LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
The court of the Prior
of Great Malvern had unusually full jurisdiction. In
1248 it was said that the township did not participate
with the hundred; (fn. 89) in 1276 the free tenants and 4
men and the reeve of Longney were said to have
withdrawn their suit from the hundred court 30
years earlier, and the prior claimed wreck in
Longney. (fn. 90) Under the king's charter of 1266 to
Westminster Abbey and its cells the prior in 1287
claimed and established liberties in Longney including view of frankpledge, waif, fines for licence
of concord, felons' and fugitives' goods, pleas de
vetito namio, quittance of shire and hundred, gallows,
and tumbril. The Abbot of Pershore failed to
establish his right to the view of frankpledge of his
tenants in Longney, which the Prior of Great
Malvern said had been subtracted from his court
three years earlier, and the view of those tenants was
granted to the prior. (fn. 91)
Proceedings of the court leet are recorded in books
covering the period 1735-1920. (fn. 92) In the early 16th
century copyholds were granted at courts held in
March-April or September-October, suggesting
that a court baron was held only at the same time as
the twice-yearly court leet. (fn. 93) In the 18th century
courts baron were held from time to time other than
in conjunction with the court leet, which was held
in October at intervals of up to ten years. Until
1787, however, the courts described as leets are
shown in the court books as conducting only copyhold business, except in 1756, when the jury made a
presentment about a pool-rate and a crib-rate to
meet the expenses of the pool-reeves. (fn. 94) Draft
proceedings of the court in 1785, however, show that
leet business was done; they record that the suitors
were negligent in coming and that the last court leet
had been 'not very lately held'; (fn. 95) it had in fact been
in 1779. From 1787 there is regular record of the
appointment of a constable, hayward, tithingman,
and two pool-reeves. No tithingman's appointment
is recorded after 1804. From 1815 annual courts
leet and baron were held separately but usually on
the same day in October, and extra courts baron
were held occasionally. In the thirties the court
baron ceased to meet on the same day as the leet, (fn. 96)
which continued annually until 1920, appointing a
constable until 1842 and a hayward and pool-reeves
in 1920. From 1843 copyhold business was increasingly done outside court, and the last separate
court baron was held in 1856. (fn. 97) The court leet
continued to be held until c. 1930. (fn. 98)
Pershore Abbey had a court for its tenants in
Longney, and a roll recording copyhold business
survives for 1532. (fn. 99) Similar rolls survive for
Westminster Abbey's courts in 1707, 1710, 1733,
1749, and 1804. (fn. 1)
The parish vestry in 1731 and 1746 made a rate
for the pool-reeves for mending the cribs, and in
1733 made agricultural orders. (fn. 2) Apparently by 1756
and certainly from 1787 the pool-reeves were subject
to the manor court, as shown above, and it was to
the manor court that they rendered their account
from 1836 to 1920. (fn. 3) The vestry agreed in 1731 to
meet monthly to make distributions of poor-relief
normally made by overseers, and continued the
practice for up to 16 years; it made payments for
rent, apprenticing, clothing, and nursing, in addition
to cash allowances. By 1747, however, the vestry
had resumed the usual practice of entrusting the
administration of relief to the overseers. (fn. 4) In the late
18th century the expenditure on the poor rose
comparatively little, and was in fact less in 1783
than in 1776. From £128 in 1803, however, it rose
to over £400 in 1813. (fn. 5) In the late twenties it was c.
£200 a year but in the early thirties was over £300. (fn. 6)
In 1820 the parish built some cottages to house the
poor, and in 1830 assisted the emigration of Hester
Browning and her family to America. Perhaps in
response to the rising expenditure on the poor a
select vestry was formed in 1831, and in 1834 an
assistant overseer was appointed. (fn. 7) Longney became
part of the Wheatenhurst Union in 1835, (fn. 8) and with
the rest of the Wheatenhurst Rural District was
transferred to the Gloucester Rural District in 1935. (fn. 9)