THE CHURCH OF ST. ANDREW, PLYMOUTH. 211 
churchyards. But the men of Plymouth in 1651 were above the 
law, and conducted themselves accordingly. 
In 1665-6, Peter Schagell and Gregory Martin were church- 
wardens, and for some reason or other it was thought necessary to 
do something to the fences of the yard. The whole yard was 
railed in and the palings coloured. The cost was defrayed partly 
from the ordinary income of the Church and partly from the con- 
tributions of the inhabitants. The list of the donors is entered in 
the book of accounts. The mayor, William Harper, heads the list 
with £2, and the amounts vary from this sum down to sixpence, 
fourpence, and threepence. 
In 1691, more extensive works were carried out, and the church- 
wardens expended £21 10s. 9d. in the building of 293 perch of 
stone wall about the churchyard, and a pair of moorstone posts 
were purchased. In the accounts of the same. year I find many 
entries of payments on account of gates, walls, and fences of the 
churchyard. For the first time I suspect the yard was enclosed 
with something more substantial than wood. 
In the following year the work was not completed, for we find 
that Oliver Wrath was paid £45 6s. for moorstone for coping the 
walls, and the moorstone men had sixpence for drink. 
’ It is evident that the area of the yard is very small in comparison — 
with what it once was. The town authorities have never been able 
to leave it alone, but have been constantly encroaching upon it. 
The inhabitants were not slow to follow the example of their 
rulers, and, as I have before shown,* the southern side of Whimple 
Street, as well as the land on which the shambles were, have really 
been filched from the churchyard and thrown into the street, in 
consequence of stall-keepers and others having acquired a right by 
usage. In later times we all know what has happened. There is 
not much left on the north side now, and it may be safely predicted 
that in course of time the whole will be swept away and the Church 
(properly battlemented) fully exposed to view. We tread daily on 
the remains of those who have gone before, and in Plymouth 
God’s-acre has become the busy street. 
In 1656, the mayor and commonalty (so it is stated in the 
account-book) took of Mr. Robert Gubbes the elder a field lying 
to the southwards from Frankforte, for a term of 21 years, for the 
purposes of a new churchyard or burying-place, at the yearly rent 
* “Keclesiastical History of Old Plymouth.” 
