Mr. John Scott also left one acre in Burnham Field, for teaching poor children of Burnham; and Mr. Thomas Maw, in 1718, two acres in Gunthorpe Intack. For the same laudable purpose of educating the poor, Mrs. Farmery, of whom more presently, left a rent charge of £2 per annum out of Skires Closes, and £1 per annum out of Gutrican Close. The present Master of this School is the Rev. Mr. Grisdale, a clergyman of the Church of England, who receives under his tuition such children as the trustees think proper to appoint. The present yearly produce of the whole estate is about £50 per annum. The next benefactor to this parish whom we shall have occasion to mention is good Mrs. Jane Farmery, who lived at High Burnham. She was the daughter of John Laughton, Esq. of Eastfield, in the parish of Tickhill. After the death of her husband she resided at Clarrel Hall, in Tickhill, until the time of her death, which took place in the year 1699. She left a rent charge of three pounds annually on certain lands in Haxey, for the education of poor children and to buy them books. She built and endowed six alms houses" for the benefit and habitation of six poor widows, such as do frequently and duly, when in health and ability so to do, attend the Church." Certain trustees were appointed to manage these bequests, with "power to elect others when the number was reduced to three, and to make up the number to seven at the least." The Minister, Churchwardens, and Overseers of the Poor are also appointed trustees ex officio, "together with over and besides," the others, for the application and management of these charities. The will also gives the trustees power to place and displace the widows who live in the alms houses, and, if they think fit, to distribute the rents of the estate in money or cloth. Mrs. Catherine Shores, by will bearing date 4th March, 1710, gave all her freehold estate, lands, and tenements in the parish of Haxey and Owston, to the poor of Haxey for ever, to be let by the Vicar and Churchwardens, "to be laid out in cloth, and made into gowns for the men and women of the said parish; and to be distributed on the thirteenth day of February in every year." Besides Besides these valuable Charities, the poor of Haxey enjoy several others of minor importance, of which the following is a correct account. Two selions of land containing one acre, lying in a furlong called Foxholes. Three selions of land, containing one acre, lying on a short furlong about the Hill. Two selions of land, containing about two roods, near White Flat. These Charities are of very antient date, and the names of the donors are unknown. Agnes Stafford left two selions of land, known by the name of Coat Land. Robert Tankersley, in 1612, left three selions of land, containing one acre, lying together above the Hill, near Upper Burnham. Antony Tankersley, in 1615, gave four acres of meadow, lying together in a close in Gunthorpe, in the parish of Owston. Elizabeth Coggan, in 1635, left a rent charge of four shillings, to be paid out of a croft and tenement in Haxey. John Meggott, 1638, left three roods of land against the Cliff Hill. In the same year John Johnson left 40s. to be laid out for the benefit of the poor, which now produces about 3s. per annum, to be given away on St. James' Day. In 1640, Thomas Tankersley left an acre of land, lying in a certain place called Pademoor. William Coggan, in 1648, gave four selions of land, containing one acre, lying severally in Haxey Shaw Field. Vincent Tankersley, in 1650, gave one acre of land, lying in Nether Shucdale, on the west side of the road. John Scott, in 1652, gave two selions of land, containing one acre and one rood, lying severally in Haxey, near Shaw Field. John Pettinger, in 1655, gave one selion of land, containing two roods, lying beneath the Nether Shucdale, on the east side of the road. James Turr's gift, in 1657, consisted of four selions of land, containing one acre, three of which lie together in the near Shaw Field, or East Lound Mill Field, on a furlong called Stainton Bush, and the other selion below Nether Shucdale, now inclosed in a close of Robert Ducker's of Burnham, called Shucdale Close. Robert Newborn's gift consists of one close, lying near Westwood Carr Lane, containing four acres, known by the name of Raw Intack. The Right Honorable Lord Cartaret, in 1670, gave two selions of land, containing three acres, lying together in Westwood Field. John Naylor's gift consists of one selion of land, containing three roods, lying on East Lound North Field, on a furlong called the Hall Stead. In 1692, Henry Waterland gave a yearly rent charge of ten shillings upon certain lands lying in Haxey Field, to be distributed on Christmas Day to ten of the poorest widows in the parish of Haxey for ever. Thomas Johnson, 1695, gave two selions of land, containing one acre, lying above the Hill, northward of Greengate Meer. The rents to be distributed every Christmas Day, in white linen cloth, to the poor of Haxey for ever. In the same year Mr. Vincent Brown gave a rent charge of three pounds upon his whole estate, to be distributed on Midsummer Eve. Thomas Herring, in 1715, gave three selions of land, containing one acre, lying in Nether Burnham Dowthorne Field. Henry Taylor left a cottage house, situated in Haxey Carr Lane. There are also two cottages and ground adjoining, to the extent of an acre, which have been purchased by voluntary contributions, in 1705 and 1715, and are called the Parishioners' Gifts to the Poor. The total quantity of land belonging to the Poor is 91A. 3R. 22P. and the total value £155 14s. 10d. We seldom find a country parish possessing so many endowments for the poor; but with the exception of the Free School and the Alms Houses, they are of no essential benefit to those for whom they are designed, most of these Charities being left generally for the use of the poor of the whole parish, the sum received by each is too small to be materially felt. It is much to be be regretted that the pious donors did not leave to their trustees a discretionary power to select the most deserving objects, and to apply the money in such a manner as might have produced some lasting benefit to the person who received it. Thus a poor man may be most essentially served by a small loan or gift, under some severe loss or accidental misfortune, or by fitting out one of his children to service, or binding them apprentice to some useful trade: but a small annual dole does him no good. I very much doubt, even if these Charities produced ten times the amount, whether the poor of Haxey wonld have derived any substantial benefit; for it was proved almost to demonstration, in the inquiries of the late Commissioners concerning the operations and effect of the old system of poor laws, that the poor persons in the neighbourhood of some of the most wealthy parishes near London, who lived almost entirely upon charity arising from numerous bequests, and who actually received more than a labouring man can earn, were notwithstanding the most worthless and the most destitute of all the pauper population. AT a short distance from the Village of Haxey, and as you descend the hili towards the low grounds formerly covered with forest, and afterwards converted into a morass, are the HAMLETS of WESTWOOD,NEWBIGGS, NETHERTHORPE, UPPERTHORPE, and PARK, places which contain nothing remarkable. The two last have been much deserted of late years, and many houses have been pulled down, owing to the scarcity of water. A large portion of the land at Westwood, to the extent of twenty librata, was given by Roger de Mowbray, in the reign of Richard the Second, as a marriage portion to his daughter Joan, on her becoming the wife of Robert de Mohautte*. THE FAMILY OF TORRE. Westwood, however, was for many generations the residence of the antient and honourable family of Torre or de Turre. They came originally from *From the Rot. Hundr. from Warwickshire, where Odo de Turre was residing as early as the time of Henry the First; but in the reign of Henry the Fourth they came into Axholme. Roger de Turre was Vicar of Owston, in 1469, and promoted to Haxey in 1473. Gregory de Turre, Faithful found Islonians, bore arms in the royal cause, for which act of loyalty his estate was sequestered by the rebels, and he was obliged to compound for it at Goldsmith's Hall, and pay such a fine as those plunderers thought fit to set * upon it. This gentleman died in the year 1660, and was buried at Haxey; but no sepulchral meinorials now marks the spot where rest the bones of the loyal and the brave. He had married Anne, daughter and heiress to John Farre, of Epworth, Esq. by whom he had James Torre, the celebrated antiquarian, who succeeded his father in his estates at Haxey, Burnham, Epworth, and Belton. James Torre having acquired a sufficient stock of school learning, was sent to Cambridge, and entered of Magdalen College, where he stayed about two years and a half, and was afterwards admitted into the Society of the Students of the Inner Temple, London. In all probability his natural inclinations were not to the law, for he was never called to the bar. Having been twice married he settled chiefly at York, and giving way most probably to the natural bent of his genius, devoted himself entirely to the study of ecclesiastical antiquities and family descents. He purchased an estate at Snydall, in 1699, where he died in the same year, and was buried in his parish Church of Normanton. Snydall has since become the residence of this antient and honourable family. We are informed by Drake, in his Preface to the History of York, that this learned antiquarian of the Isle was never before or since equalled for his prodigious application and exactness. He copied "the whole of Sir William Dugdale's Baronage, which he has corrected in many places; and infinitely exceeded that admired author". * Drake's History of Yerk. One |