TAUNTON PRIORY. 79 



Ninth from that property was x\d. ; and that Monketon and 

 Westmonekton, Pedirton and Northperton, and Stoke 

 Pirye and Stoke, were respectively two names for one and 

 the same place. It was thereupon decided that the Prior 

 shoidd pay the aforesaid sums of ix5. for Northcory and 

 Bishop'e Lydeyerd, and of x\d. for Dulverton, and that he 

 shonld be relieved and quit of the further demand of iHjZz. 

 xvij«. iijfZ. ob., at which he had been illegally assessed.* 



These notices furnish us among other Information both 

 with the relative value of the estates at one and the same 

 time, and with their comparative value at diiferent periods. 



Monastie annals are by no means silent in regard of 

 those who bore the name of the House, either perhaps 

 from some early connection with it, or from having been 

 bom in the adjoining town. William de Tanton was Prior 

 of Winchester in 1249 ; John de Tanton was Canon of 

 Wells, 1247 ; Gilbert de Tanton was Almoner of Glaston- 

 bury, 1274 ; John de Taunton was at the same time 

 Abbat of Glastonbury ; Walter de Tanton was Abbat of 

 Glastonbury, 1322 ; John de Tanton was vicar of North- 

 cory, 1328 ; Robert de Tanton was prebendary of Wiveles- 

 comb in the Church of Wells, 1333 ; Nichoias de Tanton 

 was vicar of Brompton Regis, 1348 ; and John de Taunton 

 was Abbat of Cirencester, in 1440. This list could be 

 greatly extcnded if necessary. But it is more than suffi- 

 cient to show that ecclesiastics who were connected, as at 

 least is probable, with the Priory or the town, attained 

 during a long series of years to some of the highest digni- 

 ties which this and other dioceses included within their 

 pale. 



That one of the accomplishments of a monastery here 



• Memorand. Rot. U Edw. III. Trin. 



