Note 40 — THE TOWNSHIPS
Reading edition
The population must have been greater when the Kendal trade in cloth was at its height. There were 1300 "houseling people" reported for the parish of Windermere in 1549 (Commission quoted in Mr. Brydson's Sidelights on Mediæval Windermere, p. 95), and there is no reason to suppose that Grasmere was far behind. At the same time the numbers to collect at one celebration would be considerably lessened if the Easter communion were spread over several occasions, as was the case in the late seventeenth century at Clayworth, Notts, where celebrations were held on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, as well as Easter Day. All parishioners—to judge from the rector's careful record—must at this season have communicated; but at the celebrations of Whitweek and Christmas (for there was none at Michaelmas) the numbers were much lower. (Rector's Book of Clayworth).