RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Shelford to use the divine offices in the parish 

 church of Shelford, polluted by the shedding of 

 blood, until it had been reconciled, and citing 

 the prior to appear before him on i October, 

 wherever he (the archbishop) might happen to 

 be.'^ 



The priory obtained the royal licence in 1310 

 to appropriate the moiety of the church of 

 Gedling, which was of their patronage.'* 



Diocesan sanction was given in 1 3 ii to the 

 appropriation of the churches of Shelford and 

 Saxondale and the mediety of the church of 

 North Muskham to the priory of Shelford.'^ 



The priory had licence from the Crown in 

 13 1 6 to appropriate a moiety of the church of 

 Westborough, which was of their advowson.^' 



From the dating of various entries on the 

 Patent Rolls for 1 3 1 7 and 1 3 1 9 it would appear 

 that Edward II made brief sojourns at Shelford 

 Priory during those years. 



Part of the income of the priory was derived 

 from the sale of wool from sheep feeding on 

 the demesne lands. In 1333 Crown licence 

 was obtained for Godeking de Revele and 

 Robert Stufiyn of Newark, merchants, to convey 

 to the staples and thence export at will, not- 

 withstanding the ordinance of the staples, wool 

 purchased by them from the Prior of Shelford 

 before the making of such ordinance.'^ 



At the pleas of the forest held at Notting- 

 ham in 1335 the Prior of Shelford successfully 

 maintained his rights in a wood at Gedling 

 commonly called ' le Priors Parke.' Thomas de 

 Birkin, soon after the foundation of the house, 

 gave to the canons of the Blessed Mary of Shel- 

 ford all his park of Gedling and the wood 

 therein.'* 



In 1348, on payment of j^20 to the Exchequer, 

 the priory obtained the Crown licence for the 

 appropriation of the church of Burton Joyce.'' 



In May of the following year confirmation 

 was obtained of an indenture of Prior William 

 de Leicester (who died of the plague a few 

 months later) and the convent of Shelford, 

 granting to John de Woodhouse, perpetual 

 chaplain of the altar of Corpus Christi in the 

 church of Newark, and to his successors, a yearly 

 rent of 5 marks to pray for the souls of Alan 

 Fleming of Newark and Alice his wife, their 

 sons and daughters and others ; for due payment 

 the prior and canons bound their house and 

 goods, and specially their manors of Saxondale 

 and North Muskham.^" 



Confirmation was also obtained in June 1350 



" York Epis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 82 d. 



" Pat. 4 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 20. 



" Harl. MS. 6970, fol. 238. 



'* Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 22. 



" Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 2. 



" Harl. MS. 4954, fol. 31, 39, 44. 



" Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 7. 



'"Pat. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 11. 



of an indenture of Prior Thomas de Chilwell 

 and the convent of Shelford, binding themselves 

 to pay yearly to the chapter of Lincoln £6 1 3^. 40'. 

 to a chantry chaplain celebrating daily for the 

 souls of Henry de Edwinstow, late canon, and 

 his benefactors, in return for a welcome subsidy 

 from the executors of Canon Henry's will. As 

 a special security for this payment every prior 

 of Shelford, within fifteen days of his appoint- 

 ment, was to swear on the Holy Gospels to 

 observe the premises.^' 



In 1392 licence was obtained by John de 

 Landeford, vicar, for the alienation in mortmain 

 of a moiety of the church of Gedling, and by 

 John Ward of Shelford for the alienation of 

 three messuages, lands and rents in Shelford and 

 Stoke Bardolph, co. Nottingham, and one messuage 

 in Alvaston, CO. Derby, to the Prior and Convent 

 of Shelford.^^ In the following year licence was 

 granted for further gifts of lands in Lowdham, 

 Gunthorpe, and Caythorpe.^' 



The second half of the church of West- 

 borough, CO. Lincoln, was appropriated to Shel- 

 ford in 1398.2* 



At the time of the death of Prior William de 

 Kynalton and the succession of Robert Lyndby, 

 in 1404, it was found that during the rule of 

 the late prior, which had extended over a period 

 of nearly forty years, the house had become 

 indebted to the extent of 80 marks, the burden 

 of the perpetual pensions amounted to j^20, and 

 the corrodies to a total of ;^40. The temporali- 

 ties and spiritualities were declared to be of the 

 annual value of ^ 1 20.^° 



Shelford was subjected in 1536 to a visitation 

 from Legh and Layton, who stated that three 

 of the canons were guilty of unnatural sin and 

 three others of incontinence, and that three 

 desired release from their vows. They also 

 stated that the girdle and milk of the Virgin 

 and part of a candle which she is said to 

 have carried at her purification were here 

 venerated. The priory was further possessed of 

 some of the oil of the Holy Cross and of St. 

 Katherine. They estimated the annual income 

 at j^ioo, and the debts at ;/;30.2^ 



Archbishop Cranmer was not above asking 

 favours of Cromwell out of the wreck of the 

 monasteries. On 25 March 1536 he wrote 

 from Lambeth to Cromwell:— 'I desire your 

 favor for the bearer, my brother-in-law, who is 

 now clerk of my kitchen, to have the farm of 

 the priory of Shelford, or of some other house in 

 Notts, now suppressed. '2' 



In June 1536 the Crown granted almost the 

 whole of the manors, advowsons, and other 



" Pat. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 6. 



" Pat. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 36. 



" Pat. 17 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 10. 



^* Pat. 22 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 16. 



'' Harl. MS. 6969, fol. 88. 



'" L. and P. Hen. VIII, x, 364. " Ibid. S47- 



119 



