RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



successors to the privileges of confraternity by 

 Richard Draper, D.D., custodian of the custody 

 of Bristol and warden of the convent of 

 Dorchester/' 



Sir Roger of Newborough, lent., and William 

 who was abbot of Milton 148 1-1525 granted to 

 these friars an annual alms of 43J. 4^. from lands 

 in Upper Stirthill." 



The bishop of Dover visited the house in 

 September, 1538, and had some difficulty in 

 obtaining the surrender;'' he notes that the 

 warden, Dr. Germen,^" had been there many 

 years and was in high favour, so that he (the 

 writer) had much trouble to come to a knowledge 

 of the state of the house. Finding that the mill, 

 which was worth ^TlO a year, had been recently let 

 to Lord Stourton for ^^4, the visitor seized it into 

 the king's hands and retained the miller to the 

 king's use. The deed of surrender was signed 

 on 30 September, 1538, by Dr. William 

 Germen, Edmund Dorcet, Thomas Clas, John 

 Tregynzyon, John Clement, John Laurens, 

 Stephen Popynjay, and Thomas Wyre.'° The 

 'stuff' was delivered to the bailiffs of the town 

 on behalf of the king : it included a table at the 

 high altar of imagery after the old fashion, 

 a small pair of organs, fair stalls well canopied, 

 and divers tombs in the choir, four tables and 

 three great images of alabaster, a new tabernacle 

 for the image of St. Francis, divers images stolen 

 (?), and divers tombs in the church ; three bells 

 of different sizes in the steeple. In the vestry 

 six suits with other vestments, some of them with 

 blue velvet embroidered. In the chambers a 

 feather bed without a bolster, blankets, quilt 

 and sheets ; two old carpets, ' one of them in 

 the king's chamber,' besides furniture in the hall, 

 frater, buttery, kitchen and brew-house. Further, 

 to redeem plate in pledge for £1 and to pay 

 certain wages and the visitor's charges the 

 following articles were sold : an iron grate about 

 a tomb in the church (40J.), a white vestment 

 with deacon and subdeacon (40J.), two feather 

 beds and a covering ( I o;.), 'an old cope durneks,' 

 a pillow and old iron with a holy water stoup 

 [fs. ^d.). The visitor also sold a press standing 

 in the vestry for 131. /^d. The plate weighed 

 1265^ oz. There were also various deeds and 

 ' two horses belonging to the mill.' *' Part of 

 the steeple and three panes of the cloister were 

 covered with lead."" 



William, Lord Stourton, sought to secure a 

 grant of the Grey Friars,*' but the house and 

 grounds were in 1539 leased and in 1543 sold 



'* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 365. 

 " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 25 i. 

 " L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 482. 

 " Cf. Little, Grey Friars in Oxf. (Oxf. Hist. See), 

 275. 



^ L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 474. «' Ibid. 



«- Treas. Receipts (P.R.O.), A. j\, fol. 4. 

 " L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 482. 



to Edmund Peckham, cofferer to the king's 

 household." The property, consisting of the 

 house and site, with water-mill and 6 acres of 

 ground, was valued at £\ a year, less 8j. for the 

 tenth, and the price paid was £'J2.^^ Peckham 

 had at the time of the Dissolution bought the 

 elms growing on the property for ;^8.*' He sold 

 the estate to Thomas Wriothesley, earl of 

 Southampton, and Paul Dorrel, esq., in 1547, 

 and it subsequently passed to Sir Francis Ashley, 

 knt., whose heiress brought it to Denzil, Lord 

 Holies." 



Wardens 



John Colsweyn, 1327^* 

 John Loss, 1485"' 

 Richard Draper, 15 10 

 William Germen, 1538 



15. THE CARMELITE FRIARS OF 

 BRIDPORT 



In a letter of which the superscription is lost 

 the writer, who represents himself as the special 

 protector of the Carmelite order, requests his 

 correspondent ' to permit the friars to perform 

 divine offices without molestation or difficulty in 

 the oratory which they have built at Bridport. 

 The letter was probably written by Cardinal 

 Ottobon, papal legate in England 1265 to 1268, 

 to Walter de la Wyle, bishop of Salisbury.™ 

 In 1269 the Carmelites of Bridport received a 

 legacy of 2s. from Christina de Strikelane, 

 widow, of Bridport.'^ 



The house had only a brief existence. In 

 1365 Sir John Chideock,knt., applied for licence 

 to confer on the provincial prior and Carmelite 

 Friars of England 3 acres of land in Bridport for 

 the establishment of a friary, together with a 

 mill the profits of which would supply them 

 with bread, wine, wax, and other things 

 necessary for celebrating masses. An inquiry 

 being held, the jurors declared that the grant 

 would be injurious to the patron and rector of 

 the church of Bridport, and the licence was 

 not given.''^ It would appear from this that the 



"Ibid. XV, 555 (Aug. Off. Bk. 211, fol. 24); 

 xviii (i), 981 (108). 



" Partic. for Grants, file 852, m. 2, 6 ; Hutchins, 

 Hist, of Dorset, ii, 366. 



^ Partic. for Grants, ibid. m. 3. 



" On the history of the site see Hutchins, Hist, 

 of Dorset, ii, 365-6. 



'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii, 187 ; Hutchins, 

 Hist, of Dorset, ii, 365. 



«' Franc, a. S. Clara (Chr. Davenport), Hist. Mm. 

 Frat. Minorum Prov. Angl. 37-8. 



" Bodl. MS. Laud. Misc. 645, fol. 135; other 

 letters in the collection appear to have been written by 

 a papal legate about this time. 



" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (ed. 3), ii, 19. 



" Inq. a.q.d. file 355, No. 13. The writ says \oa., 

 the return 3a. 



95 



