History of Madeley / including Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, and Coalport

by John Randall

Rev. Frederick Robert Ellis.

Rev. George Fleming Lamb.

Mr. Francis G. Yates, (since deceased).

George Burd, Esq.

John Pritchard, Esq., Chairman.

MADELEY UNION.

Prior to the passing of the New Poor Law in 1836 each parish maintained its own poor, a system which had been acted upon, we suppose, from the time of Queen Elizabeth. But how the Madeley poor were housed or treated prior to the erection of the Old “House of Industry,” or “Workhouse,” which stood on the hill overlooking the valley of the Severn, now in course of demolition and conversion into cottages, we are unable to say. [242] In all probability out-door relief alone was administered. At all times there have been kind and open hearted men of means who out of their worldly store have taken care to make some provision for their less fortunate brethren, either during their lifetime or by way of devise at their death. In this way, as we have seen on page 217, there were two principal charities, called the Brooke and Beddow charities which amounted altogether to £100. At the latter end of the last century the trustees appear to have invested this in the purchase of several small leasehold cottages and lands, chiefly at Madeley Wood. When it was resolved to build a house of industry in 1787 these properties were sold by the trustees for that purpose. They consisted of two messuages and 15 perches of land situate at the Foxholes, which produced £45. One messuage and garden containing 6¼ perches in the possession of Samuel Hodghkiss, which produced £24. An old messuage and garden in Madeley Wood containing 17 perches and a piece of garden ground containing 2½ perches, which produced £53 10s. A stable in Madeley Wood which produced £10. And two messuages and gardens in Madeley Wood containing a quarter of an acre, and a piece of garden ground containing five perches, which produced £83; also another which fetched £23; making a total of £235 10s.

The investment itself seems to have been so far a good one; the value of the property having increased, owing to the works springing up in the neighbourhood; and it was resolved to raise a subscription in the parish to be added to this £235. The further amount of £806 13s. 6d. was thus raised, making altogether £1,042 3s. 6d., which sum was applied in the erection on a part of the charity land of a house of industry, the cost of which was £1,086 13s. 7¼d.; and a lease of that piece of land, with the house so erected upon it, containing 3r. 12p. or thereabouts, was at the 2nd of January, 1797, granted by the vicar and the major part of the trustees to the then churchwardens and overseers for the use of the parish for a term of 999 years, at the yearly rent of £18. The Charity Commissioners say that the premises described in the leases do not appear to tally exactly with the parcels contained in the two deeds of purchase; and add:—

“Nor are we able to trace the variations of the property which have taken place; as far as we can judge, however, nothing has been lost to the charity. It appears indeed to us that in former times there must have been considerable inattention in the trustees of the affairs of the charity, for we find that previously to the leases granted in 1797, the holders of the tenements claimed the property in them on payment of the interest of the £100 which had been vested in the purchase, and the trustees were obliged to establish their right by an action of ejectment, a state of things which could scarcely have taken place without much previous remissness on their part. Whether the trustees were strictly justified in making the disposal of the property which they did in 1797 may be questionable. In effect they have sold original property of the charity, and have purchased a rent-charge on the house of industry. Under the circumstances of the case, however, it does not at present appear to us that they could have made a more beneficial arrangement. The income of these premises, amounting to £18 4s. 6½d., together with 5s. a year derived from another fund, has been for many years applied in providing clothing for the poor. At Christmas 1818, tickets of 5s. value were distributed to 71 poor persons, which were received in payment by the different tradesmen for such articles of clothing as were wanted. In 1817 the distribution was wholly suspended, and in the preceding year partially, in order to raise a fund for defraying the expense of a new trust deed. This had occasioned a balance in hand at the time of our inquiry of £23 15s. The deed was prepared and paid for, and it was intended that the whole of the remaining balance with the accruing rents should be given away at the ensuing Christmas.”

For some years the proceeds of the charity were given away to the poor—blankets were bought and distributed; but for over forty years, prior to the last distribution in 1879, it had been accumulating, excepting that on the first and second visitations of the cholera, it was made use of for the purpose of alleviating the distress then existing; and it had been thought advisable to permit its accumulation for the purpose of forming a reserve fund on which to fall back in times of urgent distress, whether arising from contagious disease or depression of trade.