Thomas Bridgman, by will dated 28th May, 1718, devised to the school at Church Stretton 40s. yearly, to be paid at Michaelmas and Lady-day to the schoolmaster, on condition that he should teach four poor children till they could perfectly read in the Bible, and then to receive four more, to be nominated from the parish by his executors and trustees, and the minister of the parish. He also gave to the poor housekeepers of Church Stretton 20s., to be given on St. Thomas’s day; and also 10s. more to be distributed in twenty sixpenny loaves to housekeepers of the said parish, not receiving parochial relief.
Edward Phillips, by indenture bearing date 19th May, 1735, left land to the amount of 2a. 3r. 10p. called the Street Meadow, in trust to apply the annual rent of the same for the benefit of the poor. This land was let in 1830 at a rent of £7, which forms part of the general distribution on St. Thomas’s day and Easter.
Edward Lloyd, who died in 1790, bequeathed £100, to be placed out at interest, half the produce to be paid to the schoolmaster, as an augmentation to his salary, and the other half to be applied towards raising a sum to apprentice two boys of the age of 14 scholars of the said school. He also gave £21, on trust, to place out the same to pay the interest to sixteen poor parishioners of Church Stretton, on St. Thomas’s day, to be nominated by the minister and churchwardens. The testator also charged his estate, called The Bank, in Church Stretton, with the payment of £3. 3s. yearly to the trustees of Church Stretton school, for the aid and support of a Sunday school there. The sum of £100 is placed out on a bond, given out under the provisions of an act of parliament, passed for rebuilding St. Chad’s church, Shrewsbury, bearing interest at 4½ per cent. One moiety is paid to the trustees of the school, as before stated; and the other is carried to a separate account, called the apprentice fund, from which children are placed out as apprentices, with a premium of £4 each.
John Bridgman, by will, dated 5th October, 1796, bequeathed £100, in trust, to the minister and churchwardens of Church Stretton, to be by them placed out at interest, on such security as they should think proper, and distributed by them on the 28th of March to poor housekeepers.
Edward Phillips, jun., by will, dated 22nd of September, 1781, gave to the parish of Church Stretton the sum of £30, to be laid out in land, and the produce thereof to be given in bread to poor housekeepers. The yearly sum of £1. 10s. has been considered as a charge upon land in Church Stretton, belonging to the Rev. Robert Norgrave Pemberton, which was formerly the property of the family of Phillips.
The Rev. John Mainwaring, by will, dated 12th of May, 1800, and by a codicil, dated 5th October, 1805, directed that the sum of £100 should be invested in the purchase of stock in the public funds, the interest whereof to be applied to the relief of poor industrious persons residing in the parish as should be thought most deserving; and also £100, the interest whereof to be paid to the master of the Church Stretton school, in augmentation of his salary; and he also directed that £21 should he laid out in the purchase of stock, the interest to be paid to such person as should have the keeping of the churchyard in order, on condition that the parishioners of Church Stretton should continue the yearly payment of 8s. or 10s. hitherto allowed for that purpose. Interest is paid on these sums at 4½ per cent.
The preceding charities, amounting to £27. 1s., are carried to one general fund, of which £4 are disposed of in bread—20s. worth every St. Thomas’s day, the like sum every Easter Tuesday, and 40s. towards a distribution of eighteen pennyworth of bread three Sundays in every month, the residue being paid from the parish rates. The remainder, £23. 1s., with the money collected at the sacrament, and some voluntary additions thereto, are distributed to the poor at Easter and on St. Thomas’s day, in nearly equal proportions.
William Minton, in 1701, left £6, the interest to be distributed in bread every Christmas day. The amount of 6s. is given away in twopenny and threepenny loaves before evening service on the aforesaid day. It is stated, on the table of benefactions, that Thomas Harrison, in 1794, left £10, the interest to be given to the poor on St. Thomas’s day. Widow Owen left £1 yearly, payable from certain houses in Mardol, in Shrewsbury, to repair the west window of Stretton church. At the time the Charity Commissioners published their report, there was a surplus of upwards of £9 ready to be applied to the repair of the aforesaid window.
Andrews Thomas, saddler & harness maker
Beetlestone George, victualler, Crown Inn