county was not too highly coloured. It is impossible in a short sketch like this to speak of all these in detail, [1] but that of 1637 cannot be passed over, as it shows not only the condition of the churches at that time, but the very moderate uniformity to which the authorities wished to reduce them.
The report [2] gives an account of 111 churches and 5 parochial chapels ; the important towns of Buckingham, Aylesbury and High Wycombe are not however included in the survey. The details are so full that it is difficult to make a fair selection from them ; and yet a mere summary cannot produce anything like the impression left upon the mind of one who reads them through steadily from beginning to end. There are only three out of all the churches here named with which but little fault could be found ; at Dorton all that was ordered was a new service book for the clerk ; at Grendon Underwood no school was to be kept thenceforward in the church ; at Weston Turville a linen cloth was to be provided for the communion table. Six others, though not in good order, were at least in decent repair [3] ; all the rest presented a picture of neglect, decay and ruin beyond description.[4]
The interior of one of these Buckinghamshire churches of 1637 (we may fairly hope that there was nothing worse to be seen in any other part of the kingdom) would have presented a strange and un- familiar appearance to any one accustomed even to the least ornate of our modern churches. Looking from the west door towards the altar he would have seen a motley assembly of wooden pews, varying in size and height according to the taste of the owner ; some six feet high, some seven, some nine ; some roofed in, and others not. The inter- vening spaces were filled with benches for public use, men on one side and women on the other, very often broken in the boards or in the flooring, and in many cases so arranged that their occupants sat with their backs to the altar. As to the altar itself, it was probably invisible ; even if the pulpit or some great pew did not obstruct the view, there was a solid boarded partition between the chancel and the church, and beyond that perhaps a great family tomb standing in the middle of the
- ↑ The metropolitical visitation has been already referred to. A visitation of 1635 is contained in S. P. Dom. Chas. I. ccxcvi. 6, 13, 17. It contains presentations for recusancy (both Romanist and Puritan), working on Sundays and holy days, irreverence in church and various deficiencies in churches and ornaments : nothing out of the common. There is another for the whole diocese of Lincoln in 1638 (ibid, ccclxxxvii. 68).
- ↑ It is contained in S. P. Dom. Chas. I. ccclxvi. 79, and ccclxix. 59, and has been printed in full in Records of Bucks, vii.
- ↑ Amersham, Fulmer, Beachampton, Whitchurch, Buckland and Chalfont St. Peter. The last however needed whitewashing. Fulmer was only built in 1610, so had not had time to get out of repair. All these however required alterations as to the height of pews, etc. The steeple cross of Marsh Gibbon was leaning over on one side, but no other repairs needed only alterations in the pews. The church of Wing is not mentioned in this list, and may have been in good condition ; the churchwardens' book shows that repairs were done during the few years previous to the visitation.
- ↑ At Bledlow, where it was noticed that the seats in the chancel were broken, the chancel needed paving ; one window was entirely stopped up and another in part, besides others broken in both church and chancel : the seats in the church in decay in backs, benches and bottoms ; the lead in the south aisle in decay so that it rained into Sir Richard More's seat, where there was a ' piece of a coach ' ; and it rained in also at the west end of the church. This case is not conspicuous. There were plenty more.
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