FRINTON: LOCAL GOVERNMENT

MANORIAL COURTS AND RIGHTS

In 1273 the dean and chapter of St. Paul's cathedral claimed the right to take boats wrecked off Frinton, with their cargoes, but they could not substantiate their claim.[1] In 1661 the lord of the manor of Skirman's Fee claimed the right to wrecks.[2]

In the 13th century the dean and chapter of St. Paul's appear to have held courts for Frinton, or to have expected Frinton people to attend their court for the Sokens. In 1273 they were accused of holding pleas of vee de nam (prevention of distress) for the township.[3] Manorial lords did not exercise view of frankpledge, for Frinton representatives seem to have attended the Tendring hundred court. In 1273 a Frinton man was accused of having failed to appear at a view, apparently for Tendring Hundred.[4]

In the 1520s the lords of Skirman's Fee appointed rent-collectors, but no manorial court was recorded in a dispute over unpaid rents.[5] The same lords later held courts baron for their manor, and records survive from 1582 to 1642. Apart from one presentment for breaking the lord's pound in Clacton in 1619, the recorded courts dealt only with transfers of land.[6] Presumably courts were held for Frinton Hall manor, but no record of them survives.

PARISH OFFICERS

The usual parish officers were elected, although there was frequently only one churchwarden and one overseer of the poor. Ralph Bull, churchwarden in 1630, was sole churchwarden in 1633.[7] There was only one churchwarden in 1683.[8] A constable, James Baker occupier of Frinton Hall, was recorded in 1675 when he failed to attend the Tendring Hundred petty sessions.[9]

From the 1750s there was one churchwarden and one overseer of the poor, sometimes, as in 1778 and 1779, the same man. Joseph Swallow (d. 1760) was churchwarden and overseer, and in 1780 Richard Stone was churchwarden, overseer, and constable.[10] In the 1770s the constable, John English, was also church clerk.[11] There was a surveyor of the highways by 1781.[12] In 1863 there were two surveyors, Charles Hicks of Frinton Wick and Richard Stone of Frinton Hall.[13] In 1868 an overseer and a guardian were listed among the five occupiers of land in the parish.[14]

POOR RELIEF

Despite the small population of the parish, £30–£40 a year was raised by rates in the 1770s and 1780s, but some of it was spent on the church rather than the poor.[15] Only £15 6s. 7d. was spent on the poor in 1776, but between 1783 and 1784 expenditure rose to an average of £35 11s. 3d. as more people received regular relief.[16] The poor rates raised £112, or £3 10s. per head of population, in 1813, fell to £89 in 1814, rose to a high of £119 in 1819, and fell again to £95 in 1821.[17]