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mail armour is executed with great precision. The hauberk on the body terminates differently from any figure of this sort which I have noticed; the thighs appear to be covered with a gamboised or quilted defence, which reaches to the knees, which are defended by plane armour; the hands are raised in prayer, and the feet have rested on a lion, part of his tail being still remaining; the sword depends from a belt adorned with large studs; the remains of the angelic figures, which support the cushion for the head, are delicately sculptured, two very similar figures to which are on the tomb of John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, who died in 1384. These additions were often introduced in the beginning of the fourteenth century. An ancient sword, but such an one as the Templar never handled, probably brought from Owston Church, now stands near the figure. The whole effigy is very much mutilated, which no doubt was occasioned by its removal to Burton.

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The tombs which Leland mentions were on the south side of Owston Church, near the porch. After they were taken away the space remained unoccupied, until it was enclosed, a few years ago, as a burial ground for a private family.

This Church has a small estate in land, amounting in all to six acres and three roods, dispersed in different parts of the parish, the gift no doubt at various times of several pious individuals; but no records concerning these donations are in existence. They all belonged to the Church in 1663, and were then let for the sum of £3. 3s. 4d. :-at present the estate produces about ten pounds per annum.

The Rectory is an impropriation to the See of York. This was one of the four Churches* given by Roger de Mowbray to the Priory of Newburght, near Easingwold, in the North Riding of the County of York, which he founded, in the year 1145, for Canons Regular of St. Augustin, "cum terris et decimis et omnibus aliis rebus ad ipsas Ecclesias pertinentibus." After the dissolution of the Religious Houses, King Henry the Eighth compelled the Archbishop of York to accept of this impropriation, together with that of Haxey, in lieu of certain Manors of which he deprived him. It appears from Pope Nicholas' valuation, taken in the year 1288, that this Rectory was then valued at £40. In this valuation the Vicarage is not mentioned, though impropriated to Newburgh; that corporation, as was the case at Epworth, presented a Rector, who had full possession of the tithe. The last Rector was collated by the Bishop of Lincoln in 1347, per lapsum, which probably took place owing to some proceedings concerning the endowment of a Vicarage, as the next parson is instituted as a Vicar.

In

* The first grant of these Churches was made by Nigel d'Albini, who took the name of Mowbray. + The Deed runs thus.-Hanc donum feci in hunc modum, quod ego ipsas Ecclesiás tenebo liberè et quietè dum in laicali habitu vivere voluero, et postquam ego habitum mutavero, aut ex vita decessero, Rogerus filius meus tenebit, quatuor Ecclesias de Insula, et quintam de Langford, pro quinque marcis reddendis annuatim Priori de Nebr. Ecclesiam vero de Massam et Malesart tenebit de Ecclesia de Nebr. et liberam et quietam ex omni exactione. Si ante obitum meum puer oberit post decessum ipso Ecc. liberæ et quietæ remanebunt Ecc. de Newburgh." This puer Rogerus afterwards gave the four Churches in the Isle to the Priory absolutely and for ever, as stated in the text; which grant was again confirmed by his son Nigel.

In the valuation taken by order of Henry the Eighth the entry is as follows.

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This endowment, however liberal at the time it was made, became, like many others, owing to the alteration in the value of money, very small, so that some one of the Archbishops added the modus of High Melwood, amounting to £13. 6s. Sd.; and in the year 1737, the parishioners agreed that the acre of meadow in Lound Ings, the hay whereof was formerly stowed in the Church floor, should be given from year to year to the Vicar, in consideration that his living is very small, to help to augment it; the Vicar promising, if required, to put as much of the said hay as the churchwardens for the time being shall think proper."

At the time of the inclosure of the Commons, the original endowment was augmented by the consent of the Archbishop and his Lessee, to the sum of £30, by the Act of Parliament obtained for that purpose. The Vicar also, at that time, obtained an allotment on the Common of eight acres of land. Since that time the sum of two thousand five hundred pounds was appropriated by the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty for the further augmentation of this Vicarage; which money was raised partly from Parliamentary grants, and partly from the benefactions of that truly munificent Prelate, Dr. Vernon, and of the present Vicar, assisted by the Trustees of the Charity of the late Mrs. Pyncombe. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was agreed between the inhabitants of East Ferry and the Vicar of Owston, that they should pay to the said Vicar 4d. for their hens, and the "Cottingers 3d. in consideration of which payment he was to christen their children, to church their wives, and to administer to them the Holy Communion." There was a Chapel at East Ferry, at the time of the valuation of King Henry the

Eighth,

Eighth, where service was performed by a resident Minister. This Chapel having fallen into decay, was rebuilt about forty years since by the Rector of Scotton, who has ever since provided for the duty. The above agreement was therefore evidently made in the interval, when the inhabitants of East Ferry had lost the benefit of a resident Minister, and before the liberality of the late Rector provided them with the performance of public worship once a fortnight*.

The Vicarage House stood near the Church, in a small croft, not far from the place to which the gates were removed, when the late improvements in the Church walk were completed, and is described in the terrier as one bay of building. It was suffered to fall into decay during the incumbency of the late Vicar, who held the living about fifty years. I have heard it described

* There is an old book, containing the Churchwarden's accounts from the year 1660 to 1684, from which we learn some very curious particulars :-That a trifling repair was never done at the Church, but the acting Warden spent as much money as the work came to. That it was the custom to elect four Wardens in this parish, one for Owston, one for Ferry, one for Gunthorpe, and one for West Butterwick. This practice was given up in the year 1640; since which time only three have been elected, as at present, the one for Gunthorpe being omitted. It appears that a visitation was held at Kirton, by Bishop Sanderson, in the year 1661. There are several lists of persons, as many as ten in one year, who had "been declared excommunicate;" and also of others who had "been absolved and received again into the Church," but for what offences is not stated. Many of these were married women. The parish had a law suit in the Ecclesiastical Court with one Fillingham, most probably for non-payment of the Church Rate, which was carried on for four years, when he was excommunicated, and ordered not to go into the Churchyard. This Fillingham seems to have been a very refractory parishioner, as there is also an item for expences in going to the Justice, because "he refused his collection for the relyfe of the poor." There are two very curious old documents in this book of accounts, entitled "A true note of all the lots about the Churchyard, beginning at the south side of the east Church steel, and so about the Churchyard, having relation from the year 1620, one yard and a quarter for every lot." I should conjecture that this was a plan made use of at that time for the repair of the Churchyard walls. It gives us, however, the names of all the occupiers and owners of lands and tenements at that period, from which there is very little variation at the present time. Very few of the old families have become extinct, though some fresh ones have been added. We learn also, that, with the exception of the owners of High Melwood and Low Melwood, and the family of Pindars, most of them were small owners, not being assessed at more than one lot each, very few persons had two, and only one had three lots. In the year 1663 is an item of which I can make nothing: Paid to Edward Terwitt's wyfe for pulling Everatt's boy's head, 5s.

scribed as containing some good rooms, and surrounded by some very large old walnut trees, which were illegally cut down about thirty years since. The last Vicar who inhabited this house was the Rev. Mr. Wardle, a man passionately fond of shooting, who having started a hare in the north-east corner of the Churchyard, was, by his own desire, afterwards buried on the spot.

The following is a list of the Rectors and Vicars of Owston, as far as they can be ascertained.

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