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Church and Chapelry in Sixteenth-Century England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Christopher Kitching
Christopher Kitching*
Affiliation:
Public Record Office
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Extract

The church has always experienced great difficulty in ministering to those dwelling in the remotest parts of its parishes. In this paper I shall look briefly at how the sixteenth century church coped with the problem, and attempt to answer two questions: what facilities for worship were available in outlying districts, and what was the impact of the reformation changes upon them?

Chapels abounded in England on the eve of the reformation. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that wherever he lived a parishioner could, without an unreasonably arduous journey, reach a place where mass was sung or said. Quite apart from matters of spiritual and moral discipline, it was important for very practical reasons that he should be able to get quickly to church. Disaster could take hold in villages and townships if the entire population had set off on a long hike to a remote parish church and was unlikely to return for some hours. Moreover, the length of the hike determined the extent of the diversion of labour from other pursuits, notably in the fields at harvest time: indeed, this was to influence government rulings on the number of saints’ days to be observed by the laity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 16: The Church in Town and Countryside , 1979 , pp. 279 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1979

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References

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34 [PRO Star Chamber Proceedings,] STAC 4/7/2 : Saint James chapel in Sutton, Lincs; STAC 4/6/2 and 4/6/34: Catcott chapel in Moorlynch; STAC 4/3/8: chapelries in Sleaford.

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