Protestant Dissenters from penalties of certain laws, on condition only
that meeting-houses should be certified to the Bishop or Archdeacon
or Justices at Quarter Sessions." In 1693 (the first year of the
Sessions order book) "The wallhouse in the parish of Hanbury, and in
the possession of Dame Ann Rouse," was certified to be "a meeting-house
according to ye new Act of Parliament." Also "a house adjoining the
foldyard of Mr. Blick, at Bromsgrove." 1695. The house of Henry Hanson,
of Grafton Flyford, a place for religious worship. 1696. The house of
John Emes, Bishampton, a meeting-house for dissenting Protestants.
1697. The house of John Scott, of Stourbridge, and the house of
William Dugard, of Dodderhill. 1700. The house of Humfrey Potter, of
Bromsgrove. 1702. Samuel Windle (place of residence not stated) "upon
petition is allowed to have ye word of God preached in his house;"
and a house at Dudley licensed on the petition of John Stokes. 1703.
Ordered that "The house of Peter Payton, at Tenbury, be set apart for
the worship of God for dissenters from ye church, according to the
prayer of a petition for ye p'pose." 1704. The house of Mary Greene,
widow, in Little Witley, called the New-house; and the house of John
Sparry, at Belbroughton. 1705. Dwelling-houses of Henry Hunt, Cradley;
James Thompson and William Tilt, Bromsgrove; Thomas Taylor, Hartlebury;
and John Taylor, Chaddesley. 1715. House of Samuel Cater, Stourbridge;
and of Jos. Harrison, Thomas Reynolds, John Reynolds, Mary Payton,
and Arthur Radnall, of Bewdley; also that of John Carpenter, jun.,
Bromsgrove. 1720. The house of Richard Windle, Inkberrow. 1723. The
house of Ann Thomas, of Pershore, "licensed for Anabaptists." 1733.
House of John Harris, of Birlingham; and "a newly-erected house at
Upton mentioned in the certificate of R. Baskerville and Thomas Skey;"
also "the house at Bewdley wherein Thomas Watson and William Carter now
dwell." 1735. Ordered, "That the barn and court-yard thereto belonging,
now in the occupation of John Williams, at Tenbury, be licensed for
Quakers." 1744. The house of Thomas Baker, at Himbleton, licensed
for Baptists; and that of William Sadler, at Halesowen, for ditto.
1757. House of Joshua Kettleby, Church Street, Kidderminster, for
Anabaptists; and in 1760, that of James Hill Baker, Black Star Street,
Kidderminster, for Presbyterians. 1773. A tenement at Bartley Green,
Northfield, licensed for dissenters; and a building in the occupation
of G. Parsons, Mill Street, Stourbridge; also "a chapel lately erected
in the hamlet of Westencot, Bredon, certified as a place of religious
worship for Baptists." 1787. The house of John Harwood, of Moseley,
licensed for Baptists; and one at Birmingham occupied by Benjamin
Bedford, for Protestant dissenters; also the house of William Purser,
at Welland; a Baptist meeting-house in New Street, Dudley; and a
building in Mill Street, Evesham. In the year 1791, Robert Berkeley of
Spetchley, T. Hornyold the younger of Blackmore Park, John Baynham of
Purshall Hall, clerk, Thomas Parker of Heath Green, Beoley, and Mary
Williams, of Little Malvern, subscribed certificates that they had set
apart rooms in their respective houses for Roman Catholic worship.
1792. A building in Gilson's Lane, Blockley, certified for dissenters.
1796. Andrew Robinson, clerk, of Grafton Manor, set apart a room for
Roman Catholic worship; and Richard Cornthwaite, clerk, of Harvington
Hall, Chaddesley, ditto ditto.
The Civil Wars.
The year 1643, so distressing to the city of Worcester, when a great
portion of the heavy levies on the citizens, for defence against the
Parliament army, could not be raised, was nearly to the same extent
a cause of pecuniary embarrassment to the county at large. At the
April Sessions of 1643 the grand jury ordered "that the £3000 ordered
last Sessions to be paid monthly towards the payment of his majesty's
forces sent and raised for the defence of this county be continued
till next Sessions, and paid over by John Baker, gen. collector to
Sir William Russell, High Sheriff of the county and Governor of the
city." But considerable difficulty appears to have been experienced in
the collection. Here follows a picture of those critical times, worth
preserving:
"The information of Edward Raynolls, of Kitherminster, taken
uppon oath the 28th of March, 1651, before Gervase Bucke and
John Latham, Esqs., two of the Justices of the Peace for the
county aforesaid.
"Hee saith and doth informe that Edward Broad of Duncklin,
Esq., about the time of the beginning of the warre betwixt
the late kinge and the Parliament did raise a troope of horse
for his sonne Edmond to engage in the king's service. That
afterwards about the time when Sir Gilbert Garret, the gov'nor
of Worcester for the kinge went to beseige Sturton Castle--a
garrison for the Parliament--the said Edward Broade sollicited
and earnestly pressed the contry thereaboute to rise together
and to goe along with the said Sir Gilbert Garrett, telling
and threatening divers of the country people that they should
be hanged at their owne doores if they would not goe with him
against the said Castle: That many of the country people came
in to the said Edward Broade accordingly and hee was himselfe
captaine over them and furnished them with arms and amunition
and marched before them to Sturton Castle and continued before
that Castle untill the governor whoe held the same for the
Parliament was inforced, beinge overpowred by the enemye to
yeeld yt upp. That afterwards, about 7 dayes before Sir Henry
Lyngum did rise against the Parliament and surprised and tooke
the county troope of Hereford, the said Edward Broade spake
to this informer, beinge his tenant and his warriner, to goe
to John Brancill, dwelling at Kidderminster, beinge a joyner
and well skilled in stockinge of guns, to come with all speede
to stock gunnes for him. And willing this informer alsoe
himselfe to be in redinesse. And this informer askinge him
what use there would be for soe many gunnes the said Edward
Broade answered there would be use for them verry speedily,
and further said that Mr. Hugh Vicaridge of Comberton and Mr.
Thomas Wannerton, other Roundheaded Rogues, should be hanged
to beginn withall. And the said Brancill came to Duncklyn
accordingly, but how many gunnes he stocked this informer
knoweth not. And afterwards when the newes was fresh that Sir
Henry Lingin had surprised the Hereford county troope, the said
Edward Broade asked this informer whether Sir Henry Lyngin
was gone, whereunto this informer answering that hee did not
know, the said Edward Broade replyed and said Sir Henry Lingin
was not as good as his word; and about a weeke after Sir Henry
Lingin was surprised the said Edward Broade hid divers gunnes
which hee had provided as aforesaid under a rick of hay and
afterwards remooved them thence and hid them under a corne mowe
in one of the barnes att Duncklin where they weare seene within
a yeare and a halfe last past by one Thomas Lovell, a workman
belonging to that house, as he tould this informer.
"And this informer doth further informe upon his oath that
about a year last past beinge att Bridgnorth in company with
Edward Powys, of the citty of Worcester, bookbinder, and others
drinking together, hee this informer heard the said Powys begin
A health to the good proceeding of the king's army in Scotland,
likewise A health to the queene his mother, and the third
health to the confusion of the Parliament, and that hee began
all these 3 healths together, but none of the company would
pledge the same, some of them answering that they would drinke
to ye conversion but not to the confusion of any. And that
Steephen Dowty of the Morphe and his servant William Lawde were
then in company, and further doth not informe."
"Articles" were "exhibited" (that is, an information was laid) in the
year 1655, against Walter Moyle, of Ombersley, yeoman, for being a
profane man, and for that "one day he publicly drank the health of the
devil, and fell down as one dead, to ye amazement and terrour of ye
beholders; and that in the time of the late war he did threaten his
neighbours, when the king's forces were in rendevouze at Oddingley
Heath, with plunder unlesse they would repaire in armes to that
randezvooze."
On the 5th of October, 1685, John Bartlam, of Whitbourne, laid an
information that "in hay harvest last (before this neighbourhood heard
that Monmouth was routed), this informant, riding upon the road near
Knightsford bridge, there met a man that tould him that Monmouth was
then the head man in England, and that it was in every man's mouth in
Worcester, and that any man might speak it, and that he would proclaim
it at Knightsford bridge (as he had at Broadheath, Martley, and other
places, as he came along), although it was so near Captain Clent's;
and that if any one questioned it he would be at Knightsford bridge
to answer it; that his name was Kent, and he lived in Powick's Lane,
Worcester." In 1687, Thomas Knight, of Castlemorton, was summoned to
appear at the Sessions, and to give evidence against Charles Jakeman
for drinking the Duke of Monmouth's health.
A Traveller's Passport.
The following document, included among the rolls, is dated 1680, from
Whitehall:
"Dame Mary Yate, having asked his majesty's permission to
pass beyond the seas, for the recovery of her health, his
majesty was most graciously pleased to grant her request,
under the usual clauses and provisoes, according to which ye
said Dame Mary Yate having given security not to enter into
any plott or conspiracy against his majesty or his realms,
or behave herself in any such manner as may be prejudicial
to his majesty's government, or the religion here by law
established, and that she will not repaire to the city of
Roome, or return unto this kingdome without first acquainting
one of his majesty's principal secretaries of state, and
obtaining leave for the same, in pursuance of his majesty's
commands in council hereby will and require you to permit and
suffer the said Dame Mary Yate to imbarque with her trunkes of
apparel and other necessaries not prohibited at any port of
this kingdom, and from thence to pass beyond the seas, provided
that shee departe this kingdom within 14 days after the date
hereof"--April 14.
If the above refers to the celebrated Lady Mary Yate (a daughter of the
house of Pakington) who is commemorated on a monument in Chaddesley
Church as having died in 1696, at the age of 86, she must have been 70
years old when these precautions were taken by the Government against
the poor old lady attempting to invade the country or to comfort the
Pope with her presence and support. Dame Mary Yate was no doubt a Roman
Catholic, and the permission above referred to was granted under the
7th section of the statute 3rd James I, chap. 5, which was virtually
repealed by the statute 43rd George III, chap. 30, which exempted
Roman Catholics from all the penalties and restrictions mentioned and
enjoined in the older acts, if in one of the Courts at Westminster
or at the Quarter Sessions they made a declaration which to them was
unobjectionable.
Bridges and Highways.
Upton bridge seems to have been a nuisance to the county ever since
the time of the Civil Wars, when one of its arches was destroyed for
purposes of defence. Frequent complaint was made of its dilapidations,
and in 1757 the Sessions ordered that a frigate should be bought "for
carrying workmen, stone, and other purposes, about the said repairs."
Mr. Sheward was appointed superintendent of the said bridge in 1775, at
the salary of one guinea a year.
A presentment was made in 1661, that "the causeways and horse bridges
leading from the city of Worcester to London, and towards the city
of Gloucester, which ought, as wee humbly conceave, to be mayntayned
and repaired by the Dean and Chapter, are very defective and out
of repaire." About five years later the capitular body were again
presented "for not repairing a certain causeway leading from a certain
messuage called or known by the name of ye Three Crowns, St. Peter's,
to a place called Red Hill Cross, in the said parish, and soe from
thence to a place called Whitton Pound, thence to a place called Staple
Cross in the parish of Norton, being the London road, and likewise
one other causeway leading from the newly-erected inn called ye White
House, through the parish of St. Peter's, at a place called Clarken
Lipp, in the parish of Kempsey, being the road leading to Bristol."
And for the third time, in 1689, the Dean and Chapter were presented
"for not repairing their causeways from outside Sidbury gate to the
further end of Clarkenlip, upon ye Gloster road." In the Townsend
Manuscript (elsewhere alluded to) it is recorded that "by virtue of
a commission dated March, 1652, out of Chancery for charitable uses,
the Commissioners sat on the 12th January, 1653, and by the oaths of
12 men on the inquiry, did order and decree that the several manors
and lands of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Worcester
were charged by way of repriz. for the payment of £40 yearly towards
the repayres of the several highways therein expressed, and should so
continue for ever. The like for £106. 13s. 4d. for 40 poor schollers
of the grammar school at the Colledg unto every of them four marks per
annum, the high master 40 marks, the under master 10 marks, £52. 10s.
per ann. towards ye releefe of ten poore old men, and £40 yerely to
the poore of Worcester and St. Michael's, by 7s. 3d. in money and 7s.
8d. in bread to be distributed weekly; and it was ordered, 3 June,
10 Car., for the Clerk of the Peace to see the £40 for the Dean and
Chapter to be imployed for the use of the causeys, one from Worcester
to Redhill Cross, and the other towards Kempsey, and he to pay the same
to the surveyors." The Dean and Chapter were liable to repair these
roads _ratione tenuræ_, that is by reason of their being the owners of
certain lands. These roads are now repaired by the turnpike tolls; but
if the tolls became inadequate, and the Dean and Chapter were before
liable to the repair, they would still continue to to be so now.
The Plague.
Redditch is stated as having been visited with this scourge in 1625,
when the poor people being thrown out of work, it was ordered, under
the statute of 1st James I, that Bromsgrove pay 12s. per week,
Belbroughton 6s., Cofton Hackett 1s., Northfield 4s., Kingsnorton 9s.,
Alvechurch 5s., Beoley 6s., Feckenham 7s., Inkberrow 5s., Stoke Prior
4s., Upton Warren and Cookesey 3s. towards the relief of the said poor.
Theatres.
Were somewhat numerous in the county towards the close of the last
century. It is recorded in 1789, that, "upon the application of John
Boles Watson, of Cheltenham, comedian, ordered that a licence be
granted for the performance of such tragedies, comedies, interludes,
operas, plays, or farces, as now are or hereafter shall be acted,
performed, or represented at either of the patent or licenced theatres
in the city of Westminster, or shall have been submitted to the
inspection of the Lord Chamberlain of the King's household for the
time being, in the town of Stourbridge for the space of sixty days."
William Meill, of Worcester, comedian, who in 1794 held the theatres of
Worcester, Wolverhampton, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, and Stourbridge, obtained
similar licences for Bromsgrove and Malvern.
Compositions to the King's Household.
On the 20th of November, 1613, a certificate was sent down from
Whitehall to "our very loving friends, the Justices of the Peace and
compounders for the county of Worcester," which, after the usual
"heartey commendations," &c., set forth that "Thomas Gunner, his
Majesty's servant, under-tacker for the countie of Worcester, hath
delivered for the service of his Majestie and his most hon. house,
for the compost of the 11th yere of his Highnes raigne, 20 fatt oxen,
20 fatt muttons, 20 stirks, and 40 lambs, all good and serviceable,
and soe wee bid you heartily farewell." There were two certificates
in the year 1640--the one "that Thomas Hill, your undertaker for the
composition of lambes, hath, on behalfe of the country, delivered into
the office of his Majesty's Poultry at the Court, the full number of
150 lambes," due for the year ending the last day of September; and the
other, for 20 fat oxen, 200 fat muttons, and 20 stirks, due for the
year ending the last day of December. Nash states that the purveyance
for this county in 1660 was--20 oxen, or a composition of £4 a head,
to be paid June 16th; 200 muttons, or 6s. 8d. a head, paid July 10th;
150 lambs, or 1s. a head, August 15th; and 20 stirks, or 10s. a head,
October 8th.
These compositions arose out of the prerogative of purveyance. Mr. John
Bruce, F.S.A., in his "Verney Papers," published by the Camden Society
(p. 86), says:
"The prerogative of purveyance was one of those ancient rights
of sovereignty which in practice were most annoying to the
people. It consisted of the power of taking, at certain fixed
low prices and with or without the consent of the owner, for
the use of the royal household, any provisions which an officer
called a purveyor thought proper to select. With that wisdom
which distinguished the government of Queen Elizabeth, we find
that this ancient right was not harshly enforced, but made the
subject of a clear arrangement, which avoided in practice all
the heartburnings and contentions which are sure to follow from
carrying out an indefinite authority."
The powers of purveyance having been suspended during the time of
the Commonwealth, Charles II at his Restoration consented to resign
entirely these branches of his revenue and power, and they were
abolished by the statute 12th Charles II, chap. 24, Parliament
granting him in lieu an excise duty on beer and ale of 15d. a barrel
and a proportionate sum for other liquors. But temporary acts were
subsequently passed suspending this statute in favour of the King's
royal progresses, and in favour of the navy and ordnance.
Worcestershire Manuscripts.
THE DINELEY MANUSCRIPTS.
Among the valuable manuscripts in existence relating to this county are
the Dineley, Jeffries, and Townsend, besides those of Dr. Prattenton,
now in possession of the Society of Antiquaries. To preserve these,
with a view to publication, should be an object of solicitude to
all literary men of the county. The Dineley Manuscripts (now in the
possession of Sir T. E. Winnington, Bart., M.P.) consist of three
volumes, written between 1670 and 1680 by Thomas Dineley, Esq., a
member of one of the oldest Worcestershire families. One of the volumes
contains accounts of his visits to many churches in this county as also
to adjacent towns and about a dozen cathedrals; pen and ink sketches of
monuments, coats of arms, dresses, &c., many of them exquisitely done;
copies of inscriptions, both quaint and curious; tracings of pedigrees,
&c.; showing the compiler to have been a gentleman well versed in
ecclesiastical antiquities, a classical scholar, acquainted with
heraldry, and an accurate draughtsman. The second volume is entitled
"Observations in a Voyage in the Kingdom of France, being a collection
of several monuments, inscriptions, draughts of towns, &c."--date 1675;
and the latter part of this volume is devoted to a similar description
of Ireland, with a curious dissertation on the manners and customs of
the Irish. The filthy habits of that people in the seventeenth century
are treated of in rather broad language, not adapted for the present
day. The third volume has the following title: "The Jovrnall of my
Traveils through the Low-Countreys, Anno D'ni 1674." It appears that
in December, 1671, Mr. Dineley went in the suite of "Sir G. Downing,
Knt. and Bart., Ambassador from his most sacred Ma'tie to ye States
Generall of the United Provinces." His journal is written in a minute
but beautiful caligraphy, and denotes habits of judicious observation.
In his notice of the town of Dort, in Holland, he alludes to the great
abundance of salmon, and mentions a custom which I had long thought was
by no means confined to our own city of Worcester: he observes, "It is
sayd that prentices and maid servants, before they enter into service,
indent not to be oblig'd to eat salmon above twice a week;" and in his
account of the Irish (chapter on Limerick) Mr. Dineley alludes to a
"salmon weire, out of town, having a castle without timber or nayle, in
the middle of the river," where the custom was "to grant tickets for
salmon gratis to all strangers who will eat them upon the place; this
the corpora'con is obliged to, though they set it for £200 per ann." In
some commonplace notes at the end of the volume is the following entry:
"Hops among other things brought into England 15 Hen. 8.
wherefore this rithme--
"Turkeyes, carps, hops, pickerel, and beer,
Came into England all in one year."
There is another of Mr. Dineley's volumes in the collection of the Duke
of Beaufort, at Badminton; it describes a tour through Wales with the
President of the Marches, an ancestor of the Duke's. It is mentioned in
Blakeway's History of Shrewsbury.
THE JEFFRIES MANUSCRIPTS.
Henry Jeffries (who died in 1709), the last heir male and proprietor
of the manor of Clifton-on-Teme, was a man of some learning, and left
a manuscript memorandum book in which he had jotted down his own
observations _de omnibus rebus_, and generally in so easy and familiar
a way as to render them agreeable as well as instructive. This relic
likewise belongs to Sir Thomas Winnington, one of whose ancestors
married the heiress of the Jeffries family about a century and a half
ago. Specimens of its multifarious contents are given in vol. ii of
"The Rambler in Worcestershire," from which they appear to be invested
with great local interest to the neighbourhood of Clifton, Stanford,
and Shelsey, as also to the general antiquary.
DIARY OF MISTRESS JOYCE JEFFRIES.
There is also a Manuscript Diary of Miss Joyce Jeffries in the
possession of Sir T. Winnington. The diary contains an account of the
state of domestic life among the upper classes, during the reign of
Charles I, in the counties of Worcester and Hereford, and relates to
Ham Castle, in the parish of Clifton-on-Teme, where this lady resided,
and the siege of the city of Hereford, where she also possessed a
residence, during the calamities of civil war. It is hoped that the
Manuscript will be published, and no one can be found more able for the
task of editor than the Rev. J. Webb, of Tretire, near Ross, who has
already published a most valuable work, of local as well as general
interest, on the Household Roll of Bishop Swinfield of Hereford, of
which I have given an abstract further on.