Can anyone point me in the right direction regarding the arrangements surrounding Chapelries, or Chapels of Ease? My interest arises out of records at Alderwasley, Winster and Dethick chapelries in the 18th and 19th centuries. In particular: 1. Were chapelries "licenced" by their Parish Church as to the rites they could (or could not) perform? Winster appears to have records for baptisms and burials, but not marriages. 2. How were the records maintained at chapelries? Was the "master" copy retained at the chapel and, if so, was a copy made in the parish church registers each year (?), so the Bishops Transcripts could be prepared? Alternatively, did the minister take a copy of the parish register with him to the chapelry when he was to perform a rite (not very likely, I would have thought)? 3. How and when was it decided whether a chapelry should become a parish church in its own right, and where is the change of status recorded? I believe that Dethick was a chapelry of Ashover, becoming a parish church in the late 19th century; Winster was a chapelry of Bakewell; whilst Alderwasley (both old and new buildings) has always been a chapel of ease.

Hi Nick, I've had cause to look into this too. I believe all places of worship, whatever their designation, were and are licensed by the relevant diocesan bishop, so for Derbyshire in the past that was Lichfield & Coventry Diocese. My experience is that there were no consistent 'rules' consistently followed about how registers were kept. A chapel might have its own or it didn't and we find entries for events there in the mother church's registers. Or it started to keep its own later. Quite often the registers for chapelries have not survived even when the mother church's have. One ongoing problem over the centuries was the lack of sufficiently educated & ordained ministers to fill livings as curates and vicars, so chapels might be 'unserved' for long stretches of time. My understanding also is that very often records of events, at both churches and chapels, were noted on 'slips of paper', ie. rough notes were made, from which fair copies were later made into the actual registers - so that would have worked for chapelries rather than the registers being hauled about. And there were periods when it was legally required for the incumbent to keep registers and others when they couldn't - separate people had to keep the registers. You're right that different chapels had different licences for performing baptisms, marriages and burials - and these licences could be different at different historical periods. Many chapelries, and especially chapels of ease, had no burial ground of their own. Many could not perform marriages. Information on which could do what at which historical period can be found at record offices and at diocesan archives. For Derbyshire, the DRO do a pretty good job of telling you these details in their Parish Register Guide, accessible online: http://derbyshire.gov.uk/images/Parish%20Register%20Guide_tcm44-17013.pdf. Another good guide is the National Index of Parish Registers produced by the Soc of Genealogists, vol 6 being Derbyshire. This includes details of non-conformist places of worship too (not fully comprehensive, though nearly so.) I believe the decision about licensing a chapel would be made at diocesan level and I've read in the past that members of the congregation might lobby for that, or the incumbent might lobby to relieve pressure of work and so forth. All kinds of reasons. DRO's guide tells you when PRs were first kept and/or chapels were licensed for the first time (if known) - I'm guessing that any record of that happening will be at Lichfield Joint Record Office. I've done a spreadsheet for myself of what churches & chapels there were in Derbyshire and their status, created mostly from the sources I've mentioned. My spreadsheet says that Alderwasley All Saints was a chapel of Wirksworth and only had separate PRs from 1861. Dethick (plus Lea & Holloway) St John the Baptist was a chapelry in Ashover and had separate PRs from 1754. I have Winster St John the Baptist as a chapelry in Youlgreave parish with its own PRs from 1674 (transcript now available for 1633-74). The Guide says it became a separate parish in 1866. I wrote a blog article about this kind of knotty issue which might be entertaining: https://morgansite.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/lost-in-osmaston-or-when-is-a-parish-not-a-parish/ Celia Renshaw now in Sheffield, Yorks On 16 April 2017 at 16:42, Nick Higton via DERBYSGEN <[email protected] > wrote: > Can anyone point me in the right direction regarding the arrangements > surrounding Chapelries, or Chapels of Ease? My interest arises out of > records at Alderwasley, Winster and Dethick chapelries in the 18th and 19th > centuries. > > In particular: > 1. Were chapelries "licenced" by their Parish Church as to the rites they > could (or could not) perform? Winster appears to have records for baptisms > and burials, but not marriages. > 2. How were the records maintained at chapelries? Was the "master" copy > retained at the chapel and, if so, was a copy made in the parish church > registers each year (?), so the Bishops Transcripts could be prepared? > Alternatively, did the minister take a copy of the parish register with him > to the chapelry when he was to perform a rite (not very likely, I would > have thought)? > 3. How and when was it decided whether a chapelry should become a parish > church in its own right, and where is the change of status recorded? I > believe that Dethick was a chapelry of Ashover, becoming a parish church > in the late 19th century; Winster was a chapelry of Bakewell; whilst > Alderwasley (both old and new buildings) has always been a chapel of ease. > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Fascinating, Celia, and so informative and well researched, as always! --WendyE Sent from my iPad > On Apr 16, 2017, at 12:16 PM, Celia Renshaw via DERBYSGEN <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Nick, I've had cause to look into this too. I believe all places of > worship, whatever their designation, were and are licensed by the relevant > diocesan bishop, so for Derbyshire in the past that was Lichfield & > Coventry Diocese. > > My experience is that there were no consistent 'rules' consistently > followed about how registers were kept. A chapel might have its own or it > didn't and we find entries for events there in the mother church's > registers. Or it started to keep its own later. Quite often the registers > for chapelries have not survived even when the mother church's have. One > ongoing problem over the centuries was the lack of sufficiently educated & > ordained ministers to fill livings as curates and vicars, so chapels might > be 'unserved' for long stretches of time. My understanding also is that > very often records of events, at both churches and chapels, were noted on > 'slips of paper', ie. rough notes were made, from which fair copies were > later made into the actual registers - so that would have worked for > chapelries rather than the registers being hauled about. And there were > periods when it was legally required for the incumbent to keep registers > and others when they couldn't - separate people had to keep the registers. > > You're right that different chapels had different licences for performing > baptisms, marriages and burials - and these licences could be different at > different historical periods. Many chapelries, and especially chapels of > ease, had no burial ground of their own. Many could not perform marriages. > Information on which could do what at which historical period can be found > at record offices and at diocesan archives. For Derbyshire, the DRO do a > pretty good job of telling you these details in their Parish Register > Guide, accessible online: > http://derbyshire.gov.uk/images/Parish%20Register%20Guide_tcm44-17013.pdf. > Another good guide is the National Index of Parish Registers produced by > the Soc of Genealogists, vol 6 being Derbyshire. This includes details of > non-conformist places of worship too (not fully comprehensive, though > nearly so.) > > I believe the decision about licensing a chapel would be made at diocesan > level and I've read in the past that members of the congregation might > lobby for that, or the incumbent might lobby to relieve pressure of work > and so forth. All kinds of reasons. DRO's guide tells you when PRs were > first kept and/or chapels were licensed for the first time (if known) - I'm > guessing that any record of that happening will be at Lichfield Joint > Record Office. I've done a spreadsheet for myself of what churches & > chapels there were in Derbyshire and their status, created mostly from the > sources I've mentioned. My spreadsheet says that Alderwasley All Saints was > a chapel of Wirksworth and only had separate PRs from 1861. Dethick (plus > Lea & Holloway) St John the Baptist was a chapelry in Ashover and had > separate PRs from 1754. I have Winster St John the Baptist as a chapelry in > Youlgreave parish with its own PRs from 1674 (transcript now available for > 1633-74). The Guide says it became a separate parish in 1866. > > I wrote a blog article about this kind of knotty issue which might be > entertaining: > https://morgansite.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/lost-in-osmaston-or-when-is-a-parish-not-a-parish/ > > Celia Renshaw > now in Sheffield, Yorks > > On 16 April 2017 at 16:42, Nick Higton via DERBYSGEN <[email protected] >> wrote: > >> Can anyone point me in the right direction regarding the arrangements >> surrounding Chapelries, or Chapels of Ease? My interest arises out of >> records at Alderwasley, Winster and Dethick chapelries in the 18th and 19th >> centuries. >> >> In particular: >> 1. Were chapelries "licenced" by their Parish Church as to the rites they >> could (or could not) perform? Winster appears to have records for baptisms >> and burials, but not marriages. >> 2. How were the records maintained at chapelries? Was the "master" copy >> retained at the chapel and, if so, was a copy made in the parish church >> registers each year (?), so the Bishops Transcripts could be prepared? >> Alternatively, did the minister take a copy of the parish register with him >> to the chapelry when he was to perform a rite (not very likely, I would >> have thought)? >> 3. How and when was it decided whether a chapelry should become a parish >> church in its own right, and where is the change of status recorded? I >> believe that Dethick was a chapelry of Ashover, becoming a parish church >> in the late 19th century; Winster was a chapelry of Bakewell; whilst >> Alderwasley (both old and new buildings) has always been a chapel of ease. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message