The Eighteenth Century

- 1774

A clearer picture is possible after 1774 when the Parish Accounts begin and there is a painting of the church dating from about 1790. A visitor at that time would have been greeted by rows of box pews, while in the chancel there was the high pulpit with staircase, a clerk’s desk, and reading desk, and much of the old carved woodwork, including six stalls with misericords set in a single row. The font was at the west end of the central aisle in the darkest part of the church, but several plain windows had been added in the wall between the Norman and Tudor sections. Attempts had also been made to modernise the church by coating all the walls with whitewash and by covering the beams with lath and plaster ceilings. Recent additions had included the memorials to the Greens of Poulton Lancelyn (who were enjoying a period of quiet prosperity while the other great landowners were in decline).

Bebington was a quiet village, though until the turnpike road was built coaches passed through it on the way to Chester. The view across the fields to the Mersey and beyond to Liverpool was uninterrupted and no one then suspected that the population would expand tenfold as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

The first accounts include the purchase of the book itself. On 15 April 1775: ‘Bought a book for the Parish to Enter the Church Wardens’ Accts. in. £1-2-0′, and above there are some earlier expenses, including the celebration on the 5th November when the beIls were rung. The cost of entertaining the ringers was 3/6d, and 1/3d was spent on ‘Oyl and Candles’.

Some expenses now seem unusual, such as the purchase of sparrows and foxes (a way of keeping them down). It continued until 1794 when it was ‘ordered that the Church Wardens do not pay for any more Sparrows or Foxes, until each order be again made for such payments’. Another dramatic incident occurs in 1829: ‘Pd. Going to Liverpool when Church was robbed and printing handbills’, and later: £5 ‘Pd. Liverpool Police Officer for apprehending Thos. Jones for Breaking in the Church and Stealing Prayer Book from thence’, and 3/- ‘By cash for Ferry & expense going to L’pool to Pay the above reward.’

The entries are not always explicit but it is clear that the upkeep of the church was a constant drain on the resources. There were new flagstones in 1777, again in 1821 (when the Tranmere and Storeton aisles were repaved), and other repairs to the floor in 1827, 1828, 1833, and 1834. The interior of the church was whitewashed in 1796, 1810, 1820, and 1828. Seventy-five pews were painted and numbered in 1797 (at a cost of 4d per pew), and green baize was purchased for them in 1776 and 1832. In 1817 a Mr Leigh was paid £14.4.5d for ‘Writing the Commandments and Painting the Communion Rails’, and they were repainted in 1834. Various foot stools, reading desks, altar coverings, carpets, and other such items were added at different times, but the major outlay was always on the roof and walls.

In 1777 the roofs of the Tranmere and Storeton aisles were stripped of their lead and rebuilt. The lead was sold for £87.6.9d and this partly covered the cost of new timber and the slates. More slates were purchased at regular intervals (three thousand in 1801, a cart load in 1815, and another thousand in 1821), but the beams supporting the roofs were left. The guttering and windows were also replaced, and in 1800 the west wall of the Tranmere aisle was rebuilt.

Some mystery surrounds the vestry at the east end. It is shown in a drawing of 1809 by T.R. Rickman as an undistinguished building with a plain door and window, but no written description survives. It was repaired on several occasions, as was the ‘Chancel door’ which led to it, and a fire grate was installed in 1810. It may also have been re-roofed in 1822. A quantity of thatch was purchased that year and it is hard to think that it was intended for the main roof – unless it was a temporary covering for some of the oldest and weakest roof timbers. In 1816 Robert McGee was paid £6.9.0d for ‘Materials & Plastering & Stucco work done at the Communion’, and this may either have been for blocking the chancel door or blocking the clerestory window (which was re-opened in 1847). It is clear that the vestry (which had served as a schoolroom) was disliked by the new Rector, R.M. Feilden, as it was demolished soon after his induction. In May 1827, £1.5.0d was paid ‘for taking down the Vestry and Clearing and Carting away the Rubbish’. A new vestry was then constructed at the modest expense of £6.7.7d. This was presumably in the south-east corner as shown on the plans of 1846. It was behind a wooden screen and there was access through the small door in the south wall.

The accounts often fail to specify the nature of the work undertaken and it is not always clear when certain changes were made.