Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Shurgarton

9. THE PRIORY OF THURGARTON

The name D'Aincourt or Deincourt had its origin in the village of Aincourt in Normandy, not far from Mantes on the Seine. The first English baron of this name was Walter, connected by marriage with the Conqueror, and himself a kinsman of Bishop Remigius. This Walter Deincourt was richly rewarded by his leader, obtaining the grant of one manor in Northamptonshire, four in the West Riding, eleven in Derbyshire, seventeen in Lincolnshire, and thirty-four in Nottinghamshire, including that of Thurgarton. (fn. 1)

Walter had two sons, William and Ralph. The firstborn died young, and was buried before the western door of Lincoln Cathedral. Ralph became his father's heir and the second Baron Deincourt.

This Ralph Deincourt, for the health of his soul and of those of his sons and daughters, his parents and all his progenitors, founded a house of Austin Canons at Thurgarton in honour of St. Peter. The baron was moved to do this, as he states in the foundation charter, by the advice and prayers of Thurstan, Archbishop of York, of pious memory. He bestowed on the house the whole of Thurgarton and Fiskerton and all the churches of his demesnes, namely those of Granby and Coates, Nottinghamshire, Swayfield, (Cold) Hanworth, Scopwick, Kirkby, Branston, Timberland, and Blankney, Lincolnshire, and Langwith, Derbyshire, with all manner of appurtenances. (fn. 2) The reference to Archbishop Thurstan shows that the house was not founded until after 1140, which was the year of that prelate's decease. (fn. 3)

Two registers or chartularies of this house survived its dissolution, both named by Tanner; one of these was in the possession of the Earl of Chesterfield, and the other in the hands of Mr. Cecil Cooper in 1677. There are a considerable number of benefaction charters cited from the former of these in the Monasticon. (fn. 4) Among Gervase Holles's collections are a long series of extracts from the latter chartulary, which was 'penes Rogerum Cooper mil. A.D. 1643.' (fn. 5) This Cooper chartulary is the one which is now in the library of the cathedral church of Southwell. (fn. 6)

A charter of inspection and confirmation, granted by Edward III in 1340, recites a large number of benefactions conferred upon the priory subsequent to the foundation charter. (fn. 7) The more important of these were the gifts of the church of Blackwell (Derbyshire), by William Fitz Ranulph; of the church of Warrington (Lancashire), the church of Tythby, and the chapel of Cropwell Butler, by Matthew de Vilers; of the church of Sutton in Ashfield and 2 bovates of land in that township, by Gerard son of Walter of Sutton; of the mill of Clive, by William Carpenter; of the mill of Doverbeck, by Robert de Cauz; of Snelling mill, on Doverbeck, by Ralph de Beauchamp; of the church of Hoveringham, by Robert de Hoveringham; of 7 bovates of land in Tythby, by Hugh de Hoveringham; of the church of North Wingfield (Derbyshire), by Ralph son of Roger Deincourt; of much land and a moiety of the church of Owthorpe, by various donors; of the church of Lowdham, by Ralph Beauchamp; of demesnes and tenements in Hickling and Kinoulton, and in Kirkby and Scopwick (Lincolnshire), by Gerard de Phanecurt; of the church of Adlington (Lancashire), by Henry Bisett; of considerable lands, tenements, rents, &c. in Saxondale, Harmston, Hawksworth, Aslockton, Screveton, Car Colston, Flintham, Hoveringham, Shelford (Notts.); and of other land in Boyleston, Burnaston, Heanor, and Pilsley, Derbyshire. (fn. 8)

By far the greater part of the Thurgarton chartulary now at Southwell is concerned with the grants of the benefactions just briefly recited. Citations may be made of two or three other entries of interest.

Richard Hacun of (Cold) Hanworth (Lincolnshire) by an early undated deed gave to the priory a toft in the town of Hanworth and 3 bovates of land in the fields of Hanworth, &c., in return for which gift the canons covenanted to sustain in perpetuity two wax lights burning at the daily mass of Our Lady in their church of Thurgarton, from the beginning of the canon to the Our Father, and the celebrant to say at mass the special collect Inclina for the donor and for the souls of his father Roger, his mother Maud, and his uncle Matthew. (fn. 9)

Occasionally the spiritual interests of benefactors were secured after a much vaguer fashion. Thus Sir Philip de Timberland in 1244 gave to the canons of Thurgarton 4 acres of arable land in the field of Timberland, requiring nothing in return for himself or his heirs save only their prayers. (fn. 10)

Roger son of Wolvin de Kirkby granted by an undated 13th-century charter all the land which he held of Ralph son of John de Bergates in the territory of Timberland, together with the right to dig in Ralph's marsh in Timberland wherever he wished to the extent of 400 turves yearly. (fn. 11)

The Taxation Roll of Pope Nicholas in 1291 gives the total income of the priory as £247 16s. 3d. The temporalities in various parts of Nottinghamshire yielded £137 19s. 2d., and those in Lincolnshire £27 13s. 9d. The appropriations of the six Nottinghamshire churches of Thurgarton, Sutton in Ashfield, Granby, Owthorpe, Hoveringham, and Tythby supplied an income of £75 6s. 8d., while small pensions from the churches of Coates, Hawksworth, and Cotham brought in an additional 10s. Pensions from the four Lincolnshire churches of Blankney, (Cold) Hanworth, Branston, and Swayfield, and from the Derbyshire church of Langwith, supplied a further income of £6 6s. 8d. (fn. 12) It is also of interest to note that Alexander de Gedling, the Prior of Thurgarton, was the collector of the crusading tenth of this date throughout the archdeaconry of Nottingham. (fn. 13)

The returns of the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 yield the much larger gross revenue of £359 15s. 10d. The appropriations had considerably increased. The Nottinghamshire rectories of Thurgarton, Hoveringham, Sutton in Ashfield, Owthorpe, Tythby, Ratcliffe on Soar, Granby, 'Feldkirk,' Cotham, and Fiskerton, and those of Kirkby with Scopwick and Timberland in Lincolnshire and Blackwell and Elmton in Derbyshire, in addition to a few pensions from other churches in these three counties, brought in an income of £169 10s. 8d. The total in the same counties from temporalities amounted to £210 5s. 2d. But the outgoings were so numerous that the clear income was reduced by more than a hundred pounds to £259 9s. 4¾d. The chief deductions were for stipends paid by the priory to chantry priests at Southwell, Newark, Ratcliffe on Soar, St. Benedict's Lincoln, and to two each at the Derbyshire churches of Chesterfield and Crich. There was also an annual charge of obligatory alms, at the cost of £6 8s. 1d. distributed to the poor in meat, beer, and bread on the obit of Ralph Deincourt the founder, and on the fourteen following days. (fn. 14)

In 1209 Innocent III licensed the priory of Thurgarton, in the event of a vacancy in the cure of souls of any church belonging to them, to appoint three or four of their canons, one of whom was to be instituted to that church by the bishop. (fn. 15)

Henry III in 1270 granted to the priory a weekly market to be held on Tuesday, on their manor of Fiskerton, and also a yearly fair there on the feast of the Holy Trinity and the two following days. (fn. 16)

In 1275 the prior claimed view of frankpledge in his manors of Thurgarton, Fiskerton, Crophill, Owthorpe, Hickling, Granby, and Sutton; and assize of bread and ale in Hickling and Harworth; and that his villeins in Hawksworth, Granby, Cropwell Butler, Owthorpe, Wiverton, and Tythby, should not do any suit to the king's wapentake court of Bingham, for which they produced a charter of Henry III of the year 1234. Other claims, all of which were substantiated, were for right of gallows at Thurgarton and for the recently granted market and fair at Fiskerton. (fn. 17)

Varying fragments of information can be gleaned with regard to Thurgarton Priory from the earlier episcopal registers at York. (fn. 18)

In 1228 Archbishop Gray confirmed to the canons the grant made by Roger son of William of the advowson of the church of Hawton. (fn. 19) Seven years later the archbishop granted to the priory of Thurgarton, to assist them in their laudable hospitality, a pension of two bezants (bisencios) out of Hawton rectory. (fn. 20) In 1234 the archbishop confirmed to the same priory the small pension of 3s. 4d. out of the church of Cotham. (fn. 21)

A strife of considerable duration between the priory and canons of Thurgarton as rectors of Timberland of the one part, and the prior and canons of St. Katherine's, Lincoln, of the other part, concerning the turbary tithes of Timberland, was amicably settled in 1245. The Lincoln priory agreed that in each year when they dug turf in Timberland marsh they would give 12d. at Easter to the church of Timberland by way of tithe for a certain piece of the marsh pertaining to that church, but that no tithe was to be expected from them for other carefully defined parts of the marsh which had been specially assigned to St. Katherine's. (fn. 22)

About the same time another dispute between the priory as rectors of Timberland with Simon the vicar of Timberland and the priory of Kyme, concerning tithes of wool and milk and of lambs and calves of animals pasturing in the parish of Timberland on lands which Walter son of Walthof formerly held, was brought to a conclusion. The priory of Kyme covenanted to pay to the church of Timberland 5s. yearly as wool tithe for each 100 sheep, and 5s. yearly for each 100 lambs at the feast of St. Margaret, and 2d. for each cow and calf at Martinmas; and the priory of Thurgarton covenanted not to exact any other small tithes from that land, nor any share of wax-shot and blessed bread. (fn. 23)

The commuting of tithes in kind for a money payment was fairly common in the 13th century. Thus an agreement was entered into between this priory and the hospital of St. Sepulchre, Lincoln, whereby the brethren of the latter house covenanted to pay to Thurgarton the annual sum of 27s. in lieu of the tithes that pertained to the churches of Kirkby and Scopwick for the lands which had been granted them by the son and grandson of the founder of Thurgarton. (fn. 24)

Robert de Chesney, Bishop of Lincoln 1147-66, confirmed to the priory the churches of Branston, Hanworth, Timberland, Blankney, Scawby, Kirkby, and Swayfield, and a similar confirmation act as to these seven churches was executed by St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln 11861200. (fn. 25)

A dispute as to the church of Branston in Lincoln diocese, which was brought to a head in 1236 by a papal decree, is dealt with at length in the chartulary. The Prior and Convent of Thurgarton sought from William de Marcham, rector of Branston, 5 marks annually by way of pension, which they had received of old from that church, namely for the space of forty years and more and which they alleged the rector had detained for two years. The rector retorted that if this payment had been made it was an unjust action. The pope appointed as his commissioners the Abbot of De Pratis, the Dean of Christianity, and the Master of the Schools of Leicester, all of Lincoln diocese. The priory produced five witnesses before the commission, namely John their sub-prior, Ralph the cellarer, Geoffrey de Hanworth, another of their canons, George, who had been a priory servant for fifty years, and Adam de Scawby, a very old layman, who by their depositions most clearly (luculenter) proved that the priory had received the 5 marks yearly for over forty years without any intermission, namely from the days of Bishop Walter de Coutances (1183–4) of good memory up to the presentation of William de Marcham to the rectory. Evidence was also forthcoming of the formal confirmation of the pension of Bishop Walter. The rector was ordered to refund to Thurgarton the arrears of 10 marks, and henceforth punctually to pay the pension. (fn. 26)

Archbishop Giffard (1265-79) confirmed to the prior and canons of Thurgarton the churches of Sutton in Ashfield, Granby, Tythby, Owthorpe, Hoveringham, Hawksworth, and Keyworth. (fn. 27)

Thurgarton Priory was personally visited by Archbishop Wickwane (1279-86), with the result that the following injunctions or corrections were forwarded to the house on 8 June 1280: The prior was to be more discreet in temporal matters and more moderate in his corrections; no base person, stranger, or layman was to be admitted to the frater, and no one but the physicians to the farmery; no drinking after compline, save for some necessary cause or infirmity in the presence of the prior; no letters to be sealed but in full consent; gifts to the canons or lay brothers from their friends were to go to the indigent or for common use; silence at proper times and places, according to rule, was to be strictly observed; canons not to go out of cloister (save the obedientiaries), except by the leave of the president; alms (of food) were not to be imprudently consumed, but warded for the poor. Carols and lockers of the canons to be opened thrice a year in the presence of the prior and of two or three of the most trustworthy of the canons, that the vice of private property might be obliterated; the lay brothers were to be faithfully instructed in devotions and works of merit; the fasts were to be observed, and canons serving outside the house not to be absent longer than a fortnight. These injunctions were to be publicly read in full chapter at the beginning of each month. (fn. 28)

On 22 August 1284 the archbishop confirmed the provision made by the Prior and Convent of Thurgarton for Brother Robert de Barford, their late prior. The ex-prior was to have suitable good rooms in the priory where he could live with one of the canons, an attendant and a boy, who were to wait on him, as was seemly. Provision was to be made daily for the ex-prior at the rate of one and a half canon's portion. Due provision both in board and clothing was also to be made both for the attendant and the boy. The ex-prior was himself to receive yearly two marks for clothing, and he was to be excused attending the divine offices whenever he desired. (fn. 29)

'Arduous and urgent business' prevented Archbishop Romayne, early in his episcopate, from fulfilling an engagement to visit Thurgarton Priory on 8 May 1286, and it was postponed to the 14th of the same month. (fn. 30) It was as a consequence of this visit that Gilbert the prior, who was accused of incontinence with a married woman, formally purged himself of this sin, publicly and solemnly, with his witnesses or compurgators, before the archbishop on 19 May, and was thereupon declared by his diocesan, under his seal, to be of good fame. (fn. 31)

In August of the same year an episcopal mandate ordered Prior Gilbert to put Alexander de Gedling, a canon of that house, to penance for using opprobrious, presumptuous, noisy, and scandalous language in a chapel of the house where the convent daily assembled for the discussion of business. (fn. 32)

About the same time the archbishop addressed the Prior and Convent of Thurgarton with respect to one of their canons, Simon de Lincoln, who had been to Rome because of his faults and had now returned. They were ordered to receive him back in charity and to consider his penance at an end, save that he was not to be allowed to leave the cloister without the president's sanction. (fn. 33)

A request was addressed by Archbishop Romanus in 1289 to Henry de Anra, the provincial prior of the Carmelites, to permit Richard Maulovel, a fervently devout canon of Thurgarton, of the order of St. Augustine, who desired a stricter rule, to enter his order. (fn. 34)

In 1290 a scandal was caused at this house by W. de Bingham, one of the canons, violently assaulting John de Sutton, a clerk, in the conventual church, for which he was sentenced to the greater excommunication; his eventual absolution was committed by the archbishop to the prior. (fn. 35)

On the resignation of Prior Robert de Baseford in 1284 the convent elected two of their number and presented them to Archbishop Romanus for his choice, namely Alexander de Gedling and Nicholas de Gameley; but the archbishop passed them both over and nominated Gilbert de Ponteburg as prior. (fn. 36) When Gilbert, however, resigned the priorship he was succeeded by Alexander de Gedling. (fn. 37)

On 17 October 1290 the episcopal licence was issued to the sub-prior and convent to choose a prior in the place of Gilbert de Ponteburg, who had resigned. On 20 November the archbishop quashed the election of Alexander de Gedling as prior because of canonical informalities in the form of procedure, but himself provided him to the office. He issued his mandate to the sub-prior and convent to yield due obedience to Alexander and to the archdeacon to install him. (fn. 38)

In February 1292-3 an archiepiscopal mandate was issued to the prior not to allow his canons to go outside the priory precincts. (fn. 39)

Notice of visitation of this priory on 14 January 1293-4 by the archbishop was given on the 6th of the previous December. (fn. 40) There are no consequent injunctions registered, so it may be assumed that all was well.

In February 1294-5 the prior and convent received another letter relative to Richard Maulovel, the canon who several years previously had left this Austin house desirous of entering one of a stricter rule. Since that time he had been wandering about far and wide among various religious houses under pretext of seeking admission and then causing a scandal. The priory were ordered to receive him back till he found another house, but not to admit him to the cloister. (fn. 41)

A letter was addressed by the archbishop in September 1295 to the prior on behalf of Hugh de Farndon, a canon of the house, who was in a miserable plight, urging his readmission to undergo due penance. (fn. 42)

In 1304 the prior was admonished by Archbishop Greenfield to resign, but the convent besought that he might be retained, pleading the expense of a new election. Some of the canons sent a letter to this effect to the diocesan, but it lacked the common seal. The archbishop ordered them to hold an election, and their choice fell on John de Hikeling. The archbishop, however, quashed this election on the ground of informality, and the convent then chose John de Ruddeston. This election was also quashed on the like grounds, but the archbishop duly collated Ruddeston to the office, as he thought him a worthy man. (fn. 43)

In 1312 Archbishop Greenfield absolved Walter Bingham from being Prior of St. Oswald (Nostell), and he returned to the monastery of Thurgarton, of which he was a canon. (fn. 44)

Archbishop Greenfield, 1311, sanctioned the appropriation to this priory of the churches of Thurgarton, Owthorpe, Tythby, Hoveringham, Sutton, and Granby. (fn. 45)

The church of Cotham was appropriated to Thurgarton Priory by the archbishop's licence on 1 July 1350, the plea being the poverty of the house through the ravages of the plague. The archbishop was careful to secure for himself and his successors a pension from the church of 4 marks, and another of 2 marks for the chapter of York. (fn. 46)

Boniface IX in 1402 granted power to the prior and convent and their successors to rent, let, farm, or sell to clerks or laymen all fruits, tithes, and oblations of churches, chapels, and other possessions without requiring the licence of ordinaries. (fn. 47) In December of the same year the priory obtained an indult from the pope to have made anew in their dormitory as many cells as might be expedient for the sleeping of their canons; such cells, when made, were not to be changed in the future. (fn. 48)

The same pope in 1403 granted the petition of the priory that—as they were bound to find and keep at their own cost a secular priest and to depute a canon of their house to celebrate at certain altars in the priory church for the souls of Thomas Horoft (sic) and Walter de Elineton, laymen, who were buried therein—the prior and his successors might depute at pleasure, for these celebrations, two secular priests or two canons of the priory in priests' orders. (fn. 49)

Licence was granted in 1431 for Alice widow of Sir William Deyncourt to found a perpetual chantry for daily celebration at the altar of St. Anne in the conventual church of St. Peter, Thurgarton, for the good estate of the king and the founder and their souls after death, and for the souls of the said William and of John Deyncourt, knight, and Jean his wife, and of Alice's relatives and friends, and for all the faithful departed. The chaplain to receive a yearly rental of 100s., and the advowson of the chantry to be in the hands of the Prior and Convent of Thurgarton. (fn. 50)

The Prior of Thurgarton by an old-established custom had a right to a stall in the quire of the great collegiate church of Southwell, and this would carry with it, we suppose, a right to a seat in the chapter-house. The origin of this is not known with any precision. Mr. Leach says: 'How or when the prior got in is a mystery,' and suggests that it may have originated as a matter of courtesy, in 1225, in return for the priory having given up Rolleston Church to the archbishop for Southwell. (fn. 51) This is probably the solution of the difficulty; but it is much more likely that the seat was at that time definitely assigned to the prior as a part of the bargain about Rolleston Church rather than as an act of mere courtesy.

The royal visitors Legh and Layton visited Thurgarton in 1536, where they surpassed themselves in the wholesale character of their hideous charges. Out of the comparatively small number of canons of this house, they actually stated that ten were guilty of unnatural offences, that the prior had been incontinent with several women, and six others with both married and single women. They also stated that eight of the canons desired to be released from their vows. They further recorded that a pilgrimage was held here to St. Ethelburg, but so little acquaintance had they with hagiology that they described this wellknown lady saint as a man—ad Sanctum Ethelburgum. The annual income was returned at £240. (fn. 52)

On the resignation of Prior Thomas Dethick in February 1537 a congé d'élire was granted by the Crown to the sub-prior and convent to hold a new election. Their choice fell on John Berwick. (fn. 53)

Dr. Legh, who had made such a string of appalling charges against the Thurgarton canons, wrote to Cromwell on 12 June 1538, to the effect that he had just succeeded in carrying out the dissolution of the monastery of Halesowen and was setting out for this Nottinghamshire house. (fn. 54) Two days later the surrender of Thurgarton Priory was signed by John Berwick, prior, William Chace, sub-prior, and by seven other canons, namely John Kampney, John Longeyscare, John Ryley, Richard Leykes, Robert —, Henry Gaskyn, and Richard Hopkyn. (fn. 55)

Legh, who received the surrender, tarried some days at Thurgarton. On 16 June he wrote from the dissolved priory to Wriothesley, telling him that he had accomplished his desires with regard to Mr. Cooper. (fn. 56)

The following pensions were granted to this house on 23 July 1539:—John Berwick, prior, a house called Fiskerton Hall, with a chapel in the house, a garden, a stable called 'le mares stable,' tithes of hay of two meadows, and £40 a year; Richard Hopkyn, sub-prior, £6 13s. 4d.; and John Ryley, Henry Gaskyn, John Langeskar, Robert Cant, Richard Leke, John Champney, and William Chace, canons, £5 each. (fn. 57)

It is noteworthy that Richard Hopkyn, who, according to Legh and Layton, was a confessed adulterer, obtained the highest pension, and among those in receipt of a pension of £5 appears the name of Richard Leke who was entered on both the black lists of the commissioners.

Priors of Thurgarton

Thomas, occurs c. 1190 (fn. 58)

Henry, 1209; (fn. 59) occurs 1218 (fn. 60)

William, occurs 1234-45 (fn. 61)

Richard, occurs 1250-7 (fn. 62)

Adam, occurs 1263-76 (fn. 63)

Robert de Baseford, resigned 1284 (fn. 64)

Gilbert de Ponteburg, 1284-90 (fn. 65)

Alexander de Gedling, 1290-1304 (fn. 66)

John de Ruddeston, 1304-19 (fn. 67)

John de Hikeling, 1319-31 (fn. 68)

Robert de Hathern, 1331-7 (fn. 69)

John de Ruddeston, re-elected 1337-8 (fn. 70)

Richard de Thurgarton, 1338-45 (fn. 71)

Robert de Hickling, 1345-9 (fn. 72)

Robert de Claxton, 1349 (fn. 73)

John de Calveton, died 1381 (fn. 74)

William de Saperton, 1381 (fn. 75)

Robert de Wolveden, occurs 1432; (fn. 76) resigned 1434 (fn. 77)

Richard Haley, 1434 (fn. 78)

William Bingham, 1471-7 (fn. 79)

Richard Thurgarton, died 1494 (fn. 80)

John Allestre, 1494 (fn. 81)

John Goverton, 1505 (fn. 82)

John Angear, 1517-34 (fn. 83)

Thomas Dethick, 1534-6 (fn. 84)

John Berwick, 1536 (fn. 85)