The Elizabethan Parish in its Ecclesiastical and Financial Aspects Part 11

_Ibid_., 36 and 45 (Two parishioners each pay 10, being exempted thereafter "from all services as Constableshipp, Churchwarden, syde men and any other offices whatsoever that the parish myght ...

hereafter Impose uppon them...". 1607). _Memorials of Stepney_, 44 (Fine for not attending vestry. 1602). _Clifton Antiq. Club_, i (1888), 198 (40d. fine for absence from St. Stephen's, Bristol, vestry, 1524. For other fines, see _ibid_.). _Clifton Antiq. Club_, i, 195 (Same fine for absence from St. Thomas', Bristol, vestry. 1579).

_St. Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes, pa.s.sim_ (Fines for not accounting on a certain day, and for not auditing accounts).

[301] Examples are found in W.F. Cobb, _St.

Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate_, London, _Acc'ts_, 5 (10s. received of a schoolmaster allowed to keep school in the belfry. 1589). _Ibid_., same p. ("Receaved of the owte cryar for a quarters rente for settynge of goodes at the churche doore ... iiis. iiijd..." 1585). The canons of 1571 forbid this practice: "_Non patientur [sc_. the wardens] _ut quisquam ex ... istis ... sordidis mercatoribus ... quos ...

pedularios_ [peddlars] _appellant, proponant merces suas vel in coemeteriis vel in porticibus ecclesiarum_ [etc.]...", Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 124. St. Michael's, Lewes, Acc'ts, _Suss.e.x Arch. Coll_., xlv (1902), 40, 60 ("Recd for sarttayn standyngs agaynst the cherche at Whytson fayar xvd." 1588). Similar items to the last are found in many accounts. See also _St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge, _Acc'ts_, 215 (Receipt items "for the chirch style before his house"; for the rent of the "p[ar]ishe ground wherevpon his chymney standythe". 1588).

_Ibid_., 203 ("Yt ys also agreyd that goodman Tomson shall from hence forthe paye vnto the p[ar]yshe for hys byldynge into the Churche yarde 12d. by the yeare." 1584).

[302] Thus in 1561 Kingston-upon-Thames church sold brushwood growing upon its land for 14 7s. 8d.: _Surrey Arch. Coll_., viii, 77. In 1573 the wardens of St. Michael's in Bedwardine _(Acc'ts_ ed. John Amphlett, p. 74) brought a suit for the value of eight trees sold to one Lode, alleging that the defendant had promised to pay the price "for the reparacions of the ... church and reliff of the pore..."

[303] For the form and wording of such a licence see Parish Registers and Doc.u.ments of Kingston-upon-Thames, etc.: _Surrey Arch. Coll_., ii (1864), 92 (1591). The fee according to royal proclamation was 6s.

8d.: _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minutes_, 9. For receipts from this source see _St. Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate Acc'ts_, 5, _et pa.s.sim_, as well as the other London acc'ts already cited. Cf.

Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 370-2, for Council's letter to the archbishop of Canterbury on the observance of Ember Days and Lent.

[304] _E.g._, see in _St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge, _Acc'ts_, 227-9 and 240-2, long lists of persons from all parts of England who contributed in the years 1592-4 towards the rebuilding of St. Mary's steeple. A host of proctors licenced under the broad seal, or by the justices of the peace, or otherwise, went from parish to parish soliciting contributions for churches, alms-houses, hospitals, etc.

They seem to have entered parish churches at service time and disturbed or annoyed the congregations. This probably led to the parish order of Mere, Wilts _(Mere Acc'ts_, p. 80, in _Wilts Arch_.

[etc.] _Mag_.), which in 1585 forbade such persons going about the parish or entering the church, but enjoined them all to repair to the Mere churchwardens for contributions to be given at the expense of the parish.

[305] At Winsham, Somerset, a doc.u.ment was drawn up in 1581, apportioning among certain parishioners (by virtue of their holdings), the vicar, and finally the whole parish, how many feet of wattled fence each should keep in repair, or what stiles each was to maintain: _Notes and Quer. for Somer. and Dor_., v, 538. See a similar agreement in _Morebath_ (Devon) _Acc'ts_, 38. Also in Marsh, _Hist. of Calne_, 372, the list at Calne. Here are 25 groups of houses and certain individuals charged with making and keeping the churchyard bounds. See also _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 34 (Suit brought before the archdeacon against the tenant of a holding whose former owners had for 40 years repaired a portion of the church fence, 1611). For presentments to the courts Christian for non-repair of church fence by individuals, see _Dean of York's Visit_., 214, 228, 325 (1570-1599).

[306] _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 26 (A parishioner of Herne presented for withholding 9s., "which hath always been accustomed to be paid out of a certain house and lands." 1592).

[307] Early History of Kingston-upon-Thames, _Surrey Arch. Coll_., viii, 74.

[308] _St. Mary the Great Acc'ts_, 148.

[309] _Hist. and Antiq. of Leicestershire_, by John Nichols (1815), i, Pt. ii, 569 ff.

[310] See in T. Nash, _Hist. and Antiq. of Worcestershire_, i, pp.

lii-lvi, a long list of Pentecost, etc., farthings paid by each parish of the diocese in lump sums varying from 3d. to 3s.

[311] _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed. Binney), 34, _s. a_. 1531, seem to offer a genuine example of such a payment of Peter's pence. But the Minchinhampton wardens (Acc'ts in _Archaeologia_, x.x.xv, 422 ff.), confuse their payments to the mother church, made in 1575 ff., with Peter's pence. See, _e.g., s. a_. 1575, the entry: "to the sumner [or apparitor] for peterpence or smoke farthynges sometyme due to the Anthecriste of roome ... xd."

[312] See, _e.g_., Sam'l. Barfield, _Thatcham, Berks, and its Manors_, ii, 122 (Midgham and Greenham called upon against their will for contributions to mother church). _Surtees Soc_., lx.x.xiv, 123 (Dispute ending in a suit between St. Oswald and St. Margaret. 1595 ff.).

_Memorials of Stepney, 1-2_ (Parishioners of Stratford Bow forced to contribute to St. Dunstan's, the mother church).

[313] _E.g._, the vestry of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, London _(Minutes_, ed E. Freshfield), agree to cess "the parishioners" for money to prosecute a suit for certain parish lands in 1585-6. When the lands were recovered each was to have his money back _(Minutes_, p.

12). But those a.s.sessed numbered only 38 (p. 13), whereas we see by a list (p. 12) that 43 persons were here a.s.sessed for the Queen's subsidy; and subsidy men were the wealthier men of the parishes. Cf.

a.s.sessment at Lapworth for Barford bridge levied on 26 tenements, cottagers not being a.s.sessed. Hudson, _Memorials of a Warwickshire Parish_, 115.

[314] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 198 (One Spencer presented for not paying his proportion for the ringing on the Queen's anniversary, "being rated at iiijd.") Hudson, _op. cit. supra_ (Barford bridge a.s.sessment of 4s. 4d. spread out over 26 tenements).

[315] _Canterbury Visit_, xxvii, 214 (John Ba.s.set "cessed" at 2d. a quarter, but thought well able to pay 3d. for the clerk's wages.

Robert Sawyer, _ditto_. 1577). _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes_, 16 (ed. E. Freshfield), where in 1584 thirty-four parishioners make a "free offer" of sums from 2d. to 6s. 8d. to pay a lecturer. _Ibid_., 10 (18 parishioners give from 1d. to 2 towards the erecting of a clock. 1577).

[316] Rates for bread and wine were commonly so levied. See _supra_, p. 78 and _note_ 80.

[317] See p. 80 _supra_ and _note_ 87.

[318] Houghton-le-Spring Acc'ts, _Surtees Soc_., lx.x.xiv, 271 (1596).

Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_, 34 (1531). _Ibid_., 85 (1536).

[319] _E.g._, See Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec., pa.s.sim, e.g_., where the parishioners of Elstree ("Idlestrye"), Herts, cannot agree in 1585/6, some contending for a.s.sessment "by their welthe and goods only, and some others do require that the taxation might be made by the acres of grounde only." _Canterbury Visit_., xxvii, 218 (2d. an acre). _Ibid_., xxv, 42 (4d. an acre). _Ibid_., xxvi, 33 (Ploughland of 140 acres paying 6s. 8d. for clerk's wages). _Ibid_., xxv, 33 (Two "cesses" at Minster church, one at 20d. the score [of pounds?], the other at 12d.). _The Reliquary_, xxv, 18 (Levy made in Morton, Derbysh., of 8d. the oxgang of 15 acres).

[320] Order of Wiltshire justices, Michaelmas, 1600, that three of their number shall call certain constables and others before them, "and examine them what overplus of money is remaining in their hands w[hi]ch they have collected of their hundredes for anie service whatsoever, and if there be anie founde remayning the said Justice to distribute the same amongst the inhabitants of the same hundredes according to their discretion." _Rec. of Wilts Quarter Sess_. in _Wilts Arch_, (etc.) _Mag_., xxi, 85.

[321] According to the 22 Hen. VIII c. 5, where it cannot be known who ought of right to repair a bridge, the justices of the district shall call before them the constables of the parishes of the surrounding hundreds, or of the whole shire, and "with the a.s.sent of the ...

constables or [chief] inhabitants," tax every inhabitant of the towns and parishes of the shire (if necessary). This looks like a county bridge tax, but in practice the justices either threw a lump sum on a hundred, or on a parish, and left each parish to raise this sum according to local rating. Such, at least, would seem to be the usual practice according to the churchwardens accounts, which contain many lump payments made to constables for bridges.

[322] See Wilts justices order, 20 Eliz., _Wilts Arch_. (etc.) _Mag_., xxi, 80-1. Cf. _ibid_., 16, the appeal of Hilprington and Whaddon that they have been compelled by the inhabitants of Melkesham to pay a third part with the last named parish of these lump a.s.sessments, though the acreage of Melkesham is much greater than either of theirs, "and far better ground."

[323] See p. 81, _note_ 91 _supra_.

[324] John Lister, _West Riding Session Rolls_, 85. As early as 14 Eliz. c. 5, sec. 17, city or parish officers might remove alien poor to their places of birth, if such aliens had resided in their adopted parishes not longer than three years.

[325] J.W. Willis Bund, _Cal. Worcester Quar. Sess. Rec_.,i, p.

clx.x.xii. The appearance of a b.a.s.t.a.r.d was a portentous event. See the many ridings to and fro across country to ecclesiastical and civil magistrates in the _Ashburton Acc'ts_ (Butcher, _The Parish of Ashburton_), p. 47 (1576-7). The Devonshire justices order, Easter 1598, that every woman who shall have a b.a.s.t.a.r.d child shall be whipped: Hamilton, _Quarter Session from Eliz. to Anne, 32_. Cf. the item: "paide for carriage of an Irish woman into Fynsburie feildes who was delivered of a childe under the stockes." Brooke and Hallen, _St.

Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Woolchurch Haw_ (London) _Acc'ts, s. a_.

1587.

[326] Wilts Quart. Sess. in _Wilts Arch_, (etc.) _Mag_., xxii, 17.

[327] Willis Bund, _loc. cit. supra_, p. 8. From 1599 to 1642 there were twenty-four indictments for not laying four acres to a cottage at the Worcester sessions. _Ibid_., Table of indictments for all offences, p. lvii ff. Cf. Wilts Quarter Sess. Rec. in _Hist. MSS. Com.

Rep. on Var. Coll_., i (1901), 66. W.J. Hardy, _Herts Co. Rec. Sess.

Rolls_ (1905), i, 5, _et pa.s.sim. Norfolk Archaeology_, x (1888), 159.

_Les Reportes del Cases in Camera Stellata_ (ed. W.P. Baildon), _pa.s.sim_.

[328] Bund, _loc. cit_., p. clx.x.xiii.

[329] Geo. A. Wade, _An English Town that is still ruled by an Oligarchy_ (Dalton-in-Furness), _Engl. Ill.u.s.t. Mag_., xxv (1901).