RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Robert of Wardon,! elected 1299, died 1302 

 Alexander of Kaysthorpe,^ elected 1302, died 



1326 

 Roger of Silby,3 elected 1326, died 1 332-3 

 Thomas of Saxton,* elected 1332-3, resigned 



1340 

 Henry of Kegworth,^ elected 1340 

 Adam," occurs 1370 

 Edmund of Thorpe,^ elected 137 i 

 Thomas Brackley,* occurs 141 3 

 John Furneall,^ occurs 1491 and 1499 

 Thomas Saunders,'" occurs 1503, died 1534 

 Henry Austen," elected 1535 



Pointed oval seal of the thirteenth century, 

 taken from a cast at the British Museum, ^^ repre- 

 sents St. Paul full-length, on the left, holding 

 in his right hand a long sword ; St. Peter, full- 

 length, on the right, holding two keys in his 

 right hand. In base, under a semi-circular arch, 

 a prior is kneeling in prayer. Legend : 



SIGILL' APOSTOLORV. • PETRI ■ ET PAVLI • 

 DE • CHAVCVMBA 



Pointed oval seal of prior Henry de Kegworth, 

 taken from another cast,^' represents SS. Peter 

 and Paul as above, standing in a canopied niche 

 with two arches, the prior in base kneeling in 

 prayer. The legend is partly defaced : 



S HEN. 



ORIS DE CHAVCOMBE 



The seal, of which fragments remain, attached 

 to the deed acknowledging the king's supremacy 

 is similar to the first seal given above.'* 



14. THE PRIORY OF FINESHADE 

 OR CASTLE HYMEL 



Leland, in his delightful gossiping Itinerary, 

 when passing in 1538 from Deene to Colly- 

 weston, on his way through Northamptonshire, 

 says : — 



' Almost yn the Middle Way I cam by 

 Finshed, lately a priory of Blak Canons, leving 

 it hardly on the righte hond, it is four miles 

 from Stamford. Here in the very place where 

 the Priory stoode was in times past a Castel 

 caullid Hely, it longgid to the Engaynes : and 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Sutton, f. 68. 



2 Ibid. Inst, of Dalderby, f. I04d. 

 8 Ibid. Inst. ofBurghersh, f. I75d. 



* Ibid. f. I96d. 6 Ibid. f. 230. 



« Cal. Ana. D. (P. R. O.), B. 3526. 



7 Bridges, Hist. ofNortkatits,\. 156. 



8 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Repingdon, f. 133. 



" He was vic.ir of Chalcombc during th.Tt time. 

 Bridges, Hist. ofNorthants, i. I 57. 

 '" Baker, Hist. o/Nortkants, i. 594. 

 1' Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Longlands, f. 116. 

 13 B. M. Lxix. 68. 13 Ibid. 69. 



1+ P. R. O. Acknowledgement of Supremaey, No. 29. 



they dwellid yn it, ontylle such tyme that one 

 of them for lak of childern of his owne began a 

 Priory ther, gyving them Landes even there- 

 about : whereby after the Castellc was puUid 

 doune to make up the Priory, so that now there 

 remaynith almost no token that ever ther was 

 any Castel there.''^ 



Castle Hymel was demolished at the com- 

 mencement of John's reign, when Richard En- 

 gayne the elder founded the priory for Austin 

 canons at a little distance to the north-east of 

 the castle. His son's confirmation charter (Le- 

 land was mistaken about the founder being 

 childless) is given in the Alonasticon, from which 

 we find that the priory was originally known as 

 the church of St. Mary of Castle-Hymel, and 

 though soon afterwards popularly known as the 

 priory of Fineshed, the official title of the foun- 

 dation charter was retained on the common seal 

 of the convent up to the dissolution. The 

 founder endowed the priory with lands and 

 messuages in Blatherwycke and Laxton, and 

 died on 23 April, 1208. His elder son Richard, 

 who was a bachelor, confirmed and increased the 

 endowment, and dying soon after his father was 

 buried at Huntingdon. He was succeeded by 

 his brother Vitalis, who gave Linwood to the 

 convent. Vitalis in his turn was succeeded by 

 his son Henry, who died in 1 26 1. Henry 

 Engayne gave to the canons the churches of 

 Blatherwycke and Laxton and the manor of 

 Woodnewton, which donation was subsequently 

 confirmed with additional lands by his nephew, 

 John Engayne.'^ 



On 2 May, 1223, Honorius III. issued a grant 

 of protection and confirmation of their possessions 

 to the prior and canons of St. Mary, Castle 

 Hymel, with various privileges and immunities, 

 and in the same year the pope confirmed an 

 ordinance made by Richard Engayne their 

 founder and patron, whereby the convent ob- 

 tained the right to elect priors without the con- 

 sent of the said patron or his successors.i^ Pope 

 Alexander IV. in 1255 granted to the prior and 

 canons of St. Mary's, Fineshade, described as 

 ' wholly founded and built on the public road,' 

 licence to appropriate the church of the Holy 

 Trinity at Blatherwycke of their patronage, and 

 of the annual value of eight marks, the grant to 

 take effect on the next voidance, with the assent 

 of bishop or archdeacon, a due portion being 

 reserved for the vicar.^* 



With the exception of entries recording the 

 election or appointment of successive heads, little 

 information can be gathered respecting this 

 priory. The name of the first prior has been 

 lost. William Engayne of the founder's family, 

 the third son of Vitalis, is the first superior who 



15 I tin. (Heame ed.), i. 23. 



1" ' Ex rotulo quondam penes Edwardum Vaus anno 

 1620,' cited by Dugdale, Men. vi. p. 450. 



17 Ca/. of Papal L. i. 91, 92. 1* Ibid. i. 31S. 



'35 



