Charities.—John Grove, by will, dated 10th of December, 1616, bequeathed a yearly stipend of £10 to the schoolmaster of Alveley, and a like yearly payment of £10, to have continuance for ever, to be distributed among five poor aged and impotent men. For the establishing of these yearly stipends, the executors purchased a messuage, with the appurtenances, called Longhurst, situated in Ledbury and Eastnor, in Herefordshire, which contained 74a. 2r. 4p. of land, and which was exchanged with Charles Lord Somers in the year 1793 for certain lands in Alveley parish, containing 111a. 0r. 27p. of land, which was held at the time the Charity Commissioners published their report at a rent of £73 per annum. The schoolmaster’s stipend was increased in 1800 to £20, and has since been augmented to £25, with a house rent free, and an allowance of two loads of coal; and five poor men of Alveley receive from this charity a yearly stipend of £6 each.
Thomas Grove, in 1743, left certain lands, comprising 31a. 3r. 0p., upon trust, that the annual rents and profits should be divided among the poor of the parish of Alveley. The land is let to several tenants, at a rent of £42 per annum.
This parish participates in the charity of Mr. William Seabright, who, by his will, dated 1620, gave certain premises, the rents thereof to be employed towards the relief of the poor of several parishes in Worcester, Stafford, and Salop, of which Alveley is one. The parish receives from the charity money wherewith to distribute fourteen pennyworth of bread every Sunday, which is given among the poor.
James Bowen, by will, dated 1st April, 1715, gave to the poor of Alveley the sum of £6, to be put forth at interest by the churchwardens, and the proceeds to be applied to the purchase of good books, to be distributed to the poor families of the parish. About thirty years ago this charity was lost, in consequence of the bankruptcy of the person in whose hands it was placed.
George Garbett, by will, dated 19th June, 1758, bequeathed £100, to be put out at interest, which was to be disposed of on the 1st of January every year to such poor persons of the parish of Alveley as should not receive parochial relief.
Humphrey Dovey, in 1700, left £20, the interest thereof to be distributed among the poor of the parish in bread. In respect of which forty-three penny loaves are distributed on Good Friday, and forty on St. Thomas’s day.
Arthur Arden left a piece of land, containing two acres and a half, the profits of which were to be expended in bell ropes (when required) for the use of the parish church. At the time the Charity Commissioners published their report the land was let at a rent of £6 per annum. It is said the land was given to the parish clerk on condition that he should find bell ropes, but the original conveyance, which had been kept in the church chest, was lost about fifty years ago; and it appears that for more than 100 years the rents of the land have been received by the parish clerk for his own use, and he has provided the bell ropes as they were wanted.
Thomas Russell, in 1842, gave the sum of £40, and directed the interest to be appropriated for the benefit of poor parishioners.
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