LATER PARSONS OF GRASMERE
AMBLESIDE CHAPEL
AMBLESIDE CURATES
LANGDALE CURATES
SCHOOLS AND CLERKS
CHURCH RATES
NON-RATEPAYERS
REGISTERS
PRESENTMENTS, BRIEFS, AND CHARITIES
THE RUSH-BEARING
[Illustration: On the Great Bell, Gloria in Altissimis Deo]
LATER PARSONS OF GRASMERE
Grasmere settled down then, after the Restoration, to an absentee
rector, the Rev. John Ambrose; and under him was a curate-in-charge,
the Rev. John Brathwaite. One of his name, son of William, "pleb.,"
matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, in 1631, aged 18, whom Dr.
Magrath thinks may have been he.[157] Under Mr. Thomas Brathwaite's
will, 1674, "Mr. Brawthwaite minister of Grassemire" received a
legacy of 20s., which shows that he enjoyed the esteem of that
Puritanical gentleman. He often appears in the Account Book. For
churching the squire's wife he received regularly 5s.; until there
comes the melancholy item in 1675:--
[157] See "Flemings in Oxford."
£ s. d.
Apr. 17--Given to Mr. Jo. Brathwait for preaching
of my Dear Wifes Funerall Sermon (upon Prov.
31, 29) and often visiting her dureing ye time
of her sickness and praying by her 02 00 00
Other items are more cheerful; for often the minister's little
daughter would carry offerings of fruit, cherries and wild
blackberries to the Hall, for which she would receive a _douceur_ in
return. Also, as boys apparently then caught woodcocks in springes,
as they did later (see Wordsworth's Prelude), the item occurs in
1782:--
£ s. d.
Dec. 12--Given Parson Brathwait's Son who brought
some Wood-cockes 00 00 06
The daughter seemingly married in 1685, for the Squire's boys were
dispatched on May 24th, with money to give at her offering--a
collection made at the wedding for the benefit of the couple; Will
giving 5s. and Dan 2s. 6d.
It was in 1684 that Parson Ambrose, who for some forty years had
been connected with the rectory of Grasmere, passed to his long
rest. By surviving five brothers--several of whom were bachelors
like himself--he succeeded to the family estate; and the old Furness
homestead had been added to his other residences.[158] The Rydal
squire notes in that Account Book--which became practically a diary:--
[158] West's _Antiquities of Furness_.
£ s. d.
Aug. 20--My Cosin Ambrose, Lord of Lowick and
Parson of Gresmere, dying Aug. 16. 84 was
this day buried, and I attended his Corps from
Lowick-hall unto Ulverston-Church, where he
lyes interred, being ye last male of his family
in ye North 00 00 00
Little as Grasmere had known him, the old man remembered the place
in his will, and bequeathed £50 for the school, under trust to the
"minister and such persons as shall be of the four and twenty of the
parish of Grasmere."
The death of Ambrose left the post vacant for Henry Fleming, the
squire's second son, who had been bred up to the church, doubtless in
readiness for it. He had taken his B.A. degree in 1682, from Queen's
College, Oxford, and there he was still residing, in preparation
for his M.A. degree, to be taken next year. Presented now by his
father to Grasmere, he proceeded on November 22nd to Carlisle for
his ordination, and next month rode to Chester to complete the
business of his appointment. On January 7th he was formally inducted
to the ancient fabric, over which he was now--a young man of 25--to
rule; and his father on this occasion opened heart and purse to his
neighbours at the Church-Stile Inn in an unwonted manner.
" ... and spent Jan. 7 at Robert Harrisons in Gresmere when he
was Inducted by Mr. Jo. Brathwait 3s. 6d."
The new rector then returned to Oxford, where he remained until the
end of 1687. Clearly he was in no haste to settle down in Grasmere,
at any rate before his income was free from burden[159] and until
something was done to the rectory, which wanted effectual repair. His
eldest brother assisted him in plans; and he wrote to his father on
March 14th, 1687, "I have received a letter from my Brother William
concerning Grasmere church and Parsonage House, with a model of the
house he designes to build, which I like very well, if the money
will finish it, and adorn the church. But I am affraid that it will
fall short unless you be pleased to be assisting in wood."
[159] The outlay connected with Henry's appointment was
considerable. His expenses in Carlisle with his brother Daniel
amounted to £2. 7s. 6d.; also after ordination "For ye Bread and
Wine at ye Communion in Carlile-Cathedral" 2s. 6d., and 1s. given
at the offertory. At Chester, besides expenses and fees, he paid
the Bishop of Chester's secretary £5. 5s. Next, on February 13th,
comes the item "Delivered my Son Henry to pay tomorrow at Kendal
for his Tenths for Gresmer due at Xtmas last, ye sum of" £2. 17s.
0-1/2d. Again on May 30th, "Paid at London unto Mr. James Bird
for ye first payment of my Son Henry Fleming's First-Fruites for
ye Parsonage of Gresmere, ye Sum of" £6. 8s. 7d. On November
18th, the same amount was paid as second instalment; the third
on October 9th, 1687, £6. 11s. 1d.; and a final of £7. 1s. on
July 31st, 1688. The total, £26. 19s. 3d., is a little over the
amount paid by the Rector of Clayworth as first-fruits in 1672.
Money was, however, now coming in, and Parson Brathwaite would
seem to have furnished the new rector with a round sum of £20 at
intervals, beginning in May, 1685; two such being paid in 1687.
What the arrangement was in regard to the curate's stipend is not
clear.
Probably the squire did assist; and it may be a stout oak from
Bainriggs that bears still the incised legend "This House was built
1687 Henry Fleming Par"; which implies that the house was entirely
remodelled.[160] The work went briskly forward, and on June 22nd the
squire noted:--
[160] The beam was dislodged when the new rectory was built in
1895, but upon the furnishing of the old tithe barn as a parish
room in 1905, it was appropriately set up there.
£ s. d.
"Spent yesterday at Gresmere when I viewed ye
Painting in ye Church, and ye Parsonage new
House 00 05 00
which meant tips and treats at the alehouse, and a great commotion.
Harry was still in Oxford in October, but early in December he was
down, and preached to his people.
Dec. 11--This day my Son Henry Fleming preached his first
sermon--upon Romans xiii in Gresmere church, where I would have
been, had I had notice of his preaching.
This statement shows Harry's nervousness in face of his clever
father. It may have been with reluctance that he left the University
where for nine and a half years he had lived a student's life; but
that his departure was intended to be final is clear, from the fact
that his box followed him, the cost of its carriage being 11s.--44
lb. at 3d. per lb.
Harry would seem to have been a quiet, unostentatious man. His tutor,
the Rev. Thomas Dixon, wrote of him to his father on his first
arrival from the country, "Yo^r Son is both frugall and studious, and
all that I find amiss in him is that he wants courage and heart, I
do all I can to animate and encourage him and to put some more spirit
into him. I hope disputeing in ye Hall will put some briskness and
metall into him, and teach him to wrangle: He is one of three that
yo^r nephew Fletcher calls his Juniors in ye Hall, So that they
must endeavour to bafle him and then heel cease to stand upon his
Seniority or att least to triumph in it. He deserves also all the
encouragem^t, that may be, because he is willing to do anything and
frequents Prayers and Disputacons as much as any one, though of much
less Quality and honour than himselfe. He has another fellow-Pupill
of ye same order that keepes pace with him, and they have combin'd to
sett patterns to all ye rest of their Table: I hope theyl continue
this their emulacon, and that yo^r Son will also excite others of his
degree to ye same excellency and p'fection."[161]
[161] Ry. Hall MSS., His. MS. Com. 2084.
It is probable that Harry was never taught to "wrangle"; and though
his abilities were excellent, he rose to no high office in the
Church, like his brother George. He had a true interest in his
parish, as we must suppose, from the encouragement he gave to the
people over the embellishment of the church; and the accounts show
that "ye Dr." went over into Langdale at least once (in 1696) to
preach and administer the sacraments. He neglected the bells, as
has been seen, and possibly the wardens had a difficulty in getting
hold of him; for from 1694, when he acquired the living of Asby,
Cumberland, he resided there. He married, in 1700, Mary, daughter of
John Fletcher, of Hunslet, and on his death, in 1728, left a daughter
only.
With Dr. Henry Fleming was associated, as curate, the Rev. Thomas
Knott. This worthy man was doubtless of the Grasmere stock that for
so many generations had supplied able and prominent members to the
village community.[162] He entered his name in the Grasmere register
as curate and schoolmaster in 1687. In 1694 he was promoted to the
more independent (and doubtless better paid) curacy of Ambleside. The
letter he wrote to his rector on the occasion of the Kelsick bequest,
which does credit to them both, has already appeared in print.[163]
The Rev. Thomas continued to officiate in Ambleside until his death
in 1744.
[162] See _A Westmorland Township, Westmorland Gazette_, May 7th,
1910. He was not, however, as there stated, the son of Michael.
[163] See _Ambleside Town and Chapel_, p. 53.
The Squire of Rydal (who had been knighted in 1681) died in 1701, and
it was the curate-in-charge, Dudley Walker, who preached his funeral
sermon and received the honorarium of £1 1s. 6d.
The removal of this strong spirit must have made a difference in the
parish. His heir, William, who purchased a baronetcy, was a man of
feebler type, whose influence would be little felt in the parish.
He ceased, apparently, to worship at the old church, for in 1728 he
bought the two front pews in Ambleside Chapel, which had belonged
to the Braithwaites. On the death of his brother Henry, he appears
to have nominated for the rectory of Grasmere one William Kilner,
who immediately retired in favour of another son of Sir Daniel,
George, born 1667. He was totally unlike his brother Henry in
temperament. Handsome in person, of good abilities, assured spirit
and pleasant manners, his path in life proved an easy one. As a boy,
he, of all the brothers, had found it possible to ask his father
for money, whether to bet upon his cock at the Shrove-tide fight,
or to enter his college library, or even to engage in a trading
venture.[164] Once within the church, he advanced rapidly, for his
father's old friend, Dr. Smith, Bishop of Carlisle, gave him the
living of Aspatria in 1695, and four years later made the young man
his domestic chaplain. From that time he accumulated benefices and
honours. Made Archdeacon of Carlisle in 1705, he became Dean in
1727, shortly before his brother's death gave him the opportunity
of absorbing Grasmere. The wardens' presentment of 1729 states "Our
expected Rector is not yet Instituted and Inducted, the Cure is duly
Supplyed by a Curate; we know not what Salary is allowed him." The
church for the moment would seem to be poorly manned, for it adds "We
have no Parish Clark or Sexton at present."
[164] See _Ambleside Town and Chapel_. More particulars of the
education of George Fleming will be found in the forthcoming
Chronicles of Rydal.
The august rector, who had other benefices, was probably little seen
in his native parish; and in 1733 he resigned it in favour of his
only son, William, who also became Archdeacon after him. Next year
George stepped up to the post of Bishop of Carlisle; and in 1736, on
his brother William's death, he succeeded to the Rydal estates and
the baronetcy. His only misfortune was the death of his son in 1743.
He himself died in 1747, and a nephew became possessed of Rydal Hall
and of the patronage of the church.[165]
[165] See _Dictionary of National Biography_. The fact of his
having acquired the rectorate of Grasmere seems, however, not to
have been known to his biographers; but the Registry of Chester
shows it.
It is risky to judge from negative evidence: but there is nothing to
show that George Fleming, bishop and baronet, did anything either as
rector or patron to benefit the church where he had worshipped as a
child, or the parish whence he and his son drew an income for fifteen
years; the sole mention of him in the church books being a statement
that he held a confirmation there in place of the Bishop of Chester.
The wardens and the Eighteen, with the curate, kept parochial matters
going; and the former, wearied no doubt of waiting for help from the
rector, tackled the great bell outlay in 1730-2, as has been seen.
After he had become bishop, George Fleming erected in the choir the
marble monument that commemorates (in grandiose Latin) his father and
himself.
The Rev. George Briggs acted as curate-in-charge from 1722. Though
he may not have enjoyed a university training, the facts of his life
that have been found suggest that his ministrations were beneficial
to the folk. Like the first "capellanus," of whom there is record,
Adam de Ottelay, and many another simple curate, he had footing in
the community as statesman, holding house and land. In 1725 he first
appears as "Mr. Briggs" in the Rydal rental, paying a lord's rent of
8s. 4d. for Padmar, or Padmire (Pavement End), which had belonged to
the Rydal manor apparently since the days of Squire John. In that
year also the minister, described as "clerk," married Miss Jane
Knott, of Rydal, daughter probably of Edward and sister of Michael,
who, for so long, acted as influential agents to the Rydal lord.
Mrs. Jane Briggs remained long as widow in possession of the Padmire
estate; and the name of the Rev. George Briggs--doubtless her
son--appears as holder, after a gap, in 1806; in 1819 that of the
Rev. William Pearson has taken its place.[166]
[166] One would willingly connect this Grasmere land-holder
with the astronomer of the same name who enjoys a place in the
_National Dictionary of Biography_. This remarkable man was born
of statesmen parents as near as Whitbeck, under Black Combe,
in 1767, and was educated at the Hawkshead Grammar School. His
biographer, Dr. Lonsdale, in the _Worthies of Cumberland_, says,
"Between his leaving Hawkshead and his becoming a clergyman of
the Church of England I have no facts to guide me: but it may be
inferred that he went to Cambridge."
Meanwhile, the death of the Archdeacon had left the rectorate vacant,
and an unfortunate nomination was made by the patron-bishop. The Rev.
John Craik, B.A., was probably never resident--a fact quite usual:
but to this was presently added the more painful one that he became
incapable of managing his affairs, and his sister had to act for him.
Only five years after his appointment, Sir William Fleming writes of
the complaints of the parishioners, who with a church sadly in need
of repair can do nothing, since the rector will not come over to see
to it. Matters presently became so acute that a petition was framed,
begging the Bishop of Chester to intervene, as Mr. Craik was out of
his mind, and had not been near the church for three years.[167]
Yet it was not till the man's death, in 1806, that this miserable
situation came to an end.
[167] Rydal Hall MSS.
The Rev. Gawen Mackereth was curate under Mr. Craik. To judge by his
name, he was a native of the vales, and he apparently entered the
church--like many more in this period--by the door of the village
school-house. He wrote his name in the register on October 23rd,
1735, as "Ludimagister et Clericus Grasmereiensis," copying the
inscription of Thomas Knott, though with a fault in the spelling.
Twenty years later he preached for the last time his two yearly
sermons in Langdale. Sir William Fleming chose the next curate
himself; and he may have intended the Rev. John Wilson to occupy
the post of rector, should this fall vacant. But that day was far
distant, and Wilson--who seems from his action with regard to the
owner of Bainrigg to have been a man of strong temper--lived but a
short time after his appointment.[168]
[168] _Rydal Chronicles._
He was followed by Edward Rowlandson, of whom scarcely anything is
known; but who--according to the register that records his burial in
1811--served the parish for fifty years. He could not have taught the
school, as the burial of Thomas Davis, schoolmaster, is recorded in
1801.
Under him and Craik Grasmere must, indeed, have slumbered
spiritually. How could it be otherwise? But by this time Craik was
dead, after being rector for sixty-three years--surely a record term
for a lunatic! In the same year, 1806, Sir Michael le Fleming, the
patron who had never exercised his rights, died likewise. His widow,
Lady Diana, nominated as rector the Rev. Thomas Jackson. With him the
long record of absentee rectors was broken. He is said to have sprung
from a family of dalesfolk. He united, like some early predecessors,
his spiritual office with a temporal one, and acted as "clerk" or
agent to his patron. With his assistance, the heiress and Lady of
Rydal Hall freed her estate from debt, bought the ruinous homesteads
of the village, and replaced them by pretty cottages. Jackson was
successful also with his own affairs, and left a good deal of
property at his death, including Harry Place in Langdale, Tail End
in Grasmere, Brow Head in Loughrigg, and Waterhead on Windermere. He
lived, it is said, at Harry Place, and on most days rode his pony
(according to the report of old Langdale folk) over the fell to
Grasmere or Rydal Hall.
It is well known that the rectory was let to the poet Wordsworth.
The premises had been sadly neglected, the wardens having, in 1798,
"presented" the "Rectory-House, Barn, and out-Houses" as being in "a
ruinous state," but the new rector was too good a business man to
leave them in that condition. Dorothy Wordsworth writes (May 11th,
1810) that Mr. Jackson is willing to make the Parsonage comfortable,
and will contrive a good library out of part of the barn. Later
(June, 1811), she says, "There is an oblong 4-cornered court before
the door, surrounded by ugly white walls."[169]
[169] _Letters of the Wordsworth Family._
This graphic touch is interesting and suggestive. The place had
apparently an ancient character, with a strongly walled fore-court,
capable of being closed and defended. Such a plan--which was always
that of a manor-house--might be necessary of old for rectories,
where the tithe-barn, often stored with grain and hay, stood
temptingly, and occasionally was the subject of dispute.[170] Now
it is just possible that the rectory may occupy the site of the
former offices of the demesne. No manorial lord was ever resident
in this remote vale, as far as we know; but a resident bailiff and
a forester there must at least have been, with a few underlings.
These officers would be placed in a lodge, stoutly barricaded with
wooden palisades--later converted into walls. To this nucleus would
be added, besides byres and barns and smithy, a "knight's chamber,"
for the accommodation of the lord, if he visited the spot, or pushed
so far in the chase; and nothing is more likely than that a priest's
chamber or house (along with the tithe-barn) would find a place
within this safe enclosure. In such a case, the decay and final
abolition of the demesne would leave the rectory in sole occupation
of the ground. Wordsworth gave up his tenancy, after the death of two
children, in the belief that the spot was unhealthy. It must have
been still more so in ancient times, while the marsh that almost
surrounds it was still undrained.
[170] In the mediæval story of Reynard the Fox, the Priest's barn
is well walled about. See Francis Bond's _Misericords_, p. 73.
On the re-construction of the rectory in 1895 the old elevation was
preserved as much as possible, but the level of the ground floor was
raised five feet.
Tradition also states that the Rev. Thomas Jackson served personally
the chapel of Langdale, and certainly--if he lived in that
valley--this would be more convenient for him than the parish church.
The curates under him appear to have been men of ability and worth.
William Johnson indeed secured a fame as educationalist that is
recorded in the _National Dictionary_. A Cumberland man, born in
1784, he appears to have come to Grasmere as schoolmaster before the
death of the old curate Rowlandson. He began to officiate in 1810,
shortly after he had entered St. John's College, Cambridge. His stay
in Grasmere was short, for Dr. Andrew Bell, when visiting Wordsworth
in 1811, was so struck by his management of the village school, that
he offered him the post of Master of the school then being built by
the National Society in London; and thither he repaired next year.
He became organizer to the Society and school inspector and rector
of a London church. After his retirement from more active work, he
returned (about 1848) to Grasmere, where he bought a piece of land
and built the house, since enlarged, called Huntingstile. He was a
friend of Edward Quillinan, Wordsworth's son-in-law, and in 1853
edited his poems with a memoir. He lived till 1864.
Johnson's name occurs in the letters of the De Quincey family. The
future Opium-eater had just settled at Dove Cottage, where he was
visited by his mother and sisters. The elder lady was a friend of
Mrs. Hannah More, and it is a little amusing to find that the aid of
that prophetess of the Evangelical Revival was invoked for Grasmere,
which was evidently considered, by the strangers who began to invade
the district, to be in a benighted state. At one particular evening
reception at Barley Wood, Mrs. More's home, an effort was made to
engage her interest in what were called "the Christian politicks" of
Grasmere; but little was gained beyond a vague promise of Tracts,
until the opportune arrival of Mr. Venn from Clapham, who gave hopes
of help (for a time at least) from the Sunday School Society in money
and books. Mrs. De Quincey, in reporting the matter to her son, looks
forward to the time when "experience recommends the Institution
to more effectual patronage at home, where at present it is an
experiment, and viewed with indifference, if not with suspicion,
by people who must very feebly comprehend the value of religious
instruction."[171] The "good Pastor" was to be cheered, meanwhile,
"under his difficult labour" by the magic of Mrs. More's name, and
the promise of more substantial aid when the De Quincey ladies should
arrive.
[171] _De Quincey Memorials_, vol. ii., 90-91.
But aid was to be found at hand, which probably did not excite
suspicion. To Lady Fleming religion became increasingly dear after
home troubles left her a lonely woman. Her accounts show that in 1817
14s. 8d. was paid to "Mr. Noble Wilson, Schoolmaster"--possibly for
books: and in 1821 a fee of ten guineas was paid him "for Teaching
Sunday School." Mr. Wilson, who followed Robert Powley (inscribed as
curate in 1814), must have been a favourite. He came over from his
cure at Witherslack in 1831 to bury Mr. Samuel Barber, who had made
"Gell's Cottage" (now Silverhow) his home.
Evil days had fallen once more on the Grasmere rectorate. The Rev.
Thomas Jackson died in 1822. He left two sons, one of whom, educated
for the law, succeeded him as agent at Rydal Hall. The other,
William, was bred up to the church, and no doubt his father had hopes
that he would succeed him as rector.[172] But the right of nomination
had, unfortunately, passed into the hands of Sir Daniel Fleming. No
protest to the bishop, as regards his choice, was of avail, and the
nominee, Sir Richard le Fleming, took office.
[172] The Ven. William Jackson, D.D., was born in 1792, and
preferred to the benefices of Whitehaven, Penrith, Cliburn and
Lowther (Rector 1828-1878) by the Earl of Lonsdale, who gave him
Askham Hall to serve as the Rectory of Lowther. Bishop Percy
appointed him Canon and Chancellor of Carlisle, and gave him an
Archdeaconry, which he resigned on becoming Provost of Queen's
College, Oxford (1862-1878). He married the daughter of Mr. Crump
who built Allan Bank, and had four daughters; two died young, one
married a Mr. John H. Crump, the other the present Provost of
Queen's College, Oxford, the Rev. J. R. Magrath, D.D.--ED.
The rector remained at the rectory after his inhibition in 1834, and
curates, named Kingsley, Magrath, and Harris did duty successively
for two years each. Then, in 1840, came the Rev. Edward Jefferies,
who for so long ministered to the parish as curate and rector. He
remained as curate when, in 1857, the opportunity came for Lady
Fleming to appoint her distant kinsman, the Rev. Fletcher Fleming,
of Rayrigg (already serving the chapel of Rydal), to the rectorate,
but when he retired, in 1863, the Rev. Edward was fully installed in
his office. Mr. Jefferies died in 1893.[173] The men who followed him
are still (1912) living; the Revs. H. M. Fletcher, W. Jennings, J. H.
Heywood, and M. F. Peterson.
[173] He had resigned the living in 1878.
THE CHAPELS.
Brief mention of the later history of the chapelries under Grasmere
may be made here.
Ambleside, when the crisis of the Reformation came, took matters
strenuously in hand, as we have seen. The townsmen provided a regular
stipend for a curate who could teach Latin and Greek to their sons,
and also kept up the fabric of the chapel, in complete independence
of the mother church. Moreover the right of burial and baptism at
the chapel was secured in 1676, after some opposition from the
patron.[174] Nothing, perhaps, was definitely fixed with regard
to the nomination of the schoolmaster-curate, when the townsfolk
undertook to furnish his salary in 1584. They may have hoped that it
would be left to themselves; and certainly they, with Mr. Braithwaite
at their head, appointed during the Commonwealth. But the strong
Squire of Rydal soon made it plain, that as patron of the mother
church, he meant to establish his claim to the patronage of the
daughter chapel, which stood on the Grasmere side of Stock Beck.[175]
It has remained in his family ever since.
[174] See _Ambleside Town and Chapel_, p. 42.
[175] See _Ambleside Town and Chapel_, p. 46.
AMBLESIDE CHAPEL.
It may be well to give a list of the Post-Reformation parsons of
Ambleside (rectified according to present knowledge), as well as
the evidence of a provision made for them in 1584. This evidence
was found amongst Mr. George Browne's MSS. too late for insertion
in _Ambleside Town and Chapel_, where the deed of 1597 is given in
full. It is an extract from a contemporaneous document, written out
in a memorandum book of Christopher Birkett, who owned part of the
lands of the Forrest family in Ambleside; and it records the fixed
contributions of that family to the endowment.
"Forth of the Schedule conteining the sums of money granted by
ye Ten^{ts} and Inhabitants of Amble' for the repaires of the
Chapel and payeing the Ministers Stipend according to an Award
whereto the schedule is Annexed. Dated 16th Octobr in the 26th
yeare of Queen Elizibeth.
John Forrest xijd.
Wife of Rich: Forrest viijd.
Antony Forrest iiijd.
Edw: Forrest 4d.
Thomas Forrest 3s. 4d.
A Schedule of all the P'cels of ground named and set downe to
be Occupyed by ye Rulers of Ambleside to the use and intents
conteined in the Award annexed.
One P'cell of ground conteining one Rood lyeing at the height of
Seethwait in the possession of John Forrest.
One P'cell lyeing at Kilnhow, one Rood in the pos'ion of the
wife of Richard Forrest.
One close above the Grove in possession of Edward Forrest.
One close called Grove close in possession of Thom: Forrest."
AMBLESIDE CURATES
The names of two or three priests who may have served Ambleside
before the Reformation have already been given. A new era was marked
by the endowment of 1584, and the appointment of an excellent and
learned man followed.
1585--JOHN BELL. He was the first curate to inscribe his name in
the Bible belonging to the chapel, which, after long alienation,
has been restored to the church.[176] Bell's latest inscription
tells that he had then served (in 1629) for 44 years. He was
buried in Grasmere, December 23rd, 1634. His fine action in
constructing with his scholars a causeway across the miry bottom
between Ambleside and Rydal was long held in remembrance. In his
latter days he must have had an assistant under him, for the
burial of Leonard Wilson, "Scolmaister at Amblesyd," is entered
for February 12th, 1621.
[176] _Ambleside "Curates" Bible, Transactions_, C. and W. An.
S., n.s. vol vii.
1635--THOMAS MASON (spelt also Mayson and Masonn). It was he,
doubtless, who witnessed (and wrote out) many Ambleside deeds, though
not till 1840 does the word "clerk" follow.
1647--HENRY TURNER, undoubtedly a Presbyterian.
1669--JOHN PEARSON. This nominee of the Rydal squire met with some
opposition in the town, headed by Mr. Braithwaite "upon a private
Pique"--so the patron reported to the bishop. He was, however,
ordained and inducted; though the subsequent refusal of some of the
townsmen to pay their pledged contribution to the salary of the
curate was no doubt due to discontent.[177]
[177] _Ambleside Town and Chapel, Transactions_, C. and W. An.
S., n.s. vol. vi., p. 47, where particulars of some of the
following curates and their assistants are given.
1681 ---- THWAITES. The Christian name of this pedagogue has not been
recovered. The diocesan registry does not give him; but his name
is entered in the Curates' Bible, and moreover four of the Rydal
squire's sons were placed under his tuition in January, 1681. His
stay was short, and a collection was made for him in the chapel on
October 20th, 1685, to which the squire contributed 5s.
1682--RICHARD WRIGHT was instituted curate before Mr. Thwaites'
departure.
1688--ROGER FLEMING. His name suggests his being a native. He united
husbandry with his other occupations. His burial is entered on
September 2nd, 1694, and on the 11th, his successor, who had served
Grasmere, was licensed.
1694--THOMAS KNOTT. He wrote out John Kelsick's will, by which
Ambleside has so largely benefited. As his name is the last in the
Curates' Bible, we must suppose that he caused a new one to be bought.
1744--JONATHAN MYLES.
1753--ISAAC KNIPE.
1786--JOHN WILSON.
1791--JOHN KNIPE.
1798 ---- CRAKELT.
1811--JOHN DAWES.
THOMAS TROUGHTON.
SAMUEL IRTON FELL.
An extraordinary entry appears in the Grasmere register for February
15th, 1674, "ye buriall of John Osgood of Amblesid surverer[178] for
ye duty of Christ borne at Ridin in barkeshire."
[178] May mean _server_ or _sufferer_. But whether we are to take
it that John Osgood served as a clergyman or suffered as a Quaker
is not easy to decide.--ED.
LANGDALE CURATES
Langdale was, at the Reformation, in worse case than Ambleside, where
the townsfolk were rich enough to put both chapel and school on a
sound financial basis. The Little Langdale chapel ceased to be. The
one in Great Langdale, bereft of its particular ministering priest,
was threatened with a like fate. Probably it was never closed,
however. An intelligent native would be found to act as clerk for
a nominal wage, and occasionally the rector would visit it, and
would administer the Easter communion to those who were too old or
ill to cross the fell. Two clerks appear in the register before
the Commonwealth, who may have acted as lay readers. During the
Commonwealth the chapel would be wholly in the hands of the sect that
happened to be dominant for the moment; and the fact that its pulpit
was open to any religious speaker undoubtedly caused the followers of
George Fox to be more numerous in Langdale than in any other quarter
of the parish. It was a Quaker who resisted the Episcopal church
service, when it was revived. (See p. 88.)
But order was again established at the Restoration. Weekly services
were apparently conducted by a lay clerk, and the Grasmere curate in
charge came over once a year to administer sacrament (at a charge of
2s. 6d. to the township), and twice or thrice to preach (1s.). From
1680, when Langdale secured the privilege of a separate communion,
she ceased to contribute to the bread and wine consumed at the parish
church celebrations.
The ritual of the chapel is disclosed in a Presentment of its wardens
for 1732, preserved among the general accounts.
They have (they say) the Commandments set up within the chapel;
a Communion table; linen cloth; patten; flagon and Chalice;
Reading-desk and pulpit; a Surplice; books, etc.; with bell and
bell-rope. "Our minister resides with us; he is not in Holy Orders:
he reads Prayers and Homilies." He is allowed "the usual salary."
Sacrament is administered every Easter. Baptisms and marriages are
solemnized by the curate of Grasmere. No alms are received from the
Communicants; and they have no alms-box.
The separate parochial accounts kept for Langdale continually give
items for repair and upkeep of the fabric and its adjuncts. One of
these was a "common stable," doubtless used for the accommodation of
those who rode to worship. After consultations, the re-building of
the chapel and school was decided on in 1751, and the work was slowly
proceeded with, at the expense of the township, through the next
three years. There may have been always a priest's lodging in the
valley. In 1762 the "Parson's House" was repaired for 13s. 3-1/2d.
The following is a list--incomplete in its earlier part--of clerks,
readers, and curates who served the chapel after the Reformation:--
William Gollinge "of The Thrange in Langden, clerk" had a son
baptized 1590.
Charles Middlefell "clerke of Landale" died 1643.
Richard Harrison, clerk; died 1670. Daniel Green, d. 1829.
Richard Steele, d. 1780. Owen Lloyd, d. 1841.
Thomas Jackson, d. 1821. Stephen Birkett, d. 1860.
William Jackson, 1821.[179] James Coward, vicar; 1885.
Thomas Sewell, 1822. R. S. Hulbert, ret. 1900.
[179] See page 173, note.
Owen Lloyd was the son of Charles Lloyd, who was the friend of
Charles Lamb and for some time had resided at old Brathay. He
inherited considerable poetic gifts, and composed the Rushbearing
Hymn always sung at the Ambleside Festival. He lived for a while with
his friend, Mrs. Luff, at Fox Ghyll, Loughrigg.
RYDAL.--The chapel of St. Mary, Rydal, was built by Lady Fleming in
1824 and consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on August 27th, 1825.
This new foundation took a large slice out of the old parish, though
customary dues and tithes continued for some time to be paid to the
rector. (See later.)
BRATHAY.--The church, which was built here in 1836 by Mr. Giles
Redmayne, stands on the Lancashire side of the river, but its
parochial boundary took another slice off the old parish, which was
now wholly robbed of the township of Rydal and Loughrigg.
So the old mother church, robbed of her daughter chapels and the
folk she so long fostered, rules to-day only the little valley of
Grasmere.
[Illustration: Decorative]
SCHOOL AND CLERKS
Latter-day clerks and schoolmasters present a tangled subject,
difficult to unravel. Sometimes the clerk taught school. More often
there was a separate schoolmaster who served as curate, entering
holy orders for the purpose; for by this economy of labour two
meagre stipends were put together, and the rector might even effect
an economy on the one.[180] Sometimes each of the three offices was
served by its own functionary; and yet again it seems likely that
they were occasionally all filled by one man--in which case a deputy
was hired for the menial work.
[180] There were sad doings among the Pluralists and absentee
parsons of the eighteenth century; and the unpaid curates were
often addicted to drink. See _Ambleside Town and Chapel_, pp.
56-7 and onward.
The school of Grasmere was doubtless an ancient institution, taught
in days before the Reformation by the resident priest. It is not
unlikely that it would be supervised by the visiting monk from York,
for monasteries were then the centres of learning. It would, of
course, be held within the church, or the porch, according to the
season, as was the custom. After the Reformation, and during John
Wilson's fifty-two years' term as rector, followed by that of the
erratic Royalist, Henry Wilson, tuition must have been a good deal
neglected, or left to the clerk. One Michael Hird was serving as
clerk in 1613, and a Robert of the name in 1638, who may have been a
son, since the office was kept in a family whenever possible. Robert
Hird, "clarke," was buried in 1680, which looks like ejection by the
Presbyterians, and subsequent restoration.
For we are left in no doubt as to the appointments made by the new
religious authorities. George Bennison, proud, no doubt, of his
office and of his smattering of Latin, wrote in the register, "I
began to teache Schoole att Grassmire the 3 day of May 1641 being et
Ludimagister et AEdituus."[181]
[181] From a recent work, _Educational Charters and Documents_,
by H. F. Leach, we learn that the clergy taught both themselves
and others from the earliest times; for instance, in the seventh
century, Aldhelm, writing to the Bishop about his studies, tells
him how after long struggles he grasped at last, in a moment, by
God's grace, "the most difficult of all things, what they call
fractions." In the tenth century a canon of King Edgar enjoins
that "every priest in addition to lore to diligently learn a
handicraft," and later in the same century the Council enacted
that "priests shall keep schools in the villages and teach small
boys without charge," and also that they ought always to have
schools for teachers, "Ludi magistrorum scholas" in their houses,
thus they would prepare others to take up the work professionally
which they were doing for nothing. Five hundred years later we
find it ordered at Bridgenorth, in 1503, that "no priste keep no
scole, after that a scole mastur comyth to town, but that every
child to resorte to the comyn scole." But the plague broke out
and swept away "scole masturs" and pupils alike, and in 1529 the
Convocation of Canterbury once more bade all rectors, vicars, and
charity priests to employ some part of their time in teaching
boys the alphabet, reading, singing, or grammar; and appointed a
Revision Committee of one archbishop, four bishops, four abbots,
and four archdeacons to bring out a uniform Latin grammar for
all schools. That grammar was taught in Latin in the tenth and
eleventh centuries we know from the Colloquy of OElfric, 1005,
and from his preface to the first English-Latin grammar, in which
teachers were told that "It is better to invoke God the Father
giving him honour by lengthening the syllable (P[=a]ter) rather
than cutting it short (P[)a]ter); no, comparing pronunciation as
is the Britons' way, for God ought not to be subject to the rules
of grammar."
ED.
From his spelling of the place-name--which never had been
anything but _Gresmer_--we suspect him to have been a stranger;
and it would probably be difficult to fill posts on the spot that
had been summarily made void. Next comes "Thomas Wilson clarke at
Gresmere in 1655." He it must have been who fought the battle of
ritual with John Banks, bailiff, before a trembling congregation,
after the minister Wallas had decamped. (See p. 87.) He, in turn,
must have lost the post at the Restoration.
The Parliament passed a law in 1653 obliging every parish to
supply a layman for the care of the registers, who was oddly
called a "parish-register."[182] Accordingly this was done, and
certified by the non-conformist magnate of Ambleside Hall. "Bee
it remembered that John Benson of Gresmere being elected and
chosen Parish Register of Gresmere by the inhabitants ther was
approved of and sworne before me the 9th of Aprill 1656.
[182] Dr. Fox's _Parish Registers of England_.
Tho: Brathwaite."
John kept the office, as an entry in the accounts shows, at least
twenty years.
Rector Ambrose, when he left £50 to the parson and "twenty-four"
of the parish, in trust for the school, gave an impetus to
education in the place. The sum--or part of it--may have been used
for the erection of a school-house. At all events, the quaint
little house still standing by the lych-gates was already there
when Anthony Dawson, statesman--incited perhaps by the parson's
example--bequeathed, in 1635, the sum of £7 to a "School Stock in
Grasmeer."[183] He expressly entrusted it to the patron, rector,
and incumbent, "towards the maintenance of a Schoolmaster teaching
Scholars at the School-House built at the Church Yard Yeates in
Gresmere."[184]
[183] The dates of these legacies are incorrectly given on the
list within the church.
[184] Rydal Hall MSS., Grasmere, was by no means behind the times
in education. There was no parish school at Clayworth, Notts.,
in 1676, when an independent master was encouraged by permission
to teach within the church; and an effort made to raise a school
"stock" or endowment failed five years later. See _Rectors' Book
of Clayworth_.
These legacies gave importance to the office of schoolmaster. The
choice lay then, as now, with the rector and the lay representatives
of the parish, at that time the Eighteen, now only six. The
appointment of young Thomas Knott as schoolmaster, shortly after this
accession of funds, was an excellent one. Curate as well, there is
a question as to whether he did not occupy also the post of clerk.
He was termed clerk in the wardens' accounts, when in 1694 he was
paid 2s. for attending the Visitation and Correction Court. But a
man who could appear at so dignified a function could hardly have
swept out the church, or dug the graves--and these, according to
the Declaration of the Wardens "We have no sexton belonging to our
Church"--were among the clerk's duties. He may have paid a deputy to
do these things, since there were perquisites belonging to the post
worth gathering in.
INCOME OF THE CLERK.--The parish clerk was, in his way, as important
a functionary as the parson. Like the rector, he had no fixed salary,
but took from early times the offerings of the folk, which became
fixed and proportionate, like the tithes. From every "smoke" or
household fire, he had one penny a year. For church ceremonials, when
he acted as Master of the Ceremonies, he received a fixed fee, 2d.
for a wedding and 4d. for a funeral. He was the accredited news-agent
or advertizer. For instance, when the Rydal and Loughrigg Overseers
wished to put a pauper out to board, in 1796, they gave him 2d. "for
advertising her to let." (See Tithes.) He was paid 2d. for every
proclamation in church or yard.
These ancient fixed fees lessened in value through the centuries,
as did the tithes. Various small emoluments however became attached
to the post as time went on. If the clerk was a good penman--as he
was certain to be when acting as pedagogue--he might be employed on
the church writings. Besides the joint Presentments, charged at 2s.
6d. (of which Grasmere and Langdale paid 1s. each and Rydal with
Loughrigg 6d.), there were the wardens' accounts to be drawn up, at a
fee rising by degrees from 3s. to 5s.; as well as a fair copy to be
made into the large register-book from the parson's pocket-register.
This last duty--oft, alas! negligently performed--was long rewarded
by 1s. annual payment, which afterwards rose to 3s. 6d. These items
occur in the accounts:--
£ s. d.
1672--"For writting ye burialls Christenings and
Mariages out ye Register Bookes 2 times" 00 2 00
1675--"Itt. for writting a coppy out of ye Regester
Book etc £00 2 00"
1790--"To writing Marriage Register 1s. 0d. to
drawing Copy of Register 2s. 6d."
The contract for bell-ringing was given to the clerk, and doubtless
he secured a profit upon it. He had an annual payment for lighting
the vestry fire; another (5s.) for "attending" the hearse. In 1822
the accounts give--after an item for "cleaning" the church-yard and
windows:--
"To Ditto Sentences and Window and Church throughout self and
Boy" 7s. 6d.
This was clearly not a school-master clerk, who enjoyed--instead
of receipts from menial labour--the scholars' pence and the small
stipend. If we turn back to enumerate the men who served the office,
we find Robert Harrison (1695 to 1713) followed by Anthony Harrison.
There was no clerk in 1729, according to the presentment. Gawen
Mackereth (1736 to 1756) is entered as "clarke and schoolmaster,"
though he certainly entered holy orders; so he may possibly, with a
deputy, have combined the three offices. John Cautley was clerk in
1756.
After this came three generations of Mackereths: George of Knott
Houses; the second George, who filled the office from 1785 to his
death, at 81, in 1832; and David, his son. These men were clerks,
pure and simple.[185] David pursued the calling of a gardener,
working for Mr. Greenwood at the Wyke. In his time it was decided to
give the clerk a salary. It began in 1845 at £4, and was advanced in
1854 to £5, with the stipulation, however, that one J. Airey should
receive 13s. 6d. of it. But David did not prosper, and he emigrated
to Australia in 1856. He is remembered by Miss Greenwood as a tall,
fine man, like his successor; he used, after giving out the psalm to
the congregation at the desk, to march into the singing-pew (which
stood where the organ is) and there lead the voices. Indeed, the
parish clerk of old, besides a tuneful voice, was generally endowed
with a fine presence. The family is spoken of in an old newspaper
of nearly a year ago. Grasmere, December 31st, 1909: "Death of a
noted Guide.--Last week there died at Grasmere one of the best known
guides in the district, and one of the best known characters in
his day--John Mackereth. He was descended from a very old family
of Grasmere statesmen, intimately connected with Grasmere Church
in three generations of parish clerks, and earlier still as 'Ludi
magister et clericus.' The Rev. Gawin Mackereth held these offices
from 1736 to 1756. George Mackereth, of Knott Houses, parish clerk,
was buried July 23rd, 1785. His son George became parish clerk, and
was buried 22nd October, 1832, aged 81 years. He was succeeded by his
son, David Mackereth, who held the office up to the fifties. David's
son, George, was much disappointed that he was not chosen clerk after
his father's time. He was a tailor, and also a noted guide. He died
in 1881, and Johnny as he was always called took his place as guide.
He was also boatman in Mr. Brown's days at the Prince of Wales Hotel.
In these capacities he was known to hundreds of visitors, who never
came to Grasmere without looking him up. Of late years he worked on
the roads for the council. He was great on wrestling, and for many
years collected money for prizes at the rush-bearing. He had no
children, but four brothers and three sisters, all of whom have left
Grasmere, survive him." One Brian Mackereth was, in 1677, ranked
among the Freeman Tanners of the City of Kendal. (_Boke of Recorde_.)
In the same year Squire Daniel gave 5s. "at ye Collection of Brian
Mackereth's Houseburning." James Airey, the next clerk (1856 to
1862), must have been a clever, ingenious man, for he kept the clock
in order from 1831. He was also appointed schoolmaster--an office
that had often changed hands, and been united with the curacy--and
Edward Wilson was taught by him (along with the younger De Quincey
children) until he went with his brother to the Ambleside school.
[185] The Mackereths made no pretention to learning, and Robert
Pooley or Powley acted as school-master after the Revd. Noble
Wilson in Sir Richard Fleming's time, and he was keeping the
registers in 1814.
The school, meanwhile, had received other benefactions. The church
list records £80 given by William Waters, of Thorneyhow, in 1796,
towards the master's salary; and good Mrs. Dorothy Knott followed
this, in 1812, by £100, the interest of which was to be spent on the
education of five Grasmere children, born of poor and industrious
parents. John Watson, yeoman and smith, made a similar bequest in
1852, stipulating that the recipients should be chosen annually by
the trustees of the school. In 1847 Mr. Vincent G. Dowley gave £10.
While the salary of the master was paid out of the school "stock"
or endowment, the township took upon itself the maintenance of the
school-house; and the expenses were duly entered in the accounts
of the Grasmere "Third." The waller of those days was differently
remunerated from the workman of these. For instance, the large
statement of 1729 "For mending the School-house" is followed by the
small sum of 14s. 6d. Naturally the windows wanted "glassing" from
time to time. Occasionally new forms were procured--four in 1781 cost
5s. 4d.; or a new table, in 1805.
A loft or upper floor was constructed in the small house in 1782, the
opportunity apparently being taken when the Grasmere township had
bought an oak-tree for the renewal of their decayed benches in the
church, and while workmen were on the spot. The expences stand as
follows:--
s. d.
24 ft. of oak boards for school-loft at 3d. per ft. 6 0
8-1/2 days carpenter laying school loft 14 0
1000 nails for the same 4 6
2 Jammers for door and some hair 1 0
The little house, so stoutly built and prudently kept up, remains
the same, only that partitions have been erected for rooms, and the
entrance has been changed from the church-yard to the outer side. The
cupboard where the boys kept their books, the pump where they washed
their hands, may still be seen. School was held within its walls till
1855, when the present schools were built.
With James Airey, who acted as both, the record of former
schoolmasters and clerks may be closed. But one who, appointed in
1879, served the office of verger (substituted for clerk) up to 1906,
must be mentioned. Edward Wilson was son of the carpenter of the same
name, and he pursued the craft himself. No custodian of old could
have filled the office with greater reverence or dignity, nor graced
it by a finer presence. Intelligent, calm, quietly humourous, he was
also gifted with an accurate memory of the events of his youth; and
his death, in 1910, at the age of 88 seems truly to have shut to
finally the door of Grasmere's past.
[Illstration: Decoration]
THE CHURCH RATES
The church rate, levied by the wardens and the Eighteen on the
parishioners for the up-keep of the church, must for long have
stood at a low figure. In Squire Daniel's Account-book for February
16-62/63 the item appears "Paid ye other day an Assess to ye church
for my little tenem^t in Gressmer 00 00 02."
This was a small farm-hold at the Wray, which he had inherited from
his uncle. And forty years later, when the year's expenditure was
high, the freeholder, Francis Benson of the Fold, was rated no higher
than 5s. 9d. for all his lands. The general charges after 1662, when
the equipment for the episcopal services was complete, up to 1810,
averaged in those years when there was no extraordinary outlay,
barely more than £2, to which, of course, were added those incurred
by each township individually. In 1733, when the bells caused a great
outlay, it is possible that money was borrowed, for an item stands
"For interest to Jane Benson 5s. 0d." Rydal and Loughrigg furnished,
in 1661, the sum of £2. 9s. as its share in the maintenance of the
church; and in 1682, £1. 5s. 6d.; while in 1733 it mounted to £13.
3s. 7d., of which the special Ambleside churchwarden produced, on
behalf of his district, 19s. 1d.
When the churchwardens' books re-open in 1790, the general charges
stand at £2. 2s. 7-1/2d., and those of the three townships united
at £7. 13s. 2-1/2d.; our township paying of this £2. 2s. 1d. The
following table shows the progress of expense:--
Complete Charges Share paid by
of Three Loughrigg and
Townships. beneath Moss. Ambleside.
£ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.
1790 7 13 2-1/2 2 2 1 --
1800 5 4 11-1/2 1 15 6-1/4 --
1810 50 1 4-1/2 16 1 11-1/2 5 18 0-1/2
1820 21 5 5-1/2 7 1 0-1/2 2 2 7-1/2
1830 18 7 5 4 11 5-1/2 1 8 4-1/2
1840 13 17 8 4 6 11-1/2 1 14 0
1850 20 16 9-1/2 6 6 2-1/2 2 4 9-1/2
1857 34 15 8-1/2 11 17 11-1/2[186]4 2 11-1/2
[186] Of such charges as were shared by all, two-fifths of
one-third was Ambleside's share.
The extraordinary expense of 1810 was caused by the building of the
vestry and hanging of the bells. In the year of the great outlay
upon the roof (1814), when Rydal produced £35. 19s. 11d. and £14.
7s. 4d. from Ambleside, the wardens laid for the last time but one,
the old church rate or "sess." Henceforth, the Overseers of the Poor
took it over, and so long as it lasted paid it out of the Poor Rate.
This seems to have been a period of laxity, when the old spirit of
responsibility and watchful care in the custodians of the building,
as representatives of their townships, became weakened. It was now,
in 1816, when the wardens and Eighteen would seem to have less to do,
that an annual dinner was instituted for them and the "minister."
This cost 2s. a head; and though at the Easter Meeting of 1849 "it
was resolved that in future the Landlord at the Red Lion Inn shall
provide dinners for the 24 at the Rate of 1s. 6d. p^r Head, Ale also
to be Included in the said Sum," the sum paid remained £2.
A fee of 1s. 4d. paid to the churchwardens on entry or exit from
office (which covered his journey to Kendal) had long been customary.
Besides this fee, his expenses began in 1826 to be paid separately at
the rate of 3s.
But the old order, long decrepit, was soon to be wiped out. Strangers
were pressing into the remote valley, which Gray had found in
1769 without one single gentleman's residence. Not only poets and
literary men began to settle in it, but rich men from cities, who
bought up the old holdings of statesmen and built "mansions" upon
them. These men demanded accommodation in the old parish church of
a kind befitting their notions of dignity. Opposition seems to have
been made to their demands. It is not quite easy to discover, from
the account given in the churchwardens' book of the meetings held
about the matter in 1856 and 1857, where the difficulty lay. We may
surmise, however, that while the seats in the Grasmere division of
the church were full to overflowing, those belonging to the other
townships would be often vacant, since not only the old Chapels of
Ambleside and Langdale were in use for regular worship and communion,
but new ones were built for Rydal and Brathay. It is possible that
an attempt to sweep away the traditional divisions and put Grasmere
folk in Langdale or Loughrigg seats produced the dead-lock we read
of. At all events, a vestry meeting was held on July 24th, 1856, with
the Rev. Sir Richard Fleming in the chair, "to consider the propriety
of making such an arrangement with respect to the free and open
sittings in the church as may conduce to the general convenience of
the inhabitants; and preparatory to an allotment by the churchwardens
of such free and open Sittings among the parishioners in proportion
to their several requirements, due regard being had to all customary
Sittings and to the rights of persons, having property in pews."
This proposal was made by Mr. Tremenhere and seconded by Captain
Philipps, both new-comers, though the latter (who had opened the
Hydropathic Establishment at the Wray) seems to have been chosen as
one of the Eighteen; and it was promptly negatived by a majority of
nineteen to four. Mr. Thomas H. Marshall, another new resident, at
whose instigation the matter had been begun, persisted in it however;
and the two wardens for Grasmere agreed to take lawyer's counsel
as to their action in carrying out a Faculty already procured, and
for which they paid Dr. Twiss £3. 6s. This counsel is not very
clear, but paragraph ii. of its text is of interest: "I think that
the appropriation of any number of pews in a Mass to the separate
townships, so as to exclude permanently the Inhabitants of the
parish in general from the use of them, would be a proceeding in
contradiction to the express provisions of the Faculty. The Faculty
must be taken to have superseded any antecedent custom under which
pews in a mass were appropriated to separate townships. I think it
is the duty of the Churchwardens to assign to such parishioners
as shall apply from time to time, indiscriminately as regards the
townships, pews or seats, as the case may be, among the free and open
sittings." Again, after expressing his opinion that the burden of
the church rate should fall on the inhabitants in general, he speaks
of "the custom for the townships to repair their own portions of the
Church applied to the Church in the state in which it was, and under
the exceptional arrangements of the Sittings which existed prior to
the issuing of the Faculty.... The manner of collecting the rate by
the officers of the townships may still hold good, but the rule of
assessment must, I think, be derived from the general law."
The Archdeacon was likewise applied to by Mr. Marshall and Mr.
Stephen Heelis, a lawyer from Manchester, who had bought a holding
at Above Beck, and had built himself a house there. He was an able
man, and at once took a prominent part in the proceedings. He was
made churchwarden for Grasmere, and with his colleague, William
Wilson, set to work in 1857 upon the unrestricted allotment of seats
countenanced by the authorities. This was the end of the individual
shares held by the townships in the fabric of the old mother church;
it was the end of the Eighteen who had represented the township; it
was an end, likewise, of the general church rate for which those
Eighteen stood responsible; since it was manifestly unfair to tax
those whose rights had been taken away. Langdale fell away, and the
Brathay part of Loughrigg, and Ambleside-above-Stock. The rate of
1-1/2d. in the £ on property, which the wardens proceeded to levy on
the whole of the parishioners, was responded to for the last time
in 1858, when Ambleside paid £7, Rydal and Loughrigg £10 17s. 10d.,
and Langdale £8 6s. 3d., to Grasmere's £13 14s. 11-3/4d. The little
division of Rydal with part of Loughrigg was indeed, by dint of its
being dubbed a chapelry, held yet a little longer in the grasp of
the old church; four statesmen and one warden were allowed her in
return for the rate she continued to pay. This she seems at first
to have paid equally with Grasmere, and in 1859 she contributed
the high figure of £15 0s. 10-1/2d. towards the expenses of the
church. In 1861 she paid £13 5s. 1-1/2d. By 1866, however, the rate
to supply the immensely increased expenses of worship had become a
burden, even to Grasmere folk. A voluntary rate took its place, and
Rydal contributed its unspecified portion to this for the last time
in 1870. The offertory that then superseded all rates, paid only by
worshippers, was an immediate success.
In 1879, when the volume of accounts closes, the year's expenditure
stands at £155 14s. 1d.
NON-RATEPAYERS
The religious factions--whether Baptist, Anabaptist, Independent
or Presbyterian--that had sprung up during the Commonwealth left
behind them no vital seeds of dissent in the wide parish of Grasmere,
although the two last had in turn held the rectorate and the pulpit.
As soon, indeed, as the Episcopal Church was restored, along with the
Monarchy, the people returned with apparently a willing mind, and
almost unanimously, to the old order of worship.
There was an exception, however, to be found in the Quakers, who were
firm in refusing to re-enter the Church. George Fox, wandering on
foot like an old Celtic missionary, had made his appearance in these
parts in 1653, and at once his preaching (which mirrored his mystic
and simple mind), united with a magnetic personality, had secured
him a following. His teaching discountenanced all creeds, forms, and
ritual. His meetings were, therefore, held in private houses; and
so much abhorred by his followers was the "steeple-house" with its
consecrated ground, as well as any fixed form of service (even the
Office for the Burial of the Dead), that they often laid their dead
in silence in their own garden-ground, rather than carry them to the
church.
As the little band grew larger, a plot of ground was, however,
secured as early as 1658 at Colthouse, near Hawkshead, in Lancashire,
as a graveyard[187]; and in that neighbourhood, where they built a
meeting-house in 1688,[188] they became numerous and active; and on
the Westmorland side of the Brathay--in Langdale and in Loughrigg
more especially--George Fox also found adherents. In particular,
Francis Benson, freeholder of the Fold, of a wealthy family of
clothiers, and an influential man who served as Presbyterian elder in
1646, became his follower; and remained so through the persecutions.
He received Fox into his house, even when the preacher had become a
marked man. Fox's _Journal_, after recording his Keswick preachings
in 1663, runs on:--
[187] Hawkshead Parish Register.
[188] From Mr. William Satterthwaite, of Colthouse, a member of
the Society of Friends.
We went that night to one Francis Benson's in Westmorland; near
Justice Fleming's House. This Justice Fleming was at that time
in a great Rage against Friends, and me in particular; insomuch
that in the open Sessions at Kendal just before, he had bid Five
Pounds to any Man, that should take me; that Francis Benson told
me. And it seems as I went to this Friend's House, I met one Man
coming from the Sessions, that had this Five Pounds offered him
to take me, and he knew me; for as I passed by him, he said to
his Companion, That is George Fox: Yet he had not power to touch
me: for the Lord's power preserved me over all.
The fanatical spirit of Fox is shown perhaps in this passage, where
he ascribes the inaction of these two parishioners of Grasmere, not
to a generous tolerance of mind (certainly God-given), but to a
direct interposition of Providence in his own favour. He likewise
attributes the death of the Squire's good and gentle wife later on to
God's wrath and judgment upon the husband for his persecution of the
Friends.
In truth, Squire Daniel was not the man to view leniently the
opposition offered by the new sect to the restoration of the old form
of worship. It must be allowed that the method of their preachers
was not only irritating but provocative; for it was their wont,
when the congregation was assembled in the "steeple-house" to rise
and denounce both worship and officiating clergy as instruments of
Belial; with an occasional result of rough handling and ejection by
the people. We have seen that William Wilson, a Langdale man and one
of their speakers, resorted to this method of interruption when the
Church of England service was restored in the chapel. The parson of
Windermere later on wrote to Squire Daniel begging his magisterial
help, as a woman was in the habit of rising during worship and
denouncing him. Wilson's misdemeanour was immediately dealt with at
the Quarter Sessions, and on his refusing to swear the oath--a matter
of principle with the Quakers, which was not rightly understood,
and which made their offence a political one--was thrown into gaol,
where, if his fine of a hundred marks was not paid in six weeks, he
was to remain for six months, and to be brought again before the
magistrates.[189]
[189] Indictment Book, Kendal Quarter Sessions.
This was certainly a severe judgment. How the case ended is not
apparent, nor how long Wilson remained in prison. A letter exists
at Rydal Hall, addressed to "Justice fleeming" and signed L.M.,
reproaching him for his treatment of the Quakers, especially of
the four now in prison. One of these is "Wm. Willson, thy poore
neighbour," of whose wife and children the Squire is admonished to
have a care, since the prisoner had little but what he got by his
hands--a statement which implies that Wilson was a craftsman.
The Rydal Squire had at first believed that he could force the
Friends back to the common worship in the old parish church by means
of fines, for he had the frugal man's belief that the pocket can
be made to act upon the conscience. With the passing of the Act of
Uniformity (1662) and the later Conventicle and Five Mile Acts,
however, he and his fellow magistrates had a powerful legal hold over
them. It is clear that he caused the known Quakers of the parish
to be watched. One, James Russell, brought him word that there had
been a meeting on November 1st, 1663, at the house of John Benson,
of Stang End. This was on the Lancashire side of Little Langdale
beck, but the Westmorland folk who attended were Francis Benson, his
son Bernard, "Regnhold" Holme, Michael Wilson, and Barbara Benson.
Of Lancashire folk there were only Giles Walker, wright, who had
walked from Hawkshead, and William Wilson and his wife. Wilson was
the speaker, so his imprisonment had not damped his ardour. Again,
next year, the constable of Grasmere, Thomas Braithwaite, and a
churchwarden, Robert Grigge, gave evidence that certain Quakers had
been seen returning from Giles Walker's house near Hawkshead; and
among them were William Harrison, of Langdale, and Edward Hird, of
Grasmere.
These doings were not passed over by the Squire. He even tried
conclusions with the most powerful of the sect, Francis Benson, of
the Fold, and accordingly the latter was summoned, in 1663, along
with his wife Dorothy, to appear at the Quarter Sessions to answer
the charge of having been present at a meeting. The penalty of
non-appearance was a fine of thirty shillings, while the fines of
John Dixon and William Harrison, both of Langdale, charged with the
same offence, were respectively twenty shillings and ten shillings.
Francis Benson probably cleared his legal mis-demeanours by money
payments, for no evidence has been found of his imprisonment. He
and his family, however, remained staunch Friends. The place of his
sepulchre is not known, though his death is recorded for February,
1673, of "Fould in Loughrig," in the Quaker Registers. There is a
tradition of a burying-ground at the Fold, somewhere about his now
vanished homestead, and it is quite possible that some members of the
family might be buried there, as the early Friends not infrequently
made a grave-plot on their own ground. The Fold was so much a
centre of the sect that a marriage took place there between William
Satterthwaite, of Colthouse, and the daughter of Giles Walker, of
Walker Ground, Hawkshead, on December 11th, 1661.[190] According to
another tradition, a Baptist Meeting-house stood at the Fold, and
an old man, named Atkinson, whose forbears had owned the adjacent
farmhold of the Crag--where he was then living--pointed out the exact
spot on a little triangle by the road where the building had stood,
and the "Dipping" took place. But this story is against all record,
for we can trace the Bensons' adherence to the Friends to a late
period.
[190] Papers of the Satterthwaite family.
A large number of Quakers travelled to Rydal in 1681 to make their
Test or Declaration before Squire Daniel and his son, but the only
folk of the parish among them were Bernard Benson, of Loughrigg, and
Jane his wife, and "Regnald" Holme, of Clappersgate, and his wife
Jane.
In 1684 a Rydal man "presented" before the justices quite a concourse
of people who had been present at a "Conventicle" in Langdale. Some
seventeen Loughrigg and Langdale names were cited: Edward Benson of
High Close (his only appearance as a Dissenter), John Dixon of Rosset
in Langdale, William and James Harryson of Harry Place, "Regnald" and
Jane Holme of Loughrigg, James Holme, the Willsons of Langdale, etc.
Reginald Holme's name frequently appears in the Indictment Book
of the Quarter Sessions, and generally in connection with secular
disputes. He was, in fact, a turbulent character, little fitted to
belong to the peace-loving sect, which he joined possibly from sheer
love of dissent. Some items of his history have been given elsewhere.
He owned the mill at Skelwith Bridge--probably then, as later, a
corn-mill, though it is extremely likely that a walk-mill would be
set up additionally on this fine flow of water. About this water
and other matters he was in constant dispute with his neighbours.
One altercation, with a certain Thomas Rawlingson, the Friends
tried to settle for him but as he refused to accept their verdict,
a resolution was passed at a Monthly Meeting, held at Swathmoor
(1676), that the law might now take its course. On another occasion
Reginald was brought up before the Magistrates for assault; but the
recurring bone of contention was a dam or weir which he had built
across the river for the good of his mill--and to the damage, it
was declared, of the pathway above, and of his neighbours' grounds.
The Rydal Squire twice headed a party for the forcible destruction
of this dam, as has been told[191]; but long afterwards Holme was
in fierce conflict with Michael Satterthwaite, of Langdale, yeoman,
about this or another dam.[192] Finally, in 1684, a crisis occurred,
and Reginald's goods were seized by the strong arm of the law--a most
unwonted proceeding; on which occasion his sons and his daughter fell
upon the unfortunate officers, and beat them and put them forth with
violence--which made another indictable offence.
[191] _Transactions_, Cumb. and West. Ant. So., vol. 6, N.S.
[192] Indictment Book.
After the law-suit concerning the tithes, which followed upon
the Restoration (see ante), in which law-suit Francis Benson was
concerned, and possibly other Quakers, we have no evidence as to
whether the sect continued to oppose the payment of church scot.
But there is abundant evidence to show that they were resolute in
non-attendance at church, and in refusal to pay the church rate or
"sess" levied on the townships for the upkeep of the fabric and its
walls by the representative men of the parish. The Subsidy Rolls
of 1675 show that Francis Benson paid for himself and his wife
Dorothy the tax of 1s. 4d., which the Government demanded from all
non-communicants, as did "Reynald" Holme for self and wife, and John
Benson of Langdale.
From wardens' accounts and presentments we gain many particulars of
the dissenters of the parish, who appear to diminish in number as
time goes on. It had become necessary by 1694 to account, in the
books, for the deficit caused by the Friends' non-payment; and though
in the following year two of them yielded, Bernard Benson paying up
the large arrears of 15s. 11d. for "Church: Sess," and Jacob Holme
7s. 6d., the "Allowance for Dissenters" appears each year on the
debit side.
Presentments are only available from 1702. The following extracts
give the names of the non-payers of the two townships. Those of
Langdale would appear in their separate presentment:--
Loughrigg. £ s. d.
1705--Francis Benson of the Fold 0 1 8
The same for property in Grasmere 0 0 10
Jacob Holm of Tarn Foot 0 1 1
The same for property in Grasmere 0 0 2
Jane Holm of Skelwith Bridge 0 0 4-1/2
John Shacklock of the How 0 1 4
Grasmere.
Francis Benson of Grasmere, Underhow 0 0 2
Jane Benson, widow 0 0 3
Miles Elleray of Clappersgate 0 0 2
Arthur Benson 0 0 2
Loughrigg.
1706--Francis Benson of the Fold 0 1 1
For Grasmere 0 0 10
Jacob Holm 0 1 4
For Grasmere 0 0 2
Jane Holm 0 0 8
For Mill Brow 0 0 4
Miles Elleray 0 0 1
Grasmere.
Jane Benson 0 0 3
Francis Benson, Underhow 0 0 2
Loughrigg.
1707--Francis Benson of the Fold £0 2 9
For Grasmere 0 1 2
Jacob Holm 0 1 10
For Grasmere 0 0 1
Henry Dover 0 0 11
John Rigg 0 0 10-1/2
Grasmere.
Jane Benson, widow 0 0 4
Francis Benson, Underhow 0 0 2
The wardens add "Likewise we present two
churchmen [name crossed out] and George
Mackereth of Clappersgate 0 0 9
1712--Presented "for denying to pay their church-sess":--
Jane Benson of Nichols in Grasmere 0 0 5
Francis Benson of ye Fold in Loughrigg 0 0 3
The same for Loughrigge and Rydal 0 1 8
Henry Dover for Loughrigg 0 1 2
"We present Wm. Ulock Church sess" 0 0 4
"We have in o^r. parish about two hundred
Familys in all. No papists. No protestant
Dissenters, Except 6 or 7 families of
Quakers."
1717--Only Francis Benson of the Fold is presented
for refusing to contribute to the Rates 0 1 8
And for his Estate in Grasmere 0 1 4
1723--The wardens declare that none refuse to pay
the parson's dues, or clerk's fees, or church-rates,
but the Quakers. "We do not know
that they have qualified themselves according
to ye act of Toleration. We do not
know that the place of their meeting has
been duly certified. We do not know that
their preacher, or teacher, hath qualified
himself by taking the oaths etc., as the Law
requires."
1727--"None refuse to pay Church rate, but Francis
Benson a Quaker for not paying his Church
sess, viz. 00 01 03"
1729--Francis Benson is again presented for refusing
to pay his Church sess £0 1 5
1732--His unpaid share is set down at 0 5 9
And Bernard Benson's 0 3 0
This Francis Benson, the third Friend of his name at the Fold, is
the last we know of. As the old families died out or dispersed, no
new adherents of the sect appear to have arisen in the parish, and
dissent ceased.
The only comment on non-conformity found in the registers occurs in
the second volume (1687-1713). It runs:--
A perticular Register of some pretended Marryages of the people
called Quakers within the parish of Grasmere As followeth--
But only two weddings from Great Langdale are set down. Also is
entered:--
Jane daughter of John Grigge of Stile End in Great Langdale was
baptized by A prebyterian minister the tenth day of Aprill Ano
Dom 1710.
The "minister" so clearly obnoxious to the registrar may have been a
visitor to the valley.
When a stranger entered the church in 1827 and asked the clerk if
there were any Dissenters in the neighbourhood, he was told that
there were none nearer than Keswick, where were some who called
themselves Presbyterians; and of these the clerk professed so little
knowledge that he hazarded the suggestion that they were a kind
of "papishes." The clerk aforesaid was old George Mackereth,[193]
forgetful alike of the Colthouse Meeting-House and the small Baptist
Chapel at Hawkshead Hill, built in 1678? For about the first
clustered a few families who clung to the faith of their fathers;
though the latter (of which little seems to be known) may have
dropped out of use.
[193] Hone's _Table Book_.
Dissent had never existed in Ambleside. The men of that town, who
managed the affairs of their chapel, had no real leanings towards
it, and the Restoration found them all churchmen again. The only man
of the town-division who could be taxed as a non-communicant in 1675
was Roger Borwick, and he was a disreputable inn-keeper at Miller
Bridge, a Roman Catholic who had once been a personal servant of the
ill-fated heir of Squire John Fleming.
[Illustration: The Little Bell
RECAST AT THE EXPENCE OF MRS DOROTHY KNOTT, 1809 T. MEARS & SON
OF LONDON FECIT]
THE REGISTERS
The early registers are contained in three parchment books. The
first measures 15 inches by 7, and has a thickness of 1 inch. It was
re-bound recently in white vellum, and an expert has endeavoured
to restore the almost vanished characters of the first page. The
earliest legible entries are for January 1570-71. The sheets may have
once got loose and some lost, for there is a complete gap between
the years 1591-98, and another between 1604-11. There are minor gaps
besides, which, perhaps, may be explained by the system of register
keeping that obtained in these parts. A smaller book for entries was
kept, called a pocket-register, in which the minister (or the clerk)
noted down the ceremonies as they occurred; and these were copied
from time to time into the larger book. It was a system that, in the
hands of careless officials, produced nothing short of disaster, as
far as parochial history is considered. The re-entry, long over-due,
had often not been made, before the pocket-register was mis-placed
or lost. In times of stress, like those of the plague-years, the
church officials seem to have become paralized, and ceased to cope
for months at a time with the registration of the dead. For instance,
in the deadly year 1577, February, April, May and July are blank;
eight burials are then entered for August, and none for the rest of
the year. Again, next year, eight deaths are recorded for July, nine
for September, and twelve for November, while the intervening and
succeeding months are blank. This state of things continues through
the years of oft-returning plague that followed, and through the
long rectorate of John Wilson, diversified by the occasional loss
of a page or a mysterious skip, _e.g._, in marriages there is a gap
between the years 1583-4 and 1611--more than 27 years.[194]
[194] The following list of omissions in the earliest Grasmere
Church Register, 1570-1687, has been kindly supplied by Miss H.
J. H. Sumner.--ED. "No Marriages between ffeb. 1583-4 and June
1611; no Burials between July 1588 and May 1598; no Christenings
between Dec. 1591 and ffeb. 1600-1; no Burials between May 1604
and Apr. 1611; no Christenings between March 1603-4 and Apr.
1611; no Christenings between ffeb. 1625-8 and June 1627; no
Marriages between July 1625 and May 1627; no Burials between
ffeb. 1625-6 and May 1627."
The first register-book is, therefore, a disappointing document, from
which no satisfactory conclusions as to population or death-rate
can be drawn, nor adequate information concerning families or
individuals. The Hawkshead register-book is a complete contrast to
this one, in neatness and fulness; and the scribe has marked with
a cross all deaths from plague. Maybe the grammar-school there,
with its master, affected favourably the records of the parish. In
Grasmere the school was, after the Reformation, left in general to
the parish clerk. This first book shows signs, like the Curate's
Bible of Ambleside, of having been accessible to the scholars--no
doubt while these were yet taught in the church; for experiments in
penmanship and signatures occur on blank spaces, which were seized
upon with avidity by the learner--parchment and paper being hard to
come by.
The condition of the third register-book is wholly satisfactory. It
is in its original binding, but the clasps have gone. It measures
16-1/2 inches by 7, with a thickness of 3 inches. Its title runs,
"Grasmere's Register Book, from May the 7th, A.D., 1713. Henry
Fleming, D.D., Rector; Mr. Dudley Walker, Curate; Anthony Harrison,
Parish Clerk." The book closes in December, 1812. As in the earlier
volumes, the baptisms and marriages are written on the left page, and
burials on the right. The first entry is a receipt from the man who
furnished the book:--
June ye 21, 1713. lb. s. d.
Recd. of ye Reverend Dr. Fleming one Pound and
Eleven Shillings for ye Parchmt. wherwth. this
Book is made for ye clasps eightpence and for ye
Binding Six Shillings. I say Recd. by me Bry:
Mackreth 1 17 8
Some entries of confirmations were made in this volume. The first
has caused considerable surprise, and it is of interest on three
scores. It shows that the solemnization of the rite had been long
neglected--the Bishop of Chester no doubt finding this remote parish
of his diocese very inconvenient to reach, and relegating it on this
occasion to his brother of Carlisle, who but recently was its rector.
It likewise proves that the population was larger then than in the
next century, and that the estimate of the number of communicants
given on a preceding page was under, rather than over, stated. It
illustrates the fact, besides, that the old forms would accommodate
at least twice the number of the present benches.
October the 23, 1737.
A Confirmation was then holden at this Church by the Right
Reverend Father in God Sr. George Fleming Baronet Lord Bishop
of Carlisle at the instance of the Lord Bishop of Chester at
which time and place About five Hundred Persons were Confirmed.
[The next confirmation recorded is in 1862.]
An entry on the first page, in fine hand-writing, is likewise of
interest, as showing that long after the Reformation, and even after
the Prayer Book revision of 1662, the prohibition of the old Sarum
Manual against marriages taking place during the three great feasts
of Christmas, Easter and Penticost still had weight, though it could
not be enforced, and that the rector--a stout churchman--desired its
observance.
Marriages Prohibited from Advent Sunday till a Week after the
Epiphany, from Septuagesima Sunday till a Week after Easter,
from Ascension day till trinity Sunday; Secundum Dr. Comber.[195]
[195] The reference is to the Dean of Durham's _Companion to the
Temple_, the standard work of the period on the Prayer-Book; but
the passage goes no further than to say that "some among us"
still observe the "former" prohibition.
Curious entries, or any bearing upon local history, such as are
frequent in some registers, are scarce in the Grasmere books. The law
that commanded the use of woollen for shrouds, by way of propping up
a declining industry, caused the usual amount of trouble here in the
way of affidavits and entries.
Another enactment, that all sickly persons who presented themselves
for cure by the Royal touch--a remedy much resorted to under the
Stuarts--were to come armed with a parochial certificate,[196] has
left its trace here.
[196] Dr. Cox's Parish Registers.
Wee the Rector and Churchwardens of the Parish of Grasmere in
the County of Westmorland do hereby certify that David Harrison
of the said Parish aged about fourteen years is afflicted as wee
are credibly informed with the disease comonly called the Kings
Evill; and (to the best of o^r knowledge) hath not hereto fore
been touched by His Majesty for ye s^d. In testimony whereof wee
have here unto set o^r hands and seals the Fourth day of Feb:
Ano Dom 1684.
HENRY FLEMING Rector.
JOHN BENSON
JOHN MALLISON Churchwardens.
Registered by JOHN BRATHWAITE Curate.
This poor youth was probably of the Rydal stock of Harrisons, where
several generations of Davids had flourished as statesmen, carriers
and inn-keepers.[197] The journey to London would be little to them.
[197] See "A Westmoreland Township" in the _Westmorland Gazette_.
The introduction of gunpowder into the slate quarries could not have
long pre-dated the following entry:--
"Thomas Harrison of Weshdale [Wastdale?], wounded with the splinters
of stone and wood the 29th of August last by the force of gunpowder
was buryed September the 2nd. Ano Dom 1681."
An instance of longevity is given in 1674, when widow Elizabeth
Walker, of Underhelme, "dyed at ye age of 107 years old."
But the entry that has caused the most comment is one that
commemorates a boating disaster on Windermere Lake. Forty-seven
persons were drowned, with some seven horses: "in one boate comeinge
over from Hawkshead" on October 20th, 1635. Singularly enough, this
is the only known record of an event with which tradition and later
story has been busy. These affirm that the boat-load consisted
of a wedding-party; also that the corpses were buried under a
yew-tree in Windermere church-yard. If the catastrophe happened to
the customery ferry, known as Great Boat, plying between Hawkshead
Road and Ferry Nab, the interment would naturally be made at that
church, though an unfortunate gap in the registers for the period
prevents certainty on the point. But why was the event written down
at Grasmere? It appears to have been inscribed by George Bennison,
clerk and schoolmaster, who did not enter office till 1641. Had he
the intention (unfortunately unfulfilled) of recording local history
in the register-book? Could we suppose the Ambleside Fair for October
20th--an occasion of great resort only a few decades later--to have
been in vogue before its charter was gained, the conjecture that the
drowned folk had been attending the fair might be entertained.[198]
There were other passage-boats on the lake besides the Great one.
In connection with the number drowned, it may be mentioned that
ferry-boats were formerly of great size. Miss Celia Fiennes, who,
about the year 1697, had occasion on her journey to cross the Mersey
with her horses from Cheshire to Liverpool--a passage which occupied
1-1/2 hours--did it in a boat which, she says, would have held 100
people.[199]
[198] Mr. G. Brown has been helpful in this matter, which is
very fully discussed in Mr. H. S. Cowper's _Hawkshead_. See also
_Ambleside Town and Chapel_.
[199] _Memorials of Old Lancashire_, vol. i., p. 60.
Miss Helen Sumner has been, since 1906, engaged in a transcript of
the first register-book. It is now complete, and it will be put into
use instead of the old illegible volume, of which it is an absolutely
accurate copy, done in fine modern script.
* * * * *
Miss Armitt was under the impression when writing of the
Registers that the Second Register was missing, so consequently
made no extracts from it.--ED.
[Illustration: Recess in the Porch for Holy Water Stoup.]
PRESENTMENTS, BRIEFS, AND CHARITIES
The Presentment for 1702 may be given fully as a specimen of the
document which the wardens were bound to furnish at the Visitation
of the Bishop or his emissary. A few extracts may be added, for
the simplicity and shrewdness of some of the answers make them
entertaining, as in the entire repudiation of an apparitor and his
dues.
During Dr. Fleming's rectorate, a difference arose between the
officials who controlled the finance department of the Visitation
and the vestries of the parishes of Windermere and Grasmere.[200]
It was proposed by the latter to make one Presentment serve for the
whole parish, mother-church and chapels together; and the rector
of Grasmere stated that it was only through a mis-conception that
separate Presentments had been made. This was a sound, economical
plan for the parish, but it was firmly opposed (as was natural) by
the higher officials, who affirmed that separate Presentments were
the rule. The table of "ancient and justifiable fees" was given as
follows:--
[200] Browne MSS.
£ s. d.
For appearance and presentment of every warden, four
old and four new 0 8 0
Book of Articles 0 1 0
Examination Fee and registration of every presentment 0 0 8
Citation Fees and exhibiting the transcript 0 1 0
Due to the King for Citation 0 0 6
Apparitor's Fee 0 0 8
Also apparitors received at the Visitation a fee for carrying
out books sent by the King and Council--as Thanksgiving Books,
etc.; and for each of these he might claim a fee of 1s., which
raised the sum total to be paid at a Visitation occasionally to
14s. or 15s. No wonder our wardens disclaimed all knowledge of
the apparitor! For their consolation they were reminded that in
other Jurisdictions the wardens were called to Visitations twice
a year, which doubled the fees and expenses.
In 1691 the parish paid "To the Chancellor at the Bishop's
Visitation for a Presentment" 5s. 10d. The writing of it cost
4s. 2d. A Book of Articles was bought also. Five years later a
Presentment for the whole parish cost 13s. 2d.
(Presentment for 1702.)
The presentment of John Mackereth, George Benson and Edward
Tyson, Churchwardens, for the Church of Grasmere, within the
Arch-Deaconry of Richmond in the Diocese of Chester, at the
Ordinary Visition of John Cartwright, D.D., Commissary and
Official, of the said Arch-Deaconry on Friday the fifteenth day
of May Ano Dom 1702, in the parish church of Kirby Kendall, as
followeth:--
Articles Tit. I.
1, Our Church is in good repair, and no part of it
2,3,4, demolishd, nor anything belonging to it Imbezzled or sold.
5, We have a Font with a Cover, a decent Communion Table,
wth one decent Covering and another of Linnen, with a
6,7, Chalice and a cover, and two flagons for the Communio,
&c., wth all the other things the Articles of this title
8, 9, inquire of, and they are ordered and used as they ought
to be, according to our Judgmts, so yt we have nothing
10. to present in answr to the Articles of this first Title.
Articles Tit. II.
1, 2, 3, Our minister, the Revrend Dr. Henry Fleming, is
qualified accordg to Law, Legally Inducted, hath read
4, the 39 Articles wthin the time Appointed by law, and
declared his Assent thereto, we believe and know nothing
5, 6, 7, to the contrary. He has another Ecclesiasticall Benefice.
He preaches, we believe, every Lords Day, unless sickness
8, or reasonable absence hinder him. Mr. Dudley
Walker his Curate supplys the cure in his Absence.
9, Both our Parson and his Curate do all things inquired
of by the Articles of this Title, and are not guilty of
10. any of the faults therein mentioned, as we are perswaided.
So we have not any thing to present in Answer to the
Articles of this Title.
Articles Tit. III.
1, 2, We know not of any Adulteries, Fornicators or Incestuous,
Com'on Drunkards or Swearers, or other
3, Sinn'rs and Transgressors inquired of in the Articles of
4, 5, this Title, wthin our Parish. We believe each person
6, behaves himself as he ought, during the time of Divine
7, 8, Service, nor have we observed anything to the contrary.
9, Onely in Answer the (_sic_) 4th Article of this Title
10. we present the persons whose names follow for refuseing
to pay their duty for Easter Offerings, and for refuseing
to contribute to the Rates for Repairing of our Church,
and things thereto belonging, viz., _Francis Benson_ of
the Fold, and _Dorothee_ his wife, _Jacob Holm_ and _Sarah_
his wife of Tarnfoot, _John Holm_ and _Jane Holm_ his
mother of Skelwath Bridge-End. All Quakers and
come not to Church or Chapell to divine service. _Francis
Benson_, of Under How, and _Jane Benson_, widow in Grasmere,
Quakers, and come not to church to divine service.
Articles Tit. IIII.
1. We have a Parish Clark belonging to our Church aged
21 years at least, of honest life, able to perform his duty,
2. chosen by our Parson, and dos his duty diligently in his
office of Parish Clark, as we are perswaided.
Articles. Tit. V.
1, We have no hospitall, alms-houses, nor freschool.
But we have a School and a Schoolmaster, licons'd by
the Ordinary, who teaches his schollers in the Church
Catechism, and doth ye other things inquired of in the
2, Articles of this Title, as in duty he ought. The Revenue
of the School is Ordered as the Founder appointed, and
as ye Laws of ye Land allow, to the best of our knowledges.
3. We have none that practiseth physick, Chyrurjery,
or midwifery in our parish w'thout License from the
Ordinary, that we are privy to, or know of.
Articles Tit. 6.
1, Our church-wardens are chosen duly, and have done
2, 3. their duty, as we think they ought to have done, in all
things here Inquired of.
Articles Tit. VIII. (_sic_).
1, We do not know wt faults the Officers of our Ecclesisticall
Courts are guilty of, and wh are Inquired of by
these Articles of this Title. We have heard that they
take greater fees then of Right they ought to do, and
2, if they do so, we wish they may reform such Injuryous
3, practices: But because we are privy to no thing of
this kind done by any Ecclesticall Officer, we dar not
4, upon Oath present it, and here ends our Presentmt.
GEORGE BENSON }
JOHN MACKERETH } Churchwardens.
EDWARD TYSON }
The later presentments, up to 1732, are--except where quoted
from elsewhere--largely repetitions of this. One or two answers
to queries, however, are naive. In 1712 "we have no physitia's,
nor Sargions in or parish."
Concerning officers of Ecclesistiall Courts, we know not their
Officers; nor wh their Officers are; nor now they perform them,
well, or ill; nor wh their just Fees are, and can therefore give
no account of ym.
In 1717 "Concerning Apparitors. We know not how Apparitors do
their office, nor can we present them, or any of tm, for any
undue Fees exacted by them, and we think we ought not to pr'sent
any man for faults wch we know not by him."
Between 1702 and 1732 only one woman is "presented" for
"fornication"; and only occasionally, in a later set of
Presentments, between 1768 and 1796 is the fault--which the
registers show to have been not infrequent--mentioned.
BRIEFS.
Printed briefs, that called upon the churches to succour the
unfortunate by offerings in money, reached Grasmere, remote as it
was. Such of these sheets, as were found to be sufficiently intact,
were quite recently gathered together and bound as a volume. Within
the register-book the amount realised by some of these collections
is set down. At Christmas, 1668, the offering made for the poor of
London after the fire, reached the high figure of £17 6s. 3d., which
shows how that great calamity affected the popular mind. Among other
recipients of the parochial bounty are found: "Captives at allgeeres"
(Algiers), 3s. 1d., also "A breife beyond ye seaes and for ye suply
of printing The bible for one John de Krins..y," 7s. 3d. Very
frequently individuals or towns that had suffered loss from fire or
other causes were relieved. Perhaps there was grumbling then, as now,
at the many collections, and 8d. only was realised for the relief of
Hartlepool. The Squire, who generally gave one shilling for a brief,
was doubtless absent that day.
CHARITIES.
The care of the poor was of old a parochial matter. The regular
supply of money for this purpose came from the offertories at the
great feasts of the church, and was distributed (at least after the
Reformation, if not before) by the wardens. There were other and
casual sources, such as the doles given at the funeral of a person of
gentle birth. The scale of the dole differed according to the rank
of the individual. In the seventeenth century four pence (the old
silver penny) was the usual sum, though at the funeral of William
Fleming, of Coniston (claimant to Rydal Manor), only 2d. was given.
Squire John Fleming was buried quietly, on the evening of his death,
like many another recusant. There was no time, therefore, for that
extraordinary and seemingly magnetic gathering of the poor, that
sometimes occurred, even on a day's notice--for such news sped like a
telegraphic message.
But some indigent folk collected next morning, when £1 10s. was
distributed. This, at 4d. a piece, would represent 90 persons. The
concourse was far greater when Squire Daniel's wife was interred,
when it numbered over 1,800 persons; the amount given reaching
£30 10s. 4d., while the dole-givers spent at the inn 3s. 6d. The
gathering at his little son's funeral, two years later (1677), was
naturally smaller. The entry in the account-book is as follows:--
June 1--Given to ye Poor (at 2d. apeice) at ye
Funerall (this day) of my son Tho. Fleming at
Gresmere-church (where he was buried near
unto my Fathers Grave on ye north side thereof
close to ye wall, and who dyed yesterday, being
Thursday, about 8 of ye clock in ye morning
at Rydal Hall) ye sum of 04 03 08
It[em] paid to ye Minster for attending ye Corps all
ye way 5s., to ye Clark for ye same, and
makeing of ye Grave 2s., to ye Ringers 2s. 4d.,
in all 00 09 04
The first bequest on record to the poor of Grasmere is that of
old Mrs. Agnes Fleming, the shrewd mistress of Rydal Hall. Her
will, dated 1630, directs that threescore and ten pounds shall be
devoted to the poor of Staveley and "Gressmire," the interest to be
distributed every Good Friday. In this distribution George Dawson
"beinge blinde" was to receive during his life-time a noble, which
was 6s. 8d. or half a mark. Accordingly, after her death, the bailiff
entered in his accounts £1 13s. as "paid the poor folke at Easter
1632 for my old mis"; the blind lad's noble was also set down. This
charity seems, however, to have been lost during the "Troubles" that
presently overtook family and country. An effort to re-institute the
one at Staveley at least was made by Squire Daniel.
March 25, 1659--Spent with my Cosen Philipson at
Staveley when I went to Mr. Feilde to looke
yt ye Poor of Staveley bee not wronged in ye
distribution of ye £40 interest, left ym by
my great Grandmother Mrs. Agnes Fleming 00 00 06
Mention of an extraordinary gift appears in the same account-book.
The young Earl of Thanet had lately, as Lord Lieutenant of
Westmorland, entered the county in great state, and with a lavish
expenditure of money. His generosity (which may have had a political
bias) extended even to this remote quarter of the Barony. In those
days £10 was a large sum; and the coin (as a precise entry under
February, 1685, informs us) was conveyed to Kendal by a servant,
delivered to the mayor, who passed it on to the Rydal Squire. One
half was for Windermere, the other for Grasmere; and one wonders how
large was the gathering at the church for the dole.
Mar. 1, 8-4/5--Distributed this day at ye Parish
Church in Gresmere to ye Poor Householders
yt go to Church in ye said Parish; being ye
gift of Tho. Earl of Thanet, ye sum of 05 00 00
Other charitable gifts to the poor are written on boards hanging in
the church, viz.:--
Edward Partridge and others of Grasmere £50, the interest to be
distributed on St. Thomas's Day to such poor as do not receive
parochial relief. (Undated.)
William and Eleanor Waters, in 1807, £200, the interest to be
distributed under the like restrictions on Lady Day.
THE RUSHBEARING
It is impossible, in an account of Grasmere, to pass over the
Rushbearing, a Church Festival that has come down from ancient times,
and which, after a period of languishment, has revived once more into
a popular pageant.
It may be the remnant of some fair or wake held on St. Oswald's Eve
and Day, and organized by the early church to supersede some Pagan
Feast of the late summer. The close of July, or the early part of
August, was a good time for merry-making in these parts; for then
the husbandman's chief harvests were gathered in--the wool from the
sheep, and the hay from the meadows; while the little patches of oats
were hardly ready for the sickle. We hear of a great pageant and play
devised by Thomas Hoggart[201] being performed in the open air at
Troutbeck village (1693) on "St. James his Day," which was the 25th
of July, equal to the 5th of August, new style.
[201] _Remnants of Rhyme_, by Thomas Hoggart, Kendal, 1853.
The Rushbearing at Grasmere was held in recent times on the Saturday
nearest to July 20th; and a stranger, T. Q. M., found a celebration
taking place in 1827 on July 21st.[202] In fact, the Day of the
church's dedicatory Saint, August 5th (which is equal to August 16th,
new style) seems not to have been associated recently in the minds of
the people with the Festival; though it was associated at St. Oswald,
Warton, where the ceremony survived till the close of the eighteenth
century. It is possible that the shift from old to new style, in
1752, weakened the connection between Saint's Day and Festival in
the minds of the folk, leaving them content to await the summons of
the clerk, who reminded them, it is said, when it was time to cut the
rushes. The old chapels of the parish likewise had their Rushbearing.
That of Langdale appears in the wardens' accounts for that township,
where 2s. 6d. was generally put down for expenses attending it.
The item disappears, however, after 1752, for then the chapel was
rebuilt, and was no doubt paved throughout with the fine slate of
the valley: the need for rushes there being over, more than 80 years
earlier than was the case with the mother church. The Ambleside
Festival has continued to the present day (though with a lapse of a
few years, according to Grasmere folk), and is regularly held near
the day of her Saint (Anne), July 26th, the hymn used being the same
as at Grasmere.
[202] Hone's _Table Book_.
As a matter of fact, the Rushbearing had of old a real meaning,
for the sweet rushes were strewn over the floors of churches and
halls alike, both for warmth and cleanliness.[203] The covering
was particularly necessary in churches where the soil beneath the
worshippers' feet was full of corpses. The great annual strewing
(though we would fain believe that it was done oftener than once a
year) was naturally performed when rushes were full grown. It was
a boon service given to the church by the folk during a spell of
leisure. Such service they were well accustomed to. The statesman not
only by custom immemorial, gave to his lord a day's labour at harvest
time, but he and his wife cheerfully turned into their neighbour's
field for the like. Sheep-clipping has survived as a boon service;
and what a man in old days gave to his fellow, he did not grudge to
his church.
[203] Queen Elizabeth's Palace at Greenwich had its Presence
Chamber, in 1598, "richly hung with tapestry and strewn with
rushes."
Food and drink alone were the boon-workers' meed of old; and the
first entry that concerns the Rushbearing in the wardens' accounts
shows that the drink at least was looked for.
1680--"For Ale bestowed on those who brought
Rushes and repaired the Church 00 01 00"
It appears from this entry that the boon service was not limited
to rush-bearing in old times; but that general repair was done by
willing craftsmen. The item for ale continues "on Rush-bearers and
others"; in 1684 it rises to 2s., and to 5s. 6d. next year. The
amount was perhaps considered excessive by the more temperate of
the parishioners--a runlet could be had for 3s.--and from 1690 the
charge "To Rushbearers" became a fixed one of 2s. 6d. At this figure
it stood for 150 years, though from 1774 the township of Grasmere
added on its own account a further 1s. for "Getting of rushes for the
church."
The parochial charge "To Rushes for Church," 2s. 6d. appears for the
last time in 1841. With the paving of the floor, which took place in
1840, the need for the fragrant covering was over, and matting was
laid down--probably only in the aisles--in 1844, at an expense of
11s. 4d.
Up to then rush-strewing had been necessary. Burials in the earthen
floor had continued up to 1823; and the forms, from the gradual
sinking of the ground, had to be constantly lifted and re-set. Only
in 1828 the townships had gone to considerable expense in re-seating
and re-flagging their portions of the interior, and in the same year
a stray visitor to Grasmere expressed himself as shocked at the
primitive condition of the church. "I found the very seat floors
all unpaved, unboarded, and the bare ground only strewed with
rushes."[204] In the previous year T. Q. M. had found the villagers
seriously working at their annual task of strewing. It seems to have
been done informally, under the superintendence of the clerk; and
later in the day--nine o'clock it is said--came the spectacle and the
merry-making. A procession was formed, when the wild flowers--which
the children had been busily engaged during the day in gathering and
weaving into garlands--were carried to the church and laid there. An
adjournment was then made to a hay-loft, where dancing was kept up
till midnight, and where no doubt more than the parochial ale was
drunk. Old James Dawson, the fiddler, boasted to the stranger that he
had for forty-six years performed on the occasion. He complained of
the outlandish tunes introduced by the "Union Band chaps," who had
apparently superceded him in the honour of leading the procession.
But James may be said to lead the music in spirit yet, for a certain
march, used for an unknown period and handed down by his son Jimmy
(who succeeded him as village fiddler), is still played.
[204] Morrison Scatcherd, quoted in the Rushbearing pamphlet
compiled by Miss E. Grace Fletcher.
Clarke was present at the Festival at an earlier date,[205] and he
gives a rather different account of it. His description, however, is
of something he had seen in the past; and one is inclined to doubt
that the Rushbearing was ever held at the end of September. According
to him, the rushes were actually borne in the procession, which was
headed by girls carrying nosegays, the chief of whom (called the
Queen) had a large garland. When the work of strewing was done, and
the flowers laid in the church, the concourse was met at the church
door by the fiddler, who played them to the ale-house, there to spend
an evening of jollity.
[205] _Survey of the Lakes_, 1789.
An account of the ceremony at Warton, earlier still,[206] gives an
interesting variation of custom. Here the floral decorations were
not separate from the rushes, but covered the bundles as crowns. The
smartest of them, trimmed with fine ribbon and flowers, were carried
in front by girls. The crowns were detached in the church, and
after the strewing of the rushes were left as ornaments. Artificial
trimmings were in use in Grasmere in 1828, for the stranger's eye
had been "particularly attracted by the paper garlands which I found
deposited in the vestry; they were curiously and tastefully cut, and
I was almost tempted to buy one of them." The sketch by Allom of
the Ambleside Festival in 1833 shows how elaborate and artificial
the bearings had become.[207] But taste and meaning could not have
been altogether banished for certain sacred emblems and devices
were cherished; and Moses in the Bulrushes, and the Serpent in the
Wilderness--the latter wholly composed of rushes--which are still
carried as "bearings" at Grasmere, are said to have been handed down
from a forgotten past. The same is claimed for the Ambleside Harp,
the strings of which are contrived from the pith of the rush--the
"sieve" of the olden days of rush-lights.
[206] MS. account, given in Whitaker's _Richmondshire._
[207] _Westmorland and Cumberland, etc., Illustrated_, 1833.
It has been seen that the joint payment by the townships for the boon
service ceased when the actual rush-strewing ceased. But the Festival
continued, though it was clearly changing its character and becoming
the children's Feast of Flowers. This is shown by Grasmere's special
contribution to the occasion. The annual gift, after rising a little,
is entered in 1819 as 3s. 9d., "To Rushbearers' Gingerbread paid
Geo: Walker." From that time Grasmere's expenditure for "Rushbearers
bread" is a constant though varying item. In 1839 it dropped as low
as 1s. 6d., which, supposing two-pennyworth to be the amount given to
each child, would represent but nine bearers. From this low figure
however it rose; and the languishing Festival was revived, if not
saved, by the munificence of Mr. Thomas Dawson, of Allan Bank, who
began about this time to present each bearer with 6d.[208] The
gingerbread item was often 6s.; in 1847 it was 9s. 10d.; in 1851
it is set down as "To Rushbearers 62," 10s. 4d. In 1856 13s. 6d.
was paid to A. Walker for "Rushbearers Cake," and in the next two
years the climax was reached by the sums £1. 1s. 5d. and £1. 1s.
The long-continued item then abruptly ceases--seventeen years after
the provision made for ale by the whole parish ceased--swept away
no doubt by the revolution in church-management and church-rates,
and for thirteen years there is a gap. When, however, the ancient
but now resisted church-rate was dropped in 1871, and all expenses
were defrayed from the large and gladly-paid offertory, the church
again provided for the Festival. The expenses were now put down under
"Rushbearing," as Bells 6s., Wilson 8s., Cakes 19s.; amounting to £1
13s., towards which the collection at the church service (for the
first time established) furnished 16s. 8d. Next year there was a
marked increase: Band £2, Joiners 8s., Ringers 6s., Gingerbread £1.
5s. 10d., and Baldry 4s. 1d.; total £4. 3s. 11d.; collection, £2.
18s. 1d. The payment to joiners must have been for making the frames
of the bearings, which have assumed many varied forms.
[208] The wardens' accounts, given below, practically agree with
the story as told in the _Rushbearing_ pamphlet, p. 24, where
the Festival of 1885 is described, but apparently the date 1834
should be 1839. "Before leaving the church-yard, the children,
to the number of about 115, were each given a sixpenny piece, in
accordance with the custom that has prevailed for over the last
fifty years. The origin of this gift of sixpence will perhaps be
of interest to many. In 1834 there were only seven rushbearers,
and it seemed that this revered custom was on the decline. Mr.
Dawson, of London, and owner of Allan Bank, was present, and
he gave each of the rushbearers sixpence, which gift he has
continued yearly ever since. The next year the numbers of bearers
was increased to fifty, and year by year this figure has been
added to. It is said that Mr. Dawson does not intend to continue
his gift any longer, so that it appears the year 1885 will be
the last one in which the children will receive their brand new
sixpence, unless someone takes the matter in hand, or Mr. Dawson
reconsiders his decision."
The Festival has, since 1885, taken place on the Saturday next to
St. Oswald's Day. The procession, from which everything gaudy and
irreverent has been eliminated, now makes a beautiful spectacle.
Children of all ages take part in it, even tiny toddlers, supported
by parent or grandmother. The floral burdens are deposited in the
church and the service held, when all disperse; and on the next
Monday the children have their feast with games and prizes, paid for
by the united contribution of the parishioners.
The Walker family, who for so long provided the gingerbread, are
remembered to have had a little shop--the only one in the place--and
it stood near the present one of Messrs. Gibson.[209] Presumably,
Dinah, the wife, baked the cake; and George, in the manner of the
time, pursued the additional trade of tailor. Mrs. Mary Dixon, of
Town End, was the gingerbread maker for many years, but has recently
given it up.
[209] A supply of Kendal wigs (a special cake still made in
Hawkshead) came to the shop once a week, as Miss Greenwood
remembers.
* * * * *
"Grasmere Churchwardens' Account General Charge, 1834: to
Rushes, 2/6. Grasmere in Part: to Gingerbread for Rushbearers,
5/-. General Charge, 1835: to Rushes, 2/6. Grasmere in Part:
to Gingerbread for Rushbearers, 4/6. 1836, General Charge: to
Rushes, 2/6. Grasmere in Part: to Gingerbread for Rushbearers,
3/6. 1837, General Charge, Grasmere in Part: to Gingerbread for
Rushbearers, 3/-. 1838, General Charge, Grasmere in Part: to
Ginger Bread for Rushbearers, 3/9. 1839, General Charge: to Two
Years getting Rushes at 2/6, 5/-. Grasmere in Part: to Ginger
Bread for Rushbearers, 1/6."
APPENDIX
The continuity of village life is illustrated by the following list
of house names in Grasmere existing in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries; all with asterisks are still there.--ED.
LIST OF NAMES OF HOUSES IN GRASMERE MENTIONED IN EARLIEST CHURCH
REGISTER.
1571 * The Wray.
1574 * Brimahead.
1576 The beck.
" * Underhelm.
" Bankhousehow.
1577 * Turnhow.
1579 Beckhousehow.
" * Blintarngill.
1586 * Sick syd--(Syke side).
1600 Beckhouses.
1601 * Scorcrag.
1604 The heirig.
1611 * fforrest syd.
1612 * Howhead--(How top).
1613 * banriges--(Bainrigg).
1614 * The wick, (or) wike--(Wyke).
" Wallend.
1619 * Grenhead.
1629 * Winterseeds.
1630 * The mosse.
1630 * Broadraine.
1638 * Church Steele--(stile).
1638 Knott place.
1640 * Gilfoote.
1642 * Gillside.
1644 * Hollings.
" * Pademan--(Pavement End).
1646 below sike.
1651 beneath sike.
1655 * Underhow.
" * Knothouses.
1656 * Thornehowe.
1669 * Tailend--(Dale end).
1672 * Mosse side.
1682 Mitchel place.
" Nicols.
" * Benplace.
1683 * Underhowcragge.
1684 Underlangcragge.
DISTRICTS MENTIONED.
1604 Townhead.
1611 Townend.
1640 Eiesdall.
INDEX.
Above Beck, 192.
Addison, James, 115.
Adelaide, Queen, 149.
Advowson, sale of, 63, 66.
Agar, the Misses, 150.
Airey, James, 185, 187, 188.
Algiers, captives at, 214.
Ambleside Chapel, 71, 89, 166, 174, 191.
Ambleside Curates, 176, 177.
Ambleside Hall, 183.
_Ambleside Town and Chapel_, 181, _note_.
Ambrose, Rev. John, 82-85, 90, 183.
Appleby, 36, 53.
Aston, Oxon, 39, _note_.
Baisbrown, 62, 91.
Banks, John, 86, 87, 126, 182.
Baptists, 198, 202.
Barber, Mr. Samuel, 173.
Beaumont, Sir George, 151.
Bell, Dr. Andrew, 172.
Bellman, Mr., 146.
Benson, Mrs. Dorothy, of Coat How, 130.
---- Edward, 92.
---- Francis, of Loughrigg Fold, 92, 195, 197.
---- John, 92, 183, 197.
---- Michael, 91.
---- Salomon, 73.
Birkett, Christopher, 175.
Braithwaite, the family of, 90, 91, 183.
Brathay, 180, 191.
Briefs, Church, 213, 214.
Browne, Mr. George, 39, _note_.
---- MSS. of, 62, 175.
Burials, 109, 110.
---- in woollen, 207.
Cartmel, 12, 28 _note_, 37.
Catalogue of 1661, 121.
Charities, 214-216.
Chester, Bishop of, 64, 65.
---- Dr. G. H. Law, Bishop of, 173.
Church Stile, 30, 125, 163.
Civil Wars, the, 73-77.
Clayworth, 183, _note_.
Close Rolls, Calendar of, 50.
Colthouse, 194.
Confession, Public, 33, _note_.
Confirmations, 206.
Coniston Church, 114.
Coucy, Lords of, 48-50.
Cox, Dr. J. C., _Parish Registers of England_, 57, 182, 207.
Craik, Rev. John, 168, 169.
Croft, Rev. Gabriel, 64-67.
Cross, Great and Little, 108.
Crosthwaite, 7, 36, 38, 70.
Dale End, 170.
Davis, Thomas, 169.
Dawson, Anthony, 183.
---- James, 220.
---- Mr. Thomas, 222.
De Quincey, Thomas, 172.
Dixon, Mrs. Mary, 223.
---- Rev. Thomas, 164.
Dove Cottage, 172.
_Educational Charities_, 182, _note_.
Elterwater, 62.
Fire of London, the Great, 214.
Firstfruits, 163, _note_.
Fisher, Adam, 77.
Fleming, arms of the family, 140.
---- Dame Agnes, 71, 215.
---- Sir Daniel, 86, 88, 89, 109, 112, 166, 195-197.
---- ---- account book of, 161, 164, 189.
---- Sir Daniel le, Bt., 173.
---- the Lady Diana le, 170.
---- Dorothy, 82.
---- Rev. Fletcher, 133, 174.
---- Rev. Sir George, Bt., 166-168, 206.
---- Rev. Henry, D.D., 163, 164.
---- Squire John, 36, 73, 214.
---- Lady le, 118, 173, 180.
---- Rev. Richard le, 173.
---- Sir Michael le, Bt., 170.
---- Rev. William, 167.
---- Sir William, Bt., 92, 163, 166, 169.
---- Squire William, 66, 67, 76, 109.
Fletcher, Rev. H. M., 150, 174.
---- Miss E. Grace, 219.
Forrest, the family of, 175.
Fox, George, 85, 86, 194, 195.
Friends, Society of, 85, 86, 92, 178, 194, 198.
Galdington, Henry de, Rector of "Grossemer," 45.
GRASMERE (Grassmire, Gresmer, Gresmire, Grossemer), 3, 19, 45.
---- Church, 33, 99-107.
Altar, altar rails, 126.
bells, 137-143.
bench end, 108.
books for, 126.
Bread and Wine for, 75, 130-133.
carved stone face, 104, 105.
chest, 145.
choir, 118, 119.
church rate, 189-193.
clock, 145, 146.
corps cloth, corps stool, 143.
decoration of, 115-118.
dedication of, 14, 15.
doors, 146, 147.
earliest record of, 45.
Font, 126, 150.
furniture, 108, 120.
implements, 145.
pitchpipe, 119.
plate, 129, 130.
poor box, 126.
presentments, 200-202, 210-216.
registers, 204-209.
renovation of, in 1841, 149.
in 1879, 150.
repairs to, 136, 137.
roof, 106, 107, 136, 137.
rough-casting of, 144, 149.
Royal Arms, 129.
Rydal Hall pew, 113.
seats and seatings, 111, 112, 191, 192.
secular use of, 33, 34, 37.
sentences in, 114-116, 144.
steeple (tower), 143.
tithes, 45-47, 65, 66, 77, 90-93.
tithe barn, 150.
white-washing of, 143, 144.
windows, 124-126, 145, 200.
---- Churchwardens, 38.
accounts, 4, 133-135, 153-157, 190, 193.
---- Churchyard, 35, 151.
graves in, 152.
Langdale gate, 30.
sundial in, 151.
yewtrees, 151.
secular use of, 35.
---- Curates of, 61, 62, 168-174.
---- "Eighteen," the, _see_ Sidesmen.
---- House names in, 224.
---- Overseers of, 37, 184.
---- Parish boundaries, 27.
---- Parish clerks, 184, 185.
---- Patrons of the living, 48-52.
---- Rectors of, 57-61, 161-174.
---- Rectory, 162, 164, 170, 171.
---- School, 181, 205.
---- Schoolhouse, 183, 187, 188.
---- Sidesmen, 28, 38, 39, 123, 183, 193
---- Townships, 24, 28-32, 123-125.
---- "Twenty-four," the, _see_ Sidesmen.
Gell's Cottage, 173.
Gilpin, Richard, 86.
Gray, Thomas, 191.
Greenwood, Mr., 185.
---- Miss, 186.
Harrison, David, 71.
Harrison, Richard, 72-77, 81-83.
Harrison, Robert, 143.
Hawkshead, 37, 100, 115, 116.
Hearse, the, 145.
Heywood, the Rev. J. H., 174.
Hird, Rev. Michael, 181.
---- Rev. Robert, 181.
Hodgson, Levi, 30 _note_, 144.
Hoggart, Thomas, 217.
Hollins, the, 18.
Holme, Reginald, 197, 198.
Huntingstile, 172.
Independents, 84, 85.
Jackson, Rev. Thomas, 170.
---- Rev. William, 68.
Jefferies, Rev. Edward, 150, 174.
Jennings, Rev. William, 174.
Johnson, Rev. William, 171, 172.
Kelbarrow, 15, 19.
Kendal, Barony of, 24, 48, 49, 62.
---- Corporation MSS., 68.
---- Kirkby, 24, 25, 35, 53, 56, 99, 100.
King's Evil, the, 207.
Kirk How, 17, 19, 103.
---- Steel, _see Church Stile_.
Kirktown, 19.
Knott, Mrs. Dorothy, 141, 187.
---- Jane, 168.
---- Michael, 138.
---- Rev. Thomas, 165, 183.
Langdale, Great or Mickle, 62, 178.
---- Chapel, 62, 70, 71, 88, 119, 171, 178, 179, 191.
---- Churchwardens' Accounts, 179.
---- Curates, 179.
---- Parson's House, 179.
---- Presentment, 179.
---- Rushbearing, 218.
---- School, 179.
---- Little, 58.
---- ---- Chapel, 62, 178.
Langsha, John, 138.
Lawson, Colonel Wilfrid, 73, 76.
Lindesay, William de, 19.
Lindesay Fee, 50, 51, 63.
Lloyd, Rev. Owen, 179, 180.
Loughrigg Fold, 197.
Luff, Mrs., of Fox Ghyll, 130, 180.
Lumley Fee, 64.
Mackereth, the family of, 185, 186.
---- Rev. Gawen, 169.
---- George, 202.
Maitland, Professor H. W., 39, _note_.
Markets, 36.
Marriages, Prohibition of, 206.
Marshall, Mr. T. H., 192.
Mears & Son, the Whitechapel Bellfounders, 141.
Miller Bridge, 203.
Monuments, 112, 113.
More, Mrs. Hannah, 172.
Mortuary fee, 26.
Non-ratepayers, 194.
Northumbria, Church and Kingdom of, 6-13, 23.
Orfeur, Colonel, 75, 76.
Osgood, John, 177.
Oxford, Queen's College, 163.
---- ---- Provosts of, 173, _note_.
Padmire End, _see_ Pavement End.
Papal Registers, Calendar of, 45, 56.
Parish-Register, 182.
Patent Rolls, Calendar of, 49-51, 54-59.
Patterdale, 7.
Paupers, 184.
Pavement End, 15, 72, 168.
Pension Paid to St. Mary's Abbey, 47, 64.
Peterson, Rev. M. F., 152, 174.
Phillipps, Captain, 18, 191.
Plague years, 204.
Pope Nicholas I., 46.
Presentments, 184, 200-202.
Prisoner money, 37.
Quakers, _see_ Friends.
Quillinan, Mr. Edward, 172.
Ravens, 37.
Reading, 177.
Record Office, the, 4.
Redmayne, Mr. Giles, 180.
Reformation, the, 62-72.
Registers, the Grasmere Church, 182, 184, 204-209.
Restoration, the (1660), 88, 178.
Richmondshire, Archdeaconry of, 24, 46, 64.
Richmond Fee, 48.
Ripon, 9, 12.
Roman Road, 16.
Rushbearing, the Grasmere, 217-223.
---- Hymn, 180, 218.
Rydal Chapel, 180, 191.
---- Hall, 73-77, 170.
---- Hall accounts, 72, 77, 90, 173.
---- Hall MSS., 4, 183.
---- and Loughrigg, 125, 189, 193.
Saint Oswald, 7, 8, 14, 217.
---- ---- Well of, 14.
---- Wilfrith, 8.
Scatcherd, Morrison, 219, _note_.
Sess, 199.
Slate quarries, 207.
Smithy, 17.
Steeple house, 89, 195.
Strickland, Walter de, 55.
Sumner, Miss Helen J. H., 205, 209.
Tailbois, Ivo de, 18, 48.
Tail End, _see_ Dale End.
Thanet, Earl of, 216.
Tremenheere, Mr., 191.
Venn, Mr., 172.
Visitation, 211.
Walker family, the, 223.
Wallas, Rev. John, 84, 90, 182.
Watson, John, 17, 187, 142, 146, 147.
White Bridge, 19.
---- Moss, 16.
Whithorn in Galloway, 6.
Wilson, Edward, senior, 119, 144, 145, 146.
---- ---- junior, 18, 36, 118 _note_, 188.
---- Rev. Henry, 71-73, 79-83, 181.
---- Rev. John, 71, 181, 205.
---- Rev. Thomas, 182.
Windermere, 23, 28, 34, 46, 100, 210.
---- Ferry-boat accident, 208.
Winterseeds, 17, 142.
Wool trade, the, 93, 106.
Wordsworth, Dorothy, 170.
---- William, 170, 172.
---- ---- monument to, 152.
Wray, the, 15, 18, 189.
York, 6, 9, 140, 181.
---- Archbishops of, 24, 56.
---- Bellfoundry at, 141.
---- Saint Mary's Abbey, 46, 47, 53, 54, 64, 65.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been
retained except in obvious cases of typographical error.
Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the
original text.
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter
is superscripted (example: S^t). If two or more letters are
superscripted they are enclosed in curly brackets (example: 35^{to}).
Footnote 181: [=a] indicates macron over "a". Example: (P[=a]ter)
Page 175: The closing ) was missing in the following and has been
added by the transcriber: "It may be well to give a list of the
Post-Reformation parsons of Ambleside (rectified according to present
knowledge), as well as the evidence of a provision made for them in
1584."
The transcriber has moved the "V" section of the index into
alphabetical order.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Church of Grasmere, by Mary L. Armitt