Reports

South Tyneside Meeting - February 2002 "A Dark Corner of the Parish Chest" by Geoff Nicholson A Report by Margaret Stafford

As promised Geoff focused on "a dark corner of the parish chest" - or rather one particular document from one particular parish chest in the parish of Ryton near Gateshead, formerly County Durham.

In case you are concerned, he hadn't had a memory lapse and forgotten he was talking to the South Tyneside group but made the point that more use should be made of parish chest documents and illustrated how much family history information can be gleaned from the most unlikely sources!

The document in question is the "Liber in usum Rectorum Ecclesia de Ryton in perpetuum" (and yes, I did have to copy that down letter by letter!) Roughly translated this is "the book for the use of the Rector of Ryton in perpetuity"

The particular rector was the Reverend John Lloyd who was in Ryton from 1738-1766. We actually didn't find out much about his personal history except that he came from a family very prominent in church affairs in Worcester - another talk Geoff?) but he certainly seems to have been an extraordinary man, in many ways a very modern man, a litigious man who knew his rights and made sure they were enforced. If there was any prospect of money, he would pursue a claim with great tenacity.

To help with his task and for the benefit of future rectors (for this was about in truth boosting his income as well as that of the church!) he transcribed many legal documents which are now found nowhere else. In chasing up rents owed on land he believed to be church land (and being given excuses such as "my husband is away on business in Scotland" which led us down an interesting diversion about what on earth this business in the mid 18th century could be, we decided cattle droving was the likely answer, if indeed his wife was telling the truth) he left detailed information about who lived where, a description of the land by features which survive today and enable you to reproduce the map of the village and locate the families.

This was the sort of talk which made you long for ancestors from Ryton instead of from all those other parishes whose chests are bare!

We know when the pipes were laid to bring water to the old rectory - 1381. His descriptions give us a map of the parish in the 1700s with the next available map being the Tithe map of 1842. We know which families were paying mortuaries ( a sum of money payable to the church on the death of a member of a landowning family, we found out!) and when, so we have additional information about deaths.

We heard about tithes on turnips and that villagers had to pay a tithe of 4d for a foal - as much as a man, his wife and one child. Someone helpfully pointed out the horse must have been able to pull a greater load than the wife!

The book was added to by subsequent rectors into the 1890s but is about 80% Lloyd and his entries are the most useful and give a real insight into important matters of village life.

The original is now deposited in Durham record office and is a must if you have ancestors from Ryton.

Thank you Geoff - I'm sure record office staff will be asked more searching questions about what parish chest material is available. It goes to show you can find family history information in the most unpromising of documents.