John Fenton, by his will bequeathed £30, and directed that with the interest thereof bread should be purchased, and on every Sunday a distribution made to six poor widows belonging the parish of Claverley. In 1777 this bequest was expended in the erection of three small tenements at the back of the workhouse, fronting the Holloway, for the use of the parish as habitations for the poor, and the overseer of the poor covenanted to distribute six penny loaves every Sunday according to the intentions of the donor.
Mrs. Mary Hodgkiss in 1774, by will gave £100, and directed the interest thereof to be on the 19th of March in every year distributed by the churchwardens among twenty poor widows of this parish.
Thomas Farmer Thornes in 1779 bequeathed £30 to the churchwardens of Claverley, the interest thereof to be distributed in bread annually to poor housekeepers. This sum and an accumulation of interest making in the whole £47. 18s. 1d. was subsequently laid out in building a parish workhouse, the parish officers agreeing to provide out of the poor’s rates the interest of that sum.
Mrs. Sarah Taylor left a legacy of £50 many years ago to the poor of this parish, to be under the management of the trustees of the Free school. This gift was placed in the hands of Mr. Farmer Taylor, he being one of the trustees of the School. The interest was distributed with a private charity of Mr. Taylor’s.
Edward Barker, by will in 1702, charged a piece of land situate at Aston with the payment of 10s. yearly; 5s. thereof to be given to the minister of Claverley, for a sermon on New Year’s day, and 5s. to buy bibles for poor children.
Richard Dovey, the founder of the free school, in 1660 left certain lands lying in Broughton, for the better maintenance of the parson of Claverley. The lands which are supposed to have been left consist of 6a. 0r. 21p. at Broughton, and now produce a rental of about £10 per annum, which is received by the minister for his own use.
William Whitmore, Esq., of Apley, in 1724 gave the sum of £200 to be laid out for the perpetual augmentation of the curacy of the parish church of Claverley, which with the further sum of £200 advanced by the governors of Queen Anne’s bounty, was applied to the purchase of about forty-four acres of land in the parish of Higley, for the benefit of the incumbent. The premises produce £49 per annum, which the minister of Claverley receives.
It appears that the rent of a piece of land called the School House bank, containing about two acres, has been for many years appropriated to the repair of the church, but we have been unable to discover the source from which it was derived. It was sold in 1818 by the parishioners to Sir Stephen Glynne for the sum of £120, and the amount was applied in building the workhouse before mentioned, and interest at the rate of five per cent, amounting to £6 per annum is now paid by the overseers to the churchwardens, by whom it is applied to the repairs of the church. The rent of a small cottage which produces one pound per annum, the origin of which is involved in similar obscurity, is also applied to the same use.
Aston, a small township in the parish of Claverley, is pleasantly situated about a mile east from the parish church. At the census in 1841 there were 22 scattered houses and a population of 126 souls. Aston Hall, a good brick house built in 1842, is the residence of John Wilson, Esq. The old hall was formerly a seat of the Brindleys, and their descendants the Skinners, men of high consequence in the city of London.
Beobridge, a township in the parish of Claverley, is situated about a mile south from the parish church, and in 1841 had eleven houses and sixty one inhabitants. William Wilson, Esq., and Thomas H. Windle, Esq., are the land owners. The acres and the tithes of the several townships are included in the returns for the parish of Claverley. The directories of the several townships will be found alphabetically arranged after the township of Claverley.