Transcript:Shropshire, England. Shropshire Parish Registers/Lichfield Diocese/01/Smethcote

Shropshire Parish Registers.

Diocese of Lichfield.

VOL. I. (1900)

The Register of Smethcote.

Smethcote Registers.

Smethcote is a parish in the diocese of Lichfield, and in the rural deanery and hundred of Condover ; it lies 9 miles south-west from Shrewsbury, and 5 miles north of Church Stretton. The population in 1881 was 283, and the area is 2,705 acres.

The Parish Register Abstract, 1831, contains the following account of these Registers :—“ Smethcott R. Nos. I. II. Bap. Bur. 1612–1812 ; Marr. 1612–1753. No. III. 1754–1812.”

The first volume, which extends from 1609 to 1767, is in bad condition. It was torn and faded, and has suffered much from damp and careless keeping in the past. It consists of 43 leaves of parchment, some few being loose sheets inserted, mostly 12 by 7 inches, but some few 22 by 6 inches. Some entries were illegible, but many have been restored, so that now nearly every entry can be made out. There was no cover, but the volume has recently been newly bound and lettered : “ Smethcote Register 1609–1767.” The Register was originally in 1612 intended to be divided into three portions, respectively headed—De sepultis, De baptizatis, and De matrimonio coniunctis ; but this intended arrangement did not continue long, for after the lapse of a few years entries were inserted wherever a blank space could be found, quite irrespective of date. The result is that the register is in a state of chaos. No attempt has been made to re-arrange the entries in chronological order, or else it would become almost impossible for the custodian of the register to find any special entry, so they are now printed in the exact order in which they occur in the volume. The earliest entries are in a good handwriting, and are in Latin, the entries in that language being retained, where they occur. From 1712 to 1745, C., M., and B., are inserted before the several entries. Many handwritings occur in this Register. The burials for 1612 are reprinted in full ; the remaining entries in an abbreviated form. Although there are three or four earlier beginning from the year 1609, the Register commences practically in 1612.

The second volume, which contains baptisms and burials from 1747 to 1812, and marriages to 1753, has thirty-three leaves of parchment, bound in a cover, and is in good condition. From 1801 to 1812, baptisms and burials are recorded on separate pages, each page commencing a new year. The years are written in circles, often with very pretty devices etched round them. At the beginning of this register is an account of a trial in July 1749, concerning the right of advowson of Smethcote Rectory. At the end of the volume is a statement respecting the restoration of Smethcote church in 1850. Loosely inserted inside this register are four parchment leaves, sewn together, containing entries from 1759–1777, when the Register was neglected by the Rev. David Rice. These were collected from family Bibles and other sources, by the Rev. W. C. Curtis, curate, in 1792, and beautifully written out by him, at the request of the Bishop. The number of private baptisms that occur in the eighteenth century is astonishing.

The third volume contains marriages from 1754 to 1811, and is on paper, in the usual printed form. There are eighty-five entries of marriages, filling twenty-nine pages.

Smethcote church is dedicated to St. Michael. It had fallen into a bad condition, and was almost entirely rebuilt in 1850, excepting parts of the north-west and west walls. In the north wall of the chancel is a small Norman window. Two square-headed Norman doorways are preserved, and pieces of Norman arches are built into the wall externally. In the church is an ancient font, not now in use. The ancient chalice has evidently been converted into an Elizabethan cup. At the west end of the church is a circular mound or barrow. The church was originally a chapel of Condover.

In 1392, William Bronington and Isabella his wife, and Roger son of John de Scottes Acton, were patrons of the rectory. In 1653, Thomas Phillips of Netley occurs as patron. Richard Beddowes, of Coton Hill, by his marriage with Anne daughter of Richard Phillips of Netley became patron, and presented in 1749. The patronage afterwards passed to the Hulme Trustees, in whom it is now vested.

The families of Phillips and Wilding are among the chief families named in the Registers.

The rectors named in the Registers are as follows :—

1612. John Shelvocke [? of Hart Hall, Oxon, in 1572], buried 1 June, 1612.

1624–32. Rouland Jaundrell, curate.

165. . . Richard Wolley.

1653. Richard Phillipps, M.A., Merton Coll., Oxon ; rector of Acton Burnell 1662, and of Harley 1663 ; “ a mortified and pious minister in Salop.”

1658. Robert Elis, minister.

1665–1708. John Beddowe, bap. 29 Jan., 1638, buried 14 Aug., 1708.

1708–46. Thomas Beddowe, Ball. Coll., Oxon ; buried 30 June, 1746.

1747–49. Joseph Orme, curate of Clunbury.

1749. David Rice.

1775. Edward Watkins, minister.

1837–42. William Birkett, M.A., B.N.C., Oxon ; died 3 Sept., 1875.

1842–62. Robert Joseph Buddicom, M.A., Brasenose Coll., Oxon.

1862–70. Theodore Percival Wilson, M.A., Brasenose Coll., Oxon ; died 8 Aug., 1881.

1870–95. George Mouat Keith Ellerton, M.A., Brasenose Coll., Oxon.

1896. William Robert Blackett, M.A., St. John's Coll., Camb.

The curates are :—1776–7, William Jones. 1778, John Powell. 1782, W. Fleming. 1782–1813, William Crosse Curtis. 1813–7, Robert Smith. 1819–20, Richard Wilding. 1820–1, Nathaniel Jones. 1824–30, Henry Male. 1831–2, Richard Phayre. 1832–4, Emilius Nicholson. 1835–9, Hugh Hamilton. 1839, J. Finch Smith. 1839–40, J. A. Ormerod. 1840–2, C. Whittaker. 1851–4, P. Willey : 1860–1, T. P. White. 1861, William Beresford Beaumont. 1861, Robert Swansborough. 1862, Thomas P. Williams. 1894–95, W. E. Thompson.

The following abstract was transcribed by Mr. T. R. Horton, but the proof-sheets as they passed through the press were collated with the original registers by the Rev. W. G. D. Fletcher, F.S.A.