Newlands Church
The exact date of the origin of Newlands Church is unknown, but is believed to be some time in the middle 16th century. Christopher Saxton’s map of 1576 shows a church on the site marked "Newlande Chap.". The church was mentioned again in 1594 when John Mayson of the local farm Stoneycrofte left the sum of 3s 4d to Newlandes Chappell in his will. Due to the effects of the plague of 1558 the church did not have an Incumbent in its early years and it was not until 1610 that Anthony Bragg was installed as the church’s first Lay reader. A Lay reader was an unqualified member of the clergy (usually a local person) who could read the services but could not perform christenings, marriages, or Communion, these duties being the bailiwick of the primary priest on his rounds of the valley. Nine Lay readers served the church until 1731, the longest serving being Thomas Birkhead (1654–1690) and John Atkinson (1690–1728).
Newlands Church
The exact date of the origin of Newlands Church is unknown, but is believed to be some time in the middle 16th century. Christopher Saxton’s map of 1576 shows a church on the site marked "Newlande Chap.". The church was mentioned again in 1594 when John Mayson of the local farm Stoneycrofte left the sum of 3s 4d to Newlandes Chappell in his will. Due to the effects of the plague of 1558 the church did not have an Incumbent in its early years and it was not until 1610 that Anthony Bragg was installed as the church’s first Lay reader. A Lay reader was an unqualified member of the clergy (usually a local person) who could read the services but could not perform christenings, marriages, or Communion, these duties being the bailiwick of the primary priest on his rounds of the valley. Nine Lay readers served the church until 1731, the longest serving being Thomas Birkhead (1654–1690) and John Atkinson (1690–1728).