140 



Bishop's Cannings. 



but for the offices of baptism and burial, to attend at Brombam 

 church. 



The Spye Park estate pays to the vicar of Bishop's Cannings 

 every year £2 6s. 8d., which may have been the value of the tythes 

 in ancient times, when nearly all the land in the tything was 

 waste. It would appear by a deed of the 13th century, of the na- 

 ture of an " Inspeximus" that the whole of the tythes of this part 

 of the parish were given to the vicar of Bishop's Cannings: and if 

 he were possessed of sufficient legal evidence to establish his claim 

 to them, now that they are of greater value, the income of the 

 curacy, to which they would be assigned by the incumbent of the 

 mother-church, would be considerably augmented. The tything 

 consists of about 1100 acres. 



The present vicar of Bishop's Cannings, who even from the date 

 of his induction to the living, had a wish to build a chapel in this 

 outlying part of his parish, at last, in 1844, saw a prospect of hav- 

 ing his desire accomplished : and in the following year, by the 

 Christian liberality of Mrs. Charlotte Starky, Bishop Denison of 

 Salisbury, and other friends, was enabled to erect one, of sufficient 

 size to accommodate both the inhabitants of the tything, and some 

 of those of the adjoining parish of Bromham. A district being 

 thus assigned it became a Perpetual Curacy ; the patronage being 

 vested in the Bishop of Salisbury, who had endowed it by a charge 

 on his estate of £25 per annum : to which the vicar of the parish 

 added an annual grant of £10. To these endowments some addi- 

 tion has been made by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England ; 

 whilst Mr. Sotheron Estcourt has generously enabled the Bishop to 

 provide a glebe and otherwise augment the curacy. The dedication 

 of this church is observed every year on the 16th of October by the 

 celebration of Divine Worship, on which occasion there is generally 

 a full attendance of the inhabitants of the district. 



The church is built of native stone, with free stone dressing, in 

 the Decorative style of architecture. It consists of nave and chan- 

 cel, and contains 175 sittings, the whole of which are " free and 

 unappropriated for ever." The pitch of the roof and the chancel arch 

 are generally admired. Four of the windows, including the largo 



