churchwarden
/ˈtʃəːtʃwɔːd(ə)n
/noun
1Either of the two elected lay representatives in an Anglican parish, formally responsible for movable church property and for keeping order in church.Villagers played an essential role in the upkeep of the local church and its property, which was handled by churchwardens on the parish council (fabrique)....
- Until 1571 churchwardens were elected by the whole parish, and after that time it was usual for the parish to elect one warden and the minister the other.
- Nor would churchwardens have released parish funds to ‘repair the Giant’ in 1694 unless it was regarded as part of the local heritage; it must have been regarded then as an antiquity and cannot have been made within living memory.
1.1US A church administrator.He obtained the right to consult the churchwardens' accounts, as well as those of the administrators of the goods and revenues of the poor....
- Ronald Hutton's examination of parochial documents, primarily churchwardens ' accounts, led him to conclude that a flourishing and popular pre-Reformation church was destroyed by government policy.
- There is nothing here that will be new to historians in the field, but it provides a good general introduction to the problems and possibilities of churchwardens ' accounts in general, and these accounts in particular.
2British A long-stemmed clay pipe.