The parochial Library of All Saints, Maidstone, and other Kentish parochial Libraries

THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE, AND OTHER KENTISH PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES NIGEL YATES Old myths die hard. Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary,' the popular image of the eighteenth-century Church of England is one of complacency and lethargy, whereas that of its nineteenth-century successor is one of energy and reform. In the matter of clerical education, however, these popular images need to be seriously questioned. It was during the eighteenth century that impressive efforts were made to raise the standards of clerical, and to some extent lay, learning through the establishment of parochial libraries. It has been during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that these libraries have been systematically broken up, sold off or even wantonly destroyed. Parochial libraries were to a large extent merely a continuation of the libraries established during the pre-Reformation period at cathedral, collegiate and monastic churches. Many of these were dispersed at the Reformation and some of their books later came into the possession of the newly established parochial libraries. The earliest of these were founded in the churches of Bury St. Edmund's, Grantham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, all during the last decade of the sixteenth century. During the seventeenth century at least a further fifty libraries are known to have been founded. In the eighteenth century the number of known new foundations rose to over two hundred, whereas only about ten new libraries are known to have been established in the years since 1800. Of the nearly three hundred parochial libraries known to have been established since the Reformation, only just over a hundred have survived and many of 'The fundamental starting point is N. Sykes, Church and State in the Eighteenth Century, Cambridge 1934. 159 N. YATES these contain only a small residue of their former contents. The majority of libraries consisted of only a few hundred books, but some were of much greater size. Of the Essex libraries those of Chelmsford and Maldon contained two and five thousand books respectively. The Newcastle-upon-Tyne library had four thousand three hundred books now in the custody of the Newcastle public library. Two West Midlands libraries, at Bridgnorth and Bewdley, both had about three thousand books. At Ipswich and Leicester parochial libraries became the nucleus of future public libraries in 1612 and 1632, respectively.1 The principal figure in the parochial libraries movement of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was Thomas Bray (1656- 1730), rector of Sheldon, Warwickshire, from 1690 and vicar of St. Botolph Without, Aldgate, from 1706.3 Bray's interest in parochial libraries stemmed from his appointment by the bishop of London to be his commissary for Maryland in 1695. Appalled by the poverty of the missionary clergy, he devised a scheme to secure the provision of free libraries for their use, and he was later to adapt this scheme for implementation in England and Wales. Bray was instrumental in establishing the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1698 and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1701. Through a special committee of the former body a total of 62 parochial libraries, more than a fifth of the total number of known parochial libraries, were established between 1705 and 1727, of which substantial remains exist now of only ten. It was as a result of pressure from Bray and his colleagues that the Parochial Libraries Act was passed in 1709. Bray himself published several works on the value of parochial libraries and organised the continuation of his work through the establishment of his 'Associates for Founding Clerical Libraries' in 1723. The Parochial Libraries Act 1709; which is still in force, was designed to encourage the establishment of new parochial libraries and to protect those already established. In particular it forbade the alienation of the contents of parochial libraries except with the permission of the diocesan bishop and then only in the case of duplicate books. But over the past century the act has been largely ignored and indeed frequently overridden by both ecclesiastical and non-ecclesiastical authorities. Many libraries have been destroyed or sold, usually without, but occasionally with, a faculty. Where librar- 1 The best general introduction to parochial libraries is the official report entitled The Parochial Libraries of the Church of England, London 1959. 3 Dictumary of National Biography, 1147-9; Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (Ed.) F.L. Cross, Oxford 1957, 193. • 7 Anne, cap. XIV. 160 THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE ies have passed into the care of local public or university libraries, museums or record offices, their fate has not always been what was intended. Some custodians have simply selected the most interesting items out of the libraries, integrated them into other collections thereby destroying their provenance, and destroyed or sold the rest. Others have found the libraries an embarrassment, and they have lain around for years on shelves, uncatalogued and unused, merely gathering dust. Over the last thirty years a dedicated effort has been made by the Council for the Care of Churches, and some of the diocesan advisory committees, to rectify this situation, and it was the first of these bodies that produced a report upon which much of the current knowledge of parochial libraries is based. Yet despite these efforts libraries have still been alienated and dispersed, and in one case, at Droxford in Hampshire, an 'unrecorded' library of antipapistical tracts was substantially destroyed after some of the more interesting items had been creamed off by Southampton University Library.5 * * * In Kent the local picture has borne a remarkable resemblance to the national one. A total of ten parochial libraries are known to have existed in the county of which substantial remains exist of half; four had apparently been destroyed before 1900 and one was sold in 1970. Of the surviving libraries only that at Preston-by-Wingham is still in parochial custody. The Elham library was gradually transferred to Canterbury Cathedral Library during the 1950s and 1960s and has now been entirely recatalogued. The Crundale library was placed in the care of Wye College in 1966 and has been largely recatalogued. The Doddington and Maidstone libraries have found new, hopefully permanent, homes only recently, Doddington at the Faversham Heritage Centre and Maidstone, after a century-long sojourn at Maidstone Museum, at the Kent Archives Office; both libraries need recataloguing and a substantial degree of conservation. The ten known parochial libraries in Kent can be divided into four groups. The libraries of Detling and Preston-by-Wingham were both SPCK libraries founded in 1710. The libraries at Crundale, Dodding- 􀁱 Toe catalogue of this library is contained in one of the parish registers, Hampshire Record Office, 66M76A, PR3. In the 1972 parish inventory it was stated that books of interest bad been given on permanent loan to Southampton University Library in 1965, and that the residue had been either distributed to members of the congregation or burned in 1970. The Southampton University Library catalogue lists only 35 out of some 150 volumes known to have formed part of the Droxford Library. 161 N. YATES ton and Patrixbourne were clerical bequests, and it is likely that the Thurnham library was as well. The libraries at Ash-by-Wrotham, Elham and Westerham either were, or appear to have been, also donated rather than accumulated, but by the laity and not the clergy. There was only one accumulated parochial library in Kent and that was Maidstone, which seems to have been very much the embryonic public library of the type established at about the same time at Reigate and now governed by trustees. 6 ( 1) The SPCK Libraries: Detling and Preston-by-Wingham These two libraries, both founded in 1710, consisted of one of the two selections of books sent out by the society to various poor parishes in 1705-1710.7 Detling had the 72 and Preston-by-Wingham the 67- volume selection complete with cupboard. There are catalogues of the two libraries made in 1730.8 The Detling Library was allegedly sold for one pound in the 1870s.9 At Preston-by-Wingham the original cupboard survives together with 41 of the original 67 books. (2) Clerical Donative Libraries: Crundale, Doddington, Patrixbourne and Thurnham Only the Crundale and Doddington libraries survive, though the contents of those at Patrixbourne and Thurnham are known from mid-eighteenth century inventories. Whilst the first three libraries are known to have been clerical bequests, the origins of the Thurnham library are entirely unknown. The contents, however, suggest that they belonged to a clerical rather than a non-clerical household, and it would not be unreasonable to suggest that they may have formed part, if not the whole, oft-he private library of Henry Dering, Vicar of Thurnham, 1673-1720, whose daughter Mary bequeathed to the poor of the same parish 26 penny loaves to be distributed annually at Christmas. 10 The Crundale library was bequeathed to his successors in the living 6 The Reigate library was formed in 1701 and administered by the Vicar of Reigate and 44 other trustees, according to a trust deed dated 4 November 1708. A new scheme for the administration of the library, which runs to over 2400 volumes, that reduced the number of trustees to nine, was approved by the Charity Commissioners in 1950. 7 Parochial Libraries, 35-8. 8 Canterbury Cathedral Library, Ms.Y.4.30. Later catalogues of the Detling library, dated 1774, and the Preston library, dated 1772, were among the Canterbury diocesan records recently transferred from the Kent Archives Office to Canterbury Cathedral Library. 9 Parochial Libraries, 76-7. '0 E. Hasted, History and Topographical Survey of Kent, 2nd edition, vol. 5, 530. 162 THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE by Richard Forster, Rector of Crundale, 1698-1729. Forster was clearly a scholar, educated at Brasenose College, Oxford. Before his preferment to Crundale he had been headmaster of the school at SuttonValence from 1681. He was also Rector of Beckley, Sussex, 1682-99, and Vicar of Eastchurch in the Isle of Sheppey, 1699-1729. Crundale was a poor living and it was because of this that Forster bequeathed his books to his successors. In his will, made on 15 November, 1728,1' Forster declared that the revenues of Crundale were so small 'that they are not like to enable an Incumbent decently to maintain himself and Family, and likewise purchase many useful books; I do therefore give and bequeath all my books not otherwise dispos'd of, with my Chronological Tables, as a Parochial Library under the Protection of the Statute of ye Seventh Year of Queen Ann for the Use of all succeeding Rectors'. The library was therefore to be a parochial library under the provisions of the 1709 Act. An inventory of the library compiled immediately after Forster's death, and exhibited to the archdeacon by his successor as rector on 8 May, 1729 lists a total of 850 volumes. 12 A small number of other volumes, including some belonging to a neighbouring clergyman, Samuel Pegge, Vicar of Godmersham, 1731-1753, were added to the library later and the whole collection has remained intact to the present day. The library, thus enlarged to 934 volumes, though several are volumes comprising numbers of tracts bound together, was deposited at Wye College in 1966. Forster's library is a remarkable and highly personal survival, the working and private library of an Anglican clergyman with wide interests. There is a large number of theological works, including editions of the early Fathers in both Greek and Latin, historical treatises and controversial pamphlets on contemporary political issues, particularly the Revolution of 1688-89 and its aftermath. There are small sections on mathematics and science and a collection of text-books from Forster's days at Oxford. Most of the books bear Forster's signature and many of them have a note of the price, and sometimes of the place and date of purchase. '3 The Doddington library was similar in the terms of its foundation and contents to that at Crundale, though somewhat smaller. The bulk of the library consists of the books of Daniel Somerscales, Vicar of Doddington, 1694-1737, given by his executor, Samuel Lisle, Archdeacon of Canterbury, in 1743. An inventory compiled in 1744 11 Kent Archives Office, PRC17/87 f.14. 12 Canterbury Cathedral Library, Ms. Y.4.30. 13 Most of the information on the Crundale library is based on a typescript note on the library compiled by D.J. Shaw in June 1982. See also Parochial Libraries, 75-6. 163 N. YATES listed a total of 364 books, to which a further four volumes were added before the compilation of a second inventory in 1774." By 1959 the library, then in Doddington vicarage, comprised some 385 volumes, including a few additions made in the nineteenth century, 15 and these volumes have been transferred to specially adapted premises in the Faversham Heritage Centre, which was formally opened in 1983. As at Crundale the books contain a good balance of history and theology, supplemented at Doddington by a significant number of linguistic and literary works by classical authors. The Patrixbourne library, the contents or existence even of which is known only from an inventory of 1757 among the parish records, 1 • was a very substantial affair. The books belonged to John BowteU, Vicar of Patrixbourne, 1697-1753, and were bequeathed by his widow 'to the use of the vicar of Patrixbourne for the time being'. She died on 12 October, 1757, and an inventory was compiled by Herbert Taylor, Vicar of Patrixbourne, 1753-63. The books were located in two studies in the vicarage and numbered 1078 'besides a large Number in Print of Single Sermons, Pamphlets &c laid up in a chest under Lock & Key at the Vicarage-house'. The collection included Walton's Polyglot Bible and a good mixture of the more popular historical and theological works, including a large number of volumes of sermons. There was also a small number of topographical works but relatively little literature. As at Crundale it would appear that the principal motivation for the foundation of the library was the poverty of the benefice, which Bowtell held in plurality with the rectory of Staplehurst, and his successor Taylor with that of Hunton. The Thurnham library is recorded, in an inventory of church goods compiled at Easter 1751. 11 The total number of titles listed was 126, but it is clear that a large number of these were short tracts which were probably bound together. They were kept in a book-case in Thurnham church. The Thurnham library is quite different to all the other known parochial libraries in Kent since its contents were of a highly practical nature and consisted almost entirely of early eighteenth- century works in English. The titles listed included various writings on charity schools, the sacraments, moral issues, several sermons and a number of anti-popish tracts. In total size it is likely " Both these inventories were among the Canterbury diocesan records recently transferred from the Kent Archives Office to Canterbury Cathedral Library. 15 Parochial Libraries, 77. 16 Canterbury Cathedral Library, U/3/129/1. I am grateful to Miss A.M. Oakley for first drawing my attention to this inventory. 11 This inventory was among the Canterbury diocesan records recently transferred from the Kent Archives Office to Canterbury Cathedral Library. 164 THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE that the library was similar to the SPCK libraries at Detling and Preston-by-Wingham though the contents were much less academically theological. (3) Non-Clerical Donative Libraries: Ash-by-Wrotham, Elham and Westerham These three libraries are less well-documented than the four clerical donative libraries, and only one of the three has survived, namely that at Elham. The Elham library was bequeathed by Lee Warly to the parish of Elham in 1809 and 'restored by public subscription in 1843'. 18 At its restoration the library was arranged in seven sections, each section being kept in a separate case or cases. The sections were divinity, elementary works and dictionaries, law, physic, history, general literature and miscellaneous, and the catalogue contained a total of 1443 titles. The bulk of this library has survived and is now deposited in Canterbury Cathedral Library. The libraries of Ash-by-Wrotham and Westerham have not survived, and this is a considerable pity since they were the only known libraries within the diocese of Rochester, 1 • all the others being in the diocese of Canterbury. The Westerham library had disappeared by 1856, though a catalogue of it then existed/1 now even the catalogue has disappeared. The library was apparently bequeathed to the parish by Charles West in 1765 and comprised several hundred volumes.21 When the parish records of Westerham were deposited in the Kent Archives Office in 1982 they were found to contain a copy of Thomas Comber's Roman Forgeries in the Councils, published in 1689,22 but upon examination it was found to bear a note on its title page that it had been given to Westerham chapel in 1743, so had presumably never been part of the lost parochial library. The fate of Ash library was even more unfortunate, since it remained in parochial custody until 1947, when it was deposited in the headquarters of the Kent County Library. During a vacancy in the benefice in 1970 it was withdrawn by the churchwardens and sold without a faculty. The library consisted of at least three hundred books, mostly literary, which had been given to the rectors of Ash in 18 A Catalogue of Mr. Lee Warly's Library, London 1845. '9 No parochial libraries were recorded for the diocese of Rochester in Archdeacon John Denne's visitation of 1732-34, Kent Archives Office DRaNe 1-3, though a question as to whether such libraries existed was included. 20 Notes and Queries, 2nd series, ii (1856), 78. 21 Parochial Libraries, 104. 22 Kent Archives Office, P389/28/9. 165 N. YATES the mid-nineteenth century by the patrons of the benefice, though for what purpose is not known. It is doubtful if the library was a parochial library under the terms of the 1709 Act, so that although some concern was expressed after the sale had come to light no legal action was taken against those who had been responsible. The proceeds of the sale totalled just under £1300, which was used to augment the benefice endowment. The auction catalogue listed a total of 294 books which were sold for £1245 10s. In addition the auctioneers recommended that a large number of other books were not worth auctioning and advised that two tenders be obtained for this residue 'packed in thirteen cartons'. These books were sold for £35.23 (4) Maidstone Parochial Library The parochial library of All Saints, Maidstone, the bulk of which was transferred to the Kent Archives Office in 1982, is the only nondonative parochial library in Kent. It was accumulated primarily by the desire of the principal inhabitants of Maidstone and has something of the character of an embryonic public library. It is also the only one of the Kentish parochial libraries to still retain, and probably ever to have possessed, manuscripts as opposed to printed volumes among its contents. Although All Saints, Maidstone, clearly had some books in its custody from the middle of the seventeenth century, it would appear that these did not constitute a library as such and that the resolution to form a library was taken after, and in response to, the 1709 Act. The Maidstone library, therefore, postdates the SPCK libraries at Detling and Preston-by-Wingham in terms of its proper foundation, though it is probably earlier than all the clerical donative libraries, including Thurnham, and certainly earlier than the non-clerical donative libraries, none of which was established before 1765. On 19 July, 1658, the Maidstone Burghmote Court ordered 'that the Chamberlyne of this Towne doe forthwith buy for the use of this Corporacon a Greek Bible newly printed in the Easteme Languages, and likewise that he take order for a Lexicon of the Said Languages, and Mr. Recorder is hereby desired to assist the Said Chamberlyn in the procureing [of] the said book'.2 • This was a copy of Walton's Polyglot Bible in six volumes, and was one of the last Puritan acts of 23 File relating to the sale of the Ash library among the parish records in the Kent Archives Office, PS/5/4. This file includes an annotated copy of the auction catalogue giving the prices paid for each book. 2' Kent Archives Office, Md/ACml/3, f.94v. 166 THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE the corporation! On 29 October, 1658, the Bible having been purchased, it was ordered that it 'be disposed of for publique use of such ministers and others as shall have recourse to the same for theire readinge and studyes, and for that end that it be for the present placed (untill further order) in the Vestry Roome of the Parish Church of this Towne in some convenient presse with shelves and chaynes in convenient manner and that there be two Keyes provided for the Said Presse, one whereof to be left with the Minister for the time beinge and the other with the Mai or for the time beinge, and that the care of setting upp the Said presse and placeinge the said books be referred to the Maior for the time beinge, Mr. Recorder, Mr. Caleb Banks, Mr. Andrew Broughton and Mr. John Crompe, our present Minister, or to any three of them'. 25 An inventory of church goods in 1667 duly records the presence of 'six bookes of old and new Testament from ye Oxident all Languages' at All Saints, together with an 'old church bible', which may have been that section of the Lambeth Bible later part of the parochial library.26 The exact origins of the parochial library itself are unclear. It has been alleged that the library was founded during the incumbency of Gilbert Innes, perpetual curate of Maidstone, 1692-1711, though no evidence is put forward to support this allegation.21 According to another suggestion 'the inhabitants of Maidstone resolved to fit up the Vestry Room with shelves and other conveniences for the reception of books.' Afterwards a total of 34 named donors, including Lord Romney and Sir Thomas Culpepper, gave 64 books to the new library. One of the other donors was William Newton the historian of Maidstone, who gave a copy of his Life of Bishop Kennet. 2" Again authority for this version of events is lacking and it seems certain that, at the very least, developments over two decades have been telescoped into a much shorter period. Documentary evidence is lamentably thin. Among the parish records of All Saints, Maidstone, there are however three significant references which throw considerable light on the likely origins of the parochial library. The first is a list of 26 books in the library on 24 June, 1716, in addition to the 'folios there before', namely the 'Polyglot Bible in seven volumes, Comber on the Common Prayer, Manuscript Latin Bible, large English Bible, Book of Homilies, and 25 Ibid., f.96v. See also Records of Maidstone, (Ed.) K.S. Martin, Maidstone 1926, 137, 214. 26 W.B. Gilbert, Memorials of the Collegiate and Parish Church of All Saints, Maidstone 1866, 157. 27 J.M. Russell, History of Maidstone, Maidstone 1881, 121. 28 W.B. Gilbert, op. cit., 170-2. 167 N. YATES Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical. '29 The second is a list of some fifty books borrowed from the parochial library between 8 December, 1717, and 18 November, 1735.30 The third is a resolution of the vestry on 28 February, 1731/2, 'that a case and shelves with sash'd doors shall be set up at the expense of the said parish'.31 From these it seems reasonable to deduce that the 26 books in the parochial library had been given in or shortly before June 1716 and that this marked the beginnings of the parochial library, the earlier books being the sort of books, with the exception of the Latin Bible, that any eighteenth-century parish church might have possessed without calling them a library. 32 One notes with interest the discrepancy between the six volumes of the Polyglot Bible in 1667 and the seven volumes of 1716, and assumes that the additional volume was the lexicon that the corporation had resolved to purchase to accompany the Bible in 1658. It would seem that this small nucleus of books was added to quickly, presumably by the donations referred to earlier and there may have been over a hundred books in the library by c. 1730. This would explain the resolution to erect the book-case in which such a significant number of books might be conveniently kept. If all these deductions are correct then one can safely assume that the moving spirit behind the foundation of the Maidstone parochial library was probably Samuel Weller, perpetual curate of Maidstone, 1712-53, who held the cure in plurality with the rectories of both Newchurch and Sundridge," but who was clearly a model parish priest. In 1741 the services at AU Saints, Maidstone, included a monthly celebration of Holy Communion with supplementary celebrations on three consecutive Sundays at the major festivals of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun; full service with sermon twice each Sunday; morning prayer daily, with evening prayer also on Saturdays, holy days and their eves, and daily throughout Lent; catechising on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, and a service on Good Friday.3' It was certainly as a result of Weller's initiative that the Maidstone parochial library received its next and most significant acquisition of books. Thomas Bray, who had done so much to promote parochial libraries generally, stipulated in his will that part of his own library 29 All Saints, Maidstone, Register of Burials 1678-1715. l(J All Saints, Maidstone, Charity School Accounts 1713-1836. 31 All Saints, Maidstone, Vestry Minute Book 1708-1800. 32 For example the small number of books noted in an inventory of the goods of Sutton-at-Hone Church in 1724, Kent Archives Office, DRb/At 75. 33 J. Cave-Browne, History of the Parish Church of All Saints, Maidstone n.d., 132. Weller was Rector of Newchurch, 1712-53, and Sundridge, 1731-53. 3' J.M. Russell, op. cit., 122. 168 THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE was to be sold to any market town in England prepared to offer fifty pounds for them, 'towards the raising a Lending or Publick Library'. These included all the historical, chronological and geographical books in Bray's library, together with various editions of the early Fathers and the works of Luther and Melanchthon, valued at one hundred pounds.35 Weller managed to get together a total of 25 subscribers, in addition to himself, to raise the fifty pounds, and Bray's library was thus acquired for Maidstone. The subscribers included Lord Fairfax and several local clergymen, among them Daniel Somerscales, later the founder of the Doddington parochial library, who was the most generous of all the subscribers, giving £6 6s. 36 Altogether the books in Bray's library purchased for Maidstone totalled 559 volumes,3' the selection being fairly similar to those in the Crundale, Doddington and Patrixbourne libraries, namely a good balance of history and theology with small selections of books on other subjects. A full catalogue of all the books was published by another of the library's benefactors, John Lewis, author of a History of the Isle of Thanet. 38 It is perhaps surprising that after such exertions and diligence in setting up the parochial library it should so soon suffer from serious neglect. As early as 1738 amounts totalling 7s. 3d. were paid out for 'advertising books that were lost' in the St. James Evening Post and Canterbury News. There is no exact record of borrowings from the library after 1735 until 1755, when a proper register was begun. This register begins with a list of eighteen books borrowed from the library on 9 August, 1755, which presumably suggests that no record of borrowers had been kept for at least several weeks, and perhaps longer, before that date. Thereafter the register is complete until 21 October, 1871, after which date borrowing from the library seems to have ceased.'0 It would appear that the total number of books in the library was 681 when the printed catalogue was published in 1736, and a number of books were donated or purchased up until the end of the eighteenth century by which time there were about eight hundred 35 Parochial Libraries, 88--9. 36 W. Newton, History and Antiquities of Maidstone, London 1741, 121-3. 37 List in Bodleian Library, Oxford, Ms. Rawlinson C 155, ff. 286--92; photocopy in Kent Archives Office. 38 Catalogue of all the Books in the Parochial Library of the Town and Parish of Maidstone, Margate 1736. Lewis was Vicar of Acrise, 1699-1706, Rector of Eastbridge, 1706--47, and Saltwood, 1706--9, Vicar of St. John-in-Thanet, 1705-47, and Minster-in-Thanet, 1708--47, and Master of Eastbridge Hospital, Canterbury, 1719-47. 39 W.B. Gilbert, op. cit., 216. 40 Maidstone Parochial Library, Register of Borrowers 1755-1871, in Kent Archives Office. 169 N. YATES books. In 1810 the whole library was rearranged by the assistant curate of Maidstone, Robert Finch, who commented very candidly on the state of the books as he found them: It is much to be lamented that many very excellent institutions of our Ancestors are suffer'd to fall into neglect and decay. This is the case, it is lo be fear'd, with many parochial libraries founded in former times by the patrons and encouragers of literature. An instance of it occurs in this of Maidstone containing a valuable and generally useful collection of books partly purchased by the parishioners of the Executors of Dr. Bray (who bequeathed them to any parish who would advance £50 as a consideration for the value of them) and partly presented by the munificence of several benefactors. In the year 1810 I found many valuable books missing and a still larger number irretrievably darnag'd by the incursions of worms and damp. Of these last I caus'd some few to be rebound, but the greater part were far too decay'd to be at all recover'd, and were consequently put aside, among which I am sorry to record two very fine copies of Walton's Polyglott Bible, Calvin's works and many valuable theological commentaries. I have now rearrang'd the library, and written a new catalogue having carefully corrected the inaccuracies of the former one. The volumes missing and decay'd amounted to about one hundred. I find the present number to be 710. The gross value is about £165. The place of every book on the shelves has been collated with its letter and number in the catalogue and found to correspond. Finch's catalogue gave the names of the donors of all volumes presented to the parochial library, and the details of any missing volumes. The discarded volumes were, of course, not included in the catalogue. The numbers given to the books by Finch and the bookplates inserted in each volume still survive, and his catalogue formed the basis of a later manuscript catalogue compiled in 1882. •2 Once again, however, the efforts of one of the library's supporters seem to have been quickly forgotten. Some of the missing books were returned to the library and a small number of additional books may have been presented, including one of the manuscript volumes. Relatively few parishioners seem to have borrowed from the library anp it was clearly taking up valuable space in the church. On 22 March, 1867, the vestry 'resolved that the Committee of the Charles Museum instituted under the Public Libraries and Museum Act be requested to remove to their institution and take charge of the Antient Parochial Library for many years deposited in the Vestry Room of All Saints, Maidstone, and the Book Cases containing the same there to be kept during the Pleasure of the Inhabitants and 41 Introductory page to large manuscript catalogue of library compiled by Finch in 1810; this large catalogue and two smaller contemporary copies are shelved with the parochial library in the Kent Archives Office. •2 This catalogue is also in the Kent Archives Office. 170 THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE subject to a future Order of Vestry'. 0 There is no record of any faculty having been sought for the transfer of the books and it was clearly regarded at the time as a temporary measure. Fifty years later it was alleged that the books had been 'sent to the Museum to be housed for the church until suitable accommodation could be provided, and there they still remain' . .,.. The actual transfer took place on 15 August, 1867, according to a contemporary note: 'the Library was brought from All Saints Church to the Charles Museum, Chillington House, and placed under the Charge of the Curator of the Museum. The number of books being about 733, some were in a very bad state from damp and the incursion of Worms, and many have suffered from Wilful and disgraceful mutilation. '45 During the 1870s a good deal of work was clearly done on the library and a revised and much annotated version of the 1810 catalogue produced in 1882. After that no work seems to have been done on the library and it was once again in need of some conservation when it was transferred to the Kent Archives Office in 1982. It is the hope of the present writer that this latest rekindling of interest in the library will not be allowed to fall away as the others have done and discussions are now taking place on the best ways of ensuring the future of the library and restoring it to the intention of the original founders, that it should be a 'public library' for the use of the inhabitants of Maidstone and such scholars as may require access to it. At the time of writing the Maidstone Parochial Library consists of three manuscript and 712 printed books, all published before 1800. However, 22 books present in both the 1810 and 1882 catalogues cannot now be accounted for, and have presumably been lost; they include a number of interesting seventeenth-century atlases. Taking the volumes present and missing together the total is 737, a figure more or less consistent with the number of books alleged to have been in the library in 1867. The numerical sequence, however, suggests that there should have been 762 books in the library in 1882. Six of these books were in fact recorded as missing in the catalogue; there is no indication of author or title for the other numbers (D92, F55, H34, J41, K21, M7, M35, M37, 02, 09, 010, 020, 028, 036 and Pl0) in the catalogue, and it must be assumed that these numbers were either never allocated to books, or elsewhere allocated by Finch to books which he decided were in too poor a condition to restore in 43 All Saints, Maidstone, Vestry Minute Book 1860-72, 188. ,.. Inventory of the Parish Registers and other Records in the Diocese of Canterbury, (Ed.) C.E. Woodruff, Canterbury 1922, 119. ,s Maidstone Parochial Library, Register of Borrowers 1755-1871, in Kent Archives Office. The original book-cases no longer exist. 171 N. YATES 1810 and which were destroyed instead. The three manuscript volumes in the library are of some interest. A13 is a thirteenthcentury volume of sermons and notes for preachers in English and French. B91 is a fifteenth-century book of hours and psalter. PS is the second part of a Bible, the first section of which is at Lambeth Palace Library; it runs from the Psalms to the Apocalypse and is a large volume of the twelfth century, though imperfect, several illuminated capitals having been crudely cut out. Unlike A13 and B91, which are later additions to the library, PS was at All Saints in 1716 and possibly in 1667, and could have been in the church since before the Reformation. Its survival as part of the parochial library is indeed remarkable. Only fourteen other parochial libraries in England, in addition to Maidstone, contain manuscript material.'6 * * * The parochial libraries of Kent are an interesting witness to the vitality of the Church of England in the years between the Civil War and the reforms of the nineteenth century. Of those clergymen connected with their establishment or enlargement many were clearly distinguished local scholars: Richard Forster of Crundale, Daniel Somerscales of Doddington, Samuel Weller of Maidstone, John Lewis of Margate, John Bowtell of Patrixbourne. It is particularly fortunate that, with the exception of Bowtell, the fruits of their generosity and scholarship should have largely survived. It is gratifying that, after years of neglect, those Kentish libraries that have survived should now be receiving attention from interested scholars and in reasonably secure custody. What is now needed is a detailed and comparative analysis of their contents and their assured use. Whilst the rediscovery of forgotten treasures can awaken momentary enthusiasm among those ,interested in the past, there is an enormous danger that such enthusiasm will soon pass on to some new interest. Parochial libraries should not be treated as museum objects but as research centres; it is only by continuing to fulfil the objects of their foundation that they will really justify their continued existence and preservation. 47 '6 Parochial Libraries, 109-110. See also S.W. Kershaw, 'Manuscripts and Rare Books in Maidstone Museum', Arch. Cant. xi (1877), 189-98; M.R. James, Catalogue of Medieval Manuscripts in Lambeth Palace Library, Cambridge 1932, 3; Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, (Ed.) N.R. Ker, London 1964, 45, 371. It is assumed from internal evidence that the two parts of the Bible were written at St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, and later formed part of the library of the college established at Maidstone by Archbishop Courtenay in 1395. " I am grateful to all those who have in various ways assisted in the compilation of this article, and in particular to Graham Hunter of Maidstone Museum, David Shaw of 172 THE PAROCHIAL LIBRARY OF ALL SAINTS, MAIDSTONE APPENDIX A: STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF KNOWN PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES IN KENT Parochial Library Date of Total Number Present Situation Foundation of Books Detling 1710 71 Soldc. 1875 Preston-by- 1710 67 41 books survive in parochial Wingham custody Maidstone c. 1716 over 800 715 books survive in Kent Archives Office Crundale 1729 934 All books survive in Wye Col- Iege Library Doddington 1743 c. 385 All books survive in Faversham Heritage Centre Thurnham before 1751 under 100 Presumed destroyed Patrixbourne 1757 1078+ Presumed destroyed pamphlets Westerham 1765 not known Destroyed before 1856 Elham 1809 1443 c. 1200 books survive in Canterbury Cathedral Library Ash-by-Wrotham c. 1860 over300 Sold 1970 APPENDIX B: DOCUMENTARY SOURCES FOR KNOWN PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES IN KENT Parochial Library Detling Preston-by-Wingham Maidstone Crundale Doddington Thurnham Patrixbourne Westerham Elham Ash-by-Wrotham Documentary Source Catalogues 1730 and 1774 Catalogues 1730 and 1772 Manuscript catalogues 1716, 1735, 1810 and 1882 Printed catalogue 1736 Borrowers' registers 1717-35 and 1755-1871 Vestry resolutions 1732 and 1867 Catalogue 1729 Catalogues 1744 and 1774 Catalogue 1751 Catalogue 1757 None Catalogue 1845 Partial catalogue and related correspondence 1970 the University of Kent, and David Williams of the Council for the Care of Churches, and my wife for her helpful comments on the initial draft. 173