ate. Anne and Abraham were the twin children of John and Anne
Didimus, in 1741.

The first church rate book only begins in 1776, but it is curious as
showing to whom the land then belonged. The spelling is also odd, and as
the handwriting is beautiful, so there is no doubt that it really is an
account of the Church _Raiting_, nor that the "rait" was "mead." Walter
Smythe, Esquire, of Brambridge, appears, also John Colson John Comley,
and Charles Vine. Lincolns belonged to Mr. Kentish and Gun Plot to
Thilman.

The expenditure begins thus:--April 9, 1776, "Pd. Short for 6 dozen sparw
heds," and the sparw heds are repeated all down the page, varied with
what would shock the H. H.--3_d._ for foxheads. Also "expenses ad
visitation" 9_s._ 6_d._, and at the bottom of the page, the parish is
thus mentioned as creditor "out of pockets, 5_s._ 1_d._" In 1777
however, though the vestry paid "Didums 1 badger's head, 1 polecat's
head; Hary Bell for 2 marten cats, and spares innumerable, and the clarck
warges, 1 pounds 5_s._, there was 1 pounds 3_s._ in hand." The polecats
and marten cats were soon exterminated, but foxes, hedgehogs, and
sparrows continue to appear, though in improved spelling, till April
24th, 1832, when this entry appears:--"At a meeting called to elect new
Churchwardens, present the Rev. R. Shuckburgh, curate, and only one other
person present, the meeting is adjourned. Mr. Shuckburgh protests most
strongly against the disgraceful custom of appropriating money collected
for Church rates towards destroying vermin on the farms." And this put
an end to the custom. However, there were more rightful expenses. Before
Easter there is paid "for washan the surples" 4_s._ It would seem that
the Holy Communion was celebrated four times a year, and that the
Elements were paid for every time at 3_s._ 7_d._ In 1784, when there was
a great improvement in spelling, there were some repairs done--"Paid for
Communion cloth, 10 pence, and for washing and marking it, 6p." In 1786
there was a new church bell, costing 5 pounds 5_s._ 10_d._ Aaron Chalk,
whom some of the elder inhabitants may remember, a very feeble old man
walking with two sticks, was in that year one of the foremost traders in
sparrow heads. It gives a curious sense of the lapse of time to think of
those tottering limbs active in bird catching.

May 2, in 1783, we find the entry "paid for the caraidge of the old bell
and the new one downe from London, 1