ig EP RD atte centres Sar 
By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 343 
turn made to the House of Commons in that year, there would 
seem to have been four alms-women. 
When the Charity Commissioners visited Bradford, in 1834, 
they enquired into the truth of some traditions that then prevailed, 
(as they do to the present day) not only as to the much larger 
number who formerly received relief from this source, but as to 
there being a chapel, and a chaplain attached to it, who received 
£10 as a yearly stipend. They state, as the result of their en- 
quiries, that though they could obtain no satisfactory oral or docu- 
mentary evidence in proof of the truth of such traditions, yet that 
there was every reason to believe ‘that a bell had been taken from 
what is described as the chapel, and carried to Winsley Church, 
where it is supposed yet to remain.” They also give it as their 
opinion that some loads of stone were taken from the Alms-house 
premises, about the year 1794, for the purpose of mending the 
roads, such a statement having been expressly made to them by 
“one George Price, who drove the team on the occasion.” 
Though there might be the absence of clear evidence on the sub- 
ject, there is every probability that there is more truth in the 
traditions of the old people of Bradford than the Charity Commis- 
sioners seemed willing to allow. The fact of there being at the 
time of the Reformation two Chantry Priests attached to the parish 
church, each with a stipend of £10 yearly, may give some little 
explanation of part of the tradition, though a mistake may have 
been made as to the precise ‘chaplain,’ who received it. Moreover 
that there was a chapel is quite clear. Aubrey who wrote two hun- 
dred years ago expressly mentions it. It is spoken of also in the 
Terrier, which contains an account of the property of the Alms- 
house at the beginning of the last century. In a map moreover 
of Wiltshire, published in 1773 by Messrs. Andrews and Dury, a 
spot is distinctly marked as,—“ The Chapel.” 
The only document relating to the original property of the 
Alms-house is an ancient parchment writing or terrier, which was 
produced, by the then Steward of the Lord of the Manor, before 
the Charity Commissioners, in 1834. They give in their report a 
complete copy of this document. It is entitled,—“ An account 
