A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



same doubt about the chapel of the Holy Trinity, Blessed Mary and All 

 Souls in the churchyard of High Wycombe, re-endowed in 13 58.' A 

 great many private or manorial chapels existed at this time ; but they 

 have not the same interest as the parochial chapels, being mainly for the 

 convenience of single households. 



Most of the chantries were founded during the fourteenth and 

 fifteenth centuries ; only two in Buckinghamshire can be proved to be 

 of an earlier date, and it is doubtful whether the name, as we understand 

 it, can be applied to these earlier foundations at all. They were indeed 

 called ' cantariae ' ; but our English ' chantry ' is usually associated, at 

 least in the popular mind, with a service intended primarily for the 

 benefit of the faithful departed. There is, however, a clear instance to 

 the contrary even as late as 1340, in the application made for the 

 foundation of a chantry in the chapel of Aston in Ivinghoe. It was 

 explained to the bishop that the chapel had no proper endowment, and 

 that it was feared that divine service, there performed for the benefit of 

 the hamlet generally, would have to cease : whereupon Ralf Halliwell 

 had undertaken to found a chantry in it, for the sake of his own soul, 

 and the souls of his father and mother. 2 Even in the last year of Henry 

 VIII. the Commissioners reported of this charity that it was ' right 

 necessary,' and served for the needs of 240 ' houselling people,' who 

 could not get to the parish church in winter time. The chantries in 

 the chapels of Colnbrook and Dagnall were probably both founded for 

 similar purposes, and others which were attached to parish churches, as 

 at Newport Pagnel, Hanslope, and Olney, furnished the parish priest 

 with an assistant whose services were much valued. Others again, such 

 as those attached to the churches of Buckingham and Thornton, left 

 provision for free schools, or for the relief of the poor. Besides these, 

 there are of course some of which the main purpose really was to secure 

 a regular commemoration of the founder's soul, like the three chantries 

 founded by Sir John Molyns (who had perhaps some reason to be 

 anxious about his prospects in the other world), and those in the church 

 of Edlesborough, founded by John Crakhall (or Crachely), archdeacon 

 of Bedford, and Thomas Butler. 3 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, 269. It is said to have been rebuilt in an article by Mr. St. 

 John Hope in Records of Bucks, viii. 135. See also Parker, History of Wycombe, p. 131, and Hist. MSS. 

 Com. v. 556. 



8 In the agreement made between the abbot of Biddlesden and Hugh de Dunsterre in 1266 (Harl. 

 MS. 4714, f. 340), a chaplain was appointed ' to serve the chantry of the chapel ' of St. Giles, Litcote ; 

 and his duty was explained afterwards to be the same as that of any ordinary chaplain. It is also worth 

 noting that the list of ornaments of the chapel of St. Giles, Litcote, just mentioned, includes nothing 

 that suggests requiem services. It seems probable that in these early ' chantries ' the founder was merely 

 commemorated at the offertory on definite occasions. 



3 The following list includes all the chantries above-mentioned and others besides, though it does 

 not pretend to be complete. The chantry in the chapel of St. John Baptist, Buckingham, founded 

 by Matthew Stratton, archdeacon of Bucks, 1268, Chantry Certificate 4, No. 9. In the chapel of 

 St. Giles, Litcote, by Hugh de Dunsterre, 1266 (Harl. MS. 4714, f. 340). In the chapel of the manor 

 of Liscombe, by Sir Robert Lovet, 1304 (Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Dalderby, 178). In the church of Edles- 

 borough, by John de Crakhall, 1318, (ibid. 276d). In the church of Hanslope, by Thurstan Keswyck, 

 1321 (ibid. Burghersh, 326). In the chapel of Dagnall, by Henry Spigurnel, 1326 (ibid. Memo. Burg- 

 hersh, I48d). Three chantries by Sir John de Molyns in 1338 ; one in Ditton chapel, one in the church 



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