Records of Wantage Town Lands Charity

1. Minutes
2. Papers relating to the establishment of the charity
3. Accounts
4. Cash books
5. Draft accounts
6. Annual statements of accounts
7. Other financial records
8. Deeds and leases
9. Property management: maps, terriers and rentals
10. Almshouse management
11. Other property
12. Richard Belcher's Charity
13. Thomas Fewson Eagles' Charity
14. Harriet's Firth's Charity
15. Kirby Pensions Charity
16. King Alfred's Grammar School
17. Percy Smith's Charity (Wantage Cottage Hospital)
18. Miscellaneous
19. Items with no obvious connection to the charity

The Governors of the Wantage Town Lands were established by an Act of 39 Elizabeth [1597] to manage various charitable estates of uncertain origin, the beneficiaries being the poor of Wantage, the Grammar School, and the maintenance of the highways. They were subsequently augmented by a number of donations and bequests. The charities included Wantage Grammar School (until c.1903). By the 1860s there were almshouses at 27-37 Mill Street and at 1-10 Eagles Close. In 1979 a separate charity (of Thomas Fewson Eagles) was set up as a Housing Association to control the latter.

In 1953 the trustees took on responsibility for the separate charity of Harriet Firth, established by her will of 1885 (see section 14 of the catalogue for further details).

For a detailed history of the charity, see Hazel Brown, Pupils, Potholes & Poor Relief: The Wantage Town Lands from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II (East Challow, 2012); a copy is in the BRO library.