A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



precincts of their monastery without the arch- 

 bishop's special licence. Joan Fletcher was 

 alive at the Suppression,^^ when there were, 

 including her, eleven nuns in the house, which is 

 described as ' Prioratus monasterii de Basedale 

 ordinis Sancti Bernardi Cisterciensis.' Drs. 

 Layton and Legh " reported that the nuns had 

 as it was supposed {ut putatur) the milk of the 

 Blessed Mary in veneration. 



Prioresses of Basedale 



Isabella,^^ occurs between 1189 and 1230 



Susanna,^' occurs c. 1230 



Elena,*^ occurs 1283 



Joan de Percy ,'^ elected 130 1 



Katherine Moubray,^^ occurs 18 March 



1343-4 

 Alice Page,^' resigned June 1377 

 Elizabeth Cothom,''* confirmed 1460, resigned 



1481-2=' 

 Elizabeth Davell,'" elected March 1 48 1-2, 



resigned 1497 " 

 Agnes Thomlynson,'' elected August 1497 

 Margaret Bukton,'' elected November 1523 

 Joan Fletcher,*'' elected August 1524 

 Elizabeth Raighton,'" elected 1527 



30. ELLERTON IN SWALEDALE 



There is some difference of opinion as to the 

 date of the foundation of the priory of Ellerton 

 in Swaledale.* Dodsworth gives alternative 

 founders : Warner the chief steward of the 

 household of the Earl of Richmond, or his son 

 Wymar, temp. Henry 11,^ and Dr. Burton, 

 probably relying on this statement, places EUer- 



" Suppression P. ii, 15. 



" L. and P. Hen. nil, x, p. 137, &c. 



"Dugdalc, Mon. Angl. v, 509, no. vii. 



^ If'httby Chartul. i, 233. 



"Feet of F. Yorks. file 61, no. 28 (Hil. 11 

 Edw. 1). 



"York. Archiepis. Reg. Corbridge, fol. 25. 



"Ibid. Zouch, fol. 154. She was not necessarily 

 deposed then ; the commission was to depose if neces- 

 sary; another conditional order to depose a prioress (no 

 name) occurs in 1345 (ibid. fol. 157). 



"Ibid. A. Nevill, fol. 41. 



" Ibid. W. Booth, fol. 60. 



"Ibid. Rotherham, i, fol. i63. 



"Ibid. "Ibid. fol. 164. 



" Ibid. ^' Ibid. Wolsey, fol. 72^. 



"Ibid. fol. 77. 



" Ibid. fol. 87 ; a nun of Keldholme. 



' Considerable confusion has arisen in consequence 

 of there being more than one Ellerton in Yorkshire ; 

 Ellerton on Spalding Moor, where was a Gilbertine 

 priory ; Ellerton on Swale, to the south-east of Rich- 

 mond ; and Ellerton in the parish of Downholme, also 

 'on Swale,' where the nunnery was situated. 



'Dods. IMSS. vii, fol. 30. 



ton in his list of foundations of that reign.' The 

 first recorded prioress, Alice, was at the head 

 of the priory in 1227.* 



Confusing this house with the priory of Eller- 

 ton on Spalding Moor, some writers have called 

 it a Gilbertine nunnery.' It was an establishment 

 of Cistercian nuns," Leland describing it as 'a 

 priori of white clothid nunnes, stonding in a valle 

 ... a mile beneth marik priory.'' 



The above-named Alice the prioress was the 

 respondent in an action brought in 1227 ''X ^^"^ 

 Prior of Kirkham.' The dispute had reference 

 to the last presentation to the church ofWhixley, 

 but what was the finding is not known, though 

 the matter was renewed the following year on 

 5 February 1228 at Westminster.^ 



In 1274 the little priory had some trouble 

 with one of the sisters, Maud, the daughter of 

 Roger de Hunmanby. For some reason or 

 other she was excommunicated and remained 

 obdurate. Archbishop GiflFard therefore gave 

 notice of her excommunication to Master Roger 

 de Seton and his fellow-justices of the King's 

 Bench, informing them of her persistent contu- 

 macy and offence — that she was ' contemning 

 the keys of the Church,' — and asking them to 

 shun and repel her by every legitimate means, 

 until she came to the primate to seek the benefit 

 of absolution.'" 



Of the possessions of this house, 'one of the 

 humblest of all monastic foundations,' '' very 

 little is known. Two bovates of land in Eller- 

 ton belonged to it in 1287, and the prioress, it 

 seems, with the heir of Thomas de Hereford, 

 held the manor of Ellerton-cum-Stainton." In 

 1347 the Scots, making an inroad into Swale- 

 dale, entered the nunnery and carried away seven 

 charters and writings ; one of these was a grant 

 from Robert de Wicliff to Margaret, the prioress 

 at that time, af an annual rent of 6f. %d}^ At 

 the Dissolution the revenues of the house were 

 derived from rents and ferms in Barforth, Bar- 

 ton, Bellerby, Carlton, Constable Burton, 

 Hornby, Melsonby, Richmond, Studdow, and 

 Walburn,'* and amounted to ^^14 14^. 8(/. 

 per annum. The value of the priory site with 

 the gardens, mills, meadows, and glebe an- 

 nexed to it, was £^\. The outgoings were 

 4x. 2^., leaving a clear balance of ^^ 1 5 los.bd. 

 The abbey of Egglestone also paid to the priory 

 an annual sum of £2 ^'- ^^- for the finding 

 of a chaplain for the chantry founded by 

 Thomas Cleasby for his own soul and those 



' Burton, Mon. Ebor. 56. * Pat. i 2 Hen. Ill, m. 7 d. 



' See e.g. Murray's Yorkshiri (1904), 365. 



* Burton, Mon. Ebor. 263. ^ Itin.v, 113. 



' Pat. 1 2 Hen. Ill, m. 7 d. » Ibid. m. 6 d. 



"York Archiepis. Reg. GifFard, fol. 133. 



" Whitaker, Richmondshire, i, 3 1 6. 



" Kirkby's Inquest (Surt. Soc), 326. 



" Clarkson, ff/;/. of Richmond, 322. 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 263. 



160 



