Reference
P41/25/2
Title
Charity account book, entitled "Admassee Account"
Date free text
1655-1854
Production date
From: 1655 To: 1854
Admin/biog history
By John Bryan's will, the Trustees were to invest £700 in lands, from which the income was to go in stated proportions to the parishes of Whittlebury, North Crawley, Ampthill, Clophill, Maulden, Marston Morteyne, Houghton Conquest. Expenditure for gowns, bread, and a sermon was prescribed.
By Hester Bryan's will, 12 acres of land in Marston Morteyne were to be used to provide income, of which two thirds was to apprentice a poor child in North Crawley, and one third to augment the Living of Ampthill.
The land purchased under the terms of John Bryan's will was 41 acres in Marston, and the name "Admassee Account" appears to be derived from the name of the Lands. The Charity lands are described in a glebe terrier dated 1715 as, "an estate called Admacys ... also two closes of pasture ground called Admacys", and further details are to be found in the Treasurer's report, 1803.
By order of the Charity Commissioners in 1875, the lands were sold and the proceeds invested, and by another order in 1906 the Charity was divided among the parishes concerned. For copies of the wills of John and Hester Bryan, see WE 1217-18, and for papers concerning the later history of the Charity, including Charity Commission orders, 1875-1906, and Minute book and accounts, 1876-1906, see WE 1219-1223.
Scope and Content
Containing:
Accounts of the Charities left by John and Hester Bryan 1676 - 1854
Minutes of the Trustees [passim] 1676 - 1854
Copy of the will of John Bryan 1655
Copy of the will of Hester Bryan 1668
The account book shows the distribution of money and gowns to the various parishes concerned, and the income from rents. It also includes some occasional short minutes of the meetings of the Trustees who at first (1677 and 1681) appear to have met in Marston, but later in Ampthill, initially at the White Hart (1720) and later at the King's Arms.
Reference
Level of description
item