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Notes on the History of Ordsall Parish - 9 R.F. Wilkinson, Rector of Ordsall 1925-1941. From the pages of Ordsall Parish magazine. [History index] [Wilkinson index] [Previous] [Next] The Terrier Terriers or Inventories were usually ordered to be made at the first Official Visitation, which a Bishop held in his Diocese. Strictly speaking the Archdeacon holds a Visitation every year for the purpose of admitting Churchwardens to office, and inspecting the work and property of each Church and delivers an address or Charge as it is called. Once in three years the Bishop himself may hold the Visitation, and at his first Visitation in former days made a more strict enquiry than usual. Probably this particular terrier was drawn up by the Rector of Ordsall for Archbishop John Sharp who was in charge of the Diocese of York 1691—1714. Jeremiah Halfhide lived in Ordsall at that time, and there is a monument to his memory in the North Aisle, which records that he was the eldest son of Henry Halfhide, and died in the year 1727 aged 68. He was a man of some position and was probably a Justice of the Peace, and so examined and counter- signed the Terrier. He was Treasurer for the North of the County in 1690. He left a Charity of 40/- a year out of his estate, which is still distributed on St. Thomas’ Day, and is a charge on certain land[1]. There is also a monument to Richard Brownlow, who lived in Thrumpton then, on the wall of the South Aisle near the Church door. When we study the details of the Terrier, it is interesting to know that the Rector had a Brewhouse in those days. The old coppers can still be seen in some farmhouses even today, and most villages had a hop-yard. The Rectory contained four large rooms 18 ft. by 15 ft. One of the two barns would be a Tithe-Barn for the storage of the tithes he collected of corn and hay. The stable was a necessary building in those days as the parson generally rode on a pony or horse for his journeys. Thorsby, writing in 1797, says that “the roads in this part of the County are intolerably bad for the journeying of poor Curates in the performance of their religious duties,” The Curate of East Drayton recorded in the Register that he nearly perished in the mud and rainstorms on his first journey to the parish in October, 1786. Great Tithes always belonged to the Rector, and only the small Tithes to the Vicar if the Rectory was in other hands. Hence in the old days Rectories were more valuable than Vicarages, as the Vicar was only a sort of Curate-in-Charge for the Monastery who possessed the Great Tithes of the Parish. A Rector received all the Church revenues and was entirely in charge himself. Great Tithes were corn and hay. The Parson had the right to collect every tenth sheaf of corn and every tenth haycock in the field. Small Tithes were those derived from milk, wool, lambs, geese, pigs, chicken, eggs. Sometimes these were paid in kind or else fixed money payment for them was made instead. In this case milk or calves were a ld. each, a foal or colt was 3d. Sometimes sheep and beasts, bought and sold, if kept one month in the parish were liable to a tithe of ld. each. About this time all entries had to be registered by order of an Act of Parliament in 1694, but it was unpopular and Civil Registration did not become universal until the nineteenth century. Mortuaries were customary payments upon the death of a person and were a kind of offering for any possible omissions of Church dues made during life. By an Act of Henry VIII a law was made that where the movable goods of a person were valued under £30 the mortuary due was 3/4, under £40— 6/8, and over £40—10/-. The estate of poor people did not pay any mortuary, and all these have long since been abolished.
A true and perfect Terrier of the Glebe Land belonging to the Parsonage of Ordsall. Imprimis. The Parsonage House with a Croft adjoining. Two Barnes, a Dove coat, with Stables, Orchard, and Garden, to ye same belonging. Two Acres of arrable land in the West field, four acres of Arable land in ye North Field, five acres of pasture in the Broomes, one piece of Meadow in the Giney Carr, one piece of Meadow in the Hall Parkes, halfe an acre in the Clay Close, one other halfe acre in the Great Clay Close, three roodes of meadow abutting upon Thrumpton Lane, one rood in Mr. Richard Brownlow’s Close in Thrumpton Lane, one piece of Meadow in Hall Tonge near Dunham Gate. John Pigot, Rectr. exd. Jer: Halfhide Charles Whorrall Churchwardens. Thomas Jackson
To the Parsonage of Ordsall in the County of Nottingham doe belong.
A Terrier was the ancient method of making a Schedule of all the property belonging to a Rectory or Vicarage. Any land was called ‘glebe.’ At various times the Bishops ordered that a list should be made out by the Incumbents and Churchwardens of all such properly from which the parson received his income, and this list, which had to he sent to the Bishop’s Registry, was officially called a Terrier. Very often a complete list of all Church furniture and property had to sent at the same time, so that the Bishop and Archdeacon could know exactly what each Church in the Diocese possessed. The Terrier printed above was discovered by the Rector in Piercy’s MSS., and it is an interesting record of two centuries ago. Piercy says it is an exact copy from the Archives of the Consistory Court at York. The Rev. John Pigot was Rector 1695—1727. Mr. Richard Brownlow died in 1706, so the date must be about 1700. Unfortunately we do not know where this old Parsonage was, but probably somewhere quite close to the Church. A Dove Cote was often found on glebe land in old days, and was quite a source of income. Some of the large ones contained as many as a thousand nests, which were approached by a large revolving ladder. The usual number of nests was about five hundred, sufficient accommodation for a thousand pigeons. A good example may be seen in a field at Sibthorpe, near Newark. In ancient times only Lords of the Manor, Monasteries and Clergy were allowed to have Dovecotes. Some enterprising parsons used their Church Towers for this purpose, and nest holes are built in the tower walls at Upton, near Southwell. Apparently the Rectory then had six acres of arable land, and about ten acres of meadow. The fields are given by their old names before the Inclosure Award was made in 1813. We still have West Field. North Field was sometimes called Far Field on the boundary of the Parish by Little Gringlev. The Carr was down by the river, Hall Parks was part of Grove, and Clay Close must have been on that side of the Parish, while Dunham Gate was the old name of the new Grove Road. [1] This is no longer the case. |
