yo DATE OK MELnOUKNE PARISH CHURCH. 



in the ssth year of his reign (a.d. i27y), granted at the instance of 

 Robert (de Chause) Bishop of Carlisle (a.d. 1258-1278). The 

 jury (a.d. 1330) found that the then Bishop of Carlisle (John de 

 Rosse) and all his predecessors, parsons of the Church of Melle- 

 burn, " a tempore quo non extat memoria," without interruption, 

 had view of frank pledge of all their tenants in Melleburn ; 

 they also found other matters in favour of the Bishop in respect 

 of the Manor of Barrow, and in respect of the liberties claimed by 

 him, but not of pillory or tumbril. 



Evidence of that inquisition, by an Inspeximus dated 25 March, 

 1606, under the Chancery seal of King James I., is now in the 

 Muniment Room at Melbourne Hall. 



That finding of the jury in the year 1330 in favour of the 

 Bishop's claim by prescription might seem to imply that the 

 Bishops of Carlisle had had uninterrupted enjoyment of the 

 Rectory of Melbourne during " legal memory," i c, as far back as 

 the reign of King Richard I., a.d. 1189 ; but the public records 

 seem to establish that there was no duly constituted Bishop of 

 Carlisle after the death of Aldulf the first Bishop about 1155, 

 through the reigns of Henry H., Richard I., and John, down to 

 2 Henry HI. (a.d. 12 18), when Hugh Abbott of Beaulieu became 

 Bishop by the concurrent action of the Pope, the Prior and 

 Canons of Carlisle, and the King's Council. 



It appears by an extract from Rotuli Litt. Clausarum (vol. i., 

 p. 369) that in consequence of the letter of Pope Innocent the 

 Third to King John, which is recited in that King's Letters Patent 

 of 10 January, i2o|, addressed to the^ King's brother, Geoffry, 

 Archbishop of York (Rotuli Litt. Patentium, folio 37), the King 

 granted to Bernard, Archbishop of Ragusa, the Custody of the 

 Bishopric of Carlisle, and with it the Rectory of Melbourne ; still 

 that event would be too late to admit of our ascribing to that 

 Prelate the building of Melbourne Church, the architecture of 

 which must be of earlier date. 



There remains, however, the possibility that Aldulph, the first 

 Bishop of Carlisle, may have directed the construction of this 

 Church between the years 1132 and 1155, the duration of his 



