244 A Sketch of the History of Sill Deverill. 



mentioned being Thomas Lampard for 1741-2, and William Ghray, 

 1742-3. In 1747 payments are made for cutting a new road at 

 Bradbury. In August, 1749, small-pox occurs. 



(c) The Churchwardens' Accounts begin in 1740 ; Vol. I. contains 

 1740 — 1848. They are kept regularly. There is nothing par- 

 ticular to notice in them beyond the entries of payments for 

 " varmints' heads," stoats, foxes, hedgehogs, polecats, and sparrows. 

 The last of these payments is in 1824. The prices are : — a fox, 6d. ; 

 a stoat, 3d. ; polecat, 3d. ; hedgehog, 2d. ; a dozen sparrows, 2d. 



As to the existence of these various registers we may remark that 

 the first entry is that of the birth of the first son of Sir Henry 

 Coker and Elizabeth, his wife, bom Ludlow ; she was born in 1630, 

 and succeeded to the Hill Deverill estate on the death of her father 

 in 1644. As the date of her child's birth is September, 1648, clearly 

 the register begins to be kept when Sir Henry Coker comes to live 

 in the parish. The first name other than Coker is Richard 

 Huntly (mai-ried in or about 1660). Perhaps the Coker entries 

 from 1648 to 1659 were made all together in 1659 : the first 

 contemporary entry may be in 1654.^ 



John Forman, Minister, and Thomas Webb sign the parish 

 accounts for 1740. 



The earliest date at which the name of any family now (1895) 

 living in the parish appears, is 1685, when William Parker is 

 baptised ; then come Job Grrey, 1708, who is described as servant to 

 Viscoxmt Weymouth, and who marries Elizabeth Carraway, servant 

 to the Lady Coker ; (the spelling Ghray does not occur till 1727, when 

 Ann, the wife of Edward Grray, is buried) ; Mary, the daughter of 

 Abigail Ruddick, baptised 1729 ; William Foord, buried 1741 ; 

 Mary Carpenter, buried 1746 ; Nicholas, son of WiUiam and Sarah 

 Houlton, baptised 1779 ; Ann, daughter of Joseph and Letica 

 Collins, baptised 1782 ; and William Doman, bom 1787. 



An accurate transcript of the registers, with the names arranged 



' The handwriting of the first few years in the register is not improbably that 

 of Sir Henry Coker, whose signature is preserved in a copy of Culpeper's Herbal 

 (published 1651), existing in the next parish. 



