Until the separation of the civil ecclesiastical components of vestal authority
in 1894, the role of churchwardens in parochial life was of even greater
significance than that of the vicar.
The usual arrangement was for two churchwardens to be appointed annually at the
Easter meeting of the vestry.
In some parishes, for example, the office was filled by 'house-row', by
appointing the occupiers of certain properties.
Until recently, most parishes appointed two churchwardens, a vicar's warden and
a people's warden, their staffs of office bearing a mitre and crown
respectively.
At one time, the churchwardens were responsible for arresting offenders against
ecclesiastical law, and even today they are empowered to remove a persons hat
during divine service.
Churchwardens were expected to be rigorous in upholding standards of behaviour,
parishioners who were guilty of moral transgressions were reported to the
archdeacon's courts, for instance, the punishment for sexual offences being a
period of penance in the church porch where they were required to stand on a
white sheet.
Thomas Parr, whose grave in Westminster Abbey records his death in 1635 at the
remarkable age of 152, was made to undertake just such a penance in his church
at Alberbury in Shropshire, for fathering an illegitimate child in his
hundredth year, the porch has since been demolished.
Written and contributed by Philip Lloyd.
