A HISTORY OF DORSET 



HOUSE OF CLUNIAC MONKS 



8. THE PRIORY OF HOLNE OR 

 EAST HOLME 



The priory of Holme, or Holne as it was 

 anciently called, a cell of the Cluniac priory of 

 Montacute in Somerset, was founded towards 

 the middle of the twelfth century ' by Robert 

 de Lincoln, the son of Alured de Lincoln. The 

 founder, in his charter for the endowment of the 

 new establishment, recites that ' moved by divine 

 instinct to build a house of religion in honour of 

 God ' he has given to God and the church of 

 St. Peter of Montacute and the monks serving 

 God there his land which is called Holne,' in 

 perpetual alms for the maintenance of thirteen 

 monks, the gift being made with the concurrence 

 of Bcuza his wife and Alured his son, by the 

 counsel and consent of the bishop of Salisbury, 

 in the presence of the prior and monks of 

 Montacute, and of Gilbert the monk, 'to whom 

 I afterwards personally gave the place,* for the 

 souls of King Henry, of the donor's father and 

 mother, of himself, his wife, and children, 

 relations, and friends. The original endowment 

 also consisted of three virgates of land at Weston 

 Worth (JFrda) in Purbeck, a tithe of the bread, 

 meat, and fish provided for the use of his house- 

 hold {de dlipema domus met) and that of his heirs, 

 a salt-pan of the salt works adjacent to his manor 

 of Langton, with tithes of his demesne at Oke- 

 ford Fitzpaine, at Winterborne Whitchurch, 

 Langton near Abbotsbury, and Corton in Porti- 

 sham, besides tithes of the demesne at Chesel- 

 bourne and Watercombe, the gift of Bardolph 

 * my knight.' ' Alured, the founder's son, added 

 to the gifts of his father and confirmed all former 

 grants, stating that they were bestowed in free 



alms, quit of all suit and service save of celebrat- 

 ing divine offices for the soul of the founder, of 

 his ancestors and successors, and of all the faith- 

 ful departed.* 



An inquisition, held in June, 1 28 1, as to the 

 lands and tenements of the prior of Montacute 

 in the isle of Purbeck reported that these were 

 extended to the value of j^i6 6j. 2d., and in- 

 cluded, besides the advowson of the church of 

 Holme, valued at 60J., a garden and curtilage 

 with 34 acres of arable land, 40 acres of meadow, 

 a turbary, fish-pond, fixed rents {reddii' assis') of 

 the villeins, their works, pleas, perquisites, fines 

 of land and heriots within the manor of Holme.* 

 The Taxatio of 1 29 1 gives the priory an income 

 only of ;^5 10;. 8<^., the spiritualities, amounting 

 to j^2 13J. 8i/., derived from pensions from the 

 following churches : — Puddletown,' Warmwell,' 

 Corton, Langton Herring, and Powerstock ; * 

 the temporalities were valued at £^2 I'js., of 

 which £2 IS. id. came from Weston Worth 

 in Purbeck.' 



As a cell subordinate to an alien house, Holme 

 was constantly in the hands of the crown during 

 the Hundred Years' War. On 8 October, 

 1324, the farm of the lands of the prior of Mon- 

 tacute in Holme and Plush was committed by 

 Edward II to Walter Beril and Roger de Blokkes- 

 worthe until the superior had found sufficient 

 security to satisfy the king, after which they were 

 ordered to amove their hand.'" Edward III, 

 shortly after his accession, made a general 

 restoration to the abbot of Cluny of all his lands 

 and possessions in England, '^ but they were sub- 

 sequently re-seized, and in 1337 the prior of 

 Holme was ordered to pay a fine of six marks 

 and 40;. for the custody of his priory." In 1339 



' It cannot be hter than the twelfth year of 

 Henry II, as in that year Alured, the son of the 

 founder, was in possession of the paternal estate. 



' In a charter of Henry I, the king testifies to 

 Roger bishop of Salisbury and Warin the sheriff that 

 he has granted a licence to Alured de Lincoln to 

 hold the land of Holme, which he has obtained by 

 purchase of ' Grimaldus medicus ' in fee. See early 

 account of Holme Priory by Thomas Bond (Hutchins, 

 Hilt, of Dorset, i) inserted between pp. 552-3. This 

 Alured has sometimes been identified with the Alured 

 de Lincoln who held estates in Lincolnshire at the 

 time of the Domesday Survey, and in all probability 

 they came of the same family. The Dorset branch is 

 subsequently found in possession of nearly the whole 

 estate held in this county at the time of the Survey by 

 the widow of Hugh Fitz Grip {Dom. Bk. [Rec. Com.], 

 i, 83^), which they probably obtained by marriage ; 

 Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 552-3- 



' Ibid. 



* The charter of the founder and his son are given 

 by Thomas Bond in his early account of the priory, 

 ibid, i, 552-3. Among other grants, Alured, son of 

 the founder, conferred on the monks land at Plush, 

 with the right of pasturing ten oxen, one heifer, and 

 250 sheep there with the cattle of the abbot of 

 Glastonbury. 



' Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. I, No. 47. 



^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 179. 



' Ibid. 1793. The charter of Alured, the founder's 

 son, records the grant of the church of Warmwell to 

 the monks by 'Gunfridus my man.' 



• Ibid. 180, 182*. 

 ' Ibid. 1833. 



'° Mins. Acts. bdle. I 125, No. 7. 



" Rymer, Foedera, iv, 246-7. 



" Close, 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 36. The prior, 

 in 1332, was requisitioned for a contribution towards 

 the expenses incurred by the king for the marriage of 

 his sister ; ibid. 6 Edw. Ill, m. id d. 



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