52 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



but no description can give an adequate idea of the beauty of the 

 whole. Part of the arch of the window is beginning to moulder, 

 but the entrance is in a state of perfect preservation. 



The Priory was founded by Henry de Ferrers in 1080, and amply 

 endowed by him with lands and revenues. The religious order who 

 resided here were Benedictine monks, and several additional do- 

 nations were conferred on the establishment by William Rufus 

 and his Queen Maud. Earl Robert Ferrers, grandson to the 

 founder, confirmed to the monks all their possessions, and added 

 the tithes of Newborough to his gift. His descendants also con- 

 tributed to the wealth and magnificence of this celebrated Priory, 

 scarcely a vestige of which now remains. Little is known of the 

 original extent of this monastery ; but among the few facts recorded 

 by antiquaries respecting it, we are informed that it contained a 

 splendid monument to the memory of the founder, with a Latin in- 

 scription upon it. A general account of the annual revenue from 

 the possessions belonging to this Priory, is preserved in the First 

 Fruits Office, by which it appears that in 1538 they amounted to 

 the annual sum of <244 16s. 8d. a very considerable income, ac- 

 cording to the value of money in the middle of the sixteenth century. 

 On the dissolution of the monastic orders by Henry VIII. Arthur 

 Meverel alias Throwley, with eight monks, surrendered this Priory 

 to the King's Commissioners on the 14th day of September, 1538, as 

 appears by the original deed of surrender in the Augmentation Office. 

 This prior afterwards received a pension of fifty pounds a-year. 



The site of Tutbury Priory was granted in the sixth year of the 

 reign of Edward VI. to Sir William Cavendish, who pulled down 

 the Priory, and part of the church, to build a large mansion, 

 which was the residence of his eldest son Henry. He dying with- 

 out legitimate issue, it devolved to his next brother ; and it has 

 descended from successive possessors to the present owner, the 

 Duke of Devonshire 



A pretended instance of total abstinence, in the case of a woman 

 named Ann Moore, an inhabitant of Tutbury, for a long time en- 

 grossed a very considerable share of public attention. The impos- 

 ture was carried on for several years with such extraordinary art 

 and success, that it obtained, in regard to the supposed validity of 

 the woman's assertions, the sanctipn of a large number of medical, 

 philosophical, and other visitors of every description from all parts 

 of the kingdom. The laudable exertions of a Committee of gen- 

 tlemen, formed for the avowed purpose of investigating this extra- 



