On 3rd September 1770, the Reverend William Holland took possession of the vicarage and parish church of Overstowey in Somerset. He kept a diary throughout his tenancy, in which he recorded the comings and goings of village life. The people of the time are brought vividly to life, such as Reverend Holland's servant Charles, who might still have retained his employe's favour after being caught with the parlourmaid, had he not compounded his mischief by sodomizing the sheep.