Apologies if this is off topic. Am researching a Herefordshire family, 17th C who were leaseholders and renters. Two generations married in Hereford Cathedral. From other documents they were not wealthy, just your ordinary country yokels. My question - what was the difference in fees for a cathedral wedding and a rural parish wedding at this period? I am trying to firm up on who paid the (presumably) higher fees -in this case the in-laws perhaps. I presume many Cathedral weddings were a matter of "status"? Appreciate your comments. Adrtian

Hi Adrian The Cathedral at Hereford also houses the parish altar (and therefore acts as the "parish church") for the parish of Hereford St John, so it is most likely that your people were just normal parishoners. HTH Polly Rubery List admin: [email protected] A genealogy and local history list covering the Counties of Brecon, Hereford, Monmouth, Shropshire, Stafford and Worcester. [email protected] A genealogy and local history list covering the County of Hereford [email protected] ROWBERRY/RUBERY ONS - GOONS #278 [email protected] http://www.rowberry.org Webmaster for the Herefordshire Family History Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukhfhs/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "maggie and adrian" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 10:36 AM Subject: [OEL] MARIAGE FEES CATHEDRALS Apologies if this is off topic. Am researching a Herefordshire family, 17th C who were leaseholders and renters. Two generations married in Hereford Cathedral. From other documents they were not wealthy, just your ordinary country yokels. My question - what was the difference in fees for a cathedral wedding and a rural parish wedding at this period? I am trying to firm up on who paid the (presumably) higher fees -in this case the in-laws perhaps. I presume many Cathedral weddings were a matter of "status"? Appreciate your comments. Adrtian ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== OLD-ENGLISH Web Page http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/

In message <[email protected]>, maggie and adrian <[email protected]> writes >Apologies if this is off topic. Am researching a Herefordshire family, >17th C who were leaseholders and renters. Two generations married in >Hereford Cathedral. From other documents they were not wealthy, just >your ordinary country yokels. My question - what was the difference in >fees for a cathedral wedding and a rural parish wedding at this period? >I am trying to firm up on who paid the (presumably) higher fees -in this >case the in-laws perhaps. I presume many Cathedral weddings were a >matter of "status"? Appreciate your comments. In many cases, people went into or worked in the county town and married there - and the 'parish' church just happened to be a Cathedral. In some places (Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham etc) the cathedral church was renowned for doing quickie marriages, no questions asked. The basic fee would be the same - if you wanted bells, choir, etc, you paid more, (as you did in any parish church), but these were not compulsory. -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society

At 23:22 30/07/2006, Eve McLaughlin wrote: >In many cases, people went into or worked in the county town and married >there - and the 'parish' church just happened to be a Cathedral. In some >places (Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham etc) the cathedral church was >renowned for doing quickie marriages, no questions asked. > The basic fee would be the same - if you wanted bells, choir, etc, you >paid more, (as you did in any parish church), but these were not >compulsory. Certainly in Manchester it was actually more expensive NOT to get married in the Cathedral as you paid fees at the church of your choice but still paid fees to the Cathedral, the status symbol was not to have a Cathedral wedding. John

Now I must reveal my considerable ignorance of things English. What is the difference between a Cathedral and a church? I thought a cathedral was just a big church but it appears that there is more to it. Thanks, Ruth At 11:22 PM +0100 7/30/06, Eve McLaughlin wrote: >In many cases, people went into or worked in the county town and married >there - and the 'parish' church just happened to be a Cathedral. In some >places (Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham etc) the cathedral church was >renowned for doing quickie marriages, no questions asked. > The basic fee would be the same - if you wanted bells, choir, etc, you >paid more, (as you did in any parish church), but these were not >compulsory. > > >-- >Eve McLaughlin -- Ruth Barton [email protected] Dummerston, VT