CHARITIES
(fn. 62) In 1861 the Charity Commission held an inquiry into
the complex affairs of the charities
of Epping and Theydon Garnon.
This revealed that six of the eleven
existing charities were in practice managed together.
Two schemes were made following this inquiry, which
were designed to give legal sanction to this arrangement
and to make it more efficient. The first scheme, made
in 1863, dealt with Baker's and Reynolds's Charities.
A year later another scheme was made for Archer's,
Winstanley's, Mrs. Kirwan's, and Lady Fitzwilliam's
Charities. Both these schemes dealt only with the
appointment, &c., of trustees, leaving the trusts unchanged. In 1898 the separation of the ecclesiastical
and non-ecclesiastical charities under the Local Government Act of 1894 created three new charities: John
Baker's, John Reynolds's, and Elizabeth Cain's ecclesiastical charities. There were already two other
ecclesiastical charities, Rogers's and Black's. Another
scheme of 1901 provided for the management of all the
charities except Baker's and Reynolds's church charities
and Black's Charity. It regulated the use of all funds
applicable to the benefit of the poor: other purposes
were left untouched. Money for the poor was to
be spent on stipends for inmates of Lady Fitzwilliam's
almshouses, the support of coal or clothing clubs
or other institutions for the benefit of the industrious
poor of the parish, or in gifts in kind to the poor. The
income of Winstanley's, Archer's, Lady Fitzwilliam's,
Mrs. Kirwan's, and Hylard's Charities, Elizabeth
Cain's non-ecclesiastical charity, and half the income
of Baker's and Reynolds's non-ecclesiastical charities,
amounting in all to £115 3s. 8d., was spent in 1952 as
follows: after the payment of expenses £8 was given to
the provident club and £6 to the school boot club;
£42 was spent on Christmas presents, and £44 4s. 10d.
was given to Baker's Educational Foundation.
According to an inscription in the church John
Hylard, alderman of London, gave £50 at an unknown date to the poor of Theydon Garnon. The
money was used to buy two houses. In 1834 the
original property was supposed to have been sold and
replaced by two cottages inhabited by paupers put
there by the parish overseer. In 1862 the cottages
were in bad repair; they had no endowment and were
occupied rent free. The parish successfully resisted
attempts to include this charity in the scheme made in
1864. In 1898 the cottages were occupied by two
widows and an annual donation was received from
Baker's Charity. After the sale of Lady Fitzwilliam's
almshouses (see below) in 1904 their endowment was
to be applied to the support of Hylard's Charity. In
1947 the property, which was in Coopersale Street,
was sold for £55. The income from this is spent with
that of the other charities for the poor.
Baker's or Stonard's Charity was founded by the will
of John Baker of Epping, dated 1518. He directed
that the profits of his lands called Stonard's were to be
used for the care of the highways between Harlow and
London and for other charitable works. The profits
of the wood from part of the property were to be given
alternately for the use of the churches of Epping and
Theydon Garnon. Part of the property was sold in
1864-5 for £3,347 and other small pieces of land were
sold at various times so that by 1951 the endowment
consisted of £2,145 in stock as well as Stonard's Farm
in Theydon Garnon and Epping.
In 1637 a decree was made by the Commissioners
of Charitable Uses regulating the charity, which had
apparently been mismanaged. A Chancery decree was
also made concerning it before 1651. Between 1814
and 1842 the income was spent on bread and meat for
the poor, which was distributed on the Sunday before
Christmas. (fn. 63) In 1834 the income from rents was £107,
of which Theydon Garnon received £15 15s. In
addition £300 stock was held at that time for Theydon
Garnon, chiefly comprising profits from wood. The
income from this was used to apprentice the sons of
parishioners. Other profits from wood were received
in 1805, 1806, and 1822 and were spent on repairing
and beautifying the church. In 1861 a donation was
given to the parish school and the gifts for apprenticing
had been abandoned. In 1952 the Theydon Garnon
moiety of the charity's income from rents and dividends
was £68 16s. 6d.
When the ecclesiastical portion of the charity was
split off, the stock held in respect of it was divided between the two parishes. The Theydon Garnon holding is now £793 15s. 7d. which is paid into the church
expenses account.
Thomas Winstanley, by will dated 1570, left all his
lands in North Weald Bassett in trust to pay 40s. a
year to the poor of Theydon Garnon. The property
consisted of a house and small pasture called Baker's
(later Bulle's). In 1923-4 it was sold for £310, which
was invested in stock.
Between 1570 and 1834 the rent rose from £2 to
£12. It was generally distributed to the poor in small
sums, (fn. 64) apparently of cash, until 1834 when it was
spent on food with Baker's Charity. In 1952 the
income was £12 5s. 10d., which was spent with that
of the other charities for the poor.
In 1834 a tablet in the church recorded a gift made
in 1584 by Henry Archer, who gave to the poor a rent
charge of £2 to be distributed every Whit-Sunday. It
issued from the Coopersale House estate (see above,
Manors) and in 1834 was distributed with Baker's
Charity. The charge was redeemed in 1911 for £80
stock which in 1952 produced £2.
Anne Sidney, Lady Fitzwilliam, by will proved
1602, directed that an almshouse should be built in
Theydon Garnon and a rent charge purchased to give
four poor widows 12d. a week each. The almshouses
were duly built and an annuity of £12 bought which
issued from an estate in Stoke Doyle (Northants.). (fn. 65)
In 1834 the almshouses were in good repair and were
occupied by four old widows who received, in addition to their stipends, 1 guinea every Christmas. In
1862 three out of the four inmates received poor relief.
By 1895 it was becoming difficult to find occupants
because of the dilapidated condition of the almshouses
and their distance from the village. Eventually in 1923
the land and buildings, then rented as two cottages,
were sold for £310 which was invested and produced
an income of £10 10s. 8d. in 1952. The almshouse
building, which still survives, is a low red-brick range
dating from the 17th century. The original four
dwellings each consisted of one ground-floor room and
a small attic. There are now only two doorways to the
front. The brass plates on the doors are comparatively
modern. The attics are lighted by casements in the
gable-ends and by two small dormers at the back. There
are two cruciform chimneys, set diagonally. The
brickwork has been much patched and the woodwork
in general has been renewed.
John Reynolds, by deed dated 1647, left land in
Theydon Garnon in trust for the benefit of Epping
and Theydon Garnon. For Theydon Garnon £4 a
year was to be paid to the best-behaved poor, 20s. to
the preacher of a sermon on 3 November, and 5s. to
the sexton. The surplus was to be shared between the
poor of the two parishes. In 1861 the property was
sold for £840, which was invested in stock. In 1834 the
Theydon Garnon share of the £15 rent was spent with
Baker's Charity. In 1861 £1 and 5s. went to the
sermon and the sexton and £7 15s. to the poor in
bread and money. In 1952 the Theydon Garnon
moiety of the income was £10 5s. 8d.
In 1898 the ecclesiastical part of the charity was
separated from the rest and was to receive £1 5s. a
year from the Baker and Reynolds non-ecclesiastical
charities, to be spent as before. In 1952 the payments
were duly made.
Richard Rogers, by will proved 1794, left £100 in
trust to repair his family vault and tomb in the church.
The charity was not mentioned in the 1835 Report,
but in 1862 the dividend of £3 was spent in accordance
with the trusts. The dividends were not received for
some years in the late 19th century. In 1933 the income
of £3 was spent on the maintenance of the tomb and
vault.
Elizabeth Cain, by codicil to her will proved 1835,
left £100 for the repair and painting of her tomb; any
surplus was to go to poor widows in the parish. It was
said in 1862 that the tomb was repaired and painted
every three or four years and that the surplus was distributed. The stock was held with that of Rogers's
Charity and the dividends were similarly lost for some
years before 1898. In 1952 the whole income of
£2 10s. was spent on the poor, since the tomb, the care
of which is now a separate ecclesiastical charity, was
in good repair.
Mrs. Kirwan, by will proved in or after 1847, left
£200 free of legacy duty in trust for a yearly distribution to the poor of Coopersale. It was apparently
originally the gift of her husband, Clement Kirwan.
In 1862 the income was spent with that of Baker's
Charity. In 1952 the income was £7 1s.
In 1790 the Revd. Thomas Abdy, the lord of the
manor, provided 2½ acres of waste of the manor on
which the parish officers were to grow potatoes to be
sold to the poor at a price sufficient to cover the costs.
The parishioners were to maintain the land as a garden
for the use of the poor. The arrangement was, however, found burdensome to the parish and Abdy substituted a yearly gift of 100 loaves of bread, and, later,
of £2 in cash. The charity lapsed, however, after his
death.
William Black, by deed of 1793, gave an annuity of
40s. issuing from his house, The Grove, to be distributed on Sundays to communicants. In 1834 the
payment was made at Christmas, but from 1904 the
rector declined to distribute the charity money, since
he looked upon it as a bribe to take the sacrament.
Instead the money was given away to the poor in tea
and beef. The annuity has not apparently been receive
since 1915 and is now presumed to be lost.