English Villages

by P. H. Ditchfield

THE PARISH CHEST

Contents of the parish chest—Parish registers—Effect of Civil War— Burials in woollen—“Not worth £600”—Care bestowed upon registers— Curious entries—Astrology—Gipsies—Jester—Heart-burial—Plagues—Royal visits—Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king’s evil— Carelessness of custody of registers—Churchwardens’ account books—Their value—Curious entries—Sports and pastimes—Paschall money—Brief books—Strange entries in registers and account books—Dog-whippers— King’s evil—Treating bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.

The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which are of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It contains the old churchwardens’ account books, the parish registers, lists of briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on the history of the parish. The old register books record the names of past generations of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish and its people, which are not found in the dull dry columns of our modern books.

Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538, and from that date many of our registers begin.[[6]] But all vicars did not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made previous to 1603.

The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of this business taken from the books of this parish:—

“Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P.”

Henceforth the children are registered as having been born, not baptised, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the disorder of the previous years ceases.

In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in woollen, the purpose being to lessen “the importation of linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufacturers of this kingdom.” A penalty of £5 was inflicted for a violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried in linen, a record of the fine appears—e.g. at Gayton, Northamptonshire, where we find in the register—

“1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in Linnen, and the forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty shillings to ye poor of the parishe.”

Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, with reference to this custom:—

“Odious! in woollen! ’twould a saint provoke (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke); No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face.”

Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, “Not worth £600.” This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694, which required that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an estate of that value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was required for carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for five years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.

The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took great pride in recording “the short and simple annals of the poor.” A Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:—

“If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier, or in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare—els it will grow dankish and rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you find it dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This Place is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it.”

A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order to assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of the child’s birth “the sun was in Libra,” or “in Taurus.” Gipsies were evidently numerous in the sixteenth century, as we constantly find references to “the roguish AEgyptians.” The domestic jester finds his record in the entry: “1580. March 21, William, fool to my Lady Jerningham.” The suicide is “infamously buried.” Heart-burial is often recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks: “1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis aurati, hic inhumatum fuit vicessimo tertio die Junii.”

Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts of England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: “1644. In this year there died of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all buried in the churchyard, and are not in the Register.” Sometimes masses of human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages, memorials of this devastating plague.

Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout out the “Amens.” The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records with a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, “whose melody warbled forth as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone.”

Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The register of Wolverton gives “a license for eating flesh on prohibited days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d.” Storms, earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease called the king’s evil.

The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to 1648, for which the rector thus accounts:—

“This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts.”

Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate’s wife. Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:—

“It has not been a plaything for young pointers—it has not occupied a bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard—it has not been scribbled on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the honour of a succession of worthy clergymen.”—O si sic omnes!

The churchwardens’ account books are even of greater value to the student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are for genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that “in the old account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and country we possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly perishing treasury of information on matters the very remembrance of which is passing away, although their practical bearing on the development of the system of local government is indisputable, and is occasionally brought conspicuously before the eye of the people by quaint survivals.... It is well that such materials for the illustration of this economic history as have real value should be preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate should be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst they can.” Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation times, and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our churches, the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during the Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some of the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes of our ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all under the patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these entertainments were devoted to the maintenance of the church, and were included in the accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the merry diversions. Thus in the books of St. Lawrence’s Church, Reading, we find such items as the following:—

s. d.
"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood 5 4
" for a supper to Robin Hood and
his company 1 6
" for making the church clean
against the day of drinking
in the said church 4"
"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
for Maid Marian 1 6-1/4"

“Bells for the Morris dancers,” “liveries and coats,” “bread and ale,” “horse-meat of the horses for the kings of Colen on May Day,” are some of the items which appear in these books.

Another book tells us about the “Gatherings” at Hock-tide, when on one day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the men, and refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always succeeded in collecting the most money.

s. d.
"It'm. receyved of the men's gatherynge 7 3
" " " women's gatherynge 37 5"

Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The practice of “hocking” at Hungerford and “lifting” in Lancashire subsist still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to any pious uses.

The item “Paschall money at Easter” frequently occurs. This was originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine for the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment of “Smoke farthings” to the bishop of the diocese at his Visitation Court. This is another name for Peter’s pence, formerly given to the Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry under the year 1576: “For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence, sometyme payed to Antecryst of Rome xvi’d.” After the Reformation the tax was collected, but given to the bishop.

There are very many other points of interest which a study of the churchwardens’ books presents. In more recent times we find constant payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[[7]] But of course the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which managed all the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in these days of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs may be managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old vestries.

Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and varied. The building of St. Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire, a fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in Scotland, losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal churches in Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen, loss by fire, colleges in Philadelphia—these and many other objects were commended to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were usually very small, and Pepys wrote in his Diary, June 30th, 1661:—

“To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them.”

The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.

The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material for those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and their strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:—

“Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight of ym, but last of all ye woman dy’d and was buried, May 7th 1681.”

In the margin of the register is written, “This was her funeral text.”

The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:—

“The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway for debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances—but about sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried in the churchyard by the wife of the deceased.”

A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive out all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the items:—

"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge s. d.
doggs 2 6"
"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
and dog-whipper 18 6"

Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish accounts of Castleton record:—

s. d.
"1702. Paid to sluggard waker 10 0"

Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer to be touched for the king’s evil. The Ecclesfield accounts contain the following entry relating to this custom:—

"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
for the disease called the Evill, which her s. d.
Sonen Thorn is visited withall 6 8"

The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so touched, in order that they might not again go to the king and receive the bounty which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of Hambleden, Bucks:—

"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
for a disease called the King's Evil."

The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts. Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James’, Bristol:—

"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"

Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:—

"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
Beishopp of Hereford iiii'd"
"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
upon two preachers x'd"

The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former days as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford and Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we read in the Leverton accounts:—

"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford. 2s. 0d."

With this record of “a pore scholar” we must leave our study of the contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and accurate information about village and town life of ancient times.

[6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to that date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from 1558 to 1603.

[7] In the Whitchurch books we find: “1671. Paide for a coate and wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller’s legg £3.” And such-like entries.