The archdeaconry was divided again into rural deaneries, of which Kendal was one. This deanery embraced ten parishes, Grasmere being the westermost of them. It appears singular that this group of ten parishes lay in three different counties,--Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Westmorland; and from this circumstance it has been argued that here (as in our own parish) the ecclesiastical division was made prior to the political one of counties. This probably was so; and it is clear that the deanery represents in reality another political area, viz.: that of the barony of Kendal created by William Rufus.[29] [29] Whitaker's _History of Richmondshire_. Dr. Wilson (_Victorian History of Cumberland_) gives 1120 to 1130 as dates between which Henry I. marked out the county divisions as fiscal areas. In the latter year the new county of Westmarieland was placed under the jurisdiction of a separate sheriff. Kirkby Kendale, the _caput_ of the barony, became from this period the official church centre. There the Synods and Archidiaconal Courts were held, and all dues were paid which the higher church authorities exacted from the parishes--Grasmere among them.[30] Thither the rector or his substitute, along with the churchwardens, annually repaired. [30] For the connection between mother churches and chapelries or vicarages under them, see _History of English Church_, edited by Dean Stephens, vol. ii., p. 295. ["Walter Gray, Archbishop of York in 1233 consolidated 10 chapelries in the two parishes of Pocklington and Pickering into five vicarages, two and two. Each vicar had two chapels, and was endowed with a sum to support chaplains at both, while he also paid a small sum annually to the mother church in token of subjection."] From the rural deanery of Kendal there were paid the following dues, according to an old voucher, c. 1320: at Easter 12s. 0d. for Synodalia; at Michaelmas £4 16s 8d for Procurationes; besides £3 for Presumptiones, and £3 9s 6d in Peter's pence--a goodly tribute this for the Pope from our mountains lands! Whitaker's _History of Richmondshire_. The exact relationship between the central church at Kirkby and the churches of Grasmere and Windermere in early days is hard to make out. They were considered in some sort as dependencies, and were called chapels after they had become parish churches. This uncertain position recalls the constitution of the early British church. And it must be remembered that Theodore's _parochia_ was not a parish but a diocese. Again, the laws of Edgar (959-975) place churches in three classes: first, the ancient church or monastery of a district; second, the church with a corpse-ground; and third, the church without a corpse-ground.[31] Tithes moreover were enjoined to be paid to the ancient or central church. [31] Selden's _History of Tithes_. Easterby's _Law of Tithes_, pp. 4, 8, and 13.