A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



who is entered in Domesday Book as holding 

 I bovate in the latter vill under the archbishop. 

 In addition to this bovate, the archbishop pos- 

 sessed 7 other bovates in Woodborough, making 

 a total estate of I carucate. As the clerk's 

 holding is only spoken of in the present tense, 

 it was probably detached from the carucate in 

 question subsequently to 1066, and the founda- 

 tion of Woodborough prebend may therefore be 

 assigned either to the last years of Ealdred or to 

 Archbishop Thomas I, more probably to the 

 latter. 



7. North Muskham. The archbishop's hold- 

 ing of i^ carucates is entered in Domesday 

 Book as a note to the description of Southwell. 

 It is uncertain whether any prebend had been 

 created out of this estate by 1086, but it is not 

 improbable. 



8, 9. Oxton I, II. The creation of these 

 prebends presents great difficulty. They in- 

 cluded an endowment in the distant vill of Crop- 

 well Bishop which 'St. Mary of Southwell' had 

 held in 1066. The archbishop's land in Oxton 

 itself had been acquired during the Conqueror's 

 reign, and had not apparently by 1086 been 

 appropriated to the church of Southwell. It is 

 therefore possible that the Oxton prebends date 

 between 1086 and Thurstan's time, though in 

 their later form they may represent the addition 

 of land in Oxton to an earlier prebend or pre- 

 bends in Cropwell Bishop. This, on the whole, 

 seems the more probable explanation. 



10. South Mmkham. Probably to be assigned 

 to Archbishop Thomas II (i 108-14). 



1 1 . Dunham. The church of this royal 

 manor was given by Henry I to Archbishop 

 Thurstan for the foundation of a prebend. The 

 exact date is uncertain. 



12. Beck'ingham. Created by Thurstan. 

 Beckingham was one of the ' berewicks ' of the 

 archbishop's great manor of Laneham. 



13. Halloughton. With the exception of 

 Normanton (q.v.) the only prebend created with- 

 in the limits of the manor of Southwell. The 

 foundation of Archbishop Roger de Pont 

 I'Eveque, confirmed by Pope Alexander III. 



14. Rampton. The solitary lay foundation 

 among the prebends of Southwell. Bestowed 

 upon the church by Pavia de Malluvel and 

 Robert her son about 1 200. 



15. Eaton. Founded by Archbishop Ro- 

 mayne 1290. 



16. North Leverton. Separated from Beck- 

 ingham by the latter archbishop 1291. 



These remarks are somewhat inconclusive, 

 but it would be futile to try to define more 

 closely the order in which the earliest prebends 

 of Southwell came into being. The evidence 

 which we possess hardly lends support to the 

 idea, founded on the analogy of other churches 

 of the same description, that the original founda- 

 tion at Southwell consisted of seven preben- 



daries ; " it rather suggests the gradual extension 

 of some much smaller nucleus. In any case, 

 however, the notable increase in the number of 

 prebends, and the length of time over which that 

 increase continued, are very remarkable facts. 

 In the period which lies beyond 1 200 but few 

 of the canons are known to us by name, but it 

 deserves notice that Master Vacarius, the great 

 teacher of the civil law, held for a time one of 

 the prebends of Norwell.*** 



One more unsolved problem in the early 

 history of Southwell may here be mentioned — 

 the fate which befell the remains of St. Ead- 

 burh. We know that the Norman prelates who 

 followed the Conquest possessed but scant respect 

 for the native saints of the land, but it is not 

 easy to account for the disappearance of a shrine 

 which clearly was an object of frequent pilgrim- 

 age in the early nth century. It has to some 

 extent escaped notice that a discovery of wonder- 

 working relics was made at Southwell in the 

 reign of Stephen ; these, however, cannot be 

 connected with St. Eadburh's remains. While 

 a grave was being prepared, there were found 

 the relics of certain saints, and a glass vessel 

 filled with clear water, which restored health to 

 those who tasted it. The matter was brought 

 to the notice of Thurstan,^* the then Archbishop 

 of '\'ork, but nothing further is recorded in con- 

 nexion with the discovery. 



The Taxation Roll of 1291 enters all the 

 sixteen prebends, though it is a little difficult to 

 distinguish them with precision, as some are 

 given under the name of tlie prebend and others 

 under the name of the prebendary then holding 

 the preferment. The estimate of the annual 

 value of these prebends (including f^\ 13J. /^d. 

 for the vicar of Dunham prebend ; the church of 

 RoUeston — which was assigned to the common 

 fund — ^^13 bs. 8d. ; and the church of Kirkling- 

 ton, ;^5) amounted to the large total of 

 j^342 1 31. 4.d. The prebends varied very 

 greatly in value ; thus Dunham and another one 

 held by Master John Clavell (one of the Nor- 

 wells) were each worth £^6 a year, but the 

 recent foundation of North Leverton was worth 

 £12 6s. 8d. and that of Eaton only ^^6 131. ^.d.'^ 



When the Fa/or of 1534 was drawn up, 

 separate returns were made for each of the six- 

 teen prebends. The prebend of Dunham had 

 then fallen in value, being worth £28, but 

 Eaton was worth £g 6s. 8d. Each prebendary 

 at that time paid ^^4 a year to his vicar choral, 

 and 2s. 2^d. to the chapter for visitation fees. 



" This was the number at Lichfield, York, Bever- 

 ley, and probably Ripon. But with regard to South- 

 well we cannot well throw either Woodborough or 

 North Muskham beyond dip Conquest, and Norwell III 

 is almost certainly no original prebend. 



" Ek^I. Hilt. Rev. xi, 3 1 2, n. 63. 



" Chron. of John of If 'ore. (ed. Weaver), 44. 



" Po;e h'kh. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 312. 



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