The Stonefield or Cloudesley estate

Pamphlet: The Stonefield or Cloudesley Estate: The will of Richard Cloudesley, Esq., dated 1517; being a guide to the Stonefield Estate question: Was the estate left for the Church or the Poor? Printed and published by R. Lacon, 3 William Street, River Lane, Islington. No date, probably 1850s or 1860s. Eight page pamphlet stuck into Volume 3 of "The History and Topography of the Parish of St Mary, Islington", by Samuel Lewis (first illustration after title page).

One of a group of pamphlets published in Islington around 1850 arguing about the income received by the parish as the freeholder of the Stonefield or Cloudesley estate. The estate was built on ground left to the parish of St Mary Islington by Richard Cloudesley in 1517. There was a fierce debate around 1850: should the money go towards church running costs, or should it be used for projects that directly benefited the poor. All protagonists returned to the original terms of Richard Cloudesley’s 1517 will and all drew different conclusions from the document.
In the short term, the argument was settled in the Church’s favour, but the argument was resumed around 1900 and a Charity Commission scheme of 1902 ruled that the charity should divide its benefits between Islington’s churches and Islington’s health charities, particularly the Great Northern Hospital.
Several other pamphlets were produced about the affair c1850: 2 exist in the Guildhall Library collection and 2 in the collections at Islington Local History Centre.