Last week we visited St Denys, the Parish Church of Sleaford. Yesterday we dropped into St Peter’s, the erstwhile parish church of Aubourn. Much of St Peter’s is no more with the present building confined to what was the chancel. It was never as big as St Denys, Aubourn being a tiny village. For reference in 1921 the parish had a population of 212.
A few observations. Thirty eight blokes in total held down the job of Vicar over the recorded period of eight hundred and fifty six years at an average of twenty two and a half years each. The early history is a little unclear as there is no way Geoffrey would have been in the job a hundred and forty three years. The parish website today suggests that the current building was there from around 1200AD which is consistent with when Rog started in the job.
In my mind Geoff was an appointee of someone who came over with the conquering Norman hordes and his church was quite possibly built of wood. Although significant in our history as the first recorded vicar he is to a certain extent an outlier. He was probably a monk.
In any case I’m not interested in producing an academic work of detailed historical accuracy. It’s the trivia that are of more interest. Sixteen of them died on the job, so to speak. A few lasted quite a long time, the longest being James Pilkington whose sixty years spanning a big chunk of the seventeenth century has to be considered good going.
Nine resignations in there. Some went after a relatively short space of time and you wonder what was going on? Maybe some of the short lived ones didn’t cut the mustard. Maybe they didn’t get on with the flock or got a better offer.
There were a couple of “exchanges”. Were church swaps a thing? In seventeen seventeen the position became “lawfully vacant” which does arouse some curiosity. The Patronage at that time appeared to have lapsed to the Monarch. I dunno.
One thing that does jump out of the page is the ending of the patronage of the Prior and Convent of Belvoir which appears to coincide with the English Reformation. Inneresting. Mildly. Patronage fell to the reigning monarch for over a hundred years. Power.
Another observation is the possession of university degrees from the seventeenth century on. This was the law and the only two places you could pick up said degrees were Oxford and Cambridge. It was a way of controlling who got into the church and therefore into positions of being able to influence the populace.
On 1 April 1931 the parish was abolished to form “Aubourn, Haddington and South Hykeham” which will account for why John Alderson Seaton, A.K.С. Was in 1931 the last recorded Vicar. Did he get the bigger job one wonders? Also what’s the A.K.C. all about?
Size and current usage apart there is one other major difference between St Denys and St Peter’s and that is the fact that the latter had no hymns up on the board. Either they rarely use the church these days, which is probs the case, or someone is very efficient in putting up and taking down the numbers. I quite like the idea of the last hymns sung being left up there. Hey, who am I to say?
Because I know you want to see it, the list of vicars is presented below.
| Name of Vicar | Date | Cause of Vacancy | Patron | |
| 1 | Geoffrey, Clericus de Aubourn | 1076 | ||
| 2 | Roger de Lundelthorp, Chaplain | 1219 | Prior and Convent of Belvoir | |
| 3 | Nicholas de Belver, Chaplain | 1230 | وو | |
| 4 | Robert | وو | ||
| 5 | Roger de Graveley, Presbyter | 1276 | Death | وو |
| 6 | Richard, s of John de Botheby, Presbyter | 1324 | Death | وو |
| 7 | William | وو | ||
| 8 | John Colselt de Ludford, Presbyter | 1361 | Death | وو |
| 9 | John, s William, s Alan de Wyffelingham | 1384 | Death | وو |
| 10 | Richard Tirynton, Presbyter | 1389 | Resignation | وو |
| 11 | Thomas Bretton, of Allington, Presbyter | 1397 | Exchange | وو |
| 12 | Roger Scotton | وو | ||
| 13 | Robert Outhorp | 1409 | Exchange | وو |
| 14 | William Morecroft | 1418 | Resignation | وو |
| 15 | William Blakeston, Presbyter | 1419 | Death | وو |
| 16 | John Ostyler, Presbyter | 1421 | Death | وو |
| 17 | Henry Garbray, Presbyter | 1428 | Resignation | وو |
| 18 | John Browne, Chaplain | 1433 | Resignation | وو |
| 19 | John Wasse, Chaplain | 1435 | Resignation | وو |
| 20 | William Alwode, Presbyter | 1480 | Resignation | وو |
| 21 | William Johnson, Presbyter | 1507 | Death | وو |
| 22 | Richard Smythe, Chaplain | 1528-9 | Death | وو |
| 23 | George Ewyn, Chaplain | 1529 | Resignation | وو |
| 24 | Nicholas Bennett | 1562? | Died 1569 | Patron unknown |
| 25 | James Wolfenden, Clerk | 1578 | Death | Queen Elizabeth (on Petition of Master Garthe) |
| 26 | Alexander Gee, Clerk | 1585 | Death | Queen Elizabeth |
| 27 | John Bawdon, Clerk | 1605 | Resignation | King James I |
| 28 | James Pilkington, B.A. | 1612-3 | Death | وو |
| 29 | Adam Lawson | 1673 | Patron Unknown | |
| 30 | Christopher Nevile, M.A. | 1716-7 | Lawfully vacant | King George I (by Lapse) |
| 31 | William Thomlinson, B.A. | 1720 | Resignation | Gervase Nevile |
| 32 | Herbert Leak | 1735 | Death | Christopher Nevile |
| 33 | Andrew Chambers, B.A. | 1772 | Death | وو |
| 34 | John Watkins, B.A. | 1821 | Death | وو |
| 35 | Francis Miles Willan, B.A. | 1834 | Death | Christopher H. Noel |
| 36 | Joseph Potts, M.A. | 1890 | Death | T. H. Burroughs, of Ketton, Rutland (pro hac vice) |
| 37 | Joseph Henry Davis | 1912 | Death | Geoffrey Henry Nevile |
| 38 | John Alderson Seaton, A.K.С. | 1932 | وو |