The Thomas Clabburn and Bateman Charities

Thomas Clabburn, of All Saints Norwich, died in 1816 and under his Will dated 17th February 1815 he left £400 to the churchwardens in Tasburgh to be invested and the income used to distribute coal and bread to the poor of the parish on the first Monday in February each year, but only to those who were of good character and regular churchgoers. He also left £200 on similar terms to the parishes of Tharston, Flordon and Newton Flotman as well as to various parishes in Norwich, and larger amounts to the hospitals and other benevolent institutions in the city. A 1783 Norwich trade directory records Thomas Clabburn as a worsted weaver and manufacturer of bed covers at 16 Timberhill. £400 in those days would be roughly equivalent to £20,000 in today's terms , so Thomas Clabburn would have been a gentleman of some substance, but quite what his connection was to Tasburgh and its neighbouring parishes isn't clear. The 1818 Enclosure Award map however does show that Robert Clabburn owned three fields and two cottages in Quaker Lane, and the two fields behind, called Barn Close and Middle Close, are shown as "late Thomas Clabburn". He is also shown as having been the former owner of the watermill and adjoining meadows which had been acquired by the miller and former tenant, James Reeve.

A brass plaque, on the vestry door in the parish church, records that the legacy was invested in 5% Navy Annuities, a form of government bond issued to help fund the navy after the Napoleonic Wars. In 1834 a report into charities in Norfolk records that income distributions were in the form of between one and a half and seven bushels of coal and a threepenny loaf to each person in the family, but not strictly according to the Will. The resident curate was instructed that in future he should attend more particularly to Thomas Clabburn's directions concerning church attendance! However, those requirements were removed when the charity was incorporated into the Tasburgh United Charities in 1928.

5% Navy Annuities were replaced by the government with a holding of 2.5% Consolidated Stock, often referred to as Consols, which is how the funds were still held in 1928. These have since been sold and the monies invested as part of Tasburgh United Charities.

  Miss Bateman who died in about 1828 left a legacy of £45 to the churchwardens to be invested and the income distributed to the poor of the village. In 1928 when the charity became part of the United Charities the fund was still held in the form of £45 2.5% Consolidated Stock but that has since been sold and reinvested.