BOROUGH OF SOUTHAMPTON 



this time in an inchoate state. There were certain 

 understood limits and districts belonging to the several 

 chapels, in common, however, with those of St. 

 Andrew and Holy Trinity 377 without the walls, 

 whose rights or districts never advanced to the further 

 dignity. The churches are called ' parochial chapels,' 

 i.e. chapels of ease, such chapels being created ' paro- 

 chial ' by the bishop, though dependent on the mother 

 church, while enjoying certain privileges of their 

 own. The chaplains of the town made no question 

 of their relation to St. Mary's ; the controversies past 

 and to be renewed* 78 were about the adjustment of 

 rights and dues which had been acquired by or 

 conceded to the chapels or others which it was 

 endeavoured to obtain, and about the amount of 

 canonical obedience due to the chief of the mother 

 church. 



As little is known of the origin of the religious 

 community at St. Mary's as of its suppression. It 

 may be, if there is anything in the tradition of Le- 

 land, that the community is to be traced from the 

 time of Henry I before in8.* 79 It seems to have 

 consisted of four priests, at all events latterly, besides 

 clerks and the chanter, who, in the place referred to, 

 is called the ' curate.' M0 The rector and clerks were 

 acting as a community (see above) in 1225. In 1251 

 the title of chanter is found attached to the custos or 

 rector.*" In 1258 the warden, chaplains, and clerks 

 are one party in. a legal inquiry. 881 In 1278 the 

 precentor, chaplains, and clerks of St. Mary's join in 

 an exchange of land with the convent of St. Denys. 583 

 Similarly we find ' the warden and clerks,' ' the pre- 

 centor or chanter or warden, chaplains and clerks,' 

 and in 1460 'the precentor and fellows' (socii).*** 

 In 1526 the precentory or church of St. Mary in 

 the deanery of Southampton was valued at 37 f,s. c,d., 

 while the ' chantry of St. Mary ' stood at 6 l $s. 4</. s8S 

 In the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1536, Dr. Capon being 

 precentor, the precentory was valued in oblations, 

 tithes, &c., at ^44 1 31. ^d. less deductions to the 

 amount of j Sf. id., leaving a net of ^37 5*. 3</., 

 paying its tenth of 3 14*. 6\d. A little after this, 

 when reporting in 1547 on the 'chantry houses' 

 which stood on the site of, or close to, the present 

 deanery, the commissioners of Edward VI stated that 

 they could discover neither by whose devotion the 

 ' chantry ' had been founded, nor exactly what pro- 

 perty belonged to it ; they were only able to say that 

 what were commonly called the ' chantry lands," as 

 well as the house which had always been known 

 as the 'chantry house,' were let at the rate of 

 13 6s. 8</. per annum ; but they note that neither 

 Dr. Capon the rector nor his farmer appeared before 

 them, so that their survey was less accurately made. 384 

 The inquiry must have been otherwise abortive, as 



according to a letter of September, 1529, to the 

 customer of Southampton about the chantry lands 

 the chantry had been dissolved many years. 387 This 

 chantry may have been of different foundation from 

 the old precentory, though always held by the parish 

 priest, who was thus variously styled warden, precentor, 

 chanter or rector. 



Besides this chantry of unknown origin a chantry 

 for the soul of Nicholas Beket, who died before 1287, 

 and of Agnes his wife was settled here, the warden 

 of St. Mary's from time to time being bound to find 

 a fit chaplain. 338 In 1462 Johanna, widow of 

 Nicholas Holmage or Holmehegg, mayor in 1454, 

 devised certain properties to the mayor and corpora- 

 tion for the establishment of a chantry at St. Mary's 

 for her husband, herself, her parents and ancestors. 

 Her chanter's stipend was to be 6 13*. 4</. he 

 always received and paid for the town seal to his 

 appointment and on the day of her obit \ 61. &J. 

 was to be distributed, namely to the mayor 3*. 4</., 

 to the seneschal 21., and the remainder to the priests, 

 clerks, and poor of St. Mary's. She also provided for 

 the support of the tenement devised for the purposes 

 of her foundation.* 89 The mind of Thomas Smale 

 and Joana his wife was kept here yearly on 9 April ; 

 5/. 6J. to the chanter, 4/. 6</. to the bedesmen.* 90 



Of the fabrics, the earliest church must have been 

 of Saxon origin ; it was possibly represented in Le- 

 land's time (1546) by the chapel of St. Nicholas, 'a 

 poor and small thing" which stood immediately to 

 the east of the then existing church. 3 " It was suc- 

 ceeded by the ' great church of Our Lady ' of Le- 

 land's time, which may possibly be dated from the 

 reign of Henry I. This church, which contained 

 the memorials of many of Southampton's worthies, 

 appears to have been destroyed by the town about 

 1549 or I55O, 39 * to remove from French cruisers the 

 direction 393 of a well-known and lofty spire, and in 

 the latter year the stones and rubbish of the church 

 were carted away to mend the roads. 194 The chancel, 

 however, may have been preserved for its sacred pur- 

 poses. Speed (1596) speaks S9! of a 'small unfinished 

 chapel ' as having replaced the great church ; this 

 probably refers to the building carried out in I579, 396 

 which could hardly have been more than a restora- 

 tion of the ruined chancel. 



For many years the church remained in a miserable 

 condition. 397 A ' fair house,' doubtless a predecessor 

 of the present deanery, 399 seems to have been also 

 constructed from the ruins. In 1650 the church 

 was repaired in a niggardly fashion. 399 In 1711 a 

 nave was fitted to the old chancel by Archdeacon 

 Bridecake, and in 1723 he rebuilt the chancel. This 

 church, substantially built, for the repairs of which 

 Dr. Hoadly the next rector left a benefaction,* 00 was 



7" These two chapels were in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of St. Mary. 



*'* As in 1331 ; Winton. Epis. Reg. 

 Stratford, 55, 57, 65 ; also in 1370, 

 ibid. Wykeham, ii, 386, and other in- 

 stances. 



87 'This Queen Matilda, or some other 

 good persons following, had thought to 

 have made this a collegiate church, but 

 this purpose succeeded not fully.* Leland, 

 Ititt. (ed. Hearne), iii, 105. 



" Steward's Bk. (Corp. MSS), 1543. 



s Add. MS. 15314, fol. 76*. 



w Ibid. fol. 75*. 



Ibid. fol. 76. 



884 Winton. Epis. Reg. Waynflete, i, 

 foL 1054. 



88i Ibid. Fox, v, towards end. 



" Chant. Cert. R. 52, No. 54. 



W L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (3), 5933. 



888 Winton. Epii. Reg. Woodlock, fol. 

 47, 106, 175. 



" Lib. Niger, fol. 71 5 Chant. Cert. 

 K. 51, No. I. 



890 Steward's Bk. (Corp. MSS), 1457. 



891 Leland, llin. (ed. Hearne), iii, 90. 

 sm Davies, op. cit. 338. 



898 Speed, Tbtatre of Gt. Brit. (ed. 1650), 



* 



194 Court Leet Bk. (Corp. MSS), 1550. 

 895 Speed, loc. cit. 



52.S 



** Lib. Remembranc. (Corp. MSS), 

 fol. 135. 



89 ? In Bishop Andrews' ' Form of Con- 

 secration of Jesus Chapel' in 1630 we 

 read: ' Juxta Southampton, villam ecclesia 

 B. Marie collapsa crrnitur, solis cancellis 

 ad sacros ritus superstitibus.' 



898 Destroyed in 1641, rebuilt in 1686 

 by Dr. Clutterbuck, burnt down in 1706, 

 when the registers and documents were 

 consumed ; rebuilt by Archd. Brideoake in 

 1712 5 burnt down in 1801 ; subsequently 

 rebuilt, it occupies part of the site of the 

 old chantry building. 



899 Journ. 30 Dec. 1650. 

 400 Davies, op. cit. 345. 



