Researching the history of church houses
Reconstruction of the church house at Week, near Dartington, Devon by Norman Young, illustrator.
Church houses were common in South-west England. A surviving example is the Church House at South Tawton, Devon.
The church house was the medieval equivalent of the modern church hall. Its chief purpose was to house the church ales which raised funds for many a parish church until the rise of Puritanism, but it could be converted to other uses to benefit the parish.
- P.Cowley, The Church Houses: their religious and social significance (1970).
- G.W.Copeland, The Devonshire Church House, Transactions of the Devonshire Association vols. 92-96, 98-99 (1960-67).
Church houses should be included in glebe terriers and on tithe maps. Churchwarden's accounts should supply details of building and repair work. And see images and maps.