The clergy offer more than just pastoral care of a parish, they were often the eyes and ears of the Lord of the Manor who until quite recently appointed them. Many were not resident in the village, their work being carried out by curates that the parson appointed.
For many years attendance at church was compulsory. It was as a condition of the tenancy agreement, with a fine payable for non-attendance.Chapter 9 documents the lives of all the known priests of Tong Church and also what is known of the Parish Clerks who often acted as the link between the parson and the community.
The earliest well documented appointed priests are from the period of the Civil War and had a difficult time:
“Robert Hilton was Vicar of Lapley in 1638, but he was ejected from there in 1647. William Pierrepoint appointed him to Tong in 1650. This was an act of kindness in those troubled times. Hilton ran a school at Tong. His successor at Lapley (who was removed in 1660) complained that "he did not get his arrears from 1647-9". (This relates to glebe income, or fees). He also complained that he had an order to pay Mrs Hilton, (even though her husband was Vicar of Tong) and that it was unfair that Hilton also held the Sutton (Stretton) Chapelry, in Staffordshire. In 1660 Hilton was re-instated at Lapley. These events demonstrate the way some clergy tried to survive, during the Commonwealth period. Many depended on kind patrons to help them out.”
George Rivett-Carnac was one of the more colourful incumbents being a keen sportsman:
“George Rivett-Carnac was educated at Harrow School, Cambridge, and Chichester Theological College. He was a considerable sportsman. He played ice hockey, and cricket. On one occasion in 1875, playing for Priory Park against the South of England, he bowled out W. G. Grace for 0, and his brother G. F. Grace for 2 in the same over. He served curacies in Norfolk and Kew, and was at Tong for eight years (1882-90). He had two subsequent livings. He inherited a Baronetcy in 1898, and died in 1932. He was married to the granddaughter of the rural poet, George Crabbe.”
Of the parish clerks Robert Jeffery reports one incident concerning William Woolley a member of the local family of clockmakers:
“A little later, William Woolley was Parish Clerk. He was also a clockmaker, and lived at Tong Hill. Woolley was dismissed from his post, after a visiting preacher complained that there was no mirror in the vestry. Woolley called him 'a confounded cockscomb'. George Durant (II) subsequently provided a mirror.”
Brass of Sir Arthur Vernon in the Vernon Chantry.
George Boden, notable Parish Clerk who coined in on the Little Nell story.
Copyright © 2007, 2008 Discovering Tong
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