A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



even if we make allowance for this, it is pretty 

 clear that unless the monks were the victims of 

 local spite things were worse at Holland than in 

 some other houses, e.g. at Burscough.^** 



Charity was not altogether neglected in the 

 priory. It supported two aged and impotent 

 persons, and there were two children at school 

 ' kept of devocion.' 



The commissioners found that part of the 

 plate of the priory had been recently pledged. 

 Two silver reliquaries in the shape of arms from 

 the elbow upwards, one containing a bone of 

 St. Thomas of Canterbury, the other a bone of 

 St. Richard of Chichester, worth £i(> i7,s. 4^., 

 and a chalice worth £(i 13^. 4^. were in the 

 possession of Sir Richard Fitton of Gawsworth, 

 who had received them in the February previous 

 as security for a loan of £10. The prior's 

 explanation was that the money had been 

 wanted to pay the tenth and the king's visitors. 

 Two parcel gilt salts had disappeared altogether. 

 During the prior's absence in London in April, 

 1 536, Elizabeth Bradshaw, brewer and day woman 

 of the priory, had entrusted them for safe keeping 

 to William Topping, servant of the house. They 

 were not forthcoming, and Topping and his 

 wife lay in Lancaster Castle awaiting trial.*" 



The priory was dedicated to St. Thomas the 

 Martyr. The patronage passed by marriage in 

 1373 with the manor of Holland to John, Lord 

 Lovel of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire, and 

 Minster Lovell, Oxon. Forfeited in 1485 by the 

 last Lord Lovel, the estates, and probably the 

 patronage of the priory, passed to the earls of 

 Derby. '^ Its original endowment transferred 

 from the college consisted of a plough-land in 

 Holland and the appropriate churches of Child- 

 wall and Whitwick.'*' Some additions had 

 probably been made to their holding in Holland 

 and Orrell before the Dissolution, and they then 

 possessed a little land in Childwall parish, but 

 the annual value of these temporalities in 1535 

 only amounted to ^12 loj., Childwall Rectory 

 was worth /38 13;. 4^., that of Whitwick 

 (rent) ^10.'''' The net annual income of the 

 house was ^^53 31. \d. This was increased to 

 ^78 I2J. ()d. in the new valuation made at the 

 Dissolution in May, 1536. 



''■■ On the supposition that the charges reflected 

 more or less baseless local gossip the comparatively 

 clean record of some houses might be attributed to a 

 more friendly neighbourhood or the greater hurry of 

 the visitors. But it is more probable that they did 

 exercise some sort of rough discrimination. Here 

 .-.nd there an accusation receives some independent 

 support. See, for instance, a case at Furness, below, 

 p. 124. 



'" Duchy of Lane. Misc. bdle xi, No. 47. 



"" A different opinion might be gathered from the 

 statement of Leiand (//;'». vii, 46), that ' the Wottons 

 were Founders there.' But this lacks confirmation. 



'" Cal. of Pat. 1307-13, p. 233. 



'" I'al. Eccl. V, 221. 



The bells and lead were valued m £1^ ; the 

 painted glass in the church was sold for ^^13 to 

 the inhabitants of Upholland, Orrell, Billinge, 

 Higher End, Winstanley, and Dalton, to whom 

 the church was transferred as a parochial chapel.'** 

 The plate, church ornaments, furniture of the 

 priory buildings, horses, cattle, and stock of corn, 

 &c., with debts due to the house figured in the 

 valuation at ^^114 2j. 8^.'" ;^i8 i8j. lod. 

 was owed by the priory. 



In 1545 the priory was granted to John 

 Holcroft. 



Priors of Upholland 



Thomas of Doncaster,'" first prior, occurs 



1319. Resigned ? 

 An unnamed prior, *^* occurs 1334 

 John of Barnby,*" occurs 1340 and 1350 

 William,'^ resigned 1389 

 Robert of Fazakerley,"* elected 1389, died 1403 

 John Cornewayll,"' elected 1 403, resigned 1 445 

 William Whalley,''" elected 1445, died 1466 

 John Topping,'" elected 1466, died 1470 

 Matthew Whalley,'" elected 1470 

 Thomas,"' occurs 27 January, 1493-4 

 Peter Prescott,"^ occurs 1535, surrendered 1536 



The seal of the priory attached to the deed 

 settling the Harrington Chantry, referred to 

 above,"" is of brown wax, large and oval in 

 shape. In the centre there is a figure on horse- 

 back. Above, three figures approaching a person 

 seated (murder of St. Thomas). Below, shields 

 of Lancaster and Holland. 



'" Duchy of Lane. Misc. bdle. xi, No. 47 ; Not. 

 Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 259. There was 780ft. of 

 painted glass worth ^d. a foot. 



'" The furniture of the monks' rooms varied in 

 value from £1 (the prior's) to 9/. Sd. (Dan John 

 Ainsdale's ; he had no feather-bed). 



'" C<7/. 0/ Pat. 1 3 17-21, p. 353. William of 

 Doncaster, who is described in 1334 as a former 

 prior, is probably the same person. The method of 

 election prescribed by the foundation was that the 

 convent sent up three names to the patron, who 

 presented one of them to the bishop for admission ; 

 Dugdale, Man. iv, 410. 



'" Lich. Epis. Reg. Northburgh, vol. 2, fol. 606. 



'" Coram Rege R. 321, m. sod. ; V.C.H. Lanes. 

 iii, 125. Exonerated in 1349 °f ^ charge of com- 

 plicity in the abduction of Margery de la Beche two 

 years before ; Cal. of Pat. 1348-50, p. 269 ; below, 

 p. 150. 



Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, fol. 54. 

 Admitted 9 Nov. 1403 ; ibid. Burghill, fol. 91. 

 Ibid. Heyworth, fol. 1 27^. This is a confirma- 

 tion of the election by the bishop's commissary in the 

 chapel of Douglas ' in the parish of Wigan ' . . . 



"' Ibid. Hales, fol. 103. Confirmation of election 

 (3 April). 



'"Ibid. fol. 105. Confirmation of election (23 July). 



'" Towneley M.^. penes W. Farrer, fol. 226. 



"* Duchy of Lanes. Misc. bdle. xi, No. 47 ; yalor 

 Eccl. V, 221. '" See p. 1 11. 



169 

 170 



112 



