Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

A HISTORY OF ST MARY’S, THE PARISH CHURCH 117 The Buckden Churchwardens’ Accounts We are very fortunate in Buckden that a remarkable set of books has survived and are now in the Huntingdonshire Archives; these are the Churchwardens’ Accounts books for St Mary’s Church and the village of Buckden. The wardens started these books in 1627 and recorded every penny collected and spent for 150 years. When coupled with the Assets and Vestry Books, they provide an excellent record of church life for over three hundred years. The earlier records provide a view on a world quite different to our own, and the later entries give an insight into the far-sightedness and thinking of those responsible for the church and village. Another of the many benefits of these accounts, is that the clerk and wardens recorded the names of the villagers, which enables us to associate more with them and how they lived. Naturally, when these books were started, the duties and powers of the wardens were altogether much wider than they are today. The church was the main seat of authority in the village and the wardens were responsible for raising levies or taxes, educating children, keeping law and order, caring for the poor, maintaining the church and even paying for the catching of vermin. Please see the appendix to this chapter for more on these fascinating accounts. The Civil War As mentioned previously, the old bell frame containing five bells was installed in 1637, and it would see turbulent times over the next ten years. Civil war broke out in 1642. Huntingdonshire, like much of East Anglia, was already a Puritan area with many churches following their stricter and plainer rules. It would appear that Buckden was not so severe and even leaned towards the Royalist cause, probably because of the bishop’s presence here. But, by 1643 the bishop’s minister, Richard Briarcliffe, had already been replaced by a Puritan one, the first of a stream of over thirty resident and itinerant ministers to preach here over the next fifteen years. From the Accounts, we can now fill in some of the blanks in the roll of vicars: 1632-7 Jacob Brooke; 1638-9 William Lloyde; 1640 Richard Lea; 1641-2 Richard Briarcliffe; 1644-51 or 56? John Carter; 1657 Mr Sharwood; 1661-4 Giles Waring. We cannot be certain of the damage done to the church during this period, although we do know that Bishop William Barlow’s tomb was destroyed in 1642. Any remaining ‘idolatrous’ statues plus some of the window glass were probably removed during this time too. The walls were whitewashed as the easiest and cheapest way to cover the offending frescoes and wall paintings. It is unlikely that the perpetrators of this destruction were punished, but Buckden did have the means to correct minor offenders. The Accounts for 1646 show repairs to ‘the church gate next the Stocks’. Simultaneously, repairs were also carried out to the other gate ‘next Mr Powells’, who was living in the Manor House; this would indicate that the stocks were by the seventeenth century west gate, a few yards to the east of the present west gate. On the more positive side, the church got a new pulpit and box pews, more suited to the 3 or 4-hour services. Our present octagonal pulpit retains many of the geometrically patterned oak panels and the banister and newel post of that 1640s one, which stood adjacent to one of the nave columns, probably the south easternmost. The original Jacobean altar table was rediscovered in 1921 by Rev. Frederic Bodger in the old vicarage and placed in the south aisle, where in 1930 it was refurbished and re-consecrated as an altar in memory of George Page, a long-serving churchwarden. The churchwardens, John Jackson and Cadwalader Powell, both significant landowners, levied three massive tax rates on the population in 1649 to repair the nave roof, fabric and windows. Very detailed records of the receipts and expenditure of these repairs appear in the Accounts, including payment for thirty oak trees from the former bishop’s parkland. To commemorate the re-roofing, the wardens had their initials ‘I.I. C.P. ANNO 1649’ carved into the north roof wall plate. They replaced the former clerestory angels with plain designs on the roof panels and installed a brass candelabra suspended from a central pulley on the new roof truss. This pulley, unusually, is in the shape of a two-faced man facing east and west, both faces bearing an uncanny resemblance to King Charles! It is important to remember that while the nave and main structure of the church were the responsibility of the wardens, the chancel’s upkeep was in the care of the church’s patron. This was normally, of course, the bishop of Lincoln or his prebend, but during the Commonwealth the patrons had little time for the fabric of the church.