A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



mouthshire to Henry, earl of Warwick, with 

 licence to appropriate it to Tewkesbury. In 

 1442, with the full approval of Eugenius IV, 

 Goldcliff Priory was made a cell of Tewkesbury. 1 

 It was stated that the revenues of the monastery 

 did not then exceed 2,000 marks, and the priory 

 was worth 200 a year. The abbot and con- 

 vent were bound to maintain a prior and two 

 monks in priest's orders at Goldcliff. In 1445 

 the three monks of Tewkesbury were expelled 

 from Goldcliff by the Welsh, but in 1447 they 

 again took possession of it. 3 Their enjoyment of 

 its revenues was short, for in 1450 the priory 

 was granted by Henry VI to Eton College. 3 In 

 1462 Edward IV revoked the grant of Henry VI 

 and restored Goldcliff Priory to Tewkesbury. 

 However, in 1467, he again granted Goldcliff to 

 Eton College, and compensated Tewkesbury by 

 the gift of the alien priory of Deerhurst. 4 The 

 condition of the grant was that the abbot and 

 convent of Tewkesbury should maintain a prior 

 and four monks at Deerhurst, and a secular priest 

 to serve the parishioners as vicar. The union 

 of Deerhurst with Tewkesbury was confirmed by 

 Carpenter, bishop of Worcester, in 1469.* 



In 1471 some of the fugitives from the battle 

 of Tewkesbury fled to the church and were 

 there slain by the pursuers. On 30 May the 

 bishop of Down and Connor purified the sanctuary 

 after its pollution by blood. 6 Among the dead 

 who were buried by the monks was Prince 

 Edward, the only son of Henry VI. 



The appetite of the abbot and convent for 

 the appropriation of churches was insatiable. 

 Tarrant Monachorum in Dorsetshire had been 

 appropriated before 1439,' Penmark in the 

 diocese of Llandaff between 1420 and 1443, 

 Sherston before I47I. 8 On the plea that the 

 revenues of the Lady Chapel had declined in 

 value, and that they desired to increase the 

 splendour of the services therein, in 1470 the 

 monks appropriated the church of Holy Trinity, 

 Bristol, but two years later they consented to a 

 revocation and received instead the church of 

 Compton Parva. 9 However, there is evidence in 

 1 494 that the convent was seriously embarrassed, 

 for heavy legal expenses had been incurred in 

 suits about both Goldcliff and Deerhurst. 10 The 

 number of monks in the house in that year was 

 thirty-three ; u a survey of their finances obliged 

 them to seek an increase of their revenues, and a 

 further appropriation of churches was the easiest 



I Dugdale, Mon. vii, 1021. 



' Ibid, ii, 64. s Ibid, vii, 1 02 1. 



4 Ibid, iv, 664. 



6 Wore. Epis. Reg. Carpenter, ii, fob. 1-6. 



6 Mass4, Tewkesbury Abbey, 14. 



7 Dugdale, op. cit. ii, 64 ; cf. Cal. of Pat. 7 Ric. II, 

 pt. i, m. 44. 



8 Dugdale, op. cit. ii, 64. 



9 Wore. Epis. Reg. Carpenter, ii, fol. 7 d, 28. 



10 Line. Epis. Reg. Wolseyand Atwater, fol. 61-65. 



II Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Morton, fol. 169. 



method. Fields, meadows, and rich pastures 

 in their manors of Kingston and Wyke in 

 Sussex had been swallowed up by the sea. Some 

 of their lands in other parts of England were 

 untilled and unoccupied, and they received 100 

 a year less on that account. In 1494 William 

 Smith, bishop of Lincoln, allowed them to 

 appropriate the church of Great Marlow, which 

 they had attempted in 1242, when Robert 

 Grosseteste rebuffed them. At the beginning of 

 the sixteenth century they were confronted with 

 further difficulties. The great bell-tower, the 

 cloister, and other houses and buildings in the 

 monastery were said to be in a ruinous condition ; 

 some of their manor houses and barns were in 

 the same plight. On account of insufficient 

 revenues the number of monks and servants had 

 been greatly diminished, and hospitality, a heavy 

 burden, was not maintained as it should have 

 been. 12 Accordingly, in 1500, the church of 

 Taynton was appropriated, with the consent of 

 William Smith, bishop of Lincoln, 13 and the 

 church of Eastleach Turville, by the per- 

 mission of the vicar-general of Silvester de 

 Giglis, bishop of Worcester. 14 Five years later 

 the church of Wotton-under-Edge in Glouces- 

 tershire was also appropriated. 1 ' 



The clear value of the possessions of the 

 monastery, including the cells of Deerhurst, 

 St. James Bristol, and Cranbourne, amounted 

 in 1535 to 1,598 I Of. 3^. 16 The revenues 

 of the great officers of the religious houses are 

 but rarely indicated in the Valor Ecclesiasticus. 

 At Tewkesbury they are set forth with admir- 

 able clearness. The lands and churches assigned 

 in the ordinance of 1105 remained in the 

 hands of the same officers. The abbot received 

 253 145. J\d. He had acquired for his office 

 several of the most profitable manors formerly 

 belonging to the priory of Deerhurst, and all the 

 five recently appropriated churches. It is clear 

 that before the dissolution, as at Winchcombe, 

 he also administered the revenues of the cellarer, 

 which amounted to 842 i8j. nd., and thus 

 had entire control over two-thirds of the income 

 of the house. 17 



He seems to have acquired arbitrary power, 

 for it is noted in the Valor that he had the right 

 of appointing and removing all the officers of the 

 house at his sole will and pleasure. The visita- 

 tions of the vicars-general of the four Italian 



11 Wore. Epis. Reg. Silvester de Giglis, fol. 128. 



13 Line. Epis. Reg. Smith, fol. 37-52. 



14 Wore. Epis. Reg. Silvester de Giglis, fol. 128. 

 "Ibid. fol. 183. 



" Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), ii, 471-86. The 

 revenues of the cells of Deerhurst, St. James Bristol, 

 and Cranbourne were valued respectively at 

 134 8/. of d, 55 7/. 4</., 37 I?'- & The ap- 

 parent decline in the value of the priory of Deerhurst 

 is accounted for by the appropriation to the abbot of 

 several of its manors. 



17 Ibid. 480-6. 



64 



