King's Stanley: Local government

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Court rolls for the manor and borough survive for 10 years in the period 1461-1554; (fn. 1) there are rolls for the manor for 1766- 1767, (fn. 2) and for the borough for 1675-6 (fn. 3) and several years in the early 19th century up to 1846. (fn. 4) In 1461 separate courts were held on the same day for the borough and manor; later joint courts were usually held with separate presentments by the bailiffs and burgesses and by the homage. View of frankpledge was apparently claimed only for the borough, (fn. 5) but after the divergence of ownership in 1617 both courts were called views of frankpledge. (fn. 6) Two bailiffs were appointed for the borough in the court until 1846 or later, but by the early 18th century they had only the equivalent functions of the constable in the manor. (fn. 7) A building in the borough was thought c. 1775 to have once been a gaol. (fn. 8) In the earlier 19th century the borough court, which met at one of the inns of the village, was concerned with such matters as encroachments on the waste and the condition of roads and watercourses. It elected a crier in 1837 and later; (fn. 9) presumably it was the same spirit of antiquarianism that revived the use of the stocks. (fn. 10) The borough court has not been found recorded after 1846. (fn. 11) The manor court was still being held in 1880, (fn. 12) and annual leet dinners held at Court Farm were remembered in 1967. (fn. 13)

The accounts of the two churchwardens survive for 1786-1878, (fn. 14) of the overseers for 1667-1736 and 1743-61, (fn. 15) and vestry minutes for 1829-39. (fn. 16) The parish officers regularly apprenticed children in the late 17th century and early 18th. (fn. 17) In 1727 a workhouse was built adjoining an already existing 'almshouse', and a woman keeper was appointed in 1729; she received a fixed sum for the maintenance of each person in the workhouse and a percentage of the money earned by the work carried on there, apparently spinning. (fn. 18) In 1734 and 1735 looms were bought for paupers; (fn. 19) other paupers were provided with a spinning-wheel in 1755 and a scythe in 1756. (fn. 20) In 1732 a surgeon of Leonard Stanley who owned property in the parish undertook to treat the paupers in the almshouse and workhouse instead of paying rates, (fn. 21) and a surgeon was being retained at a salary in 1832. (fn. 22) There was a salaried overseer from 1736 or earlier. (fn. 23) A select vestry with 13 members had been formed by 1829. Aid with emigration was being given in 1831, and 7 families were helped to emigrate to New South Wales in the late 1830s. (fn. 24) In the late 17th century and earlier 18th there were usually c. 30 people on regular relief. (fn. 25) In 1803 there were only 8 on regular relief but 60 were occasionally relieved; (fn. 26) in 1813 the parish was evidently being severely affected by the wartime depression in the clothing industry, for 210 people were on permanent relief and 100 were relieved occasionally. (fn. 27) King's Stanley became part of the Stroud Union in 1836, (fn. 28) and remained in the Stroud Rural District in 1967.