A HISTORY OF DORSET 



HOUSE OF UNCERTAIN ORDER 



19. WILCHESWOOD > 



The history of this priory, chantry, or free 

 chapel is very obscure, and can only be partially 

 reconstructed with the help of certain documents 

 which came into the possession of the Coker 

 family on the Dissolution.' Coker, in his Survey 

 of Dorset (1732), states that this house,dedicated to 

 St. Leonard, was founded by Roger le Walleys, 

 lord of the manor of Langton Wallis and 

 grandson of Ingelram le Walleys, in the forty- 

 seventh year of Edward III (1373) ; ' but it was 

 certainly founded many years earlier, probably 

 in the first part of the century. According to a 

 charter, undated, Alice, once the wife of William 

 de Ponsont and widow of Ingelram le Walleys, 

 gave a tenement in the manor of Mappowder for 

 the maintenance of William Bonet, chaplain, to 

 celebrate an obit for the souls of the said William 

 and their ancestors at Wilcheswood for life, with 

 a proviso that in the event of the transference of 

 the prior and brethren of the house the chaplain 

 should receive satisfaction out of the revenues.'' 

 By another deed, also undated, William de 

 Watercumb, chaplain, warden of the house of 

 St. Leonard at Wilcheswood and the brethren 

 there leased to William Aignel and his wife 

 of Stour Provost a certain tenement with houses, 

 lands, &c., for the term of their lives for the 

 sum of 8 marks sterling in hand.' 



Roger le Walleys, Wallis, or Walsh, whom 

 Coker erroneously gives as the founder, appears 

 to have added rather to the endowment of the 

 house; in 1373 he presented Henry Atte- 

 chapelle, chaplain, to the chantry, that he might 

 find maintenance for himself and two fellows 

 {soc'tt) in the chapel of Wilcheswood and St. George 

 of Langton (Matravers), serving God and St. 

 Leonard there, with the grant for life of i caru- 



cate of land in Mappowder, and charged only with 

 the provision of a lamp to burn during mass in 

 the chapel of Langton.*^ 



The advowson of the priory appears always 

 to have accompanied the manor, and by a fine 

 levied in 1398 between John Fauntleroy and 

 Joanna his wife, granddaughter of Roger le 

 Walleys, and John Foliol, the second husband 

 of Margaret, daughter of the same, the manor 

 of Langton Wallis, &c. with the ' chantry ' 

 of Wilcheswood was granted to John Foliol for 

 his life with remainder to William Foliol his 

 son and Joanna his wife and the heirs of 

 Joanna.^ In the third year of Henry V 

 William Talbot, clerk, warden of the chantry 

 of Wilcheswood, delivered over to William 

 Foliol the muniments of the chantry, consisting 

 of nineteen charters and indentures sealed, and 

 one indenture unsealed, two papal bulls, four 

 royal letters patent, and a copy of the presenta- 

 tion of Henry Attechapelle by Roger le Walleys.* 



The lands of the priory in the reign of 

 Henry VIII consisted of a carucate of land in 

 Mappowder valued at 6j., lands in Knowlton, 

 parcel of the manor of Woodlands, with other 

 lands and a mill estimated at £i) lbs. 4^. ;' 

 after the Dissolution these came into the hands of 

 the Coker family. 



Chaplains or Wardens 



Adam de Watercumb, occurs in a deed with- 

 out date ^^ 

 Ralph de Sayr, occurs in a deed of 1316-17 " 

 Henry Attechapelle, presented 1373*' 

 William Talbot, occurs 1413 and 1417^^ 

 Richard Petworth, presented 1417" 

 Hugh Filiol, occurs 1506-7, and in the reign 

 of Henry VIII " 



HOSPITALS 



20. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY 

 MAGDALEN, ALLINGTON 



At Allington,* anciently a village not far distant 

 from Bridport and now forming part of the 

 borough, was a lazar house or hospital for lepers 

 dedicated to the honour of St. Mary Magdalen. 



' At the time of the Domesday Survey, Wilceswode, 

 as it is termed, formed part of the holding of the widow 

 of Hugh Fitz Grip ; Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.),i, 84. 



' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 641 ; iii, 729, note^. 



' Hutchins, op. cit. i, 48. ' Ibid, i, 641. 



» Ibid, iii, 729. " Ibid, i, 641. 



' Ibid. 637. M bid. 641. 



' Ibid, and iii, 729. 



98 



Various accounts are given of its foundation. 

 Coker, in his Survey of Dorset, attributes it to the 

 family of the Chideocks.' Hutchins, reciting 

 an instrument contained in the corporation 

 archives of Bridport, states that it was 'founded, 

 or rather better endowed,' by John Holtby, 

 canon of Salisbury and custos of the house de 



" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 641. 



" Ibid, iii, 729. '» Ibid, i, 641. 



" Ibid, iii, 729 ; i, 641. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. 



' In Domesday Book the village occurs as Adeling- 

 tone (Rec. Com. i, 80^). Later it is given also as 

 Athelington or Allington. 



' Op. cit. (ed. 1732), 24. 



