1855, History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Suffolk

Lowestoft chapter, page 564

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The Poor and Town Estate comprises 104a. of land, let for about £271 per annum. It has been vested with feoffees from a very early period, in

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Page 564 starts here

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trust for repairs of the church, and other public uses, except 28A, which were purchased with £60, given by the will of Wm. French, in 1592, to be laid out in land, the rents thereof to be applied in the payment of 13d. a week to 13 poor people of Lowestoft, every Sunday, and 3s. 4d. to the churchwardens, for their trouble in managing the charity. By a decree of the Commissioners of Charitable uses, in 1641, it was ordered that £20 a year (then the value of French's Charity Land,) should be distributed among the poor; that £10 a year should be employed in apprenticing poor children, or in setting poor people to work; and that the residue of the rents and profits of the town estate should be applied to the repairs of the parish church, and to such other public uses for the benefit of the town, as the churchwardens and the principal inhabitants from time to time agree upon.

The site of the house given to the poor by Ann Girling, in 1584, is let for 20s. a year; and a house, garden, and a half an acre of land, given to them by James Wild, are let for £8 per annum. In 1772, nearly 3 acres of land was enclosed from the waste on the North Common, and appropriated for the relief of the poor. It is not let for £8 a year.

The Poor's Houses, which were given by various donors, comprise of 25 dwellings, of which 13 are in Fair lane, 8 on Bell lane, and 4 on High street. They are under the care of the churchwardens, and are occupied rent-free by poor parishioners. They are repaired out of the General Charity Fund, which amounts to about £100 per annum, of which £47 arises from the before-mentioned charities, and the remainder from the charities of Thomas Annot and John Wilde, afterwards noticed. This fund, after providing for the reparation of the poor's homes and other incidental expenses, is applied yearly in paying about £40 for the support of Annott's school; £6. 10s. to the master of the Sunday School; £2 for providing books, &c., for the latter; and about £50 for distributions of coals, bread, shoes, clothing, and money among the poor parishioners, who have also a yearly rent-charge of 52s left by John Hayward, in 1716, out of two houses in High Street; the dividends of £200 three per cent stock, given by Thomas Baker and Anna Arnold; and the profits of the velvet pall, which was purchased with £30 given by the Rev. Thomas Toughton and the Rev. --- Tanner [sic], and let out to hire for the benefit of the poor.

Six neat Almshouses, called the Fishermen's Hospital, and each having three rooms, were built by subscription, in 1838, upon the beach, for the residence of six of the oldest and poorest master fisherman of Lowestoft. They have no endowment, but the inmates participate in charities for the relief of poor parishioners.

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Annot's School is now amalgamated with the Boys' National School. In 1572, Thomas Annott charged his two messuages, called Garbag's and Bennett's, situate at Wheatacre, in Norfolk, with the yearly payment of 20 marks, for the support of a free school for 40 children of Lowestoft. His heir-at-law increased this annuity to £16 a year, out of which £3. 4s. is deducted for land tax. The property charged belongs to the Adair family, who pay £12, 16s. yearly, which is added to the General Charity Fund, out of which about £40 is paid yearly towards the support of Annott's and the Boy's National School, where the master teaches 40 free scholars, and 70 others who pay 1s per quarter. The school was enlarged in 1843 at the cost of £220.

Wilde's Charity School, &c.: - In 1735, John Wilde bequeathed his houses, tenements, lands, &c., in Lowestoft and Worlingham, ot the minsister and churchwardens of Lowestoft, upon trust, to pay yearly £40 to a school-master, for teaching 40 boys to read, write, and cast accounts; and 21s. to the minister, 10s to the clerk, and 5s. to the sexton, on condition that a sermon should be preached on December 23rd, fromt he text, "Train up a child, &c."

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