Village Charities

The past history of King's Sutton is littered with  the names of very charitable people who truely believed in making life better for the ordinary men, women  and children of our community. 
The information below is taken from the book about  the village written and compiled in
the 1990's.

Historically... 

There are several charities in the village some administered by the Vicar and 
Church Wardens, others by trustees. 
The oldest of these was established by Richard Cartwright who, in 1633, left 
£3.9s.4p to be used to buy two penny loaves for each of ten poor widows  
every Sunday. 

In 1688 John Haynes left £100 which was applied towards the purchase of a 
poor house for the Parish. Dame Margaret Willes decreed that the interest on 
£100 should be shared equally between the Master of the Free school to teach 
four or more of the poorest children to read and spell and six of the poorest 
widows of King's Sutton and Astrop. Income from the Elizabeth Watts Charity 
is distributed after Easter to 'the deserving poor'. 

Ann Jenkinson in her will dated 3rd January 1810 directed funds to be used 
for putting out apprentices to trades or occupations. The details are recorded 
on a tablet in the north aisle of the church. 

The Poor's Allotment Charity has been in existence since 1772 as a result of 
the Enclosure Acts authorised by Parliament, when residents of the ancient 
ecclesiastical parish of King's Sutton lost the right to cut and gather gorse 
from open, common land. As compensation an 11 acre field, known as Old 
Field, was set aside at Purston and the rent used to provide an annual dole 
for the poor. In addition to the dole it was decreed an allocation was also to 
be made to the parish church towards the cost of repairs. 

Unfortunately, little is known about the very earliest times except that in the 
years 1822-1830 the Poor's Allotment had an income of £15 per annum 
from the rent of the field, gave 17s.6d. to the church and distributed the 
balance as a dole "among all the poor of the parish". Records do exist in the 
form of minutes of trustees meetings and accounts from 1901 until the 
present day and these show that, by 1901, the rent had increased to 15 
guineas and certainly, by that time, coal bought at 16 shillings per ton was 
being distributed rather than a dole and had become known as Old Field 
Coal Charity. 

As coal became more expensive it proved impossible to maintain an annual 
distribution from the rent received and, when the opportunity arose, the field 
was sold with the approval of the Charity Commissioner in 1990. The 
proceeds from the sale are managed by the Charities Official Investment 
Fund and the income received in 1992 allowed a distribution of 100kg (2 
bags) of coal to 103 applicants. The church received £130. 

The charity has seven trustees as authorised by the Charity Commissioner,two 
are appointed by King's Sutton and one by Charlton Parish Councils and there 
are four co-opted members.






 
Current Village Charitable Organisations

Linking Arms with Rescued Kids   http://www.lark.btck.co.uk/
 EnyasHelpforHistio   www.enyashelpforhistio.co.uk


All of the above organisations would greatly benefit from your assistance.



More to follow as time and information become available.