A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



reign of Henry I, c. 1130, William de Lovetot, 

 with the assent of his wife Emma and of his 

 sons (Richard and Nigel) granted to God 

 and the Holy Church and to the canons of St. 

 Cuthbert of Worksop all the chapel furniture 

 [capellaria] of his house, with the tithes and 

 oblations ; the church of Worksop, where the 

 canons were, with lands and tithes and all that 

 pertained to the church ; the fish-pond and mill 

 and meadow near the church ; the whole tithe 

 of his customary rents, both in Normandy and 

 England ; a carucate of land in Worksop field , ad 

 inwaraim)^ and his meadow at ' Cathale ' ; all 

 his churches of the honour of Blyth, namely, 

 those of Gringley, Misterton, Walkeringham, 

 Normanton, Car Colston, Willoughby, Wysall, 

 and portion of the church of Treswell, with all 

 tithes, lands, and possessions belonging to these 

 churches ; the tithes of his pannage, honey, 

 venison, fish, and fowl ; and the tithes of malt 

 and of his mills, and of all his possessions from 

 which tithe was wont or ought to be given. 



This charter was confirmed by his eldest son 

 Richard de Lovetot, who also added valuable 

 grants of his own, including half the church of 

 Clarborough ; two bovates of land in Hardwick 

 Grange, near Clumber, fla?a;tt;flrfl(OT) ;* the whole 

 site of the town of Worksop near the church, 

 inclosed by a great ditch as far as Bracebridge 

 meadow ; also without the ditch, a mill, mansion, 

 and Buselin's meadow ; other moist lands on the 

 north by the water ; and from the water by the 

 road under the gallows towards the south, 

 marked out by crosses set up by himself and his 

 son ; a mill with fish-stew at Manton ; and all 

 Sloswick. By the same charter Richard also 

 confirmed grants by his mother Emma of a mill 

 at Bolam, an oxgang at Shireoaks, various other 

 lands at Hayton, Rampton, Normanton, and 

 Tuxford, and the church and two oxgangs at 

 Car Colston. He further granted to the canons 

 the privileges of feeding as many pigs as they 

 possessed in Rumwood, and of having two wa- 

 gons for the collecting of all the dry wood they 

 required in the park of Worksop. Finally he 

 confirmed the grant of land in Thorpe by Walter 

 and Roger de Haier. The date of this long 

 and important charter is about 1 1 60. The 

 charter itself was laid on the altar of the priory 

 church by Richard de Lovetot and his son 

 William." 



' This phrase, which is of extreme rarity, means 

 that the land to which it is applied vras appropriated 

 to the service of the house that received the grant, in 

 contrast to land ad utwaram, from which service was 

 due to the king. The two bovates which Richard de 

 Lovetot granted to the priory in Hardwick Grange 

 (see below) were to be held ad uizvaram. See 

 Athenaeum, 24 June 1905, for the employment of 

 these terms. 



* See above, note 3. 



' Dugdale, Mon. vi, 118-19 ; Thoroton, Votts. iii, 

 386-7. 



Richard's wife Cecilia gave, as her gift to the 

 priory, the church of ' Dinsley,' Yorkshire,* 

 (Over or Low Dinsdale). 



These various grants to the priory were con- 

 firmed in 1 161 by Alexander III, in a bull giving 

 the canons the privileges of exemption from 

 tithes, presentation to their churches, burial 

 rights for all persons save the excommunicate, 

 and leave to celebrate mass at a time of general 

 interdict in a low voice with closed doors and 

 silenced bells.' 



The third great benefactor was William de 

 Lovetot, the son of Richard and Cecilia. On 

 the day of his father's funeral he gave to God, 

 St. Mary, St. Cuthbert, and the canons of Rad- 

 ford^ or Worksop, the tithes of all the rents he 

 then had or ever should have on this side of the 

 sea or beyond it. He died in 1181, his wife 

 Maud daughter of Walter Fitz Robert being but 

 twenty-fouryearsof age, and leavinga daughter of 

 the same name, aged seven, as heiress. This great 

 heiress was eventually given in marriage to 

 Gerard de Furnival, who joined the Crusades 

 and died at Jerusalem in 1219. Gerard slightly 

 increased the grants to the priory, allowing the 

 canons the privilege of pasturing forty cattle in 

 Worksop Park between Easter and Michaelmas.* 

 His widow Maud, who survived him several 

 years, granted a full charter of confirmation in 

 the year 1249 ^'*^h ""^ ^^ 'wo small additions, 

 such as a wood in Welham and further property 

 in Gringley.^" 



Thomas de Furnival, the eldest son of Gerard 

 and Maud, was slain in Palestine in the lifetime 

 of his mother ; his son Gerard gave the third 

 part of his mills at Bradfield to the priory. This 

 Gerard died childless, and was succeeded by his 

 brother Thomas." 



The Prior of Worksop in 1269 brought an 

 action against Thomas de Furnival because there 

 had been so much waste, sale, and destruction of 

 timber in Worksop Park that there was not a 

 sufficiency of dry wood for his two wagons 

 according to old covenant.^^ 



It would seem, however, that peace was 

 quickly made between the litigants, for in the 

 following year, when Thomas de Furnival 

 obtained licence to build a castle on his manor of 

 Sheffield, he agreed with the canons of Worksop 

 to provide him with two chaplains and a clerk at 



''White, Worksop, 25. 



' Dugdale, Mon. vi, 120. 



* The priory stood a little to the east of Worksop 

 proper, in the district called Radford, and hence not 

 infrequently bore the latter name. The stream 

 which is now known as the River Ryton, from a vil- 

 lage on its banb, was commonly in mediaeval times 

 called the water of Radford. 



' Ihoroton, Notts, iii, 388. 



'° Dugdale, Mon. vi, 119-20. 



" White, IVorksop, 29. 



" Thoroton, Notts, iii, 389. 

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