testified to the usefulness and even necessity of the chantry priests in all the chapels except Ditton, Eythrope and Buckingham, and in ten out of the eleven churches ; while the second certificate, drawn up in the first year of Edward VI., notices in three or four cases that the priests were ' of honest understanding' or 'well learned,' and has nothing worse to say of any except that he was non-resident. The two hospitals of Newport Pagnel and High Wycombe were however no longer serving their original purpose. Three or four chantries involved distributions of alms to the poor, but only two, Ivinghoe Aston and Thornton, had schools attached.[1] The school at Thornton was re-endowed in July 1548 with the same stipend as before for the schoolmaster [2] ; and this was the only compensation which the county then received for its losses at this time or earlier. Later on, a hospital was founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1597 at Buckingham, probably out of the revenues of church lands [3] ; and the hospital of Newport Pagnel was rebuilt and re-endowed by James I. and his queen.[4] It is only fair to add that the chantry priests usually received pensions ; and the inquiry set on foot by Queen Mary in the first year of her reign does not seem to suggest that these were not regularly paid, but only that they were scanty and insufficient.[5]
The second year of King Edward VI. saw the removal of all remaining images from the parish churches ; but it is probable that at this time the parishioners were allowed to make what profit they could out of the gold and other valuable materials with which the images were decked ; it was not confiscated to the king's use.[6] Some extant churchwardens' accounts [7] of this period show the changes that took place year by year and the expenses connected with them ; new books to buy, and workmen to pay for the removing of the roods, the taking down of altars, the setting up of tables, and the ' white liming ' of church walls. Last came the order for the confiscation of the vest- ments and of nearly all the remaining ornaments of the churches. The inventories of Church Goods for the county of Buckingham are very numerous [8] ; they show us the ornaments existing in nearly a hundred churches at the end of the reign of Edward VI. The lists vary con- siderably ; they show most churches still in possession of the Eucharistic
- ↑ All these statements may be verified by reference to Chantry Certificates 4 and 5.
- ↑ P.R.O. Augm. Office, Documents relating to Schools, No. 8.
- ↑ Browne Willis, History of Buckingham, 86.
- ↑ T. P. Bull, History of Newport Pagnel, 220, where the charter of the new foundation is given in full.
- ↑ See Exch. Mins. Accts., Bdle. 76, No. 26.
- ↑ The Churchwardens' Book at Wing has under the year 1549 the item, ' Received for the gilt of the images, 4s. '
- ↑ There is a particularly good specimen of a Churchwardens' book, extending from 1527 to 1723, at Wing ; it was recently deposited for a short time at the British Museum for the use of this History, by the courtesy of the present vicar, the Rev. F. C. Tatham. There are also fragments of the accounts of Burnham Church at this time, printed in Records of Bucks, v. 117-9 ; of Amersham Church, Ibid. vii. 44-47 ; and a series of inventories connected with High Wycombe Church which throw light on the same period, Ibid. viii. 104-145.
- ↑ Exch. Q. R. Inventories of Church Goods, 6 Edward VI. Nos. 1/13-1/38
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