A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



the clear at 1 16 12s. i^d. The spiritualities 

 were considerable, including the rectories of 

 Shelford, Saxondale, Gedling, Burton Joyce, and 

 North Muskham, Nottinghamshire ; Elvaston, 

 with the chapel of Ockbrook, Derbyshire ; and 

 Westborough, Rauceby, half the church of 

 Dorrington, with several pensions from other 

 churches in Lincolnshire. The temporalities 

 were chiefly in Nottinghamshire, but also in- 

 cluded rents at Weston, Elvaston, and Kirk 

 Hallam, Derbyshire, and at Fulbeck and Lin- 

 coln, Lincolnshire. The heaviest outgoing was 

 10 a year to the chantry of Corpus Christ! in 

 the church of Newark ; the sum of 2 6s. 8d. 

 was also paid annually in alms to commemorate 

 the founders, who are there set down as Ralph 

 Hauselin and Robert Caus. 6 



There are various references to this priory in 

 the earlier of the York registers. Archbishop 

 Gray in 1230 confirmed to the Prior and Con- 

 vent of Shelford several pensions out of Notting- 

 hamshire churches, half a mark out of the 

 mediety of the church of Gedling ; half a mark 

 from the church of Laxton ; half a mark from 

 the church of Burton-on-Trent, i.e. Burton 

 Joyce ; a stone of wax from the church of 

 Kelham ; and after the deaths of the then 

 rectors of Gedling and Laxton, each of these 

 churches to pay a mark as pension. 6 



On 4 November 1270 Archbishop Giffard 

 instructed his bailiff at Southwell to deliver 

 three oaks suitable for timber to the Prior of 

 Shelford, out of his wood of Sherwood. 7 



In January 1270-1 the archbishop gave an 

 award as to the right of pasturage in the field of 

 Basford, about which there had been a fierce 

 dispute between the priory of Shelford and the 

 burgesses of Nottingham, the parties having 

 bound themselves under oath to observe the 

 award, under a penalty of IOO Ib. of silver. 

 The award was in favour of the burgesses, but 

 the town had to pay the priory 30 marks for 

 damages and expenses. 8 



Consequent on a personal visitation of Shel- 

 ford Priory, the following injunctions or correc- 

 tions were dispatched to the house on 4 June 

 1280: The prior to discard all torpor both in 

 spiritual and temporal affairs, and to rely on the 

 counsel of his brethren ; the sub-prior to re- 

 strict himself to his office, such as the joint 

 custody of the seal ; useless servants in granges 

 to be removed ; the rule of silence at stated 

 times and places not to be infringed ; worthless 

 persons not to be allowed to eat and drink in 

 the frater ; no one to be admitted to the farmery 

 save the doctors ; no one to be allowed to drink 

 or eat after compline, save in the presence of 

 the prior and by his express licence, or in case of 



6 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 162-3. 

 * York Epis. Reg. Gray, fol. 34. 

 1 Ibid. Giffard, fol. 54. 

 8 Nott. Bar. Rec. \, 50-3. 



sickness ; the sick to be better treated and fed, 

 and alms (in kind) to be more safely kept ; 

 canons not to go out of cloister save for necessity 

 or by express leave of the president ; carols and 

 chests with locks to be opened twice a year by 

 the prior in the presence of a fellow canon, in 

 order that the vice of private property might be 

 expelled ; no money to be paid for clothes, but 

 they are to be allotted out of the common store ; 

 no little gifts or letters to be received without 

 licence of the president, and these to be applied 

 to the common use ; and these injunctions to be 

 read in full chapter at the beginning of each 

 month." 



The visitation of Shelford Priory by Arch- 

 bishop Romayne in 1280 produced the follow- 

 ing injunctions : The prior to do his duty 

 better, to refrain from indulgence in drink (a 

 superfluis potacionibtti se ttmperef), and to avail 

 himself of the advice of his experienced and 

 faithful servants, to frequent church and chapter 

 at the proper hours, to correct excesses without 

 favour, to sell no corrody without the diocesan's 

 special licence, to feed with the convent, except 

 at the advent of guests or for other reasonable 

 causes, to correct the obedientiaries after a tem- 

 perate fashion, to retain no waster nor quarrel- 

 some person, and to take the advice of the 

 convent on the expenditure of the house. The 

 sub-prior was to obey the prior, to punish with 

 discretion, and to abstain from all manner of busi- 

 ness. The cellarer and the bursar to render 

 their accounts yearly. Silence to be strictly ob- 

 served at the appointed times and places ; no gifts 

 to be received but by leave ; all canons to keep 

 within the cloister, save by leave, which is to be 

 freed from seculars and closed after compline j 

 old clothes to be given to the poor without pay- 

 ment ; the carols to be opened now and again, 

 with the view of excluding private ownership ; 

 the sick to be better fed and tended, and the 

 farmery kept clear of secular persons ; the 

 canons' boys returning from their exterior labour 

 to be excluded from the farmery and to have 

 their meals in a proper place in the common 

 hall ; and no seculars or unfit persons to enter 

 the cellarer's buildings or the frater. These in- 

 junctions were to be read in full chapter thrice a 

 year, in a distinct and intelligible voice. 10 



On 30 March 1289 Archbishop Romayne 

 issued licence to the sub-prior and convent of 

 Shelford to elect a new prior in the place of 

 John de Nottingham, who had held the office 

 for many years. 11 On 21 April the archbishop 

 confirmed the election of Robert de Tytheby, 

 canon and sacrist of Shelford, as prior. 12 



The mandate of the archbishop was addressed 

 to the (rural) Dean of Retford 5 September 1293, 

 ordering him to forbid the Prior and Convent of 



9 York Epis. Reg. Giffard, fol. 137. 



10 Ibid. Romanus, fol. 71 d. 



ii 



Ibid. fol. 74. 



"Ibid. fol. 74 d. 



118 



