The old registers of the Parish were kept
in the Vestry until 1973; they are now deposited in the
Diocesan Record Office at Trowbridge. These registers
date from 1653; the ones before this disappeared when
the incumbent was ejected by the Puritans in the Commonwealth
period. Though there is a tradition that this priest
stayed on at Lyneham as gravedigger, the registers have
never been unearthed!
The registers in the church give hints on village life
in their period, as can be seen in some of the extracts
further on in this history. They give us an idea of the
work people did, their class and some of the laws and
customs of the day. For instance a noted comment:
“Was buried in woollen, according to ye Act
and Affidavit was made thereof” - referred to
a 17th century act designed to strengthen the wool
trade. These registers are beyond value and so
it was thought proper that they should be in professional
care and available to serious researchers.
Transcription from Lyneham
Baptism Register 1813-1839
The Revd William
Collins Cotton commenced his parochial labours at
Lyneham in the spring of 1826, and took up
his Residence at the House appropriate for the use of
the minister in July 1826. Where he expended a considerable
sum in improving and otherwise rendering the premises
more in character with a clergymans abode than heretofore,
by exemplifying that neatness, order and cleanliness
which (next to Godliness) the Minister of a Parish should
enforce among his People.
His next desire and Endeavour were, to add a lit to
the previous appearance of the Church and Churchyard
as thereby honouring God, and inducing his flock to reverence
his House of Worship. Finding the Holy Table without
a covering his wife Louisa Collins Cotton prepared a
Pall of Needlework and presented it to the Parish, and
otherwise respectively decorated the Altar Piece.
In the Spring of 1830 the said Minister of the Parish
built the new pews in the same Church one under the Archway
adjoining the Vault sacred to the memory of the Heneage Family,
which he has at his decase hereby dedicated to his successors
in the sacred office of Minister of Lyneharn for the
use of the Clergymans Family, the other when built, he
exchanged with Mr
John Pullen for a Pew which he has also hereby dedicated
for the use of the resident Clergymans servant; at the
time. He raised and repaired the Pulpit which was in
a dangerous state, erected some benches for the Sunday
School Children, and established a Verger at
One Pound per Annum to maintain discipline during Divine
Service.
The Churchyard not having any good footpath through,
and being particularly requisite at funerals he, in conjunction
with some help from the Parish had the present gravel
walk prepared, and the stones round the Great Porch raised,
levelled and secured, repaired the Boundaries of the
Churchyard, and had the Wall at the East side built in
exchange for a few yards of ground in which (as it fully
appeared) no one had been buried.
The Observations on the other side are not registered
with any ostentatious feeling, but in the hope that succeeding
Ministers, will be induced to Bestow a Portion of their
Emoluments towards the decent and reputable appearance
of their own residence, and particularly of that Place
where God's name is recorded. |
