Mary L. Armitt Of early furniture there is, of course, no trace within the church. All the accessories of the ritual of the mass, whether in metal, wood, or textile, as well as such as would be required for processions on Rogation Days, were swept away at the Reformation. A reminder of these processions may perhaps be found in the field at the meeting of the roads near the present cemetery, which goes by the name of Great Cross, for here, doubtless, a Station of the Cross stood where the priest and the moving throng would halt and turn. Another field is named Little Cross. bench end Date on Bench End One upright piece of oak, roughly cut with the date 1635, remains to show us the style of the old benches—or forms as they were called—which filled the space above the earthen floor. The bench itself, to judge by the aperture left in this end-piece, would appear to have been no more than six inches wide, and almost as thick; the bench-end, which was further steadied by a slighter bar below, was sunk into the ground. bench end BENCH END. These benches could not have been fixed with any permanence, for the earthen floor was often broken up for the burial of parishioners. The custom of burial inside the church was a favourite one, and was continued down to the nineteenth century. While the choir was reserved for the knight or gentleman (and of the former there were none within the parish) and for the priest, the statesman was buried in the nave or aisle; and only the landless man or cottar would be laid in the garth outside. Frequently in wills the testator expressed his wish to be buried as near as possible to a deceased relative, or the place where he had worshipped. He was in any case buried within the limits of his township's division in the church. In 1563 Mr. John Benson, of Baisbrowne, who was a freeholder and probably a cloth merchant, desired to be buried "in the queare in the parish church of gresmire as neare where my wife lyethe as convenientlye may be." After the Fleming family of Rydal and Coniston became possessed of the advowson, they were many of them—beginning with William the purchaser in 1600—buried within the choir; though no monument or tablet exists prior to the one commemorating Sir Daniel's father, 1653. The tithe-paper shows the rate of payment for interment in the higher or lower choir. Besides fees paid to the officials of the church, the townships, through their individual wardens, took payment for all "ground broken," as the phrase went, within their division, and the receipts from this source appear regularly in their accounts. The usual fee for an adult was 3s. 4d. (a quarter mark), and out of this 2d. had to be paid by the wardens for laying the flag. Less was charged for children, while women who died in childbirth were buried for nothing but the actual cost of the flag-laying. Under the year 1693, when seven parishioners were laid within the church soil, we read "& more for the burying of two Women yt. dyed in Childbed in the Church00li 00s 04d." There were seven burials in 1723, five in 1732, five in 1766, and four in 1773. As late as 1821 Rydal and Loughrigg buried one inhabitant in the church, and Langdale three. It is singular that the Grasmere township discontinued the custom before the two others, for no interment took place in her division after 1797. The following extracts from the wardens' accounts show how frequently the floor of the church was disturbed and levelled:— It. for lying Flags of 2 graves in our third	00	00	04
1689	For lying the Grave Flags and mending Forms	00	00	06
1690	All three townships pay for "lying Flags and mending Fourmes."
1713	For Lying ye Flaggs upon Several Graves wh. had fallen in	00	01	00
1728	For mending the Flaggs and Fourms	00	02	02
1729	For flagging and Leavelling ye Church floor	00	00	10
1763	Grasmere mende forms and levell flags, 1s. 6d.; Loughrigg and beneath Moss the same, 1s. 8d.
1772	New flags bought, and extensive work done upon the floor, at a total cost of £9 8s. 13/4 d.: the flagging of the "low end" not being completed till next year.
1774	For "mending Furmes in Church & a Soal-tree" 12s. 4d. is paid.
1782	Grasmere purchases an oak tree for seats in her third, 13s. 4d., carpenter 13s. 4d.; with a final 11s. 6d. next year for repair of the old ones.
1783	Loughrigg and beneath Moss proceeds to the same; and two new "Sole-trees" with the railing and repairing of four forms cost £1 9s. 0d., besides 1s. 8d. spent in ale at the public auction of the contract, and 2d. for advertisement of same.
1811	For Levelling Church & mending Windows		1	6
1819	To clearing Church of Stones and Rubbish		1	6
1828	Outlay unusual. Grasmere shows "To Flags & Flagging in the Church" 19s. 4d. "To repairing seates" 2s. 0d. Loughrigg and beneath Moss "To Ambleside Church-warden paid for New Seats" £2 1s. 6d. Langdale "To Repairing Flags in Church" £1 6s. 6d.; Seats and Wood 19s. 9d.
1833	Grasmere repairs "fermes" in Church, 6d.

The soil beneath the church is thus literally sown with bones, and the wonder is that room could be found for so many. But in this connection it must be remembered that the practice of burying without coffins was the usual one until a comparatively recent period.

No wonder that plague broke out again and again, that the fragrant rush was needed for other purpose than warmth, and that fires within the church could not have been tolerated.

The custom concerning these forms or ferms, as locally pronounced, was rigid. Every man had a right, as townsman or member of a vill, to a recognized seat within the church, which was obtained through the officials of his township. This seat was, of course, within the division of his township. The women sat apart from the men, and even the maids from the old wives. So tenaciously was the hereditary seat clung to, that reference to it may occasionally be met with in a will.[128]

Some serious alteration in the allotment of seats was probably made in 1676, judging from these entries in the wardens' accounts.

The Squire of Rydal, as soon as the Restoration permitted it, set to work to furnish that part of the church in which he worshipped suitably to the honour and dignity of his family. The family seats had before his time long stood vacant, even if they had been ever regularly used. His predecessor, John, as an avowed Roman Catholic, had preferred to pay heavy fines rather than obey the law in the matter of attendance at the Communion of the parish church; and there is little doubt that the mass was celebrated in private for him at Rydal Hall. John's mother, Dame Agnes, may have attended during her widowhood; but her husband William, the purchaser of the tithes and patronage, must—always supposing him to be a good Protestant—have attended more frequently at Coniston.

But Squire Daniel was a pillar of the church as well as of the State in his neighbourhood, and his accommodation within the building was framed in view of the fact. The following entry occurs in his account book, under July 13th, 1663. The monument referred to is doubtless the brass tablet we now see in the chancel, and it appears to have waited for its fixing for ten years after its purchase in London:—

And two days later the bill for the seat was paid. It is not very intelligible, but reads thus:—

No doubt this is the fine old pew which still stands between the pulpit and the priest's door of the chancel. In it, for nearly forty years, the squire worshipped, with his growing family about him. The regularity of his attendance is shown by his account book, where every collection is entered; and in spite of his frequent ridings on public and private business, he never but once (till the close of the book in 1688) missed the four yearly communions in his parish church. On that occasion, when Easter Day, 1682, was spent at Hutton, he attended a service at Grasmere on the previous Good Friday (held possibly by his order), at which his Easter offering was given.

Given this day (being Good-Fryday) at ye Offertory in Gresmere Church for myselfe 5s., for Will, Alice, Dan, Barbara & Mary 5s.

The sums given were invariable: 5s. for himself, 2s. 6d. for his wife (while she lived), and 1s. for each child.[129]

It was in 1675 that the sad necessity rose of putting up a monument to his excellent wife. The brass was apparently cut in London, for he sent to his Uncle Newman there:—

3li 10s. 0d. towards ye paying for my late dear wifes Epitaphs engraving in brass.

Though 2s. 6d. more was paid afterwards.

Unto Rich. Washington of Kendall for amending of my late Dear Wifes Epitaph in brass.

Washington, who was entered in 1642 among the "Armerers Fremen and Hardwaremen" of Kendal, and was mayor of the city in 1685,[130] was wholly entrusted with the next family brass; for we find that under date February 10th, 1682, he was paid "for ye Brass & the cutting of ye Epitaph for my Mother and Uncle Jo. Kirkby, £4 10s 0d which my brothers Roger & William are to pay me again." But this was for Coniston Church.

It was after the squire's second son, Henry, had become Rector of Grasmere, and by his encouragement, that the church was freshly beautified and "adorned." The entry of 1s. paid in 1662 to James Harrison for "makeing ye sentences w'in ye church" shows that something was at once attempted; for it was as imperative that a church should be "sentenced" as that the Royal Arms should be put up, or the Commandments or Lord's Prayer. All these were devices (expressly enjoined by the sovereign) for covering up the nakedness of the churches after they had been stripped by the Reformers of all objects of beauty and reverence, in roods, images of saints, tapestries, &c., &c.; for Elizabeth and many of her subjects had been horrified at the effect of changes that appeared to rob the churches of their sacred character.[131] Frescoes on plaster had, of course, been used from early times as a means of teaching Holy Writ and Legend to the unlettered folk, and fragments of such pictures are still to be seen in Carlisle Cathedral. But at the Reformation, when plaster and paint were again resorted to, only the written word was permitted (with the exception of the Lion and Unicorn); and the wall-spaces of the churches became covered with texts and catechisms,[132] which were surrounded or finished by "decent flourishes."[133]

In its turn the reformed style has disappeared, even in churches peculiarly suited to it, like those of the Lake District, where the rough unworkable slate is bound to be covered by a coat of plaster. During recent restorations, however, at both Windermere and Hawkshead the sentences were found under coats of whitewash, and they were in a truly conservative spirit painted in again. Grasmere, weary of "mending" the sentences and whitening round them, finally wiped them out in the last century, and substituted the ugly black boards painted with texts, which still hang between the archways. Fragments of the old sentences were descried when the walls were recently scraped and coloured.

It was in 1687 that a complete scheme of decoration was carried out within the church, and one James Addison, a favourite decorator in the district, was engaged for the purpose. The contract made with him is preserved in the churchwardens' book:—

Mr. Adison is to playster what is needfull & whiten all the Quire & Church except that within the insyde of the Arche of the steeple to paint the 10 Coman's on the one syde of the Quire window & the beliefe & Lordes prayer on the other with 8 sentences & florishes in the Quire & 26 sentences in the Church with decent Florishes & the Kinges Armes well drawn & adorned.

Later on comes the copy of an agreement in later handwriting:—

March the 29th An'o Dom'i 1687.

Mem'd. It was then agreed on by and between James Addison of Hornby in the County of Lancaster Painter on the one part and Mr. Henry Fleming of Grasmer the churchwardens and other Parishioners of the Parish aforesaid: That the said James Addison shall and will on this side the first day of August next after the date hereof sufficiently plaster wash with Lime and whiten all ye church of Grasmer aforesaid (except ye inside of the steeple) and well and decently to paint ye Tenne Commandm'ts, Lord's prayer and thirty Sentences at such places as are already agreed on together with the Kings Arms in proper colours and also to colour the pulpit a good green colour and also to flourish the Pillars and over all the Arches and doors well and sufficiently, the said Parson and Parishioners finding lime and hair onely. In consideration whereof the sd. Parson and Parishioners doe promise to pay him nine pounds Ten shillings when or so soon as the work shall be done.

And be it likewise remembered the s'd Parson and Parishioners gave him 05s in earnest and that the Parson is to pay the fifth part of the nine pounds Ten shillings, the parishioners being at the whole charge of the lime and Hair.

The names of the 18 Questmen

Church Wardens

Memorand. That to promote ye Painting of ye ch'h ye Parson did offer to pay according to ye proportion ye Quire did bear to ye whole ch'h to ye plastering washing w'h lime and painting of ye ten Command'ts Creed L'ds prayer and 30 sentences, tho' y'er had but been 4 or 5 Sentences in ye Quire before and now ye ten Comma'd'ts and Creed were to be painted on each side of the quire windows The Charge of all which was commuted at £8 0 0 and ye K'gs Arms and ye painting of ye pulpit at ye remainder. So that the quire appearing by measure to be a 5 part ye Parson was to pay £1 12s. 0d. but to be quit of the trouble of providing his proportion of lime and hair he did prefer to pay ye 5 part of the whole £9 10s. 0d. ye parish finding all lime and hair which was agreed to. Besides ye £9 10s. 0d. agreed to be paid there was 5s. 0d. given to the painter in earnest to have the work done well.

The contract included the painting of the pulpit of a cheerful green, as we read. It was a plain structure of wood, and the "Quission" bought for it in 1661, as well as the cloth then procured for the Communion Table, were doubtless worn out; for we learn from the church-wardens' Presentment for 1707 that these and some other points about the church had been found wanting by the higher church authorities. The paper runs:—

The defects found in our church for and at ye late Visitation, viz. The Floor of the Church-porch & Isles uneven Flagg'd; The South wall of the Inside fro' ye Bellfry unto ye East, dirty; A decent Reading-pew, Com'unio'-Table-cloth of Linen, & pulpet Cushio' wanting; A Table of degrees wanting, & a crackt Bell.

All these faults except two (viz. The Reading-pew & crackt Bell) are amended. The porch & Isles even Flagg'd. The Wall made white & clean, A decent Table-cloth, Pulpet-Cushion, & Table of degrees, procured.

A new Reading-pew is in making at present, & will shortly be perfected. & as for the Bell it was referr'd to Dr. Fleming's discerec'on to be amended & made tuneable; & he resolves in convenient time to call together & consult w'th the chief of his Parishion'rs to do it, & in w't time and manner, to the best Advantage."

Accordingly we find entries of the expense incurred by a few of these requirements:—

Nothing is heard, however, of a new reading-pew, and in 1710 the old one was mended at a cost of 1s. 8d. The bells, as we shall see, had to wait.

Not until a hundred years later was a vestry thought of. In 1810 Thomas Ellis was paid 7s. for planning it, and George Dixon £12 2s. 1d. for its erection. It is said to have been made of wood, and simply partitioned off the north-west angle of the church. It was fitted with a "grate," that cost with carriage 19s.; and this being set on the side nearest to the pews, diffused what must have been but a gentle warmth through the edifice. It is the first heating apparatus that we hear of, and the expenses for charcoal and wood, with 3s. paid annually to the clerk for setting on the fire, were small. Tradition says that while George Walker lighted the vestry fire he rang the eight o'clock bell—a call to matins which had survived the Reformation, and the service then abolished.[135]

Time brought other improvements. The harmony of a church choir entailed its special expenses. In 1812 the ladies of Rydal Hall, widow and heiress of Sir Michael Fleming, provided "Psalmody" for Grasmere church at a cost of £2 2s., and for Langdale at £1 1s. Probably the price of this early tune-book was one guinea. A charge of 7s. 6d. appears in 1829 for a new pitch-pipe. A "singing school" was started, causing considerable expense in candles (12s. in 1844). Edward Wilson fitted the "singing pews" with drawers in 1851. There was apparently no instrumental music in the Grasmere choir, though there may have been in Langdale chapel to judge from an item of expense for violin strings.

Many odd expenses are noted in the accounts, as well as the replenishing of worn books and garments. A large Common Prayer Book cost in 1692 13s. 6d., and another in 1733 14s. Prayer Books began, too, to be supplied in the body of the church; the townships buying a few at a time, at a price varying from 6d. to 1s. In 1808 a new Bible cost £2 2s., while the price of a large Prayer Book in 1823 was £2 5s., and another in 1835 £1 12s.

The "surp-cloth," "surpless," or "surplice" was renewed at various prices. After the marvellously cheap one of 1661 (5s.; surely the product of the valley, in flax-growing, spinning, and weaving), others were got in 1697 for £1 12s., in 1730 for £1 11s. 4d., in 1734 for £2 7s. In 1755 a new one is set down at the modest sum of 1s. 5³/₄ d., which, if multiplied by three, is barely 4s. 6d.; and in 1775 one (or perhaps the same) was altered for 1s. An amusing item appears in the receipt columns of the three townships in 1795, when they sold the old surplice and divided the amount. "By ¹/₃ of the Old Surplice 2s. 7¹/₂ d."

"Communion Linnen" cost in 1823 14s. 6d. In 1820 a surplice cost £2 18s. 4d., and in 1830 £1 17s. 9d.