OLD PARISH DOCUMENTS 225 



pews, and each party subscribing, to have one, to be 

 determined by lot." The next entry is as follows : 

 "The pews and pulpit to be painted; and that the 

 churchwardens be requested to get it done in the 

 cheapest way in their power." This they accordingly 

 did, by employing some of the French prisoners of 

 war, at that time confined in the castle, who painted 

 the framework of the pews white and the panels blue. 

 In 1824 another gallery was erected, this time at the 

 east end of the nave, for the use of the choir, who, 

 with fiddle and flute, led the singing of a Sunday. 

 It was not uncommon in those happy days for one 

 parishioner to make over to another his pew in the 

 parish church, and the Vestry Book, when recording 

 such transactions, usually adds, " for a certain con- 

 sideration, mutually agreed upon " ! 



Such are some of the items of interest contained in 

 the old parish documents stowed away in the vestry- 

 chest. The documents, many of them, are ancient; 

 the chest, doubtless, is more ancient still. It is 

 believed to have been carved in the time of King 

 Edward VI., and the original key, of curious design, 

 is still in use. But what are three hundred and fifty 

 years amid such old-world surroundings ! The church 

 has stood for over seven centuries ; and the church is 

 modern in comparison with the Roman walls outside. 

 Still, the term " old " is, after all, a relative one, and a 

 glance at the ways of our forefathers during recent 

 centuries should not be without interest to students of 

 parochial history. 



