A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



Lord Wake, with his arms upon his ailettes ; 

 that to the right is his wife. Above each of 

 them is a banner of Wake, and the same arms 

 are repeated on a small shield at the base of the 

 composition. The legend on this side is a 

 continuation of that on the obverse, and runs 



^ EN l'an de l'incarnacion mill' cccxxx 



SECOVNDE AL HONOVR DE LA VERAI CROYZ E 

 DE NRE DAME E SEYNT PERE E d' SEVT POVL. 



51. THE PRIORY OF HEALAUGH 

 PARK 



The priory of Healaugh Park originated in a 

 hermitage in the wood of Healaugh.^ Bertram 

 Haget granted to Gilbert, a monk of Marmou- 

 tier, and his successors, the hermitage land in 

 the wood of Healaugh and other cleared spaces 

 of ground there, as defined by certain bounds 

 set out in his charter.^ Geoffrey Haget, his son, 

 confirmed to God, St. Mary, and the church of 

 St. John de Parco, and to the monk Gilbert and 

 his successors dwelling there, the lands and 

 woods as his father's charter had defined them.* 

 Among the witnesses to this charter was Abbot 

 Clement [of St. Mary's, York], who succeeded 

 in 1 161 and died in 1184.^ The date, there- 

 fore, must be between those limits, which makes 

 the original foundation of the hermitage con- 

 siderably earlier than has usually been supposed. 



In 1203' Henry, Prior of Marton, and the 

 convent of that house, quitclaimed any right 

 they might have over the hermitage in the park 

 of Healaugh. Bertram Haget had four daughters, 

 one of whom, Alice, inherited Healaugh. She 

 married John de Friston, and their daughter 

 Alice married Jordan de Santa Maria, and with 

 him, circa 1 2 1 8,° definitely established the Augus- 

 tinian Priory at the place where the earlier 

 hermitage had existed. By their charter' they 

 granted to God, St. John the Evangelist of 

 Healaugh Park, and William, prior, and canons 

 there, the site of the monastery and other 

 lands and rights. William, the first prior, 

 was installed on the feast of St. Lucy 

 (13 December) 1218. He was prior for thirteen 

 and a half years, and died in 1233.' Very soon 

 after its foundation the priory received from Alan 

 de Wilton a grant of the hospital of St. Nicholas 

 juxta Yarm,' of which, probably, he was the 

 founder. The hospital remained in possession 



' Burton, Mon. Ebor. 28 1. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. %'i, 438, no. i. ' Ibid. 



* See above, p. 1 1 1 . 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 438, no. ii. 

 « Ibid. 43 S, 439, no. iv, V. 

 ' Ibid. 439, no. V. 



* Cartul. de Parco Helagh (Cott. MSS. \'esp. A, 

 iv), fol. \b. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 636, no. ii. 



of the priory till the Dissolution, the con- 

 vent sending one of its canons to take charge 

 of it. 



Their other possessions, of considerable extent 

 though not of much value, are set out in 

 alphabetical order by Burton.'" Their two 

 churches were Wighill (adjoining Healaugh), 

 given before 1288," and Healaugh, granted to 

 them about 1398'^ and appropriated in 1425.'* 

 They also had at one time a moiety of the 

 church of Leathley, to which they presented,'* 

 and at the Dissolution were receiving a pension 

 from that church.'* 



In the Valor Eccleitasticm " the total revenues 

 of the house were returned at ^^86 bs. 6d., the 

 reprises being ^^19 2s. 7^., leaving a clear annual 

 revenue of £6j 35. iid. only. 



Archbishop Wickwane visited Healaugh on 

 II May 1280 and issued the following in- 

 junctions." The rule of St. Augustine and 

 the statutes of Godfrey, his predecessor, were to 

 be read {recitari)zt the beginning of each month, 

 and observed. Habits and shoes were to be 

 given to each member by a common minister of 

 the house, as required, and the distribution of 

 money [for their purchase] abandoned. The 

 canons were not to be sent out singly, or per- 

 mitted to remain in the service of great people. 

 They were not, especially after compline, to 

 drink with guests outside the cloister or else- 

 where, and were forbidden to walk about in 

 the adjacent woods or other places, unless of 

 necessity, and with the leave of the president. 

 No corrodies or other wasteful burdens for the 

 house were to be granted. Silence was to be 

 decently observed, and the accounts made up 

 yearly. Flesh meat was not to be eaten by the 

 strong and healthy members, against the require- 

 ments of the rule, on the second and fourth 

 ferias of the week. A sub-prior was to be 

 appointed without delay, and the canons were 

 on no account to receive any female as a guest 

 or to stay at the house without the archbishop's 

 special licence. Trouble appears to have arisen 

 a few years later, and in 1294" Archbishop 

 Romanus instructed his official to terminate 

 certain contentions between the prior and some 

 of the canons. 



Archbishop Greenfield in 1307" found the 

 house burdened with corrodies and annuities 

 beyond its means, and much impoverished by 

 sales of land. 



'" Burton, Mon Ebor. 281-4. 

 " Pat. 21 Ric. II, m. 36. 



" Ibid. 



" Lawton, Cell Rerum Eccl. 63. 

 '* Archbishop Gray's Reg. (Surt. Soc), 29, 40 ; 

 Archbishop Gijfard's Reg. (Surt. Soc), 32. 

 '^ Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 441, no. x. 

 '« Valor Eccl. v, 8. 



" York Archicpis. Reg. Wickwane, fol. 24^, 1 34. 

 " Ibid. Romanus, fol. 46. 

 " Ibid. Greenfield, fol. 63. 



216 



