Transcript:Associated Architectural Societies. Reports and Papers/1913/History of the Abbey

Associated Architectural Societies'
Reports and Papers.

Mdccccxiii. VOL. XXXII., PART I.

The Architectural & Archæological Society of the County of Lincoln.

[page 35]

Notes on the History of the Abbey of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Oswald, Bardney. [Part I.]

By A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., F.S.A.

The attention which the recent excavations at Bardney abbey and the recovery of its plan have drawn to one of the most celebrated of mediæval religious houses, makes it desirable that some detailed record of its history should be written. The account in the Victoria County History of Lincolnshire, although in many respects excellent, is short, and contains some inaccuracies of detail. Moreover, the question of the property of the abbey is very briefly touched upon by the writer, and calls for more ample treatment. The present notes, while not claiming to be exhaustive, are an attempt to bring together more of the history of the monastery than has hitherto been collected. In this first instalment some account will be given of its foundation and endowments, and of its relation to its property, especially to those parish churches in which it had an interest. A subsequent instalment will deal with the internal history of the monastery, under its various abbots. For the present purpose the chief source of information is the chartulary of the house, a manuscript of 292 leaves of parchment, now among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum (Vespasian E. xx). It is written for the most part in a very clear and beautiful hand, apparently of the early part of the fourteenth century, with additions which, from internal evidence, were made about a century later, and a few notes added as late as the reign of Henry VII. Although the actual printing of this chartulary would involve a considerable amount of repetition, an English calendar of its contents is much to be desired. Its value to the student of local topography will be evident from such portions as it has been possible to summarise in the following pages.

The monastery of Bardney was originally founded towards the close of the seventh century by Ethelred, king of the Mercians, and his wife Osthryth. Ethelred, one of the sons of Penda, was brother to Peada and Wulfhere, whose names are associated with the foundation of the abbey of Peterborough. Osthryth was a daughter of the Northumbrian king Oswiu or Oswy, who had joined Peada, his “ brother by baptism,”^[1] in his pious work at Peterborough. She was thus [page 36] the niece of the great Oswald, who in 642 had fallen in battle with Penda upon the Maserfield, probably near Oswestry. After the battle, the head, hands and arms of the dead king were fastened to stakes by the order of Penda, but were recovered shortly after by Oswiu, who translated the head to Lindisfarne and the hands and arms to Bamburgh.^[2] The rest of the body was collected at a later date by Osthryth, who brought the sacred remains to the newly founded house of Bardney. The Mercian monks, however, were unwilling to admit the body of a king whom they regarded as a foreigner ; and the rejected relics were left all night outside the monastery in the cart in which they had been brought, sheltered by a tent. In the morning, however, the brethren changed their minds. It was said that during the night a pillar of fire had rested over the cart and was seen flaring up to heaven by almost all the people of Lindsey, and this convinced the monks that they ought to receive the body. It was enshrined in the church beneath the banner or pall of gold and purple which probably had covered it during its journey : the water in which they washed it hallowed the ground into which it was poured, and devils were cast out of possessed persons who came into contact with the holy soil.^[3]

The date of this event may be placed somewhere between 675, when Ethelred succeeded to the throne of Mercia, and 697, when Osthryth was slain by the Southumbrian Mercians,^[4] apparently during a revolt. In or about 704, when Ethelred had entered upon the thirtieth year of his reign, he gave up his crown and retired to Bardney, where he received the tonsure and eventually became abbot.^[5] Apart from these notices of the founders and the tale of the foundation, little appears to be known of the Saxon monastery. It is certain, however, that it shared in the destruction which in 870 befell the abbeys of Lincolnshire and the fenland, during the raids of the Danish leaders Hingwar and Hubba. The only chronicle which specifically mentions Bardney among the ruined monasteries [page 37] is the so-called chronicle of Ingulf, the evidence of which is by itself worth nothing ; but it will be seen that the charter of foundation of the Norman monastery refers to its sack by the Danish forces as matter of history. Some forty years later than this event, in 909 or 910, the site was desolate. The Danes were threatening Mercia, and it was probably for this reason that Ethelred, ealdorman of the Mercians, and his wife Ethelflaed, the daughter of Alfred and sister of Edward the elder, removed the remains of St. Oswald from Bardney to Gloucester.^[6] The fact that this was done is sufficient proof that the relics, although they may have been spared or overlooked in 870, were insufficiently protected at this date : the deserted condition of the site was an excuse for their removal, as was the case half a century later at Ripon, when the alleged relics of St. Wilfrid were translated to Canterbury by archbishop Odo.

It was doubtless owing to this translation of its chief treasure that the monastery of Bardney had no share in the religious revival of the later half of the tenth century, when the greater abbeys of the fenland were refounded under the auspices of St. Ethelwold and the second St. Oswald. The mediæval abbey was a foundation of the end of the reign of William the Conqueror, and its only real link with its Saxon predecessors, apart from the choice of site, was the place given to St. Oswald in its dedication. The founder was Gilbert of Ghent, who had obtained wide possessions in Lincolnshire from his uncle the Conqueror, and was the first of the line of Gaunt, or, as the earlier charters spell it, Gant. It is noted by the writer in the Victoria County History that the date of foundation was certainly later than the compilation of Domesday book in 1086, as that record contains no mention of the possessions of the monastery ; while, as the three sons of the Conqueror were witnesses to the founder's charter and their father was not yet dead, the year may be fixed as 1087. The remaining witnesses whose names are given were archbishop Lanfranc, Rémi, bishop of Lincoln, William earl of Chester, Robert son of Henry, Robert Bigod, Walter l'Espec and Eudo Dapifer.^[7] [page 38]

The preamble of the foundation charter states that Gilbert has taken heed to rebuild the monastery of the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and St. Oswald, king and martyr, of Bardney, by grant of his lord William king of England. “ And inasmuch as the noble monastery, as the venerable Bede bears witness in the narrative of his ecclesiastical history, in reverence of St. Oswald the king and martyr, was distinguished by the zeal of Christian devotion on account of the frequent miracles which at that time were done in the same to the honour of God, I have thought meet to restore with my possessions and resources the same place, which for the space of many years has long time lain desolate by the driving away of the congregation and order of monks by reason of the cruel persecutions of outlandish nations ; in order that the monastic order after the rule of St. Benedict may be observed for ever to the honour of God in the same monastery.” The original endowments are headed by the grant of the vills of Bardney and Angodby and may be summarised as follows :

1. In Aveland wapentake : all tithe of demesne in Folkingham.
2. In Candleshoe wapentake : four carucates and two bovates of land in Great Steeping and Firsby, all tithe of demesne in Partney, Skendleby, Great Steeping and Thorpe with its appendages, and the churches of Firsby, Partney and Skendleby with its tithes.
3. In Gartree wapentake : all tithe of demesne in Baumber and Stainton and two-thirds of tithe of demesne in Edlington.
4. In Lawres wapentake : the church of Scampton with its tithes.
5. In Loveden wapentake : Holm [in Beckingham parish] with the vills belonging to it.
6. In Wraggoe wapentake : Bardney and Angodby.
7. In Yarborough wapentake : two-thirds of demesne tithe in Horkstow.
8. Outside Lincolnshire, the convent was endowed with the church and all tithe of demesne in Edlesborough in the hundred of Cottesloe, Buckinghamshire.

In later confirmations of these endowments, the name of Angodby is generally replaced by that of the adjoining vill of [page 39] Osgodby. A long series of charters from various small landholders, confirmed by Edward III. in 1331, gives some idea of the extent of it's possessions in arable land, meadow and wood in Bardney, Angodby and Osgodby, and the places known as Braithmere or Braydmer in Bardney, Butteyate, Harewood, Middlefen, Southrey, Thorleysike and Wlfeholm.^[8] Among these grantors appear the names of Herbert the mason, Rumpharus the baker son of Walter the baker, William the baker and his daughter Agnes, William the brewer, Ralph son of Ralph the smith, Thomas the tanner, Peter the vicar of Bardney. These grants are undated, and appear to extend over a long period subsequent to the charter of Gilbert de Gant. Thus Peter the vicar was vicar or chaplain of Bardney about the year 1201^[9] and William, abbot of Tupholme, who gave the convent all his land in Southrey, was head of a monastery which did not begin its existence until a century later than the Bardney of the second foundation.^[10] The vill of Butteyate was given by Robert Marmiun before 1115.

Other gifts of Gilbert de Gant, which do not appear in his original charter, are rehearsed in later documents. These include, in the neighbourhood of Folkingham, two-thirds of tithe of demesne in Aswarby and Silk Willoughby (Aswardhurn wapentake), half the tithe of demesne of William and his heirs in Walcot (Aveland wapentake) and all tithe of the cheese and wool of demesne in Edenham (Beltisloe wapentake). From the parts of Lincolnshire nearer Bardney came the tithe of the demesne of Reyner de Wylughbi and two-thirds of Gilbert's demesne in West Ashby (soke of Horncastle), two thirds of the demesne tithe in Lusby (soke of Bolingbroke) and Winceby (Hill wapentake), all tithe of demesne in Edlington and the church of Stainton with its lands and tithes (Gartree wapentake). The vill of Edlington with all its appurtenances was given by Gilbert's wife, Alice de Montfort. In addition to the church of St. Nicholas at Partney, mentioned in the [page 40] original charter, later charters refer to the chapel of St. Mary as part of Gilbert's endowments.^[11]

Gilbert de Gant's foundation was a priory, and its prior, Ralf, was a monk of the abbey of Charroux in the diocese of Poitiers.^[12] It seems that Bardney was regarded at first as a cell dependent on this house. In 1115, however, Walter, the younger son of Gilbert, obtained a grant from Henry I. which gave the priory the status of an independent abbey under the immediate protection of the Crown. This charter stands first among the long series of charters and confirmations confirmed by Edward III. in 1331. It was granted at Winchester in the sixteenth year of Henry I., and is addressed to Robert, bishop of Lincoln, Walter de Gant, the sheriff of Lincolnshire and all the barons, French and English, of the county. “ Know ye that I have granted to Ralph the monk, who was prior of Bardney, the place and the same church to be an abbey, at the supplication of Walter of Ghent and by the grant of Fulcard abbot of Charroux, whose monk he (Ralf) was. And I will and grant and firmly charge that they (i.e., the convent) hold well and in honour and at peace all their land and tithes and churches of whomsoever the abbey holds them, with soke and sake and toll and team and infangetheof and with all other customs, even as the church has ever held them in full wealth, freedom and honour, and even as my other abbeys throughout England have tenure in full freedom.” The witnesses, in addition to the bishop of Lincoln and Walter, were Roger, bishop of Salisbury, Bernard, bishop of St. David's, Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham, Ranulf the chancellor, the abbot of Selby, Alan de Percy, Ralf of Ghent, Ralf of Alost, and Ralf Nevill.^[13] The date of the charter is later than 19 Sept., 1115, the date of Bernard's consecration as bishop of St. David's,^[14] and earlier than 25 March, 1116, as [page 41] Walter de Gant's charter, directed to the abbot and convent, still bears date 1115.

Walter had succeeded to his father's heritage by the early death of his elder brother Gilbert. As his charter of 1115 was the first charter granted to the abbey as such and contains an important statement of property, the essential parts of it are worth translating in full. After confirming his father's charter, already summarised, he proceeds :

“ And I, the aforenamed Walter de Gant, being in my heritage, of the grant of Henry king of the English and the advice of Ralf archbishop of Canterbury, being minded rather to increase according to my resources than to lessen the rights and liberties of the aforesaid monastery of Bardney, have given to the same monastery and the abbot and convent thereof Bardney, Angodby, Boteyate and Southrey, with all their rights and appurtenances both in plain and in wood, meadows, grazings, moors, marshes, roads, paths, waters, ponds, with nine whole fisheries and one half fishery in the water of Witham, the which, in order to convey the more witness of truth to posterity, I have thought fit to express by these their proper names, to wit, Goshilgarth, with the whole fishery belonging to the same, Maydengarth, Chaumbleingarth, Horslaygarth, Feregarthe, Southgarthe, Fleggarthe, together with Thurghladegote, Pittingergarthe, Boslegarthe, with their whole fisheries, and half Browningarth, with the half fishery thereto adjoining.

“ In Partney the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, with all its rights and appurtenances : the church of the same town and the chapel of St. Mary in the same town with all their appurtenances.^[15]

“ My manor of Steeping with all its liberties that pertain to the same manor in the towns of Steeping and Firsby, and the churches of the same towns with their appurtenances.^[16]

“ In Sutton^[17] two bovates of land.

“ In Edlington my manor with all its liberties, as in men both free and bound to the soil, and its appurtenances whatsoever, as well within as without the town, with imparking of [page 42] beasts in Belghale, and the church of the same town with all its appurtenances.^[18]

“ In Hagworthingham^[19] my manor and six bovates of land with all their appurtenances, the church of the same town with six bovates of land.

“ In Barton^[20] my manor with three carucates of land, meadows, pastures, men, and all other its liberties. In Barton the church of St. Peter with all its lands and tithes and the chapel in the same town which in these days is called All Saints'. Three carucates of land in the territory of the same town with all their appurtenances, and all the land which is between the road, whereby one comes from the town of Burnham into the town of Barton, and the nearer road, from a dyke that is cut outside [the town] as far as the road which leads to Thornton, free and quit of any claim of me or my heirs, and relieved of all secular service, so that neither I nor my heirs nor any one in our name shall have right to intermeddle in any wise with the aforesaid land or its appurtenances. A moiety also of the same place which is called Littlemarsh in the territory of Barton. And passage of the Humber without cost to the aforesaid abbot and monks with their servants and horses.

“ The church of Edlesborough with all its lands and tithes.^[21]

“ In Swaledale^[22] pasture for twenty mares with their foals, in free, pure and perpetual alms, in such wise that their foals, when they are two years old, shall be removed from the same pasture, and the same aforesaid mares without hindrance or gainsaying of anyone shall remain for ever in the same pasture with my own mares which I may have in the same pasture ; and if I have no mares there, none the less the aforesaid monks shall freely have the same twenty mares with their foals in the aforenamed pasture.

“ In Willoughby by Skendleby all the tithe of its demesne and two-thirds of my tithe of demesne in Ashby.^[23] [page 43]

“ In Strubby of the alms of Bogamer two bovates of land, and the mill in Withern.^[24]

“ I grant in Lusby two-thirds of the demesne tithes and two-thirds of the demesne tithes from my fee which is Winceby.^[25]

“ In Hunmanby the church with one carucate of land and the chapels … throughout the parish …,^[26] that is, Hunmanby, Burton [Fleming], [Wold] Newton, Geldston, Reighton, Fordon, Barkedale, Folkthorp, Muston, Straxton, and in Argam one carucate of land whereon the chapel is situate.^[27]

“ In Aswarby I grant two-thirds of the tithe of demesne, and in [Silk] Willoughby two-thirds of the tithe of demesne, and in Walcot the half of the tithes of William and his heirs from the demesne.

“ In Edenham the whole tithe of demesne.^[28]

“ In Heckington and Hale, Folkingham and Holme, the whole tithe of the bundles of hay from the demesne.^[29]

“ And all the tithes both great and small forthcoming of my manors in these towns, to wit Lockington, Folkingham and Holme.^[30]

“ I have given also to the abbot and convent aforesaid from these my mills of Barton, and from the mills of Skendleby, Baumber, of Skeinton (sic), of Heckington, of Folkingham, of Holme and of Hunmanby, the tithes, with all strays, wrecks and waifs throughout the whole demesne of Bardney, Edlington, Hagworthingham, Steeping and Firsby.

“ And all these my gifts and grants to the aforesaid abbey, and those likewise which the men of our fee have given, moved by devotion to the same abbey, ratifying and approving them, I Walter and my wife and my heir … do with the witness of this present writing confirm by this charter sealed [page 44] with my seal, having made with our own hands the sign of the holy Cross, blessing all who do well to the abbey of Bardney.

“ And I, Walter de Gant, will that the aforesaid abbot and convent shall hold for ever, and do grant in free, pure and perpetual alms, freed and quit of all secular service, exaction or demand, all the possession which [I have given] to this abbey and the monks who shall serve God in the same for ever, or those things which have been given to the aforesaid manor (sic) of the gift of my father and my mother for the health of their souls, together with all the chattels of felons and fugitives throughout the whole demesne of the same religious, and with view of frankpledge in Bardney and the towns annexed to the same, and in Edlington, Hagworthingham, Lusby, Steeping, Firsby, Partney, Skendleby, Sutton, Strubby, Winceby, Burton, Barton and Hunmanby.”

The concluding sentence of this charter rehearses Henry I.'s special privilege to the monastery of the rank of a free abbey ; but this sentence is imperfect. Of the names of the witnesses only two appear to be legible in full, viz., William, constable of Chester, nephew of Walter de Gant, and William de Mandeville.^[31] It will be seen that Walter's charter to the new abbey, while confirming and adding to his father's gifts in Lindsey, Kesteven and Buckinghamshire, added new and valuable sources of property by his grants in Barton-on-Humber and of Hunmanby and its chapels.

Walter left two sons. The elder, Gilbert, succeeded to his heritage, and by his marriage with Rohese, daughter of Ranulf, earl of Chester and joint-heir with William of Roumare of the earldom of Lincoln, obtained the latter earldom. The benefactions of earl Gilbert, who died in 1156, are enumerated in a charter of his nephew, Gilbert III. The most important were the three churches of Folkingham, Great Hale and Heckington, with the whole demesne tithe of Heckington. In Lindsey he granted one-third of the town of Baumber with its appurtenances and the mill, all his land at Hagworthingham, viz., one knight's fee in the tenure of Roger son of Reingot,^[32] and Crakecroft, part of the appendages [page 45] of Hagworthingham. In constructing a castle^[33] at Barton-on-Humber, he made an exchange of land with the convent : the land described, however, seems to be that which Walter had already defined in his charter, or at any rate lay close to it, viz., “ all the land between the road, by which the town is entered, and the road nearer the east, as far as the bottom of the ditch which runs athwart it in the direction of the road to Thornton.” He also gave a bovate of land in Barton for the soul of his friend and tenant Seer de Arceles, who during this period gave the church of Lusby and lands in Sutton, Lusby and Winceby to the convent. Other grants of land in Lusby, Firsby, Wainfleet, and other places in the marshland came from Léon, the brother of Seer, Ralf son of Gilbert, Bonde of Steeping, and Herbert son of Alard of Orby, the husband of the foundress of Hagnaby abbey.^[34] A charter of earl Gilbert's, recited among those confirmed in 1331, granted to the abbey in frankalmoin the cure and perpetual wardenship of the chapel of St. James in Skendleby, ten acres within its close, two gardens stretching from the chapel to the road through the middle of the town, two mills, one in Skendleby and the other at Brakedam (now Bradham), with the multure,—i.e., the monopoly of grinding corn—of the donor's house and the whole town, and free access to the mills, the homage and service of Tolus and his successors with two bovates of land and a moiety of the mill of “ Scuke,” the homage and service of Gunnes and his successors with three-quarters of a bovate of land and his whole dwelling, and common pasture in Skendleby with the earl's flocks. The witnesses were Elias, abbot of Rufford, Robert, prior of Bridlington, Robert, dean of York^[35] the countess Rohese, Philip ‘ dapifer,’ and Herbert the constable.^[36] Another charter specifies a meadow between the fish-pond of the earl and the way adjoining on each side of the brook, and grants pasture for 100 sheep in the common pasture of the town.^[37] The charter of Gilbert III. also confirmed fresh grants by earl Gilbert of the hospital and the chapel of Partney, and the church of Stainton, and a grant of the church of Irnham in [page 46] Beltisloe wapentake, with two bovates of land belonging to the church of Folkingham.

Earl Gilbert left two daughters, Alice, who married Simon of Senlis, the second earl of Northampton of that name, and Gunnora, wife of Ralph Sackville. His Lincolnshire and Yorkshire possessions passed to his younger brother Robert, who conveyed to the abbot and convent the tithe of demesne in Heckington and Hale, some small property in Hunmanby and Thorpe-by-Skendleby and the tithe of “ Salterhagh.^[38] Robert's son, Gilbert III., confirmed the grants of his ancestors to the monastery.^[39] His own gifts appear to have been confined to a small piece of land called Littlemarsh in Barton-on-Humber.^[40] His cousin Gunnora and her husband Ralph Sackville were also donors of land in Barton.^[41] With these gifts the benefactions of the founder's family ceased. Gilbert III. died in 1242, and his son, Gilbert IV., in 1274. His son Gilbert V., was the last of the house. He married Lora, sister of Alexander Baliol, lord of Cavers, and on his death, without issue, in 1297, his Lincolnshire lordships escheated to the Crown.^[42]

It does not exactly appear how and when the convent acquired the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene at Hartsholme, on the south side of Lincoln. It was probably, however, the gift of Baldwin Wake in the reign of Henry II. He certainly granted to St. Oswald and St. Mary Magdalene of Hartsholme the place called Hartsholme with the land and marsh which lay along the way between the fish-pond and the bounds of Boultham lea, with pasture for 200 sheep and 40 beasts, and as much moor as might be needed by the grantees for their own use for burning.^[43] Other grants of land in Bracebridge, Boultham, and the neighbourhood, were made to the chapel, which was apparently constituted a small cell of the monastery. Payn de Vilers and Johel son of Damet gave the advowson of the church of Boultham to the abbot and convent, and Robert Brito or Bretun, their descendant, resigned his right of [page 47] presentation to the same.^[44] Ranulf de Blundeville, earl of Chester, who died in 1232, granted to the monks and chapel of Hartsholme a silver mark out of the mill of Bracebridge at Easter, and another from the mill of Waddington at the term at which its yearly farm was paid to the earl.^[45]

A charter of King John, granted on 4 May, 1205, confirmed the grant of the church of Boultham and other land in the neighbourhood, and a large number of grants from various persons in fourteen parishes in Lincoln and the suburbs.^[46] The same charter includes various grants by individuals in Boston, Aswarby, Heckington, Swineshead, and Steeping, two half fisheries at Torksey, and detailed grants of land, meadow, marsh, and turf in the marshes of Branston, Potter Hanworth and Nocton. Charters of Walter de Gant are also confirmed, by which he gave to the convent the church of Burton-by-Lincoln with three carucates of land, the church of St. Peter, Kirkby Laythorpe, the church of Stainton with four virgates of land and the chapel of Hilton.^[47] None of these gifts appear in Walter's original charter, already quoted, and only three carucates in Burton are mentioned in a confirmation of charters granted by St. Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, at the end of the twelfth century. In this latter document the three carucates are said to be of the gift of earl Gilbert, who is also credited as the donor of the churches of Sotby (Wraggoe wapentake) with lands and tithes, St. Hilary, Spridlington (Aslackhoe wapentake), with tithes, Scampton with lands and tithes, and Edlington with its appurtenances.^[48] Of these churches, however, Scampton had been granted by Gilbert I., Edlington by Walter, while Sotby had been given by Philip of Kyme and Hawise his wife.^[49]

The grant of the church of Sotby occurs among a group of charters confirmed by royal charter of 20 Jan., 1231–2.^[50] The bulk of these are gifts of land, houses, and strips in the common fields of Barton-on-Humber. The rest refer to similar small gifts in Thorganby and Usselby (Walshcroft wapentake), Benniworth (Wraggoe wapentake), and Bucknall, Edlington, and Langton-by-Horncastle (Gartree wapentake). Earl Gilbert appears as confirming the foundation gift of Edlington by his [page 48] grandmother, while his own gifts are specified as all the land which his ancestors held in Edlington and the church of that town, and a third of Baumber, with the dwellings on the west side thereof and a mill by the Bain. The mill of Edlington was the grant and gift of the knight Ralf of Edlington, son of Simon of Hainton.^[51] A third mill on the Bain near Bucknall, called ‘ Lerche,’ was the gift of Henry Nevill.^[52]

A further mass of charters was confirmed on 27 June, 1285, when the charter of Henry III. just mentioned received confirmation.^[53] These open with grants relating to Lusby, Winceby, and Hagworthingham. The most important of these are the gifts of Seer de Arceles, who, as already mentioned, was the donor of the church of Lusby. With the church he gave four acres which made up the parson's manse. Of his gift also were two dwelling-houses near the church, one described as of ‘ Roelin,’ the other as hard by the churchyard and some time of Alvered the priest ; a mill in Lusby with ways and paths and the dam and mill-croft and all belonging to the mill ; the meadow called Tounecroft by the stream of Limine or Lyme ; all his land which William of Lusby held of him ; and a messuage in Lusby. With this messuage are included a piece of land called Scalvesacre, four selions or strips in the common fields along the way to Bolingbroke, seven selions along the way to Horncastle, the tillage called Burgeswang, a piece of land called Linacre, the dole of the meadow which runs towards the water of the Templar's mill, the tillage which runs above the dam of Roulin's mill and the meadow that goes with the said tillage, from the two heads of the meadow as one crosses the dam to the old brook of Hagworthingham, four selions on the south of the town in the direction of the sea.^[54] Seven acres of land and two and a half perches of meadow in Lusby were the gift of Peter Walter of Hagworthingham and Anice his wife.

The grants relating to Hagworthingham also contain a considerable amount of local detail.^[55] The croft called ‘ Lauedicroft,’ the piece of land called ‘ La More,’ the meadows called ‘ Canoiedeile ’ or ‘ Canoinesdale ’ and ‘ Rouflescroft ’^[56] are [page 49] mentioned. Hugh, son of Robert of Hagworthingham, gave a toft and two selions next to ‘ Almarkedstihe,’ one selion in Langecroft, one meadow by ‘ Alinechdalesic,’ three selions at Stubwat, three selions running above ‘ Hundingsic,’ two selions below ‘ Micheldale ’ and ‘ Litteldale,’ four selions at ‘ Grenewang,’ two selions above ‘ Berhe.’ It seems that the church of Hagworthingham with the six bovates of land attached, originally given by Walter de Gant, had been leased by the abbot and convent to a local landowner, whose son Roger and grandson Michael of Hagworthingham gave them back in frankalmoin.

In Halton Holegate and Raithby, both in the soke of Bolingbroke, the abbey possessed land of the grant and gift of William of Roumare, created earl of Lincoln in 1138, and his son William. Much of this was specially given to the hospital at Partney, to which also special grants were made in Partney itself, the neighbouring village of Dalby and probably that of Ashby, and in Greinby and Laysingthorp, apparently in the same neighbourhood. In Burgh-le-Marsh Philip of Kyme granted to the hospital land which was known as Spiteldeile. St. James' chapel at Skendleby was also the recipient of grants of property in Skendleby, Thorpe-by-Skendleby and Scremby. A further enumeration of charters concerns the possessions of the monastery in Firsby and Great Steeping, and in the villages east and north-east, Bratoft, Irby-in-the-Marsh, and Orby. Herbert son of Alard gave fourteen acres of meadow in Orby :^[57] the twelve acres of meadow by Firsby, with which he is credited in the charter of Gilbert III., do not appear here, but this is only one of several discrepancies between the various confirmations of charters. The convent had salterns on the coast in Friskney, two salterns of the gift of Philip of Kyme, and in Wainfleet six sextaries of salt in the saltern of Walter of Bratoft and John his son.^[58] In St. Hugh's confirmation of charters, Philip of Kyme also appears as the donor of twenty sextaries of salt in Croft. Further north in Calcewaith wapentake, sources of property are found at Anderby, Strubby, and Sutton-le-Marsh. Alan son of Roger gave thirty acres of land in Sutton called Oberland, and three selions. William of Keal gave six acres of land and thirteen of meadow, and Paulinus the chaplain, son of Henry the vintner of Sutton, gave twelve acres of land. Richard [page 50] Valentin gave all his land in Sutton without the Hauedich, the manse where Walter his father dwelt, half ‘ Shipnetopht,’ a tillage of ‘ Ketelscropht,’ three selions in ‘ Bounholm,’ half ‘ Gaterum ’ and ‘ Wlsitopht,’ and five acres of meadow in his dole at Fen.^[59] St. Hugh's confirmation specifies half a carucate of land in the territory of Huttoft, and adds particulars of land in Ingoldmells and Woodthorpe with land called Thuett and the mill of Withern.

The last gifts confirmed by the royal charters of 1285 and 1331 came from Yorkshire, from Hunmanby and its dependent chapelries of Burton Fleming, Fordon, Muston, Reighton and Wold Newton, with a concluding list of gifts from Hessle, near Hull. These last are explained by the fact that Hessle lies immediately opposite Barton on the north side of the Humber, and was the point to which the ferry crossed.^[60] Among the donors from this place was Austin Feriman, evidently the local ferry-man, whose gift was an acre of land.^[61] Some of the Hunmanby gifts are specially directed to the parish church of All Saints', while Ralph Nevill granted a manse and ten acres of land to the chapel of St. James', Fordon.^[62]

Few of these gifts and grants can be dated, but they appear to be spread over the twelfth and the first half of the thirteenth century. The property confirmed to the monastery by St. Hugh, although differing here and there in detail from that specified in the charters, covers the most important gifts already mentioned, omitting, of course, the Yorkshire property, which was not within St. Hugh's power to confirm.^[63] An examination of the names of places in which these grants were made will show that the abbot and convent, in addition to the nucleus of their possessions in Bardney and the neighbouring vills, held a large amount of scattered property in a number of parishes east of Bardney as far as the sea coast, principally in Edlington, Firsby, Hagworthingham, Lusby, Partney, Skendleby and Great Steeping, in which they were large land-owners and owned the advowsons of the parish churches. North of Bardney they owned two churches, Sotby [page 51] and Market Stainton, land and mills along the river Bain, and some small property in Walshcroft wapentake. In the extreme north of the county were their important possessions at Barton-on-Humber, including the church, and a small source of income at Horkstow. North of Lincoln there was scattered property in Burton, Scampton and Spridlington, while in Lincoln and the suburbs there was much house property, the church of Boultham, and Hartsholme with its chapel. The possessions of the abbey in the parts of Holland were confined to Boston and a few unimportant places near by. In Kesteven, round the centre of the founders' authority at Folkingham, it held some land and several churches—Folkingham, Great Hale, Heckington, St. Peter's at Kirkby Laythorpe, and the more remote church of Irnham. Outside the county, it possessed the Yorkshire church of Hunmanby and its chapels with some land, and in Buckinghamshire the church of Edlesborough.

After this general sketch of the extent of the estates of the monastery, it will be advisable to trace its relation to some of its more important pieces of property, and especially to the churches which belonged to it. Twenty-one of these already have been mentioned, but the abbey had interests in others as well ; all these may be taken one by one in their alphabetical order.

(1) Bardney. The few people who still imagine that the parish churches belonging to a monastery were habitually served by monks and even by canons will find that the parish church of Bardney affords a refutation to their theory. This church, originally near the church of the monastery, appears to have been a separate building ; it was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and it is not at all unlikely that it may have preserved in its fabric some traces of the old church of the Saxon convent. It may be assumed that the abbot and convent at an early date appropriated the tithes and served the church, as was usual in such cases, by a secular chaplain, who is referred to as a vicar as early at least as 1201.^[64] The practice of uncontrolled appropriation of churches was not checked until the statute of mortmain in 1279 put some regulation upon the terms on which gifts were made to religious corporations ; but the risk entailed to the cure of souls and the monastery services alike by allowing religious persons to serve parish churches was provided against at an earlier date by the [page 52] vigorous action of diocesan bishops. The vicarage of Bardney was one of the numerous vicarages ordained in or shortly after the time of bishop Hugh of Wells. It is worth noting, however, that in many cases such ordinations of which Bardney was one, merely ratified an existing state of things. The chartulary shews that there were vicars of Bardney before the time of Hugh of Wells, and the ordination of the vicarage does no more than to sanction and perpetuate the customary arrangement for the provision of the vicar. In this and similar documents the impropriating body was recognised as rector of the church, but the cure of souls was entrusted to a secular priest, presented by the abbot and convent for institution, and holding the endowed vicarage as his freehold. The actual date of the ordination of the vicarage is not certain, but it took place during the tenure of the archdeaconry of Lincoln by Robert de Hayles, i.e., between 1223 and 1238.^[65] A somewhat ambiguous note of a presentation to a cure of souls, possibly that of Bardney, occurs upon a roll of Hugh of Wells before 1219^[66] ; but the first recorded institution to the vicarage is that of John of Bratoft in 1236 or more probably early in 1237.^[67] As this lies within the period required, the vicarage may have been ordained at this time. The endowment is printed in Dugdale^[68] from the copy in the chartulary of Bardney.^[69] The sacrist of the monastery paid the vicar ten marks a year at four terms—Midsummer, Michaelmas, Christmas and Easter. In addition to this stipend of £6 13s. 4d., the vicar received threepence at Christmas, twopence at Easter, and a penny for each mass said throughout the year. The abbot or the cellarer was to assign him thirty bundles of heath yearly for fuel and three cartloads of hay for his horse. His dwelling-house was that occupied by a former vicar, hard by the chapel of St. Leonard. He was bound to find at his own costs a suitable minister or assistant to serve in church, but the abbot and convent undertook all other burdens for ever. The vicarage was assessed at twelve marks, i.e., £8 a year. It will be seen later that a new church upon a different site was constructed in 1434 at the expense of the abbot and convent. [page 53]

In 1246, while William Hatton was abbot, a dispute arose between the convent and the archdeacon of Lincoln, Thomas le Waleys, afterwards bishop of St. David's, over the question of his jurisdiction in the parish church of Bardney. The matter was committed to Robert Hertford, dean of Salisbury, and other judges, who gave sentence at Frieston on 23 April. The archdeacon was allowed the right of visitation of the church, so far as it was the church of the parish, with his yearly procurations and full jurisdiction in the parish. To the convent, however, was reserved full jurisdiction in cases of injury done in word or deed by any layman of the parish to another on feast days, cases of non-observance of festivals, of carting goods on high-days, of arietes and other shows, of scot-ales, wrestlers, dances, excesses committed by monks of the abbey in the parish, defaulting tithe-payers, and players at dice. If the abbot and convent appealed in any such case to the archdeacon, he was to have full cognisance. He might hold a chapter twice or thrice a year in the chapel hard by the monastery, to which the parishioners and abbot's servants only were summoned, or, in cases concerning the abbot and his household, in the other chapels of the parish. The archdeacon further remitted Peter's pence and synodals from the parish to the abbot and convent.^[70]

The impropriate rectory of Bardney was assessed in the taxation of 1291 at £24 13s. 4d. a year, while the vicarage was assessed at £6 13s. 4d.^[71] In 1535 the annual value of the rectory is given as £13 6s. 8d., while the vicar's stipend of £6 13s. 4d. occurs among the reprises to be deducted from the gross value.^[72]

In 1434 the old parish church was in a state of ruin. The petition of abbot Hemmingby and his convent to bishop Gray refers to its notorious old age and craziness,^[73] and to the difficulty experienced by the parishioners in coming to church in winter, when the various streams running through the parish were in flood.^[74] For some time the parishioners besought them to grant their consent to the destruction of the old building and the erection of a new one upon a different [page 54] and more convenient site, to be granted by the abbot and convent. It appears that the convent demurred, from the fear that the change of site might be made an occasion for withdrawing their tithes and oblations. The parishioners took reprisals and, instead of attending the old parish church, came into the conventual church and disturbed the monks' services. In this way they obtained their desired end. The convent granted them a plot of land for a church and churchyard, 387 feet long by 180 feet broad, between the chapel of St. Andrew on the north and the croft called Southowse on the south, reserving to themselves the rights, tithes, oblations and other issues spiritual which were their due. The petition to the bishop, drawn up on 16 September, was granted by him upon 19 September, 1434.^[75] In consequence of this the present church of Bardney was built, and possibly the last relic above ground of the Saxon monastery was destroyed. It is noteworthy that the dedication of the new church, as contemplated in 1434, was to St. Peter and St. Paul, and it is uncertain when the present dedication to St. Lawrence was first adopted.

(2) Barton-on-Humber. The church of St. Peter with the chapel of All Saints formed part, as already noted, of Walter de Gant's gifts in 1115. The abbot and convent appropriated the rectory and probably served the church by vicars or chaplains for many years before the ordination of the vicarage by Hugh of Wells. This took place about 1220, when the first recorded vicar, Ralph, was instituted. He had licence upon institution to attend the schools at Lincoln for two years and learn theology, finding meanwhile with the advice of the archdeacon of Lincoln a chaplain to serve Barton.^[76] The vicarage, consisting of the whole altarage, was taxed at sixteen marks (£9 13s. 4d.) and more, but was charged with a pension of four marks (£2 13s. 4d.) to the abbot and convent. The vicar was to be assisted by a chaplain or socius and to pay synodals, while the abbot and convent undertook to defray the cost of hospitality to the archdeacon on visitation.^[77]

Thomas le Waleys, the archdeacon of Lincoln, with whom the dispute about Bardney church had arisen, claimed procurations [page 55] from the chapel of All Saints on the ground that it was a separate parish church, and asked for damages amounting to £100 for injuries received in the matter of Bardney and Barton. The case was heard by the prior of Strugul—i.e., Strigul or Chepstow—and judgment given in favour of the monastery, to whom the archdeacon remitted all procurations from the chapel. This was early in 1246.^[78]

From a confirmation of churches to the abbot and convent by bishop Gravesend, 2 June, 1265, it appears that the chapel of All Saints was re-dedicated to St. Mary, its present dedication, by bishop Grosseteste.^[79] In 1291 the impropriate rectory was taxed at £66 13s. 4d., the vicarage at £17 6s. 8d., less the pension of £2 13s. 4d.^[80] In 1535 the rectory was taxed at £45 6s. 8d.^[81]

(3) Beckingham. This church, in the wapentake and deanery of Loveden, did not belong to the convent, and the advowson remained in private patronage. A portion of the tithes, however, taxed in 1291 at £1 6s. 8d.,^[82] and in 1535 at £4,^[83] formed part of the revenues of the monastery. The origin of this was the gift of Holme by Gilbert de Gant in his foundation charter. Between 1148 and 1156 earl Gilbert gave and granted his manor of “ Holm and Beckingham ” in exchange for a third of the vill of Baumber and its mill.^[84] The various papal and episcopal confirmations of charters entered in the chartulary are silent upon the property of the convent in this neighbourhood. The abbot and convent, however, claimed tithe in the parish. On 31 October, 1253, Innocent IV. commissioned Richard, archdeacon of Middlesex, to hear the plea of John de Newton, rector of Beckingham, against the abbot and convent. The rector was ordered to restore the tithes which he had entered upon and to make satisfaction. Accordingly he quit-claimed his right in the tithe of seven bovates of land in Fenton, of the fee of Robert de Wilegbi and anciently of the demesne of Gilbert de Gant, and in all the demesne tithe of Holme, Sutton, and Beckingham. The convent on their part quit-claimed to the rector all tithe of hay, wool, and lambs. This agreement, made on 11 [page 56] February, was confirmed by the archdeacon of Middlesex at Acton on 3 March, 1255–6.^[85]

An undated charter, which by the names of those concerned, belongs to the early thirteenth century, is a quit-claim by Henry de Broibroc—i.e., Braybroke—with the assent of Christine Ledet his wife, to the abbot and convent of the right of entry and exit and of carrying all tithes within his close of Holme, through the middle of his court or by his gate, bridges, and causey. This was granted in return for the consent of the abbot and convent to the appointment by Henry of a chaplain to serve within his chapel of Holme-by-Beckingham.^[86]

(4) Boultham. The grant of this church by Payn de Vilers, already alluded to, included two tofts almost directly adjoining the church, one on the south-east, the other on the north-west.^[87] The advowson continued in the possession of the convent throughout its history, and the church was never appropriated. The patrons, however, received a pension of eighteenpence yearly,^[88] which is recorded in 1535.^[89] In 1291 the church of Boultham was taxed at £5 6s. 8d. : the pension is not mentioned, but there appears to be some confusion between it and a pension of 6s. 8d. out of the church of South Hykeham, which is wrongly attributed to Bardney abbey.^[90]

(5) Burton-by-Lincoln. The gift of this church by Walter de Gant has been noticed above, but there is possibly some confusion with Burton Fleming in Yorkshire, as the advowson seems never to have belonged to Bardney abbey.^[91] It is not mentioned in any of the papal or episcopal confirmations of property. The earliest of these, the bull of Eugenius III., dated at Auxerre, 14 Aug., 1147, specifies only three carucates of land in Burton,^[92] and this is borne out by St. Hugh's charter of confirmation.^[93] Nearly contemporary with this last, however, is a bull of Innocent III., dated from the Lateran, 12 February, 1199–1200, [page 57] confirming a judgment of the abbots of ‘ Oxoneya ’—i.e., Oxney or Barlings—and Tupholme against Richard de Basingham, clerk, parson of Burton, who had claimed certain unspecified tithes belonging to the abbot and convent.^[94] Further details of this are found in a later part of the chartulary. The tithes in question were tithes of fodder of beasts, from the payment of which the abbot and convent claimed immunity. With Richard de Basingham were associated other disturbers, of whom Luke, dean of Evreux, is specified by name. Innocent III. issued his commission to the two abbots and the prior of Burwell on 14 March, 1197–8 : the prior excused himself on grounds of ill-health, but the abbots decided against the disturbers. Tithes of gardens and shrubberies were also claimed by Richard, who obtained a papal commission directed to the prior of Huntingdon and masters Aristotle and Peter de Paxton. This matter, however, was eventually referred to Roger de Rolveston, the dean, and the chapter of Lincoln, who confirmed the monastery in all its tithes except tithe of sheaves in the field of Burton, and charged it with a yearly pension of eighteenpence, to be paid to the church of Burton at midsummer. If the abbot and convent farmed out their manor in Burton, the farmer during his lease was to pay all tithes in lieu of the pension.^[95] The pension was charged upon a toft, which William Goldsmith of Burton had given to the abbot and convent shortly before.^[96]

(6) Claypole. No grant of the church to the abbot and convent remains. The parish is in the wapentake and deanery of Loveden, adjoining Beckingham. The monastery claimed the right of presentation to a mediety against Gerard de Huwell early in the episcopate of Hugh of Wells. They quit-claimed the presentation, however, for a yearly pension of ten shillings, to be paid upon St. Oswald's day. It was agreed that they should be represented at the institution of a rector, and that Gerard should grant the church to no other religious house.^[97] The first recorded incumbent is Richard of Oxford, to whom the church was collated by Hugh of Wells, as Gerard de Huwell was at this time excommunicate. The bishop, however, safeguarded his rights and those of the monastery, and Gerard shortly after, returning to the unity of the church, [page 58] allowed the collation and formally presented the rector.^[98] The pension is not noted in 1291 and 1535, and probably fell into disuse.

(7) Cranwell. This church, in Aswardhurn wapentake and Lafford deanery, was given to the abbot and convent, probably between 1150 and 1160, by Humphrey, son of Walter de Welles, for the souls of his father and mother and Sinon son of William his uncle.^[99] Between 1189 and 1195 the abbot and convent presented Walter Nevill to a mediety, reserving a yearly pension of sixteen shillings to themselves. At the same time William de Stighenbi was instituted to the vicarage, which was charged with a similar pension to the rector.^[100] About 1210, however, Hugh of Wells collated Robert de Gravele to the mediety by authority of the Lateran council, presumably owing to a lapse in presentation. The pension was reserved to Bardney abbey, with a clause safeguarding the rights of any other claimant of the patronage.^[101] In March, 1250, the abbot and convent resigned their right of patronage to the prior and convent of Sempringham, who appear to have been patrons of the other mediety and henceforth presented to the whole church, continuing to pay the pension.^[102] There is no mention of the pension in 1291 and 1535. The church was subsequently appropriated to Sempringham priory.

(8) Edlesborough. The grant of this church, on the high land south-west of Dunstable, was made by the founder of the abbey and confirmed in many of the early charters. There are preserved in the chartulary charters granted by members of the family of Beauchamp, which confirm the gift of the church and of the chapel of Dagnall.

In 1192 Hugh Beauchamp, son of Oliver, confirmed the gift of the church by his grandfather Hugh, and may have been the earliest grantor of Dagnall chapel.^[103] Richer Beauchamp granted the monastery, at a date unspecified, half a mark out of his mill of Bradenham, Bucks., to be paid in two portions of forty pence at Michaelmas and Christmas. This was in return for the consent of the convent to the celebration of divine service in his chapel of “ Hadenhale.” His chaplain [page 59] was to swear fealty to the vicar of Edlesborough^[104] and was bound not to intermeddle with the parishioners. The tenants who used the chapel were required to visit their parish church six times in the year at high mass—viz., Christmas, Candlemas, Palm Sunday, Easter, the Assumption of our Lady, and All Saints'.^[105]

In spite of the apparently good title of the convent to the church, its isolation from the main possessions of the house probably tempted intruders, and it is doubtful whether the claim of the abbey held good for long without disturbance. About the middle of the twelfth century, when Robert de Chesney was bishop of Lincoln and John de Gant abbot of Bardney, the parson of Edlesborough was a certain William, who apparently held the church without the consent of the abbot and convent. On his resignation he entered into an agreement with them, by which the church was restored to them as its former patrons. The abbot and convent were to have the mother church and “ Norhalia ”—i.e., Northall,—a moiety of three virgates of land, the priest's house with its appendages, and half the produce of the three virgates. William, on his part, was to have the chapel of Dagnall and all tithes of “ Witebe ”^[106] and Dagnall. The mother church was to provide for divine service at Dagnall three days in the week : on festivals, Christmas, Easter, and at Whitsuntide the Dagnall people were to come to the parish church. The chaplain of Dagnall was to have all oblations at his altar, and the abbot and convent undertook to discharge the customary payments to the bishop ; but the right of burial was reserved to the mother church. William was allowed to keep a virgate of land in frankalmoin which he had bought for the need of the church. After his death all which he held belonging to the church of Edlesborough was to pass back to it. One of his sons, however, called John, when he should be ordained priest, was to hold the vicarage of the church, with a yearly pension of twenty shillings, necessaries of living, and a palfrey ; while the other, William, was to be received into the abbey as a monk.^[107]

It is possible that the grant of Dagnall chapel to the abbey in 1192 may have had the temporary effect of uniting it completely to the mother church. About this time Simon Beauchamp was admitted to the church, acknowledging the [page 60] rights of Bardney and agreeing to pay two gold pieces as a pension.^[108] Bishop William of Blois (1203–6) confirmed two sheaves of the demesne tithes to the abbot and convent, with the residue to the vicar. It would appear that Simon's admission was to the vicarage.^[109] One Simon, at any rate, was vicar in the time of Hugh of Wells, when two institutions of rectors occur. In each case the abbot and convent presented : the rights of the vicar were safeguarded, but in 1219 he was charged with a pension of twenty marks to the rector, on the understanding that he (Simon) was to hold the church. The vicar thus took the bulk of the tithe, and remitted an annual portion to the rector.^[110]

In 1260 the abbot and convent presented David of St. Frideswide's, archdeacon of Derby, to the church. He obtained possession by proxy, but was turned out by Walter de Rudham with an armed force. The intruder kept the church by virtue of a provision, and henceforth the abbey seems to have lost its rights.^[111] In 1262 the archdeacon became rector of Heckington,^[112] and in 1265, bishop Gravesend, confirming the abbey in the possession of certain churches, made mention only of a pension of four shillings from Edlesborough.^[113] Even this seems to have dropped after a time. The church passed into private patronage, and, by letters patent of 1 March, 1391–2, the Crown, then holding the patronage, granted it in frankalmoin to the Carthusians of the house of the Salutation of our Lady by the city of London, with an acre of land in Osgodby-upon-Bromeholme, for the support of one monk. The Charterhouse had licence to appropriate.^[114] The chapel of Dagnall became independent of the church, and a series of institutions to the rectory occur in the Lincoln registers.^[115]

(9) Edlington. The church of St. Peter seems to have been given in the first instance by Walter de Gant, although it may have been included in the gift of the vill by his mother. A confirmatory bull of pope Alexander III., bearing date 8 December, 1178, refers to the church of St. Peter with the chapels of St. Helen and St. Thomas in the territory of the [page 61] same town.^[116] The abbot and convent appropriated the church, and a vicarage was ordained in it by St. Hugh before 1195, when Geoffrey de Depinge was instituted. In the chartulary a later hand has added the gratuitous note that the bishop here mentioned was Hugh of Wells, but this is disposed of by the fact that one of the witnesses was Hamo, dean of Lincoln, who died in 1195.^[117] The vicar was endowed with all the small tithes outside the abbot's demesne and with all other obventions, and was charged with a yearly pension of three marks (£2), to be paid in two portions of twenty shillings each at Martinmas and Whitsuntide.^[118] Whether Geoffrey de Stepinge, instituted at this time, was the same person as Geoffrey, precentor of Lincoln c. 1211–24, whom Le Neve calls Geoffrey de Deping,^[119] is not quite clear. At any rate the precentor was vicar of Edlington about 1220, the approximate date at which an agreement was made with Robert de Barkeworde, lord of “ Polum ” in Edlington parish, by which he was allowed to have a chaplain to serve the chapel of his manor.^[120] Paulinus de Sutton, who apparently succeeded Geoffrey in 1226, witnessed some charters relating to Edlington in the chartulary.^[121] In 1228 and in 1232 the prior and convent of Thurgarton presented to the church after a dispute about the advowson^[122] ; but the church subsequently returned to the possession of Bardney. In 1291 its annual fruits were valued at £18, and those of the vicarage at £4 13s. 4d., from which was deducted a pension of £2 to the abbot and convent.^[123] In 1535 the church was assessed at £6.^[124]

(10) Firsby. This church is named in the foundation charter, and the advowson continued in the possession of the abbot and convent without appropriation, but with the payment of an annual pension of ten shillings to the patrons.^[125]

(11) Folkingham. As already noted, the church of Folkingham was granted to the abbot and convent by earl Gilbert, and is mentioned in the papal confirmations of 1156–7 and 1178.^[126] The abbot and convent did not appropriate, but claimed a pension of two marks (£1 6s. 8d.) from the rectors. [page 62] On 19 June, 1263, judgment was given by bishop Gravesend's official against Hugh, then rector, who had withheld the pension. He failed to appear, and the rural dean of Aveland was ordered to summon him. On 24 November, 1264, however, he consented to pay the pension in two portions at Easter and Michaelmas, and offered to compound for arrears in £10, which the monastery remitted.^[127] The abbot and convent continued to present to the church, and on 6 Oct., 1294, presented Philip Willoughby, dean of Lincoln.^[128] In 1291 their portion in the church, arising probably from the two bovates of land granted with it by earl Gilbert, was reckoned at £6 13s. 4d., while the rector's portion was £8.^[129] The presentation in the fourteenth century was granted by the convent to the Beaumonts, lords of Folkingham ;^[130] but the abbot and convent retained a portion, assessed in 1535 at £2 6s. 8d.^[131]

(12) Gedling. The bull of Alexander III. confirmed to the abbot and convent in 1178 whatever right they had in the church of Gedling, which lies east of Nottingham in Thurgarton wapentake, Notts. This right may have been acquired through the Bardolfs, who were patrons of one of the medieties of Gedling church, and had quit-claimed their right in land in Edlington to the convent ;^[132] but there is no indication that it was exercised, at any rate after the period at which the archiepiscopal registers at York begin.

(14) Hagworthingham. Walter de Gant gave this church to the convent with six bovates of land. These were further granted and confirmed by Roger son of Reingot, the tenant of earl Gilbert's knight's fee in Hagworthingham.^[133] The church remained in the patronage of the abbot and convent without appropriation. At the institution of Baldwin as rector in 1219, he swore before the bishop that he would pay no pension to the patrons without episcopal sanction.^[134] In 1291, however, when the church was assessed at £12, the abbot and convent were receiving the large pension of £8,^[135] but in 1535 their pension was valued at the more moderate sum of £1 6s. 8d.^[136] [page 63]

(15) Hale and (16) Heckington. The history of these two nearly adjoining churches, which were given to the convent by earl Gilbert, is almost identical. It is a curious fact that they do not appear among the churches mentioned in the papal bulls of confirmation. They occur, however, in St. Hugh's charter, and between 1189 and 1195, when Gilbert de Lacy was admitted to the church of Hale, St. Hugh confirmed it with an annual pension of £5 to the abbot and convent. Ralf, the parish chaplain, was one of the witnesses.^[137]

St. Hugh ordained a yearly pension of a mark from the church of Heckington, during the lifetime of the rector, Roger de Rolveston, archdeacon of Leicester, which after his death was to be increased to five marks.^[138] In Hugh of Wells' general diocesan roll of institutions, which covers the period 1209–18, there is the record of the institution of Henry de Coleville to the church of Heckington. He was ordered to pay the due pension to the abbot and convent. A vicarage was also ordained, to which Symon, the parish chaplain, was presented by the rector with the consent of abbot Matthew and the convent. The rector was endowed with the great tithes and a pension of forty shillings from the vicar, who kept all the altarage and small tithes and the land belonging to the church. To the vicar was reserved the house which he had built on the glebe, with the reservation that the rector, as his lord, was to be lodged there on his visits, and was to have the barns : after Symon's death the house was to lapse to the rector. The vicar was charged with hospitality to the archdeacon and all other burdens, and was to pay his pension in two equal portions at Easter and Michaelmas.^[139] The date of this ordination is fixed by the chartulary as 4 March, 1217–8.^[140]

The abbot and convent obtained bulls from Celestine III. and, on 13 June, 1228, from Gregory IX., authorising them to appropriate both churches upon their voidance by their incumbents.^[141] Neither of these, however, took effect. About 1245 Gilbert de Gant IV. attempted to disturb Nicholas, the parson of Hale, in possession of his church, pleading the descent of the manor and advowson through Alice, the daughter, and Gunnora, the childless granddaughter of Gilbert [page 64] I., to his grandfather Robert and so to himself. Nicholas called the abbot of Bardney to his aid : they appealed to the great assize, and the jurors declared in their favour.^[142] Like the parson of Heckington, Nicholas served the church of Hale by a vicar, who is mentioned in connection with an arrangement made during the episcopate of Robert Grosseteste (1235–54). Sir Simon de Hale had built a chapel in his court of Little Hale, and obtained licence for divine service with consent of the abbot and convent, master Nicholas, and his vicar, master Philip Ruffus. In return for this privilege Sir Simon promised to offer two tapers of two pounds' weight each and a pension of two shillings sterling to the mother church at Christmas.^[143]

In 1291 the church of Hale was assessed at £36, with a pension of a mark to the abbey and a vicarage valued at £10. The church of Heckington (£30) was charged with the pension of five marks, but it seems that there was at this time no vicarage.^[144] On 24 September, 1306, pope Clement V. decreed the appropriation of the two churches, assigning £10 to the vicarage of Hale and ten marks (£6 13s. 4d.) to that of Heckington.^[145] This decree, however, was issued at a critical period in the history of the monastery, when abbot Robert Waynflete was at strife with king and convent. The letters were lost, and it was not until 24 June, 1344, that the final bull of appropriation was published by Clement VI. In this bull the churches are assessed on the basis of 1291, the vicarages as in the previous bull, and the pensions to the abbot and convent again as in 1291.^[146]

The advowsons of the churches were more than once disputed. In 1195 the brethren of the hospital of St. Lazarus at Jerusalem, whose chief house in England was at Burton Lazars near Melton Mowbray, claimed the presentation : the notices of the suit are brief and inconclusive.^[147] A lengthy series of pleas in 1330 and 1331 is recorded in the chartulary of Bardney, when the canons of Sempringham sued the abbot and convent for the advowsons. At Easter, 1331, the abbot and convent sued Sempringham for three years arrears of a yearly rent of sixteen shillings and thirty years arrears of another of twenty shillings. Both parties surrendered their [page 65] claims, and the abbot and convent remained in undisturbed possession.^[148]

It is certain that between the bull of 1306 and its delayed accomplishment in 1344 the church of Heckington was rebuilt. It is often stated, with a singular disregard for obvious facts and a touching belief in the ability of monasteries to spend money recklessly upon their possessions, that this magnificent building, the finest complete parish church of the early fourteenth century in Lincolnshire, and perhaps in the whole of England, owes its beauty to its owners, the rich abbot and convent of Bardney. But, to all who know that the standing excuse for the undesirable custom of appropriation was poverty, the statement must appear improbable ; and it will be seen later that the monastery was actually at this time in dire financial straits. The church profited architecturally by the long delay in appropriation. Monasteries regarded appropriated churches as sources of income, not as possessions over which money could be squandered ; and there can be no doubt that at no period, and least of all at this, would the abbot and convent of Bardney have been willing to rebuild the chancel of Heckington church upon its present splendid scale. They may have contributed a small sum as owners of property in the parish to the building of the nave, but the credit of the chancel must be given to the actual rector, Richard of Pottesgrove, whose effigy remains in the tomb-recess west of the famous Easter sepulchre. He was presented to the living by the Crown on 8 March, 1308–9,^[149] during the vacancy of the abbey after the deprivation of abbot Waynflete, and thus his incumbency is entirely unconnected with the abbot and convent. He held the church until its appropriation, and during this time the present building must have been completed. It is noteworthy that, of the numerous beautiful chancels of the early fourteenth century which are to be found in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and the adjacent counties, not one is to be found in a church which during this period was appropriated to a monastery.^[150]

The Crown licence for the appropriation of Hale and Heckington was granted on 5 November, 1344, at the request of Eleanor Beaumont, lady of Folkingham, and for a fine of 100 marks ; and, in return for this favour, the abbot and convent [page 66] obtained licence on 20 December to grant the advowson of Folkingham to Eleanor.^[151] The ordination of the vicarage of Hale by bishop Bek bears date 22 November, 1346. The vicar's dwelling was to consist of part of the former manse of the rectory on a site 9½ perches long by 5 perches broad at the north and 4½ perches at the south end. The abbot and convent were within the next two years to provide the necessary buildings—hall, two chambers, kitchen, bakehouse, brewhouse, grange, stable and cattle-shed. Meanwhile the vicar was to occupy the old rectory house. His glebe consisted of four acres of arable land belonging to the church, one acre in each of the four quarters of the field of Hale ; and three of meadow in the meadows of Hale outside the place called Rectory park. In addition to the house and land, held free of tithe, he was to have mortuaries, wax at funerals, etc., all the altarage of the church, the herbage of the churchyard, and the small tithes. The abbot and convent took the tithe of corn, hay, wool, and lambs, and such lands of the church as were not assigned to the vicar. They also undertook the whole repair, construction, and upkeep of the chancel with its books, vessels, and ornaments, and the payment of procurations to the archdeacon, the vicar being held responsible for other ordinary charges.^[152]

At Heckington Richard of Pottesgrove lived until 1349, when he possibly fell a victim to the great pestilence, and the first vicar was instituted on 22 July in that year.^[153] The vicarage was ordained by bishop Gynewell at Liddington on 6 December following, on somewhat similar condition to those of the vicarage of Hale. The vicar might occupy the old rectory house until his new dwelling, with hall, kitchen, chamber and stable, was provided. His glebe consisted of six acres in the territory of the town. The tithes of corn, hay, wool, and the demesne tithe were reserved to the impropriators, with the old rectory house : they were charged with procurations and the upkeep of the chancel. The vicar took the small tithes, oblations, mortuaries, etc., as at Hale, and bound himself to pay Peter's pence and synodals, to find incense, wax, bread, and wine in the chancel, and repair and renew the books. Other burdens were to be shared between him and the abbot and convent in proportion to the taxation of the vicarage, assessed as before at ten marks. [page 67] A pension of ten marks was reserved out of the rectory to the bishop.^[154]

In 1535 the fruits of the church of Hale were assessed at £14, and those of Heckington at £10.^[155]

(17) Howell. The facts in relation to Howell are identical with those already noted in connection with Claypole. The presentation was quit-claimed to Gerard de Howell for a pension of ten shillings,^[156] and master William of Benniworth had collation of the living from Hugh of Wells on the same conditions as the parson of Claypole.^[157]

(18) Hunmanby. Reference has been made already to the gift of Hunmanby church with its ten chapels by Walter de Gant. Some of these are rehearsed in the papal confirmations of 1147 and 1178, Straxton appearing in 1147 under the disguise of “ Slocstona,” a form which is used again in 1226–7. The church was probably appropriated at an early period. A bull of Honorius III., dated from Rieti, 14 Jan., 1226–7, confirmed a number of grants in Hunmanby, and defined the rights of the abbot and convent in the church and its chapels, five of which were now regarded as distinct benefices. These rights were : In Hunmanby, Barkedale, and Folkthorp, two-thirds of all tithes and of the altarage ; in Burton Fleming, all the tithe of sheaves and lambs, and all mortuaries ; in Wold Newton, two-thirds of the tithe of sheaves, two-thirds of the tithe of two bovates of land belonging to the chapel, and mortuaries ; in Fordon, two-thirds of the tithe of sheaves and lambs, and the tithe of Walter de Gant's demesne ; in Muston and Straxton, two-thirds of tithe of sheaves and lambs ; in Reighton, the same, with mortuaries in the last three cases as before. Pensions were also confirmed to the abbot and convent of 6s. 8d. from Hunmanby, £1 13s. 4d. from Burton Fleming, thirty shillings each from Wold Newton, Muston, and Reighton, and ten shillings from Argam.^[158] In a confirmation by Gregory IX., dated from the Lateran, 3 April, 1234, five of the chapels referred to above are mentioned, Argam and the small chapels of Folkthorp, Barkedale, and Straxton being the exceptions.^[159]

The converse of the details in the confirmation of Honorius III. is supplied by a schedule inserted in the quire of East [page 68] Riding documents in archbishop Giffard's register at York. It bears no date, but its neighbours in the register belong to a period in or near 1270. Whatever may be its actual date, it merely confirms and gives further details of arrangements which were accepted at least nearly fifty years before.^[160] The vicar of Hunmanby is charged with half a mark at Whitsuntide to the abbot and convent for a toft which he holds. His vicarage consists of a third of the tithe of sheaves in Hunmanby, Barkedale, Folkthorp and Fordon, excepting the demesne tithe of sir Gilbert de Gant, a third of the small tithes and obventions, viz., of wool, lambs, foals, cows, calves, oblations, mortuaries, butter, cheese, hens, ducks, eggs, flax and hemp, and confessions in Lent. He is to bear all burdens, pay synodals, entertain the archdeacon, serve the church in person or by deputy and find all necessaries. From Reighton the pension due is £1 10s. 8d. at Whitsuntide and Martinmas. The vicar is to have a third of the tithe of sheaves and lambs, and all the small tithes, mortuaries being reserved to the mother church. The two marks and a half from Burton Fleming are to be paid in two portions, twenty shillings at Whitsuntide, and a mark at Candlemas. The vicar receives all small tithes, tithe of sheaves and lambs and mortuaries being reserved. The pension of thirty shillings from Wold Newton is due at the same terms. The vicar has a toft and two bovates of land and pays tithe, receiving back a third of tithe of sheaves and lambs, and all wool, and all oblations and obventions except mortuaries. The vicar of Muston pays a similar pension of thirty shillings : he has one toft and the same emoluments as the vicar of Wold Newton. The vicar of Argam pays ten shillings in two portions at Whitsuntide and Martinmas for his toft, land, and vicarage, but receives all tithes and obventions, great and small, except mortuaries. All the vicars are bound to serve their chapels in person and find needful requisites : this last requirement, however, is left out in case of Burton Fleming, doubtless by an oversight.^[161]

Herbert, vicar of Hunmanby, about this same time had a dispute with the convent regarding various small payments—fourpence for marriage fees, twopence for wax tapers offered by the parties to a wedding, a penny for churchings, and masspennies apart from mortuaries. On 15 March, 1264–5, he acknowledged the convent's right to two-thirds and to their [page 69] pension of half a mark.^[162] The same vicar exchanged the toft next the court of the abbot and convent on the east of the church for the toft nearer the church which was once the local residence of the abbot and convent.^[163]

Of the chapels, Argam became independent of the abbey. Early in the thirteenth century the right of the abbot and convent to the advowson was acknowledged.^[164] But when, in 1257, the abbot and convent presented Robert de Hesel, William de Ergum presented his son Thomas, and, upon inquisition, made good his claim. A pension of ten shillings to Bardney and a similar pension to the church of Rudston were acknowledged. Abbot Hatton moved for a writ of Quare impedit, but died within the year, and nothing more was done.^[165]

Fordon remained attached to the mother church. Apart from the original gift of this chapel by Walter de Gant, there remains a subsequent grant of it by Ralf Nevill for the souls of Walter de Gant and his wife, to which earl Gilbert was a witness.^[166]

Wold Newton or Newton Rochford chapel,^[167] like Argam, seems to have been the subject of some dispute about 1192, when Sir William de Rocheford quit-claimed his right in the advowson to abbot Robert and the convent, for a fine of five marks.^[168]

In Burton Fleming the position of the abbot and convent with regard to the demesne tithe was complicated by a grant of the manor by earl Gilbert to the prior and canons of Bridlington. The disputes arising from this extended to the demesne tithe of Baumber and Edenham in Lincolnshire, the churches of which had been given to Bridlington priory by earl Gilbert and Walter de Gant respectively. In 1194 a settlement was made by arbitration of St. Hugh, by which the prior and canons made over their claims on the tithe of corn in Burton Fleming and all demesnes which they might acquire in Hunmanby parish, with all tithe of corn from the old demesne and tithe of fodder of beasts on the capital demesne at Baumber, to the abbot and convent, who in their turn quit-claimed their right in the demesne tithe of Walter de Gant [page 70] in Edenham.^[169] A further settlement was made, probably at the same time, between abbot Robert and prior Hugh, concerning the thraves of St. John of Beverley in Hunmanby parish, which the abbot had claimed.^[170] The abbot and convent surrendered their claim. It was agreed that the ploughs of the parish should be counted by an agent of the canons between Christmas and Easter, under supervision of two or three trusty persons ; and according to this computation, when harvest came, the canons were to take their thraves, before the wheat was carried into the barns, from the gleanings of the monks in the fields or in their court, and to do so as soon as possible after the agent of the monks had invited them.^[171] The controversy about the thraves and Baumber was renewed in 1228, when the case was heard in York minster, before commissaries of the pope, and the parties submitted themselves to the award of the archdeacon of the East Riding. The Baumber question concerned tithe of hay and flax. The abbot and convent were secured in the possession of the tithe previously agreed upon and a moiety of the tithe of flax from the old demesne, whether sown in arable or meadow land. Bridlington priory was secured in the other moiety of tithe of flax from the old demesne, all tithe of flax in the parish, and all tithe of hay in the demesne and parish.^[172] In 1291 the abbot and convent received a pension of £4 from Baumber church,^[173] and their portion in 1535 was assessed at £2.^[174]

In 1291 the rectory of Hunmanby was assessed at £100, with the vicarage at £13 6s. 8d., out of which a pension of £5 11s. 0d. went to the impropriators. The vicarages of Wold Newton and Burton Fleming were assessed at £6 13s. 4d. and £5 respectively. The pension of £5 11s. 0d. was evidently reckoned from all the vicarages in the old parish ; but it is not quite clear how it was arrived at upon the terms of the ordination.^[175] In 1535 the average value of the rectory was said to be £64 :^[176] the only pension mentioned from the parish is the wonted half mark from the vicarage of Hunmanby.^[177]

(19) Irnham. Although Irnham church appears to have been given by Robert de Gant and confirmed to the convent [page 71] by earl Gilbert, and is mentioned among its possessions in the charters of pope Alexander III. and St. Hugh, it certainly passed out of its possession early. No institutions to the living are recorded during the earlier part of the thirteenth century, but in 1243 or 1244 the patron was sir Andrew Luterel,^[178] and at a later date the advowson passed to the prior and convent of the Holy Trinity, York.^[179]

(20) Kirkby Laythorpe, St. Peter. This church, which no longer exists, appears to have been the gift of Walter de Gant. The canons and nuns of Sempringham, however, claimed the advowson, and pope Urban III. (1185–7) appointed commissaries to decide the matter. They adjudged the church to Sempringham, with a yearly pension of twelve pence to be paid at Bardney on St. Oswald's day, so long as William the vicar continued to be a secular. After his death Sempringham was to hold the church for ever, paying a pension of twenty shillings in two equal portions on St. Oswald's day and at Candlemas.^[180]

(21) Laxton. The confirmation of pope Alexander III. mentions the church of St. Michael of ‘ Laxintunia ’ and the place of St. Leonard in the territory of the same town, and the church is also named in an undated bull of confirmation of pope Innocent IV. (1243–54).^[181] Laxton or Lexington is in Thurgarton wapentake, Nottinghamshire, to the west of Tuxford, and is well known as the home of the family of Lexington or Sutton, which supplied the see of Lincoln with two bishops and had its later seat at Averham, near Newark. Neither the chartulary nor the institutions to the church afford any further indication of the connexion between the abbey and the advowson.

(22) Lusby. Seer de Arceles, as previously noted, made this gift in the time of earl Gilbert. It is mentioned in the confirmation granted by Adrian IV. in 1156–7,^[182] and again in 1178. The advowson remained with the abbot and convent, but no appropriation was made. In the earliest institution, in 1219, mention is made of the due and ancient pension to the patrons.^[183] In 1291, when the church was assessed at £14, the pension appears as two marks (£1 6s. 8d).^[184] In 1535 the abbot and convent are credited with a portion of thirty shillings.^[185] [page 71]

1. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub anno 657.
2. ↑ Bede, Hist. Eccl., iii., 12. Camden, Britannia (tr. Holland, 1610, pp. 540 F., 541 A.), says that Oswald's right hand was believed to have remained uncorrupted at Bardney for many centuries, and quotes a mediæval poet :—

   “ Nullo verme perit. nulla putredine tabet
   Dextra viri, nullo constringi frigore, nullo
   Dissolui fervore potest : sed semper eodem
   Immutata statu persistit, mortua vivit.”

3. ↑ Ibid., iii., 11. Other miracles wrought at the Maserfield and Bardney are recorded, ibid., iii., 9–13.
4. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub anno ; Roger of Wendover and others give 696 as the year.
5. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub anno 704 ; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, i., 4.
6. ↑ William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, ii., 5. See note 2 above for Camden's statement that the king's right hand was preserved at Bardney.
7. ↑ Charter printed in Dugdale, Monasticon, i., 628. This charter, from the Bardney chartulary (Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx.), fo. 278 d., is recited in the confirmation and new charter granted by Walter de Gant in 1115. It forms part of the series of documents written in a later hand at the end of the chartulary.
8. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 236–9. The important confirmation of the various charters of the monastery by Edward III. in 1331 occupies pp. 235–57 of this volume of the calendar. Here and there it supplements, especially with relation to Bardney itself, the long series of charters which occupy the greater part of ff. 78–292 of Cotton MS, Vesp. E., xx., which begins with the charters relating to Bardney, Osgodby, etc. The contents of the chartulary with relation to these places are summarised below.
9. ↑ This appears from a document of November, 1201, in Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 105 d, 106. He also occurs between 1203 and 1206, ibid., fo. 198 d.
10. ↑ He is omitted from the list of abbots given in V.C.H. Lincoln, ii., 206.
11. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 239. This was the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, mentioned as such in Alexander III.'s bull of confirmation, 8 Dec., 1178 (Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 8–10 d.). There seems to be little doubt that this became the chapel of the hospital, which was probably founded by Walter de Gant. The two are mentioned in later charters as if they were distinct foundations, but the identity of dedication indicates the connexion between them. Possibly the chapel was a relic of the small Saxon monastery which had existed at Partney before the Danish invasions, while the parish church had been built subsequently on the lord's demesne.
12. ↑ This abbey (Carrofum) is described in the royal charter of 1115 as Carrofensis, and as Carofensis in a bull of Alexander III. (Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 23 and d.), which is described in the chartulary as De exempcione de Charron. In the list of abbots (fo. 285) the adjective appears as Caroncons'.
13. ↑ Dugdale, i., 629, which prints Carrofensis as Carnotensis, for which the chartulary gives no support. Fulcard, Fulrad, or Fulcradus was abbot of Charroux, c. 1088 (see Gallia Christiana, ii., 1280).
14. ↑ Stubbs, Reg. Sac. Ang., p. 42.
15. ↑ See note 11 above.
16. ↑ The church of Firsby appears in Gilbert's charter : Steeping church appears to be now mentioned for the first time.
17. ↑ Sutton-le-Marsh in Calcewaith wapentake.
18. ↑ The church of Edlington is a new gift : the rest appears to be included in the grants of Gilbert and his wife.
19. ↑ In Hill wapentake.
20. ↑ Barton-on-Humber in Yarborough wapentake.
21. ↑ Already part of Gilbert's endowment.
22. ↑ The church of Swaledale, i.e., of Grinton, nine miles south-west of Richmond, formed part of Walter de Gant's endowment of the priory of Bridlington, founded by him after 1119.
23. ↑ The Ashby grant seems to have been made already by Gilbert.
24. ↑ Strubby and Withern are in Calcewaith wapentake, four to five miles north of Alford.
25. ↑ Elsewhere included among Gilbert's later bequests
26. ↑ There is here a slight hiatus in Dugdale's copy of the charter.
27. ↑ These places are all in Dickering wapentake, Yorks, E.R. The chapels of Geldston, Barkedale, Folkthorp and Straxton disappeared at an early date. Of the others, all except Fordon, which is now united to Burton Fleming, achieved independence of the mother church long before the close of the middle ages. There is no church at Argam or Ergham.
28. ↑ This and the preceding paragraph renew old grants : the grant from Edenham is extended. Walter de Gant granted Edenham church to Bridlington priory.
29. ↑ These gifts are new : Heckington and Great Hale are in Aswardhurn wapentake.
30. ↑ This grant as regards Folkingham and Holme is renewed. Lockington appears to be the place at that name in Yorks, E.R., in the Bainton Beacon division or Harthill wapentake.
31. ↑ Both these appear as witnesses to the foundation charter of Bridlington priory.
32. ↑ Reingot is probably identical with Reinger or Reyner of Willoughby, the tithe of whose demesne in Ashby had been granted to the convent by the elder Gilbert.
33. ↑ The phrase is firmavit castellum. The castle was probably one of those earthwork and timber strongholds which were the earliest type of castle and were thrown up in great quantities during the troubled reign of Stephen.
34. ↑ Dugdale, i., 630–1.
35. ↑ Probably Robert de Gant, dean in 1148 (Le Neve, Fasti, iii., 120). The date of his death and the accession of his successor, Robert Botevileyn, is not known.
36. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 235.
37. ↑ Ibid., iv., 235–6.
38. ↑ Ibid., iv., 240.
39. ↑ Dugdale, i., 630–1, from Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 280 d.
40. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 247. A moiety of Littlemarsh, however, had been given already by Walter de Gant.
41. ↑ Ibid.
42. ↑ For these later details relating to the Gaunt family the pedigree in the Rev. G. G. Walker's Historical Notes on the Parish of Partney, pp. 176, 177, has been consulted.
43. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 236. The Hartsholme charters, embracing land, etc., in Bracebridge, Boultham, Whisby, Somerby (near Grantham), etc., occupy ff. 206-212 of the chartulary.
44. ↑ Ibid., 242–3 ; cf. Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo., 206 and d.
45. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 235.
46. ↑ The Lincoln charters occupy ff. 241–264d. of the chartulary.
47. ↑ Ibid., 240–6. The relation of the convent to these churches is discussed more fully below.
48. ↑ Dugdale, i., 632. from Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 62. 63.
49. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 249.
50. ↑ Ibid., 246–50.
51. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 99 and d.
52. ↑ Ibid., fo. 104.
53. ↑ Cal. Charter Rolls, iv., 250–7.
54. ↑ This is a somewhat curious phrase, as Lusby is some twelve miles from the nearest point on the coast.
55. ↑ More can be gained from the details in the chartulary here and elsewhere.
56. ↑ Rouflescroft is said to have been in Hagworthingham, but the name of the grantor, Ralph, son of Walter Carbonel, of Halton, indicates that it was really in Halton Holegate.
57. ↑ Specified in Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 105 d. 140 d., as fourteen acres of meadow in Smalecroft-by-Bondeland.
58. ↑ The Friskney and Wainfleet charters occupy ff. 141 d.–144 d. of the chartulary.
59. ↑ For the Sutton charters see ibid. ff. 144 d.–147 d.
60. ↑ A grant of Eustace de Stuteville in Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 181 d., 182, mentions free passage across the Humber in the ship of Hessle, so long as his assigns and those of his heirs have a passenger ship over the water.
61. ↑ The Hessle grants occupy ff. 179–83 of the chartulary. Two are dated in the later part of April, 1241, and the others by internal evidence clearly belong to this date.
62. ↑ The charters in Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 183–197, relating to Hunmanby and its chapelries, supply interesting place-names, as noted later.
63. ↑ The evidence of the various confirmatory bulls will be mentioned later.
64. ↑ See note 9 above.
65. ↑ Le Neve, ii., 43.
66. ↑ Rotuli Hugonis de Welles (Cant. and York Soc.), i., 71.
67. ↑ Grosseteste, Lincoln roll, anno ii. This may be John, vicar of Bardney, who witnesses a charter of Hugh, son of Walter the knight of Panton, giving land in Ashby : Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 133.
68. ↑ Dugdale, i., 634.
69. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 266 d.
70. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 30 d.–32.
71. ↑ Taxatio Ecclesiastica (Rec. Comm.), p. 57.
72. ↑ Valor Ecclesiasticus (Rec. Comm.), iv., 81.
73. ↑ Notoriam vetustatem ac manifestam debititatem.
74. ↑ A common plea for the provision of parochial and chantry chapels, or for the grant of rights of burial to existing chapels. See Assoc. Archit. Soc. Reports, xxxi., 97, for some examples.
75. ↑ Lincoln Epis. Reg. Gray, fo. 166 : printed in Visitations of Religious Houses (Lincoln Record Soc.), pp. 5–7. The chapel of St. Andrew, as noted later, appears in early thirteenth-century documents in the chartulary.
76. ↑ Hugh of Wells, Lincoln Roll, anno xi. The vicar's name appears as Ralf de Hatton in Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 267.
77. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 266 d, 267.
78. ↑ Ibid. ff. 30 d.–32.
79. ↑ Ibid., fo. 38 d. Confirmed by the chapter of Lincoln, 22 July, 1266.
80. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 57.
81. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
82. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 61.
83. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
84. ↑ Cotton MS.,Vesp. E., xx., fo. 65 d.
85. ↑ Ibid., ff. 213–214 d.
86. ↑ Ibid., fo. 213. An undated charter of Gerard de Furnivall, Christine's son by another marriage, assigned an endowment to the chaplain. This was confirmed by bishop Gravesend on 14 April, 1270 (Gravesend, Lincoln roll).
87. ↑ Ibid., fo. 206.
88. ↑ Rotuli Hug. Welles (Cant. and York Soc.), i., 86, 87.
89. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
90. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 60. In a bull of Honorius III., dated at Rieti, 14 Jan., 1226–7, however, the pension from Boultham is said to be 6/8 ; Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 16 d.–19.
91. ↑ See e.g., Rotuli Hug. Welles, ut sup., i., 12. But Walter de Gant's charter (Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 64) mentions the church in addition to the three curucates.
92. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 13–14 d.
93. ↑ Dugdale, i., 632.
94. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 22 d., 23.
95. ↑ Ibid., ff. 203–204 d.
96. ↑ Ibid., fo. 201 d. The date is limited to 1196 at earliest, as the charter of William Goldsmith was witnessed by William of Blois, precentor of Lincoln, who became precentor in that year (Le Neve, Fasti, ii., 82.)
97. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 35 and d, 224.
98. ↑ Rotuli Hug. Welles, ut sup., i., 69.
99. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 231 and d.
100. ↑ Ibid., ff. 36. 231 d. The date is decided by the fact that Hamo, dean of Lincoln, witnessed the charter of institution.
101. ↑ Ibid., fo. 231 d : cf. Rotuli Hug. Welles, ut sup., i., 2.
102. ↑ Ibid., ff. 232, 233.
103. ↑ Ibid., ff. 233 d, 234.
104. ↑ I.e., the vicar put in by the rector, for the church was never appropriated to the convent.
105. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 234, 235.
106. ↑ Or possibly Wicebe, evidently in the south part of this large parish, near Dagnall.
107. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 36 d, 37.
108. ↑ Ibid., fo. 37 and d.
109. ↑ Ibid., fo. 37 d.
110. ↑ Rotuli Hug. Welles, ut sup., i., 55, 164.
111. ↑ Annals of Dunstable (Annales Monastici, ed. Luard [Rolls Ser.], iii., 216).
112. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 265 and d.
113. ↑ Ibid., fo. 38 d.
114. ↑ Cal. Pat., 1391–6, p. 34.
115. ↑ E.g., Inst. Burghersh, fo. 353 d. ; Inst. Gynewell, fo. 235.
116. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 8–10 d.
117. ↑ See Le Neve, Fasti, ii., 30.
118. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., fo. 32 d.
119. ↑ Le Neve, op. cit., ii., 82.
120. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 102 and d.
121. ↑ Ibid., ff. 100 d, 101 d. See Hugh Wells, Lincoln roll, anno 17.
122. ↑ Hugh Wells, Lincoln roll, annis 19, 23.
123. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 60.
124. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
125. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 59 ; Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
126. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 8–10 d, 15 d.
127. ↑ Ibid., ff. 228–229.
128. ↑ Ibid., fo. 229 d. This distinguished clerk had been presented to the church of Sotby in 1276 by the Crown, during the vacancy of the abbey caused by the temporary deposition of abbot Barton.
129. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 61.
130. ↑ See the notes on Hale and Heckington below. In December, 1361, Henry de Beaumont presented (Inst. Gynewell, fo. 101 d.).
131. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
132. ↑ See Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 42.
133. ↑ Ibid., fo. 106 and d.
134. ↑ Rotuli Hug. Welles, ut sup., i., 148.
135. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 60.
136. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
137. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 33.
138. ↑ Ibid., fo. 34. This charter is followed by another which increases the pension to five marks in Roger's lifetime. Henry de Coleville in 1217–8 acknowledged the pension as five marks (Ibid., fo. 265).
139. ↑ Rotuli Hug. Welles, (Cant. and York Soc.), i., 89.
140. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 33 d, 34.
141. ↑ Cal. Papal Letters, i., 119.
142. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 226 d.
143. ↑ Ibid., fo. 227.
144. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 60.
145. ↑ Cal. Papal Letters, ii., 20.
146. ↑ Ibid., iii., 173.
147. ↑ Rotuli Curiœ Regis (Rec. Comm.), i., 9, 10, 11, 102.
148. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 267 d.–270 d.
149. ↑ Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1307–13, p. 107.
150. ↑ The present writer has called attention to a number of these buildings and their architectural dissemination in Memorials of Old Nottinghamshire, 1912, pp 40–45.
151. ↑ Cal. Pat., 1343–5, pp. 367, 373.
152. ↑ Dugdale, i., 635–6, from Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 284 and d.
153. ↑ Inst. Gynewell, fo. 12 d.
154. ↑ Dugdale, i., 636–7, from Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 283 d.
155. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
156. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 224, 35 and d.
157. ↑ Rotuli Hug. Welles, ut sup., i., 70.
158. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 16 d.–19.
159. ↑ Ibid., fo. 25 : an early confirmation by Gregory IX., 17 June, 1227, is given on fo. 24.
160. ↑ Ducarel and Lawton assumed it to belong to c. 1269 (Lawton, Collections, pp. 302, 599).
161. ↑ York Epis. Reg., Giffard, ed. Brown [Surt. Soc.], pp. 55–7.
162. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 191 and d.
163. ↑ Ibid., ff. 190 d., 191.
164. ↑ Ibid., fo. 195.
165. ↑ Ibid., fo. 195.
166. ↑ Ibid., fo. 196 d.
167. ↑ This place must not be confounded with Wold Newton in Bradley Haverstoe wapentake, Lincolnshire.
168. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 48.
169. ↑ Ibid., fo. 97 d.
170. ↑ The thraves, an old privilege of the chapter of Beverley, consisted of four thraves or sheaves for each of the canons from each plough in the East Riding, viz., one of wheat, one of barley, and two of oats. The inroad upon the tithe of rectors was considerable.
171. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., ff. 97 d., 98.
172. ↑ Ibid., fo. 97 and d.
173. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 60.
174. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
175. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 304. On p. 326 the vicarage of Hunmanby is assessed at £16.
176. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.
177. ↑ Ibid., v., 125.
178. ↑ Grosseteste, Lincoln roll, anno 9.
179. ↑ They presented, e.g., in 1361 (Inst. Gynewell, fo. 99 d).
180. ↑ Cotton MS., Vesp. E., xx., fo. 230.
181. ↑ Ibid., ff. 19–21 d.
182. ↑ Ibid., ff. 15, 16.
183. ↑ Rotuli Hug. Welles, ut sup., i., 160.
184. ↑ Tax. Eccl., p. 59.
185. ↑ Val. Eccl., iv., 81.