Held at:	Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
Reference:	G71/32 and G71/38
Source:	Poor Rates Books
Title:	Poor rates Longtown: 1854-55 and 1859-60
Place name:	Longtown
Date:	1854-55 and 1859-60

Description:

Poor rates books record payments from property owners and occupiers towards support for the local poor. Collection and administration of ‘poor relief’ was a statutory duty of the parish church: the amount due was variable, typically six pence in the pound, but ranging from four pence to nine pence in the pound, collected twice yearly.

 

 

The ledgers are particularly useful for identifying property names in an approximate locational sequence: many retain the same names and can be identified on modern maps.

 

The full surviving record of Longtown poor rates is in two bundles:

G71/30-35 (six ledgers for years 1853-1858) and G71/36-41 (six ledgers for years 1857-1862).

 

Two specimen ledgers have been photographed for reference. The twice yearly payments entered on the left hand page show the Name of Occupier; Name of Owner; Description of Property; and Name or Situation of Property. The right hand page showing the amount payable for each property has been omitted.

 

The dates for the specimen listings are:

 

G71/32		G71/38
10 November 1854	15 January 1855	18 November 1859	6 February 1860

 

Photographs of these listings can be downloaded HERE as a pdf file.

Observations:

None