. Mr. Fisher; a
site has recently been purchased, in the anticipation that the Mission in
due time will develop into a new ecclesiastical parish.

Dr. Hartill, as Churchwarden, was instrumental in securing a grant of 700
pounds from a bequest of 15,000 pounds left for Church objects by a Miss
Green, with which to increase the endowment of Holy Trinity Church, Short
Heath; this was supplemented by another 700 pounds from the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners; while in the following year a further sum
of 700 pounds from each source was also obtained for increasing the
endowment of St. Anne's Church.

XXIII.--The Fabric of the Church.

As already discovered (Chapter VII.), a church has existed in Willenhall
since the 13th century. It was at first a small chapel-of-ease, and
seems to have been dedicated in pre-Reformation times to a non-biblical
patron, Saint Giles.

The first edifice, as a mere chapel of accommodation, was in all
probability a very primitive structure, constructed entirely of timber
cut from the adjacent forest of Cannock. But when it became a chantry
also, the original structure may have been replaced by a more elaborate
edifice, in the style which is generally known as half-timbered.

Soon after the Reformation the mother church of Wolverhampton was pewed
on a plan for the specifically allotted accommodation of all the
parishioners, when the centre aisle was given to the inhabitants of
Wolverhampton, the south aisle was set apart for the people of Bilston,
and the north aisle was appropriated to Wednesfield and Willenhall. In
those days, as previously explained, the law supposed that every adult
person attended church on Sundays; there was, in fact, a penalty for
absence enforcible by law.

With regard to Willenhall's timber-constructed church, there is evidence
that in 1660 it was in a deplorable condition through fire ravages.
After the Reformation it became a practice for collections to be made in
the churches throughout the country to provide funds for the repair or
rebuilding of parish churches which had fallen into a state of
dilapidation beyond the means of its own parishioners to make good; or
for other charitable purposes in which the needs of the one seemed to
call for the help of the many. These collections were authorised to be
made by Royal Letters Patent, through official documents known as Briefs;
and entries of these are to be found in most Parish Registers till the
middle o