Ickenham: Local government

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Courts baron were held for Ickenham manor from at least as early as 1415. (fn. 1) Lords of the sub-manor of Swakeleys owed suit at the Ickenham court. In 1434 Sir Thomas Charlton of Swakeleys was fined for non-attendance and in 1472 the bailiff of the manor was ordered to distrain upon Sir Richard Charlton for the same offence. (fn. 2) In 1595 Michael Shorediche took to court a tenant of Swakeleys who had refused to pay services owed to Ickenham manor. (fn. 3) Lords of Ickenham asserted their rights over the younger manor until 1860. (fn. 4)

Ickenham courts baron concerned themselves exclusively with manorial business and the regulation of the open fields. (fn. 5) After 1731 there is a hiatus in the court records until 1819 when George Robinson, the new lord, held a court baron at Ickenham manor-house. Courts continued to be held annually throughout the early 19th century. (fn. 6) In addition to the usual manorial business courts in the 19th century asserted the right of the lord to three pews in the parish church (fn. 7) and dealt with the encroachment of unauthorized persons on the manorial waste. (fn. 8) After Ickenham manor had been bought by Thomas Truesdale Clarke, (fn. 9) courts baron met in the 'Coach and Horses' but no longer every year. In 1865 the court recorded the grant of land on the manorial waste near the church for erecting a pump in the centre of the village. (fn. 10) The last court baron was held at the 'Coach and Horses' in 1878. (fn. 11)

Leet business was apparently transacted in the honorial court of Wallingford (later Ewelme) meeting at Uxbridge (fn. 12) and in the franchise court of Northolt manor. (fn. 13) In the 15th century Ickenham sent jurors to the view of frankpledge at Uxbridge (fn. 14) and attendance at the honor court was enforced until 1813. (fn. 15) From at least as early as 1461 lords of Ickenham owed suit to the leet at Northolt. (fn. 16) Here constables and headboroughs for Ickenham manor were appointed. (fn. 17) In 1660 it was stated that Richard Shorediche was bound, on inheriting Ickenham manor, to pay a relief of £1 6s. 8d. to the lord of Northolt and the same sum as an annual quit-rent. (fn. 18) This rent was paid as late as 1860. (fn. 19) The Northolt jurisdiction probably grew out of the 11th-century Mandeville holding in Ickenham. (fn. 20) In the later Middle Ages Northolt exercised a similar jurisdiction in other former Mandeville lands in the county. (fn. 21)

Little is known of the parochial government which succeeded manorial organization. A constable, two overseers, and two churchwardens are mentioned in 1642, (fn. 22) but their function and the method by which they were appointed are uncertain. The overseers presumably collected the poor-rate which was being levied by 1750, (fn. 23) and they may also have administered the poor-house which was probably built in the 18th century. All that is known of this building is that it stood in Back Lane in front of the churchyard and that it had been demolished by 1837 when the site was sold. (fn. 24) In 1834, the first year for which detailed evidence is available, poor relief was administered by the vestry. In 1833-4 eighteen ablebodied paupers were given work repairing and procuring gravel for the parish roads. This was the average number so assisted each year. The vestry appointed two overseers, drawn, like the paupers who applied to them, from the agricultural labourers of the parish. (fn. 25) Ickenham became part of the Uxbridge Union in 1836 (fn. 26) and the workhouse poor were transferred to the union workhouse at Hillingdon.

Apart from the administration of poor relief little is known of vestry business. In 1892 the vestry tried to limit grazing rights on Ickenham Marsh and later to have it declared a charity. (fn. 27) In 1894 Ickenham became part of Uxbridge R.D. and was thereafter administered by a parish council. The only record of the council's work are the regulations for Ickenham Marsh, which the council leased from the lord of the manor in 1906. (fn. 28) In 1929 the parish was incorporated into Uxbridge U.D. and ceased to exist as a unit of local government. (fn. 29) Under the London Government Act of 1963, Uxbridge was included in the London Borough of Hillingdon. (fn. 30)