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Ash next Ridley - Parish Information

W.I. History of Ash and Ridley from Earliest Records to 1957 - Page 99

Odd Incidents and Stories continued

Items of Interest taken from Joseph Fletcher’s Farm Account of Holywell Park Estate in1766.
Letters cost 7½ d.
Men paid for threshing corn 14d per day.
Sheep shearers 2s. per day.
Thatching 1s. – 1s.6d per day.
Reaping corn 5s. per acre.
Women hoeing 5s. per acre.
Haymaking 1s.5d. and half a gallon of beer per
 day per man.
Wool sold at 5d. per lb. at Dartford market.
Wheat sold at 25s. per quarter at Dartford market.
Ann Terry, a maidservant, received £5 per. annum.
Gravesend Corn Market opened in 1764.
Bricks were made in the lower part of Holywell Park,
   there was also a lime kiln.
In the year 1804 bricks were sold at 4s.6d. per hundred.
The Poor Rate for that year was 1s.6d in the £.
The Highway Rate was 6d. in the £1.
The Tail Rate was 3d. in the £1.
Window Tax for Rands House (Now Holywell House)
    was £1.13s.
Church Rate 2d. in the £1.
These Holywell Park Estate Books are in the 
   possession of Mr F Fletcher.
Comparison of prices. While on the subject of prices, 
   an expert authority, what £1-6-1 would buy in 1938 
   costs £4-0-3½ in 1957.

Ghost Stories
1. Cuckolds Corner boasts an unusual ghost story: - For many years it was believed that when the moon was full a headless coachman might be seen driving a coach and his six grey horses. He came down the valley road and disappeared down the well at Cuckolds Corner. Some say the horses were headless not the coachman. The well has now been domed over. 
2. Until a few years ago a tree stood in the centre of the Vineyard Field and it was said to be unlucky to go near it on a moonlight night, it was haunted by a lady in white.

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