5. THE PRIORY OF CRANBORNE
The monastery of Cranborne is said to have
been founded as an abbey for Benedictine monks
about the year 980. (fn. 1) The chronicle of Tewkesbury describes its foundation and early connexion
with the more widely-famous abbey in Gloucestershire in the following manner:
About the year 930, in the reign of King Athelstan,
flourished a certain noble knight sprung of the
illustrious stock of Edward the Elder and known by
the name of Haylward Snew on account of his fairness.
And being not unmindful of his end, he built for himself and Ælfgifu his wife in the days of King Ethelred
and St. Dunstan the archbishop a small monastery to
the honour of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ,
His Mother, and St. Bartholomew the Apostle, and
endowed it with lands and possessions. And having
assembled there brethren to serve under the obedience
of an abbot according to the rule of St. Benedict, he
made Tewkesbury, of which he was patron, wholly
subject to it. These things were done about the
year 980. And Haylward, having died and received
burial in the church which he had built, was succeeded by Ælfgar his son, the father of Brihtric, who
according to the vow of his parents 'amplified' the
church which they had begun. (fn. 2)
'Subsequently,' pursues the chronicle—
William Duke of Normandy acquired England, bringing with him Robert Fitz-Hamon, lord of Astremarvilla in Normandy, and Matilda the wife of the
Conqueror hated the said Brihtric Snew or Meaw
because when sent abroad on an embassy for the
affairs of the realm he refused her hand in marriage.
She afterwards married William, and having sought
opportunity stirred up the king's wrath against the
Saxon nobleman so that he was seized by the king's
order in the manor of Hanley (Worcestershire) and
conveyed to Winchester, where he died and was buried
leaving no heir. (fn. 3)
His estates were granted to Queen Matilda and
subsequently to Robert Fitz Hamon, who, in the
year 1102, 'led by the Holy Spirit' and at the
instigation of 'his good wife Sybil' and of
Gerold, abbot of Cranborne, greatly enlarged the
church of Tewkesbury and endowed it with
further possessions; and finding that the place
enjoyed a more agreeable site and a more fertile
soil he transferred the whole community from
Cranborne thither, leaving only a prior and two
monks that the memory of its founders might
be held for ever in remembrance, and so, transforming the former abbey into a priory, he made
it entirely subject to the abbey of Tewkesbury. (fn. 4)
The regulations for the newly-constituted abbey
drawn up by Abbot Gerold in the year 1105,
when the transference to Tewkesbury seems to
have been finally completed, assigned the manor of
Tarrant (Monkton) towards the improvement of
the monks' food, the churches 'which had belonged
to Robert the chaplain' towards their clothing, and
the manor of Chettle in Dorset for almsgiving. (fn. 5)
Previous to this removal the Domesday Survey
of 1086, which separates the estates of Cranborne from those of Tewkesbury, states that
the church of St. Mary here held 2 carucates
of land in Gillingham valued at 60s. in Edward
the Confessor's time, but then worth 20s.,
Boveridge and Up Wimborne, both of which
had been and were then worth 100s., Lestisford,
half a hide in Langford in the parish of Frampton, and the manor of Tarrant Monkton, which
had fallen in value from £12 to £10. (fn. 6) Under
the holding of the widow of Hugh Fitz Grip it
is recorded that Hugh gave the church of St.
Mary, Cranborne, a hide of land in Orchard for
the good of her soul, and 'it is worth 20s. (fn. 7) A
charter of Roger, bishop of Salisbury, confirmed
to the abbey of Tewkesbury the gifts of Robert
Fitz Hamon and his knights in the year 1109,
including the church of St. Mary of Cranborne
with all its appurtenances, and certain churches
which had belonged to R[obert] the chaplain,
viz., Pentridge, Ashmore, and Frome, with other
tithes. (fn. 8) The Taxatio of 1291 gives the abbey
spiritualities valued at £1 12s. from the churches
of Belchalwell, Pentridge, and Langton Matravers; (fn. 9) those of the priory of Cranborne, amounting to £2 1s., consisted of a pension of 7s. from
the church of Sturminster Newton, 12s. from the
church of Edmondsham, 2s. from that of Wimborne Karentham, and £1 from the vicarage of
Dewlish. (fn. 10) The temporalities were all entered
under Tewkesbury, and realized £25 12s. 6d. (fn. 11)
From the date of its subjection to Tewkesbury the history of the cell is all but entirely
merged in that of the larger house, and save
on one or two occasions, when the abbot is
shown as keeping a watchful eye on his estate
here lest any of his rights should be infringed
by his powerful neighbour, the earl of Gloucester, (fn. 12) references to it are brief and rare. We
read that the body of Gilbert de Clare, earl of
Gloucester, who died abroad in 1230, was conveyed home for burial, and stopped at Cranborne
on its way to Tewkesbury. (fn. 13) The church was
rebuilt in 1252 and dedicated to St. Mary and
St. Bartholomew. (fn. 14) Occasionally the prior acted as
proxy or attorney for the abbot, as in 1314 when he
was appointed to do suit and service to the abbot
of Glastonbury for lands held in his manor of
Damerham (Wiltshire). (fn. 15) In the course of a diocesan visitation by the bishop in 1379 he was
ordered to appear in the church of Sonning the
second Thursday after the Feast of St. Barnabas,
prepared to exhibit the title deeds of the abbot
and convent of Tewkesbury for their possessions
in the Salisbury diocese. (fn. 16) Among the expenses
charged on the priory in the Valor of 1535 is
an entry of 7s. 10d. due to the bishop of
Salisbury for the triennial visitation of the church
of Cranborne. (fn. 17) In the course of the Hundred
Years' War the prior was required, together with
the abbots of Sherborne, Cerne, Bindon, and
Abbotsbury, &c., to move nearer the sea-coast
for the purpose of repelling invasion, under peril
of being regarded as rebels and favourers of the
enemy. (fn. 18) Edward III in 1329 'out of affection
for Peter de Broadway, prior of Cranborne,'
granted a licence for the abbot and convent of
Tewkesbury to acquire in mortmain lands not
held in chief to the value of £10; three years
later the prior of the subject-cell was induced
to surrender this grant and another was obtained
more specifically in favour of the parent house. (fn. 19)
According to the Valor of 1535 the gross income of the priory at that time amounted to
£55 6s. 1d.; the expenses to £17 16s. 8d.,
including £10 paid to the vicar of Cranborne
for his stipend 'according to the composition made by the ordinary,' and a yearly distribution of 10s. in bread to the poor, for the
soul of the founder 'Ailward Mayewe'; Henry
Bromall was then prior. (fn. 20)
At the Dissolution the cell shared the fate of
the abbey, which was surrendered to the king's
commissioners 31 January, 1540. William
Dydcotte, who in 1335 held the office of sacrist
of Tewkesbury, received a pension of £10 as the
last prior of Cranborne. (fn. 21)
The manor of Cranborne Priory, pertaining
to the late abbey of Tewkesbury and rated at
£14 13s. 3d., was sold in the reign of Philip
and Mary to Robert Freke at seventy-four years'
purchase; the manor, rectory, and advowson of
the vicarage in the first year of Elizabeth were
granted to Thomas Francis for life. Subsequently they were given by James I to Robert
Cecil, earl of Salisbury, in the possession of whose
family they still remain. (fn. 22)
Priors of Cranborne
Gerold, abbot of Cranborne, transferred the
abbey to Tewkesbury 1102 (fn. 23)
Adam de Preston, died 1262 (fn. 24)
Walter de Appleleigh, occurs 1314 (fn. 25)
Peter de Broadway, occurs 1329 and 1332 (fn. 26)
Henry Bromall, occurs 1535 (fn. 27)
William Dydcotte, last prior 1540 (fn. 28)
6. THE PRIORY OF HORTON
(Cell to the abbey of Sherborne)
The foundation of the Benedictine abbey,
afterwards priory, of Horton is generally attributed to Ordgar or Orgar, earl of Devon, the
founder of Tavistock, who flourished in the
reign of King Edgar and died in the year 971. (fn. 1)
The account, however, of William of Malmesbury, from which all subsequent accounts are
drawn, (fn. 2) seems rather to imply that the abbey
was the work of Ordulph or Edulph, son of
Ordgar, and should consequently be dated a
little later; possibly the two accounts may be
reconciled by supposing that it was begun by
the elder man and carried on to completion by
the younger in deference to his father's wishes.
Horton, dedicated to St. Wolfrida, the mother
of Edith abbess of Wilton, was situated, like
Little Malvern and other foundations of that
age, in the midst of forest; (fn. 3) centuries later
Leland writes of the abbey as four miles distant
from Wimborne 'much by woody ground.' (fn. 4)
The earlier chronicler relates some of the
stories that have been handed down anent the
enormous strength and prowess of the younger
founder, the giant Edulph, (fn. 5) but adds 'spite of
this matchless physical strength death carried
him off in the flower of his age, and he ordered
that he should be buried at Horton.' Abbot
Sihtric of Tavistock, however, foreseeing the
advantage that would thence accrue to the
smaller foundation, stepped in and 'by violence'
caused the body to be transferred to his own
church where Earl Ordgar already lay buried.
In all probability Horton shared the fate of
Tavistock, which was destroyed in the Danish
raid of 997. (fn. 6) To return to the account of
William of Malmesbury, Abbot Sihtric added to
his crime in robbing Horton of the body of Edulph
by turning pirate in the reign of William the
Conqueror, whereby he 'polluted religion' and
'defamed the church.' (fn. 7)
At the time of the Domesday Survey the
abbey was in possession of the manor of Horton,
which was taxed at 7 hides and valued at £4,
'the king holds two of the best hides in the
forest of Wimborne.' (fn. 8) The church would go
with the possession of the manor as was then the
custom and the monks held at the same time a
little church or chapel (ecclesiola) in Wimborne
and land with two houses, the church of Holy
Trinity, Wareham, and five houses paying a
rent of 65d., and a house in Dorchester (fn. 9) besides
estates in Devonshire.
Among the changes in his diocese introduced by
Roger, the great bishop of Salisbury and chancellor of Henry I, was the reduction of Horton
from an abbey to a priory and its subsequent
annexation as a subordinate cell to Sherborne,
which in the same manner was raised to the
position of an abbey, the transference taking
place in 1122 according to the Annals of Margam, (fn. 10)
in 1139 according to William of Malmesbury. (fn. 11)
By this change the lands and possessions of Horton
passed over to Sherborne, as we may gather from
a bull of Pope Eugenius III in 1145 and again
of Pope Alexander III in 1163, confirming the
possessions of Sherborne and enumerating among
them the manor and church of Horton with the
adjacent chapel of Knowlton, the chapel of Holy
Trinity, Wareham, and the church of St. Mary
Wimborne. (fn. 12) The Taxatio of 1291 gives the prior
of Horton temporalities at Horton valued at
£4 17s. 4d., (fn. 13) the church of Horton belonging
to Sherborne was valued at £10, the endowment
of the vicarage amounting to £5. (fn. 14) In 1535
the rectory was not worth more than £9 5s. 4d.,
the vicar only receiving 17s. 4d.; (fn. 15) the gross
value of the manor at that time was returned at
£22 10s. 6d., out of which 2s. was paid to the
hundred court, and a fee of 16s. 8d. to Giles
Strangweys, knt., steward of the manor. (fn. 16)
From the date of its annexation to Sherborne
the priory sinks into that obscurity mostly attending the existence of small dependent cells
from which it rarely emerges. (fn. 17) In April 1286
we read that simple protection, until the Feast of
St. Peter ad Vincula, was granted to Hugh prior
of Horton, going beyond seas, and appointing
John de Chegy and Henry son of William de
Horton his attorneys during his absence. (fn. 18) A
commission was issued in February, 1348, on the
complaint of Alesia countess of Lincoln, that the
abbots of Sherborne and Milton, John de Bradeford, prior of Horton, and others, had broken
her park at Kingston Lacy, cut down her trees
and hunted her deer. (fn. 19) Again in 1401 dispensation was granted to John Cosyn, Benedictine
prior of Horton, 'who is also a monk of Sherborne,' to hold another benefice, office, dignity,
or priory of the same or another order and to
resign it in exchange for another as often as he
pleases. (fn. 20)
At the Dissolution the abbey of Sherborne was
surrendered to the king on 18 March, 1339, the
deed being signed among others 'per me John
Hart,' (fn. 21) the same John Hart or Herte alias Raynold, prior of Horton, receiving a pension of
£8. (fn. 22) The manors, together with the site of the
priory, the rectory and advowson of the vicarage,
were granted in the first year of Edward VI
to Edward duke of Somerset, and on his attainder to the earl of Pembroke. (fn. 23)
Priors of Horton (fn. 24)
Hugh, occurs 1286 (fn. 25)
John de Bradeford, occurs 1348 (fn. 26)
John Cosyn, occurs 1401 (fn. 27)
Henry Trew, occurs 1459–60 (fn. 28)
John Dorchester, occurs 1504 (fn. 29)
John Hart or Herte alias Raynold, occurs on
its surrender, 1539 (fn. 30)