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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't have access to my reference books here, but
as I recall most exempt jurisdictions ("ordinary" peculiars rather than Royal
ones) were abolished in the 1850s. We may be confusing these - places which were
once peculiars but are no longer so in anything beyond former legal status -
with those that continue to enjoy exemption from episcopal visitation etc. Some
peculiars covered clusters of parishes - so as well as the single parish
peculiars there were others that fell within exempt
jurisdictions. Peculiars had the right to hold their own ecclesiastical
courts - in very simple terms, the church courts dealt with sin (and were known
as the bawdy courts) while the civil courts dealt with crime.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anyone who studies family history will be aware of
the places that were once peculiars, as they will have found that the
wills of their ancestors were proved in the peculiar courts. In Bedfordshire,
for instance, wills for Biggleswade and Leighton Buzzard (both peculiars until
the 1850s) were locally proved rather than in the Archdeacon's court at Bedford
(which operated under delegated powers from the diocesan bishop). Jeremy
Gibson's standard reference book on wills includes maps showing the historic
peculiars and area of probate jurisdiction.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The church is full of all sorts of quirks, but - as
this discussion has shown - some are imaginary rather than real, inventions of
convenience, or even (the main point of this contribution) instances of past
status mistakenly resurrected as current exemtpion.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I was rather surprised to see my old prep school
and its parish - St.Michael's, Tenbury - listed among the Royal Peculiars on
Wikipedia. Surprised, because so far as I knew (and I have looked into some of
the documentation about the creation of the parish) this parish was created in
1856 by designating an area that was formerly in other parishes. Most of the
genuine peculiars are of ancient origin.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But getting back to bells, the historian needs to
be aware of seam of archive material created by the exempt jurisdictions that
may contain useful documentary material - so there is some relevance to this
list after all. The records of the peculiar courts may contain
churchwardens presentments, visitation records and faculties - things that won't
be found for peculiars among the main diocesan or archidiaconal records.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>CP</FONT></DIV>
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