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

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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

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

The place: HEMSWORTH.     Church dedication: SAINT HELEN.     Church type: Rectory in charge.

Area, 4,120 acres. Staincross wapentake. - Population, 937; Church-room, 250 *1; Net value, £1,064. -This Church is an ancient Rectory of the patronage of the Warnevills, Knights, for a long time, and from them of the Wortleys.

Patron, William B. Wrightson, Esq.

Valued in Pope Nicholas's taxation at £13. 6s. 8d.; in the King's books at £20. 1s. 11d.; Crown rent 13s. 4d.; Synodals 4s.; Procurations 7s. 6d.; and in the Parliamentary Survey, vol. xviii. page 401, at £112 per annum.

Torre says there was a Chantry on the north side of the Church.

The manner in which the Rector is entitled to the tithe of the second crop of clover hay, of turnips fed off by sheep which has paid tithes, and of the depasturing of lambs fatted for sale, is set out in the report of the cause Wood v. Harrison. 3 Wood, page 250.

A bill for the tithes of Hemsworth, was dismissed as to the tithes of turnips, and retained until a modus should be tried. Wood v. Bingley. 4 Wood, page 584.

An Inclosure Act was passed 43rd Geo. III.

For the inscriptions and catalogue of Rectors, see Hunter's South Yorkshire, and Torre's, and the Bodleian MSS.

The glebe house is fit for residence; it was rebuilt under a faculty granted 20th April 1793.

25th April 1793, faculty to erect a gallery.

The Register Books commence in 1685.

Charities:
Free Grammar School. Founded by Archbishop Holgate in 1548, for the teaching " grammar and other knowledge, and godly learning freely, without taking any stipend or exaction of the scholars." The Archbishop of York is the patron. The endowment is given at considerable length in the Report of the Commissioners, together with the particulars of the estate. At the time of the Report, 1828, the school was attended by fifty or sixty scholars, who were instructed in reading, writing, and accounts, by the usher, (who received a salary of £21 per annum,) at a quarterly payment of 10s. each, for instruction in all branches taught in the school, and a lower quarterage for such as were taught reading, or reading and writing only, and some few boys were occasionally taught Latin to a small extent. The quarterages were received by the usher.

The master (the Rev. John Simpson,) professed to the Commissioners that he had always been willing and ready to receive and instruct boys as free scholars, in grammatical and classical learning, which he considered the only duty of the master, by the terms of the foundation ; but there were no scholars of that description, and the master stated that he had never been applied to to take scholars for the purpose of receiving a classical education, neither had his predecessor during his time any free scholars.

The endowment consists of 266a. 2r. 9p. of land, with a school-house. Part of the estate was let on leases for twenty-one years, with fines on renewal every seven years. The annual income, at the time of the Report, was £170. 8s. exclusive of fines. He has also the right of presentation to the Vicarage of Sinnington.

Archbishop Holgate, by the foundation deed, gave several constitutions or orders, which provide for the appointment of six poor scholars, to teach writing, and for an allowance to them; and for laying up the fines or surplus produce as a stock, and applying the same for the reparation of highways, relief of the poor, and of poor scholars; but if they ever were observed, which does not appear, they have for a very long time been disused.

The Commissioners thought that a more liberal salary should be paid to the usher; and that if, by consent of all parties interested, a free school, for the instruction of children of the neighbourhood in the ordinary branches of an English education, could be engrafted, under proper authority, upon the institution, such a measure would be very desirable.

Hemsworth Hospital. Founded by the will of Archbishop Holgate, dated 26th April 1555, for a master and twenty brethren and sisters; the master to be a clerk in holy orders, and to dwell in the Hospital, and not to be absent therefrom above a month in every year.

The endowment consists of 1,555a. 2r. 24p. and two houses, let at the time of the Report for £2,306. 6s. 10d. per annum, exclusive of fines on renewals and periodical falls of timber. The master receive one fifth of the rents and fines, and the remainder is divided equally among the brethren and sisters.

The several objects of the charity are appointed by the Rector, churchwardens, and four parishioners of Hemsworth, owners or occupiers of land in the parish, who are selected by the householders present on the occasion of filling up the vacant places in the hospital, or, in case of dispute, by suffrage of all the householders in the parish ; and the places of the brethren and sisters are supplied from poor persons of the parishes of Hemsworth, Felkirk, South Kirkby, and Wragby, in turn and by rotation. Notice of vacancy is given in the Church at Hemsworth, on two successive Sundays next after the vacancy happens, and the election takes place on the Thursday following, the candidates attending with the overseers of the poor of the parish entitled to the turn, when such as obtain a majority of the votes of the electors are appointed. Due regard is paid to the character and merits of the candidates, and in general the choice falls upon persons who have been reduced in their circumstances through misfortune ; but the only qualification required is that the candidate be upwards of sixty years of age when admitted to the hospital, and this is strictly attended to.

Doles. -William Bedford's. £2. 13s. 4d. being a rent-charge out of lands at Hemsworth and South Kirkby, in the following proportions, viz. Kemp's £1; Bolland's 13s. 4d.; Dymon's 6s. 8d.; Jessop's 6s. 8d.; and Wilson's 6s. 8d.

Mrs. Eastwoods, by will, in 1645. Interest of £50 to the poor.

Robert Weighton's. 10s. per annum to the minister for a sermon on the 19th December, and 30s. to the poor.

Poor's land. One acre.

Sunday Schools. Robert Duffin, Esq. by will, in 1813, gave £50, and Mr. Trant £100 now invested in £203.7s. 3d. consols. -Vide 19th Report, page 551.

Post town: Pontefract.


References:
Torre's MS. page 961. Abp. Sharp's MS. vol. i. page 215. Nonae Roll, page 221. Bodleian MSS. Nos. 5,078 and 5,101. Hunter's South Yorkshire, vol. ii. page 423. Gilbert's Liber Scholast. page 291.


Notes:
*1 In 1818, the return was 1,200.


From the original book published by
George Lawton in 1842..
OCR and changes for Web page presentation
by Colin Hinson. © 2013.