A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



sheepwalk, i6x. 8d. ; and a watermill, 6os. ; 

 giving a total of 19 IDS. lod. The annual 

 value of the whole manor, including the 

 church at 80, was 144 &. 3^. The 

 goods and crops were estimated at 67 i6s. ; 

 under this heading were included a palfrey 

 worth, 6os. ; a sumpter horse, 40;. ; and two 

 asses, 4*. The prior himself was probably 

 released, as was the case with the heads of 

 other alien houses, on finding sureties to 

 observe neutrality during the continuance of 

 the war. 1 



On the renewal of hostilities with France 

 in the reign of Edward II., the alien priories 

 including Hayling were again seized. A 

 return was made of its possessions in January, 

 1325, by authority of a commission addressed 

 to Ralph de Bereford and Richard de 

 Westcote, keepers of the alien houses of 

 Hampshire. The prior of Hayling however 

 appeared in person before the barons of the 

 exchequer at Westminster, and pleaded that 

 his house and its appurtenances might be 

 committed to him for safe custody. His 

 prayer was granted on condition of his finding 

 security for the safe custody of all the goods 

 and chattels. 



And now another misfortune befell the 

 priory. From the beginning of the reign of 

 Edward I. the sea had been making gradual 

 encroachments on the west shore of the island, 

 and lessening by degrees the property of the 

 monks. But in 1324-5 the whole line of 

 our south coast suffered much depredation, and 

 a very considerable portion of the island of 

 Hayling was definitely submerged beneath the 

 waters, including the priory church and con- 

 ventual buildings. The prior forwarded a 

 statement to the Crown, and on 8 March, 

 1325, an inquisition was held before Ralph de 

 Bereford and Richard de Westcote, as wardens 

 of the alien houses, to ascertain the truth. 

 The jurors found upon oath that 206 acres of 

 arable land of the priory demesne had been 

 inundated and destroyed by the sea since 1294, 

 and that they were worth 10 6s. by the 

 year, because the better land of Hayling was 

 that nearest the sea ; that 80 acres of pasture 

 belonging to the priory had been submerged, 

 worth 2Os. a year ; that six virgates of the 

 land of customary tenants had been destroyed, 

 the rental of which was 48*. ; that nearly the 

 whole hamlet of East Stoke with lands pertain- 

 ing, as well as a great part of the larger hamlet 

 of Northwood and its lands, which belonged 

 to the parish church of Hayling and which the 

 prior had for his proper use, were submerged, 



1 Add. MS. 6164, ff. 4, 5. 



diminishing the annual value of the priory by 

 26 13*. 4^. ; that the two priory mills were 

 less by 2Os. a year because the tenants used to 

 grind at these mills ; that the court fines and 

 perquisites were less by 205. a year ; and that 

 the full annual value of the possessions des- 

 troyed by the sea amounted to the considerable 

 total of 42 "]s. tfd. They returned the 

 then annual value of the lands, tenements and 

 church at 48 8*. t>d? 



In November, 1313, John Abel, escheator 

 citra Trentam, received orders to desist from 

 demanding fealty from the prior of Hayling 

 for the priory lands, and to permit him to hold 

 the same without hindrance, as he complained 

 of being distrained for fealty of the lands he 

 held of the king in Hampshire, Wiltshire 

 and Somerset of the gift of William the 

 Conqueror in free alms, without doing any 

 secular service. It was definitely stated in 

 this order that none of the priors of Hayling 

 nor the abbots of St. Peter of Jumieges, of 

 which the priory was a cell, had done fealty 

 at times of voidance of either the priory or the 

 abbey. 3 



The priory was bound to provide support 

 for two of the king's pensioners. In 

 February, 1318, Oudinus Bruant, king's yeo- 

 man, was sent to the prior and convent of 

 Hayling to receive the same maintenance for 

 life as Philip Walrond, deceased, had received 

 in that house by order of Edward I. 4 In 

 1334 Simon Bacon was sent to the house of 

 Hayling to receive such maintenance as Philip 

 Walrond had had there. 5 



These were bad times for even the best 

 established of the alien houses. The heavy 

 exactions of the Crown led the manorial 

 villeins in some cases into the mistake of 

 thinking that the law would not intervene for 

 the maintenance of their rights. In February, 

 1338, the prior of Hayling, who was holding 

 the priory and its lands of the Crown at a 

 rental of 80, complained that though his 

 predecessors time out of mind had had divers 

 villeins in the manor of Hayling, from whom 

 they used to receive corporal ransom at their 

 will, and fines in any voidance, yet these had 

 by their confederacy among themselves and 

 others refused to make such ransoms and 

 fines or other services and customs to the prior ; 



8 Extents of alien priories, 1 8 Edw. II. P.R.O. 



3 Close, 7 Edw. II. m. 18. 



4 Ibid. II Edw. II. m. lod. 



8 Ibid. 8 Edw. III. m. 37d. The name of 

 William, prior of Hayling, occurs about this time 

 on recognizances dated 1330 and 1337. Close, 4 

 Edw. III. m. 39d ; and 1 1 Edw. III. pt. z, m. 

 2 3 d. 



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