RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



where their bodies rested. i Bartholomew de 

 Leye himself by an early thirteenth-century will 

 left his body to be buried in the church of 

 St. Mary, Canons Ashby, and bequeathed to the 

 canons his piebald horse and his tawny horse to 

 be used in their horse mill.* From the Pateshull 

 family they acquired lands at Bolnhurst, and the 

 church of Puttenham, Hertfordshire, from the 

 Wale family.^ Nicholas, archdeacon of Hunt- 

 ingdon, 1 1 55-1 184, at the presentation of Rich- 

 ard son of Galo instituted the prior and canons of 

 Ashby as parson of the church of Puttenham in 

 the presence of Richard, parson of the same 

 church; the said Richard was to pay I2d. yearly 

 to the canons in the name of the said canons.* 

 This is an early instance of a quasi-appropria- 

 tion. By an undated charter of warranty Robert 

 son of Ralph de Everdon granted to the prior 

 and canons the mill of Cotes in perpetuity ac- 

 cording to the tenor of a charter of his father.^ 



In 1282 Elias the prior of Ashby entered into 

 an agreement with Beatrice, prioress of Se- 

 v/ardsley, Thomas Wale, lord of Eydon, Sir 

 Henry, rector of the same, and other free tenantf, 

 to the effect that the prior and prioress should 

 enjoy common pasture in the east field of Eydon 

 in fallow time, and Thomas Wale and his free 

 tenants the same in the west field.^ In the year 

 1285 William St. John released certain lands in 

 Plumpton and Blackwell to Prior Elias and his 

 convent on condition that they should celebrate 

 the anniversaries of himself and his wife.^ 



Bishop Dalderby in 1 309 sanctioned the 

 appropriation of the church of Moreton Pinkney 

 of their advowson to the priory, a royal licence 



1 Baker, Hist. ofNorthants, ii. 8-9. A twelfth-cen- 

 tury deed of Hugh de Leye conveyed to the canons 

 of Aihhy the mill of Podington with a messuage, land, 

 and pasture there, as well as the miller, his wife, 

 children, and chattels, for which grant the canons re- 

 leased to Hugh the js. interest which they had in the 

 mill of ' Snehton ' of his father. Hugh also granted 

 them 2/. out of the Snelston mill to buy fish in Lent. 

 Cal. And. D. (P.R.O.) B. 2963. 



2 Madox, Form. Anglic, dccl-xviii. 



^ Baker, Hist, of Northants, ii. 8-9. The church 

 was alienated by the priory to the bishops of Lincoln 

 in 1308. Pat. 2 Edw. IL pt. 2, m. II, and Line. 

 Epis. Reg. Inst, of Dalderby, f. i i6J. 



* Cal. Anct. D. (P.R.O.) B. 2967. 



5 Madox, Form. Anglic, dxxxvii. By another un- 

 dated charter Matthew de Rumuli granted five shil- 

 lings annually out of the town of Ashby to the canons 

 until such time as he should grant a like rental in 

 some other place. Ibid, ccccxxxix. 



6 Cal. Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B. 3761. 



7 Madox, Form. Anglic, dcxc. A group of deeds 

 at the P.R.O. — Edward I. to Edward III. — relate to 

 the tenure of the prior)' of land on Hampton Knoll 

 at Litchborough {Cal. Anct. D. B. 1930-9). Another 

 set of evidences pertain to the possessions of the priory 

 at Moreton Pinkney (Ibid. B. 2583, 2588-9, 2591-2, 

 2604, 2607). A third and numerous group com- 

 prise evidences as to their property at Adstone (Ibid. 



for the same having been obtained the previous 

 year,s on the ground that the house was situated 

 next to the highway used by clerks and others 

 going to Oxford to study, as well as by noble- 

 men, so that there was a heavy demand on the 

 hospitality of the canons.' The diocesan a few 

 years previously, in 1304, granted an indulgence 

 to further the building and repair of the fabric 

 and bell tower of their church.'" The dispute 

 between Prior Adam of Canons Ashby and Roger 

 de Mussynden relative to the advowson of the 

 church of Culworth was settled in 1325 by an 

 arrangement whereby Roger was to have the 

 presentation on the present occasion, but ail 

 future presentations should be in the hands of 

 the prior. 1' The appropriation of the church of 

 Culworth to the priory was sanctioned by the 

 diocesan in 1342.12 



The Norwich Taxation of 1254 gave the 

 annual value of the spiritualities of the priory, 

 including the churches of Canons Ashby, Cul- 

 worth, and Moreton Pinkney, at ;^37 65. id., 

 and the temporalities, situated in Ashby, Plump- 

 ton, and Litchborough, at ^^17 i6j. ^^d.^^ In 

 1329, when Walter de Neyrnuit was appointed 

 prior, an inventory was drawn up of the goods 

 in the houses and at the manors belonging to the 

 canons at Adstone, Moreton Pinkney, and Pod- 

 ington. Details are given of the three granges 

 at Ashby, including eight horses with four carts, 

 and nine ploughs with twenty-six oxen, of the 

 sheepcote, the mill worked by four horses, of 

 which three were old, and of the carpenter's shop 

 near the granary, the smithy, the bakehouse, the 

 brewhouse, the cellar, the furnace kitchen, and 

 the great kitchen. '♦ 



There is little information as to the internal 

 condition of this house. Bishop Burghersh in 

 1322 sent a mandate to the prior for the re- 

 admission of a canon who had left the monastery, 

 but now sought leave to return as a penitent.^' 

 On 21 March, 1389, Walter Gibbes, clerk, 

 commissary-general of the archbishop of Canter- 



B. 292-353). Other deeds relate to Byfield and 

 Cotes (ibid. B. 700, 845, 851, and 1073, 1076). 

 The grants by the Pinkney family of lands at Weedon 

 and Weston, etc., are set forth in charters cited by 

 Dugdale, Mon. vi. 442-3. 



8 Pat. I Edw. II. pt. 2, m. 13. 



9 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Dalderby, f. 141/ 



10 Ibid. f. 72. 



11 Cal. Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B. 1153. 



12 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Gynwell, f. 166. Pope 

 Innocent VI. in 1355 confirmed, with exemplifica- 

 tions from the register, the sanction of Clement \'I. 

 to the appropriation of this church of the value of 

 20 marks, the original having been lost. Cal. of 

 Papal L. iii. 575. 



IS Cott. MS. Nero, D. x. f. 191. 



1* Baker sets forth most of these particulars from the 

 inventor)' which is among the Aug. Off. papers, Hiit. 

 ofNorthants. ii. 10. 



1' Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Burghersh, f. 6id. 



131 



