G.W. Ormerod in _Devon Assoc. for Adv. of Science_, etc.,
viii (1876), 72. Same, _Local Information reprinted from the Chagford
Parish Mag_. (1867) in _Topographical Tracts_ in Brit. Mus. As it was
sometimes hard for the authorities to prevent the churchwardens from
utilizing the church for plays, so it was hard for them to keep the
wardens from giving up the churchyard or outlying portions of the
church structure for fairs and stall-holders. In Herts Co. Rec.
Quarter Sess. Rolls (ed. W.J. Hardy, 1905), p. 13, we read, _s. a_.
1591-2, that a presentment was made that some part of the "fayer of
Starford has usually been kept within the compase of the churchyard."
See also _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_ (ed. H.J.F.
Swayne, _Wilts Rec. Soc_. 1896), introd., p. xxiii (St. Edmund's fair
held within and without the churchyard. Wardens receipts from
cheesesellers, butchers, etc., for stalls and standings).
[247] As late as 1633 the bishop of Bath and Wells could write to
Archbishop Laud: "I finde that by Church-ales hertofore many poore
Parishes have cast their Bells, repaired their Towers, beautified
their Churches, and raised stocks for the poore." Wm. Prynne,
_Canterburies' Doome_, etc. (1646), 151. Cf. Philip Stubbes, _Anatomie
of Abuses_ (4th ed., 1595), 110-11.
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