ST. JOHN'S PRIORY, WELLS. 15 



special licence from the king, granted to the Eavl of South- 

 ampton, who exchanged the whole with Dr. John Clerk, 

 then Bishop of Bath and Wells, for the manor of Dog- 

 mersfield (one of the summer residences of the bishop, 

 which had been granted to the see by Henry I.) subject to 

 a yearly rent to the Crown of £7 5s. The Hospital and 

 its possessions were not fated to contlnue long in the 

 possession of the Church. In 1548, Bishop Barlow 

 surrendered to the Crown a large portion of the episcopal 

 estates, including this Hospital, with the lands belonging 

 to it, and the rectory and advowson of Evercreech. The 

 Hospital, and the lands attached to it, continued vested 

 in the Crown until 27th January, 1575, when the whole 

 were granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Christopher 

 Hatton, but how long they were held by him has not been 

 ascertained. 



" Phelps, in bis History of Somerset, traces the owner- 

 ship from Sir Christopher Hatton, through Sir William 

 Dodington, the Godwins, Nutleys, and Edwards, and 

 States that the property was purchased of the last-named 

 owner, in 1732, by Peter Davis, Esq., the ancestor of the 

 late owner, John Davis Sherston, Esq. But it is certain 

 that this aecount is inaccurate. In 1667, Kobert Lord 

 Brooke was the owner of the site of the Hospital, and a 

 portion, if not all the estates that appertained to it ; but by 

 what means, or at what time he, or bis ancestors, obtained 

 the property, is unknown. In 1667, bis lordship conveyed 

 the dissolved Hospital and its estates in strict settlement, 

 after his own death, to bis son and beir apparent, Francis 

 Greville, with remainder to his brother Fulke Greville. 

 Francis Greville, the son of Lord Brooke, died an Infant, 

 unmarried, in the life-time of his father, There were only 

 two daughters, who married respectively the Earls of 



