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Tithe means a tenth. It was a tax on all material and labour of every person
in a parish.
A tenth of all produce was taken from this one third was given to the local
parish church, one third to the local lord and one third to the Crown.
In 1836 is was legislated that all land would be once and for all be mapped with
the legal ownership being attributed to the map for the purpose of gaining Tithe
awards (tax) assessments of land owners based on the rentable value of the
land.
The Tithes (tax) were formerly based on possible grain /grazing capacity of the
land and as such payment was made in grain or live stock, but in 1836 this was
change to a land tax based on the rentable value of the land. If you
rented land off a landlord the landlord would have to pay a percentage of the
value of the land to the local parish church normally one tenth and the local
crown representative normally being a Duke or Lord.
The parishes share (award) was in-effect council tax/rates and went
towards the maintenance of the parish infrastructure, being the Church building
& parish owned buildings, local road maintenance, drainage and the maintenance
of the poor. Much like today. The crowns part was used for civil and
national defense.
Tithe awards for Mellor.
The Tithe map and accounts of 1836 for Mellor: Obviously there were no
Marchington's in the tithe award for Mellor as they had not arrived here yet.
What's interesting is that the Hartle's are not mentioned so obviously they only
moved to the area after the Tithe award.
Far Bradshaw Farm and the
surrounding land in the tithe award is owned by the Duke of Norfolk and is in
the possession of Ellen Broom being a holding of 69 acres. The rent being £1
43s for the dwelling and £3 86s for the land.
Upper Bradshaw Farm is owned by Jonathan Jowett and is in the possession
of William Beard. Being fields number 28,29,30. 38,39,32 being
dwelling & out-buildings. Its a holding of 30 acres, the same size as when
Philip Marchington takes it over. The Tithe rent being : 14s 10d to
the Duke of Norfolk and Parish vicar of Glossop also 13s 8d to the Duke of
Norfolk
Pistol Farm is owned by Thomas Slack and is in the possession of John Bray.
Gun Farm is also owned by the Duke of Norfolk being in the possession of John
Higgingbottom.
Spring Bank Farm is owned and farmed by Thomas Hyde.
Tithe awards for Chapel en le Frith.
the Tithe map of Chapel parish is very interesting, in that
unlike most other
parishes where every field and building was given a reference number which
logged the ownership of the said land or property to the person, Chapel parishes map only makes reference to some 6 plots of land being held by
William Bagshaw with Tithe awards attributed to them the rest of the entire parish land and buildings have no reference
numbers attributed to the owners.
This unusual situation needs some explanation as to its origins.
Now it as been mention previously the unusual situation of this parish with reference
to ancient arguments as to the ownership of the Tithes and the control of
certain aspects of the parish which derive from the seizure of the lands by
Robert Peverel in the time of King John who gave part of the Tithe's to
the Priory of Lenton, the king at the time was in feud with the Barons and as
such the Priory which
were ruled by gentry who had take an oath (monks) and Robert Peverel took advantage of
his friendship with the king and the kings dispute with the Barons & Monastic
Priory's and
seized the manor of the High Peak to which his forefather was given by the Conquer
and was later taken back by the Crown, as such because it was a Royal Forest no
one paid tithes due to the fact that they were working on and for the Crown
estate for services rendered.
Now later on most of the lands in the parish were owned by local people having
been given to them as favour by the Crown for services in the Royal Forest and
as such they had to pay tithes to the parish and crown in fact the parish
was unusual in this fact that most of the inhabitants held their own land and
there was no one person who held a majority of land in the parish other then the
Crown. Which meant that the only tithe's payable were to the administered
Diocese and Crown. But because Robert Peverel bestowed the tithes to the Priory of Lenton,
the Dean & Chapter of Lichfield who was the Diocese for the Chapel en le
Frith parish objected and was in dispute with the priory to which they involved the king
to settle the dispute. The parishioners must have took offence to
the Priory of Lenton requesting tithes to which they never before have paid too, one
could assume that this was due to the fact that the Prior had no connection with
the parish they must have also been incensed by the Diocese claiming extra
tithes and trying to capitalize on the dispute. The dispute went before the then present King, but the king very wisely stated
either party should produce a Royal Charter proving their claim to the Tithes of the parish to which neither could
as it was Crown land and as such this left
the parish in an unusual position in that they controlled their own parish to
some extent within the confines of the Diocese law and as such they paid the
majority of tithes to their parish church and the Crown. This could also explain the unusual position in
that the parishioners choose their own vicar by local election as oppose to the
Diocese. This was challenge on a few occasions by the Dean and Chapter of
Lichfield who failed on numerous occasions to install their own candidate also
on occasion by the Priory of Lenton who also failed. After the abolition of the monasteries
by Henry VIII there claim and presence in the parish passed.
Now given the fact that the Tithe map shows no owners of the lands contained
within the parish other then the few parcels mentioned owned by the church. The
parish did maintain rent books detailing who owned what. The rent books listed all owners of land and those renting land or
property and the value of the land. Adam Fox maintained the rent book in and around 1800. This book is now
in the possession of a local man of Chapel. The later book of 1837
administered by John Taylor is stored at Matlock Records Office(MRO) being ref
no: D3453\42\7
Most early parishioners of Chapel choose to pay their Tithes is cash or in kind to the
church as oppose to in grain or livestock as shown by these early Tithe
payments. The chapel parish must have been an highly organised parish and as
such they kept rent books detailing the value of all lands.
The Tithes of 1614
MRO Doc No: D3453/14/15/1
Thomas Marchington unable to read amount
John Marchington £3 4s 8d
The Tithes of 10th July1664
MRO Doc No: D3453/14/15/5
Philip Marchington 6's
John Marchington 22's
The Tithes of 1836
Where based on the rent book to which the parish council maintained.
1837 Rent Book (land valuation) for Chapel Parish lists the following
Marchington's
Notes in the index & key to map.
“Ancient valuable custom that all occupiers of land except numbered on the
plan shall pay yearly on the feast of St Thomas Beckett the sum of £12 instead
of all the predial tithes. The gled tithes numbered payable two thirds to
William Spencer Duke of Devonshire and the third tithe to the incumbant”.
Name of occupier
Property/ address
owner
rate
Hannah
Marchington House,
Clough
Wm Bagshaw, Slack
Hall £1, 5s,
0d
"
"
Land
"
"
"
"
"
£22, 2s 10d
Joseph
Marchington
House, Plumpton
Joseph
Marchington
£1, 13s, 10d
"
"
Land
"
"
"
£77, 2s, 11d
"
"
Deduction of 4 acres for reservoir & 3 plant
stations
£8, 1s, 0d
Philip
Marchington
House, Sittinglow
Philip
Marchington
£1, 5s, 0d
"
"
Land
"
"
"
£28,15s, 8d
John
Marchington
House, Horsteads
John
Marchington
£1, 5s
"
"
Land
"
"
£30
Executors of the late Estate of Thomas Marchington of Eaves
Joseph Hallam
House, Sittinglow
Thomas
Marchington
16s, 8d
Joseph
Needham
House &
Land
Thomas Marchington I failed to record
Joseph
Barns
House, Sandyway Head Thomas Marchington
I failed to record
William
Collins
House, Sandyway Head Thomas Marchington
I failed to record
Samuel Warhurst
House, Sandyway Head Thomas
Marchington I failed to record
Henry Kirkjan
House, Sandyway Head Thomas
Marchington I failed to
record
MRO Doc No: D3453/42/7
List of Marchington Rate payers in Bradshaw Edge
entitled to vote in the
1836 election for Vicar
Joseph Marchington of Horsteads
Joseph Marchington of Plumpton
Thomas Marchington of Eaves
Philip Marchington of Sittinglow
Hannah Marchington of Clough
John Marchington of Horstead
George
Potts
of Plumpton ( Grandfather )
MRO Doc No: D3455/14/4/3
Free Holders voting meeting of Chapel
Free Holders agreement of 20 Feb 1715 with reference to the enclosures of the
commons; There are no mentions of Marchington's being Freeholders at this time.
Which is strange given the fact that Henry Marchington was stated as being a
Freeholder in the 1701 election and as such was entitle to vote. Unless the
Henry's lands were not in the borough which could be true given the location of
Lower Eaves
Philip Marchington did sign the agreement as to witness the freeholders.
MRO Doc No: D3453/42/2 not an original copy
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