HOUSES OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS
16. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF BRIDGNORTH
Of the two Shropshire houses in the Franciscan
custody of Worcester, Bridgnorth was almost
certainly the first to be founded. In July 1244 Henry
III provided 40s. from the issues of the bishopric of
Lichfield for the fabric of their church (fn. 1) and three
years later he allowed them to enclose a road to
enlarge their site. (fn. 2) Building continued for a number of
years: in 1257 the king provided six oaks from
Shirlett Forest for the church, (fn. 3) and, at about this
date, their building operations led them to encroach
on the River Severn. It was alleged in 1272 that
they had taken stones and rubbish from the bank of
the Severn and had thrown them into the river,
'whereby they have realized to themselves a piece of
ground 150 feet long and 50 feet wide, and this they
have enclosed'. (fn. 4) The church itself had been consecrated before 1272, when a prisoner took sanctuary
there, (fn. 5) and timber granted by the king in 1282 was
possibly for the conventual buildings. (fn. 6)
The convent stood outside the town walls on the
west bank of the Severn between the river and Friar
Street. (fn. 7) There was probably no specific founder; (fn. 8)
the king's contribution was modest and the names of
other contributors are not known. The first warden
was Philip of London, who was the fifth novice to be
admitted by Agnellus and a notable preacher. (fn. 9) In
1290 Bishop Swinfield gave the friars 5s. to provide
one pittance, which may indicate 15 friars in the
house at that date. (fn. 10) It seems to have been a relatively small house and bearers of obituary rolls
called there more rarely than at the other Shropshire
friaries. (fn. 11) Nevertheless the church was on a sufficient
scale to have two bells, the larger of which weighed
over 2 cwt., (fn. 12) and some prominent families were
associated with it. Nicholas of Pitchford and his
wife received the benefit of fraternity in 1337, (fn. 13) the
Higford family were important benefactors, (fn. 14) and
Robert, Lord Hilton, entered the order there,
probably at the end of his life, and was buried before
the altar of St. Mary in the south part of the church. (fn. 15)
The house was never wealthy; at the Dissolution
the brethren received only a few shillings in alms and
depended for their livelihood on a service they held
in the chapel of St. Syth on a bridge in the town. (fn. 16)
True to their rule they abstained from acquiring
property and, apart from their own site with its
orchard, valued at 15s. 6d., they received only 3s. in
rents from two small crofts, (fn. 17) They surrendered to
the king in August 1538. (fn. 18) The Bishop of Dover
described the house as the poorest he had seen, not
worth 10s. a year and with the houses all falling
down. Yet, in spite of the poverty in the houses of
grey friars he had visited, he found many of them
unwilling to change their habits and added, 'They be
so close each to other that no man can come within
them to know their hearts.' (fn. 19) The inventory of goods
at Bridgnorth bears out the comments in the bishop's
letter: though most objects were old and worn all
the essentials for the active celebration of divine
service were there, including books and a pair of
organs; elsewhere in the friary were the barest
necessities for cooking and taking meals and no
bedding at all remained. (fn. 20) There was poverty but
not disorder, even though the buildings were
dilapidated and the water conduit had broken down.
The property was first leased to Nicholas Holt (fn. 21)
and in 1544 was granted to John Beamont. (fn. 22) In the
1720s it still retained 'some plain marks of its
ancient magnificence'; some subterranean structures
vaulted in stone, referred to at this time, appear to
have been part of the domestic buildings. (fn. 23) The
refectory, converted into an alehouse, was still
standing in 1856, with its oak-panelled ceiling, stone
fireplace, and stone pulpit in good preservation, (fn. 24)
but within ten years it had been demolished to make
way for a carpet factory. A reconstruction made by
Clark-Maxwell indicates that the refectory stood to
the north of the site and the church and graveyard
to the south. (fn. 25)
Wardens
Philip of London, occurs c. 1244. (fn. 26)
William Lawghton, occurs 1487 × 1525. (fn. 27)
Dukes mentioned an impression of the warden's
seal, attached to a deed of 1337. (fn. 28) Legend:
SIGILLUM GARDIANI FRATRUM BRUGIE
17. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF SHREWSBURY
Franciscans are heard of in Shrewsbury in 1245,
a year after the beginnings of the community in
Bridgnorth. They settled, as many friars did, on the
cheaper land just outside the town walls, saving
expense by incorporating the existing walls into their
precinct boundary; (fn. 29) the site provided for them was
on the bank of the Severn west of the English Bridge.
In October 1245 Henry III ordered the sheriff and
the Shrewsbury bailiffs to assign a place to the friars
minor, suitable for building a church and establishing their house. (fn. 30) Early in November he provided 50
loads of lime for their work (fn. 31) and in July 1246 he
allowed them to have the town wall by their house
heightened and a gate made to give them easy
access to the town. (fn. 32) For the next five years royal
gifts in materials and money followed for the
purchase of their land. (fn. 33) In 1267 they received
permission to enlarge their gate in the town wall so
that carts could pass through it. (fn. 34)
Eccleston has described the early days of the
house. The king gave the site, the burgess Richard
Pride built a church, and one Laurence Cox provided
other offices. But the gifts were too lavish and the
provincial minister, William of Nottingham, 'out
of zeal for poverty', ordered the donor to replace the
stone walls of the dormitory with mud walls, which
he did 'with wonderful devotion and sweetness and
very great expense'. (fn. 35) Their first warden, Martin of
Barton, who had previously been warden of York,
used to relate with glee how they had lived simply,
drinking dregs of beer mixed with water. (fn. 36) The
order's rejection of property was respected in the
earliest grants; the king gave the land for the use of
the friars, presumably retaining the ownership
himself, (fn. 37) and a grant of £25 to 'acquit' a place for
their own use was made through their proctor, the
interposita persona allowed by their statutes. (fn. 38) Later
some of the stricter statutes were relaxed; larger
churches were necessary in northern countries where
out-of-doors preaching was frequently impracticable;
numbers increased, guests were accommodated,
and more ample building in stone was permitted. (fn. 39)
The grey friars of Shrewsbury followed the general
trend and building was in progress in the late 14th
century. Through the good offices of John de
Charlton (III), lord of Powys, they obtained the use
of a stone quarry near their house in 1371. (fn. 40) There is,
however, no positive evidence to support the tradition that the fine Jesse window commemorating
John de Charlton (I), now in St. Mary's church,
was originally in the grey friars' church. (fn. 41) The fact
that John de Charlton (I) and his wife Hawise were
buried in their church (fn. 42) proves nothing: if it was as
spacious as many Franciscan churches of comparable
importance it could have accommodated such a
window, but elaborate painted-glass windows were
discouraged by the statutes of the order. (fn. 43) Surviving
stone and timber-framed buildings show that there
was further substantial rebuilding of the principal
offices in the early 16th century. (fn. 44)
At the Dissolution the site comprised only three
or four acres of arable land, including a walnut
orchard, and the friars had no rents. (fn. 45) The land was
liable to flooding and during severe floods in August
1420 water rose in the church to a height of eight
feet and more. (fn. 46) There is no evidence that the
original site was enlarged at any time, except by
modest purprestures on both sides of the Severn,
the exact nature and purpose of which is not clear. (fn. 47)
The friars were charged with obstructing the watercourse at the Wyle in 1382 (fn. 48) and at Coleham
c. 1389. (fn. 49) In 1440 there was a more explicit charge
that they had made a purpresture in the waters of the
river at the Wyle and annexed new land to their site,
deflecting the stream so that it damaged the town
wall and the bridge. (fn. 50) There years later they were
driving stakes into the river on the Coleham side
to enlarge their land. (fn. 51) These activities may have
been connected with the drainage of their site or
with their fisheries. Even though they supplemented
the produce of their garden and orchard with fish
caught in the river, as repeated prosecutions for
erecting fish-weirs show, (fn. 52) they must have lived
chiefly on alms and gifts of the faithful, (fn. 53) which
included bequests to support masses for the dead
and for funeral expenses. Thus the London grocer
Robert Gryme (d. 1476), directing that he should be
buried beside his father in the church of the friars
minor, provided £2 for his burial, 20d. to every
priest, and 12d. to every novice. (fn. 54) Their services as
preachers and confessors might be unpaid, but they
attracted gifts, like the gallon of wine given to Dr.
Smith in 1520 after he had preached in St. Chad's. (fn. 55)
Their work as confessors also brought them into
contact with the highest in the land, though not
always to their profit. When Queen Joan, widow of
Henry IV, was arrested in 1419 on charges of witchcraft and sorcery, her confessor, John Randolph of
the friars minor of Shrewsbury, who had some of her
valuables in safe keeping, (fn. 56) was implicated with her
and sent to the Tower. (fn. 57) Normally they were on good
terms with the townspeople and, apart from bequests
from individuals, the burgesses at times contributed
collectively to the needs of the house. In 1520 the
corporation granted 10 marks towards the repair of
the granary. (fn. 58) William Duffield, warden at about this
time, who had found the house in a dilaidated
condition and was responsible for much of the
rebuilding, petitioned again in 1529 for the allocation of some of the burgess fees towards necessary
repairs; the corporation granted 40s. and the
commonalty 33s. 4d. (fn. 59)
Numbers in most Franciscan houses fluctuated
from year to year because of the mobility of the
friars within their province and there is no evidence
for the size of the Shrewsbury convent. Names in
ordination lists show that some friars were recruited
locally, (fn. 60) and some remained for long periods in the
same house. In 1463 the general of the order granted
to Richard FitzJohn, a friar who had lived laudably
and piously for many years in the convent of Shrewsbury and was broken with age and very weak in
sight, the right to occupy for life a chamber with a
cell, fireplace, and garden in the convent. (fn. 61) Although
in principle wardens were appointed annually, reelection for several consecutive years was possible.
Some were men of learning and repute. William
Duffield was licensed to preach in the diocese of
Hereford in 1525 and an indulgence of 40 days was
granted to all who came to hear him. (fn. 62) In 1533 he
was appointed suffragan to the Bishop of St.
Asaph. (fn. 63)
The last phase of the house shows it in good order.
When the Bishop of Dover came to Shrewsbury in
August 1538, he found the friars with few chattels,
no rents, and no jewels but a cross of white plate
and a little chalice; nevertheless they had 'a proper
house' and there was a table of alabaster on the high
altar and a fair old lectern of timber. (fn. 64) In his report
he noted that the friars had many favourers in the
neighbourhood. (fn. 65) The grey friars, nevertheless,
surrendered by common consent and their house
was put into the hands of the borough bailiffs. (fn. 66)
After being leased to William Penson in 1541 (fn. 67) it
was granted in 1544 to Richard Andrews, (fn. 68) who
sold it almost immediately to the Shrewsbury draper
Roger Pope. (fn. 69)
Some remains of an early-16th-century building,
which may have been the frater on the south side
of the cloister, (fn. 70) survive on the river bank near
Greyfriars Bridge. The building has long been
divided into tenements and was apparently re-roofed
to provide attic bedrooms. It was originally singlestoried on the north side but to the south, where the
ground falls away to the river, it stands on a basement. Substantial parts of both north and south
walls, constructed of local red sandstone, remain.
Medieval features include a buttress, a doorway,
and several window openings; the most complete
window has a depressed arch and is of three lights
with cusped interlacing tracery. A carved beam, said
to survive above the ground floor of one of the
cottages, (fn. 71) had been covered up by 1969. A timberframed building of the early 16th century, which
formed a western continuation of the stone range,
was demolished in 1967-9. It incorporated a long,
unheated, first-floor room which may have been a
dormitory. (fn. 72) The rooms mentioned in the 1538
inventory were upper and lower vestry, kitchen, hall,
chamber (probably either the warden's chamber or
the dormitory), and frater; (fn. 73) but these inventories
rarely enumerate all rooms. Part of the precinct
walls could still be traced in the adjoining meadow
in 1825. (fn. 74)
Wardens
Martin of Barton, occurs c. 1245. (fn. 75)
Thomas Godbert, occurs 1342. (fn. 76)
Thomas Francis, occurs 1516. (fn. 77)
John Harris, occurs 1519. (fn. 78)
William Duffield, occurs between 1525 and
1529. (fn. 79)
No seal known.