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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: Maiden Stone on Friday 02 October 20 19:34 BST (UK)
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St. Mary the Virgin, Blackburn.
Excommunications 1744-1758 (44 records)
Penance 1743-1755 (28 records)
Both lists indexed by surname.
New on Lancashire Online Parish Clerks website this week.
www.lan-opc.org.uk/Blackburn/Blackburn/stmary/index.html
The vast majority of people on the penance list were guilty of "ffornication". A few had committed "adultrey". The penance list began on 1st Jan. 1743/4 with Henry WHITTACRE (clandestine marriage). Next entry was November 1744 Martha WHITTAKER , wife of Henry WHITTAKER (clandestine marriage).
No reason recorded for excommunications.
These are the first excommunication and penance registers I've seen on LANOPC.
Also new on LANOPC are baptism, marriage and burial registers (1700's) of Darwen and Tockholes parishes which were then in Blackburn parish.
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Thank you for this information Maiden Stone. I don't think I have ever seen such lists in Parish Registers before -- or maybe they were in separate records just kept in the Parish Chest.
I wonder what happened when the ex-communicated ones died. Probably they had to be buried in unconsecrated ground with no actual funeral service -- it's not something I have ever thought about.
Also, if any of these people were unmarried -- would they be allowed to marry in Church I wonder?
It's also got me wondering about the 'penance' - would that be monetary - or would they have to perform free work for the Parish?
These are rhetorical questions I hasten to add -- no doubt I will be able to find out.
Very interesting.
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After the reformation the penance took the general form of reading a confession in church during morning service on a Sunday, the performance being afterwards duly certified to the judge by the officiating minister and the churchwardens.
If you are interested you can read about Penance in "A Practical Treatise of the Laws Relating to the Clergy" http://www.rootschat.com/links/01gxg/
There is a topic on excommunications at https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=824298.0
Stan
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Thank you for this information Maiden Stone. I don't think I have ever seen such lists in Parish Registers before -- or maybe they were in separate records just kept in the Parish Chest.
I have come across lists of excommunications a couple of times - usually at the back of a parish register when I've been trawling through a film. Always worth a look at other pages of a register rather than just honing in on a particular bmd we're looking for. (I know I'm guilty of that too!)
I can think of Alstonefield in Staffordshire as an example off the top of my head.
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An ancestor of mine was excommunicated in 1782 in Tadcaster, along with two other females. Her burial in 1801 took place in the churchyard.
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Thank You everyone for your information and comments.
It's a subject which interests me. I do have a copy of the book by W.E Tate entitled 'The Parish Chest'. I have had this for some years - but just looked in it again for the subjects of excommunication and penance.
There are several examples quoted. In one Parish Register - 'Middleham, Yorks' in 1792 - the vicar has written;
'I enter under the head of burials, as spiritually dead, the names of.......................'
In another case in 1696, Thornton, Bucks;
- ' Francis Colman dyed March 3rd but was not buryed in thes paresh bec. he dyed excommunicate, and was fetched by some Anabapt. brethren to a Burying place of theirs at Stony Stretford.'
A penance example from Croyden, Surrey;
Margaret Sherioux was enjoined to stand iij market days in the town and iij Sabeathe dayes in the Church, in a white sheete, with a paper on her back and bosom showing her sinne.... She stood one Saurday and one Sunday and died the nexte'.
Isn't it interesting! I must return to this book more frequently to refresh my memory - as I fear my brain is turning into a sieve!
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Her humiliation was compounded by the outfit that she was forced to wear - a white sheet wrapped around her, with bare head, legs and feet, and carrying a white rod......................Anne failed to perform her penance, and because of this a sentence of excommunication was passed, preventing her from receiving holy communion and setting her apart from the rest of the townspeople.
Penance and Punishment http://www.rootschat.com/links/07ql/
Stan
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Oh Gosh, thank you Stan -- you would not think that the people who handed out these cruel punishments had a single Christian bone in their body.
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Personally I was thoroughly disappointed not to see any of mine in there. But never mind.
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Bashlad -- if you had naughty ancestors -- you have to share the details with us please. It's the law!!
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Well. A maternal great-grandfather didn't marry my great-grandmother seeing as he was inconveniently married and she wouldn't get a divorce. Didn't stop him from having four with the wife and 6 with the mistress. The other maternal great-grandfather supposedly left me with cousins in Peru while his wife was in England. But he told his sons their mother cheated on him as well so it's all fair I guess. Eventually I solved my paternal grandmother's line when I stopped assuming they were married before they started having children. 4 generations. 4! in a direct line! But somehow they passed the paternal name down. And I'm barely going to touch on the multitude having children about 5 months after getting married.
Safe to say I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for compounded adulterers and fornicators. And I wouldn't change any of them either.
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Gosh -- you did SO well having a good 'Bash' at those obstacles in your tree, 'Lad'! Well done you.
I also had 2 colourful, paternal great grandfathers, both living in Accrington, a small town adjacent to Blackburn - where those naughty parishioners were shamed.
One died in 1896 in Lancashire Asylum aged only 46. He came from a staunch Methodist family. The cause of his death was 'Paralysis' - which I took at face value, but later discovered that it meant 'Paralysis of the Insane' and was caused by Syphillis! How dreadful. I don't think the family could have known the real cause of his illness.
The other one was Irish, but had moved over to this area in the 1870s - he had 10 children by his wife - but in the 1901 census, in his 60s - he was living with a 24 year old 'Wardrobe Dealer' shown as his wife on the census. His wife was living with one of her (their) daughters.
The irony of this is -- my own father, when he was born, was named after BOTH these grandfathers of his!
It is entertaining though, just to have a bit of 'colour' in your family tree.
Well done again on working your way through your winding family lines.
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Not Blackburn, but luckily for me my great grandfather was thrown out of a Baptist congregation for "fornication and drink" They were a forgiving lot as 5 years later he was thrown out again, this time just for drink.
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Glad to see he had cut his bad habits by 50%. That's progress!
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No! They finished up with 11 kids, though I have only ever found 9!
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Redroger, I hope they weren't all conceived in fornication. :o
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Once married that becomes impossible of course. It all becomes legal!