The Church of Grasmere: A History

PRESENTMENTS, BRIEFS, AND CHARITIES

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:—

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:—

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

APPENDIX

Districts Mentioned.

1604 blah Townhead.
1611 blah Townend.
1640 blah Eiesdall.

INDEX.