"Anno 1737. Whereas it pleased ye divine Almty Justice to visit this town with a Fire which began on Tuesday March the 7th 1737 between one & two O Clock in ye afternoon by ye CARELESSNESS at least of one Thomas Fisher a discontented Labr living in one of my Lord's Farm Houses & suffering his Boy to carry out hot ashes & lay them down on some straw near ye said house as is alledged: By means whereof ye Sd house barnes & Stacks of corn as also ye Barns Stables Hovels outhouses Stacks of corn & implements of Husbandry occupyd by & belonging to John Smith Farmer together with other small houses inhabited by John Pierson Thatcher & Wid Harris a poor woman & ye Shop & Stable of Tho Douglas Butchr were entirely Burnt & Concumed ye Dammage thereby sustained exclusive of ye Buildings which all belongd to ye Rt Honbl ye Earl of Sussex being on a moderate Valluation as follows:

And whereas Certificates hereof have been signd by ye Minr & Churchwardn of this parish at ye desire of ye sayd poor Sufferers attesting the truth of the premis & ye Sum lost by them & amounts in ye whole to the sum of 183 as aforesaid up which Certifict ye County having been collected the SUMES FOLLONG have been received for ye use & relief of ye poor sufferers to be divided among them in ye proportions aforesd according to their respective losses."

[A list of over 50 donations from gentry and parishes follows, and includes £6 from Bozeat. The total was £122.2.4½d]

"out of which takeing Five pounds nineteen shillings & two pence expended in collecting the same there remains 116 pounds 3 shillings & twopence half penny the said sume as before in the following proportion amounting to twelve shillings and Eight pence in the pound for our respective Losses and no more.

For which we return thanks to God and the several persons who have comiserated our suffering. Witness our hand this 18th day of April 1738." [The the signatures of the 5 who lost by the fire follow - Mary Harris, the widow, made her mark]