BARDNEY CHARITIES
Four rare 17th century Charity Boards are sited above the main and south doors of the Parish Church of St Lawrence. These are to commemorate acts of charity by people of the parish. Their rarity is due to the portraits of the benefactors depicted on the boards. Other similar boards can be seen in Worcester and in Wales, but the one here are much older. These are dedicated (in alphabetical order) to:
· Bread Charities
· William Hurstcroft
· Thomas Kitching
· Joseph Knowles & John Knowles (uncle to Joseph - 1603)
BREAD CHARITIES:
In the Parish Church is a board giving a list of names of people donating bread for the poor, a certain amount on certain Feast Days.
“Benefactions to the Poor of the Parish of Bardney to be distributed in Bread Annually on the following days for ever.
John Bennington of this Parish who died in the year of our Lord 1690 left the Interest of Eight Pounds to be given in Bread on the Circumcision of our Saviour Annually.
William Morris of Bardney who died the 15th February 1705 left the Interest of Two Pounds to be given in Bread on Holy Thursday Annually.
John Lightfoot of this Parish who died the 22nd of October in the year of our Lord 1722 left the Interest of Three Pounds to be given in Bread on All Saints Annually.
Vincent Ward of this Parish who died on 6th March in the year of our Lord 1766, by his last Will, dated 7th of February 1760, left the Interest of Three Pounds to be given in Bread on Candlemas Day Annually.”
In 1784, it amounted to £16 per year. This money was in the hands of the Overseer of the Poor and it passed down from Overseer to Overseer until 1837, when the Charity Commissioners asked where it was, and how much it was worth.
Investigations were started, and the last time it was heard of, was when it was in the hands of Overseer Benjamin Abbott. They found that he had gone to live in Great Grimsby and he was asked to account for it. He said that, with the sanction of the Parishioners, he had used it to pay the Parish Rate, and it had never been refunded.
WILLIAM HURSTCROFT CHARITY:
“William Hurstcroft late of Bardney who departed this life the second day of May in the year of our Lord 1639, whom his last will and testament besides other charitable deeds did also give one house in Boston to the poor of Bardney & Newport in Lincoln equally to be divided for ever.”
Unfortunately, the Hurstcroft family has not been traced.
THOMAS KITCHING’S CHARITY:
“Thomas Kitching Yeoman late of Tupholme by his last will dated the 10th day of October in the year of our Lord 1711 left his estates at Fulletby, Moorby Belchford and Low Toynton to found a Free School at Bardney for the teaching the poor children of Bardney, Tupholme and Bucknall the salary to the Master is Twenty Pounds a year and the Overplus of Rents (after necessary repairs) is to put out Apprentice a Poor Child of Southrey in this Parish.”
Thomas Kitching was the son of Mark and Mary Kitching of Southrey. They lived at Hall Farm, Southrey, a very ancient house, once called Senney Place, the convalescent home of the monks of Bardney Abbey, and was close by the present Poplars Farm.
The Kitchings lived in the lifestyle of well-to-do farmers. They had four children, Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary and Mark. At the death of Mark, senior Elizabeth received £40, one bed with all its furnishings, and as much household goods which amounted to £10, Mark received £30 to be paid to him when he had completed his apprenticeship. To Mary, he gave £4 a year for as long as she lived, and a bed with furnishings. Perhaps he thought for some reason Mary would never marry, in fact she never did, and Thomas received all the rest.
Elizabeth married Tom Smyth of Lincoln, and had one daughter called Mary. Thomas married a lady who is only referred to as ‘my beloved wife. They had no children, Mark did not marry, Thomas prospered, he bought land in Fulletby, Moorby, Belchworth, and Low Toynton and, at some stage, he moved to Tupholme, where he died in 1711.
In his will, he left his sister Elizabeth, £1, her husband Tom Smyth 5 shillings, his niece Mary 10 shillings, his brother William Newton and his wife 5 shillings each to buy a pair of gloves. All the rest of his goods and chattels were to be sold and the money invested in land. From the rents and profits from the land, his sister Mary was to receive £5-10shillings a year continuing his fathers wishes, and the rest of the rents and profits to his wife and brother Mark, for as long as they lived. After their deaths he bequeathed £20 a year to keep a Free School in Bardney for teaching all children in Bardney, Tupholme and Bucknall for ever. The Schoolmaster was to be chosen by the Officers and Chief inhabitants of Bardney and any surplus money should be used for maintaining the poor widows of Southrey, and putting out poor children of Southrey to trades.
He named his Trustees, Langley Gace of Panton Hall, Richard Cask of Bardney, and John Dobbs of Bucknall. Should a trustee die, his replacement should be chosen by the other trustees, and he must be of Bardney Parish.
The Will was to be placed in the Parish Chest, therefore available for all to read. It was witnessed by Thomas Hawkshead, Robert Laythorp and George Hogson, who could not sign, but made his mark H.
The last of the Kitchings, Mark died in 1717, so now the bequest could be fulfilled regarding the Free School. Time passed but nothing happened. By 1723, all the original Trustees had died, except John Dobbs, and new ones had been appointed, but not in accordance with the Will, as none were from the Parish of Bardney. Langley Gace had been replaced by his son Joseph Richard Cask, Mary Towne (or Toyne), Thomas Kitching’s niece, and her husband Richard, all of whom had a vested interest in keeping the rents. The only witness left was George Hodgson who could neither read nor write, but whose memory of the will was valid, so the Vicar Reverend Matthew Symson, the Church Warden, Robert Sutton, and George Hodgson set off to London to meet the Attorney General to force John Dobbs to appoint legal Trustees. Bardney was given leave to apply to the Court of Chancery to enforce the Will, but the present Trustees mounted a defence, headed by Joseph Gace, but the Judge found in Bardney’s favour.
The School was established, and the illegal Trustees had to pay back the accrued rent of £110 (if this was 6 years rent it does not yield £20 a year which the School was to receive) A review of the Charity in 1837 says the money was never heard of again, but it may have been used to provide a building. The new Trustees were Langley Banks (Elizabeth Sutton’s husband), Robert Sutton (Hancock’s Joint heir), Richard Dowse, Brudenall Thompson, Henry Hall, Thomas Dowse, William Hayes, Thomas Stamp, Thomas Phillips, Percival Porter and Richard Ellerby, all of Bardney.
The first headmaster was Lewis Dunlop, the Curate, who signed the Oath of Objuration, as all schoolmasters had to do, pledging their allegiance to George II and to teach from the Book of Common Prayer, as approved by the Bishops in 1728.
The early years of the Kitching’s Charity are lost to us, as all the records were consumed in the great fire at Stainfield Hall in December 1855. Mr Thomas Greetham, agent for the Tyrwhitt family, who lived there, was also the Kitching’s Charity Clerk.
There are a few snippets in the Lincolnshire Archives, bills for repairs, and receipts for John Wray’s salary of £20 a year. As the will stated, £20 a year as the schoolmaster’s salary, so it must remain for ever. The Southrey widows, who could have the residue, benefited as rents increased, but the school had then to charge the children a few pence, as years went by, to pay the schoolmaster a living wage.
The Charity lands were managed very successfully by the Trustees, who were mainly farmers, but the School was another matter. The Schoolmaster was to be chosen by ‘the Chief Inhabitants of Bardney’, but who were they? The Lord of the Manor, Lord Harrowby, and (Dudley Ryder) had very little interest in the village. He lived at Sandon Hall in Staffordshire, so the next best educated person in the Village was the Vicar.
The Kitching’s Charity is still in operation to this day, giving monetary awards to local children who are entering into secondary education. It is run by a committee of Trustees, who look at the merits of each individual who applies, and, providing certain criteria are met, will award accordingly.
JOSEPH & JOHN KNOWLES’ CHARITIES:
Joseph Knowles left Bardney for London, and died aged 25 years old. He made his Will eight days before he died, bequeathing his money to be invested to “provide bread for the poor every Sunday after morning prayers”. Unfortunately, this bequest was not enough to buy the amounts he believed. His uncle, John Knowles, also from Bardney, made up the amount of money to satisfy the Will.
The text of this Charity can be found in the Parish Church on a practically unique Charity Board, as it contains a portrait of the uncle and his nephew, John and Joseph Knowles, sharing the Hurstcroft Charity board, which also has a portrait of the benefactor.
It states:
“Joseph Knowles, an Apprentice of London, and son of Richard Knowles Senior of Bardney deceased, departed this life aged 25 years on the 10th of August 1603, by his will and testament, signed the 2nd day of August that year, amongst other diverse charitable gifts gave £30 pounds to some of his trusted friends of Bardney, to be bestowed on land for the use and benefit of the poor, that are and shall be hereafter of this town and Parish of Bardney forever, the rents and profits of such lands yearly to be bestowed in bread and to be given weekly every Sunday immediately after Morning Prayer to 12 poor people of this Town and Parish of Bardney, every loaf value of one penny.”
Joseph is pictured in a richly embroidered cloak, and clutching a book, his other hand resting on a skull, his uncle also in a cloak and wearing a skull cap, he has flowing hair and a beard, he wears a lace ruff, and his cuffs are trimmed with lace.
His bequest says:
“John Knowles Senior of this Parish of Bardney in the year of our Lord 1603 did also give 10 pounds towards furthering of the gift of his nephew Joseph Knowles, before named to make it amount to the sum of 12 pence weekly as aforesaid to the same, and only use and uses of the poor inhabitants of this town and Parish of Bardney and shall be for ever.”
An arm, with a pointing hand appears at the bottom of the board directing the onlooker to the verse in St Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 37 – “Go and do thou likewise”.
The land referred to, was bought in Habertoft in the Parish of Willoughby and Orby, and in the Will of John Knowles, March 1616 says:
“ First my Will is that my kinsmen generally and the Overseers of the Poor have a care to see the gift that was given by my nephews Joseph and Vincent Knowles and myself be truly given and bestowed according to our gifts and true meaning.”
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When the Handcocks Charity was revised in 1958, the Knowles Charity was incorporated within it.
During 1975, major work was carried out to preserve these Charity Boards. Miss Anna Hulbert, a professional picture restorer, from London, took three weeks to painstakingly protect and rejuvenate these boards to their original condition.
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