during the latter part of the sixteenth and the former part of the seventeenth centuries.
The Ashfeilds were the impropriators of the rectorial manor of Chesham Leicester, and presented their nominees to the corresponding mediety of the vicarage. Their place of residence was the rectory-house, referred to in the Register as the "upper parsonage. Twelve members of the family are named in this book, the dates of the entries ranging between the years 1564-1631.
The "mr D. Atslow of London, phisitian," whose son was buried May 26, 1575, was probably Dr. Edward Atslowe, who was twice imprisoned for alleged connexion with conspiracies in behalf of Mary Queen of Scots.
Thomas Weedon, citizen and draper of London, who by his will founded and endowed the almshouses in the Waterside, Chesham, appears to have been baptized August 26th, 1571.
The virtues of Richard Woodcock, vicar of Chesham from 1607 to 1623, and previously vice-provost of King's College, Cambridge, are commemorated by a monument with quaint inscriptions in Chesham church; and he is further eulogized in the Register in a long entry relating to his burial on October 22nd, 1623.
Sir Wm. Fleetwood, Knight, is named as having attended the funeral just referred to. This was Sir Wm. Fleetwood of Missenden Abbey, high sheriff of Bucks in 1621 (not 1623, as appears in the Register). He was son of the well-known recorder of London of the same name.
Mention should be made of Richard Bowle, who was buried December 20th, 1626, and whose name occurs in some previous entries. There is a mural tablet to his memory in the chancel of the church; in the restoration of the interior of which in 1606 he took a prominent part. In this he probably acted as the local representative of the Earl of Bedford, the impropriator of the rectorial manor of Chesham Woburn, of which Mr. Bowle was the lessee, or farmer. The latter has left us in a curious MS. book, beautifully written by his own hand, an interesting record of the work; which appears to have comprised, besides general repairs, re-seating the body of the church, building a new gallery, and re-casting and re-hanging bells. Lists are given of the ratable parishioners "of abillitie," and of their respective assessments; there are detailed accounts of the expenditure, and of the receipts in money and in kind; and there is a schedule showing the position of all the new and reconstructed pews, and the names of the persons to whom seats were assigned. Particulars are added of proceedings taken before the Court of the King's Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical against certain persons who refused to pay the rate that was levied. It may be remarked, as evidence of the exactness of Mr. Bowle's work, that from the schedule above-mentioned, the arrangement of the seats can be identified as that which, within the recollection of many persons, obtained in the church before it was restored in the year 1869.
The Doctor Bowle who is named in three entries of burials, was probably Mr. Richard Bowle's son, Dr. John Bowle, sometime Dean of Salisbury, and afterwards Bishop of Rochester. He is mentioned as having officiated at the funeral of Mr. Woodcock in 1623.
