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Stebbing Shaw's Account of Mavesyn Ridware
Writing in the late 1790s, Shaw states that:
‘the face of the country is
pleasingly variegated, rich and well
cultivated, exhibiting an agreeable mixture
of corn and grass, the fields being well
fenced with flourishing thorn-hedges,
luxuriant in bloom, and sufficiently
thickened with forest trees’.
He examined the Church Registers that had to
be kept from 1538 and required that all
‘christenings, weddings and buryings’ be
registered. From this, he collated the
following:
| |
Marriages |
Christenings |
Burials |
|
1538-1547 |
20 |
59 |
55 |
|
1548-1557 |
19 |
58 |
52 |
|
1590-1599 |
19 |
79 |
54 |
|
1627-1636 |
19 |
65 |
56 |
|
1690-1699 |
15 |
105 |
60 |
|
1738-1747 |
56 |
128 |
80 |
|
1787-1796 |
30 |
122 |
79 |
Stebbing Shaw also noted some extracts from
the Church Book dated 1643 – 1695. The
following indicate how the parish of Mavesyn
Ridware was caught up in the Civil War of
1642-6. (The original spellings are kept.)
| |
|
£ |
s |
d |
|
1642 |
15th May, paid to
collenell Bagot towards the
maintenance of his majesties
garrison at Lichfield in money and
returns |
7 |
10 |
0 |
| 12th September,
the same payment |
7 |
10 |
0 |
|
20th July, paid for a
mare, sadell and bridle that went to
capt. Trevor for his majesties
service |
6 |
4 |
0 |
|
1643 |
29th Dec, spent
at Mary Edwardes amongst our
neighbors and colonel Cromwill
soldiers |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
A sessment to pay for
five horses that were lost (ie taken
away by col. Cromwill’s forces)
|
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
1644 |
17th March,
provisions went to Lichfield for
Prince Rupert |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
1st April, five men
pressed for his majesties service at
Dudley castle and sent to Rushall
Hall |
? |
? |
? |
| 30th June 1st and
2nd July, twelve teams and 13
workmen to the raising of the
bulwarks at Lichfield |
2 |
17 |
8 |
|
4th September, to 35
workmen that went to Lichfield
towards the raising of the bullworks
|
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
1647 |
27th August, paid
to 20 soldiers that came from
Uttoxeter from the seege |
|
10 |
0 |
|
28th August,
quartering 400 Scotes, prisoners and
20 soldiers with horses, their guard
|
4 |
19 |
8 |
Shaw also noted the following, which gives
an indication of the population of the
parish over the years:
‘In 25 Henry VIII. Here were 36
householders belonging to this church’
(This is a regnal
year, between 22nd April 1533 and 21st April
1534.)
‘And in 32 Elizabeth here were nine
freeholders who paid 56s viii d. to the
subsidy and Thomas Cawarden was rated for
4s. in land.’
(This would be between 17th November 1589
and 16th November 1590.)
‘At the time the hearth money was
collected in 1662, here were 88 hearths
which paid 81. 16s. The sum of 6s. 8d. is
given annually to the poor by the minister
and overseers on St Thomas’s Day. It is paid
from a piece called Sandyford, in Pipe
Ridware, formerly settled for that purpose
by Richard Lyon of Pipe Ridware’.
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