Welsh Journals

income received from tithes. Some of the problems facing a school dependent on this type of income can be illustrated from the records of the trustees of this school. On 10th May 1886 the trustees of the school received a petition from the tithepayers of Llanvihangel Crucor- ney a parish very near to the town of Abergavenny. The petitioners urged "for a reduction of 15% off the year's further rent charge due on 1st October 1886". After fully discussing the petition it was decided by the trustees of the school "that whilst deeply sympathising with those who are suffering from the agricultural depression, the trustees of the Badgeworth charity, having no pecuniary interest in the tithe rent charges themselves and being only trustees for the benefit of others regret they have not the power to comply with the request of the tithe- payers of the parish of Llanvihangell Crucorney". The tithepayers of this parish seem to have accepted the trustees' decision and there is no further evidence, as far as I can see, to suggest that the parishioners took any further action. However in the same year, another letter was read from another group of tithepayers of the parish of Llanthewy Rytherch, requesting to know the reasons why they should contribute to a school in which they had little interest. They also demanded to know whether the parishes paying the tithe were entitled "to any benefit therefrom, if so, what benefit?" The trustees gave a noncommittal answer and informed the tithepayers that "the fund was and for a very great number of years had been entirely for the purposes of education". This group of tithepayers was not to be "fobbed off" with the sort of answer which had satisfied their neighbours in Llanvihangell Crucorney and they decided to take further action. Many of the parishioners simply refused to pay their tithes for the school. Naturally, as the school depended on such tithes for the payment of the school master and for the upkeep of the school, the situation was quite serious and in an attempt to remedy the situation the trustees ordered that some of the goods of the tithepayers of Llanthewy Rhytherch should be seized in lieu of tithe payment. On 20th May 1887 it was reported that "Mr. John Nesbitt had destrained upon two tithe payers in the parish of Llanthewy Rytherch and had seized some fallen timber in the one case a field of clover in the other, there being no animals or implements or other sizeable effects on the lands entered". Such goods were of little value unless they were sold, but the trustees faced serious opposition when they tried to sell these goods. Indeed when the solicitor appointed to deal with the matter tried to sell the timber and clover he provoked a riot. In June 1887 Mr. Nesbitt informed the trustees "that he had been unable to find a purchaser by private contract for the timber seized at Llanthewy Rytherch". Eventually the trustees gave up their attempt to find buyers and reached a compromise with the recalcitrant tithepayers to the detriment of the school and charity. Perhaps such a compromise was a wise move in the circumstances, for the loss of the goodwill of the local people might be more serious in the long-term than the loss of the tithe money. It is interesting to note that one of the leaders in the resistance to the tithe payments was a local Non- conformist minister who objected to the payment of tithes on religious grounds.