p 139 (29 March 1612/13–17 April 1614)
...
| So that there remained of the Churches stock which he receiued the last yeare & at whitsunday the summe of | xx s. j d. |
| At this account Iohn whyte made his accounte & haueinge layde out nothinge in the churches behalf there remained the whole summe which he receuied at whitsunday which was | iij li. viij d. x d. ob. |
...
The replacement of the Whitsun ale as the main source of income for the parish appears to have come at this time. A memorandum written in between the accounts rendered 1613 and 1614 (and written at the time of one of them, probably the former) states that all who were at the accounting, including the vicar, the churchwardens, and several others, agreed that every communicant should pay a penny a piece each Easter towards the bread and wine used during the whole year (p 139). Then, on 29 October 1615, another memorandum records that the vicar and churchwardens called a meeting of the entire congregation with the purpose of instituting a church rate assessed on land, at a halfpenny an acre for arable and pasture land (pp 140–1). With the exception of the single entry in 1625–6, the records never again mention gains at Whitsun.
Record title: St James'
Churchwardens'
Accounts
Repository:
HRO
Shelfmark: 63M70/PW1
Repository location: Winchester
Bramley is a village situated about
five miles north of Basingstoke, close to the Berkshire border. The accounting year used
by Bramley's churchwardens was from
Palm Sunday to Palm Sunday. Pagination of the accounts was done in 1873
by the Rev. C. Eddy, vicar of Bramley, who attached some loose papers
and explanatory notes at appropriate points in the book.
1523–1769; English and Latin; paper; 303 leaves; 327mm x 220mm; 19th-c. ink pagination; good condition, except pages frayed at edges, a few torn; original cover of parchment, badly damaged, made of several pieces stitched together, including fragments of a 15th-c. word book in Latin and English and a 15th-c. account roll, no title, kept in a case of cream-coloured vellum-covered boards made to enclose the book in 1909 by the archdeacon of Winchester, title stamped in gold on red- leather rectangle on front of case: 'BRAMLEY / CHURCHWARDEN'S ACCOUNTS / 1523–1769.'