A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



£,99 5'- i^-^ Fleetwood undertook to repair 

 the chancels of the two churches and find an 

 honest priest to serve Penwortham. Hawkes- 

 bury is mentioned in the deed as ' late fermour, 

 custos or [prior] of Penwortham.' 



The priory was dedicated to St. Mary. Its 

 original endowment, already described, had been 

 increased by subsequent grants. Four oxgangs 

 of land in Longton and one in Penwortham 

 were given by Richard Bussel.^ Geoffrey 

 Bussel gave two oxgangs of land in Longton, and 

 his wife Letitia part of her demesne in Leyland.'' 

 Small parcels of land in these and neighbouring 

 townships were added by other donors. Hugh 

 Bussel bestowed the tithe of his pannage^" and 

 his cousin Robert a portion of his Ribble fishery.^' 

 The gross income of the priory when valued for 

 the tenth in 1535 was £11^ its. lod}^ Its 

 lands had a rental of a little over jf 30, the rectory 

 of Penwortham was worth ;^36 i \s. lod. a year 

 and that of Leyland ^^48 I2j. iid. More than 

 half this income, £6^ n. lod., was paid over to 

 Evesham, and with other fixed charges reduced 

 the net annual revenue of the cell to £2() i 8j. "jd. 

 The deductions included £2 6s. Sd. for the fee 

 of the earl of Derby, who was seneschal of this 

 as of some other Lancashire monasteries, and £2 

 each to the bailifife of Penwortham and Leyland. 

 Twenty shillings a year were given in alms to 

 the Leper Hospital of Preston, and £j 13;. :\.d. 

 to the poor at Penwortham and Leyland, the 

 latter by direction of the founder." 



Evesham Abbey being surrendered to the king 

 nine months after itb lease of the priory estates to 

 Fleetwood,^ the lessee from November,! 539, paid 

 his rent to the crown. ^* In January, 1543, how- 

 ever, he bought the property, with the advowsons 

 of Le)land and Nortii Meols and the manor of 

 Calwich and rector)- of Ellastone in Staffordshire, 

 for the sum of ;^893 18s. 8d.^^ The Penwortham 

 estate remained in the Fleetwood family down 

 to 1749, when it was sold to John Aspinall.'' 



Priors of Penwortham 



Henry,'' occurs between 1 159 and 1 164 

 William of Winchcombe," occurs between 

 1 1 80 and 1 195 



" Priory of Penzcortham, 79. Possibly Fleetwood 

 had already had a shorter lease. On 4 July, 1536, 

 Richard Rich, chancellor of Augmentations, wrote to 

 the abbot and convent requiring them to let his friend 

 John Fleetwood, servant to the Lord Chancellor, have 

 a lease of the farm of Penwortham at once sinc& no 

 more of their convent should have the same (i. and P. 

 Hen. Fin, xi, 25.) " Lanes. Pipe R. 323. 



" Priory ofPenzvortham, 6. » Ibid. 7. " Ibid. 9. 



" Valor Eccl. Y, 2^1. "Ibid. 



" Dugdale, hlon. ii, 9. " Mins. Accts. 33 Hen. VIII. 



" Priory of Penwortham, 112. '' Ibid. p. Ixix. 



'' Lanes. Pipe R. 375. 



" Ibid. 41 I ; Priory ofPentvortham, p. xl. The editor 

 of the latter makes Robert of Appleton precede William. 



Robert of Appleton,*" occurs between 1 1 94 



and 1207 

 Adam Sortes,*' appointed 1207, resijjncJ or 



withdrawn 12 13 

 Ro^'er Norris," appointed 27 November, 121 3, 



removed about April, 12 14, reappointed 



121 8, died 19 July, 1223 

 John " 

 Thomas of Gloucester," elected abbot of 



Evesham 1243 

 Philip of Neldesle " 

 Walter of Walcote,*^ occurs between 1282 



and 1 316 

 Ralph of Wilcote,*' occurs April, 1320 

 Thomas of Blockley,*' occurs May, 1321 

 Ralph of Wilcote,*' occurs 1332 and 1341 

 Ralph of Whately,*** occurs 1350 

 Roger," occurs 137 i 

 William of Merston,'^ occurs 1383 

 Thomas Newbold," occurs 1385 

 John of Gloucester," occurs 1397 

 [Thomas,'" occurs 1399] 

 John of Gloucester,'^ occurs 1409 

 Thomas Hanford," occurs 1422 

 John Power,"' occurs 1472 

 John Staunton,"" occurs 1477 

 Robert Yattonj^" occurs 1502 

 James Shrokinerton,*' 1507 

 Robert Yatton,^^ occurs 1509 

 Richard Hawkesbury,"' appointed 1515 or 



I 5 16, withdrawn before 1539 



" Ibid. 



" Chron. Evesham, 224, 253. 



" Ibid. 251, 253 ; Priory of Penwortham, 89. 



" Reg. of Burscough, fol. 53. Prior John witnesses 

 a grant made by Elias de Hutton (living 1226) and 

 his wife Sapiencia, along with Robert Bussel, Robert 

 son of Elias, Walter de Hoole and others. 



*' Dugdale, Mu». ii, 6. He died 15 December, 

 1255. 



*^ Priory of Penwortham, 53. Mentioned as a 

 former prior in an Evesham charter executed between 

 I 282 and 1316. 



« Ibid. 28. 



" Ibid. 21. 



<» Ibid. 22. 



"Ibid. 54, 97; Cal. of Pat. 1330-4, p. 244. 

 Doubtless a second term of office. 



*" Priory of Penwortham, 55. 



" Coram Rege R. 442, m. 24 d. 



" Priory of Penwortham, 56. 



" Ibid. 57. » Ibid. 58. 



" Cal. of Pap. Letters, v, 1 90. A papal provision, 

 which may possibly not have been carried into effect. 



*• Priory of Penwortham, 59. 



" Ibid. 60. A prior Thomas, perhaps the same, 

 occurs 1436-7 {Final Concords, iii, 127). 



^ Priory of Penwortham, 6 1 . 



"Ibid. 62. "Ibid. 65. 



" Ibid. 67. 



" Ibid. 69. A second term apparently. 



"Ibid. 71, 82. Duchy of Lane. Rentals and 

 Surv. ptfo. 5, No. 15. He seems to have held the 

 office continuously until its extinction. 

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