View report page

73
The expenses of the day for such refreshments, and for
bread, cheese, beer, farthings and points for the boys, was
limited by order of Vestry to £10.
Ancient authorities differ with regard to the origin of
parishes generally, and the purpose which the parochial
system was intended to serve, some attributing, apparently
with good reason, merely a secular origin to the system, and
asserting that it was not until later years that the piety and
wealth of the people enabled each Parish to maintain its own
clergy and place of worship. At present, however, a Parish
or ville is distinguished from a hamlet by the possession of a
church, and there can be little doubt that at a very early period
the Parish Church was the centre of parochial life. This rule
may not be generally applicable, and is now somewhat modified
in corporate towns and populous places, but whatever
may be the case elsewhere, it is clear that the very foundation
of the Parish of St. James was due to the erection of a church
and the assignment of a district to it. To this building, then,
a few remarks will not be inappropriate.
THE PARISH CHURCH.
The Parish Church of St. James was built from the
designs of Sir Christopher Wren, and consecrated by Henry
Compton, Bishop of London, on Sunday, the 13th July,
1684. The Act creating the Parish sets forth that the
Church was erected at the "charge and credit of Henry, late
Earl of Saint Albans, and the inhabitants, owners, and
occupiers of the houses, lands, tenements, and hereditaments
in the precinct" of St. James's. This Earl of St. Albans,
who held a prominent position in society, did not live to
see his project completed, but died on the 2nd January,
1684.
F