12. THE PRIORY OF SOUTHWICK
Henry I. in 1133 founded in the church
of St. Mary, Porchester, a priory of Austin
canons. The foundation charter assigned to
the canons the appropriation of the church of
Porchester, timber for fencing, building and
fuel, as well as common pasture in the wood
of Hingsdon; the manor of Candover; a hide
of land in Southwick, and a hide of land in
Applestead. The charter gave the canons
every possible manorial right over their lands.
This charter was witnessed, amongst others,
by the Bishops of Winchester, Salisbury and
St. Davids, and by the Bishops elect of Durham and Ely. (fn. 5)
An undated deed of the early part of the
thirteenth century records a grant by Luke,
the prior of Southwick, to John the goldsmith,
of the plot and house which Robert, the
sacrist of Southwick, built in Portsmouth, in
exchange for half a virgate of land in
Kingston. (fn. 6)
In 1204 King John granted the canons of
Southwick a confirmation charter of the manor
of Dean, (fn. 7) and in 1214 he issued general
letters of protection for the monastery. (fn. 8) In
1234, Henry III. granted the priory a weekly
market and an annual fair.
Pope Innocent IV., in February, 1254,
issued a mandate to Berard de Nimpha, a
papal agent, living in England, to imprison for
life and deprive of their benefices certain
forgers of papal letters, and to cite to Rome
(with six others) the prior of Southwick, who
is mentioned in the letters suspected to be
false, that he may, if possible, prove his
innocence. (fn. 9)
Licence was granted to the prior and canons
in May, 1278, after injunction made by the
sheriff, to enclose with hedges and a ditch a
certain way opposite the great gate of their
priory leading southward, upon condition that
they made another way on their own ground
of the same width. (fn. 10)
In 1280 the prior of Southwick was called
upon to show by what right the convent held
the manors of Dean and Colemore; whereupon the prior, who appeared personally,
produced the charter of King John, and the
jurors decided in favour of the monastery.
The prior's right to gallows, a market, and
assize of bread and ale in the town of Southwick was also called in question by the counsel
for the Crown. The prior produced charters
of Henry III. to substantiate his claims to
gallows and a Wednesday market, but with
regard to the assize of bread and ale he
pleaded a prescriptive title. The jury found
that the prior was only entitled to this assize
on the market day, and that it pertained to
the king on all other days of the week. (fn. 11)
On 10 January, 1281, Archbishop Peckham,
from information he had received, deemed it
advisable to interfere in the affairs of Southwick priory and removed Prior Andrew from
his post. On his removal the archbishop
drew up an ordinance as to his future treatment. The ex-prior was to receive daily two
loaves called miches, (fn. 12) one chopyn, (fn. 13) and two
gallons of convent beer, and from the kitchen
and for his clothing the same as were supplied
to the sub-prior. He was also to have commons for one servant. An honorable chamber
was to be selected for his use and that of one
other canon as his companion. He was to
receive half a mark in money on the feasts of
Christmas and Pentecost. The ex-prior was
to be regular in attendance in the quire and
chapter, and on solemn days to take his meals
in the frater with the rest of the convent
This order was dated 12 February, 1282. (fn. 14)
The energetic archbishop again visited the
monastery of Southwick in 1284 and found it
disturbed in spiritualities and most desolate in
temporalities. He forwarded a long visitation
decree on 4 February. The archbishop therein strongly condemns the late Prior Andrew,
stating that the temporal difficulties of the
priory were chiefly his fault. The ex-prior
is ordered to sleep in the dorter and eat in the
frater the same as the rest of the canons. If
he presumed to eat elsewhere, so often as he
thus offended he was to be excluded from the
church and given a diet of bread and water.
A door communicating from the garden, attached to the chamber where the ex-prior had
been quartered, within the outer court, was
ordered to be built up with stones and mortar.
Andrew was also to be strictly confined to the
cloister and its surrounding offices, until he
could produce in chapter to the satisfaction of
the archbishop or diocesan a proper balance
sheet of his accounts. The lack of observance
of silence by the canons both in quire and
cloister was severely admonished. Any future
offender was to be proclaimed in chapter and
for the first offence to be deprived of the first
pittance in the frater, for the second offence to
have no other drink but water, and for the
third to suffer both of these penalties. (fn. 1)
In 1289 licence was obtained for an alienation in mortmain by Richard de Burhunt to
the priory of South wick of 50 acres of land
and the site of a mill in Southwick, in exchange for a mill and 15 acres of land there. (fn. 2)
In 1291 Pope Nicholas IV. granted a
faculty to the prior and convent of Southwick
to wear caps or amices on their heads in
church, which were to be removed at the
gospel and the elevation. (fn. 3) The taxation of
this date gave the annual value of the temporalities of the priory in the archdeaconry of
Winchester at £27 17s. 8d.
In the days of Bishop Woodlock there were
various troubles at Southwick. In 1307 the
papal nuncio in England interfered in the case
of one Richard Spede, a canon of the house,
relative to effusion of blood, and also granted
him dispensation with regard to certain
simoniacal irregularities. (fn. 4) On 28 October,
1308, the bishop sent a mandate to the prior
of Southwick against Canon Philip de Winton
on account of scandals, enjoining that he
should not depart from the cloister until the
bishop's visit, that he was to write no letters
nor cause any to be written, that all writing
materials were to be taken from him, and that
no secular servant nor outsider was to have
any communication with him, save in the
presence of one of the brethren of the house. (fn. 5)
On the following Christmas Day, the bishop
gave notice of his approaching visitation
through the archdeacon. (fn. 6) On 19 February,
1308, the bishop communicated with the prior
as to the liberating from prison of Richard
Spede; he was not to depart out of the cloister
or the buildings round the cloister. After the
bishop's visitation various injunctions were
forwarded relative to the hours of mass, the
religious habit, talking with women, dietary,
and quarrelling. (fn. 7)
On the Saturday after the feast of St.
Matthew, 1310, Bishop Woodlock again
visited the priory; (fn. 8) as no decree is entered in
his registers it may be assumed that all was
then satisfactory.
Edward II. maintained his right to send
pensioners to the house of Southwick. On
21 December, 1316, John de Sheford, who
had long served the king, was sent under privy
seal to the prior and convent of Southwick to
receive maintenance in food and clothing. (fn. 9)
Just a week later William de Spyny, another
old servant of the Crown, was sent to Southwick priory in like manner. (fn. 10)
On 14 November, 1334, Bishop Orlton
visited the priory and preached to the canons
in their chapter house from ' Est puer nunc hic
qui habet quinque panes hordaceos et duos pisces.'
In 1336, Prior John de Gloucester petitioned
the king to the effect that although his house
was bound to supply sustenance for one only
of the king's servants, he had lately, at the
king's request, admitted Simon Bacoun into
the house in the lifetime of John le Vyneour,
another of the king's servants, and prayed for
an indemnity. The Crown thereupon ordered
an inquisition to be held whether the house
had in the past been charged with one or two
of the king's servants. The jurors found that
the house was liable for one only, and on 2
October letters patent were sent to the prior,
recording the verdict, and granting that the
admission of Simon should not prejudice the
house as a precedent. (fn. 11)
The priory was excused payment to the
king of tenths or tallages in 1342 for three
years, in consequence of their lands and rents
in Portsmouth and Southampton, wherein
were their chief means of support, having
being burned and consumed by the French. (fn. 1)
In July, 1343, the bishop granted absolution to certain canons of this house, Richard
de Cittesthorn, Henry Dene and Richard
Botiller, who had been guilty of violence. (fn. 2)
By the return of knights' fees made in 1346
it is recorded that the prior of Southwick had
two parts of a fee in Eliisfield. (fn. 3)
The University of Oxford, in 1366, petitioned the pope on behalf of Thomas Cranlegh,
bachelor of canon law, for a benefice to be
reserved for him by the prior and convent of
Southwick. The prayer was granted by
Urban V., as well as a subsequent one of the
same year, for an augmentation of the value
of the benefice in the gift of the priory of
Southwick to twenty-five marks, with cure of
souls, and ten without. (fn. 4)
At an inquisition held at Southwick before
Thomas de Weston, the escheator of the
county, on 4 May, 1381, on the death of
Prior Richard Bromdene, the jury declared
that the prior, on the day of his death, held,
in Southwick, £10 of rents, 193 acres of land
of the annual value of 32s. 2d. at 2d. the
acre, 41 acres of pasture of the annual value
of 3s. 7d. at 1d. the acre, and 22 acres of
meadow, 7s. 4d., at 4d. the acre; that the
woods and underwoods, the dovecote and
water mill were of no value; that the perquisites of courts, with two views of frank-pledge,
averaged 3s. 4d.; customary payments averaged
6s. 8d. Particulars were also given of the
various other Hampshire manors pertaining to
the priory. Similar inquisitions are recorded
as held for the possessions of the priory in
Wilts, Sussex and Oxon. The vacancy
lasted thirty days, namely from 28 April to
27 May, and the sum due to the Crown for
that period was £12 7s. 6d. The entries
conclude with a copy of the restoration of the
temporalities by the king to Prior Nowell. (fn. 5)
Bishop Wykeham took much interest in
this house and founded therein a chantry for
the souls of John and Sibil, his parents. On
22 August, 1383, Thomas Gervays and
Thomas le Warenner, two canons of Southwick, were sworn before the bishop to duly
maintain this chantry. (fn. 6) Solemn oaths for the
maintenance of this chantry were also renewed
by the canons in 1386 and in 1394.
Another chantry was founded here in
March, 1385. Sir Bernard Brocas of Roche
Court, near Fareham, a great friend of the
bishop and his chief parker, granted to Prior
Nowell and the convent of Southwick 5
acres of land and 3 acres of meadow at Southwick, together with the manors of Hoo and
Havington (with certain exceptions) in free
alms, on condition of finding a chaplain to
say a daily mass at the altar of Sts. Katharine
and Mary Magdalen, on the north side of
the chancel of the priory church, for King
Richard and Sir Bernard Brocas and Katharine
his wife, as long as they should live, and afterwards for their souls, also for the souls of
Edward III., and of Mary, Sir Bernard's
deceased wife, and his brother, sisters and
benefactors and all the faithful departed. The
priory was also bound to other works of piety:
the prior and his successors were to pay one
penny to the canon who should say mass;
100s. for celebrating the obit of Sir Bernard
and his wife on the eve of the Annunciation,
with Placebo and Dirige, and the tolling
of the bells, and again on the eve of St.
Michael the Archangel, and the feast of St.
Mary Magdalen; and 6s. 8d. for distribution
amongst the brethren on each of those three
days. The prior and convent bound themselves to the bishop and to Sir Bernard, in
the penalty of £10, to perform the conditions,
and that they should be read aloud every
year on those three days at the meeting of the
chapter. (fn. 7)
In the like month and year, Prior Nowell
was appointed by the Crown to supervise the
works which the king had ordered to be
executed at Porchester Castle by Robert
Bardolf, the constable thereof, and to control
all the sums expended. (fn. 8) In October of the
same year the bishop issued his mandate to
Prior Nowell forbidding the sale of corrodies. (fn. 9)
The bishop visited Southwick priory on 6
May, 1397, and had no complaints to record. (fn. 10)
After Bishop Wykeham's death, the priory
was again visited on 25 October, 1404, by
the commissary of Archbishop Arundel, but
he found nothing to correct. (fn. 11)
In May, 1465, inspection and confirmation
was granted by Edward IV., to Philip the
prior and the convent of Southwick of all
their royal charters from 3 John to 15
Richard II. (fn. 12)
On 7 November, 1494, the house was
visited, during the vacancy of the see, by
Robert Shirborne, treasurer of Hereford (afterward Bishop of Chichester), as commissary of
the Archbishop of Canterbury. Prior Stanbrook deposed that all the canons were men of
religion and good morals and conversation, and
that there were two tenements in the town of
Southwick belonging to the priory which had
been destroyed by the last high wind. Eleven
of the canons appeared before the visitor, but
had no depositions to make. (fn. 1)
The priory was again visited on 12 March,
1501, by Dr. Hede, as commissary for the
prior of Canterbury, during the vacancy of
the see. John Lawder, the prior, stated that
it had not deteriorated during his time and
that the value of the rents and profits had
grown to £300, and was sufficient to support
all their burdens; that none of the valuables
of the priory were in pawn, and that the
common seal was kept under the four keys of
himself and the sub-prior and two other of
his brethren. Thomas Kent, sub-prior and
sacrist, said that silence was observed at all
the appointed times and places; he differed
from his superior as to the number of keys to
the chest in which the common seal was kept,
for he stated there were five, three of which
were kept by the other canons in order of
seniority. William Whyte, another canon,
maintained however that there were only
four keys, whilst Peter Elton, the precentor,
agreed with the sub-prior that there were five.
We wonder whether the commissary ordered
the chest to be produced that he might count
the number for himself. John Pince, the
warden of the chapel of St. Mary, and Thomas
Sketle, the sub-chanter, were content to report
omnia bene. The matter of the keys seemed
to be the only point in dispute.
Henry VIII. passed through Southwick in
September, 1510, and made an offering of
6s. 8d. at Our Lady of Southwick. (fn. 2)
In January, 1514, the Crown granted a
licence to Prior Thomas Kent and the
monastery of Southwick to hold a fair for
three days on the feast of St. Philip and St.
James and the two following days; instead
of a fair for two days on the eve and day of
the Assumption of the Virgin, which had
been granted by Henry III., and which was
said to injure the neighbouring fairs. (fn. 3) Thomas
Annesley, a gentleman with the Queen Consort, in November of the same year, was
granted a corrody in this house, in the place
of Thomas Parker, deceased. (fn. 4) On the surrender of this corrody by Annesley it was
granted in October, 1530, to Robert Wenham, master of the children in the collegiate
church of Windsor. (fn. 5)
There are various letters of Prior Norton to
Lord and Lady Lisle at the Public Record
Office, but they are of no interest as regards
the priory. In 1534 he seems to have retired,
for in September of that year he wrote to Lady
Lisle saying that the visitation of God (the
plague) was very sore and extreme in the
marine ports, and that many of her loving
friends had died; adding that he was living
peacefully at his hermitage of St. Leonard's.
It concludes, 'scribbled with a comfortless
heart, in œde heremitica divi Leonardi.' (fn. 6)
However, in 1535, when the Valor Ecclesiasticus was taken, William Norton is named
'modo Prior.' The total clear annual value
of the priory was then estimated at £257
4s. 4d.
Cromwell found a tool ready to betray the
house in one of the canons, James Gunwyn.
On 20 January, 1536, Gunwyn wrote as
follows to Cromwell: ' We are bound by the
will of William Wykeham to have daily five
masses in our church, which have not been
said for more than forty years. On 26 May
last the Commissioners sat in our place to
ascertain the yearly value of our lands, that a
tenth part might be assessed according to Act
of Parliament, when my master (the prior)
delivered them a book of the yearly rents
which was not in all points made truly.
Also on 22 September last we had a visitation
of our house by Dr. Layton, when we had
certain injunctions given us to be observed,
several of which have been neglected hitherto.
I send you this information in discharge of my
oath of obedience, and would have done it
earlier if I could have had a trusty messenger,
for if my master knew of my writing he would
convey away the plate, money and jewels in
his keeping.' (fn. 7)
A letter to Lord Lisle of 16 March, 1538,
stated that the priory was to be suppressed, and
that 'Our Lady of Southwick' was taken
down. On 21 March, John Husee, a solicitor
and servant of the Lisles, wrote to Lord Lisle
that ' Pilgrimage saints goeth down apace as
Our Lady of Southwick, the Blood of Hales,
St. Saviour's and others.' On the following
day the same correspondent wrote to like
effect to Lady Lisle. (fn. 8) Leland referred to the
fame of the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Southwick. (fn. 1)
On 7 April, 1538, the surrender of this
monastery, with all its possessions in Hants,
Wilts, Oxon and elsewhere, was signed by
the prior, William Norton, and twelve of the
canons. The signature next to the prior's is
that of James Gunwyn. (fn. 2) The surrender was
made to the notorious Layton. Two days
later Husee wrote to his master that Southwick was suppressed, adding, 'I think the
most part will down.'
The lands belonging to the priory at the
dissolution were: the manors of Southwick
with the rectory, Newland, Hannington,
Sutton Scotney, 'Moundesmer,' Preston
Candover, 'Oldfishborne,' Farlington with a
fishery, Denmead Molens, Clanveld and
Aldbourn, Weralles in Dorchester with the
rectory, Colmer, Stubbington, Hoe, West
Boarhunt, Boarhunt, Harbert and Bury; the
rectories of Nutley, Swindon, Portsea, Portsmouth and 'Wanstede,' and lands, rents, etc.,
in Prior's Dean, the city of Winchester and
Andover. (fn. 3)
The priory of Southwick was assigned to
one John White, a mean, fawning servant of
Wriothesley's. He wrote to Wriothesley five
days after the surrender, saying that by the
provision of God and his master's help he has
attained what he had desired all his life,
namely, an honest house in which to bid his
guests welcome! He complained however
that the stuff in the house was but slender,
only four feather-beds and the furniture old
and in manner rotten. He also was much
aggrieved with Dr. Layton, for he took from
hence twelve of the best of the twenty bacon
hogs hanging in the roof, which the other
visitors had given him. It is not surprising to
learn that he was in such trouble with the
monastery servants that he knew not what
to do. Not one of the husbandry servants
would stay with him, though they knew in
what need he stood of them for the sowing
of barley. (fn. 4)
The prior received the large pension of
£66 13s. 4d. (fn. 5)
Among the books of this house Leland
noticed during his visit Henricus Huntingdunensis, Beda de die judicii et Historia Bedœ
Saxonice. (fn. 6)
No sooner had White gained possession of
the priory, than he imitated his master
Wriothesley at Titchfieid, and pulled down
the conventual church, establishing himself
and his household in the prior's lodging and
adjacent parts of the buildings.
Priors Of Southwick
Guy, (fn. 7) about 1190-1217
Luke, early in the thirteenth century
Walkelin, died in 1234
Matthew, 1234-66
Peter de Maupol, 1266-73
Andrew de Winton, (fn. 8) 1273-81
John de Clere, (fn. 9) 1281-91
Robert de Hempton or Hewton, (fn. 10) 12911315
William de Winton, (fn. 11) 1315-6
Nicholas de Cheriton, (fn. 12) 1316-34
John de Gloucester, (fn. 13) 1334
Richard Bromdene, 1349-81
Richard Nowell, (fn. 14) 1381-9
William Husselegh, (fn. 15) 1389-98
Thomas Courteys, (fn. 16) 1398-1432
Edward Dene, 1432-55
John Soberton, (fn. 17) 1455-63
Philip Stanbroke, (fn. 18) 1463
John Lawder, about 1494
Thomas Kent, 1514, 1521
William Norton, (fn. 19) 1521-38