Data from the 'Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum' from the year 1842.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

Data from the 'Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum' from the year 1842.

The place: ACOMB.     Church dedication: ST. STEPHEN.     Church type: Peculiar. Discharged Vicarage.

Area, 2330 acres. Ainsty. -Population, 882 *2; Church-room, 607 *3; Net value, £109. -Archbishop Walter Grey gave this Church to the treasurer of the Church of York, to whom it was appropriated 10 Kal. September 1228, and on 3 Id. January 1313, a Vicarage was ordained, which was augmented in 1414.

The Rev. Thomas Tireman is patron. Impropriators, various proprietors.

At the Dissolution the tithes of Knapton, which formerly belonged to Saint Mary's Abbey, were given to the Archbishoprick of York.

The tithe corn and hay of Holgate belong to the Dean and Chapter.

In Dringhouses, six tenements, with certain crofts and about 12 acres of land, belonged to the treasurer, who had also jurisdiction of the inhabitants.

This parish is not mentioned in Pope Nicholas's Taxation. In the King's Books, the Vicarage is valued at £3. 9s. In the Parliamentary Survey, vol. xviii. page 533, at £11 per annum.

The Vicarage was augmented in 1764 with £200 to meet a benefaction of £200 from the executors of the Rev. Marmaduke Buck ; and in 1810, with £200 from the Parliamentary grant, and in 1815 with £400 from the same grant, both by lot.

Acomb township was inclosed by an Act of the 14th Geo. III. and Knapton township by an Act of the 28th Geo. III.

The Peculiar Court of Acomb exercises (except when inhibited as hereinafter mentioned) the right of granting marriage licences, and also probates of wills and letters of administration of persons dying within the parish of Acomb, except in cases where the deceased left bona notabilia within the province of York, sufficient to found the jurisdiction of the Prerogative Court of York; and also except in cases where it becomes necessary to proceed by citation and decree of court, in which last-mentioned cases, in consequence of the Peculiar Court being supposed to have no contentious jurisdiction, the proceedings, till 1830, took place in the Dean and Chapter's Court of York, and the wills were proved or administrations granted by that Court. In that year, however, the Court commenced the exercise of contentious jurisdiction, by issuing a citation for a faculty to take down and rebuild the Church, notice having been previously served, in order that the Dean and Chapter might contest the point of jurisdiction if they thought fit; but no opposition being made, the Commissary of the Peculiar Court proceeded to pronounce a decree for a faculty, -since which a citation has issued in a cause of non-payment of Church rates.

The Peculiar Court of Acomb is inhibited from exercising any jurisdiction whatever pending the primary or ordinary visitations of the Archbishop of York; the inhibition is generally in force for six months, during which period such wills or administrations as would have otherwise been taken in the Peculiar are taken in the Consistory Court of York.

The Dean and Chapter of York also claim the right of occasionally visiting the Peculiars, over which they have contentious jurisdiction, on which occasion they inhibit, amongst others, the Peculiar of Acomb for about six months, during which time they exercise the jurisdiction which would otherwise be exercised by the Peculiar Court. Several old wills and records of grants of administration are deposited in the Dean and Chapter's Registry.

The wills and records of grants of administration, now in the custody of the Registrar, are 89 in number; the earliest is dated in 1709. They are kept in an oak box, provided for that purpose, in the office of the Registrar, situate in High Petergate, in the City of York.

This jurisdiction formerly belonged to the treasurer of the Church of York. The right to appoint an Official and Registrar was decided in 1829, by the Court of King's Bench, to be vested in James Earnshaw Baker, Esq. of Acomb Park.

The monuments are noticed by Torre.

5th July 1787, 22d February 1811, and 5th August 1817, faculties were granted for erecting galleries.

The glebe house was returned, in 1818, as unfit for residence, being "very small, little more than a hut;" and is still unfit.

The Register Books commence in 1695. There is a chasm from 1749 to 1760, the book having been burnt; but see the transcripts in the Registrar's Office for the Peculiar, where are also to be found some transcripts as far back as 1663.

Charities:
Peter Hill's gift, by will, dated 20th September 1632. Rent charge of £2 per annum, on St. Thomas's-day.

William Burdus's gift, by will, date not mentioned. Rent charge 35s. per annum, on Good Friday.

George Easby's gift. £2. 12s. per annum rent charge, for bread to the poor every Sunday.

Beck's gift. Rent charge of 10s. per annum, towards the repairs of the Church.

Thomas Mealby's gift. Rent charge of 5s. per annum, towards the repairs of the Church.

Lady Hewley's charity. £5 per annum, towards the education of 10 poor children.

Miss Percevall's gift. £5 per annum, to national schools, and £5 per annum to the poor.

Day's and Metcalfe's gifts. Interest of two sums of £5 each: lost.

Beatrix Everard's charity. Interest of £25. Principal lost by bankruptcy.

John Knowles's charity, by will, dated 18th August 1603. Rent of two closes at Clifton, containing rather more than two acres of land. Fourteen children taught reading, writing, and accounts, for which a schoolmaster receives a share of the rent, in the proportion which £100 bears to £30. Residue given to the poor in flour and money. -Vid. 11th Report, page 713.

Post town: York.

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References:
Bawdwen's Domesday Book, pages 196. 211. Nonae Roll, page 229. Torre's MS. Peculiars, page 513. Drake's Eboracum, page 397. Abp. Sharp's MS. vol. i. pages 281. 340. Gent's Ripon, page 4.

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Notes:
*1 Anciently called Ascham.

*2 Viz. Acomb, 762; Knapton, 120. The parish includes a small part of Dringhouses and Holgate.

*3 Of which number 212 are free sittings; £300 was contributed by the Society. The Church was rebuilt in 1830. The old Church would only contain 350 persons.