Berkshire, Reading, 1555–6

St Laurence's Churchwardens' Accounts

BRO: D/P 97/5/2

p 281 (29 September–29 September) (Receipts)

...

Recceived of the gatheryng at hoktide clere

xvij s.

...

p 275 (Debts)

...

Item vppon Iohn Sawnders certeyn Apparelles of mores dauncers belongyng to the Churche estemed to the valure of

xxx s.

Marginalia
- Sawnders
Footnotes
- hoktide: 13–14 April 1556
Glossed Terms
- clere adj and adv clear, without encumbrance, liability, debt, etc; net profit [OEDO clear adj, adv, and n 16.a]; cleare; clearely; clearlie; clearly; cleere; cleerelye; cleerlye; cler; clerely; clerelye; clerly; clerlye
- gatheryng vb n collection, here used to refer specifically to the act of collecting money for the parish; gaderyng gathering; gatheringe; gatherynge;
- mores n morris; morec; morece; moreys; morreyce
- valure n value
Endnote

At some point the book has been rebound. These leaves show signs of cropping at the top edge, and one leaf tattered at the edges from a period when it was apparently loose (now numbered 275–6) has been misbound. It appears as part of the accounts for 1554–5 (2 and 3 Philip and Mary) but from a memo dated 3 and 4 Philip and Mary is clearly the end of the accounts for that year (1555–6). It contains the list of 'debts owed' by former churchwardens that regularly appear at the end of the accounts in this period. Pages 279 and 280 (recto and verso of a single leaf) are blank and the words 'The leaf (pp 275, 276) ought to have been inserted here – being 3 & 4 Phil and Mary' are written in a nineteenth-century hand (Charles Kerry?) on page 279. This is an error since the leaf in question (pp 275–6) is from the end, not the begining of the accounts for 1555–6 that begin on p 281. The leaf should have been inserted between pp 282 and 283. The accounts for 1556–7 begin with a new hand on p 284. I have preserved the MS pagination but placed the entries in the proper years.

The note on p 275 is the last mention of the morris dancing gear in these accounts.
Document Description

Record title: St Laurence's Churchwardens' Accounts
Repository: BRO
Shelfmark: D/P 97/5/2
Repository location: Reading

The churchwardens rendered their accounts on the feast of the Annunciation (25 March) until 1516 when they adopted the Michaelmas–Michaelmas pattern rendering their accounts on 29 September.

1498–1626; English; paper; 250 leaves; 330mm x 225mm; modern pagination; some display capitals; pp 1–2, 490–3 are separated but have been repaired and put separately in a brown paper wrapper; bound in boards covered in parchment, title on front cover: 'The Book of the | Church-Wardens Accounts | of the Parish | of | St Laurence.'

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