BURIALS IN WOOLLEN.
On looking over the parish registers of Mautby, in the county of Norfolk, a few days since, I found thirteen entries of certificates of the enforced observance of this practice, of which the following is a specimen:—
"November the 8th, 1678. Was brought unto me an Affidavit for ye Burial of William the Son̅e of John Turner in Woollen according to ye late act of Parliament for that purpose.—ANDREW CALL, Rector."
The reason is clear—to increase the consumption of wool; but I should much wish to know the date of the aforesaid act of parliament, and to how late a period it extended. I find a comparatively recent trace of it in an original affidavit of the kind, in the varied collection of my friend R. Rising, Esq., of Horsey, which I subjoin in full, as it may be interesting to many readers of "N. &. Q."
"Borough of Harwich in the County of Essex to Wit.
"Sarah the Wife of Robert Lyon of the parish of Dovercourt in the Borough aforesaid, husbandman, and Deborah the Wife of Stephen Driver, of the same parish, husbandman (being two credible persons), do make oath that Deborah, the daughter of the said Stephen and Deborah, aged 18 weeks, who was on the 7th day of April instant interred in the parish Churchyard of Dovercourt, in the borough aforesaid, was not put in, wrapped, or wound up, or buried in any Shirt, Shift, Sheet, or Shroud, made or mingled with Flax, Hemp, Silk, Hair, Gold, or Silver, or other than what is made of Sheeps' Wool only; or in any Coffin lined or faced with any Cloth Stuff, or any other thing, whatsoever, made or mingled with Flax, Hemp, Silk, Hair, Gold or Silver, or any other material but Sheeps' Wool only.
"Taken and sworn the fifteenth day of April 1769, before me, one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace. G. DAVIES.
"The mark of
x
SARAH LYON.
The mark of
D
DEBORAH DRIVER.
"Witness. B. DIDIER."
E. S. TAYLOR.