A HISTORY OF DORSET 



successor.'* Peter Rampisham, elected in 1475 

 built the west part ' not many yeres syns,' says 

 Leland." From the time of the fire down to the 

 Dissolution, when the abbey church was sold by 

 Sir John Horsey to the parishioners, and the 

 chapel was pulled down as being no longer 

 required, Alhalowes' was legally and definitely 

 assigned to the inhabitants of Sherborne as the 

 parish church." The income of the abbey on 

 the eve of the Reformation was declared by the 

 Valor of 1535 at ;£682 14J. yf^. net." The 

 churches in the possession of the monks included 

 the parsonages of Bradford and Horton (Dorset), 

 Carswell and Beer and Seaton (Devon);'' and 

 among their temporalities were the manors of 

 Stoke Abbott, Corscombe, Halstock, Bradford, 

 Wyke, ' Stawell,' Thornford, O borne, Weston, 

 and Stalbridge (Dorset), Carswell, Littleham 

 and Exmouth, Beer and Seaton (Devon).'' The 

 amount assigned for distribution in alms to the poor 

 on the anniversary of founders, &c., shows that 

 the brethren did not neglect one of the main 

 duties of a religious community. In Thornford, 

 assigned to the office of the almoner, there was a 

 yearly charge of £6 6s. as follows : — 4.1. in bread 

 distributed annually to the poor of Sherborne on 

 the day of St. Cadast (?) for the soul of John Send 

 (Saunde or Saunders), sometime abbot ; 6s. 8d. in 

 bread distributed on the feast of St. Benedict for 

 the soul of Alfric Thornecomb ; ;^5 in a daily 

 distribution from the house of the almoner for 

 the soul of the aforesaid Alfric ; 2s. in bread dis- 

 tributed on Palm Sunday for the soul of Richard 

 Chynnock ; 13;. 4^. in bread, ale, fish, and 

 money distributed to the poor on Maundy 

 Thursday for the soul of the aforesaid founder.'" 

 From the rectory of Corscombe 2;. Sd. was 

 assigned in bread to the poor at Sherborne for 

 the soul of Ralph Vatrell on the feast of St. Peter 

 and St. Paul.*' From the manor of Stalbridge a 

 distribution of 2s. ^d. was yearly made to the poor 

 for the soul of the mother of William de la Wyll 

 by the foundation of the said William.*" The 

 sum of ;^4 1 1;. was laid out in a distribution of 

 bread for the soul of Peter Rampisham, late abbot 

 of Sherborne, and 6s. 8d. for the soul of Roger 

 Gylden ;*' on the feast of St. Bartholomew bread 



'* ' All the est parte of St. Mary Chirch was reedi- 

 fied in abate Bradeford's tyme,' says Leland in one 

 place, 'saving a chapelle of Our Lady, an olde peace of 

 work that the fier came not to by reason that it was 

 of an older building ' (//•/». ii, 48). In another place 

 he says, ' Peter Ramsunne, next abbate save one to 

 Bradaford, buildid al the west part of the chirch ' 

 (ibid, iii, 90). 



" According to Leland the same abbot ' sette 

 a chapelle caullid our lady of Bowe harde to the 

 south side of the old Lady Chapplle ' (ii, 49). 



" From the parish register of Sherborne quoted by 

 Dugdale, Mon. i, 335. 



" rahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 285. 



" Ibid. 281. " Ibid. 282-4. *° Ibid. 2. 



" Ibid. 282. *' Ibid. 286. *= Ibid. 284. 



68 



to the value of 10;. was annually distributed for 

 the soul of Robert Ayam, knt., and alms were daily 

 distributed at the door of the refectory, called 

 ' le frayter,' for the soul of Philip, sometime abbot 

 of Sherborne, viz. one loaf of monks' bread and 

 a measure of ale, at a yearly charge of £^2 51. c^d^ 

 Among the charges on the abbey was the sum 

 of ySf. for the exhibition of three scholars in the 

 grammar school of Sherborne of the foundation 

 of Alfric Thornecomb,*' and ^^5 for a corrody 

 for a person to be nominated from time to time 

 by the king, and at that time held by William 

 Burn. 



In the promotion of John Barnstable as abbot 

 on the resignation of John Mere in 1535,** the 

 policy of securing superiors unlikely to lend 

 opposition to the new order of things is not 

 far to seek. ' I thank you,' writes Sir John 

 Horsey, to whom the dissolved abbey was after- 

 wards granted, to Cromwell on 9 May from 

 Sherborne, ' for offering my friend Dan John 

 Barnstable to be abbot of Shyrborne on the 

 resignation of Dan John Mere late abbot,' ' the 

 monastery,' he adds, *are well pleased with the 

 appointment.'*' The new abbot, in a letter to 

 the ' Visitor General of the monasteries ' thanking 

 him for his appointment, expresses his willing- 

 ness to follow various directions as to the man- 

 agement of the house,** his compliance receiving 

 due reward in the measure of liberty allowed 

 him.*' On the fall of the house 1 8 March, 1539, 

 the abbot, who had surrendered with sixteen of 

 his brethren, received a pension of ;^ioo, the 

 priors of Horton and Kidwelly £% each, the sub- 

 prior of Sherborne and another monk £1 each, 

 seven of the brethren £6 13J. \d. each, and four 

 monks £6 each.'" Henry VIII on 4 January, 

 1540, made over to Sir John Horsey the house 

 and site of the late dissolved monastery together 

 with certain of its possessions.'' Sir John, on 

 26 March following, sold to the parishioners of 

 Sherborne, for the sum of 1 00 marks, the con- 

 ventual church, which has from that time been the 

 parish church of the town. 



Abbots of Sherborne" 



Thurstan, consecrated 1122'^ 

 Peter, occurs about 1 142 '* 



«' Ibid. 285. »» Ibid. 



*^Z,. and P. Hen. Vll, viii, 852. John Mere 

 secured a pension of ^^40 on his resignation. 



«' Ibid. 693. «* Ibid. 852. 



«' Ibid, ix, 256. » Ibid, xiv (i), 556. 



" Ibid. XV, 562. 



'' Of the early superiors of Sherborne who presided 

 in the capacity of praepositu! primus or decanus over 

 the secular canons, and on their removal as priors over 

 the monks substituted in their place, no record seems 

 left prior to the erection of Sherborne into an abbey in 

 the year 1 122, when Thurstan was consecrated abbot. 

 Cott. MS. Faust, ii, fol. 25 a'. 



*' Ibid. '* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 232. 



