CITY OF DURHAM 



of the Commissioners ' for defacing all such 

 ornaments in the parish churches of Durham as 

 were left undefaced at the former Visitation, 

 did call for the said shrine ; and when it was 

 brought before him, he did tread upon it with 

 his feet and broke it into pieces.' At the dis- 

 solution of the gild the yearly value of its 

 endowments, less reprises, was returned at 

 ;^5 los. Jid., the gross value at £6 3/.^' 



A number of other benefactions for obits and 

 anniversaries also existed in the Church of St. 

 Nicholas at the Dissolution, and at a much 

 earlier date in 1366 John de Luceby died seised 

 of a messuage held by paying annually 4 lb. of 

 wax for the support of lights before the cross 

 there.*" 



An evening lectureship at St. Nicholas in the 

 patronage of the Mayor and Corporation was 

 founded in the late 17th century ,** the principal 

 endowment being derived from a farm at 

 Easington. 



The church of ST. MART THE VIRGIN 

 in the North Bailey, or ST. MART-LE-BOW, 

 belonged before the Reformation to the Prior 

 and Convent of Durham. The advowson of the 

 church then passed to the Archdeacon of 

 Northumberland. It was afterwards conveyed 

 to the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The 

 livings of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Mary 

 the Less were united by Order in Council of 

 14 May 191 2, the Dean and Chapter presenting 

 twice to one presentation of the Lord Chancel- 

 lor.'^* For several years after the Dissolution 

 no rector was regularly instituted,*- the incum- 

 bent being styled curate or minister. Between 

 1637 and 1685 the church lay in ruin, though 

 burials still took place in the churchyard. After 

 the death of Richard WakeHn, minister, in 1655 

 there was no incumbent until Anthony Kirbon 

 was instituted to the rectory in 1687 after the 

 building of the new church, some provision for 

 the endowment being gradually made from 

 Queen Anne's Bounty and from other sources. 

 The early possessions of the church, which had 

 then long been lost, appear to have included a 

 parsonage house, for we hear in 1313 that the 

 messuage*^ of Sir William, parson of the church 

 of ' Nort Bailly,' and other buildings near the 

 North Gate were to be cleared for the building 

 of a barbican there. An early charter of un- 

 certain date mentions the grant of certain land 

 in the North Bailey by William, son of Thomas 

 the chaplain, to Piers Goldsmith. It was held 

 of Ranulf de Fisseburn, and charged with the 



*• Injunct. and Eccl. Proc. of Bp. Barnes (Surt. 

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

 "O Surtecs, Hut. Dur. iv, 49. 

 « Ibid. 50. 



«» Inf. from Mr. K. C. Bayley, Chapter Clerk. 

 •2 Surtecs, Hist. Dur. iv, 41. 

 «3 Reg. Pat. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), i, 338. 



provision of a lamp in the church at the morrow 

 mass** (missam matutinam) and at other times. 

 In 1416 John Belasis"^ desired in his last will 

 to be buried in the church of ' St. Mary 

 within the Castle ' before St. Katherine's Altar, 

 and left lands within the bishopric of Durham 

 to his wife Sybil, and after her death for the 

 foundation of a chantry at the same altar. This 

 was carried out under licence from Bishop 

 Langley, 4 messuages and 4 acres held of the 

 bishop, and 17 messuages, 9 acres of meadow 

 and 39/. ^d. rent held of other lords forming 

 the endowment.** At the Suppression the 

 yearly revenue*' of this chantry, less reprises, 

 was £^ ijs. 9^. 



There was at least one other chantry in this 

 church in the 15th century, that of St. Helen, 

 since in 1480 Thomas Hedlam,** a Durham 

 merchant, granted to William Smethirst a waste 

 burgage, between John Kelynghall's burgage on 

 one side and a lane leading to St. Helen's Well 

 {Jontem Sancte Elene), in South Street, on the 

 other, charged with an annual rent of is. 6d., 

 payable to the chaplain of St. Helen's Chantry 

 in the North Bailey church. 



The church of ST. MART THE LESS, in 

 the South Bailey, was in the patronage*' of the 

 Nevills of Raby, afterwards Earls of Westmor- 

 land, till the attainder of 1569. Since then the 

 advowson has belonged to the Crown, the patron- 

 age being in the hands of the Lord Chancellor. 

 The living was united to that of St. Mary the 

 Virgin (q.v.). According to Surtees,'" there was 

 after the year 1572 no institution to the rectory, 

 which was held by sequestration till 1742, 'or 

 rather the profits were so small that whoever 

 had the key of the church left him by his pre- 

 decessor became minister without let or hin- 

 drance.' A 13th-century deed mentions a 

 ' place ' in the Bailey held by the chaplain" of 

 this church. In 1388 the endowment'- in- 

 cluded a rent of 40/. paid by Lord Nevill from 

 land in Crook in Brancepeth parish, and another 

 parcel named Aldhenland, as well as rents charged 

 on tenements in the Bailey. A parsonage house 

 existed, but apparently at this time was not 

 occupied by the rector, who also had the right 

 on three days of the week to eat at the Prior's 



118. 



67 



App 



68 



xliv, 

 Ch. 



70 

 71 

 72 



Surtees, op. cit. iv, 43 n. 



Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., Far. Coll. ii, 17. 



Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 43 ; Dep. K. Rep. xxdii, 



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

 . vi, p. Ixii. 



Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 55, m. 4 d. 

 Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 44 et seq. Dep. K. Rep. 

 529. 532. 533. 534. 535 ; xlv, 280, 281; Dur. 

 Inq. p.m. Ser. ii, v, 167. 

 Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 45. 

 Feod. Prior. Dun. (Sun. Soc), 197 n. 

 Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 162. 



141 



