“These offerings throughout England assumed the form of personal tithes, and usually amounted to 2d. for an adult (that is over 16), and ½d. for children and servants, which were sometimes compounded for by a general payment of 4d. per household.”

“In addition to the personal tithe, in some parishes special Easter dues were paid (quite distinct from the tithing of animals) upon live stock. At Hope it was the custom to pay 2d. upon each cow (vac), and 1d. on each calf (vit), and apparently an acknowledgment of 1d. from every keeper of sheep (ov. 1d.) The beekeeper also paid 2d. (ap. 2d.); in one place there is an entry of 4d. under this head, when probably the bees were kept in two distinct parts of the holding. This beekeeper's acknowledgment was altogether distinct from tithes for honey and for wax, which formed a part of the small tithes pertaining to the Vicar of Hope.”

“In addition to the tithes of honey and of wax, and in addition to the Easter fee for keeping bees, in the Peak district every tenth swarm was claimed by the vicar.”

“The letters 'pl,' following a good many of the names in this Roll, evidently refer to 'Plough Alms,' a custom of limited extent which we have not previously noted in Derbyshire, whereby a penny was paid to the Church at Easter for every plough land.”

“The The contractions 'mat' and 'pat', which each occur once, are not to be assigned to any possible agricultural or pastoral term, but stand for 'matre' and 'patre', referring to payments for aged father and mother living with the son, who was himself the householder.”

“The letters 'mls', after various names in each township, offer the most difficulty in the way of explanation, but we believe that it means that the man was serving as a soldier, 'miles'.”

“The columns of the accounts are ruled for shillings, pence, and farthings ('ob').”

“The alphabetical arrangement by the clerk, according to Christian and not Family names, was a custom with the

Church in its lists in the Peak jurisdiction for at least three centuries earlier.”

“The entry with regard to the young people, that is those under the age of 16, making offerings at the Chancel gates, is of interest in proving that even then the old rood screen, with its gates, was still standing in the parish Church of Hope.”^[1]

“As a rule, Easter dues would be paid to the Vicar, but throughout the Peak jurisdiction of the Dean and Chapter it was the custom, from the time of King John, when they became possessed of this property, for them to be collected by an official for the common fund of the Cathedral.”

“The present Roll is a proof that all these ecclesiastical dues were rigidly enforced during the Commonwealth, though used for other purposes.”

The sum total of this Roll amounts to £35 3s.