Introduction
Christopher Webb, Borthwick Institute for Archives, York
This extract from the churchwardens’ accounts for St Michael Spurriergate in York, for the year 1546, represents the churchwardens and their responsibilities at their height, immediately before the Edwardian dissolution robbed the parish of much of its property, the church of its ornamentation, and the churchwardens of much of their responsibility. The accounts are recorded in two volumes. The main text here is the audited account. Variations recorded in the daily account book, from which the audited accounts were compiled, are given in the footnotes.
The accounts begin with a note of the money they received from their predecessors, (noting at the same time that two of the parish properties had been vacant, and were not therefore yielding a rent), and a note also of the arrears their predecessors had not managed to collect. They then immediately move on to account for the Martinmas rents (farms) from the parish estate, followed by the Whitsunday rents.
These are standard rental accounts usually recording nothing more than the rent received, with an occasional note that more or less was received than normally due, and an explanation of the reasons for this (see, for example, the entries for JohnWarrener in Water Lane).
The churchwardens then move on to account for arrears they manage to collect. The entries in the daily accounts are sometimes more informative here, recording, for example, arrears paid by sureties on behalf of defaulters; and arrears paid in several instalments during the year (see footnotes 27 and 28).
After the arrears the churchwardens record the increase received for two parish stocks: sums of money bequeathed by parishioners to distribute as interest bearing loans in the parish.
The final two elements of the parish income are payments for burials; and for miscellaneous items. Some of these were regular (the payment each year from the parson as a contribution towards strewing of the church with fresh rushes, the payments for obits, and the payment received for the sale of the dung left at the fish quay in the parish); and some were irregular (in this year the wardens managed to get a refund on oil that would not burn).
The wardens then move on to their expenditure. As is usual, they begin with expenditure on the church, including the wages of parish officers and payments for repairs and beautification. In this particular year the wardens spend 1s 4½d on the spectacular working model of the Easter sepulchre, complete with sliding stone and flapping angels’ wings.
There follows a full account of the money spent on celebrating each obit, and then accounts of the few rents the parish owed.
The next section begins with an account of materials bought for the parish store house. These were normally building materials, for use in the parish estate. Each year the wardens record the repairs they undertake on the parish properties from which they derive income. In this particular year the expenditure is unexceptional and routine; but in other years we have records of considerable investment in properties to make them more attractive to tenants, including, for example, the insertion of ceilings into open halls, glass into windows, and the construction of chimneys.
In this particular year the regular record of repairs is briefly interrupted by an account of moneys dispersed when collecting rents, in issuing summonses to non-payers, and a regular payment to Isabel for sweeping the street in front of the church.
Finally, the wardens summarise their work in terms of income received, money disbursed, arrears uncollected, debts remitted, and the balance remaining to hand on to their successors. They also include, at the very end, an account of the rents and arrears due for the next Martinmas, and to be collected by the wardens for the ensuing year.