[Bell Historians] Interpretation of iij prche belles

[John Camp]

At 15:26 on 07 March 2012, Richard Smith wrote:

> In 'The Bells of Brigham, Cockermouth, Crossthwaite, 
> Distington, and Holm Cultham', published in Transactions of 
> the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archæological 
> Society, pt 2, vol xiv, pp 275-334 (1897), the Rev H 
> Whitehead assumes that 'prche' is short for 'parish'.

Seems highly likely.  From OED: "Anglo-Norman paroche ...
ecclesiastical parish (11th cent.), parish church (12th cent.), rural
district (1283) ...  post-classical Latin parochia ...  parish
(frequently from 8th cent.  in British and continental sources), people
of a parish (from late 12th cent.  in British sources) ...

John Camp