..and they shall certify in Stratford bowe Chappell bothe
of the vew making by the workmen, of the gathering of the rate already
made, of their making a new rate...and of the gathering thereof; and
likewise how farr they have p[ro]ceeded in the repayer of the church
the ixth of Aprill next: and for the punish[men]t of him, the said Wm
Garrett, for his contemptuous taking away of the rate, as is
complayned of, it is respited untill this p[resent] order be
p[er]formed; & he is now monished to appeare in the Consistorie the
first court day [etc]...."[133] So, too, when Richard Fynsett of
Clayton, Sussex, was "detected" to the official for not paying his
rate for church repairs, November, 1595, he appeared and claimed that
not only was his rating excessive, but that the assessment had not
been according to custom, to wit, made by the majority of the
parishioners. He was summoned by the judge to prove his allegation at
the next court day, and to pay his court and other fees. He was
probably unable to prove his point, for under the 9th December
following the record simply states "_Comparuit et solvit feoda
debita_."[134]
The wardens of Swalecliffe, Kent, complain to the archdeacon of
Canterbury in 1565 that their church is near utter decay, but the
parish is so poor that they cannot repair it unless an assessment be
made on the lands within the parish, for the making of which
assessment they ask for an authorization.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44