444 



exception to this, as they have been very well kept, and the entries 

 beautifully made, especially during the lung period in which the 

 Rev. Henry Thompson was Curate of Wrington, — nothing can 

 surpass his neatness and accuracy, — but the Registers themselves 

 being no longer kept upon parchment, but on thick paper, and kept 

 formerly in the church where there is of necessity much damp, the 

 writing becomes faint, and must in time be entirely lost, unless the 

 records are copied carefully. To preserve these Records is most 

 important, to insert the entries accurately and clearly is no less so, 

 and anything that can be done to secure their preservation is doing 

 a service to society for generations to come. 



Ancient Churchwardens' Accounts, Wrington. Read Feb. \2th, 1873. 



The Churchwarden's Accounts which are to be found in many 

 parishes in England, and extend to a remote date, are not the least 

 curious and instiTictive records from which matter of interest and 

 historical value may be drawn. They present a faithful record of 

 what was done in those times, both in the church and in the parish, 

 and give us indications of parish life which are not only amusing 

 but instructive and useful. 



Somerset seems to be rich in these parish documents, and a 

 history of the passing events in each parish might almost be drawn 

 from the entries in these accounts. 



Some have been published, both in London and in the country. 

 Thus in the volume of the Ai'chseological Association for 1868, p. 

 150, will be found extracts from the Account Books of the Parish of 

 St. Peter Cheap, in the City of London, which date as far back as 

 A.D. 1431. These have been published by the Rev. W. Span-ow 

 Simpson, M.A., and give not only an account of the possessions of 

 the Church at that time, but also much may be inferred of the 

 manners and customs in the City of London in the 15th and 16th 

 centm-ies. Mr. Simpson has also given extracts from the Church- 

 wardens' Accounts for the Parish of St. Matthew, Friday Street, in 

 the City of London, which extend from 1547 to 1603.* 



In the Parish of St. Michael, Bath, the Churchwardens' Accounts 

 go back to a still earlier date, A. D. 1349 (23 Edw. Ill) to A.D. 

 • See Journal of Arch. Assoc, 1869, p. 356. 



