117 
One fire is to be noticed, the Great Fire at Marlborough A. D. 1653. 
In aid of the sufferers, Cromwell contributed £2,000. Aldermen 
Andrews, Tichborne, Ireton, and 27 others sat in Sadler’s Hall to 
receive contributions. For Marlborough was then not a seat 
of learning but more important in the eyes of those practical 
men, the centre of the woollen trade, the staple industry of 
England. This was before the commencement of the Keynsham 
book, but in it we hear of the fire at Albourne assessed at £10,600, 
another at Heytesbury at £7,617, while a fire at Montreal 
is returned at £87,580 8s. 10d. 
Hailstorms were supposed to have caused great damage. At 
Ditchling, Sussex, (A.D. 1724) it is stated to have exceeded 
£3,619, and in various parishes of Berks, A.D. 1766, £7,040. 
£2,250 were required for the fortifications of Brighthelmstone, 
but only 4/04 were contributed by the unsympathetic parish ; but 
for Hagen Church, in Westphalia, they contributed 6/24, and for 
the Philadelphia and New York Colleges £1 1s. 84d., while for 
the Church at Saarbruck, unknown to history for another 100 
years, they gave lls, 8d. The whole 275 Briefs only realized 
£34 12s. 113d. in 34 years, a sum not sufficient to pay the 
expenses of collection. 
So much for the custom of collecting money by means of Briefs. 
The change of date in the Bishop’s visitation was not a mere matter 
of Episcopal convenience, in 1771 nine Briefs remained unread 
because the Bishop came too soon. How the congregation must 
have welcomed his arrival and shouted their greeting to John 
(Wynne) of Bath and Wells. 
But the scandal became too grievous to be endured. The 
charges and fees were extortionate. For Ravenstonedale Church. 
Westmoreland, the expenses for collection were £330 16s. 6d., so 
we can conclude that less than £20 was the amount which 
actually went in charity from Keynsham in those long years. 
What wonder then that Briefs, all but abolished in 1828, 
completely ceased 26 years after. 
For much of this information I am indebted to a privately 
_ printed pamphlet by Mr. E. M. Walford, which I found in the 
| Incorporated Law Society Library, Chancery Lane, and also to the 
| Rev, F. I. Poynton, Kelston Rectory. 
J 

