RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



in 1034 by Hellouin or Herlewin, who became 

 its first abbot. He had for his disciples two of 

 the great ecclesiastics of the eleventh century, 

 intimately associated with the church of England, 

 Lanfranc and St. Anselm (the second abbot), both 

 in turn archbishops of Canterbury. Roger de 

 Thebovill gave a moiety of the manor of Weedon 

 to the abbey of Bee, a gift which was confirmed 

 amongst many others by a charter of Henry II. ^ 

 Before, however, the end of this reign, the whole 

 of Weedon was acquired by the abbot and monks 

 of Bec-Hellouin, and hence became distinguished 

 as Weedon-Beck, though sometimes known as 

 Weedon-le-Street from its situation on the Wat- 

 ling Street road. It was certified in the hydarium 

 temp. Henry II. that the monks held four hides 

 at Weedon, of the fee of Leicester, including both 

 Domesday manors.^ 



In 1 203 the abbey of Bee was charged at the 

 Exchequer for a fine of one hundred marks for 

 holding forty-eight acres of new assarts and two 

 acres of old assarts in the manor of Weedon and 

 for a royal charter exempting their Weedon 

 tenants from attendance at the swainmote or 

 forest court for ever ; the chief justiciar found, 

 however, that the heavy fine of £66 13;. 4^. 

 had been already paid by the monks to Hugh de 

 Nevill, from whom it was due to the Exchequer.^ 



These privileges were confirmed by Henry III. 

 in 1227, and again in 1253 with the addition of 

 free warren.* In 1276 the abbot of Bee sus- 

 tained his right to have gallows at Weedon, as 

 well as free warren and court-leet.^ 



The abbey of Bee had large possessions in 

 England, and its chief cell or priory was that of 

 Okeburn, Wilts.* Apparently for the better 

 management of their manor and small priory at 

 Weedon, the monks of Bee assigned their North- 

 amptonshire property towards the end of the 

 thirteenth century to the rule of Okeburn (Og- 

 bourne) Priory. The Valor of 1291 states that 

 the prior of Okeburn held at Wendon or Weedon 

 lands, rents, pannage, and court profits to the 

 annual value oi £ii) 2s. Sd., and crops, flocks, and 

 herds to the annual value oi £j2. los. lod.'^ 



In 1302 John de BroehuU of Weedon was 

 found by a jury to be a villein of the abbot of 

 Bee, and taxable at pleasure ; but being contu- 

 macious, William Grafton, steward of the abbot, 

 took him and set him in the stocks.* In 1329 

 the abbot, at a ' quo warranto ' inquiry at Weedon, 

 held on the Saturday after Ascension Day, satis- 

 fied the jury, through the attorney, Richard Blount, 



1 Dugdale, Mort. vi. 1068. 

 - Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxii. f. 95. 

 ' M.idox, Hist, of the Exch. i. 203. 

 * Chart. R. 2 Hen. III. m. 28; 



37 Hen. III. 



m. 7. 



6 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii. 10. 



* Baker makes a curious slip in stating that Okeburn 

 was the principal cell of the abbey of Bernay. 



'' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), p. 54. 



* Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 246. 



that he had every conceivable right and privilege 

 in all his demesne lands at Weedon.' Express 

 mention is here made of the prior of Weedon, so 

 it is clear that the ecclesiastical establishment of 

 the monks at Weedon Beck was not a mere 

 grange. 



The priors of Okeburn (Ogbourne) appear in 

 the Lincoln episcopal registers as patrons of 

 the vicarage of Weedon Beck in the fourteenth 

 century. At the general suppression of the 

 alien priories in 14 14, Weedon, with the other 

 English possessions of the abbey of Bee, escheated 

 to the crown. The advowson of the church was 

 soon afterwards granted to the provost and fellows 

 of the royal free chapel of St. George at Windsor, 

 who presented to the vicarage of Weedon in 

 1 42 1. In 1437 the king granted a life interest 

 in the manor of Weedon Beck to Henry, earl of 

 Stafford. 1° He was slain at the battle of North- 

 ampton in 1460, and Weedon was soon after- 

 wards granted for life to Thomas Seyntleger for 

 hisservices.il In February, I462,the same manor, 

 described as parcel of the alien priory of Okeburn, 

 was granted by the owner to William Beaufitz 

 for ten years. '^ The reversion of the manor was 

 granted to the provost and fellows of Eton Col- 

 lege by Henry VI. and confirmed by Edward IV. i' 



There are no remains of the priory or grange 

 of the monks of Bee ; there is not even a tradi- 

 tion as to its site. Bridges, writing about 1720, 

 states that the privileges and annuities of the 

 monastic tenants were traditionally remembered. 

 ' A furlong in the eommonfield is yet called gal- 

 low-furlong, and the stump of the gallows is 

 visible not far from the high road.' 1* 



The Valor of 1535 estimated the annual value 

 to Eton College of the manor and appurtenances 

 of Weedon Beck at the considerable sum of {^ifi^^ 



49. THE PRIORY OF WEEDON 

 PINKNEY OR WEEDON LOIS 



The Benedictine abbey of St. Lucien in 

 the diocese of Beauvais, Oise, France, was 

 originally founded in the sixth century. A prior}', 

 dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, as a cell of the 

 French abbey, was established at Weedon Pinknev 

 by Ghilo de Pinkney in the reign of Henry I. 

 The Pinkneys were lords of this and several ad- 

 jacent manors. The grandson of the founder, 

 named Gilbert, and his great-grandson Henry, con- 

 firmed and increased the original endowments, 

 which consisted of certain lands in Weedon, a 

 mill with adjacent meadows, and tithes of all the 



9 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 583. 



10 Pat. 16 Hen. VI. pt. 2, m. 33. 



11 Pat. I Edvv. IV. pt. 3, m. 21. 

 1'' Ibid. pt. 4, m. 22. 



13 Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), v. 77. 

 1* Bridges, Hist. o/Northants, i. 94. 

 15 Valor Ecd. {Rec. Com.), iv. 217. 



183 



