A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



issued citations for a fresh visitation on 1 2 March.** 

 The questions to be settled were the emoluments 

 ofresidence,themeans of repairing buildings which 

 had fallen into ruin byneglect of thecanonsand the 

 fury of the Scots,'' the preservation of the liberties 

 of the chapter, the degree of orders required by 

 the holders of the several prebends, and the im- 

 provement of the stipends of the vicars. On 

 12 March two of the habitual absentees appeared 

 in person, while the other four sent proctors.*" 

 The statutes which were the result of this con- 

 vocation opened with a severe censure of the 

 neglected state of the church. They proceeded 

 to assign the lands and tithe of Nidd " and 

 Grantley, with the whole altarage of the parish 

 of Ripon, as a common fund for residents. The 

 tithes due to the prebendary of Monkton, as 

 treasurer of the church, were excepted from this 

 ordination. The term of residence was fixed, as at 

 Beverley and Southwell, at twelve weeks a year, 

 kept continuously or with intervals. Payment of 

 the vicars was to be made out of the common fund 

 of the chapter. The other questions remained 

 untouched." Later in the century some dis- 

 pute arose among the canons with regard to the 

 allocation of prebendal tithes -within the town of 

 Ripon. In 1375 the disputed shares were united 

 to the common fund, and an annual money pay- 

 ment was made in commutation to the six canons 

 and the fabric of the church. By far the largest 

 share went to the prebendary of Monkton." 

 The obligation of residence and the fact that his 

 revenue was derived from a distinct source 

 excepted the prebendary of Stanwick from these 

 constitutional changes. 



In 141 4 Henry V, at the instance of Arch- 

 bishop Bowett, formed the six vicars into a 

 college under the presidency of a proctor ; ** and 

 Bowett granted them a site for a new Bcdern." 

 Their devotion to duty seems to have attracted 

 the favourable notice of the archbishop, but in- 

 junctions issued in 1439 by Archbishop Kemp's 

 commissaries show that some negligence had 

 been observed in their conduct, and, among 

 other things, that the bad habit, prevalent at 

 York and Southwell, of walking about the 

 church during divine service was one of their 



'^ Charter, Mem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), ii, 105-8. 



" See taxation of Ripon prebends after the Scottish 

 invasion in Letters N. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 282 ; Mem. 

 ofRifcn (Surt. Soc), ii, 85. 



*" Mem. 0/ Ripon (Surt. Soc), ii, 108. 



*' The church of Nidd was assigned to the common 

 fund in 1 241 hy Archbishop Gray {Mem. 0/ Ripon 

 [Surt. Soc], ii, 5). A vicarage was not ordained till 

 1439 (Me-n. 0/ Ripon [Surt. Soc], ii, 150). 



" Ibid. 109 ; cf. Ca/. Pat. 1330-4, p. 384. 



" Mem. cf Ripon (Surt. Soc), ii, 133-6. 



" Cal. Pat. 141 3-16, pp. 267-8 ; Mem. 0/ Ripon 

 (Surt. Soc.\ i, 123-5. 



" Charter printed in Mem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), i. 



faults.*' Throughout the 15th century the 

 church was in a far from flourishing condition. 

 The fabric was in such a state of ruin that in 

 1450 service could not be held in the church 

 but was performed in an adjoining chapel ; *' 

 and a succession of indulgences for contributions 

 to the fabric marks the various stages in decay 

 and repair.** The chapter acts of the period 

 note occasional cases of carelessness. The 

 sacrist in 1453 neglected his duty of ringing the 

 bells at the proper times ; water was not pro- 

 vided for the lavatories, nor was the clock 

 properly kept.*' The vicar of Nun wick in 1460 

 was accused of incontinence." In 1465 a 

 woman who lived at the western gatehouse of 

 Fountains Abbey was dying, and sent her 

 daughter-in-law to Ripon for the vicar of Given- 

 dale, in whose parish she was. He could not be 

 found, and the vicar of Thorpe, who was ap- 

 parently the only one in residence, was too old 

 to come, but commissioned two monks of Foun- 

 tains to administer the last sacraments. As a 

 result of this, the Abbot of Fountains claimed 

 her body, but she was eventually buried at 

 Ripon, the parishioners of three neighbouring 

 hamlets carrying her to her grave." 



At a chapter held in 1477 the canons 

 voted half of their annual dividends from the 

 common fund to the fabric of the church. The 

 repair of the prebendal houses within five years 

 was also made obligatory, and fines in cases of 

 default were allotted to the fabric.'^ Energy of 

 this kind was, however, only occasional. The 

 disregard of residence appears to have become 

 chronic, and in 1534 and 1537 Archbishop Lee 

 found, on the complaint of some of the other 

 canons, that a single residentiary, the treasurer, 

 Christopher Dragley, was exercising autocratic 

 powers in the church, much to its disadvantage 

 and to the prejudice of the prebendary of Stanwick 

 who was at this time non-resident." Dragley was 

 a man of unsatisfactory character, and promoted 

 slackness among the vicars, for whom special 

 injunctions were necessary." Before the Sup- 

 pression, Dragley had disappeared from the 

 chapter, but in 1538 he gave up to the uses of 

 the fabric the surplus of the common fund 

 which he claimed as sole residentiary, reserving 

 only his statutory ^^lo, and limiting his resi- 

 dence, in compensation, to six weeks in the 

 year.^^ 



" Mem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), ii, 147 et seq. 



*' Ibid. 152. 



" e.g. 1459-60, central tower (York Archiepis. Reg. 

 W. Booth, fol. 139) ; 1479, chancel (ibid. L. Booth, 

 fol. loi) ; 1482 (ibid. Rotherham, fol. 208). See 

 Mem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), ii, 154, &c. 



" Ripon Chapter Acts (Surt. Soc), 21. 



"Ibid. 89. "Ibid. 223-5. 



" Ibid. 254, 256-7. 



" Mem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), ii, 167 et seq. 



"Ibid. 178. "Ibid. 180. 



37c 



