WOOLER CHURCH 309 



grant of Robert de Mowbray, the official Earl of Northum- 

 berland. ^ The tithes so granted, were confirmed to the convent 

 of Tynemouth by Henry II. in 1158,* and by Richard II. 

 in 1198,'' and were compounded before the year 1282 for the 

 payment of <£4 per aniuim.'^ In 1291 the value of the rectory 

 of Wooler, over and above the prior of Tj-nemouth's pension, 

 was returned in Pope Nicholas' Taxation at <£20 per annum." 



After the death of Nicholas de Graham in 1306,*^ his widow 

 Mary^ (otherwise Margery) granted the church of Wooler and 

 all that belonged to it to the abbot and convent of Alnwick,'^ 

 who, some six or seven years afterwards, obtained from the 

 Bishop of Durham a license, dated October 5, 1313, to unite 

 to it the neighbouring church of Fenton. This license which 

 forms the ordination of the vicarage is printed by the 

 Rev. John Hodgson in his History of JV^orthicmberland, Part 

 111., Vol. II., pp. 155-157. 



At a date, and under circumstances, not ascertained, the 

 Bishop of Durham seems to have obtained an interest in the 

 endowments of the church, and at the time of the dissolution 

 of the monasteries, the said bishop, the vicar of the parish, 

 the prior and convent of Tynemouth, and the abbot and 

 convent of Alnwick, possessed the tithes in unequal propor- 

 tions, i*^ Subsequently, the advowson of the benefice w\as 

 granted by the Crown to, or acquired by, the Bishop of 

 Durham, who continued to exercise the right of patronage 

 until 1836, when it was transferi-ed to the Bishop of Chester, 

 who in 1882 surrendered it to the newly constituted See of 

 Newcastle. 



•' New History of Norfhumherlnnd , Vol. viii., p. 50. 



•i Ibid, p. 62n. 



^ Ibid, p. 68w. 



'^ Ibid, p. 50. 



' Rev. John Hodgson, Northumberland, Part III., Vol. i., p. 352. 



« Ibid, Part III., Vol. ir., p. 397. 



'^ Inq. ad quod damnum, 1 Edward II., No. 8. Calendar Patent Rolls, 

 1307-1313, p. 80. 



1" Cf. Rev. John Hodgson, Northumberland, Part III,, Vol, in,, pp, 

 jjliv,, xlvii. Tatej Alnwick, Vol, II., p. 28, 



