A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



Whitby, to visit the cell, and make canonical 

 corrections. 



According to a return made in 1527 the clear 

 annual value of the priory of ' Middilburgh ' v/as 

 £12}" The return in 1535'^ of the receipts 

 refers only to the early gifts to the cell already 

 alluded to, and it appears from this record that 

 the cell had received no additional gifts afterward. 

 It also appears that I2d. in money was spent 

 weekly in alms to the poor folk of Middlesbrough, 

 according to the ordinance of Robert Brus, the 

 founder,^^ for his soul. 



John Hexham the late Abbot of Whitby 

 (1527-37), who as John Topcliffe, bursar, visited 

 the cell in 1521, obtained from the convent of 

 Whitby a lease of their property at Middles- 

 brough (then worth ^25 lis. ^d.), and of this he 

 was in possession at the Dissolution. He con- 

 tinued at Middlesbrough as ' occupier ' of the 

 property there, and died in 1557, when he left 

 I Of. to the poor of Middlesbrough, and 15J. \d. 

 to the township." 



Priors of Middlesbrough 



Thomas de Hawkesgarth, occurs 1386,'* 1393^' 

 Stephen de Ormesby, occurs 1397-8" 

 Robert Godale, occurs 1438," 1452'* 

 William Coulson, occurs 1459,'° '471 '" 

 William Clarkson, occurs 1521,'^ resigned 



before 1527 ^^ 

 John Hexham, occurs 1527" (in April of 



which year he was elected Abbot of 



Whitby) 



6. THE PRIORY OF ALL SAINTS, 

 FISHERGATE, YORK, CELL TO 

 WHITBY ABBEY 



In the vicinity of Fishergate Bar, York, and 

 probably on a portion of the present cattle 



'" Subs. R. 64, no. 303. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 632. 



" Evidently he and not the Earl of Chester was 

 reckoned the original founder, in spite of the statement 

 in the Cowentio. 



" Torhs. Arch. Joum. xviil, 72. 

 Whitby Chartul. 504. 



" Ibid. 316 ; Young, 77;'//. Whitby, 391 n. 



'^ Torks. Arch. Joum. xviii, 68, citing York Archicpis. 

 Reg. Newark, fol. 2 1 4^. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 138. 



" I'orks. Arch. Joum. xviii, 71. 



" York Archicpis. Reg. W. Booth, fol. 64^. 



'» York Reg. of Wills, iv, fol. 30. 



*' Conventual Leases (P.R.O.), Yorb. no. 994. 



" i. and P. Hen. Fill, v, 907 (1532), quoted 

 IFHtby Chartul. Jig, where a proposal is cited as made 

 19 Hen. \'III (1527-8) that John Hexham, Prior 

 of Middlesbrough, should be made Abbot of Whitby, 

 and William Clarkson made ' Prior of Medilsburgh 

 and Newham.' This would mean for a second time, 

 and he must have resigned between 152 1 and 1527. 



" Ibid. 



market, there stood in Norman times the parish 

 church of All Saints.' This church was granted 

 by William Rufus (1087-1 100) to the P.ior and 

 convent of Whitby, with all its belongings, as a 

 perpetual alms, on the condition that some of the 

 monks should always be resident there and that 

 they should pray for the king and his heirs.' 



The election of William de Percy as first 

 Abbot of Whitby took place in 1 109,' and a 

 charter of Nigel de Albini, addressed to Thomas, 

 Archbishop of York (i 108-14), shows that 

 Serlo, formerly Prior of Whitby, had then be- 

 come prior of the cell. There is no reference to 

 Whitby in the document, but a special mention 

 of All Saints, naming Serlo as the prior and 

 referring to ' the other monks of that place.' ■* 



The gift of All Saints to Whitby was con- 

 firmed by Archbishop Thurstan (11 14-40) 'free 

 and clear from every episcopal usage,' and with 

 the same liberties as Beverley and Ripon Churches 

 possessed.* 



Pope Eugenius III (1145-S3) made a con- 

 firmation to Whitby of its various possessions, 

 among them being All Saints, Fishergate.' 

 The charter was addressed to Abbot Benedict, 

 who upon his resignation in 1 148 retired to 

 the cell of All Saints.' 



The cell is named in two charters of confir- 

 mation of about this date, one of King Stephen 

 (1135-54),' the other of Archbishop Murdac 

 (i 145-53).' I" ^^^ latter All Saints was ratified 

 as ' a proper cell for the monks of Wyteby free 

 and clear from every episcopal usage.' 



The revenues of the cell were derived from 

 certain lands at Bustardthorpe which had been 

 given ad hoc, and some other properties in the 

 neighbourhood.'" The land at Bustardthorpe '' 

 was doubtless that restored to ' Serlo Prior,' — the 

 'half carucate of land in Thorp with the dwellings 

 on it,' — by Nigel de Albini,'^ mentioned in a re- 

 markable deed printed in Surtees' History and 

 Antiquities of Durham^^ and quoted by Dr. Atkin- 

 son." But the accounts were not kept separate, 

 says Dr. Young," from the parent house at 



' Drake, Ebor. 250. 



' Dugdale, Afra. Angl. i, 75 ; Whitby Chartul. (Surt. 

 Soc. Ixix), 5. 



' Baildon, Mon. Notes. 



^Whitby Chartul. (Surt. Soc), 206-7; Atkinson, 

 Whitby (1894 ^^■)j "°> ' • I- 



' Burton, Mon. Ebor. 84 ; Charlton, Whitby, 86. 



° Whitby Chartul. 1 1 9. 



' Charlton, Whitby, l 10 ; Whitby Chartul. 8. 



" Charlton, Whitby, 114. » Ibid, i 17. 



'" Young, Whitby, 359. 



" Bustardthorpe was between Bishopthorpe and 

 Middlethorpe ; the whole district was Thorp, it was 

 afterwards divided into Bishopthorpe, Bustardthorpe, 

 Middlethorpe, Nunthorpe and Clementhorpe. 



" Whitby Chartul. 206-7. 



" Op. cit. iii, 395. 



" Tf'hitby Chartul, 207. 



" Young, U'kitby, 359. 

 106 



