The book is "A Cornish Parish; being an Account of St. Austell town,church, district and people" by Canon Joseph HAMMOND, 1897. It's on Google books, for free. Larry Treverton kindly indexed names in the book, and his index is on my website. He'll do lookups, or you can look it up using the Google version. According to Hammond, in one year of the early 1600's, there were 13 burials in the church, with 3 of them not from the parish! Names were recorded, but not "published" as such. He equated the 3s.4d. charge then as being equivalent to about one pound in 1897, but I've no idea if that's correct. During the church rennovations 1839-40, most of the bodies were removed from the church, and when the churchyard was "remodeled" for street widening, and the graves removed, all other bodies were removed. He didn't give great detail, but the bones were reburied with full ceremony in the new cemetery (I believe in a common grave), and all the gravestones broken up and put into a pit at the end of the remaining churchyard, according to the West Briton. As for "social prominence", I've noted that particular names in the parish registers, from the 1600's on, would have the designation "Mr." or "Mrs.", and some very few "Esq." or "Gent." At the least, it certainly indicates a level of respect. (In St. Austell, there weren't Lords and their ladies, or anyone near that level of Society.) Hope you look up the book, and enjoy reading it - Julia Julia Mosman, OPC for St.Austell,Charlestown, and Treverbyn Website at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~staustell W. Briton newspaper transcripts at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad Please visit the OPC website at http://cornwall-opc.org > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:53:11 -0500 > From: > Subject: Re: [CORNISH-GEN] Knuckey & Halls - burial in the church > To: > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > Hi All - > > At least in St. Austell's Holy Trinity, whoever paid the going rate (at one point, 3s.4d.) could be buried in the church, so whether one was included was based on ability to pay, rather than social prominence. In one year, 35 people were thusly buried. The vestry raised the rate eventually to GBP50, in an effort to deter such requests - and finally had to remove all the bodies because the structure was weakened!! (It didn't help to have clay wagons, carrying up to 4 tons, rumbling past day and night.) > > This information came from a book written in 1897 by the Vicar (Hammond) who loved the old records, and was afraid they'd be lost if he didn't record them. > > Cheers, > > Julia >

I know I've taken part in discussions about this before. I thought it was on this list but cant find the reference. The reason the vestry tried to limit the practice may have been because it was considered a health risk. I believe there was an act of Parliament banning it, some time around 1812. J On 31 Jul 2010, at 22:25, <jwmos99@msn.com> <jwmos99@msn.com> wrote: > > The book is "A Cornish Parish; being an Account of St. Austell > town,church, district and people" by Canon Joseph HAMMOND, 1897. > It's on Google books, for free. Larry Treverton kindly indexed > names in the book, and his index is on my website. He'll do > lookups, or you can look it up using the Google version. > > According to Hammond, in one year of the early 1600's, there were > 13 burials in the church, with 3 of them not from the parish! > Names were recorded, but not "published" as such. He equated the > 3s.4d. charge then as being equivalent to about one pound in 1897, > but I've no idea if that's correct. > > During the church rennovations 1839-40, most of the bodies were > removed from the church, and when the churchyard was "remodeled" > for street widening, and the graves removed, all other bodies were > removed. He didn't give great detail, but the bones were reburied > with full ceremony in the new cemetery (I believe in a common > grave), and all the gravestones broken up and put into a pit at the > end of the remaining churchyard, according to the West Briton. > > As for "social prominence", I've noted that particular names in the > parish registers, from the 1600's on, would have the designation > "Mr." or "Mrs.", and some very few "Esq." or "Gent." At the least, > it certainly indicates a level of respect. (In St. Austell, there > weren't Lords and their ladies, or anyone near that level of Society.) > > Hope you look up the book, and enjoy reading it - > > Julia > > Julia Mosman, OPC for St.Austell,Charlestown, and Treverbyn > Website at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~staustell > W. Briton newspaper transcripts at http:// > freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad > Please visit the OPC website at http://cornwall-opc.org > >> Message: 1 >> Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:53:11 -0500 >> From: >> Subject: Re: [CORNISH-GEN] Knuckey & Halls - burial in the church >> To: >> Message-ID: >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >> >> >> Hi All - >> >> At least in St. Austell's Holy Trinity, whoever paid the going >> rate (at one point, 3s.4d.) could be buried in the church, so >> whether one was included was based on ability to pay, rather than >> social prominence. In one year, 35 people were thusly buried. The >> vestry raised the rate eventually to GBP50, in an effort to deter >> such requests - and finally had to remove all the bodies because >> the structure was weakened!! (It didn't help to have clay wagons, >> carrying up to 4 tons, rumbling past day and night.) >> >> This information came from a book written in 1897 by the Vicar >> (Hammond) who loved the old records, and was afraid they'd be lost >> if he didn't record them. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Julia >> > ------------------------------- > Listmom: ybowers@gmail.com or CORNISH-GEN-admin@rootsweb.com > > Visit the OPC (Online Parish Clerk) web page for transcription > information http://www.cornwall-opc.org/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CORNISH-GEN- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

Yup, there is a thread on this in the archives for Jan 2006, title is 'Stupid Question'. Legislation was the Church Building Act of 1818. J On 1 Aug 2010, at 13:31, judy olsen wrote: > I know I've taken part in discussions about this before. I thought > it was on this list but cant find the reference. The reason the > vestry tried to limit the practice may have been because it was > considered a health risk. I believe there was an act of Parliament > banning it, some time around 1812. > > > J > > > > > On 31 Jul 2010, at 22:25, <jwmos99@msn.com> <jwmos99@msn.com> wrote: > >> >> The book is "A Cornish Parish; being an Account of St. Austell >> town,church, district and people" by Canon Joseph HAMMOND, 1897. >> It's on Google books, for free. Larry Treverton kindly indexed >> names in the book, and his index is on my website. He'll do >> lookups, or you can look it up using the Google version. >> >> According to Hammond, in one year of the early 1600's, there were >> 13 burials in the church, with 3 of them not from the parish! >> Names were recorded, but not "published" as such. He equated the >> 3s.4d. charge then as being equivalent to about one pound in 1897, >> but I've no idea if that's correct. >> >> During the church rennovations 1839-40, most of the bodies were >> removed from the church, and when the churchyard was "remodeled" >> for street widening, and the graves removed, all other bodies were >> removed. He didn't give great detail, but the bones were reburied >> with full ceremony in the new cemetery (I believe in a common >> grave), and all the gravestones broken up and put into a pit at >> the end of the remaining churchyard, according to the West Briton. >> >> As for "social prominence", I've noted that particular names in >> the parish registers, from the 1600's on, would have the >> designation "Mr." or "Mrs.", and some very few "Esq." or "Gent." >> At the least, it certainly indicates a level of respect. (In St. >> Austell, there weren't Lords and their ladies, or anyone near that >> level of Society.) >> >> Hope you look up the book, and enjoy reading it - >> >> Julia >> >> Julia Mosman, OPC for St.Austell,Charlestown, and Treverbyn >> Website at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~staustell >> W. Briton newspaper transcripts at http:// >> freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad >> Please visit the OPC website at http://cornwall-opc.org >> >>> Message: 1 >>> Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:53:11 -0500 >>> From: >>> Subject: Re: [CORNISH-GEN] Knuckey & Halls - burial in the church >>> To: >>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >>> >>> >>> Hi All - >>> >>> At least in St. Austell's Holy Trinity, whoever paid the going >>> rate (at one point, 3s.4d.) could be buried in the church, so >>> whether one was included was based on ability to pay, rather than >>> social prominence. In one year, 35 people were thusly buried. The >>> vestry raised the rate eventually to GBP50, in an effort to deter >>> such requests - and finally had to remove all the bodies because >>> the structure was weakened!! (It didn't help to have clay wagons, >>> carrying up to 4 tons, rumbling past day and night.) >>> >>> This information came from a book written in 1897 by the Vicar >>> (Hammond) who loved the old records, and was afraid they'd be >>> lost if he didn't record them. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> >>> Julia >>> >> ------------------------------- >> Listmom: ybowers@gmail.com or CORNISH-GEN-admin@rootsweb.com >> >> Visit the OPC (Online Parish Clerk) web page for transcription >> information http://www.cornwall-opc.org/ >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CORNISH-GEN- >> request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >