'Garages or Depôts'

At least with public houses (invariably P.H.s) and Inns we can turn to Richard Oliver in his admirable Concise Guides. Inns, it seems, had overnight accommodation for travellers, pubs did not. The OS were instructed to indicate the principal ones in towns so that they could be named where space permitted. Most were named in rural areas. Beer houses (B.H.s) were only licensed to sell beer, not wine or spirits. Dr Oliver suggests that some were omitted from OS maps (perhaps the OS surveyors thought it wiser not to venture inside?) which may explain why some known 'pubs' are not identified on maps. Hotels were 'specifically designed' with accommodation in mind and again the surveyors were to indicate the principal ones for naming purposes.

The OS is also meticulous in naming whether a historic parish church is Vicarage or Rectory, with the lettering after the church dedication (the parsonage is separate). Generally speaking a rectory refers to a church where the rector received the tithes as an assured income. However, by the 12th century monasteries had acquired many parishes and would put a secular (ie non-monastic) priest in charge. Although there were variations (we will not get involved with prebendal churches here!) these became vicars and at the 4th Lateran Council of 1215 the pope decreed that these be entitled to a 'sufficient portion' of the income. In effect, 'The rector of a parish, when not himself residing, must see that a vicar, with his guaranteed portion of the revenues, is to be instituted' and these had security of tenure. By the late 13th century there were about 9,000 parishes in the English church and about 1,500 were vicarages, and this number rose: by 1535 about a third of the 8,838 parishes were vicarages. Of course, a rectory might have a well-to-do rector who was often absent or otherwise unable to attend to his parish, in which case he might employ a 'stipendiary chaplain', but these, according to my father, who knew about these things, 'were removable at will and represent the tail-end of the clerical order in the medieval Church'. (John Godfrey, The English Parish 600-1300). Much changed with the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 when tithes were converted into cash (I write crudely!) but the difference between rectory and vicarage remained. Directories such as Kelly's also made the distinction clear between rectory and vicarage; ie with Egglescliffe (soon to appear in our Durham series) 'the living is a rectory, net yearly value £660, including 200 acres of glebe, with residence' though by then the difference was largely historic. More recent churches, built for expanding towns, would have no such distinction on the map. So on our new Darlington map, St Andrew's at Haughton le Skerne is a Rectory, Darlington's great parish church of St Cuthbert's is a Vicarage, but St James's and St Hilda's, with their own late-19th century districts or parishes carved out of the others, have no such distinction. In reality church histories can be surprisingly difficult to write about with much information on the architecture but less to the changes in parochial status, which is often quite different from the dates of the foundation stone or consecration. But I fear I tread into deep water in what was intended as a brief paragraph!

And finally, to put a stop to these musings, when is a station not a station? I am writing about Garforth which then had a connection with the Aberford Railway. But the latter's trains had their own 'platform', from which connecting passengers walked to the NER station. The OS doers not mention the AR station at all. Similarly, at the other end of the line there is no mention of an Aberford station, though it had a regular - if infrequent and possibly unreliable - passenger service. The platforms appear to have been basic earth mounds and presumably the surveyors thought they did not merit the distinction of 'permanent buildings'.

Alan Godfrey, September 2020