Welsh Journals

WELSHPOOL TITHE COMMUTATION, 1840. THIS Apportionment is interesting as an illustration of the change of tithe in kind into its commuted value in money, and of some local features connected with it. (l). First, it will be noticed that the Rectorial or Great Tithes, three-fourths of the whole, were appro- priated to Christ Church College, Oxford, to which institution they were assigned by Henry VIII., at the request of Cardinal Wolsey, together with those of Buttington, Guilsfield and Meifod, at the formation of the College, for its better endowment. The Vicar received the remaining fourth, together with three- fifths of the Easter dues, the other two-fifths with the "Bell Sheaf" going to the Parish Clerk. The Commutation was made between the Tithe Owners and the Landowners, not the occupants or tenants. (2). But there were certain exemptions from the payment. The woodlands were exempt; and so were the Rectorial and the Vicarial Glebes. Besides these there were ninety-three acres of land in the Township of Gungrog Vawr, which had belonged to the Abbey of Strata Marcella, that were tithe-free, and twelve acres in the Township of Welsh-Town similarly privileged,. the "Dommins Mill demesne." Further it will be observed that the tithes of Abbey lands which had been appropriated to Abbies for a religious purpose were alienated with the lands themselves, and lost altogether to the National Church. (3). A modus, or prescriptive or customary pay- ment, of one penny for every cow" is mentioned. Milk-tithe, or Lactuals, is a very early form of endow- ment, and the "penny" commutation or modus must have represented its later value many times over. It marked the time when the value of a cow's milk for a year would be about tenpence or a shilling.