RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



and theam and infangenethef and all other appointed times. The vicar was summoned 



customs.' 1 From this it is evident that the 

 whole of the land of the island was not then 

 in the possession of the abbey, but that the 

 monks had manorial rights and franchises over 

 the whole. The grant of ' thol ' would be of 

 much importance and value. They also held 

 the whole of the ferry rights. 



In 1248 there was a fierce dispute relative 

 to the right of presentation to the church of 

 St. Peter, Winterborne Stoke, in the diocese 

 of Salisbury. Eventually the pope issued his 

 mandate to the Bishop of Salisbury formally to 

 induct one of the claimants, and stated in his 

 communication that the prior of Hayling, who 

 claimed the church by gift of Pope Gregory, 

 deserved to forfeit Pope Gregory's grant be- 

 cause of his violence. 2 



The church of St. Swithun managed to 

 keep a foothold in the island, and in 1284 

 transferred their tenants of Hayling to Bishop 

 Pontoise and his successors. These lands in 

 the north of the island remained in the 

 possession of the Bishops of Winchester, as 

 part of the manor of Havant, down to I553- 3 



It has been more than once asserted that the 

 priory of Hayling was not founded or erected 

 till the reign of Henry III., but this is im- 

 probable. The abbot and convent of Jumieges 

 would be quite sure to send over a colony of 

 monks to the island so soon as the Conqueror 

 gave them so valuable a gift, and a cell or 

 priory, with suitable buildings, including a 

 chapel or conventual church, would be speedily 

 erected. 



A dispute arose during the episcopate of 

 John de Pontoise respecting the chapel of 

 St. Peter in the north of Hayling Island, some- 

 times termed the chapel of Northwood. The 

 bishop's award was to the effect that the vicar 

 of Hayling and his successors were faithfully 

 to serve the chapel as had been customary ; 

 namely that during the weeks of Christmas, 

 Easter and Whitsuntide, and on double 

 festivals and on every Sunday, there was to be 

 full and complete service, namely mattins, 

 evensong and compline, as well as masses, and 

 that mass should also be celebrated on Mon- 

 days, Wednesdays and Fridays every week.* 

 The dispute was however renewed in 1317 

 between the parishioners of the chapel of St. 

 Peter and Michael, the vicar, inasmuch as he 

 had for some time neglected to give them 

 mattins, evensong or compline on any of the 



1 Dugdale's Monasticon, ii. 1087. 



2 Cal. of Papal Letters, i. 257. 



3 Winton. Epis. Reg., Pontoise ; Longcroft's 

 Hundred of Brosmere, p. 176. 



4 Winton. Epis. Reg., Pontoise, f. 4zb. 



before the bishop, and pleaded as an excuse 

 that no books were provided for such services. 

 The vicar and parishioners however agreed 

 to accept implicitly the bishop's ruling. The 

 bishop, recognizing the right of the rector of 

 the church of Hayling, to which the chapel 

 was annexed, summoned the prior of Hayling, 

 as proctor for the abbot of Jumieges, as well 

 as the vicar and parishioners to appear before 

 Master Henry de Clife, his commissary. 

 After deliberation, the vicar of his own free 

 will undertook to follow out precisely the 

 ordinance of Bishop Pontoise, and also took 

 upon himself the burden of finding the 

 necessary books. The bishop gave his formal 

 decision, reciting the action of the vicar, on 9 

 December, 13 17.* 



The priors of Hayling were simply nomi- 

 nated by the foreign abbot and were removable 

 at will, and so we look in vain for any 

 reference to them in the episcopal books. On 

 an aid being granted to Edward I., the prior 

 of Hayling was summoned, but he pleaded 

 that the priory was alien and not conventual, 

 and that all the priors of the same, from time 

 whereof the memory of man ran not to the 

 contrary, had been appointed or removed at 

 the motion and will of the abbot of St. Peter 

 of Jumieges in Normandy and were not per- 

 petual and were not inducted. 6 



The taxation of 1291 returned the prior of 

 Hayling as holding in the island 20 of rents, 

 agricultural land taxed at 5, a mill taxed at 

 13*. 4<f., a dovecote at 4*., a garden at 6*., 

 and service of villeins at 20*., yielding an 

 annual income of 27 35. $d. At the same 

 time the rectory of Hayling, which was in 

 the hands of the prior on behalf of the abbot 

 of Jumieges, was returned at the high annual 

 value of 80, whilst the vicarage was worth 

 14 6s. 8J. 



This priory suffered much from two causes, 

 war and the encroachment of the seas. In 

 1294 Edward I., in consequence of war with 

 France, seized all the alien priories in England 

 which were dependent upon the abbeys of 

 Normandy. The prior himself was for a time 

 taken into custody, the goods and chattels 

 seized, and an inventory of the lands and 

 tenements forwarded to the exchequer. In 

 this return of the priory of Hayling, it is 

 stated that the prior's garden and dovecote 

 within the precincts were worth by the year 

 50*., and that there were 366 acres of waste 

 land in demesne worth by the year 12 

 4.5. 2d. ; 10 acres of wood, 2Os. ; 100 acres of 



n 



217 



5 Ibid. Sandale, f. 21. 



* Longcroft's Hundred of Brosmere, p. 1 77. 



28 



