14. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF DORCHESTER
The Franciscan friary, or the priory, as it is
generally called, stood on the north side of the
town, on the banks of the river, a little east of
the castle. (fn. 23)
The date and circumstances of its foundation are unknown. It was already in existence in 1267, as in that year the friars were
presented for encroaching upon the road by
erecting a wall; (fn. 24) that the encroachment was
of recent date is shown by the entry in the
same year of the death of a workmen who fell
off the wall while building it. (fn. 25) It is said by
Speed to have been built by the ancestors of
Sir John Chideock. (fn. 26) Richard III claimed it as
a royal foundation, (fn. 27) probably with justice. At
the time of the Dissolution there was still a
room in the friary known as 'the king's chamber.' (fn. 28) The house was already a large one
containing thirty-two friars in May 1296, when
Edward I gave them 32s. for three days' food
through Friar Nicholas of Exeter. (fn. 29) In a deed
dated 1310 a burgage held by the abbey of
Milton is described as lying near the Friars
Minors, (fn. 30) and in the same year the house
received legacies from Thomas Button, bishop
of Exeter, (fn. 31) and from Robert Bingham of
Dorchester. (fn. 32)
Friars of this house received licence to preach
and hear confessions, as Friar John of Grymston
in 1338. (fn. 33) About the time of the Peasant
Revolt the head of the house was ordered by
the king to correct Friar John Grey for having
excited the cottagers and tenants of the abbot of
Milton against their lord. (fn. 34)
Alexander Riston, rector of the church of
Sarum, left these friars two quarters of corn and
one of barley, c. 1393: (fn. 35) and Robert Grenelefe
alias Baker of Dorchester left them his 'best
bason with ewer and best brass pot' in 1420. (fn. 36)
They also had bequests from Elizabeth de
Burgh, Lady Clare (1355), (fn. 37) Sir Robert Rous,
knt. (1383), (fn. 38) John de Waltham, bishop of
Salisbury (1395), (fn. 39) John Seward (1400), (fn. 40)
Sir William Boneville, knt. (1407), (fn. 41) William
Ekerdon, canon of Exeter (1413), (fn. 42) John Pury
of Dorchester (1436), (fn. 43) William Wenard of
Devonshire (1441), (fn. 44) John Martyn of Dorchester (1450), (fn. 45) Thomas Strangways (1514). (fn. 46)
Richard III in 1483 granted to the warden
and brethren of this house full power to have
the rule and governance of the hospital of St.
John the Baptist in Dorchester, lately occupied
by Sir Richard Hill, priest, and now in the king's
hands, and to minister divine service there and
receive the rents to their use. (fn. 47) This hospital
had been endowed with 100s. of rent by
William Mareschal of Dorchester in 1324, (fn. 48) and
in the time of Henry VIII the master of the
chapel of St. John held nine burgages or tenements in the parish of St. Peter, thirteen in the
parish of All Saints, and two in that of Holy
Trinity. (fn. 49) The hospital had already been
conferred on Eton College by Henry VI and it
is doubtful whether the grant of it to the Grey
Friars took effect. (fn. 50) The friars, however, at
the time of the Dissolution held three tenements
in the parish of All Saints and four in the
parish of Holy Trinity. (fn. 51) In March 1483–4
the king further ordered the receivers and
tenants of the manors of Little Crichel,
Chideock, and Caundle Haddon to pay in all 80s.
a year to this friary. (fn. 52)
An important addition was made to the
possessions of the convent in 1485, when
Sir John Byconil, knt., built and gave them
some mills on the water that ran by the friary.
The friars in return recognized him as chief
founder of the house, conferred on him special
spiritual benefits and engaged to celebrate his
decease on the day after the feast of St. Francis.
The mills were given on the following conditions:
(I) that 40s. of the profits of the mills should be
set aside each year for repairs; (2) that the friars
should take it in turn week by week to pray for
the donor and each should at the end of his
week receive 6d.; the cursors or lecturers 'being
diligently employed about their scholars' were
excused this service and entitled to receive the
alms, provided that they substituted another to
perform the office; (3) each friar praying at the
obsequies of Sir John should receive an alms;
(4) the remainder of the revenues derived from
the mills was to be employed
in bringing of boys into the Order and their education
in good manners and learning and in making good the
books in the choir and in no other way: and the
brethren so brought in and educated to the perpetual
memory of the said John were to be called Byconil's
Friars and none of them to be called by their surnames.
If these conditions were not fulfilled, the profits
of the mills were to be divided equally between
the Franciscan houses of Bristol, Bridgwater,
and Exeter. The agreement was confirmed by
William Goddard, D.D., provincial minister, and
John Whitefield, custodian of Bristol, and the
seals of the provincial minister, the custodian, and
the convent were affixed to the deed. (fn. 53)
It is noteworthy that Sir John Byconil made
no bequest to any houses of friars in his will in
1500. (fn. 54) His widow Elizabeth left 20s. to the
friars of Dorchester in 1504. (fn. 55) In 1510 John
Coker, esq., having given the friars a barn and
a garden annexed, on the south side of the
cemetery, was admitted with his family and
successors to the privileges of confraternity by
Richard Draper, D.D., custodian of the custody
of Bristol and warden of the convent of
Dorchester. (fn. 56)
Sir Roger of Newborough, knt., and William
who was abbot of Milton 1481–1525 granted to
these friars an annual alms of 43s. 4d. from lands
in Upper Stirthill. (fn. 57)
The bishop of Dover visited the house in
September, 1538, and had some difficulty in
obtaining the surrender; (fn. 58) he notes that the
warden, Dr. Germen, (fn. 59) had been there many
years and was in high favour, so that he (the
writer) had much trouble to come to a knowledge
of the state of the house. Finding that the mill,
which was worth £10 a year, had been recently let
to Lord Stourton for £4, the visitor seized it into
the king's hands and retained the miller to the
king's use. The deed of surrender was signed
on 30 September, 1538, by Dr. William
Germen, Edmund Dorcet, Thomas Clas, John
Tregynzyon, John Clement, John Laurens,
Stephen Popynjay, and Thomas Wyre. (fn. 60) The
'stuff' was delivered to the bailiffs of the town
on behalf of the king: it included a table at the
high altar of imagery after the old fashion,
a small pair of organs, fair stalls well canopied,
and divers tombs in the choir, four tables and
three great images of alabaster, a new tabernacle
for the image of St. Francis, divers images stolen
(?), and divers tombs in the church; three bells
of different sizes in the steeple. In the vestry
six suits with other vestments, some of them with
blue velvet embroidered. In the chambers a
feather bed without a bolster, blankets, quilt
and sheets; two old carpets, 'one of them in
the king's chamber,' besides furniture in the hall,
frater, buttery, kitchen and brew-house. Further,
to redeem plate in pledge for £3 and to pay
certain wages and the visitor's charges the
following articles were sold: an iron grate about
a tomb in the church (40s.), a white vestment
with deacon and subdeacon (40s.), two feather
beds and a covering (10s.), 'an old cope durneks,'
a pillow and old iron with a holy water stoup
(7s. 8d.). The visitor also sold a press standing
in the vestry for 13s. 4d. The plate weighed
126½ oz. There were also various deeds and
'two horses belonging to the mill.' (fn. 61) Part of
the steeple and three panes of the cloister were
covered with lead. (fn. 62)
William, Lord Stourton, sought to secure a
grant of the Grey Friars, (fn. 63) but the house and
grounds were in 1539 leased and in 1543 sold
to Edmund Peckham, cofferer to the king's
household. (fn. 64) The property, consisting of the
house and site, with water-mill and 6 acres of
ground, was valued at £4 a year, less 8s. for the
tenth, and the price paid was £72. (fn. 65) Peckham
had at the time of the Dissolution bought the
elms growing on the property for £8. (fn. 66) He sold
the estate to Thomas Wriothesley, earl of
Southampton, and Paul Dorrel, esq., in 1547,
and it subsequently passed to Sir Francis Ashley,
knt., whose heiress brought it to Denzil, Lord
Holles. (fn. 67)
Wardens
John Colsweyn, 1327 (fn. 68)
John Loss, 1485 (fn. 69)
Richard Draper, 1510
William Germen, 1538