The parish churches

So too in this country, the parish churches were built and furnished in past years either by a rich landowner or from the gifts of the people themselves.  The churches of this land, too, had beautiful ornaments in honour of God until the 16th century when, in the reign of Edward VI, greedy noblemen looted them and stole all their lovely treasures.

Besides building churches, the Church people also provided for their parish priest to be paid.  Often a landowner would give some land for this purpose which the priest would either farm himself, or let it and receive rent for it.

You can see how lucky most parishes are today to have their church already built for them, and some also have land or money given by past parishioners to help support the church.  Some people think the clergy of the Church of England are paid by the State out of taxes.  This is untrue.  The only clergy who are paid by the State are Hospital and Prison Chaplains and Chaplains to the Forces.