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CHAPTER XI

PARISH AMUSEMENTS

OTWITHSTANDING that the parish was instituted primarily for ecclesiastical objects, the people quickly

came to understand the utility of the organization for common and social purposes. Although it was not till well into the sixteenth century that any successful attempt was made to impose by law upon the parishioners, as such, any purely secular duty, such as the care of local roads and bridges, or the repair of ditches, dykes, and sluices, the people's wardens had long before this assumed the superintendence of all the common parochial amusements, and in some instances of works, such as brewing and baking, etc., undertaken for the common benefit or profit. These probably mostly sprang out of their necessary management of parochial property, which had a natural tendency to grow in extent, and in particular of the "Church House," which in one form or other most parishes possessed.

The Church House.-Mr. J. M. Cowper, in his preface to the Accounts of the Churchwardens of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, gives a useful description of the purposes for which the Church, or, as it was sometimes called, the Parish, House existed. In the fifteenth century, and indeed before that,

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the church was the real centre of all parochial life, social as well as religious. "From the font to the grave the greater number of people lived within the sound of its bells. provided them with all the consolations of religion, and linked itself with such amusements as it did not directly supply."

Parish meetings not unfrequently settled local disputes. Thus at Canterbury in 1485, at St. Dunstan's, there was some dispute between the parish and a man named Baker, and the churchwardens spent 24d. on arbitration. Later on, two families fell out, and the vicar and four parishioners met in council, heard the parties, and put an end to the difficulty.

A parish, with all the great interests involved in its proper management, required some place where parish meetings could be held. They were sometimes, no doubt, held in the aisle of the parish church, but this arrangement was for obvious reasons inconvenient, and a Church house became a necessity. Its existence was apparently almost universal. At Hackney, for instance, the parish built a house in which to hold meetings. At Yatton, in Somerset, in 1445, the people subscribed to the building of their house; at Tintinhull, in the same county, one was completed in 1497; but in 1531, another was erected to take the place of the older one, and Thomas, Prior of Montacute, helped the parish with a donation of twenty shillings.

The Church house was sometimes let out to tenants and for various purposes, with a reservation of its use when necessary for parochial meetings. Thus, at Wigtoft, the rent of the house brought in a regular sum of money to the churchwardens. At Straton, in the county of Cornwall, it was let on occasion; as, for instance, in 1513, the accounts show a receipt of 8d. "of Richard Rowell for occupying of the Church house;" and of 12d. "of the paynters for working in the Church house." At the annual fair time the Church house was let to wandering merchants to display their goods. At St. Mary's, Dover, in 1537, an item of parochial receipt was, one whole year's farme of the churche house in Broad St., 5 shillings."

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Sometimes there was land belonging to the parish, which was let together with the house; as, for example, at Cratfield, where, in 1534, an acre of land was let with the "Church house." Very probably this was the land on which

subsequently the parish shooting-butts were erected. If there were receipts to the parish, there were, of course, also expenses for repairs to the common house, which in some accounts appear to be very frequent, and which shows probably that it was much used. In one or two instances there seems to have been two floors to the house, and in one of these instances these were let out separately, one of the two tenants being a woman.

In many cases it is clear that cooking was done on the premises for the parish meetings. In some Wiltshire accounts there is evidence of this, and of utensils of various kinds being kept in the house for parochial feasting and for ministering to the poor. The householders made merry and collected money for church purposes, and the younger people had dancing and bowls in many places, "while the ancients sat gravely by." At St. Dunstan's, in Canterbury, there were two dozen trenchers and spoons, and one annual dinner is mentioned.

Dr. Jessop thus speaks of these Church houses

"Frequently, indeed, one may say usually, there was a church house, a kind of parish club, in which the gilds held their meetings and transacted their business. Sometimes this Church-house was called the Gild hall; for you must not make the mistake of thinking that the Church houses were places of residence for the clergy. Nothing of the kind. The Church house or Gild hall grew up as an institution which had become necessary when the social life of the parish had outgrown the accommodation which the church could afford, and when, indeed, there was just a trifle too much boisterous merriment and too little seriousness and sobriety to allow of the assemblies being held in the church at all. The Church-house in many places became one of the most important

buildings in a parish, and in the little town of Dereham, in Norfolk, the Church-house or Gild hall is still, I think, the largest house in the town. When the great fire took place at Dereham, in 1581, which destroyed almost the whole town, the Gild hall or Church house, from being well built of stone, was almost the only building in the place which escaped the terrible conflagration."

The owners of the Church house, or "Court house," as it was sometimes called, were, of course, the churchwardens, as trustees of the parishioners, and they made all the necessary arrangements to let or lease it. At Berkhampstead "they always reserved to themselves the right of using the great loft, "which apparently occupied the whole upper story, as well at other times as when they kept the feast. It was in this common hall, evidently, that some of the property of the parish was kept ready for use. At Pilton, in Somerset, for example, there is mentioned "a slegge to break stones at the quarey ;" and the "eight tabyle clothes" point to parish dinners.

One of the ways of eliciting good-will among the parishioners, and also of making a profit for the common chest, was the "church ale." This was a parish meeting at which cakes and small beer were purchased from the churchwardens, and consumed for the good of the parish. No doubt there were amusements of various kinds during the potatio, and there was generally a collection. At Cratfield, for instance, in 1490, the chief source of income was from the "church ales." There were about five of these parish feasts held in each year, and one of them was instituted by a parishioner, William Brews, who left nine shillings in his will for that purpose. Very commonly a collection for the