WESSEX MINSTERS. 65 



as Prebends, and, what is more, we find in several cases the 

 Prebends go back to a time before the separate sees of 

 Somerset and Devon were created, and when Sherborne 

 was the only Bishop's Stool yet established by the Saxon 

 Church in these Western Counties. Some instances may be 

 mentioned. Bedminster, near Bristol is a much older place 

 than Bristol. The Church, like the others mentioned, 

 is near a river bank. The name " Bedminster and Red- 

 cliffe " is still attached to a Salisbury Prebend. This fact 

 is generally taken to point decisively to a time when 

 Sherborne was the only See and Bedminster was an off- 

 shoot or Mission from Sherborne, and was transferred to 

 Salisbury with the transference of the Bishop's Seat after 

 the Norman Conquest. The Prebend appears in the oldest 

 list of Sarum Prebends, and we may note that this is another 

 of the instances where we find the name Minster, but no 

 trace there whatever of any Monastic establishment in the 

 stricter sense. It appears also that Exminster and some 

 neighbouring churches belonged to Sarum from the time of 

 the transference of the See, and probably this was so because 

 of previous attachment to Sherborne. The Prebend of 

 Warminster in Wilts also show signs of a like condition 

 originally. From an early date it appears as divided between 

 Sarum and Wells. Land here previously belonging to the 

 See is assigned to a separate Prebend by Bishop Robert, 

 who ruled from 1136 66 A.D. The name appears now 

 among the Prebends of Salisbury, and in the Wells Prebends 

 also as given by Canon Church. Wells had also a Prebend 

 of Wormestre the derivation of which name is from the hill 

 near which it stands. It will be found, too, that Charminster, 

 Yet minster and Beaminster have very early Prebends, 

 which appear in S. Osmond's Charter for the erection of a 

 Cathedral at Old Sarum. 



With regard to some names it is just possible that they 

 retain the name of the Bishop or Saint by whose agency 

 they were founded and the earliest " monasterium " or 

 Priest's residence established. At Pit minster in Somerset 



