A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Cecily and his son Ranulf in his efforts to 

 establish the institution. His children and 

 descendants in after years were foremost among 

 its benefactors. To the memory of his father 

 and by the advice of Fulk, his uncle, Ranulf 

 gave the monks the manor of Ennerdale 

 (Avenderdale), and endowed them with many 

 liberties in his woods and forests. Alice de 

 Romilly, when she became owner of the 

 barony on the death of Ranulf her brother, 

 was a munificent patron of her father's founda- 

 tion. There can be no truth in the story 

 that Ranulf Meschin was jealous of the 

 possessions of the priory, and sought to 

 diminish the boundaries of their franchise. It 

 is said that men, envious of the monastic life, 

 had instilled into that nobleman's ear that the 

 monks had encroached upon his lands. In the 

 suits at law which ensued the cause was 

 defended, and ample evidences were produced 

 on behalf of the priory, but no agreement 

 could be arrived at. On the day appointed 

 for measuring the landmarks and setting the 

 bounds, the dispute was settled by divine inter- 

 vention, for the whole of the surface of the 

 adjacent country was covered with a deep 

 snow, but within the bounds that the monks 

 had attached to the church of St. Bees not 

 the vestige of a single flake appeared. 



It would be tedious to enumerate the gifts 

 of lands, churches and rents made to the 

 monks at various periods. Numerous deeds 

 of endowment have been preserved in the fine 

 chartulary of the priory. Landowners, great 

 and small, distinguished and obscure, had 

 contributed a share to its possessions. But 

 there is one noticeable feature of the endow- 

 ments worthy of special mention. It is very 

 remarkable how the traditions of a family 

 were carried on in connection with a single 

 religious house. It is not only true that 

 the descendants of William Meschin in the 

 barony of Coupland were generous to his 

 foundation, but the descendants of Waldeve, 

 Ketel, Godard and Reiner, who were associ- 

 ated with him in its first establishment, were 

 liberal in their benefactions. In fact it might 

 be said that the priory owed whatever measure 

 of prosperity it possessed to the munificence 

 of these families, the Romillys, Albemarles, 

 Lucys, Multons, Curwens, Milloms, Hudle- 

 stons, Rotingtons and others. 



Though most of the property of the priory 

 was confined to that portion of the county 

 bordering on St. Bees, where the magnates in 

 question lived, the monks kept up a frequent 

 communication with the Isle of Man, where 

 they enjoyed some manors. It is said that the 

 prior of St. Bees had a seat in the little parlia- 

 ment of that kingdom. It is very probable. 



Guthred, King of the Isles, gave the priory the 

 land called 'Eschedale' and ' Asmundertofts ' 

 quit of all service, tarn de pecunia quam de aco- 

 neux, in exchange for the church of St. Olave 

 and the little vill of ' Evastad.' King Ragdnald 

 bequeathed the land of Ormeshau ' which lay 

 towards the sea at the port of ' Corna,' while 

 King Olave granted licence to buy and sell in 

 the island. The abbot and convent of 

 Rushen were consenting parties to some of 

 these charters. In later years, when Thomas 

 Ranulf, earl of Moray, and Anthony Bee, 

 Bishop of Durham, ruled the island, the grants 

 of the former kings were recognized and con- 

 firmed. The priory also owned some property 

 in the south-west of Scotland, chiefly of the 

 gift of the families of Curwen and Brus. 



In comparison with the other monastic 

 houses in the county St. Bees was wealthy, 

 ranking in the matter of revenues after Holm- 

 cultram and Carlisle. In 1291 the cell was 

 valued at 66 13$. 4^., and in 1535 the gross 

 annual income was assessed for taxation at 

 149 19*. 6d. or 143 i6s. 2d. after the 

 deduction of reprises. 1 In 1545 a sum of 

 280 2J. was returned to the Augmentation 

 Office as the total issues of the late priory 

 with arrearages. 2 



In 1178 the church of Neddrum, now 

 called Island Magee in Strangford Lough, was 

 remodelled into a monastic establishment by 

 Sir John de Courcy, the conqueror of Ulster, 

 and affiliated to St. Bees, as a cell of St. Mary 

 of York. The island was a portion of the 

 ancient possessions of the see of Down, but 

 as Malachi, the bishop, was a prisoner in the 

 hands of Sir John, his consent to the alienation 

 was easily obtained. In the bishop's confir- 

 mation of the grant it is stated that, when he 

 gave and confirmed to the monks of St. Bees 

 the church and two-thirds of all the lands and 

 benefices belonging to it, he was acting of his 

 own free will out of devotion to God, and not 

 under any compulsion. Courcy's gift was 

 also confirmed by Thomas and Eugene, arch- 

 bishops of Armagh. The monks of St. Bees 

 do not seem to have taken kindly to their Irish 

 relation, for no memorandum of the transaction 

 was made in the register of their house. The 

 only connection that we have noticed between 

 the two institutions is that one of the early 

 priors of St. Bees was transferred to the priory of 

 Neddrum. Its conventual existence seems to 

 have been of short duration, for at the date of 

 the taxation of Pope Nicholas it is mentioned 

 simply as the church of Neddrum, and was 



1 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 308 ; Valor 

 Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v. 1 1 . 

 3 Dugdale, Man. iii. 580. 



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