RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



62. THE PRIORY OF LYMINSTER 

 Roger de Montgomery, earl of Sussex, granted 

 an estate at Lyminster to the abbey of St. Peter 

 of Almenesches, of which his daughter was 

 abbess. Shortly after the death of his wife in 

 1082 he gave for the good of her soul half the 

 manor of Climping, with the church of that 

 vill. These two estates constituted the abbey's 

 possessions in Sussex at the time of the Domes- 

 day Survey, but the church of Poling was prob- 

 ably added shortly after this date, and in 1178 

 Pope Alexander III confirmed to the nuns of 

 Almenesches all their rights in the churches of 

 Lyminster, Climping, Poling, Ford, and Rusting- 

 ton, as well as in the manors of Climping, Rust- 

 ington, Ford, Preston, and Poling. Some twenty 

 years later Seffrid II, bishop of Chichester, in 

 consideration of the poverty and good fame of 

 the nuns of Almenesches granted them pensions 

 of iooj. from the church of Climping, 60*. from 

 that of Rustington, and 40;. from that of Ford. 34 

 So far there is no reference to any priory at 

 Lyminster, but later tradition asserted that it was 

 founded by Earl Roger, 35 and the fact that the 

 abbey's portion of Lyminster was called ' Nonne- 

 minstre ' in 1086 (and ' Nummenistre ' in the 

 bull of 1178) suggests that there may have been 

 nuns resident here from an early date. 



The first actual mention of the priory of 

 St. Mary of Lyminster appears to be in an action 

 brought in 1263 with reference to lands granted 

 some years earlier to a former prioress, Mabel. 36 

 Of history this priory had none, and its name 

 only occurs in connexion with its periodic 

 seizure into the king's hands during war with 

 France. It was a very small house ; in 1380 

 there were only two sisters, Julia and Margaret, 

 besides the prioress, Katherine, 37 and it came to an 

 end when the alien houses were suppressed by 

 Henry V, its property being granted by Henry VI 

 to Eton College. 



PRIORESSES OF LYMINSTER 

 Mabel, before 1263 38 

 Agatha, occurs 1277 39 

 Agatha de la Poynte, occurs I294, 40 

 Omelina, occurs I32O 42 

 Joan del Isle occurs 1 346 43 

 Joan de Ferrariis, occurs I3&4 44 

 Katherine de Lisle, occurs I377, 4 

 I400 46 



84 Col. Doc. France, 246. 



35 Inq. p.m. 14 Ric. II, 118. 



36 Assize R. 912. 



87 Cler. Subs. *. ** Assize R. 91 2. 



89 Feet of F. Suss, file 25, No. 35. 



40 Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 5. 



41 Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 21. 



" Close, 1 3 Edw. II, m. 6 d. 

 48 Pat. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 29. 

 44 Pipe R. 37 Edw. III. 

 "Chan. Misc. bdle. 1 8, No. 3. 

 46 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 79. 



2 121 



1296" 



died 



Georgia la Cloustiere, 46 Gloustiere, 47 Glover- 



nestre, 48 appointed 1400," died 1409*' 

 Nichola de Hercez, appointed 1409 M 



63. THE PRIORY OF RUNCTON 



Roger of Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury 

 and Chichester, gave the manor of Runcton to 

 the Norman abbey of Troarn, some time before 

 1086, and several of his undertenants followed 

 his example and bestowed lands and tithes in 

 West Sussex upon the same abbey, which had 

 further obtained the church of St. Cyriac in 

 Chichester by 1155, when Henry II confirmed 

 these grants. 51 A small cell was therefore estab- 

 lished at Runcton under the charge of a prior some 

 time in the twelfth or early thirteenth century. 

 Accordingly, when Hugh de Neville confirmed his 

 ancestors' grants of land in Waltham he stipulated 

 that the prior of Runcton should hold the tene- 

 ment in the name of the abbot of Troarn. 52 This 

 deed being attested by 'William the fourth, earl 

 of Arundel,' must have been executed between 

 1226 and 1230, and a few years later, in 1233, we 

 find the rector of South Stoke abandoning a suit 

 against the abbot of Troarn and prior of Runcton 

 for the tithes of Offham. 53 An undated charter 

 by John Sturmy conferring lands near Chichester 

 upon the abbey, with reservation of the services 

 therefrom to the prior of Runcton, gives us the 

 only known name of any of the heads of this 

 small house : ' For this grant William prior of 

 Runcton has given me 405. and a horse worth 

 I mark and to Rose my wife a cloak of violet 

 (pallium de violetta) and a bezant.' M 



In 1260 the priory of Boxgrove made an 

 agreement with the abbey about the tithes of 

 Richard de St. John's lands, by which they 

 undertook to pay Ss. annually to the prior of 

 Runcton in exchange for the said tithes. 55 But 

 in the same year, 1260, an arrangement was 

 come to between Troarn and its daughter house 

 the priory of Bruton in Somerset, by which the 

 latter took over all the English lands of the abbey, 56 

 and as a result the priory of Runcton ceased to 

 exist and became only a grange of Bruton. 



64. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF 

 STEYNING 



It is rather remarkable that the list of religious 

 foundations in England drawn up about 1200 

 by the chronicler Gervase, mentions only three 

 ' decanatus ' of secular canons, those namely of 

 St. Martin's, London, Wells, and this of Steyning. 



47 Pipe R. 6 Hen. IV. 



48 Mem. R., K.R. Hil. 3 Hen. IV. 



49 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 130. M Ibid. 

 61 Round, Cal. Doc. France, 170. 



" Bruton Cartel. (Somers. Rec. Soc.), No. 352. 

 "Ibid. 344. "Ibid. 351. 



"Ibid. 345. "Ibid. 310-13. 



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