Parish and People of the Yorkshire Dales
By Susan D. Brooks

CONTENTS

  1. Preface

          Background of local and national history; from coming of
          Christianity to 19th century; what part churches played in
          lives of people; far removed from main centres of learning;
          theology and doctrine less important in Dales than outward
          observances; local material from various religious
          institutions of the Pennine Dales of Yorkshire

  2. The Beginning

          Church in Yorkshire as early as 314; Christianity then a cult
          tolerated by the Romans; Wilfrid of Ripon referred to
          churches of Dent, Ribble and Yeadon, deserted prior to
          Anglian invasion, which stamped out Christian sect in east
          Yorkshire; Dales last to be colonized; government of Thegns,
          agriculture, forest clearing in Kingdom of Northumbria ; King
          AEthelbert of Kent married Christian French wife ; dau
          AEthelburgh marr. Eadwine of Northumbria in 627; Paulinus
          went north, bapt Eadwine in wooden church; speech convincing
          him to convert reproduced in window of Hubberholme church;
          Paulinus bapt many in the Swale ................ After
          Eadwine's death in 633 during battle against Mercians,
          Paulinus went south, left James as Deacon; Ven. Bede wrote
          (730) that village named after James near Finghall called
          Akebar (Jacobus); a well-known Christian centre by 789,
          Anglo-Saxon Chron. stated a synod held there

  3. The Church Takes Root

          Oswald, Celtic Christian, nephew of Eadwine, reconquered
          Northumbria in 635; Iona sent Aidan as missionary; Bede said
          many Scots came south to build wooden churches; some still
          devoted to St. Oswald and Andrew; later Wilfrid of Ripon,
          Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and Chad of Middlemoor (Nidderdale)
          linked to Yorkshire; St Chad's Cross on site of pagan shrine;
          curved wall built on previous earthwork .......... Celtic
          church aloof from Rome; monastic structure in the North as
          opposed to community life of Roman clergy; In 664 Oswick of
          Northumbria (Celtic) had wife (Roman), celebrating Easter and
          Lent at same time; synod at Whitby (swayed by Wilfrid) agreed
          to accept Roman calendar.........Oswick of Northumbria and
          AEgbert of Kent appealed to Pope, who sent Theodorus of
          Tarsus; visited Ripon around 671; reorganized bishoprics;
          made edict that Thegns should build churches on their lands
          with right of advowson ......... missionaries preached at
          sites where stone crosses set up; later church built at site;
          Danes destroyed many of these after 790; attacks on Ripon and
          Lindisfarne (Holy Island) as revenge against failure to
          worship Norse gods; Danes settled Yorkshire in 876; no more
          well-educated clergy or spiritual advisers;Thorpe in
          Wharfedale a major Norse settlement; Vikings from Ireland
          settled from the west as sheep-farmers; decorative carving of
          fonts, stone crosses; hog-back grave cover at Burnsall as
          copy of Danish house-roof with beasts as pagan symbols;
          English absorbed Danes and Vikings over 150 years

  4. The Norman Conquest

          Change to Norman ways not rapid in Dales; Norman landlords
          rebuilt old Saxon churches; feudal system granted demesnes of
          Ealdormen and Thegns to followers of William I; paid Knight's
          Fee and dues; manors were scattered, some sub-let; villeins
          paid rent in goods and services; not allowed to move or do
          anything without Lords' consent; money rents introduced in
          14th and 15th centuries as Lords rotated between various
          manors; bailiff or grave usually in charge ............
          parish church as part of manor; Saxon practice continued
          under Normans; Linton Church described in 1343 as that of
          Manor of Linton; but only bishop could dismiss priest
          appointed by Lord (parson's freehold); Lord lost rent from
          glebe endowment to church; tithes from both Lord and villeins
          for parson's use ......... large monasteries founded by 13th
          century; parochial system involved laity both spiritually and
          financially; many new churches endowed; abuses of power and
          practices during 13th and 14th centuries

  5. Monasteries and their Influence

          Pre-Norman monasteries mostly destroyed by Danes; Cistercian
          houses set up in Yks by feudal lords in 12th century ;
          Augustinian monasteries such as Bolton Priory also ran
          churches for villeins; supported partly by gifts to avoid
          Purgatory; Fountains Abbey (Kilnsey) received gifts from
          Walter de Thorp and William de Rilston, and was business
          centre for sheep farming area; Scots raiders began harassing
          monasteries in 14th cent.;

  6. Parish Clergy in the 12th to 15th Centuries
       i. Rectors and Vicars

               Rectores (rulers) originally put in charge of church by
               lord of manor; glebe lands and tithes meant rector,
               younger relative of lord, was well-provided; stipendiary
               curates served temporarily as incumbents; monasteries
               providing church services had abbot as rector, also
               appointed temporary priests; Rome issued edict that
               permanent vicarii (those in place of) should be
               appointed in place of the abbots and receive an adequate
               income; two medieties in Burnsall, Linton, Kettlewell
               due to female succession; some overlords abused power of
               advowson (summoning) to receive stipends without doing
               church-related work; others named themselves to multiple
               incumbencies without ever visiting any of them; Pope
               also appointed absentee rectors (Kettlewell) who never
               visited England for purpose of recieved church funds;
               many bishops lived like princes on many incomes; rural
               deans were intermediaries between bishops and clergy;
               Ralph of Kettlewell and Adam of Arncliffe served deanry
               of Craven late 12th century; less than half the rectors
               were residents; vicars more in sympathy with villeins;
               most parish clergy illiterate but given title of sir or
               master; Chaucer's tales show spiritual flame had burned
               low

      ii. Chantry Priests, Friars and Templars

               chantry priests more common in 15th cent. as monasteries
               declined; people gave chantry offerings for masses that
               used a separate altar (Lady Chapel); chantry priests
               assisted parish clergy; records of Sedbergh, Aysgarth,
               and Skipton chantries; Grey Friars built churches,
               better educated than parish clergy, educating and
               preaching to villeins; promoting Crusades; popular with
               the masses; Templars to protect pilgrims, setting up
               hospitals in England; heresy, disbandment 13th cent.

  7. The People in the Pre-Reformation Parish

          Poll Tax (1379) 100-150 adults per village; many villages
          shared church; L'il Emily's Bridge from Grassington to
          Linton; mass attendance irregular despite fines; universal
          poverty and hopelessness; crude paintings on church walls
          depicting open graves, burning hell-fires on devil's side;
          angels and heavenly throne on good side; rood loft near
          chancel was source of hope; no bibles or books until 16th
          century; Sunday school in morning while men gathered for
          archery practice; weapons often obstructed porches; church
          best meeting hall in village; seasonal festivals with May
          Queen and Green Man; markets, Church ales, and fairs held on
          Sundays; annual fairs honouring the patron often continued
          according to pre-1752 calendar (Grassington)
          ...........parish priest made the rounds when able,
          discussing crops, illnesses, etc.; source of awe and wonder
          in Sunday vestments half-hidden in dark sanctuary, blessed
          mutter of the Mass; Archbishop of York visited Linton in
          1299; confirmations infrequent, badly held, little reverence
          or dignity;

  8. Parish Finance

          Remuneration of priest, offerings in kind; altar fees for
          weddings, baptisms, burials; records from St Michael's
          church, Kirkby Malham; receipts included special offerings,
          chantry box offerings, baptism fees, marriage fees (all in
          pounds sterling); mortuaries and tithes in horses, cattle,
          wool, pigs, geese, hens' eggs, flax, corn and hemp; total
          receipts 150 pounds......... expenses for vicar's stipend ,
          levies to Archbishop, church expenses, repairs and
          maintenance (most costly); vicar noted that everything
          balanced though no balance sheet provided

  9. The Reformation: Henry VIII

          Until Henry VIII's accession in 1509, English church liturgy
          same as Continental; Reformation led to 150 years of bitter
          conflict; Wycliffe of Swaledale attempted to put the New
          Testament into hands of illiterate peasants with English
          translation; Martin Luther in Germany, attacked by Henry
          (Defender of the Faith); religion and politics became
          entangled; Wolsey, archbishop of York, anxious for reforms
          although absentee and pluralist; Pope refused annulment re
          Catherine of Aragon, leading to dwonfall of Wolsey and
          Henry's battle against Papal jurisdiction; Parliament
          declared Henry Supreme Head of Church of England; supported
          by Thomas Cromwell; move against monasteries and their
          estates to acquire new revenue source that had previously
          benefited only Rome; accounting made of one abbey per day;
          monks received pensions; appalling stories of monks'
          behaviour; monasteries under 200 pounds closed; richer houses
          closed by 1539 .....period of inflation in Dales; landlords
          raising rents, enclosing pastures, etc.; riots of 1535;
          rumours that some parish churches would be closed, ornaments
          confiscated; rumours of rents further raised, new taxes
          levied; clergy ordered to preach against the Pope; more Dales
          riots in 1536; Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion to supress
          heretical reformers; Skipton Castle besieged when Earl of
          Cumberland refused to join; Craven contingent of 1200, banner
          the Five Crosses, moved south to Doncaster with main body of
          30,000; Duke of Norfolk offering pardon, they returned north
          after presenting a petition of grievances; Notice pinned on
          doors in Linton and Burnsall calling for poaching; leaders of
          commons executed ........Tyndale and Coverdale produced
          complete translation of Bible; Henry ordered this put in
          parish churches in 1539; monks disappeared, monasteries
          sacked to enrich Royal treasury, lands sold to new owners;
          some monks became parish clergy, others had pensions or
          served in Henry's bishoprics; English litany introduced

 10. The Growth of Protestantism

          Acting for Edward VI, Earl of Somerset moved to abolish
          chantries, destroy Latin texts and objects of superstition (
          windows, statues, paintings, other images) ; stone altar slab
          at Linton hidden under pews; purging supported by Cranmer to
          discourage worship of saints; complied English prayer book
          from ancient liturgies in 1549, later revised by for the more
          Protestant; mass of bread and wine revised, meaning changed,
          laity to participate by kneeling; Cranmer's desire for
          orderliness; commons objected to change in format; clergy now
          allowed to marry in theory; Edward's death led to new
          conflict between Catholic and Protestant

 11. The Pendulum Swings

          Queen Mary reversed the changes of Henry and Edward; Anthony
          Holgate of Burnsall refused to put away his wife; Protestant
          martyrs included commons, bishops, and Cranmer; Dales had
          always been sympathetic to Catholics; Elizabeth issued
          injunctions to return things to Protestant era withut
          appeasing Puritans; Hubberholme's rood-loft the last to be
          constructed; monthly sermons by licensed preachers, some
          unpopular as in Skipton; homilies by unlicensed clergy;
          churchwardens ordered to provide (1559) a pulpit and register
          for baptisms, marriages, burials; Catholic absentees to be
          fined, given to poor; 40 recusants in deanry of Craven;
          clergy required to take oath to Elizabeth; Hubberholme,
          Grinton, and Burnsall refused, deprived of livings; Rising of
          the North in 1569 involved more than 1000 Dalesmen; goal was
          to restore Catholicism and free Mary from Bolton Castle;
          leaders' estates confiscated, servants and commons leaders
          executed; 11 in Wharfedale including servants of the Nortons;
          Scropes, Yorkes, and Procters remained patrons of the
          Catholics in the Dales .......... courts set up to deal with
          Catholics and Puritans; bellringing in Burnsall All Souls Day
          1573, even though a Popish practice; Breeches Bible printed
          in Geneva (Douai of the Puritans) was current English
          version; commons were separated from clergy by long chancels
          and rood lofts built earlier, mutter of Latin mass; ideology
          meant nothing to them; English liturgy now understandable;
          removal of rood lofts and replacement of stone altar with
          moveable table to make services more accessible; morning and
          evening prayers from pulpit, clergy instructed to be audible,
          pews installed to allow increased attendance; few remembered
          the days of Mary at Elizabeth's death

 12. The Stuarts and the Civil War

          Conflict increased under James I; gunpowder plot attributed
          to Catholics; Puritan/bishops' conference led to authorized
          Bible derived from all previous sources; prized possession in
          many Dales houses; Puritan exercise sessions held in Halifax
          ....fighting in Manchester in 1642 between forces of Charles
          I (established church) and Parliament (Puritans);
          anti-Puritan Archbishop Laud executed by Parliament in 1644;
          no conflict in Dales during Civil War; Earl of Cumberland's
          castle at Skipton besieged; Matthew Hewitt (curate of Linton,
          Royalist), sought living of Gargrave; after Charles'
          execution, Jan 30 a fast day for the martyr

 13. The Commonwealth (1649-1660)

          Parliament (Presbyterian) in control since 1644; Cromwell as
          Protector from 1653-8; abolished episcopal system and all
          records above parish level; Nonconformist service replaced
          old liturgy; musical insruments discouraged, little or no
          singing; marriage and burial services discouraged, although
          still held in secret (including Cromwell's daughters);
          intentions of marriage to be published three times; Parish
          registers came under purview of Registrars in 1655; Thomas
          Lancaster presented to the one mediety of Linton by Cromwell,
          Christopher Lancaster to Burnsall; Baptists almost
          non-existent in the Dales ; Cromwell and followers were
          Independent Presbyterians, later to be called
          Congregationalists; each congregation free to manage its own
          affairs; sect known as Seekers strong in Northwest Dales
          (Sedbergh and Langstrothdale); George Fox formed Society of
          Friends (Quakers), later imprisoned; Quakers met in houses,
          some were called ministers; period of tolerance ended in 1660

 14. The Great Divide

          Commonwealth had failed; Anglican church re-established; book
          of 1552 re-issued as Book of Common Prayers in 1662; all
          Dales parishes accepted, even though many non-Conformists;
          all sects now banned, Quakers suffering the most; 500 jailed
          in York castle alone; prisons emptied in 1672 when Charles II
          granted toleration; revoked in 1674, James Tennant of Scar
          House, Langstr. put in York prison; Independents and Quakers
          worshipped in secret; James II attempted to favor the
          Catholics; daughter Mary and William of Orange (protestant)
          took over; Toleration act of 1689 gave limited rights to
          nonconformists

 15. Churchwardens and other Parish Officers

          Re-organized church not bringing in enough alms to provide
          support; almshouse established near Bolton Castle by Lady
          Anne Clifford in 1592; another by Richard Fountaine in
          Linton, 1721; schools associated with parish churches also
          established; churchwardens responsible for upkeep of church
          and charitable works; Elizabeth I instituted civil system of
          poor relief; overseers and churchwardens involved with
          indenture of poor children; overseers raised a poor levy or
          cess; churchwardens and constables, appointed by manor court,
          involved in criminal actions; churchwardens paid rewards for
          vermin; dealt with sins of parishioners as offenses; parish
          clerk posted orders of penance, notices of offenses; clerk
          was also lay official, verger, assistant to priest on rounds;
          led the choir, kept the parish register; clerk used Church
          machinery to send out briefs asking for funds from general
          church community

 16. The 18th Century onwards

          Non-conformist minority held meetings that had to be
          licensed, doors left unlocked; Quakerism flourishing; some
          congregations elected their own ministers; Unitarianism not
          favoured; Tempests of Broughton Hall remained Catholics;
          general apathy sweeping through Church of England; the two
          rectors of Linton charged with absenteeism in 1717;
          evangelical Oxford Methodists, wishing revival of Church,
          imposed strict dsipline upon selves; John Wesley most
          prominent among ordained; Wensleydale, Nidderdale, and
          Swaledale became strongholds of Methodism ....population
          increasing in Dales; textile mills replaced corn mills,
          employing women and children; lead mining developed;
          Methodist congregations established in areas lacking parish
          church; rivalry between church and chapel; mining and textile
          indutries failed in 19th century, people left for major
          industrial centres, chapels closed; music re-introduced to
          remaining churches; modern arrangement of seating adopted

 17. Retrospect

          Vast difference between original Dalesman worshipping at
          cross-site in open field and modern church settings

ILLUSTRATIONS

  1. Finghall Church
  2. St. Chad Cross, Middlesmoor
  3. Hog-back Grave Cover, Burnsall
  4. Gatehouse of Fountains Abbey Grange, Kilnsey ...
  5. Li'l Emily's Bridge, Linton Church Path
  6. Niche for Pre-Reformation Statue, Kirkby Malham
  7. 17th Century Communion Table, Finghall
  8. Jacobean Pulpit, Grinton
  9. Map