Aston and Cote: Charities for the poor

CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.

Leonard Wilmot's charity (fn. 1) included 13s. 4d. a year to the poor of Aston and Cote, received in the late 17th century and, irregularly, in the early 19th. (fn. 2) In the later 17th century annual distributions were made from bequests by Thomas Cox (33s. 4d. to the poor of Cote by will proved 1614), John Palmer (£50 to the poor of Aston and Cote by will proved 1650), and John Moulden of Cote (£5 to the poor of Aston and Cote, date unknown), but by the late 18th century all were lost. (fn. 3) A bequest of £5 by Robert Dale of Cote, by will proved 1659, had not been received by 1680 when his wife's executor was ordered to give it up, and that, too, was lost by 1787. (fn. 4) The outcome of a claim in the late 17th century to a share in Sir William Coventry's apprenticing charity, itself later lost, (fn. 5) is unknown.

By deeds of 1709 and 1713 Thomas Horde (d. 1715) charged 5½ yardlands in Aston and Cote with £10 a year to provide 10 woollen coats and 10 pairs of stockings for men, and 10 canvas shifts and 10 pairs of stockings for women, recipients to be elected by the Sixteens and the lord of the manor. Arrears of that and other charges on the lands were repaid c. 1731 after a Chancery suit, and part (£109) was invested. (fn. 6) Only £8 was received for clothing 'for many years', but in the early 19th century more was paid than required. (fn. 7) Bequests by Horde of £10 each to Aston and Cote for apprenticing 2 boys and girls were lost. (fn. 8)

Thomas Fox of Aston, by deed of 1721 and will proved 1731, left a 10s. rent charge distributed in the early 19th century to poor widows; payment was refused from c. 1811. (fn. 9) William Monk of Aston, by will dated 1848, left £30 at interest for poor widows and £50 at interest to provide coal. (fn. 10)

In 1888 (fn. 11) the only Aston eleemosynary charity was Horde's, (fn. 12) incorporated that year into the Bampton Consolidated Charities. In 1969 c. £31 was distributed in Aston and Cote, which also shared in the consolidated educational charity, and in 1972 Horde's charity, still providing £10 a year, was incorporated into the Bampton Welfare Trust. Poor allotments totalling c. 9 a., awarded at inclosure, yielded insufficient income to allow distributions to the poor in 1965; under a Scheme of 1970 income from the balance of c. £200 was to benefit poor persons in Aston Bampton and Shifford. (fn. 13)