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The parish poor house

The building that was once the Nonnington Parish Poor, or Work, House is on the west side of Church Street, closest to the school. Purchased by the Parish for use as a poor house in 1777 from a Mr. Knott for £100, the premise and accompanying land was once quite extensive, forming an rectangle enclosed by banks, dating from possibly medieval times, and presently occupied by the houses and gardens of that part of Church Street. The money for the purchase and necessary alterations was at the time borrowed from a Mr. Bushell, who was not repaid the capital sum until the 1820’s.

 

 
The system of poor relief originated early in the reign of Elizabeth I, consolidating Acts of Parliament of 1597 and 1601 established the civil parish as the administrators of the Poor Law, ordering annual elections by the parish vestry, usually at Easter, of an overseer of the poor empowered to raise revenue from local rates (or ‘assessments’) and answerable to the parish vestry, the predecessor of the modern Parish Council who in Nonnington usually met at the White Horse (now Church House) then in Church Street, and the Justices of the Peace. Overseers usually served for one year without recompense and could be fined for refusing to serve as Vestry members were expected to serve in rotation.

Landowners, householders and occupiers liable to pay had their property assessed by the overseer for a rentable value on which the rate was charged, these rates were usually set, in Nonnington, at between 2/- (10 pence) and 3/- (15 pence) in the pound. In the late 18th and early 19th century Nonington’s biggest rate payer was W. Hammond Esq. of St. Albans Court. Householders with rateable values below a certain level or who were in receipt of assistance from the parish were exempt.

After an 1819 Act of Parliament amending previous Acts a Vestry meeting empowered a committee of twelve prominent people to administer the Poor house and appoint an over-seer. This committee meet on alternate Thursdays at the White Horse commencing 3rd June 1819 at either ‘eleven of the clock in the fore-noon’ or at ‘six of the clock in the afternoon’. No excuse was accepted for a member to miss a meeting, the penalty was one shilling for missing a morning meeting, and sixpence for missing an evening one. When the Hawks Head, as the White Horse became in 1826, closed in early 1832 the meetings were held at the Royal Oak.

By the early 1820’s the building was overcrowded and in 1822 or 1823 the Parish Vestry had six additional cottages built at the southern end of the property by Messrs. Spanton, Nash and Maxted, local bricklayers and carpenters at a cost of about £185. At about the same time the main Poorhouse building was converted into eight cottages, the idea being that the some of the poor, especially families, would be more able to support themselves if the were able to occupy their own cottage.

When the special Vestry was instituted in 1819 the following allowances were paid to the poor:

A married man with a wife but no child; 9/- per week.

A married man with a wife with up to three children; 9/- plus 2/- per child per week.

A married man with a wife with more than three children; 9/- plus 3/- per child up to three, over three children 1/6d per additional child per week.

In the 1820’s Mr. Clarinbould and his wife, both weavers, took over the running of the house on a salary and the house began to produce woven goods, such as hop pockets, for sale locally, items such as sacking would have ready market. Later, it was decided to farm out the running of the house, the overseer contracted to feed and clothe the inmates for 4/8d per week per head, in return he was to receive the income they generated from what they produced and being hired out, however, safeguards were put in place to prevent their being unfairly exploited.

Occupants of the Poor house usually numbered between fifty and sixty, between Lady Days (25th March) 1824 and 1825 61 persons ,including children , were maintained by the Parish at an average cost of 4/8 per head, this amounted to nearly fifteen percent of the inhabitants of the parish. Other parishioners were in receipt of money from the Parish for varying periods, usually due to illness or unemployment, and assistance was given to unmarried mothers and widows. It was the elderly and infirmed or orphans who usually occupied the Poor house.

Able bodied paupers, males, adult and child, were employed on work for the Parish such as road mending or in the Poor houses gardens, or they were hired out to wealthier parishioners at fixed rates. Initially adult paupers employed by the Parish received around 2/- per day, boys around 6d per day which they were allowed to keep, later this was kept by the overseer if they were resident in the Poor House. During periods of high unemployment, wealthier local inhabitants had to employ people on poor relief, the number they employed being calculated on the amount of rates they paid.

Females were employed in the House or hired out as servants with the Parish providing young girls going into service with an outfit of clothing whilst young males were apprenticed with the Parish providing the necessary funds. Medical and nursing assistance were paid for by the Parish as were burial expenses.

The Poorhouse inmates were reasonably well fed, records of out goings show purchases of beef, pork, fresh fish and vegetables as well as food and livestock from the Houses own land, pigs being raised on the premises to a large weight, payments for their slaughtering and butchering are frequent and well recorded, other bills for cheese and butter for the inmates as well as payments for their shaving appear on a regular basis.

The Vestry minutes book shows clearly written instructions to those running the House that any persons entering therein should be washed and given good, clean clothing and be fed good wholesome food and that those inmates leaving the house should also be clean and well clad.

Some paupers were given financial assistance to emigrate. On 25th March 1830 John Plumptre Esq. loaned the Vestry the sum of £115.0.0. for the purpose of sending some poor parishioners to North America, most likely by this time Canada, the debt to be repaid by the Parish at the rate of £15 p.a. plus £4 per cent p.a. Some years later, in May 1849, the Treasurer of the Eastry Union, which Nonington became a part in 1834, granted the Parish Vestry permission to grant money to ‘facilitate the emigration’ to Adelaide, Australia, of some poor parishioners. The Parish Clerk, Mr. Henry Spanton, on receipt of Colonial and Land Unification Office Licences Nos. 16141 and 16157 accordingly advanced the sum of £2.0.0. each to brothers William and George Coombes, aged 28 and 20 respectively. Other single men given assistance to emigrate to Adelaide, were labourers Richard Makey, 28, Henry Morris, 26, George Kelton ,19, and carpenter Charles Cast, 20, but requests from some married men with families were refused.

After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 parishes were formed into Unions with the responsibility to look after the poor. Nonnington became part of the Eastry Union whose work house still stands on the western outskirts of Eastry, serving as a hospital until its recent closure. Each parish sent its poor to ‘the Spike’, as the workhouse was better known, with the costs of looking after them being met by rates levied on the Unions composite parishes. Nonington Vestry was eventually allowed to sell the its properties it owned to clear the large debts attached to them.

A note in the parish vestry book records the properties as: "The late workhouse now converted into six cottages, also six other cottages and two other cottages, each of the cottages has a good garden of 20 perches(one eighth of an acres or 605 sq. yards) except the last two (in Esole St.) which have no garden" and on November 3rd 1836 they were auctioned by Messrs. White and Gauldon, Auctioneers with the late workhouse making £150.00 and the six nearby cottages in Church Street £220. The old Poor House premises were recorded as Poor House Cottages on the tithe map of 1839 as belonging to Mr Spanton and then consisting of fourteen occupied cottages, eight in the main building and the six adjacent cottages.

The eight cottages in Church Street Row first appear on the land between the main house and the cottages on the later 1859 Parish map. The row of thatched cottages were partly demolished in the early 1960’s, and the remains became the house next to the late 1970’s bungalow, Jubilee, which was built on the rest of the site.
 

the rear (the Church Street road side) of the row. The boy in the bottom left hand corner is believed to be the late Frank Harrison.

The privies for the Poor Cottages were situated on the garden in the gap between the cottages and Church Street Row.

 
 

 

The picture on the right shows the front of the Church Street cottages, the girl in the picture is Mrs. Kath Smith, nee Harrison, who was born in the row and still lives in the parish. the picture on the left shows the rear of the row with Church Street on the right of the picture and the 1930’s houses in just behind Mrs. Smith’s right shoulder. Both views are looking towards the Church.
 

 

Floor plans of poor house cottages, church street
 

The Poor House cottages, opposite the present Harvey House in Easole Street, as they were in the late 1920’s when they were used for storage by John Harvey, the seed merchants, who had extensive premises on several sites nearby. Two of these, a barn and the malt house can be seen in the left back-ground.

 
 
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