The Poor and Paupers of Helpston

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Postcard centre of village early 1900s- Poor house on the right.

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Poor house - north side of West St seen just beyond the pub sign for 'The Queen's Head' on the left of picture

How the Parish helped the poor in the 1600s.

In 1601 when the Elizabethan Poor Act became law,  the alleviation of poverty was seen as a local responsibility.  Each parish had to elect two Overseers of the Poor every Easter.  They were unpaid and acted under the jurisdiction of the local Justice of the Peace.  Having worked out how much money would be needed, they had to collect the poor rate from property owners and then relieve the poor and supervise the parish poor house/s.

There are very few records remaining from this early period, the table below is a precis of records from the Helpston Overseers accounts of 1694. ¹

To reduce the financial burden on the parish, outsiders from the village had to get a Settlement bond to stay. Fathers of bastard children were required to sign an assurance statement – (Bastardy bond) in case the mother or child became a liability on the parish and pauper children were found apprenticeships.

Poor relief from 1800s

At the Northampton Records Office there are Poor books for dates including 1814 and 1825. ³ The entries detail the outdoor relief payments. In most cases, relief was claimed when the Head of the family found they could not work. Payments were £1.0.0 plus 3d for each child in the family.

• A Workhouse was built in Peterborough.
• Local houses in the Parish were designated as Poor houses where Paupers were housed.

From archive held at the Northampton Records Office,⁴ we can identify two housing units. The first was a semi-detached house on West Street, just east of the junction of John Clare School, now known as Cottesmore House. The second was a group of four houses on Glinton Road, to the south of the junction with Maxey Road, and west of the old school house, now demolished and recently replaced with a new stone-built residence.

^{Sources
1 Northampton Records Office
2 Between 1666 and 1680 there were “Burying in Wool Acts” to protect English wool from foreign imports. This resulted in wool being used for most burial shrouds. The legislation was in force until 1814
3 Northampton Records Office –  1814 Poor Book F(M) Misc Vol 573 and 1825 Poor Book F(M) Misc Vol 690
4 Northampton Records Office – Property Insurance and house repairs receipts}