This page was last updated on: February 14, 2016
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Leverstock Green ChronicleMaplinks page (for large scale and old maps of the area.)

20th Century Leverstock Green   A Church for Leverstock Green
Vicars of Leverstock Green & Rectors of Chambersbury      Glossary
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EARLY CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS 
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH LEVERSTOCK GREEN.
Amongst the archives of Holy Trinity Church Leverstock Green is a charming brown tooled-leather pocket account book sold by Cirton Booksellers and Stationers Hemel Hempstead for 1/- in or before 1850.  It measures just 7” x 4 ½ “ and is 3/8” thick.  It is a delight to look at and handle, and apart from some slight pulling away from the stitching which binds the pages, is in excellent condition.
It’s the sort of small pocket account book a Victorian Gentleman would have purchased for his own household accounts, but in this instance was used by John Evans to record the receipts and expenditure of the Churchwardens of the Church of Holy Trinity Leverstock Green in 1850.   Seen in this photo (L) Evans was John Dickinson’s son-in-law, and later to become a leading Victorian Gentleman. He was created Knight Commander of the Bath in 1882.   His numerous accomplishments included being a Fellow of the Royal Society, an Antiquarian, a Geologist, a Paper Manufacturer, a Trustee of the British Museum and an inventor. Holy Trinity was fortunate to have such an illustrious Churchwarden. Subsequently the account book was used by John Evans and the Churchwardens who served with him and followed him, to continue to record the accounts until 1890.  They make fascinating reading.  They provide a beguiling snapshot of the life in the newly created Parish of Leverstock Green for the next forty years.
PEW RENTALS

The very first entries show that in the early days of the church, the “gentry” of the parish were expected to pay the church a small annual rental for the privilege of sitting in a particular pew.  This was common practice in Victorian England.  Holy Trinity Church was designed to seat 404 persons, and we know from a ground plan of the church, that the “Encorporated Society for the Promotion of Enlarging Building and Repairing of Chapels & Churches” gave Holy Trinity Church a grant of £200 to ensure that 350 of these seats were to be “declared to be free for the use of the poor for ever”.   The word FREE was to be painted in a conspicuous manner on the front of each pew.  From the plan we can see that the pews which could be rented, were those 6 pews towards the front of the left hand side of the nave.  The front pew on this side was to be free also and I find this a little strange, unless although “free”, it was reserved for the family of the clergy.  

Studying all the pages of the accounts it would appear that not just whole pews, but individual seats within pews were rented. Amounts of rental varied from £2 down to 2/6 per annum. It is difficult to judge from the entries whether or not there was a basic seating charge of 2/6 per individual seat and £1 or £2 for a whole pew, or whether the amounts paid depended simply on status/income.  The list for the year 1850-1851 began as follows:  Mr Dickinson £2, Mr. Longman £2, Mr. Evans £1.  These were the heads of the families associated with the Paper Mills at Nash Mills, now part of Leverstock Green parish, whereas previously they had been part of the parish of Abbots Langley.  St. Mary’s Church Apsley wasn’t to be built for another 21 years. (John Evans was to serve as Churchwarden there also for many years.) Then followed other “worthies” from the parish:  Mr & Miss Saunders 10s, Miss Edwin 5s, Mr Joseph Finch 10s, Mr John Saunders 5s (John Saunders was the other Churchwarden.), Mr George Saunders 10s, Mr Bedwin 5s, H N Neale Esq. £2, Revd B Richardson £1, Mr Jennings, 5s, Mr John Child’s 5s, Mr William Smith 10s, Mr J Ebbern 5s and Mr D Headech 2s6d.

Entries of pew rentals, sometimes referred to as “seatings” continued to be accounted for in this way until 1868, thereafter they are lumped together as “contributions” or “subscriptions” and it is difficult to know how long the practice really lasted.

INITIAL EXPENSES

As well as giving the names of those renting pews, the accounts from 1850 for the first couple of years show expenses, which can be considered “one offs”, being specifically related to the fact that the church was newly consecrated. (October 1849).

In July 1850 Messrs May & Tyers were paid 16s 7 ½ d for 4 ¾ days work altering seats.  (These must have been some of those paid for by the gentry as the next entry refers to similar work on free seats.) An additional entry on the same line said @ 3/6.  A simple sum shows that the daily charge for this work was 3s 6d. (Worth £13.31 in 2004).

The charge for altering 40 free seats was £2, and as the unit charge shown was 1/- May & Tyers seem to have charged per seat rather than per day. We may never know how and why they were altered.
This was not the only charge for work on the seats, as there was an entry dated August 7th of 10s for “materials” (Perhaps wood, paint and varnish), and later at the end of February 1851, 9s6d was paid to Mr Elland for staining the seats, and 5s was paid out in January 1851 for repairing cushions. Had the Church Mouse been active I wonder?  If so it seems to have eaten through the bell-ropes as well, as on 8 March 1851 £1 2s 6d was paid to a Mr Boulton for replacing bell-ropes. (Though why they should need replacing after such a short space of time is a mystery unless the local rodent population was very active.)  Two further bell ropes were requires and paid for in February 1853 as 14s was paid to Mr Messenger for the ropes.  The cost of fixing them this time was 11s paid to Mr Payne at the end of the following month.

A further replacement, that of some windows, was made in August 1851 for the sum of 12s 9d. An entry a little further down makes me wonder if the new bell ropes and window replacements are connected as the expenditure of £1 was made on 12th April 1852 “ making wireguard for window and attaching bell pullies etc.”

Other initial one off expenses included 5s 3d for a Banns Book in November 1850 and 1/- for a Vestry Minute book at the same time, and 3/- for a new broom in April 1852.  Mr Walker, a bricklayer, was paid  £1 12s 4 ½ d in January 1851, though for what specifically the entry does not say. £4 15s was spent on “spouting” in August 1851, by which I take it to mean the guttering on the outside of the church.  The font had also not been properly finished as on February 4th 1852 Mr Hales was paid the sum of £1 14s 0d for lining it, presumably with lead to make a separate waterproof basin.

FURTHER EXPENSES

Heating costs both in the church and at the school were a considerable and continuous expense. Coke & Faggots having to be purchased annually, and Mr Cranstone of the Cranstone Ironworks in the Marlowes, was paid £2 5s 6d for a stove in March 1853. A replacement stove was purchased from G & J Jennings in March 1855 for £2  2 13s.  A further entry in November 1861 was to repay the  Rev C J Framton £1 for a stove for the vestry as per receipt.  By 1865 it would appear that the heating arrangements for the church school had become unsatisfactory as well, as  Mr Jennings was paid £2 16s 3d for “taking down old, fitting & fixing and repairing second hand stove”, with an entry lower down reading  “of Rev Helme (for National School) second hand stove £1.10s 0d.”  Such expenses were obviously deemed to be met by the church which had responsibility for the school, and indeed much of the Church’s archival documents are related directly to the schools first in Bedmond Road and later after the new school was built in 1930, to the school in Pancake Lane.

Continually recurring expenses were for items such as Sacramental wine, coal, coke, wood, the washing of surplices, cleaning & trimming church paths and clearing them of snow in the winter. There was the salary payments of various persons:  Mrs Doult ½ years January 1850 17/6d; Mrs Doult March 1851: 16/-, Bob Peat 1 ½ yrs salary March 1851 £1 10s, Mrs Doult ¼ yrs salary August 1851 10/6d, Mrs Doult ¾ yrs salary £1 11s 6d, Bob Peat 1 yrs salary April 1852 £1, ( for extra services throughout Lent and Passiontide 6/-), Mrs Doult ¼ yrs salary  April 1852 10/6d,  Mrs Doult 2 years salary March 1853 £1 1s (presumably for a different job as a usual years salary for her presumed cleaning job  (she it was who was paid for the broom) was 2 guineas (£2 2s), and indeed she was paid £2 2s for a years salary in  April 1853. By 1859 she was being paid £3 a year and by 1866 the cleaner, by this time Mrs Ratford, was being paid £3 10s a year.

As the Churchwardens themselves changed, so the details of some of the entries.  Many of the early entries just gave the name to whom a bill was payable and the amount, but on occasion intriguing and/or interesting detail was given: 


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See picture below
IntroductionPew rentalsInitial ExpensesFurther Expenses
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