Expenses on Midsummer Even and on the day,—Item, 2 doz. & a half cakes, 2s. 6d.; spice cakes, 12d.; a cest' ale and 4 gals. 4s.; 2 gals, claret wine 16d.; 2 gals. malmsey, 2s. 8d.; 2 gals. muskedell 2s. 8d.; to Mr. Mayor 3s. 4d.; the Mayor to offer, 8d.; to priests, clerks and children, 2s. 4d.; the waits, 6s. 8d.; to poor people 6s. 8d.; to the cross-bearers and torch-bearers, 8d.; the bellman, 4d.; the hire of pots, 4d.; boughs, rushes and sweeping, 8d.; a woman 2 days to cleanse the house, 4d.; half a hundred 3d. nails, 1½d.; half a pound of sugar, 4½d.; to the crossbearer and torchbearer for St. George Day, Holy Rood Day, Shire Thursday and Whit Sunday, 12d.; to 2 children for the same days, 6d. Summa (total) 38s. 2d.
That these anniversaries and wakes led to much unseemly revelling we have evidence that cannot be gainsaid. The Trinity Gild decided in 1542
that no obite, drynkyng or com'en assemblie, from henceforth shall be had or used at Babalake, except onelie on Trinitie even and on the day, which shall be used as it hath been in tymes past. And that also the P'sts of Babelack shall say dirige on midsum' even and likewise masse of requiem on the morrowe, as they have used to doo. And that the Meire shall not come down thether to dirige ov(er) night for dyv's considerac'ons and other great busynes they used. And on the morowe thei to go thether to masse and brekefast, as thei have used to doo.
Dugdale quotes from an old MS. an interesting passage bearing on this question:
"And ye shall understond and know how the Evyns were furst found in old tyme. In the beginning of holi Chirche, it was so that the pepull cam to the Chirche with candellys brennyng and wold Wake and come with light toward nyght to the Chirch to their devocions; and afterwards they fell to lecherie and songs, daunces, harping, piping and also to glotony and sinne and so turned the holinesse to cursaydnesse; wherefore holi faders ordeined the pepull to leve that waking and to fast the Evyn. But it is called Vigilia, that is Waking in English and it is called the Evyn, for at Evyn they were wont to come to Chirche."
In 1362 Queen Isabella helped to procure from the bishop a licence for one Robert de Worthin, priest, to become an anchorite and to inhabit a hermitage attached to the north aisle of the chancel. Traces of the foundations of this have been found on the site of the modern vestry.
When the college was suppressed in 1548 the King granted to the mayor, bailiffs and corporation, on their petition, the church and its appurtenances in Free Burgage for ever on payment of 1d., per annum and gave them "all the rents, revenues and profits of the said church."
But these gifts were not sufficient to support the church and its services, so that the latter were irregular and repairs were neglected. In 1608 Mayor Hancox procured the delivery of a Saturday lecture "for the better fitting of the people for the Sabbath." In 1641 Simon Norton, alderman, left property to his son Thomas, on trust, the condition being that if at any time St. John's should become a parish church, he or his heirs should pay £13 6s. 8d. to the minister out of rents of lands in Coundon, and also the tithes of lands in Clifton.
Prisoners from the Scottish army being quartered on the city in 1647, many were confined in this church and wrought much damage and desecration. From this time services were only occasionally held, until 1734, when an Act of Parliament was obtained making it a Parish Church, appointing a district to it and enabling the Master and Usher of the Free Grammar School to be Rector and Lecturer of the church. The mayor, bailiffs, and commonalty were made patrons, but in 1835, these arrangements having failed to work satisfactorily, the patronage was transferred to trustees who acted as managers of the school and in 1864 the lectureship was abolished, the rectory was severed from the office of Head Master and the Trustees of the school were charged with a payment of £200 per annum towards the stipend of the Rector. In 1874 the advowson was sold to a private person. A great deal of restoration, justifiable and otherwise, has taken place, the decay of the local sandstone having made large repairs necessary. In 1861 much renewal of the external stone work was carried out. Unfortunately shortsighted ideas of economy led to the use of the same poor stone and much has recently had to be done over again, this time with the harder Runcorn stone used also at St. Michael's. The interior was restored in 1875, galleries erected in 1735 and 1838, and high pews were removed, the floor, which had been raised three feet, lowered, the lantern stage of the tower opened up by removing a ringing floor and a light iron gallery above the tower arches provided for the ringers. The original groined ceiling has thus been made visible from below.