day's proceedings, as the Abbey is rich in treasures of art and historic associations. It was arranged that a paper upon the history of the Abbey should be read by Mr. Parker, but time would not permit of the original intention being carried out. The following is a copy of the notes made as a foundation for the remarks Mr. Parker intended to make on Bisham Abbey. The manor of Bisham was granted to William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, in 1335 by Edward III., who, two years afterwards, procured royal licence to found a monastery, dedicated to our Saviour and the Blessed Virgin, for Canons Regular of the Order of St. Austin, and endowed it with lands of £300 per annum. Many noble persons were here buried, among them Richard Neville, the great Earl of Warwick. All the monuments to these illustrious men were destroyed after the dissolution of the Abbey. The Abbey was surrendered to the King in 1536. The next year he restored the Abbey, increasing its possessions with the lands of the Abbey of Chertsey, and Ankerwyke, Little Marlow, and Medmenham, and changed its establishment to an Abbot and 13 monks of the Benedictine Order. The general dissolution happened soon after, when its revenues were estimated at £661:14:9 per annum. The last Abbot, William Barlow, was made Bishop of St. Asaph, and afterwards was translated to St. David's, Bath and Wells, and Chichester. He had five daughters, who all married Bishops. Edward VI. granted the site of Bisham Abbey to Ann of Cleves. She surrendered it to the Crown in 1552, and it was then given to Sir Philip Hoby, a zealous Protestant and Privy Councillor to Henry VIII. The property continued in the Hoby family till 1766. George Vansittart, Esq., purchased the Manor and Abbey of the widow of Sir John Hoby Mill, Bart., in 1780. Lysons says: "There are no remains of the conventual buildings except an ancient doorway, now the entrance to the house. A chapel was built to Bisham Church for the burial of Sir Thomas Hoby by his widow, on the south side of the chancel." The following is an extract from Gasquet's" English Monasteries": On the 18th December, 1537, Henry VIII. united several monasteries in one foundation at Bisham. William Barlow, Bp. of St. David's the prior, had surrendered that house to the King in July, 1536. A year later the Abbey of Chertsey passed into the royal power by the act of the Abbot and monks, and six months after the Abbot, in consideration of John Cowdrey, the late Abbot and convent of Chertsey, having granted their monastery, etc., to the King, received a charter incorporating that house with a monastery the King desired to found at Bisham. It was to consist of an Abbot and thirteen Benedictine monks, who were to pray for the King and Queen Jane, and was to be called King Henry VIII.'s new monastery of the Holy Trinity, Bisham." The King also granted Cowdrey his royal permission to wear a mitre like any other Abbot of that Order with large possessions in England." The royal foundation, however, although endowed with lands to the value of nearly £700 a year, was very short lived, for on the 17th June, 1538, or just six months after its establishment, it was again resigned into the King's hands. The following notes were sent to Mr. Parker from the Rev. T. Williams, rector of Aston Clinton: BISHAM. Buried there of 'Squires of Aston Clinton: 1. Will. de Montacute, Founder 1327. E. Salisbury 10 years after. 2. Will. de M., 2nd Earl, d. 1397 at Christ Church, Twyneham; buried at Bisham; 24 persons each in black gown with red hood bearing torch of 8lbs. at funeral; left 800 m. for finishing Bustleham and erecting tomb for mother and another for self and son. 3. Will. his son, d. 1382, doubtless buried there; died s. p. 4. John de M. E. Salisbury, d. 1401; killed by mob at Cirencester; buried there, but afterwards removed to Bisham. 5. Thomas M. E. of Salisbury, d. 1428; killed at Orleans siege by ball; looking out of window; saw flash; tried to withdraw; iron window frame broken by ball so lacerated his face that he died in a week; buried at Orleans; removed to Bisham. 6. Ric. Neville E. Salisbury; beheaded 1460. 7. Richard Neville, E. Warwick, d. 1471. Killed at Barnet fight; after exposed in St. Paul's three days, body taken to Bisham. 8. John Neville his brother; killed in same battle; buried together. 9. Edward Plantaganet, d. 1499; beheaded on Tower Hill; buried at Bisham. According to the official programme a visit had been arranged to Ladye Place and Hurley Church, but this had to be abandoned owing to want of time, the places already visited having proved so engrossing in their historic associations that more time was occupied in viewing them than was anticipated. Accordingly the course of the boat was changed, and the journey home commenced. Time, however, permitted a steam down as far as Cookham Church, before landing at Bourne End. The members and their friends expressed their sense of the enjoyable day they had spent. The weather, the scenery, and the intense interest attaching to the places visited all conspired to make this one of the most successful and pleasant excursion the Society has ever held, and the thanks of all are due to Mr. Williams, the organizing secretary, for the manner in which everything had been arranged and was carried out. THE BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF LITTLE MARLOW. By C. R. PEERS, M.A., F.S.A. The Nunnery of Little or Minchin Marlow, Prioratus de fontibus de Merlawe, may be said to have no history. It must always have been a small and not a wealthy house; its founder and the date of its foundation are both uncertain, and it never, probably, came into public notice or attracted the favour of any great family during the course of its existence. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus its revenues stand at £37:6:11 gross and £23:3:74 net. Dugdale (Mon. Ang. IV. 419, ed. Caley, 1823), gives a list of the few documentary notices of the house; the earliest of these are of the 13th century. In the Close Roll 13 Hen. III. m. 10 (1228-9) is the following order: Mandatum est Jordano forestario et Willelmo de Coigner quod assumptis secum viridariis et aliis probis et legalibus hominibus de balliva sua, assignent monialibus de Merlaue duas acras terre in loco competenti in foresta nostra pertinente ad manerium de Cokham ad domos in eis construendas ad animalia et peccora sua in eis receptanda. This grant is confirmed, and its execution ordered without delay, in the Roll for the next year, 14 Hen. III. m. 11. ୨ In the Register of Missenden Abbey, written 1331 (MS. Harl. 3688), there is entered a copy of a deed relating to Little Marlow, at f. 101. It is an obligation from A., prioress de fontibus de Merlawe to pay four shillings a year "p grava q appellat ludeput juxta fossatu terr' ecctie de hedesor" and for an acre and a half of land lying next the land of the church of the same town towards Woburn, together with a certain angle lying next the road. Tanner (Not. Mon. 29. ed. 1744) gives a reference from the Episcopal Registers of Lincoln, of the year 1217. mentioning the nuns of Marlow. Leland (Collect. I. 90) says that the founder was Geoffrey Lord Spencer, and gives a passing reference to the house in his Itinerary (II. 6); "Little Marlaw, wher the Priorie of Nunnes was." Tanner (op. cit.) quotes from the Episcopal Registers of Lincoln to the effect that in 1244 application for leave to elect a head of the house was made to the Countess of Hertford and Gloucester and Sir Ralph Danvers. This would suggest that they were, whether by grant or inheritance, representatives of the original founder. And in the list of permanent charges on the income of the Nunnery given in Valor Ecclesiasticus is this entry: Elimosina distribut' p aĩa Dñi Regis nunc fundatoris monasterii p'dici div's' pauperib3 p annum vj viij which would imply that the founder's rights were at the time vested in the King. In passing, it may be of interest to note the use of the word founder at this time, to denote the person who by descent or otherwise was the representative of the original founder of a monastic house. Sir Thomas West, Lord Lawarr, wrote to Cromwell thus (MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 280): “I have a power howse callyd Boxgrave... wherof I am ffounder. He was the owner of Halnaker House, formerly belonging to the family of Haye, one of whom, Robert de Haye, founded Boxgrove Priory in the reign of Henry I. Sir Philip Edgecumbe to Cromwell (MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 313): "But trew hyt ys, that I am by the kyngge ffather "by hys graunt to my poar ffather made to hym "and hys isue male, ffounder of the pryory of Tottenes "and the nunry off Cornworthye in Devonsschyr." Richard Strete to Cromwell (MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 283): 66 "The first founder ther" [Calwich in Staffordshire] was Nich. Gresley, in whose title now claymyth Mr. Longford (as men here report).” 66 Humphrey Stafford to Cromwell (MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 242): 66 a house of chanons yn Somersett shiere called Worspryng, where my seyd ffather is ffounder "therof." 66 Dugdale (Mon. Ang. IV. 419, ed. Caley, 1823) quotes a passage from Browne Willis mentioning three shields in the windows of the hall." "i. Gules a lion passant guardant langued or, over all a bend of the second. Probably King John when Earl of Gloucester. "ii. Azure two wings conjoined tenné by a silk twist with tassels; over all a fesse. "iii. Quarterly, 1 and 4 Argent a bear saliant proper muzzled or; 2 and 3 Gules three pikes argent in fesse (Lucy); Crest, a bear's head on a wreath coupé tenné, muzzled or.” This passage does not occur in the 1719 edition of Willis's History of Abbies,* pp. 28-9. And in any case there is no direct evidence that these arms refer to the founder or founders of the house. On the whole, Tanner's suggestion that the foundation of the house was due to the de Clare family seems the most likely. The Countess of Hertford and Gloucester in 1244, above mentioned, would be the wife of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford and Gloucester, who succeeded his father in 1230, and died 1262. The de Clares were at the time lords of the manors of Little Marlow and Great Missenden, which may have something to do with the connection between the two houses. See for this Lipscomb's History of Buckinghamshire (1847), where however the genealogies given are very confused. It may be noted that the de Clare arms occur on one of the glazed tiles found on the site of the Priory. The nunnery, being a small house, below the value of £200 a year, was suppressed on June 23, 1536, the Prioress at the time being Margaret Vernon. The Commissioners' report on the state of the house at the time is as follows: Servants two, Clere value £23:3:7 per annum. *Vol. II. of his book, usually quoted as Mitred Abbies, though this title belongs to Vol. I. only. |