Knighton Rates

From the collection of

MACE is the strategic lead organisation for screen heritage for the East and West Midlands regions. An independent charity based at University of Lincoln, MACE preserves and makes accessible a collection of more than 100,000 historic moving images representative of the diverse cultures and histories of communities throughout the heart of England from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh border.

Knighton Rates (ATV Today)

Media Archive for Central England
Knighton
1980-07-07
Sound
1m

A Royal decree granted the villagers of Knighton in Staffordshire tax free living for life - all for a £1,000 loan to the Crown.

Thanks to a loan by local haberdasher William Adams to Charles II in the seventeenth century the villagers of Knighton in Staffordshire have been free of rates payments ever since. Peter Green meets villagers who are not surprisingly in favour of this historical quirk.

The royal decree of 1660 that exempted the villagers of Knighton from paying any rates has been gradually eroded over the years to the point where only agricultural workers qualify for the benefit.

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