f [11v] (16 May–12 May)
...
1573
| Memorandum that Robart Noice oweth for a cock last yeare and this yeare | v <.> |
<..>m he oweth for ye Churchall – viij <.> to be payed at Mychlmas next
...
The manuscript edges are badly faded. This note of Noyse's debt is the only indication that there was an ale in this year. Noyse (or Noice) was a churchwarden this year and presumably had not paid into the church box all or part of the monies gained through the church ale. (Such a situation occurs relatively often in the accounts of other parishes, making it more likely that 'Churchall' means an ale, rather than some amount he would owe for the church hall.)
Record title: St Michael's
Churchwardens'
Accounts
Repository:
HRO
Shelfmark: 59M78A/PW1
Repository location: Winchester
Weyhill is located two and a half miles west of Andover, close to the Wiltshire border. The village's one claim to fame is the Weyhill fair, held on a hill west of the village for six days in late September and early October. The fair is mentioned in Piers Plowman and was Hardy's model for the fair where the mayor of Casterbridge sold his wife (VCH: Hampshire, vol 4, pp 394–9, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp394-399, accessed 28 October 2018).
Most years give only summary accounts and the names of the
churchwardens, with
the amount left in the church box and any debts carried over. The
accounts that contain more detail rarely list expenses but only income
from ales, sales of sheep, and debts owed to the parish. No regular
accounting year was observed, with accounts being rendered any time
between early April and mid-May. Notes regarding such debts are often
made several folios later, interrupting the chronological run of summary
accounts. An inventory of church goods in 1540 is the earliest record
but occurs on f [10].
1540–1706; English with a few words in Latin; paper; iv (1 modern fly-leaf and 3 parchment leaves) + 70 + ii (1 parchment leaf, 1 modern fly-leaf); 222mm x 148mm; unnumbered; generally good condition, with only a bit of fraying at the edges, but many faded patches; original parchment binding (a badly faded recycled manuscript: notes on inside front cover describe it as a pie recipe from the late 15th c.), rebound in 1917 in grey cardboard with cream reinforcements of corners and binding, title typed on front cover: 'WEYHILL | CHURCHWARDEN'S ACCOUNTS | 1543–1699.'