From many years ago, the Village economy was based around two major payments. Prior to 1918 the land was either owned by the Lord of the Manor or the Church. As well as owning land (known as Glebe Land), the Church had additional fiscal rights over the Parish as a whole. The tenants of the land in the parish had to pay both rent to their Landlord – typically the Lord of the Manor, but also 10% of the produce from their land had to be handed over to the church in what was known as a tithe. Each tenant would control a number of parcels of land and each of these was known as a tithe.
The tithe map showed who was responsible for each parcel of land, and thus the amount they would pay to the Church was defined. See here for details of the tithe payments for the two villages, or see here for a person by person breakdown of the land holdings and payments.
The church had many rather ancient terms, some of which are no longer in common use, and others which have a more specific meaning than is realised.
The Rector of the parish had the right to the tithe produce or income – that was known as their “living” or their “benefice” – usually it was the only income they had, other than if they rented out the Glebe Land. They had the right to live in the Rectory. The Rector is thus often called the Parish priest or Parson.
At certain times the Rector might not be resident in the village, and would appoint a Vicar (a vice-Rector) to run the Church, possibly providing them with accommodation which would be known as the vicarage, and possibly a proportion of the tithes.
The Rector was appointed by the holder of the “right of Advowson” – in the case of the combined parish this was the Lord of the Manor until 1918. The Lord of the Manor could therefore move the clergy around the various churches on his various estates – for example the well-known Rector David Wauchope was formerly at the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate in Warkton, Northamptonshire – where the Duke still resides.
Following the 1918 sale the Advowson went from the Lord of the Manor to the Bishop of Coventry, so subsequent Rectors were appointed by the Bishop, although their “living” continued to be sponsored by the tithe system until 1936 when the tithe system was abolished in favour of a tithe replacement scheme, followed by standard stipends paid from diocesan funds. Note that the majority of the costs associated with the church buildings have to be met locally – see Church Rate.
In 1979 the “living” or “benefice” was merged with that of Wolston, and the Rectory was sold.