- 
ni i lille ie etre, 
By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 348 
executed. It sets forth, that in consideration of the annual rent of £11, the 
alms-house conveyed to the Canal Company land (therein described) to the 
extent of nearly three acres. This agreement is executed by the Commissioners 
under the Act, and the rent has ever since been regularly paid.” 
In the year 1834, P. Methuen, Esq. (soon afterwards created 
Lord Methuen) then Lord of the Manor, is stated to have agreed 
to grant a lease of the garden opposite to them, and hitherto form- 
ing part of their property, to a Gas Company, at the yearly rent 
of £10. This lease, however, the Charity Commissioners tell us, 
was never executed. They say,—writing at the time of the ne- 
gotiation,— 
“‘The Company purposes, instead of paying the rent of £10, to erect houses 
of a superior order for the alms-women on that part of the premises let to them, 
which is not occupied by their own buildings. This proposal it is intended to 
accept, as the site of the present alms-houses, from its nearness to the canal, 
will let well for stables, and the arrangement will prove very beneficial to the 
Charity.” 
Like many other good intentions, this one was never carried into 
effect. The annual rent of £10 has been paid regularly by the 
Gas Company. 
In comparing the present possessions of the Alms-house with 
those recorded as belonging to it in 1702, it appears that a large 
proportion of the land has since then been lost. In a pamphlet re- 
cently published, on “The Charities of Bradford-on-Avon,” an 
attempt has been made, and not, it is hoped, unsuccessfully, to 
identify the various portions of land which belonged to the Alms- 
house at the commencement of the last century, but which have 
since that time passed into other hands. 
The present income of this Charity is rather more than £45 per 
annum. ‘Till recently, in consequence of reduction of rent for 
premises held under the Alms-house, the income was about £10 
more. 
In 1786, according to a return furnished pursuant to Act of 
Parliament (26 Grorer III. c. 51) by the then Churchwardens, 
Messrs. Thomas Bush and Richard Taylor, the property is said to 
have been vested in the Lord of the Manor, and to consist of a net 
sum of £16 1s. 4d., issuing from rent of land. This return con- 
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