AMBLESIDE CURATES
The names of two or three priests who may have served Ambleside before the Reformation have already been given. A new era was marked by the endowment of 1584, and the appointment of an excellent and learned man followed.
1585—John Bell. He was the first curate to inscribe his name in the Bible belonging to the chapel, which, after long alienation, has been restored to the church.[176] Bell's latest inscription tells that he had then served (in 1629) for 44 years. He was buried in Grasmere, December 23rd, 1634. His fine action in constructing with his scholars a causeway across the miry bottom between Ambleside and Rydal was long held in remembrance. In his latter days he must have had an assistant under him, for the burial of Leonard Wilson, "Scolmaister at Amblesyd," is entered for February 12th, 1621.
1635—Thomas Mason (spelt also Mayson and Masonn). It was he, doubtless, who witnessed (and wrote out) many Ambleside deeds, though not till 1840 does the word "clerk" follow.
1647—Henry Turner, undoubtedly a Presbyterian.
1669—John Pearson. This nominee of the Rydal squire met with some opposition in the town, headed by Mr. Braithwaite "upon a private Pique"—so the patron reported to the bishop. He was, however, ordained and inducted; though the subsequent refusal of some of the townsmen to pay their pledged contribution to the salary of the curate was no doubt due to discontent.[177]
1681 —— Thwaites. The Christian name of this pedagogue has not been recovered. The diocesan registry does not give him; but his name is entered in the Curates' Bible, and moreover four of the Rydal squire's sons were placed under his tuition in January, 1681. His stay was short, and a collection was made for him in the chapel on October 20th, 1685, to which the squire contributed 5s.
1682—Richard Wright was instituted curate before Mr. Thwaites' departure.
1688—Roger Fleming. His name suggests his being a native. He united husbandry with his other occupations. His burial is entered on September 2nd, 1694, and on the 11th, his successor, who had served Grasmere, was licensed.
1694—Thomas Knott. He wrote out John Kelsick's will, by which Ambleside has so largely benefited. As his name is the last in the Curates' Bible, we must suppose that he caused a new one to be bought.
1744—Jonathan Myles.
1753—Isaac Knipe.
1786—John Wilson.
1791—John Knipe.
1798 —— Crakelt.
1811—John Dawes.
Thomas Troughton.
Samuel Irton Fell.
An extraordinary entry appears in the Grasmere register for February 15th, 1674, "ye buriall of John Osgood of Amblesid surverer[178] for ye duty of Christ borne at Ridin in barkeshire."
[LANGDALE CURATES]
Langdale was, at the Reformation, in worse case than Ambleside, where the townsfolk were rich enough to put both chapel and school on a sound financial basis. The Little Langdale chapel ceased to be. The one in Great Langdale, bereft of its particular ministering priest, was threatened with a like fate. Probably it was never closed, however. An intelligent native would be found to act as clerk for a nominal wage, and occasionally the rector would visit it, and would administer the Easter communion to those who were too old or ill to cross the fell. Two clerks appear in the register before the Commonwealth, who may have acted as lay readers. During the Commonwealth the chapel would be wholly in the hands of the sect that happened to be dominant for the moment; and the fact that its pulpit was open to any religious speaker undoubtedly caused the followers of George Fox to be more numerous in Langdale than in any other quarter of the parish. It was a Quaker who resisted the Episcopal church service, when it was revived. (See p. 88.)
But order was again established at the Restoration. Weekly services were apparently conducted by a lay clerk, and the Grasmere curate in charge came over once a year to administer sacrament (at a charge of 2s. 6d. to the township), and twice or thrice to preach (1s.). From 1680, when Langdale secured the privilege of a separate communion, she ceased to contribute to the bread and wine consumed at the parish church celebrations.
The ritual of the chapel is disclosed in a Presentment of its wardens for 1732, preserved among the general accounts.
They have (they say) the Commandments set up within the chapel; a Communion table; linen cloth; patten; flagon and Chalice; Reading-desk and pulpit; a Surplice; books, etc.; with bell and bell-rope. "Our minister resides with us; he is not in Holy Orders: he reads Prayers and Homilies." He is allowed "the usual salary." Sacrament is administered every Easter. Baptisms and marriages are solemnized by the curate of Grasmere. No alms are received from the Communicants; and they have no alms-box.
The separate parochial accounts kept for Langdale continually give items for repair and upkeep of the fabric and its adjuncts. One of these was a "common stable," doubtless used for the accommodation of those who rode to worship. After consultations, the re-building of the chapel and school was decided on in 1751, and the work was slowly proceeded with, at the expense of the township, through the next three years. There may have been always a priest's lodging in the valley. In 1762 the "Parson's House" was repaired for 13s. 31⁄2 d.
The following is a list—incomplete in its earlier part—of clerks, readers, and curates who served the chapel after the Reformation:—
| William Gollinge "of The Thrange in Langden, | |
| clerk" had a son baptized 1590. | |
| Charles Middlefell "clerke of Landale" died 1643. | |
| Richard Harrison, clerk; died 1670. | Daniel Green, d. 1829. |
| Richard Steele, d. 1780. | Owen Lloyd, d. 1841. |
| Thomas Jackson, d. 1821. | Stephen Birkett, d. 1860. |
| William Jackson, 1821.[179] | James Coward, vicar; 1885. |
| Thomas Sewell, 1822. | R. S. Hulbert, ret. 1900. |
Owen Lloyd was the son of Charles Lloyd, who was the friend of Charles Lamb and for some time had resided at old Brathay. He inherited considerable poetic gifts, and composed the Rushbearing Hymn always sung at the Ambleside Festival. He lived for a while with his friend, Mrs. Luff, at Fox Ghyll, Loughrigg.
Rydal.—The chapel of St. Mary, Rydal, was built by Lady Fleming in 1824 and consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on August 27th, 1825. This new foundation took a large slice out of the old parish, though customary dues and tithes continued for some time to be paid to the rector. (See later.)
Brathay.—The church, which was built here in 1836 by Mr. Giles Redmayne, stands on the Lancashire side of the river, but its parochial boundary took another slice off the old parish, which was now wholly robbed of the township of Rydal and Loughrigg.
So the old mother church, robbed of her daughter chapels and the folk she so long fostered, rules to-day only the little valley of Grasmere.
SCHOOL AND CLERKS
Latter-day clerks and schoolmasters present a tangled subject, difficult to unravel. Sometimes the clerk taught school. More often there was a separate schoolmaster who served as curate, entering holy orders for the purpose; for by this economy of labour two meagre stipends were put together, and the rector might even effect an economy on the one.[180] Sometimes each of the three offices was served by its own functionary; and yet again it seems likely that they were occasionally all filled by one man—in which case a deputy was hired for the menial work.
The school of Grasmere was doubtless an ancient institution, taught in days before the Reformation by the resident priest. It is not unlikely that it would be supervised by the visiting monk from York, for monasteries were then the centres of learning. It would, of course, be held within the church, or the porch, according to the season, as was the custom. After the Reformation, and during John Wilson's fifty-two years' term as rector, followed by that of the erratic Royalist, Henry Wilson, tuition must have been a good deal neglected, or left to the clerk. One Michael Hird was serving as clerk in 1613, and a Robert of the name in 1638, who may have been a son, since the office was kept in a family whenever possible. Robert Hird, "clarke," was buried in 1680, which looks like ejection by the Presbyterians, and subsequent restoration.
For we are left in no doubt as to the appointments made by the new religious authorities. George Bennison, proud, no doubt, of his office and of his smattering of Latin, wrote in the register, "I began to teache Schoole att Grassmire the 3 day of May 1641 being et Ludimagister et AEdituus."[181]
From his spelling of the place-name—which never had been anything but Gresmer—we suspect him to have been a stranger; and it would probably be difficult to fill posts on the spot that had been summarily made void. Next comes "Thomas Wilson clarke at Gresmere in 1655." He it must have been who fought the battle of ritual with John Banks, bailiff, before a trembling congregation, after the minister Wallas had decamped. (See p. 87.) He, in turn, must have lost the post at the Restoration.
The Parliament passed a law in 1653 obliging every parish to supply a layman for the care of the registers, who was oddly called a "parish-register."[182] Accordingly this was done, and certified by the non-conformist magnate of Ambleside Hall. "Bee it remembered that John Benson of Gresmere being elected and chosen Parish Register of Gresmere by the inhabitants ther was approved of and sworne before me the 9th of Aprill 1656.
Tho: Brathwaite."
John kept the office, as an entry in the accounts shows, at least twenty years.
Rector Ambrose, when he left £50 to the parson and "twenty-four" of the parish, in trust for the school, gave an impetus to education in the place. The sum—or part of it—may have been used for the erection of a school-house. At all events, the quaint little house still standing by the lych-gates was already there when Anthony Dawson, statesman—incited perhaps by the parson's example—bequeathed, in 1635, the sum of £7 to a "School Stock in Grasmeer."[183] He expressly entrusted it to the patron, rector, and incumbent, "towards the maintenance of a Schoolmaster teaching Scholars at the School-House built at the Church Yard Yeates in Gresmere."[184]
These legacies gave importance to the office of schoolmaster. The choice lay then, as now, with the rector and the lay representatives of the parish, at that time the Eighteen, now only six. The appointment of young Thomas Knott as schoolmaster, shortly after this accession of funds, was an excellent one. Curate as well, there is a question as to whether he did not occupy also the post of clerk. He was termed clerk in the wardens' accounts, when in 1694 he was paid 2s. for attending the Visitation and Correction Court. But a man who could appear at so dignified a function could hardly have swept out the church, or dug the graves—and these, according to the Declaration of the Wardens "We have no sexton belonging to our Church"—were among the clerk's duties. He may have paid a deputy to do these things, since there were perquisites belonging to the post worth gathering in.
Income of the Clerk.—The parish clerk was, in his way, as important a functionary as the parson. Like the rector, he had no fixed salary, but took from early times the offerings of the folk, which became fixed and proportionate, like the tithes. From every "smoke" or household fire, he had one penny a year. For church ceremonials, when he acted as Master of the Ceremonies, he received a fixed fee, 2d. for a wedding and 4d. for a funeral. He was the accredited news-agent or advertizer. For instance, when the Rydal and Loughrigg Overseers wished to put a pauper out to board, in 1796, they gave him 2d. "for advertising her to let." (See Tithes.) He was paid 2d. for every proclamation in church or yard.
These ancient fixed fees lessened in value through the centuries, as did the tithes. Various small emoluments however became attached to the post as time went on. If the clerk was a good penman—as he was certain to be when acting as pedagogue—he might be employed on the church writings. Besides the joint Presentments, charged at 2s. 6d. (of which Grasmere and Langdale paid 1s. each and Rydal with Loughrigg 6d.), there were the wardens' accounts to be drawn up, at a fee rising by degrees from 3s. to 5s.; as well as a fair copy to be made into the large register-book from the parson's pocket-register. This last duty—oft, alas! negligently performed—was long rewarded by 1s. annual payment, which afterwards rose to 3s. 6d. These items occur in the accounts:—
The contract for bell-ringing was given to the clerk, and doubtless he secured a profit upon it. He had an annual payment for lighting the vestry fire; another (5s.) for "attending" the hearse. In 1822 the accounts give—after an item for "cleaning" the church-yard and windows:—
"To Ditto Sentences and Window and Church throughout self and Boy" 7s. 6d.
This was clearly not a school-master clerk, who enjoyed—instead of receipts from menial labour—the scholars' pence and the small stipend. If we turn back to enumerate the men who served the office, we find Robert Harrison (1695 to 1713) followed by Anthony Harrison.
There was no clerk in 1729, according to the presentment. Gawen Mackereth (1736 to 1756) is entered as "clarke and schoolmaster," though he certainly entered holy orders; so he may possibly, with a deputy, have combined the three offices. John Cautley was clerk in 1756.
After this came three generations of Mackereths: George of Knott Houses; the second George, who filled the office from 1785 to his death, at 81, in 1832; and David, his son. These men were clerks, pure and simple.[185] David pursued the calling of a gardener, working for Mr. Greenwood at the Wyke. In his time it was decided to give the clerk a salary. It began in 1845 at £4, and was advanced in 1854 to £5, with the stipulation, however, that one J. Airey should receive 13s. 6d. of it. But David did not prosper, and he emigrated to Australia in 1856. He is remembered by Miss Greenwood as a tall, fine man, like his successor; he used, after giving out the psalm to the congregation at the desk, to march into the singing-pew (which stood where the organ is) and there lead the voices. Indeed, the parish clerk of old, besides a tuneful voice, was generally endowed with a fine presence. The family is spoken of in an old newspaper of nearly a year ago. Grasmere, December 31st, 1909: "Death of a noted Guide.—Last week there died at Grasmere one of the best known guides in the district, and one of the best known characters in his day—John Mackereth. He was descended from a very old family of Grasmere statesmen, intimately connected with Grasmere Church in three generations of parish clerks, and earlier still as 'Ludi magister et clericus.' The Rev. Gawin Mackereth held these offices from 1736 to 1756. George Mackereth, of Knott Houses, parish clerk, was buried July 23rd, 1785. His son George became parish clerk, and was buried 22nd October, 1832, aged 81 years. He was succeeded by his son, David Mackereth, who held the office up to the fifties. David's son, George, was much disappointed that he was not chosen clerk after his father's time. He was a tailor, and also a noted guide. He died in 1881, and Johnny as he was always called took his place as guide. He was also boatman in Mr. Brown's days at the Prince of Wales Hotel. In these capacities he was known to hundreds of visitors, who never came to Grasmere without looking him up. Of late years he worked on the roads for the council. He was great on wrestling, and for many years collected money for prizes at the rush-bearing. He had no children, but four brothers and three sisters, all of whom have left Grasmere, survive him." One Brian Mackereth was, in 1677, ranked among the Freeman Tanners of the City of Kendal. (Boke of Recorde.) In the same year Squire Daniel gave 5s. "at ye Collection of Brian Mackereth's Houseburning." James Airey, the next clerk (1856 to 1862), must have been a clever, ingenious man, for he kept the clock in order from 1831. He was also appointed schoolmaster—an office that had often changed hands, and been united with the curacy—and Edward Wilson was taught by him (along with the younger De Quincey children) until he went with his brother to the Ambleside school.
The school, meanwhile, had received other benefactions. The church list records £80 given by William Waters, of Thorneyhow, in 1796, towards the master's salary; and good Mrs. Dorothy Knott followed this, in 1812, by £100, the interest of which was to be spent on the education of five Grasmere children, born of poor and industrious parents. John Watson, yeoman and smith, made a similar bequest in 1852, stipulating that the recipients should be chosen annually by the trustees of the school. In 1847 Mr. Vincent G. Dowley gave £10.
While the salary of the master was paid out of the school "stock" or endowment, the township took upon itself the maintenance of the school-house; and the expenses were duly entered in the accounts of the Grasmere "Third." The waller of those days was differently remunerated from the workman of these. For instance, the large statement of 1729 "For mending the School-house" is followed by the small sum of 14s. 6d. Naturally the windows wanted "glassing" from time to time. Occasionally new forms were procured—four in 1781 cost 5s. 4d.; or a new table, in 1805.
A loft or upper floor was constructed in the small house in 1782, the opportunity apparently being taken when the Grasmere township had bought an oak-tree for the renewal of their decayed benches in the church, and while workmen were on the spot. The expences stand as follows:—
| s. | d. | |
| 24 ft. of oak boards for school-loft at 3d. per ft. | 6 | 0 |
| 81⁄2 days carpenter laying school loft | 14 | 0 |
| 1000 nails for the same | 4 | 6 |
| 2 Jammers for door and some hair | 1 | 0 |
The little house, so stoutly built and prudently kept up, remains the same, only that partitions have been erected for rooms, and the entrance has been changed from the church-yard to the outer side. The cupboard where the boys kept their books, the pump where they washed their hands, may still be seen. School was held within its walls till 1855, when the present schools were built.
With James Airey, who acted as both, the record of former schoolmasters and clerks may be closed. But one who, appointed in 1879, served the office of verger (substituted for clerk) up to 1906, must be mentioned. Edward Wilson was son of the carpenter of the same name, and he pursued the craft himself. No custodian of old could have filled the office with greater reverence or dignity, nor graced it by a finer presence. Intelligent, calm, quietly humourous, he was also gifted with an accurate memory of the events of his youth; and his death, in 1910, at the age of 88 seems truly to have shut to finally the door of Grasmere's past.
THE CHURCH RATES
The church rate, levied by the wardens and the Eighteen on the parishioners for the up-keep of the church, must for long have stood at a low figure. In Squire Daniel's Account-book for February 16-62/63 the item appears "Paid ye other day an Assess to ye church for my little tenemt in Gressmer 00 00 02."
This was a small farm-hold at the Wray, which he had inherited from his uncle. And forty years later, when the year's expenditure was high, the freeholder, Francis Benson of the Fold, was rated no higher than 5s. 9d. for all his lands. The general charges after 1662, when the equipment for the episcopal services was complete, up to 1810, averaged in those years when there was no extraordinary outlay, barely more than £2, to which, of course, were added those incurred by each township individually. In 1733, when the bells caused a great outlay, it is possible that money was borrowed, for an item stands "For interest to Jane Benson 5s. 0d." Rydal and Loughrigg furnished, in 1661, the sum of £2. 9s. as its share in the maintenance of the church; and in 1682, £1. 5s. 6d.; while in 1733 it mounted to £13. 3s. 7d., of which the special Ambleside churchwarden produced, on behalf of his district, 19s. 1d.
When the churchwardens' books re-open in 1790, the general charges stand at £2. 2s. 71⁄2 d., and those of the three townships united at £7. 13s. 21⁄2 d.; our township paying of this £2. 2s. 1d. The following table shows the progress of expense:—
| Complete Charges | Share paid by | ||
| of Three | Loughrigg and | ||
| Townships. | beneath Moss. | Ambleside. | |
| £ s. d. | £ s. d. | £ s. d. | |
| 1790 | 7 13 21⁄2 | 2 2 1 | —— |
| 1800 | 5 4 111⁄2 | 1 15 61⁄4 | —— |
| 1810 | 50 1 41⁄2 | 16 1 111⁄2 | 5 18 01⁄2 |
| 1820 | 21 5 51⁄2 | 7 1 01⁄2 | 2 2 71⁄2 |
| 1830 | 18 7 5 | 4 11 51⁄2 | 1 8 41⁄2 |
| 1840 | 13 17 8 | 4 6 111⁄2 | 1 14 0 |
| 1850 | 20 16 91⁄2 | 6 6 21⁄2 | 2 4 91⁄2 |
| 1857 | 34 15 81⁄2 | 11 17 111⁄2 | [186]4 2 111⁄2 |
The extraordinary expense of 1810 was caused by the building of the vestry and hanging of the bells. In the year of the great outlay upon the roof (1814), when Rydal produced £35. 19s. 11d. and £14. 7s. 4d. from Ambleside, the wardens laid for the last time but one, the old church rate or "sess." Henceforth, the Overseers of the Poor took it over, and so long as it lasted paid it out of the Poor Rate. This seems to have been a period of laxity, when the old spirit of responsibility and watchful care in the custodians of the building, as representatives of their townships, became weakened. It was now, in 1816, when the wardens and Eighteen would seem to have less to do, that an annual dinner was instituted for them and the "minister." This cost 2s. a head; and though at the Easter Meeting of 1849 "it was resolved that in future the Landlord at the Red Lion Inn shall provide dinners for the 24 at the Rate of 1s. 6d. pr Head, Ale also to be Included in the said Sum," the sum paid remained £2.
A fee of 1s. 4d. paid to the churchwardens on entry or exit from office (which covered his journey to Kendal) had long been customary. Besides this fee, his expenses began in 1826 to be paid separately at the rate of 3s.
But the old order, long decrepit, was soon to be wiped out. Strangers were pressing into the remote valley, which Gray had found in 1769 without one single gentleman's residence. Not only poets and literary men began to settle in it, but rich men from cities, who bought up the old holdings of statesmen and built "mansions" upon them. These men demanded accommodation in the old parish church of a kind befitting their notions of dignity. Opposition seems to have been made to their demands. It is not quite easy to discover, from the account given in the churchwardens' book of the meetings held about the matter in 1856 and 1857, where the difficulty lay. We may surmise, however, that while the seats in the Grasmere division of the church were full to overflowing, those belonging to the other townships would be often vacant, since not only the old Chapels of Ambleside and Langdale were in use for regular worship and communion, but new ones were built for Rydal and Brathay. It is possible that an attempt to sweep away the traditional divisions and put Grasmere folk in Langdale or Loughrigg seats produced the dead-lock we read of. At all events, a vestry meeting was held on July 24th, 1856, with the Rev. Sir Richard Fleming in the chair, "to consider the propriety of making such an arrangement with respect to the free and open sittings in the church as may conduce to the general convenience of the inhabitants; and preparatory to an allotment by the churchwardens of such free and open Sittings among the parishioners in proportion to their several requirements, due regard being had to all customary Sittings and to the rights of persons, having property in pews." This proposal was made by Mr. Tremenhere and seconded by Captain Philipps, both new-comers, though the latter (who had opened the Hydropathic Establishment at the Wray) seems to have been chosen as one of the Eighteen; and it was promptly negatived by a majority of nineteen to four. Mr. Thomas H. Marshall, another new resident, at whose instigation the matter had been begun, persisted in it however; and the two wardens for Grasmere agreed to take lawyer's counsel as to their action in carrying out a Faculty already procured, and for which they paid Dr. Twiss £3. 6s. This counsel is not very clear, but paragraph ii. of its text is of interest: "I think that the appropriation of any number of pews in a Mass to the separate townships, so as to exclude permanently the Inhabitants of the parish in general from the use of them, would be a proceeding in contradiction to the express provisions of the Faculty. The Faculty must be taken to have superseded any antecedent custom under which pews in a mass were appropriated to separate townships. I think it is the duty of the Churchwardens to assign to such parishioners as shall apply from time to time, indiscriminately as regards the townships, pews or seats, as the case may be, among the free and open sittings." Again, after expressing his opinion that the burden of the church rate should fall on the inhabitants in general, he speaks of "the custom for the townships to repair their own portions of the Church applied to the Church in the state in which it was, and under the exceptional arrangements of the Sittings which existed prior to the issuing of the Faculty.... The manner of collecting the rate by the officers of the townships may still hold good, but the rule of assessment must, I think, be derived from the general law."
The Archdeacon was likewise applied to by Mr. Marshall and Mr. Stephen Heelis, a lawyer from Manchester, who had bought a holding at Above Beck, and had built himself a house there. He was an able man, and at once took a prominent part in the proceedings. He was made churchwarden for Grasmere, and with his colleague, William Wilson, set to work in 1857 upon the unrestricted allotment of seats countenanced by the authorities. This was the end of the individual shares held by the townships in the fabric of the old mother church; it was the end of the Eighteen who had represented the township; it was an end, likewise, of the general church rate for which those Eighteen stood responsible; since it was manifestly unfair to tax those whose rights had been taken away. Langdale fell away, and the Brathay part of Loughrigg, and Ambleside-above-Stock. The rate of 11⁄2 d. in the £ on property, which the wardens proceeded to levy on the whole of the parishioners, was responded to for the last time in 1858, when Ambleside paid £7, Rydal and Loughrigg £10 17s. 10d., and Langdale £8 6s. 3d., to Grasmere's £13 14s. 111⁄4 d. The little division of Rydal with part of Loughrigg was indeed, by dint of its being dubbed a chapelry, held yet a little longer in the grasp of the old church; four statesmen and one warden were allowed her in return for the rate she continued to pay. This she seems at first to have paid equally with Grasmere, and in 1859 she contributed the high figure of £15 0s. 101⁄2 d. towards the expenses of the church. In 1861 she paid £13 5s. 11⁄2 d. By 1866, however, the rate to supply the immensely increased expenses of worship had become a burden, even to Grasmere folk. A voluntary rate took its place, and Rydal contributed its unspecified portion to this for the last time in 1870. The offertory that then superseded all rates, paid only by worshippers, was an immediate success.
In 1879, when the volume of accounts closes, the year's expenditure stands at £155 14s. 1d.
[NON-RATEPAYERS]
The religious factions—whether Baptist, Anabaptist, Independent or Presbyterian—that had sprung up during the Commonwealth left behind them no vital seeds of dissent in the wide parish of Grasmere, although the two last had in turn held the rectorate and the pulpit. As soon, indeed, as the Episcopal Church was restored, along with the Monarchy, the people returned with apparently a willing mind, and almost unanimously, to the old order of worship.
There was an exception, however, to be found in the Quakers, who were firm in refusing to re-enter the Church. George Fox, wandering on foot like an old Celtic missionary, had made his appearance in these parts in 1653, and at once his preaching (which mirrored his mystic and simple mind), united with a magnetic personality, had secured him a following. His teaching discountenanced all creeds, forms, and ritual. His meetings were, therefore, held in private houses; and so much abhorred by his followers was the "steeple-house" with its consecrated ground, as well as any fixed form of service (even the Office for the Burial of the Dead), that they often laid their dead in silence in their own garden-ground, rather than carry them to the church.
As the little band grew larger, a plot of ground was, however, secured as early as 1658 at Colthouse, near Hawkshead, in Lancashire, as a graveyard[187]; and in that neighbourhood, where they built a meeting-house in 1688,[188] they became numerous and active; and on the Westmorland side of the Brathay—in Langdale and in Loughrigg more especially—George Fox also found adherents. In particular, Francis Benson, freeholder of the Fold, of a wealthy family of clothiers, and an influential man who served as Presbyterian elder in 1646, became his follower; and remained so through the persecutions. He received Fox into his house, even when the preacher had become a marked man. Fox's Journal, after recording his Keswick preachings in 1663, runs on:—
We went that night to one Francis Benson's in Westmorland; near Justice Fleming's House. This Justice Fleming was at that time in a great Rage against Friends, and me in particular; insomuch that in the open Sessions at Kendal just before, he had bid Five Pounds to any Man, that should take me; that Francis Benson told me. And it seems as I went to this Friend's House, I met one Man coming from the Sessions, that had this Five Pounds offered him to take me, and he knew me; for as I passed by him, he said to his Companion, That is George Fox: Yet he had not power to touch me: for the Lord's power preserved me over all.
The fanatical spirit of Fox is shown perhaps in this passage, where he ascribes the inaction of these two parishioners of Grasmere, not to a generous tolerance of mind (certainly God-given), but to a direct interposition of Providence in his own favour. He likewise attributes the death of the Squire's good and gentle wife later on to God's wrath and judgment upon the husband for his persecution of the Friends.
In truth, Squire Daniel was not the man to view leniently the opposition offered by the new sect to the restoration of the old form of worship. It must be allowed that the method of their preachers was not only irritating but provocative; for it was their wont, when the congregation was assembled in the "steeple-house" to rise and denounce both worship and officiating clergy as instruments of Belial; with an occasional result of rough handling and ejection by the people. We have seen that William Wilson, a Langdale man and one of their speakers, resorted to this method of interruption when the Church of England service was restored in the chapel. The parson of Windermere later on wrote to Squire Daniel begging his magisterial help, as a woman was in the habit of rising during worship and denouncing him. Wilson's misdemeanour was immediately dealt with at the Quarter Sessions, and on his refusing to swear the oath—a matter of principle with the Quakers, which was not rightly understood, and which made their offence a political one—was thrown into gaol, where, if his fine of a hundred marks was not paid in six weeks, he was to remain for six months, and to be brought again before the magistrates.[189]
This was certainly a severe judgment. How the case ended is not apparent, nor how long Wilson remained in prison. A letter exists at Rydal Hall, addressed to "Justice fleeming" and signed L.M., reproaching him for his treatment of the Quakers, especially of the four now in prison. One of these is "Wm. Willson, thy poore neighbour," of whose wife and children the Squire is admonished to have a care, since the prisoner had little but what he got by his hands—a statement which implies that Wilson was a craftsman.
The Rydal Squire had at first believed that he could force the Friends back to the common worship in the old parish church by means of fines, for he had the frugal man's belief that the pocket can be made to act upon the conscience. With the passing of the Act of Uniformity (1662) and the later Conventicle and Five Mile Acts, however, he and his fellow magistrates had a powerful legal hold over them. It is clear that he caused the known Quakers of the parish to be watched. One, James Russell, brought him word that there had been a meeting on November 1st, 1663, at the house of John Benson, of Stang End. This was on the Lancashire side of Little Langdale beck, but the Westmorland folk who attended were Francis Benson, his son Bernard, "Regnhold" Holme, Michael Wilson, and Barbara Benson. Of Lancashire folk there were only Giles Walker, wright, who had walked from Hawkshead, and William Wilson and his wife. Wilson was the speaker, so his imprisonment had not damped his ardour. Again, next year, the constable of Grasmere, Thomas Braithwaite, and a churchwarden, Robert Grigge, gave evidence that certain Quakers had been seen returning from Giles Walker's house near Hawkshead; and among them were William Harrison, of Langdale, and Edward Hird, of Grasmere.
These doings were not passed over by the Squire. He even tried conclusions with the most powerful of the sect, Francis Benson, of the Fold, and accordingly the latter was summoned, in 1663, along with his wife Dorothy, to appear at the Quarter Sessions to answer the charge of having been present at a meeting. The penalty of non-appearance was a fine of thirty shillings, while the fines of John Dixon and William Harrison, both of Langdale, charged with the same offence, were respectively twenty shillings and ten shillings. Francis Benson probably cleared his legal mis-demeanours by money payments, for no evidence has been found of his imprisonment. He and his family, however, remained staunch Friends. The place of his sepulchre is not known, though his death is recorded for February, 1673, of "Fould in Loughrig," in the Quaker Registers. There is a tradition of a burying-ground at the Fold, somewhere about his now vanished homestead, and it is quite possible that some members of the family might be buried there, as the early Friends not infrequently made a grave-plot on their own ground. The Fold was so much a centre of the sect that a marriage took place there between William Satterthwaite, of Colthouse, and the daughter of Giles Walker, of Walker Ground, Hawkshead, on December 11th, 1661.[190] According to another tradition, a Baptist Meeting-house stood at the Fold, and an old man, named Atkinson, whose forbears had owned the adjacent farmhold of the Crag—where he was then living—pointed out the exact spot on a little triangle by the road where the building had stood, and the "Dipping" took place. But this story is against all record, for we can trace the Bensons' adherence to the Friends to a late period.
A large number of Quakers travelled to Rydal in 1681 to make their Test or Declaration before Squire Daniel and his son, but the only folk of the parish among them were Bernard Benson, of Loughrigg, and Jane his wife, and "Regnald" Holme, of Clappersgate, and his wife Jane.
In 1684 a Rydal man "presented" before the justices quite a concourse of people who had been present at a "Conventicle" in Langdale. Some seventeen Loughrigg and Langdale names were cited: Edward Benson of High Close (his only appearance as a Dissenter), John Dixon of Rosset in Langdale, William and James Harryson of Harry Place, "Regnald" and Jane Holme of Loughrigg, James Holme, the Willsons of Langdale, etc.
Reginald Holme's name frequently appears in the Indictment Book of the Quarter Sessions, and generally in connection with secular disputes. He was, in fact, a turbulent character, little fitted to belong to the peace-loving sect, which he joined possibly from sheer love of dissent. Some items of his history have been given elsewhere. He owned the mill at Skelwith Bridge—probably then, as later, a corn-mill, though it is extremely likely that a walk-mill would be set up additionally on this fine flow of water. About this water and other matters he was in constant dispute with his neighbours. One altercation, with a certain Thomas Rawlingson, the Friends tried to settle for him but as he refused to accept their verdict, a resolution was passed at a Monthly Meeting, held at Swathmoor (1676), that the law might now take its course. On another occasion Reginald was brought up before the Magistrates for assault; but the recurring bone of contention was a dam or weir which he had built across the river for the good of his mill—and to the damage, it was declared, of the pathway above, and of his neighbours' grounds. The Rydal Squire twice headed a party for the forcible destruction of this dam, as has been told[191]; but long afterwards Holme was in fierce conflict with Michael Satterthwaite, of Langdale, yeoman, about this or another dam.[192] Finally, in 1684, a crisis occurred, and Reginald's goods were seized by the strong arm of the law—a most unwonted proceeding; on which occasion his sons and his daughter fell upon the unfortunate officers, and beat them and put them forth with violence—which made another indictable offence.
After the law-suit concerning the tithes, which followed upon the Restoration (see ante), in which law-suit Francis Benson was concerned, and possibly other Quakers, we have no evidence as to whether the sect continued to oppose the payment of church scot. But there is abundant evidence to show that they were resolute in non-attendance at church, and in refusal to pay the church rate or "sess" levied on the townships for the upkeep of the fabric and its walls by the representative men of the parish. The Subsidy Rolls of 1675 show that Francis Benson paid for himself and his wife Dorothy the tax of 1s. 4d., which the Government demanded from all non-communicants, as did "Reynald" Holme for self and wife, and John Benson of Langdale.
From wardens' accounts and presentments we gain many particulars of the dissenters of the parish, who appear to diminish in number as time goes on. It had become necessary by 1694 to account, in the books, for the deficit caused by the Friends' non-payment; and though in the following year two of them yielded, Bernard Benson paying up the large arrears of 15s. 11d. for "Church: Sess," and Jacob Holme 7s. 6d., the "Allowance for Dissenters" appears each year on the debit side.
Presentments are only available from 1702. The following extracts give the names of the non-payers of the two townships. Those of Langdale would appear in their separate presentment:—
Loughrigg.
| £ | s. | d. | ||
| 1705— | Francis Benson of the Fold | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| The same for property in Grasmere | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| Jacob Holm of Tarn Foot | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| The same for property in Grasmere | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Jane Holm of Skelwith Bridge | 0 | 0 | 41⁄2 | |
| John Shacklock of the How | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Grasmere.
| Francis Benson of Grasmere, Underhow | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Jane Benson, widow | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Miles Elleray of Clappersgate | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Arthur Benson | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Loughrigg.
| 1706— | Francis Benson of the Fold | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| For Grasmere | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| Jacob Holm | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| For Grasmere | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Jane Holm | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| For Mill Brow | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Miles Elleray | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Grasmere.
| Jane Benson | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Francis Benson, Underhow | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Loughrigg.
| 1707— | Francis Benson of the Fold | £0 | 2 | 9 |
| For Grasmere | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jacob Holm | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| For Grasmere | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Henry Dover | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| John Rigg | 0 | 0 | 101⁄2 |
Grasmere.
| Jane Benson, widow | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Francis Benson, Underhow | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| The wardens add "Likewise we present two churchmen [name crossed out] and George Mackereth of Clappersgate | 0 | 0 | 9 |
This Francis Benson, the third Friend of his name at the Fold, is the last we know of. As the old families died out or dispersed, no new adherents of the sect appear to have arisen in the parish, and dissent ceased.
The only comment on non-conformity found in the registers occurs in the second volume (1687-1713). It runs:—
A perticular Register of some pretended Marryages of the people called Quakers within the parish of Grasmere As followeth—
But only two weddings from Great Langdale are set down. Also is entered:—
Jane daughter of John Grigge of Stile End in Great Langdale was baptized by A prebyterian minister the tenth day of Aprill Ano Dom 1710.
The "minister" so clearly obnoxious to the registrar may have been a visitor to the valley.
When a stranger entered the church in 1827 and asked the clerk if there were any Dissenters in the neighbourhood, he was told that there were none nearer than Keswick, where were some who called themselves Presbyterians; and of these the clerk professed so little knowledge that he hazarded the suggestion that they were a kind of "papishes." The clerk aforesaid was old George Mackereth,[193] forgetful alike of the Colthouse Meeting-House and the small Baptist Chapel at Hawkshead Hill, built in 1678? For about the first clustered a few families who clung to the faith of their fathers; though the latter (of which little seems to be known) may have dropped out of use.
Dissent had never existed in Ambleside. The men of that town, who managed the affairs of their chapel, had no real leanings towards it, and the Restoration found them all churchmen again. The only man of the town-division who could be taxed as a non-communicant in 1675 was Roger Borwick, and he was a disreputable inn-keeper at Miller Bridge, a Roman Catholic who had once been a personal servant of the ill-fated heir of Squire John Fleming.
The Little Bell
Recast at the Expence of Mrs Dorothy Knott, 1809 T. Mears & Son of London Fecit
THE REGISTERS
The early registers are contained in three parchment books. The first measures 15 inches by 7, and has a thickness of 1 inch. It was re-bound recently in white vellum, and an expert has endeavoured to restore the almost vanished characters of the first page. The earliest legible entries are for January 1570-71. The sheets may have once got loose and some lost, for there is a complete gap between the years 1591-98, and another between 1604-11. There are minor gaps besides, which, perhaps, may be explained by the system of register keeping that obtained in these parts. A smaller book for entries was kept, called a pocket-register, in which the minister (or the clerk) noted down the ceremonies as they occurred; and these were copied from time to time into the larger book. It was a system that, in the hands of careless officials, produced nothing short of disaster, as far as parochial history is considered. The re-entry, long over-due, had often not been made, before the pocket-register was mis-placed or lost. In times of stress, like those of the plague-years, the church officials seem to have become paralized, and ceased to cope for months at a time with the registration of the dead. For instance, in the deadly year 1577, February, April, May and July are blank; eight burials are then entered for August, and none for the rest of the year. Again, next year, eight deaths are recorded for July, nine for September, and twelve for November, while the intervening and succeeding months are blank. This state of things continues through the years of oft-returning plague that followed, and through the long rectorate of John Wilson, diversified by the occasional loss of a page or a mysterious skip, e.g., in marriages there is a gap between the years 1583-4 and 1611—more than 27 years.[194]
The first register-book is, therefore, a disappointing document, from which no satisfactory conclusions as to population or death-rate can be drawn, nor adequate information concerning families or individuals. The Hawkshead register-book is a complete contrast to this one, in neatness and fulness; and the scribe has marked with a cross all deaths from plague. Maybe the grammar-school there, with its master, affected favourably the records of the parish. In Grasmere the school was, after the Reformation, left in general to the parish clerk. This first book shows signs, like the Curate's Bible of Ambleside, of having been accessible to the scholars—no doubt while these were yet taught in the church; for experiments in penmanship and signatures occur on blank spaces, which were seized upon with avidity by the learner—parchment and paper being hard to come by.
The condition of the third register-book is wholly satisfactory. It is in its original binding, but the clasps have gone. It measures 161⁄2 inches by 7, with a thickness of 3 inches. Its title runs, "Grasmere's Register Book, from May the 7th, A.D., 1713. Henry Fleming, D.D., Rector; Mr. Dudley Walker, Curate; Anthony Harrison, Parish Clerk." The book closes in December, 1812. As in the earlier volumes, the baptisms and marriages are written on the left page, and burials on the right. The first entry is a receipt from the man who furnished the book:—
June ye 21, 1713.
| lb. | s. | d. | |
| Recd. of ye Reverend Dr. Fleming one Pound and Eleven Shillings for ye Parchmt. wherwth. this Book is made for ye clasps eightpence and for ye Binding Six Shillings. I say Recd. by me Bry: Mackreth | 1 | 17 | 8 |
Some entries of confirmations were made in this volume. The first has caused considerable surprise, and it is of interest on three scores. It shows that the solemnization of the rite had been long neglected—the Bishop of Chester no doubt finding this remote parish of his diocese very inconvenient to reach, and relegating it on this occasion to his brother of Carlisle, who but recently was its rector. It likewise proves that the population was larger then than in the next century, and that the estimate of the number of communicants given on a preceding page was under, rather than over, stated. It illustrates the fact, besides, that the old forms would accommodate at least twice the number of the present benches.
October the 23, 1737.
A Confirmation was then holden at this Church by the Right Reverend Father in God Sr. George Fleming Baronet Lord Bishop of Carlisle at the instance of the Lord Bishop of Chester at which time and place About five Hundred Persons were Confirmed. [The next confirmation recorded is in 1862.]
An entry on the first page, in fine hand-writing, is likewise of interest, as showing that long after the Reformation, and even after the Prayer Book revision of 1662, the prohibition of the old Sarum Manual against marriages taking place during the three great feasts of Christmas, Easter and Penticost still had weight, though it could not be enforced, and that the rector—a stout churchman—desired its observance.
Marriages Prohibited from Advent Sunday till a Week after the Epiphany, from Septuagesima Sunday till a Week after Easter, from Ascension day till trinity Sunday; Secundum Dr. Comber.[195]
Curious entries, or any bearing upon local history, such as are frequent in some registers, are scarce in the Grasmere books. The law that commanded the use of woollen for shrouds, by way of propping up a declining industry, caused the usual amount of trouble here in the way of affidavits and entries.
Another enactment, that all sickly persons who presented themselves for cure by the Royal touch—a remedy much resorted to under the Stuarts—were to come armed with a parochial certificate,[196] has left its trace here.
Wee the Rector and Churchwardens of the Parish of Grasmere in the County of Westmorland do hereby certify that David Harrison of the said Parish aged about fourteen years is afflicted as wee are credibly informed with the disease comonly called the Kings Evill; and (to the best of or knowledge) hath not hereto fore been touched by His Majesty for ye sd. In testimony whereof wee have here unto set or hands and seals the Fourth day of Feb: Ano Dom 1684.
Henry Fleming Rector.
John Benson
John Mallison Churchwardens.
Registered by John Brathwaite Curate.
This poor youth was probably of the Rydal stock of Harrisons, where several generations of Davids had flourished as statesmen, carriers and inn-keepers.[197] The journey to London would be little to them.
The introduction of gunpowder into the slate quarries could not have long pre-dated the following entry:—
"Thomas Harrison of Weshdale [Wastdale?], wounded with the splinters of stone and wood the 29th of August last by the force of gunpowder was buryed September the 2nd. Ano Dom 1681."
An instance of longevity is given in 1674, when widow Elizabeth Walker, of Underhelme, "dyed at ye age of 107 years old."
But the entry that has caused the most comment is one that commemorates a boating disaster on Windermere Lake. Forty-seven persons were drowned, with some seven horses: "in one boate comeinge over from Hawkshead" on October 20th, 1635. Singularly enough, this is the only known record of an event with which tradition and later story has been busy. These affirm that the boat-load consisted of a wedding-party; also that the corpses were buried under a yew-tree in Windermere church-yard. If the catastrophe happened to the customery ferry, known as Great Boat, plying between Hawkshead Road and Ferry Nab, the interment would naturally be made at that church, though an unfortunate gap in the registers for the period prevents certainty on the point. But why was the event written down at Grasmere? It appears to have been inscribed by George Bennison, clerk and schoolmaster, who did not enter office till 1641. Had he the intention (unfortunately unfulfilled) of recording local history in the register-book? Could we suppose the Ambleside Fair for October 20th—an occasion of great resort only a few decades later—to have been in vogue before its charter was gained, the conjecture that the drowned folk had been attending the fair might be entertained.[198] There were other passage-boats on the lake besides the Great one. In connection with the number drowned, it may be mentioned that ferry-boats were formerly of great size. Miss Celia Fiennes, who, about the year 1697, had occasion on her journey to cross the Mersey with her horses from Cheshire to Liverpool—a passage which occupied 11⁄2 hours—did it in a boat which, she says, would have held 100 people.[199]
Miss Helen Sumner has been, since 1906, engaged in a transcript of the first register-book. It is now complete, and it will be put into use instead of the old illegible volume, of which it is an absolutely accurate copy, done in fine modern script.
Miss Armitt was under the impression when writing of the Registers that the Second Register was missing, so consequently made no extracts from it.—Ed.
Recess in the Porch for Holy Water Stoup.
PRESENTMENTS, BRIEFS, AND CHARITIES
The Presentment for 1702 may be given fully as a specimen of the document which the wardens were bound to furnish at the Visitation of the Bishop or his emissary. A few extracts may be added, for the simplicity and shrewdness of some of the answers make them entertaining, as in the entire repudiation of an apparitor and his dues.
During Dr. Fleming's rectorate, a difference arose between the officials who controlled the finance department of the Visitation and the vestries of the parishes of Windermere and Grasmere.[200] It was proposed by the latter to make one Presentment serve for the whole parish, mother-church and chapels together; and the rector of Grasmere stated that it was only through a mis-conception that separate Presentments had been made. This was a sound, economical plan for the parish, but it was firmly opposed (as was natural) by the higher officials, who affirmed that separate Presentments were the rule. The table of "ancient and justifiable fees" was given as follows:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
| For appearance and presentment of every warden, four old and four new | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Book of Articles | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Examination Fee and registration of every presentment | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Citation Fees and exhibiting the transcript | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Due to the King for Citation | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Apparitor's Fee | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Also apparitors received at the Visitation a fee for carrying out books sent by the King and Council—as Thanksgiving Books, etc.; and for each of these he might claim a fee of 1s., which raised the sum total to be paid at a Visitation occasionally to 14s. or 15s. No wonder our wardens disclaimed all knowledge of the apparitor! For their consolation they were reminded that in other Jurisdictions the wardens were called to Visitations twice a year, which doubled the fees and expenses.
In 1691 the parish paid "To the Chancellor at the Bishop's Visitation for a Presentment" 5s. 10d. The writing of it cost 4s. 2d. A Book of Articles was bought also. Five years later a Presentment for the whole parish cost 13s. 2d.
(Presentment for 1702.)
The presentment of John Mackereth, George Benson and Edward Tyson, Churchwardens, for the Church of Grasmere, within the Arch-Deaconry of Richmond in the Diocese of Chester, at the Ordinary Visition of John Cartwright, D.D., Commissary and Official, of the said Arch-Deaconry on Friday the fifteenth day of May Ano Dom 1702, in the parish church of Kirby Kendall, as followeth:—
George Benson }
John Mackereth } Churchwardens.
Edward Tyson }
The later presentments, up to 1732, are—except where quoted from elsewhere—largely repetitions of this. One or two answers to queries, however, are naive. In 1712 "we have no physitia's, nor Sargions in or parish."Concerning officers of Ecclesistiall Courts, we know not their Officers; nor wh their Officers are; nor now they perform them, well, or ill; nor wh their just Fees are, and can therefore give no account of ym.
In 1717 "Concerning Apparitors. We know not how Apparitors do their office, nor can we present them, or any of tm, for any undue Fees exacted by them, and we think we ought not to pr'sent any man for faults wch we know not by him."
Between 1702 and 1732 only one woman is "presented" for "fornication"; and only occasionally, in a later set of Presentments, between 1768 and 1796 is the fault—which the registers show to have been not infrequent—mentioned.
Briefs.
Printed briefs, that called upon the churches to succour the unfortunate by offerings in money, reached Grasmere, remote as it was. Such of these sheets, as were found to be sufficiently intact, were quite recently gathered together and bound as a volume. Within the register-book the amount realised by some of these collections is set down. At Christmas, 1668, the offering made for the poor of London after the fire, reached the high figure of £17 6s. 3d., which shows how that great calamity affected the popular mind. Among other recipients of the parochial bounty are found: "Captives at allgeeres" (Algiers), 3s. 1d., also "A breife beyond ye seaes and for ye suply of printing The bible for one John de Krins..y," 7s. 3d. Very frequently individuals or towns that had suffered loss from fire or other causes were relieved. Perhaps there was grumbling then, as now, at the many collections, and 8d. only was realised for the relief of Hartlepool. The Squire, who generally gave one shilling for a brief, was doubtless absent that day.
Charities.
The care of the poor was of old a parochial matter. The regular supply of money for this purpose came from the offertories at the great feasts of the church, and was distributed (at least after the Reformation, if not before) by the wardens. There were other and casual sources, such as the doles given at the funeral of a person of gentle birth. The scale of the dole differed according to the rank of the individual. In the seventeenth century four pence (the old silver penny) was the usual sum, though at the funeral of William Fleming, of Coniston (claimant to Rydal Manor), only 2d. was given. Squire John Fleming was buried quietly, on the evening of his death, like many another recusant. There was no time, therefore, for that extraordinary and seemingly magnetic gathering of the poor, that sometimes occurred, even on a day's notice—for such news sped like a telegraphic message.
But some indigent folk collected next morning, when £1 10s. was distributed. This, at 4d. a piece, would represent 90 persons. The concourse was far greater when Squire Daniel's wife was interred, when it numbered over 1,800 persons; the amount given reaching £30 10s. 4d., while the dole-givers spent at the inn 3s. 6d. The gathering at his little son's funeral, two years later (1677), was naturally smaller. The entry in the account-book is as follows:—
| June 1—Given to ye Poor (at 2d. apeice) at ye Funerall (this day) of my son Tho. Fleming at Gresmere-church (where he was buried near unto my Fathers Grave on ye north side thereof close to ye wall, and who dyed yesterday, being Thursday, about 8 of ye clock in ye morning at Rydal Hall) ye sum of | 04 | 03 | 08 |
| It[em] paid to ye Minster for attending ye Corps all ye way 5s., to ye Clark for ye same, and makeing of ye Grave 2s., to ye Ringers 2s. 4d., in all | 00 | 09 | 04 |
The first bequest on record to the poor of Grasmere is that of old Mrs. Agnes Fleming, the shrewd mistress of Rydal Hall. Her will, dated 1630, directs that threescore and ten pounds shall be devoted to the poor of Staveley and "Gressmire," the interest to be distributed every Good Friday. In this distribution George Dawson "beinge blinde" was to receive during his life-time a noble, which was 6s. 8d. or half a mark. Accordingly, after her death, the bailiff entered in his accounts £1 13s. as "paid the poor folke at Easter 1632 for my old mis"; the blind lad's noble was also set down. This charity seems, however, to have been lost during the "Troubles" that presently overtook family and country. An effort to re-institute the one at Staveley at least was made by Squire Daniel.
| March 25, 1659—Spent with my Cosen Philipson at Staveley when I went to Mr. Feilde to looke yt ye Poor of Staveley bee not wronged in ye distribution of ye £40 interest, left ym by my great Grandmother Mrs. Agnes Fleming | 00 | 00 | 06 |
Mention of an extraordinary gift appears in the same account-book. The young Earl of Thanet had lately, as Lord Lieutenant of Westmorland, entered the county in great state, and with a lavish expenditure of money. His generosity (which may have had a political bias) extended even to this remote quarter of the Barony. In those days £10 was a large sum; and the coin (as a precise entry under February, 1685, informs us) was conveyed to Kendal by a servant, delivered to the mayor, who passed it on to the Rydal Squire. One half was for Windermere, the other for Grasmere; and one wonders how large was the gathering at the church for the dole.
| Mar. 1, 8-4/5—Distributed this day at ye Parish Church in Gresmere to ye Poor Householders yt go to Church in ye said Parish; being ye gift of Tho. Earl of Thanet, ye sum of | 05 | 00 | 00 |
Other charitable gifts to the poor are written on boards hanging in the church, viz.:—
Edward Partridge and others of Grasmere £50, the interest to be distributed on St. Thomas's Day to such poor as do not receive parochial relief. (Undated.)
William and Eleanor Waters, in 1807, £200, the interest to be distributed under the like restrictions on Lady Day.
THE RUSHBEARING
It is impossible, in an account of Grasmere, to pass over the Rushbearing, a Church Festival that has come down from ancient times, and which, after a period of languishment, has revived once more into a popular pageant.
It may be the remnant of some fair or wake held on St. Oswald's Eve and Day, and organized by the early church to supersede some Pagan Feast of the late summer. The close of July, or the early part of August, was a good time for merry-making in these parts; for then the husbandman's chief harvests were gathered in—the wool from the sheep, and the hay from the meadows; while the little patches of oats were hardly ready for the sickle. We hear of a great pageant and play devised by Thomas Hoggart[201] being performed in the open air at Troutbeck village (1693) on "St. James his Day," which was the 25th of July, equal to the 5th of August, new style.
The Rushbearing at Grasmere was held in recent times on the Saturday nearest to July 20th; and a stranger, T. Q. M., found a celebration taking place in 1827 on July 21st.[202] In fact, the Day of the church's dedicatory Saint, August 5th (which is equal to August 16th, new style) seems not to have been associated recently in the minds of the people with the Festival; though it was associated at St. Oswald, Warton, where the ceremony survived till the close of the eighteenth century. It is possible that the shift from old to new style, in 1752, weakened the connection between Saint's Day and Festival in the minds of the folk, leaving them content to await the summons of the clerk, who reminded them, it is said, when it was time to cut the rushes. The old chapels of the parish likewise had their Rushbearing. That of Langdale appears in the wardens' accounts for that township, where 2s. 6d. was generally put down for expenses attending it. The item disappears, however, after 1752, for then the chapel was rebuilt, and was no doubt paved throughout with the fine slate of the valley: the need for rushes there being over, more than 80 years earlier than was the case with the mother church. The Ambleside Festival has continued to the present day (though with a lapse of a few years, according to Grasmere folk), and is regularly held near the day of her Saint (Anne), July 26th, the hymn used being the same as at Grasmere.
As a matter of fact, the Rushbearing had of old a real meaning, for the sweet rushes were strewn over the floors of churches and halls alike, both for warmth and cleanliness.[203] The covering was particularly necessary in churches where the soil beneath the worshippers' feet was full of corpses. The great annual strewing (though we would fain believe that it was done oftener than once a year) was naturally performed when rushes were full grown. It was a boon service given to the church by the folk during a spell of leisure. Such service they were well accustomed to. The statesman not only by custom immemorial, gave to his lord a day's labour at harvest time, but he and his wife cheerfully turned into their neighbour's field for the like. Sheep-clipping has survived as a boon service; and what a man in old days gave to his fellow, he did not grudge to his church.
Food and drink alone were the boon-workers' meed of old; and the first entry that concerns the Rushbearing in the wardens' accounts shows that the drink at least was looked for.
| 1680—"For Ale bestowed on those who brought Rushes and repaired the Church | 00 | 01 | 00" |
It appears from this entry that the boon service was not limited to rush-bearing in old times; but that general repair was done by willing craftsmen. The item for ale continues "on Rush-bearers and others"; in 1684 it rises to 2s., and to 5s. 6d. next year. The amount was perhaps considered excessive by the more temperate of the parishioners—a runlet could be had for 3s.—and from 1690 the charge "To Rushbearers" became a fixed one of 2s. 6d. At this figure it stood for 150 years, though from 1774 the township of Grasmere added on its own account a further 1s. for "Getting of rushes for the church."
The parochial charge "To Rushes for Church," 2s. 6d. appears for the last time in 1841. With the paving of the floor, which took place in 1840, the need for the fragrant covering was over, and matting was laid down—probably only in the aisles—in 1844, at an expense of 11s. 4d.
Up to then rush-strewing had been necessary. Burials in the earthen floor had continued up to 1823; and the forms, from the gradual sinking of the ground, had to be constantly lifted and re-set. Only in 1828 the townships had gone to considerable expense in re-seating and re-flagging their portions of the interior, and in the same year a stray visitor to Grasmere expressed himself as shocked at the primitive condition of the church. "I found the very seat floors all unpaved, unboarded, and the bare ground only strewed with rushes."[204] In the previous year T. Q. M. had found the villagers seriously working at their annual task of strewing. It seems to have been done informally, under the superintendence of the clerk; and later in the day—nine o'clock it is said—came the spectacle and the merry-making. A procession was formed, when the wild flowers—which the children had been busily engaged during the day in gathering and weaving into garlands—were carried to the church and laid there. An adjournment was then made to a hay-loft, where dancing was kept up till midnight, and where no doubt more than the parochial ale was drunk. Old James Dawson, the fiddler, boasted to the stranger that he had for forty-six years performed on the occasion. He complained of the outlandish tunes introduced by the "Union Band chaps," who had apparently superceded him in the honour of leading the procession. But James may be said to lead the music in spirit yet, for a certain march, used for an unknown period and handed down by his son Jimmy (who succeeded him as village fiddler), is still played.
Clarke was present at the Festival at an earlier date,[205] and he gives a rather different account of it. His description, however, is of something he had seen in the past; and one is inclined to doubt that the Rushbearing was ever held at the end of September. According to him, the rushes were actually borne in the procession, which was headed by girls carrying nosegays, the chief of whom (called the Queen) had a large garland. When the work of strewing was done, and the flowers laid in the church, the concourse was met at the church door by the fiddler, who played them to the ale-house, there to spend an evening of jollity.
An account of the ceremony at Warton, earlier still,[206] gives an interesting variation of custom. Here the floral decorations were not separate from the rushes, but covered the bundles as crowns. The smartest of them, trimmed with fine ribbon and flowers, were carried in front by girls. The crowns were detached in the church, and after the strewing of the rushes were left as ornaments. Artificial trimmings were in use in Grasmere in 1828, for the stranger's eye had been "particularly attracted by the paper garlands which I found deposited in the vestry; they were curiously and tastefully cut, and I was almost tempted to buy one of them." The sketch by Allom of the Ambleside Festival in 1833 shows how elaborate and artificial the bearings had become.[207] But taste and meaning could not have been altogether banished for certain sacred emblems and devices were cherished; and Moses in the Bulrushes, and the Serpent in the Wilderness—the latter wholly composed of rushes—which are still carried as "bearings" at Grasmere, are said to have been handed down from a forgotten past. The same is claimed for the Ambleside Harp, the strings of which are contrived from the pith of the rush—the "sieve" of the olden days of rush-lights.
It has been seen that the joint payment by the townships for the boon service ceased when the actual rush-strewing ceased. But the Festival continued, though it was clearly changing its character and becoming the children's Feast of Flowers. This is shown by Grasmere's special contribution to the occasion. The annual gift, after rising a little, is entered in 1819 as 3s. 9d., "To Rushbearers' Gingerbread paid Geo: Walker." From that time Grasmere's expenditure for "Rushbearers bread" is a constant though varying item. In 1839 it dropped as low as 1s. 6d., which, supposing two-pennyworth to be the amount given to each child, would represent but nine bearers. From this low figure however it rose; and the languishing Festival was revived, if not saved, by the munificence of Mr. Thomas Dawson, of Allan Bank, who began about this time to present each bearer with 6d.[208] The gingerbread item was often 6s.; in 1847 it was 9s. 10d.; in 1851 it is set down as "To Rushbearers 62," 10s. 4d. In 1856 13s. 6d. was paid to A. Walker for "Rushbearers Cake," and in the next two years the climax was reached by the sums £1. 1s. 5d. and £1. 1s. The long-continued item then abruptly ceases—seventeen years after the provision made for ale by the whole parish ceased—swept away no doubt by the revolution in church-management and church-rates, and for thirteen years there is a gap. When, however, the ancient but now resisted church-rate was dropped in 1871, and all expenses were defrayed from the large and gladly-paid offertory, the church again provided for the Festival. The expenses were now put down under "Rushbearing," as Bells 6s., Wilson 8s., Cakes 19s.; amounting to £1 13s., towards which the collection at the church service (for the first time established) furnished 16s. 8d. Next year there was a marked increase: Band £2, Joiners 8s., Ringers 6s., Gingerbread £1. 5s. 10d., and Baldry 4s. 1d.; total £4. 3s. 11d.; collection, £2. 18s. 1d. The payment to joiners must have been for making the frames of the bearings, which have assumed many varied forms.
The Festival has, since 1885, taken place on the Saturday next to St. Oswald's Day. The procession, from which everything gaudy and irreverent has been eliminated, now makes a beautiful spectacle. Children of all ages take part in it, even tiny toddlers, supported by parent or grandmother. The floral burdens are deposited in the church and the service held, when all disperse; and on the next Monday the children have their feast with games and prizes, paid for by the united contribution of the parishioners.
The Walker family, who for so long provided the gingerbread, are remembered to have had a little shop—the only one in the place—and it stood near the present one of Messrs. Gibson.[209] Presumably, Dinah, the wife, baked the cake; and George, in the manner of the time, pursued the additional trade of tailor. Mrs. Mary Dixon, of Town End, was the gingerbread maker for many years, but has recently given it up.