Where these payments made to assuage the backlash of the Slave Trade?
Queen Anne's Bounty was a fund introduced by Queen Anne to fund poor clergy.
The fact that the St. Mary's church received monies from this fund and the explanation from Thomas Wright seems a little simpllstic.
..... this house appropriated to itself the great tithes, which, going to the crown on the general dissolution, left the living (which is a vicarage) very small; but it was augmented by William Raymond, Esq. and others, in 1727, who gave £100, and a house valued at £6 per annum, which insured the further augmentation of the living by a donation of £200 from Queen Anne's bounty
1727 was at the very start of George II's reign. Queen Anne was William III's sister and officially ascended in 1702. In 1714 the monarch was George I
Queen Anne's Bounty
The clergy of Belchamp Walter received payment under this scheme to suppliment the income of the clergy at St. Mary's church.
According to Thomas Wright the clergy at Belchamp Walter was impoverished.
According to Wikipedia:
Queen Anne's Bounty was a scheme established in 1704 to augment the incomes of the poorer clergy of the Church of England, and by extension the organisation ("The Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne for the Augmentation of the Maintenance of the Poor Clergy") which administered the bounty (and eventually a number of other forms of assistance to poor livings).
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Thomas Wright:
This church, belonging originally to Alberic de Vere, was given by him to the priory of Earl's Colne, and this house appropriated to itself the great tithes, which, going to the crown on the general dissolution, left the living (which is a vicarage) very small; but it was augmented by William Raymond, Esq. and others, in 1727, who gave £100, and a house valued at £6 per annum, which insured the further augmentation of the living by a donation of £200 from Queen Anne's bounty.
The Ownership of the church
While the Thomas Wright account (1831/36) states the church originally by Alberic de Vere and then given to the Priory of Earl's Colne this is not actually the case. True, the Priory at Earl's Colne was founded by the de Veres, it was not necassarily given to the monks of the Priory. The Priory was a cell of Abingdon Abbey and controlled by the Benedictines (from Rome).
Compensation for the effect of the Puritan Movement
It could be argued that the donation of funds was made to the Church of Englands funding was made to make-up for the damage to the church by the Puritan infuence that must have been present in Belchamp Walter in the mid 17th century. After the Restoration in 1660 the Church of England was restored as the "official" religion of the country bt Charles II.
Patron of St. Mary;s Chruch
Prior to the Puritan influence in Belchamp Walter the church's patron was the Priory of Earl's Colne. The "ownership" is another matter as discussed above. When the monestaries were dissovled and there was a great re-organisation resulting in the creation of the Church of England, the patronage changed.
