A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



to say mass for them at a very early hour, so that they might begin their 

 banquetings the sooner, unhindered by the necessity of attending mattins and 

 high mass at the usual time. The bishop ordered that such masses should 

 not be celebrated in future. 110 



At the beginning of the sixteenth century the bishops were active in the 

 visitation both of monasteries and parish churches, and not without good 

 cause. In some parts of the diocese there were signs of great neglect and 

 irreverence ; in Leicestershire the case was not so bad, and yet there was a 

 good deal to find fault with. Record is preserved of visitations in 1510, 

 1518, and 1530 by Bishops Smith, Atwater, and Longlands. 111 In 1510 the 

 churches of the town of Leicester were returned Omnia bene, except St. Mary's, 

 where the abbot had not done his rectorial duty in repairing the chancel ; it 

 was also alleged that the prebendaries did not reside, and that divine service 

 was not kept up as fully as it should be. The old chapel of St. Sepulchre 

 without the walls was growing ruinous, and it is probable that the warning 

 to repair it was not much heeded, as it did not survive the abbey very long. m 

 Within the deanery of Guthlaxton the prior of Lenton was accused of 

 allowing the chancel of Wigston Church to remain unrepaired, and of not 

 providing money for the customary doles to the poor. At Bruntingthorpe, 

 Ashby Magna, Glenfield, Enderby, Narborough, North Kilworth, Thurlaston, 

 and Cotesbach the cemeteries were not properly fenced in, and liable to 

 desecration ; at Arnesby and Shearsby games were played and other irre- 

 verences committed in the churchyard. The chancels of Oadby and Foston, 

 both appropriate to religious houses, were out of repair. There were a few 

 cases brought forward by churchwardens of immorality, of legacies unpaid, 

 and lights not provided. John Wright of Burbage was accused of being a 

 ' sabbath breaker,' for sitting in taverns during church hours. A mother at 

 South Kilworth would not allow her daughter to become a communicant, 

 though she was quite old enough. A good many churches were returned 

 Omnia bene. 



In Gartree Deanery four chancels were out of repair Medbourne and 

 Nevill Holt, Market Harborough and Wistow. The vicarage of Slawston 

 was ruinous. The large majority of churches were returned Omnia bene, and 

 there were few complaints against incumbents, though the vicar of Foxton 

 was accused of celebrating mass only once a week. 



In 1518 the records of visitation include the whole archdeaconry. In 

 Gartree the returns were still good, and Guthlaxton was in improved con- 

 dition. In the county taken altogether there were twelve chancels out of 

 repair, that of Hose being in an especially bad state, with the rain coming 

 in just over the altar. 113 Thirteen cemeteries wanted fencing. Six rectors 

 were non-resident ; the incumbent of Loughborough was thoroughly negli- 

 gent; four priests were accused of incontinence. Fifteen churches were 

 defective in the leads or windows, by the fault of the parishioners. Vest- 



10 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Repingdon, 181. 



11 These are all preserved in the Alnwick Tower at Lincoln ; but the report of 1510 is printed also in 

 Jssoc. Arch. Soc. xxi, 3 1 3-14. There is also a fragment of 1 509. 



111 It is well to note here, as it has been so often supposed that there were two chapels outside Leicester, 

 St. Sepulchre's and St. James's, that this visitation makes the contrary quite certain by an allusion to ' capella 

 Sancti Jacobi dudum vocata ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri.' 



1I3 _This county compares very favourably with Bucks, in the matter of repair of churches. See V.C.H. 

 Sucks. \. Fifteen churches and 1 2 chancels out of more than 200 is not such a bad record. 



368 



