Possessions of the priory: City and suburbs of London

THE CITY OF LONDON AND SUBURBS

The possessions in London are confirmed in the charter of Henry II, cir. 1176, (fn. 1) and consist of: the place in Smithfield where the church was built; the church of St. Sepulchre in the 'Bayly'; the church of St. Martin Pomeroy; a moiety of the church of St. Mary Aldermary; and the church of St. Michael's Bassishaw.

In 1253 (fn. 2) the same confirmations occur with the addition of 'the site of the Hospital of the Poor'. In 1291 (fn. 3) the rents, which came from tenements in 49 different parishes in London, were valued at £72 5s. 8d. In 1306 (fn. 4) the rents, which then came from 53 parishes, amounted to £126 7s., and in 1535 (fn. 5) they amounted to £451 3s. 7d.

The site in Smithfield has already been dealt with in the chapter on the Founder. (fn. 6)

The Church of St. Sepulchre has also been referred to. (fn. 7) It was, with its tithes and appurtenances, granted by the great Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, to Rahere in or before the year 1137. It was the most important church possessed by the prior and convent, and it is said to have been the finest church in London. The Rental thus describes it: 'There the prior and convent have the church of St. Sepulchre without Newgate' to their own use, which is assigned to finding the vesture and shoes of the canons of the house. And the church, without the vicar's portion, is assessed at £8 and is worth £12 a year; and the vicarage is assessed by itself at £5 a year and is worth 10 marks a year; and to this vicarage the prior and convent present when there is a vccancy.' In 1535 the church, with the tithe, was valued at £42. (fn. 8)

The church was, about the middle of the fifteenth century, in part rebuilt or enlarged by Sir John Popham, (fn. 9) who added a large chapel on the south side of the church. The dispute between the prior and convent and the vicar, Robert Dyker, concerning the tithes and profits of the church, has been already referred to; (fn. 10) also that Henry VIII desired and obtained from Prior Bolton the advowson of the church for his notorious chaplain, Rowland Lee, in the year 1532; (fn. 11) and that Prior Fuller willed to be buried in Corpus Christi chapel in the church. (fn. 12)

In the year 1550 one Nicos Yettiwort obtained the advowson, then in the hands of the Crown, for one turn, and presented John Rogers, who was deprived when Mary came to the throne. He was the first person to be burnt in Smithfield as a heretic by that queen, the execution taking place on the 4th February, 1555. His name is inscribed on the tablet on the wall of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The church remained in the hands of the crown until 1610, when James I granted it to Francis Philips and others; after which the rectory and its appurtenances were purchased by the parishioners and held in fee farm of the Crown, and the advowson of the vicarage by the president and fellows of St. John's College, Oxford, (fn. 13) who are the present patrons.

The church was burnt in the Great Fire in 1666, but the tower, porch, and walls were left standing. The six monastic bells, which were acquired from St. Bartholomew's at the suppression, were unfortunately 'run out' in the fire, but the metal was again used when the present bells were recast.

The Church of St. Martin Pomeroy was in Ironmonger Lane. It is first mentioned in the year cir. 1176, when Henry II confirmed to the prior and convent the church of St. Martin in Pomerio by gift of Ralph Trichet (or Trochet), a benefactor to the monasteries of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, and St. John of Jerusalem. The derivation of the word 'Pomeroy' is doubtful. There was a Ralph de Pomeroy in Domesday who gave the name to Berry Pomeroy; and in the same way it is possible that a member of the family may have given the name to the church of St. Martin, as the church of St. Martin Orgar derived its name from the donor of the church, one Odgarus or Ordgarus. (fn. 14) Mr. C. L. Kingsford has pointed out (fn. 15) that in mediaeval Latin pomarium means an orchard, so that in pomerio probably means the church in the orchard. The Latin dictionary (fn. 16) describes pomerium as the space kept open within and without the walls of a Roman town, bounded by stones, within which the city's auspices were taken. St. Martin's was in the ward of Cheap, and it has been suggested (fn. 17) that the pomerium in which this church was subsequently built (St. Martin did not die until 399) was the pomerium of the first Roman London, destroyed by Boadicea, cir. a. d. 60. (The first city was much smaller than the second, round which the Romans built London's wall, but this theory requires confirmatory evidence.)

In 1383 the prior and convent obtained licence in mortmain from Richard II to appropriate the church of which they already held the advowson. (fn. 18) They always presented to the church at the time of a vacancy, (fn. 19) excepting in the years 1361 and 1367, when the king (Edward III) exercised the patronage, and in 1499, when John Agmudesham presented for that turn, and in 1538, when Sir Richard Rich did the same. (fn. 20) After the suppression the patronage was with the Crown. The church was burnt in 1666 and never rebuilt; afterwards the parish was united with that of St. Olave Jewry.

The church was taxed in 1291 at £3 8s. (fn. 21) In 1306 it was valued at £4. (fn. 22) The master of the infirmary also received 8s. from the church.

The moiety of the church of St. Mary Aldermary (Aldermarichirche) was the gift, according to the charter of Henry II (cir. 1176), of Ralph Trichet, the same donor as of St. Martin's Pomeroy, but according to the charter of Richard I (1190) it was the gift of Roger Pirroni. It is not mentioned in Henry III's charter of 1253 as belonging to St. Bartholomew's, nor in any subsequent record. In the years 1234 and 1271, the king (Henry III) presented to the living. From 1288 to 1399 the prior and chapter of Christ Church, Canterbury, did so, and from 1401 to 1665 the Archbishop of Canterbury was patron, the church being one of his 'peculiars'. The prior and convent of St. Bartholomew's apparently disposed of their interest in the church at an early date. Its name was derived from the fact that it was older than any other church of that dedication in the city.

The church of St. Michael Bassishaw (formerly called Bassing Hall, after the great family of Bassing) is first mentioned in the charter of 1187, (fn. 23) thus: 'By gift of G. Bishop of London the church of St. Michael Bassingheh.' It occurs again in the charters of 1190 and of 1253. (fn. 24) In the Taxatio of 1291 the church is valued (beyond a pension) at £6 13s. 4d. among the spiritualities of the archdeaconry of London. The pension (or payment), which was 2s., is alone mentioned as belonging to St. Bartholomew's, (fn. 25) and the same 2s. is also included in the Rental of 1306 among the receipts of the kitchener. (fn. 26)

The G. Bishop of London who gave the church to the prior and convent must have been either Gilbert the Universal (1128–1134), or Gilbert Foliot (1163–1188). There is no record of the time or the reason for the disposal of the church by the prior and convent, but it must have occurred between the years 1253 and 1291. There was a presentation to the living in the year 1286, (fn. 27) but by what patron is not recorded. One Henry Bodyk presented in 1327, and King Edward III in 1351. In 1437 the patrons were the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, and they continued to be so to the year 1879, when the benefice was united by royal assent (dated May 3rd) to the benefices of St. Lawrence Jewry with St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street. The church of St. Michael Bassishaw, which stood on the west side of Basinghall Street, was pulled down in the year 1900.

The Rental sets out the income from the London possessions in detail, arranging them according to the office or obedientiary of the monastery to which they pertained, that is, to the office of the cellarer, (fn. 28) of the fraterer, of the sacrist, of the master of the farmery, of the kitchener, or of the chamberlain. (fn. 29) The parish in which the possession existed is given, but as all the rents from a parish did not necessarily appertain to the same office, the names of the parishes occur in some cases more than once.

For fuller details than are given here the Rental, printed in full in Appendix I, should be consulted.

Pertaining to the Cellarer.

St. Martin's Ludgate: from a tenement formerly belonging to Richard de Herford 29s. a year. The cellarer had to give, on the death-day of the said Richard, 8s. 4d. to 100 poor people, 1d. to each; the remainder for pittance of the convent, that is, for addition to the usual food.

St. Dunstan's in the West (versus novum templum): from a tenement of the Prior of Royston (de Croyros) 5s. 6d. a year, of which the cellarer had to give 1d. each to 60 poor persons.

St. Sepulchre's: from two tenements £3 13s. 4d. and from six shops £1 15s. 8d.

St. Lawrence Jewry (in Iudaismo): from two tenements £1 12s. 8d.

St. Martin's Outwich: from a tenement 20s.

St. Mary-le-Bow's (de Arcubus): from a tenement £2; from a stall or shop (selda) £1 6s. 8d. (In the year 1410 this shop had the sign of 'le Trelegges'). (fn. 30)

All Hallows, Bread Street (omnium sanctorum): from a tenement £2.

The total of the above rents is given as £14 2s. 10d. (fn. 31)

There were also the following Oblations pertaining to the cellarer:

Coming to the High Altar of St. Bartholomew's on St. Bartholomew's Day, £12.

Coming to the High Altar by small amounts (particulariter) throughout the year, besides the sacrist's portion, £4.

To the same altar by Anniversaries throughout the year, £4.

There were also the tolls and customs of the Fair held there for three days at the feast of St. Bartholomew, £1.

And the Fruit of the Garden in the priory close, 13s. 4d. (fn. 32)

These oblations, fair, and garden fruit amounted to £17 17s. 4d. a year.

Pertaining to the Kitchener. (fn. 33)

St. Sepulchre's: from 46 tenants £23 8s., in addition to a pound of pepper and a pound of cummin (valued at 8d. a lb.).

St. Botolph's Aldersgate: from 27 tenants £7 13s. 11d., one of whom was the Abbot of Kirsted, and another Lady Johanna de Tyborn, for a certain garden for which she paid 1s.

St. Giles' Cripplegate: from 9 tenants £2 17s. 8d.

St. Andrew's Holborn: from 1 tenant 2s.

St. Dunstan's in the West: from 1 tenant 4s.

St. Bride's (Brigide, Bridget), Fleet Street: from 1 tenant 3s. 6d.

St. Martin's Ludgate: from 2 tenants 19s. 4d.

St. Andrew's Wardrobe (de Castell Baynard): from 3 tenants 14s.

St. Bennet's Paul's Wharf (Benedicti de Wodewarne): from 4 tenants £1 13s.

St. Mary's Somerset: from 1 tenant 12s.

St. Mary Magdalene's and St. Nicholas' Coleabbey, Old Fish Street (in piscaria): from 6 tenants £1 5s.

St. Margaret's in Friday Street: from 1 tenant 1s. 6d.

Alhallows', (fn. 34) Bread Street (omnium sanctorum): from 3 tenants £2 6s.

Holy Trinity the Less (Knightriders Street): from 3 tenants £1 7s.

St. James' Garlickhith: from the house sometime of John de Stratford £3 5s. 4d.

St. Michael's Queen-hith (de Ripa Regine): from 1 tenant 2s.

St. Michael's Royal (pater noster strate): from 1 tenant 3s. 4d.

St. Michael's Crooked Lane: from 1 tenant 9s.

St. Leonard's East Cheap: from 1 tenant 6s. 8d.

St. Dunstan's in the East (versus Turrim): from 2 tenants £1 5s. 4d.

… Fenchurch (probably St. Gabriel's): from 1 tenant 3s. 4d.

St. Michael's Cornhill: from 2 tenants 15s.

St. Olave's Silverstreet (Bradestrate): from 1 tenant 3s. 4d.

All Hallows' on the Wall (omnium sanctorum super murum): from 1 tenant 1s.

St. Stephen's Coleman-street: from 2 tenants 2s. 4d.

St. Margaret's Lothbury: from 2 tenants 12s. 8d.

St. Mary's Woolchurch (Wolchirchhawe): from 1 tenant 15s.

St. Mary's Cole-church (Colmanchirch): from 2 tenants £3 9s. 4d. (one, the shop (selda) of Merton, was £3 6s. 4d.).

St. Pancras' Soperlane: from 2 tenants 8s. 8d.

St. Mary-le-Bow's (de Arcubus): from 9 tenants £5 18s. 8d.

St. Stephen's Walbrook: from 2 tenants 5s. 1d.

St. Matthew's Friday Street: from 1 tenant 3s. 6d.

St. Alban's Wood Street: from 1 tenant 5s.

St. Vedast's Foster Lane (in foro): from 5 tenants £1 18s.

St. Mary's Aldermanbury: from 2 tenants 8s. 8d.

St. Michael's Bassishaw (Bassinghawe): from 3 tenants 5s., and 2s. from a pension of the church of Bassishaw on the morrow of All Saints.

St. Alphages by Cripplegate: from 2 tenants 4s. 4d., and from the fee of St. Martin 3s., and that of St. Paul 6d.

St. Mary's Staining (Stanynglane): from 1 tenant 16s.

St. John's Zachary (in Maiden Lane): from 1 tenant 2s.

St. Agnes' Aldersgate: from 1 tenant 13s. 4d.

St. Leonard's Foster Lane (iuxta Sanctum Martinum): from 1 tenant 3s.

St. Nicholas' Olave (de Macella): from 3 tenants 18s.

St. Ewins' (Audoeni) infra Newgate; also known as St. Owen's and St. Audowen's (within Newgate Market): from 1 tenant 6s.

The Total of the rents pertaining to the kitchener as above amounted to £64 10s. 7d., and 1 lb. of cummin on the feast of St. Bartholomew.

In addition the kitchener had the garden of the Morehawe, (fn. 35) worth 20s., and the soil of the Great Garden within the Close, worth 6s. 8d. a year, bringing the kitchener's income up to £65 17s. 3d. gross.

From this had to be deducted various items, as 10s. paid yearly to the church of St. Martin le Grand for certain lesser tithes of animals reared within the Close of the priory, and of the above gardens; various rents for tenements held; for socage of the king, 2s. payable at the door of the priory church and 4s. at the Guildhall; socage to the Abbot of Westminster, &c. Deductions also had to be made for vacant tenements, of which there were twelve at the time of the Rental, leaving clear, according to the Rental, £56 16s. 11½d. as the value of the office of kitchener, in the year 1306, beyond what he received from the manors in the country and from the cellarer's office; but how the scribe arrived at this figure is not clear.

Pertaining to the Sacrist. (fn. 36)

St. Sepulchre's: from 4 tenements the prior and convent had 8s., and from land 1s.; one of the tenements had late been held of Odo the priest, opposite Holborn Bridge (versus pontem de Holeborn).

St. Botolph's Aldersgate: from Arnulph the cornmonger, 7s.

St. Mary's Staining: from a tenement 13s. 4d., from which they had to pay 2s. to the heirs of Ely of St. Olave's, and 2s. 4d. to the church of 'Stanynglane'.

St. Michael's Wood Street: from a tenement 20s., from which they owed the lord of the fee 7s. a year.

St. Stephen's Coleman-street: from land and houses in Coleman Street 6s., from which they owed the heirs of Edmund of the Belfry (Campanarii) ½d. a year.

St. Margaret's Lothbury: from land 12s., from which they owed 1s. to Walter Cardoun.

St. Michael's Cornhill: from land and houses on Cornhill 9s.

All Hallows' Garlickhith (omnium sanctorum de Garlykhyde), (this church is not mentioned by Stow, Strype, or Newcourt): from 1 tenement 33s. 4d., wherefrom they owed to the various lords of that fee two pairs of gauntlets (cirothecarum) or ½d. to each of them.

St. Ethelburga's, Bishopsgate (Sancta Wereburga infra Bisschopesgate): no doubt Ethelburga is intended. There is no church of St. Werburga in the city. In Birch's Saxon Charters of the seventh century, in No. 90, printed from the original MS. at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, the queen is called Æthelburga; in No. 95, printed from a late eleventh-century copy, and in No. 91 from a twelfthcentury copy, the same queen is called Werburga; in Nos. 92 and 93, from fourteenth-century copies, she is also called Werburgh, from which it would seem that the name of the queen was corrupted to Werburga about the time of the Norman conquest. From a house within Bishopsgate the prior and convent had 1s.

All Hallows' on the Wall: from the brothers of the hospital of St. Katharine for land, 1 lb. of cummin or a penny.

St. Thomas the Apostle's (in Knightriders Street): from a gift 2s., from which they owed 4 peppercorns.

St. Stephen's Coleman-street: from shops 6s.

St. Mary-le-Bow's (de Arcubus): from the stall (selda) of James the pepperer in the London market, £2 13s. 4d.

St. Mary Magdalen's (Milk Street): from a shop in Milk Street 20s., from which they owed Henry, son of Stephen, the embroiderer, ½ lb. of cummin.

St. Bennet's Paul's Wharf (Benedicti de Wodewharfe): the Rental says 'from the quay of St. Paul, which belonged to Robert Buscar and now is in the hand of the sacrist and worth 100s. a year, from which they owed for socage to the king on the vigil of Easter 2d. for pittance to the convent on the death-day of Adam (Ade) of Milk Street 10s. which pertained to the kitchener and 10s. which pertained to the fraterer'.

St. Michael's Querne (fn. 37) (Michaelis ubi bladum venditur): from 1 tenement 13s. 4d.

St. Martin's Ludgate: from 2 tenements 4s. 4d.

St. Dunstan's in the West: from 1 tenement 8s.

… (blank): from the heirs of Peter Donkoy in Distaff Lane, by the hand of the kitchener, 1s. 4d.

… (blank): from a tenement by the hand of the kitchener, 1s. 6d.

The total gross rent for the sacrist from the above was £16 1s. 5d., which, less the above deductions, £1 11s. 8½d., left clear £14 9s. 8½d. In addition to the rents, the sacrist had the oblations which came during the year to the Altar of Hippolitus (Ipoliti), worth £4 a year. Also every fourth penny from the oblations coming to the high altar, excepting on St. Bartholomew's Day when they went to the cellarer, (fn. 38) which amounted to £1 16s. 8d. He also had stallage (fees for erecting stalls at the fair) at the feast of St. Bartholomew; from those (stalls) that were inside the church and those fixed to the church outside, worth 6s. 8d. He also had the grazing of the two cemeteries, worth 4s. a year; (fn. 39) and the fruit growing in the garden and cemeteries, worth 4s. a year: bringing the total value of the office of the sacrist to £20 11s. 0½d.

Pertaining to the Master of the Farmery (Infirmary). (fn. 40).

St. Martin's Pomeroy (fn. 41) (Martini de Pomerio): from the church 8s.

St. Augustine's (at the west end of Watling Street, near St. Paul's): from 3 tenants £1 6s. (fn. 42)

St. Bennet's (which of the four is not specified): from 1 tenant 13s. 4d.

St. Anthony's (or St. Antlin's), Budge Row: from 1 tenant 10s.

St. Sepulchre's: from a tenement opposite Sempringham Hall (contra aulam de Sympringham) 6s. 6d., and from John the gardener 3s.

St. Stephen's Walbrook: from 2 tenants 5s. 10d.

The total of these rents, £3 15s. 2d., added to the value of the fruit of the garden, 2s., brought the total value of the office of the infirmarius, after deducting the socage 2d., to £3 17s.

Pertaining to the Fraterer.

St. Bennet's Paul's Wharf: from a tenement by the hand of the sacrist, 10s., and from the tenement of Randulph the canon, 1s. 10d. (fn. 43)

Thus the total value of the office of fraterer from London rents was only 11s. 10d.

Pertaining to the Chamberlain.

St. Sepulchre's Church, which has been described above, (fn. 44) was assigned, as there stated, to finding the vesture and shoes of the canons of the house and therefore pertained to the chamberlain whose duty it was to attend to their clothes. The church, as we have seen, was assessed at £8 and was worth £12 a year.

Total Values.

This being the last possession to be described, the total values of the different offices in London and the country are thus summarized in the Rental:

The Rental concludes with certain assessments of the spiritual and temporal property of the priory and the amount of the tithe payable on the same, which is given as £15 5s. 8¼d. (but according to the figures should be £16 6s. 7¼d.). (fn. 45)

In the Taxatio Ecclesiastica the following entries appear among the temporalities, which are not in the Rental. (fn. 46) We may assume that these properties had been disposed of, or had become extinguished between the dates of the two records (1291–1306):

A rent of 5s. a year, issuing from a dwelling-house in 'Eldedeneslane', in the parish of St. Faith, which they had for the purchase of wine for divine service, the prior and convent sold for 60s. in the year 1257. (fn. 47)

In the absence of the cartulary of the monastery or of the deeds of grant themselves, it is not possible to say who were the donors of all these London possessions, though many have already been traced by means of wills and licences in mortmain. (fn. 48) A list of those acquired after the date of the Rental (1306) is given below. How and to whom many of the possessions were sold after the suppression has been traced by means of the grants calendared in the State Papers and by the 'Particulars for Grants' among the augmentation papers in the Record Office; but the matter is not of sufficient importance to chronicle here.

Possessions in London acquired after the year 1306

Possessions in London acquired after the year 1306 as recorded in the Court of Husting, London, and in the Calendar of the Wills in the Court of Husting:

Wills bequeathing money have not been included in the above. Some of the other entries of the Court of Husting are of interest, as when in 1300 John the prior forgoes his claim upon a messuage in the parish of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, in gaveleto (fn. 72) (gaveletum was a custom for recovery of rent peculiar to London and Kent); and in 1329, (fn. 73) when William Pippard of Little Stanmore granted the priory release from a corody.

The prior had to defend the rights of light of his various city houses. In one instance (about the year 1500) a case of that nature came before the Court of Aldermen, (fn. 74) when it was decided that John Partriche, a butcher, should give the prior a boar's head in full recompense for stopping certain lights of a tenement belonging to the prior.