Speenhamland
| Speenhamland | |
| Berkshire | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU470676 |
| Location: | 51°24’20"N, 1°19’30"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Newbury |
| Postcode: | RG14 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Berkshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Newbury |
Speenhamland is a Berkshire village which has become a northern suburb of Newbury, so closely bound in that today it is barely marked on maps.
The name of the village is famous as it was in this parish that the 'Speenhamland system' of poor relief was devised in the early 19th century, and which was adopted by parishes across the land.
Speenhamland lies to the north of the River Kennet, between the centre of Newbury and the village of Speen to the northwest.
Historic descriptions
The first mention of 'Spenamland' is in 1220, and 'Spenhamelund' appears in 1225. Gelling suggests the name means ‘land of the people of Speen’ in which parish and manor it lay. A separate ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1844.
Obscured today by the growth of Newbury, Rocque's 18th century maps show 'Spinham Lands/Spinhamland' as a village along the London Road, with the name Newbury centred on buildings to the south of the Kennet. However, it seems that a small stream, the Speenhamland Water (or North Brook) was the dividing line between the two parishes.
Speenhamland became of some importance when Bath became a major destination and traffic on the London-Bath road increased from the 18th century. Many coaching inns were built to serve travellers, though this was not quite a novelty: a certificate of inns in 1577 had already recorded 5 in Speenhamland. There were 13 licensed premises in Speenhamland by 1577.
Amongst the 18th century inns were The George and The Pelican, The Cross Keys, The Chequers, The Angel and The Lamb and Flag,
The Pelican theatre in Speenhamland was renowned but demolished in the latter part of the 20th century. Many historic buildings survive, particularly around the Broadway.
The Speenhamland system
The Speenhamland system was a form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty at the end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. The Poor Laws had developed from the Elizabethan period, and required parishes to pay a dole to paupers in the parish. In 1795 at a meeting at the Pelican Inn in Speenhamland a number of local magistrates devised a new system as a means to alleviate the distress caused by high grain prices after the poor harvest of 1795.
The authorities at Speenhamland approved a means-tested sliding-scale of wage supplements in order to mitigate the worst effects of rural poverty. Families were paid extra to top up wages to a set level according to a table. This level varied according to the number of children and the price of bread. For example, if bread was £sd|1s 2d a loaf, the wages of a family with two children were topped up to 8s 6d. If bread rose to 1s 8d the wages were topped up to 11s 0d.
The Speenhamland system appears to have reached its height during the Napoleonic Wars, when it was a means of allaying dangerous discontent amongst a growing rural poor faced by soaring food prices.[1] The system was popular in the south and William Pitt the Younger attempted to get the idea passed into legislation but failed. The system was not adopted nationally but was popular in the counties which experienced the Swing Riots during the 1830s.
The Poor Law Commissioners' Report of 1834 called the Speenhamland System a "universal system of pauperism". The system allowed employers, including farmers and the nascent industrialists of the town, to pay below subsistence wages, because the parish would make up the difference and keep their workers alive: the workers' low income was unchanged and the poor rate contributors subsidised the farmers.
This system of poor relief enede with the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834.
The Pelican
Amongst the many coaching inns of the village, the best known was The Pelican about which there was a well known rhyme:
The famous inn at Speenhamland,
That stands below the hill,
May well be called the "Pelican"
From its enormous bill.
Outside links
References
- ↑ Phillis Deane (1965) The First Industrial Revolution Cambridge: Cambridge Press. p144. ISBN 0-521-29609-9