Woodforde at Babcary, Somerset

Babcary Church towerThe 14th-century buttressed tower of the Church of the Holy Cross, Babcary. Here James Woodforde established his first independent household while serving as the newly ordained curate 1764–65 [photo Margaret Bird 2024]James Woodforde left university aged 23¼ and returned to Somerset, the county of his birth, in September 1763. This was shortly after gaining his BA degree and after his ordination as deacon at Oxford. As a deacon he could conduct baptisms, marriages and burials, and he carefully records all these events in his diary – a boon for family historians.

For 21 months, from January 1764 to October 1765 when he was aged 23–25, Woodforde served as curate of Babcary, a village seven miles south-west of his parents' home at Ansford parsonage near the town of Castle Cary.

The beautiful church is built of lias stone, quarried locally. In Woodforde's time it was rather smaller than we see today, with no north aisle. It stands against the main street, Church Street.

Woodforde's curacy began with quite a fanfare. On his first day (15 January 1764) he took both morning and afternoon services. The church bells rang out on both occasions; local cider lent power to the ringers' arms. The new curate expressed his pleasure: 'This is the first Sunday I ever officiated at Babcary Church; and I like it very well.'

A happy time: ball games in the churchyard

This brief period in Woodforde's long career proved highly significant. His life changed in many respects, and he was subjected to great strains and pressures. But it was also in some ways a happy time, an interlude he could look back on as one of promise before his hopes were dashed.

He had his first home of his own: he enjoyed furnishing Babcary parsonage (later a farmhouse), close to the churchyard. After the first few months he had a good salary for a curate: £20 a year, rising to £30 after the appointment of a new rector in July 1764.

A sociable man, he had a very wide circle of friends and a supportive extended family. He found a fellow cleric, the droll Parson Hopkins, quite a character. On 14 June 1764 while the diarist treated Hopkins to 'a kind of flying dinner upon bread and cheese and cider' at Babcary parsonage he noted, 'I thought I must have burst my sides by laughing in hearing him talk.'

On two occasions Woodforde records hosting parties of his male friends: 21 young men took part on 11 July 1765. After a meal at the rectory he took them into the churchyard and organised ball games, for stakes. He names one of the games as fives; this was akin to squash, but played with the hands. They could have bounced the ball off the tower wall, its buttresses and the south porch wall.

Babcary Church tower, baseThe corner where Woodforde could have played fives – a type of squash – against the church walls [photo Margaret Bird 2024]On 22 June 1764 he had given a bachelors' supper party at the parsonage. Afterwards, he wrote:

Mr Caleb Penny, Mr Terrill, Mr James and Richard Clarke played at fives in Babcary churchyard this evening, and I lost there with Mr Lewis Bower at betting with him 1s 6d. The gentlemen pleased me very much by seeing them so well pleased with the homely entertainment.

Commuting to and from Babcary

The village lies four miles north of the main road to London, now the A303. In the 1801 national census its population was 337, slightly smaller than the 365 at Weston in Norfolk where Woodforde was to serve from 1776 until his death in 1803. The nearby town of Castle Cary, where his father was the vicar and where the younger Woodforde became curate in 1765, was much larger, at 1281.

Figures for the 1780s show Babcary as having about 300 people in 38 houses; Castle Cary had 1016 people in 163 houses.

For the whole time that Woodforde was at Babcary he had also to help his elderly father. The Revd Samuel Woodforde was nearly seventy and finding looking after his two parishes of Ansford and Castle Cary a considerable strain. As a result the diarist had to commute all the time between the parental home at Ansford parsonage and his own cure at Babcary. He rarely could spend more than a few nights at a time in his new home.

The two rectors who employed him to serve on their behalf were unable to help; both were non-resident. The aged Revd William Hite was ailing and died on 1 June 1764. His successor, the Revd Richard Cheese, lived 90 miles away at Bentley, near Alton in Hampshire, where he had his own curacy. He very rarely visited Babcary.

Parts of Woodforde's career at Oxford and his early years in the Church are documented on the Clergy of the Church of England database, where his unique ID number is 38860.

Challenges during the Babcary years

The young Woodforde comes across as a vigorous, determined and resilient individual, forming something of a contrast with the timid, almost reclusive Norfolk rector of his later years. On 23 September 1764, eight months after arriving in Babcary from Thurloxton, he was ordained priest in the Bishop's Palace at Wells. He could now hold Communion services, conducting his first at Babcary two weeks later.

Woodforde's curate's licence 1772The certificate issued by the Bishop of Bath and Wells licensing Woodforde to serve as curate at Ansford and Castle Cary, 30 July 1772. This was official confirmation of the reality of Woodforde's life: he had been serving unofficially in those parishes for years. He was never licensed for Thurloxton or Babcary [New College Archives, 9524 © Courtesy of the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford]

The Rt Revd Dr Edward Willes served 1743–73 as Bishop of Bath and Wells. He died in 1773 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The rectors of Thurloxton, the diarist's first curacy, and Babcary never applied for Woodforde to be licensed as curate. As a result those parishes do not appear under his entry in the clergy database, which relies heavily on diocesan records. Babcary did not have a licensed curate for 113 years, from 1677 to 1790. All those appointed were unlicensed.

The life led by Woodforde demanded physical endurance. He would ride on horseback between the three parishes of Babcary, Castle Cary and Ansford. At least he was now spared the six- or seven-hour ride to Thurloxton, on the edge of the Quantock Hills between Taunton and Bridgwater, where he had been the curate (staying in temporary lodgings) for a strenuous three-month period immediately prior to his arrival at Babcary. Thurloxton lay 30 miles from his Ansford home, and as at Babcary he would restlessly commute between the villages.

Sometimes he would get wet through, so on 1 March 1765 he sent to Bristol for an oilskin hood to protect his hat and wig. He had to rely on any horse his father could spare: first Cream, and later little Tom. The diarist was a caring master, regularly checking and changing their shoes. His difficulties were typical of Church of England curates, who in order to survive financially had to accept more than one cure at any time. As a result they spent a great deal of time in the saddle.

Theological studies

As well as these challenges he was working for his MA degree at Oxford, which was awarded in 1767. He became a Bachelor of Divinity in 1775: he was no theological sluggard. Twice while at Babcary he had to journey to Oxford to stay at his undergraduate college, New College. There he was put through a series of oral examinations, all of which required preparation: disputations, lectures and declamations.

Babcary pulpit 1632The carved octagonal pulpit of 1632 at Babcary resembles the one familiar to Woodforde at his home parish of Ansford. He had preached in Wells Cathedral at the time of his ordination as priest [photo Margaret Bird 2024]Ordination too was a rigorous process. The diarist records the oral examinations conducted by the Bishop and Archdeacons before ordination at Wells. All the candidates 'got off very well' (20 and 22 September 1764). Woodforde was selected from among the ten ordinands to give a sermon in Wells Cathedral. Fortunately he was well prepared:

19 September 1764  Immediately as I got to town [Wells] I waited on the Archdeacon, and he told me that he had appointed me to preach next Sunday at the Cathedral in the afternoon, which I agreed to do as I brought a sermon with me for fear.

Supporting his rector

Woodforde enjoyed excellent relations with both his rectors; neither troubled him or the parish with demands. Woodforde took to Richard Cheese immediately: 'Mr Cheese seems a very good kind of man, and much approved of by the parish' (28 July 1764). The rector did however run into difficulties over the state of the parsonage house and over letting his glebe (farmland belonging to the living). His young curate proved to be an effective representative: determined and steadfast.

It was common for disputes to arise over what were termed 'dilapidations': wear and tear, and worse, affecting the value of the parsonage house. Each incoming incumbent (the rector or vicar) tried hard to claw back some money from his predecessor to foot the bill for repairs.

Richard Cheese was no exception, and Woodforde worked hard to secure a valuation of the damage (set at £109). He appointed a Bruton attorney to negotiate with the executors of the late Mr Hite, the previous rector. The dispute involved Woodforde in journeys to and from Bruton when the executors held out against the estimated damage; court action was threatened. The story dragged on from 4 February to 28 June 1765, after which we hear no more.

The diarist showed backbone when dealing with the rector's glebe. Living in Hampshire, Mr Cheese could not farm his glebe himself. On 4 March 1765 the local farmer Edward Ganfield reneged on an agreement to take the glebe at £25 a year and instead offered £20. An infuriated Woodforde called his behaviour 'very shabby'.

Ganfield lost out, thanks to Woodforde's holding his nerve; he came from a family of farmers. After announcing in church that the glebelands were to be let he secured an ideal outcome for Mr Cheese:

11 March 1765  Farmer William Baker senior of Babcary, an honest, industrious and wealthy man, applied to me to have the glebe lands etc and I let it to him for twenty-six pounds per annum, and he signed an agreement that I drew up. The farmer supped and spent the evening with me.

Woodforde as a caring pastor

Despite serving three parishes simultaneously, and having to rush between them, Woodforde strove to meet all his obligations to his flock. He took church services on Sundays and feast days; Babcary's patronal festival was 14 September, the feast of the Holy Cross. On becoming curate of Castle Cary in April 1765 in addition to Babcary he preached twice on a Sunday: once in each parish. Until then he had held two services on a Sunday at Babcary, preaching in just one.

Babcary, mediaeval fontThe 14th-century octagonal font with quatrefoil decoration at Babcary, Somerset [photo Margaret Bird 2024]His diary is filled with entries noting all the ceremonies of his calling: private baptisms (held at home soon after the birth, and not only when the newborn was ailing or in danger); and public christenings (held in church a few months after the birth, in the presence of the godparents, when the child would be presented to the congregation in a ceremony around the font).

He would also immediately respond when summoned urgently by older parishioners: those seriously ill and in need of comfort, prayers, and, if they wished, Communion (termed in the diary the Sacrament). There were no charges for christenings and burials; Woodforde did however charge half a guinea for a funeral sermon.

When a mother came to church to be 'churched' (the pre-Reformation rite of purification) the fee was sixpence. Woodforde invariably returned the cash to any mother he considered too poor to afford it. Sixpence could amount to more than half a day's pay for a washerwoman at that time.

Marriages held by banns attracted a fee of five shillings; marriages by licence ten shillings. Woodforde conducted his first marriage service while he was curate of Babcary. It was held at Ansford, with the bride aged seventy and the groom aged eighty. The conscientious diarist spent a good deal of time helping out his Ansford-based father, greatly adding to his own load.

His farewell to Babcary

The period of overstretch could not be endured for long. During his last six months at Babcary Woodforde was serving, almost single-handed, 1300 people in 200 houses seven miles apart. This was a world away from his later responsibilities to 365 people in one Norfolk parish.

From July 1765 the diarist let it be known he wished to leave Babcary, and on 10 August it was agreed that the Revd Davys Colmer would come as curate to Babcary at Old Michaelmas (10 October), bringing his wife and family. It was to be all change once more at the parsonage. Mr Colmer died not long after taking up his new role, so the search had to begin again for a new minister.

Visiting Babcary today

The welcoming church known to Woodforde is kept open during daylight hours and is full of interest. When visited in August 2024 a folder was on display near the font containing handwritten extracts from Woodforde's diary relating to his time at Babcary. The fabric was restored in the 19th century, but a great deal would still be recognisable to the diarist. The exterior view from the south-east captured in a watercolour by John Buckler in 1840 appears little altered, despite the Victorian work; the view is reproduced under 'Babcary' in The Victoria County History of Somerset vol. 10, pages 101–121, in the section 'Religious history'.

Those exploring Babcary may wish to call at the thatched public house in the village centre. The Red Lion serves food and drink, has pretty gardens and accommodates overnight guests.

Woodforde never records stepping across its threshold however. He frequented inns, especially when travelling; but he avoided humble alehouses like Babcary's and his own at Weston, the Red Hart. He never tells us why.
Babcary, Red LionThe thatched Red Lion stands invitingly on North Street in the small village [photo Margaret Bird 2024]