167
PAYMENTS FOR VERMIN AT WOODFORD IN THE
LATE 18th CENTURY.
By PERCY THOMPSON, F.L.S.
(Read 29th November, 1941.)
IN 1566 an Act of Elizabeth ordered the destruction of
"ravenyng Byrdes and Vermyn" (which latter term in-
cluded otters, polecats, stoats, weasels, foxes and badgers)
throughout the realm and authorised payments to be made by
parish officials by way of reward to the slayers. This Act, the
first directed against so-called "vermyn," was a successor to one
passed in Henry VIII's time (in 1532-3) which was limited
however to the destruction of certain harmful birds, such as
"Choughes [i.e., Jackdaws], Crowes and Rookes that do
"yerely distroye, devoure and consume a wonderfull and
"mervelous greate quantitie of Corne and Greyne."
The Act of 1566 fixed the amounts of the rewards to be paid,
as follows :—
"for the Heades of every Foxe or Gray, twelve pence :
"for the Heades of Fitchewe, Polcatte, Wesell, Stote
". . . . or Wild Catte, one penny :
"for the Heades of Otter or Hedgehogges, two pence" ;
and required that the vermin so paid for should be burnt, torn
asunder, or otherwise destroyed in the presence of the Church-
wardens : and it permitted the use of nets, traps and "other
"reasonable Devyses as are meete and convenient," but not of
handguns or crossbows. Penalties of £5 for every failure on the
part of the churchwardens to administer the law were imposed.
This Act of 1566 was renewed in 1572 and again in 1598
and was not repealed until 1863.
The heads of the victims were exhibited in various parishes
by being nailed on the churchyard gate or on some other public
place within the parish. In the churchwardens' accounts for
the parish of St. Michael (St. Alban's, Herts.) is an entry :—
"1637. It. for a Stoate and a heade for ye churchyard
"gate........... 000.01.00."
This sytem of rewards from parish moneys for the destruction
of vermin seems to have petered out by the middle of the 19th
century, although payments for the heads and eggs of house-
sparrows continued,2 and in many country districts "sparrow
"clubs" were formed, as for example at Epping, to destroy these
all too numerous birds, especially about harvest time.
2 As recently as 1917 the Walthamstow U.D. Council advertised small rewards for
the slaying of these birds.