HONORARY REMEMBRANCER
Olivia Cotton
In May 2006 Churt Parish Council appointed Olivia Cotton as its first Honorary Remembrancer to the Parish Council. The appointment was in recognition of Olivia's longstanding interest in and service to the history of Churt.
The ancient Office of Remebrancer dates from the reign of Henry II...... (an outstanding medieval monarch. He was able, energetic, intelligent and ruthless who reformed English law and built a royal bureaucracy....... to help supervise collection of taxes and 'to put the King in remembrance of all things owed to the King'.) The current Office of Queen's Remembrancer presides over two of the oldest legal ceremonies: Quit Rents Ceremony and Trial of the Pyx.
At Quit Rents Ceremony the Queen's Remembrancer receives the newly elected Sheriffs of the City of London and accepts two services from the Corporation of London to go quit of paying rent for two pieces of land in the City. For the first service the City presents two knives; one blunt, one sharp. The sharp knife must cut through a hazel rod one cubit long and a forefinger thick. The rod must bend over the blunt knife.
The second service is to provide six large horseshoes and 61 nails in exchange for a rental of only 18 pence per year on a forge. These date from 1361 and may be the oldest set of shoes in existence.
The Trial of the Pyx is an annual ceremony to assay the coins of the realm produced by the Royal Mint. The assay is conducted by 26 goldsmiths sworn in for the purpose and daily samples amounting to some 88,000 coins are tested. The Pyx is a box in which the coins are placed.
The Churt Remembrancer has no such duties; in fact, no duties at all, but is invited to give an account, if she wishes, of any historical happening of importance which has occurred in Churt in the year of office.