A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



the annual elections of officers and summaries of the 

 previous year's accounts. The few vestry resolutions 

 which they entered related to the repair and cleaning 

 of the church, the renting of the glebe and the responsi- 

 bility for the maintenance of the churchyard fencing. 

 After 1761 the rectors, William Salisbury (to 1796) 

 and William Wilson (1796-1822) used the few remain- 

 ing pages to record occasional vestry minutes, notes of 

 their own and amounts collected on charitable briefs. 

 The only other surviving parish books are a volume of 

 overseers' accounts for the period 1715—49 and a later 

 parish book which was begun in 1828 but which con- 

 tained vestry minutes only from 1845.*" Thus from 

 the middle of the 1 8th century there is no record of 

 the general government of the parish. The annual 

 audit of accounts in the rector's book was not signed 

 by the parishioners present but the few vestry resolu- 

 tions were signed. It seems from these signatures that 

 normally no more than 6 persons attended the meet- 

 ings. In 1 76 1 and 1762*' 8 or 9 persons attended the 

 important meetings held to consider the repair of the 

 bridge. There were probably other vestry meetings 

 held during the year but not recorded in the rector's 

 book, for in 1724-5 the overseer mentioned in his 

 account book expenses incurred at 9 vestries. William 

 Wilson gave a patriotic lead to the parish during the 

 Napoleonic Wars, heading subscription lists for the 

 dependants of those who fell at Trafalgar and Waterloo 

 and for the relief of prisoners, and sponsoring voluntary 

 bread rationing in 1 800. In his will also he left funds 

 to provide annuities for the clerk and the beadle. 



A distinction between the various officers' accounts 

 and rates was not always maintained. In 1743 a sur- 

 veyor's deficit was met out of the churchwarden's rate, 

 and, conversely, in 1744 the surveyor was granted a 

 ^. rate and was ordered to pay any surplus to the 

 churchwarden. When Jonas Crouchman was both 

 churchwarden and constable between 1743 and 175 1, 

 the surplus of one of his accounts was allowed to 

 balance a deficiency in the other. In 1739 ^ ^^^^ °^ 

 id. in the pound produced just over {j:)\ the rateable 

 value of the parish had only advanced to ;£86o by 

 1 803 .82 In 1 840 a new valuation was made by order of 

 the Ongar Union, when the rateable value was fixed at 

 almost j^2, 1 80.83 This had risen tOj^2,452 by 1874.** 

 The usual officers were appointed at Easter and 

 Christmas and often remained in office for more than 

 a year at a time. A woman occasionally served as sur- 

 veyor or overseer. In 1673 a scale of expenses was 

 fixed for journeys made by parish officers. Regular 

 payments were made to the parish doctor from 1 74 1. 

 The average annual expenditure on poor relief in 

 the second half of the 17th century was ^25. This had 

 risen to about /lOo by 1749 when the detailed over- 

 seers' accounts ceased. In the overseers' account book 

 (1715-49), each overseer kept his accounts in two 

 sections called the 'standing' and the 'bye' collections; 

 the former contained the regular weekly pensions, the 

 latter all other payments. Information about parish 

 expenditure on the poor after 1749 depends on sum- 

 maries given in official returns. In 1776 the cost of 



poor relief was ^^105.85 In the three years 1783-5 the 

 average annual cost was (j.\o.'^*' In the year 1 801-2 

 the cost was ;^38o.8' This was not exceeded until 

 18 12-13 when nearly ;^56o or the equivalent of a rate 

 of I3J'. in the pound was spent.^* In December 1800, 

 following a royal proclamation, the vestry agreed to a 

 form of bread rationing reducing consumption by 25 

 per cent. The same meeting also agreed to offer 

 encouragement 'to render their poor industrious' by 

 providing them with wool for spinning and allowing 

 them to retain their earnings in full. In 1828 and 1829 

 meetings were held nearly every month, with the over- 

 seer presiding, to hear requests for clothing, footwear, 

 and medical attention. Few of these requests were 

 refused.*' After 1829 the meetings became less 

 frequent and finally ceased in 1835. 



The overseer's accounts for 1726 included a bill for 

 ;^I9 for building a parish house. In 1809 'the able 

 young persons who had been occupying three of the 

 parish houses rent-free to the exclusion of widows and 

 old poor people who had to be furnished with rooms 

 at the parish expense' were ordered to give up pos- 

 session or pay a weekly rent of \s. In 1840 there were 

 two parish cottages at Padlers End.'" They were sold 

 in 1856. 



In 1836 Moreton became part of the Ongar Poor 

 Law Union. 



In 1807 there were two private day schools in 

 Moreton, both of them elementary. In 

 SCHOOL one a master taught some 28 children, 

 mostly boys, of whom 9 had their fees paid 

 by benefactors. In the other a dame taught some 37 

 children, mostly girls, the fees of 17 of whom were 

 similarly paid. The rector, William Wilson, was 

 troubled because both teachers appeared to be non- 

 conformists; he himself had tried unsuccessfully to 

 establish a Sunday school. «' By 181 8 there were a 

 Sunday school and a day school with more than 20 

 pupils, under the control of Wilson and the Rector of 

 High Laver; only one of the two earlier day schools 

 seems to have survived.'^ Meanwhile Wilson was 

 planning to build a permanent schoolroom. He col- 

 lected subscriptions'^ and, in his will of 1 821, provided 

 for its endowment. Having redeemed the Land Tax 

 of ;^2 3 ^. a year on his living, he directed that this 

 sum should be paid annually by future rectors for the 

 support of the school. He made further arrangements 

 which resulted in ^^400 3 per cent. Reduced Annuities 

 being added to the endowment. He required that the 

 teachers should be Anglicans and should teach Church 

 doctrine to their pupils. 'I do not', he wrote, 'feel dis- 

 posed to allow more than £22 a. year for the master's 

 salary.' The education was to be elementary and fees 

 were to be paid, if the parents could afford them.''' 



In 1 82 1 the school was built on a site, purchased for 

 j^l5, on the north of the Fyfield road, about 300 yds. 

 west of the church. Subscribers nominated pupils in 

 numbers proportionate to the amount of their sub- 

 scription, but any Moreton child could attend by right.'' 

 There were 62 pupils in 1828, 76 in 1833, 70 in 1835, 

 and 56 in 1846-7.'* Most pupils paid !</. a week; a 



»o E.R.O., D/P 72/1 2 i ibid. D/P 72/8/2. 

 ■ 8' Sec below. 



*' Retm.Exp.anJMaint. of Poor, H. C. 

 175, p. 160 (1803-4), xiii. 

 «3 E.R.O., D/P 72/1 1/2. 

 ** E.R.O., D/P 72/1 i/i. 

 S5 E.R.O., e/CR i/i. w Ibid. 



8' E.R.O., C/CR 1/9. 



88 Ibid. 



89 E.R.O., D/P 72/8/2. 

 «» E.R.O., D/CT 244. 

 '■ E.R.O., D/AEM 2/4. 



92 Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, p. 262 

 (i8i9),ix{.). 



93 Inscription on present school build- 

 ing, 1952. 



»4 E.R.O., D/P 72/25/1. 



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

 pp. 230-2(1835), xxi(i). 



96 Nal. Soc. Rep. 1828, p. 70; Educ. 

 Enquiry Ahitr. H.C. 62, p. 283 (1835), 

 xli ; Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Church Schools, 

 1846-7, pp. 12-13. 



138 



