Churchwardens' Accounts
Churchwardens' account books are held at
the Norfolk Record Office
Book 1 1554-1739 PD 595/19 Book 2 1739 - 1793 PD 595/20
Book 3 1793-1828 PD 595/21 Book 4 1828-1876 PD 595/82
Book 5 1876-1934 PD 595/83
The Churchwardens of Loddon ran the affairs of the parish until the introduction of County and District Councils during the C19. A few of our accounts are from the reigns of Mary I and Elizabeth I. None of the Account books is complete.
Much of the content is mundane, paying for repairs and maintenance of the church windows, roof and bells; paying fees to the Bishop and taxes to the Crown. Purchases of wine and bread indicate Communion services, Local tradesmen seem to undertake most of the work, but at times materials have to be transported from a distance.
The money for all of this came from the rental of the "Town Lands". About 70 acres of land in Loddon, Hales and Heckingham which had been given to the parish before the Reformation and was vested in "the Feoffees". These were men from the County and the Parish who were appointed when the previous Feoffees had died. Lists of their names appear in the books periodically. In the early accounts the majority of the land was in strips as described in the surviving Terriers. The majority of the records are from James I onwards.
Book 3: PD 595/21 & Book 4: PD 595 82 have now been transcribed and annotated, as has the first section of Book 1: PD 595/19. Footnotes help with obscure words and phrases.
BOOK ONE - SECTION ONE 1554 - 1624
Other related items can be viewed by using the links below
Transcript of the 1706 Terrier of the Town Lands
1739 List of Feoffees 1849/50 The rebuilding of the Town Farmhouse and Barn