46. THE PRIORY OF WEST MERSEA
Mersea was granted to the abbey of St. Ouen
at Rouen by Edward the Confessor; the date
of the grant, according to a doubtful charter
given by Morant, (fn. 1) being 1046. It was therefore the oldest of the Essex religious houses with
the exception of Barking.
The possessions of the house at the time of
the Domesday Survey have already been given. (fn. 2)
In 1202 they were leased (fn. 3) to William, bishop of
London; and he acknowledged that he had received, besides a list of live stock, 166 acres sown
with wheat, 106½ of rye, 266½ of oats, 11½ of
barley and 7½ of beans and peas and 221
of summer fallow. The temporalities were
valued in the Taxation of 1291 at £46 16s. 5d.
yearly, viz. £26 8s. 10d. in West Mersea,
£19 5s. 5½d. in Fingringhoe, 12s. 1½d. in Colchester, and 10s. in Peldon.
In 1294 (fn. 4) a more exact valuation of the priory
was taken, with detailed extents of the three
manors belonging to it. It was stated that two
monks dwelt there. The manor of Mersea was
worth £11 10s. 6d. yearly, including rents of
12s. 8d. in Colchester and 10s. in Peldon; the
manor of Peet £6 4s. 3d.; and the manor of
Fingringhoe £52 0s. 4d., including £43 9s. 6d.
in rents of assize belonging to this and the two
preceding. The temporalities thus amounted to
£69 15s. 1d. yearly; and the priory also owned
the churches of West Mersea and Fingringhoe,
worth £6 13s. 4d. and £5 6s. 8d. respectively.
The grain and live stock were valued at
£59 17s. 9½d. At Mersea there were 12 stots,
4 oxen, 12 cows, 6 calves, 120 sheep, 16 weak
sheep, 120 lambs, 21 pigs, 1 boar, and 24 piglets; at Peet 6 stots, 2 oxen, 1 cow, 108 sheep,
and 1 pig; and at Fingringhoe 5 plough horses,
5 oxen, 5 cows, 1 bull, 7 bullocks, 135 muttons,
100 wethers, 93 hogasters, 3 pigs and 1 boar.
The large number of sheep, for which the salt
marshes were well suited, will be noticed.
An account (fn. 5) was rendered by the keeper of
the priory from 8 October to 10 December,
1324, during which period it was in the king's
hands. An allowance of 3s. weekly was made
to the prior, but there is no mention of any other
monk.
Little is known of the history of the priory.
The hundred of Winstree belonged to it. (fn. 6) Free
warren at Fingringhoe was granted to it by
Henry I, and at Mersea by Henry III in
1270. (fn. 7) In 1300 (fn. 8) there was trouble about a
whale which the bailiffs of Colchester had taken
to the king's use and which the prior and others
seized in defiance of the king's claim. Another
whale was stranded on the soil of the priory in
1381, and the sheriff was ordered (fn. 9) to seize it to
the king's use. In 1328 a commission was appointed (fn. 10) to inquire into a complaint against the
prior of trespass at Fingringhoe.
The priory, being alien, was frequently taken
into the king's hands or restored at farm in the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. A special
case, however, occurred in 1330. The escheator
was ordered (fn. 11) on 4 May to restore to the prior the
priory, the manors of Mersea, Fingringhoe and
Peet and the half hundred of Winstree, which
had been seized on account of the late vacancy
of the abbey of St. Ouen. The prior had complained of this, and it was found by inquisition
that the abbot held the premises of the gift of
King Edward the Confessor and by confirmation
of Kings William and Henry II in frankalmoin, without rendering any service, and they
had never been taken into the hands of any king
on account of any vacancy of the abbey. For
the rest, the priory was restored at farm in the
usual manner, the yearly rent paid rising from
£50 in 1338 (fn. 12) to £60 in 1378. (fn. 13)
On 20 June, 1400, the abbot and convent of
St. Ouen, with licence (fn. 14) from Henry IV, granted
the priory and all its possessions to John Doreward and Isabel his wife and Henry, bishop of
Annaghdown in Ireland, for life. They were
to maintain divine service in the priory as of old,
keep the buildings in repair, for which they
should have timber, though not for erection of
new buildings, and maintain all liberties and customs, and they were to make a new roll containing the names of the tenants and the sums
of money and services due from them, and to send
a copy of the roll in Latin to the abbey. (fn. 15) The
king confirmed the grant on 27 June; and on
28 March, 1401, he released (fn. 16) them from payment of rent to him. The reversion of the priory
came to Henry V by the Act of Parliament
passed in the second year of his reign dissolving
all alien priories; and on 2 May, 1422, he
granted this to Henry Chichele, archbishop of
Canterbury, and William Chichele, archdeacon
of Canterbury, for the college which the archbishop had licence to found at Higham Ferrers
in Northamptonshire. (fn. 17) Isabel Doreward surrendered her life interest to them in 1423, her
husband and the bishop being then dead; and
the archbishop on 4 August, 1426, granted the
priory to the college. The transaction was confirmed (fn. 18) by Henry VI on 7 November, 1427.
The priory and its possessions belonged to the
college of Higham Ferrers until the dissolution;
and on 7 August, 1542, they were granted (fn. 19) to
Robert Dacres in fee.
Priors of Mersea
Ralph, occurs 1233. (fn. 20)
James, (fn. 21) occurs circa 1240.
Gilbert, occurs 1297. (fn. 22)
Walter, occurs 1328. (fn. 23)
William de Reel, occurs 1330, (fn. 24) 1342, (fn. 25)
1345. (fn. 26)
Stephen de Caus, occurs 1370. (fn. 27)
John Ramesey (?), occurs 1378, (fn. 28) 1383. (fn. 29)