Local goverment
The Montagus, and presumably their predecessors the Clintons,
held courts for their manor, to which in 1279 the
sheriff of Oxfordshire had entry once a year to
hold view of frankpledge and collect 4s. Certainty money. (fn. 5) In 1320 pleas and perquisites of
court were worth 4s.; in 1354 only 12d. (fn. 6) There is
no later record of the court, which presumably
Rep. Com. on Children and Women in Agric. p. 341.
ceased with the disintegration of the manor in
the 16th century. Godstow abbey claimed suit of
court from its tenants, (fn. 7) but no court records
survive. The courts probably ceased at the Dissolution.
Courts were also presumably held for the St.
Valery manor. In 1279 the tenants attended
view of frankpledge at Yarnton once a year,
Richard, earl of Cornwall (d. 1272), having
withdrawn their twice-yearly suit from the great
hundred court of Wootton, and in 1296-7 perquisites of 12d. were recorded from the view of
frankpledge for Cassington tithing. (fn. 8) The tenants
continued to attend the honor court, at Thrupp,
in the 15th and 16th centuries; business included the presentment of nuisances and of
breaches of the assize of bread and of ale and the
recording of land transactions. (fn. 9) Records of the
Cassington manor court survive only for the
17th and 18th centuries, when it was held by the
Elmes family and their successors the Allnutts
and the dukes of Marlborough. It met in one of
the tenants' houses, and its business included
the presentment of encroachments, obstructions, and other nuisances and the election of a
constable and tithingman. The amount of business declined in the 18th century. From 1732 or
earlier until 1802 the dukes of Marlborough
treated Cassington as part of their honor of
Woodstock and held view of frankpledge for all
their tenants there. (fn. 10)
Oseney abbey presumably held courts for its
manor of Worton, having been freed from suit
to the hundred court by Henry III. (fn. 11) Christ
Church held courts for its Worton manor until
1774. In 1717 each tenant owed 2d. a year
headsilver and a further 2d. for each yardland
held, but the payment was not recorded thereafter, and in the later 18th century the only
business seems to have been the recording of
land transactions. (fn. 12)
In 1324 Michael Meldon owed suit to the
three-weekly court at North Oseney for his
Worton manor, (fn. 13) but the suit was not recorded
thereafter, and was presumably combined with
the suit owed to Thrupp for the Elmes's Cassington manor.
Cassington spent £55 on poor relief in 1776,
an average of £113 a year between 1783 and
1785, and £309, or c. 16s. per head of population, in 1803. Between 1803 and 1834 the per
capita rate varied from as much as c. £1 17s. in
1817, when the total expenditure was £743, to c.
15s. in 1825, but was usually rather high for the
region. In 1831 the rate was c. £1 a head, total
expenditure being £384 10s. (fn. 14) In the 1780s a
small sum was spent on setting the poor to work,
and in 1803, when there were 14 adults and 31
children on regular out-relief, the parish spent
£4 on materials to employ them. Between 1813
and 1815 the numbers on regular out-relief
varied from 17 to 21. (fn. 15)
Cassington was included in Woodstock poor
law union in 1834, and in Woodstock rural
district in 1894. In 1932 it was transferred to
Witney rural district and in 1974 to West Oxfordshire. The vestry's functions were taken
over by a parish council in 1894. (fn. 16)