St. Clement's.
The earliest order book for this parish commences with 1670, the register 1694, and the account book 1695. Older records are supposed to have been washed away or to have perished through the effects of floods to which the old parish church (formerly situate on the Upper Quay) was exposed. Even the existing books seem to have been thoroughly soaked, or else the ink used on them was so pale as to be quite illegible in many places. Early in the present century (as the Rev. John Davies, the incumbent, informs me) during a great flood, he passed up the aisle of the church in a boat, and for some weeks was obliged to borrow another church to accommodate his parishioners. An old tale is told in this parish that on one occasion a clergymen found a salmon left by the subsidence of the flood in St. Clement's church, and hence the presentation to the living was supposed to include the valuable privilege of catching all the fish that can be secured in this way. Fortunately for the parishioners, there were but about a score of them living on the side of the river where the old church stood, while the remainder (about 2000) occupied a delightful bank on the west side, where the effects of floods and dampness are set at defiance, if we may judge from the many instances of longevity occurring there. Only a few months ago a person died there who remembered George III being crowned; and another, still surviving, regularly walks up to the communion-table with firm step, although upwards of ninety years of age. Mr. Davies, who for forty years has been the beloved and faithful pastor, has during that period buried about 2000 persons, being in fact a whole generation of the parish. But to return to the records.
Churchwardens here have partaken of the same flesh and blood with their brethren in other parts of the world, judging from the regular outlays for eating and drinking apparent on their books. The Bear inn (a house belonging to the parish) was usually selected for their adjourned vestry meetings and drinking bouts, and the Apple Tree, the Mug-house, and the Duke of Cumberland's Head, were sometimes chosen by way of change .The following is one of their bills for perambulating the parish. It is dated 1737:
| s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|
| "To cakes and ale at ye perambulation | 9 | 4 |
| For a quarter of lamb | 2 | 6 |
| Leg of veal and bacon | 4 | 3 |
| For a pigg | 3 | 6 |
| Thirty-two quarts of ale | 8 | 0 |
| For bread, greens, and dressing dinner | 5 | 0 |
| For cyder | 0 | 3 |
| For carrying the bush | 1 | 0" |
In 1700, the sum of 8s is charged as "spent agoing the bounds of the parish and a boat; at the same time, when we came to Anthony Wall's, 10s 4d". Yet with all these appliances of creature comforts, the then really onerous office of churchwarden was considered so undesirable that, as in other parishes, the persons selected to fill it sometimes "bought themselves off" by a good round sum to the parish, as was the case in 1776, when Mr John Williams paid five guineas for that purpose The total disbursements of the parish in 1695 amounted to £86 18s 10d, out of which £55 15s 8d was paid to the poor; and the churchwardens seem to have taken good care at most times to keep a balance in hand Among the items of expenditure are—for mending the church after the floods, for cloth and brass for the poors' badges (See chapter on St Swithin's parish), 4d each for hedgehogs, &c. The sacramental wine for the whole year (1700) cost but 7s, and only 9s 10d was received of the communicants during the twelve months In 1712 it was "agreed and ordered, that for every corps either parishioner or residing in this p'ish that shal be buried in this churchyard there shal sixpence be paid to the churchwardens for ye time being toward ye mayntaining of ye paling, and for every one brought out of any other p'ish to be paid one shilling as aforesayd."
The church was "bewtifyed" in 1745, but it may be reasonably supposed that no "bewtifycation" would long resist the frequent irruption of Sabrina's waters (from which the building had probably been protected by the old city wall before the latter was destroyed); and accordingly in 1820 it was resolved to abandon the old fabric and build a new one on the west side of the river, which was completed in 1823. I gather from the records that the Whitsun farthings paid by this parish in 1726 amounted to 7-1/2d.; and as this oblation consisted of a farthing a head paid by every householder to the mother church, it would seem that (unless this was a fixed annual payment) only thirty householders then subscribed in this parish; which is more a proof of the smallness of the population at that time than of disaffection for the church, as the latter was scarcely ever permitted in those days to stand in the way of her legal claims. Yet in 1779 there were 141 houses in the parish. About eighty years ago, I am informed, St. Clement's and All Saints' churches were served by the same minister—an arrangement often made in those days of no discipline and church desecration. It appears, however, that many centuries ago, in a dispute about the advowson of this church, which was then said to be dependent on All Saints, the bishop declared it to be a free chapel, having no connection whatever with All Saints.
Present rector of St. Clement's, the Rev. J. Davies; churchwardens, Mr. J. Stallard and Mr. Bozward. Population in 1851, 2174.
