Chapter XIX Parish Registers and Churchwardens’ Books
As the monasteries of former days preserved the general records of the times, so, in a minor degree, do our churches preserve the special history of our villages. In the social life of the past our Church Books are the counterpart of our Corporation Books, performing quite as much for their own parishes as the latter for their boroughs; not only giving, in the register, a yearly census of the population, but by the Churchwardens’ Accounts the social and religious life of each period.
Added to this also the clergyman, having nowhere else to chronicle them, has often entered in his register the passing events of the day; so that this further possesses, at times, a wider historical interest than could have been expected, giving us often glimpses of the views of men, who, however unsympathetic with the changes and fortunes of the hour, still carry, from their office and position, some not inconsiderable weight.
All these books are far too seldom consulted. The few notes we shall make are by no means given as examples of what may be elsewhere found, but must be looked upon only as extracts from the books of a district, where we naturally could expect little of any general interest.
The New Forest has never been, since registers became the law of the land, the scene of any of the great events of English history—never the theatre of the Civil Wars, as the Midland Counties, where entries of victories and defeats, and battles and sieges, are mixed with the burials and births.
Various causes, too, especially the scanty and scattered population, have contributed to the late date at which nearly all the Forest registers commence.259 Still, at Eling, there occurs the second earliest parish register in Hampshire, beginning one year before Cromwell’s Act has been passed; showing, as was before noticed, that this part of the Forest was always the richest, and, consequently, the most civilized.260 In this register we find the following most interesting entry:—
“1654. Thomas Burges, the sonne of William Burges and Elizabeth Russel, the daughter of Elizabeth, the now wife of Stephen Newland, were asked three Sabbath dayes, in the Parish Church of Eling: sc: Apriel 16th, Apr 23rd, Apr 30th, and were marr: by Richard Ld Crumwell, May xxiid.”
I need scarcely add that it was under the Protector that an Act of Parliament was passed in 1653, enabling any persons, after the due proclamation of the banns in the church or chapel, or in the market-place, on three market days, to be married by a simple affirmation before a magistrate; thus in a remarkable way nearly anticipating modern legislature.261 The Protector’s son, at the date of this entry, was probably living at Hursley, about ten miles away to the north.
Going across to the other side of the Forest, we shall, at Ellingham, find, in the Churchwardens’ Books, an entry in a different way quite as interesting. The leaf is, I am sorry to say, very much torn, and, towards the lower part, half of it is wanting. I give, however, the extract as it stands, indicating the missing passages by the breaks:—
“Martii 13. Anno dõm. 1634. A special license, granted by the moste reverende ffather in God, William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Grace, under his Grace’s hand and seale, used in the like grants, dated the nyneteenth day of ffebruarie, Anno dõm. 1634, and second yeare of his Grace’s translation. And confirmed by the Letters patents of our Sov̄raigne Lord Charles the King’s ma.tie that now is... Under the Greate Seale of England ffor Sr White Beconsaw of this parish and county of South̄ton... (and) Dame Edith hys wife ffor the tyme of their naturell (lives)... to eate flesh on the daies p̄hibited by the Lawe... (upon condition of their giving to the) poore of the pīsh... Thirteene shillings....”
Whether or no the knyght and his lady were to give the sum yearly, as seems most probable, it is impossible, from the torn condition of the leaf, to say. Their daughter was the noble Alice Lisle. The licence, of course, refers to the prohibition against eating meat on Fridays and Saturdays, and other specified times, first made by Elizabeth for the encouragement of the English fisheries, which had even in her reign begun to decay.262 And now that we are on the subject of Churchwardens’ Books, let me give some brief extracts from those of Ellingham:—
| “1556. | Itm̄ for waxe | ixd. |
| Itm̄ for a gyrdle | iijd. | |
| Itm̄ for waxe and for makynge of ye paschall and fontetapers | xvd. | |
| First payed for a rod (rood) | xijs. | |
| Itm̄ payed for the paschall and fontetapers | ijs. viijd.” | |
| “1558. | First payed for the pascall and fontetapers | xxijd. |
| Itm̄ payed for frankeincense | id.” |
Such notices well prove how quick and strong was the reaction from Protestantism to Catholicism when favoured by the State. Again, to still further show the variety of entries, let me make some extracts from the Fordingbridge Churchwardens’ Books:—
| “1636. | Itm for a fox-head | 0 1s 0 |
| Itm for one badgers head | 0 1 0 | |
| Itm for one fox-head | 0 1 0” |
Among miscellaneous notices, as giving the average wages of the day, and the prices of various articles, let me add also the following from the same accounts:—
| “1609. | Itm laide out for a pint of muskadine | viid” |
| “1616. | It for viij dayes’ worke for three men | xxiijs |
| It for a new beel-Rope | iijs iiijd | |
| It for a daye’s worke for three men | iijs iijd | |
| It for a booke of artykeels | iijs | |
| It for mates (mats) about the Communyon tabelle | xiijd | |
| It payde the Person for keeping the Stocke | iijs iiijd” |
These accounts, too, like all others, are full of items for the repairs of the bells and bell-ropes, confirming what may be found in the narratives of old French and Italian travellers concerning our English passion for bell-ringing. The following looks very much like cause and effect:—
| “1636. | Itm̄ to the Ringers one ye Kinges daye | ijs vjd |
| Itm̄ for one belroape | is ivd” |
The “King’s day” was that on which the King ascended the throne. Again, to show the mixed and varied contents of the Churchwardens’ Books, we will once more go back to those of Ellingham. Under the date of 1556 we find:—
| “Itm̄ for a baudericke of the great bell | xijd | |
| Itm̄ for a lanterne | viijd | |
| Itm̄ for nailes and sope | iijd” |
Under the head of “Layinges out in the secunde yere,” meaning 1557, we meet:—
| “Itm̄ for a pot of claye | iijd | |
| Itm̄ payed for ij bokes | xs | |
| Itm̄ payed for smoke sylver | ijs xid” |
And, again, under the “Layinges out in the thyrdde yere,” we find:—
| “Itm̄ payed for storynge of the tythynge harnesse | xviijd | |
| Itm̄ for white lether | iijd | |
| Itm̄ for lyme and vj creste tyles | xxid | |
| Itm̄ for surplus for the clerke (clergyman) | iijs | |
| Itm̄ for smoke silvar | xvijd” |
All these entries, to the church historian, and no less to the general student, cannot be without peculiar interest. The smoke silver, which so frequently occurs, is either the money paid for certain privileges of cutting fuel, which, as we have seen, was formerly the case in the Forest, or an assessment on the houses according to the number of hearths, but more probably the former.263 The general reader will scarcely care for more, but I trust elsewhere to give further extracts from these most interesting books.
Turning back to the Registers, let me add from the Ibbesley Parish Register Book, as so few people have seen a specimen, an entry of an affidavit of burial in a woollen shroud, in compliance with the Act passed in 1679, for the encouragement of the woollen manufacture in England.264 It thus runs, placed opposite to the entry of the person’s burial, and written in the same handwriting:—“Jan. 9th, 1678/79, I recd a certificate from Mr. Roger Clavell, Justice of ye peace at Brokenhurst, that Thomas King and Anthony King, sons of Anthony King, deceased, did make oath before him, the sayd Roger Clavell, that the aforesayd Antony King was buried according to the late Act of Parliament.”
And again, opposite to the entries of their deaths, we find—“November 11th.—Certified by John Torbuck, Vicar of Ellingham, yt Edward Baily and Nicholas Baily, of Ibsely, were buried in woollen only.”
Pope’s lines on Mrs. Oldfield need hardly here be quoted. To conclude, of the parish books in the district let me only say that at Fordingbridge may be found an inventory of all the church furniture for 1554; and at Ibbesley, lists of collections “towards the redemption of the poor slaves out of Turkey,” “for the poor French Protestants,” “for the redemption of captives,” and “for the distressed Protestants beyond the sea,”—all testifying to the social and moral condition of the people, without which it is impossible to give the history of any district or any country.