GLOSSOP PARISH EASTER BOOKS


Twenty One Easter books for Glossop parish covering the period l643 - l7l0 are held in Glossop Library for the Glossop Historical Society. The books were repaired by Derbyshire Record Office in l984.

Easter books, which are not commonly preserved, record the payments of moduses, ie customary payments made in lieu of the actual titheable produce, which were due at Easter. They were part of the income of the vicar (who, according to notes in these books, used them for expenses such as bread and wine) although in the Glossop parish half of them were paid over to the lay impropriator, in this case the Duke of Norfolk.  Such a payment (to the Duchess of Norfolk) is recorded in the book for l693.

The names liable for customary payments are listed under the divisions (hamlets) of the parish, viz: Glossop, Padfield, Hadfield, Dinting, Whitfield, Chunall, Symondley, Chisworth, Ludworth, Mellor, Charlsworth, Thornsett, Great Hamlet, Kinder, Phoside, Beard and Ollerset, Raworth, Whitle, Bugsworth and Brownside. Chinley, which is normally grouped with Bugsworth and Brownside under lists of hamlets, does not appear, although a suggestion that it was extra-parochial cannot be substantiated. It is known that Chinley was entered in Easter books of the period, since they were produced as evidence in the Chinley tithe cases of l765 (Z 399), which may explain why the books are missing - extracted from the archives they were never returned.

In each book the name of each ratepayer is followed by the number of communicants (presumably in the household), and assessments are laid out in tabular form (Fig). Three entries for Thornsett read:

Name          Com.  Co.  Far.  Pl.  Hay.  Ga.  Fo.  Sw.  Ma.  Sm.    s   d

Geo Beard      3     1        1     -     1        1      -     1       1      1/2    00  l0

Mark Trickett  2     3        -     l      2        l      -      -        -    1/2    0l  00

Widdow Bramall for a mortuary........................................03  -4

Co:  Cows and calves(ld each);

Far: Barren cows(ld);

Pl:  Plough(ld);

Ha:  Hay(ld); 

Ga:  Garden(ld);

Fo:  Foal(ld);

Sw:  Swarms (ld); 

H:   Hand or Trade (ld); 

Sm:  Smoak(1/2d).

A separate note says: 'All married persons or that have been married and all children, servants and boarders above sixteen years of age come under the denomination of Communicants, the married pay 2d a head the others only one penny'. As already noted, this has an important bearing on the Compton Census, being a guide as to what part of the population the census figure applied.

The moduses were intended to be a rough equivalent of a tithe but as most of them were fixed by the mid-sixteenth century at the latest and generally earlier the sums were derisory two hundred years later when they were still being applied in 2,57l tithe districts. Most of them were in the north and west of the country and one of them was New Mills. In the New Mills tithe award for l84l, the preamble for Thornsett lays out the same customary payments as recorded in the Glossop Easter books nearly two hundred years previously, following almost exactly the wording of a terrier of the tithes of 1703.

The undermentioned moduses or compositions or prescriptive or customary payments are payable to the said Duke of Norfolk and Vicar of Glossop in equal moieties instead of the undermentioned Tithes throughout the said Township: that is to say:-

For every Calving Cow,Three half-pence; for every barren Cow, one penny: if there be seven Calves at a house, the Impropriator and Vicar take a Tithe Calf and the custom is to pay Two Shillings and sixpence for it: A Plough penny: Hay penny: and a Garden penny:, a penny for a foal: a penny for a swarm of Bees; if there be seven swarms, then a Tithe swarm: for Lambs, the said Duke and Vicar take a Tithe-Lamb at seven and a Tithe Lamb at fourteen: if they take a Tithe Lamb at seven or any number under Ten, they are to allow the parishioners a half penny a Lamb: if they take a Lamb at fourteen, the parishioners allow them a halfpenny above Ten: if there be fifteen a Lamb and a half: if seventeen Two Lambs; and so to a greater number: if five lambs, half a lamb: if under five then a halfpenny a Lamb: and for Turkeys, Ducks and hens, they are to have for every one, two Eggs at Easter sending one to gather them.

The following prescriptive or customary payments are payable as Easter offerings throughout the said Township.

Every man or woman that is or hath been married pays Two pence: all others if sixteen years of Age or thereabouts pay one penny: Every Tradesman pays for his hand one penny: for smoke, a halfpenny.

The 21 books cover the following hamlets:

GLOSSOP PARISH EASTER BOOKS: OCCURRENCE OF HAMLETS

BEARD AND OLLERSETT; BROWNSIDE; BUGSWORTH; CHARLSWORTH; CHISWORTH; CHUNALL; DINTING; GLOSSOP; GREAT HAMLET;  HADFIELD; KINDER; LUDWORTH; MELLOR; PADFIELD; PHOSIDE; RAWORTH; SYMONDLEY; THORNSET; WHITFIELD; WHITLE

l643; l644?; l664?; l674?; l675; l677; l679; l680; l68l; l693(l); l693(2); l694; l695; l697; l698; l704; l706; l707; l708; l709; l7l0