The Miles Charity by Rev. Brian Carne

Blankets for Christmas

In 1839 the Reverend Richard Miles established a charity to provide blankets and bed linen every Christmas to the deserving poor of the parish of Lydiard Tregoze. The 'blanket' charity was to last for all time, a brass plate, high up on the south wall of the nave records the establishment of the charity.

The records recording the distribution of blankets is patchy, in some years vouchers were given instead. In 1949 when the camp was turned into housing, the numbers of deserving increased beyond the means of the charity, and they restricted the distribution to the elderly residents. The charity was giving out vouchers instead of blankets into the 1970s, hopefully it will continue 'forever' as the founder wished.

Miles was Rector of Lydiard Tregoze for nearly 60 years and sadly his reputation was somewhat tarnished by the observations of pamphleteer and journalist William Cobbett. In this article, Brian Carne restores the rector's reputation.

See Items of Interest for the brass plate and Miles memorial tablet in St. Mary's Lydiard Tregoze.