Vestry and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe. The decline of the feudal system and, following the Reformation in the 16th century, the power of the Church, led to a new form of township or parish meeting, which dealt with both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. This new meeting was supervised by the parish priest, probably the best educated of the inhabitants, and it evolved to become the vestry meeting. As the complexity of rural society increased, the vestry meetings pragmatically acquired greater responsibilities, and were given the power to grant or deny payments from parish funds. Although
First Free Will Baptist Church and Vestry by a gabled roof oriented with the ridge parallel to the street, with a steepled tower and main entrance at the eastern end. The old vestry is a 2-1/2 story brick building, whose gabled roof is placed gable-end to the street. It has a three-bay facade with the entrance at the center, framed by sidelight and transom windows. The new vestry is built against the rears of these two buildings. A Free Will Baptist congregation was established in what is today Ashland in 1818, when it was still part of Holderness. By 1830, the congregation had grown large enough to