141 



of ^sljtjuvne, Co. I3cri)g. 



By the Rev. Francis Jourdain, M.A., Vicar of Ashburne. 



Records are extant which prove that at least three Chantries 

 existed in this Church, viz. : 



3ri^e Ct)antrB of tf)e IBU^^eU T^ivg^in iJWiarp. 



The duty of Chantry Priests was, in the first place, to offer 

 the Holy Sacrifice and to pray for the good estate of certain 

 persons living or deceased, but they also followed the profession of 

 schoolmasters in certain cases, and the names " Scholebroke " and 

 " Schole-Bridge " applied in ancient documents to the Henmore 

 Brook and the bridge across it leading to the school, show 

 that a school existed in connection with the Chantry of 

 S. Mary long before the present " Free " Grammar School was 

 founded — "free" simply meaning that the education was no 

 longer under direct ecclesiastical control. A deed of Sir Thomas 

 Cokayne, dated 1564, alludes both to the " Schole-broke " and 

 the Chantry of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in the accounts of 

 the building of the present school there is this entry, " Charges 

 about the old school, 29s." 



Some confusion has been caused by the mingling of the two 

 accounts of the two Chantries of S. Mary and the Holy Cross, 

 the Knyveton family having been connected with both endow- 

 ments, but it is evident that these were in fact separate founda- 

 tions. 



