Chapter IX: Part V: Later Parsons of Grasmere (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.

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.

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.