Safe
for all agesLocal books about Soham,
Ely and Cambridgeshire.
Cures for Beasts
This is a little
handwritten book dated 1817 in our possession, that once belonged to a
local Live Stock Farmer, it is unique and is a book of recipes of old
fashioned Cures for all manner of disorders in Cattle, Sheep and Horses,
you can read how they cured these things with local ingredients, some
sound pretty hair raising.
Only available from us.
| Books on the history and law of charities and becoming a trustee. |
Benjamin Laney
Bishop of Ely, by Will dated 21st
January 1674.
|
Benjamin Laney, Bishop of Ely, by Will, dated 21st
January 1674, and proved in the Prerogative Court,
devised all his lands, messuages, and hereditaments, as
well copyhold as freehold, in Soham, or in any Parish
adjoining, to his Executors and their heirs, upon trust,
to convey them to six substantial freeholders,
inhabitants of Ely and Soham, or one of them, upon
trust, that they should employ the rents and profits, as
far as they would reach, in putting out apprentices to
some honest trade the children of the poor inhabitants
of those Parishes, but not more than £10. to be allowed
to any one child. And he directed that the residue of
his personal estate should be laid out in lands, to be
conveyed to the same Trustees, their heirs and assigns,
upon trust, as he should appoint, and, in default of
appointment, upon the trusts declared of his real
estate. It was provided, that when the Trustees should
be reduced by death to three, three other substantial
inhabitants should be added to their number. And it was
further directed, that his Trustees should yearly render
an account to the Vicar, Churchwardens, and Overseers of
Soham for the time being, on which occasion the sum of
20s. was to be expended in a dinner. On the 23rd of November 1675, a conveyance was made by the Bishop's Executors as directed by the Will, the parcels comprised in which were as follows:- A tenement and three acres of pasture, in Meere-street. A tenement and one-and-a-half acre of Hemp-land, in Churchgate-street, and five acres of pasture and Hemp-land adjoining. Two tenements and yards in Brooke-street. A Close of pasture, called Spicer's Weight. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The land and buildings are in good condition, and
the Tenants all hold from year to year. The rents
are regularly paid. The Fen land is liable to a
drainage tax of about £10., paid by the Trustees.
The copyhold is subject to a small quit-rent, and
the fine is arbitrary. The property has not been let
by auction since the decree, and no notice has been
inserted in the Cambridge papers as directed. In
1819, £300. 1d. were received for timber, and £103.
16s. 10d. for gravel; and in the year 1821, £2474.
14s. 6d., Three per Cent. Consols, were standing in
the names of the Trustees, producing £74. 4s. 10d.
per annum, and raising the income of the Charity to
£378. 2s. 10d. The income is employed in binding out
Boys Apprentices, and the premium, usually £20., is
not paid in full, one half being generally reserved
for three years, in order to insure attention and
proper conduct on the part of the Masters. Notice is
given at both places of the meetings of Trustees,
most of whom at present reside at Ely, and by far
the greater proportion of the children are bound
from that Parish. No meeting for putting out
Apprentices has been held at Soham since the decree,
and the children of that place are required to
produce a certificate from the Minister,
Churchwardens, and principal inhabitants, which,
however, is only demanded at Ely when the parties
are unknown to the Trustees. A statement of the
respective numbers bound out in each Parish for a
period of seven years previous to the Inquiry, is
subloined.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The lands comprised in the first division of the rental
are reputed to be the Church and Highway estate. With
the exception of the allotment in Fordham, made under
the Inclosure Act for that Parish, they correspond with
a terrier of 1609. The first parcel is subject to a
small quit-rent, and the allotment in Fordham is tithe
free. The second division is supposed to be the estate
devised for the purchase of bread. There is some
variation between the terrier of 1609, and another made
in 1723, but the present amount of the property appears
to tally very closely with the Will. The third division
is the copyhold. It has for many years been reputed to
belong to the Church. It does not appear that any part
of the property can be identified with Sparke's
mentioned in the proceedings in Chancery. In the Will,
the customary half acre called the Milking Yard, is
stated to be held of the manor or fee, late of the Earl
of Wygorne, or Worcester. There is still a Manor in the
Parish called Netherhall Wygorne; but the Hempland, with
the allotment made to it, which is the only copyhold
subject to the trusts of Bond's Will, is held of the
Manor of Soham and Fordham. The agreements provide for
the proper cultivation of the land. Some complaints on
this head were made on the Inquiry. They appear,
however, to have no foundation, and the land seems to be
well managed, and the rents fair and regularly paid. The
clear produce of the bread estate, after deducting small
outgoings, and a portion of the Schoolmaster's salary
for keeping the accounts, has varied from £20. to £24.,
and is distributed at the discretion of the Trustees,
among poor persons, many of whom are in receipt of
relief, in small sums proportioned to their families,
with a preference to those who have pressed least
heavily on the Parish. After similar deductions, and
19s. for a dinner, the rents of the land comprised in
the first and third parts of the rental are paid, the
latter yearly to the Churchwardens, and the former to
the Churchwardens and Surveyors of the Highways in
alternate years. The sums received by the Churchwardens
have been carried into general account. Besides the
usual expenses of the Church, payments are made by them
occasionally for other purposes, and about the year
1828, the sum of £9. was paid for the destruction of
sparrows. The appointment of new Trustees of the
freehold part of Bond's Charities has for many years
past been made by double conveyance by lease and
release, a practice which can answer no end but
augmenting the bill of the Solicitor.
The reason given for this disproportion is the difference of population in the two places, which is nearly two to one, and the wish of the Trustees to select the most distressed objects, without regard to the Parishes from which they come. Several instances were stated of children being bound to their fathers. It appeared, however, that they had all been properly instructed. The objects have been selected without regard to the receipt of parochial relief, and several orphan children have been Apprenticed from the Workhouse. It has been recommended that notice of the lettings should be given as directed by the Masters Scheme. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||