Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

THE BUCKDEN PAROCHIAL CHARITIES 167 CHAPTER 12/ THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BUCKDEN PAROCHIAL CHARITIES Lorraine Toogood, formerly Clerk to the Trustees 1 Buckden is fortunate in its benefactors, the men and women who in the course of the last four and a half centuries have cared enough about their fellow-residents, young and old, to help alleviate their poverty, protect their old age and provide for their education. he first part of this chapter sets out the various benefactions that originally comprised the parochial charities, while the second briefly describes how, through consolidation and investment, they have been managed to the best effect over the years. The original charities The Charity of William Burberry founded by will dated 18 March 1558. The endowment of this charity consisted of land, allotments, a cottage and a garden, all in Buckden and Stirtloe, and amounting to about forty-five acres. The land was let to various tenants and the revenue distributed in doles to the poor each Good Friday. The land to the south of the roundabout on the A1, now known as the Windmill Allotments, was part of this endowment. The Dole Charity, the origins of which are unknown. The endowment consisted of seven rent charges from various properties in the village of Buckden and the revenue was applied with the income of South’s Charity. The Charity of James South founded by will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury dated 17 May 1885. The endowment consisted of the South’s Almshouses and a sum of money invested in two and a half per cent Consols. The dividends, together with the income from the Dole Charity, Maltby’s Charity and an annual sum received from Burberry’s Charity were expended on payments of money to the almspeople, providing coal for the almshouses and keeping the building in good repair. James South was a half-pay Captain of His Majesty’s 52nd Regiment of Foot, who had been born in Buckden. He left to the parish of Buckden £1500 invested in 3% Consols for the building and furnishing of ‘four brick tenements to be erected in an airy situation on the said parish ground to be occupied by four of the oldest poor women and four of the oldest poor men born in the parish of Buckden. In front of the said Almshouses to be engraved on a neat octagon stone tablet ‘Age protected Industry rewarded’ and I give the interest … for the purpose of keeping the said tenements in good repair and I give the further sum of £200 to be invested in the Bank of England for ever, the interest arising from which to be laid out for coals, to be equally divided between the eight inmates on every Christmas Day or the morning preceding it. I also give £40 for bibles, prayer books and other religious books to be strongly bound in calf and to remain in the said dwellings for the sole use of the occupants for ever.’ 1 Original text updated with information from the Buckden Parochial Charities’ Annual Reports and Accounts 2006, 2007 and 2008. T The almshouses 2009. The central plaque reads ‘Age protected Industry rewarded 1840’