Episcopal Visitation
The Episcopal Visitation of 1662
[ILME]R :
John Heborne, Thomas Walter, guardiani, presentant the church
is much out of repaire and desire tyme to repaire it.
30 Oct. 62 : c., comp. ambo et habent ad reparandum ecclesiam etc. et certificandum etc. in prox. *(post Natalis
Domini, 1662.)
p. the want of a flaggon, a table of marriages, a surplisse and a
chest with locks and keys to keep the bookes and furniture as
also a black hearse cloth for the buriall of the dead.
30 Oct. 62 : c. Johannes Heborn and Thoma Walter guardiani
ibidem ad providendum the flaggon infra mensem prox.
p. The church mounds are out of repaire.
30 Oct. 62 : guardiani viva voce [certificaverunt] sepimentum
esse reparatum etc. *(dimittituntur [sic]/specificent.)
p. The vicaridge house is out of repaire et . . . [unfinished].
30 Oct. 62: guardiani certificaverunt verbo tenus domum
vicariae esse reparatum etc.
p. Emme[1] Bigg, widdowe, for having two basterd children about
a yeare and an half since at one birth.
30 Oct. 62 : c., pco., comp. et obiecta deteccione fassa esse that
she had two children begotten on her body by William Bowden
and borne at one birth; unde dns. ei iniunxit ad penitendum etc.
semel in ecclesia de Ilmer predicta et semel in foro de Alesbury
iuxta schedulam etc. et ad certificandum etc. in .... [unfinished]
5 Oct. 63: emt. schedula ad penitendum etc. in ecclesia de
Ilmer in partem etc. et ad certificandum etc. die Veneris,
decimo sexto Octobris predictae curia apud Alesbury. 16 Oct.
63 : quo die introducta fuit schedula predicta cum certificatorio
de peraccione eiusdem prout etc. *(debet feodum/secundam
sessionem.)
p. William Bowden as the reputed father of those children.
30 Oct. 62 : c., pco., comp. cui dns. obiecit deteccionem predictam et respondendo fassus est famam etc. sed negat factum
et voluntarie suscepit ad purgandum se etc. cum 4 compurgatoribus etc. in prox., quam susceptionem dns. admisit quatenus
etc. et assignavit ei ad purgandum etc. in prox. 4 Novembris,
vizt., et iniunxit ei ad purgandum etc. bina manu etc. in eundem. 4 Nov. 62: pco. dicto Bowden, comp. et continuavit
negotium in post meridiem ad hospitium vocatum the Sarazen's
Head in Alesburie situatum inter horas 2 et 5 post meridiem.
Quibus die et loco[2] comparuit dictus Bowden sed nullos produxit in compurgatores etc.; unde dns. pronunciavit eum defecisse in purgacione etc. et in penam etc. iniunxit prout schedula
etc. et certificandum etc. 27 ° Novembris predicte. Tunc dictus Bowden humiliter petiit dictam penitentiam in penam
pecuniariam communtari [sic]; unde dns. decrevit penitentiam pre-dictam in summam 5l. legalis etc. commutandam fore et commutavit in pios usus disponendam quam summam Bowden
suscepit ad solvendum Sabbati in 8 dies prox., unde dns. soluta
summa predicta, decrevit Bowden ab officio quoad deteccionem
et penitenciam predictam dimitti et desuper decrevit litteras
testimoniales etc. * (ad acta Bowden de Ilmer / debet feoda.)
p. those two basterd children as unbaptized.
16 Oct. 63 : c. Bowden, comp. et obiecto articulo respondet
That one of them, vizt., the woman child is dead and the
other is not baptized, being a male child. Unde dns. monuit
dictum Bowden ad procurandum puerum predictum baptizari
iuxta leges etc. et ad certificandum etc. in 4 November, 1663.
4 Nov. predictae comp. dictus Willelmus Bowden et exhibuit
certificatorium sub manibus Magistri Lillingston curati et
guardianorum de baptizacione Edwardi filii Emme Bigg
vidue in ecclesia de Ilmer 28 die Octobris 1662 prout ex
certificatorio predicto apparet et ipse Bowden dimittitur.
* (dimittitur/4 Nov. 1662.)
p. The want of a parishe clerk.
p. to 4 art. tit. 2. That the auncient glebe land hath bene lately changed but by the consent of the lord bishop, patron and incumbent.
ILMER :
Mr. [blank] receptor fructuum ecclesie ibidem, pro procuracionibas domino episcopo.
10 Oct. 62 : qu., v.m. in prox.
Source: Episcopal Visitation Book, 1662 page 42 and page 49, Bucks Record Society, E. R. C. BRINKWORTH, 1943