A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



Alice, occurs 1273 

 Margaret,'* occurs 1289 

 Juliana,'' resigned 1304 

 Beatrice de Cotton,^ elected 1314 

 Isabella Colville," elected 1324 

 Beatrice de Holm,^^ elected 1329 

 Eleanor, occurs 1396" 

 Alice,** occurs 1405 

 Elizabeth,*' occurs 1436 

 Margaret,*' or Alarjorie Danby, confirmed 

 17 February 1502 



12. THE PRIORY OF ST. STEPHEN, 

 FOUKEHOLM 



It is not known when, or by whom, this small 

 and poorly-endowed nunnery near Northallerton 

 was founded. It is first mentioned in an undated 

 Plea Roll of the time of King John,^ when 

 Maud, widow of William, brought an action 

 against Robert de Alverton and the prioress of 

 St. Stephen's, about her dower in a toft of land 

 at Thirsk. It is again mentioned about 1240, 

 when AciUa, prioress of St. Stephen's, and her 

 convent vested all the temporal property of the 

 house in William de Colville, the patron, and 

 his heirs, so that when Acilla died a prioress 

 might be elected in her place with consent and 

 good will of William de Colville or his heirs ; 

 also that no one should be appointed maghter or 

 custoi of the house, except by William de Col- 

 ville and his heirs. Neither should the prioress 

 and nuns receive any nun, or sister, or any 

 secular man, or woman, or boys in their house, 

 without such consent. The prioress and convent 

 also conceded for themselves and their successors 

 that all contentions moved between Philip de 

 Colville their patron, father of William de Col- 

 ville also their patron, on the one side, and them- 

 selves on the other, should be completely ended. 



In 1292-3^ one of the Yorkshire Assize Rolls 

 has an entry respecting it. It is there called the 

 nunnery of St. Stephen of Foukeholm, in Bird- 

 forth. The house was, however, in the township 

 of Thimbleby and parish of Osmotherley. The 

 probable explanation is that Foukeholm, though 

 in Thimbleby, was so close to the boundaries of 

 the wapentake of Birdforth that it was misde- 

 scribed, by error, as being within the latter. The 

 entry records that William, chaplain of Yarm, 



"^ Dugdale, Mm. Angl. iv. 285, no. i. 

 '^ York Archiepis. Reg. sed. vac. fol. 43^. 

 *" Ibid. Greenfield, ii, fol. 104^. 

 *' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 284. 

 " York Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 251. 

 " Ibid. sed. vac. fol. 208. 

 " .Add. Chart. 20544. 

 " Baildon, Mon. NoUi, i, 2. 

 *' York Archiepis. Reg. Savage, fol. 62. 

 ' I'orks. Jrck. Joum. Lx, 334, from which almost the 

 whole of the information here given has been derived. 

 ' I'orks. Arch. Joum. ix, 334. 



was indicted before the justices itinerant at York 

 for the abduction of Cecilia, a nun of St. Stephen 

 of Foukeholm. The nun returned of her own 

 accord to St. Stephen's. At the same time, 

 John le prior of ' Osmunderlay ' (Osmotherley,) 

 and William the son of Aldus', were indicted 

 for breaking into a house belonging to the prioress. 



In 1312' Richard de Kellaw, Bishop of Dur- 

 ham, commissioned the warden of the spirituality 

 of Allerton and the master of the hospital of 

 Lazenby to act as judges in a case between the 

 prioress and nuns of St. Stephen's and the preben- 

 daries or portioners of Osmotherley as to the chapel 

 of St. Stephen, and the obventions of the same. 

 The nuns of St. Stephen's, of the Benedictine 

 order, are mentioned in a papal mandate, 

 23 May 1330,* of John XXII. 



In 1349 Alice Gower " was confirmed as 

 prioress, and at the same time Elena de Angrom, 

 a nun professed of the house, who had apostatized, 

 appeared and was ordered to resume her habit of 

 religion in the house, a penance being imposed 

 for her apostasy. Agnes de Not', a sister of the 

 house, was also on the same occasion summoned 

 to appear and recognized the new prioress. 



This is the last time St. Stephen's nunnery is 

 mentioned. It seems not improbable that the 

 ancestors of the Colvilles had founded it.* The 

 Colvilles were also benefactors to St. James's 

 Hospital, Northallerton, which when the Valor 

 Ecclesiasticus was compiled held some of the 

 former property of the priory, viz. the cow- 

 pastures of the Nunhouse.' A farm still bearing 

 this latter name perpetuates the memory of the 

 almost forgotten nunnery, which is not mentioned 

 by Burton, Dugdale, or Tanner, and had well- 

 nigh passed out of mind till Mr. W. Brown drew 

 attention to it.* 



Only a fragment of a seal is known. It is the 

 upper part of the seal. It bears a figure standing, 

 apparently female, with a crown, and bearing a 

 sceptre in the left hand.' 



Prioresses of Foukeholm 



Acilla, occurs c. 1240 ^^ 



Alice Gower, confirmed 1349"^' 



' Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Sen), i, 187. 



* Cal. of Papal Letters, ii, 320. 



' York Archiepis. Reg. Zouch, fol. 168. 



° The deed by Acilla the prioress suggests this. 



' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 85. 



* Torks. Arch. "Joum. ix, 334-7. Mr. Brown found 

 the deed by the Prioress Acilla among his family docu- 

 ments at AmclifFe Hall. He calls the nunnery that of 

 St. Stephen of Thimbleby. It is usually called St. Ste- 

 phen's only, but in one case cited in the text it is 

 called the priory of St. Stephen's of Foukeholm, and 

 in 1252 it occurs in a list of Yorkshire nunneries to 

 which the king gave silver chalices as ' Fuckeholme ' : 

 Lib. R. (Chan.) 36 Hen. Ill, m. 19. 



' Torks. Arch. Journ. ix, 335. 



" Ibid. ; Cott. MS. Nero D. iii, fol. 62. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Zouch, fol. 168. 



116 



