Vestry: Difference between revisions
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In [[Wales|Welsh]] chapels, the room is often the location of [[tea (meal)|a tea]] served to the congregation, particularly family members, after a funeral, when the congregation returns to the chapel after the burial or cremation. |
In [[Wales|Welsh]] chapels, the room is often the location of [[tea (meal)|a tea]] served to the congregation, particularly family members, after a funeral, when the congregation returns to the chapel after the burial or cremation. |
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== |
==The administrative vestry== |
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[[File:St Bees Vestry meeting notice.jpg|thumb|Notice dated April 1843 (which would have been pinned to the church door<ref>Parish Notices Act 1837</ref>) calling a meeting of the select vestry of the parish of St Bees, for rating and assessing property in the parish to raise money for the repair of the church and the provision of ornaments and other necessary goods for the coming year. It is signed by the Rev R P Buddicom, vicar of St Bees, and three of the four churchwardens]] |
[[File:St Bees Vestry meeting notice.jpg|thumb|Notice dated April 1843 (which would have been pinned to the church door<ref>Parish Notices Act 1837</ref>) calling a meeting of the select vestry of the parish of St Bees, for rating and assessing property in the parish to raise money for the repair of the church and the provision of ornaments and other necessary goods for the coming year. It is signed by the Rev R P Buddicom, vicar of St Bees, and three of the four churchwardens]] |
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In the London metropolitan area, [[Civil parish|civil vestries]] were incorporated by the [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]], distinct from the ecclesiastical vestries. Outside London, a system of elected rural [[Parish councils in England|parish council]]s and [[Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)|urban district]] councils was established in 1894, replacing the vestries for all administrative purposes. |
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===Ecclesiastical parish=== |
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The term ''vestry'' continues to be used in some places for a body of lay members elected by the congregation or parish to run the secular business of the parish. Some provinces of the church may also have provision for appointment of members by the [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] or bishop. The vestry may have additional functions, including selection of the rector of the church. The rector is usually an ''ex officio'' member of the vestry. In some Anglican jurisdictions, the "vestry" refers to all the members of the congregation meeting to conduct the business of a parish, usually annually. |
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===History=== |
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[[File:Parish Chest in St. Mary's Church, Kempley - geograph.org.uk - 550586.jpg|thumb|Parish Chest in St. Mary's Church, [[Kempley]]]] |
[[File:Parish Chest in St. Mary's Church, Kempley - geograph.org.uk - 550586.jpg|thumb|Parish Chest in St. Mary's Church, [[Kempley]]]] |
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The original unit of settlement among the Anglo-Saxons in England was the ''tun'' or town. Initially simply an enclosure surrounded by a wall or hedge, the township became the area claimed by the town. |
The original unit of settlement among the Anglo-Saxons in England was the ''tun'' or town. Initially simply an enclosure surrounded by a wall or hedge, the township became the area claimed by the town. |
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The organization of the township was carried on by the inhabitants and they met to carry out this business in the town [[moot hall|moot]] or meeting. At this meeting, they appointed the various officials and the [[common law]] would be promulgated. Later with the rise of the [[shire]], the township would send its [[Reeve (England)|reeve]] and four best men to represent it in the courts of the [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] and shire. |
The organization of the township was carried on by the inhabitants and they met to carry out this business in the town [[moot hall|moot]] or meeting. At this meeting, they appointed the various officials and the [[common law]] would be promulgated. Later with the rise of the [[shire]], the township would send its [[Reeve (England)|reeve]] and four best men to represent it in the courts of the [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] and shire. |
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Under [[Æthelberht of Kent]] parishes were created. The Archbishop of Canterbury [[Theodore of Tarsus]] applied to the township unit the ecclesiastical term ''parish'' - from the Greek ''paroikia'', the dwelling place of the priest. Generally the township and parish coincided but in the North some townships may have been combined and in the South, where populations were bigger, two or more parishes might be made of one township. Townships not included in a parish were ''extra-parochial''. |
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However, the independence created by the Saxon system was lost to the township by the introduction of the [[Feudalism| feudal system]]. The feudal [[Manorialism|manorial]] [[Court Leet]] replaced the town meeting. |
However, the independence created by the Saxon system was lost to the township by the introduction of the [[Feudalism| feudal system]]. The feudal [[Manorialism|manorial]] [[Court Leet]] replaced the town meeting. The resistance of inhabitants to these changes led to a new form of township or parish meeting. It also dealt with ecclesiastical affairs. This new meeting was supervised by the parish priest, probably the best educated of the inhabitants, and it evolved to become the vestry meeting.<ref Name = SWBP /> |
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The resistance of inhabitants to these changes led to a new form of township or parish meeting. It also dealt with ecclesiastical affairs. This new meeting was supervised by the parish priest, probably the best educated of the inhabitants, and it evolved to become the vestry meeting.<ref Name = SWBP /> |
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With the decay of the feudal system, the vestry meetings succeeded in acquiring greater responsibilities, they having the power to grant or deny payments from parish funds. They were later given the task of administering the [[Tudor Poor Laws|Edwardian and Elizabethan systems for support of the poor]]. With their resumption of civil responsibilities, the ecclesiastical parishes acquired a dual nature and might therefore be classed as civil as well as ecclesiastical parishes. In England, [[Parish#1835|until the 19th century]], the parish vestry was in effect what would today usually be called a [[parochial church council]], but was also responsible for all the secular parish business. Records of parish business would be stored in a "parish chest" kept in the church and provided for security with three locks, the keys to which would be held by the incumbent and the churchwardens. |
With the decay of the feudal system, the vestry meetings succeeded in acquiring greater responsibilities, they having the power to grant or deny payments from parish funds. They were later given the task of administering the [[Tudor Poor Laws|Edwardian and Elizabethan systems for support of the poor]]. With their resumption of civil responsibilities, the ecclesiastical parishes acquired a dual nature and might therefore be classed as civil as well as ecclesiastical parishes. In England, [[Parish#1835|until the 19th century]], the parish vestry was in effect what would today usually be called a [[parochial church council]], but was also responsible for all the secular parish business. Records of parish business would be stored in a "parish chest" kept in the church and provided for security with three locks, the keys to which would be held by the incumbent and the churchwardens. |
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The vestry had a number of legal obligations. The vestry was responsible for appointing parish officers, including churchwardens, overseers of the poor, sextons and scavengers. Depending on local arrangements the vestry could also be responsible for constables and nightwatchmen. |
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In 1835 more than 15,600 ecclesiastical parish vestries looked after their own: |
In 1835 more than 15,600 ecclesiastical parish vestries looked after their own: |
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churches and burial grounds, parish cottages and workhouses, their common lands and endowed charities, their market crosses, pumps, pounds, whipping posts, stocks, cages, watch houses, weights and scales, clocks and fire engines. |
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Or to put it another way: the maintenance of the church and its services, the keeping of the peace, the repression of vagrancy, the relief of destitution, the mending of roads, the suppression of nuisances, the destruction of vermin, the furnishing of soldiers and sailors, even to some extent the enforcement of religious and moral discipline. These were among the multitudinous duties imposed on the parish and its officers, that is to say the vestry and its organisation, by the law of the land. |
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The vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself.<ref Name =SWBP>{{Citation | author1-link = Sidney Webb | first1 = Sidney | last1 = Webb | author2-link = Beatrice Webb| first2 = Beatrice | last2 = Potter | year = 1906 | title = English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations | place = London | publisher = Longmans, Green & Co}}.</ref> However, this was the high point of the parish vestry. During the 19th century the parish vestry progressively lost its powers to ad-hoc boards and other organisations, such as the loss of responsibility for poor relief through the [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]]. From 1837 the provision of support for the poor was no longer the direct responsibility of the vestry, but came under elected boards of guardians for single parishes or [[poor law union]]s. |
The vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself.<ref Name =SWBP>{{Citation | author1-link = Sidney Webb | first1 = Sidney | last1 = Webb | author2-link = Beatrice Webb| first2 = Beatrice | last2 = Potter | year = 1906 | title = English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations | place = London | publisher = Longmans, Green & Co}}.</ref> However, this was the high point of the parish vestry. During the 19th century the parish vestry progressively lost its powers to ad-hoc boards and other organisations, such as the loss of responsibility for poor relief through the [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]]. From 1837 the provision of support for the poor was no longer the direct responsibility of the vestry, but came under elected boards of guardians for single parishes or [[poor law union]]s. |
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===Open and select vestries=== |
===Open and select vestries=== |
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A "select vestry" was an administrative committee of selected parishioners. This committee was also known as the "close vestry". The "open vestry", which selected many of those committee members, was a meeting open to the general public who were rate-paying residents.<ref name=pcWET /> |
A "select vestry" was an administrative committee of selected parishioners. This committee was also known as the "close vestry". The "open vestry", which selected many of those committee members, was a meeting open to the general public who were rate-paying residents.<ref name=pcWET /> There were both open vestries or select vestries, although in practice the division was somewhat blurred. Open vestries were rather like today's [[parish meeting]]s, while select vestries acted more like the pre-[[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]] borough councils. |
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Dating from the 14th century, the vestry was a parish parliament chaired by the parish priest or in his absence the churchwarden or, in the absence of both, an elected member of the meeting. Its powers grew with the decay of the [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundredal]] and [[Lord of the Manor#Manorial courts|manorial]] courts system.<ref name=pcWET /> |
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Vestries were either open vestries or select vestries, although in practice the division was somewhat blurred. Open vestries were rather like today's [[parish meeting]]s, while select vestries acted more like the pre-[[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]] borough councils. |
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An '''open vestry''' was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish.<ref name=pcWET>{{Citation | first = William Edward | last = Tate | year = 1969 | title = The Parish Chest: a study of the records of parochial administration in England | edition = 3rd | publisher = Cambridge University Press}}.</ref> |
An '''open vestry''' was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish.<ref name=pcWET>{{Citation | first = William Edward | last = Tate | year = 1969 | title = The Parish Chest: a study of the records of parochial administration in England | edition = 3rd | publisher = Cambridge University Press}}.</ref> |
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A '''select vestry''' or "close" vestry was the governing body of a parish, the members generally having a property qualification and being recruited more or less by [[co-option]].<ref name = pcWET /> The open vestry elected the bulk of the select vestry members or, if dissatisfied, could exercise their power to do so. |
A '''select vestry''' or "close" vestry was the governing body of a parish, the members generally having a property qualification and being recruited more or less by [[co-option]].<ref name = pcWET /> The open vestry elected the bulk of the select vestry members or, if dissatisfied, could exercise their power to do so. |
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The term ''vestry'' continues to be used in some places for a body of lay members elected by the congregation or parish to run the secular business of the parish, such as in the Scottish Episcopal Church. <ref>http://www.scotland.anglican.org/vestry-resources/] The vestry dusties in the Scottish Episcopal Church </ref> However,, in Parishes of the Church of England this role is undertaken by the [[Parochial church council]]. |
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==Legislation== |
==Legislation== |
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* [[Civil parishes in England]] |
* [[Civil parishes in England]] |
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* [[Sacristy]] |
* [[Sacristy]] |
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==External Link== |
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* Minutes of London Vestry committies at "Local Lives". [http://www.londonlives.org/static/MV.jsp#toc1] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 13:58, 23 February 2015
A vestry refers to a robing and storage room in or attached to a place of worship. It also referred in England to the committee for secular and church government for a parish which met in the vestry of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially as the "Vestry".
Vestry Room
A vestry is a room in a church or synagogue in which the vestments are kept, and in which the clergy and choir don these liturgical clothes for worship services. Valuable or sacred items such as communion vessels or collection plates may be kept there, usually in a secure safe, along with official records such as registers of marriages and burials.
In Welsh chapels, the room is often the location of a tea served to the congregation, particularly family members, after a funeral, when the congregation returns to the chapel after the burial or cremation.
The administrative vestry
The original unit of settlement among the Anglo-Saxons in England was the tun or town. Initially simply an enclosure surrounded by a wall or hedge, the township became the area claimed by the town. The organization of the township was carried on by the inhabitants and they met to carry out this business in the town moot or meeting. At this meeting, they appointed the various officials and the common law would be promulgated. Later with the rise of the shire, the township would send its reeve and four best men to represent it in the courts of the hundred and shire.
Under Æthelberht of Kent parishes were created. The Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore of Tarsus applied to the township unit the ecclesiastical term parish - from the Greek paroikia, the dwelling place of the priest. Generally the township and parish coincided but in the North some townships may have been combined and in the South, where populations were bigger, two or more parishes might be made of one township. Townships not included in a parish were extra-parochial.
However, the independence created by the Saxon system was lost to the township by the introduction of the feudal system. The feudal manorial Court Leet replaced the town meeting. The resistance of inhabitants to these changes led to a new form of township or parish meeting. It also dealt with ecclesiastical affairs. This new meeting was supervised by the parish priest, probably the best educated of the inhabitants, and it evolved to become the vestry meeting.[2]
With the decay of the feudal system, the vestry meetings succeeded in acquiring greater responsibilities, they having the power to grant or deny payments from parish funds. They were later given the task of administering the Edwardian and Elizabethan systems for support of the poor. With their resumption of civil responsibilities, the ecclesiastical parishes acquired a dual nature and might therefore be classed as civil as well as ecclesiastical parishes. In England, until the 19th century, the parish vestry was in effect what would today usually be called a parochial church council, but was also responsible for all the secular parish business. Records of parish business would be stored in a "parish chest" kept in the church and provided for security with three locks, the keys to which would be held by the incumbent and the churchwardens.
The vestry had a number of legal obligations. The vestry was responsible for appointing parish officers, including churchwardens, overseers of the poor, sextons and scavengers. Depending on local arrangements the vestry could also be responsible for constables and nightwatchmen.
In 1835 more than 15,600 ecclesiastical parish vestries looked after their own: churches and burial grounds, parish cottages and workhouses, their common lands and endowed charities, their market crosses, pumps, pounds, whipping posts, stocks, cages, watch houses, weights and scales, clocks and fire engines. Or to put it another way: the maintenance of the church and its services, the keeping of the peace, the repression of vagrancy, the relief of destitution, the mending of roads, the suppression of nuisances, the destruction of vermin, the furnishing of soldiers and sailors, even to some extent the enforcement of religious and moral discipline. These were among the multitudinous duties imposed on the parish and its officers, that is to say the vestry and its organisation, by the law of the land.
The vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself.[2] However, this was the high point of the parish vestry. During the 19th century the parish vestry progressively lost its powers to ad-hoc boards and other organisations, such as the loss of responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. From 1837 the provision of support for the poor was no longer the direct responsibility of the vestry, but came under elected boards of guardians for single parishes or poor law unions. In the London area, vestries were incorporated under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 to create civil bodies for parishes, which were distinct from the ecclesiastical vestries. In another example, Sanitary Districts were established in England in 1875 and took these responsibilities from the parish. Such replacement boards were each able to levy their own rate in the parish. Consequently the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and was abolished altogether in 1868.[3]
However, proliferation of local bodies led to fragmentation of local government resonsibilities and became a driver for the 1894 Local Government Act. This was expressed by H H Fowler, President of the Local Government Board, who said in the parliamentary debate for the 1894 Act....
"62 counties, 302 Municipal Boroughs, 31 Improvement Act Districts, 688 Local Government Districts, 574 Rural Sanitary Districts, 58 Port Sanitary Districts, 2,302 School Board Districts ... 1,052 Burial Board Districts, 648 Poor Law Unions, 13,775 Ecclesiastical Parishes, and nearly 15,000 Civil Parishes. The total number of Authorities which tax the English ratepayers is between 28,000 and 29,000. Not only are we exposed to this multiplicity of authority and this confusion of rating power, but the qualification, tenure, and mode of election of members of these Authorities differ in different cases."[4]
The secular and ecclesiastical duties were finally separated nationally when a system of elected rural parish councils and urban district councils was established under the 1894 Local Government Act. This replaced the parish vestry with a parish council or parish meeting to manage all secular parish matters.
Open and select vestries
A "select vestry" was an administrative committee of selected parishioners. This committee was also known as the "close vestry". The "open vestry", which selected many of those committee members, was a meeting open to the general public who were rate-paying residents.[5] There were both open vestries or select vestries, although in practice the division was somewhat blurred. Open vestries were rather like today's parish meetings, while select vestries acted more like the pre-Municipal Corporations Act 1835 borough councils.
An open vestry was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish.[5]
A select vestry or "close" vestry was the governing body of a parish, the members generally having a property qualification and being recruited more or less by co-option.[5] The open vestry elected the bulk of the select vestry members or, if dissatisfied, could exercise their power to do so.
Ecclesiastical parish
The term vestry continues to be used in some places for a body of lay members elected by the congregation or parish to run the secular business of the parish, such as in the Scottish Episcopal Church. [6] However,, in Parishes of the Church of England this role is undertaken by the Parochial church council.
Legislation
The Vestries Acts 1818 to 1853 is the collective title of the following Acts:[7]
- The Vestries Act 1818 (58 Geo 3 c 69)
- The Vestries Act 1819 (59 Geo 3 c 85)
- The Vestries Act 1831 (1 & 2 Will 4 c 60)
- The Parish Notices Act 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c 45)
- The Vestries Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict c 57)
- The Vestries Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict c 65)
See also
External Link
- Minutes of London Vestry committies at "Local Lives". [1]
References
- ^ Parish Notices Act 1837
- ^ a b Webb, Sidney; Potter, Beatrice (1906), English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations, London: Longmans, Green & Co.
- ^ Arnold-Baker on Local Council Administration, 1989
- ^ "Local Government of England and Wales Bill". Hansard 1803 - 2005. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 21 March 1893. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
- ^ a b c Tate, William Edward (1969), The Parish Chest: a study of the records of parochial administration in England (3rd ed.), Cambridge University Press.
- ^ http://www.scotland.anglican.org/vestry-resources/] The vestry dusties in the Scottish Episcopal Church
- ^ The Short Titles Act 1896, section 2(1) and Schedule 2