Chapter XXVI: Appendix: Books and Documents Relating to Parochial History

To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village, the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in _Domesday_ and old documents. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also Kemble's _Saxons in England_. The _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls, Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The _Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds' Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_ are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and its contents should be carefully examined.

The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The Public Record Office contains the documents _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P. Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ should be consulted; and if there are any remains of a castle, Clark's _Mediaeval Military Architecture in England_ will be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore, and dialect.

The following books are recommended:--

Evans' _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_. Evans' _ Ancient Bronze Implements_. Boyd Dawkins' _Cave Hunting_. Boyd Dawkins' _Early Man in Britain_. Greenwell's _British Barrows_. Fergusson's _Rude Stone Monuments_. Cox's _How to Write the History of a Parish_. Wright's _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_. Parker's _Mediaeval Domestic Architecture_. Sims' _Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist_. Burn's _History of Parish Registers_. Seebohm's _English Village Community_. Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_. Haine's _Manual of Monumental Brasses_. Bloxam's _Principles of Gothic Architecture_. Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_. Cutts' _Middle Ages_. Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_.

INDEX

Akeman Street, 60 Aldhelm, church-builder, 103 Alfriston clergy-house, 180 _Alignements_, 46 Allington rectory, 180 Almshouses, 181 Altars, 191 Amphitheatre, Roman, 67 Anchoresses, 183 Anchor-hold, 183 Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89 Archery, 277, 298 Architecture, English, 102-24 Arresting a dead body, 227 Arrow-heads, 20 _Art of Husbandry_, 255 Astrology, belief in, 222 Aumbry, 192 Avebury cromlech, 46

B

Ball-flower moulding, 118 Barkham in _Domesday_, 128 Barnack Church, 106 Barrows or tumuli, 23-3 " long and round, 25 " near churchyards, 23 " Saxon, 90-3 " their contents, 24, 29 Basilica, Roman, 66 Beacons, 268 Beating the bounds, 276 Bede, 75 Bell-ringing customs, 250 Bells, 245-53 " christening of, 246 " inscription on, 247-50 Benedict Biscop, 103 Benedictine monks, 161 Bewcastle cross, 98 Bishops, treating of, 229 Black Death, 255 Blood-letting, 167-9 Blowing Stone, 52 _Bordarii_, 131 Border castles, 140 Brachycephalic race, 21 Brasses, monumental, 212-18 Bridal cup, 207 Brief Book, 226 Brighthampton, pit dwellings at, 33 British Church, 93 " oppida, 34 " roads, 60, 61 " saints and martyrs, 94 Bronze Age, 21, 40 Budworth hermitage, 182 Burial urns, 29, 30 " urns in woollen, 220

C

Caesar's camps, 50 Camps, 50-52 Carthusian monks, 162 Castles, 135-53 Cave men, 16 Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56 Cemeteries, Saxon, 92 Censers, 205 Chancels, 190 Charles II., adventures of, 267 Chaucer's satire on monks, 160 Chepstow Castle, 140 Chest, parish, 218-29 Chivalry, 143, 148 Chrismatory, 206 Christmas in olden time, 278 Chun Castle, 51 Church ales, 258 Church bells, 245-53 " house, 258 " plate, 200-8 " yard, 243 Churches, parish, 184 99 Churchwardens' account books, 223-6 Cistercian monks, 114, 161 Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265 Cloister of monastery, 163 Cluny, monks of, 161 Consecration crosses, 239 Conversion of Saxons, 94, 95 Crannogs, 38 Cremation, 28, 29, 92 Cromlechs, 46-9 Crosses, Saxon, 95-101 Cross-legged effigies, 211 Cucking-stool, 280

D

Decay of old sports, 271 Decorated architecture, 117 Desecration of monasteries, 159 Devil's Highway, 61 Dog-tooth ornament, 116 Dog-whipper, 228 Dolichocephalic race, 19 Dolmen, 49, 50 _Domesday Book_, 125-34 Donnington Castle, 152 Druids, 48, 50

E

Early English architecture, 115-17 Earthworks, 50-6 Easter sepulchre, 193 Edge Hill, battle of, 264 Edwardian castles, 140 Emblems on brasses, 217 Enstone, menhir at, 45 Eslithic man, 14 Epitaphs, curious, 243 Ermyn Street, 60 "Evil eye," 291-3

F

Fairford windows, 232 Fairies, 56, 293 Fairs, 261 Feudalism, 141 Field-names, 296-8 Flint implements, discovery of, 11 Flint implements, 15, 20 Fonts, 186 Food in barrows, 24, 25 Football, 277 Force-pump, Roman, 68 Frescoes, 234 Friars, preaching, 161 Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24

G

Gambassi, glass-painter, 232 _Geburs_, 82 Gentleman, accomplishments of a, 149 Geological changes, 11-13 Glaciers in Britain, 12 Glass, stained, 230-3 Glastonbury, pit dwellings at, 37, 41, 42 Green, village, 8, 280 Grims-dike, 54, 55 Grosmont Castle, 141 Guizot on castles, 141

H

Hagioscopes, 194 Hall marks, 208 Harvest homes, 275 Hastings, battle of, 264 Heart burial, 222 Hedsor, pile dwellings at, 37, 38 _Hereivard the Wake_, 264 Hermits, 181 Hexham church, 104 " crosses, 99 Highwaymen, 283 Hocktide sports, 225, 273 Homes of famous men, 298 Hospitium of monastery, 169 House, evolution of country, 172-7 Hundreds, origin of, 87 Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings at, 34

I

Ice Age, 12, 13 Iknield Street, 60 Ilkley cross, 99 Inigo Jones, 176 Inns, 7, 282-90 Inventories, 201 Iron Age, 21 " work in churches, 233 _Itinerary_ of Antoninus, 59

J

Jervais, glass-painter, 232 Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159

K

Keep of Norman castle, 137 Kelvedon rectory, 179 Kenilworth Castle, 151 King's evil, 228 Knaresborough hermitage, 182 Knighthood, admission to, 145

L

Laindon reclusorium, 183 Lammas lands, 79 Lecterns, 191 Legends, 44, 55, 263 "Lepers' windows," 195 Lich-gate, 242 Local Government, 254 Low side windows, 195

M

Manor-house, 172-7 Manors, 79, 133 Man-traps, 289 Markets, 260 May Day, 225, 273 Mediaeval village, 254-70 Menhir, 45 "Merry England," 256 Milestones, Roman, 61 Miracle plays, 274 _Misereres_, 191 Monasteries, Saxon, 102 " 154-71 " charity of, 159 Monastic day, 166, 167 " inns, 282 Monks, benefits conferred by, 155 " corruption of, 160 Monstrances, 206 Monumental effigies, 209-12 Mothering Sunday, 273 Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120 " Early English, 116 " Norman, 112 " Perpendicular, 123 Mural paintings, 234-41

N

Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37
Norman architecture, 109-15
" castles, 135-53
" place-names, 132
" villages, 125-34
Normans, coming of, 125

O

Ockwells manor-house, 173 Ogee arch, 118 Organised condition of society among prehistoric races, 31 Ornaments, Saxon, 91 _Osculatorium_, 192 Oxford, poor scholar of, 229

P

Pageants, 149-52 Paleolithic man, 14 Palimpsests, 213 Parish chest, 218-29 " registers, 218-23 Paschall money, 225 Pastimes, 271-81 Pavements, Roman, 71, 72 Pax, 192, 206 Perpendicular architecture, 120 Pews, 187 _Piers Ploughman_, 165, 174, 181 Pile dwellings, 37-43 Pilgrimages, 259 Piscina, 192 Pit dwellings, 33-7 Place-names, 76, 101 Plague, 255-7 Plate, church, 200-8 " " in bishop's coffin, 202 Ploughman's lament, 84 Plough Monday, 272 Porch, 185 "Pot-boilers," 36 Pre-Reformation plate, 202-5 Pulpits, 188 Pytheas of Marseilles, 10 Pyx, 191, 206

Q

Quintain, 277

R

Raglan Castle, 141 Reading Abbey, 171 Reading-pews, 197 Reclusorium, 183 " at Rettenden, 183 Rectories, 177-81 Registers, parish, 218-23 Religion of Saxons, 93 "Restoration," 199 Rollright Stones, 46, 47 Roman relics, 57-73 " rig, 54 " roads, 58-62 " villas, 70-3 Rood-loft, 188 Royal arms in churches, 190 Rural exodus, 300 Rush-bearing, 276 Ruthwell cross, 97 Ryknield Street, 60

S

Sacring bell, 252 St. Christopher, 238 Salisbury Cathedral, 115 Saltways, 61 Sanctus bell, 252 Saxon architecture, 106-9 " house, 172 " monasteries, 102 " place-names, 76, 77 " relics, 90-101 Saxons, coming of, 74, 75 Screens, 189 Secret chambers, 177 Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17 Shires, origin of, 88 Shrovetide sports, 273 Signs of inns, 284-8 Silchester, 54, 62-70 Slavery under Saxons, 84 Sluggard waker, 228 Smoke farthings, 226 _Socmen_, 83, 131 Spenser's description of hermitage, 182 Sports and pastimes, 271-81 Stocks, 280 Stonehenge, 46 Stone monuments, 44-50 Stourbridge Fair, 261 Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51 Sun-worship, relics of, 27 Superstitions, 44, 295 Switzerland, pile dwellings in, 38-41

T

"Terraces," 19 _Tesserae_, 65, 71 Thanes, 80 Thane's house, 81 Thuribles, 205 Tiles, 233 Tournaments, 146-9 Tudor arch, 121 " houses, 175 Tumuli, _see_ Barrows Turf monuments, 53, 54 Twelfth Night, 272 Tympana, Norman, 110

U

Uffington, 52-4 Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178

V

Vernicle, 201 Vestry, contents of, 196 Vicarages, 177-81 Villas, Roman, 70-3 Villeins, 130, 255

W

Wars, 262-70 Watling Street, 60 Wayland Smith's Cave, 27, 294 Whalley cross, 96 " reclusorium, 184 White Castle, 141 White Horse Hill, 53 Whittenham Clumps, 52 Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230 Witches, 291 " turned into hares, 292 Woollen, burials in, 220 Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34

Y

Yeomen, 83, 131 Yew tree in churchyard, 241