local. [variant of WRATH MONEY.] (See quots.)
1730. Thomas, Dugdale’s Warrick., I. 4/2. A certain rent due unto the Lord of this Hundred [of Knightlow], called Wroth money, or Warth money,… probably the same with Ward penny.
1864. Chambers, Bk. of Days, II. 571/2. The payment … of Wroth or Ward money for protection, and probably also in lieu of military service.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Nov., 5/3. The [annual] custom of paying ‘wroth money’ … at Knightlow Cross.
So Wroth silver (also Wroth penny). local.
1864. Chambers, Bk. of Days, II. 571/2. The payment of this Wroth Silver.
1893. in N. & Q., 8th Ser. IV. 497. The Duke of Buccleuch … observed … the curious custom of collecting … ‘Wroth Silver,’ or ‘Wroth Penny,’ from various parishes.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 11 Nov., 10/1. The Duke … demands ‘wroth silver’ … from some thirty parishes, and the nominal amounts are … placed in a stone trough on Knightlow Hill. Ibid. (1900), 12 Nov., 10/1. The Duke[’s] … annual collection of ‘Wroth silver’ … is a curious old custom, carried on for centuries, and observed each year, on November 11.
