Chop-church

Last updated December 30, 2025

A chop-church, or church-chopper, was a parson who made a practice of exchanging ecclesiastical benefices.^[1]^[2] The term is used in an ancient statute as a lawful trade, or occupation.

An example, where the spelling is 'chopchyrche', occurs as the occupation of John Charles of Bishop's Milford, Wiltshire, as a defendant in a plea of debt, for 40/- (forty shillings) brought by John Wyot, merchant of Salisbury.^[3]

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Chop-church". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.

↑ Lawler, Traugott (2008-10-01). "The Secular Clergy in Piers Plowman" . The Yearbook of Langland Studies. 16: 85–129. doi:10.1484/J.YLS.2.302645.
↑ Moore, Thomas (1881). Dictionary of the English Church, Ancient and Modern. Wells Gardner, Darton. p. 107.
↑ Plea Rolls of the Common Pleas, National Archives, 1440

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[1] Lawler, Traugott (2008-10-01). "The Secular Clergy in Piers Plowman" . The Yearbook of Langland Studies. 16: 85–129. doi:10.1484/J.YLS.2.302645.

[2] Moore, Thomas (1881). Dictionary of the English Church, Ancient and Modern. Wells Gardner, Darton. p. 107.

[NA-3] Plea Rolls of the Common Pleas, National Archives, 1440

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