OLD PARISH DOCUMENTS 223 



In addition to the care of the poor, and the super- 

 vision of church affairs, various other duties devolved 

 upon the churclivvardens in the olden times. They 

 had the care of the village stocks, and were bound 

 to keep them in repair. In 1774, we learn from our 

 documents in the oak chest that new stocks were 

 required, and were duly erected at a cost o[ £2, 6s. 

 for the woodwork, and I2s. 2d. for the ironwork. 

 These stocks lasted for fifty years, when in 18 19 one 

 "Joseph Crimble was paid for putting up new stocks, 

 ;^5, IS. 7d. The handwork of Joseph Crimble has 

 now entirely disappeared, but the spot where the 

 stocks stood is pointed out, and in one or two parishes 

 in Hampshire, as at Odiham, and at Brading in the 

 Isle of Wight, they are still remaining, to remind a 

 weaker generation of the manner in which a sterner 

 age treated its rogues and vagabonds. In addition to 

 taking an interest in the stocks, the churchwardens 

 kept a watchful eye on the vermin in the parish. 

 Foxes they paid for at the rate of a shilling a head, 

 and sparrows at threepence a dozen ; and once we 

 find a single entry of no less than " I13 dozen of 

 sparrow heads." One thousand three hundred and 

 fifty-six sparrow heads ! This, of course, included 

 all kinds of small birds, which were caught in nets, 

 and slaughtered indiscriminately by the lads and 

 loafers of the village. A molecatcher — one William 

 Broncher — was also employed by the Vestry, at a 

 yearly salary of 13s., to be paid at Easter, Hedge- 

 hogs, too, were included in the list of vermin, and 

 were duly paid for as late as the beginning of the 

 last century. But in the Vestry Book, under date 

 "24 Ap., 1832," we find this resolution: "It was 

 agreed that in future no Hedge Hogs are to be 



