82 



Efie 2£tstorg antr GBfjavtularg of tfje ^fc&eg of 

 ©adeg, au& of tfjr ©ratorg of St. $eleu, 



By the Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A. 



T has been stated by Tanner, and frequently 

 repeated, that Robert Ferrers, second Earl of 

 Derby, founded a religious house of Austin Canons 

 near Derby, dedicated to St. Helen, in the reign 

 of either Henry I. or Stephen. No authority is given for this 

 statement, and no corroboration is forthcoming. Contrari- 

 wise, there is a slightly mutilated and somewhat defaced 

 statement on the last page of the Darley chartulary, in a 

 thirteenth century hand, which sets the matter at rest.* The 

 entry is sufficiently clear to state that in the year 1137, when 

 Innocent II. was Pope and Stephen King, a certain burgess 

 of Derby named Towyne established on his patrimony an 

 oratory in honour of St. Helen, the Queen, with the support 

 of the greater part of the burgesses, and that it was dedicated 

 by the bishop to be served by religious men (canons) under 

 the rule of St. Augustine. This house of St. Helen stood 

 just outside the walls on the north-west side of the town, 

 near the church of St. Alkmund, and its site is now occupied 

 by the Grammar School. 



Of the abbey of St. Mary, Darley, the real founder was 

 Robert Ferrers, Earl of Derby. Just at the close of the reign 

 of Stephen (1154), with that king's sanction, and also with 

 *Cott. MSS. Titus C. ix. f. 166b. 



