LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
In 1279 the lord of
Ducklington manor had view of frankpledge
conducted by the bailiff of Bampton, presumably
a franchise acquired from the lord of Bampton
manor. (fn. 53) The lord of Ducklington was exempted
from the biannual view at Bampton which his
freeholders were expected to attend; presumably, therefore, the Ducklington view was for
unfree tenants. (fn. 54) In 1423 the two Ducklington
views were held with the manor by service of
suit to the hundred court. (fn. 55) In the 17th century
Ducklington retained, within the Bampton
frankpledge, a 'law day of itself', (fn. 56) and in the
1670s Bampton's steward was holding the residual annual view in Ducklington at Michaelmas;
a constable, and tithingmen for Ducklington,
Clay well, and Cokethorpe, were appointed and
field orders issued. (fn. 57) The annual court continued
into the 19th century. (fn. 58)
In 1279 both free and unfree tenants of Ducklington manor owed suit to the lord's
three-weekly court. (fn. 59) Perquisites of Ducklington
manor courts were mentioned in the earlier 16th
century, (fn. 60) and when Sir Christopher Brome
turned all his copyholds into leaseholds in 1587
he agreed to maintain one court baron a year
near Lady Day, presumably chiefly to regulate
the fields. (fn. 61) Courts both baron and leet continued to be conveyed with Ducklington manor,
but few references to sittings have been found:
in the 1740s courts baron of Elizabeth, Dowager
Lady Harcourt, held in October, appointed grass
stewards and a hayward, (fn. 62) and in 1876 Catherine
Strickland as lady of Ducklington held what
seems to have been an annual court leet, baron,
and view, to which all residents were expected
to pay suit. (fn. 63) In the 18th century ancient freehold quitrents payable at Michaelmas, and
leasehold quitrents payable then and at Lady
Day, (fn. 64) were presumably paid in Ducklington
manor courts. It was claimed in 1912 that payment of quitrents had long ceased. (fn. 65)
In 1279 the Claywell tenants of Eynsham
abbey held of Ducklington manor but owed
hidage to Bampton, a payment presumably reserved when that part of Claywell was first
separated from the royal manor. (fn. 66) Eynsham
abbey may have held separate courts for Claywell in the 13th century but by the early 14th
the homage attended the abbot's Shifford
court. (fn. 67)
In 1279 the Greys' manor of Hardwick,
Brighthampton, and Yelford was said to be
ancient demesne and claimed large liberties,
notably view of frankpledge, gallows, and tumbrel, and probably then, as later, the assize of
bread and of ale. (fn. 68) In the 1540s the view was
usually held biannually in April and near Michaelmas, (fn. 69) but in the later 16th century the few
April courts seem to have been courts baron
only. By the 17th century there was only a
combined court leet and baron at Michaelmas.
The manor was divided into three tithings,
Hardwick, Brighthampton, and Yelford, which
paid certainty money of 3s. 9d., 3s., and 3d.
respectively. The court elected one tithingman
for each, and constables for Hardwick and
Brighthampton; by the late 16th century no
tithingman for Yelford was elected. Freehold
suitors were fined for non-appearance and the
jury made regular presentments of woundings,
breaking the lord's park, and neglect of butts and
archery practice. Punitive instruments, notably
stocks and cucking stool, were frequently lacking
or ruinous. In 1579, 'for the confirmation of the
liberties and royalty' of the manor, the lord gave
an elm for a gallows, to be built by the tenants
and erected in the 'old place' near Knight Bridge
on the Shifford brook, where the AstonBrighthampton road entered the liberty. (fn. 70)
Repair of highways and watercourses was ordered regularly. Two fieldsmen (sometimes
called wardens of the Great Moor) and a hayward were appointed, and bylaws were issued
regulating the commons and common fields;
there was an autumn meeting in the fields to set
merestones and decide other matters. Copyhold
transfers provided much of the court's business
until the 18th century, when St. John's College
turned much to leasehold. After inclosure separate haywards were appointed for Hardwick and
Brighthampton and a few heriots were paid, but
at the last recorded court in 1867 no jury was
impanelled because of lack of business. (fn. 71)
Parish officers appointed annually in Ducklington's vestry in the 17th century included 2
churchwardens, 2 overseers of the poor, and 2
surveyors of the highways. In 1668 the vestry
agreed to pay a hayward at the rate of 2s. a
yardland, and 'parishioners' made decisions
about the seasonal fencing of roads through the
open fields. (fn. 72) Hardwick was separately responsible for its poor, and later had its own
churchwardens.
Poor-relief expenditure in Ducklington rose
steeply from c. £30 a year in the 1780s to almost
£240 in 1803, or 15s. per head of the population;
almost all was spent on out relief. During the
Napoleonic wars expenditure per head on the
poor rose to over 17s., falling thereafter to only
10s. in 1825; there was another sharp rise to 18s.
3d. in 1827, but by 1832, when £263 was spent,
the cost was only 13s. per head. (fn. 73) In 1803 regular
out relief was given to only 8 adults and 9
children, and 43 persons received occasional
relief. In 1815 there were 27 persons on out
relief. (fn. 74) The outcome of a plan of 1817 to farm
out the poor of Ducklington, Witney, and Curbridge to a single contractor is not known. (fn. 75) In
the 1830s labourers were said to have sufficient
summer work, but in winter many required relief. (fn. 76)
Although in 1804 no workhouse was recorded £48
worth of flax was spun into thread by the poor and
sold for £73 which was shared among the ratepayers. (fn. 77) A group of church houses rented to the poor
may have included a short-lived workhouse before
1831, but again in 1834 no workhouse was recorded. (fn. 78) The church houses continued to be used
as poor houses until sold in 1872. (fn. 79)
Hardwick in the 1780s was spending c. £21 a
year on the poor, and a similar amount in 1803
when four adults and four children were on
regular out relief, and 19 were occasionally
relieved. Expenditure per head rose from 3s. 4d.
in 1803 to over 12s. in 1818, falling sharply in
the early 1820s but again over 8s. in the 1830s. (fn. 80)
After 1834 Ducklington and Hardwick belonged to Witney union. Ducklington's vestry
continued to appoint officers, including the
parish churchwarden, 2 overseers, 2 highway surveyors, a constable, and later a waywarden. It
approved accounts, set rates, regulated church
matters, and made orders for road repair, payments for sparrows, and the impounding of
strays; meetings in the mid 19th century were
in the Strickland Arms, but later in the church
and from 1869 in the National school. By the
later 19th century business was almost entirely
confined to church matters. (fn. 81) In the mid 19th
century a Hardwick vestry was meeting in
Cokethorpe chapel, usually only to elect an
overseer and waywarden; later it met in the
parish room at Hardwick. In 1873 the rector
chose a churchwarden to assist a parish warden
who had served for many years. Thereafter the
vestry was concerned largely with church rates,
church repair, and charitable administration. (fn. 82)
In 1894 the residual secular powers of Ducklington's vestry were taken over by a parish.
council. Ducklington and Hardwick became part
of Witney rural district, and in 1974 of West
Oxfordshire district. (fn. 83)