RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



priory of Durham. William Rundel rose to 

 be abbot of York in 1239, John de Gilling 

 in 1303, William de Brudford in 1382, 

 Thomas Pigott in 1399, Thomas Bothe in 

 1464, and William Thornton in 1530, the 

 latter being the last abbot of St. Mary's. 1 

 William de Tanfeld was ' provided ' to the 

 priory of Durham by Clement V. in 1308, and 

 the monks of Wetheral were not sorry at his 

 promotion. It is said that he paid for the 

 appointment 3,000 marks to the pope and 

 1,000 marks to the cardinals, the enormous 

 sum having been extorted from the priory of 

 Wetheral to the impoverishment of the 

 house. Robert de Graystanes, an official of 

 Durham at the time and one of its historians, 

 described the new prior as tall in stature, 

 handsome in countenance, pleasing in man- 

 ners, and liberal in spending money, but 

 ignorant of the way to get it, inasmuch as 

 he increased rather than diminished the debts 

 of the house. 2 



In 1536 the royal commissioners made 

 their report on this house, when, strange 

 to say, they had only an accusation of personal 

 depravity to make against two of the monks, 

 Nicolas Barneston and Robert Goodon. At 

 that time the priory was reputed to have 

 possessed as relics a portion of the Holy Cross 

 and some of the Blessed Virgin's milk. 3 It is 

 probable that Ralf Hartley, the last prior, was 

 put in by Cromwell's influence for the pur- 

 pose of the dissolution. The deed of sur- 

 render was executed on 20 October 1538, and 

 authenticated, not with the official seal of the 

 house, but with a seal bearing the prior's 

 initials. The document has only two signa- 

 tures : ' per me Radulphum Hartley priorem 

 Monasterij sive prioratus de Wederhall: per me 

 Johannem Clyfton monachum ibidem.' * The 

 surrender was enrolled on 28 January following 

 before Thomas Legh, one of the clerks of the 

 Chancery. 8 By a warrant dated 20 Novem- 

 ber 1539, a pension of ,20 was allotted to 

 the late prior, and smaller sums to Thomas 

 Hartley, John Wytfeld alias Batson, John 

 Clyfton, and John Gale, brethren of the 

 house. On 31 January 153940, Ralf Hart- 

 ley's pension was revised and fixed at 12 

 with the addition of his interest in the rectory 

 of Wetheral and Warwick and the annexed 

 chapels of St. Anthony and St. Severin. 8 In 



1 Dugdale, Man. iii. 538-9. 



2 Hist. Dunelm. Scriptures Tres. (Surtees Soc.), 

 85-9; Anglla Sacra, i. 753. 



a L. and P. Hen. VIII. x. 364. 



* Ibid. xiii. (ii.) 657 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. viii. 

 App. ii. 48. 



* Close, 30 Hen. VIII. pt. ii. m. 62. 



6 L. and P. Hen. VIII. xiv. (i.) 599, 602, 609. 



1 5 5 5 only two of the pensioners of Wetheral 

 were alive, viz. Ralf Hartley, who was still 

 drawing his pension of 12, and one Edward 

 Walks who was enjoying his annuity of 4O*. 7 



The demesne lands and churches of this 

 house were granted to the dean and chapter 

 of Carlisle by their charter of endowment, 

 with the exception of the churches of Wetheral 

 and Warwick, which were afterwards be- 

 stowed by letters patent, dated 15 January 

 1547, on the petition of that body. 8 



The work of dismantling the priory was 

 soon commenced. Account was rendered by 

 Sir Thomas Wharton and James Rokebie, the 

 commissioners of surrender, on 31 December 

 1538, of the sale of divers church utensils, 

 tables of alabaster, brass candlesticks, various 

 wooden images, choir stalls, vestments, censers, 

 altar linen, and a lectern, not to mention the 

 domestic furniture and farming stock, imple- 

 ments and produce belonging to the monks, 

 the more costly articles like chalices, vases and 

 jewels having been delivered to William 

 Grene, the king's receiver. 9 In 1555 Lance- 

 lot Salkeld, dean of Carlisle, reported 'that 

 one bell of the thre bells perteyning to the 

 layte sell of Wetherell came to Carlysle, 

 whiche bell was hanged uppon the walle called 

 Springall Tower in Carlyle to call the work- 

 men to worke at the making of the new 

 cytydall in Carlyle and mending of the castell 

 ther.' The other two bells, he said, re- 

 mained in a house at Wetheral unbroken 

 awaiting removal. 10 The priory buildings soon 

 went to decay and were never repaired. 

 Thomas Denton, writing in 1687, stated that 

 only the gatehouse remained entire and in 

 good repair in his time. Its survival may 

 probably be accounted for by the fact that 

 it then 'served the minister for a vicarage- 

 house.' n As for the dormitories and cloisters, 

 tarn seges ubi Troja fuit. 



7 Trans. Cumb. and WestmU. Arch. Sac. xiii. 

 382. Edward Walles was the bailiff of Wetheral 

 and had a vested interest in the priory (Valor Eccl. 

 [Rec. Com.], v. 10). 



8 Reg. of Wetherhal, Illust. Doc. xl. xli. 

 Ibid. No. xiii. 



10 Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. Soc. ix. 264. 



11 Peramb. of Cumb. f. 96. The story imposed 

 upon Hutchinson (Hist, of Cumb. i. 156) that ' what 

 was left of this edifice by the zealots of Henry VIII.'s 

 days was demolished, except the gateway or lodge, 

 with a fine elliptic arch (which is now converted into 

 a hayloft), by the dean and chapter of Carlisle, who 

 built a prebendal house, etc., in Carlisle with the 

 materials ' is evidently a fabrication. It is also 

 false that 'when this was in agitation Mr. Howard, 

 the late beautifier of Corby, offered a sufficient 

 compensation if they would suffer the building to 

 stand, but his proposition was rejected.' The state- 



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