Prior to the passing of the New Poor Law in 1836 each parish maintained its own poor, a system which had been acted upon, we suppose, from the time of Queen Elizabeth. But how the Madeley poor were housed or treated prior to the erection of the Old “House of Industry,” or “Workhouse,” which stood on the hill overlooking the valley of the Severn, now in course of demolition and conversion into cottages, we are unable to say. {242} In all probability out-door relief alone was administered. At all times there have been kind and open hearted men of means who out of their worldly store have taken care to make some provision for their less fortunate brethren, either during their lifetime or by way of devise at their death. In this way, as we have seen on page 217, there were two principal charities, called the Brooke and Beddow charities which amounted altogether to £100. At the latter end of the last century the trustees appear to have invested this in the purchase of several small leasehold cottages and lands, chiefly at Madeley Wood. When it was resolved to build a house of industry in 1787 these properties were sold by the trustees for that purpose. They consisted of two messuages and 15 perches of land situate at the Foxholes, which produced £45. One messuage and garden containing 6¼ perches in the possession of Samuel Hodghkiss, which produced £24. An old messuage and garden in Madeley Wood containing 17 perches and a piece of garden ground containing 2½ perches, which produced £53 10s. A stable in Madeley Wood which produced £10. And two messuages and gardens in Madeley Wood containing a quarter of an acre, and a piece of garden ground containing five perches, which produced £83; also another which fetched £23; making a total of £235 10s. The investment itself seems to have been so far a good one; the value of the property having increased, owing to the works springing up in the neighbourhood; and it was resolved to raise a subscription in the parish to be added to this £235. The further amount of £806 13s. 6d. was thus raised, making altogether £1,042 3s. 6d., which sum was applied in the erection on a part of the charity land of a house of industry, the cost of which was £1,086 13s. 7¼d.; and a lease of that piece of land, with the house so erected upon it, containing 3r. 12p. or thereabouts, was at the 2nd of January, 1797, granted by the vicar and the major part of the trustees to the then churchwardens and overseers for the use of the parish for a term of 999 years, at the yearly rent of £18. The Charity Commissioners say that the premises described in the leases do not appear to tally exactly with the parcels contained in the two deeds of purchase; and add:—