A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



was recorded that 'T. Luck and E. Havers were chosen 

 as constables for the year 1696'." The rolls record no 

 later appointments of constables in the manor court. 



Two vestry minute-books survive." The first covers 

 the period 1648-1732. The second contains overseers' 

 accounts from 1827 to 1836 and vestry minutes from 

 1854 to 1890. 



During the period 1648-1732 meetings of the pubhc 

 vestry usually seem to have been held only at Easter in 

 each year. In only seven years in the whole of this 

 period was more than one meeting recorded and in only 

 two of these years were as many as three meetings re- 

 corded. If a resolution of 1704 was carried out, how- 

 ever, there must have existed from that time a select 

 committee which met often in each year: the vestry 

 ordered 'that there be always three persons chosen by 

 a vestry at Easter to assist the churchwardens in the re- 

 pair of the church and that the overseers of the poor and 

 constables and churchwardens shall not disburse above 

 20s. without an order of vestry or the major part of the 

 three persons with the churchwardens'. 



The vestry minutes were usually signed only when 

 there was an important resolution. The number of 

 those attending the meetings, in addition to the church- 

 wardens and overseers, usually varied between one and 

 seven but on five occasions there were more than ten. 

 The chairman was never named as such in the minutes. 

 The rector signed first when he attended the meetings, 

 but there were some important meetings which he did 

 not attend. In his absence one of the larger landowners 

 signed first. Members of the Collins family, of Lam- 

 petts, were always prominent at the meetings, and John 

 Collins often signed first, or first after the rector. 



The work of the vestry consisted mainly in nominat- 

 ing parish officers, granting rates, and approving officers' 

 accounts. There were usually two men in each office. 

 Until 1672 the overseers sometimes continued in office 

 for three or more years. After 1672 they often served 

 two years consecutively but rarely more. The church- 

 wardens and constables usually remained in office for 

 at least two years and often for much longer. The over- 

 seers, churchwardens, and constables were each granted 

 separate rates for which they accounted separately 

 throughout the period 1648-1732. Until 1672 the 

 overseers sometimes presented several years' accounts 

 at once. After 1672 they always presented annual 

 accounts. The churchwardens and constables, on the 

 other hand, occasionally presented two or even three 

 years' accounts in one until the end of the period covered 

 by the first vestry minute-book. 



In 1662-3 the constables' receipts from rates totalling 

 6ti. in the pound were ,^28 13J. 2d. This implies a 

 rateable value of about j^i, 1 50. In 1669-72, however, 

 a 2</. rate yielded ^^i i 12/. 3a'. This implies a rateable 

 value of about ^^1,394 and this continued to be the 

 rateable value until after 1690. In the period 1827-36 

 the rateable value was about j^i,750. 



In 1835 the parish owned three houses known as the 

 'Poorhouses' and for which the overseers paid to the 

 churchwardens ;^i I a year.^ 'Street House' and a house 

 on the east side of the churchyard were occupied rent- 

 free by poor women, placed there by the parish officers.' 



w Ibid. 



• E.R.O., D/P 1+4/8/1-2. Unless 

 otherwise stated all the following informa- 

 tion is derived from these minute-books. 



2 Rep. Com. Char. {Essex), H.C. 216, 

 p. 228 (1835), xxi (i); E.R.O., D/P 

 144/8/2. The church had owned 3 houses 

 since the i6th cent., if not before: see 



above, Church. Another house, called 

 Bruetts, was devised by Dr. Anthony 

 Walker in 1687 for the church clerk to 

 live in free; since 1873 this has been 

 occupied by the parish clerk : see below, 

 Charities. 



3 Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), p. 228. 



♦ E.R.O., Q/CR i/io. The number of 



It does not appear how the third house, on Cannon's 

 Green, was used, but it may have been a workhouse. 

 There is no doubt, however, that in most cases poor 

 relief was given, in various forms, outside a workhouse. 

 In 1813-15 there was no person on 'permanent rehef 

 inside a workhouse, but in each of those years there were 

 41-43 adults on permanent relief outside.'' Provision 

 for the poor was made in various ways, including the 

 binding out of paupers' children as apprentices and the 

 payment of rents and weekly doles. In 171 1 the rents 

 of 1 1 poor persons were paid, the total cost to the parish 

 being £12 14^.: in addition weekly doles, amounting to 

 ^i OS. 8</., were paid to 10 households of whom 4 also 

 had their rent paid. In one case at least, early in the 

 1 8th century, a pauper was allotted to parishioners on 

 a rota system. In 1708 it was agreed at a vestry meeting 

 that if 'Thomas Ashfeld, a poor fellow that is to go 

 about the parish by a former agreement, should fall sick 

 or lame in any place that he goes to he shall not lie alto- 

 gether upon those persons where he is present but that 

 it shall be at the charge of the whole parish'. In 1721, 

 when the same Thomas Ashfeld was put on an eight- 

 year rota of some 3 2 parishioners, there was a similar 

 resolution to the effect that 'if any sickness or lameness 

 should happen during these years it shall be at the cost 

 of the parish and likewise his clothing'. 



Under the Commonwealth the total cost of poor 

 relief usually varied between ^^i 5 and ;£2 5 a year. 

 From 1675 until 1693 it was frequently between ,^30 

 and ^^40 a year. No figures survive for 1693—6. From 

 Easter 1696 until Easter 1701, however, it averaged 

 about ^100 a year. These expensive years were fol- 

 lowed by five years in which the cost ranged between 

 ;^7i and £85 a year. In 1706-7 it rose to a new maxi- 

 mum of j^ii7. In April 1707 the vestry ordered the 

 badging of the poor according to law (8 and 9 William 

 III, c. 30 (1697)) and ordered that an inventory should 

 be made of every pauper's goods. There was a slight 

 decline, to £10^, in the cost of rehef in the following 

 year and at Easter 1708 the vestry agreed 'that if any 

 overseer in the parish shall relieve any person by a 

 weekly collection that does not wear the badge or come 

 themselves for their collection unless they are sick or 

 lame, the said overseer shall forfeit the sum of 40/.' 

 Nevertheless the cost of rehef, after remaining at ;^I03 

 for two more years, began to rise again in 1710— 1 1 and 

 in 171 5-16 reached £142. In the next year it fell again 

 to j/^103. From 1717 until 1731 it fluctuated between 

 ;^69 and ;£lo8. No figures survive for 1731-75. In 

 1776 expenses were ;^i 56 and the average for the three 

 years 1783-5 was ,£^2 6 8. 5 In 1800-1 the cost of relief 

 was ;£765. It fell to a minimum of ,^324 in 1807-8, 

 and rose to ;^6 8 3 in i8i3-i4andj^6i3 in 18 16-17.* In 

 the years 1827-3 2 it was between ;^500 and i^6oo each 

 year. It then declined to about ^{^3 50 a year in 1834-6. 

 In June 1836 Fyfield became part of the Ongar Poor 

 Law Union. 



In 1687 Dr. Anthony Walker, Rector of Fyfield, de- 

 vised a house and about J acre of land in 

 SCHOOLS Fyfield and a farm of 56 acres in High 

 Ongar, mainly for the support of a free 

 school for poor children.' For ;^8 a year and the use of 

 persons 'relieved occasionally' was 32 in 

 181 3, 37 in 1 8 14, and 29 in 1815. 

 s E.R.O., Q/CR i/i. 

 6 E.R.O., Q/CR 1/9. 

 ' Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 

 pp. 225-7 (i^SS)' ™ (')• ^°' other 

 minor charges on the charity income see 

 above. Church and, below. Charities. 



56 



