47. THE PRIORY OF ALVINGHAM
The Gilbertine priory of St. Mary, Alvingham,
was founded as a double house between 1148
and 1154, possibly by Hugh de Scotney or one
of his tenants. (fn. 1) In a few years the convent
possessed lands in Alvingham, Cockerington, and
Calthorp, and the churches of St. Adelwold,
Alvingham, and St. Mary, Cockerington, which
stood in the same churchyard, within the precinct of the priory, and the churches of St.
Leonard, Cockerington, Cawthorpe, Keddington,
and Newton. (fn. 2) Hamelin, the dean, gave three
parts of the church of St. Adelwold of Alvingham,
the fourth part having been given by Roger
Fitz Gocelyn. (fn. 3) In view of this endowment,
St. Gilbert limited the number of inmates to
eighty nuns and lay sisters, and forty canons and
lay brothers. (fn. 4)
Before 1251 the prior and convent had
granges at Alvingham, Cockerington, Grainthorpe, Keddington, Newton, Cabourne, Coningsby, and Swinfleet, (fn. 5) houses or rents in Lincoln,
Louth, Boston, and Great Grimsby, and lands in
several other townships in the county. (fn. 6) Like
many other religious houses they profited by the
embarrassment of lesser barons and knights, and
in 1232 were able to purchase the greater part
of the manor of Alvingham from John de Melsa,
his father and mother, by paying off their debt of
87½ marks to certain Jews. (fn. 7)
Their claim to two parts of the church of
St. Andrew, Stainton, involved them in a struggle
with Robert Grosteste. (fn. 8) He revoked the appropriation made by his predecessor, (fn. 9) but in 1245
the prior's appeal to Innocent IV was finally
successful. (fn. 10) The grant of the church of Grainthorpe by Brian of Yarborough (fn. 11) was disputed by
his sons, but the suit was decided in favour
of Alvingham in 1251. (fn. 12)
A wise compact with the neighbouring
Cistercian house of Louth Park in 1174 provided against that most fruitful source of strife,
the acquisition of lands. (fn. 13) It was agreed that
neither house should hire nor acquire for a price
cultivated or uncultivated lands without the
consent and advice of the other. If the convent
of Louth Park broke the contract the convent of
Alvingham could take a third of the land for a
third of the price paid. On the other hand, the
convent of Louth Park could take two-thirds of
the land of Alvingham for two-thirds of the
price. The pact was to be kept in twenty townships in Lincolnshire.
In 1254 the spiritualities of the house were
assessed at £56 13s. 4d., the temporalities at
£53 17s. 4½d. (fn. 14) The number of small grants in
Alvingham and Cockerington suggests that the
prior and convent were popular with their neighbours, or at least very successful in inducing them
to part with their land. In 1291 the temporalities had increased to £81 14s. 2½d. (fn. 15) The
revenues were considerably augmented by the
sale of wool, which averaged ten sacks a year at
the beginning of the fourteenth century. (fn. 16)
In 1303 the prior held half a knight's fee in
Newton, half in Keddington, one-quarter in
Alvingham, and one-sixth of another, a quarter
in Yarborough and Grimblethorpe, one-sixth in
Swinhope, one-eighth and one-fortieth in Cockerington, one-twentieth in Tathwell. In 1428
he also held a quarter in Welton. (fn. 17)
In 1402 Boniface IX granted an indulgence
for the chapel of the Virgin at the gate of the
priory. (fn. 18)
The prior commented on the economic effects
of the Black Death in a petition to Alnwick,
bishop of Lincoln, in 1448. (fn. 19) The rectors of
the church of Grainthorpe had ceased 'for
frivolous reasons' to pay a pension of £10 a year,
and the prior was anxious to exercise his privilege
to appropriate the church, which was worth
47 marks. He pleaded that owing to floods,
sterile lands, pestilence among sheep and cattle,
and other sinister events in the past, the convent
could not maintain its wonted hospitality. An
appeal to Pope Paul II in 1465 resulted in a
bull enabling the prior to hold some benefice in
commendam on account of the great cost of
hospitality. (fn. 20)
The house was surrendered on 29 September,
1538, by the prior and seven canons. (fn. 21) The
prioress and eleven nuns were included with them
in the pension list. (fn. 22)
In 1535 the clear yearly value of the property
amounted to £128 14s. 10d. (fn. 23) Of this sum over
£38 was drawn from rectories. The demesne
lands farmed by the prior and convent were
worth £20 a year. All the granges, lands, and
tenements were let. The Earl of Northumberland unjustly held possession of a wood worth
£10 a year.
Four years later, in the hands of the crown
bailiff, the property brought in £131 16s. 5d., (fn. 24)
and included the rectories of Alvingham,
Cockerington St. Mary, Cockerington St.
Leonard, Keddington, Grainthorpe, and Stainton,
and granges, lands, and rents in those places,
and at Yarborough, Stewton, South Somercotes,
Wold Newton, Clee, Great Grimsby, Swinfleet,
Flixborough, Normanby, Boston, Rasen, Louth,
Lincoln, and elsewhere.
Priors of Alvingham
Geoffrey, occurs 1174 (fn. 25)
Reginald, occurs 1195 (fn. 26)
Martin, occurs 1208 (fn. 27)
Roger, occurs 1229 (fn. 28)
William of Freisby, 1232 (fn. 29) and 1240 (fn. 30)
Richard, occurs 1247 (fn. 31)
Alexander, occurs 1256 (fn. 32)
Ralph, occurs 1267 (fn. 33) and 1282 (fn. 34)
Thomas, occurs 1307 (fn. 35)
Gilbert, occurs 1309 (fn. 36)
William, occurs 1317 (fn. 37)
G. de Nesse, occurs 1340 (fn. 38)
Thomas of Brompton, occurs 1376 (fn. 39)
John Busby, occurs 1436 (fn. 40)
John Burton, occurs 1465 (fn. 41)
Robert Ingelby, occurs 1534 (fn. 42) to 1538 (fn. 43)
Prioress of Alvingham
Joan Barker, occurs 1538 (fn. 44)
A seal of the thirteenth century (fn. 45) is a pointed
oval, and represents the Virgin, crowned, seated
on a carved throne, with ornamental corbel; the
Child on the left knee. The legend is—
S. SANTE MARIE DE ALVINGHAM A[D CAUS] AS.
A similar seal is attached to the surrender. (fn. 46)