A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



ABBOT ODO 



A pointed oval counterseal. The abbot on a 

 corbel, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the 

 left hand a book. 88 



Legend : 



SIGILLVM . ODONIS . GRA . DEI . ABBATIS . SCI . 

 MARTINI . DE . BELLO 



ABBOT RICHARD 



A small pointed oval counterseal. The abbot, 

 full-length, on a corbel, in the right hand a 

 pastoral staff, in the left hand a book." 



Legend : 



RA . A . . . . SCI . MARTINI . DE . 



BELLO 



ABBOT REGINALD 



A pointed oval counterseal. The abbot, on a 

 corbel, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the 

 left hand a book. The background diapered 

 lozengy with a reticulated pattern. 100 



Legend : 



IA : ABB 



ABBOT WALTER DE LUCY 



Pointed oval. The abbot seated on a chair-like 

 throne, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the 

 left hand a book. 101 



Legend : 



.... ILLV .... 



MAR BELLO. 



3. THE PRIORY OF BOXGROVE 102 



The priory of the Blessed Virgin and St. 

 Blaise of Boxgrove was founded by Robert de 

 Haye, to whom Henry I had granted the honour 

 of Halnaker, and who in 1105 bestowed upon 

 the abbey of Lessay the church of St. Mary of 

 Boxgrove, with 2% hides of land around it and 

 tithes, timber, and pasture, in the parish, as well 

 as the churches of St. Peter of West Hampnett, 

 St. Leger of Hunston, Birdham, Walberton, 

 St. Mary of Barnham, St. Catherine of ' Heni- 

 tone ' on the Thames, and Belton in Lincoln- 

 shire, the tithes of Todham in Easebourne, and 

 the measure of corn called ' chorchet ' or church 

 scot from all his manors. 103 



86 L.F.C. vii, 4. " L.F.C. xxvii, 2. 



00 L.F.C. xxiii, 16. 1M L.F.C. xxii, 13. 



101 Cott. MS. Claud. A. vi, is a chartulary of this 

 house; see also Dugdale, Mm. iv, 641-50; Suss. 

 Arch. Coll. xv, 183222. 



'" Cal. Doc. France, 328-9; Chartul. fol. 16. 



The mention in Domesday of ' the clerks of 

 the church ' may be taken to show the existence 

 at that date of a small college of secular canons 

 at Boxgrove. Upon the subordination of the 

 church to Lessay they were doubtless replaced 

 by monks, of whom there were at first only 

 three, but whose numbers were increased to six 

 upon the occasion of the marriage of Cecily, 

 daughter and heiress of Robert de Haye, to 

 Roger St. John. William son of Roger St. 

 John increased the endowment of the priory 

 sufficiently to allow of thirteen monks being 

 maintained, and subsequently added a gift of 

 tithes in Kipston and Strettington to raise the 

 number to fifteen. He also confirmed his an- 

 cestor's gifts in 1187, and made agreement 

 with the abbot and convent of Lessay that they 

 should maintain the priory honourably, and not 

 remove the prior so long as he should live 

 honestly, and that the prior should have power 

 to fill up vacancies by receiving monks, who 

 should, however, make their profession to the 

 abbot. The abbot retained the power of with- 

 drawing from the priory any monk likely to be 

 of use to the mother house, unless he held the 

 office of sub-prior or cellarer. 104 



Robert brother of William St. John granted to 

 the priory lands in Barnham and Walberton to 

 support a sixteenth monk, and arranged that one 

 of the brethren should act as chaplain in his house 

 of Halnaker, receiving his board in the house 

 during Robert's residence there, and returning to 

 the priory when he was absent. The number 

 of monks continued to increase, and about 1230 

 William de Kainesham, canon of Chichester, 

 added a nineteenth. 105 Many other local mag- 

 nates and landowners made grants to the 

 monastery, and in 1291 the temporalities of the 

 prior of Boxgrove were valued at ^23 l6s. f,d. y 

 exclusive of 5 IDJ. for the manor of Merrow 

 in Surrey, 106 which had been acquired of Simon de 

 Seintlyz in the time of Richard I without royal 

 licence, for which omission Edward III graciously 

 pardoned the convent in 1345 on payment of 

 100 shillings. 107 By 1535 the priory's posses- 

 sions were worth ^185 19*. %d. gross, and 

 .145 ids. 1\d. clear. 108 



Of the churches already mentioned as granted 

 by Robert de Haye, those of St. Catherine and 

 Belton do not appear in the confirmation charter 

 of Hilary, bishop of Chichester (i 145-69), which 

 however mentions the church of St. Nicholas of 

 Itchenor. Belton reappears in the charter of 

 William St. John in 1187 but is not referred to 

 again, and afterwards became the seat of a 

 nunnery. William St. John added the church 

 of Mundham to his other gifts, and in 1189 



104 Cal. Doc. France, 331-2. 



105 Chartul. fol. no. 



108 Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 139, 207. 



107 Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. ii,m. 22. 



108 Vol. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 304. 



