BOROUGH OF SOUTHAMPTON 



afforded no opportunity before, placed themselves in 

 her way outside the town, determined on an inter- 

 view to thank her for the protection she had afforded 

 them in that town for more than twenty-four years. 434 

 This again points to the period of their arrival. After 

 the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (22 October, 

 1685) a considerable addition was made to the foreign 

 community here ; and not long after this it appears 

 that the town council had applied for aid to the 

 administrators of the foreign refugee fund to enable 

 the settlement of a silk manufacture after the fashion 

 of Tours and Lyons : help was promised (1694) on 

 the corporation receiving 4 " a sufficient number of 

 families to carry on the silk trade, commencing with 

 thirty looms as a beginning. The trade was settled 

 in the town for some time and carried on in Winkle 

 Street. 436 



Turning to ecclesiastical relations the congregation 

 was put formally into communion with the Anglican 

 church in March, 1712. We cannot follow the 

 details and reasons of a political nature which had this 

 result. No doubt the leanings of M. Cougot the 

 minister, who must have been in Anglican orders, 

 having been instituted by Bishop Mew so far back as 

 20 June, 1702, to the rectory of Millbrook, 437 must 

 have had their influence ; but the step was by no 

 means approved by the French church in London, 

 and together with other troubles 438 caused a division 

 in the Southampton congregation, a secession which 

 came to an end apparently in 1725. 



By the terms of their conformity in 1712 they had 

 been permitted to retain their consistory, the choice 

 of their minister, and the distribution of their 

 charities. And finally, after a short period of abey- 

 ance in appointment to the ministry the elders or 

 trustees sought the advice of the Charity Commissioners 

 in April, 1856, when new trustees were appointed 

 and a scheme adopted by order of Chancery dated 

 7 July the same year. Under this the old provisions 

 were as far as possible affirmed ; the minister must be 

 a priest in orders of the Church of England and be 

 appointed by the trustees ; and the proper direction 

 of the funds was provided. 



In 1864 the college, under their corporate seal, 

 renewed permission for the use of the chapel by the 

 French congregation, ' at such times as the said chapel 

 may not be required for the use of the brothers and 

 sisters of the Hospital of God's House.' The vicar of 

 Holy Rood as chaplain of the hospital is always one 

 of the trustees. 



ST. LAWRENCE and ST. JOHN, UNITED 

 PARISHES. The church of St. John was granted 

 by William Fitz Osbern, earl of Hereford, to the 

 abbey of St. Mary of Lire, which he had founded in 

 the diocese of Evreux ; he also gave a rent-charge of 

 jg 5/. together with a burgage in ' Hampton ' to the 

 same monastery. 439 This must have been soon after 

 the Conquest, when he had probably himself received 

 the grant from the king. He died in 1071. 



The abbot and convent of Lire presented to the 



rectory till 1373, when we find the temporalities of 

 the abbey in the king's hands on account of the war. 

 The convent, however, presented again through the 

 prior of Carisbrook, their proctor, in 1 400 ; soon after 

 which the patronage passed into the royal hands. 440 

 Neither St. John's nor St. Lawrence's occurs in the 

 Taxation of 1291. In the Valor of 1536 the church 

 of St. John appears worth altogether 5 61. 8d., its 

 tenth to the king being io/. 8</. 441 In 1723 it stood 

 in the king's book at 6 1 3*. 4</,, but only gave the 

 clear value of 2. 



The benefices of St. Lawrence and St. John were 

 held together in 1614, and have so continued from 

 that date. A more complete union was attempted 

 owing to the poverty of the town benefices in 1663, 

 when the town council approached the bishop with 

 a view to the union of the churches of St. Lawrence 

 and St. John with Holy Rood, and that of All Saints 

 with St. Michael's. 4 " No action was, however, taken 

 in the matter, though practically the benefices were 

 frequently held together. But the church of St. 

 John having fallen into ruinous condition and its 

 poverty considered, it was proposed at the beginning 

 of the following century to take advantage of the Act 

 of 1665 44S 'for uniting churches in cities and towns 

 corporate ' and obtain an ecclesiastical union of the 

 parishes of St. Lawrence and St. John, their joint 

 value not exceeding 12 per annum. Accordingly 

 after action by the town council and the vestry the 

 parishes were united under a faculty from Bishop 

 Trelawney dated 3 September, I7o8. 444 After this 

 the church of St. John, which stood in French Street, 

 was pulled down under the faculty, the parishioners 

 being bound henceforth to support the church of St. 

 Lawrence. The area of St. John's Church, in shape 

 an irregular cross, measuring 90 ft. loin, from east to 

 west, and 70 ft. at the transepts, then became appro- 

 priated as a burial ground for the united parishes, the 

 walls being made up to the height of 8 ft. all round 

 in September, 1 721."* On 23 March, 1539, Abbot 

 John Bradley was consecrated bishop suffragan of 

 Shrewsbury in this church. In the angle formed 

 by the transept and aisle wall on the south are 

 buildings in St. John's Court belonging to the 

 church and said to have been the ancient parsonage. 

 Within the site of the church is a Tudor monu- 

 ment, quite defaced ; there are also memorials of 

 Richard Taunton, the benefactor of the town, who 

 was buried here 7 April, 1752, and many others. 



The church of St. Lawrence being granted by 

 Henry II to the priory of St. Denys, the patronage of 

 this church was exercised by the convent till its disso- 

 lution ; after which the first presentation by the crown 

 was exercised 26 April, 1543. The benefice con- 

 tinued in the royal patronage except for the intrusion 

 of Nathaniel Robinson, a Presbyterian, about 1 64.8,'** 

 and is now in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. 



This church possesses churchwardens' accounts 

 dating from 1567, a minute book, and some ancient 

 deeds, fourteen in number, from which notices of the 



484 French Reg. 



484 Undated orig. letter to be assigned 

 to 1694; Davies, op. cit. 410. 



486 For information on the paper-making 

 carried on by the refugees at Woodmill in 

 the neighbourhood of Southampton, see 

 Some Account of the Settlement of the Refu- 

 gees at Southampton, by Sir William W. 



Portal, a direct descendant from one of 

 the chief families. 



48 ? Book of Institutions (Rec. Off.). 



488 Davies, op. cit. 415, &c. 



489 Dugdale, Man. ii, 906, $$5, 987. 



440 Davies, op. cit. (frorr Epis. Reg. 

 &c.), 380, 381. 



441 In 1428 its value had been returned 

 as xxi. per ann. while that of St. Lawrence 



529 



was given as vj marks vjs. \\\]d. Feud. 

 Aid!, ii, 342. 



443 Town Journ. 3 Apr. 1663. 



448 Stat. 17 Chas. II, cap. 3 ; Towa 

 Journ. 25 Feb. 1705-6. 



*** Town Journ. ^l Oct. 1708. 



445 St. Lawrence's Churchwardens' Bk. 

 18 Sept. 1721. 



446 See below All Saints. 



6 7 



