Poor Box - St Agnes - Cawston, Norfolk - Wooden Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

A medieval Poor Box near the entrance in St Agnes' church, Cawston.
It has many locks, to which the Rector and the Churchwardens held the keys; it stands on a stone pillar said to be part of a cross which once stood near the churchyard gates. It is believed to date from the 17th century.

A framed page from a book near the artefact describes it -
"Before the Reformation, says Anthony a Wood, “in every church was a poor man’s box, but I never remembered the use of it; nay, there was one at great inns, as I remember it was, before the wars.”

Poor-boxes are often mentioned in the twelfth century. At that period pope Innocent III extended papal power to an inordinate height; absolved subjects from allegiance to their sovereigns; raised crusades throughout Europe for the recovery of the holy sepulchre; laid France under an interdict; promised paradise to all who would slaughter the Albigenses ; excommunicated John, King of England; and ordered hollow trunks to be placed in all the churches, to receive alms for the remission of the sins of the donors.

A communicution to the Antiquarian Society, accompanied by drawings of the poor-boxes on this and the opposite page, briefly describes them. The common poor-box in the churches appears to have been a shaft of oak, hollowed out at the top, covered by a hinged lid of iron, with a slit in it, for the money to fall through into the cavity, and secured by one or two iron locks.

Perhaps the most curiously constructed of the ancient poor-boxes now remaining, is that in the church. of Cawston, near Aylsham. The church was built between 1385 and 1414. The poor-box was provided with three keys, two of which were for the churchwardens, and the third was most probably for the clergyman, as one of the key-holes is more ornamented than the others. The most singular part of this box is an inverted iron cup, for preventing the money from being taken out by means of any instrument through the holes on the top of the box.

The engravings above represent—
1. this poor-box, as it stands on an octangular stone basement;
2. a perfect view of the lid;
3. another of the interior, with the manner wherein the cup is suspended for the security of the money;
4. a section of the box

In places where the presumed richness of the boxes rendered them liable to be plundered, they were strongly bound or clamped with iron plates, as shown in the present engravings."

Times available for viewing: Daytime hours Entrance fee (if applicable), local currency: 0 Approximate age of artefact (Year): Not listed Relevant website: Not listed

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