Fuel Allotment Charity

Contents

1814 Origin

The fuel allotment was an outcome of the 1812 Inclosures Act, implemented in 1814. Because the cottagers who previously used to be able to cut turfs for fuel on the commons were now denied this right, the Inclosures Commissioners allocated 14 acres of marshland the rent from which was supposed to provide money to purchase coal as a compensation for the loss of turf. The text of the Commissioners’ award relating to this land is:-

We assign, set out and allot unto the Right honourable John Lord Wodehouse as Lord of the Manor of Deopham Hall and to the Vicar of the Vicarage of Deopham and to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Deopham for the time being, and to their Successors for ever as Trustees for the poor Inhabitants of the said Parish of Deopham legally settled therein,
One piece of Land marked on the Map hereto annexed N^o 52 containing fourteen acres, two roods and thirteen perches, bounded by the Parish of Hackford North, by the parish of Wicklewood East and by Land allotted to Mary Eldred in part, by the first private road in part and by land allotted to Thomas Kett and Thomas Bart as Trustees under the Will of the said John Bousell, West;
And we certify that we have made the fences in the said allotment against the allotments to Mary Eldred, Thomas Kett and Thomas Bart as Trustees under the Will of the said John Bousell and the Private Road;
And we direct the said Trustees for the time being for the Poor of Deopham aforesaid to keep in repair the Fences in their said Allotment so made by us.

Transcription © G. Sankey; Norfolk Record Office hold the original; their ref is NRO C/Sca 2/86

The following extract from the Map attached to the Inclosures Allotments shows the location of this land:

1815 Survey of the Parish of Deopham

The 1815 survey recorded that there were fourteen acres owned by the Fuel Allotment Charity and and that they were occupied by Isaac Easton. These were numbered 1,2 & 3 on this survey:

1832 Descriptions of Charities

The National Archives at Kew hold two documents¹ in the same folder which read as set out below.

First 1832 document

The first is a letter headed Wymondham, March 7^th 1832 addressed to Mr. Charles Bule, Norwich:

Firstly, it restates the terms of the Rix Charity as in the inscription in the church whereby the Rev. Henry Rix left £60 “to be laid out in lands…”.

This document then continues:-

The Trustees to the above named Charity are the Churchwardens M^r Taylor & M^r Curson & the Rev^d Mr Adams Vicar of the Parish.
There are fifteen acres of land allotted to the Poor at the time the Common was enclosed, the produce of which to be given away as the Parish may deem most expedient.
The about (sic) is a true account of all the Public Charities in the Parish of Deopham of which place I am the Curate.

I am, Sir,
Your most obed^t Ser^t
A. S. Warner

It doesn’t make clear that there are two charities.

Second 1832 document

Another undated (but presumably from around the same date as the above document from 1832) and unsigned document in another hand quotes the church Rix inscription then continues:-

It is stated in the Terrier of 1820 that the Commissioners of Inclosure set out an allotment of 14a. 2r. 13p. to the Lord of the Manor of Deopham… and the Vicar and Churchwardens & overseers of the Parish as Trustees for the poor Inhabitants legally settled therein.
The herbage (?) of this allotment is let to Isaac Easton as yearly tenant at a good rent of £12 with which rent & money paid for the Parish rates upwards of £20 a year is paid for cutting turves (?) which are distributed amongst all the poor belonging to the Parish & living in it. To widows & aged persons 1500 and to other persons 1,000 & children 500.
The money paid for the cutting always exceeds the rent.

This document also refers to the Seaman’s Charity of Hackford.

1845 – 1937 Fuel Allotment Distributions

The Norfolk Directories recorded the acreage owned by the Fuel Allotment Charity and the distributions that they were able to make from the resultant income:-

Year	Directory	Acreage	Distribution
1845	White’s	14a 2r 13p	£23
1854	White’s	14a 2r 13p	£23
1856	Craven and Co	14a 2r	£23
1858	Kelly’s	14a	£23
1864	White’s	14a 2r 13p	£20
1869	Kelly’s	14a	£20
1872	Harrod’s	14a	£23
1875	Kelly’s	14a	£20
1877	Harrod’s	14a	£23
1879	Kelly’s	14a	£20
1883	Kelly’s	14a	£12
1888	Kelly’s	14a	£12
1890	White’s	14a 2r 13p	£7
1892	Kelly’s	14a	£12
1896	Kelly’s	14a	£10 10s
1900	Kelly’s	14a	£10 10s
1904	Kelly’s	14a	£10 10s
1908	Kelly’s	14a	£10 10s
1912	Kelly’s	14a	£13
1916	Kelly’s	14a	£13
1925	Kelly’s	14a	£19
1929	Kelly’s	14a	£19
1933	Kelly’s	14a	£13
1937	Kelly’s	14a	£13

1896 – Distribution of Coal

The following report appeared in the Thetford & Watton Times of January 4^th 1896, and also the Norwich Mercury of the same date:

DEOPHAM

THE distribution of the Fuel Allotment Charity was made last Friday, when 5 cwts. of coal were given to married recipients, and 4 cwts. to the unmarried ones. This charity has been the subject of much contention for some weeks past in the parish, the vicar having declared himself to be the proper person to distribute the coal. Others, however, thought to the contrary, and on Friday morning Mr. J. W. Hart received from Mr. Henry Baker the rent of the fuel allotment, and the time being past when in preceding years the distribution had been made, he proceeded at once to purchase of Mr. W. Turner sufficient coal to balance the money in hand, at 18s. 3d. per ton delivered. This gave general satisfaction. In preceding years the coals had been bought on trucks to be carried home by the recipients or their delegates from Kimberley Station, greatly to their inconvenience.

1904 – Local politics intervene

The following letter appeared in the Norwich Mercury April 30^th1904:

1907 – Land Tax

An article in the Norfolk News published on March 2^nd 1907 drew attention to the fact that since 1899 charity lands had been exempt from land tax. Although the Finance Act of 1898 has exempted persons whose income was less than £160, it had been determined in the courts in 1906 that “persons” did not include trustees. The tenants of charity were therefore obliged to pay land tax, reducing the rent received by the trustees. Representatives of the parishes of Welborne, Wymondham and Wicklewood all expressed concern; Deopham’s concern was communicated by Mr. E.A. Clarke. Lord Wodehouse, local M.P., was asked to bring the matter before the House of Commons.

2001 – Fuel allotment charity objectives

Under resolutions made in March 1872, 1993, and January 2001, the Charities Commission lists the following objectives:

Income to be applied for the benefit of deserving and necessitous persons of good character resident in parish for not less than three years. The area in which the charity can operate is defined as “Deopham”.

2015 – Fuel allotment charity trustees

Jacky Phoenix
Angela Phoenix
Kathleen Flowerday

Photographs of Fuel Charity Land

There are photographs of the Fuel Charity Land here.

Footnotes

The National Archives reference is CHAR 2/193. ↩︎

Navigation

Return To List of Deopham Charities

Date	Change
27/3/25	1814 origin and link to photographs
18/3/25	Published separately from Rix charity