OLD PARISH DOCUMENTS 219 



were written it is probable that coffins were not 

 generally in use. This probability is greatly streng- 

 thened by the fact that in some ancient registers the 

 entry occurs, " burryed in a coffin," which, had coffins 

 been general, would have been a superfluous remark; 

 and further by an old comment on the rubric, " while 

 the corpse is made ready to be laid into the earth," 

 which is explained as meaning while the body is 

 stripped of the outer shroud or winding-sheet. And 

 this doubtless was the usual custom in pre-Reforma- 

 tion days, and even as late — as the above entries seem 

 to indicate — as the time of James I. In the days of 

 ignorance, when aged people seldom knew their exact 

 age, our burial register often has the following entry — 

 " an ancient man." When death had been due to 

 misadventure, the nature of the accident is mostly 

 stated. Thus : " William Diddemas was kill'd by 

 the Timber carriage ; " and Thomas Deadman " by 

 falling under the wheels of a wagon"; and "Edmund 

 Maggrige, a sojourner here, receiv'd his death's wound 

 by overstraining himself in lifting a piece of timber for 

 a foolish wager"; and "Nathaniel Miller fell under 

 the wheels of a loaded waggon and Broak Boath 

 his legs." 



The large oak chest in the vestry also contained 

 several odd volumes of churchwardens' accounts in 

 the days when those officials managed the parochial 

 as well as the ecclesiastical affairs ; and they reveal, 

 in a vivid manner, the complete change which has 

 passed over this country since the introduction of the 

 modern Poor Law system. In the olden time each 

 parish had its own " poor-house " where the very 

 aged and helpless were cared for. Each parish, more- 

 over, provided for its own paupers, clothed them, made 



