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Sunday, and "upon the said days the parishioners shall
endeavour themselves to the amendment of the said ways."
The labour was to be apportioned upon the parishioners
according to the extent of their lands :—
"Every person for every plow-land in tillage or pasture that he or
she shall occupy in the same parish, & every other person
keeping there a draught or plough, shall find & send one
wain or cart furnished after the custom of the country with
oxen, horses, or other cattle, & all other necessaries meet to
carry things convenient for that purpose, & also two able men
with the same, upon pain of every draught making default,
ten shillings, (5) & every other householder, and also every
cottager and labourer of that parish able to labour & being no
hired servant by the year, shall by themselves or one sufficient
labourer for every one of them, upon every of the said four
days work and travel in the amend of the said highways, upon
pain of every person making default, to lose for every day
twelve pence."
Every person and conveyance so employed was to have
and bring all necessary picks, spades, shovels and other
tools; they were to be employed for eight hours on each of
the four days; they were liable to answer their neglect
before the court-leet, and to have the amount of the fine
doubled if not paid within 20 days. The forfeitures were
to be applied by the Churchwardens to the cost of maintaining
the highways, and the bailiffs or collectors were to
be allowed eightpence in the pound on the amounts collected.
Owing, it may be, to the increasing number of
houses in Westminster, and to the consequent decreasing
number of "plough lands, tillages, and pastures," if not
also to the large area of low-lying lands occasionally submerged
by high tides, the application of this Act was
attended with unsatisfactory results. Nevertheless requisitions
upon the inhabitants to supply teams were in
operation a hundred and seventy years afterwards:—
21 st June, 1726.—Ordered that the Churchwardens do endeavour to
inform themselves of the number of teams that are liable to
statute work in this parish and of the amount of their value
for one year.
Towards the end of Elizabeth's reign the people of