53. THE PRIORY OF ST. SAVIOUR, BRIDGEND IN HORBLING
The Gilbertine priory of St. Saviour, Bridgend,
was founded in or before 1199 by Godwin the
Rich of Lincoln. (fn. 1) As early as 1177 he became
a benefactor to Sempringham, and was received
by St. Gilbert into full fraternity. (fn. 2) At Bridgend
he gave the chapel of St. Saviour and certain
lands and tenements for the maintenance of a
house for canons, and bound them, after providing
for their own support, to keep in repair the causeway through the fens called Holland Bridge and
the bridges over it as far as the new dike near
Donington. (fn. 3)
The history of the house is largely a record of
disputes about the causeway. From the middle
of the thirteenth century the canons found that
its repair was a heavy burden, and on the evidence
of numerous complaints against them they appear
to have ignored their obligations. In 1263 the
jurors before the king's justices stated that the
canons had obtained a papal bull authorizing them
to collect money for the causeway. (fn. 4) With the
proceeds and other legacies they used to repair it.
Twenty years before it was damaged in a great
flood, and since then the canons had spent their
money on buying land. The jurors contended
that with their revenues the canons might very
well repair the causeway. In 1275 it was declared that the lands at the prior's disposal for
that purpose were worth 10 marks a year. He
took tolls to the amount of £5, and yet did
nothing. (fn. 5) In 1295 the lands at Bridgend were
valued by the jurors at £20. (fn. 6) It is difficult to
reconcile their statements with other valuations.
The original endowment was very small; in 1254
the temporalities were assessed at £10 4s. 2d., (fn. 7)
and in 1290 only at £5 8s. 6d. (fn. 8) The canons had
scarcely any wool to sell to add to their income. (fn. 9)
In 1307 Edward I granted the right of taking
tolls for seven years in aid of the repairs to the
causeway, (fn. 10) and the grants were regularly renewed
by the crown. (fn. 11) However, ten bridges were out
of repair in 1325, (fn. 12) and in 1331 the people of
Kesteven and Holland petitioned the Parliament
that auditors might be assigned to the prior who
took the tolls and did nothing to the bridges. (fn. 13)
The petition was granted. In 1333 the prior
appeared before the Parliament at York and
showed that the property barely sufficed for the
maintenance of the canons, and the repair of
the causeway was only a secondary charge upon
his house. (fn. 14) In 1366 Bokyngham bishop of
Lincoln granted an indulgence for the repair of
Holland Bridge, (fn. 15) and in 1379 Richard II granted
a licence to the prior to beg for seven years
throughout England for that purpose. (fn. 16) In a
grant of pontage by Henry IV the supervision
of the repairs was taken from the prior. (fn. 17)
Bridgend probably suffered from its nearness to
Sempringham, as benefactors were naturally attracted to the mother-house of the order. It is
unlikely that there were ever more than three or
four canons and a few lay brothers at this priory.
After the Black Death the house was doubtless in
great poverty. In 1356 Edward III granted the
right of holding a weekly market in Bridgend
and of a yearly fair on the Feast of St. Mary
Magdalen. (fn. 18) In 1357 he extended the fair to the
morrow of the feast and granted another fair on
the feast and morrow of St. Luke. (fn. 19)
In or before February, 1445, a serious fire
devastated the church and monastic buildings,
and Alnwick bishop of Lincoln issued an indulgence of forty days to all who should contri
bute before Michaelmas to the relief of the
priory. (fn. 20)
At the dissolution the house had become a cell
of Sempringham, and was surrendered as part of
the possessions of that priory on 18 September,
1538. (fn. 21) The prior received a pension of
£3 6s. 8d. (fn. 22)
The value of the property, which lay almost
entirely in Bridgend, in 1535 amounted only to
£5 1s. 11½d. (fn. 23) In the hands of the crown bailiff
four years later it brought in £7 7s. 2d. (fn. 24)
Priors of Bridgend
John Eveden, occurs 1445 (fn. 25)
Christopher Cartwright, occurs 1535 (fn. 26)
William Style, alias Skelton, occurs 1538 (fn. 27)
No seal of this priory exists.