A HISTORY OF SURREY 



During his reign Stephen granted to the 

 brethren 4OJ. rent out of Southwark ' Grove, 

 a member of the manor of Wantage,^ and the 

 advowson of the church of Writtle, Essex.^ 

 In 1 141 they obtained a charter giving them 

 considerable liberties and immunities, that 

 they should possess their lands quit of suits 

 and quarrels, shire and hundred, and should 

 hold their court with right of soc, sac, tol, 

 theam, and infangnethef, with all free cus- 

 toms within and without the burgh.* Other 

 gifts during the same reign were the church 

 of St. James of Derby by Waltheof son of 

 Sweyn confirmed by the king in 1 140 ° ; the 

 manor of Warlingham in Surrey by William 

 de Waterville and Robert his son * ; the 

 moiety of Greenwich, afterwards called Dept- 

 ford, by Walchelin de Mamynot,^ and 6,000 

 herrings out of his manor of Erchelawis,' with 

 one acre of land by Alan Pirot.* 



Henry II.' granted to the prior and con- 

 vent rights of free warren throughout all their 

 lands in Surrey," in 1159 confirmed to them 

 the advowson of the rectories of Camberwell, 

 Bengeo, Warlingham with chapelry of Chel- 

 sham, Fyfield and Beddington," and in 1174 

 the church of Birling in Kent, the gift of 

 Walchelin de Mamynot." Further grants of 

 land and charters of privileges were obtained 

 in succeeding reigns.'^ In 1213 Prior 

 Richard, with the consent of his convent, 

 built an almonry or hospital for lay brethren 

 and boys against the wall of the cellarer's 

 building in honour of St. Thomas the Martyr. 



> ^nn. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 435. 



« Ibid. 436. » Ibid. 437. « Ibid. 436. 



' Ibid. All that is known of the somewhat 

 obscure history of this church, which became a 

 cell of Bermondsey, is given in the Victoria 

 County History of Derbyshire. It consisted of a 

 prior and two monks, and was visited vrith other 

 houses of the Cluniac foundation {Visitation of Engl. 

 Cluniac Foundations, pp. 30-43) ; the prior received 

 a pension with other members of this house at 

 the Dissolution {L. and P. Hen. VIII. xiii. (i) 

 821). 



« Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 437. 



' Ibid. 8 Ibid. 439. 



» Robert Prior of Bermondsey was one of the 

 witnesses to the Convention between Stephen and 

 Henry Fitz-Empress (Rymer's Twdera (Rec. 

 Com.), i. pt. i. 18). 



'° Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 443. 



" Ibid. 440. »» Ibid. 443. 



" Signs of mutual good will are abundant ; the 

 priory received confirmation of charters in 1268 

 when Henry III. bestowed 500 marks on the 

 daughter of Thomas, formerly Count of Savoy, 

 45 marb of which sum was forthcoming from 

 the prior of Bermondsey (Rymer's FauUra (Rec. 

 Com.), i. pt. i. 475). 



66 



It was arranged that the almoner should pay 

 the cellarer los. ^d. at Michaelmas towards the 

 expense. Like the rest of the Cluniac monas- 

 teries the hospital was to be exempt from all 

 Episcopal jurisdiction.** The taxation roll of 

 1 29 1 shows that Bermondsey was a wealthy 

 foundation with widely scattered possessions. 

 The temporalities were valued at ;^228 i<)s. 

 8id. yearly, and included lands or rents in 

 the dioceses of Rochester, London, Lincoln, 

 Chichester, Salisbury, Bath and Wells, Win- 

 chester and York. The spiritualities worth 

 /50 3J. 4^. per annum were in the dioceses 

 of London, Lincoln, Norwich, Salisbury, 

 Bath and Wells, Winchester, Worcester, and 

 Ely.^= 



Sundry suits involving their title in lands 

 were brought against the prior and convent 

 at different times. The most important, that 

 of the Crown in 1417 for their possession of 

 the manorsof Bermondsey, Preston and Stone, 

 has been already referred to.** In 1247 

 Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, released 

 his claim to the advowson of the church of 

 Camberwell, a grant made to the priory by 

 William, Earl of Gloucester, in the reign of 

 King Stephen, and subsequently disputed by 

 his descendants." In 1272 a protracted suit 

 commenced between the prior of Bermondsey 

 and the abbot of Hyde concerning a division 

 between the lands of the priory in Warling- 

 ham and the abbot's lands in Sanderstead.'^ 

 The dispute was still in progress in January 

 1274-5, when the abbot appointed represen- 

 tatives in his suit before the king against 

 Henry the Prior and Walter le Bailif de 

 Warlingham, William Atteful of Warling- 

 ham and others, on a plea of trespass, and 

 was not then terminated.*" The forfeiture of 



1* Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 452. 



" Transcripts of Charters No. 33 gives a pan- 

 carta of the possessions of Bermondsey. 



»« Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. V. No. 60 (a). 



»' Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 460. 



'8 Close, I Edw. I. m. iid. The abbot, who 

 had caused himself to be essoined for being in sick 

 bed against John, then prior of Bermondsey before 

 the Justices of the Bench in the suit between John 

 and the abbot by the late king's writ, sought 

 licence to rise, which was granted because the late 

 king died before the abbot was seen according to 

 custom, and also because John had become prior 

 of Wenlock and another had been set in his place 

 as pnor, who early in the following year obtained a 

 licence to cross the seas until Michaelmas, and 

 nominated Ralph de Derby a monk of Bermondsey, 

 and WiUiam Godyn to act as his proctors in ali 

 pleas (Close, i Edw. I. m. iid and gd). 



" Close, 3 Edw. I. m. 24d ; and Pat. 4 Edw. I 

 m. 9. 



