at inclosure in 1766, of which the
rent was distributed in cash by the rector in 1828.
Apparently the poor of Stow town alone were intended to
benefit by another allotment for fuel at the same inclosure.
97
In 1961 the almshouses had been condenmed as dwellings,
but five were occupied and stipends continued to be distributed to the
almspeople. The other charities for the poor were distributed in kind, the rent
from the fuel allotments being spent on coal.
99
The Walter Reynolds Home of Rest was founded in 1929 in
part of Stow that was in the ancient parish of Upper Swell by Reynolds's
daughter, Mrs Ellen Teague, to provide rent-free accommodation for six aged
inhabitants of Stow with limited means.
100
Notes
:-
Addlestrop - Local Government.
The records of the manor court survive for the periods
1400-4,
82
1498-1512
83
and 1553-1775,
84
and show the court as a more
than usually active agent of local government. in 1501 the manor court ordered a
tenant to remove an expectant mother, immediately after her purification, from
his household because it was of `bad governance'
85
in the 18th century James Leigh hoped to curb the mischievous
habits of the village children through the agency of the court.
86
The records of parochial government have not been
discovered, and are thought to have been destroyed by fire.
87
By 1498 there were two separate churchwardens for Adelstrop
chapelry
88
and although in 1572 there were three churchwardens for
Broadwell and Adelstrop together,
89
by 1584 Adelstrop again had
two separate churchwardens.
90
A constable for Adelstrop
too the oath of allegiance in 1715.
91.
Under the
Act of 1834 Adelstrop became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union,
92
and in 1863, was included in the Stow-on-the-Wold highway
district.
93
Under the Local Government
Act of 1872 it became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District, and
was transferred to the newly formed North Cotswold Rural District in 1935.
94
Notes :-
The
Bourton-on-the-Water Village Hospital (later usually called the Moore Cottage
Hospital) was opened, the third of its kind in the country, in 1861, largely
through the efforts of John Moore, a local surgeon. The yearly number of
in-patients was c. 30 and of out-patients c. 170. The original building (later
the house known as Eastfields) was rented,
3
and in 1879 the hospital was moved to a new building (later
The Red House) on a site given by W.S. Stenson.
4
In 1928 the hospital was moved to another building, provided
by George Frederick Moore.
5
Under the National Health Act of 1946 the hospital, which had
formerly been maintained largely by voluntary contributions, passed under the
management of the Banbury and District Hospital Management Committee.
6
Notes
:-
Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 6, page 039, by
permission of the General Editor.
There
are overseers' accounts for the parish for 1715-59, with lists of parish
officers for 1657-1767, and vestry minutes for 1782-1800 and from 1830.
80
The
vestry was run mainly by the richer farmers; only after the beginning of the
19th century did the rector start to play a dominant role in the vestry.
81
Expenditure on poor-relief rose less in Bourton than in most
neighbouring parishes in the late 18th century, and in 1803 the rate was 3s.
compared with an average of 4s-8.5d for the lower division of the hundred.
82
In
the 12 years after 1803, however, expenditure nearly doubled.
83
This may have resulted from the methods of poor-relief used.
From 1783 one of the two overseers appointed was salaried, the other being
described as his nominal partner. By 1783 payments were being made to a doctor
for the poor, some of whom were sent to the Gloucester Infirmary, and about the
same time the vestry began to rent a house for use as a workhouse and introduced
the roundsman system. In 1785 a scheme for setting the poor in the house to work
was evidently effective, and from 1787 the workhouse was farmed. From 1789 to
1800 the workhouse master also accepted at farm the roundsman's wages, the
expenses of the justices, and the sale of coal to the poor,
84
but
by 1803, when 18 families received permanent relief and another 18 people were
relieved occasionally, the workhouse had gone out of use,
85
perhaps because the vestry was trying to drive too hard a
bargain.
In
1830 it was decided that the parishioners would not be relieved unless they went
to church or chapel on Sundays. By this time there seems to have been revived
enthusiasm in dealing with poverty, and between 1830 and 1833 financial help was
given to 12 families to emigrate to North America. The vestry was conscientious
about nuisances and public health in general, an improvement in which was
attributed to the liberal help of resident doctors. In 1834 it was resolved that
the building then used as a poorhouse should be put in good condition and
reopened as a workhouse.
86
Under
the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 Bourton became part of the Stow on the Wold
Poor Law Union.
87
It
became part of the Stow on the Wold highway district in 1863
88
and of the Stow on the Wold Rural Sanitary District under the
Local Government Act of 1872 (being transferred to the newly formed North
Cotswold Rural District in 1935.
89
In the mid-20th century the parish council, which in addition
to the normal functions administered the Moore village trust
90
was
meeting once a month.
91
Notes
:-
Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 6, page 044, by
permission of the General Editor.
Court
Rolls for Great Barrington manor survive for 1505-6,
7
1563, 8 1567, 9
1569,10 1570,11
1571, 12 and 1624. In 1624 each of the three tithings had
still its own constable and tithingman
13
The
only surviving record of Little Barrington manor court is an abstract of a court
roll of 1779, defining the bounds of the manor and making orders about animals; 14
the
owner of each part of the manor is said to have held a court in the 17th
century.
15
Churchwardens'
accounts of Little Barrington survive from 1747, and of Great Barrington only
from the 19th century, but there are overseers' papers for Great Barrington,
including a large number of removal orders, from 1714. Between 1775 and 1803
expenditure on poor relief increased fourfold in Little Barrington and sixfold
in Great Barrington.
16
In the next ten years expenditure in Little Barrington fell
although the number of people being regularly relieved rose from 12 to 32, while
in Great Barrington, where in 1815 there were 37 people regularly and 34
occasionally relieved, expenditure again doubled.
17
Under
the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 Great Barrington became part of the
Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union, and Little Barrington part of the Northleach
Union. Under the Public Health Act of 1872 they thus became parts of the
Stow-on-the-Wold and Northleach rural sanitary districts respectively, and from
its formation in 1935 the new civil parish of Barrington was in the Northleach
Rural District.
18
The parish council met regularly in 1962.
Notes
:-
Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 6, page 023, by
permission of the General Editor.
A
few court rolls survive for the periods 1341-1466, and 1553061. The earlier ones
show that a court was held at Bledington at least twice a year, not at any
regular time.
20
The 16th century rolls differ little in scope from the earlier
ones, but the court appears to have been held only once a year. It appointed
between two and four overseers, who performed the function of fieldsmen, holding
office for a year.
21
Churchwardens'
accounts survive from 1771 and vestry minutes from 1856-1895. Of the two
churchwardens one was chosen by the vicar. There may have been some property
qualification as the office sees to have been held usually by members of the
families holding small estates. The accounts were signed by two or more people
in addition to the retiring churchwardens and the vicar.
At
the end of a year any deficit owing to the churchwardens was met by a levy, to
be collected by the wardens, which varied from 1s-6d a yardland in 1771 to 7s in
1777. From 1779 there was a paid parish clerk. In 1797 both wardens were
appointed by the parish, and, perhaps because the vicar was non-resident, from
1798 to 1806 there was only one. After 1806, though still non-resident, the
vicar again appointed one of the wardens.
22
Poor-relief
expenditure in Bleddington in the late 18th century and early 19th century
appears to have followed similar trends to those in the other parishes in the
area. A small workhouse was opened, in which there were seven people in 1893,
when another 15 were receiving regular outdoor
Amendment
Act of 1834, and subsequently of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District
24
In
1935 it was transferred to the newly created North Cotswold Rural District.
25
Notes
:-
Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 6, page 031, by
permission of the General Editor.
Evesham
Abbey's reeve or bailiff for Broadwell, mentioned in 1318
16
was
apparently holding a court for the manor every three weeks in 1351.
17
In 1535 he received an annual salary of 20s
18
Evesham
Abbey held the assize of bread and ale in Broadwell.
19
Most
of the tenants came within the
abbey's leet jurisdiction that centered on Stow,
20
but the preceptory of Temple Guiting claimed view of
frankpledge and waif of its tenants in Broadwell.
21
There are records of the manor court for 1428
22
1528-39
23
1552, 1556, and 1559.
24
It is unlikely that any manor courts were held after the end
of the 16th century,
25
and the vestry may have assumed functions previously performed
by the manor court
26
at a comparatively early date.
No
vestry records have survived from before the 19th century. The churchwardens'
accounts from 1812 onwards do not record the activities of the other officers.
The vestry minutes from 1836 onwards may indicate the practice of an earlier
period. In the middle years of the century one of the two churchwardens (there
had been two in 1498)
27
was chosen by the rector, and there were two surveyors of the highways (as in 1773)
28
two
overseers of the poor (with an assistant at £4 a year from 1850), and two
constables, (a constable and a tithingman in 1836) Not until 1852 did the rector
or his curate normally take the chair at vestry meetings, which were held at
irregular intervals three or four times a year and attended by about ten
ratepayers.
In
relieving the poor in the late 18th and early 19th centuries Broadwell was
either less hard pressed or less generous than its neighbours. A new assessment
for the poor's rate was made in 1777
29
but in 1802-3 Broadwell had a far lower rate than any other
parish (save Donnington), in the upper division of the hundred,
30
and
the total expenditure on the poor remained
proportionate in the twenties and early thirties.
31
The parish owbed six cottages which were used to house poor
parishioners ; in 1837, after the inclusion of Broadwell in the Stow-on-the-Wold
Poor Law Union, the cottages,then occupied by seven tenants,
32
were
sold to one of the farmers of the parish.
33
The
constable had a small amount of land, for which he was allotted half an acre at
inclosure in 1793, when the parish surveyors were also allotted 4 and a half
acres to provide them with stone for repairing the roads.
34
The
roads in the parish seem to have been burdensome to maintain, perhaps because
they included a stretch of the Foss Way. In the late 18th century repairs were
made largely by team-labour.
35
In
1843 a separate rate was made for the roads, and in 1850 a contract was made for
repairs.
36
In
1863 Broadwell was included in the Stow-on-the-Wold Highway District
37
Under
the Local Government Act of 1872 it became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural
Sanitary District, and was transferred to the newly formed North Cotswolds Rural
District in 1935.
38
A
parish council had been formed by 1895.
39
Notes
:-
Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 6, page 055, by
permission of the General Editor.
Local Government -
In 1802 there was a single overseer,
88
and it is not clear whether the chapelwarden had any poor-law
function, though presumably the 17th century churchwardens did in theory.
Perhaps as a result of the benificence of William Fox, who is said to have
clothed all the poor of the village.
89
parish expenditure on the
poor increased in the years up to 1803 much less than in other parishes of the
district;
90
in 1812-15 Clapton was
remarkable for the small number of families on permanent relief
91
Clapton became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law
Union under the Act of 1834
92
of the Stow-on-the-Wold Highway district in 1863
93
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District under the
Act of 1872 (being transferred to the newly formed North Cotswold Rural District
in 1935)
94
In
1895 the parish meeting received the powers of a parish council, enabling it to
administer allotments;
95
in 1962 it administered not only yhe allotments owned by the
county council but also those that were privately owned.
96
Notes :-
Local Government.
The accounts of the two churchwardens survive for the
period 1778-1861. The activity of the overseers is recorded in 5 settlement
papers of the late 18th century and the early 19th century.
32
The
task of providing for the poor was either less urgent than in the neighbouring
parishes or less generously undertaken. The number of poor relieved in 1802-3
was relatively small, and although the rate that year was about the average for
the district, less than half of the total raised from the rate was spent on the
poor, less indeed than had been spent 20 years earlier.
33
The parish was included in the
Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834
34
the Stow-on-the-Wold Highway district in 1863
35
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District under the
Local Government Act of 1872 (being transferred to the newly formed North
Cotswold Rural District in 1935)
36
A parish meeting was
initiated at an unknown date, but in 1950 no meeting had been held for several
years
37
Notes
:-
Local Government.
In 1727 and 1737 the lord of the manor and the occupant
of the farm-house were acting as overseers; in 1748 the lord of the manor
acknowledged that as sole landowner he was liable to maintain the poor of the
parish, and on his instructions his tenant at the farm-house did relieve paupers
having settlement in Eyford until c 1770. From then until 1782 there was no one
qualified to serve as overseer, the only two householders in the parish being
women
8
but
in 1784 Quarter Sessions decided that Eyford was a vill by repute and must find
overseers.
9
No rates
were levied in 1776 or in 1783-5, but in 1803 there was a rate nearly up to the
average for the area and the £62 it produced were spent entirely on the poor.
10
The amount spent on the poor was as high in 1814 and 1815
11
but was much lower in the twenties and early thirties.
12
In the mid-17th century there was apparently constable,
13
but a hundred years later militia returns were submitted by a
man who signed them as constable.
14.
Eyford was included in the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834
15
of the Stow-on-the-Wold Highway district in 1863
16
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District under the
Local Government Act of 1872 . 17
By its
amalgamation with the civil parish of Upper Slaughter in 1935 Eyford came under
the control of a parish council for the first time.
Notes
:-
Local Government
Little Malvern Priory and Llanthony Priory held courts
in Naunton
82
and Aylworth
83
but no court rolls are known to have survived for any of the
manors in the parish. Naunton manor court had ceased to function long before the
mid-18th century.
84
Churchwardens' accounts survive from 1776; a vestry
minute book for the years 1540 to 1776 was apparently lost in the late 19th
century.
85
Expenditure on poor-relief
increased fivefold between 1776 and 1803, when the parish expenditure in
lawsuits was high. In that year 34 people received regular relief and 10
occasional relief,
86
and although there was a
decrease in the numbers relieved in 1813, expenditure had increased. From 1813
expenditure fell.
87
Naunton became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law
Union
in
1835, and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District under the Act of 1872
being transferred in 1935 to the
newly formed North Cotswold Rural District.
88
The parish council, formed
in 1894
89
met regularly in 1962.
Notes :-
Local Government
The earliest continuous records of parochial government
in Oddington are the overseers' account books for 1806-23
20
although a few miscellaneous items, including the appointment
in 1656 of a civil registrar, are contained in the parish registers.
21
At the end of the 18th
century the increasing need for poor-relief seems to have been offset, more than
elsewhere, by private charity.
22
In 1775-6 Oddington's
expenditure on poor was higher than Stow's (excluding Donnington and
Maugersbury), and in the next thirty years was surpassed, in the upper division
of Slaughter hundred, only by Stow's; but the increase in Oddington was only
two-thirds of the average, and in 1802-3 the rate in Oddington was below
average.
23
By 1806 the Speenhamland
method of relief had been adopted; the overseers made regular weekly payments to
a large number of poor, and also paid for clothing, fuel, rent, rates, and
house-repairs in cases of need. In 1818 the overseers were dealing in coal; in
1822 they had the village stocks repaired, and paid £15 to the doctor who
attended the poor. Each of the two overseers appointed every year kept the
accounts for six months. The more prosperous inhabitants, including Sir John
Chandos Reade, filled the office in rotation about every eighth year.
24
The other officers of the parish were two
churchwardens,
25
a constable, and two or more
surveyors of highways, each of whom received small allotments at inclosure in
1787.
26
The
parish was included the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the Poor Law Union
Amendment Act of 1834
27
the Stow-on-the-Wold Highway district in 1863
28
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District under the
Local Government Act of 1872 (being transferred to the newly formed North
Cotswold Rural District in 1935)
29
Notes
:-
Local Government.
In the mid-16th century this separate court was
combined with a similar one for Widford and the tithings of Windrush,
88
but by 1620 there was again a separate court leet for Great
Rissington.
Draft court rolls survive for the period 1620-1770. The
business was largely confined to the taking of frankpledge and the presentment
of nuisances; constables were appointed, and from time to time agricultural
officers were chosen: in 1756, for exampe, a man (who apparently also kept the
pound) was appointed to serve as hayward, crow-keeper, and molecatcher, at a
salary of 2s-6d. from each yardland.
89
It is possible that the tithing of Great Rissington was larger
than the parish, including land in neighbouring parishes which were otherwise
quit of the hundred; this would explain 16th century references to a meadow in
Sherborne (most of which belonged to the Abbot of Winchcombe's liberty) as being
within the tithing of Great Rissington.
90
The
earliest records of parochial government begin in 1787 with the accounts of the
overseers of the poor. Expenditure on the poor in the last quarter of the 18th
century increased rather less in Great Rissington than in most neighbouring
parishes, and in 1802 the parish rate was the lowest in
the lower division of the hundred.
91
By 1813, however, expenditure was double what it had been in
1803, and the number of people receiving occasional relief had risen sharply.
92
Expenditure remained high in the twenties, but at the
beginning of the 1834 the abandonment of the roundsman system and of the
practice of supplementing wages out of parish funds reduced expenditure to
little over a quarter of what it had been in 1831. The parish officers had a
large measure of independence, for the vestry seldom met more than once a year.
93
The parish subsequently became part of the
Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union.
94
It became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in
1863,
95
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District under the
Act of 1872 (being transferred to the newly formed North Cotswold Rural District
in 1935).96
A parish council was
established under the Act of 1894.
97
Notes
:-
Local Government.
No records of parochial government are known to survive
from before the mid-19th century. Of the parish officers, there were two
churchwardens in the 16th and 17th centuries
73
but only one in 1851;
74
for their failure to elect a surveyor of highways the
inhabitants were amerced in the frankpledge court in 1661.
75
In the early 19th century the parish relieved a high
proportion of the population, but expenditure on the poor, after a sharp rise in
the last quarter of the 18th century, remained fairly constant at a lower level
than that in several parishes no larger than Little Rissington; the ownership by
the parish of 11 cottages occupied by paupers may have helped to keep the level
low.
76
The parish became
part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834,
77 of
the Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in 1863,
78
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold
Rural Sanitary District in 1872 (being transferred to the newly formed North
Cotswold Rural District in 1935).79 A
parish council was
established in 1895; it was dissolved in 1907,
80
but re-established in 1949.
81
The council has unusually large financial resources because
the air-field contributes to the parish rate.
82
Notes
:-
Local Government
There appears to have been only one overseer of the
poor,
58
and
from 1697 to 1886 only one churchwarden.
59
In 1834 these two officers were allowed considerable freedom
of action; they decided the amount of rates and poor relief, and the vestry met
only once a year. No special measures such as Speenhamland or the roundsman
system were adopted
60
to deal with an expendtiure
on poor relief which, while it rose fairly typically in the late 18th century,
appears not to have been thought oppressive by the ratepayers.
61
The financial position of the parish may have been made
bearable by the possession of six or eight cottages in which old people were
housed.
62
These cottages were sold in 1859, and the capital from the
sale was made over to the parish meeting for general expenditure in 1930. 63
The parish
became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834,
64 of the Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in 1863,
65
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District in 1872
(being transferred to the newly formed North Cotswold Rural District in 1935).66
A parish
council was established in 1939
67
Notes
:-
Local Government.
In 1650 two surveyors of the highways also were
appointed to the manor court, which made orders about the pound and the stocks.
60
Parochial
government seems to have been weak up to the mid-18th century, perhaps beacuse
of the strong tradition of manorial government and the uncertain parochial
status of Lower Slaughter, which ecclesiastically was only a chapelry of Bourton-on-the-Water.
61
In 1784 instead of two churchwardens there was a single `chapelwarden'
62
In the late 17th century and
early 18th the constables levied their own rates and performed some of the
functions more normal to overseers.
63
From 1740 there is evidence
of the overseers' activity;
64
it may be that the manorial officers became less
important as a result of inclosure in 1731. In the 30 years up to 1803
expenditure on the poor rose less than in most parishes of the area, but it had
doubled itself ten years later. The total number of people receiving relief fell
in those ten years, while the number on permanent relief more than doubled.
65
Lower Slaughter was included in the Stow-on-the-Wold
Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834,
66
the Stow-on-the-Wold higway
district in 1863
67
and the Stow-on-the-Wold
Rural Sanitary District under the Local Government Act of 1872 (being
ttransferred to the newly formed North Cotswold Rural District in 1935)
68
The parish council, established in 1895,
69
met about six times a year in 1961.
70
Notes :-
Local Government.
In the late 17th century, the overseers and constables
made their own levies, though they also received payments from the
churchwardens. The vestry at that time looked to the leadership provided by the
lord of the manor, who served the office of churchwarden in 1685 and overseer in
1696. His son followed him as leader in the vestry, and in the later 18th
century and early 19th the position was taken by the rector,
61
who was surveyor in 1811.
62
In
1774 it was resolved that vestry meetings should he held regularly once a month,
and that the minute and account books should be open to all.
63
In the early 19th century, with poor relief becoming an
increasingly pressing problem, the vestry closely supervised the work of the
overseer, little being left to his discretion.
64
In 1741 £17 had been spent
on the weekly doles;
65
relief was not given to
those who would not wear the pauper's badge, and those without settlement were
removed.
66
Exenditure on the poor rose
little until the end of the 18th century, but the figure for 1803 (which
included £47 for suits and removals) was over ten times the average for 1783-5.
67
The
number of those relieved, and especially of those occasionally relieved, was
thereafter reduced, and expenditure on the poor was reduced to about half its
1803 level and kept there, comparatively low and unusually stable, until right
into the 1830's.
68
In 1813 there was some use of the roundsman system,
69
but in 1818 it was decided to use it only for women and old
men, able bodied men and boys being set to work on the roads.
70
In 1834 road work was the usual parish work, and roundsmen
were very rare.
71
By 1755 poor families were housed at low rents in
cottages belonging to the church and town estate trustees and let to the
overseers.
72
Up to 11 cottages were so
let until 1836.
73
When the tenant of one of
these cottages appealed successfully to the magistrates against a reduction in
the rate of relief during harvest the overseers reacted by increasing his rent.
74
Other provision for the poor included, by 1741, the payment of
a surgeon.
75
By 1791 the overseers buying
and selling coal,
76
and in 1801 they were instructed to sell 48 ells of cloth spun and woven
the previous winter at the expense of the paarish. In 1803 it was resolved that
all the wants of the poor should be paid in money.
77
By 1833 the parish was paying a subscription to the Gloucester
Infirmary.
78
Upper Slaughter was included in the Stow-on-the-Wold
Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834,
79 the Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in 1863,
80
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District
under the Local Government Act of 1872 (being transferred to the newly
formed North Cotswold Rural District in 1935). 81
The
parish council, which from 1905 to
1947 controlled the villages' water supply,
82
met infrequently in the mid-20th century.83.
Notes :-
Local Government.
Lower Swell was included in the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor
Law Union under the Act of 1834,
80 the Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in 1863,
81
and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District
under the Local Government Act of 1872 (being transferred to the newly
formed North Cotswold Rural District in 1935). 82
In
1961 the parish council did not meet regularly. .83.
Notes :-
Local Government.
Churchwardens' and overseers' accounts for 1739
onwards, which survived in the early 1950's could not be traced in 1960. The
vestry apparently had a paid clerk from 1769.
66
In 1803 there were 9 people regularly receiving poor relief
and 4 occasionally.
67
There seems to have been a
parish poor-house in the early 19th century,
68
and there was a large
increase in expenditure on poor relief, from £37 to £81 a year, between 1825
and 1834.
69.
Westcote became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law
Union under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834,and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural
Sanitary District under the Local
Government Act of 1874. In 1935 it was transferred to the North Cotswold Rural
District.
70
In 1960
the parish meeting had not met for some years.
71
Notes :- Gloucester Record Office
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