A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



other glft^ were confirmed by Edward II when 

 at UphoUand on 19 October, 1323.'" In 

 virtue of its market rights the priory claimed 

 to take fines for breach of the assize of bread 

 and ale ; this led to friction with the oflScers 

 of Henry, earl of Lancaster, who in 1339 con- 

 ceded the privilege for an annual payment of 



A curious episode in the history of the priory 

 is the indictment in 1347 of Thomas of Lither- 

 land, then prior, for alleged participation in the 

 lawless proceedings of Sir John de Dalton, who 

 on Good Friday in that year, assisted by many 

 Lancashire men, violently abducted Margery, 

 widow of Nicholas de la Beche, from heF 

 manor of Beams, in Wiltshire, killing two per- 

 sons and injuring others, though the king's own 

 son Lionel, keeper of the realm in the king's 

 absence abroad, was staying there.'" A number 

 of Lancashire gentlemen came forward and 

 declared that the prior was innocent. On their 

 bond he was admitted to bail, and seems to have 

 satisfactorily disproved the charge as he retained 

 his office for nearly forty years.'" 



It was during his priorship that a benefaction 

 intended to extend university education was 

 diverted to the priory and its church of Huyton. 

 John de Winwick (d. 1360), a Lancashire man 

 who enjoyed the favour of Edward III, and held 

 the rectory ofWigan and treasurership of York, 

 ' desiring to enrich the English church with men 

 of letters,' left an endowment including the 

 advowson of RadclifFe on Soar for a new college 

 at Oxford, whose scholars were to study canon and 

 civil law, and, on becoming bachelors or doctors, 

 to lecture on these subjects."' Difficulties arose, 

 however, not perhaps unconnected with the 

 refusal of the pope to sanction an appropriation 

 of RadclifFe church ; permission was obtained 

 to transfer the endowment to Oriel College, 

 but ultimately, twenty years after the testator's 

 death (1380), his executors got a licence from 

 Richard II to alienate the advowson of RadclifFe 

 to Burscough Priory,"' and in the following 

 year Alexander Neville, archbishop of York, 

 allowed its appropriation to relieve the poverty 

 of the house caused by the pestilence, bad sea- 

 sons, and other misfortunes, and to increase 

 divine worship by the foundation of a chantry 

 for two priests in Huyton church."' The 

 chantry was established in 1383, the bishop of 

 Coventry and Lichfield fixing the stipend of each 



'" Reg. of Burscough, fol. 56. 



•^ Ibid. fol. 1 3^. 



'" Cal. of Pat. 1345-8, pp. 310, 312, 436. 



'^ John de Dalton, in his flight north, perhaps 

 took refuge in one of the prior's houses ; see the 

 account of UphoUand. 



'« Cal. of Pap. Letters, i, +38. 



'" Ca/. of Pat. 1377-S1, p. 560; Reg. of Bur- 

 scough, fol. 73. 



"' Ibid. fol. -jSh. 



chaplain at 10 marks.'" The surplus revenues 

 of the rectory (from which a vicar's portion had 

 already been set aside) yielded a small annual 

 income to the priory.'"'" 



A somewhat mysterious letter of Pope Urban, 

 dated November, 1386, refers to certain un- 

 known ' sons of iniquity ' who were concealing 

 and detaining the lands and goods of the monas- 

 tery, and orders the abbot of Chester to enjoin 

 restitution on pain of excommunication.'" Pos- 

 sibly the persons in question had taken advantage 

 of the political disturbances of that year. 



Boniface IX granted a relaxation of four years 

 and four quadragenes penance to penitents who 

 on St. Nicholas's Day should visit and give alms 

 for the conservation of the church of the 

 priory.'*^ 



A scandal which came to light in 1454 affords 

 a curious glimpse into the state of the house at 

 that date. Charges of divination, sortilege, and 

 black art were brought against the prior, Robert 

 Woodward, one of the canons, Thomas Fairwise, 

 and the vicar of Ormskirk, William Bolton, who 

 is described as late canon of the priory. An 

 episcopal investigation revealed strange doings. 

 One Robert, a necromancer, had undertaken for 

 jTio to find hidden treasure. After swearing 

 secrecy on the sacrament of bread they handed 

 it over in the pyx to Robert. Three circuit 

 trianguli were made, in each of which one of 

 them stood, the vicar having the body of Christ 

 suspended at his breast and holding in his hand 

 a rod, doubtless a diviner's rod. The story ends 

 here, but all three denied that any invocation of 

 demons or sacrifice to them had taken place. 

 Bishop Boulers suspended them for two years 

 from the priestly office and from receiving the 

 sacraments except in articulo mortii}"'^ Bolton 

 was deprived of his vicarage and the prior had to 

 resign.''' In a few months the bishop removed 

 the suspension in their case, but they did not 

 recover their positions. The ex-prior was allowed 

 a pension of 10 marks, with a ' competent 

 chamber ' in the priory, and as much bread, beer, 

 and meat as fell to the share of two canons."^ 



The election of a prior always needed con- 

 firmation by the diocesan,"' but the range of 

 choice in a small house was limited. Half a 



'" Ibid. fol. 88, 91^. So many interests were in- 

 volved that the documents beginning with Winwick's 

 acquisition of the advowson and ending with Urban 

 VI's consent to the appropriation, which was not 

 granted until 1387, fill over sixty pages of the Register 

 (fol. 71-1023). 



'" Just before the Dissolution the rectory was 

 leased by the priory at a rent of ^20 a year ; Mins. 

 Accts. bdle. 136, No. 2198, m. \od. 



'" Reg. of Burscough, fol. 1 04^. 



'*' Cal. of Pap. Letters, \v, 397. 



'^ Lich. Epis. Reg. Boulers, fol. 55. 



■^ Ibid. fol. 38. '« Ibid. 70. 



'" This was sometimes given by a commissary on 

 the spot. 



150 



