| £ | 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.