How Burley was Governed - (page 1 of 3)
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Burley village has existed for well over a thousand years. It was known as a Township within the Parish of Otley at the time of the Domesday Book in the 11th Century. Its boundaries ran from the river Wharfe to the top of the Moor at Ashlar Chair. There are boundary stones which mark this ancient boundary.
The Township was responsible for implementing the Poor Law from 1601 and decisions about this were taken in the Vestry of the old Chapel which preceded the building of the present Parish Church. The smallness of the village meant that there was no public building other than the chapel. Most of the meetings and decision making took place there. Annual Vestry meetings to appoint the various Township officers could be attended by all adults in the village.
Towards the end of the 18th century a number of Burley's principal inhabitants drew up a series of rules to guide Township officers in their various tasks for the parish. These rules, written out at the beginning of Burley's Town Book, form the first reliable record of how the farming village was organised.
The parish had Overseers of the Poor, Chapel Wardens, a Constable and a Surveyor. Power was given to these officials to decide on the distribution of poor relief, money from charities and payments for services to the village. As employers the same group had control over the lives of the labourers and servants, who formed the majority of inhabitants. This labouring class, the poor of the village, had little influence over the running of Township affairs.
Between the two classes were some artisans, like blacksmiths, carpenters, small tenant farmers and shopkeepers, who, because of their skills and services to the upper class, could fashion some independence for themselves. In their capacity as employers, too, they had some influence in village affairs.
Villagers who had no regular or satisfactory income from work, or who were elderly or sick, received monthly payments in cash or in kind from the poor rate. Among the officers of the village, the Overseers of the Poor were legally responsible for these payments. They collected rates from their neighbours and kept records of payments made. In the 18th Century, the Overseers were paying on a regular basis about one in eight of all householders of the village from the Poor Rate. In 1771, the total payments in the year came to just over £65. Burley like many other places had a number of charities, created in the wills of wealthier people.
Generally, annual payments were made from six charities at Christmas. These were the Thorpe Arch, Saxey, Vavasour, Jenkinson, Hitches and Pulleyn Charities. They still exist and are managed by a number of Trustees appointed from among residents of Burley.
Dramatic economic changes were occurring all over Britain in the latter part of the 18th century, and Burley did not remain isolated from them. What had been a domestic system of producing textiles was transformed by the introduction of water powered machinery for some of the processes. Cottages to house the growing number of workers were built near to or alongside Main Street. Iron Row, Pleasant Row, Peel Place and North Parade are typical early examples of this development.
Little was done, however, to ensure that basic amenities were provided in new or older housing. Overflowing privies, flooded cellars, uncleared night soil heaps and animal dung heaps were common place in the early 1850s. There was a high incidence of tuberculosis, and other diseases. The ensuing high death rates were a cause of great concern. The existing Township officials, the Overseers of the Poor, the Chapel Wardens, the Constable and the Surveyor, had neither money nor power to carry out major sanitary reforms.
Legislation did exist from 1848 to make reforms possible, and leading figures in Burley, like the manufacturers, Forster and Fison, and local clergy and ministers, applied for powers to establish a Sanitary Committee in 1853. When they came up against the problem that the poor rates could not finance better sanitation, the reformers went one step further, applying for powers to set up a Local Board of Health, which could raise its own property rate for sanitary improvements.
Read more ...
Burley village has existed for well over a thousand years. It was known as a Township within the Parish of Otley at the time of the Domesday Book in the 11th Century. Its boundaries ran from the river Wharfe to the top of the Moor at Ashlar Chair. There are boundary stones which mark this ancient boundary.
The Township was responsible for implementing the Poor Law from 1601 and decisions about this were taken in the Vestry of the old Chapel which preceded the building of the present Parish Church. The smallness of the village meant that there was no public building other than the chapel. Most of the meetings and decision making took place there. Annual Vestry meetings to appoint the various Township officers could be attended by all adults in the village.
Towards the end of the 18th century a number of Burley's principal inhabitants drew up a series of rules to guide Township officers in their various tasks for the parish. These rules, written out at the beginning of Burley's Town Book, form the first reliable record of how the farming village was organised.
The parish had Overseers of the Poor, Chapel Wardens, a Constable and a Surveyor. Power was given to these officials to decide on the distribution of poor relief, money from charities and payments for services to the village. As employers the same group had control over the lives of the labourers and servants, who formed the majority of inhabitants. This labouring class, the poor of the village, had little influence over the running of Township affairs.
Between the two classes were some artisans, like blacksmiths, carpenters, small tenant farmers and shopkeepers, who, because of their skills and services to the upper class, could fashion some independence for themselves. In their capacity as employers, too, they had some influence in village affairs.
Villagers who had no regular or satisfactory income from work, or who were elderly or sick, received monthly payments in cash or in kind from the poor rate. Among the officers of the village, the Overseers of the Poor were legally responsible for these payments. They collected rates from their neighbours and kept records of payments made. In the 18th Century, the Overseers were paying on a regular basis about one in eight of all householders of the village from the Poor Rate. In 1771, the total payments in the year came to just over £65. Burley like many other places had a number of charities, created in the wills of wealthier people.
Generally, annual payments were made from six charities at Christmas. These were the Thorpe Arch, Saxey, Vavasour, Jenkinson, Hitches and Pulleyn Charities. They still exist and are managed by a number of Trustees appointed from among residents of Burley.
Dramatic economic changes were occurring all over Britain in the latter part of the 18th century, and Burley did not remain isolated from them. What had been a domestic system of producing textiles was transformed by the introduction of water powered machinery for some of the processes. Cottages to house the growing number of workers were built near to or alongside Main Street. Iron Row, Pleasant Row, Peel Place and North Parade are typical early examples of this development.
Little was done, however, to ensure that basic amenities were provided in new or older housing. Overflowing privies, flooded cellars, uncleared night soil heaps and animal dung heaps were common place in the early 1850s. There was a high incidence of tuberculosis, and other diseases. The ensuing high death rates were a cause of great concern. The existing Township officials, the Overseers of the Poor, the Chapel Wardens, the Constable and the Surveyor, had neither money nor power to carry out major sanitary reforms.
Legislation did exist from 1848 to make reforms possible, and leading figures in Burley, like the manufacturers, Forster and Fison, and local clergy and ministers, applied for powers to establish a Sanitary Committee in 1853. When they came up against the problem that the poor rates could not finance better sanitation, the reformers went one step further, applying for powers to set up a Local Board of Health, which could raise its own property rate for sanitary improvements.
Read more ...