156 
the family, a sum of money—generally ten shillings, sometimes 
more—was given for distribution amongst the poor. In this year 
(1655) it is recorded, that Sir Thomas Sandford of Howgill Castle 
gives £2 10s. od. on the death of his child at widow Fallowfields 
in Penrith. These voluntary benefactions and fines were distributed 
to the poor in sums of from fourpence to a shilling. These bene- 
factions are distinct from mortuary fees to the priest on the death 
of a head of the family. 
Roger Baldwin’s first year at Penrith parish church closes with 
a list of church properties to be handed over to the succeeding 
churchwardens ; and a very characteristic list it is, as the following 
items will show. ‘One large bible. Sundry paper books of church 
accounts and transactions. One green cloth for the communion 
table. One linen cloth for the same. One pewter flagon. One 
silver bowl with a stand for it. One shovel, one spade, one rake. 
One long post of wood in St. Andrew’s choir. One wood pan for 
casting of lead ;’—this must mean a wood trough or shallow box 
to hold the sand upon which sheets of lead for the church roof 
were cast; for at that time, and for long after, rolled sheet lead 
was unknown, and all roofing lead was cast in sand. I have seen 
such cast sheets taken out of old houses in Penrith: they were 
very heavy, and of irregular thickness. 
The inventory mentions certain bonds for church stock lent 
out, and for apprentices’ indentures; for the vicar and church- 
wardens had the paternal duty of paying for the apprenticing of 
boys to trades. The fee paid was three pounds ; and occasionally 
a further sum for an outfit of clothes. They also had the (to our 
notions) anomalous liability of paying premiums for the destruction 
of foxes, ravens, magpies, and other predatory animals. In 1658 
we have an entry of this sort: “Paid for killing a fox, 2s. 6d.” 
Orthographically this fox is a curious animal—he is spelt “ffoxx,” 
and so has two heads and two tails. 
Another curious item of expenditure is whipping of dogs out of 
the church, for which service two shillings is annually paid for 
many years. This was not peculiar to Penrith; indeed, it was a 
general custom, and the dog whipper was quite a parochial institu- 
—" 
