842 
abradtord-on-Abon. 
(Continued from p. 255.) 
THE PAROCHIAL CHARITIES. 
THe OLtp ALMSHOUSE. 
amer<HIS is the oldest of the Charitable Institutions connected 
4 2 i with Bradford-on-Avon. No exact account can be given, it 
is believed, either of its foundation or its endowment. According 
to the ‘ Valor Ecclesiasticus’ (vol i. p. 276) the Rectory of Brad- 
ford was chargeable with £3 6s. 8d. per annum for the support of 
“twelve poor persons at Bradford, there praying for the Founder 
of the Monastery”! at Shaftesbury. This sum would be equal to 
at least ¢en times as much in the present day. It is not unlikely that 
at the Reformation out of the proceeds of the Manor of Bradford, 
which, as being the property of the dissolved Monastery at Shaftes- 
bury, then lapsed to the Crown, some provision was made for the 
maintenance of a few of those poor persons who had before, from a 
similar source, derived their support. 
These almshouses are now occupied exclusively by poor women. 
This was by no means the case originally. Many entries may be 
seen in the Burial Register which prove that poor men also shared 
originally in their benefits.2 Moreover there are now but three 
recipients of this charity. Originally without doubt, there must 
have been more ;—indeed as lately as 1786, as appears from a re- 
1 The entry is as follows,—‘‘In elimosina per sustentacionem xii pauperum 
apud Bradeford ibidem orantium pro fundatore monasterii.” 
* The following extracts from the Register prove the truth of this statement. 
It will be observed that the first is of a very early date, no Jong time after the 
Reformation :— 
1587 Septemb. John Brencke, of the almshouse, buried the 3 day. 
1611 Octob. George Blecke of the almshouse, buried the 12 day. 
1613 Novemb. John Hurle of the almshouse, Porter, buried the 26 day. 
1693 Decemb. Robert Gear of the almshouse, buried the 10 day. 
