LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Hayes belonged to the
Archbishop of Canterbury's bailiwick or liberty of
Harrow. (fn. 57) A court was held at Hayes, as well as at
Harrow, in 1242, (fn. 58) and in 1270 the pleas and perquisites were worth 102s. (fn. 59) Under the North family
there were a reeve and a beadle, who rendered
separate accounts (fn. 60) and who were elected in the
Hayes manor court. (fn. 61) The court rolls exist from 1381
to 1778 and the court books from 1728 to 1930. (fn. 62)
The manor court normally held a view of frankpledge every Easter, and 3 or 4 courts baron in
between; the bailiff usually held the court on behalf
of the archbishop. (fn. 63) In 1383 the lord of Yeading
manor commuted his suit of court at Hayes, (fn. 64) and in
1386 ale-tasters for both Hayes and Southall are
mentioned. (fn. 65) In 1402 the court elected four constables, one of whom was for Southall, and beadles
for Hayes, Botwell, and Southall. (fn. 66) By the 16th
century the number of officials elected by the court
was apparently increasing, and in 1572 two constables and two headboroughs were elected for
Hayes, and one of each for Norwood. (fn. 67) According to
Lysons Norwood manor held courts certainly from
1481, (fn. 68) but the appointment of the Norwood officials
by the Hayes court indicates the subservience of
Norwood manor to that of Hayes. By 1610 two
constables and two ale-tasters were elected for Hayes,
together with an under-constable or headborough for
each of the 5 hamlets of Yeading, Hayes End, Wood
End, Botwell, and Cotman's Town; Norwood and
Southall had a constable and aletaster each, and
shared 3 under-constables. (fn. 69) Throughout its existence the court was primarily concerned with making
economic regulations. There was perhaps a court
house as early as 1270, when the doors of the court
are mentioned, (fn. 70) but there is no further evidence of
such a building until c. 1640, when a building called
the Court House was in private occupation. (fn. 71) By the
19th century one court baron was held in the spring
every year, the last being in 1864, (fn. 72) and court dinners
were held at the 'Adam and Eve'. (fn. 73) After 1864 only
purely formal business was transacted.
The vestry is not mentioned until the early 19th
century, although it was presumably in existence
long before this. In 1531 the parish clerk was dismissable by the churchwardens, who were themselves probably answerable to the vestry, and in the
same year a man gave 10s. towards repairing the
highways. (fn. 74) During the 17th century Norwood probably developed an independent jurisdiction. (fn. 75) In the
early 19th century the vestry met occasionally in the
church and then in the workhouse, usually about 4
times a year, with an average attendance of 5-8
people. The meetings were almost solely for administering the poor law, electing overseers, and
occasionally for levying a church rate. Under the
Sturges Bourne Act the vestry was converted into
a select vestry of 20 members including the vicar and
4 officials. The average attendance rose during the
1830s and 1840s to between 15 and 18. During 1839
meetings were held at the 'Adam and Eve', but in
1841 were moved to the National School. In 1839
the vestry elected 8 officers, consisting of 2 each of
guardians of the poor, overseers of the poor, highway surveyors, and assessors and collectors of taxes.
In 1839, on the vicar's refusal to do so, they also
appointed a vicar's warden and a year later they
refused for a time to appoint a churchwarden at all,
because a warden might be imprisoned for not going
to church. (fn. 76)
During the early 19th century the principal occupation of the vestry was the administration of the
poor laws. Between 1783 and 1785 the average
amount spent annually on the poor was over £298,
the rates being over £300, (fn. 77) and by 1803 they had
doubled to £661. (fn. 78) In the early part of the century
the poor were said to be farmed out, but this practice was later discontinued. (fn. 79) By 1803 the parish had
acquired a workhouse, and in 1814 this and its
garden, together occupying over 2 a., stood on the
south side of Botwell Lane, (fn. 80) near Printinghouse
Lane (earlier Workhouse Lane). (fn. 81) The workhouse
usually had about 24 inmates, the old men working
in the garden and women in the house. (fn. 82) The vestry
owned a room in the poorhouse and bought an oak
chest in which to keep their documents there. (fn. 83)
Hayes was included in the Uxbridge Poor Law Union
of 1836 and the poor transferred to the union workhouse in Hillingdon. (fn. 84) By 1864 the Hayes workhouse
was occupied as a private cottage. (fn. 85)
The vestry minutes cease between 1842 and 1864,
but the vestry presumably continued to administer
the parish. After 1864 it met about 6 times a year
and its business was mainly to elect officers and to
propose rates. (fn. 86) A parish council was formed (fn. 87) in
1894 when a chairman and 9 councillors, consisting
of 'five socialists and four gentlemen', (fn. 88) were elected.
The council met monthly at Dr. Triplett's school in
Church Walk, their officials being a paid clerk and
an unpaid treasurer. Workmen employed by the
council were to have a minimum wage of 20s.
a week. Finance and Watch committees were formed
in 1895. (fn. 89) The council dealt with much parish
business, such as allotments, a fire service, and providing a village hall, drainage, and sewage. They
produced a sewage scheme in 1898 but nothing had
been done before 1903. In 1902 an attempt to adopt
the Lighting and Watching Act was defeated by
a large majority. Widespread demands in 1903 for
local control over building expansion and objections
to the Hayes contributions to the Uxbridge rural
district being spent outside the parish led to the
formation in 1904 of Hayes U.D. (fn. 90)
The urban district council consisted of 9 members
and met fortnightly at 'Fairfield'. Four salaried
officers were appointed, a clerk, surveyor, inspector
of nuisances, and a medical officer. Two committees,
for highways, sewage, and sanitation, and for general
purposes and finance, were formed, and one of their
first acts was to continue the sewage scheme that had
been undertaken by the parish council. (fn. 91) In 1934
Hayes U.D. became Hayes and Harlington U.D.
and about an acre of Hayes civil parish was added to
Southall Borough. (fn. 92) In
1958 the council consisted of 24 members, Hayes
parish forming 6 of the 8
wards into which the district was divided. (fn. 93) In
1965 the urban district
was incorporated in the
new London Borough of
Hillingdon. (fn. 94)
Urban District of Hayes and Harlington
Vert, a silver pall, its lower limb cut short, between in chief two wings joined together argent, and on each side a cog-wheel argent in front of two rays
of lightning or [Granted 1950]
Barra Hall, a residence
at Wood End known in
1865 as Grove Lodge, was
purchased by the council
in 1923 and afterwards
used as the town hall. In
1948 the department of
the borough engineer
and surveyor moved into
the Chestnuts, formerly
Grove Cottage, which is
situated nearby at the junction of Botwell Lane and
Woodend Green Road. From 1954 until its demolition in 1960 Wood End House accommodated the
departments of parks and public health, which then
moved to Springfield House in Hayes End Road. (fn. 95)
In 1968 the former town hall of Hayes was used as
the town hall of the London Borough of Hillingdon.