9. THE PRIORY OF THURGARTON
The name D'Aincourt or Deincourt had its
origin in the village of Aincourt in Normandy,
not far from Mantes on the Seine. The first
English baron of this name was Walter, connected by marriage with the Conqueror, and
himself a kinsman of Bishop Remigius. This
Walter Deincourt was richly rewarded by his
leader, obtaining the grant of one manor in
Northamptonshire, four in the West Riding,
eleven in Derbyshire, seventeen in Lincolnshire,
and thirty-four in Nottinghamshire, including
that of Thurgarton. (fn. 1)
Walter had two sons, William and Ralph.
The firstborn died young, and was buried before
the western door of Lincoln Cathedral. Ralph
became his father's heir and the second Baron
Deincourt.
This Ralph Deincourt, for the health of his
soul and of those of his sons and daughters, his
parents and all his progenitors, founded a house
of Austin Canons at Thurgarton in honour of
St. Peter. The baron was moved to do this,
as he states in the foundation charter, by the
advice and prayers of Thurstan, Archbishop of
York, of pious memory. He bestowed on the
house the whole of Thurgarton and Fiskerton and
all the churches of his demesnes, namely those of
Granby and Coates, Nottinghamshire, Swayfield,
(Cold) Hanworth, Scopwick, Kirkby, Branston,
Timberland, and Blankney, Lincolnshire, and
Langwith, Derbyshire, with all manner of appurtenances. (fn. 2) The reference to Archbishop Thurstan
shows that the house was not founded until
after 1140, which was the year of that prelate's
decease. (fn. 3)
Two registers or chartularies of this house
survived its dissolution, both named by Tanner;
one of these was in the possession of the Earl of
Chesterfield, and the other in the hands of Mr.
Cecil Cooper in 1677. There are a considerable number of benefaction charters cited from
the former of these in the Monasticon. (fn. 4) Among
Gervase Holles's collections are a long series of
extracts from the latter chartulary, which was
'penes Rogerum Cooper mil. A.D. 1643.' (fn. 5)
This Cooper chartulary is the one which is
now in the library of the cathedral church of
Southwell. (fn. 5a)
A charter of inspection and confirmation,
granted by Edward III in 1340, recites a large
number of benefactions conferred upon the
priory subsequent to the foundation charter. (fn. 6)
The more important of these were the gifts of
the church of Blackwell (Derbyshire), by William
Fitz Ranulph; of the church of Warrington
(Lancashire), the church of Tythby, and the
chapel of Cropwell Butler, by Matthew de
Vilers; of the church of Sutton in Ashfield and
2 bovates of land in that township, by Gerard
son of Walter of Sutton; of the mill of Clive,
by William Carpenter; of the mill of Doverbeck, by Robert de Cauz; of Snelling mill, on
Doverbeck, by Ralph de Beauchamp; of the
church of Hoveringham, by Robert de Hoveringham; of 7 bovates of land in Tythby, by Hugh
de Hoveringham; of the church of North
Wingfield (Derbyshire), by Ralph son of Roger
Deincourt; of much land and a moiety of the
church of Owthorpe, by various donors; of the
church of Lowdham, by Ralph Beauchamp; of
demesnes and tenements in Hickling and Kinoulton, and in Kirkby and Scopwick (Lincolnshire),
by Gerard de Phanecurt; of the church of
Adlington (Lancashire), by Henry Bisett; of
considerable lands, tenements, rents, &c. in
Saxondale, Harmston, Hawksworth, Aslockton,
Screveton, Car Colston, Flintham, Hoveringham,
Shelford (Notts.); and of other land in Boyleston, Burnaston, Heanor, and Pilsley, Derbyshire. (fn. 7)
By far the greater part of the Thurgarton
chartulary now at Southwell is concerned with
the grants of the benefactions just briefly recited.
Citations may be made of two or three other
entries of interest.
Richard Hacun of (Cold) Hanworth (Lincolnshire) by an early undated deed gave to the priory
a toft in the town of Hanworth and 3 bovates of
land in the fields of Hanworth, &c., in return
for which gift the canons covenanted to sustain
in perpetuity two wax lights burning at the
daily mass of Our Lady in their church of Thurgarton, from the beginning of the canon to the
Our Father, and the celebrant to say at mass the
special collect Inclina for the donor and for the
souls of his father Roger, his mother Maud, and
his uncle Matthew. (fn. 8)
Occasionally the spiritual interests of benefactors were secured after a much vaguer fashion.
Thus Sir Philip de Timberland in 1244 gave to
the canons of Thurgarton 4 acres of arable land
in the field of Timberland, requiring nothing in return for himself or his heirs save only their prayers. (fn. 9)
Roger son of Wolvin de Kirkby granted by
an undated 13th-century charter all the land
which he held of Ralph son of John de Bergates
in the territory of Timberland, together with
the right to dig in Ralph's marsh in Timberland
wherever he wished to the extent of 400 turves
yearly. (fn. 10)
The Taxation Roll of Pope Nicholas in 1291
gives the total income of the priory as £247 16s. 3d.
The temporalities in various parts of Nottinghamshire yielded £137 19s. 2d., and those in
Lincolnshire £27 13s. 9d. The appropriations
of the six Nottinghamshire churches of Thurgarton, Sutton in Ashfield, Granby, Owthorpe,
Hoveringham, and Tythby supplied an income of £75 6s. 8d., while small pensions
from the churches of Coates, Hawksworth,
and Cotham brought in an additional 10s.
Pensions from the four Lincolnshire churches
of Blankney, (Cold) Hanworth, Branston, and
Swayfield, and from the Derbyshire church of
Langwith, supplied a further income of £6 6s. 8d. (fn. 11)
It is also of interest to note that Alexander de
Gedling, the Prior of Thurgarton, was the
collector of the crusading tenth of this date
throughout the archdeaconry of Nottingham. (fn. 12)
The returns of the Valor Ecclesiasticus of
1534 yield the much larger gross revenue of
£359 15s. 10d. The appropriations had considerably increased. The Nottinghamshire
rectories of Thurgarton, Hoveringham, Sutton
in Ashfield, Owthorpe, Tythby, Ratcliffe on
Soar, Granby, 'Feldkirk,' Cotham, and Fiskerton,
and those of Kirkby with Scopwick and Timberland in Lincolnshire and Blackwell and Elmton
in Derbyshire, in addition to a few pensions
from other churches in these three counties,
brought in an income of £169 10s. 8d. The
total in the same counties from temporalities
amounted to £210 5s. 2d. But the outgoings
were so numerous that the clear income was
reduced by more than a hundred pounds
to £259 9s. 4¾d. The chief deductions were
for stipends paid by the priory to chantry priests
at Southwell, Newark, Ratcliffe on Soar, St.
Benedict's Lincoln, and to two each at the
Derbyshire churches of Chesterfield and Crich.
There was also an annual charge of obligatory
alms, at the cost of £6 8s. 1d. distributed to the
poor in meat, beer, and bread on the obit of
Ralph Deincourt the founder, and on the fourteen following days. (fn. 13)
In 1209 Innocent III licensed the priory of
Thurgarton, in the event of a vacancy in the
cure of souls of any church belonging to them,
to appoint three or four of their canons, one of
whom was to be instituted to that church by the
bishop. (fn. 14)
Henry III in 1270 granted to the priory a
weekly market to be held on Tuesday, on their
manor of Fiskerton, and also a yearly fair there
on the feast of the Holy Trinity and the two
following days. (fn. 15)
In 1275 the prior claimed view of frankpledge in his manors of Thurgarton, Fiskerton,
Crophill, Owthorpe, Hickling, Granby, and
Sutton; and assize of bread and ale in Hickling
and Harworth; and that his villeins in Hawksworth, Granby, Cropwell Butler, Owthorpe,
Wiverton, and Tythby, should not do any suit
to the king's wapentake court of Bingham, for
which they produced a charter of Henry III of
the year 1234. Other claims, all of which were
substantiated, were for right of gallows at Thurgarton and for the recently granted market and
fair at Fiskerton. (fn. 16)
Varying fragments of information can be
gleaned with regard to Thurgarton Priory from
the earlier episcopal registers at York. (fn. 17)
In 1228 Archbishop Gray confirmed to the
canons the grant made by Roger son of William
of the advowson of the church of Hawton. (fn. 18)
Seven years later the archbishop granted to the
priory of Thurgarton, to assist them in their
laudable hospitality, a pension of two bezants
(bisencios) out of Hawton rectory. (fn. 19) In 1234
the archbishop confirmed to the same priory the
small pension of 3s. 4d. out of the church of
Cotham. (fn. 20)
A strife of considerable duration between the
priory and canons of Thurgarton as rectors of
Timberland of the one part, and the prior and
canons of St. Katherine's, Lincoln, of the other
part, concerning the turbary tithes of Timberland, was amicably settled in 1245. The Lincoln priory agreed that in each year when they
dug turf in Timberland marsh they would give
12d. at Easter to the church of Timberland by
way of tithe for a certain piece of the marsh
pertaining to that church, but that no tithe was
to be expected from them for other carefully
defined parts of the marsh which had been
specially assigned to St. Katherine's. (fn. 21)
About the same time another dispute between
the priory as rectors of Timberland with Simon
the vicar of Timberland and the priory of Kyme,
concerning tithes of wool and milk and of lambs
and calves of animals pasturing in the parish of
Timberland on lands which Walter son of
Walthof formerly held, was brought to a conclusion. The priory of Kyme covenanted to
pay to the church of Timberland 5s. yearly as
wool tithe for each 100 sheep, and 5s. yearly for
each 100 lambs at the feast of St. Margaret, and
2d. for each cow and calf at Martinmas; and
the priory of Thurgarton covenanted not to
exact any other small tithes from that land, nor
any share of wax-shot and blessed bread. (fn. 22)
The commuting of tithes in kind for a money
payment was fairly common in the 13th century. Thus an agreement was entered into
between this priory and the hospital of St.
Sepulchre, Lincoln, whereby the brethren of the
latter house covenanted to pay to Thurgarton the
annual sum of 27s. in lieu of the tithes that
pertained to the churches of Kirkby and Scopwick for the lands which had been granted them
by the son and grandson of the founder of Thurgarton. (fn. 23)
Robert de Chesney, Bishop of Lincoln
1147-66, confirmed to the priory the churches
of Branston, Hanworth, Timberland, Blankney,
Scawby, Kirkby, and Swayfield, and a similar
confirmation act as to these seven churches was
executed by St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln 11861200. (fn. 24)
A dispute as to the church of Branston in
Lincoln diocese, which was brought to a head in
1236 by a papal decree, is dealt with at length
in the chartulary. The Prior and Convent of
Thurgarton sought from William de Marcham,
rector of Branston, 5 marks annually by way of
pension, which they had received of old from
that church, namely for the space of forty years
and more and which they alleged the rector had
detained for two years. The rector retorted
that if this payment had been made it was an
unjust action. The pope appointed as his commissioners the Abbot of De Pratis, the Dean of
Christianity, and the Master of the Schools of
Leicester, all of Lincoln diocese. The priory
produced five witnesses before the commission,
namely John their sub-prior, Ralph the cellarer,
Geoffrey de Hanworth, another of their canons,
George, who had been a priory servant for fifty
years, and Adam de Scawby, a very old layman,
who by their depositions most clearly (luculenter)
proved that the priory had received the 5 marks
yearly for over forty years without any intermission, namely from the days of Bishop Walter
de Coutances (1183–4) of good memory up to
the presentation of William de Marcham to the
rectory. Evidence was also forthcoming of the
formal confirmation of the pension of Bishop
Walter. The rector was ordered to refund to
Thurgarton the arrears of 10 marks, and henceforth punctually to pay the pension. (fn. 25)
Archbishop Giffard (1265-79) confirmed to
the prior and canons of Thurgarton the churches
of Sutton in Ashfield, Granby, Tythby, Owthorpe, Hoveringham, Hawksworth, and Keyworth. (fn. 26)
Thurgarton Priory was personally visited by
Archbishop Wickwane (1279-86), with the
result that the following injunctions or corrections were forwarded to the house on 8 June
1280: The prior was to be more discreet in
temporal matters and more moderate in his corrections; no base person, stranger, or layman was
to be admitted to the frater, and no one but the
physicians to the farmery; no drinking after
compline, save for some necessary cause or infirmity in the presence of the prior; no letters
to be sealed but in full consent; gifts to the
canons or lay brothers from their friends were to
go to the indigent or for common use; silence
at proper times and places, according to rule, was
to be strictly observed; canons not to go out of
cloister (save the obedientiaries), except by the
leave of the president; alms (of food) were not
to be imprudently consumed, but warded for the
poor. Carols and lockers of the canons to be
opened thrice a year in the presence of the prior
and of two or three of the most trustworthy of
the canons, that the vice of private property
might be obliterated; the lay brothers were to be
faithfully instructed in devotions and works of
merit; the fasts were to be observed, and canons
serving outside the house not to be absent longer
than a fortnight. These injunctions were to be
publicly read in full chapter at the beginning of
each month. (fn. 27)
On 22 August 1284 the archbishop confirmed
the provision made by the Prior and Convent of
Thurgarton for Brother Robert de Barford, their
late prior. The ex-prior was to have suitable
good rooms in the priory where he could live
with one of the canons, an attendant and a boy,
who were to wait on him, as was seemly.
Provision was to be made daily for the ex-prior
at the rate of one and a half canon's portion.
Due provision both in board and clothing was also
to be made both for the attendant and the boy.
The ex-prior was himself to receive yearly two
marks for clothing, and he was to be excused
attending the divine offices whenever he desired. (fn. 28)
'Arduous and urgent business' prevented
Archbishop Romayne, early in his episcopate,
from fulfilling an engagement to visit Thurgarton Priory on 8 May 1286, and it was postponed to the 14th of the same month. (fn. 29) It was
as a consequence of this visit that Gilbert the
prior, who was accused of incontinence with a
married woman, formally purged himself of this
sin, publicly and solemnly, with his witnesses or
compurgators, before the archbishop on 19 May,
and was thereupon declared by his diocesan,
under his seal, to be of good fame. (fn. 30)
In August of the same year an episcopal mandate ordered Prior Gilbert to put Alexander de
Gedling, a canon of that house, to penance for
using opprobrious, presumptuous, noisy, and
scandalous language in a chapel of the house
where the convent daily assembled for the discussion of business. (fn. 31)
About the same time the archbishop addressed
the Prior and Convent of Thurgarton with respect
to one of their canons, Simon de Lincoln, who
had been to Rome because of his faults and had
now returned. They were ordered to receive
him back in charity and to consider his penance
at an end, save that he was not to be allowed to
leave the cloister without the president's sanction. (fn. 32)
A request was addressed by Archbishop
Romanus in 1289 to Henry de Anra, the provincial prior of the Carmelites, to permit Richard
Maulovel, a fervently devout canon of Thurgarton, of the order of St. Augustine, who desired
a stricter rule, to enter his order. (fn. 33)
In 1290 a scandal was caused at this house by
W. de Bingham, one of the canons, violently
assaulting John de Sutton, a clerk, in the conventual church, for which he was sentenced to
the greater excommunication; his eventual
absolution was committed by the archbishop to
the prior. (fn. 34)
On the resignation of Prior Robert de Baseford
in 1284 the convent elected two of their number
and presented them to Archbishop Romanus for
his choice, namely Alexander de Gedling and
Nicholas de Gameley; but the archbishop passed
them both over and nominated Gilbert de
Ponteburg as prior. (fn. 35) When Gilbert, however,
resigned the priorship he was succeeded by
Alexander de Gedling. (fn. 36)
On 17 October 1290 the episcopal licence
was issued to the sub-prior and convent to choose
a prior in the place of Gilbert de Ponteburg,
who had resigned. On 20 November the archbishop quashed the election of Alexander de
Gedling as prior because of canonical informalities in the form of procedure, but himself provided him to the office. He issued his mandate
to the sub-prior and convent to yield due
obedience to Alexander and to the archdeacon to
install him. (fn. 37)
In February 1292-3 an archiepiscopal mandate was issued to the prior not to allow his
canons to go outside the priory precincts. (fn. 38)
Notice of visitation of this priory on 14 January
1293-4 by the archbishop was given on the 6th
of the previous December. (fn. 39) There are no consequent injunctions registered, so it may be
assumed that all was well.
In February 1294-5 the prior and convent
received another letter relative to Richard
Maulovel, the canon who several years previously
had left this Austin house desirous of entering
one of a stricter rule. Since that time he had
been wandering about far and wide among
various religious houses under pretext of seeking
admission and then causing a scandal. The
priory were ordered to receive him back till he
found another house, but not to admit him to
the cloister. (fn. 40)
A letter was addressed by the archbishop in
September 1295 to the prior on behalf of Hugh
de Farndon, a canon of the house, who was in a
miserable plight, urging his readmission to undergo due penance. (fn. 41)
In 1304 the prior was admonished by Archbishop Greenfield to resign, but the convent
besought that he might be retained, pleading the
expense of a new election. Some of the canons
sent a letter to this effect to the diocesan, but it
lacked the common seal. The archbishop
ordered them to hold an election, and their choice
fell on John de Hikeling. The archbishop,
however, quashed this election on the ground of
informality, and the convent then chose John de
Ruddeston. This election was also quashed on
the like grounds, but the archbishop duly collated
Ruddeston to the office, as he thought him a
worthy man. (fn. 42)
In 1312 Archbishop Greenfield absolved
Walter Bingham from being Prior of St. Oswald
(Nostell), and he returned to the monastery of
Thurgarton, of which he was a canon. (fn. 43)
Archbishop Greenfield, 1311, sanctioned the
appropriation to this priory of the churches of
Thurgarton, Owthorpe, Tythby, Hoveringham,
Sutton, and Granby. (fn. 44)
The church of Cotham was appropriated to
Thurgarton Priory by the archbishop's licence on
1 July 1350, the plea being the poverty of the
house through the ravages of the plague. The
archbishop was careful to secure for himself and
his successors a pension from the church of 4
marks, and another of 2 marks for the chapter of
York. (fn. 45)
Boniface IX in 1402 granted power to the
prior and convent and their successors to rent,
let, farm, or sell to clerks or laymen all fruits,
tithes, and oblations of churches, chapels, and
other possessions without requiring the licence of
ordinaries. (fn. 46) In December of the same year
the priory obtained an indult from the pope to
have made anew in their dormitory as many cells
as might be expedient for the sleeping of their
canons; such cells, when made, were not to be
changed in the future. (fn. 47)
The same pope in 1403 granted the petition of
the priory that—as they were bound to find and
keep at their own cost a secular priest and to
depute a canon of their house to celebrate at
certain altars in the priory church for the souls
of Thomas Horoft (sic) and Walter de Elineton,
laymen, who were buried therein—the prior and
his successors might depute at pleasure, for these
celebrations, two secular priests or two canons of
the priory in priests' orders. (fn. 48)
Licence was granted in 1431 for Alice widow
of Sir William Deyncourt to found a perpetual
chantry for daily celebration at the altar of St.
Anne in the conventual church of St. Peter,
Thurgarton, for the good estate of the king and
the founder and their souls after death, and for
the souls of the said William and of John
Deyncourt, knight, and Jean his wife, and of
Alice's relatives and friends, and for all the faithful departed. The chaplain to receive a yearly
rental of 100s., and the advowson of the chantry
to be in the hands of the Prior and Convent of
Thurgarton. (fn. 49)
The Prior of Thurgarton by an old-established
custom had a right to a stall in the quire of the
great collegiate church of Southwell, and this
would carry with it, we suppose, a right to a
seat in the chapter-house. The origin of this is
not known with any precision. Mr. Leach
says: 'How or when the prior got in is a
mystery,' and suggests that it may have originated
as a matter of courtesy, in 1225, in return for
the priory having given up Rolleston Church to
the archbishop for Southwell. (fn. 50) This is probably
the solution of the difficulty; but it is much
more likely that the seat was at that time definitely assigned to the prior as a part of the
bargain about Rolleston Church rather than as
an act of mere courtesy.
The royal visitors Legh and Layton visited
Thurgarton in 1536, where they surpassed themselves in the wholesale character of their hideous
charges. Out of the comparatively small number
of canons of this house, they actually stated that
ten were guilty of unnatural offences, that the
prior had been incontinent with several women,
and six others with both married and single women.
They also stated that eight of the canons desired
to be released from their vows. They further
recorded that a pilgrimage was held here to St.
Ethelburg, but so little acquaintance had they
with hagiology that they described this wellknown lady saint as a man—ad Sanctum Ethelburgum. The annual income was returned at
£240. (fn. 51)
On the resignation of Prior Thomas Dethick
in February 1537 a congé d'élire was granted
by the Crown to the sub-prior and convent to
hold a new election. Their choice fell on John
Berwick. (fn. 52)
Dr. Legh, who had made such a string of
appalling charges against the Thurgarton canons,
wrote to Cromwell on 12 June 1538, to the
effect that he had just succeeded in carrying out
the dissolution of the monastery of Halesowen
and was setting out for this Nottinghamshire
house. (fn. 53) Two days later the surrender of
Thurgarton Priory was signed by John Berwick,
prior, William Chace, sub-prior, and by seven
other canons, namely John Kampney, John
Longeyscare, John Ryley, Richard Leykes,
Robert —, Henry Gaskyn, and Richard
Hopkyn. (fn. 54)
Legh, who received the surrender, tarried
some days at Thurgarton. On 16 June he
wrote from the dissolved priory to Wriothesley,
telling him that he had accomplished his desires
with regard to Mr. Cooper. (fn. 55)
The following pensions were granted to this
house on 23 July 1539:—John Berwick, prior,
a house called Fiskerton Hall, with a chapel in
the house, a garden, a stable called 'le mares
stable,' tithes of hay of two meadows, and £40
a year; Richard Hopkyn, sub-prior, £6 13s. 4d.;
and John Ryley, Henry Gaskyn, John Langeskar, Robert Cant, Richard Leke, John Champney, and William Chace, canons, £5 each. (fn. 56)
It is noteworthy that Richard Hopkyn, who,
according to Legh and Layton, was a confessed
adulterer, obtained the highest pension, and
among those in receipt of a pension of £5 appears
the name of Richard Leke who was entered on both
the black lists of the commissioners.
Priors of Thurgarton
Thomas, occurs c. 1190 (fn. 57)
Henry, 1209; (fn. 58) occurs 1218 (fn. 59)
William, occurs 1234-45 (fn. 60)
Richard, occurs 1250-7 (fn. 61)
Adam, occurs 1263-76 (fn. 62)
Robert de Baseford, resigned 1284 (fn. 63)
Gilbert de Ponteburg, 1284-90 (fn. 64)
Alexander de Gedling, 1290-1304 (fn. 65)
John de Ruddeston, 1304-19 (fn. 66)
John de Hikeling, 1319-31 (fn. 67)
Robert de Hathern, 1331-7 (fn. 68)
John de Ruddeston, re-elected 1337-8 (fn. 69)
Richard de Thurgarton, 1338-45 (fn. 70)
Robert de Hickling, 1345-9 (fn. 71)
Robert de Claxton, 1349 (fn. 72)
John de Calveton, died 1381 (fn. 73)
William de Saperton, 1381 (fn. 74)
Robert de Wolveden, occurs 1432; (fn. 75) resigned
1434 (fn. 76)
Richard Haley, 1434 (fn. 77)
William Bingham, 1471-7 (fn. 78)
Richard Thurgarton, died 1494 (fn. 79)
John Allestre, 1494 (fn. 80)
John Goverton, 1505 (fn. 81)
John Angear, 1517-34 (fn. 82)
Thomas Dethick, 1534-6 (fn. 83)
John Berwick, 1536 (fn. 84)