inscription, [Mr. Thomas Nelson, vicar. John Bowness, John
Winter, 1711]. Two biers. One herse-cloth. Two surplices.
Three parchment register books; one, beginning in 1596, and
ending in 1646, imperfect; the second, beginning in 1654, and
ending 1743, complete; the third beginning 1743, and continued
to the present time. The seats in the church and chancel (ex- [ 405
cept the vicar's pew) have been repaired for time immemorial at
the public expence of the parish. There are also several new
common seats erected this year by the churchwardens, at the low
end of the church adjoining to the belfry.
There is also

belonging to the said parish, the rectory thereof, together with the
tithes of corn, hay, calves, milk, and other dues, which did
formerly belong to the priory of Conieshead in Lancashire,
and after the dissolution of monasteries were purchased by the
inhabitants.
Also the advowson of the vicarage, which did
belong to the said priory, and was likewise purchased with the
rectory.
Also one box with three locks, in the keeping of
John Unthank of Orton; in which are the purchase deeds of the
rectory and advowson; a copy of the endowment of the vicarage
in 1263; the purchase deeds of the manors of Orton and Raisbeck
by the inhabitants; bounder rolls, and other public writings.——
There is also belonging to the said parish, one inclosure in the
lordship of Raisbeck, called Barrough Close, containing by estim-
ation fifteen acres, of the yearly rent of six pounds: adjoining to
the river Lune on the south, to the ground of Thomas Fothergill
on the west, to the common on the north, and to the grounds of
Leonard Scaife on the west: The fence on the south made by the
parish; on the west by the parish and Thomas Fothergill, each a
part; on the north, by the parish; and on the east by the parish
and Leonard Scaife, each a part.
Also the sum of twenty
pounds, in the hands of Thomas Winter, of Wood-end, given by
John Dalston, esq. of Acornbank. Also the sum of three pounds
ancient poor stock, in the hands of the administrators of the late
George Overend of Raisbeck. Also the sum of ten pounds, now in
the hands of the vicar, given by Daniel Wilson, esq. of Dalham
Tower. Also the sum of five pounds, in the hands of Mr.
Edward Branthwaite of Carlingill, given by him towards a fund
for the poor stock. Also the sum of five pounds, in the hands of
Thomas Hodgson of Tebaygill Edge, given by Mr. Robert
Harrison of Low Scailes, deceased, for the same purpose. The
interest of which money, and the rent of which inclosure, are
applied by the churchwardens and overseers of the poor, by the
direction of the twelve, to the relief of the poor, and defraying
other parish charges. Which said twelve men are chosen yearly
in Easter week, at a vestry meeting, by a majority of votes, to be
sidesmen, and a select vestry for the year ensuing.

There are also three schools in the said parish. One at

Orton, lately built by the inhabitants, and endowed by Agnes Holme of Orton, widow, with a parcel of land lying in Orton field, containing by estimation one acre, of the present yearly rent of ten shillings; adjoining to the grounds of Christopher Parker on the south, west, and east, and to a land belonging to the vicarage of Burgh on the north: Endowed also by Robert Wilson of Long Sleddale, yeoman, with the sum of five pounds, now in the hands of Thomas Green of Langdale. Another school at Tebay, founded by Robert Adamson of Blacket-Bottom, in Grayrigg, gentleman, in the year 1672, and endowed by him with the estates called Ormondie Biggin and Blacket-Bottom, in Grayrigg, now of the yearly rent of sixteen pounds.➖➖ Another school at Greenholme, founded by George Gibson of Greenholme, gentleman, in the year 1733, and endowed by him with four hundred pounds original bank stock; of the yearly produce of about twenty-two pounds.

In testimony of the truth of the before-mentioned particulars, and of every of them; we, the minister, churchwardens, and principal inhabitants, have set our hands the tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine.

Joseph Powley
John Bowness
Edmund Dent
Stephen Matthews
George Wilson

Will. Rowlandson

John Unthank

John Nelson

John Bowness

Robert Bowness
John Wilson

Jonathan Whitehead

Edward Branthwaite

Thomas Brown

John Wilson

William Atkinson

John Farrer

Ri. Burn, vicar.

Churchwardens.

Eleven of the Twelve,
one of them being
dead.

Note. In 2 Dugd. Monast. 424. there is a copy of a charter of king Edward the second, confirming (amongst others) a grant which had been made to God and saint Mary and the house of Conyngesheved and the confreres there, by Gamellus de Penigton, of the churches of Penigton and Molcastre, with their chapels and other appurtenances, and of the church of Wytebec, and of the

church of Skeroverton, so denominated from the Islandic skier, a scar, or rock, (which word is still in use in the county of Lancaster); the town of Orton being situate under the mountain which still beareth the name of Orton-Scar.

Note. Conynges-heved is the same as the king's head; from the Saxon cyning, or conyng, which signifieth king; and heafod, head, [Terriers alone without any evidence are not sufficient to prove a modus. Lake v. Skinner, 1 Jac. & Walk. R. 9.]

OBI

Lithes.

BLATIONS, offerings, prestations, pensions, and other church dues not properly tithes, are treated of under their respective titles.

I. Origin of tithes in England. (Page 407.)

II. Of the several kinds of tithes, with their nature
and properties. (Page 408.)

III. Of what things tithes shall be paid; and therein
of exemptions and discharges from tithes.
(Page 411.)

IV. Of moduses, or exemptions from payment of
tithes in kind; and therein of custom and
prescription. (Page 431.)

V. Of the several particulars tithable. (Page 461.)
VI. Of [tithing in general: and of] the setting out,
and the manner of taking and carrying away
of tithes, (Page 521.)

VII. Tithes how to be recovered. (Page 526.)
VIII. Tithes in London. (Page 551.)

I. Origin of tithes in England.

What was paid to the church for several of the first ages after Christ, was all brought to them by way of offerings; and these were made either at the altar, or at the collections, or else occasionally. Prideaux on Tithes, 139.

Afterwards, about the year 794, Offa king of Mercia (the most potent of all the Saxon kings of his time in this island) made a [ 408 ] law, whereby he gave unto the church the tithes of all his kingdom;

What are tithes; and livision

hereof into

rædial, nixt, and Dersonal.

which, the historians tell us, was done to expiate for the death of Ethelbert king of the East Angles, whom in the year preceding he had caused basely to be murdered. Prideaux on Tithes, 165.

But that tithes were before paid in England by way of offerings, according to the ancient usage and decrees of the church, appears from the canons of Egbert archbishop of York about the year 750; and from an epistle of Boniface archbishop of Mentz, which he wrote to Cuthbert archbishop of Canterbury about the same time; and from the seventeenth canon of the general council held for the whole kingdom at Chalchuth, in the year 787. But this law of Offa was that which first gave the church a civil right in them in this land by way of property and inheritance, and enabled the clergy to gather and recover them as their legal due, by the coercion of the civil power. Id. 167.

Yet this establishment of Offa reached no further than to the kingdom of Mercia, over which Offa reigned; until Ethelwulph, about sixty years after, enlarged it for the whole realm of England. Id.

II. Of the several kinds of tithes, with their nature and properties.

1. [Tithes are the tenth part of the produce arising from land, from the stock upon land, and from the personal industry of the inhabitants; and] with regard to the several kinds or natures, are divided into prædial, mixt, and personal:

Prædial tithes are such as arise merely and immediately from the ground [either with or without the intervention of human industry]; as grain of all sorts, hay, [hemp, flax,] wood, fruits, herbs: for a piece of land or ground being called in Latin prædium (whether it be arable, meadow, or pasture), the fruit or produce thereof is called prædial, and consequently the tithe payable for such annual produce is called a prædial tithe. Wats. c. 49. 2 Inst. 649. (5)

Mixt tithes are those which arise not immediately from the ground, but [which are produced mediately through the increase or other produce of such animals as receive their nutriment from the earth and its fruits], as colts, calves, lambs, chickens [pigs, wool], milk, cheese, eggs. Wats. c.49. [3 Salk. 347.]

Personal tithes are such profits as do arise by the honest labour and industry of man, employing himself in some personal work, artifice, or negociation; being the tenth part of the clear gain, after charges deducted, [as of mills and fish]. Wats. c. 49. (6)

(5) See cases, Mirehouse on Tithes, 1.

(6) 2 Inst. 621. 2 P. Wms. 462. Dandridge v. Johnson, Cro. Jac. 523. 1 Roll. Ab. 656.

2. Tithes, with regard to value, are divided into great and small.

Great tithes; as corn, [peas, and beans,] hay, and wood. (7) Degge, part 2. c. 1.

Small tithes; as the prædial tithes of other kinds, together with those which are called mixt, and personal. Gibs. 663. [2 Wood's Inst. L. E. 162. 2 Woodd. V. L. 229.]

But it is said, that this division may be altered; First, By custom; which will make wood a small tithe, under the general words minuta decima, in the endowment of the vicar. (7) Secondly, By quantity; which will turn a small tithe into great, if the

(7) Sims v. Bennett, Gwm. 874. See Tildell v. Walker, 1 Mod. 50. 3 Salk. 378. In which cases wood is considered as small tithe; but the endowment being lost, was held payable by custom to the rector.

The endowments of vicarages in consequence of the statutes 15 R. 2. c. 6. and 4 H. 4. c. 12. (see Appropriation, II.), have usually been by a portion of the glebe or land belonging to the parsonage, and a particular share of the tithes which the appropriators found it most troublesome to collect, and which are therefore generally called priory or small tithes ; the greater or prædial tithes being still reserved to their own use. But one and the same rule was not observed in the endowment of all vicarages. As all the tithes or dues of the church of common right belonged to the rector or to the appropriator, the vicar is only entitled to that portion which is expressed in his endowment, or which his predecessors have immemorially enjoyed by prescription, which is equivalent to a grant or endowment. And where there is an endowment, he may in general recover all that is contained in it; and may still retain what he and his predecessors have enjoyed by prescription, though not expressed in it: for such a prescription amounts to evidence of another consistent endowment. But Mr. Christian says, he has heard Ch. Eldon declare, that if a vicar enjoys property not mentioned in an endowment, and has never within time of memory possessed what is expressly contained in it, a jury might presume that he had the former in lieu of the latter. Disclaimer by rector of all small tithes, except certain articles, vests all the other, not excepted small tithes, in the vicar, and this though his title to some of the latter as agistment may be doubtful: for when the title is general, with only certain express exceptions beyond which the rector is not proved to be entitled, the evidence of perception must be considered as applying to all, and the vicar be presumed to have been endowed of all the other small tithes. Leathes v. Newitt, 4 Pri. R. 374. Thus a vicar established his right to tithe of hay by proof of perception as far back as living memory, in absence of all evidence of perception by the rector, on the presumption of a subsequent endowment to that in which it was expressly stated to belong to the rector. On the other hand, where the vicar relied on an endowment in 1257 of the tithe of hay, but proved no perception thereof, which had always been had by the impropriator, the court presumed a grant of that tithe into lay hands before the restraining

Division of

tithes into

small tithes.

great and