The Church Rate and Tudor Vermin Acts
The Church Rate
The main purpose of the church rate was to provide funds for the maintenance and repair the parish church. But this tax was also used for a number of other purposes, such as granting charity to the poor who passed through the parish, and also bounty payments for the control of vermin. National events were often referred to in the churchwardens' accounts; in 1723 Vallentine Hoile records money, given to 'Ringers att Gunpowder treason 2s 6d'. In 1737 Vallentine Hoile senior and Richard Thompson record: 'Paid to Mr Shocklidge for a Order of Prayer at the Queen's death 1s'. This was the vicar, George Shocklidge, praying at the death of Queen Caroline (1683-1737), the wife of George II, who died on 17 November. The 1734-35 churchwardens' accounts by Robert Nethersole include: 'Paid John Baker for Dial for ye churchyard 5s'.
The Tudor Vermin Acts
In the early 1500s the population was rising, so by 1525 England stood at around 2.6 million. However, after a period of disastrous harvests and outbreaks of disease from the 1550s, including plague and an influenza epidemic, the population declined. In the late 1500s it began to rise again and the demand for food outstripped the supply, leading to an increase in food prices and a corresponding increase in land rentals. The situation was exacerbated by wet weather and bad harvests; particularly bad years were 1549-51 and 1594-97. Although the Elizabethan period was seen as a golden era, this was only true for London and the large landowners in the countryside. Two thirds of the population was either in poverty or only marginally above it. In response to this came the Preservation of Grain Act (1532) passed by Henry VIII, and enhanced by Elizabeth I in 1566. The latter was the most important act as it listed numerous animals then considered as 'vermin', many of which in fact did no harm to the crops or farm animals.
Roger Lovegrove in his book Silent Fields (2007) has examined the historical impact of the vermin acts on wildlife in Britain, including the churchwardens' accounts of 70 parishes in Kent (a 16% sample). The sample includes Northbourne, which scores fairly highly in the frequency of 'kills' compared with the nearby parishes. The list is not inclusive; the only other local parishes listed are: Nonington, Eythorne, Betteshanger, Waldershare, and Guston. Betteshanger only records a bounty on hedgehogs, probably reflecting its size; it had around three houses in the 1700s. The animals that regularly occur in the Northbourne accounts (1708-60), along with the bounties, are:
| Animal | Bounty |
|---|---|
| Hedgehog | 4d |
| Fox | 1s |
| Badger | 1s |
| Polecat | 6d |
| Weasel | 4d |
| Sparrows | 2d |
In addition to those above, Roger Lovegrove's list for the parish of Northbourne also includes stoats, as well as the occasional otter, and buzzard ('Busarde' in the 1566 Act). Other types of birds found in the sample of Kent parishes include rooks, magpies, jays, and even red kite. Although it doesn't always state it in the accounts, sparrows were usually paid by the dozen. The accounts from Easter 1731 to Easter 1732 prepared by Daniel Golder are fairly typical and list a number of 'vermin' bounties. Henry Marsh was paid 4d for a hedgehog, Robert 'Spiner' (Spinner) was paid 2s 4d for seven hedgehogs and Ann Fores 4d for a hedgehog. Hedgehogs of course do no harm but, in the past, superstition claimed that hedgehogs sucked milk from the teats of cows at night as they lay in the pasture. It was also said they 'stole' apples by rolling onto them and carrying them away stuck to their spines. In the 1731-32 accounts the 'Mersa' (Mercer) boys were paid 1s 6d for a hedgehog and seven sparrows. The Wyborns seem to be particularly successful as John Wyborn senior was paid 3s 6d for seven 'poulcats' (polecats) and John Wyborn junior 9s 2d for 11 'poulcats' seven weasels and eight sparrows. Daniel Golder also records he paid his 'boys for 4 sparrows 8d'. It is worth noting that some of the names often reoccur each year, for example the previous year, in 1730, the Golder boys were paid for '2 dusan [dozen] of sparrows', although they were outdone by the Nethersole boys who secured '12 dusan of sparrows'. In the same year one of the John Wyborns had '8 poulcats and 5 weasals' amounting to 5s 8d.
The vermin control clearly provided some pocket money for the Golder and Nethersole boys, but it is unlikely these bounty payments had any significant long-term impact on the targeted animals. It encouraged people to cull the animals when their numbers were at their highest; when it would be least effective. It is also true to say that many of the animals killed would probably have died anyway during the harsh winter months. However, animals high up the food chain were more vulnerable, particularly the polecat. Polecats are closely related to ferrets (it is thought that ferrets are merely domesticated polecats).
Until the early 1800s the polecat was fairly common in Kent. In the days when every smallholder and cottage had a henhouse the polecat was seen as a menace. In the 1566 statute the bounty was 1d per head but, by the early 1600s it was 4d; by the 1700s, as we see in Northbourne, it had increased to 6d. The mention of bounty payments for the polecat in the Kent parish records gradually disappears between 1720 and c.1760. The polecat suffered greater persecution than either the stoat or weasel. No doubt its eradication was inevitable due to the growth of sporting estates in the late 18th and early 19th century. It only survived in Wales and the Marches because gamekeepers departed to fight in the First World War (1914-1918). Now, aided by some reintroductions, it is spreading back into England.
The act was repealed in the mid-18th century when people finally became concerned about the impact it was having on the British wildlife.