Will and Inventory of Thomas Lodge, clerk, 1552

Lodge’s will shows his involvement, as rector, in the life of the parish and wider locality during a period of religious change. Whilst he died in the in the Protestant reign of Edward VI, use of the phrase ‘sir parson’ harks back to Catholic times. Amongst Lodge’s many gifts to the poor he left 12d.  to every single young person, payable on their marriage, to encourage them to stay in the parish. He appears to have acted as ‘banker’, forgiving those who owed him money as shown in ‘his book’ and he remembered many neighbouring clergymen and the poor in his native parish, Stour Provost in Dorset.