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but there are, probably, very few who could answer the question — Where was the St. Leonards poor-house? It was a less pretentious building than any one of those just named, and this is accounted for by the fact that although St. Leonards was a larger parish than the others, its inhabitants, and especially its pauper inhabitants, were much fewer. The parish had, in fact, no recognized poor-house until a few years anterior to the time of which I am writing, when one of two thatched cottages (near the present site of Tileworth, the late Mrs. Cumberlege’s residence, above St. Matthew’s Church) was obtained by the Overseers, together with a rood of ground, and by them appropriated to the purpose mentioned. Before that period, it was customary with the Overseers, both of St. Leonards and St. Mary Magdalen, to arrange, whenever practicable, with persons tenanting private houses in Hollington, Hastings or Bexhill, to lodge, or to lodge and board, the recipients of relief at so much per week or per year, as the case might require. And whenever such arrangements could not be effected, or whenever other circumstances rendered it more desirable, the somewhat less economical plan was had recourse to of placing the paupers in a poor-house at Hastings, Battle or Bexhill. Sometimes an aged man or woman, or an orphan boy or girl would be able to earn nearly his or her livelihood, and in that case assistance would be rendered them in the shape of clothes or fuel, and the overseers would of course debit the parish with the amount. Hence, in one of the old parish accounts, is found the following items :—

"Paid the shipard for one Mounth lodging for old Dunk.	4s."
"Paid Master Roffe for a years rent history 2for Dame Rutes	£2."
"Let Ben Dabner have to pay his dets	£2 2s."
"Paid Dame Grithenden 5/ for looking after Dame Britt."
"Gave old Britt to buy Waskot and Briches	6s."
"Paid Bexhill Workus for Sarah Waters Boy	£8 5 0."
"Boght a shurt Mor Jack Waters &c. &c.	3/5."

But at that early period when the overseers both of St. Leonards and of St. Mary Magdalen were farmers, and had only a few other occupiers of land with them to bear the burden of all the taxes, they had to mutually agree upon such a scale of rating as would utterly astound the inhabitants of these parishes in the present day. Not only had they to keep the poor whilst they lived, and bury them when they died, but they were also subjected to a Lewes county-rate, a Hastings county-rate, a Hastings gaol-rate and a Dover-Castle-rate. They also had to repair the damages which the sea frequently effected over the beached and faggoted roads, two or three miles in extent; and it need be no wonder, therefore, that their rates during the war times — say from 1797 to 1815 — averaged 10s. 64d. in the £. nor that in the year 1801, when wheat sold at forty pounds per load, and was quite out of the reach of the poor, the rating was as high as 23/- in the pound. Even after the conclusion of peace in 1815 and up to the year 1828, when the town of St. Leonards was begun, the rates averaged 5/10 in the £; but in 1880, when the rating first assumed an urban character it was reduced to 4s. How thankful, then, ought the pre-urbanites to have been that it ever entered the mind of Mr. Burton to build a town in their midst.

In these long-ago days, when the parish of St. Mary Magdalen — which now contains many thousands of inhabitants, and forms the greater part of the town of St. Leonards was possessed of only two or three land-tenants or "Principal Inhabitants," the collection of rates and the provisions of the poor were, of course, very different to the present arrangements for similar purposes. There was no need then for stipendiary collectors of rates and distributors of relief, although it must be apparent in the following "pickings" from the old records that both the time and the pockets of the two or three "Principal Inhabitants" were rather heavily taxed in providing for the maintenance of the sick and aged poor, and for the casual relief of strangers. One need not wonder, therefore, that when Sam. Steers was told that the time was come when his cottage would have to be rated, he, rather than be made a ratepayer, exchanged his situation for one under Mr. Milward at Hastings, where he could still live in a cottage unmolested by rate-collectors.

For 70 years (1762-1832) the parish accounts were kept in a small foolscap quarto book of 88 leaves, of which about 16 are still blank; and, as during that long period the vestry meetings were usually held at the Gensing Farm-house, the book in question remained in the successive possession of three generations, namely, Thos., Chas. and Robt. Deudney, the influential tenants of Gensing House and lands. It commences, however, with the declaration of one Samuel Cramp as the only "Principal Inhabitant-and Overseer," but in a later assessment of the same year (1762) Mr. Thos. Deudney is associated with him. The accounts all through are very fairly written, but the orthography, as has been shown, is extremely variable, not to say curious. The following extract merely indicates the four ratepayers of the parish and their assessments in a year of moderate requirements:

"A rate on the Inhabitants of St. Mary Magdalen by us Thos. Deudney and Samll Cramp the only principal Inhabitants at four shillings and sixpence in the Pound full rents.

Thos. Deudney for Sir Chas. Eversfield’s Land	22	1	0
Samll Cramp-for Mrs, Colliers Land	12	0	9
Joseph Lingham for poor Land	4	1	0
Thos. Deudney for the Newgates Land	1	0	3
	39	3	0

Turning again to the doings of the Commissioners, I find from my memoranda that there was a meeting of ratepayers in the Assembly-rooms on the 19th of December, when it was announced that Messrs. T. J. Breeds, B. Homan, W. Norsworthy, B. Honiss, S. Milstead, Herbert Curteis, Joseph Planta, E. Parrett, W. Fraser, H. Wingfield, C. Dynely, J. Wood and G. B. Greenough had through various causes become disqualified. Six new members were then elected, whose names were G. B. Greenough, Esq., Mr. Norsworthy, Mr. Chester, Mr. C. Deudney, Mr. Beck and the Rev. J. H. Randolph. Mr. Beck, however, voluntarily withdrew, stating at the same time that he had not sufficient value of property to qualify him. The commissioners afterwards met and voted a sum of £5 12s. for a new suit of clothes for the Beadle. They also sanctioned the proposal of Mr. Burton to alter the road up to the West Cliff, by which the gradient would be rendered less steep. But no offers were received of the £800 loan which the Commissioners had been advertising for during the previous six months, and no motion was made upon the question of a sinking-fund which the Clerk again reminded them was required by the Act of Parliament. A new rate was, however, levied, at 10d. in the pound, and notice was ordered to be given to defaulters that unless their arrears were paid within a week, summonses would be issued against them. This continual difficulty with the ratepayers seems to have arisen from the dislike which many of them had to the "new order of things," there being no difficulty of the same magnitude or of the same frequency when the poor rates were demanded. Perhaps it was that the scale of assessment of the latter was lower; albeit, in the same year, a committee was formed for making a new valuation of the property, the said committee being composed of the two overseers (Messrs. Farncomb and Overy), with Messrs. Burton, Homan and Deudney. The poor-rates at that time for the St. Leonards parish were usually 1/6 in the pound, and two rates a year, whilst for the St. Mary Magdalen parish they were generally 2/- in the pound. These rates had continued the same with only one or two exceptions, from 1830, at which date the first regular assessment was made on the inhabitants in their position as townspeople. For several years the vestry meetings were held respectively at the New-England-Bank inn at Bopeep, and the Horse and Groom inn at the Mercatoria. The highway rates were usually 6d. in the pound, which must have been very moderate, bearing in mind that at that time, when roads were less numerous than at present, the extent of St. Leonards parish alone was just upon six miles. The exact measurements, I believe, were two miles of town roads: one mile, three furlongs and twenty-one poles of turnpike; and two miles, four furlongs and fourteen poles of other roads. The poor-rates, notwithstanding they were higher than the same rates in later times, they compared very favourably with the poor-rates of the two parishes before the town’s existence, when, as before shown they ranged from four or five shillings to 23s. in the pound.

But to return to the purchase of the St. Leonards poor-house and adjoining piece of land, it should be said that the Earl of Chichester displayed his liberality in selling the same for £20, whilst a further sum of £40 was paid to the executors of John Taylor for giving up possession. The overseers at the time were Messrs. Edward Farncomb and Charles. Overy, and to the former gentleman the property was conveyed, he executing a deed, declaring that he held it in trust for the parish. The John Taylor here named was, I believe, the grandfather of a Mr. Taylor still, or lately living in St. Leonards. He was also related to Jesse Chapman who, in 1885, died at the age of 84—a man who must have witnessed a number of local events such as have come under the observation of but few other persons. This octogenarian was born at Pear-tree Cottage, the once existing habitation adjoining the one that was purchased for the St. Leonards Poor-house.

Curious discovery of Money - Erection of the Convent - Bohemia built for Mr. Newnham Collingwood

It is said of old John Taylor that whilst in receipt of parish relief, his daughter — who kept house for him after Mrs. Taylor's death — endeavoured to get out with a knife a thin sixpenny-piece which had got into a chink in the bottom of an old chest, when, to her astonishment, she discovered, that the chest had a false bottom. Curiosity led her to remove it, when she made the further discovery of about £80 in money. The old chest, as the story is told, came to her mother at the death of a relative who had previously resided at Yew-tree cottage, near Westfield, but without the recipient’s knowledge of the valuable treasure which it contained .

Curious is the coincidence that whilst I am writing the account of this discovery, my son is reading from a newspaper of current date a similar discovery of money that had long lain hid in an oak chest. The newspaper paragraph is prefaced with the remark that "Materials for an exciting novel might be found in the case of Orme v. Shipton, which was recently heard on appeal before the Lords Justices." The case is described at some length, but for the sake of brevity, the following condensed account must suffice. At an auction sale a man named Shipton purchased an oaken chest for the sum of 4s., and whilst examining it he discovered a secret drawer at the bottom in which were 40 "spade" guineas of a date anterior to 1792. The chest was part of the goods and chattels which the executors of Mrs. Ann Midlan had ordered the sale of, the said executors making a claim to the money as soon as the purchaser had incautiously made known his discovery. Along with the guineas were two memoranda one of which contained the words "When my uncle Brown gave me fifty guineas as a Christmas present for waiting on him during his illness. Anne Lofton Broomieshall, 1790." Justice Bramwell tried the case, and gave judgment for Shipton, it having been shewn on’ his behalf that a person named Anne Lofton had lived at Broomieshall in 1798, and that she died at the age of 83, when her -