The abbot was hanged before his abbey gate, but Richard Vinnicomb's
goods escaped confiscation; and when the great church was sold, as it
stood, for building material, he bought it for three hundred pounds, and
gave it to the parish. One part of his prayer was granted, for within a
year death reunited him to his brother; and in his pious will he
bequeathed his "sowle to Allmyhtie God his Maker and Redemer, to have
the fruition of the Deitie with Our Blessed Ladie and all Saints and the
Abbey Churche of Saint Sepulchre with the implements thereof, to the
Paryshe of Cullerne, so that the said Parishioners shall not sell,
alter, or alienate the said Churche, or Implements or anye part or
parcell thereof for ever." Thus it was that the church which Westray
had to restore was preserved at a critical period of its history.

Richard Vinnicomb's generosity extended beyond the mere purchase of the
building, for he left in addition a sum to support the dignity of a
daily service, with a complement of three chaplains, an organist, ten
singing-men, and sixteen choristers. But the negligence of trustees and
the zeal of more religious-minded men than poor superstitious Richard
had sadly diminished these funds. Successive rectors of Cullerne became
convinced that the spiritual interests of the town would be better
served by placing a larger income at their own disposal for good works,
and by devoting less to the mere lip-service of much daily singing.
Thus, the stipend of the Rector was gradually augmented, and Canon
Parkyn found an opportunity soon after his installation to increase the
income of the living to a round two thousand by curtailing extravagance
in the payment of an organist, and by reducing the emoluments of that
office from two hundred to eighty pounds a year.

It was true that this scheme of economy included the abolition of the
week-day morning-service, but at three o'clock in the afternoon evensong
was still rehearsed in Cullerne Church. It was the thin and vanishing
shadow of a cathedral service, and Canon Parkyn hoped that it might
gradually dwindle away until it was dispersed to nought. Such formalism
must certainly throttle any real devotion, and it was regrettable that
many of the prayers in which his own fine voice and personal magnetism
must have had a moving effect upon his hearers should be constantly
obscured by vain intonations. It was only by doing violence to his own
high principles that he cons