RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



St. David's, acting for the Bishop of Win- 

 chester, held a large ordination therein on 24 

 May, 1309. The numbers then ordained 

 were 45 first tonsure, 30 acolytes, 24 sub- 

 deacons, 20 deacons and 22 priests. 1 



In 1463, Michael Skylling conveyed to 

 John Powlett, William Brocas and others (as 

 trustees) certain messuages, gardens, lands and 

 tenements in Basingstoke which he had lately 

 had by the gift of John Bettys, for the endow- 

 ment of an obit to be kept yearly in the 

 chapel of the Holy Ghost on the anniversary 

 of John Bettys. The trustees were to keep 

 the buildings in repair, and to distribute on 

 the Monday next after the Ascension to the 

 priests, clerks and poor people attending 

 3*. 4</., yielding the surplus to the wardens 

 of the chapel for the remuneration of the 

 chaplain there celebrating. At what time a 

 gild was attached to the chapel has not been 

 ascertained. The licence or charter granted 

 by Henry VIII. on the joint petition of 

 Bishop Fox and Lord Sandys is dated 

 November, 1525, and recites that the town- 

 folk, ' out of their devotion to the third person 

 in the Divinity,' had long before begun and 

 tontinued the maintenance of a gild or fra- 

 cernity in honour of the Holy Ghost which 

 the king desired to establish on a permanent 

 basis. The brethren and sisters were accord- 

 ingly vested with powers to receive and hold 

 gifts of land and other property, being con- 

 stituted a corporate body with a common seal, 

 and were empowered to elect an alderman 

 and two wardens annually for their better 

 government. No provision was made for a 

 chaplain (one had been already endowed), nor 

 was there any reference to any educational 

 object. 



The Valor of 1535 gave ,6 131. \d, as 

 the chaplain's income. The tithe of all 

 ecclesiastical benefices having been assigned to 

 the king, the sum of 13*. \d. was demanded. 

 But the warden of the gild for the year 1536 

 refused payment, and the bishop together with 

 the collector petitioned to be exonerated on 

 certain specified grounds. Thereupon the 

 Crown ordered the sheriff to hold an inquiry, 

 with the result that a return on oath was 



made, testifying that long before the passing 

 of the late Act, certain wardens of the gild, 

 out of their devotion and freewill, and by 

 reason and consideration of the unhealthiness 

 of the air and of the pestilential infection 

 which frequently broke out in the parish and 

 town of Basingstoke, maintained a chaplain to 

 celebrate divine service in the chapel of the 

 Holy Ghost, and were accustomed to pay 

 him the yearly stipend of 6 ly. \d. pro- 

 vided he in all things behaved himself well ; 

 that the said chaplain had no possessory title 

 except the will of the wardens and was 

 removable at their pleasure ; and that there 

 was no fixed chantry, nor ever had been in 

 the said chapel. The wardens either forgot 

 or conveniently ignored the obit endowment 

 of 1463 which was among their documents. 

 The exchequer, in 1540, devised the exonera- 

 tion, and the wardens were released from any 

 further demands. 



This gild of the Holy Ghost escaped the 

 operation of the Act of 1545 for the sup- 

 pression of such institutions, on account of the 

 king's death ; but it fell a victim to the 

 renewed legislation of Edward VI. In 1550 

 the Crown granted the confiscated possessions 

 of the gild to John Doddington and William 

 Warde for the sum of 1,675 4*. 8d. In 

 1552 a portion of the estates were leased 

 by the Crown for twenty-one years to John 

 Carter. In 1556 the townsfolk petitioned 

 Philip and Mary for a revival of the gild and 

 a restoration of its endowments. A new 

 charter of incorporation was granted, wherein, 

 in reviving the fraternity, it was stated that 

 the licence of Henry VIII. provided for the 

 celebration of divine service in the chapel and 

 for the instruction and education of young 

 men and boys within the town. The estates 

 were restored and the old' government of 

 aldermen, wardens, and brethren and sisters 

 re-established. The funds were to be used 

 for providing a suitable priest who was to be 

 responsible for the chapel services and for the 

 education of the young. 



The later history of the gild will be 

 found in the section upon the Schools of the 

 county. 



ALIEN HOUSES 



34. THE PRIORY OF ST. HELEN 



The small Cluniac priory of St. Helen, 

 situate on the northern shore of Brading 

 Haven, was founded circa 1090.* It is 



1 Winton. Epis. Reg., Woodlock, ff. jzob, 3*1. 

 3 Stone's Arch, dntij. I. W. pt. i. p. 102, note A. 



mentioned in 1292 with a long list of other 

 houses of the Cluniac order, to whose superiors 

 the king granted protection. 3 In 1295 there 

 was but one professed monk (an Englishman) 

 in the house, in addition to the prior. The 



3 Pat. 22 Edw. I. m. 7. 



215 



