THE POOLE TOWN CELLAR. 95 



his death in 1398. This and the preceding William, Earl of 

 Salisbury, his father, bore the title of King (of the Isle) of 

 Man. In 1398 there succeeded to the Manor the nephew of the 

 last Earl of Salisbury viz., John de Montacute, 3rd Earl of 

 Salisbury of this family, a chief of the Lollards, of whom, it is said, 

 he caused all the images which had been set up in the chapel at 

 Shenele by his wife's former husbands to be taken down and 

 thrown into obscure places, but allowed the image of St. Catherine 

 to stand in his bakehouse. He was executed at Cirencester, A.D. 

 1400, for complicity in a conspiracy against Henry IV. His lands 

 were forfeit, the King uniting them to the Duchy of Lancaster, 

 which he claimed by right of inheritance as cousin and heir of 

 Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. It is probable that this Lollard, Earl 

 of Salisbury, would but complete that ruin of the monastery which 

 neglect and time had already begun. From this time, 1400, until 

 llth Henry VI. (1433), the manor was held by various favourites 

 and relations of the reigning princes; but in 1433 it was granted 

 to John, Duke of Bedford. On his death, 1435, it reverted to the 

 King, who in 1438 granted it to Henry Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop 

 of Winchester, who conveyed it to John, Duke of Somerset, great 

 grandson of John of Gaunt, and third Earl of Somerset. On his 

 death in 1444 the manor descended to his brother Edmund, Earl 

 of Moreton, Marquis of Dorset, on whose death it passed to his son 

 Henry, Earl of Moreton, who was beheaded 5th Edward IV., 1466, 

 after the battle of Hexham. The estate then reverted to the 

 Crown. 



As I have now traced the history of Poole through that period 

 in which, judging from its architecture, the Town Cellar was built 

 and restored, I will not pursue it farther, but after a short account 

 from Hutchins of two seals, will recapitulate the points which lead 

 me to state that this building, known as The Town Cellar, was 

 originally built as the church of the Monastery of St. Clement's. 

 Hutchins speaks of two seals thus : " The late Dr. Eichard 

 Rawlinson had a round seal, on the verge of which was ' S. 

 Convent de Pool,' within a lion coward. As there was no religious 



