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

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

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

The place: PRESTON.     Church dedication: ALL SAINTS.     Church type: Peculiar. Discharged Vicarage.

Area, 5,110 acres. Holderness wapentake, M.D *1. -Population, 957 *2; Church-room, 500; Net value, £81. - The manor of Preston was given by the Conqueror to Dru de Bevorer, a Fleming, together with all Holderness itself.

At the time of the Domesday Survey, here was a Church and a priest.

Walter Gray having obtained from the Abbey of Albemarle, to which it had been given by Stephen Earl of Albemarle, this Church, with its Chapels and appurtenances, founded therein, A.D. 1229, his new dignity of the Sub-deanery, annexing and appropriating thereto this Church of Preston, which he freed from all episcopal performance, and a Vicarage was ordained therein.

No particulars of the endowment given.

There was a Chantry here, called Pickering's Chantry, founded in 1341 by Hugh de Preston for the souls of King Edward the Third, the Canons of York, Robert de Pickering, and Hugh de Preston and his parents.

"This parish," says Archbishop Sharp, "belongs to, or did anciently, the town of Hedon, in which there are three Chapelries, St. Augustine's, St. Nicholas's, and St. Mary's, all belonging to the Sub-deanery of York, as appendant to the Church of Preston, and in that respect the Sub-dean hath jurisdiction over them all."

25th June 1564, a composition was made between the Vicar of Preston and the Rector of Hedon, and the inhabitants of Hedon, as to finding a Curate in the Church of Hedon.

Patron and impropriator, the Subdean of York.

Torre gives a catalogue of the Vicars, commencing in 1298.

Valued in the King's books, at £12 per annum. In the Parliamentary Survey, vol. xvii. pages 250. 499, and vol. xviii. page 35, it is stated : " Vicarage, £16. Vicar hath tithe of fruit, chickens, pigs, and half of the tithe geese in the townships of Preston and Lelly, worth £8 per annum ;" -and in 1818 (jointly with Hedon), at £117 per annum.

There was a Chantry in this Church.

Augmented in 1772, with £200, by lot; and in 1777, with £200, to meet benefaction of lands worth £200 from the lord of the manor and others, in pursuance of an Act of Parliament.

28th April 1797, faculty granted to re-pew the Church.

24th March 1831, ditto to give up ninety yards of the church-yard, in order to widen the high road.

Inclosure Acts were passed 9th Geo. III. (Lelly), 12th Geo. III., and 13th Geo. III.

The glebe house was returned in 1818 as unfit for residence, being " very small ; only two rooms down stairs ; no chambers, and no staircase." In 1834, the return was, " No glebe house."

The Register Books commence in 1559: but deficient 1645, 1646, 1647, 1648, 1650, and 1651; and burials 1644 to 1651.

Charities:
Poor's Estate. James Rand's charity, by will, dated 27th October 1700. Rent of 35a. 2r. 28p. of land, let, at the time of the Report, for £60 per annum, and one house (occupied, at the time of the Report; by four poor persons, rent-free), for the use of the poor. The land was originally purchased with £160, bequeathed to the trustees, which was laid out in the purchase of two half oxgangs of land in the open fields of Preston, which were conveyed by deeds, dated 21st and 22nd August 1711, unto Ralph Burnsall for life, and after his decease, to the then Vicar and overseers of the poor, upon the trusts of the will ; and upon the inclosure in 1774, two allotments-one of 34a. 3r. 15p., and the other of 3a. 13r. of land-were awarded in lieu of the two half oxgangs. The rents of the land, after deducting the expense of building a cottage and barn (£14. 8s. 10d. per annum), are applied for the benefit of the poor, the amount being added to the produce of other charitable funds after mentioned.

Thomas Helms's charity, by will, dated 13th August 1718. Rent of 20a. 3r. 33p. of land, purchased with £400, and let, at the time of the Report, for £54. 10s. per annum, for the education of poor children, and the relief of poor persons ; one moiety thereof to the schoolmaster, for teaching twenty-seven children reading, writing, accounts, and the Church Catechism ; and the other moiety, together with the balance of the rents of the poor's estate, distributed by the minister and churchwardens on the Thursdays before Christmas and Whitsuntide among poor widows and other poor of the parish, preference being given to widows and poor not receiving parish relief.

TOWNSHIP OF LELLEY.

John Marshall's gift, by will, dated 3rd January 1803. Dividends on £187. 12s. 10d. new four per cents., for bread for the poor, distributed at the Church half-yearly, at the discretion of the minister and churchwardens. About one hundred persons partake of this charity each time, who receive different quantities, according to their wants and families.

William Hardy's charity, by will, dated 23rd February 1727, as appeared by a copy in the possession of the parish officers, from which the following is an extract :-" Item -I give a dozen of white bread, to be distributed for the use of the poor of Preston every Sunday for ever, to be paid by the owner of the half oxgang of land called by the name of Cooks, and to be given as the owner shall think proper."

The Commissioners reported, that from the returns to Parliament in 1786, it appeared that this charity (therein described as a rent charge upon land, vested in Francis Hardy,) had been discontinued some time, and that there seemed to be no evidence then existing whereby they could ascertain when the charity was last administered, under what circumstances it was given up, nor any sufficiently conclusive, as it appeared to them, to identify the premises charged therewith, and were fearful, therefore, the charity might be considered as lost.

Payment of £1 per annum. This is a rent charge of £1, made by Mr. John Bennington, of North Park, to the poor of Lelley. The payment was made by his father, who derived it from a relation. The money is distributed by the family themselves, and at their discretion. -Vide 9th Report, page 771.

Post town: Hedon.

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References:
Torre's MS. (Peculiars), page 769. Abp. Sharp's MS., vol. ii. page 186. Burton's Monasticon, page 299.

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Notes:
*1 The township of Preston is partly in the liberty of St. Peter of York.

*2 Viz. Lelley, 114 ; and Preston, 843.