RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



entitled to the tithes of all wastes and assarts or 

 clearings in woods, lawns, heys, and parks outside 

 parish boundaries.^ 



In 1403 the provost and chaplains secured 

 confirmation from Henry IV. of the charter of 

 Edward III. on payment of four marks,' and in 

 1468 the college secured a like favour from 

 Edward IV. for half that sum.' 



The last institution of a rector of the church 

 of Cotterstock was that of William de Stoke on 

 17 December, 1339, on the presentation of the 

 provost and brethren of GifFord's chantry, with 

 the express consent of Canon GifFord.* 



There is a beautiful canopied brass, nearly 

 perfect, to the memory of Provost Wyntryng- 

 ham, who resigned in 1 398, on the south side of 

 the chancel. The provost wears a full surplice 

 with wide hanging sleeves and a canon's tippet 

 with long ends ; over this is a cope with orfreys 

 and a clasp embroidered with fleurs-de-lis. The 

 hands are joined in prayer ; at the wrists are 

 shown not only portions of the sleeves or cufFs 

 of the cassock but also of an inner vest. The 

 figure stands under an arched canopy with 

 c rocketed finial and pinnacles ; the base of the 

 canopy rests on a bracket supported by a single 

 pillar. Round the margin of the stone is a 

 ribbon inscription, having the evangelistic sym- 

 bols at the corners. The legend runs: — 'Hie 

 jacet magister Robertus Wyntr)'ngham, nuper 

 Canonicus EcclTe Cath. Lincoln et Prebendarius 

 de Ledyngton ac Prepositus prepositur, sive Can- 

 tarie de Cotherstoke qui obiit quinto die julii 

 Anno domini Millmo cccc'xx cujus amime {sic) 

 ppicietur Deus. Amen.' Between every word 

 one and sometimes two cinquefoils are engraved, 

 and one between each letter of the final Amen, 

 so as to fill up the space. The whole is a par- 

 ticularly nice example of its date. 



Bridges gives a list of fourteen provosts (and 

 their patrons), from the Lincoln register, appointed 

 between the death of Wyntyrngham and Edmund 

 Oliver, who was the last to hold office as 

 warden of the college. ^ It is remarkable that 

 the right of appointing the head of the college, 

 from 1398 down to its dissolution, passed from 

 the college itself to the lord of the second or 

 Holt manor of Cotterstock. Members of the 

 Holt family or their trustees presented to the 

 provostship until the death of Richard Holt 

 without issue in 1452, when Simon Norwiche 

 was declared heir. Simon's grandson of the 

 same name, after prolonged litigation, secured 

 the manor of Cotterstock and consequently 

 wrecked the college, which was formally dis- 

 solved in 1536. 



1 Close, 17 Edw. III. pt. I, m. 5 ; P.it. 21 Edw. III. 

 pt. 3, m. 27. 



- Rot. Fin. 4 Hen. IV. m. 4. 



s Pat. 8 Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 10. 



* Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. ofBurghcrsh. 



' Bridges, Hist, of Northants, ii. 439, 440. 



The Valor of the previous year, when the 

 college was under Provost Richard King, gives 

 the profits of the rectory, house, glebe, and cer- 

 tain rents at £^6 18;. 2d. From this there was 

 deducted the bishop's pension of 40J., the dean's 

 and chapter's of 205., the archdeacon's of 5;., the 

 prior of Fineshade's of 6x. 8<^., and procurations 

 and synodals ioj. "jd., leaving the net income at 

 ;^42 15J. \\d.^ Much of the original endow- 

 ment had by this time disappeared. 



In the Chantry and College certificates, temp. 

 Henry VIII., Cotterstock is described as a hos- 

 pital or college, and it is stated that it was 

 dissolved on 4 February, 1536. The document 

 of dissolution was exhibited to the commissioners 

 by Edmund Oliver, late provost of the college,^ 

 by whom it was stated that the provosts, since 

 the first foundation in the time of Edward III., 

 had been parsons of the benefice and church of 

 Cotterstock, and the parsonage there their chief 

 mansion house ; that John Craye, at Michaelmas 

 1538, by a writ of entry recovered against Edward 

 Astwick,^ late provost, the manor of Cotter- 

 stock, 12 messuages, two mills, two dove-houses, 

 400 acres of arable land, 100 acres of meadow, 

 400 acres of pasture, 100 acres of wood, etc., 

 as well as lands in Glapthorn, Southwick, and 

 Benefield ; that Symon Norwiche, Esquire, 

 patron of the church of Cotterstock, entered 

 into the premises, and various discords and suits 

 began ; that eventually judgment was given by 

 the Lord Chancellor and others on 28 Novem- 

 ber, 1539, in favour of Norwiche's title to the 

 manor lands. 



The provost-manor of Cotterstock was granted 

 by Edward VI. to Sir Robert Kirkham,' who 

 occupied the large collegiate or chantry house 

 near the east end of the church. As the college 

 gradually lost its lands the number of the chaplains 

 was perforce considerably reduced. Leland, writ- 

 ing about 1538, says : — ' Malory 1° told me that 

 there was a late Collegiate Church at Cotterstoke 

 almost in the middle way betwixt Foderingey 

 and Undale, but cuming from Foderingey onto 

 Undale it standith a little out of the way on the 

 right hand. In this College was a Mr., a three 

 prestes, and a three clerks. The Parsonage of 

 Cotterstock was appropriate to it, and praty 

 Landes beside. One Gifford was, as I hard, the 

 first Founder of it. One Nores clayming to be 

 Founder even of late hath gotten away the 

 Landes that longid to it. So that now remainith 

 only the Benefice to it.' ^' 



* Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), iv. 293. 



7 Oliver must have succeeded King in 1 535, 

 directly after the Valor was taken. He was insti- 

 tuted as vicar of Cotterstock in 1 544 by the bishop 

 of Peterborough. 



* Instituted 22 September, 1532. 

 9 Pat. I Edw. VI. pt. 6. 



1" George Malorj' was provost from 1528 to 1532. 

 ^' Leland, Itin. (Hearne ed.), iv, 29. 



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