COLLEGES
43. THE COLLEGE OF HALSTEAD
Edward III on 2 April, 1341, granted licence (fn. 1)
for Robert Bourchier, chancellor of England, to
found a college or chapelry of seculars in Halstead
and to endow them with land and the advowson
of the church of Sible Hedingham, and for them
to appropriate the church. In the letters (fn. 2) of the
king and Bourchier to the pope it is stated that
the college was to consist of eight chaplains in
the parish church. This licence appears, however, never to have taken effect; and on 2 May,
1412, Henry IV granted (fn. 3) licence for Richard,
bishop of London, and others to found a chantry
of five chaplains to celebrate divine service daily
in the parish church of Halstead for the souls of
Sir Robert Bourchier and Margaret his wife, Sir
John Bourchier and Maud his wife, and Sir
Bartholomew Bourchier and Margaret and Idonea
his wives, and to grant to them lands and rent in
Halstead, Sible Hedingham, Pebmarsh, Twinstead
and Middleton, and the advowson of the church
of Sible Hedingham, which they were to appropriate. One of the five chaplains was to be
the master, and the chantry was to be called
Bourchier's chantry.
The college was founded accordingly on 12
November in the same year and endowed with
three tenements in Halstead, another in Halstead
and Maplestead, and a fifth and a croft in Sible
Hedingham and the advowson of the church
there. This was to be appropriated to the
chantry, which was to consist only of a master
and one fellow chaplain until they were actually
in possession. The church, however, never was
thus appropriated; and Bishop William Grey
ordered (fn. 4) that, notwithstanding the ordinances of
his predecessor, it should always be governed by a
rector, who should find a chaplain to celebrate
divine service for the said souls. In consequence
of this the college never contained more than the
master and one chaplain; and they appear to
have presented to the church of Sible Hedingham
in 1433 only.
According to the Valor the net yearly value
of the college of Halstead was £23 16s. 5½d., of
which John Reston, master, received £17 16s. 5½d.
and Gilbert Wygly, priest, £6. In the certificates of colleges and chantries it is described (fn. 5) as
'A chauntrie or collegge ther foundid to fynd
two priests for ever by lycence of Kyng Henry the
Fourth' and said to be founded within the parish
church and worth yearly £28 8s. 0d., from
which deductions were made of 41s. 6d. for
rents, 22s. for four obits, 3s. 8d. for bread and
wine to the church and 47s. 7¾d. for the tenth,
so that the clear value was £22 13s. 2¼d. A
detailed certificate (fn. 6) of its possessions, including
a tenement with a garden called 'le Colleag
howse' with a pasture called 'le Colleag close,'
the manor of Hipforde, the tenement called
Slowhouse, etc., amounted to £34 4s. 3d. yearly,
and deductions for rents and the bailiff's allowance reduced this to £31 16s. 1d. The college
was granted (fn. 7) on 24 June, 1551, to William,
marquess of Northampton.
Masters of Halstead
Thomas Swattock (fn. 8) in 36 Henry VI and
3 Edward IV.
John Ashwell (fn. 8) in 16 Henry VIII.
John Reston in 1535.