4. THE PRIORY OF BREADSALL
With regard to the foundation of this small
priory of Breadsall or Breadsall Park, it has
always hitherto been stated that it was in its first
origin an establishment of Austin Friars, or
Friars Eremites. This statement has been made
in consequence of the entry on the Patent Roll
of 1266 to the effect that Henry III granted
to the Eremites of Breadsall a messuage and
20 acres of land in Horsley and Horston, for
which they were to render yearly half a mark
to the bailiff of the royal manor of Horston. (fn. 1)
There must, however, be some slip of the scribe
in making this entry, for the Austin Friars, in
common with the other mendicant orders, were not
allowed to accept any benefactions of land other
than the site of their house. Instead of ever
being a house of Austin Friars, this priory was
clearly a priory of Austin Canons; otherwise such
a donation as this would have been an impossibility. Moreover, a house of friars was invariably
placed amid a considerable population. All that
can be said of its origin is that it was clearly well
established before 1266, and that it was founded
in the thirteenth century by one of the Curzons
of Breadsall, either by Richard Curzon, son of
Henry Curzon by the heiress of Dunne, or by
Sir Robert Curzon, the son of Richard.
The possessions of this small priory of the
Holy Trinity were valued by the Taxation Roll
of 1291 at £5 19s. per annum. The 20 acres
at Horston in the adjoining parish of Horsley produced 10s. a year, whilst 20 acres of
land round the house at Breadsall, with a dovecote, were worth £2. The priory also held
rents in Breadsall and small plots of land in Morley and Horsley, whilst the yearly profits on their
farm stock averaged £2 5s. 8d.
The royal bequest of the Horston acres was
farmed for the priory from an early date. In
1328 licence was obtained from the crown by
the prior of Breadsall Park to lease this land for
a term of forty years to Thomas de Goldyngton
and his heirs. (fn. 2)
The first prior of this house named in the
episcopal registers was Hugh de Mackworth, who
was appointed in 1306 under the patronage of
Richard Curzon. (fn. 3) The endowments of this
house were so slender that it seems never to have
had more than two canons beside the prior, and
not infrequently only one, and finally simply a
prior. It therefore came about that a canonical
chapter election was an impossibility, and hence
the simple nomination of the hereditary patron
was usually accepted. The patron of the priory
was the lord of the manor of Breadsall Overhall,
who was also the patron of the rectory of the parish
church of Breadsall. It was held by the Curzon
family for eight generations, but passed, in the
reign of Richard II, to the Dethick family through
the marriage of William Dethick with Cecilia,
daughter and heiress of Thomas Curzon.
In 1309 Hamund de Merston, canon of the
house of the Holy Trinity of the park of Breadsall, was admitted to the rule of the same at the
presentation of Richard Curzon. (fn. 4) The same prior
was readmitted by Bishop Northburgh in 1322
at the presentation of Henry Curzon. (fn. 5) The
next prior was William de Repyndon, a canon
of Breadsall. He resigned in October, 1347,
and the bishop commissioned the abbot of Darley to act for him in the business of the election
of Thomas de Castello, with the result that it
was duly confirmed. (fn. 6) In 1365, after a long
vacancy, the bishop collated as prior Thomas de
London: a curious and exceptional appointment,
for Prior Thomas had been a monk of Burtonon-Trent. (fn. 7) Geoffrey de Stafford, after a short
interval, was the next prior, and on his resignation in 1370 Thomas Lewes, one of the canons
of the house, was made prior. The entry of
Lewes' institution in the episcopal register names
Robert Molde, rector of Breadsall, Henry Adderley, and John de Twyford, vicar of Spondon, as
patrons of the house. This triple patronage
may have arisen through the true patron being
an infant.
Four or five of the subsequent priors had
previously been canons of the house; but the
appointments in 1442 and 1487 were from
among the Austin Canons of Darley Abbey, and
in 1456 from those of Repton Priory. When
Roger Upton was appointed prior in 1384
Sir Thomas Wendesley was the patron, but only
pro hac vice. Sir Thomas was a Derbyshire
knight of some renown; he was killed at the
battle of Shrewsbury in 1403; his effigy is in
the south transept of Bakewell church. It is
not clear why he presented on this occasion, but
it may possibly have been in return for some
specific benefaction, by arrangement with the
rightful patron.
In return for a number of small benefactions
made by Henry Cotton, clerk, and others in 1392, (fn. 8)
it was stipulated that daily masses should for ever
be celebrated within the priory church for the
good estate whilst living, and for the souls after
death, of the various donors.
In 1402 there was another inquisition to allow
William Dethick to assign to the prior and
convent of Breadsall Park one rood of land and a
moiety of the rectory of Mugginton. The
land was valued at 3d. per annum, and the half
of the rectory at £5. This William Dethick
was the son of William Dethick by Cecilia the
heiress of Curzon. (fn. 9) William Dethick, though
he obtained the sanction of the inquest for this
alienation, neglected to procure letters patent to
warrant the evasion of the Statutes of Mortmain,
and on his death, in 1411, his executors and
trustees were mulcted by the crown in the
heavy fine of 25 marks for licence to continue
to the priory the alienation of the rood of land
and the moiety of the church of Mugginton. (fn. 10)
It is stated in this licence that the gift was made
to the priory for the augmentation of divine
worship there, and for prayers for the souls of
William Dethick and Alice his wife, and their
posterity and ancestry. It was further stipulated
that a suitable sum was to be given to the poor
of Mugginton out of the fruits of the living by
the prior, in accordance with the provisions of
the statute 15 Ric. II, cap. vi, and that he should
also see to the sufficient endowment of a vicar for
that parish.
William Dethick procured this moiety of the
rectory of Mugginton and the rood of land in
1401 from Peter de la Pole and his wife Elizabeth
(heiress of Chandos) in exchange for land in Radbourne, Dalybury Lees, and Heanor. (fn. 11) For about a
century and a half Mugginton was served by a rector
and by a vicar on behalf of the moiety belonging
to the priory. On the suppression of Breadsall
Priory in 1536 this half rectory of Mugginton
was transferred to Darley Abbey, but in less than
three years the abbey also fell into the hands of
the crown, and it was granted to Thomas
Babington.
In 1444 there was a suit between the dean
and chapter of the newly-formed collegiate
church of St. Mary, Leicester, who were the
appropriators of the rectory of Duffield, and the
priory of Breadsall Park as holder of one moiety
of the church of Mugginton, and Richard Bec,
the rector of the other moiety of the same
church, concerning the tithes of a certain field
called Hethfeld. The decision of the arbitrator, Roland Thornton, licentiate of laws, official
of Lincoln, was in favour of the Leicester College, because the field was proved, from various
fines and old documents, to be within the bounds
and limits of the parish of Duffield. Richard Bec,
who held the living from 1426 to 1469, was
condemned, for contempt of Court of Arches, to
pay to the Leicester Chapter the sum of 40s. (fn. 12)
In the year 1448, during the time that
Thomas Breadsall was prior (1442-56), certain
charters and evidences pertaining to the priory,
which particularly affected the interests of
William Dethick as hereditary patron, were
stolen. On the complaint of William Dethick,
the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield issued his
mandate to the rectors of the churches of Breadsall and Morley, to the vicar of Horsley, and to
the chaplain of All Saints', Derby, directing
them, during high mass on the next three Sundays and feast days to warn all concerned in
this theft, to restore the muniments within fifteen
days, under pain of the greater excommunication. (fn. 13) Whether this ecclesiastical threat secured
the return of the purloined deeds cannot now be
ascertained.
An agreement was entered into in 1453
between Thomas Breadsall, prior of Breadsall
Park, and John Statham, of Morley, by which
the prior undertook, in consideration of a gift by
John Statham of 7 marks for the roof of the
priory church, and for glazing the (clearstory)
windows of the same, that the prior or a canonpriest of the priory should celebrate an annual
mass for the souls of Goditha, Thomas, Elizabeth Cecilia and John Statham on the feast of
the Eleven Thousand Virgins. (fn. 14) Goditha, heiress
of Morley, died in 1418, having brought the
estate to her husband Ralph Statham. Their
son Thomas married Elizabeth, daughter of
Robert Lumley, and the issue of this marriage
was John Statham, who took to wife Cecilia
Cornwall. John Statham died the year after his
benefaction to this priory, and was buried at
Morley.
On 28 March, 1454, Bishop Boulers granted
licence to John Derby, canon of Breadsall
Park, for a year's absence from the priory to
administer the sacraments and discharge all clerical offices (sacra et sacralia) in parish churches
throughout the diocese, but always to wear the
habit of his order. (fn. 15) He was evidently licensed
to discharge the duties, in modern parlance, of
a special missioner, and was probably a gifted
preacher.
In October, 1456, the bishop confirmed the
appointment of Robert Burton, a canon of Repton Priory, to be prior of Breadsall by the express
consent of Sir William Dethick, patron of the
same, with whom, it was stated, rested the first
licence to elect or provide a superior when the
priory was vacant. The vacancy occurred
through the resignation of Thomas Breadsall,
the late prior. (fn. 16)
When the Valor Ecclesiasticus was drawn up in
1535 there were small temporalities in Breadsall, Duffield, Windley, and Horsley, and the
moiety of Mugginton rectory was valued at
£5 6s. 8d.; but the clear annual income was
only £10 17s. 9d. William Pendylton was
prior, and had only himself to rule, for there
was no brother canon.
On the suppression of the lesser houses in
1536, this small priory came to an end. William
Pendylton, the prior, obtained in 1537 the minute
pension of 5 marks. (fn. 17) The house and site of
the late priory, with adjoining land, were farmed
of the crown by Lawrence Holland, of Belper,
from Michaelmas, 1536. (fn. 18)
Priors of Breadsall
Hugh de Mackworth, appointed 1306 (fn. 19)
Hamund de Merston, appointed 1309 (fn. 20)
William de Repyndon, resigned 1347 (fn. 21)
Thomas de Castello, appointed 1347 (fn. 22)
Thomas de London, appointed 1365 (fn. 23)
Geoffrey de Stafford, resigned 1370 (fn. 24)
Thomas Lewis, appointed 1370 (fn. 25)
Roger Upton, appointed 1384 (fn. 26)
Thomas Holand alias Bakster, 1431-42 (fn. 27)
Thomas Breadsall, 1442 (fn. 28) -56 (fn. 29)
Robert Burton, 1456 (fn. 29) -87 (fn. 30)
Henry Halom, appointed 1487 (fn. 30)
John Alton, died 1519 (fn. 31)
Thomas Beyston, appointed 1519 (fn. 32)
William Pendylton occurs 1535, surrendered
1536 (fn. 33)
There is a small fragment of the seal of
Breadsall Priory attached to a document of 1453.
Enough remains to show that its subject was a
representation of the Holy Trinity beneath
canopied work. (fn. 34)