In message <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] writes
>There is confusion here between Parochial Church Councils and Parish
>Councils. The former are solely concerned with the church.
>Remember the congregation were responsible for the nave and the priest for
>the chancel.
>churchwardens levied rates for church repairs and all sorts of ancillary
>activities. Overseers of the poor also raised rates. THe two bodies
>frequently overlapped in personnel and functions so there were wide
>variations as to what each carried out.
>Jeremy
Certainly there is a lot of confusion and for a start you must
differentiate between urban and rural parishes; also between parishes
and manors. Rural churches arose because lords of the manor built one
for their village to enhance their prestige and parishes came about
because it was necessary to determine to which church tithes and other
payments had to be made. The churchwardens were responsible for
collecting the tithes and they were appointed at an Easter vestry
meeting. Constables came about in 1205 under threat of invasion and I
think it was around 1215 when every parish was required to appoint a
constable which again was done at the annual vestry.
Gradually over the years many other non-ecclesiastical functions were
added to parish administration and it was generally the vestry who
appointed people to the several offices - there were overseers,
haywards, surveyors, ale tasters etc etc who were obliged to perform
their duties as part of their civic responsibilities although the
smarter and richer ones paid someone else to do the jobs for them as
most were pretty thankless.
The number of people in a village that could be made to do the jobs was
generally fairly small and once appointed for a one year term they could
act pretty independently and levy their own rates or make demands but I
doubt very much whether they or the vestry ever saw themselves as a
'council'
Parish Councils came about when the ecclesiastical and civil functions
were separated in 1894 and the annual vestry meeting appointed the
parochial church council while the annual parish meeting or parish
council appointed overseers and guardians.
I have never really ever got to the bottom of the nave/chancel
responsibility - I suspect that this was an urban phenomenon where a
religious order ran the church for the community and they provided the
chancel and the town the nave - certainly in the rural areas the patron
was basically responsible for both parts as he owned it all. The general
principle which applied was he who built it maintained it.
--
John M Chapman
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