Dog attends 1909 Sunday Service at St. Neots

History

Dog attends 1909 Sunday service at St. Neots

By Peter Ibbett

These days many churches such as St. Mary’s (1905 photograph) have a welcome board outside but once upon a time, not so long ago, church doors were firmly shut to avoid unwanted intruders, including animals. The St Neots Advertiser, 27th August, 1909 reported that:- ‘Quite a flutter of excitement was caused in the East Street Baptist Chapel, St Neots (now the Catholic Church), on Sunday evening by the appearance in the chapel of a dog, which took possession of a pew, and could only be got outside after a good deal of trouble. In olden times this sort of invasion was very frequent, and provision was made for dealing with dogs in church. For instance, the Churchwardens of Great Staughton record these disbursements.

s.

1653 Itm. Paide to Wm. Richards for whipping the dogs out of the Church, from Michaelmas to Christmas following 1680 Pd. to Ralph Richards for shutting ye church doores 10 Sunddies 1

0

Pd, ye clerk’s son for locking ye north doore and opening it after praires is done 0

1729 Pd. ye dog wiper 1730 Pd. ye dog whiper, Hewitt 2 2

1756 Pd. Robert Hewitt a quarter’s pay for looking after the people in the Church to keep them from sleeping 2 1766 Aug 22, Pd. for a dog wip for the Church 0 d.

0

10

6 6 6

6 6

It was not unusual in days of old for animals who escaped from the market to explore their new environment before being captured and returned to their pen. If you have any animal tales to tell do let the museum (free to locals) know via their social media sites. Thanks to the St. Neots History newsletters for the dog story. 4 Please mention The Villager and Town Life when responding to adverts