"Halifax Guardian", Historical Almanack and Literary Companion, 1892-1897
Extract from the Halifax Guardian Historical Almanack and Literary Companion of 1892.
Author: Unknown
Date: 1897
Location: Halifax
Format: Almanac
Document ID: 102147
Library ID:
The position of Churchwarden dates from the Middle Ages and it was the oldest and most dignified local official. The duties included the care of parish finances and the church building, and the presentation of offenders to the ecclesiastical courts. In later times these duties included the supervision of pedlars, the testing of ale and keeping down vermin. He also had some responsibility for the administration of the Poor Law and the upkeep of roads. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries most of these duties no longer appertained to the post of Churchwarden.
