THE CHURCHYARD CONUNDRUM - Is there
anybody there?
by Alan Smith
Why
would a parish church wish to
have a churchyard located three quarters of a mile from the
church, exactly on the
parish boundary? This is a question that has been nagging me
since I carefully
examined an estate map of Ruyton XI Towns, dated 1771. The
map, which is contained in a
book of land ownership and valuation, was commissioned by the
Sixth Baron
Craven. He was the son of a Shropshire clergyman, who, in
1769, inherited that title,
and all the land that went with it, from his childless uncle.
While
no doubt the
Sixth Baron's main interest was to find out how much he was worth, to
the
historian it provides a wealth of information on land ownership, land
rented,
and from whom, acreage, (in acres roods and perches), land values and
rents. This brings
us back to the puzzling
churchyard.
At
the time in
question, the, 'Church', owned 18.5% of Ruyton's land. This was known
as
'Glebe',(the name still crops up in field and place names). In addition
to
this, three numbered plots are listed as, 'Church Yard'. While the
first plot
was, as one would expect, by the church of St. John the Baptist, the
other two
were either side at the very end of
Startlewood Lane.
The Concise Oxford
Dictionary gives,
'churchyard' as: 'the
enclosed ground around a church, esp. as used for burials'. Clearly,
when this
land was acquired, it was intended for use other than to provide an
income for
the vicar. Could that use have been for burials? The disposing of
felons or
suicides comes to mind but it is unlikely the small village of Ruyton
XI Towns
have so many throughout its whole history to warrant so much allocation
of
land. Can you provide a rational explanation? If so we would like to
hear from
you.
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