74 BRADBOURNE CHURCH. 



rudeness or coarseness of the Norman masonry here. It is what 

 a superficial enquirer might easily mistake either for antiquity or 

 the signs of rebuilding, but persons more versed in such matters 

 are aware that rudeness alone is no reliable sign of antiquity. 



We now come to the second documentary evidence which we 

 may apply to Bradbourne church, the Chronicle of Dunstable, 

 begun by Richard de Morins, in 1202, carried on year by year 

 till 1297, and containing further contemporary entries up to 1495. 

 It is impossible to estimate the historical value of this record too 

 highly. Besides throwing great light upon the everyday life of 

 the time, and the internal and external affairs of the Priory, 

 it gives information upon the general history of the country in 

 such a manner that many important historical facts are known 

 solely from this document. 



In the time of John the manor of Bradbourne was conveyed to 

 Godard de Bradbourne by Geoffrey de Cauceis, who also, most 

 fortunately for us, gave the church of Bradbourne to the Black 

 Canons of Dunstable, in 1205. There are many entries in the 

 Chronicle concerning Bradbourne and its neighbouring parishes 

 between 1205 and 1290, and from some of them we are enabled 

 not only to date a large part of the work which belongs to the 

 golden age of Gothic, but also to understand some of the 

 changes which, without them, must always have remained a 

 mvstery. It appears that the gift of the church to the priory was 

 not confirmed before 1222. 'l"he canons took their first crop 

 from "Balidena" and " Ticentuna " in 1223, and after some 

 slight litigation in 1238, the prior was put into possession of the 

 church of Bradbourne with its belongings, and three canons 

 were here estabhshed, of whom one was to be responsible to 

 the bishop, Hugh of Coventry, for the spiritualities, the prior 

 accounting for the temporalities. 



The advent of the canons to Bradbourne seems to have had 

 much the same effect as we have, unhappily, been accustomed to 

 see in our own day when a new vicar is appointed to an old 

 church — the church must be restored ; and this appears to have 

 been done at once, and in the following manner : — 



