Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/313

Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. 247 made and sold Wheels, Carriages and all other Materials belonging to a Coach, by Thomas Holms, near Pallace-Gate, Exon." R. Pearse Chope. 200. Parish Accounts. — In bygone times little public business appears to have been transacted without drinking. I append extracts from the Churchwardens' Parish Accounts of Countisbury showing what an indispensable adjunct beer used to be : — s. d. 1703. P"^- when I fox was killed for beer - 2 o P'^- more for beer when do. - - 2 6 P**- for beare when 2 foxes killed - -70 P"^- when the ware a fox hunting for beare another time . . - - 6 1718. P"^- for beare to drinke y^ King= helth on Coronation Day - - -10 P"^- for ale y fift of Nov. - - 2 6 P**- for ale for the foxhunters - -20 1 72 1. P*^- for beer for y^ Dean Ruler - - 6 1732. P'^- for ale when y' bell was carried up - 4 6 Also beer when y" Dean Ruler visited and beer when the plh went to view the tower. Ale for vestry meetings appears down to 1861, after which £1 is allowed yearly for expenses of the Lady Day Vestry till 1884. These expenses were for a dinner at the Blue Ball at which the Curate presided, supported by the Churchwardens and all ratepayers. In 1681 beer was paid for ' when the bell founder talk with the psh'^- for casting the bell,' and beer when the bell was cast and beer when the bell was ' taken out of the peet.' How diflferent were our ancestors, and how times have changed ! Fred Day. 201. Yew Trees in Devon and Cornwall. — During a recent visit by the Teign Naturalists' Field Club to Dartington, attention was drawn to the yew tree which still stands to the west of the site once occupied by the parish church, removed, with the exception of the tower, in 1880.