138 HISTORY AND CHARTULARY OF THE ABBEY OF DARLEY. 



fo. i64 b - Confirmatio ejusdem capituli de taxacione vicariarum 

 nostrarum. 

 Confirmatio ejusdem capituli de decimis. 

 Confirmacio ejusdem capituli super appropriacione 

 Ecclesie de Schirle. 

 fo. 165. Blank. 



fo. i65 b -[An account of the payment of 10 th and 15 th in Derby, 

 extracted from the great roll of the Pipe "A vj 

 Reg' Rici ij."] 

 fo. 166. [Continuation.] 



fo. i66 b - [Memorandum respecting the foundation of an Oratory 

 in honour of St. Helen the queen, a.d. 1.137.] 

 [Here the Chartulary ends.] 



THE ORATORY OF ST. HELEN, DERBY. 



As already stated in the opening of the account of Darley 

 Abbey, a certain burgess of Derby, of the name of Towyne, 

 with the support of the greater part of the burgesses, estab- 

 lished, in 1 137, an oratory, or small religious house, dedicated 

 to St. Helen, just outside the walls of the town on the north- 

 west, near to the church of St. Alkmund. This house was 

 served by brethren or canons who followed the rule of St. 

 Augustine.* In less than twenty years after the foundation 

 of St. Helen's, the neighbouring Austin Abbey of Darley was 

 established, and its first abbot and inmates were taken from 

 the small mother house of St. Helen's. But this removal of 

 the greater part of the canons from Derby to Darley did not 

 mean the extinction of the Oratory ; on the contrary, it had 

 for a long time separate existence, though made in many ways 

 subject to the abbey. 



Soon after the establishment of the abbey, the constitution 

 of the oratory of St. Helen was changed, and a God's House 

 (Domus Dei) was founded in connection with the oratory under 

 the charge of brethren, having a master or warden at their 



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



