Part 10 (1/2)

[269] Morebath Acc'ts, 142 (Church stock-taking), Mere Acc'ts _(Wilts Arch_. (etc.) _Mag. loc. cit_.), 32, 37, 54, etc. Chelmsford Acc'ts, 217 (”xv dozen pewter & ix peces,” and rent of it owing to church.

1560).

[270] St. John's, Glas...o...b..ry, Acc'ts, _N. and Q. for Som. and Dor_., v, 94, _s.a._ 1588 (Selling ale in church-house). Tintinhull Acc'ts, _Somer. Rec. Soc_., iv, p. xxii (”The chief source of income [church-house] at T[intinhull] and elsewhere to the end of the 16th Century,”) Stratton Acc'ts, _Arch_., xlvi, 198. _Bristol and Glouc.

Arch. Soc. Tr_., vii (1882-3), 108 (Tenement donated 1532 to Northleach known as ”the Churche Taverne.” It was rented out, but on the condition that the lessee should ”permit the towne to have the use of the same one month at Whitsontyde”). Of the Stratton church-house we are told that men were fined (in 1541) for drinking ale there, because the drinking was not for the profit of the parish. _Arch., loc. cit., supra_.

[271] _Stanford Acc'ts, loc. cit., s. a_. 1595. _Stratton Acc'ts, loc.

cit_., 198.

[272] Thus at Calne (Wilts) in 1574-5 no church-ale was had, but a gathering in lieu of it was made from the paris.h.i.+oners. Ales and collections thenceforward alternated here, until church rates were established. Marsh, _History of Calne_, 372.

[273] See, _e.g_., Thos. North, _St. Martin's Leicester, Acc'ts_, 98, where the times of collection are named.

[274] See, among others, Ludlow Acc'ts, _Shrop. Archit_. (etc.) _Soc_., iii, 127 (1567), where the name occurs. Also St. Edmund's, Sarum, Acc'ts, _Wilts Rec. Soc_. for 1896, p. 141 (1592).

[275] _E.g._, at St. Edmund's, Sarum, or at St. Martin's, Leicester.

[276] See, _e.g_., J.E. Foster, _St. Mary the Great_ (Cambridge) _Acc'ts_, 148 ff. Offerings of the masters of arts and of the bachelors form a distinct feature here.

[277] See pp. 41 ff. and 59 _supra_. In the _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed.

J.E. Binney, p. 178) we read, _s.a._ 1553-4, as a heading to the receipt items: ”Now to pay y'e forsayd dettis & demawndis y'e schall hyre of all our resettis y't we have resseuyed, & how gentylly for y'e moste p[ar]te men have payd of there owne devoc[i]on w[i]t[h] out ony taxyn or ratyng as y'e schall hyre here after.” Then follows a list of 30 names. There is evidently some sort of rough a.s.sessment here, _e.g_., Nicholas at Hayne pays 4s. 9d., ”consyderyng hys bothe bargayns” _(i.e_., small farms). Cf. _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, p. xviii and p. 317.

[278] Five years later, the vicar dead, the clerk was ordered to a.s.sist the wardens in receiving the 'paskall pence' whether paid at Easter or at any other time of communion. Hill and Frere, _Memorials of Stepney Parish_, 4-5 and 13-14.

[279] Ordered by St. Edmund's, Sarum, vestry in 1628: ”that the bread and wyne for the Communion shalbe paid for by the auncyennt paymentt of the halfepence, and yf it shall com[e] to more ... Jt shalbe supplied out of the rest of the mony given after the Co[m]munion.”

_St. Edmund and St. Thomas Acc'ts (Wilts Rec. Soc.)_, 187.

[280] These levies were 2-1/2d. on each householder at St. Margaret, Lothbury, London; 3d. a house at St. Lawrence Pountney, London (_History of St. Laurence Pountney_, by H.B. Wilson [1831], 125 ff.).

Etc. At Salehurst, Suss.e.x, the fee was 1d. a poll yearly, heads of households being empowered in 1585 to abate that sum from their servants' wages: _Suss.e.x Arch. Coll_., xxv, 154. At Pittington, Durham, landlords were to answer for their cottagers for a yearly fee of 2d.: _Surtees Soc_., lx.x.xiv, 29 (1590). Cf. _ibid_., Houghton-Le-Spring Acc'ts, 269. Leverton, Lincoln, Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xli, 368 (A penny a poll for the elements. 1612). In the Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts, Shrewsbury, every ”gentleman”

is to pay 6d. yearly to the wardens for bread and wine; ”the second sorte” of the paris.h.i.+oners 4d. each; ”the third or weaker sorte,” each 2d.: _Shrop. Arch. Soc_., i, 65 (1603).

[281] See Great Yarmouth Acc'ts, _East Anglian_, iv (1892), 67 ff. (An item for purchase of 1000 tokens. 1613-14). Also _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minute Books_, 14 (1584). Also _Archaeologia Eeliana_, xix (1898), 44 (Ryton, Durham, Book of Easter offerings. 1595).

[282] _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, 288 (Muscatel and claret). _Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts_, 62 (same). _St.

Martin's, Leicester, Acc'ts_ (ed. Thos. North), 100 (Malmsey and claret).

[283] Rubric -- 144 of the First Edwardine Prayer Book directs that as ministers are to find the elements, the congregations are to contribute every Sunday at the time of the offertory the just value of the holy loaf. See E. Freshfield, _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Vestry Minute Book_, p. vii, _et pa.s.sim_. Stanford, Berks, Acc'ts, _Antiquary_, xvii, _s.a._ 1582 (2d. collected every Sunday for holy loaf). Mere Acc'ts (_Wilts Arch_. (etc.) _Mag_., x.x.xv, 38), _s.a._ 1568, _et pa.s.sim_.

[284] J.V. Kitto, _St. Martin's-in-the-Fields_ (London) _Acc'ts_, append. D., Vestry Order of 1590. Parish order of Salehurst (1582), _Suss.e.x Arch. Coll_., xxv, 153. St. Margaret's, Westminster, Overseers Acc'ts in _Westminster Tobacco Box_, Pt. ii, 18 (1566).

[285] _E.g._, at St. Laurence Pountney, London, the ”clerk's wages”

amounted in 1598 to nearly 30 in the wardens receipt items, but in the expense items to 8 plus various dues for lighting, bell-ringing and church-linen was.h.i.+ng, in all 12 12s. Wilson, _History of St.

Laurence_, 125. In the _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Acc'ts_ (ed. E.

Freshfield), p. 4, the receipts in 1576 for ”Clarkes wagis” are 9 6s.

5d., but we read: ”Pd. to J.M. Clarke his whole yeares wagis [etc.]

... iij li.” In _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minutes_ (p. 13) it was decided in 1581 to raise the ”clarkes rolle” to 8 a year, but expressly stated that the clerk is to be paid as before, ”but That [the] overplus Shall remayn For astocke to the churche to beare owtt such charges as shalbe nessesarye for the same.” In _St. Bartholomew, Exchange, Vestry Minutes_ (ed. E. Freshfield) in 1583 it is agreed (p.

27) that the clerk is to pay out of his wages the statutory a.s.sessment of 2d. weekly on the parish for maimed soldiers and mariners. Same stipulation at St. Alphage's, London Wall: G.B. Hall, _Records of St.

Alphage_ (1882), 25 (1594).

[286] _St. Mary, Reading, Acc'ts_ (ed. F.N. & A.G. Garry), p. 56.

[287] Hill and Frere, _Memorials of Stepney_, 1-3 (1580). Later, 1606 (p. 50), the same method was employed to pay debts for casting the bells. Those not paying their a.s.sessments were to be deprived of their seats (p. 4). Other examples of raising money by pew rents are Butcher, _Parish of Ashburton_, 49 (6 4s. collected ”for the seat rent”. 1579-80). _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Vestry Minutes_, 71 (Clerk's wages to be ”sessed by the pyews”).