Sixteenth Century Vicars of Sedbergh

St Andrew’s Sedbergh
Written By Richard Cann

Sixteenth Century Vicars of Sedbergh

Many churches display lists of previous vicars and St Andrew's Church in Sedbergh is one of them. The board is currently on the wall in the Choir Vestry and a plaque below makes it clear that it was produced in the first decade of the twentieth century. All lists of previous vicars are bound to be incomplete and this one is no exception, indeed it did not even reflect what was known at the time. However, local historians also get overtaken by subsequent discoveries and Francis Stacey 1 and myself 2 are no exceptions.

The first recorded vicar in the sixteenth century was Thomas Side in 1505. He featured in a tithe dispute concerning Dent and the original document was copied in 1660. The copy is in the Trinity College archives and was used by Francis Stacey 3 in a recent article. Thomas Side went on to become Abbot of Coverham. This abbey was the Rector of Sedbergh and held the advowson to the living.

The next known vicar was Richard Mydlam in 1527. On the 12th of August of that year he was one of the signatories 4 to a grant by the Abbot of Coverham of the site of the School and the Lofthouse to Roger Lupton.

In 1535 Henry VIll had the church's wealth valued so that he could tax it more effectively. In this survey 5 the vicar was John Horseman and he had a net income of £12-8s-0d plus some Christmas oblations.

In fact this survey alerted Henry to the vast wealth he could get from appropriating church property which was one of the major reason for his dissolution of the monasteries. As one of the poorer abbeys Coverham was one of the first to be dissolved and the accounts of the King's Receiver, 1535–1537, mention a John Masson 6 a late Vicar of Sedbergh who owed money to the Rectory.

One of the results of the dissolution was that some of the monastic churches were made cathedrals and in 1541 Sedbergh became part of the new Diocese of Chester instead of being in the Diocese of York. The records of the Chester Diocese have survived and have been fundamental in the writing of the rest of this article. In late 1542 or early 1543 an un-named Vicar of Sedbergh resigned and on 18th March 1542 /1543 William Sawrey was presented 7 by the Crown and later that year was instituted to the living, probably 8 on 10th May 1543. He was to be vicar for about thirty years in two spells but has not been mentioned in any previous history of Sedbergh and does not feature on the board in the church. The unknown vicar he succeeded could possibly have been Edward Willan, a priest, who witnessed various deeds concerning Thorns Hall from 1539 to 1542 along with Henry Blomer the first Master of Lupton's school. However, Willan may only have been one of the many altar priests in the church.

Blomeyr (Blomer) made his will in November 1543 and left items to five clerics none of which was Willan or Sawrey showing that, counting Blomeyr, there were at least seven clerics connected with St Andrew's Church at that time. One was the Vicar, another would have been the Parish Priest, who probably acted as Curate of Dent, and the remaining five, including Blomeyr, would have been chantry priests. The five priests named in the will were James Gill, Leonard Fawcet, Richard Bland, Jeffrey Archer and John Beck and as stated above William Sawrey was the vicar at that time.

On 28th October 1544 an agreement was signed 4 between St John's College, Cambridge and the Vicar, Schoolmaster and Feoffees of Lupton's Chantry in Sedbergh. This agreement ensured that the two scholars of Lupton's second foundation at the college should only come from Lupton's school in Sedbergh. The vicar was not named in the agreement but its date shows that it must have been Sawrey. Just before his death Henry VIII founded Trinity College, Cambridge and on 24th December 1546 he gave 9 the rectory and the advowson of Sedbergh to the college. This has meant that much documentary evidence about the parish has survived in the college archive.

In previous times many clergyman had held several livings simultaneously, Roger Lupton being one of them. However, religious changes had made this more difficult and so William Sawrey obtained a dispensation from Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, to hold two livings. It was issued in 38 Henry VIll and so was dated somewhere between 22nd April 1546 and 28th January 1547. It allowed him to be Vicar of Urswick, near Ulverston, as well as Vicar of Sedbergh. He was instituted in 1546 and presented 7 on 11th January 1547/1548 by the Patrons of Urswick, Hugh and Walter Askew. However, another source 10 quoting the Act Books of Chester stated that he was instituted on 11th January 1547. Presentation should precede institution and so the 1546 date for institution seems unlikely. Henry VIll was succeeded by his young son Edward VI. He and his advisers were quite extreme Protestants and one of the many changes they introduced was, in 1549, to allow clergy to marry. At some time after that Sawrey married and that was to prove his downfall because in 1553 Mary became Queen. She was a strict Catholic and in 1554 married priests were given an ultimatum. They either had to renounce their wives or else be deprived of their living. Sawrey chose the latter and so ceased to be the Vicar of both Sedbergh and Urswick in 1554. His name and its alternatives occur in both places and so he may have been a native of either. If he came from either parish he could still have been educated at Lupton's school. However, the only person with that name to have been ordained in the Province of York from 1510 was originally from Cawood 22 and he was ordained priest on 21 st March 1533/4.

In Urswick the Crown presented Henry Woodburn in 1554 and when he died Thomas Dobson was presented in 1557. In 1548 the latter, aged 44, was serving as a stipendiary priest in Ulverston, employed to celebrate mass and serve in the choir for which he received an annual stipend of £3-5s-10d. To be made Vicar of Urswick was a big promotion for him because back in 1535 the Vicar had received £7-17s-4d net of expenses and on top of that received Christmas oblations of 15s-9d.

In Sedbergh Thomas Atkinson was presented 7 by Trinity College on 10th May 1554 and he was instituted in June 1554. Atkinson was a graduate 11 of Cambridge University and he obtained his B.A. in 1541–2 but his college was not known. He became one of the original Fellows of Trinity College in 1546 and obtained his M.A. in 1547 and a B.D. in 1554. In 1553 he was ordained priest. The ordination took place in the Bishop's Palace in London and gives a fascinating insight into what was involved in Catholic England at that time. On the 20th December 12 he was ordained first tonsure, doorkeeper, acolyte, reader, exorcist and sub-deacon. The next day he was ordained deacon and priest. This was rushed in comparison to non graduates where there was often a three year gap between being ordained acolyte and priest. Thomas Atkinson was a common name in Sedbergh in the middle half of the sixteenth century and it is possible that he was born there and educated at Lupton's school and from there went to St John's College, Cambridge but no proof exists. The Chester archive 13 mentioned Richard Bland in connection with Sedbergh in 1554 but gave no indication of his status. Henry Woodall was mentioned as a curate 14 in 1558 with a stipend of £5-13s-4d. In a will of 1558 a Mabel Archer 15 named three priests. These were Richard Bland, Leonard Fawcet and Richard Fawcet but not Woodall or Atkinson.

In 1558 the political climate changed again when the Protestant Elizabeth came to the throne. She was anxious to discover to what extent Catholicism had penetrated the parishes and as a result in 1559 the normal diocesan visitations were suspended and instead in every parish in the country a Royal Visitation was carried out. Luckily the only record of this to survive 16 was for the Northern Province which included Sedbergh and Urswick. The commissioners' job was to obtain subscriptions to the Royal Supremacy, the Prayer Book and Injunctions. They were to grant probate of wills and letters of administration and also had the power to punish contumacy when they found it. They had to examine the clergy's letters of ordination and institution and remove unsuitable incumbents. They could appoint clergy to vacant benefices and licence preachers. They also had to review the cases of persons imprisoned for matters of religion and also those deprived by Mary of their benefices. Finally they had to hear the presentations of the churchwardens. They eventually reached Kendal and held their visitation on the 9th, 10th and 11th of October 1559, the neighbouring parishes having been warned well in advance.

The three commissioners who sat in the Parish Church of Kendal were Sandys, Harvey and Browne. Sandys had been a leading Cambridge theologian and Vice-Chancellor of the University until removed by Mary. He fled abroad during her reign but returned soon afterwards and was one of those responsible for drafting the new Prayer Book. He later became Archbishop of York. Harvey was an ecclesiastical lawyer who had held important offices under both Edward and Mary. Browne was a member of the gentry with legal knowledge. The visitation began with prayers and a sermon preached by Sands and then the business started.

On the 9th October William Sawrey petitioned to have the benefices of Sedbergh and Urswick restored to him. In the case of Sedbergh the defendant was Thomas Atkinson and Richard Bland had executed the citatory mandate and certified the writings. The next day Robert Atkinson appeared as proxy for Thomas Atkinson. Sawrey produced the dispensation granted to him by Cranmer to receive two benefices and the commissioners upheld his petition. He was also successful in his petition against Thomas Dobson to be restored to Urswick. Ejected clergy could either get a pension in compensation or else be eligible for another living if they subscribed to the Elizabethan settlement. It was encouraging that there was no record in either parish of the churchwardens reporting immoral behaviour on the part of the parishioners.

Sawrey was recorded 10 as being present at a visitation in Urswick in 1562 and bought part of the estate of the Flemings of Coniston in 1569 but no record of him being in Sedbergh has been found. He died in 1579 and was replaced in Urswick by John Sayer who was instituted on 24th November. In Sedbergh Giles Wigginton 17 was presented by Trinity College and instituted on 26th November. Wigginton was born in Oundle 18 and matriculated at Trinity College in 1564. He obtained his B.A. in 1569 and his M.A. in 1572. During this time he had acquired puritan views that caused Whitgift, the Master of Trinity, to unsuccessfully oppose his election as a fellow in 1574. Whitgift later became Archbishop of Canterbury and their paths were to cross again. Over the years Wigginton made several complaints against the master and seemed to have developed 19 a persecution complex. Either Wigginton decided to leave Trinity or the college decided to get him as far away from Cambridge as possible because he was presented to the living of Sedbergh by the Master and Fellows probably on the 3rd September 1579. John Still was then the Master of Trinity.

As stated above Wigginton was instituted on the 26th November 1579. Unfortunately for him his Calvinist views soon got him into trouble and in 1582 the Archbishop of York, Sandys (see above), complained to the Bishop of Chester about his behaviour. The Archbishop wrote "He laboureth not to build but to pull down, and by what means he can to overthrow the state ecclesiastical." Wigginton was in London in 1584 and due to preach a sermon but he was forestalled by Archbishop Whitgift and summoned to appear before him instead. On his refusal to take an oath to answer some questions he was thrown into jail for nine weeks and on his release was forbidden to preach without permission. He broke this condition and was informed against by Edward Middleton, presumably for preaching in Sedbergh. As a result he was deprived of his living at Sedbergh in 1585.

On the 22nd September 1585 Adam Colclough was instituted as Vicar of Sedbergh. All that is known 11 about him is that he matriculated from Trinity in 1570, became a Scholar in 1571 and obtained his B.A. in 1571/2. He did not last long and on the 15th November 1586 Edward Hampton was instituted as vicar. Hampton matriculated 11 from Trinity in 1576 and obtained his B.A. in 1581 and his M.A. in 1584. He was made a Fellow of the College in 1583 and was ordained deacon and priest at Peterborough on the 30th November 1585.

However, the last had not been seen of Giles Wigginton. In 1586 when visiting London he had again been brought before Whitgift and on refusing to take an oath had been put into prison where he was loaded with chains and treated with great severity. On failing to obey a citation of Whitgift, probably through illness, he was moved to another prison where he was sentenced to deprivation and degradation despite the appeals of two earls. When he was released he returned to Sedbergh but was refused permission to preach there. As a result he preached in his own house and in other places attracting large congregations showing the divided loyalties that must have existed in the parish at that time. On learning this Whitgift had him rearrested in 1587 and he was imprisoned in Lancaster Castle. He was released and went to London where he was imprisoned again in December 1588 on the charge of being involved in the writing of the Martin Marprelate Tracts. These attacked Elizabeth's Church of England with its bishops and advocated a Presbyterian type church.

However, he had some friends because he was named in a will. Henry Hebblethwaite 20 from Sedbergh had prospered in London and made his will in 1587. He pardoned Giles the £5 he was owed and also left him and his wife £5. He also left £10 for forty sermons to be preached in Sedbergh Church at 5s each. He nominated some friends to choose the preachers. Wigginton was allegedly restored to the Vicarage of Sedbergh c1592 by the direction of Burghley 18 and he wrote to his benefactor in 1597. There is no known record of his death. His life showed how strict the punishments were for clergy who deviated from the path chosen by Elizabeth for her Church of England.

This claim that he was restored to the living must be treated with some doubt. If he was restored it can only have been for a short time because Edward Hampton was still residing in Sedbergh in 1593. He featured in the will 21 of James Sedgwick, the leading local gentleman. Hampton was left £10 in the will and was one of the witnesses. From 1601–1610 he featured in seven more wills. The parish registers also began whilst he was the vicar and contain some interesting entries.

In the baptisms there were

Robert son of Henry Atkinson of Midghole, & Elizabeth Hampton, baptized April XIth 1606.
Edwarde son of Edwarde Hampton baptized the vijth daye of December 1608

The first entry presumably meant that two children Robert Atkinson and Elizabeth Hampton were baptized on that day.

In the burials there were

…hampton buryed XIth September 1597
Mr Edwarde Hampton vicar of Sedbergh buryed the XVIIth daye of July 1610.

With his death the record of sixteenth century vicars comes to an end but it is impossible to cover that century without mentioning one man who lived for most of it and must have been a pillar of stability for the parishioners in all the various upheavals concerning the vicars. That man was Richard Bland who was probably born about 1513 and is likely to have gone to Lupton's school but not on to University. He would not have been the eldest son and so took holy orders to give himself an occupation. He was probably ordained priest 22 in York in 1534. The first mention of him in Sedbergh was in Henry Blomeyr's will of 1543 when he was left 10s to say one tryntall and to pray for Blomeyr. He was mentioned in the Chester records in 1554 and was left 10s by Mabel Archer in her will made in 1558. He produced evidence in the Royal Visitation of 1559. He subsequently featured in wills 23 made in 1565 and 1586. Finally he made his own will 24 on 12th June 1590 and had died by the 28th July 1591 when the inventory was made. Among other bequests he left 10s to St Andrew's Church where he was to be buried.

Our present knowledge of the past vicars of St Andrew's would produce the following list but I have no doubt that fresh discoveries will soon render it obsolete.

  • 1505 Thomas Side
  • 1527 Richard Mydlam
  • 1535 John Horseman
  • pre 1536 John Masson
  • 1542 Unknown vicar resigned (possibly Edward Willan)
  • 1543 William Sawrey
  • 1554 Thomas Atkinson
  • 1559 William Sawrey
  • 1579 Giles Wigginton
  • 1585 Adam Colclough
  • 1586 Edward Hampton
    (Wigginton possibly reinstated for a short time in 1592)
  • 1610 death of Edward Hampton

In writing this article I would like to acknowledge the help received from Elspeth Griffiths, Francis Stacey and Mr Jonathan Smith the Archivist of Trinity College, Cambridge. Also some of the information has been obtained from the internet using the Clergy of the Church of England Database (CCED).

References

  1. Pre-Reformation Rectors and Vicars of Sedbergh, Sedbergh Historian Vol 3 No. 3 1994.
  2. St Andrew's Church, Sedbergh around the time of the Reformation, Sedbergh Historian Vol 5 No. 1 2004.
  3. The Damning of Dentdale, Sedbergh Historian Vol 5 No. 1 2004.
  4. A.F.Leach Early Yorkshire Schools Vol II Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, Vol XXXIII.
  5. Valor Ecclesiasticus, 1535.
  6. S&DHS Newsletter, June 1991.
  7. EDA 1/1 (Act Book); Chester Record Office.
  8. First Fruits and Tenths Office; P.R.O.
  9. Trinity College Archives, Box 34.
  10. VCH; History of the County of Lancaster Vol. 8.
  11. Venn J. and J.A Alumni Cantabrigienses.
  12. Guildhall Library 9535/1
  13. Chester Record Office, EDV 1/1 (Call Book): 1554.
  14. Public Record Office, E179/61 (Clerical Subsidy Records).
  15. Rev W. Thompson Sedbergh, Garsdale and Dent
  16. The Royal Visitation of 1559, transcribed and printed by the Surtees Society.
  17. Chester Record Office, EDA 1/4 (Act Book)
  18. Dictionary of National Biography
  19. H.C.Porter Reformation and Reaction in Tudor Cambridge, Information supplied by the Archivist of Trinity College.
  20. Transcript of a will in the S&DHS Archive, WWQ 004.
  21. Transcript of a will in the S&DHS Archive, WWQ 003
  22. Claire Cross York Clergy Ordinations 1520–1559
  23. Transcript of wills in the S&DHS Archive, WYF 006 and WWH 001.
  24. Transcript of a will in the S&DHS Archive, WXQ 002.
Richard Cann
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