LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
A court for the
Mauduits' quarter of Standlake manor was mentioned in 1254, when the lord of one of the other
quarters owed suit there. (fn. 29) In 1279 all four lords
claimed pillory, tumbrel, and assize of bread and
ale, and in 1285 gallows, (fn. 30) but no such liberties
were recorded later, and in the 17th century the
lord of Bampton, as lord of the hundred, held a
Michaelmas court and view of frankpledge at
Standlake in September or October and enforced the assize of ale. (fn. 31) Separate courts baron,
held by lords of each of the quarters throughout
the Middle Ages and by Magdalen College
following the manor's reunification, met in the
14th and 15th centuries once or twice a year, in
the later 16th century usually every other year,
and in the 18th century sometimes less frequently; in the 15th and 16th centuries they
issued field orders, but from the mid 17th
century they dealt almost exclusively with copyholds, sometimes at special interim sessions. (fn. 32) A
general court baron was recorded in 1847, but
thereafter individual copyhold grants only, the
last in 1882. (fn. 33) The lord of Bampton's Michaelmas court and view, which issued field orders in
the later 17th century, (fn. 34) continued probably
until the earlier 19th century. (fn. 35) A court house,
apparently on Standlake High Street, was mentioned from the 15th century to the 17th, but all
or part was usually let to tenants, (fn. 36) and in the
late 18th century courts were said to have met
formerly in the Chequers inn. (fn. 37)
Tenants in Standlake and Brittenton, the part
of Brighthampton within Standlake manor and
parish, (fn. 38) formed a single homage. In 1536 a court
baron appointed officers to enforce fishing and
field orders, (fn. 39) but officers in the mid 17th century were elected at the lord of Bampton's
Standlake court, when they included a constable
for Standlake and another for Brittenton, tithingmen for each of the quarters of the manor, a
field warden, and two inspectors of carcasses. (fn. 40)
In 1622 the constable of Standlake received 15s.
rent towards highway repairs, apparently a temporary expedient. (fn. 41)
Brighthampton tenants of Hardwick manor
attended that manor's courts and views of frankpledge from the Middle Ages to the later 19th
century; by the 16th century they belonged to a
different tithing from the Hardwick tenants.
Officers included a constable for the part of
Brighthampton within Hardwick manor and
Bampton parish, elected annually until 1842,
and a hayward with shared jurisdiction over
Standlake common, whose office continued after
inclosure. (fn. 42)
For civil and parochial purposes the part of
Brighthampton within Bampton parish was administered independently, raising its own rates
and presumably electing its own officers, though
no overseer was mentioned in 1642. Probably in
the 15th century and still in the late 19th
Brighthampton appointed a chapelwarden for
Shifford chapel. (fn. 43) Brittenton was administered
with Standlake. (fn. 44) Two churchwardens for
Standlake were recorded from 1530 and two
collectors or overseers from 1642, (fn. 45) and in the
earlier 19th century there were two surveyors of
highways, who seem usually to have contracted
out road repairs. (fn. 46) In the later 19th century
Standlake vestry appointed a waywarden, 2
overseers, 2 churchwardens, 3 allotment wardens, and 2 assessors, and nominated constables
to the magistrates. (fn. 47) Grass stewards, recorded
from c. 1775 until inclosure, were said in 1852
to be appointed annually at parish meetings;
there were then 4 for Standlake, presumably
including Brittenton, and 2 for Brighthampton,
with shared responsibility for Standlake common.
Duties included repair of gates and fences,
drainage, provision of powder and shot for birdscaring, and provision, with the rector, of town
bulls; their income included rents from small
meadows and commons, and profits from sale of
bushes and scrub after haining. Occasionally the
grass stewards appointed herdsmen. (fn. 48)
At inclosure responsibility for cleaning ditches
and watercourses and maintaining some private
roads passed to the newly established Standlake
Drainage Board, financed by annual rates. (fn. 49) In
1938 chief responsibility for the area passed
under the Land Drainage Act of 1930 to the
Thames Conservancy Catchment Board, though
in the 1940s the Standlake Board retained limited powers over roads, bridges, and minor
ditches. (fn. 50) A resident police constable was recorded from 1861, and c. 1930 a police office was
built near the school. (fn. 51) A pair of 'parish' stocks
remained at the Green until c. 1927, when their
use was still remembered. (fn. 52)
Claims in the early 17th century that the parish
was overburdened with poor prompted a petition to the justices of assize. (fn. 53) In 1775-6
Standlake spent £104 on poor relief, in 1783-5
an average of £158, and in 1803 £267 or c. 9s.
per head of population, a relatively low figure.
By 1813 expenditure was £579 or c. 20s. per
head, rising to c. 29s. in 1819. It fell to 12s, in
1824, rose again in the later 1820s, and in 1834
was 19s. per head. A rented workhouse with
accommodation for 14 inmates in 1775 was
re-established in 1781, when the poor were
chiefly employed spinning wool for a Witney
factory; it had closed by 1803, when 31 adults
and 4 children received permanent out relief and
12 received occasional relief. Under £2 was
spent on setting the poor to work in 1775-6, and
c. £5 in 1802-3. By 1813 there were 36 adults
on permanent and 10 on occasional relief, and
18 adults were relieved permanently and 14
occasionally in 1815. (fn. 54)
A select vestry to oversee poor relief, established in 1819, continued until 1834, with 8-10
annually elected members usually including the
curate and leading farmers. (fn. 55) Besides authorizing weekly and extraordinary payments in
money, clothing, or kind it confronted rising
unemployment, ruling in 1819 that all inhabitants should employ labourers in proportion to
their rates, and the same year distributing 20
labourers among the ratepayers by ballot. (fn. 56) A
supervisor of those put to work on the roads
received 6s. a week, and in 1820 action was taken
against labourers allegedly leaving the roads or
gravel pits to purloin firewood. (fn. 57) Inhabitants
supplementing their income by spinning hemp
were to be employed by the overseers whenever
hemp could not be supplied, and were to receive
additional allowances for carriage of hemp. (fn. 58) A
new workhouse was established c. 1820 at the
south of Rack End, adjoining or incorporating
existing parish cottages, and a governor and two
guardians were appointed; nothing is known of
its operation and at its sale in 1840 it had long
been let as 5 separate cottages. (fn. 59) In 1824 the
vestry appointed an assistant overseer on a salary
of £20, and the same year vaccinated those
potentially chargeable to the parish. (fn. 60) From 1820
the vestry ceased paying rents or supplying beer
at pauper funerals, (fn. 61) and weekly allowances, then
7s. a week for a man and wife and 1s. 6d. for
each child, were reduced to 5s. 6d. and 1s. 3d.
respectively by 1824. (fn. 62) From 1825 relief was
denied to anyone keeping a dog. (fn. 63)
Brighthampton spent only £16 on poor relief
in 1775-6 and an average of c. £18 in 1783-5.
In the earlier 19th century capitation was usually
lower than in Standlake and Brittenton, 14s. in
1814 and, exceptionally, 6s. in 1815. By 1819 it
had risen to c. 26s. but declined during the early
1820s, rising again to c. 20s. in 1828. In 1834 it
was 14s., and total expenditure was £78. Eight
adults and 6 children received regular out relief
in 1802-3, and between 8 and 10 adults in
1813-15; there was no occasional relief, and no
workhouse. (fn. 64)
After 1834 Standlake and Brighthampton
belonged to Witney union, and from 1894 to
Witney rural district. In 1974 they became part
of West Oxfordshire district. (fn. 65)