4
1773 - The Processional Way is lost but churchwarden Biggs rides to the rescue
The Abbey Church in the 18th century
By the early 1700s the area around the Abbey Church had changed significantly since the people of Romsey had bought the building from King Henry. On the churchyard side, the extension to the north aisle that had been built to make extra room for the congregation of St Laurence's Church had been demolished. It was no longer required now parishioners had use of all of the church. On the south side of the church, most of the domestic buildings used by the nuns had been pulled down.
The large bell tower of St Laurence's Church, that once stood at the rear entrance to what is now the former Magistrates’ Court, had become unsound and had been pulled down in 1625. Its six heavy bells had been removed to the tower of the Abbey Church which had been altered to accommodate them.
The Processional Way becomes blocked
During the incumbency of the Reverend John King (1728-1740/) the Processional Way was still used for its intended purpose. There is a report (1) of a procession taking place around the church in which “two old men went first, the vicar next, after him the clerk, then the sexton and the rest in order, that they met in the vestry, went out at the south door, turned to the right…”. However, this procession seems to have been among the last of its kind.
Churchwardens had agreed that the vicar should have a garden to the east and the south sides of the church and to make it private and secure they built a wall around it with broken glass bottles on the top to fend off raids by local children. The wall ran parallel to the sides of the church and around the south side as far as the south door. The vicar was an enthusiastic gardener and soon had the substantial plot under cultivation.
But with an astonishing disregard for the fabric of the fine old building, he planted fruit trees close to the church and nailed their branches to its stones.
Sketch of the west end of the church showing a door in the wall built by churchwardens
(From a drawing by Dr Latham of about 1800)
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A few years later, churchwardens built yet another wall which ran from the southwest corner of the church. This wall had a door in it that opened on to the Processional Way and was used by churchgoers as a short cut on their way home.
At the time there was an open field reaching all the way from the west end of the church down to the River Test.
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An engraving made in the 1777 is reproduced on the front cover of this book and gives an idea of how open the area may have looked although the artist may have tidied up the scene to make it more attractive. The owners of the field used it for grazing their cattle but there was no clear boundary between the field and the Processional Way so the animals were free to roam right up to the church wall. About 10 years after the south-west wall had been built, owners of the field blocked up the doorway. Churchgoers and churchwardens were annoyed.
In 1737, a meeting of churchwardens (a Vestry) resolved that the doorway should be reopened for the churchgoers. Following negotiations with owners of the land, it was agreed that churchwardens should pay them two shillings and six pence per annum for the right to cross it. Churchwardens paid the rent for the first few years but then they stopped; the owners did not press for payment and the matter became forgotten. However, churchwardens had not forgotten that the Processional Way was Church land and they subsequently made several unsuccessful attempts to recover it from their neighbours.
In 1773, the door had been blocked up again. By then, the field immediately to the west of the church was no longer used for grazing cattle and had been turned into the garden of nearby Abbey House which was part of a large holding of land and property to the south and west of the church known as the Abbey Estate. The garden walls of Abbey House had been built so that they came right up to the church and blocked the Processional Way.
Churchwarden Biggs to the rescue
Despite the fact that the garden of Abbey House had reached up to the church walls for several years, one of the churchwardens, William Biggs, took great exception to the Processional Way being blocked. He complained to Josiah Merryweather who lived in Abbey House but Merryweather said he was only a tenant in the house and not the owner; Abbey Estate owned the house and where its garden walls went was not his problem. An argument broke out and the continuing animosity between the two men became well known in the town.
Another member of the Biggs' family, George, was also a churchwarden and it seemed that both William and George were men of action and had little patience with the measured and leisurely approach of the Vestry. George had recently incurred a large bill by repairing the church clock without authorisation from the churchwardens who were so annoyed that they recorded their complaint at the subsequent Vestry meeting adding“and we will not pay”.
News of William Biggs' dispute with Merryweather had reached William Daman, a noted solicitor with offices in his Church Street house. Daman was clearly aware of Biggs' awkward disposition and publicly warned him that if he got involved in legal action with Merryweather it would have to be at his own expense as the parish was not behind him.
Nevertheless, on a fine October day, and with Daman's warning still ringing in his ears, Biggs forced his way into Merryweather's garden, tore down the walls and shrubs and threw aside everything that was blocking the Processional Way. The path around the Church was now open once again.
Despite his reputation, Biggs' loutish behaviour surprised local people and caused a rift amongst churchwardens and amongst inhabitants of the town. One group felt that Biggs had been motivated more by pique against Merryweather than a genuine desire to recover church property and they would only support an amicable solution to the dispute. Another group, conscious of the fact that the Processional Way had been bought from the King, thought that the Church should try to recover it but they did not approve of Biggs' methods.
The Church seeks legal advice
At their next Vestry, churchwardens decided to seek legal advice on how the Processional Way might be recovered. In a large document titled “CASE” they laid out the history of the land from the time they had purchased it. They described the walls they had built in the early 1700s and everything that had happened through to the present date of September 1773 except Biggs' assault on Merryweather's garden which they evidently thought it prudent to omit. Under the heading 'QUERY' they asked how the land might be recovered and voiced other concerns such as how the law might regard the evidence of elderly witnesses who lived nearby and could remember back to when the Processional Way had been used for its intended purpose.
The Church's Counsel John Madocks replied from Lincolns Inn in the following month by writing on the same document under the heading 'OPINION' as was the custom at the time. He noted that the sale of the Church and the Processional Way had been made to churchwardens and inhabitants of the town who were thereby created a 'body corporate' so they could be recognised as purchasers. However, the situation was complicated by the fact that tenants of the Abbey Estate such as Merryweather, being inhabitants of the town, were also members of the body corporate. There was also a problem with evidence from the elderly witnesses because they lived locally and might, therefore, be prejudiced. Nevertheless, Madocks argued that the best way forward would be to go to law and to start by giving all the facts about the case to the Attorney General in Winchester.
Despite his failings, there is no doubt that Biggs must have been a convincing talker for during the next few months he persuaded the majority of the churchwardens, despite their reservations, to go along with Madocks' recommendation. In May 1774 a long letter outlining the Church's claim to the Processional Way was sent to Edward Thurlow, the Attorney General in Winchester. This was quickly followed by a letter from the Abbey Estate denying the Church's claim to the Processional Way and asking that it be dismissed. They argued that the Processional Way had been part of their estate for such a long time that the Church had lost any rights it may once have had. Additionally, they recalled that the Church had previously paid rent to them in order to use the land; this was surely an acknowledgement that it belonged to the Abbey Estate.
At the time, the churchyard (sometimes called the north Garth) was not rectangular as it is today because the northwest corner was owned by the Abbey Estate. This piece of land was of far more use to the Church as a churchyard than the western part of the Processional Way that was in dispute. Thus, the vicar, John Peveril (2), proposed that the Church give up its claim to the Processional Way in exchange for the piece of land which would make the churchyard square. The Abbey Estate agreed this proposal but insisted, among other things, that the parish pay their legal costs “as it was owing to the obstinacy and folly of one or two men of the parish that any prosecution was commenced at all”.
The Church proceeds to Chancery
At a Vestry on 26th January 1775, this response was found to be unacceptable and the Vestry declared they did “hereby consent and desire that the proceedings in Chancery be carried on with vigour and effort in the four names above”. One of the four names was, of course, William Biggs who attached to the Minutes a copy of an order he had made to lawyer Charles Knott authorising him to proceed with legal action. This was certainly an aggressive response from the churchwardens. Writing from London at the time, William Fletcher noted that it was extraordinary that the whole parish should suffer themselves to be governed by one or two people “particularly to justify the honour of Biggs and company”.
However, one of the churchwardens who had not supported Biggs' cause, James Jackman, met with 14 prominent local townspeople who jointly signed a document demanding that further negotiation with the Abbey Estate should take place before the Church proceeded to Chancery. Unless this took place, they would not contribute to the legal costs. This, together with some doubts about whether their claim would really be successful, completely unsettled the churchwardens who resolved once again to seek advice from their Counsel.
A surprising response from Counsel
Another 'CASE-QUERY-OPINION' document was prepared again detailing the whole situation and asking if churchwardens should proceed to Chancery or drop the matter at this stage. Three separately considered opinions were received. All were astonishingly different from the original advice given by Madocks although there had been no change in the situation. In the opinion of each and every Counsel, the parish was advised to drop the case.
In a final show of bravado, churchwardens wrote to the Abbey Estate spelling out their terms for settling the dispute and threatening to commence proceedings in Chancery if they were not accepted. However, Romsey was then much smaller than it is now; Counsel's advice to drop the case must have been well known about the town and the Abbey Estate did not take the threat seriously.
The parish had failed in its attempt to recover the Processional Way and had also lost the opportunity to obtain extra churchyard space which they desperately needed and which they had to purchase later on. Abbey House and the surrounding land passed through several hands before John Latham bought it in the 1790s. Subsequently, his bankruptcy set the scene for the next part of this story - the founding of Romsey's Public Walk and Pleasure Ground.
1. From Dr Latham's Notes on the History of Romsey
p 225/152. Most of this chapter is taken from these notes.
2. John Peveril was the vicar of the Abbey Church from 1740 to 1780.
