: 
4 
REPTON PRIORY. 77 
insertions of Norman date. At the time of the Domesday Survey 
there was here a church and two priests, which, as Mr. Cox has 
pointed out,* speaks of the size and importance of the building, 
and is shared by Bakewell alone of all the other Derbyshire 
churches. It must, nevertheless, be borne in mind that this 
building was at no time of its existence anything else than a parish 
church, and had not any connection with the medieval priory, 
other than being a chapel of ease served by the canons. 
We now come to the history of the foundation of the Priory of 
Augustinian Canons which existed at Repton for nearly four 
centuries. 
Shortly after the Norman Conquest a Priory of Canons Regular 
of the Order of St. Augustine was founded at Calke, and dedicated 
to St. Giles. Who the founder was, and the year of the founda- 
tion, are uncertain, but the Priory existed here as such for about 
a century. 
During the episcopate of Walter de Durdant, bishop of 
Coventry (1149-—1161), Matilda, countess of Chester, granted to 
God and St. Mary, and to the canons of Calke, the working 
(cultura) of the quarry of Repton, beside the Trent, together with 
the advowson of the church of S. Wystan, of Repton, and all its 
appurtenances, on condition that, as soon as a suitable opportunity 
should occur, the canons of Calke were to remove to Repton, 
which was to be their chief house, and Calke Priory was to 
become subject to it. 
The removal of the canons from Calke to Repton is usually 
assigned to the year 1172, but I know not on what real authority, 
and the earliest portions of the conventual buildings seem to be 
anterior to that date. 
The continuous acquisition of lands and other property by 
which the Priory was enriched is a subject into which I do not 
propose to enter; all that is necessary for my purpose being the 
fact that it was well endowed, and that its property was much 
increased during the reigns of Edward I. and his son. The 
* Churches of Derbyshire, Vol. iii., 425. 
