The townships joined at many general repairs, as well as at the cleaning of the church, and the expenses of maintaining worship within it. It is interesting to note how extremely small these expenses were. The cleaning, or "dressing," as it was called, of the church, the greasing of the bells, the washing of the linen, the writing of the register, the whipping of dogs out of church, and the "drawing" of the accounts, all appear to have been paid for at the Restoration at the rate of 1s. each per annum. This moderate fee was presently raised to 1s. 6d., 2s. 6d., 3s., or 3s. 6d., but never rose higher for over a hundred years. The "surpcloth and table-cloth" were washed twice in the year 1662 for 1s., but from 1664 onward three times were allowed for 3s., and by 1702 the laundress had secured an additional 6d. for mending. The cleaning of the windows "and sentences" (which were presumably touched up with paint) became a regular charge at 1s., and the burnishing of the church plate was 6d.

But there were other expenses, belonging to the general charge, which, being irregular but frequently recurrent, were troublesome to the wardens and Eighteen, whose business it was to lay such a rate annually on the inhabitants of the parish as should cover the outlay. Such was the repair of the church roof, which was often needed; even the moss (which it was the custom to stuff within the rigging to arrest and absorb the wet which ran down from the ill-fitting slates) required frequent replenishing. Accordingly, after sundry payments made for "mossing church" or "mending slates," the Eighteen entered into a contract, in 1686, with two Grasmere wallers for the upkeep of the whole of the church roof, except the choir, for nine years, for the sum of 7s. 6d. a year. In 1704 one William Grigg obtained the contract for three years at the same rate, and undertook to keep the roof in a sound state "as to Slatt and Moss (excepting upon extraordinary Storms whereby the roof shall suffer much Damage which shall be referred to the Eighteen the Easter following)." Grigg, however, made no bad-weather demands, and it was only in 1714, a year after the contract had been transferred to Edward Hird, that "a violent storme" caused the spending of 18s. beyond the stipulated 7s. 6d. The parson and Eighteen then (1715) transferred the contract to Stephen Haukrigge. The sum was perhaps too small, for in 1718 John Warriner secured 8s. 6d. on the contract. "An extraordinary Storme" in 1719 cost only an extra 3s. The contract, which afterwards rose to 11s. 6d., had ceased by 1732, and odd sums for repair occur from time to time, such as 13s. in 1733 and the same in 1734, with 3s. 3d. for slates and carriage. But little was apparently done, and by 1809 the roof seems to have been in a bad condition, for the ominous item occurs "To cleaning Snow out of Church 2s. 0d." It was radically repaired in 1814, when £37 1s. 11d. was spent on the slates, £11 on timber, which was paid to Lady Fleming, the wood being doubtless felled in Bainriggs, and the extraordinary sum of £1 13s. 6d. on ale to the workmen and "letting" the contract.

The Bells.

Grasmere's pleasant chime of three bells is undoubtedly an old one. The metal of the existing bells that sends its resonance through the vale may be that of the first bells, though robbed of antique inscription or mark by recasting. It is quite possible that at the Restoration there still hung in the tower the Pre-Reformation triad, stamped with an invocation to some saint in Longobardic characters or with a quaint inscription in Black Letter; for the Rev. H. Whitehead discovered in Cumberland many an ancient bell that had escaped confiscation and the melting-pot in the dark days of Henry VIII.'s ruthless robberies and his successor's drastic commission.[144]

They were then, however, in a bad state, and the churchwardens immediately proceeded to have them set in order, as the accounts show.

It is clear from the items that one of the wardens, Michael Knott, rode to Cockermouth in search of a bell-founder, and that one was procured whose name was John Langsha; also that he came over to Grasmere and did the work there.

Now Mr. Whitehead considered that there was no bell-foundry in Cockermouth at this date. When its three bells were recast in 1673-4 the expenses of the bell-founders' journey were paid, and they apparently dug a pit in the churchyard and cast the great bell there.[145] Such a method was resorted to when the remoteness of the church or the badness of the roads made the carriage of the bells a difficulty.[146]

Who, then, was John Langsha? Until more evidence is forthcoming we must suppose him to have been an itinerant founder. He or the firm he worked for may have had head-quarters in some town of Cumberland, and travelled thence to wherever they were called. According to Mr. Whitehead, there was a bell-foundry of some repute at Penrith in the seventeenth century. The account books do not show how this renovation of the Grasmere bells was paid for. The wardens paid John his "earnest," and a small item that remained after he left; otherwise the only sum of consequence that appears is 9s. for two new bell-ropes.

Only casual expenses in connection with the bells are given after this for some time. For instance, in 1669 the item occurs, "in drinke when we did turne midlmost bell," 2s. 6d. But the presentment of 1707 certainly discloses the serious condition of one bell, which was then cracked; and the reliance of the wardens on the "discretion" of their rector was misplaced, as nothing was done. There would seem to have been no good founder at this time in the adjacent counties; for when the bells of Brigham were renewed in 1711, under the incumbency of Roger Fleming (another son of Sir Daniel), a Gloucester firm of founders was actually called to the rescue. The bells, however, went no further than Kendal, where there was, adjacent to the church, a bell-house which could be hired, and there the Gloucester man superintended the casting of them.[147]

At Grasmere, procrastination prevailed. The wardens, in 1723, admitted "The Bells are not firme & in good order, but they are agreed to make them good as soon as possible." In 1727 they again admitted the bells to be out of order, but the ropes (it was declared) were "good & firm." In 1729 the bells still waited to be repaired "upon a convenient opportunity." In 1731 the great plunge into expense was at last taken. "One of our bells is in good order, The Other two are recasting at York & the ropes are making, & everything hastning forwards to have them in good order." Accordingly, the accounts for 1732 show the enormous outlay incurred of £40 3s. 9¹/₂ d., and next year of £49 3s. "Towards Casting the Bells and other Charges;" besides £3 14s. 5d. for "Charges for a Ringing loft."

It is of interest to note that the Grasmere folk, in their bell troubles, returned to their old ecclesiastical centre at York, whence their first bells would come, and where there were good founders. The inscriptions on the two largest bells, in an ornamental border running round the crown, are as follows:—

Each bell carries besides on the waist below the founder's name, the arms and crest of the Flemings of Rydal. Arms: Gules, a fret, argent. Crest: A serpent nowed, holding a garland of olives and vines in his mouth, all proper. Motto: Pax, Copia, Sapientia, on a shield 5¹/₄ by 3³/₄ inches.

Information about our bell-founder may be found in Mr. J. E. Poppleton's Bells in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[148] At the Restoration, and for nearly a century afterwards, a firm of Sellers worked at a foundry in Jubbergate, York. William, the first known of the family, founded a bell which yet hangs in Eskdale Church, Cumberland. Edward, who followed, died in 1724, and was succeeded by his son, the founder of the Grasmere bells. The second Edward used the same signatory mark as his father, and it was the custom of both to give, after the Latin inscription—and provided there was no donor—the names of the rector and churchwardens who were in office at the time of the founding. The Fleming coat-of-arms undoubtedly stands for Dr. George Fleming, then rector.

A catastrophe is disclosed by the presentment of 1798, when the "least bell" was "burst and unringable." It remained in this condition for eleven years, when a private individual came to the rescue. Its inscription runs:—

COPIA PAX SAPIENTIA Re-cast at the expence of Mrs. Dorothy Knott 1809 T MEARS & Son of London

Dorothy Knott was probably daughter of John Knott, of the Howe in Applethwaite, born 1728, and of the family who removed from Grasmere to Rydal.[149] From her benefaction to the school, we learn that she lived in Ambleside, where spinster ladies of means were wont to settle.

The firm of Mears, who cast the bell, worked at the noted old foundry in Whitechapel.[150] If this bell went to London, its journey was a long one. But the turnpike roads were now made, which must have facilitated carriage, and the bell would arrive by what is now the Wishing Gate road. An old man living in Grasmere in 1886 used to tell of his grandmother, who remembered the church bells having been brought by sledge over the top of White Moss, then the only road into the valley.[151] These must have been Seller's bells, for it is just possible for three generations to bridge the 155 years; and this traditional touch helps us to realize the remoteness of the valley in those days, which no wheeled traffic could reach.

When odd work was done in the belfry in 1775, a letter from the bell-founder cost 5d. for porterage.

Casual repairs continued to be done in the place.

John Watson, the smith of Winterseeds, tinkered the bells in 1807; and three years after, when the little bell had arrived from London, the two others were also down, for he was paid £3 14s. 8d. for repairing them, and John Hartley received the considerable sum of £11 14s. 6d. for hanging them. In 1764 bell-wheels and clappers were repaired. The head-stocking of the great bell and two bell-clappers, in 1767, cost £3 7s. 9d. Again, in 1773, 1774, and 1775, head-stocks, clappers, and repairs to ringing-loft cost about £1. The ropes in 1769 cost 7s. 4¹/₂ d.

It is clear that Sabbath bell-ringing was for long one of those boon services which the Grasmere parishioner gave willingly to his church. Ringing on Gunpowder Plot day, and some occasions of national rejoicing and sorrow were paid for; but until 1692 nothing is put down in the accounts for ringing, only a small item for grease for the bells. In that year, however, the Eighteen entered into a contract with the clerk, who was to procure men to ring on Sundays and Holy Days, and to furnish the necessary grease, at the rate of 10s. a year. Next year, on its renewal with Thomas Knott, the sum was dropped to 8s. 6d. "and what more as the Eighteen shall think fit." However, the new clerk, Robert Harrison, in 1695 secured 10s., and at this figure it remained for some fifty years. After a gap of eight years in the accounts, the item reappears in 1751 at £1, and from that time onwards it fluctuates between the sums of 10s., 13s. 4d., £1, even once in 1759 touching £1 10s., as the Eighteen were parsimoniously or liberally inclined. Finally, after a halt at 15s., it rose in 1794 to £1 1s., and from that slowly mounted until by 1814 it had reached £2 15s. 6d., at which it remained for eleven years. From 1826 it rose again, and between 1831 and 1858 it stood at £3 6s. £1 was then added.

The tower was an irregular source of expense, as the following items show:—

Work was done on the steeple and steeple window in 1757; and in 1767 a load of "slape" cost 1s. and lime 2s. 6d. The work of white-washing recurred frequently. Church and steeple were entirely rough-cast in 1773, at the considerable cost of £13,[152] the east window (presumably of the north aisle) being at the same time repaired. The interior was done in 1780 for £1 5s. 6d., and the exterior both of church and steeple in 1791—which with the pointing of the windows came to £3 15s. The townships repaired their individual windows next year, this being repeated more radically in 1801.

The years 1803 and 1804 show that drastic work was done. One item stands "To expenses of Letting white-washing the Church 8s. 0d."—a sum spent mainly of course in copious draughts of ale. Another is "To writing Contracts of Letting 1s. 6d." The amount actually paid for "mending Roof of Church, and Whitewashing Church in and Out, and Pinning up all Broken places in the Ruff Cast & Plaster," was £8 12s.—certainly a modest one. Church and tower were whitewashed in 1815 for £5 18s., and Edward Wilson, carpenter, received 18s. for a "Craddle to White Wash Steeple." The process was repeated in 1832 at a cost of £2 17s. 7¹/₂ d., and again in 1842, when Levi Hodgson was paid £4 15s. 9d. for the work.

The scraping, smoothing, and daubing to which the church was constantly subjected, may account for the mutilated state of such bits of freestone (shallow mouldings, &c.) as are yet visible. In what year Addison's decorations were effaced by a coat of whitewash is not known. It is supposed that the black boards, painted with texts, which yet hang in the church, replaced them, as being more convenient for the whitewashers. If so, the once admired art of the painter was allowed little more than fifty years in which to delight and instruct the people; for one board gives, with the names of the churchwardens, the date 1741. It is singular that in that year the accounts show no unwonted expense.

An item that occurred from time to time for "mending sentences" was changed in 1763 to an annual charge of 1s. for "cleaning church windows and sentences."

Many little odd expenses there were: such as the "hack" or pick, which, from its constant work on the graves, often wanted "laying," or a new shaft, at 3d. A fresh one and a "Cald-rake" were bought in 1715 for 1s. 6d.; while in 1802 "laying Mattock" cost 1s. 9d., and "New Coolrake" 1s. 6d. In 1824 a new spade cost 3s. 9d. Occasionally the church chest wanted "gimmers" or hinges, or new locks, a pair of which cost, in 1752, 1s. 4d. An "iron chest" was bought in 1816 for £7 17s. 6d. The ladder was mended often, and a new one in 1734 cost 9s. The "Corps Cloth," procured before 1798, when it was mended at 4d., required "Dying and Pressing" in 1803 at 3s. 3d.; and it was renewed in 1823 for £2 15s. A new bier cost, in 1812, 11s. 6d. In 1821 a small hearse was built by Edward Wilson, which could travel on the improved, but still narrow roads of the parish. Its use was paid for; but in some years it was not had out at all, so—as its initial cost was £14 9s., and the clerk was paid presently 5s. a year for attending it, and a "Hearse House" was soon found necessary (£11 15s.)—it was not a paying affair.

Edward repaired the "Corpes Stool" for 2s. in 1847.

"A booke of Canons" was bought in 1665 at 3s. 3d.; a register book in 1685 at 11s., and again in 1784 at 8s.; a book of articles in 1691 at 1s.; and in 1692 "a Paper Booke for Registring ye poor" at 2s. 9d., as well as an Act of Parliament "for Setling ye Poor" at 3d.

But besides regular and casual expenses ever increasing, there were special acquisitions too costly to be dealt with in the ordinary yearly accounts. Such was the church plate, and the bells (as we have seen), and, presumably, the clock, which at an unknown date replaced the dial. The present clock was, according to the terrier, presented in 1817, and was supplied by a Mr. Bellman, of Broughton-in-Furness. The bill of 7s. 6d., paid to "Late Mr. Bellman for dressing church clock," was not entered until 1820, though the previous year the regular charge started "To John Watson for attending clock & keeping water from it," which was £1 3s. 6d. for that year and afterwards 2s. 6d. less. The old clock existed till recently.

The church porch, like the tower, was repaired at the general charge. This, in 1761, cost only 4s. 6d. The outer doors of the porch were renewed in 1821. Edward Wilson contracted for the wood-work for £5, while John Watson executed the iron-work for £3 5s. 8d. The priest's door was renewed also, being doubtless paid for by the rector. These doors remain, and the initials of the Winterseeds smith, which he stamped upon his work, may be seen.

At the opening of the nineteenth century the condition of the church floor and of the antique forms had become a matter for serious consideration. Nothing effectual, however, could be done in the way of levelling and paving until the custom of burying within the church had ceased. Even then there was reluctance and difficulty, for the soil was full of bones, and so close to the surface did these lie, that, according to tradition, many were gathered and laid elsewhere, when the alteration finally was made. This was radically undertaken in 1840. The floor, which until then was below the level of the ground outside, was filled in and paved. The old benches were removed, and pews set up in their place. Foreign timber—deal painted—was for the first time used instead of native oak, and the wood-work was given to an Ambleside man. The cost of the renovation, which included repairs to roof and renewal of windows, amounted to £300, and this was raised by subscription—Queen Adelaide (who was visiting the district) contributing £50.

The abolition of the forms could not do other than tend to the breaking up of old customs. The pews were no doubt apportioned to the various households, in Grasmere township at least; while the question of the rightful share possessed by the sister townships in this altered accommodation was left open, as the events of 1856 show (see Church Rates). With household pews, men and women sat together. The western door, hitherto used by the men, and outside which (according to tradition) all secular notices had been given out, was now made up. £1 1s. had been paid, as late as 1816, "To John Watson for Hanging of Men's Door." At the same time the tower-arch was walled up, and the tower used for a vestry—the old wooden one being cleared away. The font was brought into the church. The expenses of the old vestry fire, which had risen to 5s., cease accordingly, and those of lighting the "stove"—placed presumably in the church itself—begin at 12s. a year. Comfort was now thought of. Straw matting had indeed been procured for the communion rail in 1780 (3s. 1d.); it was bought in 1844 for 11s. 4d.

The era of subscriptions raised the rate of church expenses enormously, as has been seen in the 1840 renovation. In 1876 the rough-casting of the church outside was done by subscription, and contracted for at £30; £70 13s. 0¹/₂ d. being altogether expended upon that and new spouts and painting clock, a sum which should be compared with the cost on previous occasions.

The Rev. E. Jefferies, who was the first rector—certainly after the days of Dr. Fleming—to take a zealous interest in the fabric, reconstructed in 1841 the entire east wall at his own expense.[153] He also presented the two carved chairs that stand within the sanctuary. He made with his own hands a communion-table[154] and foot-stools; the latter remain.

Another great renovation was carried out in 1879-80 under Mr. Fletcher. Like the last, its cost was defrayed by offerings (£660), and much of the work done in 1840 was now undone. The deal pews were cleared away and the existing oak benches substituted—Grasmere workmen being employed. The tower arch was again opened out, and the font replaced. A vestry was partitioned off the north-east angle of the church, which was formerly known as the Langdale choir. New pulpit, font-cover, communion-table, and Litany-desk were provided in 1884, and five years later the lectern was given by Miss Agar, of Silverhow, in memory of her aunt. The alms-dishes that hang on the south wall were found a few years ago in the old tithe-barn, which has been turned into a parish-room.

The Churchyard.

From the Restoration there is evidence that the garth outside the church was cared for. It was surrounded, as we have seen, with stout rough-cast walls, which were divided among the townships for upkeep. The space within them was not strictly divided, yet the older graves show that there was an inclination for each township to lay its dead adjacent to its own gateway and stretch of wall. The keeping in order of the grassy space, with its ever-increasing mounds, fell to the general charge. An item stands in 1673, "For dresing weeds out of ye Church yard," 1s. 6d.; and a charge becomes frequent for "repairing church-yard walks, 4s. 6d.," or "cleaning church-yard," 2s. 6d. Three days at this in 1631 cost 6s. 9d.

Grasmere township paid in 1661 "For our P't of the Dyell" 1s. This must have proved an unsatisfactory time-teller, as in 1683 4s. was paid "For a diall & post." A post alone cost, in 1732, 1s. 9d., and again in 1743 a new dial-post was fixed at 3s. 9d.

Trees were planted from time to time. Young ashes were set in 1684 at a cost of 1s. 6d. The yew tree, though no longer needed for the bow, was still grown. A fresh one, planted in 1706, at a cost of 1s., perhaps took the place of the old one blown down in the gale of December 18th, 1687.[155] This, too, which would now have numbered over 200 years, appears to have gone. The existing trees were planted in 1819 through the instrumentality of the poet Wordsworth (from a sum supplied by his friend, Sir George Beaumont), and he continued to care for them.

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.