HILTON CHURCH. 117 



Then in 1660 the returning Vicar entered a memorandum as 

 follows : 



" Memorand : Yt in ye time of Civill warre in England when King Charles 

 ye first was murthered by his subjects I John Antram Vicar of Helton was by 

 ye power of ye sword then prvaileing violently kept out of my f oresd livinge from 

 the yeare 1646 inJanuarie of tht yeare untillye cominge in of Charles ye Second 

 or gracious sovereine web. was in ye yeare 1660 being the 12th yeare of his 

 reigne rtly about Michaelmas of yt yeare I was by law restored for yt in ye 

 rumpasse of the times this register has been kept very imperfect." 



On first reading this memorandum I thought John Antram 

 must have put the date 1646 by mistake for 1649, but on 

 examination of the registers for the year 1646 I found that on 

 January 3ist, 1646, they begin to be kept in a new handwriting, 

 though not in that of Will Snoke. Thus a very interesting point 

 arises, as it would appear that three years before the death of 

 Charles I. this part of the country was so completely in the 

 hands of the Parliamentary party that it could expel the rightful 

 vicar and intrude its own minister. 



Lionel Gardner, who succeeded Will Snoke, was apparently 

 desirous but with ill effect to impress his knowledge of Latin on 

 any who might inspect the registers, as in 1659 this entry 

 appears : 



" Hugh Pysing, the son of Hugh Pysing and Avis his wife, Natus ffuit ye 24th 

 December ett Baptizatis fuit ye 25th." 



When the parents of a child objected to its being baptised, 

 this is the way the entry was made : " Margarett the Anabaptist 

 daughter of Richard Chacutt, Jan. 28, 1702-3." And then in 

 the entry of the burial of poor little John Chacutt, who was born 

 February 28, 1704-5: "John, the Anabaptist son of Richard 

 Chacutt, was put into earth Aprill 6, 1705." 



There are in all old Registers some rather remarkable entries. 

 Robert Parsons, the parish clerk, who kept the registers from 

 1765 to 1804, in one instance signs himself as 'Rober' Parsons. 

 Here are a few other instances of mis-spelling. For Amelia, we 

 have Meliar, Melyar, Melyear, Meliah ; Peneloper (Penelope) ; 



