Religious Houses: Houses of Augustinian canonesses

HOUSES OF AUGUSTINIAN CANONESSES

4. THE PRIORY OF ST. MARY, CLERKENWELL

The Priory of St. Mary at Clerkenwell was a house of Augustinian canonesses, although it is often described both by contemporaries and by historians as being of the Order of St. Benedict. It became one of the more important English nunneries, being twelfth in the size of its revenue at the Dissolution according to the Valor Ecclesiasticus. The priory lay immediately to the north of the house of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem between the road to St. Albans and the Fleet river. It was founded c. 1145, shortly before its more famous neighbour and by the same founder, Jordan de Bricet. (fn. 1) During the last two years of his reign Stephen confirmed the gifts of both the founder and of Richard de Belmeis, then Bishop of London. (fn. 2) Several charters of Henry II between 1175 and 1182, one of Richard I in 1190, and a bull of Urban III dated 19 October 1186 show that within fifty years of its foundation the priory had widespread possessions in southern England, extending from Norfolk to Hampshire. (fn. 3) The charters of Stephen and Henry II were later confirmed by successive kings. (fn. 4) The bull confirmed the royal grants and also provided for the free election of the prioress, for the control of the chapter over the alienation of its property, and for exemption from certain tithes.

During the following three centuries the possessions of the nunnery, which owed much to the dowries of nuns who were members of landed families in the shires or of London merchant families, were concentrated nearer home. Ease of administration and the constant litigation in which, like all medieval property-owners, the nuns needed to engage simply to defend their lands, made such concentration an economic necessity. Whereas in the 13th and 14th centuries the revenues of the priory were drawn from sixteen counties outside London and Middlesex, by 1500 this number had been reduced to five, and even in some of these the property had shrunk. In London, on the other hand, the holdings of the nuns steadily increased. By 1190 they already held at least fourteen properties in the City, (fn. 5) and these were constantly augmented, partly by the dowries of the nuns and partly by the wills of London citizens. (fn. 6) In addition from time to time the nuns had money to invest in property, and London, where small parcels could be bought just outside their door, was the obvious place for this investment. Some of the money came from legacies from citizens of London, (fn. 7) some perhaps from the dowries of nuns, the sale of outlying properties, and savings from their income; the priory was not poor, although in 1314–15 they informed Queen Isabel in a petition that they were impoverished by the hard years, and sought licence to accept lands to the value of £20 yearly. (fn. 8) Whatever the source of their money, by the Dissolution they were drawing rents from sixty-four parishes in the City of London, (fn. 9) rents which by that time accounted for over three-fifths of the gross revenue of the priory. (fn. 10)

In Middlesex the first property was of course the site of the priory, given by Jordan de Bricet and Muriel his wife, with the lands and gardens nearby and the meadow beside the Holborn. (fn. 11) The lands given by the founder and his family in Clerkenwell, Stoke Newington, Steeple (Essex), and Wanstead (Essex) were described in detail in 1197 in a final concord between Lucy (Lecia) de Munteni, daughter of Jordan and the wife of Henry Foliot, and the prioress, Ermengarde. (fn. 12) Although the priory received substantial rents in Clerkenwell, no revenue from there is shown in the Valor, where their other Middlesex holdings were said to bring in over £50 a year, nearly a fifth of their gross income. (fn. 13) The chapel and land of Muswell, or Muswell Hill, were held as the gifts of Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London (1152–62). (fn. 14) In Tottenham a few years later Robert son of Sewin of Northampton gave the nuns 140 acres in Hanger and other property, (fn. 15) and in 1539 the pastures of the late priory there were worth £10 a year. (fn. 16) Between 1179 and 1189 William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, granted 100s.-worth of land in Edmonton, (fn. 17) and John, son of Robert Blund, John White (albus), John Buchuinte, Gillian, daughter of William Renger, and Laurence de la Forde all added parcels to the priory's holdings in Edmonton before 1224. (fn. 18) At Bromley-by-Bow c. 1190 Roger de Pyrov granted land for which the priory had to pay a rent of 4s., (fn. 19) and at Stepney a few years later Henry Foliot gave the land of Solomon son of Walter, (fn. 20) while at Hanworth Roger de Ginges gave a rent of 6d. from the marsh. (fn. 21) Towards Islington the nuns held two acres, (fn. 22) and later they acquired lands in Highbury, Holloway, Newington Barrow, and Tollington, all in Islington. Rents from Edmonton, Islington, Muswell, and Tottenham continued to be drawn until the Dissolution. (fn. 23)

The remaining counties in which Clerkenwell held property from the 12th to the 16th centuries were Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Essex, and Kent. In Sussex they held property only from the 14th century to the 16th. In Cambridgeshire the priory gained most of its income from the dowries of the eight nuns who came from the county in the 12th or early 13th century, but by 1300 some of the properties had been lost. (fn. 24) In Eversden Thomas de Andeville, William son of William of Eversden, Luke son of Warin, and Simon Luvel of Eversden gave small parcels in the late 12th or early 13th century. (fn. 25) In Kingston Eustace de Bancis gave the land and mansio of Lefeson with 80 acres of arable and 9 acres in the meadow, a gift confirmed by Henry II in 1175–6. William de St. George gave half a virgate on his daughter Mabel becoming a nun, William the bald (calvus) gave nine acres, and William de Bancis gave dowries for his daughters Avice and Margaret. (fn. 26) In Wimpole Roger de Bancis granted the nuns a small parcel of two acres. (fn. 27) All the lands in these three places came to be treated as a single unit, the manor of Beamont in Kingston. In 1254 it was valued at 30s. (fn. 28) and in the Valor at 40s. (fn. 29) The church of Fulbourn, granted by Jordan de Bricet and Muriel his wife, was confirmed by Henry II c. 1176. (fn. 30) At Hildersham Maud de Ros gave one mark yearly from the mill on her daughter becoming a nun. (fn. 31) William de St. George, whose endowment for his daughter has been mentioned, also gave a hide at Haslingfield for his sister Aubrey to become a nun. Robert de Beche gave half his mill in the same place, and in 1279 the prioress held there one hide of 120 acres worth 22s. a year in rent. (fn. 32) In Tadlow Alan son of Fulk gave 12d. rent on the mill to light the nuns' dormitory, (fn. 33) and at Wratting the grant of Margery de Buthlers was confirmed by Henry II in 1181. (fn. 34)

In Dorset Blandford St. Mary and the advowson of the church were granted to the nuns by Geoffrey Martel and confirmed to them between 1160 and 1176 by William his son; Aubrey, wife of Geoffrey and mother of William, became a nun at Clerkenwell. The rectory was retained until the Dissolution, when it was valued at 40s. (fn. 35) In 1303 Roger, then Rector, had licence to stay at the priory in the service of the nuns provided only that he was in his parish from Passion Sunday to the octave of Easter. (fn. 36) With the church the Martels also gave lands, which were valued at 100s. in 1488 and at £10 19s. 4d. in the Valor. (fn. 37) Alfred of Lincoln gave 20s. a year from the chapel of Broadway c. 1190. The chapel was temporarily in other hands, and until it became free the nuns were to draw their 20s. from the mill of Okeford Fitzpaine. Alfred's sister, also called Aubrey, became a nun. This 20s. was still received in the 16th century. (fn. 38)

In Essex Maurice de Totham gave the rectory of Great Totham with 15 acres there between 1181 and 1186. (fn. 39) Vicars were presented by the nuns until the Dissolution, when the income from the church was £6 6s. 8d. (fn. 40) In nearby Heybridge the nuns had a claim to the tithe, but surrendered it in 1237 to St. Paul's Cathedral.

The advowson of North Weald Bassett was given to the nuns by Cecily, wife of Henry of Essex, before 1181 and confirmed to them by her sons Henry of Essex and Hugh. The grant was confirmed by Pope Urban III in 1186, by Richard Fitzneal, Bishop of London, in 1194 and by William of Sainte-MereEglise, Bishop of London (1199–1221). In 1275 John Chishull, Bishop of London, assumed the advowson but the nuns continued to enjoy the revenue. This arrangement was challenged in the early 16th century and the appointment was then shared by the bishop and the priory. The vicarage was worth £7 5s. 4d., less outgoings of 24s. 8d. (fn. 41) In Bowers Gifford the priory held the marsh called Horshill, originally given by Simon son of Simon as a dowry for his daughter and confirmed in 1190. In 1490–1 and at the Dissolution it was worth 40s. (fn. 42) At Dunmow a collection of property, slowly built up between 1180 and 1340, eventually came to be known as the manor of Mynchyn Dunmow. The original was the gift of Roger son of Reinfrid, made on condition that the nuns should receive Alice his wife into their convent and take care of her burial. This property was increased by various grants and purchases so that by 1500 it produced a rent of about £5. (fn. 43) At Eastwood in the 16th century the nuns received a small rent of 4s. 8d., the origin of which is unknown. (fn. 44) Before 1179 William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, granted certain assarts for a rent of 5s. in Hadley. (fn. 45) At Fyfield a small parcel of land was received c. 1180 from Richard the priest with the consent of Arnold de Curton, from whom he had acquired it. (fn. 46) In the Willingales the same Richard gave several holdings to the priory. William of Spain and his two tenants, Robert son of Menges, a knight, and Eustace of Willingale, a socman, William de la Mere and Agnes his wife, and the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem confirmed these grants. William of Spain's two tenants appear to have been in financial difficulties and to have disposed of lands to the nuns in return for their assistance. By the end of the 15th century the lands in Fyfield and the Willingales were accounted for together. (fn. 47) A rent of 30s. in Langford was granted before 1176 by the three daughters and sons-in-law of Alice Capra, who became a nun at Clerkenwell. In 1534–5 quit-rents from Langford amounted to £6 3s. 1d. (fn. 48) Gillian of Latton gave 12d. rent in Latton, Robert de Leyborne a similar sum in Leyton, and Cecily de Crammaville 10s. in Thurrock, all probably after 1190. (fn. 49) In Mountnessing c. 1175 Robert de Munteni gave a rent of 3s. which, increased by another gift, was worth 5s. by the 16th century. (fn. 50) At Shoebury Reynold de Warenne's gift of 30s., made before 1176, was still worth 30s. in 1534–5. (fn. 51) At Steeple Reynold de Ginges and Emma his wife gave 2 acres, Henry Foliot and Lettice de Munteni 2 acres, and Brian son of Ralph 12 acres. (fn. 52) In Wanstead Abraham de Wanstead gave the mill of Wanstead before 1176, and Robert Brito de Aldewic gave a third part of Wanstead with the capital messuage. By 1181 the nuns were drawing a quitrent of one mark, which was still paid in 1490–1 and 1534–5. (fn. 53) Altogether the Essex properties were worth about £30 at the Dissolution, being next in value after those in London and Middlesex. (fn. 54)

In Kent the only important properties of the priory were in Sittingbourne, where the church was given to the nuns in the charter of 1175 and confirmed in that of 1190. In spite of some dispute about the tithes with Christ Church, Canterbury, the church was retained until the Dissolution, the prioress alone presenting to it. In 1384 it was said to be worth £23 6s. 8d., but by the end of the 15th century the value seems to have fallen to £15, the figure given by the Valor. The priory also collected a number of small holdings of land in the parish, valued at 40s. in 1384 but not afterwards mentioned separately from the rectory. (fn. 55) In Dartford the nuns had a rent of 6s. 4d., granted to them after 1190 by Thomas the clerk, (fn. 56) which eventually fell into arrears and was lost. In Sussex John Filliol had licence in 1318 to alienate to the prioress 40s. rent in Manxey, near Pevensey, which his daughters Joan and Katherine, possibly nuns, held for their lives. By the 16th century the value of this rent had fallen to 20s. It was leased in 1536 to John Sackville, perhaps a relative of the last prioress, Isabel Sackville, for 99 years, and eventually purchased by Sir Richard Sackville for £25. (fn. 57)

In eleven more counties the priory at some time held property but afterwards lost or alienated it. In no case was it very extensive. In Buckinghamshire 5s. rent in Cadmore End was granted by Elias and Lawrence de Scaccario, probably after 1181, and one virgate was granted by Miles de Beauchamp between 1190 and 1213. (fn. 58) In Cheshire Henry II confirmed a grant of Ranulf, Earl of Chester, and in 1186 Urban III confirmed the conventual church of the nuns of Chester, granted by the same earl. (fn. 59) In Gloucestershire Margaret, daughter of Robert son of Harding, gave the land of Baldwin de Nibley in North Nibley c. 1200 to provide an annual pittance for the nuns at Whitsun, and a few years later Maurice de Gant gave a rent in Dursley. (fn. 60) In Hampshire William Capra, Alice his wife, and William their son gave half a mark in Grately, and in Winchester Geoffrey Martel, donor of the church of Blandford (Dors.), gave one mark in rent. (fn. 61) In Croxley (Herts.) in 1218–20 Walter de Waunci, Robert de Amewill, and John de Seleford each gave 2s. 3d. quit-rent from one-third of the mill. Isabel Croxley gave a rent of 3s. in the same place for the nuns' kitchen. The mill was probably lost after a time to St. Albans Abbey. In Radwell Adam de Mandeville gave the land of Osmund c. 1180, and Ermengard his widow confirmed it. Agnes de Caune gave 13d. in rent c. 1190 in Reed. In Rushden in Henry II's reign Everard son of Ailwin gave some land called Longhecrof, and in Stanstead Abbots a rent of 10s. was given by Henry, son of Hugh, and Reynold de Ginges his brother. This rent was alienated to Waltham Abbey c. 1250. (fn. 62) In Lincolnshire the priory had in 1190 one seld in Boston, the gift of Robert of Leicester. (fn. 63) In Norfolk Michael Capra, his wife Rose, and Robert de Munteni gave 2s. rent in Burston, and Geoffrey Capra gave the mill of Tittleshall. (fn. 64) In Oxfordshire Margaret Redvers gave 50s. rent from Heyford Warren and Newnham Murren c. 1240 to provide clothing for the convent. (fn. 65) In Suffolk Pain Baril and Hubert Baril gave land of the fee of the Earl of Clare in Cockfield, for which the nuns were to render 15s. a year. Reynold de Warenne c. 1178 confirmed the grant of the mill of Weston by Robert de Verli, whose sister Maud was to be a nun. In the same place at about the same time Clemency de St. Cler gave 3s. annual rent. (fn. 66) In Surrey John de Tanton gave 3s. 1d. quit-rent in Newington Butts for a pittance on his sister's anniversary. (fn. 67) From the farm of the same county King Stephen granted the nunnery a penny, but no trace of payment has been found. (fn. 68) Finally in Worcestershire the nuns had land in the market of Pershore by the gift of Margaret daughter of Roger, but this was perhaps sold before 1186. (fn. 69)

The size of the community is not known save for the rare occasions when all its members are named in contemporary sources. In 1379, besides the prioress, there were fifteen nuns and one sister; (fn. 70) in 1383 seventeen nuns were present at the election of the new prioress; (fn. 71) in 1387 six novices were professed of whom three had taken part in the election in 1383 (fn. 72) and in 1388 another two were professed. (fn. 73) In 1524 eleven nuns took part in the election of the prioress. (fn. 74)

The priory evidently always had a sub-prioress, and in 1490–1 there was a treasuress, but no other obedientaries are known. (fn. 75) In 1527–8 Sir Thomas More was paid 53s. 4d. a year as steward, and the nunnery also employed a counsellor at 26s. 8d., a confessor for the like fee, an auditor at 53s. 4d., a number of chaplains, and a collector of rents from London, who was paid 40s. (fn. 76) In the 13th century one of the chaplains who resided in the priory was known as the master, the procurator, or even the prior. (fn. 77) Besides the nuns themselves, their chaplains, and their servants, the priory also housed from time to time corrodarians, boarders, and even persons living in tenements. (fn. 78) With so many people coming and going, the priory, situated near London and beside one of the main roads leading out of the capital, can never have been a quiet place, but nothing is known of its relations with the outside world apart from the many lawsuits which the defence of its property involved. From Henry II the nuns received a number of gifts of money, mainly, in the later years, from the lands of Henry of Essex, one of their benefactors. (fn. 79) The Bishop of London was patron with the right of visitation, and the right to visit during a vacancy of the see was the subject of an agreement in 1262, (fn. 80) but there seem to be no records of visitation either by the bishops or by the Archbishops of Canterbury, except part of a letter which indicates that the Bishop of London visited the priory in 1433, 1439, or 1444. (fn. 81) In 1396 a chantry was set up in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth in London under the will of Thomas Noket, citizen and draper of London. The Priory of Clerkenwell was given responsibility for its oversight and received half a mark yearly, while the chaplain was paid 4½ marks. (fn. 82)

As one of the richer houses Clerkenwell survived until 1539. On 6 September of that year Richard Layton wrote to Cromwell 'we put the Duke of Norfolk's servant in custody of Clerkenwell and have fully dissolved it to the contentation of the prioress and her sisters'. (fn. 83) Within a year, however, the site of the priory had been sold back to the Crown by the duke, and it passed rapidly through a number of hands, the other properties being separately granted away. (fn. 84) The last prioress, Isabel Sackville, received a pension of £50, which she enjoyed for over 30 years, dying in 1570; she directed that she should be buried in the church of Clerkenwell. (fn. 85) Eleven other nuns, three of whom had also been present at the election of 1524, were receiving pensions in 1540. (fn. 86)

The nuns' church, which was already parochial before the Dissolution, stood partly on the site of the later church of St. James, Clerkenwell. The cloister of the nunnery lay on its north side. The church and other buildings survived into the 18th century; the church, by that time much changed by alterations and additions, was demolished in 1788 to make way for the present church of St. James. By 1815 a small piece of wall to the north of the church was all that was left of the priory, and this disappeared in the course of the 19th century. (fn. 87)

Prioresses of Clerkenwell

Christine, occurs between 1144 and 1161; perhaps 1186 (fn. 88)
Ermengarde, occurs between 1186 and 1199 (fn. 89)
Isabel, occurs 1206 (fn. 90)
Alice, occurs between 1216 and 1221/2 (fn. 91)
Eleanor, occurs between 1221 and 1223 (fn. 92)
Hawise, occurs between 1231/2 and 1244 (fn. 93)
Cecily, occurs 1245, 1248 (fn. 94)
Margaret or Margery Whatvyll, occurs between 1251/2 and 1264/5 (fn. 95)
Alice Oxeney, occurs between 1271 and 1276 (fn. 96)
Agnes or Anneys Marci, occurs 1283; dead by 1305 (fn. 97)
Denise Bras, (fn. 98)
Margery Bray, (fn. 99)
Joan Lewkenore, occurs 1306/7, 1328 (fn. 100)
Joan Fulham, occurs 1340–45 (fn. 101)
Idonea Lutiers or Lyter, occurs 1356, 1357, 1368 (fn. 102)
Katherine Braybrooke, occurs 1379–81; died 1383 (fn. 103)
Lucy atte Wode, elected 1383; resigned 1388 (fn. 104)
Joan Vian, elected 1388; occurs 1396, 1399, 1403 (fn. 105)
Margaret Bakewell, occurs 1406, 1414, 1424 (fn. 106)
Isabel Wentworth, occurs 1425/6, 1447 (fn. 107)
Margaret Bull, occurs 1464 (fn. 108)
Agnes Clifford, occurs 1473 (fn. 109)
Katherine Green, occurs 1480, 1487 (fn. 110)
Isabel Hussey, occurs before 1502/3 (fn. 111)
Rose Reygate, occurs 1507, 1519, 1522; died 1524 (fn. 112)
Cecily Marten, elected 1524 (fn. 113)
Isabel Sackville, occurs 1526 to Dissolution; died 1570 (fn. 114)

An oval seal, 2½ by 2 in., was in use in 1231–4 (fn. 115) and still in use in 1399. (fn. 116) It shows the Virgin with nimbus, seated, with the Child between her knees; in his right hand a cross, in his left a book. Legend, roman:

SIGILLUM [DOMUS SANCTE MA]RIE [DE FON]TE CLERICORUM

The oval seal of the receiver, 1½ by 1 in., shows the Virgin crowned, under a canopy, the Child on her left knee; in base under a round arch a figure (? praying), half-length, faces to the right. (fn. 117) Legend illegible, but Dugdale (fn. 118) mentions an impression with the legend:

SIGILLUM RECEPTORIS MONASTERII DE CLERKENWEL

An impression of a pointed oval seal, 1³/8 by 1 in. attached to a deed of 1530 shows the Virgin seated under a canopy, the Child on her arm. (fn. 119) Legend, lombardic:

. . . OFFICII . . .

5. THE PRIORY OF HALIWELL

The priory of St. John the Baptist at Haliwell, or Holywell, in Shoreditch, although often described both by contemporaries and historians as a Benedictine nunnery was, like the better-known priory of Clerkenwell, a house of Augustinian canonesses. It was one of the larger English nunneries, ranking ninth in wealth—three places higher than Clerkenwell—in the Valor; but as comparatively few records of the house or its property have survived it has been largely forgotten. (fn. 120) The founder was Robert Fitz Generan (or Gelran) the second known holder of the prebend of Holywell or Finsbury in St. Paul's Cathedral. (fn. 121) Robert's name occurs from 1133 to 1150. He gave the nuns the site for their monastery, being the 'moor' in which the spring called Haliwell rose; it was reckoned to contain 3 acres, and a rent of 12d. a year was payable for it. (fn. 122) The priory precinct lay within the area now bounded by Batemans Row, Shoreditch High Street, Haliwell Lane, and Curtain Road. (fn. 123)

The extent of the priory's possessions in the 12th century is shown by two royal charters of 1189 and 1195. (fn. 124) Two other royal charters dated 1235, the one confirming that of 1189 and the other confirming gifts received by the priory during the intervening half century, mark the end of the period of rapid expansion of the priory lands. (fn. 125) Edward III confirmed both charters of Richard I in 1336. (fn. 126) Besides the 3 acres already mentioned the nuns had in the 12th century another 3 acres, also owing a rent of 12d., the gift of Walter the precentor, who followed next but one after Robert Fitz Generan as prebendary of Holywell. They held also the land of John Hilewit or Bylewit, given by Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London 1152–62, a tithe of the household expenses of Walter Fitz Robert and his heirs, a tithe of William de Rochelle, the church of Dunton (Beds.), and lands in Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, and the City of London. (fn. 127) After 1195 they also gained possessions in Cambridgeshire, Kent, Norfolk, and Suffolk.

In Bedfordshire the nunnery first held the church of Dunton and two half virgates in the same place. One of these, formerly held by Gregory the priest, was given to the nuns by Geoffrey the chamberlain. (fn. 128) The other was the gift of Geoffrey de Mulneho, William his brother, and Emma their sister-in-law. (fn. 129) Towards the end of Henry II's reign Roger de Brahi, having bought this half virgate, sold it back to the nuns for six silver marks, a jewel, and a ring, to hold of himself and his heirs for an annual rent of 14d. (fn. 130) In 1203 one of the half virgates was held of the priory by Robert Fitz Alfred at a yearly rent of 6s. (fn. 131) Other lands in Dunton were added to the priory's holdings during the reigns of John and Henry III. (fn. 132) The priory presented to Dunton church in 1221, 1235, and 1277. (fn. 133) Lands in Hinxworth (Herts.) and Dunton were given to the priory in 1275 by Henry of Hallingbury. (fn. 134) In 1372 the prioress together with the Abbots of Waltham (Essex) and Warden (Beds.) held one knight's fee in Millow and Dunton. (fn. 135) The nunnery's holdings were eventually consolidated into a single manor known as Dunton Eyeworth. By 1535 the whole of the priory's revenue in Bedfordshire amounted to £13 6s. 8d., being the price of 80 quarters of malt drawn from this manor, but the nuns had to pay £3 9s. 10d. a year out of the rectory. (fn. 136)

In Essex at the end of the 12th century the nuns had of the gift of Robert Fitz Walter all the enclosed marsh in his demesne of Burnham, except the part of the Canons of Dunmow, and in 1201 the land of Leyton, the gift of Robert's wife, Gunnora de Valoynes. (fn. 137) In 1201 also Hugh de Marenny gave them an acre in 'Brumfeld' in Leyton, and a way by his wood called Ruckholt in order to reach their meadow called 'Sudmad'. (fn. 138) In 1256 they had lands in Farnham from Gunnora, widow of William Lovel, and in 1261–2 in Southminster and Althorne. (fn. 139) The marshes of Burnham, Southminster, and Althorne they retained to the end, when they formed one of the most valuable holdings, worth £39 a year. They also had a manor of Ruckholt in Leyton, worth £3 6s. 8d., and a watermill at Bromley or Stratford at Bow, worth £8. (fn. 140)

In Hertfordshire the nunnery's possessions were perhaps more varied, if less valuable. They began with the land of Gatesbury in Braughing of the gift of John of Gatesbury; the church of Welwyn, given by Gunnora de Valoynes; a virgate in Hinxworth, given by Theobald Fitz Fulc, and 6 acres there given by Elias de Essewell; 47 acres in Upwick in Albury and part of a pasture in 'Upwikesbrome' with the service and homage of Walter Bonesquiere, given by himself, and finally 12 acres in Upwick, given by Guy of Upwick. (fn. 141) It was found in 1201 that Henry of Furnell had disseised the prioress of her free tenement in Gatesbury. (fn. 142) In 1238 the prioress and convent secured a bull from Pope Gregory X confirming them in their possession of Welwyn church. (fn. 143) About the same time the priory had a further grant of land in Braughing, from Richard Langeford, (fn. 144) and in 1273 Henry of Hallingbury added to the nuns' holding in Hinxworth. (fn. 145) In 1303 the prioress, together with three other landlords, also held a fee in Alswick, in Layston. (fn. 146) This probably comprised both the land held by the priory in 1217 and that of Richard of Leftonchurch (Layston), acquired from the priory of Holy Trinity Aldgate in 1239. (fn. 147) In exchange for land in Cornhill in the parish of St. Mary Woolnoth, given by Alfred of Windsor, the nuns secured from Ralph, son of Ive, in Hertfordshire, his mill in 'Brambel' called Westmill with an acre of meadow between the Lea (Luya) and the house of Roger de Piro, and an acre upon the down. (fn. 148) At the Dissolution the priory drew revenues from Welwyn, Braughing, Layston and Wyddial, Albury, part of the tithe of Westbury in Ashwell, and Farnham and Roydon (both just over the border in Essex). (fn. 149) The holding in Hinxworth had become part of neighbouring Ashwell, (fn. 150) and all the other places except Roydon have already been mentioned.

In Surrey the priory's holdings lay principally in Camberwell. The Haliwell estate there was founded upon lands granted by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, to Robert of Rouen and Reynold Pointz and which they gave in whole or in part to the priory. During the 12th and 13th centuries the priory's holdings in Camberwell and its neighbourhood were augmented by further benefactions and by purchases and the priory successfully withstood challenges to its tenure of the Pointz lands. It would appear that from the early 14th century, if not before, these lands were leased. In 1322 the manor of Camberwell was held by John de Uvedale, who paid a rent of 12s. 8d. a year to Stephen de Bakewell, and 5s. to the Prioress of Haliwell. (fn. 151) At the same time John Abel held 34 acres and 40s. rent, paying 4s. a year to Stephen de Bakewell and 20d. to the prioress. (fn. 152) In 1369 John Adam held 30 acres of the prioress at a rent of 12s. a year in Homefield (in Hatcham or Camberwell). (fn. 153) The priory leased its manor of Camberwell in 1392 to Baldwin Cole, citizen and draper of London, for seven years at a yearly rent of £11 6s. 8d. (fn. 154) In 1472 the prioress held lands in Peckham in Camberwell (fn. 155) and in 1539 also in Deptford. In the Valor rents from Camberwell were valued at £13 6s. 8d. (fn. 156)

In Suffolk and Norfolk the priory's holdings were apparently short-lived. In 1235 the nuns had all the land of John the priest, son of Emma of Clare, of the fee of Richard John, knight, in Clare and 'Rembreg', (fn. 157) and c. 1261 Gillian, then prioress, made a grant of property in the parish of St. Sepulchre, Norwich, to Thomas Fitz Stannard, citizen of Norwich, for a rent of 2s. (fn. 158) In 1284 the priory had from John de Lovetot lands and the advowson of the church of Brampton (Suff.). (fn. 159) No more is heard of these properties.

Two counties into which the nunnery's possessions expanded after 1235 were Cambridgeshire and Kent. In the former the nuns acquired the church of Trumpington. The advowson of the church was given to them in 1343 by Simon, Bishop of Ely, whose sister, Elizabeth Montague, was Prioress of Haliwell at the time. The priory had royal licence to appropriate the church, (fn. 160) and presented to it at least in 1389 and 1395. (fn. 161) In 1400 papal letters authorized the augmentation of its value, (fn. 162) and in 1535 the farm of the rectory with the tithes was said to be worth £23 10s. (fn. 163) In Kent the priory obtained 180 acres of marsh in Elmley in Sheppey in 1248 from Cecily, daughter of Henry of Oxford. The grant was confirmed by Cecily and her husband, John of Durham, in 1254. (fn. 164) Rents in Ash were secured from Mabel Torpel in 1269, (fn. 165) and further property in 1275 and 1315. (fn. 166) At the Dissolution the priory drew £5 6s. 8d. from the farm of the manor of Ash, and £4 from the farm of the marsh, then called 'Feren' or Old Marsh, in Tunstall. (fn. 167) In Middlesex in 1539 the priory had lands in Edmonton, as well as the site of the house in Shoreditch. (fn. 168)

Extensive as these properties were in 1535 they were the source of little more than one-third of the priory's income, £222 out of a total of £347 coming from rents in London. (fn. 169) These holdings were already extensive in 1235. Serlo the Mercer gave his chief messuage in the parish of St. Antholin, his house in Milk Street in the parish of St. Lawrence, his share of a shop in the mercery in the parish of St. Mary le Bow, with various other shops and solars and 44s. rent in the parish of St. Alphage at Cripplegate, and his share of the land, houses, and shops which he and Solomon de Basing had in Honey Lane, and of the half of a 'seld' with its shops and solars which they had in Westcheap in the parish of All Saints, Honey Lane, and two shops which he had in the goldsmiths' area in the Cheap, and all his lands and houses in Coleman Street. (fn. 170)

Between 1259 and 1353 a large number of London citizens and their widows left small properties and rents in London to the priory. (fn. 171) In 1316 the prioress had a messuage near the 'Red Cross' rented to Joan de Bohun, (fn. 172) in 1318 a tenement and shop in St. Stephen's, Walbrook, (fn. 173) and in 1388 a shop called 'Haliwelle Croice'. (fn. 174) The nuns never received any great benefaction, but a very large number of small ones, so that gradually over the centuries they built up a large estate in the City of London. In the later 14th century bequests from London citizens in most cases took the form of sums of money, some of which may have been used for the purchase of City property. In 1331 the priory had a licence to acquire lands in mortmain to the value of £10 yearly, (fn. 175) but it is not known to what use it was put. In 1338, when religious houses with holdings in the City were taxed for its defence, Haliwell was one of two houses paying the largest sum, 100s. (fn. 176) Most of the bequests of money were made not to Haliwell alone but to a group of religious houses in and around London, of which it was one. (fn. 177) After 1408 such bequests seem to have ceased, but this did not prevent the nunnery from having scattered holdings in 41 City parishes at the time of the Dissolution. (fn. 178)

In 1239 Henry III gave the nuns 300 tapers, (fn. 179) and in 1244 twelve marks for rebuilding their mills, which had been burnt down through the carelessness of the King's bakers. (fn. 180) In 1318 Edward II gave them six oaks from the forest of Essex. (fn. 181) But the priory owed very little to royal patronage, or indeed to any magnate before the reign of Henry VII when, according to Stow, Sir Thomas Lovell, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was a great benefactor of the priory. He is said to have undertaken much building at the priory, and certainly he built a chapel in which he himself was buried in 1524 and where an inscription enjoined the nuns to pray for his soul. (fn. 182) Finally in 1522 John Billesdon, grocer, left money to maintain chantries at Haliwell. (fn. 183)

In 1379 there were eleven professed religious in the priory. (fn. 184) At the election of the prioress in 1472 there were 7 nuns present and 10 novices, (fn. 185) and 13 professed nuns and 4 novices participated in an election in 1534. (fn. 186) Very little is known of the members of this house. Some were of London families and associations of this kind may have occasioned some of the bequests made to the priory by Londoners. An instance of this occurred in 1321 when Thomas Romeyn left to Haliwell the reversions of some London properties on the deaths of Alice and Joan, his daughters, and Christine of Kent, their aunt, all of whom were nuns there. (fn. 187) Others were from the country and they also brought lands and rents to the priory. (fn. 188)

There were also lay brothers attached to the priory. In 1275 Odo the smith (faber) gave rents in London to the priory for his son, Peter, a lay brother there and for Maud de la Cornere, one of the nuns. (fn. 189) In 1314 Katharine de Cretinge complained that the prioress, two nuns, two lay brothers, and some other people carried off property of hers which was at Shoreditch. (fn. 190)

The most distinguished prioress was Elizabeth Montague. In 1334, when the Abbot of Westminster granted her, a nun of noble birth, 100s. a year because of the poverty of the house, the prioress and nuns gave permission for her to receive the pension, and undertook that she should herself dispose of it. (fn. 191) It was confirmed in the next year both by the Bishop of London and by the king. (fn. 192) Surviving receipts prove that it was paid in 1335 and 1351. (fn. 193) It is hardly surprising to find that within six years of this grant she had been elected prioress. She was the daughter of William, Lord Montague. Her brothers were William, Earl of Salisbury, Simon, Bishop of Ely, and Edward, Lord Montague, and her sisters, besides three married ones, included Maud, Abbess of Barking, and Isabel, a nun of the same house. (fn. 194) She was still prioress in 1355.

Of the life of the nuns and the government of the priory there seems to be no surviving record. The only known obedientaries are those mentioned at the elections of prioresses: sub-prioress, sacrist, subsacrist, precentrix, succentrix, and cellaress. No doubt the most important business was the collection of rents in London, but in this the prioress was assisted by male advisers and agents, clerical or lay, like Martin Jolliffe, upholsterer and citizen of London, who was described as 'the Steward and citizen of the house and Church of St. John Baptist of Holywell' and was feoffee of John Gayton who held the like position at Stratford. (fn. 195) In 1534 the Earl of Rutland was chief steward, John Newdigate, doubtless a relative of Sybil Newdigate, the prioress, understeward, William Berners, auditor, and Alexander Hamilton, receiver, drawing between them fees of £18, of which Hamilton took more than half. (fn. 196) In 1537 George Newdigate, 'generosus frater mei', was appointed by the prioress to be chief steward, understeward, keeper of the courts, surveyor, and general receiver of the priory's lands. (fn. 197) With a gross income of about £300 from temporalities and £45 from spiritualities, and a net income of just under £300, (fn. 198) the priory was not poor.

As early as March 1533 the prioress, Joan Lynde, was paying the tithe of Dunton to Cromwell, (fn. 199) and in 1537 her successor made an indenture for the sale of certain of the priory lands to the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, (fn. 200) but nothing could avert the coming end. No record of the actual dissolution has been found but in 1539 the disposal of the lands was proceeding apace. Thomas Pointz wrote to Cromwell that he desired the keeping of some suppressed house, such as Haliwell, to have an honest dwelling for his family. (fn. 201) In October Sybil Newdigate, (fn. 202) the prioress, had a pension of £50, Ellen Cavour, the sub-prioress, £6 13s. 4d., and twelve nuns pensions varying from 53s. 4d. to 93s. 4d. each. (fn. 203)

In 1544 Queen Katherine secured the site for Henry Webbe, her gentleman usher. The priory chapel was speedily demolished to make way for houses in a growing suburb of London. The remains were popularly known as 'King John's Palace', but by the end of the 18th century there was nothing left of the buildings except some fragments of walls and a doorway. (fn. 204)

Prioresses of Haliwell (fn. 205)

Clemence, occurs between 1193–4 and 1203 (fn. 206)
Magdalen, (fn. 207)
Maud, occurs 1224, 1225 (fn. 208)
Agnes, occurs 1239–1245/6 (fn. 209)
Gillian, occurs 1248, 1262 (fn. 210)
Benigna, occurs temp. Henry III (fn. 211)
Isabel, occurs 1261 (fn. 212)
Christine, occurs between 1269 and 1284 (fn. 213)
Alice, occurs 1293 (fn. 214)
Christine, occurs 1314 (fn. 215)
Aubrey, (fn. 216)
Lucy of Colney, occurs 1329, 1330 (fn. 217)
Mary of Stortford, occurs 1330, 1334 (fn. 218)
Theophania, occurs 1335 (fn. 219)
Elizabeth Montague, occurs between 1334 and 1355 (fn. 220)
Ellen Gosham, occurs 1363; 'late prioress' 1375 (fn. 221)
Isabel Norton, occurs between 1387 and 1392 (fn. 222)
Edith Griffith, occurs between 1405 and 1409 (fn. 223)
Elizabeth Arundel, occurs 1428; died 1432 (fn. 224)
Clemence Freeman, elected 1432; occurs 1444 (fn. 225)
Joan Sevenoke, died 1472 (fn. 226)
Elizabeth Prudde, elected 1472; occurs 1474 (fn. 227)
Joan Lynde, occurs 1515; died 1534 (fn. 228)
Sybil Newdigate, elected 1534; surrendered the house, 1539; still alive 1549 (fn. 229)

The common seal, in use in 1189–98 (fn. 230) and still in use in 1262–75, (fn. 231) is round (diam. 2½ in.), and shows a man, wearing a chasuble, issuing from what appears to be a pool, his right hand raised in blessing and in his left a book. Legend, roman:

SIGILLUM CAP[ITULI SANCTI] JOHANIS DE HALIWELLE

Another seal, also round (diam. 1 in.), shows in chief a cloud from which issues a right hand in blessing and in base a well or spring with water issuing from it; between the hand and the well there appears to be (?) a bowl or (?) a damaged figure of a dove with outstretched wings; the whole is framed in a border. (fn. 232) Legend, black letter:

[SIG]ILLU[M] OFFICII [SANCTI] JOHANNIS [DE HALIWELLE

6. THE PRIORY OF KILBURN

The priory of Kilburn was situated in the parish of Hampstead, between Edgware Road and the Kilburn stream at the top of what is now Belsize Road and close to Kilburn Station (B.R.). Excavations in 1850, which appear to have cut through part of the priory, revealed tiles and human bones. (fn. 233) A fragment of a funerary brass, found in the 1870's, was in 1965 in St. Mary's Church, Priory Road. (fn. 234) The priory was a small house of Augustinian canonesses, or possibly Benedictine nuns, (fn. 235) dedicated to St. John the Baptist and dependent on the abbey of St. Peter at Westminster which had held the manor of Hampstead from the 10th century. (fn. 236) The nunnery was probably founded c. 1130, although a foundation may have been contemplated some years earlier by Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster, for whose soul the nuns were obliged to pray. (fn. 237) The first nuns are said to have been three former maids of honour to Maud, wife of Henry I, named Emma, Gunilda, and Christine. Herbert, Abbot of Westminster 1121–40, gave them 30s. out of the 60s. in alms which Sweyn, father of Robert of Essex, had given to Westminster, together with a rent of 2s. from Southwark and the site of the priory; over them he set one Godwin, who had formerly built a hermitage there. The abbey of Westminster and Gilbert, Bishop of London, consented to the grant. (fn. 238) The suggestion that the Ancrene Riwle, a guide-book for the spiritual and practical life of anchoresses, was written for the first nuns of Kilburn, is now discredited. (fn. 239)

A prioress eventually replaced the male head of the priory, but the house remained small, and its peculiar (but not unique) position as a priory of nuns dependent on an abbey of monks inevitably led to some friction with the bishop of the diocese. Bishop Gilbert had exempted the nunnery from his jurisdiction, (fn. 240) and this exemption was confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1225. (fn. 241) In 1229, however, Pope Gregory IX found it necessary to appoint the Bishop of Rochester, the Prior of Dunstable, and Thomas, Rector of Maidstone, to hear a complaint of Westminster Abbey against interference by Bishop Eustace of Fauconberg. (fn. 242) Proceedings were delayed by the death of the Bishop of London, but a settlement was finally reached in 1231 between the new bishop, Roger Niger, and his chapter, and Richard of Barking, Abbot of Westminster, and his abbey. (fn. 243) This settlement provided for both a secular priest to rule over the priory and for a prioress. The priest was to be presented by the abbey to the bishop, who would admit him to office. The prioress was to be instituted by the abbey and make her obedience to the bishop. The ordering, regulation, and correction of the house, including if necessary the removal of its head, were vested in the abbot, and only if he neglected his duties would the bishop interfere. From Westminster only the abbot or prior was permitted to visit the nuns and hear confessions. The bishop might enter the house when he wished to pray and hear confessions, but he was to bless or consecrate the nuns only by invitation of the abbot. These limitations on the bishop's authority no doubt explain the lack of records of visitations of the priory and of elections of prioresses. No more is known about the secular priests who presided over the early days of the priory.

After the foundation Abbot Herbert gave the nuns the land called 'Gara' in Knightsbridge, afterwards Kensington Gore, (fn. 244) and his successor at Westminster, Gervase (1140–60), confirmed this, (fn. 245) and gave the nuns two corrodies of bread, beer, wine, mead, and meat from the abbey. (fn. 246) These grants were confirmed by the next abbot, Lawrence (1160– 76), (fn. 247) and his successor, Walter (1176–91), assigned the manor of Paddington to the almoner of the abbey to provide a feast on his anniversary, in which the nuns of Kilburn were to share without prejudice to their regular allowance from the abbey. (fn. 248) This anniversary feast was lost, but the regular corrodies continued until the Dissolution. Then the nuns were drawing a weekly allowance of 40 gallons of beer and 28 loaves of bread, which with annual money payments was worth altogether £16 1s. 4d. a year. (fn. 249) In 1290–1 and 1465 there were loans and transfers of money between the abbey and the priory, (fn. 250) which controlled its own estates and financial affairs, but there is no other information about their relationship. Brother Osmund, possibly a monk of Westminster, acted as the prioress's attorney in the King's Court in 1207. (fn. 251)

There is no further trace of the property in Knightsbridge and Southwark, but eventually the nunnery came to hold property in London, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Surrey, and Essex. In 1286 the nuns secured 13s. 4d. in rent from Falk de Wagefeud, known as Falk the Taverner, in the parish of Allhallows, Bread Street. (fn. 252) From the parish of St. Mary Somerset they had a similar rent in 1302, (fn. 253) and a rent of 20s. in St. Clement, Eastcheap, in 1303. (fn. 254) In 1338 religious houses with holdings in the City were taxed to put the City in a state of defence, and Kilburn paid 10s. on its property there. (fn. 255) In 1362 the priory drew 20s. and a mark towards a chantry for the soul of Adam de Blakeney from two tenements with cellars and five shops in Bow Lane in Dowgate ward, (fn. 256) and in 1423 a rent of 7s. from a tenement called 'le sterre on the hoope' in Allhallows, Dowgate. (fn. 257) In 1368 they had a rent of 33s. 4d. from a tavern with four shops in St. Bride Fleet Street, (fn. 258) and in 1419 a rent of 2s. in the same parish. (fn. 259) They had licence in 1375 to acquire from Thomas de Brandesby two shops with cellars in the parish of St. Nicholas in the Shambles. (fn. 260) In 1393 they held the tenements formerly of Thomas of Lincoln on the east side of 'Moynesokne' near 'Oldewich', (fn. 261) and these may have been identical with the 'Bell on the Hoop' and other property held in 1403 in the parishes of St. Mary le Strand and St. Clement Danes. (fn. 262) These properties were all small lots acquired gradually, so that by the Dissolution the nuns drew rents from 19 parishes, amounting to £16 gross or £13 net, the collector being paid 33s. 4d. for his work. (fn. 263)

In 1306 the nuns had a grant of rents in Kilburn to maintain the fabric of their church. (fn. 264) In Harrow and Hayes they acquired lands in 1242–4 from William Huscarl (fn. 265) and four years later from the priory of St. Helen, Bishopsgate. (fn. 266) In Stanwell they received property from James of Haverhill in 1235– 6, (fn. 267) and in Hampstead in 1243–4 from Robert son of Nicholas. (fn. 268) In Oakington (Tokyngton in Harrow) Ralph Tokyngton gave all his lands to the priory in 1246–7. One hundred and fifty years later a dispute arose over these lands. They had been leased by the priory to William Barneville for an annual rent of 30s. After his death his widow, Maud, and his son John refused to pay this rent, whereupon the prioress and convent took possession of the lands, but were disseised by Maud and John with the help of their neighbours. The Abbot of Westminster was appointed to arbitrate on the complaint of the priory and upheld the rights of the nuns. A settlement was reached in 1400 and 1401, when all the lands of the priory in Oakington were surveyed, the boundaries and area of each field being exactly described. (fn. 269) This Oakington property, with the other holdings in Harrow parish, apparently in Wembley, remained with the priory until the Dissolution, together with lands in Hendon, Stanwell, Tottenham, and West End (Hampstead). (fn. 270)

In Buckinghamshire the only holding of the priory was at East Burnham, where the nuns secured a virgate in 1207 from Henry son of Humphrey Tubelin, (fn. 271) and still drew a rent of 5s. for it in 1535. In Kent in 1376 the nuns were given an acre of land in Cudham, and the appropriation of the parish church, to enable them to find a chaplain to pray for the soul of Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury. (fn. 272) In Surrey, lands in Milton (Middleton) in Dorking were given to the priory in 1248 by Philip de Frauncey and in 1269 by William le Corviser and Arlin atte Hache. (fn. 273) In 1273, 1283, and 1323 the priory was said to owe the service of half a knight's fee for the manor. John son of Roger de Somery, who gave the nuns some interest in it, died in 1321, and in 1323 his widow, Lucy, held the manor, then valued at 20s. a year, of the priory. (fn. 274) In 1349 it was described as a whole fee. (fn. 275) Also in Surrey in 1365 the priory had from Roger de Aperdale a messuage, 30 acres of land, 8 acres of meadow, and 13s. 4d. rent in Pachevesham in Leatherhead and Mickleham, (fn. 276) in fulfilment of a royal licence to acquire lands and rents in mortmain. (fn. 277) In Essex the only holding of the priory was a pension from Aldham rectory, worth 6s. 8d. a year in 1535. (fn. 278)

From Henry II the nunnery received alms in money, 30s. in 1184 and 1185, and 15s. in 1186 and 1187. (fn. 279) The gifts of Henry III were more varied. In 1239 he gave them £4 to pay for robes for 20 nuns and two sisters, (fn. 280) in 1241 an Easter taper weighing 15 lbs., (fn. 281) and in 1247 he pardoned them 14s. due at the Exchequer (fn. 282) and 10 marks. (fn. 283) In 1258 he gave them half the value of a ship forfeited as deodand, (fn. 284) in 1260 a thousand herrings, (fn. 285) and in 1265 cloth for their clothing and habits. (fn. 286) The charity of later kings consisted entirely of exemptions from the payment of taxation, tallages, and fifteenths and tenths. First granted by Edward III in 1352 for three years, (fn. 287) and made perpetual in the following year, (fn. 288) it was extended by Richard II in 1383 to cover their church of Cudham (Kent). (fn. 289) These grants were later confirmed, either for thirty years or indefinitely, by Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III. (fn. 290)

Apart from lands and rents, many of which must have been given or devised to the priory, a large number of bequests were received, mainly from London citizens. In most cases these consisted of sums of money, (fn. 291) but occasionally there were other gifts, such as the red wine bequeathed by John of Oxford in 1340, or the basin and ewer from Alice Wodegate in 1387. (fn. 292) Usually Kilburn was one of a number of houses remembered by the testator, as in the cases of Robert de Pleseley, Rector of Southfleet (Kent), in 1368, and John Springthorp in 1425, both of whom left 20s. to the nunnery. (fn. 293)

In 1239 there were said to be 20 nuns and 2 sisters, (fn. 294) but this is difficult to believe. It seems unlikely that the number of nuns ever reached that figure. In 1381, besides Alice, the prioress, there were only four nuns: Katherine, Emma, and two called Margaret; their surnames are unknown. (fn. 295) Some, if not all of the nuns brought dowries to the priory. Before 1317 a tenant in Westminster gave a rent of 3s. on his house in Kilburn, where his daughter was a nun, (fn. 296) and in 1343 William le Gaugeour, a London vintner, left an annuity charged on all his tenements to his daughter, Isabel, a nun. (fn. 297) In 1367 two nuns, Alice and Margery Pigeon, probably sisters, had a corrody or livery of food, with money for clothes, light, and fuel, for life from the Hospital of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. (fn. 298) (In 1352 a commission had been issued to arrest Margery Pigeon, an Augustinian nun of Kilburn, but then a vagabond in secular dress, and to deliver her to the prioress for punishment). (fn. 299) In 1366 Joan daughter of Alice and Richard de Worstede, a nun at Kilburn, figured in a dispute over property. (fn. 300) In 1374 Isabel Baudon, a nun there, was in receipt of an annuity from the property of her kinsman, James Andrew, draper of London. (fn. 301) In 1393 Maud Toky, the daughter of another London citizen, a grocer, received permission from the mayor and aldermen to become a nun at Kilburn, and in 1402 the prioress received Maud's share of her father's fortune, amounting to over £38, from the City chamberlain. (fn. 302) A few years earlier, in 1384, the Mayor of London paid 67s. to the prioress for maintaining the two daughters of the wife of John of Northampton, the famous mayor of London. (fn. 303) Clearly there was a close connexion with the City of London, and many of the nuns were daughters of the richer citizens. In 1391, however, it was said that one of the nuns, Margaret Lanney, who had worn the habit for 29 years, was a native of Normandy, and had to have a licence to remain in England, as all foreign religious had been expelled under the statute of 1377. In consideration of her age the licence was granted during good behaviour. (fn. 304)

The prioress in 1300 was probably a Londoner, for Jakemina Pountif, the orphan of a London citizen, was her niece and ward. (fn. 305) Most of the other prioresses are known, if at all, mainly by their first names alone. Emma de St. Omer (c. 1397–1403) was perhaps the nun Emma of 1381, but she can hardly have been born abroad like Margaret Lanney, her contemporary, or the fact would have been recorded. Probably the priory was too small to attract any great ladies. After the disappearance of the secular priest at the head of the priory there was doubtless always a chaplain. In 1297 one Thomas of Billingsgate was presented by Kilburn for ordination. (fn. 306) In 1391 the Pope granted relaxation of penance to penitents who on Midsummer Day, the feast of St. John the Baptist, visited and gave alms to the priory. (fn. 307)

Among the muniments of Westminster Abbey survives a small roll of payments made by John Glover, apparently the steward of the priory, for a period of 12 weeks from 18 August to 11 November. (fn. 308) The year is uncertain, but the handwriting suggests that it was written in the late 15th or early 16th century. During this period the nunnery spent 111s. on food and drink, of which the greater part was taken by meat, 49s., and fish, 24s. Most of the rest was spent on ale (12s.), beer (17s.), and wine and spice (4s.), leaving only 2s. 6d. for bread and 12d. for salt. Other foods were presumably grown by the priory itself. Another 44s. was spent on the wages of harvest men, the repair of farm implements, and such commodities as oatmeal, candles, and lamp oil. Servants' wages took another 46s., mostly for farmworkers, carter, ploughman, barleyman, thresher, and so on, but there were also three women servants and several men whose function is not stated.

In May 1535 the priory comprised the church, the hall, the chamber next the church, the middle chamber, the prioress's chamber, the buttery, pantry, and cellar, the inner chamber to the prioress's chamber, the chamber between the prioress's chamber and the hall, the kitchen, larder, brewhouse, and bakehouse, four rooms for the chaplain, confessor and hinds. The hall contained two tables, three trestles, three forms, one long settle, and two benches. It also had curtains and a cupboard. The chamber next the church was evidently the nuns' sitting-room, containing hangings, cushions, a little table, and two books of Legenda Aurea, one printed and the other manuscript, both in English. The middle chamber was their bedroom, with two wooden bedsteads, one feather bed, two mattresses, two old coverlets, three woollen blankets, and three bolsters. In the prioress's room was a fourposter and a trundle bed, eight pillows of down, and nine pairs of sheets of linen and canvas. Also in the prioress's room were fire-irons and table-cloths for the tables both in the hall and the chamber next the church. The most valuable properties, however, were in the church—curtains, cloths, hangings, candlesticks, and silver vessels. Altogether the movables, including nearly £7 in ready money in the prioress's hands, were valued at £34, with £72 for the lead and bells. (fn. 309)

In 1535 the gross annual revenue of the priory was £86 7s. 11d., including nearly £8 from the leased demesne at Kilburn, £16 in corrodies from Westminster Abbey, over £20 from rents in the City of London, £11 10s. from other lands in Middlesex at Wembley, Oakington, Hendon, Stanwell, Tottenham, and Hampstead, £20 from Milton in Dorking and Leatherhead (Surr.), £9 from the rectory of Cudham (Kent), and small sums from Aldham (Essex) and East Burnham (Bucks.). The outgoings were comparatively small, £6 13s. 4d. for the stipend of the nuns' chaplain, 31s. 8d. for their receiver, 13s. 4d. for Robert Skynner, their steward their steward in Surrey, 6s. 8d. for Thomas Roberts, their steward in Wembley and Oakington, and some pensions, amounting in all to £12. (fn. 310) Very similar figures are found in accounts of the following year, except for a sharp fall in the revenue from Milton, which may possibly have been disposed of separately. (fn. 311) Being valued at less than £200 the priory was dissolved with the smaller houses, (fn. 312) and Anne Browne, the prioress, was given a pension of £10 a year. (fn. 313)

The site of the priory was first acquired by the Knights of St. John, by an exchange with the Crown, and afterwards in 1546 by the Earl of Warwick. Some subsequent owners were listed by J. J. Park. (fn. 314) He also reproduced an etching of a building which stood on the site in 1722, (fn. 315) although by 1814 when he wrote there was nothing left to see except a 'rising bank' in a field near the tea-drinking house called Kilburn Wells. (fn. 316)

Prioresses of Kilburn

Alice, occurs 1207–8 (fn. 317)
Margery, Margaret, occurs 1243–8 (fn. 318)
Joan, occurs 1248–9 and c. 1254–7 (fn. 319)
Maud, occurs 1269 (fn. 320)
Cecily, occurs 1290 (fn. 321)
Alice de Pommesbourne, occurs 1339 (fn. 322)
Agnes, occurs 1345 (fn. 323)
Alice, occurs 1352 and 1381 (fn. 324)
Emma de St. Omer, occurs 1397 and 1403 (fn. 325)
Alice, occurs 1423 (fn. 326)
Alice Pynchepole, occurs 1440 (fn. 327)
Maud Reynold, occurs 1465 (fn. 328)
Katherine, occurs 1484 (fn. 329)
Sybil Kirke, occurs 1528 (fn. 330)
Anne Browne, (formerly prioress) 1536–7 (fn. 331)

The common seal as used in Prioress Alice's time (occurs 1207–8) (fn. 332) and still in use in 1403, (fn. 333) is oval, 2½ by 1½ in., and shows St. John the Baptist standing full-face, clothed in a garment of hair or a fleece, his left elbow on a crutch. The saint holds in his left hand a scroll inscribed in roman 'Ecce Angnus Dei' to which he points with his right. Legend, roman:

SIGILLUM CONVENTUS SANCTI JOHANNIS BAPTISTE DE KENEBURN

Another seal, in use in 1290 and 1291, (fn. 334) is a pointed oval, 1½ by 1¼ in., and shows the Paschal Lamb supporting on its left fore hoof a wand from which hangs a banner; at top-left a half-moon, at topright a star. Legend, lombardic:

SIGILLUM SECRETI (sic) DE KELEBURNE