Bishop Hobhouse, in his interesting volume of _Churchwardens’ Accounts_, has well summed up the duties and functions of these parish wardens, which were very varied. They might have both farming and trading to do in fulfilment of their office, as well as disposing of various gifts which were made by the parishioners in kind. They also might have the unpleasant duty of presenting parishioners to the archdeacon’s court for moral delinquencies. Besides this, if there was building or decorating to be done in the church or on buildings belonging to the parish, such as their common house, the wardens had to find the ways and means, and to supervise the work. They had to attend at Visitations, and if the church or the cemetery or a new chalice, etc., had to be consecrated, they had to arrange with the bishop and find the necessary fees. They had to see that the money due to the common purse from all the various sources was paid, and that, in the event of some extra work or engagement being undertaken by the parish, some method of raising the necessary funds was projected and carried out. At the same time, the wardens had no civil functions to perform until late in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1349, indeed, the Statute of Labourers names them, and tries to place upon them the duty of helping labourers to return to their homes; but the attempt came to nothing, and in the accounts printed by Bishop Hobhouse, the earliest entry for anything not strictly concerned with their parochial office is in 1512-13, when the wardens of Yatton “were charged with repairing the sluices and scouring the Yeo.” [Illustration: HOUSELING CLOTH FOR HOLY COMMUNION]