CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
Lands belonging
to Bisley parish were vested from ancient times in a
body known as the Bisley feoffees. They covered
44 a. in 1608 (fn. 59) and included the estates called
Sturmyes Court at Avenis and Stonehing at
Brown's Hill. (fn. 60) The lands produced a rental of £35
in 1689, (fn. 61) rising by the late 18th century to c. £49,
and by c. 1805, when leases for years determinable
on lives were replaced by yearly tenures, to over
£100. (fn. 62) In 1662 the feoffees agreed to allot £10 of
their income to a schoolmaster and £2 to the parish
clerk, and apply the residue to church maintenance
and the relief of the poor, discontinuing another of
the uses laid down by their trust deeds, the repair of
highways and bridges; regulations drawn up for the
administration of the charity included the appointment of one of their number each year to receive the
rents and disburse the proceeds. (fn. 63) In 1826, and
apparently from before 1750, the whole of the
residue of the income beyond the payments to
schoolmaster and clerk was being applied to church
maintenance and equipment. (fn. 64) In 1972 the whole
income was being used for church maintenance;
most of the land had by then been sold. (fn. 65)
Thomas Butler (d. 1688), son of John Butler of
Rookwood's Farm, gave a rent-charge of £1 10s.;
£1 was for bread for the poor and 10s. for a sermon
on Easter Monday but the whole was being expended
on bread in the 1820s. (fn. 66) Samuel Allen, a cordwainer
of Bisley (d. 1734), gave land in Bisley and King's
Stanley for clothing 5 windows not maintained in the
workhouse. (fn. 67) It was bringing in a rental of £6 2s. in
1785 and c. £11 in the 1820s when 10-15 widows
were clothed. (fn. 68) Before 1779 Mary Barksdale gave
£80 to which the parish added £29 and bought
land; (fn. 69) the rental of £5 was being used to buy linen
cloth in the 1780s, and calico in the 1820s when it
had risen to c. £11. A sum of £60 given by William
Wise was laid out on land before 1785 when it
produced a rent of £3. In the 1820s it was used to
buy calico. (fn. 70) Charles Ballinger of Chalford by will
dated 1798 gave 2 shares in the Stroudwater canal,
the dividends to be divided between Bisley and
Chedworth parishes and the minister of France
Meeting; in the 1820s c. £14 received by Bisley was
used to buy woollen cloth. Theyer Townsend of
Steanbridge by will dated 1801 gave £100 stock for
bread; in 1826 the principal was taken out of stock
and used with accumulations of the Ridler educational charity to buy land from which an annual
rent of £4 was received. (fn. 71) John Harvey Ollney by
will proved 1836 gave £320 stock for coal and
blankets at Christmas; the c. £5 profits were
applied from 1839. (fn. 72)
In 1957 the endowments of the Butler, Allen,
Barksdale, Wise, Ballinger, Townsend, and Ollney
charities, together with £30 stock acquired under
the will of Isaac Woodfield dated 1859, £100 stock
acquired under the will of John Paine proved 1874,
£45 stock acquired under the will of W. K. Butcher
proved 1887, £44 stock acquired under the will of
Caleb Tanner proved 1902, and the endowment of
the Ridler educational charity were amalgamated to
form the Bisley Charities for the Poor. (fn. 73) In 1972 the
annual income was c. £135 and was distributed in
cash at Christmas. (fn. 74) Samuel Whiting (d. 1917)
left £200 for the poor and the charity, administered
by the trustees of Bisley Methodist church, was
distributed in cash and goods at Christmas in the
1960s; from 1971, when the income was £8, it was
administered with the Charities for the Poor.
Margaret Sinkings (d. 1959) left £100 for charitable
uses at the discretion of the vicar and churchwardens; the income was c. £7 in the early 1970s. (fn. 75)
Henry Ballinger of Skaiteshill, Chalford (d. 1855),
left £600, to be invested in stock and the profits to
be applied equally to the Chalford National school
and to coal for the poor of Chalford ecclesiastical
district. Elizabeth Webb Ballinger by will proved
1856 left £150 to be invested to provide blankets and
warm clothing for aged inhabitants of Chalford, and
Charles Ballinger of Chalford (d. 1884) gave £1,000
to be applied in the same way as Henry Ballinger's
benefaction. A scheme of 1969 amalgamated the
three charities and applied them to the general
relief of the poor of Chalford by gifts in money or
kind. In the early 1970s the income was c. £25.
Thomas Davis of Chalford by deed of 1856 assigned
£300 stock to trustees, the proceeds to be used after
his death in 4 equal portions for the relief of those
attending the Baptist chapels at Chalford, Eastcombe, Winstone, and Coberley. In 1972, when the
Coberley chapel had closed, the £7 10s. income was
used at the ministers' discretion among the other
congregations. A benefaction of £100 stock was
given by or in the memory of Mary Anna Clark
(d. 1921) for needy members of France Congregational church; the income, c. £3, was being applied
to elderly members of the church in the early
1970s. (fn. 76)