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the Vicar’s study, a skep being the traditional wicker dome
shaped basket made to house a hive of bees. The practice
of parishioners offering up some deaths door skinny hens
as their tithe was ruled out by an Act of Parliament in
1836, which assessed parishioners for a monetary
contribution. To soften the blow many vicars held tithe
feasts at which their parishioners did their best to eat and
drink more than their tithe’s worth.
Good Old King Hal
At parish level the chancel of the church was the domain
of the priest, and the nave "belonged" to the parishioners.
Each was responsible for the upkeep of their part of the
church. This is why in some early parish churches,
particularly in Norfolk and Suffolk, the chancel is built
of stone, and the nave of much cheaper flint. The freehold
of the chancel and the obligation to pay for its repair
belongs to the Rector not the Vicar. When
Henry VIII
dissolved the Monasteries any Benefices and land they
held were passed to local landowners and of course over
the centuries that followed these parcels of land have
been divided and sub-divided and have changed hands
many times. Today anyone who owns old rectory land or
Glebe land is known as a
lay rector and they have a legal
liability for the repair of the chancel.
In 1970 Gail Wallbank’s father bought some land to farm
in Aston Cantlow in Warwickshire. A clause in the deeds
noted an ancient lay rector liability. In 1990 the Parish
County Council of Aston Cantlow wrote to the Wallbanks
demanding £100,000 for repairs to the church chancel.
The Wallbanks offered to donate the field that carried the
liability and although this was only worth £21,000 it
carried the potential for development but the offer was
rejected. The Wallbanks (above) reasoned that if they paid
up then there was nothing to stop the church
demanding
more ad infinitum and felt that it “cursed” the land, which
would become impossible to sell. So they went to court.
The practice of tithes, giving the church a tenth of income
and dating back to Babylon and Old Testament times, was
brought to England by St Augustine in 597 AD. Great
Tithes were levied on corn, grain, hay, wool and wood,
Lesser or Small Tithes on anything else that could be
assessed - from chickens and eggs to vegetables and fruit.
The right to this income of tithes was known as a Living.
Rectors were entitled to both Great and Small Tithes.
Farmers and small holders brought their tithe to the village
tithe barn built for the purpose. Sometimes a patron would
give away his patronage of a church, usually to a religious
house maybe in thanksgiving for the recovery of a sick
child or safe return from a crusade but many patronages
were simply taken from the heirs of the Saxon Thegns and
given to found religious houses when the Normans arrived
More often than not instead of appointing a Rector the
monastery kept the Great Tithe and often the Glebe and
appointed a Vicar, named from the Latin
vicarious
meaning deputy or substitute. The Vicar did all the parish
work and lived off the Small Tithes. Perpetual Curates
who were usually put in charge of a newly created Parish
carved out of a larger Rectoral or Vicarious Parish weren’t
entitled to any tithe income and were instead supported by
the diocese. Rectors, Vicars and Perpetual Curates might
all call themselves called Parson but it was more often the
name adopted by a Perpetual Curate to distinguish himself
from an assistant Curate.
Tithes were as unpopular as any tax, the picture on this
month’s cover of
The Kettle
is a satirical poke at the fat
parson riding home with his small tithes. As late as the 19
th
century the autocratic vicar of Sidbury on the Devon coast
(who had banned the choir for singing out of tune and out
of place) insisted on receiving one tenth of all the honey
produced in the village. One disgruntled parishioner
showed his displeasure by emptying a skep of bees into