present offences was promptly punished by the judge.[21] Failure to
attend court when duly warned was no less promptly followed by
excommunication, and then it was an expensive matter for the wardens
to get out of the official's book again.[22] But of fees and fines
more hereafter.

Among the churchwardens' principal obligations, as laid down in the
injunctions and articles they were sworn to observe, was the keeping
in repair of the church fabric and its appurtenances, as well as the
procuring and the maintaining in good condition of the church
"furniture," a term which in the language of the time included all the
necessaries for worship and the celebration of the sacraments: church
linen, surplices, the communion cup, the elements themselves, bibles,
prayer books, the writings of authorized commentators on the
Scriptures, or the works of apologists for the Anglican Church; tables
of consanguinity and other official documents enjoined to be kept in
every parish by the diocesan.[23]

The visitation act-books of the period abundantly show the processes
employed by the ecclesiastical authorities in enforcing these and
other duties (which will be detailed in their turn), and prove that
the courts Christian were emphatically administrative as well as
judicial bodies. To show these courts at work it will be necessary to
give a number of illustrative examples taken from the visitation
entries. Thus the wardens of Childwall, having been presented at the
visitation of the bishop of Chester, 9th October, 1592, because their
church "wanteth reparac[i]on," are excommunicated for not appearing.
On a subsequent day John Whittle, who represents the wardens, informs
the court that the repairs have been executed. Thereupon the wardens
are absolved and the registrar erases the word "excommunicated" from