A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



As to the actual services held at the beginning of the i8th century very 

 full information is available in the ' Speculum Dioecesis ' " drawn up for 

 Bishop Gibson and based on returns made at a visitation in 1717." In 

 nearly every parish morning and evening prayer was said on Sundays " only, 

 but at Caddington the rector said it once daily," and at Caddington and 

 about four other places services were held on holy days, Wednesdays and 

 Fridays.-* In most churches the holy communion was administered thrice, 

 or at most four times yearlv " ; in this respect also Caddington was an 

 exception, for here there were celebrations eight times a year, on Christmas 

 Day and the Sunday following, on Easter Day, Low Sunday, Whit Sunday, 

 Trinity Sunday, ' Ordination Sunday in September,' and the Sunday 

 after it.'° Both at Wheathampstead and Ardeley there were seven celebra- 

 tions, and at Stevenage eight or nine. At Harpenden, Hertford and Hitchin 

 the holy communion was administered monthly and on the three great 

 festivals, at Hertingfordbury and Tewin monthly, and at Hemel Hempstead 

 fourteen times in the year." 



The next fifty years brought little alteration in the number of services. 

 A return made for 1763 " shows that morning and evening prayer was still 

 confined to Sundays, that the Eucharist was still celebrated thrice or at most 

 four times yearly," and this remained the standard for the next halt-century 

 at Ica^t." 



Hertfordshire was singularly little touched by the revivals of the late 

 I 8th and early 19th centuries; their influence was almost entirely mediate. 

 The most obvious result of the Evangelical movement was the establishment 

 of chapels of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion at Whitwell and 

 elsewhere. By the second decade of the 19th century the new spirit had 

 permeated everywhere and was making itself felt in both the ornaments and 

 administration of the Church. Thus in 1820 St. Peter's, Berkhampstead, 

 was restored, the outside stuccoed, the ceilings plastered, and a gallery erected 

 at the west end." Six years later was made the first attempt at the 

 subdivision of parishes since the time of the Commonwealth, and the district 



"^ Preserved in the Alnwick Tower, Lincoln. 



" Bp. Gibson's \'is;t. (Line. Dioc.), 1717-47 (Lib. of D. and C. of St. Paul's). 



^ At Wgginton and Long Marston service was only said once a month (Salmon, Herts. 128, 133). 

 This was evidently exceptional. In 1706 the Bishop of L ncoln had desired incumbents to read public 

 }r.i\crs, if they could get a ccmgrcL-ation together, e.cry day, at least on Wedncsdayb, Fridays, Sundays, holy 

 Liays and thuir eves {Bishop of L.r.dn' s Ch.-.rgi . . . in his Primary Visitation, 1706). *' Visit, cit. 



'-" Ibid. ; ' Speculum Dioecesis.' Prayer on \VeJnesdays and Frida/s was enjoined in I 550 (^Injunctions 

 icz-en in the Vis':'., of . . . ^'scrJas bfsk'.ppe of L'^'iJ'^n) and 1559 {Injunctions geven by the Quenes Maiestie). The 

 5 lying of the Litany on these days was presupposed by the Articles to be enquired of within the jirchd. of 

 MidJ.'ai.x, 1662. 



''' There were four celebrations only at Kneb-.vorth in 1605, i.e. at Christmas, Easter, Whit Sunday and 

 Michaelmas (Jones MS. [Dr. W Uiams's Lib.], B 21). For services at Shephall see ibid. B 16. 



'*' Bp. Gibson's \ isit. ut supra. 



'^ ' Speculum Dioecesis.' 



^ This must have been compiled from the answers to the visitation articles put forward by Bishop 

 Osbaldeston in his primary visitation of this year, see Jones MS. B 16, no. 149. 



^^ Guildhall MS. 4S1. Among the 'duties of a parish prieu,' as described by Jones (Jones MS. 

 [Dr. Williarai's Lib.], A 39), was 'to explain the duty and pre;s the necessit}- of frequent Communions ; and 

 t3 endeavour to introduce the praitice the.-eof.' A very interesting account of the services at Stevenage .inJ 

 shephall in 1763 and 1-66 will ::e fund in Jones M5. B 16. Here, tuo, is a list of ornaments necessary 

 ;or the decent conduct of the communion service, but missing at Shephall. 



*• Bishop Porteus complained that in many places service wji held on Sunday once only. He 

 enjoined one sermon and prayers twice in the day {Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese ofL'.ndcn, 179c, pp. i 3-1 4). 



'* Cuisans, Hist, of Herts, bacoium Hund. 57. 



