Charles Tiplady Pratt

“ And as the Bishop (Saxon, Biscop; Greek, episcopos) had for his "ric" (rice, region) the whole of his sovereign's kingdom, so the township or lord's manor became the priest's parish (Latin, parvoecia, parochia, Greek, paroikia) The landowners gave their tithe willingly for the support of religion, and the law after awhile recognised and protected the right of the clergy to these endowments. The lord selected his own parish priest out of the body of the clergy, and so the patronage of the benefice continued to be vested as of right in the lord of the manor. ”

“ It will be noticed in this Decree of 1615, that this "Vicar's Pension was a perfectly voluntary gift on the part of the proprietors, after they had purchased the tithes of their property, making these "Pensions in lieu of Tithes" a Rent Charge upon their estates pay-able by themselves, their heirs, and assignees for ever. ”

“ For nearly two centuries after the foundation of Silkstone Church, the rector was appointed by the monks of Pontefract, who received an annual pension from this richly endowed benefice. In April, 1284, the Archbishop of York appropriated all the revenues of the rectory to the monastery, and made it into a Vicarage, reserving to the See of York the right of nominating the vicar, but reserving for that vicar a much larger proportion of the revenues than what Hunter calls "the poor pittance ordinarily reserved to the clergyman on whom the duties of a parish rested." ”

“ The immense estates which had been given to the Church between the Conquest and the Reformation were all confiscated at the suppression of religious houses, to enrich the nobility, and to found new noble families, many of the estates being sold for the king's own use. ”

“ Primate of England and legate of the Apostolic See, we found the Chantry in manner aforesaid, and appoint Oliver Elystones to be the chaplain, and endow it with two acres of land lying together in a croft, between the land of Richard Waterton on two sides, and abutting at the west end on the brook, and at the east end on the highway which goes to the middle of the town of Cawthorne; for the building of a house and the construction of a garden for the use of the said chaplain and his successors; and with an annual rent of 100 shillings to be taken from all our lands in Cawthorne. ”

“ Christianity in England, looked at by the eye of history, means not only the knowledge of God and His salvation by Christ Jesus ; it carries with it, besides, all that is implied in civilization, national growth, and national unity. ”

“ The tithes of Silkstone in 1787 were in the hands of the Earl of Strafford, the Countess of Bute, Sir Thomas Blackett, and Walter Spencer-Stanhope.
We see here how tithes became alienated from the Church, and how certain lands became exempted from the payment of tithes and still continue to be. All estates and property belonging to a religious corporation were by the common law free from tithes, and this exemption was continued after those estates had passed at the Reformation into other and lay hands. ”

“ The house belonging to the Chantry, and a garden, and croft adjoining, together with nine acres of land belonging to a Chantry at Badsworth situated at Cawthorne, were included in a Grant from the Crown to Richard Venables and John Maynard, and by them immediately conveyed to Godfrey Bosvile of Gunthwaite, the heir of Isabel the founder and the patron of the Chantry. There is a house in Church Street which still bears the name of "Chantry Cottage." ”

“ For five hundred years, Cawthorne was merely a Chapelry under Silkstone, until it was made, in 1608, an independent Parochial Chapelry with the patronage of its Benefice then placed for the first time in the hands of those landowners who should from time to time pay the largest proportion of that "Vicar's Pension" by which the Benefice was at that time voluntarily augmented. ”

“ The chaplain to be constantly resident, and if absent for 22 days may be removed from his office by the said Isabel, her heirs and assigns, unless it be on account of the business of the Chantry, or for other reasonable cause; but if through age or infirmity he should be unable to officiate in the Chapel, or shall be thrown into prison, except on account of felony, he shall then say the appointed masses in such way as he is able. ”

“ The history of the augmentation of Cawthorne Living in 1615 may best he given in a copy of the Decree of the Court of Exchequer died May 11th, 1615, in the case of Brooke v Waterhouse, the plaintiff being the Rev. John Brooke, S.T.P., Rector of Elmley, Precentor and Canon Residentiary of York, and Vicar of Silkstone, and the first defendant a son of Isaac Waterhouse, of Halifax, who held the priory manor of Barnsley, and bequeathed the tithes to his two sons by his will dated 31 Oct, 1609. ”

“ Richard Green's gift of £100 is to be laid out in land. In 1718, the Parish vountarily raise £200 and receive a Grant of a further £200 from Queen Anne's Bounty with which a Farm at page 134 Bagden is bought, the conveyance of which bears the date of June17, 1725. This has since been sold in I840 to the late Mr. George Norton, and the purchase money invested by the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty in the Three per Cent. Consols for the benefit of the Living. ”

“ Lord Archbishop of York held at Sheffield, June 21, 1809. In this, the old vicarage is described as "two small houses now let to the Parishioners for Poor Houses" at £1 15. a year. The Bagden Farm is stated to be let at £45 a year. The "Pension or Minister's Wages" is said to amount to £17 Os 8d. paid forth of the Tithes of Cawthorne by virtue of a Decree of His Majesty's Court of Exchequer." There is also due to the Minister at Easter from every person within the Parish of age to communicate the sum of Twopence called Easter Dues. ”

“ John Spencer is the Patron of the living in virtue of paying the annual sum of £12 and upwards out of the £17 directed to be paid by the decree which gave the patronage to him or those who paid the larger part of it. ”

“ When the English, under the seven or eight struggling and quarrelling dynasties, whose battles form for centuries all the recorded life of the island, were seven or eight distinct nationalities,some of them tribally connected, some of them uiing allied systems of law, but otherwise having scarcely anything in common beyond dialects of a common growing language, altogether without any common organisation or the desire of forming one,the conversion in the seventh century taught them to regard themselves as one people. ”

“ A Parish record still exists which, though undated, is evidently contemporary with this Decree, giving "Every man's severall proportion of Stipend for ye Parish of Cawthorne," the Christian names and surnames of several of the "defendants" being the same, the some tot: being xvii lbs., and the amount payable from several farms being the very same as their "Vicar's Pension" at the present day. ”

“ The payment for it due to the owner of Micklethwaite i e., Banks Hall shows the land to have been part of the Banks estate. The Vicar's Pension, called "the tythes of Cawthorne, is united with the Easter offerings and fees for Christenings, weddings, and burials, as amounting altogether to £20. ”

“ Tho. Cockshutt, Minister adds and signs the following: Item, a Rent charge payd out of Bullwell Hall in ye Parish of Silkestone, being six pounds per annum, given by 1707 Mr. John Spencer.
Item, one hundred pounds (to be laid out upon land) given by Mr. Richard Green.
Item, two hundred pounds advanced by ye Parishioners 1718 and as much by ye Governers of ye Bounty of Queen Ann (to be laid out in land or tythes) towards augmenting our Living at Cawthorne. ”

“ He presented to the Vicarage of Warmfield (otherwise Kirkthorpe) in 1684, and his trustees are still the patrons of that Benefice, the endowment of which he greatly augmented. His father, Mr. Wm. Oley, Minister of Warmfield, was buried there March 20, 1653. The family name occurs frequently in Cawthorne Registers and Parish Surveys. He is described by a very learned and excellent man who personally knew him as "a saint-like man." (See Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy : London, 1714: p.141)
The next addition to the Living, we see, was in 1707, being the gift of Mr. ”

“ Mr Goodair's letter of thanks to Walter Spencer Stanhope, Esquire, Grosvenor Square, London," is lying before me, showing how much importance Mr. Stanhope attached to the Incumbent's residing at Cawtborne for the future. The Rev. E. Paley published An earnest and affectionate Address to the people called Methodists, who were at that time building a chapel at Cawthorne.
On Mr. Buee's death in 1822, the owner of Bretton with the approval of the representative of the Bosvile estate offered the Living to the Rev. ”

“ Edw. Rhodes £1-10; John Fretwell £1 Jonathan West l0s. There are 51 names altogether, from 25. 6d. upwards: £40 of Parish-Stock is given towards it, and Mr. Cockshutt contributes £20-0-4, to make up the required sum.
The Queen Anne's Bounty, from which £200 of the above purchase money was received, is the Board of Trustees in whom Qeen Anne vested the tenths and first fruits of all the Benefices which had been seized by Henry VIII. as being the pope's successor in his fees as he was in his supremacy. ”