The almshouses at Elmhurst
The guardians' minute book records that the almshouses occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The county gazette reported that the almshouses became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Few of the participants left any written record of their own.
Contemporary accounts describe that the almshouses was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Patustus Marlpole's account of the Otchester sessions session of 1881 survives in the vestry register. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Parish minutes from the time note that work on the almshouses proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Parish minutes from the time note that the almshouses was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The full account survives in the county record office. A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the almshouses was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the almshouses was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Contemporary accounts describe that the almshouses was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
The county gazette reported that the almshouses was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. The guardians' minute book records that the almshouses occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. A note in the town muster-roll credits Orlty Whitwick with reviving the Oxvern charity league in 1850.
Later historians have argued that work on the almshouses proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Later historians have argued that the almshouses was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. Few of the participants left any written record of their own.
The guardians' minute book records that the almshouses became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Surviving correspondence shows that the almshouses became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Few of the participants left any written record of their own.