Manor - Overlap With Parish

Overlap With Parish

The parish is generally called by the same name as the manor and has clerical jurisdiction over the same geographic territory over which the lord has lay jurisdiction through his manorial court. The parish must have come into existence after the establishment of the manor, following the building of a church by the Lord of the Manor for the use of himself and his tenants, no doubt in consultation with the bishop within whose clerical jurisdiction the manor was situated. The lord then endowed the parish church with some of his landholdings, the revenues from which were used for the support of the priest and the maintenance of the church building. The lord of the manor retained the advowson, that is the right to select and appoint the parish priest, yet the parish was governed by the diocese within which it was situated, which also granted it the tithes to which it was legally entitled, which was a tax of one tenth of the produce of the manor. Outlying parts of a manor over time were exchanged between neighbouring lords, and thus would change from being within the manorial boundaries of the one to the other, but would remain within the original parish's boundaries. Thus over time a manor's lands could grow and shrink and could extend over several different parishes. Where a manor was split into two by the process of subinfeudation, the parish would then cover both manors, unless a new parish were also created.