A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



Avice de Alora," sub-prioress,*' succeeded 



1303,'' resigned 1316^^ 

 Isabella de St. Quintin, 1 316," occurs 1329'* 

 Isabella de Burton, admitted 1400" 

 Joan Bossall, occurs 1423'° 

 Joan Berneston," occurs 1434,'' resigned 



1453'^ 

 Joan Tryra, sub-prioress, 1453,*° ^^^^ 1493*^ 

 Eleanor Rooce, confirmed 1493^ 

 Margaret Fulthorpe, confirmed 1504" died 



1505 « 

 Isabella Metham, confirmed 1505*' 

 Joan Alanson, sub-prioress, confirmed 1522** 

 Christine Brughe, confirmed 1537*' 



The 13th-century seaP" is a vesica, 2| in. by 

 2 in., with a full-length figure of the patron saint 

 holding the cross. Of the nearly destroyed 

 legend there remains : 



IGILL 



NE DE KILLIN 



16. THE PRIORY OF NUN MONKTON 



This house appears from a confirmation by 

 Archbishop Henry Murdac (i 147-53),' to have 

 been founded in the reign of Stephen by 

 William de Arches and Ivetta his wife, who 

 granted to God and St. Mary and to Maud their 

 daughter and the nuns of Monkton 6 carucates 

 of land in Monkton, and half a carucate in 

 Hammerton, and the churches of ' Torp ' 

 (Thorp Arch)^ Hammerton, ' Escham ' (Askham 



» Harl. MS. 6970, fol. 145. 



" Burton, Mon. Eior. 387. 



"H.irl. MS. 6970, fol. 145. 



" Ibid. fol. 258. 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 387. 



'* Baildon, Mow. 'Notes, 163. 



" Harl. MS. 6969, fol. S7. 



'° Baildon, Mon. Notes, 163. 



'■ York Archiepis. Reg. W. Booth, fol. 106. 



'» Baildon, Mon. Notes, 163. 'Mbid. 



"York Archiepis. Reg. W. Booth, fol. 106. 



«' Ibid. Rotherh.im, i, fol. 79. " Ibid. 



" Ibid. Savage, fol. 53. *' Ibid. fol. 56. 



*nh\A. "Ibid. Wolsey, fol. 58. 



" Ibid. Lee, fol. 3 1 . 



'^ Cat. ofSeah,B.M. 3349 ; Harl. Chart. 44 E. 56. 



' Dugdale, l^lon. Angl. iv, 194. 



* The church of Thorp Arch was also given 

 hy Adam de Brus and Ivetta de Arches to St. 

 Sepulchre's chapel at York. An agreement be- 

 tween the nuns and the chapter of the chapel was 

 confirmed by Archbishop Walter Gray in 1226. 

 The nuns were to possess all they had in ' Torp,' 

 including its chapel of 'Waleton' (Walton), when 

 the suit began, but to cede all their right to the 

 church of ' Torp,' and the charter of Archbishop 

 Henrj' Murdac (above mentioned) as well as others 

 of Archbishops Roger and Geoffrey touching the 

 church ; Arckli'uhop Grafs Reg. (Surt. Soc.), 2 ; Bur- 

 ton, Men. Ebor. 87. 



Richard), and « Kirkby juxta Useburn* (Kirkby 

 VVharfe). The latter church Elias de Ho had 

 granted at the counsel of William de Arches. 



The way in which the name of William and 

 Ivetta's daughter, Maud, is introduced can only 

 mean that she was prioress of the house. 



Nun Monkton, although close to "\'ork, was 

 within the archdeaconry of Richmond, and on 

 that account the archbishops' registers have very 

 little about it. 



In 1278 Mary the prioress and her nuns 

 bound themselves to John de Bellewe and 

 Laderne, his wife, to keep the obit of their 

 daughter Alice with a pittance of half a mark in 

 value, and also the obits of John and his wife 

 after each of them died, in return for 10 acres 

 of land and the quitclaim of a five-shilling rent 

 in Thorp Arch.^ 



At an inquisition in 1307 * it was found that 

 the ancestors of Nicholas de Stapleton at the 

 time of the vacancy of the house were accustomed 

 to have the custody of the house and to place 

 guards in the same at their will, but at no time 

 received anything of the issues of the house by 

 reason of that custody. 



The patronage of Nun Monkton priory had 

 come to Nicholas de Stapleton from his mother 

 Sybil, daughter and co-heir of John Bellewe, to 

 whom it came from the Bruces, as representing 

 the founder, William de Arches. 



An account of the visitation of Nun Monkton 

 by Thomas Dalby, Archdeacon of Richmond, on 

 30 April 1397° gives a very unfavourable descrip- 

 tion of the condition of the nunnery at the time. 

 It was objected against the prioress, Margaret 

 Fayrfax,' that she wore different kinds of furs, 

 and even grey furs, and silk veils. She also 

 held the post of burstiria, and had alienated a large 

 amount of timber, to the value of 1 00 marks. She 

 frequently indulged in too much companionship 

 with John Monkton, and invited him to festivities 



'Add. Chart. 17962 (i). 



*Torks.Inq. (ed. W. Brown), iv, 144. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 1 94. 



* Margaret Fayrfax was the sister of John Fayrfax 

 rector of Prescot, who by will dated 7 June 1393 

 {Jest. Ebor. i, 186) left to the prioress and convent 

 of Monkton his white vestment embroidered with 

 golden stars, and his silver-gilt cross with Mary and 

 John, also a silver-gilt chalice To Margaret 

 Fayrfax, the prioress, his sister, he left a silver- 

 gilt cup with a cover, another silver cup with a 

 cover, a maser with a silver-gilt cover, a silver box 

 for sweetmeats, six silver spoons, an armilansa of 

 black cloth, furred with grey, a silver basin and 10 

 marks of silver. To Margaret de Cotam, nun of 

 Monkton, 1 3/. 4^. She succeeded as prioress. 



Margaret Fayrfax was a candidate for the office of 

 prioress on the death of Margaret de Willesthorp, 

 when Isabella Nevill was elected, ten votes being cast 

 for her against two for Margaret Fayrfax. There 

 were fifteen nuns entitled to vote ; Dugdale, Mon. 

 Angl. iv, 193 n. 



122 



