HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS
9. THE PRECEPTORY OF YEAVELEY AND BARROW
In the township of Stydd in the parish of
Shirley, which originally formed part of the manor
of Yeaveley, was a preceptory or commandery of
the Knights Hospitallers, which was usually known
as the preceptory of Yeaveley, though the alias of
Stydd was sometimes substituted or added; and
latterly, when the other possessions of the order
in Derbyshire had been added to it, it became
known under the joint appellation of the preceptory of Yeaveley and Barrow.
It was during the reign of Richard I (118999) that Ralph Foun gave a hermitage at
Yeaveley with lands, waters, woods, mills, and
other appurtenances to the Hospitallers. This
gift was subject to two conditions: firstly that
Robert son of Richard, the then tenant of the
hermitage, should hold it for his life and act
as the steward (procurator) of the estate, and
secondly that the Hospitallers of Yeaveley would
receive the donor, clad in the habit of their order,
whenever he wished, either in sickness or in
health. (fn. 1) In 1251 Henry III granted the Hospitallers free warren over the manor of Yeaveley. (fn. 2)
William Meynell was a considerable benefactor
of this preceptory, which was conjointly dedicated
to St. Mary and St. John Baptist, in the year
1268. Among other benefactors were Oliver
Foun and William Montgomery, lands at
Yeaveley; Margery de Carun, lands and tenements at Longford; Robert de Bakepuze, the
church of Barrow-on-Trent and lands there; and
Ascuit Musard, half the church of Staveley,
subsequently rendered more valuable by the gift
to that moiety, by Walter Abitot, of 22 acres
of land with common rights at Barlow. (fn. 3) On
the suppression of the Knights Templars the
Hospitallers acquired the lands which had been
held by that order in Normanton near Chesterfield. (fn. 4)
They also had some property at Compton,
which really formed part of the town of Ashbourne, though separated from it by the Schole
brook. In 1276 there were grave complaints
made against the Yeaveley Hospitallers by the
townsmen of Ashbourne, because they extended
their protection and privileges to all comers, and
so increased the number of their own tenants at
the expense of the royal borough, and as these
privileges included freedom from toll and bridge
dues the king was a considerable loser by their
action. Also the masters of the hospital had
appropriated the right of stamping, and thereby
certifying as correct, the gallon and bushel
measures which had always before had to be
brought to the town officers for examination; and
besides this they allowed their tenants to sell
bread and beer by false weight and measure, and
also they had erected a public bakery to bake
bread for sale, and otherwise interfered with
monopolies claimed by the royal borough of
Ashbourne. (fn. 5)
A similar case of interference with the course
of royal justice occurred in 1330 when William
Brix, a brother of the order and keeper of the
manor of Barrow, caused the doors of the manorhouse to be shut in the face of the sheriff's officer
when he came to take the assize of weights. (fn. 6)
In the full account of the order in this county
drawn up by Philip Thame, grand prior of
England in 1338, and presented to the grand
master, Elyon de Villanova, the gross income
of Yeaveley is returned at £95 6s. and the
expenditure at £63 6s., leaving the handsome
balance of £32 for the general treasury. This
was before the annexation of Barrow to the preceptory; Barrow was at that time one of the
smaller estates, termed camerae, which were either
administered by bailiffs or farmed out. The
camera of Barrow was under a bailiff, and its
gross income was £36 7s., a balance of £23 6s. 8d.
being handed to the treasury. (fn. 7)
On the income side of the report for 1338,
the half-rectory of Staveley is returned at £12,
The highest amount is £52, in rents from their
tenants, and the next highest is £20 10s., being
the year's voluntary offerings, termed confraria.
The Hospitallers were entitled by brief to make
annual collections throughout Christendom, and
the districts assigned to each preceptor, usually a
county, were strictly defined. These collections
were for the most part made in the various
churches and received by an itinerant collector
of the order.
One of the chief duties of the various preceptories, second only in importance to the supplying
of general funds for the militant work of the
order, was that of hospitality. This obligation
was for the most part faithfully discharged. The
historian of the Order says:—
In fact commanderies must have partaken very much
of the character of the houses of public entertainment,
where both rich and poor might feel certain of a hospitable reception and a liberal entertainment for man
and beast. (fn. 8)
The preceptory of Yeaveley consumed in that
year, chiefly in hospitality, 72 quarters of wheat
and 84 quarters of barley, and £10 worth
of flesh, fish, and other necessaries of the table.
The horses of the preceptor and of guests consumed 120 quarters of oats during a like period.
The expenditure on the repairs of their buildings in 1338 was 40s., and 6s. 8d. was spent on
wine, wax, and oil for their church. The
establishment consisted of :—Brother Henry
Baukwell, who was both preceptor and chaplain,
of Brother Thomas de Bathelee, of John Brex,
a donatus—i.e. a layman who had given himself
and his goods to the order and was by them
supported—as well as certain servants. The
two brothers had each an allowance of £1 for
a gown, 6s. 8d. for a mantle, and 8s. for other
expenses. The clothes and stipends of the
domestics, exclusive of the cook and porter, cost
£4, whilst the washerwoman's bill for the year
only came to 16d.
The chief income of the Barrow camera at
this date was £30, the value of the appropriated
rectory of the parish church of Barrow; rents
produced 20s. 6d., the dove-cot 3s., and a windmill 20s. The wages of the bailiff and his
servant came to 25s., in addition doubtless to
board and lodging, and among other outgoings
was a pension of 34s. to the house of Alkmonton.
The church of Barrow-on-Trent (fn. 9) was
bestowed on the Hospitallers by Robert de
Bakepuze as early as the reign of Henry II.
His son John de Bakepuze confirmed this grant
and also gave them land at Barrow which was
the origin of this camera. At some date prior
to 1433 the camera of Barrow was annexed to
the preceptory or bailiwick of Yeaveley, and
thus continued until the dissolution of the order.
Mass was sung for the soul of Robert. de
Bakepuze every Sunday within the chapel of the
preceptory at Yeaveley.
In a chartulary relative to the lands of the
Hospitallers in England there are numerous
references to the joint preceptory of Yeaveley
and Barrow between the years 1503 and 1526.
In 1504 William Darel the preceptor leased
all fruits, rents, appurtenances, tithes, oblations,
and advowsons pertaining to the joint preceptory
to Thomas Babington of Lea for three years at
£26 2s. 11d. per annum, subject to the annual
payment to the prior of Tutbury of his pension
of £3, and 40s. to the steward of the prior's
court, and 13s. 4d. pension to the bishop of
Carlisle. The lessee was also to find a priest to
celebrate in the preceptory chapel at Yeaveley.
In 1509 Brother John Babington, preceptor of
Yeaveley and Barrow, leased the preceptory to
Thomas Babington of Lea and to Anthony
Babington of Kingston (his son and heir) for
one year at £26 2s. 11d., but for the second
and third years at £72. It was subject to the
same payments and to the exercise of honourable
hospitality within the preceptory. On 24 April,
1516, there was a renewal from John Babington
as preceptor to his father Thomas Babington:
and in 1522 to Edward Rhoche, preceptor of
Temple Brewer, and to Humphrey Babington.
In 1526 Ambrose Leyton succeeded Sir John
Babington in this preceptory, and leased it conjointly to Sir John (who had obtained the much
more lucrative preceptory of Dalby and Rothley),
and three others for two years at £26 2s. 11d.,
and for the third year at £90. At the same
date Thomas Docwra, grand prior of England,
granted to Ralph Pemberton, yeoman of Barrowon-Trent, a twenty-nine years' lease of the
rectory of Barrow at a rental of £20. (fn. 10) There
was clearly a great falling-off in the sixteenthcentury administration of the Hospitallers'
preceptories as compared with the fourteenth
century.
When the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 was
drawn up Sir Ambrose Cove was the preceptor
of Yeaveley and Barrow. He is described as
personally occupying the manor - house of
'Yeveley Stydde' and the adjacent lands, which
are returned as of no value beyond the sustentation of hospitality, the distribution of alms to
the poor who came there, and the support of a
chaplain to administer the sacraments and
sacramentals to all comers, and to celebrate mass
for departed benefactors. In default of more
precise information as to the income of the
preceptory, the Commissioners adopted the
highly unusual course of giving the names of
those for whose souls the chaplain said mass on
the different days of the week.
Another return of the reign of Henry VIII (fn. 11)
gives the gross income of the preceptory as
£107 3s. 8d., and the clear value at
£93 3s. 4½d.
In 1543 the confiscated property of the preceptory was granted by Henry VIII to Charles
Lord Mountjoy. (fn. 12)