A HISTORY OF SURREY 



On II July 1 212 a terrible fire broke out 

 on the Surrey side of the water, occasioning 

 the loss of about i,ooo lives, in which the 

 priory church, together with London bridge 

 with its houses and chapels, were consumed. 

 The conventual buildings were also all 

 destroyed save the frater.' 



In 121 5, when the prior and canons had 

 moved into their new house, having tem- 

 porarily occupied the hospital of St. Thomas, 

 an important agreement was made between 

 Prior Martin and the archdeacon of Surrey, 

 warden of the hospital, which is cited in the 

 subsequent account of the hospital. The re- 

 building after the fire was materially helped 

 by the munificence of Peter de Roche, Bishop 

 of Winchester, who also built a spacious 

 chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, 

 which afterwards became the parish church 

 of that name, and the south aisle of the priory 

 church.* 



In 1244. Bishop William de Raleigh, having 

 incurred the enmity of the king, dared not 

 tarry in his episcopal house, which adjoined 

 the priory, but took refuge with the canons, 

 and thence escaped by boat down the Thames 

 to France.' 



On 15 February 1260 there was a great 

 gathering in the priory church of Southwark, 

 when Henry de Wengham was consecrated 

 Bishop of London by the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, in the presence of the Bishops 

 of Worcester, Chester and Salisbury, and 

 Richard, King of Germany.* 



In the time of Prior Stephen the priory 

 church was begun to be rebuilt. A thirty 

 days' indulgence was granted in 1273 to all 

 penitents who contributed to the fabric* 



In 1284 John Peckham, Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, visited the monastery, where it 

 appears there was some fricrion among the 

 brethren. On 2 1 May in that year he issued 

 injunctions to the prior for the better order 

 of the house. He commanded that no canon 

 should on any account enter the city of 

 London or the town of Southwark with- 

 out another canon or lay brother, or eat 



stracts of most of these characters are to be found 

 in Cott. MS. Faustina, A viii. ; or in Nero, C 

 iii., where there are various original early charters 

 of Southwark Priory on ff. 1S8, 196, 197, and 201. 



' Matt. Paris, Chron. Major (Rolls Series), ii. 

 536; Ann. Mon., ii. 82, 268. The date (1207) 

 given for this in the Annales of Bermondsey is 

 clearly a mistake. 



= Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. iii. 560. 



3 Matt. Paris, Chron. Major (Rolls Series), iv. 

 2S5-6 ; Flares Historiarum (Rolls Series), ii. 270. 



' Ibid. ii. 443. 



' Harl. MS. 5871. f. 184. 



or drink there unless with peers or prelates ; 

 that silence should be maintained in the 

 church, choir, cloister and frater ; that the 

 sub-prior should not only study the dignity 

 of religion, but also the bonds of charity, and 

 should correct the faults of the brethren with 

 due gentleness, especially in the absence of 

 the prior ; that the money of the house should 

 be placed in the hands of two of the brethren, 

 who should account for it to the prior. The 

 archbishop inveighed particularly against 'the 

 detestable crime ' of any of the brethren hold- 

 ing property, and put any so doing under ex- 

 communication. He at the same time re- 

 moved Hugh de Chaucumbe, the cellarer; 

 William de Cristeshall, almoner and in- 

 firmarer ; and Stephen, the chamberlain and 

 sacrist, injoining that one canon should not 

 hold the offices of almoner and infirmarer." 



The taxation roll of 1291 shows that the 

 income then accruing from temporalities was 

 considerable, viz. in Winchester diocese, 

 ;^27 IS. 3</., of which above ;^22 was for 

 rents in Southwark ; in Chichester diocese, 

 £2 IS. ^d. ; in Rochester diocese, ;^8 ; in 

 Lincoln diocese, ^^3 15^.; and in London 

 diocese, rents out of no fewer than forty-seven 

 parishes, amounting to ^jo 3^. 5^;^. The 

 only spiritualities entered are a pension of 

 135. ^d. for the prior out of the rectory of 

 St. Mildred's, Poultry, and 2s. for the canons 

 out of the rectory of St. Bartholomew the 

 Less. 



From an ecclesiastical taxation of a later 

 date, cited in the priory register,^ it appears 

 that the priory then held the rectories of 

 Graveney, worth yearly 8 marks ; Wend- 

 over, 42 marks ; Stoke Poges, 1 8 marks ; 

 Reigate, 20 marks ; Betchworth, 24 marks ; 

 Banstead, 20 marks ; Mitcham, 20 marks ; 

 Addington, 12 marks ; Newdigate, 12 

 marks ; St. Margaret, 13 marks ; St. Mary 

 Magdalen, 6 marks ; and Tooting, 40J. 

 There were also pensions to the priory of 

 4x. from the church of St. Mary Magdalen, 

 of 2s. from Newdigate, of 20s. from Wood- 

 mansterne, of 45. from Tooting, of 5 marks 

 from Swanscombe (Kent), and of 13J. ^d. 

 from Leigh. 



On the day of Sts. Philip and James 1304 

 the following nineteen were the professed of 

 the priory : William Waleys, prior ; Adam 

 de London, fraterer ; Henry de Kersalton, 

 pittancer ; Henry de Blockele ; Peter de 

 Cheynham, precentor ; Ralph de London, 

 cook ; John de Gatton ; GeoflFrey de Wend- 



« Reg. Epistolarum, J. Peckham (Rolls Series), 

 "•717.718. 



' Cott. MS. Faust, A viii. f. i66b. 



108 



