BOROUGH COUNCIL'S FORTUNE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 26, 31 January 1912, Page 11

BOROUGH COUNCIL'S FORTUNE

RATEPAYERS VERSUS THB , CHURCH. ROMANCE OF PEDLAR'S ACRE. [FROM OVB. OWN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON, 15th December. The Lambeth Borough Council has won a legal fight which gives to the ratepayers the aum of £81,000. In 1504 a. Email plot of land, bringing in 2a 8d a year and known as Pedlar's Acre, was given to the parish. It was situated on the south bank of the Thames, cloeo to the present Westminster Bridge, and formed part of the site acquired by the London County Council for ite new hall. The rental by that time had increased to £1800 a year, and the London Country Council paid the price of £81,00 p. A portion of the sum was claimed by the rector and churchwardens of Old Lambeth Parish. Church, and as the Borough Council claimed the lot, the L.C.C. paid the money into Chancery. Mr. -Justice Neville has now decided in favour of the ratepayers. On behalf of the rector and churchwardens, Mr. Hardy, expert record* searcher, has unearthed come romantic legends concerning the bequest of the estate. According to one story, the pedlar who gave this acre of riverside land to the old Lambeth Parish in the 15th century, made it conditional oh a. representation of his dog being kept in one of the church windows. This finds some support In the fact that a window in tne south side of the church has on it a painting of a pedlar with a long staff and a pack, accompanied by a dog. Another tradition or record tells how the pedlar fell asleep near Farthing Ferry, and while he slept his dog scratched up the turf and discovered buried treasure. Another legend has it that the pedlar took cover from a storm under the wall of the old Lambeth Church on the very spot which afterwards sheltered Queen Mary and the Young Pretender in their flight. The story is to the effect that the priest, finding the pedlar under the wall, observed : "Thou art early for vespers, my son." "I am not for vespers, father," replied the pedlar, "I am for the ro-d when rain threatens no longer.'' "Art thou an honest man?" enquired the* piwsb. ''Hast thou much custom? Dost thou mete out true measure?" "Tee," answered the pedlar, "I meto good measure to my detriment. It is tramp, tramp, tramp, for but little gain." After much persuasion the pedlar joined the priest in the evening service, and the story runs that years later, wheu Smith, then a prosperous Lambeth tradesman, was about to die, he left his acre to the church, praying that God might prosper the land ac He had prospered him. From records of 1504 it appeared that the Teceipts from Pedlar's Acre amounted to only 2s 8d a year. ,In the course of time its value increased, and it was the subject of much litigation. At the time the land was acquired by the London County Council- the Lambeth Borough Council was getting £1800 a year from it, the money being devoted in aid of the rates. Under an Act of 1826 the legal estate was vested in trustees, and remained in their hands until 1900, when, it was claimed, the Act of George IV. was repealed, and the legal estate was v-sted in the Borough Council, which took over the duties of trustees. The rector 1 and churchwardens denied that the legal estate was vested in the council, and demanded that a proportion of the £81,000 should be applied to ecclesiastical purposes. ' Mr. Justice Neville suggested that the churchwardens might recoup their loss by selling the result of Mr. Hardy's interesting researches. *