Charitable institutions: Legacies

LEGACIES LEFT TO THE POOR

OF THE PARISH OF ST. NICHOLAS.

Account of Leases belonging to St. Nicholas' Church.

A lease granted to William Lamb, March 8, 1704, of a parcel of ground for 21 years, paying 5s. per annum at two payments, viz. May-day and Martinmas.

A lease granted to Mrs. Elizabeth Wilkinson, March 1, 1758, of her house, paying 20s. per annum at two payments, May-day and Martinmas, for 21 years. Fine £3.

A lease granted to Mr. Timothy Forster of a messuage for 21 years, March 25, 1751, paying 6s. 8d. per annum at two payments, viz. Lady-day and Michaelmas. Fine £5.

A lease granted to Matthew Hills of his houses, May 18, 1756, for 21 years, at 15s. per annum, payable at two payments, viz. Candlemas and Lammas. Fine £4.

A lease granted to James Hauxley of a messuage in the Church-yard, August 1, 1755, for 21 years, at 12s. per annum, payable at two payments, viz. Candlemas and Lammas. Fine £4.

A lease granted to William Bonner, Esq. of Housen, on February 24, 1753, for 21 years, at 20s. per annum, at two payments, viz. Candlemas and Lammas. Fine £6.

A lease granted to Charles King, of Housen and Garden Platt, March 21, 1759, for 21 years, paying £1, 8s. 2d. at two payments, viz. May-day and Martinmas. Fine £11.

A lease granted to Thomas Mather of a house and yard, for 21 years, March 25, 1751, paying 5s. per annum at two payments, viz. Lady-day and Michaelmas. Fine £1.

A lease granted to William Addison of a house in the Church-yard, May 1, 1759, for 21 years, paying 12s. per annum at two payments, viz. Martinmas and Whitsuntide. Fine £5.

A lease granted to Robert Gibson of his back-yard, stables, and lofts, January 8, 1727, for 21 years, paying 2s. at Martinmas. Fine 8s.

A lease granted to John Wright of his house in the Church-yard, November 24, 1756, for 21 years, paying 8s. per annum at two payments, viz. Lady-day and Martinmas. Fine £5.

LEGACIES LEFT TO THE POOR

OF THE PARISH OF ALL SAINTS.

Legacies collected at Easter.

Rental of the money bequeathed December 22, 1585, by Mr. Thomas Smith, shipwright, to the poor of the parish of All Saints, and by writing indented, November 7, 1643, by William Swaddell and Elinor his wife, cousin and heirs of the said Thomas, accordingly confirmed:—Inprimis, An ann. rt. of 20s. payable at Whitsuntide & Martinmas of a tenement at the foot of Plumber Chare. Item, An ann. rt. of 23s. 4d. of a tenement situate at the foot of All Hallow Bank. Item, An ann. rt. of 16s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas of a tenement situate in Sandgate on the south side of the fore street and is and was known by the name of the black beire. Item, An ann. rt. of 3s. 4d. payable at Martinmas of a tenement in Sandgate in a Chare called Maughan's Chare also Erringtons Chare. Item, An ann. rt. of 10s. payable at Martinmas of a tenement situated in Sandgate in the fore street. Item, An ann. rt. of 5s. 6d. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas of a tenement situated in Sandgate upon the Key. Item, An ann. rt. of 10s. payable forth of a tenement upon or near the Keyside in Sandgate. Item, An ann. rt. of 4s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas of a tenement on the north side of the fore street in Sandgate. Item, An ann. rt. of 6s. 8d. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas of a tenement situated in Sandgate. Amounting in all to £4, 18s. 10d. per annum.

Money bequeathed by Leonard Carr, merchant and alderman, deed, by his last will and testament bearing date July 26, 1658, to the poore of the parish of All Saints, to be distributed amongst them at the discretion of the church-wardens and overseers of the same parish for ever:—Inprimis, An ann. rt. of 50s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas for ever forth and out of the capital messuage and dwelling house of the said Leonard Carr situate near the foot of All Hallow Bank in Newcastle upon Tyne. Item, An ann. rt. of 10s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas for ever out of a tenement situate in All Hallow Bank. Item, An ann. rt. of 10s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas for ever out of a tenement in All Hallow Bank situate between the two preceding tenements. Item, An ann. rt. of 20s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas for ever out of a tenement in All Hallow Bank. Item, An ann. rt. of 10s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas for ever out of a tenement in All Hallow Bank adjoining the dwelling house of the said Leonard Carr. Amounting in all to £5.

Aug. 22, 1736, Cuthbert Woodman weaver bequeathed 12s. yearly payable Aug. 22 out of his messuage situate on the west side of Pilgrim Street opposite to the Taylors Hall with power to destrain.

April 11, 1660, William Carr, Esq. out of a messuage situate in Pilgrim Street near Pilgrim Street Gate on the east side 10s. payable at Easter. A messuage situate near Pandon Gate 8s. payable at Easter.

July 17, 1661, John Cosyns draper gave to the poor of this parish the sum of 2s. per week which is £5, 4s. per annum for ever which is to be distributed in bread weekly by Mr. Vicar or Ministers and Churchwardens of All Saints parish to such poor people of the said parish as shall come to hear the public ordinances of God, every Lord's Day after the end of the forenoon service which he charged upon the messuage named the Fleece Tavern situate by the Key, payable June 1st.

March 23, 1673, David Sheavil barber surgeon left £4 payable 1st of April, viz. out of two messuges situate in Pilgrim Street £2, 10s. A messuge situate in Silver Street 10s. A messuge and shop situate by the Quay at Trinity Chare £1.

Legacies collected at Christmas.

Nov. 16, 1648, Andrew Aldworth left £1 per annum out of messuages in Okewell in Gateshead payable on St. Andrew's Day with a power of distress in case of non-payment.

Nov. 25, 1675, Thomas Davison left £1, 10s. viz. out of the Merchants Company 13s. 4d. payable 16th Decr. A malt mill in Painter Heugh 10s. payable 16th Decr. (1794). From a messuge in the Butcher Bank 6s. 8d. payable 16th Decr. (1816).

March 9, 1679, Sir William Blackett out of his messuge situate at Tyne Bridge £2 payable Dec. 1st.

May 29, 1690, John Collier shipright by his will gave to the poor of All Saints £50 to purchase the rent per annum of £3 payable at Christmas this money was paid May 31, 1692 to John Vaughan who granted an annuity for ever out of premises in Gullow Raw Green otherwise Love Lane now in the possession of Joseph Pollard Esq.

May 12, 1693, Richard Hutchinson rope maker by his will charged his premises on the Sandhill with payment of £5 yearly payable on Christmas Day.

1695, George Collingwood house carpenter who died Decr. 23, 1698 out of his messuge in Pilgrim St. gave the minister and churchwardens of All Saints £2 payable at Martinmas to be by them equally distributed yearly to two poor widows of the same parish, who should have it only once.

Feb. 7, 1694, Mr. Timothy Davison merchant by his will gave to the credible freemen or freemens widows (not of the Merchants Company) fallen into decay in the parish of All Saints the sum of £1, 10s. per annum for ever whose names should be returned needful by the minister and churchwardens respectively such distribution to be made at the discretion of the governor assistants and wardens for the time being of the Merchants Company and distributed in the month of Decr. (Now only £1 payable by the Merchants Company.)

Jan. 21, 1710, Nicholas Ridley merchant by his will gave to the poor of this parish the sum of £1 per annum for ever with which he charged his lands at Heaton, to be distributed yearly 8 days before Christmas to the most aged most decrepid and necessitous of the parish by the two old church wardens.

March 11, 1711, Robt. Fenwick merchant by his will gave to the poor of All Saints parish the sum of £4 per annum charged on his messuge in the Bigg Market called the Angel Inn payable Decr. 24.

May 26, 1707, Henry Holme Esq. gave to the poor of All Saints parish the sum of £6 per annum to be paid in two several payments viz. £3 on the Monday after Christmas Day and £3 on the Monday after Easter Day this legacy is now reduced to £4 on bond from the corporation.

June 5, 1711, John Bee master mariner gave to 12 poor widows of All Saints £6 per annum payable at Christmas out of his two messuges and shop situate by the Quay, to be distributed by the minister at Christmas.

Oct. 1, 1716, Matthew White merchant adventurer and alderman by his will charged (for the poor of All Saints) his freehold messuge burgage or tenement in Pilgrim Street with £1, 10s. payable at Christmas, and to be distributed every Christmas Day or the day after to and among 10 poor house keepers in the said parish the churchwardens returning the names of them yearly to his son Matthew White or his heirs.

Sept. 20, 1779, Thomas Lemon gent. gave by his will £3 a year for ever to the poor of All Saints payable at Lady Day and Michaelmass.

Legacies paid at the Town Chamber.

Legacies left payable out of the Town's Chamber, received at Martinmas and Lady Day, by the Churchwardens of St. Nicholas, and paid by them to the Churchwardens of All Saints.

"A Rental of all and every the Rents due and payable to the Church of All Saints, in Newcastle upon Tyne, as for the present they can be found out and made apparent, with the particular Houses, and their Situation, as near as the present Churchwardens can find out, A. D. 1645."

Inprimis, A yearly rent of 2s. payable at Whitsunday and Martinmass issuing forth of a tenement now in the possession of George Chambers situate in Pilgrim St. and adjoining on the south side of a lane called Silver Street. (Bequeathed by Cuthbert Pattison, July 15, 1585, and now payable out of the front house of Bell's Court, Pilgrim Street.) Item, A yearly rent of 23s. payable at Whitsunday and Martinmas forth of a tenement and parcell of waste ground whereupon is now a house and is reserved upon a lease dated May 28, 1583 made from the then churchwardens to Robert Reisley from Pentecost then before, situate at the foot of Pilgrim St. adjoining eastward upon the churchyard and now in the possession of Wm. Carr merchant.— Item, A yearly rent of 23s. 4d. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas forth of a tenement adjoining upon the north side of the church yard west stile reserved on a lease dated 20th March 1630 from the churchwardens to Richd. Armstrong for 21 years from the date thereof, now in the possession of one William Wes ton. Item, One rent of 13s. 8d. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas forth of a tenement opposite to the church yard west stile now in the possession of Robt. Preston, which house by indenture dated Ap. 25 in the 36th of King Henry VIII. was granted to Edwd. Clarke plumber in fee farm. Item, One rent of 14s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas forth of certain tenements at the head of the Broad Chare near the pant of which tenements Mr. Ralph Fowler has bought part and payeth 5s. Item, A yearly rent of 6d. payable at Whitsuntide forth of a tenement in the possession of Thomas Jolly. Item, A yearly rent of 10s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas forth of a tenement at the Keyside in the possession of John Bootie. Item, A yearly rent of 3s. 4d. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas forth of a tenement in the possession of John Jackson, in or at the head of a Chare called Govis Chare also Rhods Chare about the middle of All Hallows Bank. Item, A yearly rent of 2s. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas forth of a tenement toward the east side of Sandgate on the south side of the fore street on the east side of a common chare leading to the Key which was heretofore in the possession of Ann Brantingham. Item, A yearly rent of 7s. 4d. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas forth of a tenement in Pandon at the head of Byker Chare late in the possession of Francis Davidson. Item, A yearly rent of 9s. payable at Whitsuntide & Martinmas forth of a tenement belonging to the heirs of Alexr. Davison Knt. deceased situated at the foot of Pilgraham Street opposite to the church yard west stile, now in the possession of Mr. Thomas Davison of Blackston. Item, A yearly rent of 7s. payable at Easter reserved upon a lease dated April 27th 1622 from the church wardens to Robt. Hope of a parcell of waste ground heretofore used as garden plot for 99 years, on which there is now tenements in the possession of the heirs of the said Robert. Item, A yearly rent of 5s. payable by Phineas Allen for his way-leave from his house into his church yard at the east end thereof payable at Easter.

The following have been added at subsequent periods:— Item, A yearly rent of 6s. 8d. payable at Whitsuntide and Martinmas reserved on a lease dated Dec. 20, 1658 to Richard Handcocke Taylor of a parcell of ground being part of the church yard before the south side of the church near the South Stairs leading from the church great door upon which the said Rd. hath built one pair of new stairs for 21 years. Item, A yearly rent of 5 pounds issuing out of the dwelling house of Mr. John Gastell left to the church towards repairs by Mr. John Cosen draper July 17th 1661. Item, A yearly rent of 6s. for window light to warehouses at east end of church yard.

LEGACIES LEFT TO THE POOR

OF ST. ANDREW'S PARISH..

Dec. 17, 1648, Left by Dr. Aldworth out of land in Oakwellgate, Gateshead, £1.

Left by Thomas Davidson, to be paid yearly by the Merchants' Company, £1; and another legacy out of three tenements of 3s. each.

Left by Timothy Davison, to be paid yearly at Christmas to 15 poor freemen or widows, not merchants, by the Merchants' Company, £1.

Left by Sir Mark Milbank, to be paid yearly, £1.

Left by Robert Anderson, £5.

Left by Richard Gibson, who died in 1718, the sum of £30, the interest to be distributed on Christmas day yearly.

The following to be paid Yearly at the Town's Chamber:—

Left by Sir Alexander Davison, to be paid on Lady Day, £2.

Aug. 20, 1734, Left by George Mallabar, £50, the interest to be paid on Christmas day.

Dec. 11, 1734, Left by Dame Jane Clavering, by will, £50, the interest to be distributed yearly.

March 13, 1716, Left by Mrs. Isabel Wrightson, £50, the interest to be paid on St. Andrew's day.

Left by John Rumney, Esq. who died Feb. 3, 1694, £260, a fifth part of the interest of which to be given to the poor of this parish.

July 10, 1721, Left by William Harrison, hoastman, £50, the interest to be paid yearly on St. Andrew's day.

Paid out of the town, according to Bourne, at two payments, the sum of £4.

Sir Wm. Blackett, Bart. who died May 16, 1680, bequeathed to the poor of this parish 40s. yearly for ever. (fn. 3)

Sir Wm. Blackett, Bart. who died Dec. 2, 1705, in his life-time gave an out-rent of 13s. 4d. to the church of St. Andrew's, and also a close of £3 a year; and by his last will gave £1000 to purchase an estate for the use of this parish for ever. This legacy (see page 449) was never paid; but his heirs pay one-third of the interest, at 6 per cent. to poor householders, and the other two-thirds to the support of the charity-school. (fn. 4)

John Scafe, slater, left £20, the interest to be given to the poor of St. Andrew's. Sir Thomas Davison, Margaret Allgood, and Nic. Ridley, Esq. left each £1 per annum to the poor; Matthew White, Esq. and Marg. Ramsay, each £2; Mary Johnson 4s. yearly to two poor widows; and Mary Mitchell 16s. annually. (fn. 5)

Out-rents belonging to St. Andrew's.

LEGACIES LEFT TO THE POOR Of St. John's Parish.

The Interest of the following Legacies is received Half-yearly at the Town's Chamber:—

Of the following Sums, St. Nicholas' gets £16, All Saints' £16, St. Andrew's £10, and St. John's £10, which is received of the Corporation Half-yearly.

Out-rents due at Easter.

The following Out-rents were left to St. John's Church by Mr. Wm. Carr, and are due Yearly at Martinmas.

No attention was paid to the preservation of the parochial records of this town, until the act of parliament passed, which compelled every parish to provide an iron chest for their safe keeping. Many charitable legacies have been lost through neglect by all the parishes. All the premises in Rosemary Lane, bequeathed for the support of Ponteland school in 1780, were once part of St. John's church-yard. The premises extending from the shop of Mr. John Marshall, bookseller, Old Flesh Market, to the inn occupied by Mr. Lancelot Blyth, at the foot of the New Market, and known by the name of the Ship Entry, were left to the poor communicants of St. Nicholas' church by William Moulton, breeches-maker, near the Black Gate; but Mr. James Pollard, of the Leazes, late flax-dresser, is now "in possession of the whole of the effects, which he converts to his own use. He refuses to appoint four more trustees, as was appointed by the will, on the death of part of the old ones." The clear annual rents of the premises, in 1787, were returned at £75 per annum. John Pigg, by will, dated October 27, 1688, bequeathed three dwelling-houses and the appurtenances, situate in Pilgrim Street, nearly opposite to Major Anderson's gates, with his estates in Northumberland and Durham, to Robert Bewick, of Close House, in Northumberland, Esq.; Matthew Sadler, of the same county, Gent.; John Rochester, of Gateshead, in the county of Durham, boat-builder; Lancelot Cramlington, of the town and county of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gent.; and to William Hutchinson, Phineas Allen, and Mathias Partis, of the same place, merchants, in trust for charitable purposes. Mr. Pigg, in his will, states, that the poor people on whom this charity is bestowed shall "be only such as fear God, and are of the Protestant religion, and have not cast themselves into poverty by their idleness, nor reduced themselves to beggary by their own riotous prodigality, but are by age or sickness or decrepitude disabled from work, or where men have children too numerous for their work to maintain; for I have always observed if men will not be idle they need not want." In the Parochial Returns of Charitable Donations, made to parliament in 1787–8, it is said, John Pigg "left the produce of his real and personal estates (excepting £5 per annum to the minister of Earsdon, and £5 per annum to the overseers of the highways for the county of Northumberland, and such sum or sums of money to his niece Ann Rea, as his trustees should think proper) to such poor in the counties of Durham, Northumberland, and Newcastle upon Tyne, and in such proportions, as the trustees of his will should think fit. By a decree of Chancery, part of his lands in Earsdon, and one-third of his personal estate, were awarded to Ann Rea, and the remainder to the uses of his will. The estates are, by the best information, worth £130 per ann. in the possession of William and Henry Cramlington; but the parish of St. Andrew have never received any benefit from this donation. The two-thirds of the personal estate (£500) being £333, 6s. 8d. were never accounted for."

This John Pigg, town's surveyor for Newcastle, "was well known both to king Charles II. and the Duke of York; and, for his giddy singularities, noted not only through the country, but almost through the kingdom. He usually wore a high-crowned hat, a strait coat, and would never ride, but walked the pace of any horse hundreds of miles on foot, with a quarter-staff, fenced with an iron fork at one end. The king and Duke of York, to whom he was often trotting, made themselves sport with him, as looking upon him to be a brainsick enthusiast. He was of so peculiar and odd a humour, that he would not only go to prison when he needed not, but conceitedly chose the vilest part of the prison for his apartment, where he continued a long while, when he might have had his liberty whenever he pleased. This Pigg died in a stye, in circumstances not unlike those who lay hands on themselves, or die crazy or distracted. He took down a stately cross, which he called Idolatry, that stood at the north end of the Barras Bridge, before the chapel of St. James, and built a curious stone pillar, inscribed with texts of scripture, still standing at the Three-mile Bridge, by the side of the Morpeth road, as a monument of his whimsical head, and which very deservedly to this day bears the name of 'Pigg's Folly.'" This account of honest Pigg is evidently exaggerated. Being a Puritan was sufficient to entitle him to the scoffs of the profane, and the hatred of bigots of a different class. The above extract from his will shews that he was not deficient in discernment and good sense; and his choice of executors implies that his connexions were respectable. Bourne says that the cross which he took; down at the Barras Bridge "was broke by some who hated it should be profaned;" but it is probably the very same cross which he set up at the Three-mile Bridge, after cutting upon it some instructive scraps of holy writ. He was evidently an eccentric man; but his charitable bequests ought to have procured more, indulgence for his memory.