A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



stencilled on the back of the choir stalls, and 

 the tithe-barn near St. Cuthbert's church 

 built. His initials in monogram, T(homas) 

 G(udybour) P(rior), have been found in vari- 

 ous parts of the cathedral and monastic build- 

 ings, and it was stated in an inscription on 

 the door of an old cupboard in the sacristy 

 that the house flourished under his rule (domus 

 hec floruit Gudebowr sub tegmine Thome]. In 

 1484 King Richard III. granted to Thomas, 

 the prior, and the canons of the cathedral 

 church, a great part of the possessions of 

 which had been destroyed by the Scots, two 

 tuns of red wine of Gascony yearly in the 

 port of Kingston on Hull for use in their 

 church, that they might pray for the good 

 estate of the king and his consort Anne, 

 Queen of England, and for their souls after 

 death and the souls of the king's progenitors. 1 

 Among the muniments of the city of Car- 

 lisle there is an ' indenture made at Karlell ' 

 on i March 14845 'betwixt the right 

 worshipfull ffather in God, Thomas Gudybour, 

 priour, and his brethre the convent of the 

 cathedrall kirke of Karlell,' on the one part, 

 and the mayor and citizens of Carlisle on the 

 other, about ' the teynde multure of the 

 mylnes belongyng to the said Citee.' To 

 this deed the seal of the priory is attached, to- 

 gether with a counter-seal of singular design. 2 

 Simon Senus, Senose, or Senhouse, is said 

 to have been chosen prior of Carlisle in 1507, 

 but there must be an error of some years in 

 the date. On 10 December 1505 Thomas, 

 Lord Dacre, and Sir Edward Musgrave en- 

 tered into a recognizance of 1,000 marks 

 for the finding of four sureties before Simon, 

 prior of Carlisle, and Cuthbert Conyers, 

 clerk, for the payment of 540 marks due 

 to the king. The money was paid and 

 the debt cancelled on 12 July iSog. 3 By a 



Richard III. sent the following letter ' to o r wel- 

 beloved servant John Crakenthorp, receyvor of our 

 landes within our countie of Cumberland. We 

 woll and charge you y' of such money as is now 

 in yo handes or next and furst shall come unto 

 y same by vertue of yo r office, ye contente and 

 pay (among other disbursements) unto o r trusty and 

 welbeloved in God y priour of oure monastery 

 of Carlile the some of v" which we have geven 

 towardes ye making of a glasse windowe within 

 y* same o r monastery. And thise o r lettres shalbe 

 yo' warraunt and discharge in y behalve. Yvien 

 etc. at Gaynesburgh the xth day of Octobre the 

 first yere of o r reigne ' (Harl. MS. 433, f. 1203). 



1 Pat. I Ric. III. pt. ii. m. 20. 



* Trans. Cumb. and Westmld, Arch. Sof. vii. 

 330-4; Cat. of the Arch. Mus. firmed at CarRsle 

 in 1859, p. 24; Nicolson and Burn, Hist, of 

 Cumb. ii. 303. 



3 L. and P. Hen. mi. i. 296. 



148 



deed ' geven att Karlisle the xiii. day of June 

 the viiith yere of the reign of our most 

 naturall Soverayn lord king Henry the VIHth ' 

 (1516), Simon Senhouse, prior of Carlisle, joined 

 Thomas Lord Dacre, the lord warden of the 

 Marches, Sir Christopher Dacre, Robert Col- 

 dale, ' maire of the citie of Karlell,' and other 

 gentlemen, aldermen and bailiffs of the city 

 in an appeal for funds for ' the reedifyeng and 

 bulding of a new brige of xxi jowelles adion- 

 yng the wallis of the forsaid Citie standing 

 over the river of Eden now beyng decayed, 

 and a perte of the same fallen down.' * On 

 15 July 1518 a grant in frankalmoin was 

 made by the Crown to Simon, prior, and the 

 canons of Carlisle, of the fishery of Carlisle 

 at the annual rent of one mark, and of one 

 tun of red wine annually at the port of New- 

 castle for sacrament. 8 While Senhouse was 

 prior, his chamber or residence was rebuilt or 

 renovated, for in a room, now the drawing- 

 room, of the deanery, there remains a curi- 

 ously decorated ceiling with quaint couplets 

 inscribed on the crossbeams. A drawing of 

 one of these verses by Miss Close, daughter 

 of the Dean of Carlisle, was exhibited at the 

 meeting of the Archaeological Institute held 

 at Carlisle in 1859," the record of which is as 

 follows : 



Symon Senus Prior sette yis roofe and scalope here, 

 To the intent wythin thys place they shall have 



prayers every daye in the yere. 

 Lofe God and thy prynce and you nedis not dreid 



thy enimys. 



Among the painted ornaments on the ceiling 

 are roses, birds, the escallop shell, the ragged 

 staff, and escutcheons of arms. Other verses 

 have been recorded by Hutchinson, 7 but they 

 have no particular interest. The whole of 

 the ornamentation of the chamber is now 

 very faint. The altar-tomb in the north 

 transept of the cathedral, in front of the con- 

 sistorial court, is reputed to commemorate this 

 prior, but the inlaid brass plates, now to be 

 found there, are no parts of the original 

 structure. 



Christopher Slee must have been prior for 

 some time before 1528, for in that year the 

 north-western gate of the precincts of the 

 abbey was built. Around the elliptical arch 

 on the inside, facing ' the Fratry,' there is an 

 inscription now very much worn by the 



* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii. App. vii. 6 (Rydal 

 Hall MSS.) 



* Pat. 10 Hen. VIII. pt. ii. m. 6 ; L. and P. 

 Hen. nil. ii. 4323. 



6 Cat. of the Arch. Mus. formed at Carlisle in 

 1859, p. 26. 



Hist, of Cumb. ii. 602. 



