A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. [1]
A chapelry had a similar status to a township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the community's official place of assembly in religious and secular matters. The fusion of these matters – principally tithes – was heavily tied to the main parish church. However, the medieval church's doctrine of subsidiarity when the congregation or sponsor was wealthy enough, supported their constitution into new parishes. [2]
Chapelries were first widespread in northern England and in larger parishes across the country which had populous outlying places. Except in cities, the entire coverage of the parishes (with very rare extra-parochial areas) was fixed in medieval times by reference to a large or influential manor or a set of manors. A lord of the manor or other patron of an area, often the Diocese, would for prestige and public convenience set up an additional church of sorts, a chapel of ease which would serve the chapelry: typically an area roughly equal to the old extent of the manor or a new industrious area.
The chapels, as opposed to mission churches or mission rooms, had a date of consecration, dedication to a saint or saints, and typically their own clergy. They were by and large upgraded, that is (re-)constituted, into parishes. A small minority fell redundant and were downgraded or closed, though at a lesser rate than mission rooms, which were usually cheaply built and declined after the invention of different modes of private wheeled transport.
The vestry, whether a joint board with the whole parish or dedicated in each chapelry, was empowered under an Act of Parliament in the reign of Henry VIII to collect rates to improve the roads, other general purposes, and administer the Poor Law (e.g. indoor and outdoor relief, the Speenhamland system and other wages systems) until the establishment of Poor Law Unions in the 19th century. The Poor Law Amendment Act 1867 declared that all areas that levied a separate rate should become civil parishes; thus their number approximately equalled the sum of ecclesiastical parishes and chapelries. Civil parishes have been abolished in many urban areas, removing the third tier of British local government.
Pinner, Harrow and New Brentford, Hanwell were medieval-founded chapelries in Middlesex, constituted parishes in 1766 and 1660 respectively. Equally Old Brentford, as part of a further parish, Ealing, unusually so for a medieval town.
From the outset the townspeople of New Brentford, founded around St Lawrence's Hospital in the manorial land of Boston Manor in 1179, were "to worship at Hanwell on the four principal feasts and to be buried there", except "the infirm, chaplains, and their servants". Offerings, tithes (but a smaller portion after c. 1660) and an annual donation of wax went from the "curate/curacy" (dubbed sometimes the chaplain) to the rector, namely the parish priest, of Hanwell. Around 1660 New Brentford, already governed by its own vestry, was made a separate parish. In 1714 the rector of Hanwell managed to assert his right to the hay tithes from Boston manorial demesne but in 1744 he gave up the small tithes of New Brentford, all hay tithes except those from Boston demesne, and all offerings. In 1961 the parish of St. Lawrence, New Brentford, was amalgamated with St. George's and St. Paul's, Old Brentford, to form the united parishes of Brentford in the Church of England. [3]
In Cornwall the parish of St Minver had chapelries of Porthilly and St Enodoc; Probus had chapelries of Cornelly and Merther and there were others. St Ives was a chapelry of Lelant before it was granted parochial status (until 1902 Towednack was also a chapelry of Lelant). Though St Agnes had a majority of the population it remained a chapelry of Perranzabuloe until 1846. South Petherwin had chapelries of Trewen and Launceston (St Mary Magdalene). [4]
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or more curates, and who operates from a parish church. Historically, a parish often covered the same geographical area as a manor. Its association with the parish church remains paramount.
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, 8 miles (13 km) west of Charing Cross.
Hanwell is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town.
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church. A township may or may not be coterminous with a chapelry, manor, or any other minor area of local administration.
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894, which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry.
West Ealing is a district in the London Borough of Ealing, in West London. The district is about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) west of Ealing Broadway. Although there is a long history of settlement in the area, West Ealing in its present form is less than one hundred years old. West Ealing falls under the postcode district W13 and neighbours Hanwell, Ealing, Perivale and Northfields
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 264 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, most of the county being parished; Cambridge is completely unparished; Fenland, East Cambridgeshire, South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire are entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 497,820 people living in the parishes, accounting for 70.2 per cent of the county's population.
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies, which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially as the "vestry". At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fifth of the budget of the British government. They were stripped of their secular functions in 1894 and were abolished in 1921.
Norwood Green is a place in the London Borough of Ealing in London, England, that forms the southern part of Southall. It is a suburban development centred 10.7 miles (17.2 km) west of Charing Cross and 4 miles (6.4 km) ENE of Heathrow Airport.
Chittlehampton is a village and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England, about 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Barnstaple. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 820.
Elthorne was a hundred of the historic county of Middlesex, England.
Ossulstone is an obsolete subdivision (hundred) covering 26.4% of – and the most metropolitan part – of the historic county of Middlesex, England. It surrounded but did not include the City of London and the area has been entirely absorbed by the growth of London. It now corresponds to the seven London Boroughs of Inner London north of the Thames and, from Outer London, in decreasing order, certain historic parishes of the London boroughs of Ealing, Brent, Barnet, and Haringey.
Boston Manor House is an English Jacobean manor house built in 1622 with internal alterations, intensively restored in later centuries. It was the manor house of one of the early medieval-founded manors in Middlesex. Since 1965 the manor's small part of the parish of Hanwell has been part of the London Borough of Hounslow in west London. Boston Manor Park is the publicly owned green space, including a lake, which adjoins the house.
Prestwich-cum-Oldham was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, England. With the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Prestwich as its centre, this parish encompassed a total of ten townships, and within them, several smaller chapelries.
Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland. The term is found in common use mainly during the first half of the 19th century. The legal status of perpetual curate originated as an administrative anomaly in the 16th century. Unlike ancient rectories and vicarages, perpetual curacies were supported by a cash stipend, usually maintained by an endowment fund, and had no ancient right to income from tithe or glebe.
Stainburn is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England, 10 miles (16 km) north of Leeds. The population of the civil parish was estimated at 120 in 2015.
St Symphorian's Church is an Anglican church in the Durrington area of the borough of Worthing, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The original 13th-century chapelry declined and fell into ruins in the 17th century, partly due to damage caused by the English Civil War. Anglican worship was re-established in a tin tabernacle in 1890 as the former village grew into a suburb of Worthing, and during World War I a permanent church was built. It was extended during World War II. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
St Thomas the Apostle is a Church of England church, which is situated along Boston Road in Hanwell, in the London Borough of Ealing. Designed by Sir Edward Maufe, It forms part of the Diocese of London and can hold 428 people. English Heritage has listed it as a Grade II* building.
Dormers Wells or Dormer's Wells is an urban community or neighbourhood in west London, England consisting of a grid of mostly semi-detached or terraced houses with gardens and small parks: in the London Borough of Ealing, and the Southall post town area.