Hi,
Here is an extract from White's Directory of 1857:-
Rowland Morewood, Esq., in 1647, left a rent charge of £5 per annum, issuing out of land called the Drunken Closes, for the benefit of the poor. By indentures, 1736, Samuel Dalton, Esq. conveyed to trustees lands called the Wheat Fields, Over Housteads, in Birchwood, and the Drunken Closes, in Alfreton, on trust for the poor. In 1771, an information was filed by the Attorney-General against George Morewood, Esq., in order to establish the charity by a decree of the court. The defendant, George Morewood, set forth by his answer, 1772, that the mention of the Drunken Closes in the deed of 1736 was a mistake, that in the year 1659, the sum of £100 had been laid out by his ancestors for the £5 payable out of those closes. In 1774, however, it was decreed that the Drunken Closes were part of the charity estate, which now consists of 27A. 0R. 11P., with a cottage and a barn; the rents, amounting to £39, are distributed in sums varying from 5s. to 15s. There is a bed of coal on the estate, and timber to the amount of £54 has been sold.
Spendlove
