EVOLUCION DE LA ADMINISTRACION

Materials Ballaugh Kirk Malew Castletown St Mark’s Wales in English

Decalogue yes 1634 from at least n/a yes

(date unknown) 1826

plaques all all all all all

ecclesiastical from from 1634 from 1787 from 1772 all

records 1634

secular n/a n/a 1701-1925 n/a yes

records

parochial yes yes (MNH yes no unknown

libraries (Kermode VRs) (Hoy 2010: library

et al: 208) 52)

lists of yes 1398-1912 unknown 1772-1828 all lists

incumbents

benefactions yes yes unknown yes all

boards

Bible and unknown from yes (dates 1875- English

BCP until 1748 1634 unknown) 1920 editions held

(MNH VR) (LLGC PR

1729)

inscriptions from pre-Ref- 1809- 1772 all

on plate 1710 1900 1830/1

wall texts 1832 - - 19th c. n/a

war after 1918 1922 c. 1920 after 1918 yes

memorials tracts translation of Sinner’s Friend no longer required (Kermode et al. after 1877: 186)

services service/sermon 1634- ‘There is no alternate services

in English one 1833 (MNH Manks service Sunday ‘alternately

Sunday morning VRs) performed services in Welch [sic]

a month in St Mary’s English and English’

(Kermode Chapel’ (MNH VR (LLGC VR

Et al. 1877- (MNH VR 1830) 1795)

1934: 186) 1833)

within this Welsh village. Later, in the mid-nineteenth-century, window glass designed and constructed in Shrewsbury found inside the Llansantffraid-ym- Mechain (Haslam 1979: 56, 150) and Trelystan churches (ibid: 204) reiterated the active permeability of this border.

To conclude, during a period when the use of English during services

increased in Manx churches, the 1889 Parliamentary Intermediate Education Act led to more of the Welsh people becoming bilingual, which resulted in Welsh continuing to be the language of religion in Wales. The context of language actively

distinguished those with dissimilar cultural capital within, and between, Manx and Welsh communities.

Social issues

The absence of grand medieval architecture in Man except for the two Castles, Rushen Abbey, the Nunnery and Bishopscourt was testament to the lack of active contemporary social disparity, except between the indigenous population and those in political and religious authority who often came from off-Island. No evidence of archaeological investigations of quarterland farmsteads of similar dates in the Island that might contradict this viewpoint were discovered. From the dissolution of Rushen Abbey in 1541 the Isle of Man became a source of income for the Lords of Man except for short periods. The jurisdiction of the Magna Carta which reduced King John’s powers was never extended to Man where feudal systems continued. The whole Island was owned by the Lordship and all Island landholders except for a few barons (Moore 1900: 739) were tenants who lost their leases after twenty-one years.

In contrast, in England and Wales a great deal of formerly ecclesiastical land came onto the market at the Reformation. In Wales many gentry embraced

Protestantism because of its subsequent benefits in land acquisition (Williams 1979: 153). By 1640 traditional tenancy systems had disappeared in England (Wrightson and Levine 1979: 10) but by 1680 the gap between the living conditions of the affluent and the poor had increased (Wrightson 1982: 13), perhaps facilitated by the founding of a number of schools to educate prospective clergymen (Williams 1979: 17) which excluded Englishmen of low social status.

In Man, rural homes remained ‘mere hovels, compacted of stones and clay for walls, thatch’d with broom, most commonly containing one room only’ (Blundell 1648-1656: 57). In 1656 Chaloner reported that the people were ‘contented with simple Diet and lodging: their Drink, water: their Meat, Fish; their Bedding, Hay or Straw, [...]’ [sic] (5). Early modern Manx communities were probably largely self- sufficient in times of plenty for basic goods although timber, iron goods, salt, pitch, and tar were imported (ibid: 30). There was such a shortage of timber in the Island that a 1665 Act of Tynwald forbade anyone to cut, break, or spoil trees not on their property (Mills 1821: 107). ‘S. Radcliffe was presented for felling timber at

Bishopscourt in 1667’ (Garrad 1985: 20). By 1791 the Manx peasantry still lived in extreme poverty in ‘wretched’ sod-walled huts interspersed amongst the farm houses and the Island was in ‘great want of timber-trees’ (Townley 1791: 35-6). Rector Wilks of Ballaugh, who wrote about farming and fishing in Ballaugh in 1774, also mentioned the impact lack of wood had on living conditions. The apparent shortage inside early-modern Manx churches implied in visitation returns and by the lack of surviving early wooden items contrasted markedly with the medieval and early- modern Welsh church interiors studied, which evidenced more activity in the intricately carved remnants of old wooden fixtures and fittings found.

In Ballaugh much of the land was either boggy or very hilly, and infertile (Wilson 1697: 91). By 1797/8 the village had

a public brewery and ʃeveral hat manufactories [...] fifteen to twenty herring boats [...] two corn mills. Flax is grown in ʃmall quantities [...] population [...] 200 in 1726 [...] 1792 [...] 1015’ [...] Hats are made here, the wool being admirably adapted for that purpoʃe. Some thouʃands of rabbit ʃkins uʃed to be exported annually

(Feltham 1798: 187, 191).

The location of old Ballaugh Church near the seashore reflected the, once active, adjacent seaport. The port’s demise from coastal erosion, and its replacement with an agrarian economy, was evident in the new church built more than a mile inland in 1832.

In Malew limestone soil was ‘as good as can be desired’ (Wilson 1697: 91) reflected greater commercial activity. By 1797/8 there were ‘several publick

breweries, five corn and three flax mills’ (Feltham: 261). ‘A conʃiderable quantity of grain’ was exported via Castletown (ibid: 266). In the nineteenth century the limestone quarries adjoining Peel Road two miles outside Castletown employed many and supplied the whole Island with lime as well as exporting much. A disused quarry and limekilns have survived at Scarlett near Castletown. Local slate and black limestone continued to be conspicuous in Insular graveyards, evidence of activities associated with easy access to this resource. Blundell recorded that many mid-seventeenth century Castletown houses had two stories ‘which the country houses for the most part have not’ (1648-1656: 68). Certainly by the seventeenth century a number of grander houses had been built (Figures 114-116).

However, in years when harvests failed local populations relied on corn imported from England, implying a lack of resources for contingencies in supply and storage, which perhaps reflect low morale and inactivity related to tenancy law before 1645. Failed potato crops as late as 1846 contributed to increased emigration between 1847 and 1861 (Moore 1900: 553-555). Designation of 24 March 1847 as ‘a Fast Day for the failure of the potato crop’ in the Isle of Man (Cotter 1977: 16) implied its huge impact on Manx communities.

Wills listing legacies of single blankets and old clothing implied simple lifestyles. It was evident that the poor were perceived as a problem. In 1701 the collection taken at the consecration of the new St. Mary’s Castletown reflected active concern for ‘poor strangers and other distressed people’ (MNH DD box 9). The presence of the poor and homeless, and concepts of the deservedness of

individuals and families was evident in a 1761 bequest which ‘expressly’ excluding those capable of begging from house to house in Castletown (MNH PR, Malew wills). Subjective concepts were perpetuated and shared more widely. In Trelystan in 1828 the deserving sat in pews, the poor on simple benches (SA VR). Ballaugh vestry minutes (MNH PR) from 1845 repeatedly referred to the needy, perceptions of their deservedness and how they were to be dealt with.

Prescriptive language used in both regions implied shared cultural practices and perceptions of worthiness related to social and economic capital stemming from those in charge. Bishop Barrow thought the economic capital of seventeenth-century Manx clergymen low although their hardships were hardly comparable with the lay destitution noted above. Language used and concern about poor maintenance of parsonages in official documentation may have reflected unrealistic hierarchical

expectations in the context of Manx clergy perpetuating local habitus. Apparent reluctance by incumbents to maintain their homes to a high standard or to wear distinctive dress may have reflected the relative poverty of Insular clergy or just a lack of perception that there should be social differences between themselves and laity they may have grown up with. But Bishop Barrow was unhappy about the activities of some clergy supplementing their low stipends by selling beer (MNH PR, Kirk Malew 1667), revealing a judgemental paradigm that perceived the social capital of the clergy above that of the common people even though English clergy also often added to their stipends. His solution, probably based on his own official and social standing and others’ perceptions of his authority, was practical rather than reprimanding. He actively acquired all the impropriate tithes in 1666 and was key agent in attaining of an annual Royal Bounty of £100 from Charles IIin 1675/6 towards augmenting clerical stipends, the latter of which was only replicated in England in 1704, from Queen Anne. The Duke of Atholl sold his interests in the impropriate tithes to the Crown in 1827 and thereafter the Malew stipend was paid by the Manx Government. From 1829 the impropriate tithes in Man were vested in the Commissioners for Woods and Forests who benefited from the Crown proportion and also paid regular, small amounts to Malew’s incumbents until 1946. In contrast, the Georgian architecture that has survived in Manx ports like Castletown strongly implied successful lay income associated with trade, English immigration and English religious and civil governance.

Although, in contrast, successive clergy at Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain enjoyed considerably better living conditions than their Manx colleagues (LLGC PR), no parsonage was ever built in the village of Trelystan. Variations probably reflected shared perceptions about the status of both livings. Llansantffraid-ym- Mechain was a rectory, Trelystan a curacy.

Another social issue was the relationship between men and women. Early modern English women were rarely identified in particular occupations except as servants, alehouse-keepers, and midwives (Wrightson and Levine 1979: 21). In Man midwifery was the only female occupation noted in ecclesiastical documentation although apparently four female freeholders in Man took part in choosing a

deputation to interview Earl William about an unspecified subject in 1700 (Cubbon 1952: 212-3). Direct payments for services to several eighteenth-century Castletown townswomen without reference to male relatives were recorded in the CRP. Manx

women like Mary and Catherine Corlett of Ballaugh made their own wills (MNH EPR 1737, 1755) and some participated in jury service (Cubbon 1952: 212-13). Female enfranchisement in Man in 1882 reflected female property tenancy rather than perceptions of gender inequality as undesirable. But women were poorly represented materially inside all the churches during the entire research period except in the context of their relationships with men.

Populations peaked around 1859 in all parishes studied (Table 14). Local fluctuations reflected disease, famine and perinatal mortality visible in all the burials registers and graveyards accessed. Material evidence of emigration and immigration is discussed in Chapter VIII. Growing populations and the 1666 fire of London stimulated widespread church-building and renovation programmes in England that reflected Protestant liturgical practice. This trend became visible a little later in mid- Wales, when a north transept was added to Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain in 1727. In Man, where all the Manx churches studied were enlarged or rebuilt between 1701 and 1781 (Table 15), a new chapel was also built at St Mark’s in the parish of Malew. Table 14: 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 1650 1700 1726 1757 1784 1792 1800 1821 1831 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901

Comparison of parochial populations

Ballaugh

Malew (including Castletown & St. Mark's) Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain

Table 15:

In Man technical advances over time provided more opportunities for social intercourse and commerce between Island communities. A 1776 Act of Tynwald facilitated the repair of highways and the draining of marshland (Moore 1900: 530). Tynwald ordered roads were to be at least eighteen feet wide. This activity impacted onto communities by enabling the transport of goods like limestone from Malew to areas like Ballaugh where the soil was less fertile, by horse and cart. But funding was not always available and country roads were still very basic in the early 1800s (ibid: 633-635) although Feltham noted the availability of post-chaises in Castletown (1798: 129). It seems much traffic was still on foot. Thomas Clarke, later chaplain of St. Mark’s, recorded walking the thirty or so miles home to the north of the Island from Castletown during school holidays (1817-1820: 72). Many years later he was instrumental in raising funds for bridge-building schemes around St Mark’s (ibid. 1864: 17) so families in outlying parochial districts could travel to school and church services more easily. Mr Bridson of Ramsey in his old age remembered a ‘four-in- hand’ that could carry six to eight passengers ‘running out of Ramsey’ the nearest urban area to Ballaugh, sometime in his youth (MNH MFLS 1959). This distant memory transcribed by an interviewer placed events described to around the turn of the nineteenth century. So it seems there were means for people to move between settlements more easily by that time, although it was not discovered if ordinary people at the lower end of the social scale had the financial means to access this resource.

Eighteenth century church building

1701 St. Mary’s Castletown built (MNH DD box 98) 1717 old Ballaugh enlarged eastwards (ibid. box 96)

1727 north transept added onto Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain (Silvester and Frost 1999: 2)

1772 St Mark’s Chapel built in Malew (MNH DD box 103) 1781 Kirk Malew chancel rebuilt (ibid.)