RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



incontinence and adultery. 11 The deposed prior, 

 here called Robert de Bodeketon, was sent to the 

 priory of Tortington, his own priory being 

 ordered to send his clothes and other belongings 

 thither and to pay the cost of his keep. 12 He was, 

 however, a man of influence, in fact the bishop 

 of Chichester two years earlier had failed to 

 depose him owing to his powerful friends, 13 and 

 he contrived to get himself elected prior of Shul- 

 bred some time before October, 1300, when 

 the archbishop wrote to the bishop of Chiches- 

 ter expressing his astonishment that he had 

 allowed this to happen. 14 Again in 1355 a 

 canon of this house, John de Kent, was 

 banished to Tortington where he was to be 

 kept within the precincts for a time ' that he 

 may refrain from worldly matters and attend to 

 spiritual ;' 15 he was subsequently allowed to go to 

 the priory of Reigate and join their community. 16 

 Tortington seems to have remained the customary 

 place of banishment for disobedient canons of 

 Hardham, one being sent there in 1478. The 

 visitation in this latter year showed the house to 

 be in a bad state alike as regards its fabric and 

 its inmates. The prior kept bad order, and the 

 brethren were given to frequenting neighbouring 

 taverns. 17 At this time there were six brethren 

 besides the prior, but in 1380 the whole com- 

 munity numbered only five, 18 and this was the 

 case also in 1521, when the only presentment 

 made was that the house was in bad repair, 19 

 and in 1524, when the prior had to admit 

 that he had been concerned with certain lay- 

 men in stealing the earl of Arundel's deer. 20 

 If the religious did occasionally join part with 

 poachers they also suffered at their hands, as 

 for instance in 1345, when Ralph atte Gate 

 stole 1,100 eels worth us. from the prior's 

 stream called ' the Shire ' 21 ; a less irregular but 

 more serious loss occurring in 1400, when cer- 

 tain persons by cutting a ditch in connexion 

 with this same stream so lessened the value of 

 the prior's fishery that where his predecessors 

 used to take 2,000 pikerell, 4,000 eels, and 3,000 

 roach yearly, he could now take only IOO pikerell 

 and 200 eels. 22 



In 1527 the community consisted of the 

 prior, two canons and a novice, 23 and not long 

 afterwards, in 1532, there was talk of its being 

 suppressed, but by Cromwell's ' prudent counsel 

 and charitable words' the priory continued to 

 stand and prosper. 34 It is probably more than a 



11 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 134^. 

 "Ibid. 277. "Ibid. 138/5. 



14 Ibid. " Ibid. Islip, fol. 102. " Ibid. fol. 1 1 5 . 

 " Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 25. 



18 Cler. Subs. J^. 



19 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 1 20. 



80 Ibid. pt. ii, fol. 93. " Gaol Delivery R. 129. 

 " Assize R. 1512, m. 48. 

 13 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, pt. ii, fol. 102. 

 M L.andP. Hen. Vlll,v, 1618. 



coincidence that just about the same time the 

 canons of Hardham granted an annuity to Crom- 

 well. 25 Its fall, however, was only postponed fof 

 a short time, the monastery being dissolved pre- 

 vious to 1535, as it does not occur in the Valor 

 of that year, by agreement between the prior 

 and Sir William Goring, the patron, who ob- 

 tained a grant of the site and property from 

 Henry VIII. 26 The actual date of dissolution 

 was probably the winter of 1534, at which time 

 Robert, prior of the house of the Exaltation of 

 the Holy Cross, sold to Richard Scrase for 680 

 the manors of ' Heryngham ' and Cokeham with 

 2OO messuages, 4,000 acres of land, 300 of 

 meadows, and 1,000 of pasture and other pro- 

 perty in Hardham, Sompting, Pulborough, Pet- 

 worth, and other parishes. 27 As there is no 

 mention in this transaction of the convent it is 

 possible that the prior was the last surviving 

 member of the house. 



PRIORS OF HARDHAM 



Richard, before 1278 28 



Robert, occurs I278 29 



Robert de Glottyngs, deposed I299 30 



Henry, occurs 1306 31 



John, occurs I336 32 



John de Kent, occurs 1351 33 



John Baron, occurs I38o 31 



Stephen, occurs 1402 35 



Henry Combe, occurs I473, 36 ! 4?8 37 



John Haskyn alias Jonson, collated I507, 38 



resigned I5I4 39 

 Robert Pryclove, elected 1 5 14, 40 occurs 1529^ 



10. THE PRIORY OF HASTINGS 42 



The Austin priory of the Holy Trinity of 

 Hastings was founded, according to Leland, 4 * by 

 Sir Walter Bricet in the time of Richard I ; the 

 authority for this statement does not appear, and 

 while the date seems fairly correct, Walter de 

 Scotney seems more likely to have been the 

 founder. Whether he was the founder or not 

 Walter de Scotney certainly gave the canons the 



" Ibid. 1285. * Dugdale, Mm. vi, 307. 



17 Feet of F. Suss. 26 Hen. VIII, Mich. 



88 Assize R. 914, m. 25. " Ibid. 



50 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 134^. 



" Assize R. 934. " Assize R. 1423, m. 66. 



33 Suss. Arch. Coll. xii, 35. 



Cler. Subs. ^. 



36 De Bane. R. 564, m. 12. 

 S8 Anct. D., A 3798. 



37 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 25. 



38 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Warham, fol. 250. 

 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 26. 



40 Ibid. "L. and P. Hen. fill, iv, 2701. 



41 Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 155-79- 

 " Collectanea, i, 82. 



75 



