Badwell Ash.

COUNTY OF SUFFOLK.

HUNDRED OF BLACKBOURN.

PARISH OF BADWELL ASH.

TOWN TRUST ESTATE.

This property, which has been vested in trustees from a remote period, was last conveyed in 1793 to trustees, of whom four are living, upon trust, to bestow Town Trust Estate. the rents for the benefit and relief of such poor persons, inhabitants of the parish, as the churchwardens and the trustees, inhabitants of the parish, should from time to time direct, and also for repairing and keeping in repair the parishchurch and steeple.

Blackerby's Gift.

The lands are occupied by yearly tenants, at their full annual value, and the rents are carried by the churchwardens to their general account, and applied in the reparation of the church, and payment of the ordinary expenses of their office, for which, one year with another, they are not more than sufficient.

BLACKERBY'S GIFT.

Under the Will of Thomas Blackerby, dated in the 13th year of King Charles the Second, the sum of 17. 4s. is paid as a charge upon the tithes of Stow-up-land, of which Mr. Boby is the proprietor, to the churchwardens, and distributed by them in bread at the church, pursuant to the donor's intention.

Bardwell.

Town Estate.

PARISH OF BARDWELL.

TOWN ESTATE.

This estate is appropriated, under sundry ancient deeds, and a decree of the court of Chancery made in the year 1639, to public uses, relating to the celebration of Divine Service, and the good of the town of Bardwell, in such things as should be most needful.

By the decree it was directed that the lands should be vested in 24 feoffees, whereof the rector should be one, and that four of the feoffees should yearly be wardens, for collecting and disposing of the rents thereof. The last conveyance to trustees was in 1762, and a new conveyance in trust is in the course of being made. The affairs of the trust are managed by the rector, churchwardens and principal inhabitants.

The property consists of a building called the Guild Hall, used for the residence of the poor; four cottages let at moderate rents; and several pieces of land lying dispersed, containing in the whole 54 A. 2R. 34P., let to tenants from year to year at the full annual value.

The yearly rents, which amount in the whole to 87 l. 11s., are applied in the reparation of the Guild Hall and cottages, and of the church, the payment of the churchwardens expenditure, the wages of the parish-clerk and sexton, and an allowance of 13 l. a year for the support of a charity-school; and the surplus is divided among all the poor people of the parish, in different sums, according to the number of their children.

There

There is also a yearly sum of 51. paid by the Duke of Grafton, which is mentioned in the parish-terrier as the interest of 100 l., and as having been formerly paid by the family of Rushbrook, but of which no further account can be given.

This yearly sum is added to and applied with the rent of the town-land.

READE'S CHARITY.

Bardwell.

Town Estate,

continued.

Thomas Reade, by Will, dated 29th December 1677, bequeathed 50l. to be Reade's Charity. laid out in lands of the yearly value of 50 s. at the least, which he gave as a reward to some industrious inhabitant of Bardwell for teaching so many of the poorest children of the town to read, as his executor, Sir Charles Croft Reade, and his heirs, who were to have the privilege of choosing the teacher and the children, should think fit.

This legacy, with 107. given by Sir C. Croft Reade, was laid out by him in the purchase of a messuage in Upthorpe-street, in Stanton, with the yards and appurtenances, containing by estimation one acre, and 2 pightles pertaining to the messuage, containing together by estimation four acres; and the same were conveyed to trustees by indenture of feoffment, dated the 10th June 1680, and were last conveyed to new trustees by indenture, dated 1st August 1728.

It is mentioned in an old terrier that the messuage was wrongfully pulled down by Thomas Croft Reade, esq.

The property is let by the churchwardens as follows: the acre of land, formerly the site of the messuage and premises, to Mary Clarke at 30s. a year, and the two pightles, which contain by admeasurement 3 acres and an half, to Jonathan Taylor, at 31. a year, and the rents, together with 13 7. a year, allowed out of the rent of the town-land, are paid to a schoolmistress, for teaching a certain number of young children, being as many as her room can accommodate, to read, and such of them as are girls, to sew, and for supplying the school with books.

GREEN'S DOLE.

John Green, in or about the year 1595, gave 3 s. 4 d. a year, payable on Christmas-day, for the benefit of poor widows, and charged the same on a piece of land, called Guttrage's Acre, in Ixworth Thorpe, now the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Brett, by whom the annuity is paid on Christmas-day to poor widows.

GARRARD'S CHARITY.

Green's Dole.

Robert Garrard, by Will, dated 22d November, 12th Charles II, bequeathed Garrard's Charity. 201. for the purchase of land, the revenue thereof to be for the payment of

2 s. each, on the 25th December, to ten of the poorest widows in Bardwell, or if not so many, the number to be made up of the poorest men, and the surplus, if any, to be distributed to the rest of the poor of the parish.

This benefaction, with 37. paid out of the common town-stock, was laid out in 1661, in the purchase of two pieces of land in Bardwell, containing respectively 2 acres and an half, and one acre, and the lands were last conveyed in 1778 to trustees, of whom three or four are now living.

The land was let at a parish-meeting to John Booty, as yearly tenant, at 31. a year, which is the full annual value, and the rent is distributed on Christmas-day by the churchwardens, each poor widow in the parish receiving 2s, and the surplus, when any remains, being given among poor men, 1 s. to each.

JEFFES'S GIFT.

John Jeffes, who died in or about the year 1822, gave 31. a year, payable on St. Thomas's-day, to provide a dinner for ten poor men and ten poor women of Bardwell on Christmas-day.

We have not met with a copy of the Will, but it is stated that the testator charged the annuity, by his will, on his estate in Bardwell, now the property of his son, Mr. John Jeffes; and the latter pays for a dinner for twenty poor persons, at the rate of 2s. a head, and divides the remainder of the annuity amongst the same poor persons.

Jeffes's Gift.