There is a plaque on the wall of the room under the tower that commemorates the donations to the church from Thomas Vyal. He was a carpenter that died in 1472. It reads "Thome Vyal gave to the stepil iiij." This means that he donated 111j which means £4. They ended it with j to seal the amount so that it couldn't be altered-just like when we end an amount with 'only' on a cheque. £4 may not sound like much at all but then it would have been worth about £90,000 pounds to us now.
The plaque probably used to be on the outside of the church, but was moved at a later date, so everyone could see it. There are also two other plaques, but they are too worn and weathered to be read. |