Armitt Mary L.
The Church of Grasmere: A History
The poet himself lies beneath their shade. Of the countless graves that stud this ancient burying-place, it is his that draws the pilgrims from afar; and the yard, encircled by its yews and the great mountains, has perhaps inspired more and better poetry than any other plot in England. Hartley Coleridge, Sir John Richardson, Green and Hull the artists, are buried here, and their graves may be found by referring to the short Guide issued by Mr. Peterson.
Wordsworth's monument, a medallion by Woolner, is within the church. The beautiful inscription is a translation of Keble's Latin dedication of his Oxford Lectures on Poetry to Wordsworth.
EXTRACTS FROM CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS AND PRESENTMENTS
Gresmyre.
The First day of Apprill in the XIIIJth of the Kings Ma'tyes Reigne A treue & A P'fect Acount of ye Disbursment of James Benson & Robert Watson Church Wardens For the yeare last past.
156 The old font cover (see engraving) is lost.
Two churchwardens sign by a mark at the bottom. This is clearly an account for Grasmere township alone.
Gresmyre.
A Booke For the whole p'rish Concerning the Church Affaires, For the Churchwardens to writte their Accounts, euery yeare & to subscribe their names to the same mad The 23th day of Apprill 1662.
Churchwardens' Accounts for 1790
Grasmere April the 6th being Easter Tuesday
Churchwardens chosen for the ensuing Year
For Grasmere James Fleming for Knott houses
John Allison for Thompson's Underhelme
For Langdales John Benson for Milnbeck
Edward Tysons for Fieldside
For Rydal & Loughrigg – Edward Park for late Edward Benson's
High Close
For Ambleside – Thomas Lycott.
General Charge.
For Grasmere in particular.
Disbursements.
Disbursements.
—
The account for Langdale does not appear
PART V
LATER PARSONS OF GRASMERE
AMBLESIDE CHAPEL
AMBLESIDE CURATES
LANGDALE CURATES
SCHOOLS AND CLERKS
CHURCH RATES
NON-RATEPAYERS
REGISTERS
PRESENTMENTS, BRIEFS, AND CHARITIES
THE RUSH-BEARING
LATER PARSONS OF GRASMERE
Grasmere settled down then, after the Restoration, to an absentee rector, the Rev. John Ambrose; and under him was a curate-in-charge, the Rev. John Brathwaite. One of his name, son of William, "pleb.," matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, in 1631, aged 18, whom Dr. Magrath thinks may have been he.157 Under Mr. Thomas Brathwaite's will, 1674, "Mr. Brawthwaite minister of Grassemire" received a legacy of 20s., which shows that he enjoyed the esteem of that Puritanical gentleman. He often appears in the Account Book. For churching the squire's wife he received regularly 5s.; until there comes the melancholy item in 1675: —
Other items are more cheerful; for often the minister's little daughter would carry offerings of fruit, cherries and wild blackberries to the Hall, for which she would receive a douceur in return. Also, as boys apparently then caught woodcocks in springes, as they did later (see Wordsworth's Prelude), the item occurs in 1782: —
The daughter seemingly married in 1685, for the Squire's boys were dispatched on May 24th, with money to give at her offering – a collection made at the wedding for the benefit of the couple; Will giving 5s. and Dan 2s. 6d.
It was in 1684 that Parson Ambrose, who for some forty years had been connected with the rectory of Grasmere, passed to his long rest. By surviving five brothers – several of whom were bachelors like himself – he succeeded to the family estate; and the old Furness homestead had been added to his other residences.158 The Rydal squire notes in that Account Book – which became practically a diary: —
Little as Grasmere had known him, the old man remembered the place in his will, and bequeathed £50 for the school, under trust to the "minister and such persons as shall be of the four and twenty of the parish of Grasmere."
The death of Ambrose left the post vacant for Henry Fleming, the squire's second son, who had been bred up to the church, doubtless in readiness for it. He had taken his B.A. degree in 1682, from Queen's College, Oxford, and there he was still residing, in preparation for his M.A. degree, to be taken next year. Presented now by his father to Grasmere, he proceeded on November 22nd to Carlisle for his ordination, and next month rode to Chester to complete the business of his appointment. On January 7th he was formally inducted to the ancient fabric, over which he was now – a young man of 25 – to rule; and his father on this occasion opened heart and purse to his neighbours at the Church-Stile Inn in an unwonted manner.
" … and spent Jan. 7 at Robert Harrisons in Gresmere when he was Inducted by Mr. Jo. Brathwait 3s. 6d."
The new rector then returned to Oxford, where he remained until the end of 1687. Clearly he was in no haste to settle down in Grasmere, at any rate before his income was free from burden159 and until something was done to the rectory, which wanted effectual repair. His eldest brother assisted him in plans; and he wrote to his father on March 14th, 1687, "I have received a letter from my Brother William concerning Grasmere church and Parsonage House, with a model of the house he designes to build, which I like very well, if the money will finish it, and adorn the church. But I am affraid that it will fall short unless you be pleased to be assisting in wood."
Probably the squire did assist; and it may be a stout oak from Bainriggs that bears still the incised legend "This House was built 1687 Henry Fleming Par"; which implies that the house was entirely remodelled.160 The work went briskly forward, and on June 22nd the squire noted: —
which meant tips and treats at the alehouse, and a great commotion.
Harry was still in Oxford in October, but early in December he was down, and preached to his people.
Dec. 11 – This day my Son Henry Fleming preached his first sermon – upon Romans xiii in Gresmere church, where I would have been, had I had notice of his preaching.
This statement shows Harry's nervousness in face of his clever father. It may have been with reluctance that he left the University where for nine and a half years he had lived a student's life; but that his departure was intended to be final is clear, from the fact that his box followed him, the cost of its carriage being 11s. – 44 lb. at 3d. per lb.
Harry would seem to have been a quiet, unostentatious man. His tutor, the Rev. Thomas Dixon, wrote of him to his father on his first arrival from the country, "Yor Son is both frugall and studious, and all that I find amiss in him is that he wants courage and heart, I do all I can to animate and encourage him and to put some more spirit into him. I hope disputeing in ye Hall will put some briskness and metall into him, and teach him to wrangle: He is one of three that yor nephew Fletcher calls his Juniors in ye Hall, So that they must endeavour to bafle him and then heel cease to stand upon his Seniority or att least to triumph in it. He deserves also all the encouragemt, that may be, because he is willing to do anything and frequents Prayers and Disputacons as much as any one, though of much less Quality and honour than himselfe. He has another fellow-Pupill of ye same order that keepes pace with him, and they have combin'd to sett patterns to all ye rest of their Table: I hope theyl continue this their emulacon, and that yor Son will also excite others of his degree to ye same excellency and p'fection."161
It is probable that Harry was never taught to "wrangle"; and though his abilities were excellent, he rose to no high office in the Church, like his brother George. He had a true interest in his parish, as we must suppose, from the encouragement he gave to the people over the embellishment of the church; and the accounts show that "ye Dr." went over into Langdale at least once (in 1696) to preach and administer the sacraments. He neglected the bells, as has been seen, and possibly the wardens had a difficulty in getting hold of him; for from 1694, when he acquired the living of Asby, Cumberland, he resided there. He married, in 1700, Mary, daughter of John Fletcher, of Hunslet, and on his death, in 1728, left a daughter only.
With Dr. Henry Fleming was associated, as curate, the Rev. Thomas Knott. This worthy man was doubtless of the Grasmere stock that for so many generations had supplied able and prominent members to the village community.162 He entered his name in the Grasmere register as curate and schoolmaster in 1687. In 1694 he was promoted to the more independent (and doubtless better paid) curacy of Ambleside. The letter he wrote to his rector on the occasion of the Kelsick bequest, which does credit to them both, has already appeared in print.163 The Rev. Thomas continued to officiate in Ambleside until his death in 1744.
The Squire of Rydal (who had been knighted in 1681) died in 1701, and it was the curate-in-charge, Dudley Walker, who preached his funeral sermon and received the honorarium of £1 1s. 6d.
The removal of this strong spirit must have made a difference in the parish. His heir, William, who purchased a baronetcy, was a man of feebler type, whose influence would be little felt in the parish. He ceased, apparently, to worship at the old church, for in 1728 he bought the two front pews in Ambleside Chapel, which had belonged to the Braithwaites. On the death of his brother Henry, he appears to have nominated for the rectory of Grasmere one William Kilner, who immediately retired in favour of another son of Sir Daniel, George, born 1667. He was totally unlike his brother Henry in temperament. Handsome in person, of good abilities, assured spirit and pleasant manners, his path in life proved an easy one. As a boy, he, of all the brothers, had found it possible to ask his father for money, whether to bet upon his cock at the Shrove-tide fight, or to enter his college library, or even to engage in a trading venture.164 Once within the church, he advanced rapidly, for his father's old friend, Dr. Smith, Bishop of Carlisle, gave him the living of Aspatria in 1695, and four years later made the young man his domestic chaplain. From that time he accumulated benefices and honours. Made Archdeacon of Carlisle in 1705, he became Dean in 1727, shortly before his brother's death gave him the opportunity of absorbing Grasmere. The wardens' presentment of 1729 states "Our expected Rector is not yet Instituted and Inducted, the Cure is duly Supplyed by a Curate; we know not what Salary is allowed him." The church for the moment would seem to be poorly manned, for it adds "We have no Parish Clark or Sexton at present."
The august rector, who had other benefices, was probably little seen in his native parish; and in 1733 he resigned it in favour of his only son, William, who also became Archdeacon after him. Next year George stepped up to the post of Bishop of Carlisle; and in 1736, on his brother William's death, he succeeded to the Rydal estates and the baronetcy. His only misfortune was the death of his son in 1743. He himself died in 1747, and a nephew became possessed of Rydal Hall and of the patronage of the church.165
It is risky to judge from negative evidence: but there is nothing to show that George Fleming, bishop and baronet, did anything either as rector or patron to benefit the church where he had worshipped as a child, or the parish whence he and his son drew an income for fifteen years; the sole mention of him in the church books being a statement that he held a confirmation there in place of the Bishop of Chester. The wardens and the Eighteen, with the curate, kept parochial matters going; and the former, wearied no doubt of waiting for help from the rector, tackled the great bell outlay in 1730-2, as has been seen.
After he had become bishop, George Fleming erected in the choir the marble monument that commemorates (in grandiose Latin) his father and himself.
The Rev. George Briggs acted as curate-in-charge from 1722. Though he may not have enjoyed a university training, the facts of his life that have been found suggest that his ministrations were beneficial to the folk. Like the first "capellanus," of whom there is record, Adam de Ottelay, and many another simple curate, he had footing in the community as statesman, holding house and land. In 1725 he first appears as "Mr. Briggs" in the Rydal rental, paying a lord's rent of 8s. 4d. for Padmar, or Padmire (Pavement End), which had belonged to the Rydal manor apparently since the days of Squire John. In that year also the minister, described as "clerk," married Miss Jane Knott, of Rydal, daughter probably of Edward and sister of Michael, who, for so long, acted as influential agents to the Rydal lord.
Mrs. Jane Briggs remained long as widow in possession of the Padmire estate; and the name of the Rev. George Briggs – doubtless her son – appears as holder, after a gap, in 1806; in 1819 that of the Rev. William Pearson has taken its place.166
Meanwhile, the death of the Archdeacon had left the rectorate vacant, and an unfortunate nomination was made by the patron-bishop. The Rev. John Craik, B.A., was probably never resident – a fact quite usual: but to this was presently added the more painful one that he became incapable of managing his affairs, and his sister had to act for him. Only five years after his appointment, Sir William Fleming writes of the complaints of the parishioners, who with a church sadly in need of repair can do nothing, since the rector will not come over to see to it. Matters presently became so acute that a petition was framed, begging the Bishop of Chester to intervene, as Mr. Craik was out of his mind, and had not been near the church for three years.167 Yet it was not till the man's death, in 1806, that this miserable situation came to an end.
The Rev. Gawen Mackereth was curate under Mr. Craik. To judge by his name, he was a native of the vales, and he apparently entered the church – like many more in this period – by the door of the village school-house. He wrote his name in the register on October 23rd, 1735, as "Ludimagister et Clericus Grasmereiensis," copying the inscription of Thomas Knott, though with a fault in the spelling. Twenty years later he preached for the last time his two yearly sermons in Langdale. Sir William Fleming chose the next curate himself; and he may have intended the Rev. John Wilson to occupy the post of rector, should this fall vacant. But that day was far distant, and Wilson – who seems from his action with regard to the owner of Bainrigg to have been a man of strong temper – lived but a short time after his appointment.168
He was followed by Edward Rowlandson, of whom scarcely anything is known; but who – according to the register that records his burial in 1811 – served the parish for fifty years. He could not have taught the school, as the burial of Thomas Davis, schoolmaster, is recorded in 1801.
Under him and Craik Grasmere must, indeed, have slumbered spiritually. How could it be otherwise? But by this time Craik was dead, after being rector for sixty-three years – surely a record term for a lunatic! In the same year, 1806, Sir Michael le Fleming, the patron who had never exercised his rights, died likewise. His widow, Lady Diana, nominated as rector the Rev. Thomas Jackson. With him the long record of absentee rectors was broken. He is said to have sprung from a family of dalesfolk. He united, like some early predecessors, his spiritual office with a temporal one, and acted as "clerk" or agent to his patron. With his assistance, the heiress and Lady of Rydal Hall freed her estate from debt, bought the ruinous homesteads of the village, and replaced them by pretty cottages. Jackson was successful also with his own affairs, and left a good deal of property at his death, including Harry Place in Langdale, Tail End in Grasmere, Brow Head in Loughrigg, and Waterhead on Windermere. He lived, it is said, at Harry Place, and on most days rode his pony (according to the report of old Langdale folk) over the fell to Grasmere or Rydal Hall.
It is well known that the rectory was let to the poet Wordsworth. The premises had been sadly neglected, the wardens having, in 1798, "presented" the "Rectory-House, Barn, and out-Houses" as being in "a ruinous state," but the new rector was too good a business man to leave them in that condition. Dorothy Wordsworth writes (May 11th, 1810) that Mr. Jackson is willing to make the Parsonage comfortable, and will contrive a good library out of part of the barn. Later (June, 1811), she says, "There is an oblong 4-cornered court before the door, surrounded by ugly white walls."169
This graphic touch is interesting and suggestive. The place had apparently an ancient character, with a strongly walled fore-court, capable of being closed and defended. Such a plan – which was always that of a manor-house – might be necessary of old for rectories, where the tithe-barn, often stored with grain and hay, stood temptingly, and occasionally was the subject of dispute.170 Now it is just possible that the rectory may occupy the site of the former offices of the demesne. No manorial lord was ever resident in this remote vale, as far as we know; but a resident bailiff and a forester there must at least have been, with a few underlings. These officers would be placed in a lodge, stoutly barricaded with wooden palisades – later converted into walls. To this nucleus would be added, besides byres and barns and smithy, a "knight's chamber," for the accommodation of the lord, if he visited the spot, or pushed so far in the chase; and nothing is more likely than that a priest's chamber or house (along with the tithe-barn) would find a place within this safe enclosure. In such a case, the decay and final abolition of the demesne would leave the rectory in sole occupation of the ground. Wordsworth gave up his tenancy, after the death of two children, in the belief that the spot was unhealthy. It must have been still more so in ancient times, while the marsh that almost surrounds it was still undrained.
On the re-construction of the rectory in 1895 the old elevation was preserved as much as possible, but the level of the ground floor was raised five feet.
Tradition also states that the Rev. Thomas Jackson served personally the chapel of Langdale, and certainly – if he lived in that valley – this would be more convenient for him than the parish church. The curates under him appear to have been men of ability and worth. William Johnson indeed secured a fame as educationalist that is recorded in the National Dictionary. A Cumberland man, born in 1784, he appears to have come to Grasmere as schoolmaster before the death of the old curate Rowlandson. He began to officiate in 1810, shortly after he had entered St. John's College, Cambridge. His stay in Grasmere was short, for Dr. Andrew Bell, when visiting Wordsworth in 1811, was so struck by his management of the village school, that he offered him the post of Master of the school then being built by the National Society in London; and thither he repaired next year. He became organizer to the Society and school inspector and rector of a London church. After his retirement from more active work, he returned (about 1848) to Grasmere, where he bought a piece of land and built the house, since enlarged, called Huntingstile. He was a friend of Edward Quillinan, Wordsworth's son-in-law, and in 1853 edited his poems with a memoir. He lived till 1864.
Johnson's name occurs in the letters of the De Quincey family. The future Opium-eater had just settled at Dove Cottage, where he was visited by his mother and sisters. The elder lady was a friend of Mrs. Hannah More, and it is a little amusing to find that the aid of that prophetess of the Evangelical Revival was invoked for Grasmere, which was evidently considered, by the strangers who began to invade the district, to be in a benighted state. At one particular evening reception at Barley Wood, Mrs. More's home, an effort was made to engage her interest in what were called "the Christian politicks" of Grasmere; but little was gained beyond a vague promise of Tracts, until the opportune arrival of Mr. Venn from Clapham, who gave hopes of help (for a time at least) from the Sunday School Society in money and books. Mrs. De Quincey, in reporting the matter to her son, looks forward to the time when "experience recommends the Institution to more effectual patronage at home, where at present it is an experiment, and viewed with indifference, if not with suspicion, by people who must very feebly comprehend the value of religious instruction."171 The "good Pastor" was to be cheered, meanwhile, "under his difficult labour" by the magic of Mrs. More's name, and the promise of more substantial aid when the De Quincey ladies should arrive.
But aid was to be found at hand, which probably did not excite suspicion. To Lady Fleming religion became increasingly dear after home troubles left her a lonely woman. Her accounts show that in 1817 14s. 8d. was paid to "Mr. Noble Wilson, Schoolmaster" – possibly for books: and in 1821 a fee of ten guineas was paid him "for Teaching Sunday School." Mr. Wilson, who followed Robert Powley (inscribed as curate in 1814), must have been a favourite. He came over from his cure at Witherslack in 1831 to bury Mr. Samuel Barber, who had made "Gell's Cottage" (now Silverhow) his home.
Evil days had fallen once more on the Grasmere rectorate. The Rev. Thomas Jackson died in 1822. He left two sons, one of whom, educated for the law, succeeded him as agent at Rydal Hall. The other, William, was bred up to the church, and no doubt his father had hopes that he would succeed him as rector.172 But the right of nomination had, unfortunately, passed into the hands of Sir Daniel Fleming. No protest to the bishop, as regards his choice, was of avail, and the nominee, Sir Richard le Fleming, took office.
The rector remained at the rectory after his inhibition in 1834, and curates, named Kingsley, Magrath, and Harris did duty successively for two years each. Then, in 1840, came the Rev. Edward Jefferies, who for so long ministered to the parish as curate and rector. He remained as curate when, in 1857, the opportunity came for Lady Fleming to appoint her distant kinsman, the Rev. Fletcher Fleming, of Rayrigg (already serving the chapel of Rydal), to the rectorate, but when he retired, in 1863, the Rev. Edward was fully installed in his office. Mr. Jefferies died in 1893.173 The men who followed him are still (1912) living; the Revs. H. M. Fletcher, W. Jennings, J. H. Heywood, and M. F. Peterson.
The Chapels
Brief mention of the later history of the chapelries under Grasmere may be made here.
Ambleside, when the crisis of the Reformation came, took matters strenuously in hand, as we have seen. The townsmen provided a regular stipend for a curate who could teach Latin and Greek to their sons, and also kept up the fabric of the chapel, in complete independence of the mother church. Moreover the right of burial and baptism at the chapel was secured in 1676, after some opposition from the patron.174 Nothing, perhaps, was definitely fixed with regard to the nomination of the schoolmaster-curate, when the townsfolk undertook to furnish his salary in 1584. They may have hoped that it would be left to themselves; and certainly they, with Mr. Braithwaite at their head, appointed during the Commonwealth. But the strong Squire of Rydal soon made it plain, that as patron of the mother church, he meant to establish his claim to the patronage of the daughter chapel, which stood on the Grasmere side of Stock Beck.175 It has remained in his family ever since.