VICARS. Brom. Reg. Tibb. Sudbury Gerard de Aylesbury, 1315 Roger de Torlaston Rob. de Haytfeld, 8 Apr. 1372, per resig. Torlaston John Mallory, pr. 24 Aug. 1437, per resig. Baggatour Tho. Curteys, L.B., 26 Nov. 1450, per resig. Burton Sim. King, cap. 9 Dec. 1513, per resig. Everard Seth Lambe, A.M., ch. 29 Apr. 1673, per resig. Beveridge Joh. Botham, M.A., Sept. 26, 1754, per resig. Hall Edw. Will. Relton, M.A., 1854, per resig. Smith W. E. Oliver, D.D., 1886, per resig. Relton CHAPTER V. St. Mary's Rebuilt. The Work of Rebuilding.-Act of Parliament obtained.-Original Trustees. First and Last Payments.-Foundation Stone Laid.Church Opened.-The New Edifice.-Addition to Churchyard.— Monuments and Mural Inscriptions in the Church and Graveyard. D HE old Church lying a heap of ruins must have been a sight sad enough. Nor was this all, from the omissions and grossly careless manner in which the Parish Registers had for some length of time been kept, it would almost seem, as already pointed out, that the then Vicar of Ealing had considered himself relieved from the duty of residence, and merely attended on the Sunday to take the "tabernacle " service. Certainly no supervision was exercised over the illiterate entries. This dreary state of things could not last, and the people of Ealing set themselves to the task of rebuilding their church. From the Minute Books it will be seen that they began the work in no half-hearted manner. The following anecdote, handed down by tradition, illustrates well the deplorable condition which had arisen. A committee had been formed of the leading men of the district, Dr. Mangey, the Vicar, being appointed treasurer. When the committee were canvassing the parish for subscriptions they called on an old resident, a wealthy Quaker, Jonathan Gurnell, widely known for his generosity, who lived in one of the best houses of the place. They called, it is said, not so much with a view of asking for a contribution, but as a matter of good neighbourliness, to inform him what was going to be done. After duly explaining the proposed scheme, the deputation was leaving when the old gentleman called them back, and quaintly said, "Thee knows, friends, that I am not in the habit of giving money to build up steeple-houses, but here's a hundred pounds to help thee to take away the old one." And time indeed it was to take away the old one, for the ruins were lying about the churchyard for any illdisposed person to plunder at will, and an entry in the Vestry Minute Book gives only too much reason to believe that one of the great bells was carried off, and converted into a huge punch bowl for carousals at the marriage of Frederick, then Prince of Wales. Little wonder after such a state of affairs that so few relics of that older church exist. But once the task of rebuilding was taken in hand, the parishioners worked hard, though the money was a long time coming in. Not content with the customary practice of obtaining a brief for collections throughout the kingdom, the committee further procured a Private Act of Parliament to enable the residents to raise money by levying rates upon themselves. We learn this from the minutes of a Vestry held in the Old Cross House, January 22nd, 1732, at which meeting six of the inhabitants, Dr. Mangey, the Vicar, being one of the six, "agreed to advance, each £21 towards the expense of obtaining an Act of Parliament for rebuilding the Parish Church. . The said sums to be repaid out of the Church Rate." In the next year a later entry, on March 26th, 1733, shows that "a Rate of 3d. in the £ was levied to pay the expenses of obtaining a brief." At the same Vestry, "it was resolved that every family having seats in the Tabernacle should pay a yearly rent I for the same, to be adjusted. according to the goodness and worth thereof." It was not until January 12th, 1735, that "The Commissioners laid before the Vestry the plan of the intended church, and (also) an account of their proceedings, which were unanimously agreed to," and they were desired "to proceed with the most expedient and carefullest manner they possibly can." The following is a copy of the original Act :— ANNO DUODECIMO GEORGII II REGIS. An Act to enable the Parishioners of Ealing in the county of Middlesex, to raise money by Rates upon themselves for finishing the Church of the said Parish. Whereas the Parish Church of Ealing, in the county of Middlesex, becoming ruinous and irreparable, the Parishioners (who are very numerous), were obliged to assemble for Divine Service in a slight timber tabernacle, built by voluntary contributions, which is also now become ruinous, and not capable of containing all the inhabitants of the said Parish and that soon after the said tabernacle was erected, the Steeple and Roof of the said church fell down, and in order to rebuild the said Church and Steeple, and to make the said church commodious a Brief was obtained, whereby, and by subscriptions, the Sum of One Thousand Five Hundred Pounds, or thereabouts, was raised, and the same hath been duly laid out and applied in erecting a shell of the said church, and rebuilding the said Steeple; and whereas the Parishioners are unable to discharge a Debt remaining due to such workmen as were employed in rebuilding the said Church and Steeple, and to defray the expense of erecting and making convenient Pews, and also to finish and complete the inside of the church with necessary and decent Ornaments, and to cast the old or provide new Bells, without the aid and assistance of an Act of Parliament, the Vicar, Churchwardens, Landowners, and Inhabitants do most humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enacted. . . . to raise monies by such ways and means as are hereinafter mentioned and directed to defray the expense of the said Church and Bells, so as such monies . . . shall not exceed the sum of One Thousand Five Hundred Pounds, including the necessary charges in and about procuring and obtaining this Act of Parliament." The names of the original Trustees are as follows :— The Lord Bishop of London, Lord Hobart, Sir Richard Ellis, Sir Francis Child, Sir George Champion, Sir William Hatton, William 1 Minutes of Vestry, 1773. Pulteney, Charles Lockyer, William Melmoth, esquires; Thomas Mangey, D.D., Vicar of the said parish, and the Chancellor of the Diocese of London for the time being, James Clitherow, Richard Webb, Lane Harrison, Thomas Edwards, William King, D.D., Henry Hanley, Thomas Pearce, King Gould, and Thomas Lowther, esquires; John Ansell, Thomas Ball, Jonathan Gurnell, James Barrat, senior, Thomas Barrat, junior, William Lonsdale, William Banister, Robert Tunstall, Francis Forcer, Thomas Barrat, Samuel Anderson, James Horne, esquires; and Captain Francis Dabadie. No account, apparently, exists of the total cost of the building when finished, and furnished. Up to August 11th, 1779, the actual money paid on account was £1,503 18s. 9d. Of this, the first payment was made as early as June 9th, 1739. Not, however, until the 26th January, 1789, did the then trustees finally wind up their accounts, and a note in the old Minute Book states that there was then a balance of £6 in hand, £1 of which was given to the clerk, and £5 were retained by the Churchwardens. No statement appears of monies collected during these last ten yearsthat is, from August, 1779, to the winding up in 1789, but from the Act already quoted we know that the shell of the church, together with the building of the steeple, had swallowed up £1,500. It is recorded in the Minute Book that the first stone of the church was laid in the year 1735, but neither month nor day is entered. Brewer tells us that the building was more than ten years in progress, and was not opened until Trinity Sunday, 1740.' Probably, a part of the church was first finished, for an entry in the Register says that the first baptism in the new church took place in 1736, and the temporary tabernacle having also become a ruin, unless a portion of the church had been covered in, Divine Service must have lapsed, as no other 1 Beauties of Middlesex, p. 341. The Vestry Minutes, however, show that it could only have been five years; the first stone having been laid in 1735, and the Church having been opened on Trinity Sunday, |