Catalogue description Ordinances

From: Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury There is a great distance between Hoath and the mother church of Reculver and it is hard to carry the bodies of the dead there for burial, so the archbishop's tenants and the inhabitants of Hoath have asked him to dedicate a chapel and consecrate a churchyard in Hoath. The archbishop dedicated the chapel to the Virgin Mary on 9 Dec 1410 and ordered that that day should be celebrated each year. He also opened a burial ground next to the chapel. He grants an indulgence of 100 days to everyone who attended the dedication ceremony and an indulgence of 40 days to everyone present at the anniversary of the dedication in future. The inhabitants of Hoath shall contribute to the repair and support of the mother church as specified. They shall provide the mother church with 3 wax lights, each weighing 1lb, as specified, in recognition of the mother church's superiority and the liberties granted to them. The sacrist of Hoath shall pay the sacrist of Reculver half the fees for ringing the bell and making the burial mound. The chapel and churchyard of Hoath shall be placed under interdict if the inhabitants of Hoath fail to provide the wax lights or meet any of their other obligations. Offerings to the vicar of the mother church are not to be diminished by offerings made in the chapel and nothing is to be added to the chapel. The archbishop may modify these ordinances. Immediately after the dedication ceremony, 'Dominus' Nicholas Haute, knight, Peter Halle, esq, 'Dominus' Richard Hauk, chaplain ('capellanus') of the chantry there, Richard Milde, Henry Gate, Robert Chacbon, John Knoller, John Lowe, Thomas Marchaunt, Robert Estroy, John Cote, Laurence atte Park and Thomas atte Park and other inhabitants of Hoath promised that they would fulfil these ordinances. Any legacies for the use or repair of the chapel are to be divided between it and the mother church. Given at Ford [in Herne, Kent].