According to Wikipedia, a “Vestry” was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England and Wales, which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially as the “vestry”. At the high point of their powers before removal of Poor Law responsibilities in 1834, the vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the British government.
In 1894 the secular and ecclesiastical aspects of the vestries were separated in local government reforms, by the creation of civil parishes and the vestry’s secular duties have been performed in England since then by parish councils. Their ecclesiastical duties remained with the Church of England where they have been performed by parochial church councils (PCCs) since 1921.
We are fortunate to have had access to the St. John’s Holywell Vestry Notice and Minute Book covering the years 1828-1861 [D02103]. Thanks to the parish for lending us the book and allowing us to photograph and publish it.
As well as the images of the book (see below) you can see a transcription, both in web format with links to the people involved, and in plain pdf format. There is also an alphabetical list of people mentioned in the vestry minutes with their roles. Many thanks to Cherryl Frost for the original transcription and for several related summaries.
On other pages you can see: