|
April 26th 1895
A meeting of the parish Council was held in the vestry room at seven o'clock
p. m. to consider a communication from the Rural District Council with
reference to the carrying out of the proposed new drainage works.
Present. Messrs. Lock, Fulton, Joslin, J Easterbrook, H.A. Easterbrook.
The minutes of the last meeting having been read and confirmed. The plans of
the new drainage works were submitted to the Council and it was moved by Mr
Fulton and seconded by Mr Joslin that the following reply be sent to the Rural
District Council. It is the opinion of the parish Council that the
parishioners of Instow would prefer to have the carrying out of the drainage
works deferred until autumn but the Council decline to accept any
responsibility in the matter. Carried unanimously.
W. Henry Lock - Chairman
26 April 1895 - Correspondence
Correspondence between IPC and Mr Wallis Davies, Solicitor and Secretary Rural
District Councils Association.
"By her will dated 2nd September 1772 Joan Tucker gave to the poor of the
Parish of Instow having no pay a house called Larrys and a field called East
Parsonage and she directed that the churchwardens and Overseers of the said
Parish should receive the clear income of the said house and field and give
them to the poor before mentioned and render an account of the receipts and
disbursements before the Parishioners on every Easter Monday.
By a conveyance deed bearing the date the 17th October 1854 Thomas Lock and
three others, then churchwardens and Overseers of the Parish of Instow as
Trustees of the Joan Tucker's Charity under the Acts of the 5th and 8th Vic*
for affording facilities for the Conveyance and endowment of sites for
schools, granted and conveyed unto the Minister and Churchwardens of the
Parish of Instow all those closes of land numbered 54, 55 & 56 with the school
room erected there on being the part of the Charity Property called Larrys to
hold the same unto and to the use of the said Minister and Churchwardens and
their successors for the purpose of the said premises and all buildings
thereon erected or to be erected forever thereafter appropriated and used as
and for a school for the education of children and adults or children only of
the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the Parish of Instow
and for no other purpose."
*The fifth and eighth year of the reign of Queen Victoria.
Written down the side of the page is the following.
"Statement of facts relative to the National School premises at Instow Town in
the Parish of Instow, Devon"
In the Conveyance Deed it was declared that such school should be at all times
open to the inspection of the inspector of schools for the time being
appointed in conformity with the order in council dated 10th August 1840 and
that it should always be in union with and conducted according to the
principles and in furtherance of the ends and designs of the National Society
for promoting the education of the poor in the principles of the Established
Church throughout England and Wales and subject to and in conformity with the
declaration aforesaid such school and premises and the funds and endowments
hereof in respect whereof no other disposition should be made by donor should
be directed and managed in manner then following that was to say the principal
officiating Minister for the time being of the said Parish should have the
superintendence of the religious and moral instruction of the scholars
attending such school and might use or direct the premises to be used for the
purpose of a Sunday school under his exclusive control and management.
But in all other respects the management and government of such school and
premises and of the funds and endowments thereof and the selection appointment
and dismissal of the schoolmaster and schoolmistress and their assistants
(except when under provisions thereafter mentioned the dismissal of any
master, mistress or assistant should be awarded by the Bishop of the Diocese
or the arbitrators as the case might be) should be vested in and exercised by
a Committee consisting of the principal officiating Minister for the time
being of the said Parish his licensed Curate or Curates if the Minister should
appoint him or them to be a member or members of the said committee and six
other persons and the names of the first six appointed are given in the said
deed.
The schoolroom which was upon the site granted was built and a teacher's
residence also erected the funds for the purpose being raised by voluntary
subscriptions and contribution from the National Society and for many years
the school was carried on as the Parish school and managed in the manner
directed in the conveyance.
In 1873 a school Board was formed in the Parish and the school board rented
the premises at a nominal rent from the managers of the National School and
this arrangement continued until the year 1887.
In that year in consequence of the difficulties which arose in raising the
money to make additions to the schoolroom in order to comply with the
requirements of the Inspector of the School Boards it was decided to obtain
another site and build a Board School and from that time the latter premises
have been used by the school Board and the old schoolroom has been only used
for Sunday School purposes whilst the residence has been let to a private
individual and the income applied presumably for Sunday School purposes.
In view of the facts above stated it is desired to know whether the Trusts of
the Deed of Oct 17th 1854 are complied with by the arrangement now in force or
whether the Trusts not being fully carried out the property reverts to the
Trustees of Joan Tucker Charity or whether the income of the residence can be
applied to school Board purposes, or, the House taken, if required, for the
Board Schoolmaster.
-----------------------------------
In the Parish of Instow, Devon, some 50 years since there existed a building
known as the Poor House in which the aged poor persons were maintained at the
expense of the ratepayers and attached to this Building was a room in which
vestry and other meetings were held.
It is believed that these buildings became much dilapidated and as the
alteration of the Poor Laws did away with the necessity for providing
accommodation for the poor the buildings were taken down and the principal
Landowner of the Parish entered into possession of the site. Probably this was
by arrangement for she erected at her expense in another position a room with
a stable under it which room has since that time been regularly used for
vestry and other meetings whilst the stable has been occasionally used for the
horses of persons attending the services of the church. The room has also been
used from time to time for purposes connected with the church such as
preparing Easter and other decorations and not long since some repairs were
effected to the Building the cost of which was defrayed from the Church Funds.
It is desired to know if the ownership of this Room and stable is now vested
in the Parish Council and if so what steps should be taken to assert their
rights. The key of the building has been held by the sexton of the church for
the past 4 or 5 years and it is understood that the Rector of the Parish
considers it possible that the building may belong to the church.
---------------------------------------
"16 Parliament Street
Westminster SW
May 2nd 1895
Dear Sir
In reply to yours of the 29th April.
(1) This property does not revert to the use of the Charity, Section 2 of the
school sites Act 1841 provides that the site conveyed may be used either as a
school, or for education of poor persons in religious or useful knowledge.
It is used in connection with a Sunday School and devoted generally to
Educational purposes.
That saves the site from reverting to the original Trust.
(2) Yes, it is clear this room and stable are Parish property and the Council
ought to have possession. If the sexton holds possession, should the Council
determine to assist the rights of the Parish, the facts would have to be
stated as a case for the decision of the High Court under 70c Local Government
Act 1894. That is an expensive way of ending a dispute as to Parish property.
Yours faithfully
J Wallis Davies
To
Henry Lock Esq.
Chairman of Parish Council"
------------------------------------------
|
