Astley Estate Charities.—The estate at Astley consists of a farm house with outbuildings and lands, containing together 120a. 3r. 27p., let at a yearly rental of £100. The following legacies are mentioned in a book containing an account of the Charities of the parish, as having been laid out on the estate. Benjamin Muckleston gave £40, the interest to be expended in coats for poor boys; Susanah Loxon £200, for a weekly distribution of bread; Elias Evans, £20; William Peers, £20; and Elizabeth Hamer, £20, also for a distribution of bread. Thomas Bright, in 1730, gave £20 per annum, payable to the minister of Astley, for preaching every Lord’s day throughout the year. There is a sum of £260, the produce of the sale of timber cut on the Astley estate in 1804, which is secured on the Shrewsbury House of Industry, and for which interest is paid at the rate of five per cent. Out of the rents and interest above mentioned, being £113 per annum, there is paid £20 to the chapelwardens of Astley; £3 for the repairs of the chapel; £3. 9s. 5d. for land tax and chief rent; £2 for purchasing four coats for poor boys, and the remainder is carried to the general charity account for a distribution of bread.
William Spurtson bequeathed £100 which was expended in the purchase of a rent charge of £6 per annum, issuing out of certain messuages in Burleton. The amount is carried to the general charity account hereafter mentioned. Rowland Newett bequeathed £10; John Lloyd, £10; Richard Mather, £20; John Dodd, £20, for a distribution of bread—and a further sum of £10, given by an unknown donor, with the above is carried to the general charity account. There is also a sum of £200 secured on the Church of St. Chad, which was lent from an accumulation of charity money. The surplus of the produce of the several charities before mentioned, not specifically applied, is carried to one general account, and disposed of chiefly in bread. There is also, occasionally, a sum of money distributed by the churchwardens.
Nathaniel Tench, in 1674, conveyed the lands and tithes of the farm and grange of Crow Meole, in trust, to pay the yearly proceeds to the minister of St. Chad’s, on condition that he preached an anniversary sermon on the 6th of June, yearly, being the birth-day of the said N. Tench; and in case the minister should refuse or neglect to preach the said sermon, or should not reside, or not personally officiate in the said parish, then the rents and profits thereof should be distributed among the poor of St. Chad’s parish. The value is about £160 per annum.
Lost Charities.—Eleanor Griffith gave £40; John Atkins, £20; Thomas Clemson, £10; Elizabeth Forster, £30; Mary Bowdewin, £20; and Mrs. Pigott, £20. Up to the year 1747, the interest of the several benefactions above mentioned was paid out of the churchwardens’ account. Subsequent to the year 1747, a considerable sum was for many years disposed of annually in bread, but it does not appear from what benefactions such bread was provided; and from this period there is no distinct trace of the several gifts above mentioned. Mary Pelton left £2. 10s., yearly, and Hester Lloyd bequeathed £100; it appears that formerly apprentice fees were paid from the interest of this money, the last was in the year 1755. There is now no evidence to shew how the capital has been appropriated.
John Evans, in 1844, bequeathed £150, in trust, to the minister and churchwardens of St. Chad’s, and directed the interest to be distributed among poor persons, not receiving parochial relief.
The Rev. Richard Scott, B.D., in 1848, bequeathed £300, in trust, to the minister of St. Chad’s, to apply the interest yearly, in purchasing coals for the necessitous poor of the parish.
PARISH OF HOLY CROSS.
Charities.—St. Giles’ Hospital, situated near St. Giles’ Church, was originally established for the reception of persons afflicted with leprosy. Henry II., for the support of the hospitallers, granted 30s. yearly out of the rent of the county of Salop, and a handful of two hands of every sack of corn, and a handful of one hand of every sack of flour exposed for sale in Shrewsbury market. Henry III., in 1232, gave a horse load of wood, daily, from his wood of Lythwood. The right of nominating the inmates of the hospital is exercised by the Earl of Tankerville, and the following payments are made to them by one of his lordship’s agents:—To each of the four inmates, 1s. 6d. per week; 3s. at midsummer for coals; and 12s. 6d. at Christmas for a garment
Peter Langley, in 1650, gave £200 for charitable uses, and John and Jonathan Langley bequeathed £100 for the same purpose. These gifts were laid out in the purchase of lands and premises in Castle Foregate, which produced an income of £82 per annum at the time the Charity Commissioners published their report. The amount is distributed in sums, varying from 2s. to 10s., among the most aged and needy parishioners.
Mathusalem Jones charged an estate at Underdale with the payment of so much money, as should furnish five coats for men and five garments for women, to be given to ten paupers every 5th of November.