RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Cecil Cooper in 1677. There are a considera- 

 ble number of benefaction charters cited from 

 the former of these in the Monasticon* Among 

 Gervase Holles's collections are a long series of 

 extracts from the latter chartulary, which was 

 'penes Rogerum Cooper mil. A.D. 1643.'* 

 This Cooper chartulary is the one which is 

 now in the library of the cathedral church of 

 Southwell. 63 



A charter of inspection and confirmation, 

 granted by Edward III in 1340, recites a large 

 number of benefactions conferred upon the 

 priory subsequent to the foundation charter. 6 

 The more important of these were the gifts of 

 the church of Blackwell (Derbyshire), by William 

 Fitz Ranulph ; of the church of Warrington 

 (Lancashire), the church of Tythby, and the 

 chapel of Cropwell Butler, by Matthew de 

 Vilers ; of the church of Sutton in Ashfield and 

 2 bovates of land in that township, by Gerard 

 son of Walter of Sutton ; of the mill of Clive, 

 by William Carpenter ; of the mill of Dover- 

 beck, by Robert de Cauz ; of Snelling mill, on 

 Doverbeck, by Ralph de Beauchamp ; of the 

 church of Hoveringham, by Robert de Hovering- 

 ham ; of 7 bovates of land in Tytiiby, by Hugh 

 de Hoveringham ; of the church of North 

 Wingfield (Derbyshire), by Ralph son of Roger 

 Deincourt ; of much land and a moiety of the 

 church of Owthorpe, by various donors ; of the 

 church of Lowdham, by Ralph Beauchamp ; of 

 demesnes and tenements in Hickling and Kinoul- 

 ton, and in Kirkby and Scopwick (Lincolnshire), 

 by Gerard de Phanecurt ; of the church of 

 Adlington (Lancashire), by Henry Bisett ; of 

 considerable lands, tenements, rents, &c. in 

 Saxondale, Harmston, Hawksworth, Aslockton, 

 Screveton, Car Colston, Flintham, Hoveringham, 

 Shelford (Notts.) ; and of other land in Boyles- 

 ton, Burnaston, Heanor, and Pilsley, Derby- 

 shire. 7 



By far the greater part of the Thurgarton 

 chartulary now at Southwell is concerned with 

 the grants of the benefactions just briefly recited. 

 Citations may be made of two or three other 

 entries of interest. 



Richard Hacun of (Cold) Hanworth (Lincoln- 

 shire) by an early undated deed gave to the priory 

 a toft in the town of Hanworth and 3 bovates of 

 land in the fields of Hanworth, &c., in return 

 for which gift the canons covenanted to sustain 

 in perpetuity two wax lights burning at the 

 daily mass of Our Lady in their church of Thur- 

 garton, from the beginning of the canon to the 

 Our Father, and the celebrant to any at mass the 



4 Dugdale, Man. vi, 191-2. 



6 Lansd. MS. 2070, fol. 1-93. 



fa It was given to Southwell chapter by Cecil 

 Cooper, great-great-grandson of Thomas Cooper, to 

 whom Henry VIII granted the dissolved priory. 



Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 30, 29. 



7 See also Thoroton, Notts, iii, 54-7. 



special collect Inclina for the donor and for the 

 souls of his father Roger, his mother Maud, and 

 his uncle Matthew. 8 



Occasionally the spiritual interests of bene- 

 factors were secured after a much vaguer fashion. 

 Thus Sir Philip de Timberland in 1244 gave to 

 the canons of Thurgarton 4 acres of arable land 

 in the field of Timberland, requiring nothing in re- 

 turn for himself or his heirs save only their prayers.* 



Roger son of Wolvin de Kirkby granted by 

 an undated 13th-century charter all the land 

 which he held of Ralph son of John de Bergates 

 in the territory of Timberland, together with 

 the right to dig in Ralph's marsh in Timberland 

 wherever he wished to the extent of 400 turves 

 yearly. 10 



The Taxation Roll of Pope Nicholas in 1291 

 gives the total income of the priory as ^247 i6s. ^d. 

 The temporalities in various parts of Nottingham- 

 shire yielded ^137 19*. 2d., and those in 

 Lincolnshire 27 13*. qd. The appropriations 

 of the six Nottinghamshire churches of Thur- 

 garton, Sutton in Ashfield, Granby, Owthorpe, 

 Hoveringham, and Tythby supplied an in- 

 come of ^75 6s. 8d., while small pensions 

 from the churches of Coates, Hawksworth, 

 and Gotham brought in an additional los. 

 Pensions from the four Lincolnshire churches 

 of Blankney, (Cold) Hanworth, Branston, and 

 Swayfield, and from the Derbyshire church of 

 Langwith, supplied a further income of 6 6s. 8d. n 

 It is also of interest to note that Alexander de 

 Gedling, the Prior of Thurgarton, was the 

 collector of the crusading tenth of this date 

 throughout the archdeaconry of Nottingham. 12 



The returns of the Valor Ecclesinsticus of 

 1534 yield the much larger gross revenue of 

 ^359 I 5 S - l d. The appropriations had con- 

 siderably increased. The Nottinghamshire 

 rectories of Thurgarton, Hoveringham, Sutton 

 in Ashfield, Owthorpe, Tythby, Ratcliffe on 

 Soar, Granby, ' Feldkirk,' Gotham, and Fiskerton, 

 and those of Kirkby with Scopwick and Timber- 

 land in Lincolnshire and Blackwell and Elmton 

 in Derbyshire, in addition to a few pensions 

 from other churches in these three counties, 

 brought in an income of 169 IQS. 8d. The 

 total in the same counties from temporalities 

 amounted to ^210 5*. 2d. But the outgoings 

 were so numerous that the clear income was 

 reduced by more than a hundred pounds 



8 Southwell Chart, fol. 95,7. 



9 ' Nisi tantummodo preces et orationes predictorum 

 canonicorum.' Ibid. fol. 103. 



10 Ibid. fol. 99*. 



11 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 6ob, 6ib, j\b, 

 246^, 310, 310^, 311, 31 ib, 312, 338. 



11 Mr. Leach's suggestion that this appointment 

 showed that the prior was ' the chief ecclesiastic of 

 the county ' (Visit, of Southwell, xxiv) is wide of the 

 mark ; such a position was burdensome and always 

 evaded if possible. 



121 



16 



