Catching the Past - the Real Vicars of Blean

In A Heart to Treasure, my hero’s father is the fictional vicar of Blean, a tiny little hamlet about half an hour’s walk from Canterbury, Kent.

Blean didn’t even have shops in the 1790s, just a small collection of houses. Not much for a clergyman to live off. However, this is a real vicarage, and I’d like to talk today about the real vicars of Blean.

The vicars of Blean were no ordinary vicars.

Let’s first establish what was normal for a vicar, and what the difference is between a rector and a vicar.

Rectors received the parish tithes, were responsible for the upkeep of the church, and even paid for supplies of things like communion.

Vicars were representatives of someone who actually held the living. They did not get the parish tithes. The tithes went to whoever the vicar represented. Instead, vicars were given a stipend by the one who held the living, and they were not financially responsible for the upkeep of the church.

But that’s not true of the vicars of Blean.

Firstly, they were under the direct authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Church. Not your typical vicar!

At least, they had been until His Grace decided he was too busy to oversee the troublesome vicars himself, but that's another story. So, hang on to that part. :)

They didn’t used to be vicars.

Once upon a time, the vicars of Blean were the rectors of Blean and jointly administrators of a charitable hospital in Canterbury. Only the rectors favoured their position in Canterbury, and according to the archbishop, they were neglecting their ill and elderly parishioners who were unable to make the half hour trek to Canterbury.

So, His Grace split the two positions. Saying the administrator would now bestow the living on a clergyman of their choice, and that man would now answer to the administer. Thus, freeing up the archbishop to see to his more important duties.

But he didn’t stop there. The Archbishop of Canterbury turned the rectors into vicars because, at the time he implemented the change, vicars were required to live in their parish. And, therefore, they could no longer neglect their parishioners anymore by choosing to live in Canterbury.

However, His Grace was not finished with the unusual arrangements. He gave the vicars a stipend which is to be expected, but he also added that the vicars could keep the parish tithes and be responsible for the upkeep of the church.

Basically, he let them continue acting like they were rectors so long as they filled the requirement to live within their parish. Which if you know anything about the church come the Regency period was NOT normal.

Many clergymen during the Regency period didn’t bother to live in their parish. Some physically couldn’t because they held multiple livings and one couldn’t be in more than one place at a time. Although some jumped on a horse and road to their other churches to conduct another service if the livings were close enough together. Otherwise, those extra livings were hired out to curates.

This unusual arrangement for the vicars of Blean actually worked perfectly with my story for Obadiah and Eliza in A Heart to Treasure, and I was thrilled! But added to all that, the real vicars of Blean ended up having some cool stories of their own. And I'd love to share those with you as well.

Here are a few of the real vicars of Blean, and their true stories:

Simon Louth (or Loweth depending on the source) 1679 – lost his position as vicar when a new king with a different faith came into power, and Simon wasn’t quick enough to change his faith or pledge his fidelity to the new king.

James Williamson 1691 used to be a Scottish clergyman who got ousted for his episcopacy adherence in Scotland. He then came to England and became the vicar of Blean. Happy ending.

James Smith 1781 was a Roman Catholic who converted to the Anglican faith and afterward published The Errors of the Church of Rome.

William Thomas 1784 for some reason decided to vacate his living in 1792. Most clergyman held their position for life and could only be removed by a bishop (or the rare king). That didn’t happen very often. And to be honest, I’d never heard of a real vicar who voluntarily gave up his living. Have you? (A fictional one which comes to mind is the father of Margaret in Gaskell's North and South.)

William Gregory 1792 was simultaneously the vicar who answered to the master of the hospital, and he was the master of the hospital who was supposed to govern the vicar… Don’t ask me how that worked because the archbishop had specifically split those two positions over a hundred years before! Considering that my fictional vicar of Blean in A Heart to Treasure in the 1790s was supposed to have some doubt cast over how he got the role, I thought this was especially intriguing!

Conclusion:

Well, I hope you enjoyed learning more about Blean. One more thing, the church had an unusual name as well, St Cosmus and St Damian, after Christian twin brothers born in Arabia who became famous for their charitable work in medicine.

The church is also known as 'the church in the fields' because it was built in-between two parishes (aka the fields). It was built there since it used to serve two parishes, and they didn't want to disadvantage either parish with a longer walk. Which I suppose was nice back when it had the two parishes, but once it shrunk down to one parish... Oops. The church was out in the fields. :)

In conclusion, this church was never going to be normal, and that worked perfectly for my own unique story in A Heart to Treasure about a vicar's son who falls in love with a draper's daughter in nearby Canterbury.

What interesting stories have you heard about real vicars, rectors, or parish churches? Tell us in the comments!

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If you'd like to know more about my fictional vicar of Blean. Then check out A Heart to Treasure!

Find A Heart to Treasure here