RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



deacons of Richmond. At one time the 

 bishops of Carlisle claimed the custody of the 

 priory of Wetheral during a vacancy, as well 

 as the right of institution and deprivation of 

 the priors. These episcopal privileges were 

 contested in 1256 while Robert de Chause 

 was bishop of Carlisle. The dispute was 

 settled in a manner agreeable to the litigants. 

 The bishop consented to relinquish his right 

 to the custody, and to institute the nominee of 

 the abbey of York in consideration of the grant 

 of ai marks which the monks were accustomed 

 to receive out of the church of Nether Denton 

 since the episcopate of Bishop Walter. 1 The 

 bishops of Carlisle exercised their ordinary 

 power of visitation when they thought fit, and 

 never gave up the right of benediction and 

 institution of the priors to the very last. 



The bishops also kept a firm hand on the 

 churches and spiritual revenues in the diocese 

 which belonged to the priory. Adelulf, the 

 first bishop of the see, confirmed to the monks 

 of St. Mary's, York, the churches they were 

 known to possess in his diocese, viz. the cell 

 of Wetheral with the parish of Warwick, all 

 the tithes of Scotby, the churches of St. 

 Michael and St. Lawrence in Appleby, the 

 churches of Kirkby Stephen, Ormside, Mor- 

 land, Clibburn, Bromfield, Croglin, and the 

 hermitage of St. Andrew in the parish of 

 Kirkland, with the only condition that the 

 monks should make decent provision for the 

 maintenance of a priest in each of these 

 churches, and pay their episcopal dues which 

 included of course synodals and archidiaconals.* 

 As a rule the monks thought it desirable to 

 obtain similar confirmation from successive 

 bishops, thereby differing materially from the 

 priory of St. Bees, in whose register very few 

 of these confirmations from the archbishops 

 have been recorded. It must not be assumed 

 that all these churches continued in the 

 patronage of the priory. As all the religious 

 houses in Cumberland had been founded and 

 for the most part endowed before the diocese 

 of Carlisle enjoyed a regular succession of 

 bishops, many of the churches in the county 

 were in some way connected with these in- 

 stitutions. In after years the bishops were 

 not reluctant to obtain possession of some of 

 these churches where it was possible. It was 

 ever the policy of the see to gain a supremacy 

 within its own jurisdiction. Nor were the 

 heads of houses loth to conciliate the bishops 



1 Reg. of Wetherhal, No. 34. A record of this 

 convention has been made in Bishop Sterne's Reg- 

 ister (Carl. Epis. Reg., Sterne, ff. 251-2), 'Ex 

 Registro Prioratus de Wederhal, fF. 20, 21. 



2 Reg. of Wetberkal, Nos. 15, 1 6. 



by an occasional indulgence of this kind, for 

 in many ways the good offices of the bishops 

 of Carlisle were of the greatest moment to 

 the monks. 



In 1248 Bishop Silvester obtained from 

 the abbey of York the right of patronage of 

 the churches of Ormside, Musgrave and Clib- 

 burn, and also of the churches of Burgh- 

 under-Stanemore and St. Michael in Appleby, 3 

 all of which remain to the present day in 

 the hand of the Bishop of Carlisle, except 

 the church of Clibburn, which passed into 

 lay patronage in 1874.* The laity were not 

 backward in protecting the interest of parish- 

 ioners in case the appropriate churches of the 

 monks were insufficiently served. In 1366 

 Sir John de Warthewyk complained in forcible 

 terms to the Archbishop of York that the 

 priory had been dealing unjustly with the 

 churches of Wetheral and Warwick in not 

 supplying proper ministrations. 5 



Papal interference with the affairs of this 

 priory was not always successful. In 1165, 

 when the see of Carlisle was void. Alexander 

 III. granted an indult to the abbey of St. 

 Mary, York, which applied to Wetheral, 

 permitting chaplains to serve in the churches 

 where there were no vicars. 6 Gregory IX., 

 relying on the confirmation of previous 

 bishops, allowed the priory to enter on the 

 appropriation of St. Michael's, Appleby, not- 

 withstanding the opposition of Bishop Walter. 7 

 But the papal court had not always its own 

 way. In 1309 Clement V. provided a prior 

 for the house in the person of Robert de 

 Gisburne, though the convent of St. Mary's, 

 York, the lawful patrons, had a prior of its 

 own presentation already in possession. The 

 Crown intervened and prohibited the induc- 

 tion of the papal nominee until the letters of 

 collation were examined in regard to any en- 

 croachment on the royal prerogative. 8 It is 

 known that at this time Bishop Halton was a 

 prelate of pronounced anti-papal proclivities. 9 

 By a natural process the controversy with 

 Bishop Kirkby in 1338 about the advowsons 

 of Wetheral and Warwick was referred to 

 Rome, when the English ecclesiastical courts 



3 This deed was extracted in 1664 ' ex Registro 

 Prioratus de Wederhal, fo. 21,' and put on record 

 in Bishop Sterne's Register (Carl. Epis. Reg., 

 Sterne, f. 253. See also ibid. Halton, f. 67). 



4 By an Order in Council dated 20 October 

 1874, Bishop Harvey Goodwin exchanged the 

 rectory of Clibburn with the Earl of Lonsdale for 

 the churches of Embleton and Lorton. 



6 Carl. Epis. Reg., Appleby, f. 148. 



6 Reg. of Wetherbal, No. 33. 



7 Ibid. No. 25. 



s Pat. 3 Edw. II. m. 34. 



Rot. Par/. (Rec Com.), i. 178-9. 



II 



185 



