RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



HOUSE OF BENEDICTINE NUNS 



2. THE PRIORY OF WALLING- 

 WELLS 



Ralph de Chevrolcourt (or Caprecuria) in the 



time of Stephen granted, with the consent of 



his heirs, to Almighty God and the Blessed 



Virgin a place in his park of Carlton in Lindrick 



by the Wells (j'uxta fontes et rivum fontium\ 



whose name was to be St. Mary of the Park, to 



make and build there a dwelling for religious, 



independent of any other house, in honour of 



the Blessed Virgin, for the remission of his sins 



and for the good estate and the soul's health of 



himself and his heirs and progenitors and of all 



who should help and maintain the house. By 



way of endowment the founder granted the 



house, the water for mill use, pasture in the 



park for all their beasts, pannage in the same 



for ninety swine, a right of way through the 



midst of the park for carting their crops, all the 



lands held of his fee by Gunwat, Thori, William 



son of Lefwin, Rushtoch and Ernwi, with 



various other small plots, common rights in the 



field of Carlton, common of pasture on all his 



demesnes, and the whole underwood [arhustum) 



of Sicam to inclose. The charter concludes 



with an unusually solemn blessing upon his heirs 



who should cherish and maintain his gifts to this 



house, and a malediction on all who should 



attempt to disturb, diminish, or straiten the 



benefactions.^ 



The church of Cantley, Yorkshire, was appro- 

 priated to the nuns of Wallingwells in 1273. 

 Archbishop Giffard gave his assent, on account 

 of their penury, in terms of warm eulogy as to 

 their devout life. The appropriation was to 

 come into operation on the death or resignation 

 of John Clarell, the then rector, and meanwhile 

 the rector was to assign to the priory the yearly 

 pension of a mark.^ 



At the end of GifFard's register, the ordinance 

 of Archbishop Godfrey, in 1262, concerning cer- 

 tain rights of this nunnery in the churches of 

 Carlton in Lindrick, Cantley, and Mattersey is 

 cited. On account of their great poverty, the 

 archbishop, with the express consent of Warin de 

 Dyson, rector of Carlton, assigned to them the 

 corn tithes of eighteen bovates of land in that 

 parish, and the nuns were to be held clear of all 

 tithes, small and great, on their lands in Carlton. 

 Moreover the rector of Carlton was to sustain 

 all burdens of the church, save the extraordinary 

 ones of a fourth part. The advowsons of the 

 rectory of Carlton (saving this fourth part) and of 

 the rectory of Cantley were reserved to the 



' Thoroton, Notts, iii, 408. 



' York Epis. Reg. GifFard, fol. 17. 



Archbishop of York, but a pension was to be 

 paid of 20s. out of Carlton rectory and of two 

 marks out of Cantley rectory to the prioress and 

 nuns of Wallingwells. It was at the same time 

 agreed that the presentation to the rectory of 

 Mattersey was reserved to the priory.^ 



The Taxation Roll of 1291 enters that the 

 prioress held in spiritualities in Carlton in 

 Lindrick ;^io 13;. 4^., and in temporalities 

 ,^4 i8f. ^d. ; also £2 13J. 4^. in temporalities 

 at Handsworth Woodhouses.* 



The Valor Eccleslasticus of Henry VIII gives 

 the total annual value of the house as ^'87 11s. 6d., 

 but heavy reprises reduced the clear annual 

 value to ;^58 gs. lod. The demesne lands pro- 

 duced £6 a year, and other Nottinghamshire lands 

 in Carlton, Gildingwells, Gringley, ' Willourne,' 

 together with Yorkshire lands in Handsworth 

 and its members, brought the total of the tem- 

 poralities to ;^2i 11^. lod. Campsall rectory 

 (Yorks) produced the large annual income of 

 j^5i 14J. ; Cantley rectory and a pension out 

 of Carlton rectory brought the total of the spiritu- 

 alities to ^65 19J. 8d. The chief outgoing 

 was from Campsall rectory, which included 

 ^16 13J. 4.d. to the vicar as his pension, 

 £1 6s. Sd. to the deacon of the same church, 

 ;^5 to a chantry priest in Pontefract Castle, ^i 

 to the Archbishop of York, and los. to the York 

 chapter. There was also a distribution of alms 

 to the poor four times a year, amounting to 

 £2 6s. 8d., in commemoration of the founder.^ 



The Prioress of Wallingwells took action in 

 1247 against Thomas de Lyncoln and Juliana 

 his wife for obstructing a certain highway in 

 Carlton, so that she could not use it for her 

 carts to the granges ; but the action failed, as the 

 jury found that the priory never had any right of 

 way, and only used it on sufferance.^ 



In November 1295 Archbishop Romayne 

 appointed Lady Emma de Stocwelle prioress of 

 Wallingwells, and issued his mandate to the 

 archdeacon to induct her. A memorandum in 

 the register states that the diocesan appointed in 

 this manner because there was no exhibition of 

 the election in writing ; but it would appear 

 that Lady Emma was the choice of the nuns.' 



Dame Isabel Crofte, Prioress of Wallingwells, 

 by indenture dated 30 June 1507 covenanted 

 with George Hastings to farm to him all manner 

 of tithes of the town and manor of Fenwick 

 pertaining to the priory and including tithes of 



" Ibid. fol. 145 d. 



* Pope Nkh. Tax. (Rec. Com.). 



' Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 1 79. 



° Thoroton, Notts, iii, 410. 



' York Epis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 85. 



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