Materials for the History of the Church of Lancaster. Edited
by William Oliver Roper. Vol. II. (Printed for the Chetham Society.)—This second volume continues the printing of the Chartulary of the Priory of Lancaster. The documents, which are given both in the original and in translation, are mostly of the fourteenth century. They are supplemented by two charters, from King John and Henry III.; while some other documents are given, three of the four relating to benefices connected with the Priory. In one, the parson of Preston Church is brought to account for rent that he owed the monastery. In another, a tithe payment is commuted for five marks. In a third, we have the value of three livings which were in the patronage of the Priory. We give these and their modern values (nominal, as given in the Clergy List) :—
Croston £133 6s. 8d. ... .£1,038 Eccleston .£53 Os. 8d. ... £250 Heysham ... .€20 ... £504
The first must have been an even more valuable benefice than it is now. Two hundred marks in the thirteenth century was a large sum of money.—Another of the publications of the Chetham Society is Notes on the Churches of Cheshire, by the late Sir Stephen Glynne, edited hy Canon Atkinson. Sir Stephen Glynne's notes were commenced in 1833; the editor has brought them up to date,—i.e, to 1893, by personal inspection or by communication with the incumbents. This combined record, continued over just sixty years, is very interesting, Sir Stephen, it should be said, made later notes, in many cases up to the year 1869. Excellent work has been done in the way of restoration. It is surprising to see how much has been accomplished, when all the churches of a county are dealt with. Within the sixty years, however, some foolish things have been done. Wyburnbury church, fcr instance, was rebuilt in 1836; "as soon as it was finished, it was under. mined by large vaults, and its condition became so dangerous that it could not be used for public worship." In the same year, how- ever, the tower, which was more than five feet out of the per- pendicular, was brought back to its proper level by Mr. Jame, Trubshaw, architect, a skilful feat, which contrasts oddly enough with the fiasco of the church itself. At Handley church Sir S. Glynne speaks of a Norman doorway, which now (1893) has disappeared. Such things were done in restorations forty years ago. Another church has lost a lancet window. Elsewhere, ' a sixteenth-century tower was added to in 1850; in 1869 it had to be rebuilt. Of the seventy-six churches here mentioned, 41 but six or seven have been either rebuilt or restored.—We have also to mention an Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire. Part I. Hundred of Brimstree. By D. H. S. Cranage, MA. (Hobson and Co., Wellington.)—The Hundred of Brimstree contains fifteen churches, of which two are in Bridgnorth, one of them comparatively new, the other with traces, but not much more, of antiquity about it. Claverley is a finer and more interesting church, exhibiting examples of the chief architectural periods. The buttresses, for instance, are in seven styles from Norman to Debased. Slaiffnal also seems to be an interesting church, with the same variety of styles. Tong church, though not showing so many varieties, is a fine building. The illustra- tions of the volume are reproduced from photographs taken by Mr. Martin I. Harding, and ground-plans, drawn by Mr. W. Arthur Webb, are given of the more important buildings.
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