Local goverment
Profits of the
manor court and view of frankpledge from the
mid 13th century to the early 14th were a
valuable source of income to the Crown, ranging
from 21s. in 1248-9 to 63s. in 1276-7. (fn. 65)
The court's jurisdiction matched that of the
other demesne towns, as did the customs enforced in the court, except that in Combe alone
heriot was due from free land if it had meadow
rights. (fn. 66) The court conducted the usual business
of transferring copyholds, registering wills,
dealing with offences, and appointing manorial
officers, normally a constable and two tithingmen. (fn. 67) At a court in 1627 the underbailiff of
Woodstock manor attempted to enforce a royal
warrant for the impressment of horses to carry
venison to Enfield (Mdx.) for the king, an
extension of customary service resisted by the
tenants, apparently successfully. (fn. 68) From the
later 17th century the court also appointed
fieldsmen and haywards, the latter usually acting also as mole catchers and crow keepers.
Combe farmers used the court to regulate agriculture in the parish, setting stints, arranging
the haining and breaking of pasture and
meadow, and agreeing on crop rotation. (fn. 69) In the
19th and 20th centuries the court seems to have
met at the Cock inn, but usually little business
was transacted. (fn. 70) The court roll books were
continued after the abolition of the court's jurisdiction in 1925, but only as a record of property
transactions. (fn. 71)
In 1661 as many as 12 people attended the
vestry held to appoint the two new overseers and
to scrutinize the previous year's accounts, but
vestries were not usually so well attended. (fn. 72) In
1661-2 a total of £22 was spent on the poor, and
£26 in 1664-5, but costs were very variable and
often less than £10 a year. From the 1690s
expenditure rose rapidly, and the earlier 18th
century in particular was a period of heavy
expense, the overseers generally spending
£40-£50 a year between 1710 and 1736, although £78 was spent in 1714-15. The period
was one of high mortality, and there may have
been a large number of destitute dependents,
although expenditure in similar circumstances
at other times was not so high. (fn. 73) As elsewhere,
expenditure rose again in the later 18th century,
from £69 in 1776 to an average of £103 a year
between 1783 and 1785. In 1803 it stood at
£204, representing c. 11s. a head of population,
rather a low rate for the area. In 1818, the peak
year, the overseers spent £674. (fn. 74) The rate of £1
4s. a head was again relatively low, but the
burden at about that time fell largely on the
duke of Marlborough, who had acquired most of
the land in the parish, and on a handful of his
more substantial tenants. The duke seems
always to have paid his share, but in 1821 some
leading farmers defaulted, and the hostility engendered played a part in the events leading up
to the 'Combe riot' of 1822. In 1831 the rate
remained relatively low at 15s. a head. (fn. 75)
In 1735 the parish agreed to send paupers to
Kidlington's new workhouse, paying half its
rent. (fn. 76) The workhouse closed after a few years,
and by 1774 Combe had its own workhouse with
accommodation for 20 people, on the site of the
house later called the Old Stores, south of the
village green. (fn. 77) There was in 1778 a close at the
east end of the parish called Workhouse close,
part of Bolton's farm, but no building is known
to have stood there, and no reference has been
found to a rent chargeable on it. (fn. 78) In 1791 a
contractor was employed to maintain the workhouse poor for £10 a year. (fn. 79) Repairs were carried out until 1820 and possibly later, but official
reports of the earlier 19th century make no
mention of workhouse poor, and it seems likely
that the building was being rented out as cheap
pauper housing. (fn. 80)
Expenditure in the later 17th century and in
the 18th seems to have been entirely on maintenance for widows and children, the sick, and the
aged. In 1662-3 there were 4 children and 3
adults in receipt of regular relief. In the 1730s
there were often 8 or 10 women, 2 or 3 men, and
an unspecified number of children, in addition
to people in the Kidlington workhouse. (fn. 81) In
1803 there were 25 adults and 25 children on
regular out-relief, and in the period 1813-15 the
numbers rose sharply to 39 and 45 respectively,
almost a sixth of the total population. In the late
18th century and early 19th paupers seem usually to have been found some employment,
notably in spinning flax, and 5 men and a boy
employed 'by the yardland' in 1791 were presumably roundsmen. (fn. 82) During the 1790s the
overseers regularly contracted with a doctor for
attendance on the poor, and made additional
payments for inoculation against smallpox. (fn. 83)
Combe formed part of the Woodstock poor
law union in 1834 and of Woodstock rural district in 1894. In 1974 the perish was transferred to West Oxfordshire district. (fn. 84)