212 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
of £3 10s. The necessary expense of fencing and making this field 
fit for the intended purpose was borne by the wardens. Stone, 
freight, carrying materials, brickwork, gates, labour, and so on, 
amounted to £105 3s. 4d. 
The ground was laid out, and trees planted, but it was long 
before persons could be induced to bury their friends there. For 
a considerable period the receipts were very small, not covering the 
necessary outlay; and in 1681 there was an agreement with the 
authorities of Charles Church that they should share the annual 
loss. Many expedients were adopted to raise the necessary funds 
for keeping the place in order, and for the payment-of the rent. 
George Berry, mason, paid 8s. for pitching stakes there, meaning, 
I suppose, depositing his scaffold-poles. Part was used for a rope- 
walk. It was let out for drying wool in; but I do not find, as in 
many country parishes, that anything was received for keeping sheep. 
Apparently it was never a favourite place. In 1714 £2 4s. only 
was received, while in the churchyard about £30 was paid; in 
1725, £1; and in 1732, £1 6s. 8d. Later on, in 1792, while £55 
lls. 4d. was received on account of the yard, £2 Os. 10d. only 
came from the burying-ground (the rent alone being £2 13s.) ; and 
in 1823-24 the receipts were £16 18s. 6d., against £99 16s. in 
the yard. In 1811-12 the rent was raised to £10 per annum ; 
and in 1822 it was resolved to purchase the land. This was done 
at a cost of £315, and the money repaid in two instalments. The 
first burial in this ground was that of Henry Walters, of the 
Hospital, and took place January 17th, 1657. 
The parish registers commence in the year 1581, the first burial 
being registered May 14th, upwards of forty years after Cromwell’s 
injunction of September, 1538, enjoining that every parson, vicar, 
or curate for every church should keep one book or register, wherein 
should be written the day and year of every wedding, christening, 
and burial, made, as it goes on to say, ‘within your parish for your 
time, and so every man succeeding you likewise; and also there 
insert every person’s name that shall be so wedded, christened, and 
buried. And for the safe keeping of the same book, the parish 
shall be bound to provide of their common charges one sure coffer, 
with two locks and keys, whereof the one to remain with you, and 
the other with the wardens of every parish wherein the said book 
shall be laid up, which book ye shall every Sunday take forth, and 
