ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY In 1549 the shire was reported to be quiet and peaceable, thanks to the efforts of the Marquis of Dorset.'" So far as is known, there were no special troubles connected with religion in the following reign ; though one priest at least, John Abraham, rector of Great Casterton, appears to have been deprived for his opinions.*^ Nicholas Bullingham, prebendary of Empingham (after- wards Bishop of Lincoln), either resigned or was deprived about the same time.'** On the other hand, Robert Manners, prebendary of Ketton, was probably deprived under the Elizabethan settlement in 1560. The official records of the deanery, so far as they are preserved, give us a most unpleasing picture of Church life in this county during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.'** Only on the negative side does the work of the Reforma- tion appear to have been done with zeal or thoroughness : that is to say, in the matter of destruction and removal of ancient ornaments. It is noted as an unusual feature in a visitation of 1 570 that the rood-loft at Ayston was not pulled down, and a great candlestick still stood at the 'altar's end' : evi- dently not as a matter of principle, for the church is described as ' digged by hogs,' and the alleys broken in the pavement.**^ So also at Ashwell the foot of the rood-loft still remained in its place, as well as certain images in the chancel, and the old ' taper stocks ' : and here again probably by an oversight, as the rector had been non-resident for years. The only other ancient orna- ment remarked at this time was the great holy-water stock at Whitwell. It appears from the visitations of thirty years later that in a great many cases the altars had been taken away in obedience to the royal injunctions of 1559, without any attempt to follow the directions issued a little later for the level- ling and paving of the space thus left vacant.'^ All through the reign com- plaints were made about the shameful state of churches and chancels alike, and rectors and wardens were reprimanded time after time without much result ; so that it is plain that the miserable condition of all the churches in the deanery in 1605 (shortly to be described) was only the natural conse- quence of a long course of neglect. Complaints were also made of the infre- quency of catechizing, and of the slackness of the youth when summoned. Non- residence and plurality were very common during the same period ; perhaps with more excuse than in other parts of the kingdom, for the stipends of the clergy were undoubtedly very low. This fact may also partly account for the low level of clerical life at the time : few benefices in Rutland were worth the acceptance of men of learning or refinement. Simon Palmer, vicar of Bis- brooke, actually lodged in his own parish church with his wife from Christmas to Candlemas in the year 1578, and 'abused that place,' the wardens said, 'too shamefully to be writed.' Such a man could have had but little rever- ence for the Church or the priesthood. Then there was a great dearth of preachers, even at this time when sermons were valued as the chief means of grace : in several places, including Uppingham, the congregations complained that they had not even the quarterly sermon which was their due. There "C<j/. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 21. " Robert Peacock was appointed on the deprivation of John Abraham ; ex inf. V. B. Crowther- Beynon, esq. ^' Ibid. 179. ^'Ibid. 138. ^ All the details which follow, unless another reference is given, are from notes taken from the archdea- conry records by the Rev. E. A. Irons of North LufFenham. "The rector from 1549 to 1589 was a pluralist, and in 1565 had to purge himself of some moral delinquency. '^ Hist, of the Engl. Ch. (ed. Stephens), v, 38, 61, 68. 147
