A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



St. Nicholas." The gross value^ of the Chantry 

 of Our Lady at the Dissolution was £i^ I4.f., and 

 the net value less reprises £^ 9/. ^d., and of the 

 second Chantry of Our Lady £\ \s. id. gross and 

 £} lis. Sid. less reprises. 



The Chantry of the Holy Trinity in the 

 church of St. Nicholas existed in the 14th 

 century, if not before, as the ' mansio cantarie 

 Sancte Trinitatis ' is mentioned ^ in 1400. The 

 clear annual value ■"• at the Dissolution, less re- 

 prises, was £j IS. ^d., the gross value ^j p. lod. 

 The Chantry of St. John the Baptist and St. 

 John the Evangelist was founded *' in 1348 by 

 Thomas Kirkeby, rector of Whitburn. At the 

 Dissolution this chantry was estimated at a 

 clear annual value,*'- less reprises, of ^^5 12s. lid., 

 the gross yearly value ''^ being £6 los. The 

 Chantry of St. James was founded in 1382 for 

 the souls of Thomas de Cockside" and Alice 

 his wife and their son Robert, and at the Dis- 

 solution its gross value was £^ \is. lod. and its 

 clear value,''* less reprises, ^^5 12s. 2d. The 

 almoner of the Priory of Durham was the patron 

 of each of these chantries. 



Besides these chantries in St. Nicholas' 

 Church there were other chapels in the parish. 

 Two of these were situated on Elvet Bridge, both 

 being in the gift of the Prior and Convent of 

 Durham. Of these the Chapel of St. James was 

 founded '* by Thomas son of Lewin, a burgess 

 of Durham, and his wife Emma, in the 13th 

 century, and endowed with burgages, lands and 

 rents in Durham and land at Stokeley ; the 

 other, the Chapel of St. Andrew,*' at the south 

 end of the bridge, was founded in the pontificate 

 of Robert de Insula by WiUiam son of Absalom. 

 Owing to the loss or depreciation of endowments 

 the chapels were usually held by the same 

 chaplain from about the middle of the 14th 

 century, and on 7 April 1344 William Syreston 

 was presented to the chantries, united '^ ob 

 eorum exilitatem. At the Dissolution the gross 



3' Cf. Rental cited by Surtees.' De fratribus Gildae 

 S. Nicholai pro libero redditu magni hospicii sive 

 aulae lapidiae vocatae le Gyld Hall in foro, x_r.' 



^8 Injunct. and Eccl. Proc. Bp. Barnes (Surtees Soc), 

 App. vi, p. Ixi ; cf. Harl. R. D 36. 



39 B.M. Lansd. Ch. 620. 



*" Injunct. and Eccl. Proc. Bp. Barnes, App. vi, 

 p. Ixii, and Harl. R. D 36. 



*^ Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, p. 48. 



*^ Injunct. and Eccl. Proc. Bp. Barnes, App. vi, 

 p. Ixii. 



** Another estimate gives £6 14J. ; cf. Harl. R. D 

 36. 



** Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 32, m. 3, no. 3. 



** Injunct. and Eccl. Proc. Bp. Barnes (Surt. Soc), 

 p. Ixi. Another estimate gives a gross value of 

 £S 3s. lod. (Harl. R. D 36). 



« Hardy, Reg. Pal. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 1 176. 



*' Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 56. 



*8 Ibid, iv, 56, n. 9. 



annual value of the united chapels was ^^4 6s. lod. 

 and the net value, less reprises, ^^3 iSs. 6d. The 

 relative size " of these two chapels is indicated 

 by the lead roofing, estimated at 36 sq. yds. in 

 the case of St. James, and 88 sq. yds. in that of 

 St. Andrew's. At one time, after the Reforma- 

 tion, a charity school was carried on in the 

 chancel of St. Andrew's, the remainder of the 

 building being used as a blacksmith's shop.^" 

 Another still older chapel in the parish was that 

 of St. Thomas the Martyr, Claypath, which is 

 mentioned in 13th-century deeds.*' Its ceme- 

 tery was used for burials as late as the plague 

 year of 1597, as shown by entries in the parish 

 registers of St. Nicholas. 



There were at least three gilds or fraternities 

 associated with the Church of St. Nicholas, 

 those of Our Lady,^'^ St. Nicholas and Corpus 

 Christi. Of these the gild of Our Lady may have 

 been connected with the chantry of that name. 

 The gild of St. Nicholas certainly existed in the 

 first quarter of the 15th century, and as early 

 as 1432, if not before, the brethren were occupy- 

 ing the great hall of stone known as the Gild 

 Hall *^ in the market place, renting it from the 

 Chantry of Our Lady. At the Dissolution the 

 gross annual value of its property had evidently 

 largely declined ** and the clear value, after 

 deducting reprises, was only 23/. Any early 

 importance possessed by this gild, and certainly 

 strongly suggested by its occupation of the 

 Gild Hall in the market place, had been eclipsed 

 in the 15th century by the rise of the gild of 

 Corpus Christi, to which were affiliated the 

 various craft gilds of the city." 



The gild of Corpus Christi was founded, 

 or rather reorganised,*® in 1437, and its hall 

 was situated in Walkergate." Its chief occu- 

 pation was the ordering of the festivities of 

 Corpus Christi Day, when a great procession 

 of the crafts with banners and lights escorted 

 the Corpus Christi Shrine, finely gilt, having 

 ' on the height thereof ... a four-square 

 box of chrystal, wherein was inclosed the 

 Holy Sacrament of the Altar ' from St. Nicholas' 

 Church to the Cathedral and back again. This 

 famous shrine** was saved by the parishioners 

 of St. Nicholas till 1546, when Dr. Harvey, one 



■*' Injunct. and Eccl. Proc. Bp. Barnes (Surt. Soc), 

 App. vi, p. Ixi. 



*" Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 56. 



*i Ibid. 55. 



*2 Ibid. 49. 



*3 See above. 



** Injunct. and Eccl. Proc. Bp. Barnes (Surt. Soc), 

 App. vi, p. Ixi. 



** Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 44, mm. 10, 11, no. 46, 

 m. 23 d., no. 50, m. 6 d. 



*8 Ibid. 



" Dur. Halmote Book, no. 16, m. 55 d. ; cf. Pat. 

 7 Jas. I,pt. 7. 



** Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 49. 



140 



