CHESTERFIELD CHURCH CUSTOMS. 167 



seems to have died out as a Chesterfield baker during that cen- 

 tury, for none of that name were dealt with by the churchwardens 

 after 1780. At the beginning of this century, the names of the 

 four Chesterfield bakers who supplied the dole and charitable 

 bread were Wilson, Hawkesley, Cooper, and Hardy. The Win- 

 chester dole for a long period only realised 15s. iid. per annum. 

 In 1791 is this entry: — "Winchester Dole given on S' Matthias 

 Day and Distributed in threepenny Loaves to the poor by 

 Tho' Browne &: Sam! Diggin Churchwardens. Naylor's Dole 

 gave away on Good Friday." A little later than this, we find that 

 the interest for both the doles, amounting to ^3 3s. 7d., was paid 

 to the churchwardens by Mr. Bernard Lucas, jun., a banker, 

 being invested in the Matlock Turnpike Trust. In 1802 the 

 interest was increased, Naylor's charity producing ^3 iis. 6d., 

 and Winchester's ^i 3s. lod. 



In 1795, both the doles were given on Good Friday at the 

 church, resulting in the distribution of 144 sixpenny loaves to as 

 many poor people. Different churchwardens adopted different 

 ways of distributing both the doles and other moneys. In 1797, 

 the Good Friday crowd of church bread-seekers was avoided by 

 ;^5 15s. 93d. being distributed round the town to poor widows. 

 But shordy afterwards, this irreverent custom was still further 

 intensified ; and it is anything but pleasant to think of the church- 

 wardens giving away, in 1789, 420 sixpenny loaves in the church, 

 on the death-day of the Church's Master, to as many struggling 

 applicants. In 1804, 360 loaves were thus distributed, and in 

 1806 four hundred. 



Record is made, under the year 1792, on September 30th, of 

 an " Especial Sacrament for The Mayor and Corporation," but 

 their liberality was not excessive, the alms only amounting to 

 6s. 6d. 



The money at the disposal of the churchwardens for the relief 

 of the poor was occasionally increased in special ways. Thus, 

 in 1795, they "received of Mrs. Smith, for Pigs being in the 

 churchyard, 2s. 3d." ; other entries show that the usual poundage 

 fee upon such beasts was 6d. a pig. But other fines not of their 



