BRIDPORT CORPORATION RECORDS. 105 



Bridport and giving information respecting the different kinds of 

 property bequeathed. The testator commenced by commending 

 his soul to Almighty God, and directing his body to be buried in 

 some specified church or churchyard. The first bequests were 

 usually a few pence to the Cathedral of Sarum, the same to the 

 churches and religious houses of the borough, and then followed 

 the legacies to relations and friends. 



The deeds conveying property to private individuals also furnish 

 much matter of local interest respecting persons and localities. 



The deeds of conveyances to religious uses are very numerous ; 

 they are usually gifts of houses or land, and were in favour of the 

 Chantry of the Blessed Virgin, the Mass of the Blessed Virgin in 

 St. Mary's, the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, the mass of the 

 Blessed Virgin in St. Andrew's, the Brotherhood of the Holy 

 Trinity in the Church of St. Andrew's, or the House of St. Mary 

 Magdalene of the Lepers of Bridport. 



The following inventories of the properties of Eeligious Houses 

 are preserved : St. Katherine's Chapel, the date about A.D. 1387 ; 

 St. John's Chapel, of the same date ; St. Andrew's Chapel, 

 A.D. 1401; St. Michael's Chantry, A.D. 1408; another of St. 

 Andrew's Chapel, A.D. 1451 ; St. John the Baptist's, 1454. 



The list of vestments, books, and other implements of Divine 

 service are interesting to the ecclesiastical historian, and the inven- 

 tory of household furniture not less so to those who desire to know 

 how monks and others lived five centuries ago. 



The books of the religious confraternities include those of the 

 Brotherhood of St. Nicholas, the Brotherhood of the Brethren 

 and Sisters of the Light hanging before the Cross in the 

 Church of the Blessed Mary of Bridport, The Brethren 

 and Sisters of the Brotherhood St. Mary the Virgin and 

 St. James the Apostle in the Church of St. Andrew's, the 

 Brethren and Sisters of the Brotherhood of the Torches in 

 the Church of the Blessed Mary, the Brotherhood of St. 

 Katherine, the Brotherhood of the Light of the Holy Cross in 

 the Church of St. Andrew. 



