ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



parish with a population of five hundred * ' howseling ' people that is, 

 of persons old enough to receive the Eucharist had a college in the 

 parish church of the foundation of Thomas the late Lord Dacre, father 

 of the Lord Dacre that then was. The lands and tenements belonging 

 to the institution were valued at 89 IGJ. gd. The college in the parish 

 church of Greystoke, on which three thousand ' howselinge ' people were 

 dependent, was ' off the foundation of one Urbane, bishoppe of Rome at 

 the peticon of one Rafe, baron of Graystocke, auncestour to the lorde 

 Dacre that nowe is.' John Dacre, the master, was also parson and served 

 the cure himself, there being no endowed vicar. There were two 

 chapels belonging to the college called ' Watermelike and Threlkett, th' 

 one distant seven miles and th' other six miles from the parish church.' 

 The yearly revenue of the college amounted to 84 19^. 8*/., which, 

 after deducting reprises of $ys. ic*/., left a rental ' clere by yere ' of 

 82 u. lod. These were the only two collegiate churches in the 

 county. 



The chantry of Our Lady in Hutton in the Forest was of the 

 foundation of the ancestors of William Hutton to celebrate in the 

 parish church there for ever. There were two chantries in Penrith, 

 one in the castle and the other in the parish church ; the salary to the 

 priest of the former was paid annually at the King's audit, the office 

 being in the gift of the Crown. There were no lands to maintain the 

 service of the priest in the parish church, but the incumbent received 

 his stipend yearly by the hands of Sir John Lowther. The chantry of 

 the Blessed Mary in Skelton and that of St. Leonard " in Bromfield 

 were founded to celebrate mass and sing divine service in the parish 

 churches there. The parish of Wigton contained three institutions 

 coming within the purview of the Act, namely, the chantry of 

 St. Katherine in the parish church, the hospital of St. Leonard, and a 

 free chapel ' of the foundation of the ancestors of the late Earl of 

 Northumberland to celebrate there, which was not observed, for it lieth 

 on the Borders and is decayed and destroyed.' Three stipendiary cura- 

 cies were endowed for the purpose of celebrating mass in the parish 

 church of Torpenhow, the incumbents whereof received a salary of 4 

 each. Though the parish of Crosthwaite contained two thousand 'house- 

 ling ' people, there was but one chantry, that of St. Mary Magdalene, 

 for the purpose of celebrating mass in the parish church. In Egremont 

 there was a stipendiary, called a Lady priest, and in Brigham a chantry, 

 both for the purpose of celebrating mass and singing divine service in 

 the parish churches there. The chantries of Cockermouth were of a 

 diversified description. The stipendiary of the parish chantry ' used to 

 kepe and teache a grammer schole there and to pray for the soulle of 



1 In another list of the chantries, compiled when they were in the hands of the King, the population 

 of Kirkoswald is set down as ' one thousand howseling people ' (Augmentation Office, Chantry Certificate 

 No. 12, Cumberland). In both enumerations, of course, the parish of Dacre, being under the spiritual 

 charge of the college, would be included. 



a When the revenues of this chantry were sold, it was called the chantry of St. George the Martyr 

 in the church of Brumfeld (Augmentation Office, Miscellaneous Books, Ixvii. 148-50). 



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