English Villages Part 16

"For Church and King We always ring."

"I was made in hope to ring At the crownacion of our King."

"Ye people all that hear me ring Be faithful to your G.o.d and King."

A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth, Gloucester:--

"Badgworth ringers they are mad, Because Rigbe made me bad; But Abel Rudhall you may see Hath made me better than Rigbe."

Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses.

Thus at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:--

1. "When I begin our merry Din This Band I lead from discord free; And for the fame of human name, May every Leader copy Me."

2. "Mankind, like us, too oft are found Possess'd of nought but empty sound."

3. "When of departed Hours we toll the knell, Instruction take and spend the future well."

4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite, Our merry peals produce delight; But when Death goes his dreary Rounds, We send forth sad and solemn sounds."

5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range, Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change."

6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal With Glee we give the merry Peal."

7. "Would men like us join and agree They'd live in tuneful Harmony."

8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone This Belfry King sits on his throne; And when the merry Bells go round, Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound; So in a just and well pois'd State, Where all Degrees possess due Weight, One greater Pow'r one greater Tone Is ceded to improve their own."

A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:--

"Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."

("Not noise but love sings in the ear of G.o.d.")

Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire, where a recasted bell states:--

"This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814."

The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives, where a bell is inscribed--

"Arise and go about your business."

The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells.

Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed--

"Lord, quench this furious flame: Arise, run, help put out the same."

Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[9] The pa.s.sing bell has many variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out of the first-named of these practices probably arose the phrase, "Nine tailors make a man," which is usually explained as more properly signifying "nine tellers make a man." Then we have a pancake bell, which formerly summoned people to confession, and not to eat pancakes; a gleaning bell, an eight hours' bell rung at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m.

The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as everyone knows, was in use long before William the Conqueror issued his edict. Peals are rung on "Oak Apple Day," and on Guy Fawkes' Day, "loud enough to call up poor Guy." Church bells played a useful part in guiding the people homewards on dark winter evenings in the days when lands were uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and charitable folk, like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay the s.e.xton for his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of the bells might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors often find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at Binstead, Hants, where a bell has the inscription--

"Doctor Nicholas gave five pound To help cast this peal tuneable and sound."

And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:--

"Samuel Knight made this ring In Binstead steeple for to ding."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANCIENT BELL FOUND AT WARWICK]

The story of our great bells, of "Great Toms," "Big Bens," "Great Peters," need not be told here. They wake the echoes of our great cities, and are not heard among the hills and dales of rural England.

Outside the church at the apex of the gable over the chancel arch there is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus or saunce bell once hung. This was rung during the service of High Ma.s.s when the _Ter Sanctus_ was sung, in order that those who were engaged at their work might know when the canon of the Ma.s.s was about to begin, in order that they might kneel at the sound and pray to G.o.d. At Bosham Harbour the fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and it is said that when George Herbert's sanctus bell sounded for prayers, the ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and prayed. The sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a hand-bell rung inside the church at the elevation of the Host.

Old churchwardens' accounts record the very frequent ringing of bells.

In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church feasts and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations, victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk for sounding their bells this country earned the t.i.tle in the Middle Ages of "the ringing island." Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the followers of the new fashion.

In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress, and many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties.

Too long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry is often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys and sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the attention they deserve.

[9] A collection of these will be found in my book on _Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time_.

CHAPTER XX

THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE

Local government--Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers-- Famine and pestilence--Effects of the Great Plague--Spirit of independence--Picture of village life--Church house--Church ales-- Pilgrimages--Markets--Old English fair--Wars--Hastings--Hereward the Wake--Great Civil War--Restoration--Beacons.

Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval English village in the "piping times of peace." Of course, no two villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but a strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village was much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct much to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of course, sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew it had only itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the Government, or the fickleness of members of Parliament, or the unreasonable conduct of Local Government Boards. Was not the lord of the manor quite capable of trying all criminals? and did not the rector and the vestry settle everything to the satisfaction of everyone, without any "foreigners" asking questions, or interfering?

The position of the villeins and _cottiers_ has changed considerably since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants, who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not bound to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our modern agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a gradual approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home farm was worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the villeins had bought themselves off from the obligation of doing customary work by paying a quit-rent.

We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors farmed their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us their account books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley in 1250 wrote a book on the _Art of Husbandry_, which gives us much information. The rent of land was about sixpence per acre. They ploughed three times a year, in autumn, April, and at midsummer, and used oxen for their plough-teams. Women helped their husbands in ploughing and harvest work. An old writer describes the farmer's wife "walking by him with a long goad, in a cutted cote cutted full high."

Pigs and poultry were numerous on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the source of the farmer's wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the hills and vales of rural England, and their rich fleeces were sent to Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish weavers. After the Black Death, a great plague which ravaged the country in 1348, the labourers were fewer in number, and their wages higher; hence the farmers paid increased attention to their sheep, which yielded rich profits, and required few labourers to look after them.

Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the prosperity of our villages had greatly increased. The people were better fed and better clothed than any of their neighbours on the Continent. Moreover they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom.

There was much happiness in our English villages in those days, and "Merry England" was not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of suffering which for a time produced untold wretchedness--two unwelcome visitors who came very frequently and were much dreaded--famine and pestilence. There is necessarily a sameness in the records of these pestilences.

The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any period of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of Henry of Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of the people. Disease not only arrested the growth of the population, but reduced it considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The undrained soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface of the ground, the narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected streets of the towns, the excessive use of salted provisions and absence of vegetables, predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and left them little chance of recovery when stricken down with pestilence.

The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the sh.o.r.es of Italy, whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to the port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with alarming rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated, and about one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult for us to imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague caused. Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who survived. Naturally labourers became very scarce and were much sought after. Wages rose enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that they were people of importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to farm their lands, and were eager to hand them over to their tenants, many of whom became much richer and more independent than formerly. The spirit of independence pervaded all cla.s.ses. There came to our village many wandering friars, followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to the labouring rustics, told them that the gentry had no right to lord it over them, that they were as good as their masters, who ought not to live in fine houses in luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of their brows. And when oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics revolted, and gained much for which they strove. The golden age of the English labourer set in, when food was cheap, wages high, and labour abundant. A fat pig could be bought for fourpence, and three pounds of beef for a penny; and in spite of occasional visits of the plague, the villager's lot was by no means unhappy.

Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church stood in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around it, in order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves.

Surrounded by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the church was very similar to the old building wherein the villagers still worship. All the houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other dwellings stood the lord's hall. Near the church was a curious building called the church house, which has almost entirely pa.s.sed away, except in the records of old churchwardens' accounts. It was a large building, in which could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often let to pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during the fair.

In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when the wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors were accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre of the room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very festive gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:--