From the sale of commodities in the nave we pass to the question of guilds and festivals. The English guilds, which once played an important part in Church history, largely owed their origin, if Dr F. A. Gasquet be correct, to the revival of the religious spirit after the desolating effects of the Black Death in A.D. 1348 and 1349. It will be remembered that the bells of Newcastle summoned the members of the local guild to church three times annually ([p. 131] supra). These guilds or brotherhoods were in the habit of holding feasts and banquets. For example, the churchwardens’ accounts for the village of Chagford, Devon (A.D. 1550-99), show that a society known as the “Young Men’s Wardens” were responsible for getting up the “Church-ales.” These “Ales” we shall describe in a moment. At South Tawton, in the same county, the “St George’s Wardens” undertook the duty[413]. Frequently, the entertainments would be provided in the parsonage-house (Figs. [45], [46]), or the church-house
Fig. 45. Priests’, or Clergy house, Alfriston, Sussex. Fourteenth century. It consists of a central hall (23 ft × 17 ft), at each end of which are two rooms, one above the other. The framework of the house is of oak, the intervening spaces being filled with wattle and daub. The hall has an open-timbered roof, with king-posts and cambered tie beams. It contains a hooded fireplace. There are several original windows. (See Vict. Hist. of Sussex, II. p. 384.) The old elm tree, partly visible on the right, is of unusual size for the species, having a girth of 24 feet at a height of 3 feet from the ground.
([Fig. 47]), the latter of which was sometimes actually called a guild-hall[414]. The church-house was essentially a parish room, built and maintained by the community, under the direction of the churchwardens. It was built in the architectural style of the period. Unlike the parsonage-house, it was not a place of residence for the clergy. Brand has shown that barns were also used—presumably the large tithe-barns, where these existed. There is reason to believe, however, that the church itself was sometimes the guest-house on these occasions. Certainly this was often the case with the “Ales” proper, to which we must now very briefly allude. The Church-ale, or
Fig. 46. Clergy, or Parsonage house, West Dean, Sussex (c. A.D. 1280). View from North end. The building, which is of stone, consists of a hall (30 ft × 15 ft internal measurement), with a story above. The walls are 2 ft 6 in. in thickness. The solar, or loft, is approached by a stone newel staircase, built in the buttress-like projection, which is seen at the North-East angle. The chimney is elaborately constructed. In the east wall a double-lighted window, with trefoiled heads, is visible. (For fuller description, see Vict. Hist. of Sussex, II. p. 383; A. Hussey, Churches of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, 1852, p. 219; Sussex Archaeol. Coll. III. pp. 13-22.)
Whitsun-ale, was a kind of parochial festivity in which the churchwardens usually, though, as just noticed, not always, took the initiative. Subscriptions were invited, and, with the money obtained, large quantities of malt were bought. Contributions in kind, such as eggs and meat, were also accepted. The malt was brewed, and the liquor broached, either in the church-house,