The churchwarden account books of Heanor church are some of the oldest in the Diocese, started on May 1st 1585 for the 27th year of Queen Elizabeth the first's reign.

Part of the introduction reads "...it is Agreid by the whole consent of the prishe, that there shalby appointed, from tyme to ty<me> XVI men being of most substanciall men in the prishe, that shall take suche order for the same of Heynor, in making of leyes of mony for the churche, & to elect churche wardens as they thinke most fittest for the same office <wi>th <illegible - consent?> of the vicar of the same churche & take accoump the same wardens yerly."

From the church-warden account books it is known that the election of the sixteen was for three districts. Codnor and Loscoe as one district, Heanor, Langley and Milnhey as one district and finally Shipley as the last district. Codnor and Loscoe's district had seven representatives, Heanor, Langley and Milnhey's district had five, and Shipley's district had four.

It is believed that the sixteen came from a very early form of local government. It is known that in other areas such as Holmes Cultram in Cumberland and Aston, Cote, Ditmarsh and Corbey in Oxfordshire also had "Sixteen"s of their own. From archive evidence of other village "sixteens" it is known that their foundation was from hereditary family roles in Saxon times as a form of government for local villages. In time these duties became more simple oversight for the village, for example maintaining and repair of Dykes and Woodlands, caring of bridges, levying of taxes and supervision of village accounts.

In the case of Heanor it would appear that by the time Queen Elizabeth I brought in the legislation requiring parishes to keep their own records of all baptisms marriages and funerals, with the introduction of church-warden account books that the church adapted an earlier version of antiquated village government into a council for governing of the church and parish - a predecessor to the modern day P.C.C.

The election of the Sixteen appears to have been annual, but the records are do not make it clear if the term of office was only for the year or for a longer period.

The Sixteen seemed to have quite a strict policy regarding it membership and their adherence to their duties. There are some cases in the church-warden accounts that refer to the members of the Sixteen being fined :

22 April 1595 "It is agreed...that if any of ye sayd nuber of ye sixteen shallbe absent : at the day of appointment : having warning before but vii days : that then thoes pties being absent & making such default shall at everysuch time forfait - 6d to be pd..."

The Sixteen continued until the early 1800's, during that time the Sixteen gradually adapted to a changing environment. The duties slowly split, with responsibility for the church and parish (church related) remaining in the hands of the Sixteen and responsibility for the parish as a town moving to new committees and boards which eventually in turn became the Heanor and District Urban Council.

We hope to have a list of the known members of the Sixteen available soon.