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portion of the structure having fallen upon a carpenter
with fatal consequences. The following extract from the
minutes is confirmatory of some part of the story:—
9 March, 1738. Ordered that the Church Wardens be desired
to cause the Triumphal Arch (behind the Pulpitt) erected by
Sir William Playters, Knt. and Bart., decd., to be taken down.
The materials of the demolished arch, after being stored
away for ten years, were by a vote of the Vestry, handed
over to the Master of the Workhouse (22nd April, 1748)
for use about the said Workhouse.
As conservators of the fabric of the Church, the Vestry
found inconvenience to result from the occupants of the
adjoining houses, whose windows opened on to the roof,
establishing a "drying ground" on the leads, to remedy
which a resolution was passed: —
10th June, 1691—That Mr. Hyler suffers no persons to goe on and
hang cloathes on the Church Leads and that the Churchwardens
do make a ffence whereby to keepe any persons from
coming on the Church Leads from St Margts Lane Houses.
A volume might be devoted exclusively to the minutes of
the Vestry's proceedings on the subject of the maintenance
of the fabric, and of alterations in the arrangement of the
interior and the pews, so carefully is everything of the
kind noted, from the transposition of a candle holder or
the repair of a broken window to the rebuilding of the
tower. Topics of interest are presented by almost every
page; but the temptation to make anything like a continuous
and complete history, strong as such temptation is,
must be resisted. A few subjects only have therefore been
chosen:—
Wednesday 6th July, 1670—That the present Churchwardens doe
cause a Sunne Dyall to be placed on the west side of the Tower
belonging to the Parish Church and the charge thereof shall be
allowed in their accompt.
After the constitution of the parish of St. John the
Evangelist, doubts arose as to the interpretation of the
enactment so far as it related to the repairs of the Mother