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CHAPTER VI.

Wolstanton.

THE PARISH AND VICARAGE,—VIVIAN, OF STOKE, FIRST VICAR.-ADVOWSON GIVEN BY HENRY III. TO HIS SON EDMUND, WITH NEWCASTLE.KING EDWARD I. CALLS THE TITLE IN QUESTION,-RECTOR NICHOLAS DE AUDLEY.-POPE NICHOLAS'S VALOR. SUBSEQUENT PATRONAGE of THE CHURCH, GRANTED BY QUEEN ELIZABETH TO SIR W. SNEYD.— REVENUE IN TIME OF HENRY VIII. RECENT COMMUTATION OF TITHES, AND PRESENT REVENUES.-ETYMOLOGY OF WOLSTANTON.-HISTORY OF ST. WOLSTAN,-HIS ANCESTRY SETTLED AT DIMSDALE. THE CHURCH DESCRIBED-MONUMENTS IN THE CHANCEL-ELEGANT ONE OF SIR W. SNEYD. MARRIAGES REGISTERED IN CROMWELL'S TIME. NEW MARRIAGE ACT,—PAROCHIAL DIVISIONS AND EXPENDITURE.-UNION WITH BURSLEM. ANCIENT PAROCHIAL NOTICE. COINS FOUND AT GOLDEN HILL IN VILL OF OLDCOTT. THE SEVERAL HAMLETS AND PARTS DESCRIBED, VIZ. WOLSTANTON, KNUTTON, CHESTERTON, RED-STREET POTTERY AND GLASS-HOUSE, APEDALE FURNACE AND HALL. CHATTERLEY, BRADWELL, DIMSDALE, CHELL, OLDCOTT, GOLDEN-HILL, RANSCLIFF, BRIERYHURST, KIDSGROVE COLLIERIES, CHURCH, AND SCHOOL. HARECASTLE TUNNELS.-MOW-COP, STADMORESLOW, HARRISEYHEAD. THURSFIELD, NEWCHAPEL, GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. WEDGOBSERVATIONS ON RURAL NAMES. INCREASED VALUE OF PROPERTY.-ELECTION STATISTICS.

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WE proceed, as we have already intimated our intention of doing, to say something relative to the Ecclesiastical History of the Parish of Wolstanton, of which Tunstall forms a part. The living is a Vicarage, in the patronage of Ralph Sneyd, Esq.; who is also Impropriator of the great Tithes; which have belonged to his ancestors since the ninth year of Queen Elizabeth, when the Advowson and Impropriation of the Rectory were granted, by the

Crown, (Aug. 20, 1567,) to Sir William Sneyd; who was not only a valiant warrior, but a zealous champion of the principles of the Reformation.

The circumstance of the living being a Vicarage, would lead to the conclusion of its having been, formerly, annexed to some monastic foundation; but such never was the fact and it forms one of the very few exceptions to the almost uniform history of Vicarages, in the Kingdom, which have mostly arisen by the appropriation of the church to some Religious House; whereupon the Abbot and Monks appointed a substitute (Vicarius,) to perform the duties of the Parish; endowing him with the small tithes, and other minor profits, but keeping the great tithes, and principal revenues, to themselves.

The Vill of Wolstanton, and consequently the church, belonged to the Crown at the time of the Domesday survey; and, as the church was within two miles of that of Stoke (which was likewise seated in a regal territory,) both of them might seem to be more than sufficient for the spiritual wants of the neighbourhood, at that early period, when the population was very scanty. King John was, probably, of this opinion; for by a charter, dated at Melburne, in the second year of his reign, (1200), he granted the perpetual vicarage of the church of Wolstanton, to his chaplain (clerico suo) VIVIAN OF STOKE, upon what may be termed, a retiring pension of six marks per annum, to be paid to the Parson (Rector) of the same church, who, at that time, was Stephen de Burgennoey, and is stated to have concurred in the grant. The Charter directs the Bishop of the Diocese to receive and institute Vivian, Perpetual Vicar of Wolstanton forthwith ;* who, being already Rector of Stoke, besides having other preferment, was seemingly well endowed: but, perhaps, he was rather the King's Steward, than the actual benefi

*See Appendix, No. I.

POPE NICHOLAS'S TAXATION.

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cial incumbent; for John was, at that time, in want of money; and, according to Speed,* had been taking a journey into the North parts, to gather it. A transaction of this nature could then be legally effected, by the joint consent of the Patron, Parson, and Ordinary; and so, by this act of John, a Sinecure Rectory was created; it being a maxim of Ecclesiastical polity, that when a Vicar was endowed, all the spiritual functions should, by institution of the Bishop, devolve upon him.

The Advowson of this Church was included in the Grant of the Castle and Manor of Newcastle, made by King Kenry III. to his second son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, A. D. 1266; † but the Earl's title was called in question by his elder brother (King Edward I.,) by Quo warranto, in 1293, at which time it appears, that Nicholas de Alditheley was the Parson, (i. e. sine-cure Rector;) doubtless the same personage, who, as will be noticed hereafter, when we come to speak of that family, was summoned to Parliament, in 1297, as first Baron Audley. These Audleys will appear to have had rather inordinate appetencies; and to have contrived to get hold of either the whole, or a portion, of most of the good things in their neighbourhood. Their original name, we should have thought, from their supposed origin, to have been taken from the village of Ald-ley, (or Audley,) written in their early charters, Alditheley; but, if we may hazard a conjecture, savouring of a pun, we think their right name must have been "All-the-ley," i. e. the whole country, as descriptive of their all-engrossing propensities.

In Pope Nicholas's Taxation, 1292, the Church of Wolstanton, with the Chapel belonging to it, (which we suppose to be that of Keel,) is rated at £26 13s. 4d. per annum; of which the Pope granted the tenth, for the

* Page 487.

+ Calend. Rot. Chart. p. 94.

+ Placita de Quo Warr. p. 712.

term of six years, to King Edward the First, for defraying the expences of a Crusade. But, in the Inquisitio nonarum, made in the 14th Edward III. (circa 1340,) for the purpose of raising a subsidy for the Government, no account was taken of the revenues of Wolstanton Church; but whether or not, because the whole except the Vicar's stipend, found their way, at that period, into the Royal coffers, we know not. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who headed an insurrection against King Edward II., and was taken, attainted, and executed in 1322, died seised of the Rectory of Wolstanton, as appears by the Inquisition, taken in 1327,* when the attainder was reversed. Afterwards, the estates of this Earl were granted to his brother Henry, the second Earl; and, upon his demise, in 1345, descended to his son Henry, the first Duke of Lancaster,† whose daughter, Blanche, was the wife of John of Gaunt, the Great Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of King Edward the Third and we suppose, the Church of Wolstanton remained an appendage of the Manor of Newcastle, as parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster, until it was granted to Sir William Sneyd, as before stated; when the first-fruits were reserved, payable to the Lords of the Honour of Tutbury; under which, this portion of the Duchy Property is held.

The Grant to Sir William Sneyd contained the reservation of a Rent-charge of £5 per annum, payable to the use of the poor of the Parish of Wolstanton, for ever; which might, at that period, be nearly equivalent to the whole burthen the parish sustained for maintaining its poor. It would, seemingly, have been more just, if the Rent-charge had been proportioned to the future value of the Tithes.

Cal. Inq. Post Mort. vol. II. p. 7. + Sir O. Mosley's Hist. of Tutbury, p. 58.

ECCLESIASTICAL SURVEY.

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At the time of the Ecclesiastical Survey (35 Hen. VIII.) the Revenues of the Church of Wolstanton are stated as under :

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Now, when it is considered, that, in Pope Nicholas's valor, made two hundred and fifty years before, the income of the Church was stated at £26 13s. 4d., which we presume, however, also included Keele, and that the value and weight of money had both diminished one half within that period,, it becomes tolerably certain, that the survey of Henry the Eighth was formed upon a very inadequate scale; a fact, about which, all writers on the subject agree.

We believe, the great Tithes of this extensive Parish, which are now under process of commutation, have averaged, of late years, between £600 and £700 per annum, having been let to the tenants at a very moderate composition; but we understand that the composition agreed upon, under the Commutation Act, is £900, for the whole Parish, 1500 acres of land belonging to the Patron himself. The Vicarial Tithes have of late averaged nearly £200 per annum, and the Glebe Land, which contains 38 A. 0 R. 36 P., besides the Vicarage House and Garden, has made up the Vicar's income altogether about £300 per annum; which, by the Commutation Plan, will be raised to about £350. The Rev. John Tyson, B.A. is the present Vicar, and was instituted in 1837.

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