LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Witney Manor Court
A court for Witney manor, including its outlying settlements, existed probably before the foundation of Witney
borough in the 12th or early 13th century. Following the
establishment of a separate borough court and view, (fn. 1)
inhabitants of Crawley, Curbridge, and Hailey continued
to attend the manor court and twice-yearly tourn or view
of frankpledge, held presumably, as later, in the bishop's
manor house at Witney. At first they belonged apparently to a single tithing of 'Upland', comprising all those
outside the borough, (fn. 2) but the three townships were occasionally called tithings from the 13th century, (fn. 3) and by the
late 14th each formed a distinct tithing with its own
officers. (fn. 4) In 1208–9 Upland tithing collectively paid 10s.
at the court 'pro pace habenda', probably exemption
from attendance at the lord's view, (fn. 5) and in succeeding
years it paid 13s. 4d. (fn. 6) By the 1240s it paid 26s. 8d. at each
of the two annual views, of which Crawley tithing's share
was 3s. 8d. by the 16th century. (fn. 7) The payments, variously
called fixed view, tithingpenny, and tithing silver, continued in the 18th century and probably until the 20th. (fn. 8)
In the 13th century the court baron met theoretically
every three weeks, and the tourn around Hockday and
Martinmas. (fn. 9) In the earlier 14th century there were up to
eight court sessions a year besides the two tourns, (fn. 10) but in
the later 14th century and the 15th possibly only two. (fn. 11)
By the 16th century the court baron was usually
combined with the tourn, meeting twice a year around
April and October. (fn. 12) Occasional interim courts, dealing
chiefly with copyholds, and for which the lord's steward
received a special fee, were held by the 17th century, but
admissions and surrenders of holdings were often made
out of court and were merely ratified at the Hockday or
Martinmas session, which by then was called simply a
view or court leet. (fn. 13) In the 1790s no courts met for several
years, (fn. 14) but May and Michaelmas or Martinmas sessions
continued in the early 19th century, when dinners were
provided for the 20–30 copyholders and others usually
attending. (fn. 15) The May session was abandoned in 1847 as
too expensive, but the Martinmas session and dinner
continued until 1925, by which time the combined court
and view was often called the 'Hailey court', presumably
because Hailey, which retained the largest proportion of
copyhold land, dominated its business. (fn. 16) The court
continued to meet at Mount House (the former manor
house) in Witney until the mid 19th century, after which
it met usually in the Fleece or Marlborough Hotels or in
the town hall; in the late 19th and early 20th century
proceedings still included perambulation of a tree in the
Mount House grounds. (fn. 17)
Court Business
In 1301–2 small fines levied in the manor court totalled
27s., those from the Martinmas view 11s., and those at
Hockday 56s. 1d. Entry and marriage fines yielded £16, (fn. 18)
suggesting that then, as later, the courts' chief business
was conveyancing of assart and other copyhold land,
though medieval courts dealt also with agricultural and
minor criminal offences, with regulation of baking and
brewing, and in 1379 with a tenant's claim to free
status. (fn. 19) Occasional licences to leave the manor (fn. 20) were
presumably also issued in the court. Business in the 16th
and 17th centuries included agricultural regulation,
maintenance of roads and watercourses, encroachments
on the waste, and subletting; (fn. 21) in 1597 the tithings were
fined for not practising archery, and about 1608 Crawley's inhabitants were presented for allowing the stocks
to decay. (fn. 22) From the later 18th century the court dealt
almost exclusively with copyholds and election of
officers, (fn. 23) most other responsibilities having by then
passed to other bodies.
Medieval courts presumably elected tithingmen, and
perhaps also the rent-collectors, reeves, warrener, and
woodward mentioned occasionally from the 14th
century. (fn. 24) In the 16th century and still in the 18th the
Martinmas tourn elected a constable and a tithingman
for Crawley, as for the other townships, (fn. 25) but other
officers were appointed at Witney vestry or at a separate
meeting in Hailey. (fn. 26)
Parish Government and Parish Officers
Crawley seems not to have had an independent vestry or
parish assembly before the late 19th century, its parish
officers being elected in the 16th and 17th centuries by
Witney vestry (which inhabitants of all the rural townships attended), and later by a joint assembly with
Hailey. (fn. 27) A surveyor of highways for Crawley was
appointed occasionally in the late 16th century and
regularly from the mid 17th, (fn. 28) and in the 1640s Hailey
and Crawley shared three collectors or overseers of the
poor; one may have acted for Crawley alone, since the
township probably already administered its own poor
relief. (fn. 29) Presumably there were also agricultural officers
to oversee the common fields, but none are recorded,
and in 1759 Crawley and Hailey were said to share parish
officers, who were 'alternately chosen out of each'. (fn. 30)
By the 16th century Crawley, like the other townships, paid rates towards repairs of Witney church, (fn. 31) and
apparently shared with Hailey a churchwarden
appointed in Witney vestry. From 1761 Crawley inhabitants were presumably also rated towards repairs of the
newly built Hailey chapel, and from 1837 the Hailey
churchwarden exercised responsibility for Crawley's
own new chapel. (fn. 32) After Hailey-cum-Crawley became a
separate ecclesiastical parish in 1854, Crawley shared
two churchwardens appointed by a joint vestry
meeting, though in the early 20th century the vestry
sometimes also appointed sidesmen for Crawley or
Hailey alone. (fn. 33) The township had no parish property
until inclosure of its commons in 1853, when the
churchwardens and overseers received 9 a. on the
township's western edge as poor allotments. (fn. 34)
Under the Local Government Act of 1894 Crawley, by
then counted a separate civil parish, became part of the
new Witney rural district, residual local powers being
presumably vested in a new parish council or meeting. In
1974, like the rest of the former Witney parish, it became
part of West Oxfordshire district. (fn. 35)
Poor Relief
Crawley administered its own poor relief probably by
the 17th century when it shared overseers with Hailey, (fn. 36)
and certainly by the 1770s, when average annual expenditure was around £32–£34. (fn. 37) As elsewhere expenditure
rose sharply in the late 18th and early 19th century,
distress in the 1790s perhaps provoking an attack by
local labourers on a prominent Crawley farmer; (fn. 38) by
1802–3, when 18 adults and 46 children received
permanent out-relief and 63 others occasional relief,
expenditure was £317, (fn. 39) and the following year the overseer advertised for a contractor to administer poor
relief. (fn. 40) Expenditure remained above £255 in 1813–15,
when 10–12 adults received out-relief and 6 or 7 others
were accommodated in a workhouse, presumably a
rented cottage or outbuilding; in 1818 a woman was
imprisoned for misbehaviour in the workhouse, and
another for refusing work. The parish rate of 9s. in the
pound in 1802–3, though less than in Witney's other
townships, was above average for the area, and expenditure by head of population (40s. in 1802–3 and over 50s.
in 1816–18) was often exceptionally high, far exceeding
that in Witney itself. By 1817 annual expenditure was
almost £600, and although in 1823 it was again under
£200 it rose intermittently until the 1830s. (fn. 41)
From 1834 responsibility passed to the new Witney
union, for which Crawley continued to elect two
overseers. (fn. 42) From 1853 the churchwardens and
overseers also administered new poor allotments on the
parish's western edge. (fn. 43)