Diocesan Registry.

Document No. 215.

C.1646.

RO : NORRIS REFUSES 10/- AS A BENEVOLENCE.

Sir Jo. harrisone. My Love to youre . .

I heere say yt I am cessed ten shillinges on my

. . . erm ye other day ; If hit bee a Benevolence yt my Lo : doth expect from his clurgie ; let it bee had accordinge to theire habylitie & lovinge, willinge owne myndes ; wee had a collection & gave then ; yett am I willinge to give my half crowne. to-wards yt good worke nowe too:

Therefore if you or anye other laye more on mee (then Wt I am willinge) pay youselves and so I rest yours to his abilitie.

Ro:Norris viccr.

This xvijth August.

There is no date to the letter. It must have been written about the year 1646, when the Twenty-Four Keys at the request of James 7th Earl of Derby, ordered ‘ an assessment of £75 on the countrey to ‘ buy a thousand half pikes, and the Clergy to pay ‘ their proportion thereof.’

It would appear that Robert Norris, who was Vicar of Kirk Arbory from 1623 to 1650, objected to being assessed to the sum of 10/-. Harrison says he resigned in 1650. There is a note in Manx Society x., p. 81, by Paul Bridson, stating that there ‘ is a petition in the Episcopal Registry, undated, signed by over 60 persons praying that Mr. Crelling (sic), who has been with them eight years, may be presented to Kirk Arbory . . .‘ He assumes that John Crellin took office in 1658, and had acted as curate for eight years previously.