LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
In 1279 land held
of Manners manor owed suit for that manor to
the county and hundred courts. Its overlord, the
bishop of Ely, who had since 1255 taken from
that manor wardpennies once rendered to the
sheriff, (fn. 82) was in 1297 holding courts, whose
juries presented nuisances, at Teversham. (fn. 83) In
1279 the chief tenant of the Richmond fee owed
suit to that honor's court, held at Babraham, (fn. 84)
which in the mid 1330s was exercising the assize
of ale at Teversham. (fn. 85) Jurisdiction remained formally attached to that honor from the 15th century to the 19th. (fn. 86) In 1810 John Pickett claimed
to hold a court leet for Warbletons and
Bassingbourns manors. (fn. 87)
For Dengaines manor court rolls survive for
courts baron between 1496 and 1669 and in
1693, (fn. 88) and court books from 1623 to 1857. (fn. 89)
Besides handling tenurial business relating to
freeholds and copyholds, that court was by 1558
making and enforcing agricultural regulations.
In the 17th century and later, inheritance of
copyhold by the youngest son under 'Borough
English' was recorded as the custom of that
manor. (fn. 90) From the mid 17th century its courts,
meeting usually between April and June, but
sometimes irregularly, were devoted mainly to
copyhold transfers, and sometimes had no
business.
The village had its own 'town land' by 1490. (fn. 91)
In 1665 Teversham's parish officers were
involved in apprenticing children. (fn. 92) The cost of
poor relief rose sevenfold from £26 in 1776 to
£187 in 1803, when 14 adults received outside
relief, (fn. 93) and in the early 19th century was usually
between £135 and £205. In 1815, when it had
briefly fallen to £105, nine people were still
regularly, and eight more occasionally, assisted.
Such expenditure was usually above the average
cost per head for the hundred. (fn. 94) From 1836
Teversham belonged to Chesterton poor-law
union, (fn. 95) and from 1894 to Chesterton rural district, with which it was merged in 1974 into
South Cambridgeshire district. (fn. 96)
By the late 19th century the vestry met
monthly in the church or schoolroom, with ratepayers reinforcing the parish officers by the
1870s, to handle routine parish business, (fn. 97)
such as scouring watercourses and in 1889
opposing encroachments on the village green.
By 1890 the vestry was denouncing overcrowded
housing. (fn. 98) The vestry, which in 1863 had mortgaged the rates for £400, not fully repaid until
1883, to repair the church, was still levying
church rates in the early 1880s; that raised in
1886 was voluntary. (fn. 99) After 1894, no parish
council being then formally established, the
vestry continued work as a parish meeting. (fn. 1) In
1919 its advice was sought on sites for six council
houses. (fn. 2)