PREFACE.
This volume was originally intended to be merely a short history and description of the Parish Church in connection with its recent Restoration. It was afterwards thought best, however, to make it include those other branches of parochial history which more or less gather round the history of the Church.
It will be obvious to the reader that matters are frequently introduced into these pages which have no very immediate connection with Cawthorne or with Cawthorne more than any other Parish; that the pages are here and there loaded in an unusual manner with explanations; and also that some of the descriptions have been carried to great minuteness of detail, and matters mentioned which seem of very trivial importance.
This has not been done without a purpose. In the first place, it has been my wish to show in some measure how the chronicles of even a country Parish like our own interlace themselves with the most memorable events of our national life and history: how they bear traces of Saxon England's Conversion to Christianity, of the Norman Conquest and its Feudalism, of the Wars of the Roses, of the Dissolution of Religious Houses, of the Great Rebellion, and of other national crises.
The introduction of so many explanations of even familiar words and usages will shew that the author has not compiled his History for the learned antiquary or even the educated scholar, but rather for those who already feel some interest in Cawthorne, through residence, neighbourhood, or family connection, and who will feel an increased interest in its history from having the origin and meaning of familiar words and customs thus explained. The explanations are given in the text to avoid the distraction of foot-notes.
