CHURCHWARDENS' PRESENTMENTS

Churchwardens and "sidemen" were required (By Canons 109-119 and Canon 26) to present offenders against ecclesiastical law at least once a year (usually twice, at Easter and Michaelmas) and at visitation; they could also make "voluntary presentments" at any time. Presentments were written out by the churchwardens on single sheets of paper or were in the form of answers to a set of articles of visitation and enquiry sent by the archdeacon, bishop or archbishop before visitation. In the 18th century the answers were written in the margin of printed books of articles. The articles were prefaced by the churchwardens' and sidemen's oath: "You will swear, that you will diligently enquire, and true Presentment make, of all Defaults and Offences committed in your Parish, against the Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm, to the best of your Skill and Knowledge". By the 19th century they were written on printed forms.

Although most of the single folio presentments are merely certificates that there was "nothing presentable" in the parish, the answers to the articles give much valuable information about the clergy and church officers, services, church fabric, behaviour of the parishioners, and the number of schools, hospitals, schoolmasters, doctors and midwives. By the 19th century the more detailed returns are concerned primarily with the conduct of the clergy, with the services and the fabric and finances of the church. Dating is often uncertain; in the 17th century sometimes only the date of the articles was given, which could be several years before the presentment, as the same set might be used throughout one episcopate. Single presentments were dated for either the year about which, or the year in which, the churchwardens were writing.

From 1850 the former Peculiar jurisdictions are included.

The earliest printed articles in the series are dated 1726, and some 14 sets have survived for the next half century (1726, 1729, 1733, 1737, 1742, 1745, 1755, 1758, 1762, 1765, 1769, 1772, 1775 and 1779).

These are for the Archdeaconry of Chichester, but all stem from epsicopal visitations. Archdeacons' visitations are represented in this period by much briefer manuscript presentments, which continue up to 1800. After this there are no regular files of manuscript presentments, and the few single documents that survive arise from specific parochial incidents.

The printed series for episcopal visitations of the Archdeaconry resumes in 1821 and continues until 1903, with the visitations usually being conducted at three yearly intervals. In 1825 begins the custom of sending an additional set of articles addressed to the minister.

Each type of article is, however, normally filed separately, and so will be found under the two references Ep/I/22 and Ep/I/22A - with the exception of the years 1838 and 1847 where both types of article have been bound up together and filed with the churchwardens' series.

After 1868, episcopal visitation articles are henceforth addressed solely to ministers.

A series of archdeacons' visitation articles commences in 1857, addressed to churchwardens only. In the latter years of the century these are normally issued annually but omitted in the years of the episcopal visitations.

The dates of the different types of nineteenth century articles are as follows:-

Episcopal articles to churchwardens: 1821 (Ep/I/22/1)

Episcopal articles to churchwardens and ministers: 1825

1828, 1838, 1847, 1850, 1853, 1856, 1859, 1862, 1865, 1868

(Ep/I/22/1, 2; Ep/I/22A/2)

Episcopal articles to ministers only: 1875, 1878, 1881, 1884, 1887, 1890, 1893, 1898, 1903 (Ep/I/22A/1, 2)

Archdeacons articles to churchwardens only: 1857, 1858, 1873, 1888, 1889, 1891, 1892, 1894-1897, 1899-1902, 1904-1908, 1910-1912, 1917 (Ep/I/22/1, 2).

<p>Presentments and ministers' articles of enquiry for some of these parishes for 1850, 1853 and 1868 are in Ep/I/22/1 and I/22A/2.</p>