A HISTORY OF DORSET 



herself and her household wherever she might be 

 w::hin the city and diocese of Salisbury.'^ 



'Terenta of the Nuns' was included among 

 religious houses of the Cistercian order to be 

 visited by the abbot of Ford in virtue of the 

 royal commission, January, 1535," but no report 

 is recorded of its condition. 



The Valor of the same year gives the abbey a 

 clear annual income of jr2l4 7;. <^d., the abbess 

 claiming to be discharged of a yearly allowance 

 of £t, for an annual distribution of bread to the 

 poor on Maundy Thursday in commemoration of 

 ' Eleanor, sometime queen of England, the 

 foundress."^ The convent held the par- 

 sonages of Little Crawford, Woodyates, and 

 Hanford, with a portion out of the church of 

 Tarrant Keynston.'^ The abbey was at that 

 time void, conge cTHire on the death of Edith, last 

 abbess, being granted in August of the same year.'* 

 The names of the principal officers are given as 

 follows : — Margaret Lynde, prioress ; Anna 

 Cheverell, sub-prioress ; Joan More, cellarer ; 

 Alicia Hart, sacrist.'^ 



Margaret Russell, who succeeded, held office 

 till 13 March, 1539, when with the sub-prioress 

 and eighteen of her nuns she surrendered the 

 abbey into the hands of the royal commissioner, 

 John Smyth. A pension of j^40was assigned to 

 the abbess, to the prioress ^^6 1 31. 4^., to the sub- 

 prioress lOOi., and to the seventeen remaining 

 sisters sums ranging from £^ to 66;. 2id. each.*" 



William Joliffe, chaplain, later received a pension 



of SV- 4^^-" 



After the Dissolution the abbey, with the 

 manor of Preston or Tarrant Crawford, was 

 granted in reversion to Sir Thomas Wyatt ; *- 

 a few years later it came into the hands of 

 Richard Savage and W. Strangways.*' 



Abbesses of Tarrant Kaines 



Claricia, elected about 1228" 

 Emelina" 



Maud, occurs 1240" 

 IsolJa, occurs 1280^' 

 Elena, elected 1298 ''^ 

 Anne, occurs 135 i *' 



Clemence de Cernyngton, occurs 1377*° 

 Joan, occurs 1402 '^ 

 Avice, occurs 1404'" 

 Edith Coker, died in 1535 " 

 Margaret Russell, elected 1535," surrendered 

 March, 1539" 



The thirteenth-century pointed oval seal 

 attached to the surrender deed of the abbey 

 represents on a corbel the Virgin with crown, 

 standing, the Holy Child on the left arm. Be- 

 fore her the abbess kneeling holds up a flowering 

 branch. In the field two trees.'* 



The legend runs : — 



jjl SIGILLVM . CONVENTVS . DE . TARENT 



HOUSES OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS 



II. THE PRECEPTORY OF FRIAR 

 MAYNE 



It cannot exactly be stated when the preceptory 

 of Friar Mayne was erected, though there is ample 

 evidence that the Knights Hospitallers possessed 

 property here and at West Knighton early in the 

 reign of Edward I.^ Thus it is reported among 

 the inquisitions returned 3 Edward I that Thomas 

 del Boys gave to the hospital of St. John of 



" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 1 15 </. 



« L. and P. Hen. Fill, viii, 74. 



^ Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 265-7. " Ibid. 



"* L. and P. Hen. Vlll, ix, 236. 



'' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 267. 



*» L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv (l), 515. 



" Add. MS. 19047, fol. 6. 



" Dugd-ile, Mon. v, 628. 



" Tar.ner, Votltia, Dorset, No. xxviii. 



" Her profession to Richard le Poor, bishop of 

 Salisbury, cannot be later, as in that year he was 

 translated to Durham. 



" Her profession on election, undated, can be seen 

 in the muniment room at the cathedral at Salisbury. 



« Chart. R. 24 Hen. III,m. 3. 



*' Hutchins, Hist, oj Dorset, iii, 121. 



*' In that year she did homage to the bishop on her 

 election ; Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, i, fol. 33. 



Jerusalem land in Kyngeston or Knighton which 

 used to do suit and service at the hundred court, 

 and that this service valued at li. had been with- 

 drawn by the prior and brethren." In 1290 the 

 prior of the order obtained from Edward I a 

 charter of free warren in all the demesne lands 

 of his manor of Mayne,' and in the Taxatio of 



•' Cat. of Pap. Letters, iii, 407. 



"> Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 31. 



*' Ibid. 3 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. ij d. 



" Ibid. 5 Hen. I\', pt. 2, m. 29 d. 



« L. and P. Hen. Vlll, ix, 236. 



** Both Dugdale and Tanner make the mistake of 

 giving Margaret L}-nde, who was prioress when the 

 Valor of 1535 vvas t.-ken, as abbess; Dugdale, 

 Mon. V, 620 ; Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 12 I. 



" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv (i), 515. This list, 

 with the addition of fresh names and some corrections 

 of date, closely follows that of Hutchins, Hist, of 

 Dorset, iii, 121. 



" Deeds of Surrender, No. 233. 



' According to Hutchins {Hist, of Dorset, ii, 498) 

 Knighton took its name from the Knights Templars 

 or Hospitallers here (Knightoun); Friar Mayne, now a 

 hamlet in West Knighton parish, was formerly a manor 

 adjoining. 



' Bund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 100. 



' Chart. R. 18 Edw. I, No. 810. 



90 



