Transcript of the Letter
Mr Dean,
Yours of the 15th instant I received & give you many thanks for declaring your thoughts so freely & friendly to me; your former from Canterbury which you mention I have not received which I am sorry for because I presume it might contain some good advice how to proceed in my difficult affair with Mr Cullyer; matters are now at a stand between us & if he does not fall in his price we shall not accord about the purchase; I have been very earnest with him to get a Terrar made & he has promised me it shall be done; he desired me to give his service to you Sir & to assure you that it should be done with all convenient speed; he says that he never received your Auditors’ Letter & that the reason why he did not renew his Lease at the proper time was because being then laid up with the Gout it slipt his memory: & he is now so infirm that he can hold to business but a few hours in a day. As to the number of acres belonging to the Rectory he says he has a true Schedule of them & will show it me if he can find it.
By the Demesne lands I suppose you mean the Copyhold lands belonging to that Mannor, what number there is of them I am not apprized; the rent of the whole belonging to the Rectory is as you state it at £30 pretty equal & the Quit rents (as appears by the Rentall) amount to just £6; thus far your account is good, but in the real vallue of the Tythes it’s my opinion you are much mistaken: they ought to be rated at no more than what they will let for & no man will hire them without being well paid for the trouble of gathering; they are not to be vallued according to what Mr Cullyer makes of them because his troubles & charge is very considerable & I do assure you Sir that in that account which he gave me of them lately when I was in treaty with him about the purchase he vallued them to me but at a little above £40 & my plea was that they ought to be vallued but at £30 because no man would give more for them if he hired the whole tho Mr Cullyer might make £40 of them by composition or gathering: this Sir with submission I think ought to be considered and the right stating of the case depends much upon it; if the Lessee cannot live upon the place (as it may happen) he must let the tythes as well as he can & the people will certainly take the advantage of it, if he offers them to sale to […] man he will have a good pennyworth or also he will never untangle himself in an affair which in all probability is like to be attended with so much trouble & charge.
I speak this Sir according to the best of my judgment, and if it does not satisfy you be pleased to make further inquiry: if it does satisfy you then it will be needful to lay before you what deductions ought to be made besides those you mention’d, you mention’d only £17 for rent & entertainment but there is £6 augmentation to the Vicar & £1: 4s paid to the Dean & Chapter of Norwich besides Taxes, Repairs & Town charges which are now very considerable; but you may reply that you never allow anything for them, ‘tis true not in the other six years, but be pleased to consider whether it be not equitable that if the Landlords must have one […] years profits in 7, all charges should be laid upon them for that one year & that for this reason because the Lessee all that year is rather their servant than their Tennant.
I shall summ up the whole when I have pleaded for one deduction more & that is for my right as Vicar to the Tythes of Hawfield; all the old writings declare that the Vicar was endowed with the Tythes if the fields call’d Tweyt & Somercroft & tho in process of time those names were lost, yet the late Vicar Mr William Cullyer who was resident in the Parish between 50 & 60 years & consequently knew more about the rights of the Vicar than any man and tho he had then a Lease of the great Tythes, yet he own’d in the last Terrier which he exhibited at an Episcopal Visitation 1706 that the Tythes of Hawfield belong’d to the Vicar; & this being a large field the Tythes may be computed one year with another at £5. Be pleased then to take a view of the whole.
| Item | £ | s | d |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rectory Lands | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Tythes | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Quit Rents | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Sub total | 66 | 0 | 0 |
| Less expenses (see below) | 41 | 0 | 0 |
| Remains | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| Item | £ | s |
|---|---|---|
| For rent & entertainment | 17 | 0 |
| Augmentation to the Vicar | 6 | 0 |
| To Dean & Chapter of Norwich | 1 | 4 |
| For Hawfield | 5 | 0 |
| For Repairs | 5 | 0 |
| For Taxes at 2s per £ | 3 | 8 |
| To the Poor rate | 2 | 8 |
| To the Window tax | 1 | 0 |
| Total expenses | 41 | 0 |
Mr Cullyer says that the Repairs are rather under than overlaid, the Chancell being large & cover’d with Thatch & the headhouse & Outhouses covered with thatch & the Jackdaws & other birds lying much upon them. He being infirm requests you to direct your answer to me, who am Sir
Your very humble Servant
Henry Rix
Chapter of Canterbury Archives U63 70379
Transcription © G. Sankey
Comments
- The lessee referred to above is Mr. Augustine Cullyer, not to be confused with the Rev. William Cullyer vicar of Deopham from 1657 to 1713. There are more details of Augustine Cullyer in the letter from his executor, Richard Terrier, dated 15/2/1725 announcing the death of Augustine Cullyer “about 4 months since”.
- The above letter written by the Rev. Henry Rix was written about a year before Mr. Augustine Cullyer’s death.
- The Hawfield fields & their tythes go back to 1227 when they comprised part of the terms of a declaration by the Bishop of Norwich. There is a transcript of this declaration here.
- It would appear that the Rev. Henry Rix was interested in purchasing the lease from Mr. Augustine Cullyer, although the executor’s letter implies that there was a desire to keep the ownership of the lease in the family: he makes no reference to a possible transaction with the Rev. Henry Rix.
The original letter
Reproduced courtesy of the Chapter of Canterbury; their ref U63 70379
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 5/1/2024 | Published |
Deopham History 