A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE MONKS 



I. THE PRIORY OF PENWORTHAM 



This cell of the great Benedictine abbey of 

 Evesham was established by agreement between 

 the abbot and convent of that hoxise and Warin 

 Bussel, baron of Penwortham. Bussel trans- 

 ferred to the abbey the whole township of Far- 

 ington and a fourth part of that of Great Marton 

 in Amounderness, the church of Penwortham 

 with its tithes, and pensions from the church of 

 Leyland and the chapel of (North) Meols. In 

 return the abbey undertook to have Penwortham 

 church served by three of its monks and a chap- 

 lain and to receive the profession of Bussel's son 

 Warin should he desire to become a monk.^ 

 The abbot who made the agreement is called 

 Robert in the Evesham Chartulary, and as the 

 only known abbot of that name within possible 

 limits ruled the house from 1086 to 1096, the 

 foundation of the priory has usually been assigned 

 to the reign of Rufus.' But the fact that sons 

 of Warin, who are described as children in the 

 agreement, were alive after 1189 is inconsistent 

 with so early a date. We must suppose either 

 that a later abbot, Robert, is omitted from the 

 list of heads of the house or, with much greater 

 probability, that the copyist of the chartulary 

 wrongly extended the initial of Reginald,' who 

 was abbot in the second quarter of the twelfth 

 century/ The mention of Warin's children 

 and other indications point to a date in the reign 

 of Stephen and not much if at all earh'cr than 

 1 1 40. Bussel's liberality to the distant abbey 

 of Evesham might seem to be sufficiently ex- 

 plained by the fact that it already owned land in 

 his neighbourhood, the vill of Howick adjoining 

 Penwortham having been given to it by Count 

 Roger the Poitevin.' But there was a closer 



' Evesham Chartul. Harl. MS. 3763, fol. 89; Far- 

 rcr. Lanes. Pipe Rolh, 320. 



' Hulton, Priory of Penwortham (Chct. Soc. O.S. 

 xxx), 1-2. The volume contains many of the priory 

 charters from the Worden and Penwortham muni- 

 ments. 



' Abbot Reginald is usually stated to have suc- 

 ceeded Maurice in 1122, but the Continuator of 

 Florence of Worcester (ii, 91) and the Register of the 

 abbey (Cotton MS. Vesp. B. xxiv, fol. 27) make his 

 abb.ncy begin in 1 130 (Farrer, op. cit. 32 1). It is 

 scarcely likely, however, that the chroniclers of the 

 house omitted an abbot. 



* Ibid. Constantine, the abbot's chamberlain, one 

 of the witnesses, occurs elsewhere in connexion 

 with Abbot Reginald, ivho died 25 August, 1149; 

 Harl. MS. 3-63, fol. 169. 



' Harl. MS. 3763, fol. 58 ; Lanes. Pipe ;?. 318-19. 

 His gift was confirmed by Ranulf Gernons, earl of 

 Chester, who was in possession of the land ' between 

 Ribble and Mer;cy ' in 1147 if not earlier; Tait, 

 Mtdiaev. Manchester, 169. 



connexion : his wife held land in Evesham it- 

 self and probably belonged to a Worcestershire 

 family.* 



Before his death Bussel added further gift-. 

 The whole, with the exception of the Marton 

 estate, were confirmed between 1 1 53 and 1160 

 by his eldest son Richard, who himself gave 

 several parcels of land, the advowsons of Leyland 

 and North Meols, and a fourth share of his fish- 

 ing rights in the Ribble.' Charters of confirma- 

 tion were afterwards obtained by the abbey from 

 Richard's younger brother and successor Albert, 

 from his son Hugh, and from Pope Alexander III.* 

 In the fourteenth century Queen Isabella, mother 

 of Edward III, who had a grant for life of the 

 Penwortham fief, and subsequently Henry, duke 

 of Lancaster, confirmed the monks of Evesham 

 in their Lancashire possessions.' 



The priory never became an independent, or 

 even quasi-independent, house. From first to 

 last it remained a small cell or * obedience ' of 

 the parent monastery, which left it no freedom 

 of action. Its inmates were always monks of 

 Evesham, and their head, though commonly called 

 prior, was often given the more lowly title of 

 'custos.''" The abbey appointed him without 

 presentation to and institution by the bishop and 

 could at any time recall him or his brethren at 

 Penwortham and substitute others." Legally the 

 priory had no separate property, though a part 

 of the Lancashire estates might be appropriated 

 to its maintenance, and occasionally a benefactor 

 in earmarking a portion of his gift for this pur- 

 pose seems at first sight to be treating the cell as 

 a distinct legal person.'^ In the sixteenth century 

 the priory paid over to the abbey a fixed sum 

 annually, amounting to more than half the gross 

 income, and had to defray the fixed charges from 

 the rest." How far back this arrangement went 

 does not appear. The prior granted leases and 



' Priory of Penwortham, 6. 



' Lanes. Pipe R. 322-5. In exchange for the 

 plough-land and a half of land at Marton, the abbey 

 had received two oxgangs of land at Longton, two- 

 thirds of the tithes of the demesne at Warton and 

 Freckleton, and certain fishing rights. The priory 

 afterwards used to send salmon to Evesham on the 

 feast of St. Egwin, but this was ultimately commuted 

 for a money payment ; Priory of Penwortham, 105 



'Ibid. 5-8. 'Ibid. 29, 16. 



'"e.g. Priory of Penwortham, 21, 53 ; 'temporalis 

 custos ' (ibid 97) ; ' prior qui potius custos ' (ibid. 99). 



" Ibid. Several priors had two terms of office. 

 For a case of papal provision of a prior and prohibi- 

 tion of his removal without reasonable cause sec 

 Cal. of Pap. Letters, v, 1 90 and below, p. 1 06. The last 

 prior was appointed by Cardinal Wolsey, perhaps as 

 papal legate. 



" Priory of Penwortham, 9-10. 



" Valor Eecl. (Rec. Com.), v, 233. 



104 



