THE
OLD VICARAGE
Bernard O'Connor
2000
Where Everton’s first priest lived is not known. It is possible
there was a cottage near the church somewhere. Certainly there was a church
here in Saxon times. The Domesday Book recorded one with its own priest in
1086. By 1230 the church, the vicarage and land in the parish had become the
property of St Neots Priory. It was granted to the abbot by Gilbert, son of
Gilbert, earl of Pembroke. The new Norman priests were appointed by the abbot
until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The vicarage was referred to in a
document of 1237. (Rot. Rob. Grossteste (Cant.
& York), 256) In 1291 the church and its land was valued at £11 6s. 8d. (Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 36) Over
the centuries the house was probably renovated as the wattle and daub, timber
and thatch deteriorated.
During the Reformation Henry
VIII ordered the closure of St. Neots Priory. The vicarage was valued in 1535
at £6 16s. 0d. (Valor Eccles. (Rec.
Com.) iv, 265) A special charter was drawn up regarding St. Mary's. A copy can
be seen on the north wall of the church and the following is a translation by
Suzanne Johnston, the archivist of Clare College: -
Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of God of
England, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith and Supreme Head on
earth of the Church of England and Ireland, (to all of whom these present
letters ) shall come, Greeting!
Know that we for the sum of one hundred and
forty four pounds of the legal money of England (paid to) our Crown Court of
Augmentations.. to our use from the Master and Scholars of the hall or College
commonly (known as Clare hall in the University ) of Cambridge in the County of
Cambridge
(Have given and granted ) by these … all
our rectory and church of Everton also known as Everesden & Tetworth, in
our counties of Huntingdon and Cambridge (sic) … formerly belonging to the
Priory (of Saint Neots) in the County of Huntingdon since dissolved … and the
land, rents and profits … And all houses, buildings … glebe lands … in Everton
… and Tetworth aforesaid … And which … were formerly in the tenure or
occupation of Robert Hutley … Also the advowson and free presentation to the
vicarage of the church of Everton … and Tetworth …which formerly belonged to
the Priory…
To have and to hold aforesaid Rectory and
church of Everton … aforesaid and the advowson of the Vicarage … and all the
singular and the other … possessions to the aforesaid Master and Scholars … and
their successors for ever, to be held in chief from us, our heirs and
successors … paying … 16 shillings sterling … if demanded…
In testimony of which things I have ordered
these letters to be made patent.
Sworn by me myself at (West)minster the 23rd
day of June in the 36th year of our reign …
(Translation by
Johnston, S. C., Clare College Archives 24 June 1995 ref: BF05:1/01)
According to
VCH. ‘Hunts’ it was in 1544 and the vicar was Robert Hatley. (L. And P. Hen. VIII, xix (i), g. 812
(81); Pat. R. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 24) Whether he espoused the Protestant religion
or was thrown out is not known. However, his name does not appear on the
list of incumbents in the church. In 1507 Nicholas Grene was the vicar,
followed as some unspecified date by Thomas Colson. In 1538 Nicholas Smith took
over and stayed until 1584. The vicarage was probably a building on the same
site as the old vicarage near the church. Clare College has provided the living
ever since. According to Rev. F.C. Hamlyn, the vicar of St Mary’s from 1943 to
1949,
“Such livings provided suitable spheres for
Fellows of the College who were ordained priests. While they remained Fellows
they were not permitted to marry, so when a Fellow wanted to take a wife he
looked to the College to provide him with a vicarage and a parish.”
(Hamlyn, F.C.
(194-), ‘A Country Vicar and his Daughter’, Beds. Mag. Book 5, p. 121)
One such
case was in 1635 when Rev. Thomas Fowl wanted to marry. The vicarage was
reported as in a shocking state of dilapidation so, with the aid of Clare
College, he set about constructing a new building. A ‘bill of quantities’, the then term for the price of building materials and cost of
construction showed them to be £119 6s.5d. Bricks in the present cellar date
from this period. It had a hall, parlour, study, cellar, wash house, vault and
two garret bedrooms. The grounds covered three acres with a half-acre garden
including barns, stables and a woodhouse. The glebe was three half-acre fields.
In one of his letters to Clare College who now appointed Everton’s vicars, Rev.
Fowl wrote “Pardon my blots syr, I am an
ill writer by candle light”. (HCRO. Archdeaconry of Hunts. Terrier 1658;
2150/5/6a; Communication with Mr and Mrs Lee, Everton) Who he married was not
recorded but his daughter, Judith, was born in the new house.
“In the days when Judith was growing up the
vicarage and village were not more isolated than any other place in the
seventeenth century. The market town of Potton could easily be reached on foot,
to visit Bedford or Cambridge the vicar had his horse and Judith was able to
ride. There was stabling at the vicarage for three or four horses. Journeys to
Huntingdon and St Neots were inevitable in connection with the Archdeacon’s
visitations. In the churchwarden’s accounts the charge for dinner for the vicar
and churchwardens and horse stabling are recorded year by year. Life moved at a
leisurely pace and a whole day was devoted to duties which could now be
accomplished by a car in a few hours. For one who knew the district short cuts
could be taken along bridle paths which reduced the mileage and gave shelter
alongside the hedges in storms of wind and rain.
Judith’s father was not a stiff churchman,
so the Civil War could have made little difference to her. Thomas Fowl fell in
with the changing times. As a fellow of Clare College he was a man of classical
culture, with sufficient resources in his library to occupy his mind. He was on
terms of friendship with his immediate neighbour, Onslow Winche, at Everton
House...
The religious upbringing of Judith Fowl can
only be surmised from a few indirect references to the Church services during
those unsettled times. Her father remained at Everton all through the Civil War
and Commonwealth, and in 1663 died at the vicarage. He was not involved in any
of the harsh ejections so numerous in the county of Huntingdon under the earl
of Manchester and so well known in Bedfordshire. Thomas Fowl had settled what
line he would take if the clash came. He was among those who felt that it was
better for the Church as a whole and for the village in particular for the
vicar to remain and concede a few points rather than allow a dogmatic
Presbyterian or enthusiastic independent to come in and upset the parishioners.
When squire and parson agreed together like Thomas Fowl and Onslow Winch, then harmonious
relations continued throughout the period. In Everton Church register Thomas
Fowl wrote a description of his friend that would not have pleased a
Presbyterian.
1657 Onslow Winch Esq. – a zealous
professor of the true protestant religion as established by law in the Church
of England and a true lover and countenancer of orthodox ministers.
According to the directions given by the
Westminster Assembly of Divines the Church service on Sunday was to be known as
‘Exercises’. The term is innocuous. For a village congregation the vicar could
use the term, explaining that it was a new name for the morning service, and
leave it at that. With careful study it was possible to satisfy the
requirements of the Directory of Worship and at the same time use a larger part
of the Prayer Book service. So long as the term ‘Exercises’ was used, and the
vicar refrained from the use of the new system and its promoters, a modified
Prayer Book could be used without giving offence. Thomas Fowl made a note in
Everton Church register that certain banns of marriage were called during ‘the
morning Exercise.’ In 1653 marriage was made a civil contract by the
Independents and it was a test of good relations between the parson and the
ruling powers when the former was made the registrar for marriages. That was
the case at Everton. Marriages were celebrated in the presence of a magistrate
and entered into the church registers by the vicar as official Registrar for
marriages.
In that censorious age no word of criticism
has been discovered concerning Thomas Fowl. His name does not appear as a
member of any of the numerous committees which were appointed to deal with
affairs of the Church, such as the Committee of Plundered Ministers and their
assessors. Informers and enemies would not be wanting to point out delinquency
if there was such cause. In the church itself nothing can be found to suggest
defacement by puritan enthusiasts. The beautiful Elizabethan chalice is still
preserved without defect. The church registers, although kept in rather an
untidy hand, are complete and up to the standard of those times. The
churchwardens’ accounts and notes concerning the charities are moderately
intact. Nothing suggest any upset in the tenor of village life during a period
when Civil War and religious revolution disturbed the counties and neighbouring
parishes.
(op.cit.
pp. 122-4)
Judith
spent some of this time looking after her ill mother. In 1661, fourteen months
after the restoration of James II, the vicar’s wife died. Judith stayed on in the
vicarage looking after her father but the church register records “June 1661 Samuel Luke married Judith Fowl
the daughter of the Vicar of Everton with Tetworth.” Two months later her
father died and the register recalls “Thomas
Fowl had been vicar of Everton 32 years was buried August 1662 formerly fellow
of Clare Hall.” (op.cit.)
Judith
had to move out to allow Rev. Thomas Peele, the new vicar, to move in. The
Hearth tax, based on how many chimneys a house had, revealed where she went. It
was a tax that the occupier rather than the landlord had to pay. In 1671 there
were twenty-four families in Everton with “five
persons receiving constant alms.” Samuel and Judith lived in Manor Farm
which had six chimneys – a considerable size suggesting six ground floor rooms
as it was unlikely that upstairs bedrooms had fireplaces. There is a plan of
the old dwelling with heavy beams in the roof. Samuel’s entry was one of the
first in the tithe book and suggests he owned a farm of considerable size. He
was described as a gentleman and from the annual amount he paid he was one of
Everton’s major farmers.
“In those days labour was easily procurable
and Judith Luke’s influence and position would have been sufficient to attract
as many employees as she desired or could afford. She prepared for her coming
family. At the end of their first married year as son was born and baptised
Thomas after his grandfather. In 1664 John was born and in 1667 another son was
called Samuel after his father; lastly in 1668 a daughter was baptized
Elizabeth. Many mothers of the seventeenth century were short-lived,
child-bearing proving a dangerous and arduous task. Judith Luke proved no
exception to this melancholy rule. Her eldest child was born during her first
married year and the rest of the family arrived at regular intervals. When the
youngest was seven the eldest was twelve years old, and on November 30th
1674 Judith Luke died after a married life of a little over twelve years.
After the tragic death of his wife, Samuel
faced a world as a widower, with his four children, Thomas twelve years of age, John eleven, Samuel
seven and Elizabeth six. For the next seventeen years the registers are silent.
When next we hear of the Lukes Thomas has reached the age of twenty-nine. By
that time he appears in the tithe book entered up each half year by the vicar.
His name was placed second in the list of tithe payers, although others
contributed a greater amount, and his social standing in the village warranted
the title of ‘Mr' or ‘gent’.
He married Mary – as she came from another
parish her surname is not recorded – and in 1695 they had a daughter baptized
Alice in Everton church, and a son Robert baptized in 1697. But things went
badly. Thomas fell ill, and from the fact that he paid no tithe for two years
it must be concluded that he was too ill to farm profitably. In 1701, when he
was only 38 years old, he died. His death is recorded in the register of those
who were buried in a woollen shroud according to the Act. There appeared some
uncertainty about his status. After his name the title ‘Gent’ has been written
in but erased and ‘yeoman’ substituted. So Thomas Luke, grandson of the vicar
of Everton, was buried in the
churchyard of the church where his mother’s father had ministered during
the thirty-two years of the Civil War and Commonwealth. The name of Luke does
not appear again in the tithe book, and the last entry of the family in the
parish register records the baptism of Mary Luke, daughter of Thomas’ son
Robert. She was the great, great grand-daughter of Thomas Fowl.”
(Hamlyn,
F.C. (194-), ‘A Country Vicar and his Daughter’, Beds. Mag. Book 5, p. 124-5)
In the second half of the 18th
century Rev. Berridge occupied the vicarage. He was one of the early Methodists
whose enthusiasm and zeal attracted congregations of many thousands on
weekends!
“They
would bring their meals and during the fine weather would eat in the open air.
The vicarage was always available for the visitors, as was the meadow for their
horses.“
(Dr
Williams's Trust, Jones 39.B.24)
For more details about
Berridge’s time as vicar of Everton see the Berridge story. Following
Berridge’s death the new vicar, Rev. Thomas Greene authorised an auction of Berridge's
belongings at the Vicarage on Monday February 25th 1793. The sale
particulars shed light into what life in the house would have been like.
All the Neat, and Genteel HOUSEHOLD
FURNITURE, PLATE, LINEN, CHINA, and other EFFECTS, of the Rev. Mr. BERRIDGE,
deseased, at the VICARAGE-HOUSE, his late Residence, in EVERTON, Bedfordshire:
Comprizing neat Four-post and Field Bedsteads with Check & other Furniture,
Window Curtains to match; Six fine Feather Beds; five Mattresses; Blankets,
Quilts, Counterpanes, Sheets, Table Linen, &c. - Bedside and other Carpets;
Glasses; Mahogany Dining, Dressing, Pembroke and Claw Tables; Mahogany Bason
Stands; ditto Tea Trays; Variety of easy, Elbow, Night and other Chairs;
Mahogany Bed Chair, Sofa, and Covers; 28 Silver Spoons; Silver Pepper Castor,
Silver-ferrul'd Knives & Forks; Bureaus, and Chests of Drawers; Eight-day
Clock and Alarum; Polished Kitchen Range, ironing Stove & Smoke jack;
complete Assortment of Kitchen Furniture, in Copper, Pewter, Brass, Tin
&c.- China, Glass and earthen Ware; a fine toned harpsichord; Six neat deal
Cloaths-Presses; 14 Iron-bound Half-Hogsheads, 40 smaller Casks, ten Iron-bound
Tubs; Set of Iron-bound Brewing Utensils, Forty-gallon Copper and grate; 50
Dozen of Glass Bottles; Quantity of Building Materials; near 200 Bushels of
Coals; the Materials of a Boarded bar, newly erected; Rick of fine hay; Stone
Roll and frame; Hurdles; faggots; 12 Dozen of garden-Pots; with a variety of
Other Effects.
May be viewed the Saturday previous to the
Sale, and on the Morning of the Sale.
The Sale to begin each Day exactly at Ten
o'Clock.
Catalogues to be delivered to the Crown,
Potton; Rose, Biggleswade; George, Baldock; King's Arms, Shefford; Red-Lion,
Sandy; Bull, St. Neots, and Royston: Sun, Cambridge; Printing - Office,
Bedford; and at the Auctioneer's, Ampthill, Beds.
(Undated
newspaper article in Bill Hardinge's Scrapbook)
By the 1830s
the vicarage was almost 200 years’ old. In 1833 it must have been in a state of
disrepair as a new building was constructed on the same site. Its first
resident was Rev. Challis Paroissien. (Conversation with Mr and Mrs Lee,
Everton) A new vicarage was built on Church Road in 19—and the old vicarage was
unoccupied for .. years until it was purchased by Mr and Mrs Lee in 199-.