The tithes of this parish are completely in lay hands. When tithes were first bestowed on monasteries, the duties of the Church to which they appertained, were performed by members of the Convent, who occasionally travelled there, and succeeded each other; the “book-bosomed priests” of the Last Minstrel. In times more remote, secular clergy went on circuits from the Cathedral or seat of the Bishop and his priests; till the inconvenience of this itinerant system became strongly felt, and decrees were made in several General Councils of the Latin Church,
enacting that each benefice should have a permanently resident priest, and that a competent provision should be made for his support. This was usually done by assigning to the deputy, the Vicarius or Vicar, all the tithes except those of corn, although others were occasionally retained; but in various instances, instead of tithes, an allowance was made in money, equivalent perhaps at the time, but long since reduced to nominal payments, by the gradual depreciation in the value of gold and silver from natural causes, and by the fraudulent reduction of the standards practised in various degrees by all governments, or lastly, by the non-convertible paper currencies.
The very great difference in the circumstances of those deputies, arising from the nature of their endowments rather than any legal distinction in the offices, has affixed to one the name of Vicar, and to the other that of Perpetual Curate.
It appeared from Mr. Tonkin’s narrative, that the stipend in this parish amounted to six pounds a year, and that it had been withholden by superior force; without doubt, the liberality of modern times has long since caused it to be restored and increased.
Mr. Lysons states, that the impropriation has passed through the families of Molesworth and Manaton, and that it is now vested in Edward Coade, Esq. and that this great piece of preferment is in the Crown.
Tresmere measures 982 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 588 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 50 | 12 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 129 | in 1811, 154 | in 1821, 173 | in 1831, 171 |
giving an increase of 32½ per cent. in 30 years.
Perpetual Curate, the Rev. W. A. Morgan, presented by the Lord Chancellor in 1821.