In the fifteenth century the churchwardens were chosen annually in a parish meeting at which, no doubt, the rector or vicar would have presided; all adult members of the parish having a voice in the election. At this meeting the outgoing wardens would give an account of their stewardship, and hand over the custody of the common funds and common property to their successors. At the church of St. Mary the Great, Cambridge, for instance, a special parish meeting was held in the church, “at the altar of the doom in the south aisle,” for the settlement of an account “between Thomas Curle, plumber, on the one part, and the parishioners.” But this was quite out of the ordinary, and as a rule, once the guardians or wardens were elected, all the parish business was transacted by them. In this same church the wardens were chosen, apparently, on Easter Monday, and the method of election was somewhat curious. The outgoing churchwardens first each nominated one parishioner, who conjointly chose eight persons to elect the officers of the coming year. In this case at Cambridge, besides the two churchwardens, there were at the same time elected for the parish two wardens of the lights at the Sepulchre and Crucifix; two guardians of the Jesus Mass; two parish auditors; and “two custodians of the keys of the chest, called the chantry hutch, in which are all the charters and deeds relating to the Chantry.” The number of churchwardens was, apparently by the fifteenth century, fixed to two, although for special purposes, as in the above instance, other wardens were appointed. In the accounts of St. Edmund and St. Thomas at Salisbury, there were at first three _supervisores fabricæ_; in 1486 two “gardiani ecclesiæ” were charged with beginning the reparation of the church at Easter, “and not to wait till winter.” With these were two junior wardens, “custodians of the goods and ornaments of the church.” Apparently, in times when considerable work was going on, one or more additional wardens were appointed to give advice and share responsibility; and once, at least, in the time of some great repairs to the fabric, the parish meeting stood adjourned from Friday to Friday until the works were finished. In 1510 two wardens were appointed, and it is curious to note that one held the purse, and the other, who did not, became his surety. At St. Mary-at-Hill, in London, the name for the official churchwardens was, apparently, the “Wardeyns of the godes, rents, and werks;” or, the “Wardens of the godes, ornaments, werkes, livelihood, and rents, etc.” Although the wardens were usually chosen from the men of a parish, there are examples to show that this need not necessarily be the case. Thus the accounts of St. Petrock’s, Exeter, show that in 1428 a woman, named Beatrice Braye, was people’s warden; and in the same way, in 1496-7, “Dame Isabel Norton” held the office at Yatton, in Somerset.