RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



his castle, to whom he engaged to pay 5 marks 

 a year.^' 



The Quo Warranto Rolls of the beginning of 

 the reign of Edward I show that the Prior of 

 Worksop had no difficulty in establishing the 

 freedom of his men from tolls, passage, pontage, 

 and all manor of customs before juries of the 

 counties of Nottingham, York, and Derby, by 

 the production of a charter of Henry I granting 

 them these exemptions throughout the whole of 

 England. He also maintained his rights to free 

 warren on the Nottinghamshire manors of Wal- 

 keringham, Hardwick, and Shireoaks, and on the 

 Derbyshire manor of Brampton ; as well as to 

 the amercement of his own tenants at Worksop 

 for breaking the assize of bread and ale.'* 



The Taxation Roll of 1291 yields a total ot 

 j^7i 6j. ^d. as the income of Worksop Priory, 

 namely ;^40 for temporalities, all within the 

 county; j^io out of Sheffield rectory; the 

 appropriated churches of Normanton j^i2, and 

 of Burton ^^8 ; and pensions from the churches 

 of Car Colston bs. 8i., and Willoughby los}^ 



The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 sets forth the 

 annual value of the temporalities in the counties 

 of Nottingham, York, Derby, and Lincoln, as 

 ;^I56 8j. ; whilst the appropriated Nottingham- 

 shire churches of Worksop, Walkeringham, 

 Gringley, Sutton, Normanton, Burton, Osberton, 

 Car Colston, Willoughby, Wysall, and Screveton, 

 with pensions from the Derbyshire church of 

 Clowne, the Lincolnshire church of Rushton, 

 and the Yorkshire church of Wickersley, together 

 with a third part of the rectory of Sheffield 

 {£$ 6s. Sd.), yielded £i4S ^^j. lod. This gave 

 a total value of £2°^ 6j. lod. But the clear 

 value was reduced to £22<) IS^- S^- There 

 were various pensions paid to York for appro- 

 priations. The obligatory alms also involved a 

 considerable annual charge. The distribution 

 to the poor at Christmas in commemoration of 

 William Lovetot the founder was on an un- 

 usually large scale, costing in wheat and rye 

 bread and in beer £c) 1 6s. 4^. The prior's dish 

 of meat given every day cost ,^3 a year, and 

 the Lady dish another ^3 ; whilst the canons' 

 dish, which had been given every day in the 

 chapter-house since the foundation of the priory, 

 cost £4. a year. Other gifts in kind, as the obits 

 of priors and benefactors came round, cost £^ ; 

 and there were also ' two pyes of the pytaunce 

 gevven in almes to poore people, vs.' '* 



There are various entries pertinent to this 

 priory in the earlier episcopal registers of York. 

 In 1227 a contention arose as to the church or 

 chapel of Osberton between the Prior and Con- 



" Pat. 54 Hen. Ill, m. 31. 



" P/ac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 161, 221, 627, 



651. 



^'' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 2993, 310^, 311, 



3i^l>, 312, 338. 



'« Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 174-6. 



vent of Worksop and Robert son of William. 

 An inquisition was held by the Archdeacon of 

 Nottingham, whereupon Archbishop Gray de- 

 clared that it had been made plain that the church 

 of Osberton was a chapel of Worksop and be- 

 longed to the priory there, although it had been 

 alienated for some time, and he therefore allowed 

 them to convert it to their own uses for the 

 support of the poor, after the death of the clerk 

 who then held it.'' 



The prior and canons in 1234 obtained the 

 archbishop's sanction to appropriate to their own 

 uses, especially in the exercise of hospitality, 

 the church of West Burton, of which they had 

 the advowson.'* 



In 1276 Alan de London, one of the canons 

 of Worksop, was instituted to the vicarage of the 

 church of Worksop by Archbishop Giffard, on 

 the presentation of the prior and convent of the 

 same ; Alan swore obedience only to the arch- 

 bishop.'' 



Archbishop Wickwane visited Worksop Priory 

 on 26 May 1280, with the result that the fol- 

 lowing injunctions were subsequently issued : 

 The prior was not to permit the holding of any 

 private property, and to forbid all going outside 

 the gates of the priory save for some inevitable 

 and necessary cause. All lockers of the canons 

 were to be opened four times a year and oftener 

 if there was any cause, anything found therein 

 to be applied to the common use of the monas- 

 tery ; the canons were not to go out alone, when 

 there was necessity for leaving the house ; idle 

 canons lingering without cause in the farmery 

 were to be treated as paupers and otherwise 

 punished ; two canons in particular, Robert de 

 Sancto Botulfo and Peter de Retford, were to 

 be removed from the farmery and to consort 

 with the convent; Adam de Rotherham, the 

 late cellarer, to stay in the cloister and do 

 penance ; the sick to be kindly treated ; all 

 sinister and unfitting speech forbidden ; no canon 

 or brother to eat and drink with any outside 

 guest, unless the prior was present ; silence to be 

 strictly observed according to rule ; alms not to 

 be wasted ; the entertaining of costly and useless 

 guests forbidden ; William Selliman, a rebellious 

 and quarrelsome canon, and William de Grave 

 and Henry de Marcham, two lay brothers, ac- 

 cused of incontinence, to be punished. These 

 rules were to be read in chapter once a month.^" 



John de Tykill, Prior of Worksop, had three 

 canons of his monastery deputed by the arch- 

 bishop in 131 1 to act as his coadjutors. At the 

 visitation of 1 3 1 3 he was found guilty of incon- 

 tinence and maladministration, and was re- 

 moved.^' 



" York Epis. Reg. Gray, fol. 17. 



'« Ibid. fol. 66. 



"Ibid. GifFard, fol. 114. 



'" Ibid. Wickwane, foL 136 d. 



"Harl. MS. 6972, fol. 11. 



127 



