LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

The halimote of Standish was recorded c. 1190, when it acted as witness to a deed. (fn. 62) Standish manor court was recorded in 1535, (fn. 63) and the profits from it, including pannage and heriots, were a considerable part of the issues of the manor, over £7, in 1540. (fn. 64) Two courts were held each year in the mid 16th century; (fn. 65) rolls survive from two courts of 1682, (fn. 66) there are transcripts of 24 courts in the period 1597-1614 when up to 4 courts were held each year, (fn. 67) and there are drafts of 2 courts in 1671 and of 47 courts, usually 2 each year, in the period 1730-58. In the last group there are few agricultural presentments or agricultural orders, the presentment of nuisances becomes perfunctory, and of default of suit purely formal. (fn. 68)

By 1498 Standish and its dependent chapelries had each its own pair of churchwardens. (fn. 69) Churchwardens' accounts survive from 1642, with a gap from 1685 to 1735, overseers' accounts from 1717, and surveyors' accounts from 1764. (fn. 70) In the 18th century and early 19th the overseers relieved the poor not only with cash payments but also by paying rents, buying coal, food, and clothes, and paying for house-repairs; they also paid for apprenticing and for medical treatment from time to time. Some of the poor were housed in parish houses, probably in the building that later became the school. (fn. 71)

The office of surveyor of highways was held by one man at a time for a number of years. (fn. 72) The parish was divided into three tithings: (fn. 73) Colethrop tithing was treated as part of Hardwicke for purposes of taxation, (fn. 74) and contributed to the Hardwicke constable's rate; (fn. 75) Putloe tithing, including Standish Moreton, had its own constable in 1716, (fn. 76) who may have had authority also in the part of Putloe in Moreton Valence; Oxlinch tithing, three times as large as each of the others, included Pitchcombe, Standish Court, and Little Haresfield. (fn. 77)

The parish became part of the Wheatenhurst Poor Law Union in 1835 (fn. 78) and of the Wheatenhurst highway district in 1863. (fn. 79) It was transferred to the Gloucester Rural District in 1935. (fn. 80)

Footnotes