RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



tainly a sinister suggestiveness about it : for 

 indeed it might seem worthy of remark that 

 one who had so lightly broken her ancient 

 vows should have stability enough to keep a 

 new one. 



The original endowment of the priory 

 comprised the demesne called Ankerwick in 

 Wyrardisbury parish, with small parcels of 

 land in the same neighbourhood, as well as in 

 Egham (Surrey), Greenford and Stanwell 

 (Middlesex), Henley, Windsor, etc. 1 King 

 Henry III. in 1242 granted the nuns licence 

 to pasture sixty pigs every year in the king's 

 forest of Windsor, quit of herbage and pan- 

 nage. 2 The temporalities mentioned in 

 the Taxatio were only worth icxr., 3 and they 

 had no spiritualities at all. The Valor Ecclesi- 

 asticus reports the value of the revenue of this 

 monastery as 22 os. 2d. clear 4 ; the minis- 

 ters' accounts give a total of 44 I2s. 6d., in- 

 cluding the demesne land and the manors of 

 Alderbourne, Bucks, Greenford and Stanwell 

 Park, Middlesex, and a manor in Egham, 

 Surrey. 8 



The revenues of this priory were granted by 

 the king for the foundation of the new abbey 

 of Bisham, which was destined to be so short- 

 lived. 8 



PRIORESSES OF ANKERWICK 



Lettice, 7 occurs 1194 



Emma, 8 occurs 1236, died 1238 



Celeste, 9 elected 1238 



Julian, 10 elected 1244 



Joan of Rouen, 11 elected 1251 



Margery of Hedsor, 12 occurs 1270, resigned 



1305 

 Alice de Sandford, 13 elected 1305 



of these fourteen belonged to Lincolnshire (eight 

 of them Gilbertine). It is a remarkably small 

 proportion, when we remember the numbers 

 turned adrift between 1536 and 1538, and the 

 change in public opinion in the reign of Edward VI. 

 Cat. of Chart. R., i. 472. 

 Ibid. 269. 



Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 2o6b. 

 Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), iv. 222. 

 Dugdale, Man. iv. 232. 

 L. and P. Henry VI 11. xii. (2) 1311. 

 ' Letia ' ; Campbell Cb. x. 7. 

 8 Dugdale, Man. iv. 230. The name of the 

 prioress who died 1238 is not given in the episcopal 

 register ; but it was probably the same who was 

 living in 1236. 



8 Line. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Grosstete. 

 >" Ibid. " Ibid. 



12 Cal. of Anct. D., A. 1590 ; called Margery of 

 Hedsor in Close, 8 Edw. I. m. 6d. 



Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Dalderby, 178. Prob- 

 ably of the family which had the advowson of 

 Missenden Abbey a little earlier. 



Emma of Kimberley, 14 elected 1316, died 



Joan of Oxford, 15 elected 1327, died 1349 

 Joan Godman, 18 elected 1384, died 1390 

 Maud Booth, 17 elected 1390, resigned 1401 

 Elizabeth Golaffre, 18 elected 1401 

 Clemence Medford, 19 occurs 1441 

 Margery Kirby, 2 elected 1443 

 Margaret Peart, 21 died 1478 

 Eleanor Spendlow, 22 elected 1478 

 Alice Worcester, 23 occurs 1526 and 1535 

 Magdalen Downes, 24 last prioress 



A round seal attached to a charter 25 of 

 Letia or Lettice, Prioress of Ankerwick, dated 

 5 Richard I. The colour is mottled green, 

 the edge of the seal is chipped. It represents 

 the priory church with half timbered walls, 

 round-headed doorway, thatched roof, bell 

 turret topped with a cross, and a cross at each 

 gable end. Legend: +SIGILL' ECCL' E SCE 

 M[A]RIE MAG DE ANK'WIC. 



A similar seal, dark brown in colour, the 

 sides much broken and the edge chipped away, 

 may be found attached to a charter of the 

 Prioress Margery and the convent, 26 dated 

 Conversion of St. Paul. Legend : SIG . . . 

 E . . DE. ANK'WIC. 



6. THE PRIORY OF LITTLE MARLOW 



The origin of this priory is quite unknown : 

 neither the date of foundation nor the name 

 of the founder can as yet be recovered. Le- 

 land indeed gives as the traditional founder 

 one ' Geoffrey, Lord Spencer,' a personage 

 unknown to history. 27 The patronage of the 

 monastery and the parish church was in the 

 family of d'Anvers early in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury ; the earls of Gloucester also gave their 



14 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby, 336. 

 " Ibid. Inst. Burghersh, 333d. 

 Ibid. Inst. Bokyngham, 376d. 



17 Ibid. 400. 



18 Ibid. Inst. Beaufort, 180. This is another 

 well-known name in Bucks. 



19 Visitations of Bishop Alnwick. 



20 Dugdale, Man. iv. 230. 



21 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Rotherham, loid. 



22 Ibid. Collated by the bishop, as there were 

 not enough nuns to elect, and confirmed by letters 

 patent. Pat. 18 Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 10. 



Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), iv. 222. 



24 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Longland, 190. The 

 date of her election is certainly 1526, when Alice 

 Worcester is said to have resigned ; but Alice Wor- 

 cester is named still as prioress in the Valor Ecd. 



B. M. Campbell Chart., x. 7. 



28 P.R.O. Doc. with seals attached, Ser. S. B. 12. 



17 Dugdale, Man. iv. 419. 



357 



