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VII.—On the Churchwardens' Accounts of the Parish of Stratton, in the county of Cornwall

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2012

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An apology is needed for my presumption in reading a paper this evening on the Churchwardens' Accounts of Stratton. They certainly ought to have fallen to the lot of some Cornish man. My attention, however, was directed to them by their present owner, William Maskell, Esq. E.S.A. and I found them so interesting that I could not resist the temptation of bringing certain gleanings I have made therefrom under the notice of this Society.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1880

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References

page 196 note a , Stockdale'sAnnals of Cartmel, 48.Google Scholar Cf. 108, 555.

page 196 note b , North'sChronicle ofChurch of St. Martin, Leicester, 82.Google Scholar

page 196 note c Hist. MSS. Com. iii. Report, 329.

page 196 note d Archæologia xxxiv. 64.

page 196 note e Ibid. xxxv. 430, 436, 444.

page 196 note f Ibid. xxxvi. 229, 240.

page 196 note g Ibid. xli. 366.

page 196 note h Hist. MSS. Com. v. Report, 572.

page 197 note a Hist. MSS. Com. vi. Report, 348.

page 197 note b Ibid. v. 16. Commons Journals, ii. 511.

page 198 note a Cf. Archceologia, xxv. 440, xxxvi. 239, xli. 339, 348. Notes and Queries, v. S. ix. 405.

page 198 note b xxii. Hen. VIII. chap. 10. Skelton the poetin Elinour Rumming seems to allude to the costume of the gipsy women of this period, but it is possible that the Egyptian he had in his mind was some figure in a picture or piece of tapestry representing a subject from Holy Scriptureor the legends of St. George or St. Katherine. Speaking of the heroine of thepoem, he says that her head was adorned

“After the Sarazins gise,

With a whim wham

Knit with a trim tram,

Upon her brayne panne

Like an Egiptian.”

Cf. Archceologia, xviii. 227, xxvii. 38. Hist. MSS. Com. vi. Report, 215. Notes and Queries, v. S. ix. 511.

page 199 note a Grellman, H. M. G. Dissertation on the Gipsies.

page 199 note b “I wille that the gownes of dame AnneVerney, late my wife, doo make vestiments to be given to churches, according to the diserecion of myn executours.” Will of Sir Raulf Verney the younger, 1525, in Verney Papers (Camd. Soc.) 43,46. Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, gave her tunic and mantle to be made into a cope, Archceologia, xvii. 93.

page 199 note c Cf. , Stockdale'sAnnals of Cartmel, 62.Google Scholar

page 200 note a In 1566 a payment was made “for setting up Robin Hood's bower” at St. Helen's, in , Abingdon, Berkshire, Archæologia, i. 16Google Scholar.

page 201 note a Grave.

page 201 note b Brack is a penman's error for black.

page 201 note c The church-ales were maintained by collecting contributions of malt from the parishioners, with which was brewed. This ale was sold and the money was applied to church purposes. At Stratton and many other places a church-house existed in or adjoining the church-yard in which church-ale was held. These festivities sometimes, perhaps commonly, took place on Sunday. The sum of money received at Stratton for the ale was often considerably larger than on the present occasion. Stubbs's Constitutional History, 628; Ellis's Brand's Popular Antiquities, 1813, i. 229; Wallington Historical Notices, i. 54, ii. 296; Hone's Every Day Book, ii. 338. Hamilton's, A. H. A.Quarter Sessions, from Elizabeth to Anne, 28, 99.Google ScholarNotes and Queries v. S. ix. 441. Archæologia, xii. 13, xxiii. 33, xxxv. 435, xxxvi. 225, 226, 227, 233.

page 201 note d Wax to be made into candles.

page 201 note e A staple.

page 201 note f “Item, sine vestibus, ab episcopo, vel altero potestatem habentem, benedictis, celebrare non licet.” Burgo, De, Pupilla oculi, Strasburg, 1516, 23A.Google Scholar The payment was probably not to the Bishop himself but to one of his clerks.

page 201 note g Hugh Oldham, S. T. P., had licence to be consecrated Bishop of Exeter, 29 Dec, 1504. He died 25 June, 1519. , Oliver, Lives of Bishops of Exeter, 117.Google ScholarNeve, Hardy's Le, Fasti Eccl. Anglic, i. 377Google Scholar.

page 201 note h These rushes were no doubt purchased for strewing on the floor of the church. Entries of a similar kind are common in churchwardens' accounts, e. g. Leverton, co. Lincoln, 1506. “to gynkyng Watkingson and Walter long for mawing Red a day to met and hyre xijd.” Archæologia, xli. 342. When Charles II. attended church at St. Helier on 23 Feb., 1649, the aisles were strewn with rushes and the building decorated with green boughs. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ii. 164. At Clee, near Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, the parish formerly possessed a “right of cutting rushes from a piece of land… called Bescars, for the purpose of strewing thefloor of the church every Trinity Sunday.” Edwards's, H.Old English Customs, 218.Google Scholar The above work contains several other kindred notices. The Hall of the Trinity House at Kingston-upon-Hull is strewn with rushes at the present time.

page 202 note a For the bells.

page 202 note b To fret or rub, i. e., to make clean.

page 202 note c Censer.

page 202 note d Probably a slip of the pen for “dressing,” i. e., cleaning.

page 202 note e A bell-clapper.

page 202 note f A day on which prayer was made for the repose of Lady Perceval's soul. A.S. maenan, to have in mind. Myn, to have in mind, or remember, frequently, in the earlier English, signifies to pray for, e.g.:—

“And Mary his modur, that mylde is of mode,

Of qwom that blissfulle barne in Bedlem was born;

He gif me grace, to grete thi saule with the gode

And myn the with massus, and matins, on morun.”

The Anturs of Arthur, in Three Eng. Met. Romances (Camd. Soc.) 9. In the same poem we find a person promising “a miliun of masse to make thi mynnyng,” p. 9.

page 203 note a Fathom.

page 203 note b Pitch, tar, and grease.

page 203 note c The canopy which was suspended over the altar, beneath which the host was hung up.

page 203 note d Flat stones used for roofing purposes, fromthe the A. S. Hélan, to cover, to conceal. “Be fore evyn it reyned so sore that they were fayne to helle the wall and leve werke.” Paston Lett. ed. 1872, i. 216. The helyer of the next entry was the person whose trade it was to hele buildings.

page 203 note e Solder.

page 203 note f A seam of corn was eight bushels. , Bailey, Dict. 1749.Google Scholar The word here probably means a horse-load. Cf. Seam, Bosworth's Ang. Sax. Dict. Seme, Blount, Law Diet.

page 203 note g Pears.

page 204 note a In the Penny Cyclopædia, and many other popular books of reference, it is incorrectly stated, that “hopswere introduced into England from Flanders about the year 1524.” Earlier instances of their use than that in the text could be produced. The hop is, probably, an indigenous plant.

page 204 note b Albs.

page 204 note c Lead.

page 204 note d Towels used at holy communion.

page 204 note e Evidently a web of lead. The word in this sense is new to me.

page 204 note f Probably a board of foreign timber.

page 204 note g The “walch” board and the end of rope had probably been used for a scaffold when repairs had been wanted. The work was now done and they had become useless.

page 204 note h Wheel.

page 204 note i The veil or curtain, which, in Lent, was suspended between the choir and the nave. See Archæologia, xli. 338.

page 205 note a Probably the canopy over the high altar, under which the blessed sacrament was suspended.

page 205 note b I believe this means plastering. Whatever it was it must have been something very soon done, for the amount of payment for the “possyng” and making the wood shed indicates that the work did not occupy more than about a day.

page 205 note c This almost certainly means thatching, d having taken the place of th. “We find a payment for preparing the straw in a following entry.

page 205 note d To streak means to stretch; but here it evidently signifies to lay the straw smoothly and evenly, ready for the use of thethatcher. In the northern dialect to streak a corpse is to lay out the limbs ready for being enfolded in the grave-clothes.

“Wi' doors ajar, and candle light,

And torches burning clear,

The strekit corpse, till still midnight

They waked, but naething hear.”

Young Benjie. Scott. Border Min. ed. 1861, iii. 15.

page 205 note e For the purpose of holding a light to be carried before the blessed sacrament when taken to the sick. Cf. Archæologia, xli. 353.

page 205 note f Seemingly the southern form of Frundele, two pecks. Here it must mean a much more copious measure.

page 205 note g Wains; in this case wain-loads.

page 205 note h Gate, a going. Here it means that the payment was made for the use of Woglow's wain and horses going to the quarry to bring home the stone.

page 205 note i Fetching.

page 205 note k Perhaps foreign poles used for making scaffolds. Shaft sometimes means a Maypole.

page 206 note a Mercers.

page 206 note b Book-binder.

page 206 note c Fathoms.

page 206 note d Ornaments.

page 206 note e Entries of this sort occur frequently. It would seem that the church-house, when not wanted for parish festivities, was from time to time let to strangers for a small sum. Standings in the church-house also are let almost yearly. These standings were probably occupied by travelling merchants at fair-times.

page 206 note f Possibly slates. Halliwell gives “Shellet. A sort of imperfect or rotten slate. Devon.” The entrymay, however, mean for dressing or hammering stones into a fit shape for being used.

page 207 note a A shovel.

page 207 note b Five knots, i. e., sheaves of straw.

page 207 note c Desk.

page 207 note d The church “hagg” is often mentioned. It seems to have been a small inclosed meadow. The charge for cutting thegrass is frequent. This yeare it was pared, no doubt for the purpose of burning the surface. Land which has been long used as meadow produces coarse herbage, and “paring and burning” was, and still is, a common resource for producing grass of finer quality.

page 207 note e Gypsies.

page 207 note f Vide ante, 1513.

page 207 note g Mercer.

page 207 note h John Vesey, alias Hardman, consecrated Bishop of Exeter, Nov. 6, 1519. He resigned the see 14 Aug. 1551. Neve, Hardy's Le, Fasti Eccl. Anglic. i. 377Google Scholar.

page 208 note a Iron.

page 208 note b Vide ante, 1513.

page 208 note c That is, he gave for the burial fee for a grave in the church a music book worth 3s. 4d. instead of that sum in money.

page 208 note d Bearwards.

page 208 note e Meaning doubtful. It cannot mean a bier, asit would have cost far more. It may, perhaps, signify bear, and be the record of a gift to the bearwards who lodged in the church for permission to see the animal. It will be observed that the receipt and the payment are the same.

page 208 note f Wicks for candles.

page 208 note g Vide ante, 1519.

page 208 note h Crest tiles for the ridge of a roof.

page 208 note i Fine linen cloth, Halliwell.

page 208 note k A crock, that is, some pot or cooking vessel, had been given to the church. King had bought it and had, it seems, given toomuch, so a shilling was returned to him. See 1527.

page 209 note a Richard Sampson, collated to the Archdeaconry of Cornwall 1517, resigned 1528. Neve, Hardy's Le, Fasti Eccl. Anglic. i. 399.Google Scholar

page 209 note b Books containing those services in which processions were used. Maskell, Mon. Bit. i. cxi.

page 209 note c A book containing occasional offices such as baptism and extreme unction. Ibid. i. lxxvii.

page 209 note d Iron. It here means either an iron handle by which to carry the bucket, or a hook on which to suspend it when not in use.

page 209 note e Shooting, i.e., twisting.

page 209 note f Mares may have been a priest who had faculties from his bishop to bless sacred vessels; it is more probable, however, that he was the person who took them to the bishop to be blessed, and had paid the 4d. now re-imbursed him.

page 209 note g A fabric which took its name from Bruges inFlanders.

page 209 note h Gold thread for embroidery.

page 210 note a Paring of the churchyard hassocks. A hassock is a large and thick tuft of coarse grass.

page 210 note b Eochets.

page 210 note c Probably corporaxes for daily use. The contraction is obscure; but the word cannot have been meant for copes, as a yard ofholland would have been very insufficient to make even one cope; nor was holland the material used for that vestment. In an Inventory of the goods of the guildof St. Mary of Boston taken in 1534, there occur “iij cotidian course cases with iij clothes.” , Peacock, Ch. Furniture, 206.Google Scholar

page 210 note d Put in order, make clean.

page 210 note e She, indicates that it was that of a woman whose name Richard Westlake had put on the bede roll.

page 211 note a The teasle-lieads, when cut, require drying slowly in a covered shed from which the glare of the sun is excluded.

page 211 note b Fairs.

page 211 note c Probably certain ornaments used at funerals;the next entry shows that there had been a death in Thorne's family.

page 211 note d Vide ante, 1516.

page 211 note e Probably foot is the word meant.

page 211 note f Translation of St. Andrew, May 9.

page 211 note g November 30.

page 211 note h Thomas Vivian, alias Wannyworth, Bishop of the see of Megara, in partibus infidelium. He was the last Prior of Saint Mary and Saint Petroc of Bodmin. Mon. Anglic, ii. 460.

page 212 note a Query alb.

page 212 note b A legend book.

page 213 note a Thomas Cranmer was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, 21 Feb. 1533. Neve, Hardy's Le, Fasti Eccl. Anglic, i. 24.Google Scholar

page 213 note b Bands.

page 213 note c Meaning uncertain. In the North a rag signifies a whetstone, but that cannot be the meaning here. See 1534.

page 213 note d Wedges.

page 213 note e The eye into which the crook fits.

page 214 note a , Steps, “Grece, or tredyl, or steyr, Gradus.” Prompt. Parv. i. 209.Google Scholar

“The lady…

Glydes down by the grece and goes to the kyng.”

Early Eng. Allit. Poems (E.E.T.S.) 85.

page 214 note b The aisles of the church.

page 214 note c Alleys i.e. churchyard paths.

page 214 note d Perhaps rafters.

page 214 note e A spiral stair, perhaps for the purpose of getting up to the roodloft. “Vyce, rownde grece or steyr.” Prompt. Parv.iii. 509.

page 215 note a This may perhaps signify for carrying of greetstone, i.e. sandstone, for making a window.

page 215 note b A leger-book.

page 215 note c The Institution of a Christen Man, was published by Berthelet in 1537.

page 216 note a Linsey-Woolsey cloth. Halliwell.

page 216 note b Wood.

page 216 note c This seems to have been a fine inflicted by reason of some local by-law. Probably as the church-house was frequently let to wandering merchants and gipseys, riot and drunkenness followed if ale were permitted to be consumed there except at the duly appointed church-ales.

page 216 note d Lead.

page 216 note e The great bible, or Crumwell's bible, was ordered by proclamation in 1541 to be put in all parish churches.

page 217 note a Towel.

page 217 note b The grate was probably an iron grate covering a pit in the churchyard into which refuse was thrown. An arrangement of this kind certainly existed at Louth, in Lincolnshire, where the churchwardens' account books contain frequent entries of small payments for cleansing the grate.

page 218 note a A pace, i.e., “a broad step, or slightly raised space, about a tomb, &c.; a portion of a floor slightly raised above tbe general level.” Gloss. of Architec. sub voce.

page 218 note b Probably the bole of a tree. Halliwell has “mote … the stalk of a plant. Devon.”

page 218 note c Perhaps halberts.

page 218 note d The lenten veil.

page 218 note e Large candles. “I wyte xxlb. of wax inv. sereges to birn a bout my body, and afterwards to bo lefte to the person.” Will of J. Croxton of York, 1393. Test. Ebor. i. 184.

page 219 note a Bell.

page 219 note b Lending.

page 219 note c Joining of a board.

page 219 note d “Frith, to plash a hedge. Devon.” Halliwell.

page 220 note a Ironwork.

page 220 note b The words in brackets are crossed out.

page 220 note c The death of Henry VIII. happened on 28 Jan.1547.

page 220 note d Velvet.

page 220 note e “Taking down” is evidently omitted here.

page 221 note c Roods had been taken down by Royal authority; but on the 10th of June the Devonshire rebellion broke out, and the authoritiesof Stratton took advantage of this to restore the ancient state of things.

page 221 note b Halbert.

page 221 note c Spike.

page 222 note a “Thes besynes” is undoubtedly the Devonshire rebellion.

page 222 note b Fire pan. A vessel no doubt used heretofore for the Easter-fire.

page 222 note c Shovel.

page 222 note d Edward VI. died 6 July.

page 222 note e The word is doubtful; perhaps chain is meant.

page 222 note f Altar breads.

page 223 note a To swell as a pod or seed. “And the flax and the barley was smitten, for the barley was in the car and the flax was boiled.” Exodus ix. 31. The ends of bell-clappers become worn small andflat by use; what is here meant by their being boiled is that fresh iron was added, and that they were made once more round and heavy.

page 223 note b Latten. The hard mixed metal of which sepulchral brasses were made.

page 223 note c A hand-bell used at funerals. A.-S. Lic, a dead body.

page 223 note d Wick-yarn for the candles.

page 223 note e Posts. These posts were probably set in the ground in the church house and the boards laid upon them to form tables at the ale-feasts and when the house was let to merchants.

page 223 note f Assizes.

page 223 note g Attorney.

page 223 note h Searching.

page 223 note i Fowler.

page 223 note k A butt. Lime was frequently carried inland in casks. This “bott” was probably a lime-barrel.

page 223 note l A hasp, a latch.

page 224 note a James Turberville, consecrated 8 September, 1555. Deprived 1559. Neve, Hardy's Le, Fasti Eccl. Anglic. i. 378.Google Scholar

page 224 note b Iron hooks or rods to support curtains.

page 224 note c Eaves.

page 224 note d Hymnal.

page 224 note e Puncheon.

page 225 note a An altar-cloth. Cf. Mon. Ang. iv. 320. “A nold mylne,” 1442. Archæologia, xli. 340. “A nax,” 1498. Louth Churchwardens' Acc. MS. iv. 94, “for a.nabstract for the svers,”1637.Google Scholar

page 225 note b Fonts were ordered to be locked to hinder superstitious persons from getting the water to use it for purposes of magic. “Fontes sub sera clausi teneantur propter sortilegia.” Conc. Dunelm. A.D, 1220. , Wilkins'sConc. i. 576.Google Scholar

page 225 note c Sheet-iron.

page 225 note d For the bells.

page 225 note e Arrows.

page 225 note f Soap.

page 225 note g “Jewes” is not erased; but “Jeptyons” is written above it in another, but contemporary, hand. Vide ante, 1522.

page 226 note a For the Easter fire.

page 226 note b Iron.

page 226 note c Cup.

page 227 note a Felling.

page 227 note b Seat.

page 227 note c Aisle.

page 228 note a Doing, i.e. putting.

page 228 note b It was the practice in some parts of Lincolnshire in the last century for farmers to store their wool in the church. Walker, in his Sufferings of the Clergy, speaks of Joseph Shute, the rector of Meavy, co. Devon, in the time of Charles I., having “set a considerable parcelof wooll and money in the church tower,” ii. 355. My own ancestor, Edward Peacock, was in the habit of keeping his wool in the nave of Bottesford church in the latter end of the reign of George II.

page 228 note c Tarry.

page 228 note d A The word “hytt” has been firstwritten, then crossed out and “he” written above it.

page 228 note e Melted.

page 228 note f Peters farthings are mentioned in the parishaccounts of Hartland's Devonshire. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v. 373.

page 230 note a Gate.

page 231 note a Culverin.

page 231 note b A material which probably took its name fromLucca, the place of its manufacture. There was a “clothe of Inks gold” at the Benedictine nunnery of Catesby, Northamptonshire, at the period of the dissolution. Archæologia, xliii. 241. In the wardrobe accounts of Edward I. mention is made of Lucca cloth. Ibid. xxvi. 337.

page 232 note a The two foregoing inventories are given in full.

page 232 note b Entries similar to these occur annually.

page 233 note a A fiddler.

page 233 note b Centres: wooden supports on which the arches were built.

page 234 note a Books.

page 234 note b Sand.

page 235 note a This account is given without abridgment.

page 235 note b Uprooting.

page 235 note c Sawing.

page 236 note a Gradale, Lat. A book which contained the graduals and some other parts of the eucharistic service.

page 236 note b “The paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe Testament.” London, Whytchurch, 1548-9, folio.