RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



their laudable and heavy work of providing hos- 

 pitality for wayfarers and guests.^^ 



In December 1270 a grant was made to the 

 priory of Blyth by Archbishop Gifi&rd of the 

 toll of his town of Scrooby.-'^ 



Earlier in the same year the archbishop sent 

 his mandate to the Dean of Retford to warn the 

 convent of Blyth to pay the tithes due to the 

 abbot and convent of Vaudey, or to appear at 

 his court.^* 



An agreement was entered into in 1276 

 between the convent of Blyth and Sir William 

 de Cressy as to a long dispute that had been 

 waged in the York court and in various civil 

 courts as to certain tithes and oblations. Through 

 the mediation of Archbishop GifFard, it was 

 covenanted that Sir William would neither by 

 himself nor others molest or hinder the priory 

 in the collection of tithes (in kind), or in the 

 carriage of them through field, park, meadow, or 

 elsewhere, wherever they had been in the habit 

 of gathering or carrying them without damage 

 to Sir William. Sir William de Cressy also 

 undertook for the future to see that all his 

 tenants, both free and serf, made all their obla- 

 tions at the church of Blyth, as well for the dead 

 as for purifications and other customary olFerings ; 

 and further to restore to the church if possible 

 any dues of which they had been deprived during 

 the controversy. Both parties agreed to with- 

 draw from any litigations then in progress, save 

 in the matter then before the king's court con- 

 cerning the right of Sir William de Cressy to 

 raise gallows in the hay of ' Emmeslouwe.' '^ 



A list of the rents paid to the priory of Blyth 

 for the year 1273 is fully set forth in the chartu- 

 lary ; they amounted to £^1\ 9J. 2,\ii?^ 



In the Hundred Rolls of Nottinghamshire in 

 1276 the jury of Retford complained that the 

 prior and his bailiffs took 415?. toll for every sack 

 of wool passing through Blyth, whereas they 

 used only to demand 7,d. for every cart-load, and 

 so with regard to other merchandise, to the great 

 injury of the merchants. But from the Quo 

 Warranto returns of about the same date we 

 find that the prior's attorney sets forth with 

 minuteness the tolls claimed and the boundaries 

 within which they were levied from time imme- 

 morial and by chartered right. The western 

 boundary extended from Radford to Shireoaks, and 

 thence to ' Austan ' and ' Frodestan ' ; the northern 

 from ' Frodestan ' to Laughton, and thence suc- 

 cessively to Field, Malpas, Rossington, and the 

 Thorne ; the eastern from the Thorne to Bawtry, 

 Scrooby, Mattersey, Sutton, West Retford, and 

 the Idle ; and the southern from the Idle to 

 Ordsall, Twyford Bridge, Normanton by Bot- 



" York Epis. Reg. Gray, fol. 105-6. 



" Ibid. GifFard, fol. 75 d. 



" Ibid. fol. 105 d. 



"Ibid. fol. 127. 



'" Harl. MS. 3759, fol. 22-4. 



hamsall and Radford. Within these limits the 

 convent levied tolls on every cart-load of timber 

 or bread (for sale), \d. ; for every cart-load of 

 any other article for sale, 2d. ; for every horse-load 

 of salmon, \d. ; for every horse-load of any other 

 article, \d. ; for every back-load or pack of mer- 

 chandise, \d. ; for every horse or cow (for sale), 

 \d. ; for every sheep and pig (for sale), \d. ; and 

 for every sack of wool packed and sold at Blyth, 

 ^d. All these tolls and boundaries were held to 

 be established." 



At a somewhat later date the citizens of 

 Lincoln claimed their own chartered privileges. 

 They took proceedings in the Exchequer against 

 the priory for having levied tolls on them ; but 

 a compromise was arrived at whereby the con- 

 vent ceded all future demands on condition of 

 the citizens waiving all claim to damages for 

 past demands.^* 



A remarkable entry on the Hundred Rolls 

 must not be overlooked. Peter de Parkes, the 

 steward of Tickhill Honour, took a cutpurse, 

 caught by the Blyth bailiffs in that market, out 

 of their hands and conveyed him to Tickhill. 

 The prior claimed that the thief should be tried 

 in his court, and the Tickhill bailiffs consented to 

 surrender him on payment of 5^. ; on the prior's 

 refusal to pay, the culprit was immediately hanged 

 at Tickhill." 



The Taxation Roll of 129 1 enters the tem- 

 poralities of the priory in Nottinghamshire as 

 producing an income of ,^43 15J. \od.^ with the 

 addition of 6;. 'id. in the Yarburgh deanery of 

 Lincoln. The spiritualities included ;^SO for 

 the rectory of Blyth (the vicarage was worth 

 ^10), and portions of the churches of Weston, 

 Bingham, Elton, and Wheatley, £c) 6j. 8^.^° 



An inquisition of 1379, made at Nottingham 

 before one of the barons of the Exchequer and 

 the county escheator, declared the total average 

 income of the alien priory of Blyth to be 

 ^^140 3^. \d. The church of Blyth was valued 

 at ;^66 13^. \d. ; the toll, markets, pleas, and 

 perquisites of market and other courts, ^62 bs. 8d. ; 

 and one hundred and twenty days' work in har- 

 vest from customary tenants in gathering the 

 prior's crops, 20s. The remainder was made up 

 of a pension of ^3 6s. Sd. from the church of 

 Weston, and a variety of small accounts for lands 

 and rents in different parishes of the county .^^ 



A highly interesting return was at the same 

 time made as to the exact state of the priory's 

 revenue and outgoings, with a view of enabling 

 the Crown to determine at what rent this con- 

 vent, with other alien priories, should be permitted 



" Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 26, 27, 29, 302, 304, 

 317-19 ; P/ac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 616, 627. 



" Harl. MS. 3759, fol. 132. 



" Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 303. 



'° Po/'e Nkh. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 6e,b, 74, 310, 31 1, 

 liib, 312, 314, 338^, 339. 



^' Raine, Hist, of Blyth, 42-3. 



85 



