There is some confusion over the dating of the entry on f 42v and the previous one. On f 41v there is an inventory dated 24 May 1595. On f 42 the wardens for the year are named and instead of specifying the rendering date they say, 'the day and yere aboue written,' which can only refer to 24 May 1595. The two entries are in quite different hands. The accounts must refer to 1595–6 since the previous ones are clearly for 1594–5 (rendered 17 May 1595) and the next ones are for 1596–7. Either the 24 May 1595 date is wrong or the incoming churchwardens made their inventory when they took office and were careless a year later not noticing that the date they were referring to was not the date they were rendering their account.
John Rowland was a taborer who was active in the Vale of the White Horse for at least a decade. He is paid three times by Wantage (1590-1, 1594–5, and 1595–6) and by Stanford in the Vale in 1605–6.
Before the festive season in 1596 there were two visitations from the dean and there were no Whitsun events for the next seven years.
Record title: St Peter and St Paul's
Churchwardens'
Accounts
Repository:
Bodl.
Shelfmark: MS. Top. Berks c.44
Repository location: Oxford
The rendering dates of the accounts are not tied to feast days. Before 1600 they were rendered mostly in April but in the seventeenth century they were sometimes rendered later in the year. Four churchwardens were elected each year – two from Wantage and one each from the village of Grove and the combined communities of Charlton and (West) Lockinge. The date when the new wardens were elected and the date when they received the accounts for the preceding year from the old wardens is often not the same, so it is not always possible to provide exact accounting years. The dates of the election of the chuchwardens have been noted in endnotes when they are known.
1565–1656; English; paper; i + 154 + i; 296mm x195mm; modern foliation (including ff 32a and 32b, 36a and 36b); bound in boards with modern maroon vinyl covering, gold-stamped title on spine: 'Wantage Churchwardens Accounts | MS | Top. Berks. | C.44.'