RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



201. LOWTHORPE COLLEGIATE 

 CHURCH 



In the early years of Edward III there appear 

 to have been, at Lowthorpe, a number of people 

 ' attached to the worship of the Trinity and 

 S. Mary' who were desirous to have daily 

 service in their church,^ so Sir John de 

 Heselarton, the patron, obtained royal licence on 

 26 January 1333 to alienate the advowson to 

 seven chaplains who were to celebrate mass 

 daily, as the patron should appoint. 



On 25 and 27 March 1333 the patron and 

 the rector, Robert de Alesby, placed the church 

 at the absolute disposal of the Archbishop of 

 York, to make whatever ordinances he should 

 wish for the future governance of the church ; 

 and on 3 May the king confirmed the statutes 

 which had been drawn up with the advice of the 

 dean and chapter. These ordinances secured a 

 regular succession of rectors who were to celebrate 

 mass at least thrice a week and be responsible 

 for the charges and management of the church. 

 There were also to be six perpetual chantries 

 bearing the names of the Holy Trinity, St. 

 Mary, the archbishop, the chapter, the founder, 

 the patron ; and on 14 October 1364 a seventh 

 chantry was founded.^ 



At the third chantry masses were to be said 

 for the archbishops, past, present, and future, and 

 also for Edward II. At chantry no. 4 there 

 were to be celebrations for the deans and canons 

 ' quick and dead ' and their successors, and also 

 for Sir William de Ros the second, ' sometime 

 lord of Hamlak.' ' Chantries nos. 5 and 6 were 

 founded for masses for the founder. Sir John, his 

 wife Margery, their children, heirs, parents, and 

 also for John de Hotham,* Bishop of Ely. 



In addition to the rector there were to be six 

 perpetual priests and three clerks, two of them 

 deacons, or at least one a deacon and the other a 

 sub-deacon. They were to wear surplices, to 

 say the canonical services, or at least on ferial 

 days to say matins, high mass, and vespers, and, 

 on the feasts of the nine lections, the hour of 

 prime. On double feasts and Sundays they were 

 to chant high mass and all the hours. Further 

 ordinances were made for special masses for the 

 dead, for the places in the quire of the priests, 

 and for their dress. 



Their clothes were to be of cloth, 'either 

 black or the nearest shade to that colour,' or of 

 'cainet' not 'approximating to red or green'; 

 they were to wear ' black surcoats ' fastened and 

 'without birri,' and 'other garments fastened 

 from the top.' They were to live in common 

 in a house in the rectory ; to bear themselves 



' Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 

 ' Torre's MS. fol. 10 1 8. 

 ' Helmsley. 



' The patronage was in the hands of the Hotham 

 family for some time. 



lowly and reverently ; to swear obedience to t 

 rector, and never be absent without his perm 

 sion. For their sustenance the priests had in t 

 rectory a 'hall,' chambers, kitchen, bakehou 

 brewhouse, and a loft. Turbary for sufficie 

 peat was provided, and an annual stipend 

 6 J marks each. The two deacons were to ha 

 40f. each per year, and the third clerk had 

 live ' of the holy water ' — aqua benedicta — p( 

 quisites, and parishioners' alms. 



The church continued with such a constit 

 tion for more than two centuries, passing und 

 turbed through the times of the dissolution of t 

 monasteries. Confidence in its continued ex 

 tence appears to have prevailed at a time wh 

 other ecclesiastical institutions seemed insecui 

 for on 10 June 1543 Hezakiah Clifton of Burt( 

 Agnes left ' to the Colledge of Lowthorpe, 20J 

 But the end came at the suppression of chantri( 

 &c., for, in August 1552, we find in an invento 

 of the goods belonging to ' the College of Lo\ 

 thorpe in the countye ofYorke' that it is refern 

 to as the 'said late colledge,' the corn beii 

 valued at ;^65 12s. 4^,, 'certen cattell' 

 £12 5x. 8^., and 'certen utensyles of hu 

 bandrye ' at ^^83 6j. 6^.° 



Rectors of Lowthorpe' 



Robert de Alesby, last parochial rector, ii 



stituted 26 Apr. 1331 

 Thomas de Riplingham, Nov. 1333 

 Robert de Alesby, 23 May 1335 

 John de Killum, 9 Sept. 1349 

 John de Knapton, 21 Dec. 1354 

 Roger de Barton, 4 Aug. 1357 

 Thomas de Lowthorp, 13 Oct. 1363 

 John de Ingleby 



Robert de Bynton, 16 Dec. 1372 

 Richard de Malton 

 John de Westhead, 17 Mar. 1392 

 John de Dyghton, 20 June 1394 

 Thomas Brasse, i Mar. 1407 

 William Blaunche, 25 Sept. 1409 

 Thomas Taylor, 6 Oct. 1430 

 Thomas Percebrig, 13 Dec. 1437 

 John Sutton, 15 July 1439 

 Richard Bramston 

 John Regill, 23 July 1444 

 Henry Feron, 1 1 Nov. 1 450 

 William Rowghshawe,* 30 Oct. 1473 

 William Warde, 23 Mar. i486 

 William Rawkeshawe, S.T.B., 2 Apr. 1490 

 William Thompson, i Mar. 1504 

 Robert Wade 

 John Braynsby,' 3 July 1536 



' Test. Ebor. (Surt. Soc), vi, 1 74. 



* Invent. ofCh. Goods, Yorh. (Surt. Soc), 8;. 



' Torre's MS. ; the dates are those of institution. 



' Appointed by four chaplains. 



° Appointed by Henry VIII. 



365 



