In 1551 at the height of Edward VI's extreme Protestantism William Lawkland left money to "my Marske priest" and to the Marske parson so that they would pray for his soul in the manner of the chantries which had been dissolved several years before.
In 1560 Ralph Alderson of West Stonesdale professed his allegiance to Catholicism and requested the priest of Keld to pray for his soul.
Both would have been in peril had they been so open in life.