There are two boards relating to the charity established by Richard Hyde in 1671. Income from this endowment was distributed on February 24th and Good Friday to twelve parishioners who did not qualify for the poor-rate (‘the collection’).
Richard Hyde was a churchwarden, the son of Richard and Frideswide Hide (Esq.) moving to Hornchurch, Essex, about 1674. He donated Flexditch cottage and lands to the Poor of Silchester and the rental income was used to generate a charitable fund. In 1968 the Charity Commissioners revised the terms to allow a wider range of grants within the parish, the land having already been sold at the instance of Rector Evans in 1950 with the Commissioners’ agreement, to increase the endowment.
Visitors to the Church frequently ask how much a ‘piddle’ of land is. The answer would vary from County to County and the word has various spellings. It was generally a small, enclosed piece of land, often on the edge of cultivated areas. In Silchester an 1837 Lease by William Tilney to Rector Coles includes “the piddle of ¼ acre and 18 poles”; another Lease is of 3 messuages at Pightle Piece. In tis case there were two piddles of land, Barn Close and Pond Close, a total of 4.1 acres.
Hyde’s Platt, built as a small local-authority housing-estate now stands there; the house itself, a typical yeoman’s dwelling, half-timbered and thatched, was still let in 1956 but was in a bad condition, and was demolished soon afterwards.