Rev. Richard Adams

Vicar of Deopham 1799¹-1850

Biography 1763 – 1850

Richard Adams gained his B.A. at Christ Church Oxford by 1787 and was ordained Deacon on June 3rd 1787 at Prebendal church, Buckden, Huntingdonshire. He was ordained priest at St Paul’s cathedral, London on May 18th, 1788². A year later he took up the post of rector of Edingthorpe³.

The minutes (Acta Capituli) of the Chapter of Canterbury for 1799 contain the following note agreeing that the Rev^d Richard Adams should be appointed to the Vicarage of Deopham which was void by the death of the Rev^d John Buck:

Reproduced courtesy of the Chapter of Canterbury; their ref CA11

The 1815 survey of Deopham shows that the Revd Richard Adams, as Vicar of Deopham, owned Cock Field and Watch Oaks – totalling 5 acres. The occupier was Robert Curson.

Hawfield

The long running dispute over receiving the tithes from Hawfield farm was pursued by Richard Adams. On January 9th 1802 Mr. Gilman wrote to Canterbury to let them know that the Rev. Richard Adams was seeking legal advice on this matter.
A copy of a letter sent to Richard Adams on November 26th 1811 refers him to Mr Gilman who is the solicitor of the Enclosures Bill and that that the Dean and Chapter do not possess any information on the lands called Hawfield.
A letter on June 7th 1834 to Thomas Starr at Canterbury written by George Jay on behalf of Richard Adams explains that he had “applied to Mr Millard for the tithes of Hawfield at various times within the last ten years” without success. Mr Millard was representing the lessees of the Manor who also had a claim on Hawfield. Mr Jays says that “payment can be proved up to 1799 and the tithes being recognised by the Terriers and the lands easily to be identified”; he refers to the Dean & Chapter’s refusal to accept an offer made previously and the “extraordinary manner Mr Adams is treated by the Dean & Chapter” as being further grounds for resorting to litigation against them.
Mr W.S.Millard (a land agent) wrote to Thomas Starr at Canterbury on June 14th 1834 in rather disparaging terms about M^r Jay:

I have seen M^r Jay this morning: he tells me that on the part of the Vicar he is entitled to the Rectorial Tithes of a certain part of the parish of Deopham called Hawfield, and that he can identify the land, or if not by a Suit in Equity⁴ can oblige the Dean & Chapter to set it out. It is clear however from his conversation that he has no confidence in his own statement, and that his sole object is to recover an annual payment of £2 : 10 : 0 which he says was regularly paid till the year 1799. Why it was discontinued does not appear, but M^r Jay trusts that proof of the former payment will enable him to recover the Annuity. He tells me (and I have not the means of contradicting him) that in former leases this payment was received by the Dean & Chapter. I only know that it does not appear in the present lease, nor did I hear of it till after the last Renewal. The Steward or Valuer of the Chapter came to Deopham and I met them there and gave him all possible information, exhibiting my rental and a copy of the survey of the parish taken by authority of the Commissioners under the Inclosure Act. I have not a copy of the Commissioners Award, not even an Act … but it may be that some consideration was given to the Vicar at that time, in lieu of this claim. The non payment is remarkable because the same man has continued Vicar. A new Incumbent might not be aware of the claim, but why M^r Adams should, for so many years, neglect to apply for a known and regular Annuity, as this is stated to be, I cannot explain.
M^r Jay is represented to be beneficially interested having (it is reported) a lease of the Vicarage from M^r Adams. This may, or may not be.

Edingthorpe

On July 29^th 1810 Richard Adams wrote to the Canterbury Dean and Chapter from Edingthorpe requesting permission to remove a barn on the estate at Shipdham. His title is given as “Vicar of Deopham, Norfolk”.
The Dean & Chapter responded on September 6^th 1810 to say that he could use the proceeds from the barn to defray his share of the enclosure expenses in the parish of Shipdham, provided the “taking down and selling the Barn … will not injure the Vicarage of Deopham”. A further letter of September 25^th 1810 confirmed that the faculty had been formally approved.

Whilst there has been criticism of the Rev. Richard Adams for not being seen in Deopham, he did not have an easy time of it in Edingthorpe where his parishioners, responding to the Captain Swing riots of 1830, demanded that he reduce his tithe demands. There is more information on this episode here. Although this dispute took place outside Deopham, it was a portent of what was to become a problem in this village by the end of the nineteenth century when the Rev. Treglown was trying to make sense of the new order.

He was also appointed to be a stipendiary curate to Worstead parish in 1813.

Commutation of Tithes

The following signatures confirm receipt of a document in 1844 defining the financial tithe commutation which superseded the traditional payments in corn, grain, hay etc. The vicar was from now on to receive the annual sum of £190 2s 9d.

Death

He died in Edingthorpe in 1850 where he is buried. He has a memorial in the floor:-

Footnotes:

Francis Blomefield shows his appointment in Deopham as being in 1799 ↩︎
Clergy of the Church of England Database ↩︎
White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk of 1945 describes Edingthorpe as follows:
EDINGTHORPE, 3 miles N.E. by E. of North Walsham, has in its parish 195 souls, and 710A. of land. J. Mack, Esq., is lord of the manor; but the soil belongs to various owners. The Church (All Saints,) has a handsome Gothic screen, and the living is a rectory, valued in K.B. at £5. 5s. 2d., in the patronage of the Queen, as Duchess of Lancaster, and incumbency of the Rev. Richd. Adams, who has held it since 1789. The glebe is 17A. 3R. 34 P., and the tithes were commuted in 1840 for £240 per ann.
DIRECTORY: Rev. Rd. Adams, Rectory; John S. Landymore, brick and tile maker; Robt. Larter, joiner; John Powell, shoemaker; Wm. Steward, shopkeeper and wheelwright; and Ezra Barcham, Thomas Bush, Adam Fuller, Samuel Myhill; Robt. Paine, Henry Potter, George Richardson, Chas. Turner, (owner,) Chas. Turner, jun.. and John Turner, farmers. ↩︎
A Suit in Equity is a lawsuit that will be determined according to the judgement of a court as to what is fair and equitable. ↩︎

Date	Change
20/3/24	1811 Hawfield letter
8/2/24	1834 letters re Hawfield
10/1/24	Link to letter about Hawfield tithes
29/11/23	Canterbury minute of 1799
21/11/23	Footnote on the parish of Edingthorpe
19/11/23	Link to Edingthorpe troubles of 1830/31
4-6/11/23	Links to 1810 letters
14/10/23	Link to 1815 survey
29/11/22	Published