RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



15. THE HERMITAGE OF GRAFTON 

 REGIS 



A beneficed hermitage or small priory of some 

 importance stood near Shaw Wood at the extrem- 

 ity of the lordship of Grafton Regis, bordering 

 on Stoke and Alderton. As the Widevilles had 

 the patronage, it may be fairly assumed that it 

 was founded by one of the family, though at 

 what date cannot now be ascertained. The 

 earliest known reference to this hermitage, which 

 was dedicated jointly to the honour of St. Mary 

 and St. Michael, is the name of Helias, hermit 

 of Grafton, as a witness to a grant concerning 

 Heynundcote chapel by Walkelin, abbot of St. 

 James, Northampton, 1180-1205.* 



Robert de Twyford, with the assent of Roesia 

 his wife, by an undated charter gave to the her- 

 mitage of the Blessed Mary and St. Michael of 

 Grafton and the brethren serving God there 

 22^d. of yearly rent from lands in Shutlanger. ^ 



Engelram Cumyn temp. Henry III. granted to 

 the abbey of St. James, Northampton, 55. bd. 

 yearly rental out of lands in Alderton, which 

 the religious brothers of Grafton held of him, 

 rendering 18^. yearly to the chief lord; and 

 William de Bonde, of Alderton, remitted this 

 i%d. yearly payment to the brethren of St. Mary 

 and St. Michael.3 



The Lincoln episcopal registers record the 

 institution of six successive masters or chap- 



lains of this small house between 1267 and 



1373- 



No further mention occurs of this hermitage 

 in the registers, and it is supposed that its inde- 

 pendent life ceased about the end of the four- 

 teenth century, and that it became amalgamated 

 with the Austin abbey of St. James, who found 

 a chaplain to serve it. 



Thomas Wideville, by will of 1434, directed 

 his trustees to formally convey ' the Ermytage 

 of Grafton, ' with other lands to the abbey of 

 St. James, and this was accomplished in 1442. 

 Anthony Earl Rivers, however, dispossessed the 

 abbey, and by will of 23 June, 1483, the day 

 before his execution, ordered that ' all such land 

 as I purchased by the means of Syr James 

 Molaynes, priest, remayned still with the manor 

 of Grafton towards the fynding of the priest of 

 tharmitage.' In the following December the 

 crown interfered, and the sheriff was instructed 

 to restore the hermitage and other lands wrong- 

 fully assumed by Earl Rivers to John Wykeley, 

 the abbot of St. James, and his convent. ' 



Masters or Chaplains of Grafton Regis* 



Richard of Herleston, presented 1267 

 Walter Fruseler,^ presented 1284, died 1 31 3 

 Adam of Karifield,^'* presented 13 1 3 

 William of Radeford, presented 1340 

 Simon of Olney, presented 1349 

 Walter Child, presented 1373 



HOUSE OF AUSTIN NUNS 



16. THE NUNNERY OF ROTH WELL 



A small nunnery of the Austin rule was 

 founded here in the thirteenth century and dedi- 

 cated to the honour of St. John the Baptist. The 

 founder cannot be ascertained, but Bridges is prob- 

 ably correct in assuming him to be one of the great 

 Clare family whose successors in the manor of 

 RothwcU were patrons of this foundation.* The 

 superiors entered in the Lincoln diocesan registers 

 were elected by the community with the consent 

 of the patron, and presented to the bishop for 

 confirmation and institution. 



The house from the first appears to have been 

 but slenderly endowed. In 1 3 1 8 Bishop Dalderby 

 licensed the nuns to beg for alms on account of 

 their poverty.^ In 1385, during the rule of 

 Millicent of Kybworth, they obtained the royal 

 assent to the appropriation of the neighbouring 

 rectory of Desborough to the convent.'' 



1 Baker, Hisl. of Northants, ii. 170. The refer- 

 ence there given is to the Bridges MSS. E. 412. 



2 Fermor Evidences, cited by Baker, Hiit. of 

 Northants, ii. 1 70. 



s Bodl. Lib., Bridges MSS. E. 402-3. 



* Bridges, Hist, of Northants, ii. 66. 



6 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Dalderby, f. 374. 



* Pat. 9 Rich. II. pt. 2, m. 9. 



2 I 



The mandate of Pope Boniface IX. in 1392 to 

 the abbot of Pipewell to inquire and if neces- 

 sary augment the portion assigned to the vicarage, 

 on complaint by the vicar that it was insufficient, 

 sets forth the almost abject poverty of the poor 

 nuns of Rothwell, and its causes. The pope's 

 letter recites that it was represented to Urban VI. 

 on behalf of the Augustinian prioress and con\ent 

 of St. John Baptist, Rothwell, that Richard 

 Clare, earl of Gloucester, founded the priory, 

 but died before he had sufficiently endowed it. 

 As he left no male issue his patrimony was 

 divided among his daughters, who neglected to 

 assign a fitting endowment, on account of which 

 the prioress and convent, fourteen in number,'^ 

 could not expend for their food and clothing and 



7 Fermor Evidences, cited by Baker, Hist, oj North- 

 ants, ii. 162, 171. 



* The list is given by Baker, Hist, of Northants, ii. 

 171, from the diocesan registers. 



3 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Dalderby, f. 1 24d. 

 10 Ibid. 



'1 The actual number probably fell much below 

 this standard, at all events later. Alice Langton is 

 said to have been elected in 1395 'by the eight nuns 

 who composed the convent.' Bridges, Hist, of 

 Northants, ii. 66. 



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