LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
A court at Edgeworth
was mentioned in 1342 (fn. 37) but no court records are
known to have survived. In the mid 16th century
frankpledge jurisdiction over Edgeworth was exercised by the hundred court. (fn. 38) Tenants at Westwood
in the Middle Ages presumably attended the court
of the Abbot of Cirencester for Througham
manor. (fn. 39)
The parish had two churchwardens from the 16th
century (fn. 40) but none of their early records nor the
records of the overseers are known to have
survived. The expenditure on poor-relief in 1813,
when 14 people were on permanent relief and 11 on
occasional relief, was £80. (fn. 41) It declined steadily to
£49 in 1825, (fn. 42) but in the following years was
usually higher, reaching £121 in 1831. (fn. 43) The parish
became part of the Cirencester poor-law union in
1836 (fn. 44) and remained in Cirencester rural district
in 1971.
Footnotes
| 37 |
Inq. p. m. Glos. 1302-58, 292. |
| 38 |
S.C. 2/175/11 rot. 2d. |
| 39 |
Cf. S.C. 6/Hen. VIII/1240 rott. 49d.-50d. |
| 40 |
Hockaday Abs. xlvii, 1576 visit., f. 102. |
| 41 |
Poor Law Abstract, 1818, 144-5. |
| 42 |
Poor Law Returns (1830-1), p. 66. |
| 43 |
Ibid. (1835), p. 64. |
| 44 |
Poor Law Com. 2nd Rep. p. 522. |