LOCAL AFFAIRS 01
Posted: 03 May 2022, 04:20
LOCAL AFFAIRS 01
Little did we realise in the early Noughties when Gordon Brown was congratulating the bankers in The City of London on how well they were managing our finances and the talk was of the 'New Economy' and the end of boom and bust, just what was coming down the road to hit us. Then we had a new government that promised us if we pulled our belts in and endured a short bout of austerity the situation could be retrieved. I have no doubt that many of you, whatever your political persuasion, look at our present situation and recognise that there is at least another ten years of austerity to come. The news is of decline in public services and in particular the funding of local government. It is the latter that is attracting my attention at the moment. It won't surprise you to learn that I think it might be a good time to look back into our history and see how we managed things then.
Local authorities are a very old idea. 1,500 years ago the concept of a 'head' of a village was well understood and this developed into the Manorial System and the Manor Courts which were the governing body for an area. They operated by enforcing 'Customary Law' by having the power to fine transgressors. These 'fines' were in effect local taxes and the income was used for the benefit of the village as a whole. Note that this was a separate law code from 'Common Law' which was the prerogative of the King. The manors were in the king's gift also but this system started to break down as private ownership of land became more common as the Crown sold off land to support their expenses. This accelerated enormously after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century and was temporarily replaced by other bodies like the Courts Leet but by the 18th century the system of Manorial control was dead.
Something had to replace it and the local 'Vestry', so called because it often met in the parish church, was given the power to control local matters. The members of the Vestry were local land-owners, very similar to the old Manorial Courts. They adjudicated in matters like roads, policing, illegal settlement on the Waste and other public nuisances like failing to maintain drainage systems or dispose of waste. In other words, in broad terms, very much like the powers of the modern local councils.
During the 19th century this Vestry system came under pressure as population rose, industrial activity grew and greater demands were placed on local government. Managing the village was developing into a full time specialised job. By the late 19th century Barlick was under the care of the Skipton Rural District Council which was, in the early days, the only local professional body that could cope but activity in towns like Barlick was increasing rapidly and by 1880 even the Skipton RDC was struggling to cope.
SCG/08/03/17
Gill Church. At one time the seat of local government for Barlick.
Little did we realise in the early Noughties when Gordon Brown was congratulating the bankers in The City of London on how well they were managing our finances and the talk was of the 'New Economy' and the end of boom and bust, just what was coming down the road to hit us. Then we had a new government that promised us if we pulled our belts in and endured a short bout of austerity the situation could be retrieved. I have no doubt that many of you, whatever your political persuasion, look at our present situation and recognise that there is at least another ten years of austerity to come. The news is of decline in public services and in particular the funding of local government. It is the latter that is attracting my attention at the moment. It won't surprise you to learn that I think it might be a good time to look back into our history and see how we managed things then.
Local authorities are a very old idea. 1,500 years ago the concept of a 'head' of a village was well understood and this developed into the Manorial System and the Manor Courts which were the governing body for an area. They operated by enforcing 'Customary Law' by having the power to fine transgressors. These 'fines' were in effect local taxes and the income was used for the benefit of the village as a whole. Note that this was a separate law code from 'Common Law' which was the prerogative of the King. The manors were in the king's gift also but this system started to break down as private ownership of land became more common as the Crown sold off land to support their expenses. This accelerated enormously after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century and was temporarily replaced by other bodies like the Courts Leet but by the 18th century the system of Manorial control was dead.
Something had to replace it and the local 'Vestry', so called because it often met in the parish church, was given the power to control local matters. The members of the Vestry were local land-owners, very similar to the old Manorial Courts. They adjudicated in matters like roads, policing, illegal settlement on the Waste and other public nuisances like failing to maintain drainage systems or dispose of waste. In other words, in broad terms, very much like the powers of the modern local councils.
During the 19th century this Vestry system came under pressure as population rose, industrial activity grew and greater demands were placed on local government. Managing the village was developing into a full time specialised job. By the late 19th century Barlick was under the care of the Skipton Rural District Council which was, in the early days, the only local professional body that could cope but activity in towns like Barlick was increasing rapidly and by 1880 even the Skipton RDC was struggling to cope.
SCG/08/03/17
Gill Church. At one time the seat of local government for Barlick.