The Media Archive for Central England is the public screen archive for the East and West Midlands. An independent charity and company based at the University of Lincoln, MACE acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes widely available moving image materials that inform our understanding of the diverse cultures and histories of communities between the Lincolnshire coast and the Welsh border.
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Knighton Rates
A Royal decree granted the villagers of Knighton in Staffordshire tax free living for life - all for a £1,000 loan to the Crown.
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Overview
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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