Stonehouse: Local government

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Court rolls of Stonehouse manor survive for nine years in the period 1486-1508, and six years in the period 1533-56, (fn. 1) and draft rolls for several years in the later 16th century. (fn. 2) Court books cover the period 1604-84, (fn. 3) and there are draft rolls and records of presentments for most years in the 18th century; the latest is for 1818. (fn. 4) Two courts were usually held each year in the late 15th century and in the 16th, and one each October from the beginning of the 17th century. View of frankpledge was held with the manor court from the late 15th century, and cases of assault were dealt with until the mid 16th century. (fn. 5) For a few years after the division of the manor in 1567 (fn. 6) courts were held in the names of both William Fowler and William Sandford, (fn. 7) but after 1599 they were held only in the name of the owner of the Fowler estate. (fn. 8) The court continued, however, to exercise jurisdiction over the whole manor: tenants of the Sandford estate were members of the homage, and a stint in the common pasture ordered by the court in 1616 was stated to have been agreed by Daniel Fowler and William Sandford and their tenants. (fn. 9) Assize of bread and ale was claimed by John Giffard, lord of the manor, in 1276. (fn. 10) From 1624 the lack of a pillory, cucking-stool, and whipping-post was continually presented in the court. (fn. 11) A constable, tithingman, and hayward were elected in the court until 1818, (fn. 12) and in 1799 a crier and a bailiff held their offices by the court's authority. In the early 18th century the court met at an inn at Stonehouse, (fn. 13) and between 1746 and 1765 at one at Cainscross. (fn. 14)

There were two churchwardens from the late 15th century. (fn. 15) In the 18th century the office was held by the same man for long periods: John Dimock, the clothier, was churchwarden from 1771 to 1800. (fn. 16) Churchwardens' accounts survive for the period 1757-1898. (fn. 17) There were two overseers in the late 17th century and early 18th but later one of the churchwardens held the office alone: Giles Middlemore, the overseer from 1746 to 1782, was also a churchwarden from 1771, and William Wetmore was overseer and churchwarden between 1784 and 1795. (fn. 18) Overseers' accounts survive for the period 1819-30, (fn. 19) and there is also a large collection of papers, including correspondence and apprenticeship indentures. (fn. 20) Between 1692 and 1816 74 apprenticeships were made by the parish officers. (fn. 21) A poorhouse was mentioned in 1827; (fn. 22) it is said to have consisted of a row of cottages in Woodcock Lane. (fn. 23) Payments to Gloucester Infirmary were being made in 1830. (fn. 24) Expenditure on the poor trebled in the last quarter of the 18th century, (fn. 25) but then remained fairly constant until 1814, (fn. 26) and fell between 1814 and 1825. It then rose again and had doubled by 1834. (fn. 27) In 1803 97 people were receiving permanent relief, but the number was slightly smaller in 1815; the number of those receiving occasional relief, however, doubled in the same period. (fn. 28) The obligation of the tenants of the manor to repair the roads in Whitsun week was mentioned in 1492. (fn. 29) There were two surveyors of the highways in 1616; (fn. 30) their accounts survive for the periods 1766-86 and 1840-8. (fn. 31) Stonehouse became part of the Stroud Union in 1836 (fn. 32) and remained in the Stroud Rural District in 1967.