RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



as a cell to Holy Trinity Priory, York. To 

 this latter house Niel Fossard, it appears, had 

 granted ' a certain site in Bramham Wood, which 

 is called Hedley, and all the ground to the hill 

 at Oglethorp,' "* but whether this gift was made 

 to the Benedictine house of Holy Trinity, or to 

 its predecessor the house of Canons,^^ is not 

 quite clear. At all events the donation was 

 afterwards referred to as the gift of Alexander 

 Paynell ^ and Agnes '' his wife. 



On a portion of this land the Trinity monks 

 afterwards established a cell '* which they dedi- 

 cated to the honour of St. Mary. Burton and 

 Tanner '° both date it * tempore Henry I,' and 

 Dr. Rawlinson gives the exact year as 1125, 

 but in Alexander Paynell's charter of c. 1125,'° 

 and in that of Henry 11,^' 1 174-81, the priory 

 is not mentioned, but simply the site. In the 

 bull of Alexander III, however, of the date 

 1 1 79, it is referred to as being in existence, the 

 pope then confirming to the priory at York its 

 ' cellulam de Hedleia cum omnibus pertinentiis 

 suis.' '* 



The reputed founder of Hedley Priory was 

 Ypolitus de Bram,'' but from his charter it is 

 clear that he was not the founder, but that there 

 were already monks there, and that the cell 

 was then in existence under the dedication 

 ' St. Mary.' ^'^ His gift was simply an addition 

 to the Hedley possessions, and consisted of certain 

 lands of his at Middleton, near Ilkley.^ 



Two of the witnesses of a gift made by 

 Adam Fitz Peter 'to God and St. Mary of 

 Hedley ' were Paulinus of Leeds and Robert de 

 Gaunt, and the benefaction must therefore have 

 been made during the period 1152-67.^ Nothing 

 further seems to be known of Hedley till 1290, 

 when Peter de Middleton, a descendant of Adam 

 Fitz Peter, confirmed the gifts of his ancestors, 

 quitclaiming any supposed rights he might have 

 had, to 'William the monk there,' and to the 

 monks who should successively dwell there.' 

 Though it has been assumed that in 1290 there 

 was only one monk, the statement scarcely 

 warrants that assumption. It is more likely that 

 the monk William was the chief brother, the 

 prior, and that for that reason his name is men- 

 tioned as the one to whom the confirmation was 

 made. At all events there were monachl in 



" Stapleton's paper, Arch. Inst. Proc. Tori, 1846, 

 p. 103. " See under Holy Trinity Priory. 



" The fourth son of the founder of Holy Trinity. 



" Agnes Fossard, the granddaughter of Niel. 



°* Toris. Arch, and Topog. Joum. v, 316. 



'' ' MS. v. cl, Ric. Rawlinsoni.' 



*' In the possession of the late Lord Herries. 



" Quoted in Ca/. Pat. 1 46 1-7, p, 377. 



°* Dngdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 682. 



°' Notit. Mon. Yorks. xlix. 



■°'' Dngdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 686, quoting 'ex ipso 

 autographo in Turri B. Mariae, Ebor.' 



' Ibid. ' Ibid. » Ibid. 



Ypolitus de Bram's day, and an interesting item 

 concerning St. Robert of Knaresborough shows 

 that there were a number of brethren in his 

 time. The Knaresborough hermit, it seems, 

 fled from that place to SpofForth, and thence to 

 Hedley, yielding to ' the invitation of the monks 

 of Hedley.' But ' being dissatisfied with their 

 conversation,' he returned to his former retreat 

 at St. Hilda's.^ 



Though, as we have seen, Hedley had receiVed 

 certain possessions specifically intended for the 

 benefit of the cell, yet the priory at York still 

 owned the manor, and in 1377 it was leased for 

 thirty-nine years to John de Berden, citizen of 

 York, at an annual rent of 40J.,'' and this amount 

 is recorded in an impeximus of the Holy Trinity 

 finances made in 1379.* Before the termination 

 of this lease the alien priories were suppressed in 

 1414 by the Leicester Parliament, Hedley being 

 amongst the number of those mentioned in the 

 'Catalogue." But the priory at York was 

 spared,* and the possessions of its suppressed cell 

 came into its hands. 



None of the names of the priors have been 

 handed down unless it be William already men- 

 tioned as occurring in 1290.' 



216. THE ALIEN PRIORY OF BEGAR 

 NEAR RICHMOND 



' The Abbey of Begare {sic) in Britanny having 

 several estates in England particularly in Lincoln- 

 shire and Yorkshire, there was a cell of alien 

 monks of that abbey fixed near Richmond, 

 temp. Henry III, which upon the suppression of 

 these foreign Houses was granted first to the 

 chantry of St. Ann at Thresk [Thirsk], then 

 to Eton College, then to the priory of Mount 

 Grace and at last to Eton College again.' ^^ 



There is really nothing to add to what Tanner 

 has noted regarding this alien priory, the history 

 of which seems to be quite lost, and Clarkson ^' 

 says that the site of this priory was nowhere 

 mentioned, but that at Moulton there were 

 some old buildings, called the Cell. The 

 property granted to Mount Grace, under the 

 name of* Begger,' was that of the mills at Rich- 

 mond. This is made evident by a conventual 

 lease,^' granted by John, prior of the house of 

 the Assumption of the Blessed Mary the Virgin 

 of Mount Grace, to Cuthbert Pressyke on 

 6 October 1537, f°'' *^^s g°o<l ^^^ faithful 

 service, of an annuity of j^ 1 ' de Beggare alias 

 vocat' Richmond mylnes.' 



' Mem. of Fountains (Surt. See), i, 167. 



' Pat. 5 Ric. II, m. 10. 



* Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 684. 



' Ibid, vi, 165*. « See under Holy Trinity. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 687. 



"Ibid, vi, 1055. 



" Hist, of Richmond, 3 2 n. 



" Convent. Leases, Yorks. (P.R.O.), no. 521. 



391 



