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Church Houses in Devon
Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. XXXII, (1900), pp. 206-211.
By Rev John B. Pearson, D.D.
Prepared by Michael Steer
The paper was presented at the Association’s August 1900 Totnes meeting. Church houses were the Medieval equivalent of present day church halls. Their chief purpose was to house the fund-raising festivals and church ales for many parish churches until the rise of Puritanism. A parish was not required to have a church house. The church nave could function as a secular meeting-place for medieval parishioners, as well as a religious one. As the open space in churches became filled with pews in the late Medieval period, it could no longer act as a parish hall. By the 15th century a number of parishes had bought or built a church house, or had one donated. A common location is by the churchyard - see Researching the History of Search Houses. (A list is provided of all the church houses in Devon, 1818-37.) The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.
Page | |
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Babb, Owen (Highweek) | 208 |
Courtenay, Viscount William | 208 |
Edgcumbe, Sir Peter | 210 |
Edward VI | 208 |
Elizabeth I | 208 |
Fox | 206 |
Hartgills | 206 |
Henry VII | 208 |
Henry VIII | 208-9 |
Jackson, Mr | 206 |
Kelly, John (Heavitree) | 208 |
Philip & Mary | 210 |
Stourton, Lord | 206 |
Strype | 206 |
Stukely family (Bridgerule) | 208 |
Vernon, Admiral | 208-9 |
Yarde, Richard (Highweek) | 208 |
Webber, Henry | 207 |