Part 7

The present vicar of St. John's is the Rev. Canon Wood; churchwardens, Mr. Philpott and Mr. Lea. Population in 1851, 1845.

St. Clement's.

The earliest order book for this parish commences with 1670, the register 1694, and the account book 1695. Older records are supposed to have been washed away or to have perished through the effects of floods to which the old parish church (formerly situate on the Upper Quay) was exposed. Even the existing books seem to have been thoroughly soaked, or else the ink used on them was so pale as to be quite illegible in many places. Early in the present century (as the Rev. John Davies, the incumbent, informs me) during a great flood, he passed up the aisle of the church in a boat, and for some weeks was obliged to borrow another church to accommodate his parishioners. An old tale is told in this parish that on one occasion a clergymen found a salmon left by the subsidence of the flood in St. Clement's church, and hence the presentation to the living was supposed to include the valuable privilege of catching all the fish that can be secured in this way. Fortunately for the parishioners, there were but about a score of them living on the side of the river where the old church stood, while the remainder (about 2000) occupied a delightful bank on the west side, where the effects of floods and dampness are set at defiance, if we may judge from the many instances of longevity occurring there. Only a few months ago a person died there who remembered George III being crowned; and another, still surviving, regularly walks up to the communion-table with firm step, although upwards of ninety years of age. Mr. Davies, who for forty years has been the beloved and faithful pastor, has during that period buried about 2000 persons, being in fact a whole generation of the parish. But to return to the records.

Churchwardens here have partaken of the same flesh and blood with their brethren in other parts of the world, judging from the regular outlays for eating and drinking apparent on their books. The Bear inn (a house belonging to the parish) was usually selected for their adjourned vestry meetings and drinking bouts, and the Apple Tree, the Mug-house, and the Duke of Cumberland's Head, were sometimes chosen by way of change. The following is one of their bills for perambulating the parish. It is dated 1737:

s. d. "To cakes and ale at ye perambulation 9 4 For a quarter of lamb 2 6 Leg of veal and bacon 4 3 For a pigg 3 6 Thirty-two quarts of ale 8 0 For bread, greens, and dressing dinner 5 0 For cyder 0 3 For carrying the bush 1 0"

In 1700, the sum of 8s is charged as "spent agoing the bounds of the parish and a boat; at the same time, when we came to Anthony Wall's, 10s 4d". Yet with all these appliances of creature comforts, the then really onerous office of churchwarden was considered so undesirable that, as in other parishes, the persons selected to fill it sometimes "bought themselves off" by a good round sum to the parish, as was the case in 1776, when Mr John Williams paid five guineas for that purpose The total disbursements of the parish in 1695 amounted to £86 18s 10d, out of which £55 15s 8d was paid to the poor; and the churchwardens seem to have taken good care at most times to keep a balance in hand Among the items of expenditure are--for mending the church after the floods, for cloth and brass for the poors' badges (See chapter on St Swithin's parish), 4d each for hedgehogs, &c The sacramental wine for the whole year (1700) cost but 7s, and only 9s 10d was received of the communicants during the twelve months In 1712 it was "agreed and ordered, that for every corps either parishioner or residing in this p'ish that shal be buried in this churchyard there shal sixpence be paid to the churchwardens for ye time being toward ye mayntaining of ye paling, and for every one brought out of any other p'ish to be paid one shilling as aforesayd."

The church was "bewtifyed" in 1745, but it may be reasonably supposed that no "bewtifycation" would long resist the frequent irruption of Sabrina's waters (from which the building had probably been protected by the old city wall before the latter was destroyed); and accordingly in 1820 it was resolved to abandon the old fabric and build a new one on the west side of the river, which was completed in 1823. I gather from the records that the Whitsun farthings paid by this parish in 1726 amounted to 7-1/2d.; and as this oblation consisted of a farthing a head paid by every householder to the mother church, it would seem that (unless this was a fixed annual payment) only thirty householders then subscribed in this parish; which is more a proof of the smallness of the population at that time than of disaffection for the church, as the latter was scarcely ever permitted in those days to stand in the way of her legal claims. Yet in 1779 there were 141 houses in the parish. About eighty years ago, I am informed, St. Clement's and All Saints' churches were served by the same minister--an arrangement often made in those days of no discipline and church desecration. It appears, however, that many centuries ago, in a dispute about the advowson of this church, which was then said to be dependent on All Saints, the bishop declared it to be a free chapel, having no connection whatever with All Saints.

Present rector of St. Clement's, the Rev. J. Davies; churchwardens, Mr. J. Stallard and Mr. Bozward. Population in 1851, 2174.

Claines.

This register is likewise copied, from the year 1538 to the close of that century, in a good plain hand, except during the Puritanic period, when the rough scribbling of clerks or ill-educated ministers greatly disfigures the book. Much confusion and extensive omissions also occur from the year 1633 till after the Restoration, and from 1749 to 1761, from which time, however, to the present the register is regularly kept and in as good order as any I have seen. The only curious entry in them is dated January 24, 1736; when "Thomas, bastard son of Ann Husel, was baptised. This Ann Husel was a common strumpet, but pickt up and maintayned in a very gallant manner by one Baker, a rakish spark of 3 or 400 a year, by whom he had the bastard Thomas, as generally supposed. They lived together as man and wife in defyance of God and man, tho' under ye nose of ye Consistory Court, at the Hill." A memorandum is likewise made of the following benefactions, which I believe are still administered: Mr. William Norton, in February, 1721, left lands to the value of £7 yearly, the rents and profits of which thus to be distributed: "20s. every year to the minister for preaching a sermon on such day of the month yearly as I shall be buried;" 20s. in twopenny household bread to the poor who should attend and hear the said sermon; and the residue to clothe five poor men of the parish that usually attend the church and also hear the above-named sermon. Mr. William Swift also left houses and land to provide 12 penny loaves of wheaten bread every Lord's day, and 24 more such loaves at Christmas Day, Easter, and Whit Sunday, to be given to 12 poor aged people after service, and the overplus to the minister. Another book records that St. George's chapel, in this parish, was consecrated by Bishop Cornewall on October 26, 1830, and the Rev. J. B. Tyrwhitt appointed its minister by the Rev. E. W. Wakeman, then perpetual curate of Claines.

The oldest account book commences with the year 1668. Besides the churchwardens and overseers, two sidesmen, supervisors of highways, and "destroyers of noisome fowls and vermin," were regularly appointed. Foxes and urchins still abound in this parish; and as to "noisome fowls," entries frequently occur of sums paid for shooting kites, and in 1678 Sir J. Pakington's man was paid 1s. for killing a fox (_tempora mutantur_). In regard to the appointment of churchwardens there seems to have been a dispute between the incumbent and the parishioners, as set forth in the following entry:

"Mr. Phidkin, the curate, pretending a right, by virtue of the canon, to elect a churchwarden, the parishioners procured an order from the Consistory Court for the parishioners to meet, which they accordingly did, and chose two new wardens, and made their return to the said Court, but Mr. Phidkin insisted on the canon, and prayed that the churchwardens should be sworn; but the chancellor declaring that the court had not the power of trying the custom, a mandamus was obtained at the King's Bench to swear the two churchwardens elected by the parish."

It appears from another entry that the ancient custom was "for the minister, together with the consent of the parishioners, to choose the low churchwarden to be head churchwarden for the year." The parochial officers--as was the case in most parishes--were occasionally checked in their tendency towards an extravagant expenditure, one of the vestry meetings ordering that no more than 10s. should be spent at the visitation, besides fees; no more than 2s. 6d. to be allowed for ringing on any occasion; and only 2s. each to the officers for attending Sessions. The perambulation expenses in 1732 were £1. 10s; three days were usually occupied in beating the bounds, and they dined at the Tavern (Query, the present Virgin's Tavern?). May day was likewise kept as a festival, and money allowed in these accounts for the celebration of it. In the year 1750 the principal inhabitants, in vestry assembled, agreed to forfeit 40s. each if they did not use their "utmost endeavour to put a stop to the evil practices commonly committed on our wake Sunday." The wake was held on Trinity Sunday; and notwithstanding the above combination, old custom proved stronger than the sense of propriety, for until within the last twenty or thirty years the wake was continued, and I am told that some extraordinary scenes were usually witnessed here: even on the graves, travelling vagabonds plied their profession, and

"Many a youth the glittering snuff-box eyed-- Paid for his stick forthwith and boldly shied."

Such scenes of fighting, drunkenness, and debauchery, were probably never witnessed in the parish but at those times, and close beneath the shadow of its old church too. The clergy, aided by the indefatigable exertions of the present respectable clerk, Mr. Williams, at length rooted out the evil; and a little dancing which is still carried on at Fearnall Heath on the Monday is all that remains of Claines wake.

The overseers in 1678 were ordered to deduct the third part of the pay of such poor as should be found tippling in alehouses upon Sundays, for the space of a month after they should be found so tippling. Among the curious entries in these books are the following:

1669.--"Given to one whose dwelling was drowned by the sea coming too late to church, 1s."

1713.--"Whereas several pack horses hath spoiled the road leading from Dean Green to Claines Church, not having any right to travel the said road, being no inhabitance of the said parish, we order that there be a barr with post and railes set upp to prevent it over against the house of Richard Onions."

An interesting document relative to the liability of Claines to pay to the relief of the poor of the Tything of Whistones will be found under the head of "County Sessions Records--The Poor."

The Rev. W. Crowther is the present perpetual curate of Claines; churchwardens, Mr. Moon and Mr. Martin Curtler. Population in 1851, 1373.

COUNTY SESSIONS RECORDS.

"Thoughts shut up, want air, And spoil, like bales unopen'd to the sun."

The Sessions rolls, now in the custody of the Clerk of the Peace, consisting of recognizances, presentments, informations, memorials, grand jury bills, &c., commence with 1600, but the order books do not go further than 1693. From the latter it appears that a great portion of the county business was transacted at inns and private gentlemen's houses. The Talbot, in Sidbury, for a great number of years enjoyed the magisterial patronage, adjournments being regularly made from the Guildhall (where the County Assizes and Sessions were then held) to that respectable old hostelry, where no doubt the magnates compensated themselves for the dry and tedious work in hand by generous and stimulating potations, as was the custom with the city authorities. Several Sessions were adjourned to Hooper's coffee-house at the Guildhall, which is first mentioned in 1767 as being kept by Lucy Hooper, and also to the Trinity Hall (an old building occupied by various trading "companies" or "guilds," on the site of which now stand Messrs. Freame's warehouses near St. Swithin's church). A committee of magistrates were ordered to inspect this hall in 1796, to consider the propriety of purchasing it and converting it into an office for the Clerk of the Peace; but this seems to have fallen to the ground. The Talbot, Claines (Tything), was preferred for some time, the Star being occasionally used; then the Crown inn was chosen in 1792 by a formal vote of the bench; and in the early part of the present century the Hop-pole came in for its share. During all this period, however, on many occasions, adjournments were made to other towns and villages. The Earl of Coventry was frequently visited in this way at Croome; the Hon. H. Herbert, at Ribbesford (1710); Rev. Dr. William Lloyd, at Ripple; William Hancock, Esq., at Bredon's Norton, and the Bishop's Palace at Hartlebury (1715); Lord Herbert, at Ribbesford (1721); and in 1723 a circuit seems to have been taken on many consecutive days to the Crown, Evesham; Crown, Blockley; George, Shipston; Angel, Pershore; Talbot, Feckenham; Crown, Bromsgrove; George, Bewdley; Lion, Kidderminster; Talbot, Stourbridge; Bush, Dudley; Hundred House, Witley; Crown, Tenbury; the house of Mrs. Collins, Shelsley; and the Sun, Upton. By the statute 9th George I, chap. 24, all persons who were Papists, and all persons who had not taken the oath for securing the throne to the House of Hanover, were to do so before the 25th of December, 1723, in one of the courts at Westminster or at the Quarter Sessions. This was no doubt the cause of the adjournments of the Quarter Sessions in that year. In modern times it often occurs that the Quarter Sessions are adjourned to different places in the county for the convenience of newly-appointed magistrates being sworn into office. In the year 1809, Sir Harry Lippincott, Bart., was appointed a magistrate for Gloucestershire, and he was sworn into office at an adjournment of the Gloucestershire Quarter Sessions--the Sessions being adjourned to the White Lion, the principal inn at Berkeley (now the Berkeley Arms), the late Earl of Berkeley taking the chair, and administering the oaths to the hon. bart. In 1697, Lancelott Jewkes, the Worcester county gaoler, was fined £20 "for not attending this court to do his duty, the court having had several occasions for him." It was ordered in 1716, "that the Sheriff for the future do not return any freeholders within the burrough of Bewdley to serve on jurys for the County Sessions, they having Sessions of their own." Another order was made in 1723, "that there be an advertisement in the Worcester newspaper, to give notice to people lyable to serve on jurys not to give money to the bayliffe to excuse them, and that the treasurer doe pay for the advertisement four weeks successively." The following is a table of fees ordered in 1753 for justices' clerks, in pursuance of an act of the previous session:

s. d. "Swearing every high constable 1 0

Swearing every petty constable, tythingman, &c. 0 6

Every common warrant 0 6

Every warrant to search for stolen goods 1 0

Every warrant of the peace or good behaviour 2 6

Every supersedeas 2 6

Signing every pair of parish indentures 1 0

Every license to sell ale, the fee to the clerk of the peace for filing ye recognizance, stamp and paper included 5 0

Every recognizance for peace or good behaviour 2 6

Every warrant for the highways 1 0

Swearing the surveyors to their presentment and receiving it 1 0

Every hue and cry 1 0

Every warrant for appointing overseers of the poor 1 0

Signing a warrant to distrain for the poor's levy 2 0

For a warrant to disturb inmates 1 0

An order and copy for removing a person from one parish to another 2 6

If drawn by another and only signed by you 1 0

Signing a certificate from one parish to another 1 0

Making and signing every original pass. 0 0

Signing every other pass 0 0

Every mittimus 0 0

Taking examn. of a settlement or bastard 1 0

Drawing an order for adjudging the reputed father of a bastard child 2 0

Signing the same order 1 0

Warrant to levy every penalty or forfeiture 1 0

For a summons for conveaning Quakers, &c. 0 6

Every order thereon 1 0

A warrant upon refusal 1 0

For a summons for a master who refuses to pay his servants' wages 0 6

For the discharge of a servant from his master 1 0

A warrant to distrain for servants' wages 1 0

Allowing overseers' or constables' levys 0 0

Signing freeholders' lists 0 0

For every warrant to the collector of the land tax for taking up a deserter. 1 0"

In 1753, William Cooper, of Shipston, was fined £5 for taking money of William Taylor, of Armscot, to excuse his serving upon the jury at Sessions. The only remaining item under this head is an order made in 1789, "that at all future Sessions, business be conducted only by counsel, and not by attorneys as heretofore; but that in testimony of the respect due to Wilson Aylesbury Roberts, Esq., for his integrity and abilities, as well as for the regularity of his attendance and the assistance this court has received from him through a series of years, he is from henceforth received and heard as our advocate or counsel, as if he was a barrister, and as if the said order had been never made."

Witchcraft.

Our county records do not contain evidence of the existence of this superstition to a great extent, owing to the fact that witchcraft cases were usually tried at the Assizes. The first instance occurring in the Sessions rolls is in the year 1601, when Edward Buckland "exhibited articles complaining of John Genifer, to whom he had lent money," and when Buckland's "poor wife" asked for it, Genifer used shocking language, and "charged her with being a witch, and had deserved burning seven years sithence, and if she was a midwife was not fitt to bringe a ---- to bed, much less a woman."

In 1633 the recognizance of widow Bellett, of Stony Morton (?) was taken, to appear at the next Sessions, to answer charges brought by William Vaughan, of Inkberrow, and others. This document is in some places scarcely legible, but it appears that the principal charge was "for the evil artt that shee useth with the ---- wich, and she gives ---- to finde out goodes lost, and using the name of Peter and Paule therein in profane manner, beinge sayde to be ---- of that sleight ----." I found no account of her trial.

In May, 1660, the examination of Elinor Burt was taken before Gervase Bucke and William Collins, Esqrs., and "being examined whether she hath not taken upon her to cure several persons afflicted with several diseases and distempers in their bodyes, ansheareth and saith, that shee did not take upon her soe to do, but confesseth that when diverse had come to her that hath aches in their heads and other infirmities, she had and hath a gifte from God, by good prayers and laying her hands upon their heads or faces, oftentimes to recover and heal them of their diseases; and being examined what other means she useth to recover sick persons, saith, noe other means but good prayers; and further doth not materially confess." As the Sessions order book does not commence till 1693, there is no means of ascertaining the result of this and other cases prior to that date which are mentioned in this abstract of the records; but in the same year (1660) it is stated that "Joane Bibbe was bound for good behaviour for beinge of evil fame, and suspected for wychcrafte, butt not as yet charged." This is undoubtedly Joan Bibb, of Rushock, who (as stated in a MS. note-book of Mr. Townsend, of Elmley Lovett, who was a county justice at that time) "was tyed and thrown into a poole, as a witch to see whether shee could swim." But she brought her action against Mr. Shaw, the parson, for his share in this transaction, and recovered £10 damages, and Mr. Townsend compounded for her and others with Mr. Shaw for £20. The same MS. records the bringing of four other persons from Kidderminster that year, and ducking them in the Severn at Worcester, but the details of their cases have already been published by Nash.

Elizabeth Ranford, of Great Comberton, widow, lays an information before the magistrates on the 26th of September, 1662, "that she heard Joane Willis, wife of Thomas Willis, of Great Comberton, say that shee will take her oathe that shee, the said informant, is a witch, and bewitched to death one Thomas Right's wife and one Robert Price's child, both of Comberton aforesaid; and that shee behegged one of the said Joane Willis her children; likewise the said informant informeth, that shee, the said informant, was gooing to one Margaret Willis her house, in Comberton aforesaid, about her business, and the said Joane Willis came violently upon her and gave her several blows with a staffe, and ripped her quaife of her head, and prophanely did swear, blood and wounds shee would kill her."