THE TOWN OF EYESHAM, FOUNDATION OF ITS SAXON MONASTERY WITH NOTICES RESPECTING THE ANCIENT DEANERY OF ITS VALE. BY GEORGE MAY. BASED UPON A FORMER PUBLICATION BY THE AUTHOli, REVISED THROUGHOUT. EVESHAM, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GEORGE MAY. LONDON, WHITTAKER & CO.; AND J. B. NICHOLS & SON : AND BY ORDER FROM ANY BOOKSELLER. 1845. ENTERED AT STATIONERS 1 HALL. Stack Annex CONTENTS. PAGE PREFATORY ADDRESS 7 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS 9 CHAPTER I. Situation of Evesham, and Origin of its Name 13 CHAPTER II. Foundation of the Monastery Its earlier History Possessions Privileges Cells 21 CHAPTER III. Architectural Survey of the Church and Monastery Magnificence of those Edifices their present Remains ....... CHAPTER IV. Benedictine Usages Regulations of this Monastery Conventual and other ancient Seals . . . . . . . . . .69 CHAPTER V. Biographical Notices of Abbots, and Incidental History of the Abbey . 91 CHAPTER VI. Suppression of the Monastery Valuation of its Revenue Transfer of its Land in Demesne . . . . . . . . . .135 CHAPTER VII. Evesham in its Infancy Condition at the Conquest Subsequent Importance Appearance at the Present Day . . . . . . 153 CHAPTER VIII. Chapel of St. Lawrence, in the Deanery and within the Precincts of the Mo- nastery ...'........ 167 CHAPTER IX. Chapel of All-saints, in the Deanery and within the Precincts of the Monastery 181 CHAPTER X. Grammar-school Halls and Meeting-Houses ..... 193 CHAPTER XI. Bengeworth Division of the Town Free-School Chapel of St. Peter, within the Deanery of the Monastery Transfer of the entire Parish from the Possession of Evesham Abbey . . . . . . . 213 4 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. CHAPTER XII. PAGE Parochial Chapelries in the Vale, originally comprised within the Deanery of the Monastery .......... 229 CHAPTER XIII. Civil and Municipal Institutions : from the Auglo-saxon era to the Present Time 249 CHAPTER XIV. Elective and Parliamentary History ....... 275 CHAPTER XV. Associations Free-Schools Population Employment Pecuniary Tokens Local Courts Assessments Noticeahle Customs Markets and Fairs 305 CHAPTER XVI. The Career of Symon de Montfort The Battle of Evesham . . 323 CHAPTER XVII. Military Occurrences at Evesham during the Commonwealth . . . 343 CHAPTER XVIII. Navigation Bridges Military Stations and Roads .... 353 CHAPTER XIX. Distinguished Individuals; Natives of, or Residents in, Evesham . . 373 CHAPTER XX. Charitable Donations and Bequests together with Parochial Property . 389 CHAPTER XXI. Chronological Record Concluding Observations ..... 405 GLEANINGS IN NATURAL HISTORY, WITHIN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD or EVESHAM. I. Characteristic and Rare Plants . . . . . . 419 II. Aquatic and Land Shells 422 III. Fossils 423 APPENDIX OF DOCUMENTS AND INSCRIPTIONS. I. Letter from Clement Abbot of Evesham, to Cromwell Lord Privy Seal 429 II. Unpublished Letter from Philip Abbot of Evesham, to Cromwell Lord Privy Seal 430 III. Original Letter from the Abbot and Convent of Evesham, to Crom- well Lord Privy Seal ........ Hi. IV. Letter from Philip Hoby, esq. to John Scudamore, esq. . . 432 V. Conventual Lists of Benefactors to the Monastery . . . il. VI. Charter of William I. confirming to the Abbey of Evesham Lands in the Sheriffdom of Warwick ....... 434 VII. Charter granted by William II. to the Abbey .... 435 VIII. Charter of Henry I. containing a Grant of the Hundred of Blaca- hurste to the Abbot and Monks of Evesham .... ib. IX. Valuation of the Abbey Possessions, as given by the Royal Com- missioners .......... 436 X. Arms and Inscriptions in the Church of St. Lawrence . . . 438 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. PAGE XI. Arms and Inscriptions in All-saints' church .... 440 XII. Arms and Inscriptions in Bengeworth Church .... 449 XIII. Abstract of Three Municipal Charters, abrogated by the Issue and Restoration of the Governing Charter of James I. .... 451 XIV. The Governing Charter, at large ...... 454 XV. Constitutions of the Borough of Evesham ..... 484 XVI. Report on the Corporation of Evesham .... 490 XVII. Bye-Laws, made by the Council of the Borough of Evesham . 495 TEXTUAL INDEX, IN THREE DIVISONS, PERSONS, PLACES, AND SUBJECTS. THE NAMES or SUBSCRIBERS TO THE WORK. ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. The Market- Place ........ Frontispiece. 2. Vignette of Premises in Bridge-street . . . . . .11 3. Initial Letter : Ethelred, king of Mercia, presenting his Charter to St. Ecgwiu. From the Reverse of the Abbey Seal . . . .13 4. Ground Plan of the Abbey Church ...... 44 5. Pillars from the Nave of the Abbey Church ..... 45 6. Monks performing the last offices ....... 51 7. Entrance to the Vestibule of the Chapter-house ..... 53 8. The Bell Tower of the Monastery ...... 54 9. Diagram of proposed Clock-face ....... 55 10. Marble Lectern, from the Abbey ...... 57 11. Remains of the Almonry, next the Gardens ..... 63 12. Conventual Chair 66 13. Abbot of Evesham, temp. Henry VIII 75 14. Monks studying in the Cloister ....... 77 15. Obverse of Conventual Seal ........ 87 16. Arms of Evesham Monastery ....... 93 17. Crosier, Chalice, Paten, and Ring, from Abbot Worcester's Coffin . 113 18. Papal Seal, from Abbot Chyryton's Coffin 118 19. Abbot Hawford's Tomb, Worcester Cathedral 133 20. Crown Hotel 160 21. The Bridge, from the site of Bengeworth Castle 165 22. Remains of Abbot Reginald's Gatehouse, bounding the Abbey Precincts 167 23. Parish Churches and Abbey Tower, in 1841 171 24. Bas-Relief upon St. Lawrence Tower ...... 172 25. Chantry in the Church of St. Lawrence . . . . . .176 26. Interior of All-saints' Church and its Chantry . . . . 185 27. Abbot Lichfield's Porch, at the Grammar-school . . . .196 28. Presbyterian Meeting-house ....... 206 29. Alderman Deacle's School 217 30. Church of St. Peter, Bengeworth 219 31. Diagram of an ancient Altar, in Bengeworth Church .... 220 32. Font, Altar, and Credence-table, in the same .... 227 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. PAGE 33. Norton Church, in 1843 232 34. Abbey Tythe-Barn, at Littleton 238 35. Map of " The Deanery of the Vale " 247 36. The Borough Seal actual size 259 37. Borough Arms from the Reverse of the Seal ..... 260 38. The Battle Field and Leicester Tower 341 39. The River, from the Abbey Deer-park 354 40. The Bridge, on the Bengeworth side . . . . . . 361 41. Effigy of sir Thomas Bigg, M. P. for Evesham, in Norton Church . 415 42. Niche and Effigy, in the head of the Chapter-house Arch . . 497 43. Oak Panel from the Monastery, copied as a border on the back of the Volume. 44. Bell Tower, Spires, and Chapter Arch, grouped as a die upon the cover of the Volume. PREFATORY ADDRESS. AT length my promised volume is concluded ; wherein I have striven to present in a useful and attractive form the history of a locality which has now during seventeen years contained my home. Nor have I here omitted opportunities to preserve by the pencil and the graving-tool a faithful resemblance of interesting objects, the originals of which are in some instances already marred or modified since the drawings were made. Should the result of all my labor prove satisfactory to those for whom I write and should additional copies of the book, for this cause, quit my shelves, to enter the libraries of topographers, or to be hailed elsewhere as memorative of a well-known spot by those who have spent some portion of their time within its bounds, my fullest expectations will be then achieved. G. M. EVESHAM, SEPTEMBER, 1845. ' Standing upon a hill, a gentle hill, Green and of mild declivity ; the last, As 'twere the cape of a long ridge of such, Save that there was no sea to lave its hase, But a most living landscape : and the wave Of woods and cornfields, and the abodes of men Scattered at intervals " BYRON. THE HISTORY OF EVESHAM. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. Extract from the Preface to the Edition of 1834. " THE reasons that induced the Writer to commence the present History, have already appeared before the public, in the first pros- pectus of his intended Work, issued during the autumn of the pre- ceding year ; in which, among other particulars, it was remarked, that not even a "Guide" connected with this locality has appeared during the space of fourteen years. For an attempt to supply this consequent deficiency, it is possible that the author a stranger to this borough seven years ago may appear in some degree liable to the charge of presumption. But, as far as certain portions of such a work must necessarily connect themselves with conventual and architectural subjects, that charge may, perhaps, in some de- gree be set aside ; since he has from an early period delighted to roam amid the erections of our forefathers, and to indulge in the historical and archaeological associations that connect themselves therewith. And, in the present " History," as regards a later era, as well as still more recent events wherever his own researches have failed, and he has consequently required from others that information which protracted residence on their part has qualified B 10 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. them to impart lie has thankfully to acknowledge the readiness and urbanity with which such information has almost uniformly been conveyed." Of the Edition to which the foregoing observations were prefixed, upwards of six hundred copies have now been sold. The author, sensible of the favor with which his exertions have been thus re- ceived, is now desirous to submit a more finished work to the perusal of his readers, the former volume having laboured under the disadvantage of being written, printed, and published, within little more than twelve months ; while he has at the same time desired to employ much additional information collected since. In effecting this to his own satisfaction, in some degree, he has found it desirable to re-write the greater portion of the volume ; and thus it may probably derive some advantage from the consideration of maturer years. In acknowledging the aid which has been most obligingly given him while preparing the former as well as present edition of the work, he has much pleasure in tendering his thanks to Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., to whose ample library he has had frequent access ; to the Rev. Dr. Bandiriel, keeper of the Bodleian Library, for ex- tracts liberally furnished from manuscripts under his charge ; to John Britton, esq., for frequent and friendly communication ; to Edward Rudge, esq., for access to many interesting relics discovered during that gentleman's recent excavations upon the abbey site ; to J. M. G. Cheek, esq., for introduction to a multitude of original documents and the use of his valuable topographical library ; to Dr. Beale Cooper for statistical statements and the obliging loan of valuable books ; to William Byrch, esq., for free access to his ample law library ; to the Rev. II . B. Whiting, for assistance in the perusal of intricate portions of the conventual manuscripts ; to the Rev. C. H. Cox, for personal assistance in procuring extracts from Oxford ; to Benjamin Workman, esq., for abstracts from documents relating particularly to Bengeworth ; and to Mr. John Gibbs, of Offenham, for his friendly information and assistance while inspecting different portions of the Vale. Respecting the graphic Illustrations inserted through the volume, the writer considers himself fortunate in having secured the aid of a HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 11 Draughtsman in the neighbourhood, Mr. Colson of Pershore the happy execution of whose pencil is sustained by its uniform truth- fulness : while the manner in which his sketches are perpetuated by the graver is as spirited as the names in particular of Mr. S. Williams, and Mr. Sly, would lead us to expect. In conclusion, he heartily expresses his thanks to those of his townsmen, and others, who, prior to the appearance of the Work, encouraged him by engaging copies. It is with pleasure that he appends to this volume, the names of those Individuals, who by this expression of their confidence have augmented his exertions by the cheering pre-assurance of their approval. 3, BRIDGE-STREET, EVESHAM, April, 1844. CHAPTER I. SITUATION OF EVESHAM, AND ORIGIN OF ITS NAME. VESHAM is seated in the bosom of the vale that sweeps from the bases of the Cotteswold Hills on the east and south, and is guarded at the west by Bredon Hill. Geologically considered, it stands upon a lias plain at the foot of an oolitic range ; and thus its vicinage as students of the science prove must once have been a vast abyss sunk in primeval ocean, the muddy floor of which is now blue clay, retaining in its bed the fossilized remains of animals, insects, and vegetables, that lived and flourished in the earliest ages of our world. The town, of which we are to write, is situated upon a peninsula formed by the Avon, at the south-eastern part of Worcestershire, bordering upon the counties of Warwick and Gloucester. It is within the hundred of Blakenhurste ; a name, which from its Saxon compounds, may be considered equivalent to Black Forest. The hundred was originally called that of Fisseberge, being so recorded in Domesday book. Bp. Thomas supposes the latter name to have originated in the legend connected with the founder of the monas- tery, which asserts that a key thrown by him into the Avon, here, was found in the stomach of a fish, at Rome. When the name was altered does not appear : but Henry I. gave to the abbey a charter conferring jurisdiction over the hundred of Blakenhurste ; the seal 14 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. of which having been broken, a grant was made in the 25th of Henry III. importing that the seal should be as effectual though cracked, as if it were remaining whole. 1 The town stands upon the Worcester and London turnpike road till 1842 the mail coach line, is on the high road from Leicester to Bristol, and in the direct route from Cheltenham to Leamington. It is distant from London 92| miles, from Worcester 15, from Cheltenham the same, from Tewkesbury 13, from Alcester 10, from Stratford-on-Avon 14, from Warwick and Leamington 23, and from Birmingham 30 miles. The Gloucester and Birmingham Rail- way approaches the town within 9 miles, at the Defford station. The Imperial line of Railway, by Evesham, projected in 1839 to connect the cities of Dublin and London, unfortunately failed to obtain the preference of the government commissioners in their report of the following spring, chiefly on account of the estimated expense ; though confessedly the only route by which letters could be answered in both capitals by the return of the same day's post. But while we are engaged in printing this sheet, the Great Western Company, having connected Oxford with London by their line, are applying for powers to cross to the Grand Junction Railway at Wolverhampton, by a new line, upon the broad-guaged rail, through Banbury, Evesham, Worcester, Kidderminster, and Stourbridge. This, if effected, will readily diffuse the crops raised round our town through a widely extended district. Evesham can aspire to no earlier an origin than the eighth cen- tury, at the beginning of which its subsequently splendid monastery was founded. Prior to that event its site was occupied by an ex- tended forest, in which the swineherds of the Anglo-saxon occupiers tended on their charge. Dr. Stukeley claimed for Evesham a Roman origin ; considering it as the lost station Ad Antonam, which is known to have been hereabout. Our own reason for dissenting from this opinion is given in a subsequent chapter upon " Military Stations and Roads." William of Malmesbury, writing in the twelfth century, while recording the legendary loneliness of the spot during the Saxon heptarchy, observes that a small church had previously been erected here, the origin of which he attributes to 1 Dugdale's Warwickshire, by Thomas, p. 921. HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. 15 the Christian and therefore Romanized Britons. In connection with this remark, we may be permitted to observe that the situation of the site, midway as we shall afterward endeavour to prove between the stations of Alnacestre and Ad Antonam, may not im- probably have rendered it a halting-place in marching or travelling from one to the other. But this is merely a suggestion, which we do not undertake to establish. For though coins of the emperors have frequently been found within the modern borough and its im- mediate neighbourhood, as where have they not ? we are indis- posed by the employment of such material to weave an elaborated theory. Before the foundation of the monastery, the name of the place as stated in the abbey registers was Ethomme, and also Homme. The latter is peculiarly appropriate to its peninsular form ; being a word still used in the Scottish dialect which is singularly exact in connection with natural objects to indicate the low or level ground on the banks of a stream or river. After the erection of the monastery the spot was called Moves' Holme from a swineherd named Eoves, who had been employed on it, and whose verbal representa- tions to the diocesan had resulted in the foundation of the convent. From Eoves-holme the name would readily be contracted to Eves- ham as still employed. The assumed sanctity of the spot, and the importance of its monastery soon identified its name with the whole country round. For the fruitful valley in which it is seated is styled ' the Vale of Evesham,' both far and near. The circuit of this extended district is defined by an observant resident as reaching from the Cotteswold Hills to the Malvern range ; 2 and from the former eminence, im- mediately above the village of Mickleton, a rich and comprehensive 2 The writer to whom we have alluded, incumbent of Mickleton at the time, thus describes the scene. " There was an extensive prospect of the rich vale of Evesham, bounded at a distance by the Malvern hills. The towers and spires, which rose among the tufted trees, were strongly illuminated by the sloping rays of the sun ; and the whole scene was enlivened by the music of the birds, the responsive notes of the thrushes from the neighbouring hawthorns, and the thrilling strains of the skylark, who, as she soared towards the heavens, seemed to be chanting forth her matins to the great Creator of the universe." REV. RICHARD GRAVES. Spiritual Quixote, book ii. chap. 5. 16 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. view of the entire level is obtained. A more varied, and thus far superior, prospect of the whole is gained from the top of Broadway Hill, from whence the expanse presents itself as overspread by cul- ture and fertility. A more cheering spectacle can perhaps hardly be stumbled on than that which suddenly bursts from hence on a bright morning in the summer tide, upon the wearied traveller, as he journeys hitherward from London. Then the very tameness of the preceding Oxford flat will by its dull contrast augment the soft luxuriance of this undulating vale. And should he have passed the night upon a coach-roof, and that a slow coach too he will indeed admit, as he looks across this bright descent at sun-rise, as we once gazed upon it in a high-summer morn that nothing surely can surpass it as a teeming specimen of home fertility. But the present appearance of the district is very different from that which it presented some fifty years ago. Then the land lay in cultivated open and common fields, bounded only by the several parishes. Within these the property of various individuals was diffused, without any other distinction than the number of their "yard-lands:" for neither hedge-row nor trees intervened. But during the present century these spacious tracks of cultivated ground have, under local Acts of Parliament, been severally enclosed, thus furnishing suitable divisions for the advancing operations of modern agriculture. The Vale being situated upon the lias strata, there are, especially in the neighbourhood of the town, springs of saline and mineral character analagous to those of Cheltenham, which is also seated on the lias, being in fact a continuation of the strata here. In the parish of Hampton, adjoining Evesham at the south-west, springs of this character, abandoned as unfit for ordinary purposes, have been immemorially known ; and from the Register of Domesday we learn that there was here, in the reign of William the Norman, " a salt work, yielding three orse" at that time. 3 The prosperity of Cheltenham having been caused entirely by its mineral springs, this circumstance directed local attention to those of Hampton, in the autumn of 1821 ; and at a public meeting held in the town, a com- 3 " Salina redd. iii. oras." Survey of Lands of Urso D'Abitot, in Hampton; noticed in the Survey as formerly held by the Abbot of Evesham. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 17 mittee was appointed, under whose direction fresh wells were sunk, and a new and very copious saline spring was found. This, upon analysis by Mr. Hume, in November of the same year, yielded from a pint wine measure, Carbonic Acid Gas . . . . ,; 2.06 cubic inch. Carbonate of Magnesia . . . . 0.15 gr. Sulphate of Magnesia . . . . . . 4. ,, Muriate of Magnesia [Chloride of Magnesium] . 0.81 Oxide of Iron ....... a trace Vegetable or Carbonaceous Matter . . . 0.09 gr. Sulphate of Soda 23.06 Sulphate of Lime 3.93 Muriate of Soda [Chloride of Sodium] . . . 28. Total of Saline Contents 60.04 Hence, though from the extreme wetness of that season the water must have been in some degree deteriorated, it will be seen by com- paring this analysis with that of the pure saline spring at Chelten- ham, made by Messrs. Parkes and Brande, that the Hampton water contains less of common salt and more of medicinal, than the Chel- tenham spring ; and, referring to this water, Dr. Hastings, in his Illustrations of the Natural History of the county, thus remarks : " We only require some accidental circumstance to tempt fashion- able visitors to resort to the neighbourhood of Evesham, in order that the springs of this spot may vie with those of the two former celebrated watering places, [Cheltenham and Leamington] in their far-famed restorative virtues." 4 In 1832, upon sinking a well on the Benge worth side of the town, in a meadow belonging to T. C. Porter, of Birlingham, esq. a copious saline spring was discovered. This on being subjected to analysis by Mr. Hodgson, of Apothecaries' Hall, in June 1834, contained in one imperial pint Carbonate of Lime ... 3 grs. Sulphate of Soda . . . 14.6 Chloride of Sodium . 45 62.6 Specific Gravity, compared with distilled water . 1,00505, 4 Natural History of Worcestershire, p. 117. 18 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. From hence it will appear that the properties of this water most closely resemble those of the Cheltenham saline spring; principally on account of the chloride of sodium, or common salt, which it contains. In this particular the Bengeworth well differs from the neighbouring spring at Hampton, where only about half the quan- tity of this ingredient is found : so that either or both of the Eves- ham waters may be beneficially employed, at the option of the visitor; each being situated at an easy distance, and readily attained. The peculiar position of the town, seated amidst so fertile and beautiful a district, presents a variety of charming walks and drives. As regards the former, the inmates are unusually privileged, in the readiness with which they may immediately step into the open country. From the very centre of the town, where most compacted, the indweller may instantly walk forth upon the verdant bank above the river, which forms the abbey site ; from hence he may pass along the adjacent meadows, once the abbey park ; and if he cross the ferry, he stands on the shelving elevation of the Vineyard Hill ; where, from the Norman Conquest down to the overthrow of mo- nasteries, the vine was cultivated in the open ground. The platform here has long been a favorite resort of the townspeople ; not only from its nearness to their dwellings, but on account of the view that it commands, looking into the bosom of the Vale " Where little purling winds like wantons seem to dally " tracking the winding course of the river, and glancing onward to the Cotteswold range in front and the rich isolated eminence of Bredon in the rear. Well may we from hence exclaim with Chamberlayne " Here nature in her unaffected dress Plaited with valleys, and emboss'd with hills, Enchas'd with silver streams, and fring'd with woods, Sits lovely in her native russet clad." 5 The approach to Evesham from the Northern road, still more effectively displays the character of its locality. Here, at the ter- mination of a descending vista, its tower and spires first fall upon the eye ; and then the town, emerging from a belt of garden-ground * Love's Victory, by William Chamberlayne, A. D. 16.58. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 19 and backed by hills, appears In sight ; the Avon sparkles in the middle distance, relieved by the bold outline, to the right, of Bredon hill ; and still further west, the undulating heights of Malvern close the well-grouped scene. We gaze upon the picture, and cannot but applaud the taste of him who fixed on such a spot, therein to found a temple, where no meaner was his intent the praise of the Eternal should resound till time for ever ceased. CHAPTER II. FOUNDATION OF THE MONASTERY ITS EARLIER HISTORY- POSSESSIONSPRIVILEGESCELLS. AFTER the pagan Saxons had nearly obliterated the religion of the gospel in this kingdom, by the slaughter and dispersion of the Christian Britons and when, after three hundred years of national idolatry, the mission of Augustine from the see of Borne had sub- stituted a modified species of Christianity, even then the inherent excellence of Christian doctrine began, during the reign of Wulphere, son of the tyrant Penda his successor in the important division of Mercia 6 to reclaim from the brutalizing influence of idolatry the Saxon chiefs. So entirely was Ethelred his brother and successor imbued after his conversion with the ascetic notions of his partially enlightened guides, that as if believing monachism to be the prelude of a millennial state, he in the year 701 conferred on Ecgwin third bishop of the Huiccians the whole peninsula, holme, or plain, skirted by the Avon, on which the town of Evesham at present stands, to found a monastery thereon. This, as may be seen beneath, is ex- pressly stated in one of the existing manuscripts of the abbey. 7 8 This powerful and extensive kingdom of the Saxon Heptarchy or rather Oc- tarchy comprehended, beside a part of Hertfordshire, no fewer than sixteen of our present counties, viz. Huntingdon, Rutland, Lincoln, Northampton, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Oxford, Chester, Salop, Gloucester, Worcester, Stafford, War- wick, Buckingham and Bedford. Leicester, the Ralce of the Romans, was its capital. 7 " Rex Ethelredus, filius Pendse regis Merciorum, primus et prsecipuus fundator noster, dedit beato Ecgwino locum ilium, qui tune Ethomme, nunc Eveshamia vocatur, ubi monasterium construxit anno domiui DCCI." Ex Reyistro quodam AVbathice de Evesham, in Dugdale's Monasticon, ii. p. 14. 22 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Having thus referred to the authority from whence our informa- tion respecting the gift from Ethelred is derived, it may be well here to acquaint the general reader with the nature of those docu- ments to which reference will hereafter be often made, as being the only source from whence many particulars can be derived. The inmates of our monasteries, among other exercises, were accustomed to copy documents and to chronicle events which they considered memorable. In most instances these related to their own convent, and were added from time to time to the monastic archives. They are usually engrossed with extreme neatness, but with numberless contractions, in corrupted Latin, upon vellum, having initial letters and other portions elaborately decorated in brilliantly colored inks, with which those of our own day bear no comparison. At the dis- solution, these manuscripts were in most instances sold as lumber, or destroyed ; some few however were rescued by contemporaries, and have been thus preserved. Among such relating to this abbey, thus fortunately available, the British Museum contains the chief. These are, first a cartulary or manuscript volume, in the Harleian collection, numbered 3763, chiefly filled with copies of charters granted to the abbey at various times. Prom an entry on one of the leaves dated 1721-22, we find that this volume was in 1628 in the possession of Richard Fleetwood of Penwortham, esq. to whose family the abbey property there was granted in the 34th of Henry VIII. A second cartulary is included among the Cotton manuscripts, and numbered as Vespasian B xxiv. A third volume in the same col- lection Titus C ix. is chiefly occupied as a Register of Richard Bremesgrave's abbacy. A fourth, numbered in the same division as Vitellius E xvii. is almost destroyed by fire, but has been copied by Stevens, the continuator of Dugdale's Monasticon. Four original charters belonging to the monastery are also preserved in the Mu- seum. The foregoing documents, with occasional notices among other manuscripts, furnish the principal material from whence our history of this important abbey is deduced. The cause of Ethelred's munificence is attributed by the con- ventual annalists to a supernatural appearance manifested here to a swineherd of the bishop's named Eoves, while tending his charge with three other herdsmen upon a portion of the woodland appro- priated to the sustenance of the Worcester monks. Not that all HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 23 were privileged to witness it. But Eoves alone going deeply into the wood beheld a virgin attended by two others, " her splendour darkened that of the sun, and her beauty exceeded all worldly fea- tures." 8 This the affrighted herdsman hastened to detail to the bishop. He, after fasting and prayer took with him, we are told, three companions and walked barefoot in their company, devoutly singing psalms till they approached the place. Then quitting his followers, the bishop advanced into the wood, and in the place which the hind had mentioned, fell prostrate in prayer. On rising he beheld the females whom Boves had seen. She in the midst sur- passed her companions in height and splendour, and was attired in raiment " infinitely exceeding lilies in whiteness and roses in odour." In one hand she held a book, and in the other a cross of gold radiant with celestial light, which stretching forth toward the bishop she conferred upon him the benediction. This he at once regarded as a heavenly intimation that a church should be erected on the spot to the honor of the Virgin Mary. The bishop having duly recounted these circumstances to king Ethelred, secured the holme by royal grant : as we learn from the charter of endowment, attributed to Ecgwin, dated in the year 714, that he had at that time completed the erection of this monastery, " to the honor of Almighty God and of the holy Mary, and of all the elect in Christ, and for the furtherance of his own salvation, in order that the brethren, serving God according to the rule of St. Benedict, might there, without disturbance, pass their lives." 9 That this charter was, however, executed at the early period assigned to it, may reasonably be doubted from the last mentioned clause. The rule of St. Benedict being generally considered as unrecognized in England till introduced by Odo, the Anglo-saxon primate, early in the tenth century, and urged forward by Dunstan " the man who set England in flames." But that the document is, nevertheless, an early production, we have every reason to believe. Such monastic fabrications having been frequent, immediately prior to the survey 8 Church History of Brittany by Paulin de Cressy, folio, Rouen 1668, p. 528. u Carta Ecguuini Wigorniensis Episcopi ; in Dugdale's Monasticon, ed. 1817, ii. page 16. 24 HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. of Domesday, in order to render titles valid in appearance, when the Norman commissioners should appear. 10 The erection of the monastery commenced, according to bishop Tanner, in the same year that the site was given to Ecgwin by Ethelred ; the same monarch also endowing the institution with a castle at Chadbury n and a convent at Fladbury to be held during Ecgwin's life, which, as we learn from his charter, he deemed ad- visable to exchange for a religious house at Stratford. William of Malmesbury, in recording the foundation, while he confirms the description given in the cartulary of the previous loneliness of the spot, tells us, apparently to enhance the sanctity of the site, that a small church had from an early period existed here, and that it was probably built by the Britons. 12 Ethelred having subsequently re- signed his crown to become abbot of Bardney, and he being succeeded on the throne of Mercia by his nephew Cenred, we now find the latter prince leagued with " OiFa king of the east Saxons " 13 in a further endowment of Ecgwin's foundation, by charter, in 709, whereby were given to the infant institution sixty-five manses, or farms, on both sides of the Avon. Three of these are described as being in Homme [Evesham], one in Lenchwic, seven in Norton, one in Offe- ham, thirteen in Litleton, one in Aldintone, five and a half in Baddeseie, twelve in Bretforton, two and a half in Huniburn, seven in Willerseie, three in Wicwon [Wickham], and nine in Benig- wrthie [Bengeworth] and Hamton. Seven cassates of land at Morton, given by Cenred to Ecgwin in 703 " toward building the monastery then to be erected" were likewise by the same instrument confirmed. 10 Compare Ellis's Introduction to Domesday Survey, p. xiii. 11 Harleian MS. 3763, copied in Dugdale, ii. 14, and in Tindal's Evesham, p. 46. 12 " Locum ilium quo nunc coBnobium visitur, peculiariter amasse, incultum antea et spinetis horridum, sed ecclesiolam ab antiquo habentem, ex opere forsitan Brit- tanorum." In English, thus The place wherein the monastery is now seen, he [Ecgwin] is said to have particularly loved ; it was a spot previously untilled and overgrown with brambles, but where a little church had stood from ancient time, perhaps erected by the Britons. W. Malmesbury, fol. 162. 13 " Ego Offa divina permissione Orientalium Anglorum gubernator." MS. Cott. Vesp. B xxiv. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 25 This charter of Cenred and Offa, copied in Tindal and Dugdale from the Cotton Manuscript Vespasian B 24, 14 professes to have been executed at Rome, and to be confirmed by the crucial sign of the pontiff. But as the whole of the conveyance is situate in the king- dom of Mercia, we may very naturally inquire why the king of Essex is called upon to assist in the donation of the king of Mercia's land, especially as nothing is bestowed by it in his own kingdom. Ecgwin, thus enriched by regal donatives, obtained likewise from pope Constantino a letter to Brightwold archbishop of Canterbury, commanding that prelate to summon to the spot where the Virgin had been manifested, the bishops and other religious persons from all parts of England, together with the sovereigns and their nobles, to declare before them that Ecgwin had authority from the apos- tolic see for founding there a monastery of Benedictines. The date of this letter, as given by Dr. Nash, is 709, which period he there- fore considers as the date of the foundation. In addition to the above acquisitions Ecgwin the founder informs us, in the charter imputed to him, already noticed, that he begged no less than twenty manses in Twyford from Osward, Ethelred's brother, and that he acquired sixteen beside from private indi- viduals. Thus, as he afterward complacently expresses it, " by the blessing of God, I had in a short time collected one hundred and twenty manses for the aforesaid church of Christ." In 714 the church was dedicated to the honor of the Virgin Mary, by Wilfred bishop of Worcester ; and Ecgwin, having previously resigned his bishopric to Wilfred, at Rome, became the abbot of his newly founded monastery. Its flourishing condition may perhaps be es- timated from its furnishing within two years afterward the first abbot to Croyland monastery, in the person of Kenulph, one of the monks here ; whom Ethelbald king of Mercia appointed to that dignity by his charter of foundation, dated in 716. 15 During a period of two hundred years, commencing with the death of Ecgwin, the abbey chronicles furnish no other particulars in the conventual history than the early loss of a yearly rent in 14 See Tindal's Evesham p. 150, and note on p. 5 ; also Dugdale's Monasticon, ii. 15. 15 Stevens' Additions to the Monasticon, vol. 1, p. 470. 26 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. salt, and recently-cleared forest ground in Blakeshare. 16 Similar authority presents us with the names of eighteen abbots, successors to the founder. But of their character and actions we learn no more than may be gathered from the following sentence with which one of the chronicles concludes the list, and with which, in substance, the rest agree. "All the possessions acquired by the blessed Ecgwin they faithfully retained during many years, even as he left them." 17 Prom this period the record, though somewhat amplified, is yet sufficiently scanty, as though gleaned from the fragments of tra- dition instead of being preserved by any contemporary accounts. A circumstance easily to be accounted for, by the then lamentable state of England under the devastating inroad of the Danes, the general ignorance that prevailed throughout Europe during the tenth century, the devastation of our monasteries, and the dis- persion of their inmates. Of that which is further recorded prior to the Norman conquest, the greater part alludes to the party- struggle for ascendancy between the secular clergy, who had been accustomed to marry and to blend themselves with their people, and the partizans of St. Benedict, who urged onward by the pope, required that they should universally immure themselves in mon- asteries and abjure matrimony. These accounts are occasionally variegated by the introduction of some semi-barbarian thane, who either with or without royal assent, watches opportunity and ap- propriates the establishment with its possessions to his immediate use. Upon the death of Edwin the last of the abbots who are said to have preserved the acquisitions of the founder entire this monastery shared in the universal destruction of religious establish- ments effected by the heathen Danes, prior to the reign of the illustrious Alfred. But this destruction, however unpalatable to the inmates, tended among ' the sweet uses of adversity,' to improve their character and increase their usefulness. Many of them, as 18 "ccclx tas mictas salis, et assartam rte Blakeshare." Extracta Particula de Qestis Abbatum, in Harleian MS. 3763. 17 " Chronica Abbathise Eveshamensis," Harl. MS. 229, fol. 17 : also "Analecta ex Registro de Evesham," Cottonian MS. Vespasian B XV. and " Extracta Particula de Gestis Abbatum," in Harl. MS. 3763. HISTORY 0? 3VBSHAM. 27 Dr. Henry observes, after the overthrow of their convents retired into neighbouring villages, and there performed the duties of their function among the people : and thus the monastic subversion occasioned the erection of many parish churches, of which there had been very few in England before this time. 18 After the de- vastation, two powerful chieftains, Athelm and Ulric by name, instigated by a bishop named Osulf, are said to have obtained a grant of the monastery from Edmund son of Edward the Elder, to have driven away the monks A. D. 941, and to have placed secular canons in their room. 19 This occupation by the secular priesthood was, however, brief ; they being shortly ousted by that champion of priestly celibacy and Benedictine discipline, the renowned St. Dunstan, at this time archbishop of Canterbury, but previously bishop of the sees of Worcester and of London in conjunction. This Becket of the anglo-saxon church having at his command a more docile monarch than Henry Plantagenet, prevailed on King Edgar, in 960, to substitute at Evesham regular or celibate clergy, according to the institutes of St. Benedict, which it was Dunstan's constant aim to render paramount through the kingdom. St. Athelwold bishop of Winchester, the zealous coadjutor of the arch- bishop, was the emissary dispatched hither for this purpose, by the archbishop and the king. 20 Upon the death of Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable, and during the vigorous resistance made against the severe discipline of Dun- stan, in Edward the Martyr's reign, the monks were again ejected and the married clergy restored, by means of a chief named Alfer, in 977. But he being wrought upon during sickness by the repre- 18 Henry's History of Great Britain, book ii. chap. 2, sect. 4. 19 " In 941 Kinewold or Coenwald bishop of Worcester placed seculars at Eve- sham which had been destroyed by the Danes, for as yet the monks had not recovered their rights, or were so much esteemed as the seculars." Alford Annales, in Thomas's Account of Bps. of Worcester, p. 36. 20 " Quoadusque Sanctus Athelwoldus, jussu regis Edgari et Beati Dunstani, hue adveniens Oswardum abbatem hie constituit, anno gratise MCCCCLX." De Gestis AVbatum de Evesham, Harl. MS. 3763. The monastic chronicle seems here to en- somewhat in its chronology. In Sir H. Nicolas's elaborate and authenticated table Edgar, "consecrated as king with great pomp at Bath, llth of May, 973, died July 18th, 975." Chronology of History, second edition, p. 356. 28 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. sentations of a monk who had gained access to him, transferred the monastery with its lands to one Freodegar, himself a monk ; who retained possession but a short time, being unable to expel the secular priests whom Alfer had previously reinstated. 21 In the succeeding reign, that of Ethelred called the Unready, we learn that a chief named Godwin purchased the abbey from the king, for three hundred mancuses of gold, subjected the in- mates to himself, and appropriated its possessions at his pleasure. The celebrated Godwin, earl of Kent, conspicuous in the reign of Canute, and father of Harold our last Saxon king, may possibly be the chieftain indicated. 22 The date of this transaction does not appear in the Harleian or Cottonian chronicles. But in another, which Leland gives, and which often varies in its dates from these, the year 989 is given. 23 The date is, in this instance probably correct ; that being the year subsequent to Dunstan's death. For it cannot be presumed that a bargain so sacrilegious, if not simo- niacal, as this would have been called, could have been made during that archbishop's life. He, again restored to power, had resumed over his imbecile and " unready" sovereign the exercise of implicit sway ; and, miracle-monger as his followers have represented him, would rather have perished, we may conceive, in one of his own re- corded contrivances, than have suffered a religious institution which himself had fostered, to fall into unconsecrated hands. The Harleian and Cottonian chronicles proceed to state, though without assigning further cause, that Ethelred made a second grant of this monastery to a bishop named Agels, who having incurred the royal displeasure, fled the kingdom. Upon this it was con- ferred upon another bishop named Athelstan, who dying, it was bestowed upon the nineteenth bishop of Worcester, Adulf, whom we find to have been previously a monk of Pershore. This prelate, 21 "Pauco tempore hie obtinuit commorari, quia clericos fortiores se inveniens iiullo modo voluit hinc expellere." De Gestis Abbatum. Harl, MS. 3763. 22 In the list of Abbots, Harl. MS. 229, fol. 17, he is styled "cuidam potenti, Godwino nomine" : in that in the Cotton MS. Vespasian B XV. " quidam potens homo Godwinus." 23 Chronicle by a monk of Evesham or Pershore, copied in Leland. Collectanea, torn. i. p. 241. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 29 in the language of the foregoing chronicles, "first defrauded this convent of its liberty, by subjecting it to the jurisdiction of his see." A procedure which the Evesham monks could never forgive : they like all other members of the larger abbeys, being at a later period often engaged in defending their assumed exemption from any visitation except that of their own abbots. The bishop in this instance appointed over them ^Ifric as their abbot, but in strict subordination to himself. Peter Langtoft in his metrical chronicle that uncouth specimen of our early tongue states that the last illness of Ethelred commenced at Evesham, and that he lodged in this abbey at the time. " Now is Eilred our kyng fallen in sekeness, He lies at Euesham, his abbay it es : Eilred at London ended his life, Auht and thritty [eight and thirty] wynter he regned with strife." 3 * During the reign of Canute, the local struggle between seculars and regulars subsided in the final predominance of the latter under jElfward, a monk preferred from Ramsey to this abbacy, in 1014. From this period, the Benedictines becoming its settled inmates, we meet with nothing of great importance till we arrive at Domesday survey : in which important register the possessions of this monas- tery, at the time of the conquest, are stated as follow. In Gloucestershire, the abbey held eight hides at Malgasberia [Malgersbury], seven in Tedestrop [Addlestrop], ten in Bortune [Bourton-on-the- Water], ten in Braddewell [Bradwell], four bur- gages in Gloucester and one in Winchcomb, three hides of land in Swelle [Swell], eight in Willersei [Willersey], three in Westune [Weston Subedge], two in Stoch [Stock and Bradley], three in Hedecote [Hidcote], and fifty-six in the ferding or quarter of Winchcomb. Forty-four of these hides in Gloucestershire the sixty-six at Bradwell and Winchcomb not being estimated were in the time of Edward the Confessor valued at thirty-seven librae, but in the reign of William the Norman they produced fifty-one librae. In Worcestershire, the abbey held three hides at Evesham, one in Lenchwic, seven in Nortune [Norton], twelve acres in Oleberge 34 Langtoft's Chronicle, by Hearne, vol. i. pp. 46, 47. 30 HISTOET OF EVESHAM. [Oldborough], with a leuude 25 of wood, one hide in Offenham, six at Liteltune [Littleton], six at Bratfortune [Bretforton] whence stone was then being drawn by oxen to the abbey church, one hide at Aldintone, three at Wigvene [Wickham], six hides again at Bratfortune, six hides and a half at Badesei, seven at Liteltune, two hides and a half in Huniburne, fifteen at Ambreslege [Ombersley], five at Hantun [Hampton] including a new vineyard, four at Be- ningeorde, [Bengeworth], five in Mortune [Abbots' Moreton], four and a half at Achelenz [Atch Lench], one at Bvinton [Bevington], four at Circelenz [Church Lench] with twenty-eight manses in Wor- cester. These lands in Worcestershire making a total of eighty- eight hides and a half, and twelve acres which had produced in the time of the Confessor seventy librae and fifteen solidi, produced in the Conqueror's time only sixty-eight librae and ten solidi. In Northamptonshire, this abbey held four hides at Liceberge. These were valued at forty solidi in the Confessor's and also in the Conqueror's time. In Warwickshire, the abbey held five hides at Witelavesford [Wicksford], three at Sandburne [Sambourne], two at Salford, three at Chenevertone [Chivington], and three at Wilelei. Thirteen of these hides (those at Wilelei not being estimated) produced seven librae in the time of the Confessor, and eight in the time of the Conqueror. The gross amount of land possessed by this monastery at the time of the Norman conquest, thus amounts to 218^ hides and 12 acres : which at the moderate estimate of eighty acres to the hide, effect a total of 17,492 acres. But taking the average at one hun- dred acres per hide, which on account of the variation of this mea- surement we are warranted in doing, the hide being admitted to have varied in different counties from eighty to one hundred and twenty acres the gross amount of land possessed by the abbey of Evesham was then 21,862 acres. The revenue derived from this as far as is given in Domesday, where the whole of the property is not valued was 129 librae and 10 solidi. 36 This measure, according to Ingulphus, was equal to a theii ordinary mile ; nearly one mile and a half, according to the present standard. See Ellis' s Intro- duction to Domesday, p. 51. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 31 Beside these lands, thus entered in Domesday as actually belong- ing to the abbey at that time, the following had been its property in the time of the Confessor ; although of such it had unjustly been deprived by Odo bishop of Bajeux, half-brother to the Conqueror, assisted by Urso D'Abitot, the sheriff of the county. 26 Six hides at Actune [Acton], four hides at Lench, three hides in Uptune [Upton Warin], the right of Evesham church to these was testified in full county : half a hide at Witune in Droitwich, with one and a half salt-vats, given to the same church by one Aluiet, in the fifth year of king Edward the Confessor (A. D. 1045), when his son became a monk at Evesham, who on that occasion placed the conveyance upon the altar : ^ four hides at Hantune [Hampton], these were testified by the county as having been purchased from one Tainus, who had also completed the transfer by placing the conveyance upon the altar. In addition to these, the following pos- sessions were, also, through the influence of Odo, abstracted from the abbey in the time of Abbot Walter. 28 In Worcestershire, one hide in Branesford [Bransford], seven hides in Eunelad [Evenlode], three hides in Deilesford [Dailsford]. In Warwickshire, seven hides in Are we [Arrow], two hides in Eccleshale, one hide in Wifleshale, four hides in Edricheston, one hide in Dorsinton [Dorsington], two hides in Brome [Broome], one hide in Budiford [Bidford], five hides in Bivinton [Bevington], and three hides in Salford. In Oxford- shire, five hides in Salford near Chipping-Norton, three in Corne- welle [Cornwell], six hides in Chestelton [Chastleton], four hides in Derneford [Dormstone], and five hides in Sipton [Shipston]. In Gloucestershire, ten hides in Quenton [Quinton], five hides in Parva Slout [Little Slaughter], seven hides in Swella [Swell], ten hides in Childswicwon [Childswickham], and two hides in Pebewrth [Peb- worth]: completing a total of 111^ hides, or 11,150 acres; which, added to the lands of the church registered in Domesday, and still averaging the hide at one hundred acres, render its landed posses- sions in the time of Edward the Confessor equivalent to 33,012 36 Domesday Survey of the Lands of the Church of Evesham. 27 Domesday Survey of Lands of Urson De Abetot. 88 Ex Actis Abbatum, Harleian MS. Num. 3763, fol. 58 b. 32 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. acres ! In fact it has been considered that by the extravagant grants of land made to cathedrals, monasteries, and other churches, chiefly during the tenth century, at the time of this monarch's decease more than one-third of all the lands of England were in the possession of the clergy ; exempted at the same time from all taxes, and for the most part even from military aids. 29 In addition to these vast possessions, the monks by their char- ters and in their registers enumerate estates in other parishes as having been conferred upon their house, but which they lament as subsequently lost " during wars and invasions, as also through malicious prelates, negligent abbots, and temporal adversaries." 30 The following are places in which the abbey claimed lands not ap- propriated to it in the survey of Domesday : Twyford, Podenho, Dynyngton, Wythelye, Camborn, Kynewarton, Dunyngton, Stowe, Raggeleye, Crewe, Mulcote, Hyldeburwythe, Hatton, Wickton, Houpton, Hudycote, Stoke, Weylesford, Sloptre, Grafton, Newen- ham, Wrottesleye, Wynyngton, Soleston, Serpham, Wudyford, Leylond, Meoles, Faryngton, Longeton, Penwortham, Blakeshage, Konghwicke, Thelwell, Goldhore, and Pykesleye. 31 Although, as previously noticed no mention of the hundred by name of Blakenhurste occurs in Domesday, yet it is clear that down to the reign of Henry I. almost the whole of the hundred as now defined continued in the possession of the abbots. At that period the hundred entire with all things pertaining to it were granted to the church of Evesham and to the abbot and his successors, to be held in perpetual almoigne and in free and undisturbed posses- sion. 32 No sheriff or officers were to hold pleas there against their jurisdiction ; and the privileges of sac, soc, theam and infangtheof were granted them. The two first gave civil jurisdiction, the third conferred forfeitures of stolen goods, and the last empowered them to adjudicate in criminal matters within their territory. 33 Free- dom from toll throughout England is further given them by the x Henry's History of Great Britain, book ii. c. 2, sec. 5. 30 Extracta Particula de Gestis Abbatum, in Harl. MS. 3763, British Museum. 81 Ibid. 88 Carta Henrici I. de Hundredo de Blacahurste, in Harleian MSS. 3763, fol. 79. 33 Compare Merewetber's History of Boroughs, vol. i. pp. 50 and 289. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 33 same charter ; which Dr. Nash has noticed, but without citing his authority. 34 This right was disputed by the bailiffs of Worcester in the reign of Henry III. at an assize held there in 1240 before the kings justiciaries ; but upon witnesses deposing that "the abbot, his predecessors, and all his tenants and people from all those towns and villages of his that lie within the county of Worcester were always in the market of the aforesaid city free of toll and of every other custom in every thing sold or bought for their own uses, excepting only a male horse, for which they were accustomed to pay two- pence," it was adjudged that the abbot and his people were free and that the bailiffs were nonsuited. 35 The following individuals are enumerated as benefactors to this monastery, in various entries comprised in two of the abbey regis- ters; 36 although these documents sometimes disagree, in ascribing the same gift to different donors. King Ethelred gave in 701 the tract of land then called Ethomme, now Evesham, and in 703 the oastle of Chaddebury and the old monastery of Stratford. Offa, king of the east Saxons, gave Offenham. Ethelward, or Aylward, gover- nor of Wiccia, gave Ombresley, in 706. Ailric, son of king Osher, gave Childswickham, in the same year. Walter, son of Dudda, gave Swelle Major. Kenred, king of Mercia, gave in 708, on the one part of the Avon, Norton, Echlench, Morton, Bivinton, Hulebarewe, Witheley, Samburn, Kinewarton, and both Salfords; and, on the other part of the Avon, Hampton, Bengeworth, Wickham, Willersey, Dunington, Bradwell, Tetlestrop, Stow, Malgaresbury and Burchton. Chelred, king of Mercia and son of Ethelred, gave in 711, Ragley, Arrow, Eccleshall, Wivleshall, Edrichston, Dorsinton, Broom, Mul- coth, Buninton, Hilborough, and a hide of land in Bidford. In 716 Ethelbald, king of Mercia, gave Acton, Branesford, Hamton near the chief town [emporium] of Wiccia, Upton, Witton and Alnoth Lench near Chadbury, Weston, Hudicote, and Stoke. In 721 the same king gave " a portion which the inhabitants call Sele, in the 34 Nash's Worcestershire, vol. ii. p. 403 b. 35 Qusedam Spectantia ad Libertates etc. Monasterii de Evesham. Cotton MS. Vitellius E xvii. fol. 22, in Stevens, and in Tindal, 189. 36 Ex Registro de Evesham, per Glover, in Dugdale ; and Destroyed Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. 34 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. place where the salt waters rise, with the use of three buildings : & the salt- vat there ought to return yearly to the church of Evesham 360 mittas of salt." Offa, son of Tunfrith king of Mercia, gave "Dunninton, etc." in 757. Beortulph, king of Mercia, gave Peb- worth, in 784. Ufa, earl of Warwick, gave Whitlakesford and Grafton Major, in 973, in the reign of king Edgar. Ethelred king of England, brother of Edward the Martyr, gave one manse in Stowe, near Malgaresbury, in 987. Canute, king of all England, gave, in 1018, the lordship of Badby and Newnham. In the same reign Leofric earl of Mercia, and Godgyve his wife, gave lands at Hampton, with the provender and men, and dues thereto pertain- ing. 38 Here the serfs are as deliberately transferred with the soil, as though they formed a portion of the crop. Warm Bushell gave the church and tythes of Penwortham ; Richard, his son, Leylond church. Albert Bushell, son of Richard, gave lands in Longton, Ekeston, Lelande, and Meoles. Robert Bushell gave lands at Pen- wortham : and Galfred, his son, lands in Longton. Robert de Stafford, with Robert his son, gave lands in Wrotesley and Livin- ton. 39 Bryan, a count's son, gave the church of Hildindon with a third of the tythe, a hide of land and a mansion thereon. 40 Randulf de Kinewarton, with the assent of Alexander his son and heir, 41 gave the church there with the chapels of Alne and Witheley, and all pertaining. Two lists of further benefactors will be found in the Appendix to the present volume. 42 This house became a mitred abbey in 1 1 63, by bull from pope Alexander III. as will be noticed hereafter in our account of abbot 37 Unam portionem quam acolae Sele nuncupant, in loco ubi salsse bullunt aquae, cum statu trium mansionum. Harleian MS. 3763, fol. 57. 38 " Cum victu et hominibus et omnibus rebus et consuetudinibus ad eandem per- tinentibus. Carlo. Leofrici Comiti* de terra de Hamtune, Cottonian MS. Vesp. B xxiv. fol. 26. 39 Carta Roberti de Stafford, in Cotton MS. Vespasian. 40 Carta Brieni filii Comitis, in Harleian MS. 3763. 41 " Alexandro filio meo et haerede volente et consentiente." Carta de Eccles. de Kinewarton, in Harleian MS. 3763. 43 Compiled by the Precentor of the monastery in the reign of Henry VI. Num- bered V in Appendix. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 35 Adam. As being one of the principal Benedictine monasteries, the abbots here were doubtless summoned to parliament from the earliest period. Among the oldest writs extant, 23d of Edward III. the abbot of Evesham stands fifth in order ; and is, in after summonses, commonly distinguished, with those of Bury, St. Albans, and Wal- tham, by the appendage of " Exempti," indicative of their freedom from visitation by the diocesan ; and these four usually take pre- cedence of all others of their class and order. 43 This abbey from an early period claimed, as former portions of this chapter have intimated, entire exemption from episcopal jurisdiction. During the reign of Canute, JElfward abbot here and at the same time bishop of London, provided that Avikin then prior of the monastery should be constituted dean of the whole Vale ; that this church might not again be deprived of its exemption, as it had previously been by Adulf bishop of Worcester in the reign of Ethelred the Unready. M In the time of abbot Randulph the dean also visited the churches throughout the vale as peculiars of this abbey : he also collected therein the Peter's-pence or yearly payment of one penny from each house to the see of Rome, called Rome-scot by the Anglo-saxons except where they were collected by the bishop ; and appropriated the proceeds to the expenditure of his office, reserving the yearly payment of twenty solidi to the pope. 45 This collection is warranted by a bull from pope Gregory, (presumed to be Gregory VIII.) dated from the Lateran in the fourth year of his pontificate ; such payments to be gathered from the residents on the monastic demesne and also at Moreton and Ombersley. 46 An opinion upon the question of a privileged pe- culiar in the Vale of Evesham, prepared for Bishop Freake about the year 1587, cites the Decretals as stating that Celestinus the pope exempted the churches in the Vale ; but observes that as shown by the White Book of the bishoprick the abbots of Evesham had exercised their ecclesiastical jurisdiction partly by consent of the 43 Vide Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, vol. i. pp. 28, 30, 32, 47, 56, 78, and 80. 44 Cottonian MS. Vespasian B xv. 45 Constitutions of Abbot Randulf, in Cottonian MS. Augustus II. 46 Ecclesiastical Documents, part ii. published by the Camden Society, 1840, pp. 70, 71, 72. 36 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. bishop of Worcester, for which the bishop had received from the abbey the advowsons of Hillingdon, Kinwarton, and Weston. 47 This is authenticated by an agreement made at Fladbury, in 1242 upon St. Katherine's day, during the abbacy of Thomas de Gloucester. It is witnessed among others by Simon de Evesham archdeacon of the east riding of York, and is copied by Dr. Nash (ii. 178) from the White Book of the bishops of Worcester. Pentecostals were formerly made from the chapelries in this deanery to the monastery, as the mother church. These oblations, from their being made at whitsuntide and their consisting of a farth- ing from every householder, were also termed whitsun-farthings. From a document in the Petyt MSS. in the Inner Temple library, 48 it appears that certain of the villagers in making these payments individually at the monastery, were accustomed to repair thither in distinct processions, carrying a cross and banners. This being done at a period of general and boisterous festivity, rivalries and quarrels had taken place; and in 1442 "many mutilations and even mur- ders " had occurred. In these tumults the inhabitants of Church- Honeybourne had been so conspicuous, that in the above year pope Eugenius IV. upon a petition exhibited to him, ordained that this long-established custom of procession should cease ; but that the usual payment from each householder to the monastery should continue. Of the cells, or monasteries subordinate to and governed by this abbey, the earliest appears to have been the priory at Othenesei, now Odensee the capital of the isle of Funen, in the Baltic. Ap- plication having been made from that priory for instruction in the Benedictine discipline according to the usage of Evesham abbey, William Rufus permitted twelve monks and three clerks to remove thither, accompanied by five moniales and three attendants ; all of whom were to receive in their new situation the same allowance of food and clothing as they did here. 49 In 1174 the affiliation with 47 " Memorandum concerning the priviledged Peculiar in the Vale of Evesham," in Nash's Worcestershire, i. 422. 48 De Processione Villanorum de Honeyborne ad Evesham, copied in Nash, vol. i. page 200. 49 Account of Robert, abbot of Evesham, in Harleian MS. 3763. HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. 37 this abbey was completed ; Evesham being then, in a charter from Waldemar I. king of Denmark, recognized as the mother church. 50 The priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was confirmed as a cell to this abbey by bull from pope Alexander III. during the twelfth century. 51 According to bishop Tanner, Warine Bussel having in the time of William the Norman given the church and tythes of Penwortham, with other estates thereabout, to this abbey, the priory was soon after erected, and Benedictine monks from Eves- ham were placed therein. 52 In the Harleian cartulary this cell is stated to have had no endowment distinct from the parent mon- astery, and that in prior Wylecote's time, 1320, it had never been presented to or instituted by the bishop of the diocese. 53 In the return made to the First-fruits' office in the 26th of Henry VIII. it is valued at 114. 16s. lOd. yearly; from which, according to bishop Tanner, the prior paid 63. yearly to the abbey of Evesham. The site of the priory was granted in the 34th of Henry VIII. to John Fleetwood of London. The abbey of Alcester, founded by Ralph Boteler of Oversley, in 1140, became a cell to the abbey of Evesham in 1467. In the previous year Edward IV. as patron in right of his duchy of Lan- caster, expressed in letters patent that " through divers misfortunes and the negligence of many abbots there then was not, nor of a long time had been any monk to bear the abbot company," and that the revenues were so diminished that they could neither maintain the appointed number of monks nor exercise offices of hospitality and piety ; for which cause the king granted to Richard [Pembroke], then abbot of Evesham, and his successors, the right of patronage and advowson, that he should procure it to be united and appropriated to that monastery. This was completed on the 50 In Cotton MS. Vespasian B xxiv. Copied also in Dugdale's Monasticon, ii. p. 25 ; and in Tindal's Evesham, p. 160. 51 Dated from the Lateran on the 3d of the nones of March, without further in- dication as to the period. Harl. MS. 3763, fol. 112, copied in Dugdale's Mo- nasticon, vol. iii. p. 418. 52 Tanner's Notitia Monasticon. Lancashire, xiv. 53 Dugdale's Monasticon, iii. p. 418. 38 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 26th of April 1467, by Carpenter bishop of Worcester; when, upon the resignation of Richard Tuttebury last abbot of Alcester, it be- came from this period a cell to the abbey of Evesham. It was at the same time ordained by the said bishop that three monks from Evesham in priest's orders should reside at Alcester, one as prior and the others as his assistants, to say mass and to perform other divine offices. He also reserved from its revenue a yearly pension of 13s. 4d to himself and successors ; to the prior and convent of Worcester, 6s. 8d. ; and to the archdeacon of Worcester 6s. 8d. ; which payments the abbot of Evesham by his bond, dated 6th May 1466, obliged himself and successors to pay yearly in the cathedral church of Worcester. 54 On 26th February, 1515, the abbey of Evesham obtained license from Sylvester bishop of Worcester to rebuild the church at Alces- ter, then in ruins, to change its form, and reduce its dimensions, suitable to the then number of monks. 55 In the 26th Henry VIII. the revenues of this priory being certified as no more than 65. 7s. lid. above reprises, it was suppressed with the smaller monasteries, under the statute of 27th Henry VIII. The site and lands were ultimately demised by the king to Fouk Grevill, esq., who pulled down the priory to enlarge his house at Beauchamp's court. 56 The site of the manor of Pebworth, part of the estate of the same monastery was granted to Richard Fermour for term of his life by letters patent, "being of the value of <4. 6s. 8d. by the yere." 57 The monastery was situated about half a mile north of the town of Alcester, and having a moat on two sides, and the river Arrow at the north and east, it was popularly termed " the church of our Lady of the Isle." The site is still called the Priory Close, and in ploughing there early in the present century " a stone coffin was found, with places formed to admit the head, the elbows, and the heels of the corpse." 58 54 Dr. Thomas's edition of Dugdale's Warwickshire, p. 772. 55 Regist. Sylv. Gigles, fol. 118, in Dugdale's Monasticon, iv. 173. 96 Leland's Itinerary, second edition, iv. 71. 57 Grant of 36 Henry VIII. in Augmentation Office. Dugdale, iv. 180. 58 Beauties of England and Wales, Warwickshire, p. 289. CHAPTER III. ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY OP THE CHURCH & MONASTERY MAGNIFICENCE OF THOSE EDIFICES THEIR PRESENT REMAINS. THE situation chosen by bishop Ecgwin as the site of his monas- tery was as is usual with such institutions the most eligible and beautiful in the vale. Its exact position was upon that genial bank immediately southward of the present town. Here the conventual church and monastic quadrangle were erected, upon the garden ground that now immediately adjoins the parochial cemetery. The original church was founded in 701, but could hardly at that period have been built of stone : for in 960, the whole fell down ; the shrine and relics of the founder being all that were preserved. 59 In the reign of Edward the Confessor the church was re-built by abbot Mannie upon a larger scale, and was consecrated during his abbacy, only twelve years before the Norman conquest, by Leofwine bishop of Lichfield. 60 When William had secured himself upon the English throne, and the possessions of this abbey, in common with others, had been transferred to a Norman ecclesiastic, Walter of Cerasia, the new 59 " Tempore istius abbatis Oswardi occulta animadversione dominica ecclesia Evesham ruit quam sanctus Egwinus coiistruxerat, ac secum universa submit atque comminuit prseter feretrum sancti Egwini cum ejusdem reliquijs quod divina gratia conservatum est illsesum." Cottonian Register, Vesp. B. 60 " He [bishop Aldred] commissioned bishop Leofwine to consecrate the minster at Evesham; and it was consecrated in the same year, (1054) on the sixth before the ides of October." Saxon Chronicle, by Ingram, p. 243. 40 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. abbot, apparently dissatisfied with the building so recently erected, began to construct upon its site a church, which like other Anglo- norman edifices was destined to eclipse both in extent and workman- ship the more confined and simple structures of the Anglo-saxon dynasty. " The wily jEgilwin " his Saxo-nonnan predecessor, if we may by this epithet be allowed to indicate the subserviency of that abbot to the oppressor of his own nation had left four chests of silver toward thus re-building his church ; which having been expended in the work, and money still being required, we learn that abbot Walter sent the shrine or feretory of St. Ecgwin through the kingdom attended by his monks, to operate impulsively upon the charity and piety of the faithful ; and thus collected donations to- ward the completion of the work. 61 By this assistance the crypt, crowd, or undercroft, of a new church, the chancel over it, with the supporting arches and first story of the central tower, were built during this abbacy. The most sacred portion of the fabric being thus completed, it is probable that the church was consecrated at that time. It having been usual with the Normans, when erecting these more spacious edifices, to complete and consecrate the choir before the other portions of the fabric were finished, or even, some- times, begun. 62 Nothing further seems to have been completed during the space of nearly forty years ; when abbot Reginald added the transepts, which were distinguished as St.Ecgwin's and St. Oswald's 63 erected a portion of the nave, and probably completed the central tower ; since it is recorded that he cast two large and two smaller bells. He likewise proceeded with the cloisters, previously begun ; and encompassed the abbey and its cemetery with a lofty wall. Of the latter a portion remains entire, abutting against the bell-tower at the north ; other portions also occur parallel with the church of Saint Lawrence. But little seems to have been done during the 61 Extracts Particula de Gestis Abbatum. ffarleian MS. 3763. 63 Compare Mr. Bentham's remarks upon ecclesiastical founders soon after the conquest, in his History of Ely Cathedral. 83 Duo brachia, scilicet Sancti Egwini, et Saiicti Oswaldi." Acts of Abbots in Harleian MS. 3763. HISTORY OF EVBSHAM. 41 next twelve years, when abbot Adam, in 1161, assisted by the dean of Wells " and other well-disposed persons," finished the nave or body of the church, thus completing the edifice. He then, under the superintendence of " Master Adam Sortes," one of the monks, commenced a bell- tower ; usually an edifice distinct from the church, and appropriated chiefly to the reception of the great clock and bell of the monastery. The same abbot likewise constructed much of the cloister. 64 About the year 1215, the church so recently completed received great injury by the fall of its central tower. The cause of an ac- cident so unusual in Anglo-norman workmanship is not assigned. Indeed the circumstance itself is only incidentally noticed in the Cottonian chronicle, among the 'good works' of de Marleberg j 66 who, before his elevation to the abbacy, superintended the repairs rendered necessary by the accident. The choir must on this occa- sion have been almost destroyed ; since the above individual rebuilt the walls of the presbytery, five of its arches, and its aisles. He also repaired the other parts of the church ; restored its injured shrines and painted windows, inserting in the great window of the chancel eastward the miraculous legend of St. Ecgwin, and commenced the re-edification of the central tower. Unwearied in the prosecution of architectural improvements, he at the same time contributed pecuniarily toward the completion of the bell-tower begun by Adam Sortes, and painted the interior of the first chapter-house. A fatality seems to have attended the towers of St. Ecgwin. In little more than forty years from the date of its erection, the bell- tower of abbot Adam which occupied the site of that at present standing fell to the ground. In 1261, as we learn from the Wor- cester annals, its summit had been burned by lightning; 66 but that injury had, according to Leland, been repaired in 1278. 67 With reference to this conflagration, it is worthy of remark that, while the annals of most other ancient monasteries abound with records of devastating fires, no other instance of injury by that agent occurs among the chronicles of this abbey. 64 Harleian Register, 3763. M De Bonis Operibus Prioris Thorn. 66 Annales Ecclesise Wigorniensis, anno 1261 : in Wharton's Anglia Sacra. 67 Lelandi Collectanea, torn. i. p. 248. 42 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. In 1295 a new chapter-house was commenced by abbot De Broke- hampton. As, according to the Harleian cartulary, a chapter or conventual council was holden in that year, to make provision for the completion of this, as well as minor erections, noticed as then just commenced. Its erection was undertaken by Henry Lathom Latomus or stone-cutter one of the monks ; and was completed by him, according to the manuscript cited by Leland, in 1317. The same abbot built also that side of the cloisters next the chap- ter-house and erected a library over it, as a study for the monks. During the same abbacy, Henry Lathom built also the refectory of the abbey, the great hall, the abbot's hall, and the great kitchen. A century elapsed before circumstances permitted the final res- toration of the central tower of the church. This was at length effected during the abbacy of William de Chyryton, by William Stowe the sacristan, in 1319. Henry Lathom, whom we have pre- viously noticed as an architect of the monastery, died, according to Leland, in the same year ; but a successor in the art was, as we here perceive, readily found among the inmates of the convent. The abbey church rendered thus complete in all its portions and appurtenances, the only addition that abbot Lichfield apparent- ly could devise to augment its general magnificence was effected by adorning the interior of the choir with the luxuriant decorations of Tudor architecture. 68 The generation that witnessed this em- bellishment, beheld likewise the utter destruction of the fabric. A demolition so unsparing, that Leland, who visited the spot but a very few years after, gives no further intimation of this splendid pile with all its cathedral-like accompaniments, than may be col- lected from this single phrase "the late abbey." Mr. Abingdon also who viewed the site about eighty years later writes, that so absolute was its overthrow, that nothing then remained but "a huge deal of rubbish overgrowne with grass." 69 His further observations respecting its former magnificence are particularly disappointing. Since instead of some definite description, which we conclude might then have been gleaned, he seems to have been content with record- 68 " He builded much about the quire, in adorning it." Leland. Itin. vol. iv. p. 69. 53 MS. Survey of Worcestershire, in Library of Antiquarian Society, Somerset House. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 43 ing the mere local gossip or vague popular tradition of the day. Such as stating the number of pillars which the church was said to have contained, and then proceeding to glance with tantalizing brevity at what he calls " a very great and curious walk to go at certain times to the little church to celebrate mass," which church, he adds, is now the parish church of St. Lawrence. Brown Willis, writing about the year 1750, merely observes "What sort of fabric the abbey church was, I have no where found, except that it had a high tower in the middle. The abbey, with the cloysters, offices and monuments, was so intirely demolished after the dissolution, that nothing now remains but the said high tower, which stands in the abbey cemitery, and was built by abbat Lichfeild." 70 But in this imperfect account the writer only confounds the central tower of the abbey church, then totally destroyed, with the bell-tower of abbot Lichfield, which stood entirely distinct from that edifice, and which still remains. More successful than these precursors, the present writer believes that he shall be enabled from the authorities referred to in former portions of this chapter, as well as from observations collected during the late excavation of the foundations of the church, chapter-house, and cloisters, to present a tolerably distinct account of the archi- tecture and extent of the church, as well as of some portions of the monastery. The excavation referred to, was carefully effected by Edward Rudge, esq. the owner of the site, at intervals between the years 1811 and 1834. But the foundations of the church and chapter-house, after the completion of measurements for the con- struction of a ground-plan, were to a considerable extent taken up and removed. The area of the cloisters was entirely dug over, soon after, by the late Mr. Welch, who then owned that portion ; but in this instance unfortunately without any pains to form a ground- plan the entire foundations were broken up and burned on the spot for lime. The abbey church, we find from the conventual manuscripts, was colloquially termed " the great church," in order to distinguish it from the two comparatively insignificant churches that adjoined it, and which we consider might have been both included within the 70 Willis's Mitred Abbeys, vol. i. p. 90. 44 HI8TOEY OF EVESHAM. area of its walls. Its outline was, in unison with the religious no- tions of the period, in form of a Roman cross. It extended from east to west about 300 feet, and consisted of a nave, transept and choir, held together, as it were, by a lofty central tower rising upon the intersection of those divisions. The choir, and chapel of the Virgin, stood in the meadow called the cross-churchyard ; the tran- sept or great cross aisle joined the former at north and south, in a line with the existing archway in the garden of the abbey-house ; and westward of the transept, the nave or body of the edifice, with its lateral aisles, extended along the ground now walled in and parcelled out, lying between the cloister-gardens and the bell-tower. The chapter-house was in the cross-churchyard, a little eastward of the existing archway there; the cloisters were adjacent to the same arch, but extended round the present plot of garden westward ; and the arch of the chapter-room opened into the cloisters. The bell-tower at present remaining, adjoined the transept and stood parallel with it, toward the north. The ground-plan formed by Mr. Rudge, while pursuing his re- searches, has recently been published by the Antiquarian Society, of which that gentleman is a member. 71 By relying upon the most decisive portions of that survey, at the same time adopting the suggestions supplied from personal observation and an acquaintance with the ground-plans of similar structures the present writer is enabled to complete such an outline of the fabric, as viewed in connection with the existing edifices included in the accompanying plan, will he trusts be found to convey a distinct and, as far as practicable, a correct idea of the form and situation of the abbey church and its appendages, now so entirely destroyed. The foundations of the nave or body of the church marked A in plan appeared in situ, with the exception of the southern wall, upon removing the accumulated rubbish beneath the surface and reaching the original level of the soil. This portion, erected in the twelfth century, presented even in its ruined basement sufficient indications of the massive grandeur of the Anglo-norman style : the bases of cylindrical columns of vast diameter being found in their original position next the aisles, upon a floor retaining vestiges of 71 In Vetusta Monumenta, vol. v. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 45 the glazed or encaustic tiles that once formed the pavement. These bases with a portion of their shafts have been removed with several other fragments, such as mullions, bosses, and architraves, together with three stone coffins also found to a plantation adjoining the residence of Mr. Rudge, about a mile distant from the town. But [Pillars from the Nave of the Great Church.] as the pillars of the nave, when found in their original situation stood within a walled enclosure, it is matter of deep regret that this portion of the foundations, at least, was not suffered to remain in its ancient position ; as it would in that situation have been se- cured from injury, and might thus have displayed for many years the actual basis a most interesting ground-plan of the chief portion of the Great Church of Evesham, now utterly thrown down. The transept or great cross aisle marked E, F in plan erected in the same century, was doubtless of corresponding style ; an opinion which the bases of its ponderous walls corroborated. The choir and chancel, or portion peculiarly devoted to the per- formance of religious offices, having been rebuilt in the middle of the thirteenth century, when the lancet-arch style of architecture 46 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. was at its zenith, most probably displayed much of the general ap- pearance still observable in Salisbury cathedral. Excepting that at a subsequent period it received additions of a later character from abbot Lichfield's hand. Of this important portion, however, no vestiges remained ; for the choir being seated upon the Norman crypt or subterranean story marked H in plan the basement of the choir was wholly swept away in breaking up, after the Disso- lution, the arched covering of the crypt or undercroft ; which latter portion was also at the same time destroyed, except its basement represented in the plan. Here then we see the bases of the sub- terranean piers and bulky columns, on which were wrought the well-compacted vaults that sustained the pavement of the choir and chancel aisle, with all their weight of masonry piers, arches, mo- numents, altars, screens, and shrines. Between the pillars of the nave and crypt marked D in plan are shown the bases of the four piers that once sustained the central tower. That structure, as having fallen and been rebuilt during the fourteenth century, presented, we may consider, all that beauty of outline and richness of decoration which distinguish that period. From incidental notices in the conventual registers, we learn that this structure was distinctively termed " the great tower ;" and the distances from pier to pier, seen in the plan, prove that it far ex- ceeded in diameter, as it doubtless did in height, the remaining and adjacent bell-tower. The easternmost division of the crypt marked I in plan must have sustained a transverse aisle or lesser transept, immediately behind the choir. This aisle has by a recent writer been consid- ered as having " probably formed the Lady Chapel ;" 72 which was that division of the church peculiarly appropriated to the worship of the Virgin Mary. But the limited width of this passage only about sixteen feet across from east to west forbids that supposition : more especially as intimations abound in the conventual registers of the importance of the Lady Chapel here and, by inference, of its extent. The aisle above adverted to, was most probably that restored 72 Memoir, by Edward John Rudge, esq. M.A., F. S. A., published by the Anti- quarian Society, in Vetusta Monuments, vol. v. page 4. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 47 by Thomas de Marleberg, after the fall of the central tower, wherein he caused a lectern or reading-stand to be placed ; where likewise stood the altar of St. John the Baptist, and St. Wilsin's tomb. 73 The usual situation of the Lady Chapel would place it eastward of the aisle just noticed. Its probable extent as appended to such a church as this of Evesham, would be between sixty and one hun- dred feet from west to east. The two projections in the masonry lettered J in plan appear to mark the junction of the north and south walls of this chapel with the aisle or lesser transept eastward of the choir. From the notice of consecration preserved in one of the registers the Lady Chapel here must have been added by abbot Brokehampton about the year 1294 : 74 "this supplement to churches having " in the language of a recent writer " been wholly un- known to the ecclesiastical structures of Norman origin." 75 Our opinion respecting the period of its erection is corroborated by the following inscription, which one of the registers records as then appearing on the altar-screen of this chapel, beneath paintings il- lustrating the impious acts of the Herods : " Perpetuis annis animae sit vita Johannis Patris Eveshamise, qui sic altare Mariae Sumptibus ornavit. Ric. opus reparavit. Pictor Martensis habitator Londoniensis. Herod Herod Ascolonita necat pueros Antipa. Johannem Agrippa Jacobum servans in carcere Petrum." 76 From the Institutes of abbot Randulph, as also from two other 73 " Retro chorum in ecclesia Evesham .... juxta tumba Sci. Wlsini." Colt. Register, Vespasian B xxiv. 74 After enumerating various altars in the abbey church consecrated here in 1295, by the bishop of St. Asaph, the manuscript thus concludes " In crastino Sancti Eg- wini [January 11] Capellam Beat Mariae." Cott. MS. Vitellius E in Stevens. 75 Cursory Disquisition on the Conventual Church of Tewkesbury, 8vo. p. 47. 76 }fl a y the soul of abbot John of Evesham live for ever, who thus at his own charge adorned the altar of the blessed Mary. Richard [de Bromesgrove] repaired the work. The painter was Marten, an inhabitant of London. " Herod the Ascolonite destroying the Infants Herod Antipas keeping John Herod Agrippa keeping James and Peter in prison." Versus in tabula super altare Bentce Mariae, in Cott. MS. Nero D iii. fol. 246. 48 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. documents, we learn that the furniture of this altar was of costly description ; that the chapel was in charge of a special officer ; and that as many as sixty lamps and tapers were lighted here, several of which burned incessantly. 77 The tombs of abbots Bromesgrove and Wykewane were also situated here, as well as that of Walter de Gloucester, one of the benefactors of the monastery, for the repose of whose soul certain rents were assigned from the profits of the manor of Batlington, to provide two chaplains who should celebrate masses, and likewise perform hymns in honor of the blessed Virgin in the chapel dedicated to her, where the body of the said Walter lay buried. 78 In concluding our observations respecting this chapel, it is proper to correct an error which previous writers have maintained. The fabric is in the conventual registers termed Capella Sanctce Marice in Cryptis, which has hitherto been rendered " in the crypts." Now although small chapels for solitary masses are occasionally to be traced even in those subterranean structures yet the character of the individual to whose honor the Lady Chapel was specially de- voted, precludes the supposition that the service of the Queen of Heaven as the Romish church regarded her the impersonation of purity, and brilliancy, and beauty was to be presented in the low murky vaults of a charnel-like undercroft. In the manuscript record of De Marleberg's restoration of the presbytery it is expressly stated that he repaired the roofs of the aisles [cryptarum] adjoin- ing. 79 This employment of the term leaves it indubitable that aisles, or vaulted passages above ground, were intended ; and there- fore the chapel of the Virgin, connected with these aisles, was thus evidently level with the adjacent portions of the fabric. The fact of there having been as we shall shortly prove a second chapel dedicated to the Virgin, which was situated apart from the church, is sufficient to account for the distinction. The interior of the church from the western entrance of the nave 77 Cottonian MSS. Augustus II. and Vitellius E xvii. 78 Cottonian MS. Nero D iii. fol. 242. 79 " Et ipsum presbyterium, cum tectis cryptarum presbyterio adjacentibus." Cottonian MS. Vespasian B xxiv. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. to the extremity of the eastern aisle, as depicted in the plan, was 281 feet ; of which the nave, continued beneath the area of the central tower, occupied 157 feet. The transept was 116 feet from north to south ; the width of the nave and aisles 70 feet, and that of the transept 32. If we further estimate the length of the Lady Chapel at only 70 feet, the length of the church would then have been 350 feet in the whole. The number of altars, for celebration of private masses, erected in various parts throughout the church, exclusive of the high altar in the chancel, must have been considerable. The following are gleaned from the conventual registers, where they are incidentally mentioned. The altar of St. Mary, in her chapel; 80 St. John the Baptist's; 81 that of St. Thomas the Martyr [Becket] ; w of the Holy Trinity, St. Stephen's, St. Mary Magdalene ; ra St. Peter's, St. Anne's; 84 St. Ecgwin's at the north of the nave, that of Holy Cross opposite; 85 and the altar of Jesus, erected in the nave also. 86 The following were situated either in the aisles or in the crypt [in cryptis], and were consecrated by the bishop of St. Asaph in the year 1295, the altar of St. Jacob and the Apostles, that of St. Blase, St. Benedict's, and St. Andrew's. 87 The sanctity of the fabric was presumed to be yet further aug- mented by its enclosing within its walls the relics of several reputed saints and martyrs. Among these were the bodies of St. Ecgwin the founder, of St. Wulsin bishop and confessor, and of Symon de Montfort earl of Leicester, who though not admitted to the calendar was for a long time venerated by the English as both saint and martyr, and at whose tomb in the choir numerous miraculous cures 80 Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. fol. 239 ; in Dugdale's Monasticon, page 40. 81 Ib. fol. 228 ; copied in Dugdale's Monasticon, page 34. 82 Ib. fol. 10 ; copied in Tindal's History of Evesham, at foot of page 100. 83 Harleian MS. 3763, fol. 201 ; Section inscribed " Solutiones Sacristarii per Annum diversis Officiariis." 84 Cottonian MS. Vesp. B xxiv. De bonis operibus Prior. Thomse. 85 Cottonian MS. Nero D iii. fol. 246 ; copied in Dugdale, page 12, uote. 86 Mr. Abingdon's MS. Notice of the burial-place of abbot Norton. 87 Cottonian MS. Vitellius E fol. 228 ; in Dugdale, page 34. 50 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. are recorded as having been wrought. 88 Here were also shrines of elaborate workmanship enclosing the relics or entire remains of St. Wistan king and martyr, of St. Odulph, and of St. Credan, together with the shrines of St. Wulsin 89 and St. Ecgwin. The splendour of these receptacles may be judged from that which is recorded of St. Ecgwin's shrine. This was constructed by abbot Mannie in the eleventh century who is noticed in the chronicle as the best goldsmith of his time and was formed of gold adorned with precious stones, so that when surrounded by the accompani- ment of burning tapers the light of its jewels was visible through great part of the church. 90 South of the church, as indicated in the plan, slight traces of the cloisters were observed. These being appropriated to the study and recreation of the monks and forming likewise a covered and glazed communication between the church and monastery appear- ed in the usual situation, at the junction of the transept with the nave ; and must have formed, when entire, an open quadrangle of about 130 feet diameter. Two sides of the cloisters were glazed, as well as paved, by abbot Ombresley. 91 Near the eastern walk of the cloisters the foundations of the Chapter-room, built by abbot Brokehampton, occurred ; of which enough remained to prove that the apartment was decagonal, as shewn in the plan, with a groined ceiling sustained by a central column, as may still be seen at Salisbury and at Wells. Here, as in the latter instances, the apartment was ample, about fifty feet across ; the chapter-room of our larger monasteries being daily used by the fraternity, who met here after matins to hear occasional sermons, to commemorate deceased brethren, and to receive breves communi- cating intelligence of the death of other monks. Here also offenders 88 Miracula Symonis de Montfort, in Cottonian MS. Vespasian A vi. 89 " Wulsin or Wilsius was appointed abbot of Westminster by St. Dunstan about the year 958, and was after his death reverenced as a saint." Stevens' Additions to Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. page 281. 90 " In quo erant tres lapides magnam partem ecclesiee illuminantes." Harleian MS. 3763, De Gestis Allatum. 91 " Et aedificavit unam panam claustri contiguam ecclesise cum vitris et pavimen- tis pro dicto pano et uno alio." Harl. MS. 3763 ; De Gestis Albalum. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 51 were accused, and chastisement was administered. The last offices also were performed here over the bodies of deceased members, prior to their interment in the area of the cloisters or in the adjacent burial-ground. 92 [Monka performing the last offices.] Having thus completed a general survey of the destroyed church, let us anxiously search after its few and obscure vestiges, which a minute examination will present to us as still retaining though shattered and degraded their original and once proud position. Where are they to be found 1 In the low wall that separates the parish burial-ground at its south-eastern part from the adjoining gardens. Here portions of the wall of the north aisle of the nave may be discovered, and in the same wall half-buried in a dust-pit formed in the churchyard, within what is regarded as consecrated ground the jambs of the great entrance to the church may be discerned, which stood within the northern porch, looking toward the town. A rough and ruined mass of masonry within the gardens, opposite the chantry of St. Lawrence church, serves barely to indi- 92 Decretals of Lanfranc, iu Fosbroke's British Monachism, 8vo. vol. ii. p. 157. The Illustration inserted in the text, is copied from the title-page of the exquisitely illuminated MS. Valerius Maximus, in Harleiau Collection, No. 4374. 52 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. cate the situation of the western front, and thus sums up the brief memorials that point out to us the actual situation of the abbey- church. Yes ! here " bells tolled to prayers ; and men of many humours, various thoughts, chanted vespers, matins, and round the little islet of their life rolled for ever the illimitable ocean, tinting all things with its eternal hues and reflexes. How silent now ; all departed, clean gone. The devouring time-demons have made away with it all." 93 Toward the buildings so immediately adjacent to the church as well as so intimately connected with it, as almost to form a portion of that solemn pile, it will be well in the next place to direct at- tention. Of the remains of these and few they are in number the arch of entrance to the chapter-room has been remarkably pre- served amid the protracted, because repeated, devastation which has removed every sculptured relic of the once adjacent church. It stands embedded in a portion of the outer wall of the eastern cloister, whence it conducted through a spacious vestibule to the interior of the chapter-house. The arch is gradually embowed, and includes in its receding architrave a double row of niches, with ornamental canopies, wherein were formerly enshrined the effigies of saints and martyrs, twenty in all ; most of which, though now decapitated, yet maintain their seats, exhibiting, even in their present mutilated condition, a pleasing specimen of the sculpture of the time. The figures are said to have been decollated so recently as the middle of the last century, till which period they had been preserved by a Mr. Rogers who held the property upon lease ; but he having a wayward son, the youth is said to have thus wilfully mutilated them, to annoy his father on account of a denial which he had received to some request. The back of the archway is disfigured by modern plaistering, and even the sculptured architrave is made to prop a despicable hovel, which is actually reared against its tabernacled canopies. It is additionally painful to remark that all the pro- jections are fast crumbling away beneath an exposure which the builder could not anticipate, and that no later hand attempts to screen from dissolution this last relic connected with the extirpated church. The new edition of Dugdale's Monasticon has perpetuated 93 Carlyle's Past and Present, book ii. chapter '2. HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. 53 an erroneous conclusion of Mr. Tindal's, by terming this arch " the principal entrance to the abbey." 94 [Entr of the Chapter home.] The bell-tower, happily preserved, remains almost in that perfect state in which it passed from its founder's hand. It was commenced by abbot Lichfield about the year 1533, as a receptacle for the clock and great bell of the monastery, and at the same time as a gatehouse to the conventual cemetery. 95 We have named this year, from a 94 Edition by Caley, Ellis, and Bandinel, vol. ii. page 12. 95 " He made a right sumptuous and high square tower of stone in the cemetary of Evesham. This tower had a great bell in it and a goodly clock, and was as a gatehouse to one piece of the abbey." Leland's Itinerary, vol. iv. page 72. Willis 54 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. presumption that as the erection of the finely-proportioned tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, occupied six years, 96 the present struc- ture must have required a similar period ; and it being apparent as we shall shortly notice that the fabric was scarcely finished at the resignation of its founder in 1539, the year above mentioned would give the period of its commencement. Its situation must have so nearly adjoined the church, that the northern transept abutting almost against it, would thus conceal its lower stories on the south : a reason for the absence of much ornament on that side, as also for that departure from uniformity observable in the window of its upper part. The sacerdotal architect, in his construction of this tower, has with correctest taste, preferred the style of a preceding era, to the already debased manner of his own day : so that, in the absence of direct evidence to the contrary, its distinctive features might appro- priate it to the reign of Henry the Sixth. The fabric is square ; strengthened from base to parapet by graduated buttresses with panelled fronts. Its east and western faces exactly correspond ; each being divided into three compartments. The first includes a spacious archway, under an ogee canopy with crockets and an elaborate finial ; in the second is a window of considerable size, canopied in the same manner, and filled with tracery of very grace- ful form ; and the upper story includes a pair of narrower windows, beneath a double ogee with crockets and concluding finials. Both these fronts are entirely covered, save where arches occur, with panelled mullions under foliated transoms : and the whole is sur- mounted by an embattled parapet delicately pierced, and crowned with tapering pinnacles appropriately wrought. The fabric stands upon a basement twenty-eight feet square, and its height to the summit of the pinnacles is 110 feet. From the Dineley Manuscript, circ. 1684 cited by Mr. E. J. Rudge as then in the possession of Sir T. E. Winnington, bart. 97 we glean some supposes that the great bell continued till the Dissolution, and was then melted down toward forming the present peal. 96 Dallaway's Observations on English Architecture, page 126. 97 Short Account of the History and Antiquities of Evesham. 12mo. Evesham, 1820, page 56. HISTOKY OP EVESHAM. 55 minute particulars respecting the dial and the bells with which this clock-tower was at that time furnished. " The tower of Clement Lichfield is built of freestone; its dial [apparently above the western front of the archway] besides the hour of the day, sheweth the age of the moon ; on the other side of its arch, over it, is an anchor in an escutcheon with this circumscription, " Qui gloriatur in Dno. glorietur." Some vestiges of the anchor and inscription are still discernible above the archway to the east. The bells were at that period six, and the then tenor was inscribed "Etemis annis resonet campana Joannis." Of the present peal, eight in number, the seven first are inscribed with the date 1741 ; the eighth only being dated earlier, as cast in the mayoralty of Edward Cugiey, A. D. 1631. The ancient and characteristic dial having given place to a modern clock with double front, we cannot but continue to urge upon the parishioners the propriety of removing that piece of carved absurd- ity which, without any manner of purpose, has long been placed above the western dial-plate, veiling the chaste tracery of the upper windows, and thus detracting from the aspect of the structure, in the same degree that a portrait of an individual would suffer by concealing the eyes. In fact no other dial-face, if any such be needed, should be suffered to appear in such a situation than one composed of two concentric iron circles, united by Roman numerals riveted upon both, or cast with them entire. The uniform appearance of this structure, and the harmony of its design, annul a supposition which some have hazarded that the work was either not completed by the founder, or else not carried up to the original elevation of his plan. A general survey will readily prove that any increase in its height would materially have impaired the present graceful outline of the whole. Indeed the only parts that apparently required perfecting when its founder re- signed his dignity are a groined cieling within the archway, of which the imposts only are raised, and the upper portion of the newel staircase, now supplied by dangerous-looking ladders. In fact, of all this abbot's works, the bell-tower seems to have been an object of his highest pride. He recorded its erection on the painted glass inserted by him in the great east window of the abbey choir, and /5fi HISTORY OF EVESHAM. repeated it upon the brasses of his tomb, imploring in both in- stances the supplications of the faithful on that account. 98 Dr. Nash asserts, that this tower " was purchased by the towns- men for their own uses, and thus escaped the general wreck of the dissolution." 99 The doctor's assertion appears, however, to rest upon a passage in Willis ; where it has, confessedly, no better foundation than supposition. 100 But, in the absence of any known document to the contrary, the probability is, that it was presented to the townspeople by Sir Philip Hoby, or his heirs : it being assuredly included in that sweeping clause of the royal grant, which conveys to the said Philip " the house and site of the late dissolved monas- tery of Evesham ; and all messuages, houses, pools, vineyards, or- chards, gardens, land and soil, lying and being, as well within as without, and next and near the site, fence, compass, circuit and precinct of the same late monastery." 101 The site of the conventual cemetery extends athwart the eminence now occupied as a bowling green and pasture ground ; its public entrance being then, as now, the archway of the cemetery gate-tower. It also still retains its former popular appellation of "the Cross Churchyard ;" from whence we may infer that within this enclosure stood the preaching-cross, where sermons were customarily delivered in the open air : the churches of monasteries and cathedrals having originally been restricted to ritual services. At Worcester, the place for sermons is known to have been the cross which stood in the cathedral close ; and it was not till the destruction of that cross during the civil wars, that the place for sermons was appointed within the cathedral, and then it was situated at the bottom of the nave; 102 the introduction of preaching places into the choirs of our 98 " Orate pro anima Domini dementis Lychfeld sacerdotis, cujus tempore turris Eueshamise sedificata eat." Compare Wood's Athena Oxon. i. p. 4 ; also Abing- don's MS. as cited in our account of abbot Lichfield's grave, given in chapter viii. 99 Nash's History of Worcestershire, vol. i. page 410. 00 " Except the beautiful tower, standing separately ; the new erection of which might occasion the inhabitants, together with our abbot Lichfield, to plead its ransom, by purchasing it for their own use, when all the rest went down under the axes and hammers of the abhorrers of idols. ' Willis's Mitred Abbeys, vol. i. page 97. 101 Office Copy of Letters Patent, dated 30th July, 34th Henry VIII. 108 Green's History of Worcester Cathedral, page 141. HISTORY OP EVE8HAM. 57 collegiate churches being wholly of modern date. At Canterbury, the public preaching-place was till lately the chapter room, still called "the Sermon House;" and at Bristol, within the writer's memory, the whole congregation used to remove into the nave at the conclusion of the service to hear the sermon. There is yet another fragment pertaining to the once splendid church of Evesham, \vhich when such scanty vestiges remain it would not be right to leave unnoticed. This is a large and richly sculptured marble lectern, or reading-stand, which a late writer in the Archseologia regards as that noted in one of the registers as made by Thomas de Maiieberg, then sacristan ; 103 which was placed in the aile at the back of the presbytery, where the tomb of St. Wulsin stood. 1M But from the extreme simplicity of the mitre, crosier, and costume of the principal figure, we are rather disposed to identify it with an earlier period, and to regard it as the lectern which another register informs us was made by abbot Adam, for [Marble Lectern, from the Abbey.] employment in the chapter-room. 105 This opinion will appropriate its construction to the reign of Henry II. instead of that of Henry the Third. It is formed from one solid block of English marble, of very considerable weight, and is about two feet six inches square on 103 Paper from Edward Rudge, esq. F. S. A. in vol. xvii. IM a j) e fo on i s operibus prioris Thomse," in Cottonian MS. Vespasian B xxiv. 108 "Et Lecticum Capituli ipse fecit." Acts of Abbot Adam, in De Gestis Ab- batvm, Harleian MS. 3763. H 58 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. its upper surface. The sides and back are elegantly sculptured with ramous foliage intermixed with heads of cherubim in high relief. The front is similarly adorned, but from its centre issues a half- length figure with tonsure and cassock, having the right hand uplifted in that peculiar form with which the Romish bishops ac- companied their benediction, the left hand grasping the crosier or pastoral staff. The latter circumstance proves the figure to have been intended for a bishop. The only distinction between mitred abbots and prelates, in full array, having consisted in the position of the crosier ; this being held by an abbot in his right hand, but by a prelate in his left. The editors of Dugdale's Monasticon, new edition, remark, from a paper in the Archseologia, that this figure must have been intended for bishop Ecgwin because he " was the only abbot of Evesham who enjoyed that dignity." 106 The sup- position which regards the figure is probably correct ; the remark accompanying it is not so : because ^Elfward, abbot of Evesham in Canute's reign, was also bishop of London, holding his abbacy in commendam. ivf! The above curious relic lay for several years unre- garded in an open yard, whence it was afterward purchased at an auction with other stone, after which it remained for some time unnoticed. It is now in the possession of Robert Blayney, esq. of the Lodge, near Evesham. Having thus completed our survey of the church, we proceed to notice the remaining edifices of the convent. The monastic struc- ture immediately adjoined the abbey church and cemetery ; occu- pying, with its courts, gardens, fishponds, orchards, homestead, and park, the remaining portion of the peninsula ; being bounded by the river on the east, west, and south, while at the north a strong and lofty wall, stretching entirely across, insulated the monastic domain from encroachment or intrusion. This wall, built by abbot Chyryton, may readily be traced from the Avon near the bridge to the ancient gateway near the present vicarage-house, and again from the almonry to the ferry. It is in several places nearly entire, often twelve feet high, and uniformly about three feet in thickness. 106 Dugdale's Monasticon, edition by Caley, Ellis, and Bandinel, vol. ii. page 5. 107 See account of Abbot yElfward, in chapter v. of the present volume. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 59 In the governing charter of the borough it is distinctly noticed as "the abbey -park wall." The monastery itself with its subordinate buildings extended east and west from the second fishpond 108 to the present horse-road be- yond the almonry remains. The first or great quadrangle was entered through the grand gateway, which stood upon the site of the present abbey-house. Included in this quadrangle which must have reached from thence about midway toward the chapter-house arch was the private residence of the abbot ; much of which was built by Henry Lathom, and which comprised a hall, parlour, chambers, and chapel. The grand gate-house itself was built by abbot Chyryton, was embattled and strengthened by a tower or turret at the south ; it likewise included a chapel, as well as apartments for the watch. The second or cloistered quadrangle adjoined the former at the east. It had the nave of the church and one walk of the clois- ters at the north ; and on the east side, the chamberlain's residence, the chapter-house, and the library built over the eastern cloister by abbot Brokehampton. The south side was most probably occu- pied by the dormitory or sleeping-room for the monks, built over the southern cloister, uniform with the library over the eastern walk ; the refectory or dining hall would then lie parallel with the south cloister on the ground floor, the kitchen, buttery and cellar- age being, for convenience, also near. The outer quadrangle, called in the grant of Henry VIII. the almonry court, and there described as adjoining the gatehouse, 109 stood without the monastery, at the west ; having the almonry apartments yet partly standing, on the north, and the granary built by abbot Adam, with "a range of buildings called the storehouse," on the east and south. 110 As the stabling and inferior offices would probably here adjoin the granary and storehouse, this quadrangle would at the same time be that which 108 tt The lodging commonly called the chamberer's chamber, adjoining upon the abbots' pools, east." First Grant from Henry VIII. to Philip Holy, esq. 109 " fjjg buildings called ' almery/ adjoining to the gate at the coming unto the said late monastery on the north." First Grant to Philip Holy, esq. no it AH the range of buildings, called the storehouse, butting upon the tower of the abbey-gate north, and the garner south, and upon the almery west." First Grant of Henry VIII. 60 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. we find occasionally referred to as " the basse-court of the monas- tery," and also as the barton-court. This court would therefore have been entered by that embattled gateway erected by abbot Chyryton in the Barton, described as looking toward the town. 1U Of these extensive and multifarious erections, we now proceed to note their present scanty remains ; from which alone, as the anti- quary Grose has well observed in noticing this abbey, "we have every reason to conclude it of such magnitude, that out of Oxford and Cambridge there was not to be found so great an assemblage of religious buildings in the kingdom." 112 The grand gateway was standing at the time of Mr. Abingdon's visit, about the year 1640. He thus notices it " Let us but guess what this monastery, now dissolved, was in former days, by the gatehouse yet remaining ; which, though deformed with age, is as large and stately as any at this time in the kingdom." 113 As late as 1711, it is described in a deed of that date as " the abbey gatehouse with a way through the same ;" having been at that time unfortunately leased by John Budge, esq. for a term of 200 years to a person named Rogers, who was so far lacking in good taste, that dismantling this proud relic of the abbey he converted it into a dwelling, known as the abbey-house ; which with the adjoining garden-ground was, in 1836, conveyed to Edward Rudge, esq. in fee, and was soon after divided into tene- ments. The extraordinary thickness of the walls of the building, together with its peculiar form, give reason to believe that, exter- nally, a considerable portion of the original fabric, incorporated with more modern workmanship, still remains. During the removal of later outbuildings, in 1836, a portion of the southern wall, which had escaped the plaisterer and thus retained its original appearance, was exposed. This wall is formed of similar material to that con- structed by abbot Chyryton as the park-wall, and is undoubtedly an undisturbed portion of the grand gate-house built by him. The northern wall, retaining an ancient window in its upper part, formed 111 " Et imam portam in Bertona versus villam, et bene desuper kernellatum." De Gestis Abbatum, Harleian MS. 3763. 113 Grose's Antiquities of England, vol. ii. 113 MS. Survey of Worcestershire, in Library of Antiquarian Society, Somerset House. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 61 most probably the northern side ; the numerous traces of pointed arches that occur throughout the eastern wall, prove that portion to have constituted another part ; and the remarkable square pro- jection at the south-western quarter of the building, has decidedly an appearance of having originally formed the lower portion of that tower, which, from the royal grant as cited on page 59 we find then flanked this gateway at the south. Within, however, every thing is modern ; the original structure having been gutted throughout. Respecting the popular error, so unsatisfactorily noticed by Mr. Tindal on page 140 of his work, that the grand gateway of this abbey now stands at Coughton, the seat of the family of Throck- morton it is proper to observe, notwithstanding the decisive testi- mony of Mr. Abingdon already cited, that after minute examination of that gateway, the writer is convinced that the tradition has arisen from the mere circumstance of Sir George Throckmorton having held the office of high-steward to the monastery at the period of its suppression ; about which time he happened to enlarge his mansion, whether with or without materials from the dismantled abbey, is of no account. The gateway itself is certainly an imposing structure, having been intended as the entrance to the then moated manor- house. But an experienced eye will instantly perceive the futility of supposing that the structure could have been erected, in any situation, prior to the reign of Henry the Eighth. As a description, it may be sufficient to remark that the building is about sixty feet high, square, strengthened at the angles by octangular turrets, and embattled throughout. Both fronts are divided into three com- partments ; the first is occupied by a lofty groined archway faced with obtusely pointed arches, bearing the arms of Throckmorton in the spandrils and at the crown ; the upper stories include a spacious bay-window in each, partitioned by mullions, with their transoms plain. Between the windows, the arms and cognizances of Henry VIII. appear in stone. 114 114 To refute another popular error, which has pronounced the richly stained glass in Coughton church to be the spoil of Evesham abbey it is evident from Dug- dale's Warwickshire that this splendid addition to the church was made, prior to the Dissolution, in compliance with the will of Robert Throckmortoii, esq. Compart Dugdale's Warwickshire, page .560. 62 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. North of the abbey gate, and in the stable-yard now adjoining, seems to have stood the Chapel of the Charnel-house, built in the fourteenth century and dedicated to the Virgin Mary by abbot De Bois ; in which he placed her image, constructing also a chantry there, and appointing two chaplains to celebrate daily services in her honor, as well as masses for the souls of benefactors and others, mentioned by name. 115 As this chapel was distinct from either of the churches, being described as newly-erected in the cemetery and near the abbey gate, we consider it to have been built upon a crypt constructed for the reception of bones, of which an unusual number had probably been disturbed in the frequent interments caused by the fearful pestilence of 1348, which, as will hereafter be seen, ravaged this town and monastery. In the preceding century a similar structure had been completed near the monastery at Wor- cester, for a corresponding purpose. 116 In removing an oak-framed tenement in 1832 from the site at Evesham, the remains of a sub- terranean structure having the appearance of a charnel-house are understood to have been found. Adjoining the remains of the gatehouse, toward the south-west, stands a considerable portion of the almonry, almost in its original state ; distinguished by a low pine or gable next the street inclu- ding a large square window with plain mullions of stone. The ap- pearance of this unobtrusive range of olden building, seen through the vista of the neat and quiet street to which it is a termination, and under the light of an evening sun shooting its mellowed rays across the green in front of it, is fitted to remind us of the poetic peacefulness of earlier days. The effect was till lately much aug- 115 a j)e Sacerdotibus Celebrantibus in Capella ad Carnariam." Harleian MS. 3763 folio 16; also Tindal, page 194. Among the benefactors named, are Thomas earl of Warwick, Guido his son, Ralph earl of Stafford, Roger March, John Beau- champ son of Richard lord La Holt, and John de Guyting of Evesham. Of the last individual it is noted that he had " sustained much labor and expence in the erection of the said chapel." 116 " He [Bp. de Bleis] built the chapel of the charnel-house between his cathe- dral church and palace, and under it he made a large crypt for the better depositing of the bones of the dead. He dedicated it to St. Thomas the Martyr, and ordained that mass should be daily said therein for the repose of his soul and of the souls of his predecessors and of all the faithful." Dr. Thomas's Account of Bishops of Worcester, 4to. page 129. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 63 mented by the rich hue of a stately walnut-tree that rose behind, canopying the old gable with its umbrageous arms, till a tempestuous wind destroyed the appropriate accompaniment. But it is in a pro- jecting portion next the gardens that most of the original character is preserved. Here the basement story, which is stone-work, is in a considerable degree entire, although much of the upper part having shared the general destruction, is now supplied by timber- work and [Remains of the Almonry next the Gardens.] plaistering. The lower apartment here is of considerable size, and was once wainscoted with oak ; at the west is a characteristic fire- place, surmounted by a low pointed arch with carved spandrils, above which is a line of quaterfoils placed in squares, including the rose, portcullis, and other badges of Henry the Seventh. To the right of this fire-place, are considerable remains of what was once a very beautiful window, judging from the remains of tracery and a groined canopy in the head. The ceiling of the room is a modern addition, placed upon the old walls when broken down ; so that we do not at present see its original height. In the corridor adjoining, there is an ancient receptacle for a 64 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. cresset or lamp. It is formed of stone, with open sides surmounted by a spiral canopy, the style of which appropriates its construction to the thirteenth century. But here again, a modern ceiling placed upon the broken walls, has interfered with the original appearance. At the opposite end of this passage we find a considerable portion of another ancient apartment ; which, from the enormous opening of its fire-place sustained by a huge transverse beam, may reason- ably be supposed to have been employed in culinary preparation for the almonry guests, as well as for the poor and infirm among the townspeople. According to Mr. E. J. Rudge, a further portion of the almonry toward the east was taken down about the year 1786. 11 ? Eastward of these remains stands a considerable portion of the garner, but covered with a modern roof and now converted into cottages; and near it are vestiges of the storehouse, which "abutted upon the tower of the abbey-gate north, and the garner south, and upon the almery west." 118 The boundary wall, which may be traced from below the almonry down to the bank of the river, and already noticed as the work of abbot Chyryton, completes the present vestiges of this once extensive abbey and its architectural accompaniments. The stews that supplied the convent with fish during the frequent periods when its members were forbidden to partake of meat, were situated eastward of the cemetery. Three of these pools are still remaining. One is supplied with water from the spring that for- merly flowed through an ancient fountain noticed in one of the conventual manuscripts as that of St. Ecgwin, and described as situated here. 119 Whether this fountain anciently received worship, we cannot say, but the 26th canon of archbishop Anselm, so late as the reign of Henry I. expressly forbad worship to be paid to fountains. The site of this well is visible upon the margin of the nearest pond. The farthest pool must have been very capacious, though now employed as an osier-bed. The embankments and sluices are throughout nearly entire. In these ponds were deposited the fish, principally eels, in which the occupiers of the different mills upon 117 Short Account of the History and Antiquities of Evesham, page 63. 118 First Grant to Philip Hoby esq. 119 Cottonian Register, Vespasian B xvii. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 65 the river, belonging to the abbey, were bound to pay their rents. On viewing the singularly beautiful eminence above, known as the cross-churchyard, the spectator cannot but regret that these ponds are not so far preserved as to become what they then immediately would be additional ornaments in a plot of ground so eligible as a breathing-place to the numerous inmates who possess not the advantage of an open garden near their residence in the town. We have thought much and often of the further ' capabilities ' of this spot, in connection with the subject of planting. Whether at any future period the burgesses will desire to obtain a lease of the ground, as a place for recreation, we must wait to know. Among the fragments of the monastery, which we are bound to notice, is some delicately carved panelling of oak, preserved in a summer-house upon premises of the late Mr. Lavender in High- street, built early in the last century by Mr. Thomas Cookes. The panels are oblong and are seven in number, separated by mullions which include small effigies carrying shields, standing under spiral canopies. Tracery in unison with that employed in windows of the Tudor style occurs in the head of each panel, and also in the sur- base. In the latter situation the central panel presents within an enriched quatrefoil the addition of a mitre and crosier in pale, with the monogram C. L. which at once identifies it with the additions made in abbot Lichfield's time to his church and monastery. The panels would seem to have formed part of a wainscot within one of the private apartments of the abbot, and the reader may judge of their appearance from the die which we have employed as a frame to the gilt title stamped upon the back of this volume. The last subject that connects us with the internal arrangements of the conventual establishment is a chair of state, of dimensions suited to contain the lordly abbot in the plenitude of his array. It is of oak. The back arches above the head, the arm-pieces fall concavely, and the workmanship is nearly plain, excepting a rich band of vine -branches, interspersed with birds and quadrupeds, which forms a luxuriant border round the back and arms. On the latter two youthful figures emerge from out the foliage, like dryads "peeping forth from alleys green," and on the angles rise two chi- merse with ecclesiastical-looking heads. The height of this massy piece of furniture is 5 feet 6, and the width 3 feet 9 inches. The style 66 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. of decoration is precisely that of our collegiate stalls of the fourteenth century, with the exception of the shield bearing the arms of the abbey, within the back. Mr. Rudge, the proprietor, has reason to conclude that it originally occupied the chapter-room ; and though the carving is so peculiarly bold it is gratifying to add that it re- 1 Conventual Chair.] mains uninjured. After the dissolution, we learn that it became a fixture in the almonry, and in 1664 passed with the abbey site into the hands of Edward Rudge, esquire, citizen and alderman of London. Mr. Cookes the steward of the estate, to secure it from injury, removed it in the following century to his own residence, where it was afterward sold with the effects of Dr. Baylis his son- HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. 67 in-law. Mr. Beaufoy the purchaser removed it to Lambeth, and from him it passed to Mr. Biddle of Wycomb, from whom it came to Sir Thomas Baring, bart. who in 1835 restored it to the original family by presenting it to Edward Rudge, esq. by whom it is now preserved in the hall of his mansion. Thus brief are the existing vestiges of our once wide-spreading monastery. So limited, that as far as respects the edifice we may well regard the yet standing Entrance- Arch, which we have just delineated, as the most important of the whole. And as we gaze once more upon that archway while the soft light of morning breaks through its rounded contour, amid the foliage of the gar- den we thank the hand that originally preserved to us this one memorial of the cloistered pile ; and trust that in its present actual situation it will long remain affected by no other agent than the gentle touch of Time. CHAPTER IV. BENEDICTINE USAGES REGULATIONS OF THIS MONASTERY- CONVENTUAL AND OTHER ANCIENT SEALS. IN the preceding chapter we have traced the various divisions of that important structure which with its dependencies originally formed great portion of the town. There, after completing a circuit of the church and its cloistral communication with the residence of the community, we have passed from quadrangle to quadrangle, surrounded by monastic halls and corridors and chambers, and now we naturally turn from those voiceless memorials of a bygone system, to some consideration of the devoted inmates whom those walls enclosed. To them their convent was the world, and every trivial incident within it was readily magnified into a memorable event. Various were doubtless the inducements that attracted can- didates toward its seclusion. Some would be drawn hither by the prospect of leisure for study and meditation ; some would be selected while youths, by the brethren, as evincing peculiar aptitude for the duties of the cloister ; and others would repair hither when wearied with the world, and sated with the emptiness of its once antici- pated, but wrongly sought after, gratifications. In unison with the Benedictine rule to which this monastery was subservient, and from the Regulations of which we shall chiefly deduce the ensuing observations one who applied for admission, was not to be immediately received. After waiting at the gate for several days, he might then be admitted to the guest-chamber, whence he was removed to the apartment for novices, where he re- mained two months. The rule of the order was then read before 70 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. him, and was thrice repeated during the term of his novitiate, which included twelve months. He then publicly professed in the church of the monastery before God and his saints, invoking the witness of the latter by the relics he at the same time embraced. Having read his profession, written with his own hand, he through the medium of the abbot deposited it upon the altar ; then kneeling exclaimed, " stablish me according to thy word, and let me not be disappointed of my hope." While he continued prostrate upon the steps of the altar, the prayers of the brethren were offered on his behalf; his secular garments were then removed, and he was vested in the habit of the order. At the conclusion of the ceremony the abbot greeted him with the kiss of peace, and being then led round the choir he received the like from each of the brethren. On the third day after, he presented himself before the abbot or whoever then celebrated mass ; when, after again receiving from him the kiss of peace, he partook of the communion. He was after- ward exhorted by the abbot to continue as he had begun, and then joined the convent. 120 Each member of the community was obligated by his vow to observe through life, poverty, chastity, and obedience. The distinc- tive garment of the Benedictines was a long black gown of serge, having a hood or cowl. Their beds, collectively placed in a dor- mitory, severally consisted of a mat, straw, and a pillow. Upon these they laid, clothed and girded, covered also by a blanket and a piece of serge while the feeble glimmering of a sickly lamp played on the emaciated features of each slumbering inmate. The brethren served during one week, by turns, in the kitchen and at the table. Their meals were only two, dinner and supper ; consisting of pulse, bread, and herbs. These were taken in the refectory ; each one eating his morsel apart in meditative silence, unbroken save by a solitary voice reading aloud from Scripture. Dinner was served at 130 The minuter details are here deduced from the chapter " De Professione Novi- tiorum," contained in a Manuscript originally belonging to this abbey, now in the Bodleian Library, numbered Barlow vii. fol, 61. In the remaining instances we are chiefly guided by the Douay edition of the Benedictine Rule ; the Statutes of Reformation, A. D. 1249 ; the Statutes of pope Gregory IX. inserted by Stevens in his Appendix to Dugdale's Mouasticon ; and the remarks of Dr. Lingard, in the fourth chapter of his Antiquities of the Auglo-saxon Church. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 71 noon, and supper at about seven in the evening. But on fast-days the former was their only meal, and it was then not eaten till three o'clock. Silence was to be so universally observed, that leave for speaking was seldom to be granted, even on sacred topics. Their day may be considered to have been thus divided, unva- rying from year to year. Eight hours were allotted to transcription, labour, and study ; nearly that number was absorbed in the ap- pointed services of their church ; six hours were occupied in sleep ; and the remaining two or three in staid and sober recreation. At two in the morning, they left their beds and congregated in the church for the nocturnal, called also lauds, the first liturgical service. That ended, they again retired. At six they rose for the day, proceeding then to prime or matins the morning prayers. At nine they again assembled in the church for tierce or thirds, the service so named, after which the daily sacrifice or grand con- ventual mass was offered with all the imposing ceremonials adopted by the Church of Rome. From thence the fraternity proceeded along the cloister to the chapter-house, for exhortation, conventual business, discipline, and individual correction ; as likewise for so- lemn observances occasioned by the death of any among their own community, or by tidings of the decease of other monks. At noon their fourth attendance in the church took place, for the observance of another service called sexte or sixths ; after which they dined. At three they were again summoned to the church, for the service termed the none. At six vespers were sung in the same place ; and at seven the concluding service, termed compline, was performed ; after which they supped and retired to rest. 121 The monks, and especially the novices, were confessed in the eastern cloister, before the services of prime and tierce. The confessional was in that aisle of the cloister, near the door of the chapter-house ; and the con- fessor was either the abbot in person, or some sage member of the order deputed by him to act in conjunction with one of the pri- ors. 122 Every month there was a general confession of all the 121 In the canons of ^Elfric, Saxon archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Ethelred II. the seven tide-songs are called Ught-song, Matin-song, Prime-song, Undern-song, Mid-day-song, None-song, and Night-song. Henry's History of Great Britain, book ii. chap. 2. sec. 5. 123 De Sessione Abbatis in Claustro. Barlow MS. folio 26. 72 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. members, from which none were excused ; and on the first Sunday of each month they were to receive the communion. But if any desired to abstain from communicating, he was to submit his reason to the abbot or prior, who should decide the point. 123 Such was the character of the almost mechanical observances to which a large mass of the population of our country once surren- dered their mental and corporeal energies, in hope of thus securing a celestial and unending reward. And, Reader, " hadst thou and I then been, who knows but we ourselves had taken refuge from an evil Time, and fled to dwell here, and meditate on an Eternity, in such fashion as we could ? " 124 But of the dubious tendency of reiterated formularies that important feature in the system to which we here advert, some faint conception may perhaps be formed by those accustomed to observe the disheartening operation of even a modified monotony in Protestant cathedrals ; which, un- alleviated by the shreds of Romish pageantry retained, 'fades in the mind and palls upon the sense.' The result is evidenced by the any thing rather than devotional demeanour engendered among those to whom the diurnal observances are delegated to an important extent. From a Manuscript preserved in the Bodleian library, describing the Offices, according to the usage of this monastery, and to which we have already referred, 125 we are enabled to extract minute par- ticulars respecting the performance of services in the abbey church. In a solemn procession thither, the junior members preceded the abbot, who occupied the centre of the line. In passing through the churchyards, they halted in that appropriated to the convent, 126 where the psalm De Profundis was repeated, and the absolution was given of all souls sleeping in Christ. Upon entering the church another pause ensued, while the absolution of all abbots resting there and of all the faithful departed, was pronounced. The monks then proceeded to the choir, while the abbot turning off to the 123 Statutes of pope Gregory IX. revised by Innocent IV. 184 Carlyle's Past and Present, book ii. chap. 3. 138 Officium Ecclesiasticum Abbatum, secundum usuni Eveshamensis Monas- terii. Barlow MS. number vii. 188 " Eat per fcemitf.ria, fiat statio in coemiterio monachorum." J/.S'. as above. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 73 right along the southern aisle repaired to his vestiary, where water in silver basins, with comb and towels, together with his ecclesiastical vestments, were placed. If the service were vespers, and he was pleased to officiate, he was preceded from his vestiary by the chaunters and priors, and in that manner entered the presbytery, 127 the bells at the same time striking up a peal. Then standing in his stall on the south side of the choir he, when the bells had ceased, commenced the service with the 70th Psalm. When the psalms were finished he received the censer from a senior, who on delivering it humbly kissed his hand. His chaplains then presented him with the gospel, and this he read with his mitre on. At the commencement of the Magni- ficat he placed incense in the censer, being assisted by a chaplain and a prior ; that done, they proceeded to the altar, chaunting. Here the abbot received the censer from his chaplain, who then supported his train while the abbot censed the altar, the shrines of Saints Ecgwin and Wistan, and Saint Wulsin's tomb. 128 Having returned to his stall, he pronounced the benediction at the close of the service, and retiring to his vestiary there unrobed. On those occasions when he celebrated mass, he upon entering the church repaired to his vestiary. Here taking off his mitre and cope, he put on the sandals and appurtenances ; having then washed his hands, he vested himself in the tunic and dalmatica, 129 while his chaplains and servants in attendance sang certain psalms. He then proceeded to the presbytery accompanied by the chaplains and a prior, preceded by a deacon bearing the crosier, a subdeacon carry- the text, 130 and the other ministers. At the Gloria they advanced to the altar-steps, where the deacon delivered the crosier to the 127 (c Ingrediens chorum superius." Barlow AfS. fol. 2. 138 " Sicque incensetur altare a dextris et a sinistris, propterea feretrum S. Egwini, deinde feretrum S. Wistani, praeterea tumba S. Wulsini." Barlow MS. fol. 3. 129 The tunic forms part of the sacerdotal under-dress, and is of thin light silk. The dalmatica is a large white garment with loose sleeves, worn over the other vestments. 130 The text was a book of the gospels with an image of Jesus or the Virgin on the cover, which was kissed after the words "pax vobiscum." The pax-bord was substituted at a later period. K 74 HISTOBY OF EVESHAM. abbot, and a chaplain taking off the mitre, the mass commenced. During this service the mitre was occasionally resumed, and again laid aside. After the communion the abbot washed his hands, put on his gloves and ring, resumed his mitre, and concluded mass in the usual manner. When vested for the altar, he wore the sandals in the seven great feasts, when distinctive psalms and antiphonars were sung. Other manuscripts relating to this abbey enable us to present further information respecting the internal arrangements of the convent, the functions of its officers, and the appropriation of cer- tain of its rents. The first is in the British Museum, is entitled the Institutes of Evesham Abbey, and was compiled about the year 1215. 131 The second is a similar but more concise document, in- cluding some additional particulars, and is preserved in the Aug- mentation Office at Westminster. This manuscript still retains the convent seal. 132 The third includes among various entries, notices respecting the duties of the principal officers of the establishment ; and this also is preserved in the British Museum. 133 By these au- thorities we shall now be principally directed in the details that follow. The Abbot, by his office a spiritual peer, was required constantly to reside within the limits of the convent of which he was supreme. His person, as representing that of Christ, was treated with pecu- liar reverence. 134 He commanded in all respects episcopal state and distinction, and was uniformly attended by his private chaplains. None were ever seated in his presence without his command, and nothing was ever received from or given to him by the brethren without humbly kissing his hand. No one even walked abreast with him, unless to the celebration of mass ; he was always to be 131 Cottonian MS. Augustus II. Num. XI. " Consuetudines Abbatia Evesham- ensis, prescripts, a Randulpho Abbate." iss 11 D e Consuetudinibus et Ordinationibus Officialium Seperalium in Abbatia de Evesham." In Augmentation Office: copied also in Dugdale, ii. page 23. 133 Harleian MS. 3763. 134 In the monastery he represents the person of Christ, being called by his title : as the apostle saith, " Ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry abba father." Rule of St. Benedict, from the Douay edition. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. accompanied by a chaplain, and after sun-down one of these inva- riably preceded him with a light, except while passing through the dormitory of the house. 135 His title is set forth in one of the [Abbot of Evesham, temp. Henry VIII. 1 royal grants as 'the Reverend Father in God the abbot of the monastery of our Lady Virgin and St. Ecgwin of Evesham.' 136 It was the office of the Prior to assist the abbot in preserving the strictest discipline, and next to him he was treated with the greatest respect. When he passed along the choir or cloister, all the brethren rose who were near him, till he sat ; in all other parts of the convent it was usual for them to continue standing while he 135 Harleian MS. 3763, folio 195. ise " The Reverend Father in God William Upton, abbott of the monastery of our Lady Virgin and Seynt Egwin, of Evesham." Grant to the Bailiffs of the Town, lid Edward TV. in Augmentation Office. Our engraving above is from the tomb of Abbot Hawford, in Worcester Cathedral. 76 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. passed. To the office of prior belonged all obventions and fees under common seal, and all the tythes of Bengeworth both great and small, arising from land there belonging to the convent. These were appointed to purchase parchment for the manuscripts em- ployed in transcription by the monks. To the same office belonged the hall at Bengeworth, with its crofts, meadow, vineyard, and garden ; as also those messuages in the croft which stood round the hall ; viz. from the house of Thomas Algar to the house of Walter Bellard. The Second Prior, called also the sub-prior, prior of the cloister, and preserver of order, uniformly attended the first prior ; in whose absence the punishment of offenders devolved upon this officer, ex- cept in serious cases. He was also particularly enjoined to preserve order among the brethren whilst in or about the cloister. To this office belonged one tenement with a court adjoining, situate in the High-street of Evesham on the western side, opposite to the gate by which vehicles entered the cemetery. 137 From this endowment the sub-prior was to furnish lamps in the cloister and certain cor- ridors of the monastery, during the time of procession to the church. The Third Prior is mentioned in the Institutes as the fourth con- ventual officer. His duty seems principally to have consisted in acting as accessory to the sub-prior. The Dean of the monastery held visitations at all the chapels in the vale. These were St. Lawrence Evesham, All Saints Evesham, Bengeworth, Midlittleton, Southlittleton, Offenham, Bretforton, Badsey, Churchhoneybourne, Norton, Hampton, and Wickham- ford. 138 To this office belonged the fees of all causes pertaining to the deanery; also Peter's-pence, wheresoever such were not col- lected by the diocesan, from whence this deanery paid to the pope twenty shillings. The Precentor directed the chaunts during service, and corrected any irregularity in the time or key. He also previously informed 137 <' J n a it o yj co Eveshamiae, ex parte occidental!, ex opposite ports per quam in- trant carragia in cimiterium." Carta Johannis A Ibatis, A. D. 1450, in Cott. MS. 138 Deanery of Evesham in the exempt jurisdiction of the Abbot and Convent, as given by the Commissioners in Valor Ecclesiasticus, 26 Henry VIII. [1534-5] vol. iii. page 255, et seq. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 77 the abbot what chaunts he was to sing or lead off. Any others appointed to read or sing were to await and follow his leading off, unless it was previously arranged otherwise. He was likewise to have in charge the books belonging to the convent, provided he were qualified by sufficient study. He was to deliver them from the library which was over the cloister to such members as re- quired them ; but none were to receive any till it was entered on [Monks studying in the Cloister.] his list. The books were to be used only in the cloister, and he was to take care that none were left there through neglect. 139 A distinct apartment with a chamber over it and a stable near, were appropriated to his use. There pertained to this office the tythe of Stokes, with certain lands in Hampton and at Alcester. From this fund the precentor was bound to furnish parchment for briefs, 139 The engraving introduced above, is copied from an illustration in the MS. Valerius Maximus, to which we have already referred in note 92. 78 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. charters, and leases ; also ink, colours for illuminating manuscripts, materials for binding them, and requisites connected with the or- gans. 140 This officer, according to Mr. Green, had usually in his keeping the seal belonging to the abbot and chapter. 141 The Sacristan and Subsacrist had in charge most of the altar furniture and ornaments, including vestments, incense, and wax. If the sacrist was in priest's or deacon's orders he washed the ampullae and chalices, which was to be done weekly; and washed the corpo- rals also, at least yearly before Easter. 142 The vessels employed in these ablutions were to be used for no other purpose, and the water was to be poured through the sacrarium, which conveyed away superfluities in the altar-service. The formation of the host or sacramental wafer superstitiously regarded as destined to embody the actual presence of the Lord was likewise entrusted to the sacrist's care. For this purpose every grain was to be examined, and then most carefully ground and boulted, after which the farina was to be wetted, kneaded and baked, with the utmost caution in reverential silence. 143 The sacristan also uncovered the altar, took away the text, and carrying a lamp or taper preceded the officia- ting priest in his way from the altar to the lectern, where on the great festivals he deposited the legenda, which he first took to the abbot that he might appoint the lessons for matins. 144 According to Mr. Green, this officer also administered baptism and likewise buried the dead. 145 The former, we presume, was only done by him in cases of emergency ; for according to " the Evesham Office " the abbot in person administered baptism in the church. 146 140 "Necessaria ad organa." Cottonian MS. Augustus II. number 11. 141 Green's History of Worcester, vol. i. page 122. 142 The ampullae or cruets held the wine and water, separately, previous to their admixture for consecration in the chalice. The corporal was the linen cloth which enveloped the wafer. 143 Vide Instructions in Harleian MS. 3763, folio 201 b. 144 The Lectern was the reading-stand where the epistle and gospel were sung, on which were also placed the Legend ; one of which contained the Lessons for Morn- ing Service, and the other the Lives of Saints. 148 Green's History of Worcester, vol. i. page 122. 148 Ordo Baptismatis, ubi oleo chrismate et de candela in manum dextram infantis baptizata posita, in Barlow MS. vii. folio 175. HI8TOEY OF EVESHAM. 79 The tapers burned during the various offices in the church were provided by the sacristan in conjunction with the altar-keeper and seneschal. Certain of the conventual tenants were bound to yield their rents in wax ; and great must have been the consumption, when of the tapers noticed as burning incessantly, three stood at the high altar, one before St. Ecgwin's shrine, a fifth before St. Wulsin's, a sixth at the altar of St. Mary in the aisles, 147 and a seventh before the altar of St. Mary in her chapel. 148 But daily during mass twenty-four additional tapers with thirty-three other lights were burned in the Lady Chapel only. 149 The provision for defraying the expenses of the sacristan's office were proportionately large. Six chapels in the vale now parish churches excepting one Norton, Lenchwick, Moreton, OfFenham, with All Saints and St. Lawrence at Evesham, belonged entirely to it. Also a hundred and thirty-one acres of demesne land at Bretforton and five virgates and a half of villanage land, together with the corn-tithe of forty-one virgates and a half in the same village, 150 and all its tithe of wool. At Lench there were three hides and a half of land belonging to the sacristy, together with all the great tithes ; at South Littleton six acres, with all the tithe of nine virgates ; at Badsey the tithes of five virgates ; and at Pikesley in Herefordshire the tithes of demesne lands there. Year- ly payments in money, and occasionally in wax, were also made to this office from the churches of Badby, Whitlaxford, Weston, Stowe, and St. Alban's Worcester ; also from land in Salford, Wor- cester, and Hampton. In Evesham, there pertained to this office shops near the abbey-gate ; numerous chief-rents and tenements in Merstowe, Bridge-street, High-street, and Cowl-street ; with 147 " Ante altare sanctae Marias in criptis." Destroyed Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. folio 239-40 ; copied in Dugdale, page 40. 148 ci Ante altare sanctae Marias." Ibid. 149 Prseter haec ad missam sanctse Marias debent accendi cotidie cerei xxiiii. Item ad eandem missam debent cotidie accendi lampades xxxiii. Cottonian MS. Vitel- lius E xvii. folio 240 ; in Dugdale. 50 The virgate varied from fifteen to even thirty acres ; apparently according to the quality and culture of the soil. We may therefore fairly estimate the above at eighteen acres to each virgate, which will give a total of 747 acres. 80 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. payments from lands distinguished as near the bridge, and in the Rynal, as well as other parts more vaguely noticed ; also rents of tenements described as being over shops situate near the gate of the cemetery ; together with all oblations made at the high altar and at all the other altars in the church, excepting that in St. Mary's chapel. 151 The whole of the mustard seed raised at the different granges of the monastery belonged also to the sacristan. 152 The Chamberlain provided the vestments, shoes, beds, and bed- ding ; and was to employ a tailor to make up such garments as lay within his trade. To this office the manors of Maugresbury, Swell, and Taddlestrop were appropriated; and in 1319 William de Stow the sacristan assigned certain rents, from whence two shil- lings were to be paid yearly to each of the monks excepting one of the priors and the chamberlain for the purchase of winter boots. 153 The chamberlain had daily allowance for a servant, with provender for a horse, in the same manner as the servants belonging to the abbot. To the office of Manciple or clerk of the kitchen belonged the chapelry of Bretforton ; the third fishpool beyond St. Ecgwin's fountain ; a weekly payment of five shillings and three halfpence, and a yearly payment at the beginning of Lent of four thousand salted fish, from the old vill and market-place of Evesham ; 154 and four shillings weekly from the vill and market of Stowe. Consider- able payments, as well in money as in sticks of eels, were also made from the occupiers of the several mills at Evesham, Hampton, Offenham, Folke, Twyford, Chadbury, Badsey, Wickham, White- laxford, Aldington, and Sandford. Extensive payments to this officer are further enumerated as due yearly from lands at Moreton, Whitelaxford, Ombresley, Gloucester, Winchcomb and Penwortham ; from land in Brut-street at Evesham, and that of one Fitzwilliam in "Omnes oblationes ad omnia altaria ecclesiae, nisi in capella sanctse Marise." Cottonian MS. Vespasian E xvii. folio 244. 183 Tota sinapis omnibus grangiis. Ibid, folio 240. 153 Caligas yemales. Cottonian MS. Nero iii. folio 243 ; in Dugdale, page 32. 184 Et vetus villa et forum de Eovesham, de quibus percipit coquinarius qualibet die sabbati quiuque solidos et tres obolos, et annuatim in capite jejunii quator millia aletium." Cottonian MS. Augustus II. number xi. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 81 here ; and also from woods at Wodese. Sixty salmon from Penwor- tham in Lancashire, as well as two thousand salted fish, were to be paid yearly to the manciple, against the feast of St. Ecgwin, Jan- uary llth. These appear to have been carried upon horses through the whole distance ; as the hostilarius here, though bound to find provender for the horse of the prior from Penwortham, was released from furnishing provender for those horses "that bring the sal- mons." 155 Beside this, every carucate in the vale belonging to the lordship excepting Aldington paid annually to this officer three hundred eggs ; every manor likewise paid three denarii to furnish dishes, and each contributed also twelve cups. 156 The manciple was to be allowed provender from the convent for a horse ; and when he purchased fish at Evesham, bread and ale were to be given him for the fishermen ; when necessary he was also to be supplied with ale to be used in sauce ; and was to be allowed corn, upon the seven festivals, to be used in cakes and puddings. The Cellarer, or house-steward, had the domestic affairs of the monastery in general under his charge. He was to furnish daily at the hands of the sub-cellarer seventy-two loaves in the refectory, with certain portions of ale and wine ; he also provided salt and fuel, with grain and oatmeal for pottage and gruel. To his office were assigned ten marks yearly from lands at Evesham, honey from Oldborough, and payments from Hildendune, Penwortham, and Sandford mill. A wood in Atchlench was also appropriated to him as pasture for his sheep, oxen, and pigs. From a manorial court roll of the reign of Henry VIII. in the possession of Fisher Tomes, esq. of Welford, we learn that the manors of Middle, North, and South Littleton, at that time pertained to this office ; John New- bold, Philip Hawford, George London, and Christopher Bradwey, successive cellarers of the abbey, being in several entries therein, set forth as the lords of those manors during the period between the years 1525 and 1539. 155 it jj ec invenire debet Hostilarius, nullo modo, praebendam equis Prioris por- tantibus Salraones." Harleian MS. 3763, folio 205. 156 si j) e quaint carucata terras in valle Eoveshamiae de dominico, excepta Al- dintona, trescenta ova annuatim, et de quolibet manerio tres denarij ad discos, et duodecim ollae." Cottonian MS. Augustus II. number xi. L 82 HISTOKY OP EVESHAM. The Refectorer provided the spoons, cups, salt-sellars, and other utensils employed in the refectory, and furnished also twelve lamps there, with their oil. He had assigned to him the small tithes of Wickwane, Badsey, and Aldington ; and perquisites in ale were secured to him, from whence he was to meet extra expenses caused by sick brethren or such as had been bled. The Infirmarer had care of the sick members and of those who been bled. The latter were termed minuti ; phlebotomy being much in vogue during the middle ages. 157 Those under charge of this officer were lodged in the infirmary of the convent, and every con- venience was provided for them, as well within the monastery as beyond its limits. In the village of Badsey, abbot Chyryton pro- vided a garden with suitable buildings for solace and recreation, to which they might retire by licence from the prior, and there re- ceive their regular allowances of food. 158 Bevinton and its wood were appropriated to this officer, as well as payments from land at Sandford, Evesham, Penwortham, Farinton, and Sulleston. Two mills near Stowe, a fulling-mill at Bourton, and payments from the churches of Honeybourne, Ombresley, and Badby, were also allotted to the infirmarer. This officer was allowed provender for a horse, and fuel to heat water for washing the napkins that had been used in bleeding the monks. The Hostilarius received and accommodated visitors and guests. He was to conduct such strangers into the convent, as had fre- quented the church for devotion, and afterward desired to view the offices. These he was to lead thither through the cloister. But if booted and spurred, or even barefoot or bare-legged, he was on no account to admit them thither. 159 Another part of his office was to observe the conduct of those brethren who had leave to go beyond the precincts of the monastery. Those who were allowed to remain out at night, he was to furnish with hay and corn for their horses, 157 Fosbroke's British Monachism, vol. ii. page 153. 168 Carta Willielmi Abbatis Eveshamiae. Cottonian MS. Vitellius E. xvii. folio 236 ; in Dugdale, page 36. 158 t< jj ec aliquem ocreatum vel calcaria habentem, nee aliquem qui nudis pedibus sit, vel solum femoralibus calciatus, in claustrum pro qualibet causa inducat." Harleian MS. 3763, folio 205. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 83 on going and upon return. When the prior of the cell of Penwor- tham visited the abbey, the horse which he rode and that which carried his bed if he travelled with such as well as the horse of his companion and principal servant, were to be provided with corn and hay on arriving and departing, together with an allowance for two nights on their journey to Penwortham. The small tithes of the three Littletons were appropriated to this office, to provide towels, basons, and cups, in the apartment appropriated to the ac- commodation of strangers. It was the duty of the Almoner to relieve the infirm, the afflicted and the poor. For this purpose he was sedulously to ascertain where such resided, kindly and charitably to condole with them, and to furnish them with the best of what might be required. During his visits he was attended by two servants, and before his entering a dwelling the female inmates were to remove. Where the sufferer was of the latter sex, he was to send whatever was required. The monks' garden here was placed at the command of the almoner that from thence he might obtain herbs for broth and pottage, for the poor. He was also to receive from the abbot upon Maunday Thurs- day half a mark, which he was to distribute among the monks, that they might by this means be enabled to relieve the poor. 160 To this office belonged two bakehouses in Bvesham, one in Bengeworth, and all the bakehouses in the vale ; also certain rents from lands in Evesham, Penwortham, Cranforth, and Gloucester; payments from Ombresley church, Aldington mill and crofts, and from that village ninety eggs, together with the tenth part of all bread in Evesham baked below the abbey-gate. In the present day some of our readers may be surprised to learn that the townspeople were not permitted to grind corn but at the mill of the abbot, as lord of the fee, nor to bake, but in the ovens of his almonry. All attempts to evade this restriction were promptly repressed; for in 1307 one William de Tettebury having erected an oven in his own house, here, the abbey seneschal in conjunction with the town-bailiffs Richard de Somborne and Richard Prud- home threw it down. In 1388 the querns or hand-mills which other tenants had constructed here were also destroyed ; and in 180 Fosbroke's British Monachism, edition 1843, page 130. 84 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 1430 a horse-mill erected by William Botreaux armiger, in a house of his called " Lardeneres " was, before it had been used, likewise thrown down. Mr. Botreaux, considering himself aggrieved, seems to have appealed against the abbot at the next leet-court, but this, as might be expected, was without effect. 161 Beside the officers already noticed, there was a Seneschal or stew- ard, who was a layman of rank, and acted as the abbot's law-agent. The Porter, or gate-keeper of the monastery, was another lay officer. This appointment, though an important trust, was at Evesham held in fee ; the reversion of it having been sold during the abbacy of William de Bois, as stated in our fifth chapter. Another officer, but appointed from among the monks, had charge of the fabric of the church, cloister, and dormitory ; and another was appointed keeper of the vineyard and garden. The vineyard, already noticed on page 18, was situated upon the shelving eminence above the river, at the foot of the abbey park ; it was planted by Walter, the first Norman abbot, and is noticed in Domesday as " the new vine- yard." 162 In that survey there are at least thirty-seven other entries of vineyards ; though it was till recently doubted whether vines could be thus openly cultivated in England. One of the latest in- stances of such cultivation is thus noticed by the late Mr. Cobbett. " I remember seeing, when I was a boy, a beautiful vineyard, in extent, I should think, of two or three acres, in the grounds of the estate called Painshill at Cobham in Surrey. The vines were there planted in rows and tied to stakes, in just the same manner as in the 161 At the view of frankpledge held here at Michaelmas, 1431, "inquisition was taken in full court relative to the hefore-mentioned custom, on the verdict of twelve law-worthy jurors of the said town, hy the assent and consent of all the suitors of the court." The verdict was, that the said William Botreaux erected his mill against the custom and right of the abbot, " because the aforesaid William, and all his tenants in the town, ought and are obliged to grind and bake at the mill of the lord abbot and his successors, and at the ovens of the almoner of the abbot for the time. And further, that the said William, his tenants or servants, or any other inhabitant of the town had not by virtue of the tenures of any of their houses in the said town [virtute tenurarum omnium domorum suarum, vel unius eorum in villa prsedicta] any right, privilege or possession against the custom hefore-mentioned, nor in future could or ought to have, but should thereupon he for ever expelled and exiled." Memorandum ex antiqua consuetudine," etc. in Cottonian MS. Titus C ix. folio 1 1 . lea Et vinea novella ibi." Survey of abbey land at Hampton, in Domesday Book. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 85 vineyards in France ; and, at the time when I saw that vineyard, the vines were well loaded with a black coloured grape." 163 The Institutes of abbot Randulph conclude with reciting some customs of this monastery from whence we glean the following. During Lent the monks were allowed twelve quarters of beans from Honeybourne, to make pottage ; and from the same village the like measure of oats, for gruel on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent. 164 Upon each of the great festivals, wheat was allowed from the granary to improve their fare, and a measure of beer was then given at dinner to each. The prior who, in the absence of the abbot, sat at the upper table in the refectory as preserver of order, was to have bread as provided for the abbot himself, and one cup of the abbot's wine. The priest who had celebrated high mass for the day, as well as the reader, seem also to have been seated on the dais, and to have fared in the like manner. 16S Those who had been bled had one measure of ale at dinner and another at supper. The ser- vant who bled them was also to have bread and ale if he had bled more than one. During the weeks in Advent, and before Easter, when the monks bathed, the bath-keepers were allowed bread and ale ; and as often as the table-cloths of the refectory were washed, each washer received a loaf from the buttery. Much has been written, perhaps often inconsiderately, respecting the joviality of monastic cheer, but painfully do these prescribed gratuities depict a practised abstinence, which seizes every occasion to increase its dole of food, without the dread of violating the presumed injunctions of religion. Upon the death of an abbot his daily allowance was continued during a whole year after his decease, and on the death of a monk during thirty days ; such being appropriated to the use of the poor, 163 Cobbett's English Gardener, page 205. 164 Percipiant monaehi xii. summas fabse de Huniburne, ad usum pulmentum per totatam quadragesimam ; et de avena xii., summas de eadem villa, ad gruellum faciendum, scilicet quarta et sexta feria per totam quadragesimam". Cottonian MS. Augustus II. number xi. 165 The dais was an elevated platform, usually ascended by one step, where the most important guests were placed at table. The dais in the refectory at St. Albans was according to Fosbroke raised no fewer than fifteen steps above the floor of the hall. British Monackism, 8vo. vol. ii. page 123. 86 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. for the benefit of the soul of the departed. 166 Throughout the latter period thirty days the grave of the deceased was in this man- ner daily visited here by the surviving brethren : After morning mass the officiating priest stood before the crucifix in the vestiary, attended by the deacon bearing holy- water, the convent standing round. Then while every one knelt before the altar "with con- summate devotion" suitable prayers were offered thrice ; after which they all proceeded to the grave, chaunting. Here the priest aspersed the grave with holy-water, and after giving the absolution, repeating the prayer for all the faithful deceased and other forms, they all returned to the church. On the last of these thirty days, the prior, accompanied by the convent, entered the choir after chap- ter, and there he, in amice, stole and robe, with cross, tapers, cen- ser, and holy-water, began with the brethren the Miserere : 167 and thus the last link of connection may be said to have been broken between the living members of the convent and the deceased. Of the common seal employed by the abbot and convent of Evesham in the capacity of an ecclesiastical corporation, perfect impressions have been extremely rare ; especially of the obverse side. This may perhaps account for the variations that occur in different engravings of the latter, as likewise for the varied inter- pretations which different decipherers have deduced from its erro- neously copied inscription. But the matrix of this side, which was of copper, having at a later period been discovered among metal destined for the melting-pot at Worcester, our observations will be directed by that. A cast taken from it by Mr. C. W. Osborne of Evesham, having been kindly presented to the writer by him. From this we have completed the engraving upon the opposite page, which is of the exact size of the original ; and this we have reason to regard as the most correct graphical representation that has as yet appeared. Here, within a label embowed as a horse-lock, Eoves is repre- sented in the midst of a forest surrounded by his swine ; the label being charged with this inscription GOVSf\" VCrCTIG* HIT- WMSSWJJJ CORMrcn: CLGPCT VJSCOVISlVOM . 88 " Ad annale pro abbate, et tricennale pro monacho." Cott. MS. Augustus II. 187 Offices of the Evesham Church. Barlow MS. vii. in Bodleian Library. HI8TOBY OF EVESHAM. 87 Various and contradictory have been all attempts satisfactorily to explain this legend. We shall, therefore, only say that it appears to convey the information that, in consequence of the vision seen here by Eoves, the place was thenceforth called Eovesham. Above the label is a rude representation of a church ; to the left of which, beneath trefoil canopies, stand the Virgin and two attendants ; the [Obverse of Conventual Seal.] former of whom thus addresses the mitred and genuflected Ecgwin on the right ECCE. LOO. QUE. ELEGI. 168 In the space behind the last figure, the bishop is represented as communicating his vision to Ethelred : and this circumscription completes the obverse SlGILLVM . SANCTE. MARIE . ET. SANCTI . ECGWINI. EPI . EOVE8HAMENSIS. MONASTERII. 169 The reverse has, in the upper part, upon the left, 168 Behold the place which I have chosen. 169 The seal of the Monastery of the holy Mary and of Ecgwin saint and bishop, at Evesham. 88 HISTORY OF KVESHAM. the Virgin and Child seated, beneath a cinquefoil pediment, while before them kneels St. Ecgwin, presenting a model of his church. Beneath this, a line of pediments extends across the seal, forming canopies to the figures beneath : here Ecgwin attended by a monk receives a grant from Ethelred, behind whom are placed Offa and Cenred, one bearing a sceptre, the other sustaining a falcon. The grant itself is inscribed DAMVS REGIE LIBERT ATI, 17 and appended to it is an oval seal charged with the three lions of England ; a proof that the seal itself was not constructed before the reign of Richard I. who first bore the three lions passant. This inscription completes the reverse DICTIS ECGWINI DANT REGES MVNERA TRINI OMNIBVS VNDE PIE NiTET AULA SACRA MARIE. 171 The circular form of this seal tends to corroborate a remark cited by the late Mr. Fosbroke, that "seals of a round form generally denoted something of royalty in the possessor, or a more than ordinary extent of tem- poral jurisdiction ; thus monasteries of royal foundation had com- monly round seals." 172 Three fine impressions of this seal in the ancient wax are at present in the possession of Edward Rudge, esq. One of these is singularly perfect, is attached to a lease of Tatylstrop manor, made by abbot Hawford in the thirtieth of Henry VIII. and presents both sides of the seal entire. A seal of abbot Lichfield's is engraved in the Monasticon, 173 from an impression in wax preserved in the chapter-room at Westmin- ster. This is evidently one of those appropriated to each abbot indi- vidually, the matrix of which was destroyed at his decease, and is in the ecclesiastically-oval form. In the centre stand the Virgin and Child within a tabernacled recess, and upon each side, within a smaller niche, is placed a figure episcopally vested. Beneath the central niche is a smaller figure, similarly attired, between two shields, respectively charged with the arms of England and of the abbey. The inscription round the edge is S. CLEMENTIS DEI GRATIA ABBATIS EVESHAME. The same size, form, and 170 We give with royal munificence. 171 At Ecgwin's request three kings bestow gifts, from all which the Convent of St. Mary prospers. 172 British Monachism, edition 1843, chapter 38. 173 Seals of Monasteries of the Benedictine Order, plate ix. New Monasticon. vol. ii. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 89 device, appear in a similar seal of abbot Roger's, in the reign of Richard II. of which Mr. Rudge possesses a very distinct impression. Ancient seals belonging to individuals have occasionally been found near the site of the abbey. Among them is one, presumed to be that of a monk of the fourteenth century, inscribed RINALDO NATU LVCY FAG VGO PLAC ; explained as "Rinaldo natum Lucy fac Virgo placatum :" Virgin make thy Son propitious to Rinald Lucy. Another is inscribed S' I DE THROKEMERTON, the Seal of John De Throckmorton, doubtless an ancestor of the Throckinortons of Coughton, some of whom held offices connected with this monastery. A third seal was inscribed "HEMERIT VA'DER MANDERT," of which no interpretation has been given. These, with the exception of the last, are in the possession of Edward Rudge, esq. A hawk's ring was some years back dug up among the founda- tions in the cemetery, inscribed BENEIT SEIT RIMEPORT, Blessed be Rimeport ; 175 which is also preserved in Mr. Rudge's cabinet. The same gentleman likewise possesses a bloodstone, about the size of a pigeon's egg, upon which is cut in high relief the figure of an angel clad in plate armour. This was discovered near the foundations of the abbey church, and appears to us to have been the jewel once set in the back of an abbatial glove ; as its size and shape correspond with that decoration, as seen in ancient effigies. 174 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Iv. page 452. 178 Short Account of the History and Antiquities of Evesham, page 133. CHAPTER V. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF ABBOTS AND INCIDENTAL HISTORY OF THE ABBEY. 1. ECGWIN, or Egwin, founder of the monastery and town of Evesham, was third bishop of Worcester, to which office he was consecrated in the year 693, being only about thirteen years after the formation of the diocese of the Wiccii. Stevens, in his Catalogue of learned Benedictines, says that he was son to the king of Mercia ; 176 and his Life which is ascribed to Brithwald, archbishop of Canter- bury evidently a very early production, although the correctness of its ascription to the archbishop's time is disputed by bishop Tanner is preserved among the Cotton manuscripts in the national Museum. His name is enrolled in the Romish calendar as both saint and bishop, and the day appointed for his commemoration is Jan- uary 11. According to the monastic historians he was a kind and benevolent man, and we presume not altogether the visionary which they would fain represent him. Their details of visions and mira- cles were, we apprehend, rarely contemporary with the person to whom such were attributed ; but being first admitted as legendary, were afterward recorded as facts. De Cressy in his Church History 177 states that the bishop was forced to leave the country, by reason of the calumnies raised against him by those whose ill-will he had excited, in opposing noxious cus- toms which the people, then newly converted from paganism, refused 176 Stevens' Additions to Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. page 191. 177 Church History of Brittany by Hugh Paulin de Cressy, Rouen, 1668 ; p. 527. 92 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. to forsake. John of Tynemouth in like manner places his character for piety and sincerity in a favourable light ; and adds, that the people finding him a check to their dissolute manners, expelled him from the bishoprick, and complained against him to the pope : 178 in consequence of which he went to Rome, to appeal in person to the pontiff. To this journey his monkish biographers have, as usual, appended a silly tale ; which may possibly have originated in the literal construction of some rhetorical account of the proce- dure as recorded by a contemporary writer. Here we are told that, though conscious of his present rectitude, yet in atonement for the sins of his people as well as his own youthful sallies, he bound himself with chains, locked them together, and threw the key into the Avon. Thus manacled, he commenced his pilgrimage to Rome ; declaring that when his bonds should be loosed by divine interposi- tion, then only should he be assured that his offences were forgiven. When he at length arrived at Rome the bells of the eternal city greeted him with a miraculous peal, and while he attended mass in St. Peter's, his servant having purchased a fish for their meal, found in it the identical key which his master had cast into the Avon. With this the pontiff himself unlocked his fetters, and the result was the bishop's triumphant return to the recovered esteem of king Cenred, and the veneration of the whole people. 179 The plain English of the legend must be considered to be that Ecgwin's ap- peal to the Roman college was attended with the desired success. The year of this, his first, journey to Rome is not any where given : but his miraculous liberation was throughout the middle ages em- blazoned in the armorial bearings of this monastery, which were azure, a chain in chevron with a bolt in the dexter and a horse- lock in the sinister, between three mitres labelled, or. We here present them, copied from a fragment of ancient carving in oak, removed from an old tenement in Vine-street, at present known as the Horse and Groom Inn. The relic enfolded in the still 178 it Populus tandem videns se illicitam non licere, et assneta vitia relinquere, con- tra sanctum Dei in iram, odium, et scandalum exarsit, et eum tandem de episcopatu expulit. De eo nempe non solum apud regem accusatio, set etiam apud Romanum antistitem ab inimicis prolata fuerat delatio." Hist. Aurea, MS. c. 199. 179 De Gressy's Church History of Brittany, page 528. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 93 graceful arms of a mutilated though angelic bearer is now pre- served from further injury within a summer-house in the garden of Mr. Anthony New, in the same street. [Arms of Evesham Monastery.} The ill-will which his people had shown toward him would naturally increase in the mind of Ecgwin any previous inclination he might have felt to retire from his episcopate ; and the super- intendence of a convent upon the lonely holme of Eoves having once glanced across his mind, there would be no difficulty at this period, to one in his elevated situation, in shaping circumstances to the desired event. In the year 708 we therefore find bishop Ecgwin again journeying toward Rome, where he arrived in 710. But he now travels accompanied by kings. One is his own sovereign, Cenred of Mercia ; the other is Offa king of Essex. Ecgwin proceeds thither to resign his bishoprick to the pope, and to be recognized by him as the first abbot of Evesham : the newly-converted princes have been taught that Christian duty calls upon them to retire from active life ; and they are hastening to the pontiff, that they may receive his sacred warrant to betake themselves to the cloister. 180 180 This is the tone in which even the venerable Bede, who wrote at the time, complacently applauds the abdication of Cenred and Offa. " In the fourth year of the reign of Osred, Coinred, who had for some time nobly governed the kingdom of the Mercians, did a much more noble act, by quitting the throne of his kingdom, and going to Rome ; where being shorn, when Constantino was pope, and made a monk at the relics of the apostles, he continued to his last hour in prayers, fasting and alms- deeds \Vjth him went the son of Signer, king of the East Saxons, whose name 94 HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. Both these kings had lavishly endowed the bishop's new foundation, and Ecgwin seems to have been anxious to secure pope Constantine's confirmation of his recent acquisitions. This he, according to the cartulary, obtained during the same year. The document is there given in the Latin language, but in Saxon characters, addressed to Brithwald archbishop of Canterbury, and concludes by denouncing all who should ever presume to infringe the regal donation. 181 At Ecgwin's return the archbishop convened a synod at Aln-cestre, distant from Evesham seven miles ; where a Mercian palace had stood, and where also Ecgwin, it is said, had usually exhorted the people. In this synod his charters were confirmed, and Wilfred arch- bishop of York was appointed to consecrate the new foundation. 182 Mr. Green, in his History of Worcester, attributes to St. Ecgwin, upon the authority of Bale, the introduction of image-worship into Britain. The Virgin Mary, at her miraculous visit to the bishop, not only having required him to erect a church at Evesham to her honor, but likewise to prepare an image of herself, which was to be erected for worship at Worcester. Upon similar authority it is further stated that at a later period about the year 708 a council was held in London, under archbishop Brithwald, and authorized by pope Constantine, wherein images were ordered to be erected in churches and to be honored with masses and worship. 183 We learn from bishop Tanner, that Ecgwin was author of the fol- lowing pieces. 1. De suis Apparitionibus. 2. De Primordiis sui Coenobii. 3. De Vita S. Aldhelm. 4. De Vitis variorum Sancto- rum. 184 He died, according to his chroniclers, on the 30th of was Offa, a youth of most lovely age and beauty, and most earnestly desired by all his nation to be their king. He, -with like devotion, quitted his wife, lands, kindred and country, for Christ and for the gospel, that he might receive an hundred-fold in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting. He also, when they came to the holy places at Rome, receiving the tonsure, and adopting a monastic life, attained the long wished-for sight of the blessed apostles in heaven." Bede's Ecclesiastical His- tory of the English Nation, by Giles, book v. chap. xix. 181 Cottonian MS. Vespasian B xxiv. folio 72 ; copied in Dugdale ii. 14, and given in Roman type in Tindal, 152. The autograph was in the Arundel Library, but does not appear in the Catalogue of that portion, now in the British Museum. 182 De Cressy's Church History of Brittany, page 528. 183 Green's History of Worcester, vol. i. page 95. 184 Tanner's Bibliotheca Brittanico-Hibernica, page 256. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 95 December, 717, and was buried in the church pertaining to his monastery. The Romish calendar having marked the llth of January as his day of saintly celebration, Mr. Butler supposes the latter to have been the day on which his body was translated, in the year 1183. 185 His epitaph, preserved by Leland, is as follows : " Rupe sub hac vili tegitur vir summus, et urna Clauditur angusta, quern, subvehit alta per orbem Veri fama volans. Genus hie spectabile duxit Et mores habuit praeclaros, magnaque gessit. Ecclesiam fecit quam nunc dicunt Eovesham. Ditavit terris et multa nobilitavit Libertate locum, qui regni jura tenebat. Omnimodam scripsit : subscripsit curia regni. Et qui Romanam sedem tune papa regebat, Confirmavit earn, proprio testante sigillo. Vita migravit cum solis per Capriconmm, Tertius ac decimus moderans existeret ortus." 186 The Harleian Chronicle 187 presents us with the bare names of eighteen abbots, the immediate successors of St. Ecgwin, who faith- fully retained the possessions bequeathed them by the founder. They are as follow : 2. Athelwold, successor to Ecgwin ; 3. Aid- bore ; 4. Aldbath ; 5. Aldfert; 6. Tyldbrith ; 7. Cutulf; 8. Ald- mund ; 9. Credan, whom we must regard as the saint of that name whose relics we have noticed on page 50 ; 10. Tinthferth ; 11. Aldbald ; 12. Etbrith ; 13. Elferd ; 14. Wefard ; 15. Kynelm ; 16. Kynach; 17. Ebba ; 18. Kynath ; 19. Edwin. After Edwin's death, possession of the abbey as particularized in a former chapter fluctuated among monks, bishops, and chief- tains, till the year 960 ; when Dunstan, champion of the Benedic- tine rule, appointed 20. Osward, abbot of Evesham ; from whom the monastery passed into the hands of laymen and seculars. One of these, a chieftain named Achelm, repenting of his acquisition, is said to have appointed a monk named 21. Freodegar, abbot of this monastery. He, however, unable to expel the secular clerks, retired from the supremacy. After this, 185 Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other principal Saints, i. p. 48. 186 Lelandi Collectanea, ed. 1770, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 300. 187 Chronica Abbathiae Eveshamensis. Harleian MS. number 229. 96 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Adulf bishop of Worcester, obtained the abbey from Ethelred, as observed on page 28, constituting 22. jElfric abbot thereof, subject to the episcopal jurisdiction of his see. The remains of this abbot seem to have been disturbed in excavating the foundation of the northern transept of the abbey church in the year 1821. A stone coffin having been found beneath the floor, at the spot marked a in the ground-plan, opposite page 44 enclosing another coffin of lead, in which were portions of a skull and other bones in a disordered condition. 188 Among these was a plate of lead, six inches by four, upon which this inscription was lightly cut, not in Norman characters, but in plain Roman capi- tals : HIC. REQVlEsciT. DOMN VS. ABBAS. ^LFRICVS. nuIuS. LOCI. ANIMA. SuA. REQVIESCAT. IN. pACE. AMEN. 189 The dislocated state of these remains and the evidently later introduc- tion of the inscribed plate, may perhaps be accounted for by a re- moval of some older coffins within the church, when the structure was rebuilt by abbot Walter. Though it is possible that during the general overthrow at the Dissolution, some pious hands may have rescued the disturbed relics of this abbot, restoring them to their violated enclosure, and depositing at the same time therein this hastily-inscribed memorial. 23. Alfgar was .ZElfric's successor : next to whom was 24. Brithmar, who by decision of the wittenagemote 190 rescued forty hides of land, the property of the church, from Godwin, the thane noticed in our second chapter. But prior to such decision it had been agreed that three hundred mancuses of gold should be paid to the chieftain, for which sum he had himself purchased the land from king Ethelred. 25. Agelwin, bishop of Wells, was the next abbot. Upon his death the rapacious Godwin, notwithstanding his recent bargain, again took possession of the disputed hides of land. But Ethelred having, in 1014, appointed as the next abbot 188 Memoir on Antiquities discovered by Edward Rudge, esq. in Vetusta Monu- menta, vol. v. page 8. 189 ti H ere resteth yElfric, lord abbot of this place : may his soul repose in peace. Amen." The smaller capitals in the text supply those abraded in the original. 190 " Coram multis principibus hujus patrise." Cottonian MS. Vespasian B xv. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 97 26. ^Elfward, a monk from Ramsey, he by that king's assistance succeeded in finally expelling Godwin from the monastic territory. This abbot, who appears to have been a Dane by birth, was upon the accession of Canute consecrated to the bishopric of London, on account of his consanguinity to the king ; 191 but retained at the same time his previous abbacy. The Benedictine monks being now firmly established in this monastery, their next attempt was to free themselves from the control of episcopal visitation. In this they were so far successful as to procure the promotion of Avikin or Eafy, their prior, to the office of Dean of the Vale ; in which capacity he held visitations of churches within the conventual vicinity. 192 During this abbacy Canute presented the relics of the blessed Wystan to the monastery, which were honorably enshrined within the chancel. After this, the abbot himself purchased the body of another holy personage St. Odulph, which was in like manner deposited in the ecclesiastical sanctuary. The purchase is said to have been made at considerable cost ; and we are at the same time ingenuously informed that the bargain was made with a company of dealers in such holy wares, who were carrying the bones for sale toward London. 193 A channel for speculation by no means unemployed during the middle ages. According to Bale, this same Odulph's claim to saintship is chiefly sustained by his having upon one occasion been carried over the sea in a moment, to say mass during the absence of another bishop. 194 -Mfward having satisfactorily ruled this monastery during thirty years, finding him- self then overtaken by infirmity, was anxious to retire from his office, and yet still reside in the monastery. But the monks from some cause objecting to the proposal, he removed his books and valuables, and withdrew to his original monastery at Ramsey ; and 191 Sub consanguineo suo rege C'nutone. Acts of the Abbots, Harl. MS. 3763. 192 The Saxon Chronicle thus records the death of this individual " In the same year [1037] died Eafy the excellent dean of Evesham." Ingram's edition, p. 210. 193 Idem Aylfwardus episcopus et abbas sanctissimas corporis reliquias beati Odulfi a mercatoribus eas Londonias portantibus, magno pretio mercatus est, atque ad istum locum transmisit." Acts of Abbots, in Harleian MSS. 3763. 194 Lambarde's Dictionarium Anglise Topographicum. London 1730, 4to. p. 106. N 98 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. there, according to the Saxon chronicle, he died on the 8th of the calends of August, 1044, and was there buried. 195 27. Mannie was the next abbot, having received his appointment from Edward the Confessor. In the Harleian chronicle we learn that he was eminent for learning and biblical study ; also that he was an adept in music, painting, writing, goldsmiths' work, and engraving. For our Saxon progenitors even legislated upon the principle that, for the general welfare, Christian ministers ought not to be debarred from combining secular employment with their religious function. 196 Were this, in unison with apostolic prece- dent, 197 somewhat more complied with in the present day, it might tend to repress a disposition toward something like timeserving, to which a portion of this class seem liable to be exposed. This abbot having rebuilt the church as noticed in page 39, enriched it with shrines of goldsmiths' work made by his own hands, together \vith a missal and a psaltery which he had transcribed and illuminated. In 1058, he on account of increasing infirmity, resigned the pastoral staff; and the king at his request enjoined Aldred archbishop of York to consecrate whichever monk the abbot might prefer, as his successor. Mannie survived the period of his resignation seven years, and continued here highly respected. He died on the feast of the Epiphany, 1065, in the same night and at the selfsame hour with his royal patron St. Edward the Confessor. 198 28. jJEyelwey a monk of this house was the person consecrated as abbot in 1058, at the request of his predecessor. He seems to have been a man of ability, and fitted for a courtier. But his con- duct more fully developes his character as a self-seeking timeserver. 195 " This year died /Elfward bishop of London, on the 8th day before the calends of August. He was formerly abbot of Eoveshamme, and well furthered that monas- tery while he was there. He went then to Ramsay and there resigned his life : and Maunie was chosen abbot, being consecrated on the fourth day before the ides of Au- gust.'' Saxon Chronicle, by Ingram, page 215. 196 It was enacted by king Edgar that ' to increase knowledge, every priest should diligently learn some handicraft.' Wilkins 1 Leges Aug. Sax. in Turner's History. 197 " And because he [Paul] was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers." Acts of Apostles, xviii. 3. 198 Harleian MSS. num. 229 et 3763. The date according to the modern calen- dar is 5th January, 1066. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 99' On Edward the Confessor's death, he became a favorite with Harold, the last of our Saxon kings ; and at the accession of the Norman William having after the first defeat of his countrymen sworn fi- delity to the Conqueror he so contrived to worm himself into his confidence, that the king entrusted him, although a Saxon, with the care of seven counties. These were Worcester, Gloucester, Ox- ford, Warwick, Hereford, Stafford, and Salop. 199 Thus were the lands and dignity of JEyelwey secured, while his neighbour Godric, the abbot of Winchcomb, lost all his possessions, and was carried captive by the soldiers, because he with his monks determined to oppose king William ; his convent was at the same time delivered into the keeping of ^Eyelwey, till a foreigner should arrive, deemed fitting to discharge the office of its abbot. 200 As the conquest ex- tended over the west, he solicited a share of the lands that were confiscated from his countrymen ; and is even charged with first selling his interest to the Saxons for gold, and then by betraying them acquiring the reward of their possessions. 201 We therefore wonder not to find, from the abbey chronicle, that while the abbots of other churches lost much of their land and possessions, JEyel- wey not only preserved those belonging to his monastery, but also redeemed thirty-six vills in different counties, at considerable cost. 202 Four hides of land in Bengeworth were abstracted by him from the church of Worcester, which in aftertime occasioned much dispute. In 1074 the insurrection of Norman barons, leagued for the first time with Saxon chiefs, was frustrated through the activity of this abbot. He, in conjunction with bishop Wulstan and Urso, or the Bear, viscount of the county, guarded the passes of the Severn, and stopping the earl of Hereford, thus frustrated their design. 203 The number of the monks at Evesham was increased in his abbacy from 199 Acts of Abbots, in Harleian MS. 3763. 200 " King William the Conqueror being highly incensed against Godric, caused him to be confined in the castle of Gloucester ; and committed the charge of his abbey to the abbot of Evesham." Register of Winchcomb Abbey, in Stevens's Additions to Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. page 275. 301 Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest, 8vo. ed. 1841, book iv. page 80. 303 Extracta Particula De Gestis Abbatum, in Harleian MS. 3763. 203 Script. Rerum Danic, in Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest, book v. 100 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. twelve to thirty-six, and at his death he bequeathed four chests of silver toward building a larger church. He died on the 14th of the calends of March 1067, and in one obituary is styled " the prudent abbot of Evesham." 204 The monks at Worcester state that he died of gout ; and as that convent had agreed with this that services should be observed in each for the souls of those who died in either, bishop Wulstan ordered the commendatory service to begin, but was himself immediately seized with the same disorder. During the night he learned in a vision that this was a punishment "for having prayed for such a wretch's soul," and that he must desist from doing so if he expected cure. On his compliance the bishop was of course restored. 205 29. Walter, a monk of Cerasia in Normandy was the next abbot. He received his appointment from William the Conqueror ; who, though the Saxon .ZEyelwey had served him so efficiently, did not permit another of his nation to assume the dignity. This was in unison with that depressive treatment of his English subjects which before the termination of William's reign had so reduced them, that there was not at that period so much as one Englishman who was either earl, baron, bishop, or abbot, in the kingdom. 206 Walter is said to have been familiar with subjects of general literature, and his acquaintance with grammar is noticed as being profound. 207 During his abbacy because, as stated in the register, " he was not sufficiently imbued with worldly prudence" 208 the church, through the misrepresentations of Odo, bishop of Bajeux and half-brother to the king, lost twenty-eight of the vills which his predecessor had regained. Bishop Wulstan also sued him for the services of fifteen hides in Hampton and four in Bengeworth, as part of his hundred of Oswaldeslaw. This being refused, the cause was by the king's 304 " This year the moon was eclipsed three nights before Candlemas ; and in the same year died Aylwy [-/E-jelJnij] the prudent abbot of Evesham, on the 14th day before the calends of March, on the mass-day of St. Juliana ; and Walter was ap- pointed abbot in his stead." Sa^xon Chronicle. Ingram's edition, page 284. 205 Heming's Cartulary, in Green's History of Worcester, vol. i. page 181. 206 Henry's History of Great Britain, book iii. cap. i. sec. 1. 207 Harleian MS. num. 229, folio 17, in Dugdale, page 26; also Hart. MS. 3763. 208 Harleian MS. 3763 ; in Dugdale, ii. page 4, note. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 101 writ heard at Worcester before bishop Gosfrid and a great meeting of barons. Wulstan appeared with his witnesses, to assert that they saw the said services performed in the reign of Edward the Con- fessor. These were Edric, steersman of the bishop's ship at that time and leader of his forces in the wars, also Kineward high-sheriff of Worcestershire, Siward a rich man of Shropshire, and others. But the abbot, destitute of witnesses had brought only his relics the sacred body of St. Ecgwin upon which to be sworn, and see- ing such a host against him, he threw up his cause. 209 During this abbacy the inquisition of Domesday was made. It was also this abbot who commenced that new and extensive church of the monas- tery, which after being completed and adorned by his successors was demolished in the reign of Henry VIII. Walter died on the thirteenth of the calends of February 1086, and was succeded by 30. Robert, a monk of Jumieges, in Normandy. In his time the inmates were seventy-seven monks, five matrons, 210 three poor brethren, three clerks, and sixty-five servants. Of the latter, five served in the church, two in the infirmary, two in the cellar, five in the kitchen, seven in the bakehouse, four in the brewhouse, four at the bath ; two were employed as shoemakers, two served in the orchard, three in the gardens, one at the gate of the cloisters, two at the great gate, and five in the vineyard ; four attended the monks who went abroad, four were fishermen, four waited in the abbot's chamber, three in the hall, and two were watchmen. 211 Du- ring this abbacy the mission to Othensey in Denmark, noticed on page 36, took place, which issued in the subordination of that pri- ory as a cell to this monastery. The Harleian chronicle has charged this abbot with abstracting lands from the convent to confer them on his own relations, as it also states his predecessor had like- wise done. Abbot Robert died in 1096, and was succeeded by 31. Maurice, a monk of the house. He built "the old chapter- W9 Thomas's Account of Bishops of Worcester, pp. 82-84. 210 Moniales." According to Du Cange these were pious matrons, -who under- took the preparation of the oblatae bread blessed, not consecrated, upon the altar. Vide art. Ollatce et Prcelis. They likewise, it is probable, visited the female sick and poor, whom the almoner was required to attend by deputy. 211 Cottonian Chronicle, Vespasian B xv. 102 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. room and dormitory," the private locutory, and the chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene. He died in 1122, and his successor was 32. Reginald, a monk of Gloucester, nephew to Milo earl of Hereford. This abbot went on foot to Rome, during the pontificate of Innocent II. to defend the liberty of his monastery against Simon bishop of Worcester. 212 The advowson of St. Michael's on Corn- hill which had been given to this abbey by one Alnothus a priest was by this abbot and his chapter granted to Sparling a priest, together with their lands there, with one exception, on con- dition that he paid a mark yearly to the abbot, and also provided him with lodging, salt, water, and fire, whenever he came to Lon- don. 213 This abbot is, we believe, the first who is noted in the existing records of this monastery as providing for the perpetual celebration of his anniversary, or year's mind, upon the day of his decease periodically. The provision thus made is ten shillings to be paid yearly to the convent from the church of Bradewell ; 214 and from the comparative smallness of the sum we judge that it must have been strictly expended in the celebration of masses for his soul yearly. But from his time, similar provisions by his successors in- crease vastly in amount ; as in addition to private masses at the tomb of the deceased, the poor were then to be relieved and the whole convent feasted, yearly. Abbot Reginald, having built as already noticed, a considerable part of the church, enriching it with altar furniture and decorating its shrines, died on the eighth of the calends of September, 1149 : when he was succeeded by 33. William de Andeville, a monk of Christ church, Canterbury. He resolutely excommunicated William de Beauchamp, who al- though himself hereditary sheriff of the county had with his fol- lowers broken down the walls of the abbey cemetery during the civil wars of Stephen, and carried away the goods of the church. Nor was, at that time, such excommunication a merely nominal punishment. For by the canons of the council of London, in 1143, 213 " Pedetentim cum eo Romam ivit." Harleian MS. 3763. 213 " To the which Sparling they also granted all their lands which they there had, except certain lands which Orgar le Prowde held of them and paid 2s. yearly." Stote's Survey of London, by Strype, folio, 1720, vol. i. book ii. page 143. 814 Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. folio 229. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 103 it had been provided for the security of the persons and possessions of the clergy " that none who violated a church or churchyard, or laid violent hands on a clerk, should be absolved from excommuni- cation by any but the pope." By this, says Roger de Hoveden, the rapacity of the kites was a little restrained. The abbot further retaliated by taking his castle in Bengeworth, which stood at the head of the bridge ; then destroying its walls he consecrated a burial ground on its site. 215 Such lawless strongholds of which no less than eleven hundred and fifteen are said to have been erected during Stephen's reign a writer in the Saxon Chronicle calls "dens of devils, who sallied forth, and plundered and murdered all parties without distinction." Abbot de Andeville, died on the second of the nones of January, 1159 ; and was succeeded by 34. Roger, a monk of St. Augustine's, Canterbury : of whom nothing is recorded in the chronicles, but that he applied himself manfully to the duties of his office, as his predecessor had done ; and that he built a mill adjacent to the bridge. The latter would of course be one of those at which the townsmen were obliged to grind their corn. He died in the year after that of his consecration, and upon the obit of his predecessor, namely the second of the nones of January, 1160. His successor was 35. Adam, a monk of Cluny, who had been prior of Bermondsey, and is distinguished in one of the Monastic Registers as a learned man and a writer : 216 and of whom the chronicler in Leland asserts, that the making him abbot was a greater honor to the convent than to himself. 217 He was elected in 1161, and appears to be the first abbot of this monastery upon whose brow the mitre that glittering emblem of spiritual jurisdiction descended by virtue of his ofiice : Pope Alexander III. in a bull, dated 1163, having conferred on him and his successors the privilege of wearing all the episcopal ornaments, save the ring ; with that supremest object of conventual ambition, of which these decorations were significa- 215 Viriliter etiam castellum quod erat Bengeworth, ad caput pontis, contra eun- dem Willielmum obtinuit, et funditus destruxit, et cimiterium ibidem consecratum fecit. Acts of the Abbots, Harleian MS. 3763. 216 In Stevens's Additions to Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. page 460. 217 Monastic Chronicle, copied in Leland's Collectanea, torn. i. page 241. 104 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. tory entire release from visitation by any but a legate from the pontiff. 218 It was during the reign of Henry II. that the richer abbeys first began to lay claim to this immunity : Robert abbot of St. Albans having according to Matthew of Paris first obtained the privilege from Adrian IV. who being an Englishman by birth, had in early life spent some years in that monastery. During the abbacy of Adam, Henry II. in exercise of his claim over Ireland as a realm annexed to the English crown, convened an assembly of the clergy of Dublin in this monastery, who here elected in accordance with the royal recommendation John Cuming a learned Englishman, and formerly a monk of this abbey, to the vacant archbishoprick of Dublin. 219 This abbot, beside erecting those im- portant portions of the church noticed on page 41, completed the profuse decorations of the founder's shrine, constructed an aque- duct and lavatory, enlarged the buildings of the convent, and added to its library a copy of the scriptures both of the old and new testament. Stevens adds that he was adorned with variety of learning, and for his eloquence to be compared with the greatest men of his time, also that he wrote upon the miracle of the Holy Eucharist, an Exhortatory Oration to the Nuns of Godstow, a Book of Sermons and Homilies, and another of Epistles. 220 He died on the second of the ides of November, 1191, having provided for the celebration of his anniversary a yearly payment often shillings from the church of Brad well as his predecessor Reginald had done. 221 36. Roger Norreys, a dissolute monk, who had been imprisoned in, and had escaped from but by no honorable avenue 222 his own monastery at Canterbury, was now, " by royal power," [per regiam potestatem] appointed abbot of Evesham, contrary, as we are told, 18 " Hie [abbas] etiam iusignia episcopalia preter annulem primo isti ecclesiae ad- quisivit." Harleian MS. 3763, folio 170 b. See also the bull itself, copied on folio 93 b of the same manuscript. 319 Moore's History of Ireland, vol. ii. page 310. 230 Stevens's Additions to Dugdale's Monasticon, vol, i. page 201. 881 Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. folio 226. 222 Quondam ecclesise Christi Cantuariic monaclius, sed propter sua facinora ibi in carcerem est detrusus, a quo tandem liberatus per cloacas aufugit. Cottonian and Harleian Registers; Vespasian B xv. and num. 3763. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 105 to the wishes of the convent. This was, of course, effected by Prince John, while assuming royal authority during the absence of his brother, Richard I. who from the year 1190 to 1194, was oc- cupied in the crusades. From Gervase of Canterbury, as cited in Dugdale, we collect the following outline of the priest selected. " He was, from youth, a monk proud of himself, puffed up, pom- pous in his speech, treacherous in his actions, covetous in his pre- ferences, a despiser of religion, cringing to his superiors, contemp- tuous to his inferiors, gaudy in his clothing, negligent in the observance of order, a companion of females, a lover of horses, soon angry, eager at detracting, incorrigible in all things." Continuing, after his promotion, the dissoluteness of his life, depriving his monks of raiment and food, and appropriating to his own extrava- gance the revenues ordained to furnish even necessaries for the monks, complaint was formally made to Hubert archbishop of Canterbury, at that time papal legate. This having induced only a temporary alteration in his conduct, the archbishop upon a further representation from the monks, visited the monastery in person ; and thus peace was for a time restored. But this proving ultimately fruitless, the abbot was at length personally accused by Thomas de Marleberg, then dean of the Vale, at a second visitation from Nicholas bishop of Tusculum, the legate from Rome. On this occasion, he was, as stated in the chronicle,- " by the evidence of facts and by the testimony of the brotherhood convicted of seven or eight distinct offences." 223 Upon this he was deposed from the abbacy ; but was at the request of the monks made prior, by the legate, of their cell at Penwortham, that he might thus be furnished with subsistence. 224 This tends to prove that convents which were cells to others must often have been scenes of much disorder ; it being known that monks who were elsewhere irreclaimable were often sent thither. Here, after further misconduct and much altercation, the order was at length rid of him ; as he died at Pen- wortham about three years after his appointment, and was buried in the church of the priory there. 223 Harleian MS. 3763, Acts of Abbots. 224 " Ad petitionem conventus, dedit ei dominus legatus prioratum de Penwortham, ad vitae sustentationem." Ibid. 106 HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. From the date of pope Clement III.'s accession, elected 19th December 1187 it must be to this Roger, and not to the former abbot of that name, as some, including the editors of the New Monasticon, appear to have mistaken that the bull from this pontiff in the second year of his pontificate must have been ad- dressed, wherein the abbots of Evesham in perpetuity are authorized to wear the episcopal gloves and ring, 225 in addition to the mitre, crosier, and other pontificals, which had in 1163 been obtained by abbot Adam. These insignia might naturally be regarded as ex- clusively appropriate to bishops. Not only were they, however, granted to the abbots of our greater monasteries, but at Worcester the prior, who was superintendent of the convent there, was per- mitted by successive bulls to wear the mitre even in presence of his bishop; 226 in token of the exemption of his convent from inter- ference by the diocesan. In 1205 Malger bishop of Worcester, as if disposed to test the virtue of its recent privilege revived the contention respecting supremacy between the monastery of Evesham and his see. He at first obtained sentence in his favor; but in 1206 that sentence was set aside ; it being then decided at Rome that this abbey was not only exempt in capite, but that it was also en- titled to exercise a separate jurisdiction throughout the Vale. 227 In 1207, on the ninth of the calends of April, and therefore during this abbacy the papal interdict began, which was incurred by king John in his quarrel with Innocent III. respecting the right of nomination to the see of Canterbury. The sentence continued in force six years and three months, and all religious services were forbidden to the laity while it continued. It would therefore ap- pear that through all this time no service whatever was performed in either of the parish churches in the town, nor throughout the 225 " Sicut ex gratia et liberalitate sedes apostolicse, tu et successores tui, usum cirothecarum et annuli habetis ; ita quoque usum mitrae," etc. Bull addressed by Clement to Roger abbot of Evesham; in Cottonian MS. Vespasian B. xxiv. 226 Bulls of Clement VI. Urban V. and Boniface IX. cited by Bp. Thomas. Account of Bishops of Worcester, page 186, and Appendix page 125. 237 "Anno MCCVI. Sententiatum est Romse pro ecclesia de Evesham ; ut sit ex- empta in capite; et facta est commissio de Valli." Annales Ecclesia Wigorniensis, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. i. page 479. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 107 Vale, in common with the kingdom generally. The monks of Gloucester it is clear, did not during this period allow their vicars to perform the Sunday duties in the churches dependent upon their abbey ; 228 and from the serious tone in which the cessation of the interdict is noticed in the Worcester Annals, we infer that such was every where the case. 229 37. Randulph de Evesham, prior of Worcester, who had also been elected bishop of that see on the 2nd of December, 1213, but by advice of Nicholas bishop of Tusculum, then legate in England, declined that honor, succeeded Roger Norreys as abbot here. He was elected on the 22d of January following the above date, and on the 23d of February received the benediction at York from the same bishop of Tusculum. 230 From the Harleian chronicle we learn that he was a native of the town of Evesham. 231 By the ad- vice of Thomas de Marleberg, then dean of the Vale, this abbot caused all the ancient customs of the abbey, with the correct appro- priation of its revenues, to be written down ; entitling them " the Institutes of Evesham Abbey, written by abbot Randulph." This is the document to which we have so often referred in our preceding chapter. In the second year of his abbacy he attended a general council at Rome, accompanied by De Marleberg, and there obtained from pope Innocent III. the confirmation of his Institutes. In 1218 we find him assisting Silvester de Evesham, thirty-ninth bishop of Worcester, in a " solemn consecration" of his cathedral church ; and in the following year, at a diocesan synod held there, he urged his right to wear his mitre as an exempt abbot, and to sit next to the bishop of the see in precedence of rank. 232 In 1225, his name 228 Gloucester Chronicle iu Britton's Gloucester Cathedral, page 1 3. 229 "Anno MCCXIV. Interdictum solutum est iii. die Julii ; quod duraverat per vi. annos et iii. menses." Annales Wigorn. in Wharton, vol. i. p. 482. 230 "Radulphus prior Wygorniae per consilium legati renuncians electioni de se factae in episcopum Wygorniensem, xxii die Januarii eligitur, et benedicitur xxiii die Februarii Eboraci a legato in abbatem Evesham." Annales Ecclesice Wygorni- ensis, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. i. page 482. 231 " Dominus Randulphus, prior Wygorniae, nativus de Evesham." De Gestis Abbatum, in Harleian MS. 3763. 232 Annals of Worcester, in Anglia Sacra, vol. i. pp. 483-4. 108 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. occurs upon the roll, as one of the spiritual barons then witnesses to the establishment of Magna Charta, by the authority of parlia- ment, in the ninth year of Henry the Third. This abbot who is described in the register as of most affable demeanour gave certain lands at-Dunyngton to augment the re- sources of the infirmarer ; provided more efficiently for the expen- diture of other conventual offices ; enriched the sacerdotal ward- robe with gorgeous altar-vests, a mitre, crosier, and ring, of highly wrought workmanship ; constructed the second and third fish- pools ; and materially improved the manor houses, mills, and other property belonging to the monastery. The provision made for celebrating his anniversary was twenty shillings to the convent, and forty shillings for the poor ; the latter to be distributed before the laten gate in portions of twenty shillings, upon Holy Thursday and St. John's day. 233 Festivals to be enjoyed by the brethren begin also to be provided for in perpetuity, by rent charges made by successive abbots ; and the chapel at Bretforton is therefore as- signed to the convent by Randulph, for the celebration of the feasts of Relic Sunday and the martyrs SS. Vincent and Odulph. 234 This abbot died on the sixteenth of the calends of January 1229, and was succeeded by 38. Thomas de Marleberg, first a tutor in the schools at Exeter, and at Oxford ; afterward successively a monk at Evesham, dean of its Vale, sacristan, and prior. He was consecrated abbot in 1330 in his own church of Evesham, by the bishop of Coventry. From the acts recorded of him, as well before as after his elevation to the abbacy, 235 he must have been a talented, enterprising, and superior character. It was through his resolution, as we have seen, that the monastery was released from the oppressive government of abbot Norreys ; and also by his advice and cooperation that the new Institutes were compiled during the presidency of abbot Randulph. His acquaintance with civil and canon law was such that, while 233 "Et de eisdem die Coene elemosinario viginti solidi ad mandatum faciendum, et viginti solidi de prsedictis LX. solidis ad festum sancti Johannis ante portam lati- nam celebrandum." Cottonian MS. Vitellins xvii. folio 229 b. 234 Acts of Abbots. Harleian Register, 3763. 335 In article " De Bonis Operibus Prioris Thomse," in Cott. MS. Vesp. B xxiv. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 109 only a monk, his advice was sought by the chapter, when consulting upon an anticipated visitation from the bishop of Worcester ; and the prelate was in consequence repulsed while upon his road to the monastery. As a scholar and transcriber he enriched the con- ventual library with several important manuscripts ; some copied by himself, others purchased by him, and the rest such as he had brought with him from Exeter and Oxford. The books already in the library he caused to be repaired, and where necessary rebound. Beside the important restorations and re-erections in the church effected by him, as noticed on page 41, he repaired the walls of the monastic cemetery at considerable expense, constructed an ad- ditional lavatory in the cloister near the entrance of the church, repaired the great lavatory there, and rebuilt the private dormitory which had lain in ruins. Not only architecture, but the sister arts of painting and sculpture were likewise cultivated by him ; and in these he doubtless derived advantages from his visit to Rome in company of the preceding abbot ; where such a genius would not fail to acquire refinement, in his intercourse with masterpieces of art, of a character so different from those to which he had been accustomed. The greater part of the chapter-house interior was painted under his direction : and by this term we are not to un- derstand the common daubing now known as church-painting, but that rich and varied mosaic, wrought in distemper, and intersper- sed with holy legends and deeds of saints, of which some glimpses are occasionally shown in corners of our ancient churches, where the brush of the whitelimer has been stayed in its destructive sweep. The once rich effect of such adornment throughout cathe- dral and conventual structures, may mentally be deduced from a survey of the interior of the Temple Church, in London, now glow- ing with such resplendent tinting ; as yet but recently restored, and therefore waiting the mellowing effect of time. De Marleberg adorned the interior of the church by erecting monuments upon the graves of his predecessor in the priorate and the late steward of the house ; nor did he omit the like attention to two of his predecessors in the abbacy, whose tombs he further graced with that severe and solemn sculpture which pourtrays the departed, habited as in life and stricken, as it were, into lasting and undisturbable devotion. His own mausoleum was constructed in his lifetime within the south 110 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. wall of the church, and was in like manner surmounted with his effigy clad in pontificals. 236 He closed an active, and, we doubt not, a useful abbacy of seven years, on the second of the ides of Sep- tember 1236, and was buried in the tomb which he had provided. No wreck alas, of his accomplishments remains, to do him honor : and sculpture in Evesham is now virtually unknown ; for in our own day it presents nothing to its inmates save the effigy of a perriwig-pated alderman, extended in the aisle of Bengeworth church. The next abbot was 39. Richard le Gras, who had been prior of Hurley in Berkshire. During his abbacy the church of Evesham was dedicated, in 1239, and upon that occasion one hundred days remittance of penance was granted to all penitents who visited the structure. 237 This re- consecration, for such in the thirteenth century it must neces- sarily have been, was probably considered to be requisite after the damage and confusion occasioned by the fall of the central tower, as well as on account of the important repairs and additions effected by the last abbot in consequence. Though Prynne has shown that re-consecrations were not infrequent j and states that in this year the church of Evesham, with several others named, were all re- consecrated because they had not been hallowed by the sanctifying oil. 238 Richard, the present abbot, combined with the sacerdotal a 236 " Sculpsit super duas tumbas prsedecessorum suorum ad honorem et ostensionem dignitatis ecclesise ymagines episcopates, et sibi ipsi cum eisdem fecit mausoleum, et in- cidit in lapide marmoreo superposito ymaginem episcopatem ad honorem ecclesiae." Harleian Register, 229. 237 " Tempore istius abbatis venit pater Johannes episcopus dedicavit ecclesiam de Evesham, videlicet A.D. MCCXXXIX. Et in dicto dedicatione concessit omnibus poenitentibus et hanc ecclesiam venientibus de pcenancia sibi injuncta centum dies re- laxationis.'" De Gestis Albatum, Harleian, MS. 3763. 238 "Oleo Sanctificationis." Prynne 's History of 'Popes' Intolerable Usurpations, vol. ii. page 504. The ceremony of consecration with the employment of the chrism was, according to Durandus, cited by Dugdale, as follows : " Every person being put out of the church and the deacon only shut in, the bishop standing before the church door, consecrateth holy-water, but not without salt : in the meantime, within, twelve torches being lighted before twelve crosses painted on the walls of the church, the bishop, with the clergy and people following him, go thrice about the outside of the church, and with a branch of hyssop sprinkleth the walls thereof with holy-water; at every time as he passeth by the door, smiting the threshold with his pastoral staff, and saying from the 24th Psalm, Talliteportag, &c. [Lift up your heads O ye gates, &c.] HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Ill political character ; being much employed in state affairs both at home and abroad, by Henry the Third. In 1241 he was made chancellor of England, and keeper of the Great Seal. And now, upon his occasional visits to his monastery, we may imagine the stir which his entry into the town would occasion among the inhabi- tants, to say nothing of the expectant monks, when travelling in similar state to that described as usual with another ecclesiastical chancellor, in the reign of Henry II.; who in his journeys was at- tended by two hundred knights, esquires, young nobles, officers and pages, armed, dressed and mounted ; while eight wagons followed, each drawn by five strong horses, conveying furniture and provisions for the way : twelve pack horses, carrying money, books, and plate, closing the cavalcade. 239 In 1242 abbot le Gras, being then in Gas- cony, was promoted by his royal master to the bishoprick of Lich- field and Coventry, although in opposition to the desire of many of the Lichfield monks. He, however, succeeded in obtaining the papal confirmation, but died prior to his consecration, at Riole, on the 5th of the ides of December, 1242. 40. Thomas de Gloucester, a monk of Evesham and prior of its cell at Penwortham, was next elected abbot. He was confirmed by pope Innocent IV. in 1243, and by his appointment was consecrated by the bishop of Ely ; but from some cause not clearly defined, the abbot was unable to receive his temporalities from Henry III. till he had procured a mandate from the pontiff. This is the first ab- bot whom, after the decision against lay-investitures in the reign of Henry I. 240 we find invested personally by the pope. The abbots here, now mitred, and pronounced " exempt" from subordination to and the deaccm within answereth Quis est iste rex gloria ? To whom the bishop re- plieth Dominis fortis, &c. But the third time, the door being unbolted, he enters in with a few of his officers, the clergy and people standing without, and saith Pax huic domui [Peace be to this house], and rehearseth the litanies. Afterward in the pave- ment of the church he makes a cross with ashes and sand, whereupon all the alphabet is written both in Greek and Latin letters. And then again doth he consecrate other holy- water with salt, ashes, and wine, and halloweth the altar, as also anoint the twelve crosses depicted on the walls, with chrysm." Dugdale's Warwicksh. 1656, p. 491. 239 Retinue of Thomas Becket when Chancellor of England, as described by Wil- liam Fitz-Stephen, in Blounfs Fragmenta Antiquitatis. 240 At a council of the bishops, abbots, and nobles, held in the king's palace at London, August 1st, A.D. 1107. 112 HISTOBY OF EVESHAM. all other bishops but the pope, could not impair this privilege by sub- mitting to ecclesiastical investiture, even before the archbishop of the province. Thus were they henceforth compelled in the maintenance of their dignity, to journey each into Italy after election here, to re- ceive from the hands of the pontiff the staff and ring of office, confirming by the court of Rome the abbot's homage to the king and his election by the convent. The heavy exactions levied upon these occasions by the papal court, well known in history for its promptness in extortion, soon proved to mitred abbots that their new privilege was dearly purchased. During this abbacy, a cause long agitated respecting the exemp- tion of the churches and chapels in this Vale, was determined by agreement, after an appeal to Rome. In these churches, excepting that of Abbot's Moreton, the bishops of Worcester were to claim no jurisdiction; but the abbots of Evesham might possess a chapel in their grange at that place, and celebrate service there. This abbot increased the altar furniture with copes and other richly embroi- dered vestments, and provided two marks yearly to furnish albs for the priests who officiated in the chapel of the blessed Virgin. He died on the 18th of the calends of January, 1255, and was buried, according to the register copied by Abingdon, in the midst of the body of the church. His successor was 41. Henry de Worcester, prior of Evesham, who was installed on St. Ecgwin's day, 1256, and confirmed by pope Alexander IV. This abbot discharged a debt of fifteen hundred marks contracted by the monastery ; assigned certain rents from Bretforton, for the performance of a daily mass, in atonement for any accidental neg- ligence in the religious services of the convent ; appropriated all offerings made at the holy cross to the fund for repairing the church fabric ; increased the gorgeous vestments already provided for the service of the altar ; and assigned from certain rents in Evesham, a yearly payment to the elemosinary for the assistance of the poor. During this abbacy, the original bell-tower was struck by lightning, as noticed on page 41. Abbot Worcester died on the ides of No- vember, 1263, and was buried, according to the register copied by Mr. Abingdon, in the north wall of the body of the church. In the autumn of 1822, during the excavations made in this situation by Mr. Rudge, a stone coffin was discovered in the wall at the spot HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 113 marked 6 in the plan opposite page 44 ; which, from none other being found near, was most probably that belonging to this abbot. From a paper in the Archseologia, we learn that upon removing the coffin- lid the body presented the appearance of having lain undisturbed. It had evidently been habited in ecclesiastical attire, and the boots, which were leather, were in good preservation, the soles being what are now termed "rights and lefts." The right arm was laid upon a wooden crosier with a scroll-wrought head, and the left hand was placed beneath a chalice and paten of pewter. Upon the middle finger of the right hand was a plain abbatial ring of debased gold, terminated by an amethyst. 241 [Crosier,Chalice, Paten, and Ring, from Abbot Worcester's Coffin.'! From 1263 to 1266 the abbacy remained void. 242 The neces- sities of Henry III. and the exactions made from him by the pontiff doubtless combined to protract this vacancy, that the tem- poralities of the convent might, as was usual upon that occasion, remain at the disposal of the crown. During this interval of national commotion between the sovereign and his people, the battle of Eves- ham was fought ; prior to which the convent admitted as its guests 341 Archaeologia, vol. xx. page 566. 243 " Defuncto abbate Henrieo vacavit ecclesia per multum tempus. Tandem circa festum sanctae crucis in autumno, anno videlicet MCCLXVI. venit legatus Octobonus apud Evesham, et constituit monachis ibidem in abbatem." ('oil. Chron. Vesp. B xv, 114 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Symon de Montfort, the general of the popular force, together with the king, whom Leicester then retained as his prisoner. 243 After the earl's defeat, his mangled remains were interred as we shall hereafter prove within the choir of the abbey church : and in the following year Ottobon, as papal legate, visited the monastery and appointed as the new abbot 42. William de Whitchurch, who had been a monk of Pershore, but was at this time prior of the monastery at Alcester. After his election he was confirmed by pope Alexander IV. This abbot assisted by the abbot of Winchcomb, presided at a convocation of Benedictine abbots and priors, held at Oxford in 127 1. 244 He pur- chased the manor of Bengeworth, with all its lands and tenements, from William de Beauchamp earl of Warwick, and otherwise in- creased the possessions of the convent. Among these he assigned to the sacristan a yearly rent of seventy shillings, which may now be deemed equivalent to as many pounds to furnish one wax light to burn continually in the church in honor of St. Wistan and other saints, and also a lamp to burn nightly before the cross. 245 From this we may form some estimate of the expence attending the an- cient ceremonials of monastic worship. The provision made by this abbot for the celebration of his anniversary, exhibits the augmenting increase of bequests made for this purpose by successive abbots. The amount of rents devoted in perpetuity to this purpose by De Whitchurch was seventy shillings. Of this sum twenty shillings were to be appropriated to the refreshment of the convent at each anniversary of his obit, and fifty shillings were to be on the same day expended in bread, from whence the almoner was to give one loaf to as many poor as applied, till the whole was distributed. 246 During this abbacy a pardon was obtained from Edward I. by the 243 William de Nangis, in Nichols' Leicestershire, vol. i. 244 Worcester Annals in Anglia Sacra, vol. i. page 498. 3M "Confirmavit et sexaginta et decem solidos annui redditus de uovo incremento fratris Reginald! de Inteberge tune sacristee Eveshamiae, ad sustentationem unius cerei die noctuque ardentis in honore Sancti Wlstani et aliorum sanctorum, et unius lam- padis de nocte ardentis in pulpito coram cruce, assignavit praedictum annuum redditum officio sacristae ad sustentationem praedictorum." Acts of Abbots, Jftirl. MS. 3736. 246 De Anniversario Willielmi Wythechirche Abbatis Eveshamise, in Cotton. MS, Vespasian E xvii. Dugdale. ii. 35. HISTORY. OB 1 EVESHAM. 115 convent for having, according to Nash, purchased the manor of Chedworth without license from the king. 247 Abbot Whitchurch died on the third of the nones of August, 1282, and was buried, according to the register in Abingdon, in the midst of the body of the abbey church. His successor was 43. John de Brokehampton, monk of Evesham, who was con- firmed at Rome by pope Martin IV. The monastery during his presidency seems to have been free from incumbrance : and the increase of its revenue must have been great ; judging from the ex- tensive acquisitions made by purchase or donation in his time. To enumerate a portion only, the manors and advowsons of Saintbury and Willersey were acquired by him, as also the fee of Aston Som- erville, and windmills at Poderi in Honeybourne, and at Willersey. Eight granges were also entirely built by him upon as many manors belonging to the abbey. 248 These were originally spacious tithe barns or granaries, but at a later period residences were attached to them, with hall, chapel, stabling and appurtenances, fit for the temporary retirement of the abbots : after the Dissolution several of these became family seats for the new owners of abbey-property in the neighbourhood. At Evesham he built the abbot's hall, chapel, chamber, and appurtenances, as well as other chambers, and a range of stabling westward of the monastery. The church at Norton was rebuilt by him, as well as the chancels of those at Honeybourne, Willersey, and Hampton. During this abbacy the convent appears to have sustained some undue exaction ; for in the twenty-fifth of Edward I. letters patent addressed to the bailiffs, were issued spe- cially to protect the possessions of this monastery, and to continue in force till the feast of All-saints following. 249 During the same abbacy the estates of the monastery are assessed in the service of nearly five knights' fees, to be performed by nine armed deputies, mounted on " nine barbed horses ;" while the lands of the bishop- rick are assessed at only three knights' fees, to be performed by six 247 Nash's Worcestershire, vol. i. page 407. 248 "Et octo grangias [fecit] sumptuosas sicut apparent per maneria." Harleian MS. 3763. 249 Tested by the Lord Treasurer, at Westminster, 6th March, 1296-7. Preserved in a bag of "Miscellanea" in the Chapter-house. 116 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. deputies armed and mounted. 250 From this period the convent ac- quired the privilege of retaining its temporalities during vacancies in the abbacy. This was effected by purchase from Edward II. at a cost of 200, and upon condition of future payments of 160 to the crown at each successive vacancy. Abbot Brokehampton, after a prosperous abbacy of thirty-four years, which he seems chiefly to have passed in enriching his monastery, died on the 15th of the calends of September, 1316, and was succeeded by another monk of this abbey 44. William de Chyryton, elected on the third of the calends of September, 1316, and confirmed on Quadragesima Sunday by pope John XXII. He rebuilt the grand gateway of the monastery, and having obtained from Edward III. the royal license, 251 introduced by that monarch to restrain the erection of fortresses, he embattled and fortified the abbot's private residence and chapel, together with the rest of the abbey ; and bounded the park toward the north with the existing wall. Under his auspices the central tower of the church was restored, as noticed on page 42, and many granges were rebuilt by him upon manors of the abbey. 252 Among the numerous additions made in this abbacy to the conventual property, much of which was doubtless given or bequeathed from a religious motive by individuals were the manors of Tatlynton and Witheleye ; the advowsons of Leylond, Ombresleye, and Baddeby ; with lands, tene- ments, and rents, in several parishes of the Vale. But with all these accessions there were heavy expenses to be met, and losses to be sustained : for on the sixth of the nones of May, 1326, Cobham bishop of Worcester, in appropriating the church of Ombresley to this abbey, states that it was done to assist the brethren in enter- taining the numerous visitors to their house, caused by its situation on a great public road ; in addition to which they then laboured under " insupportable burdens, as well as the loss of twenty-eight 250 Proffers of Service due to the King, taken at Tweedmouth, 10th September, 1 310, fourth of Edward II. Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, vol. ii. div. i. p. 53. 261 "Licentia pro Abbatia firmanda et kernellanda." Tested at Westminster 15th March, tenth of Edward III. Harleian MS. 3763, folio, 129 b. 362 " Prseterea plures grangias super maneria magnis sumptibus construxit et etiam reparavit." Harleian MS. 3763. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 117 manors and three churches." 253 Some of these burdens were doubt- less fiscal; and when summoned in 1322 to attend the parliament at Ripon, abbot Chyryton appears to have anticipated a further demand for royal aids : and such apprehension seems to have pre- vailed among his order ; for among the twenty-seven ecclesiastics who were summoned, fourteen others beside himself are found sev- erally pleading "illness" or "bodily suffering" as incapacitating them from attendance. Our abbot therefore appointed Radulphe de Wylecote and Thomas de Evesham his joint procurators and attorneys upon this occasion. 254 The provision made by this abbot for the observance of his anni- versary, exceeds in still-advancing progression that made succes- sively by his predecessors. In the charter executed for this purpose, in 1328, it is first arranged with the prior and convent that after his departure each monk in priest's orders shall in every year, on the day of his anniversary, celebrate "one mass with the intercessory prayers, in true charity for the departed soul." 255 Then after the observation that "the memory of an individual is in many minds more deeply impressed by benefits received," rents in Merstowe of ninety shillings yearly are assigned; of which one-third is ap- portioned to the refreshment of the whole convent on the above day, and the remainder is to be expended in bread for distribution by the almoner to the poor. The imposing observances now general on such occasions will enable us sufficiently to describe the day's procedure, from usages elsewhere. Abbatial tombs had now generally become altars, even in form ; and on this day the tomb of abbot Chyryton would become a centre of devotion and a rival of the high altar itself. Gorgeous coverings are spread over it, lighted tapers are placed upon it, and, amid the fumes of frankincense wafted from costly censers, successive services are offered up by stoled priests from vespers of the preceding evening till the end of mass upon the following day. And then the almoner, standing before the tomb, would reverently distribute thence the bread which the bequest of 253 Dr. Thomas's Account of Bishops of Worcester, page 168. 284 Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, vol. ii. part i. page 336. 355 Carta Willielmi Abbatis Eveshamise, A.D. 1332, in Cotton. MS. Vesp. E xvii. 118 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. the deceased had purchased for the poor. 256 The event, in prospect of which all these preparations were made, occured on the ides of December, 1344. His body appears to have been interred in the middle of the nave of his church ; as in the spot marked c in the ground-plan at page 44, a stone coffin was found during the excavations made by Mr. Rudge, which contained the bones of an aged person, having the right arm crossed upon the breast and a well-preserved bull, or leaden seal, from pope John XXII. remaining close to the fingers. 257 This, viewed in connection with the fact that De Chyryton was the only abbot elected during Pope John's pontificate, may be considered as deciding this to be the situation of his grave. The papal seal remains in Mr. Rudge's possession, and to exhibit the medallic rudeness of the fourteenth century, even in Rome, the city of the arts, we insert the subjoined engraving ; premising that the heads introduced are papal portraits of Saints Paul and Peter. [ Papal Seal from Abbot Chyryton's Coffin. ] 45. William de Bois, who was also a monk of Evesham, succeeded abbot Chyryton. He was, according to Nash, of the ancient family of Attwood of Wolverley in this county, called from the french, De Bois. He was elected on the calends of January, was confirmed 356 Thus at the anniversary of abbot Vitalis, who died in 1082, his tomb "was covered with a carpet, and over that a covering of silk wrought with gold, and two wax candles of two pounds each .... were placed there from the hour of vespers till the last mass of the requiem the following day ; and the prior was to celebrate mass on that account." Dart's Westminster, vol. i. bookii. cap. iii. After the last mas HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 119 at Avignon by pope Clement VI. and was installed at Evesham on the day of Pentecost, 1344. His appointment seems to have given much satisfaction to the brethren. They are represented in the Harleian Chronicle as receiving him with much honor and affection upon his return from France ; and each of the Registers describes him as an affable, generous, and facetious man. The rapid increase of the conventual possessions, still advancing, becomes amazing : and while regarding the accessions made here during each succeeding abbacy, we no longer wonder at being told that the clergy were ultimately proprietors of seven -tenths of the whole kingdom. 238 We are rather disposed to inquire how even the remnant could escape their clutches. Thus among the list of acquisitions made during the abbacy of De Bois we reckon four manors, one advowson, sixty- one tenements, twenty-four cottages and upwards, the term "very many" being used here in one instance instead of the number, three carucates of arable land, thirty-six and a half virgates and sixty- one acres of other land, five closes, several curtilages, two vineyards, two bakehouses, and one dove-house. The yearly value of these the almoner distributed the bread, as is noticed in the same work in the account of abbot Walter's anniversary. In 1 338 the following was the provision made at the interment of abbot Adams in the monastery of Peterborough : Wax 250 fts. Plaice, 10 seme . Conger, 1 seme Wheat distributed to the poor 45 qrs. Welks 5 sek Herrings ditto (six to each) . 1000 Large Eels, 5 sticks Small Eels, 70 sticks Bread for the funeral day, wheat 20 qrs. Sturgeon 1 barrel Malt for beer ... 40 qrs. Linen for table-cloths & napkins 200 ells Wine . . . 1 hhd. & 1 pipe Plates and Garnishes . . 1400 Herrings for the funeral day . 8500 Trowes 24 Large Pikes .... 100 Bowls 4 Codlings .... 12 seme Wooden Cups for wine and beer . Haddock and Sparlings, each 1 seme Earthen Cups for ditto . . . 300 Salmons 24 Baskets 5 Milvelles, 120 . . Dogdrout, 100 Stevens' Add. to Monasticon, i. 482. 357 Communication from E. J. Rudge, Esq., in Vetusta Monumenta, vol v. page 7. 238 -'Upon good authority, it is stated that the clergy were proprietors of seven- tenths of the whole kingdom; and, out of the three remaining tenths thus left to king, lords, and commons, the four numerous orders of mendicants [friars] were to be main- tained, against whom no gate could be shut, to whom no provision could be denied, and from whom no secret could be concealed." Wade's History of the Middle and Working Classes, 8vo. 1842, page 15, a. 120 HISTOKY OF EVE8HAM. acquisitions as severally given in the record, 259 realizes an addition during only one abbacy of upwards of 318 to the yearly revenue of the monastery. 260 Among the additions made to the ecclesiastical ornaments by this abbot, were a mitre, pastoral staff, abbatial vestments and insignia ; with tapestry for the abbot's stall, at the south of the altar : and two great bells were cast, named Mary and Ecgwin, which were anointed by the archbishop of Nazareth with the holy chrism. The same abbot obtained from pope Urban VI. doubtless not without cost the privilege that his successors might be consecrated in England by whichever catholic bishop they should choose. He also purchased from one Nicholas Porter his right to the office of gatekeeper to the abbey, which the said Nicholas held in fee. 261 The dreadful pestilence of 1349 which ravaged Europe, but particularly England, devastated also this town and monastery. So that in 1350 express provisions were made in consequence by this abbot, under the con- vent seal. The pestilence is described as then raging here; and the number of monks destroyed by it was so great, that the usual appropriation to the poor of each monk's allowance for one year after his decease, could not in consequence be observed. Lands were at the same time appropriated to provide yearly for ever one chaplain to celebrate mass at the altar of St. Stephen in the great church daily, immediately after holding the chapter, "for the souls of the brethren departed in this fearful pestilence." 262 Such was the virulence of the disorder that those who were seized by it are elsewhere stated to have usually died within a few hours, and scarcely any survived beyond the third day. The greater portion of the cattle also perished by it. It swept away so many of the clergy 259 Acts of Abbots, in Harleian MS. 3763. 360 This amount we obtain by adding together the rentals, as given in the manu- script in librae, solidi, and denarii. This multiplied by 3, to reduce the heavy coinage of that period to the modern standard, gives the money value above stated. But this intrinsic value, further multiplied by 5 to show its availability, will augment the a- mount to 1590 of modern money. See Henry on this subject in History of Great Britain, book iii. cap. vi. 961 "Item adquisivit de eodem Nicholaio Porter officinum janitoris portae abbathiae Evesharaiae, quod ipse Nicholas habuit in feodo." Acts of Abbots, Harl. MS. 3763. 869 Harleian MS. 3763, folio 159 b. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 121 that none could be obtained for many churches. Knighton, a con- temporary writer, says that "before this plague you might have hired a curate for four or five marks a year; but after it, you could hardly find a clergyman who would accept of a vicarage [cure] at twenty marks." 263 Adam de Staunton, the contemporary abbot of Gloucester, seems to have calculated upon his own promotion to Evesham upon the death of abbot De Bois : it being recorded that he left at his de- cease, in 1351, a thousand marks in the treasury at Gloucester, " which he had saved that he might be advanced to the abbacy of Evesham." 264 Abbot De Bois, however, survived him many years ; but " after a long and grievous illness," departed on the 8th of the ides of June, 1367 ; and, according to the register in Abingdon, was buried in the body of the church, beneath a marble slab before the altar of St. Ecgwin. 46. John de Ombresley, monk and cellarer here, was elected abbot on the 4th of July, 1367. He, by virtue of the privilege obtained by his predecessor, chose to be consecrated at Banbury by the bishop of Lincoln, and was afterward installed in his own church at Evesham. The wealth of the monastery still increases. The manor and advowson of Eyford are purchased "with great labor and expence ;" and lands and tenements at Ombresley are acquired from John de Sodyngton, in like manner. A tenement of Thomas Aston's in Evesham, with all the tenements that had been John Dykon's in Bengeworth, become the property of the abbey : and upon several of the adjacent manors the monastic granges are either enlarged by this abbot or entirely built. At Evesham, he erected the southern walk of the cloister, and glazed the whole of the windows in that and another side. The latter, on account of the continuity of cloister-windows, must have been effected at much expence. The increasing magnificence of the altar-worship seems to have kept pace with the large additions made to the conventual estates. Censers, basons, candelabra, chrismatories, phials, spoons, an osculatory, 265 holy water vase and aspergator, all of silver, 263 Stow's Survey, vol. ii. page 62, cited by Dr. Henry. 264 Britten's Gloucester Cathedral, page 23. 265 " Osculatorium pacis." The Osculatory or Pax, which was kissed by the coramu- Q 122 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. and a bell of silver gilt, occur among the plate now appropriated to the altar : while two pastoral staves, with jewels for a mitre, and a variety of gorgeous vestments, furnish personal decorations for the abbot, a chaplain, the chaunters, and the priests. Nor does the private table of the lord abbot fail to exhibit signals of the general opulence. There are now added to its furniture six chargers or capacious dishes, of silver, twenty-four plates, the same number of saltcellars, two large dishes to receive the portion de- voted to alms, two large saltcellars and twenty-four spoons, all of the same precious metal. During this abbacy serious outrages were committed on the estate of the monastery by the tenants of the earl of Warwick, who in 1377 "made a ryot vpon the monkes of Euysham, and slewe and hurte many of the abbottes tenauntes and spoyled and brake his closures and warynes, and sewyd their pondes and waters, and dyd vnto them many displeasures;" so that the king issued letters charg- ing the earl to withdraw his men, and thus the depredations were stayed : although, as it is added, no punishment was inflicted on the insurgents. 266 Abbot Ombresley died on the third of the calends of November 1379, and was buried according to the register in Abingdon, in the midst of the body of his abbey church. 47. Roger Zatton, monk and sacristan, was unanimously elected by the convent, on the feast of St. Edmund 1377 ; and being ac- cepted by the king, received his consecration in London from the bishop of Lincoln, and was afterward enthroned in his church at Evesham on Christmas eve. In his time the archbishop of Canter- bury William Courteney claimed a right to visit this monastery ; but though its subordination to the primate stands admitted by the convent in their own charter from pope Constantine, issued soon after their foundation and addressed to Brightwald then the arch- bishop 267 yet the abbot and convent "with great expense" now nicants and handed to each other, in lieu of the personal kiss originally exchanged at the giving of "the peace." S8S Fabyan's Chronicle by Ellis, page 487. 867 "Tibi autem et successoribus tuis, memorato Egwino episcopo assentiente curam auimarum ejusdem ecclesiae praecipue injungimus." Constantine 's Charter of Confir- ination,among the Alley MSS. [Vesp. Bxxiv. folio 72, British Museum] Dugd. n. II. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 123 successfully repulsed the archbishop's successor. 268 Abbot Zatton ended the dispute which had arisen between the monks of this house and the earl of Warwick in the time of his predecessor, and succeeded in a suit against Sir Thomas Bredet and his son, after much labor and cost in sending repeatedly to the king, then occu- pied in Normandy. In defending the claims of his convent "at great expense" this abbot not only incurred personal debts, but also contracted one of 360 on the part of his monastery. So that in this abbacy we miss the usual recapitulation of augmented pro- perty. A diminution in the number of monks now only eighteen also indicates a retrenched expenditure. The most minute of the conventual registers 269 having closed with abbot Ombresley, we are henceforth materially directed by a concurrent document which con- tinues the abbatial list much further. 270 During this abbacy Henry Bolingbroke, shortly after crowned as Henry IV. on his way to effect the deposition of Richard II. marched from Doncaster, says Holinshed, "through the country, coming by Evesham unto Berkely." So that in the month of July 1399 he would appear to have been entertained upon his route, in this monastery. We know not upon what ground abbot Zatton or his convent were in the following reign regarded as offenders ; but there is in another register 271 the copy of a universal pardon ad- dressed by Henry V. in the eighth of his reign to Roger abbot of Evesham, wherein himself and convent are "through reverence of God and by the instigation of good will, pardoned for all kinds of treasons, murders, rapes, rebellions, insurrections, felonies, con- spiracies, transgressions, offences, neglects, extortions, misprisions, ignorances, contempts, concealments, and deceits," committed by them "before the eighth day of December last past." 272 It seems as though from some cause, such pardons were in this reign often if not 268 " Iste abbas expulit gloriose et viriliter et magnis expensis Willielmum Cour- teney archiepiscopum Cantuariensem, qui, ut dicebatur, voluit visitare nos contra privi- legia." Cottonian Chronicle, Vespasian B xv. 269 Extracta Particula de Gestis Abbatum. HarleiunMS. 3763, folios 168 to 191 . 270 De Actis Abbatum, in Cotton MS. Vespasian B xv. ; in Dugdale, num. xxxvi. 271 Register of Abbot Bremesgrave. Cotton MS. Titus C ix. 272 Tested at Westminster, 25th January following. 124 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. generally issued to monasteries : and perhaps no ground is so pro- bable as the disaffection which these establishments had shown, after the commons having prayed the king to seize the revenues of the clergy he in the second year of his reign appropriated the estates of all the alien priories. The abbot of Tewkesbury received a similar pardon in the second of the same reign, 273 and at Newstead one was found of the same period, addressed to the convent there. 274 These three are worded alike, and each absolves from every offence com- mitted prior to the eighth of December then preceding. It is stated in Tindal's continuation of Rapin, that a general pardon having been proclaimed by Edward III. on his accession, succeeding kings followed his example: 275 but this would not account for such as these, which were issued at later and differing periods. Abbot Zatton, after a protracted abbacy of thirty-nine years, died on the 6th of the calends of December 1418, and in the sixth year of Henry the fifth. 276 He was buried according to the register in Abingdon, in the midst of the body of the abbey church, and was succeeded by 48. Richard de Bremesgrave, infirmarer of the monastery, who was consecrated in his own church of Bengeworth by the bishop of Bangor, at that time chancellor of Oxford. This abbot appears as the first of this monastery who, since its acquisition of the epis- copal insignia, received confirmation without the personal inter- vention of the pope ; as among the Shelburne MSS. cited by Dr. Nash, there is a grant to this effect. 277 After the grant the bishop of Bangor's benediction follows, which declares the abbot's election to be as valid as if he had been confirmed from the apostolic see, [ac si per sedem apostolicam confirmata fuitfj. This abbot in 1422 repaired the chapel in the grange at Offenham, and built a new' room there, in which he placed a window of stained glass representing the Salutation. 278 378 Given in Bennett's History of Tewkesbury, page 344. 374 Concealed with other documents in a brazen eagle found in the lake at Newstead in the fifth lord Byron's time. Moore's Life of Byron, 8vo. note on page 2. 275 Acta Regia, appended to Tindal's Continuation of Rapin's England, p. 1 '20, 276 De Actis Abbatum. Cott. MS. Vesp. B. 277 Copied from Cotton. MS. c. ix. Tested at Westminster by John duke of Bedford keeper of England, 12th December, sixth of Henry V. Vide Nash, vol. i. page (OR. 878 Nash's Worcestershire, article "_Offenham," vol. ii. page 202. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 125 Again we find the extended property of this foundation exposed to depredations. In 1422 a bill was exhibited before the council at Westminster complaining that Henry Lench, of Doverdale had with an armed band cut down the abbot's trees at Ombresley, entered his free warren, destroyed his game, broken his mill, pulled up his floodgates, and so threatened his miller and other tenants, that they could not proceed in their business without fear of their lives. Among the most conspicuous of these insurgents there appear some of the family of Brace. A writ was afterward issued, and the matter seems then to have been set at rest. But there were still disaffected persons in Ombresley ; one of whom named Noble, a tenant of the abbot, seems to have been encouraged in violence by the baron of Ombresley, to whom a letter was consequently addressed by the duke of York. This is preserved in the register of this abbot ; 279 and as an unpublished document, curious as a specimen of our language at that time particularly on account of the saxon \> [th] and x [y] retained we insert it at length beneath. 280 Abbot Bremesgrave died on the 10th of May 1435 and was buried, according to the register in Abingdon, in the chapel of St. Mary, at the steps ascending to her altar. 279 Registrum dom. Ricardi de Bremesgrave abbatis monasterii de Evesham. Cott. MS. Titus c. ix. In the preliminary contents of the Register, the document above quoted is described as "Copia cujusdam liter dni. ducis Eborum, transmissse Baroni de Ombresleye." 280 " Rytt trusty and welbeloued, wes grete jow wel, and wul je wyte, b l by the meyntenaunce and supputacion of jow, on W. Nobul, standyng at b s tyme yn oure pre- sance, and tenaunt vn to b e reuerent fad r yn God and oure ryt trusty and enterly wel- beloued chapeleyn, b e abbot of Evesham, hab, do hereafor, and jet dob, and ymagyne jj dayly, by malise and euel wyl, a jeynst rytt good conscience and la\ve, diuerse wrongs, vexacyons, molestacyons, harme, and hynderyng, vn to b e tenauntes and seruauntes of b c seyde reuerent fader yn God ; the whyche jf so be ys as we suppose, gret dis- plesaunce yn to God, and a jeynste al reson, equyte and good conscience. Where- fore, cosyn, we consayle gow and pray jow, gef hyt so be, bt al such heuynesse and ymagynacions sesyng, je wul suffre the sayde reuerent fad r yn God to haue dew correc- tyon vppon the sayde Will, of all b l he hajj mysdon vnto hym and hys servauntes and tenauntes, or by hys procuracyon, wyrchyng, or consentement, as for as je 50 may knowe. And b l je wul have be seyde reuerent fader yn God, and b e churche of Eves- ham b* wes louejj specyaly, wher of he bere}? b e charge al only, for to be recomended, and b e more tenderly at b e reuerence of vs ; so b l he may fully knowe b l oure present lettere and prayere may be vn to hym a vaylabul, as oure singulare trust ys vn to jow wryte." Cottonian MS. Titus c. ix. 126 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 49. John Wykewane, prior of the monastery, was elected abbot on the 12th of the calends of January, 1435-6, and was consecrated by the bishop of Bath, then chancellor of England, on St. Thomas's day. The increase of the monastic property made during this ab- bacy is stated to have been in lands and tenements erce. " Byacustom whose origin is lost in its antiquity, all their [the Auglo- saxons] lands, unless specially exempted, were liable to three great burdens the HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 155 cates; 351 and twenty-seven bordarii, 352 doing service to the [abbot's] court, hold four carucates. The mill 353 here is [worth] thirty solidi ; 354 and [there are] twenty acres pasture. The tax from in- habitants stationary there [is] twenty solidi. In the time of king Edward it was worth sixty solidi; and after, four librae; 355 now, one hundred and ten solidi." By this valuable register we are here admitted to a view of Eves- ham, in its infancy. Three hundred and seventy years had now elapsed, since first its silent glades resounded with the crash of fall- ing trees hewn for its Saxon monastery. That earliest erection tenanted, its church complete, its founder numbered with the dead, his sainted relics solemnly enshrined, legends of the sanctity of Holme and wonders wrought at Ecgwin's tomb, had gradually in- duced, we may presume, the settlement of families upon this privi- leged and fertile spot. But at that period the monastery of Eves- ham had not yet attained its afterward important station. It had, up to this era, struggled for existence through centuries of strife ; contending against a host of enemies laical and priestly, Saxons and Danes all hungering for its possessions or control. The right- ful occupants of St. Ecgwin's monastery, thus scarcely able to main- building and reparation of bridges and fortifications, and to military expeditions." Turner's Anglo-saxon History, vol. i. 350 Dominia. The lord divided his estate into two parts ; the one, retained for his own support and cultivated by his villeins, was termed his demesne : the other, he par- celled out among his dependants, who gave him their services in return. 331 Carucata. The carucate was a Norman measurement, applied only to arable land ; being as much as could be managed with one plough and the beasts belonging thereto, in a year. In the text, the number of hides is first given as in king Edward's time ; and then its measure in carucates. 352 Bordarii. These were superior to the servi and villani : and, from the mode in which they are here noticed, we conclude them to have been tenants upon the abbey estate, holding by performance of agricultural service only. 353 The mill. " In Domesday Book, wherever a mill is specified, we generally find it still subsisting." [Ellis.'] Such is the case in this instance ; the mill above Eves- ham bridge occupies the site of that which belonged to the monastery and which was used by the town. 354 The solidus, or shilling, was worth twelve denarii ; which last was the only coin known in England till long after the period of Domesday. 356 The libra, or pound of ready money, was made up, not of shillings, but of orae, valued at twenty denarii each. 156 HISTOBY OP EVESHAM. tain their hold it was not to be expected that, the place itself to which its monastery was all in all could, amid such changes and confusion, materially increase. We therefore find, that at the period of this survey, it was no burgh, or walled town, but simply a vill " Evesham villa :" its inhabitants being described by the term ma- nentium, and not as burgesses. By this we understand them to have been then exempt from summons to the sheriff's tourn ; serving only at the abbot's court, as being within the bailiwick of his hundred. From the period of Domesday we may, however, safely date the progress of the town toward that degree of eminence to which it soon attained. It had, after the Conquest, been unusually screened from rapine by the subservience of abbot .ZEyelwey. After that event, its abbots, protected by the Norman kings, continued stationary ; and our native monasteries being then peopled with foreign monks who had followed the invading army, 356 the inmates of this con- vent rapidly augmented. Thus shortly after the accession of Wil- liam the Conqueror, we find that during the abbacy of .ZEyelwey, the members of the convent had increased from twelve to thirty- six 357 And at the close of Robert's abbacy who was second in rotation from jfEyelwey the church and monastery as we have seen 358 had been rebuilt, and the number of inmates was augmented to a hundred and fifty-three. This remarkable increase was doubt- less attended by a proportionate addition to the number of inhabi- tants beyond the abbey walls. For, in the then comparatively settled state of William's acquired territory, when even the Saxon Chronicle admits that a man "might go over his kingdom unhurt, with his bosom full of gold," 359 many would naturally prefer this spot, famed for its sanctity and fertility, and tenanted by holy men, the professed guides, councillors, and assistants, of the helpless, the ignorant, and the poor. And well as is honestly observed by Southey did these men then deserve their popularity. " Wherever monasteries were 356 " Each fresh levy of armed soldiers was escorted by a new troop of tonsured clergy, who landed on the shores of England to gaainger, as it was then expressed." Thierry's Norman Conquest, 8vo. 1841, book iv. p. 92. 357 See page 99, ante. ^ See page 101. :o a Amongst other things, is not to be forgotten, that good peace that he [Wil- liam I.] made in this land. So that a man of any account might go over his kingdom, unhurt, with his bosom full of gold." Saxon Chronicle, by Ingram, p. 295. HI8TOEY OF EVESHAM. 157 founded, marshes were drained or woods cleared, and wastes brought into cultivation : the means of subsistence were increased by im- proved agriculture, and by improved horticulture new comforts were added to life. The humblest, as well as the highest pursuits, were followed in these great and most beneficial establishments. While part of the members were studying the most inscrutable points of theology, and indulging themselves in logical subtelties of psycho- logical research .... others were employed in teaching babes and children the rudiments of useful knowledge ; others as copyists, limners, carvers, workers in wood and in stone and in metal, and in trades and manufactures, of every kind which the community required." 36 Nor should we, even while convinced of the after- abuses of such institutions, refuse to consider that throughout the ages of their worst condition all were not ignorant or indolent whom they then contained. For to their lonely cells had constantly and most naturally been attracted, during the circle of eight hundred years, some of the most pious, thoughtful, and talented of the nation. Having, in copying the Domesday survey of Evesham, presented the earliest information of the actual state of that division of the subsequent town ; it now remains that we transcribe from the same venerable record, similar information respecting that portion of the modern borough, which stands upon the eastern bank of the river and retains in the present appellation of Bengeworth its original, and almost uninjured, Anglo-saxon name. At the time of Domes- day, this parish formed part of the manor of Cropthorne ; which had, according to Nash, been given to the cathedral of Worcester by king Burhred. 361 Bengeworth is therefore first registered under the manor of Cropthorne, among the land belonging to the church of Worcester. The following portion of this entry relates particu- larly to the property possessed in Bengeworth parish. J3e cod. iH. ten. aftb. to (Sbegfyx. tj' ftttr. tn 33mntrtonrte tt tfcftf. ten. W*a tttttcom. bt. fjftr, et tfct. fjt. tj, car. tt jrfj. mil. tt i\, &0rtf. at. tt) car. et tftmftr. 6t. bt. genii, tt t. anctlla et bt. ac. p'tt. matt. Ij:, Sal, motto, itjj 1(6, et jr. aalttr. Of this, a very close translation may be given thus : "Of the same manor [Gropthorne] the abbot of Evesham holds four hides, in 360 Southey's Book of the Church, v. i. 381 Nash's Worcestershire, v. ii. p. 60. 158 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Bengeworth. And in the same place Urso the sheriff holds six hides, and hath there [in demesne] two carucates and twelve villani, 362 and two bordarii with three carucates and a half. Here are six servi, 363 and one ancilla, 364 and six acres of pasture. It was worth sixty solidi ; now, four librae and ten solidi." On a succeeding folio of the original, under " Lands of the Church of Evesham," Benge- worth again occurs. In this second entry the property of the abbey is principally noticed ; as that of Urso had been before : IjpSa aercla. ttn. Hi}, fjttf. afc 33mtn0c0rte. tt b ta i)ttf. ttn. ilSrSo. Has b. Ijttf. iftrattoctnautt mis.lt. a66. atf Enrd&erflam in ttt'j Sctrt'S cora. j>0. SatocenSt tt alitS fcaromfij rejjtS. bt sinit. t j. tar. rt b. it tilt ct ti. luirti. ru. it car. ibi bt. Strut C. &. C5. ualfr. lr. Solar. t jiost I Sol. ;J$tolfo. lr. sol. Of this, a literal rendering may be given thus : " The same church [Evesham] holds four hides in Bengeworth, 365 and Urso holds five hides [there] ; these five hides abbot Walter [of Evesham] laid claim to, at Ildeberga in the four shires, before the bishop of Bajeux and other barons of the king. Here are [in demesne] two carucates and five villani, and two bordarii hold two carucates ; [there are] also six servi. In king Edward's time it was worth sixty solidi ; and afterward fifty solidi ; and now, sixty solidi again." In the former 362 Villani. The clearest notion of this class, is considered to be that conveyed by Sir William Blackstoue, in the following passage. " Villeins belonged principally to manorial lords, being either annexed to the soil or to the person of the lord, and trans- ferable by deed from one owner to another. They held small portions of land, by way of sustaining their families, but it was at the mere will of the lord ; and this upon villein services such as carrying out dung, hedging, ditching, and any other the meanest offices. A villein could acquire no property either in lands or goods; but if he purchased either, the lord might enter upon them, oust the villein, and seise them to his own use." Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. ii. 363 Servi are uniformly distinguished from villani in Domesday Book. The former appear to have been villeins of the lowest grade, who without any determined tenure of land were servilely employed by the lord, maintained, and paid, at his discretion. Compare Kennett, in Parochial Antiquities. 364 Ancillce appear to have been female servi, employed in domestic and servile offices at the will of the lord. Their chastity was, however, protected by the laws. Compare Ellis' s Introduction to Domesday Boole. 365 These four hides constituted the land acquired by abbot .flSyelwey, to which the bishop of Worcester had previously laid claim before the kings' justiciaries ; upon which, it was agreed that the abbot of Evesham should continue to hold, by doing homage to the bishop. See the Agreement in Heming's Cartulary, p. 75. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 159 entry, on page 157 Urso is said to hold six hides ; here they are stated as five. The abbot of Evesham probably grounded his claim to these hides of Urso upon the alleged charter of St. Ecgwin, wherein Bengeworth is enumerated among the villages annexed to his foundation by himself. 366 This claim, however, seems not to have been admitted by the royal justiciaries ; the land in dispute being here registered as still retained by Urso. In both the entries respecting Bengeworth, its Saxon termination is retained; 367 thus proving it to have been even then a village. As regards the ortho- graphical deviation from the former entry, observable in the name, that, doubtless, was occasioned by the provincial pronunciation of the respondents in replying to the queries of the commissioners. From these early intimations respecting Evesham and Benge- worth since consolidated into one town, we now proceed to notice circumstances connected with its appearance at various, but more recent periods. Prom a perambulation made in the 28th of Edward I. we learn that Evesham was, prior to that period, in- cluded within the royal forest of Feckenham ; and that it had been so afforested since the reign of Henry II. when that king at the beginning of his reign enlarged the forest of Feckenham, of which, according to Tindal, this abbey had liberty. 368 But from the evidence given before the king's justices in the above year, 1300, respecting the original bounds of the forest, Evesham was at that time disafforested, and several adjacent villages likewise. The town is at present divided into three parishes ; styled All-saints, St. Lawrence, and Bengeworth ; the latter being separated from the rest, by the Avon running between. The town comprises four principal or main streets ; High-street, Vine-street, and Bridge- street on the west; with Port-street, on the eastern, or opposite side. From these there branch out several others; the chief of which are Cowl-street, Ode-street, 369 and Bewdley-street. In ad- dition to these, a considerable number of buildings has recently 366 " Hsec vero sunt nomina villarum quas, ut supradictum est, acquisivi ; Eoves- ham, Benyagurth," etc. Bp. Ecgwin's Charter, copied in Du.gda.le and Tindal. 367 From the Saxon peopiS [weorth], signifying, according to Ingram, a village. 368 Tindal's History of Evesham, page 86. 369 Now corrupted to Cole and Oat ; though ancient documents present the above as their original appellation. 160 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. been erected upon that open space between the site of the monas- tery and its ancient vineyard still known by the Saxon appella- tion of the "Merstowe Green." 370 Though this latter spot seems to have been pre-occupied by spacious dwellings at an earlier period. One of these remains unaltered, west of the present Trumpet Inn; and another, yet more extensive, though now altered and divided, stands further west, where was recently a tan-yard. As might be expected in a town commencing under such cir- cumstances as have already been alluded to in the present chapter, the more ancient portions are found in the immediate vicinity of its monastery. This antiquity is particularly discernible in the situ- ation, limited width, and ancient vestiges, discoverable in Bridge- street. Among these vestiges the present Crown Hotel is worthy [Crown Inn, Bridge-street.] of observation though, while we print this sheet, it is undergoing considerable alteration, as being evidently an ancient hostelry, of which much of the external galleries of communication remains ; 370 Compounded of the Saxon words me/it- [mere] and f top [stow], signifying a marshy dwelling-place. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 161 although that side of its original quadrangle which fronted the street has, at some comparatively recent period, been taken down. Bridge-street continues to sustain its original superiority it being still the principal street of our unobtrusive trade. Branching out from this, as inhabitants augmented, Cowl-street, Ode-street, and parts adjacent, gradually rose ; and last of all, we may presume, the spacious High-street was completed, the upper part of which is built upon what was once a wood appropriated to the almonry of the abbey, and called the Almenwood. 371 The unusual width of the last street seems to have been occasioned by the desultory manner in which, we cannot but fancy that, it must have been built. At first, a dwelling here and there appears to have been erected, thrown back from the road, and leaving a space as garden- ground or homestead at the front and sides, as still observable in villages, the intermediate spaces being then gradually built over, the gardens in front, upon an increased communication with other towns, became absorbed into the street ; and thus its present width, so very remarkable in an ancient town, appears most naturally to be accounted for. We would add that the irregular stack of build- ings thrown out into the road-way at the commencement of this street as too often the case in similar instances in ancient towns, where otherwise the air and light of heaven might be freely breathed and seen, would long ere this have been removed, had the local authorities adopted measures to purchase each tenement as succes- sively offered for sale ; this having, we believe, happened to all of them within the last twelve years. And whenever the inhabitants shall desire seriously to rid themselves of the encroachment, this we conceive must be the method to proceed. The unincorporated resiants of Pershore, only six miles distant, have already set a most laudable example in this respect, by removing a similar excrescence from the centre of their town ; and why the municipality of Eves- ham should thus lag behind we are really unable to explain. The antiquary Leland, who was commissioned by Henry VIII. to make a survey of the antiquities of his country, and who accord- ingly spent more than six years "in rambling to and fro in this 371 So termed in sir Philip Hoby's grant from Henry VIII. and styled such in later title deeds. X 162 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. nation, and in making researches into the bowels of antiquity," must have visited Evesham and its then dismantled monastery about the year 1540. 372 He thus describes in his Itinerary the appear- ance of the town and its vicinity at that period. " I roade from Aulcester towardes Eovesham about 2 miles by woody and enclosed ground ; and then a mile by ground less enclosed but having more corn than wood, thence about 4 miles by clean champion [cham- paign]. Some woode about Eovesham on the right ripe [bank] of Avon. The towne of Eovesham is meetly large and well builded with tymbre. The market-sted is fayre and large. There be divers praty streets in the towne. The market is very celebrate. In the towne is noe hospitall or other famous foundation but the late ab- bey. There was noe towene at Eovesham before the foundation of the abbey." 373 Hence we learn, from one who had travelled England through, that at the middle of the sixteenth century the town itself was by no means inferior in extent, appearance, and construction, to other places ; and that it also claimed at that time, a degree of supe- riority in these respects. But there is something touching, as well as instructive, conveyed by the notice that there " is noe hospitall," now that there is 'no abbey'. The condition of the inhabitants must at the time of Leland's visit have been much depressed. Of that ecclesiastical institution with which their town had flourished and by which it had chiefly been sustained dismantled walls, broken arches, prostrate columns, violated sepulchres, were then the only vestiges. Its local revenue no longer passed through the hands of the conventual officers, to circulate in various channels through the town ; but its estates being distributed among courtiers, the rental was dissipated elsewhere. Even the town itself had, up to this period, belonged to the convent ; the inhabitants holding their dwellings from the abbot, grinding at his mills, and baking in his 373 "Afterwards he [Leland] became library keeper to the king, and had a com- mission from him under the broad seal, A.D. 1533, whereby he was impowered to make a search after England's antiquities, and peruse the libraries of all cathedrals, abbies, priories, colleges, &c. ; as also all places wherein records, writings, and secrets of antiquity were reposed. Whereupon, in few years (after obtaining a special dis- pensation, A.D. 1536), he spent more than six years in rambling to and fro in this* nation, and in making researches into the bowels of antiquity." Wood's Athene?, i. 67. 373 Leland's Itinerary, vol. iv. page 69, edition 1764. 11ISTOEY OF EVESHAM. 163 ovens, as lord of the fee. But now that paternal landlord living in their midst, often too their adviser, helper, and friend was ex- changed for a new and strange superior, upon whom their dwellings had recently been conferred by wholesale from the crown. 374 The condition of the more dependent inhabitants must therefore have be- come peculiarly trying. In time of need they had hitherto repaired to the almonry of the abbey, where the hungry were daily fed ; and when sick they had been visited at their houses by the almoner himself, whose office was not merely to relieve applicants, but to seek after the afflicted, to minister to their wants, to listen to their complaints and "kindly and charitably to condole with them." 375 But after a while, the inhabitants, left thus to themselves, began to exercise more vigorously their individual energy, and a better state of things appeared. Their dwellings, no longer vested in the church, were transferable from the lay grantee ; and as they passed from one family to another, the inmates took opportunity to pur- chase the fee, and thus became owners of their several residences, subject only to a trifling chief-rent to the crown. 376 About the same time they appear to have improved their native manufacture of woollen cloths, and in about sixty years after the dissolution of their monastery they had become an incorporated town. And now in the same century, that which immediately succeeded the monastic overthrow the unconstitutional imposition termed "ship-money," in withstanding which Hampden and his fellows fought and fell furnishes us with means of ascertaining the re- lative importance of this town during the reign of Charles the First. In the schedules to the assessment made in 1636, we find the bo- rough of Evesham ranked among the nine highest-rated corporate towns in the kingdom, county towns and cities excepted ; it being 374 The grants from Henry VIII. to Sir Philip Hoby confer tenements in Evesham by masses of seventy at a time. 375 " It is the almoner's office either to enquire himself, or procure proper persons to enquire for him, and that with the utmost care and solicitude, where any sick or infirm persons reside who have not a sufficient support Having entered the house, he must kindly and charitably condole with the sick person and offer him the best of what he has and whatever he may understand shall be necessary to him." Abbey Register, Harleian MS. 3763, folio 205 ; translated in Tindal,p. 188. 376 The last of these have during living memory been redeemed by the holders. 164 HISTORY OF EVKSHAM. on account of its importance proportionally taxed with a payment of 74 toward the king's despotic measure. 377 Since the before-mentioned survey made by Leland, the streets of Evesham have been from time to time the subjects of much im- provement. Its "tymbre" tenements are now, with few exceptions, supplanted by more uniform structures of brick or stone ; its car- riage-ways are steyned ; its foot-paths paved ; and its thorough- fares are well lighted with gas. Above all, the general aspect of the town is distinguished by an air of cleanliness and respectability, which visitors universally remark. At the lower end of Bridge-street, an ancient stone bridge of eight arches crosses the river, and communicates with the opposite side of the town. The earliest mention of a bridge here, occurs in the monastic chronicles, 378 during the abbacy of William de Ande- ville, in 1159. Prom this and other authority we learn, that at its foot the Beauchamps earls of Warwick had intrenched themselves in a castle on the Bengeworth side ; whither their lawless bands emerged from time to time to plunder or destroy the property of the convent and its tenants. 379 The site of this castle is still clearly pointed out by the name attached to a plot of ground contiguous to the bridge at its north-east angle, which continues to be termed " the castle." Considerable traces of the moat were also recently to be seen here, though at present arched over; from the relative situation of which, this defence must have commenced at the river's brink, and have returned in the opposite direction. So that the Avon defended the stronghold in front, and the moat in flank and in rear; while the barbican, or chief port of the castle, commanding the bridge by its situation near the present street, most probably conferred on that the ancient name of Port-street; which appella- 377 Among cities and county towns (distinguished from the above class), the ancient cities of Rochester and Bath, as also the county town of Buckingham, are rated at only 70 each. The important city of Chichester is only rated at 3 7*'. Sd. above Evesham : while Birmingham and Manchester were then considered too insignificant to be assessed at all. See copy of Schedule in Lord Nugeni's Life of Hampden varying slightly from that in Ruslticorth's Collections; though Evesham stands the same in both. 378 Harleian MS. in British Museum, before referred to: see page 103. 3751 Compare MS. Harleian 229, folio 17 ; MS. Cottonian, Vesp. B. xv. folio 17; also Kabyan's Chronicle, by Ellis, cited on page 122, in a former chapter. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 165 tion it still retains. As at the period of Domesday no castle existed here, this fortress doubtless originated with those numerous strong- holds erected by the Norman barons during the reign of Stephen. The existence of such was, however, in the present as in other in- stances, but of brief duration ; its destruction having been effected by the bold abbot De Andeville as mentioned in our previous notice of that dignitary very near the close of Stephen's reign. [The Bridge, from the site of the Castle. ) Port-street the original appearance of which is most materially improved at present extends continuously from the bridge to the rising ground on which the church is seated. This street in the neatness of its houses, the condition of its road and flagways, and the refreshing accompaniment of a pellucid stream murmuring on either side now yields not, in the cheerful cleanliness of its ap- pearance, to any other portion of the town, through which the reader has thus been cursorily conveyed. CHAPTER VIII. CHAPEL OP ST. LAWRENCE, IN THE DEANERY AND WITHIN THE PRECINTS OF THE MONASTERY. PASSING from Bridge-street along the eastern side of the Market- square, the parochial-burial ground is entered through the remains of a gateway exhibiting features of a more remote antiquity than any other building with one exception which we shall shortly notice at present standing in the town. The lateral walls of this ancient structure are relieved within by low semicircular arches resting on short semi-columns with indented capitals ; the columns in front, which were also of similar character, are there partially preserved, and from these sprang the circular vault that formed the arch of the gateway. Some portion of its springing part may even yet be distinguished among the stonework at the north-western angle, behind the doorway of what is now a butcher's yard. The vault and upper portion of this gateway have wholly and together disappeared, and a timber-framed apartment now supplies their place. It is matter of regret after the inhabitants and others have so laudably restored the Church of St. Lawrence, and while the municipal authorities have further improved the area of the market-square that so confined and in every respect inappropriate a communication, as this has by encroachment become, should be suffered thus to continue. A few pounds contributed by the inha- bitants would suffice to remove the shattered tenements that abut against and are reared upon the walls of the venerable gateway ; and thus while the church-way path for the inhabitants of both parishes would be far more agreeable to those who frequent it ; a very dense portion of the main street would also be additionally 168 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. ventilated, by the current of air that would then sweep from the meadows throgh the market-place. This gateway, being within the line of wall, still traceable to the Avon eastward, which abbot Re- ginald erected early in the twelfth century as the boundary of the abbey precincts, we consider to have been constructed at that time. In another portion of the same lofty wall, which encompassed the abbey, as well as the conventual and public burial-grounds, the contemporary relic before adverted to will be found. This is a low, circular, receding doorway, that formerly admitted to the great quadrangle of the monastey ; it stands immediately southward of the chancel of St. Lawrence church, arid presents the only specimen of a perfect Norman archway that remains within the town. Having entered the public burial-ground, the spectator will re- gard with surprise the redundance of architectural scenery that suddenly presses upon his attention, in this retired portion of a country town. Two churches, each with its own tower and spire, in addition to the campanile or bell-tower of the monastery being grouped together within the circuit of a few square yards. One of these churches will, from the original beauty of its architecture and the present renovated condition of the pile, immediately command attention. It is the parochial chapel of St. Lawrence, formerly subordinate to the abbey-church. This structure, as standing near- est to the site of the monastery and as being uniformly the first noticed in our ancient ecclesiastical returns, we for these reasons consider to be of much earlier origin than the adjacent building- dedicated to All-saints ; and therefore we proceed to notice it first in detail : premising that this as well as the adjacent chapel were both founded by the inmates of the monastery, for the use of the inhabitants of the town. Thus the great church of the abbey could be exclusively appropriated to the multitudinous observances and ceremonials of the convent, without any partial reservation within that edifice for parochial use : thereby precluding there the inter- vention of secular worshippers, save as distant spectators, at all times. The earliest notice of the chapel of St. Lawrence occurs among the abbey Institutes compiled by abbot Randulph in 1223, to which we have previously referred. At that early period the chaplain was supplied by the convent, of which he was an inmate ; and there he daily received his corredy of bread and beer, in the same proportion HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 169 as the other monks. 380 Even the requisites for its altar would seem to have been furnished from the abbey ; for two wax-lights of four pounds weight were always to be provided here by the sacristan, to be burned during the celebration of mass. 381 At a later period the office of chaplain and curate is found held by indenture from the abbot and convent ; the incumbent then receiving parochial oblations and small personal tythe, but yielding thence a yearly payment to the abbot; 382 who exercised over this and the remaining chapels of the Vale an authority equivalent not merely to rectorial but also to episcopal superiority. Of this supremacy a remark- able instance is presented in a mandate from abbot Bremesgrave extant among the conventual registers addressed to the parochial chaplains of St. Lawrence and All-saints. In this they are com- manded either to suspend, or finally to proceed to the excommu- nication of offenders, within their several churches, by virtue of the abbatial authority as derived immediately from Rome. 383 From another manuscript pertaining to the abbey, preserved in the Cotton collection, we learn that in 1271 this church was so far completed, that a conventual chapter was then held in it, during the abbacy of William de Whitchurch. 384 And in another manu- script we find that the structure was consecrated by the bishop of 380 " Quarum duarum capellarum sacerdotes, scilicet S". Laurentii et Omnium Sanctorum, debent habere cotidie de cellario panem et cervisiam, sicut monachi." Oottonian MS. Augustus ii. No. 11. 381 Evesham Register, iu Harleian MS. 3763, folio 201 ; in Tindal, 184. 382 Capella S'c'i Laurencij in Evesham. ESus Fyld capellanus & curat' ib'm ty t'mio vite sue p indentur' ex concessione & dimissione abbi's & conventus monast'ij de Evesham in com' Wigorn' het ib'm in decimis psonalib's oblacoib's ac alijs annuis minorib's decimis & ^ficuis cSib's annis xiij xjs. iijcZ. oV " Inde allo r in pencone ppetua an 1 '' resolut' abbi mon' pdci & succe' suis p an m Ixxiijs. ivd." Decanat' Vail' Evesham, inValor Ecclesiasticus, Hen. VIII. iii. 255. 383 " Ricardus permissions divina abbas monasterii Eveshamiae, Wigorn. diocesis, ad Romanam ecclesiam nullo medio pertinentis, ac ordinarii jurisdictionis exempti vallis Eveshamise, Capellanis parochialibus ecclesiarum Omnium Sanctorum et Sti. Laurentii Eveshamise dictum R. sic fuisse et esse per nos excommunicatum vel suspensum ... in ecclesiis vestris . . . publice et solempniter denunciatis, ab hujus denunciatione non cassantes." De Correctione Fraterna, in Cottonian MSS. Titus C ix. folio 32. 384 " Celebratum est capitulum apud Evesham in ecclesia Sancti Laurentij." MS. Nero iii. D folio 342 : given in Dugdale. T 170 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. St. Asaph, during the abbacy of John de Brokehampton, in 1295. 385 These dates induce a supposition that the building was completed during the thirteenth century. And bearing in mind, that during this period Thomas de Marleberg and Henry Lathom then suc- cessively nourished to whose architectural ability we have before referred it is extremely probable that these were the persons who principally directed its construction. There are portions of the present fabric which, from their style of architecture, tend to con- firm this supposition : among which we would particularly refer to the structure of the tower and spire. The church, however, though completed and consecrated, as we have seen, has since that period, and prior to its recent restoration been almost rebuilt. And, while admiring the pillared arches, the clerestory above, 386 and the eastern termination of the central aisle evidently the production of the sixteenth century we, in the ab- sence of further information than that implied in the traditional appellation of its chapel at the south, 387 cannot but inquire Who was the author of this renovation, if not the mitred genius who reared the adjacent bell-tower ? and who this admitted alike re- edified and adorned the parochial church of St. Lawrence, to which his own cathedral-like establishment was the mother-church. The recent melancholy condition of the structure naturally induces a supposition that this re-edification was suddenly stayed, upon the resignation of Abbot Lichfield, in 1539; and that the building was in consequence hastily covered in, before the external decorations were completed. For Leland who visited the spot only seven yearjs after then found the structure, at least thus far, completed; and therefore tells us " There be within the precincts of the abbey of Eovesham two parish churches, whither the people of the towne resort." 388 But within two centuries after this remark, the con- dition of the one now under review had, from some unnamed cause 385 " Memorandum, quod anno domini M. CC. nonagesimo V to . anno vero regni regis Edward! Ill' . . die Dominica sequente 16 mo . kalend. Januarij, dedicavit idem Asaphensis ecclesiam sancti Laurentij." Destroyed Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. given in Stevens's Appendix to Dugdale. 386 Clere-story. The masonry that occurs between the arches next the aisles and the central ceiling. 5)87 Usually termed Abbot Lichfield's Chapel. )s8 Itinerary, iv. p. 69. ed. 1764. //// May. Boo~kseHer. Evesham . HISTORY OF EVES HAM. 171 become so impaired and dilapidated, that in 1730 a brief was granted, and nearly six hundred pounds were raised, and apparently expended for its repair. But reparation at that period, usually implied a destruction of whatever the mason considered as standing in the way of his own notions of improvement. For not contented with repairing ancient fabrics, restoration was unheeded ; and " to be repaired and beautified" was then the favorite object and ex- pression. Prior to such interference there was a chapel on the north- ern side, answering to the beautiful addition still remaining at the south. Mr. Abingdon minutely described it in the reign of Charles the First ; and Willis only two years before the miscalled ' repa- ration' says that a chapel then existed 'on each side the body of this church, which seem to have been built about the same time as that in All-saints' church, viz. not long before the dissolution.' 389 But to effect the species of repair decided on in 1730, the northern line of pillars next the nave, the aisle beyond, as well as the chapel just referred to, were all demolished. A new wall was then erected upon the northern boundary of the aisle, which being elevated to a level with that southward of the nave, was made to sustain a roof thus stretched across this extraordinary space. As might have been anticipated, no timber so strained over such a span could long sus- tain the weight ; and in a little time the beams gave way, leaving the roofless structure to moulder into the ruined and neglected pile which we were till recently compelled to behold. Its late appear- ance which in conjunction with the adjacent structures forms an unusual as well as picturesque subject for the pencil we have preserved in the accompanying print. The tower with its spire and pinnacles are evidently coeval with the original church. The former rises in a square, but has each angle capriciously and singularly bevelled off between a pair of graduated buttresses of very slight projection. The battlements of the parapet are ' few and far between,' and the string-course under- neath is remarkable for the small cylindrical gurgoyles or water- spouts upon which it rests. There is a stair-turret on the south- east, capped with a stunted cone ; the pinnacles on the remaining angles are of the plainest kind ; four others at the immediate sw Willis's Mitred Abbeys, vol. ii. A.D. 172K. 172 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. springing of the spire are of the same construction ; and the plain, low, pyramid-like outline of the spire itself, stamps it as one of the earliest specimens of that ultimately tapering and graceful comple- tion to our ecclesiastical edifices. The windows in the upper story of the tower are in unison with the original character of the work ; but that in the lower division apparently too wide to consist with the permanence of the fabric seems, as does the entrance-way be- neath, to have been inserted at a much later time. The removal of a coat of plaister from the exterior of the tower, has recently disclosed an ancient bas-relief embedded in the masonry, which we presume must have originally been employed to ornament a much earlier structure. The subject of its rude delineation is the crucifixion of the Saviour, with the usually attendant figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John, as here delineated. A similarly [Bus- Relief upon St.Lawrence Tower.} sculptured stone apparently once the head of a cross was dug up within the area of the cloisters, about twelve years ago, but differ- ing in the border or outer moulding. The latter is at present in the possession of Edward Rudge, esq. The northern aisle of the church till recently presented an ap- pearance widely differing from that to which it is now restored. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 173 This restoration, continued throughout the building, was begun in 1836 and completed in 1837, under the direction of Mr. Harvey Eginton, at a cost of 2514 3s. 2d. Of this sum 1457 Os. 9d. was realized by voluntary contributions and interest thereon ; 200 was cleared by sales effected in a public bazaar ; 650 was granted by the Church -building Society ; and 200 from the Diocesan Church- building Fund. The additional cost of an organ was 283 6s. ; and this also was defrayed by voluntary contributions. The building was, upon re-completion, opened on the 16th November, 1837, by Dr. Carr, the diocesan, who preached on the occasion from Haggai i. v. 2. The architectural objections to the general restoration apply, we conceive, to the addition of a parapet along the lateral aisles, by which the original outline of the pines is much impaired : as also to the stunted figure of the two lesser eastern windows, which might readily have been obviated by copying the much more airy pro- portions of the two at the western termination of the aisles, one of which forms part of the original building. Internally, the expense that would have been avoided by omitting the parapet and pinna- cles referred to, would have enabled the architect to have coved and ribbed the ceilings of the aisles, instead of merely plaistering them horizontally like a common room. The exterior of the chancel projects a little beyond the lateral aisles. This portion is evidently one of the latest additions to the original fabric, and is elaborately ornamented in the early Tudor style. Not that we regard it as completed according to the original intent ; otherwise its richly sculptured buttresses would scarcely terminate without a pinnacle, nor would they thus have flanked so unadorned and tame a pediment, devoid of either battlements or decorated parapet, as that which now surmounts the work. The great east window here, is filled with tracery, in what has been dis- tinguished as the perpendicular style ; and the buttresses that flank it, and to which allusion has been made, are most delicately carved ; the lower division of each being adorned with tracery cut in panel and finished in an embattled line ; upon this are seated four tiny pinnacles issuing from the salient busts of as many angels, from each of which is thrown a miniature fly-buttress, intended to give an appearance of support to the upper and concluding gradation. A range of trefoil niches with a line of quaterfoils beneath, ex- 174 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. tending below the window and round the buttresses, completes the present decoration of the chancel end. This portion of the church retains its weather-worn and mellowed aspect, it having been judi- ciously excepted from the pointing-tool. The walls and windows of the southern aisle are of a plain and ancient character, in unison with the tower and spire. From hence the chantry of St. Clement for as such we venture to distinguish it, for the reason given below 390 projects, in the usual position of a transept or cross aisle. It is guarded at the angles by panelled buttresses, and is surmounted with a lofty and delicately-wrought embattled parapet finishing with pinnacles, a counterpart to that employed upon the summit of the abbey bell-tower, but not origi- nally continued along the adjoining aisles. Entering the fabric at the west, the visitor may embrace the whole interior at a view. This is chiefly attainable by the appro- priate form and judicious arrangement of the pews. The central aisle is separated from that on either side by seven slender and simply-clustered columns sustaining obtusely-pointed arches with rounded haunches, having panelling in the spandrels and bounded by a string-course above. Upon this stands the clerestory with its numerous windows ; the whole being of light and graceful design. The panelled ceiling was constructed by the restoring architect, in the absence of any vestige of the original covering as his guide. Had it been embowed in a line exactly corresponding with the arch of the east window, the harmony would have been entire. At the commencement of the original choir the observer will re- mark the situation of the ancient rood-loft, or gallery formerly ap- propriated in our churches to the reception of the holy rood. The latter was a cross bearing the image of Jesus of the size of life, and was generally flanked by images of the Virgin and of St. John. Be- neath the rood-loft was usually a carved screen of open-work, that 390 Mention is made in the endowment of Stourbridge Grammar School, of a chan- try dedicated to St. Clement in the church of St. Lawrence, Evesham ; and that re- ferred to above is usually denominated Clement Lichfield's Chapel. The passage is this : " Ac etiam omnia messuagia, terras, tenementa, et hsereditates cum pertin. in villa et oampis de Evesham in occupat. undecim person, ib'm nomiuat nuper cantariis SS. Trinitatis, B. M. et S li dementis infra parochiam S. Laurentii ib'm spectant." N ash's Worcestershire, vol. ii. page 215. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 175 admitted to the chancel. The situation is clearly indicated here by the absence of panelling upon the adjacent piers ; and in that at the south, the arched opening remains that formerly admitted to the gallery itself by a newel staircase, part of which was removed during the recent alterations. The pier at the north, having then to be rebuilt, was at the same time finished to correspond with the opposite and original portion. Both these spaces are now partly screened by pulpits ; an expedient to which the architect resorted, apparently to relieve the flat, occasioned by the removal long ago of the ancient carved chancel-screen and superincumbent rood-loft. Referring to such removals of church furniture universal in his day Harrison, during the reign of Elizabeth, thus remarks : " Fi- nallie, whereas there was woont to be a great partition between the quire and the bodie of the church ; now it is either very small or none at all : and to saie the truth altogither needlesse, sith the minister saith his service commonlie in the bodie of the church with his face toward the people, in a little tabernacle of wainscot provided for the purpose. 391 The side aisles are inappropriately finished with modern cielings, as we have noticed ; and the chantry originally situate on the north- ern side though at first included in the intended restoration, has not we believe from economical considerations been rebuilt. At the east end of the southern aisle was, till recently, a curious sub- terranean chapel, with a vaulted ceiling in the early pointed style, and having recesses in its southern wall, as usually prepared for altar-worship. It was descended from the aisle by a flight of steps, and was lighted from a window next the church-yard. During the late alterations, the vaulted ceiling of this chapel was broken up because, forsooth, a step would otherwise have occurred in the up- per pavement ! The stairs connecting it with the aisle were next destroyed and the entrance closed ; and now, covered with a brick- work arch, and opening to the churchyard, when requisite, through what was once the window, it is appropriated as a private vault, though previously occupied as a public charnel-house. Near this spot, that gem of architecture, occasionally termed the chapel of abbot Lichfield a bijou which the whole county cannot 391 Harrison's Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed, ed. 4to. page 233. 176 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. equal opens toward the church by a lofty pointed archway with panelled soffits, in which were lately vestiges of the low screen of open stonework since supplied that formerly enclosed it from the aisle. This interesting enclosure, erected and endowed that mass might daily be performed therein for its founder's postmortuary repose exhibits the richest, yet chastest, decorations of the Tudor style. Its form is square, lighted at the east and south by distended windows under low pointed architraves, characteristic of the era. From slender columns in the angles swell four beautifully formed and richly ornamented fans, which surrounding an exquisitely carved pendant in the centre, complete a ceiling as luxuriant as that of any chantry in the land. The situation of its altar beneath the eastern window, is distinctly marked, and on either side there yet remains a richly carved recess, of beautiful design, retaining the slender pedestal that sustained the saintly effigy long since removed, and terminated by an elaborate spire-wrought canopy. These graceful but now mutilated relics have been minutely painted in distemper, together with the walls of the chantry and its vault; and then the pavement also being covered with armorial tiles, and the light dispensed through windows glowing with the richest colours, the effect must have been almost more than we can at present realize. The southern wall is panelled, in unison with the spacious window it includes ; but that on the west is wholly blank, nor are there at present any indications of a doorway having opened here toward the monastery, for the entrance of the officiating priest ; though externally the masonry has evidently been interfered with at some later time, as if to close effectually any such an aperture. This we remark, because Abingdon in his notes relating to the ab- bey at which we have already glanced 392 perpetuates a tradition, current in his day, that the monastery once communicated with this church by " a very great and curious walk " to pass hither at certain times to mass. The ancient font whose style of ornament appropriated its construction to the period when the columniation of the nave was first rebuilt has been removed from this chantry, where it till lately stood ; and an indifferent substitute purporting to be modelled from the former now supplies its place. '** See page 60, anH. . . : HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 177 Mr. Abingdon who was the first modern collector of topo- graphical materials relating to this county inspected this church about the year 1640. But before we cite his observations, it may be well to remark that he was a person of consequence in the reign of Elizabeth, and had been confined six years in the Tower as an abettor of the attempted escape of Mary queen of Scots ; but upon his release was permitted to retire to Hinlip in this county, which estate he had acquired by marriage. In the following reign he was so far implicated in the powder-plot as to conceal two of the con- spirators in his own house. They were hanged ; and he was re- committed to the Tower, but by the intercession of his father-in- law was ultimately pardoned. After this he remained in Worcester- shire, applying himself to the study of antiquities ; and the result of his labours, which has much the appearance of mere local notes, is preserved in the library of the Antiquarian Society. Among the armorial bearings described by him as then occurring here among the painted glass were those of England, Evesham Abbey, Beau- champ, Blount, Vampage, and Botelor. The two latter coats are stated as then appearing in the windows of the northern chantry. From these notices we perceive that in the reign of Charles the First and previous to the civil war that followed, our churches generally retained the inimitable stained glass with which their windows were furnished prior to the Dissolution. The cause of this is thus explained by a writer, whom we have already cited : " All images, shrines, tabernacles, roodlofts, and monuments of idol- atrie are remooved, taken downe, and defaced ; onelie the stories in glasse windowes excepted, which for want of sufficient store of new stuffe, and by reason of extreame charge that should grow by the alteration of the same into white panes throughout the realme, are not altogither abolished in most places at once, but by little and little suffered to decaie, that white glasse may be provided and set up in their roomes." 393 Dr. Nash, in copying from Mr. Abingdon's account, has very seriously confused the condition of the building at that time, with its already ruinous condition during his own j 394 and Mr. Ireland, 393 Harrison's Description of England, A.D. 1586, edition 1807, p. 233. 384 History of Worcestershire, vol. i. pages 417-18. 178 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. at a later period rapt in poetical imaginings while contemplating the ruined fane has, with extraordinary latitude, wreathed clus- tering ivy round its broken walls. 395 But these are instances, only, of the errors into which even careful topographers may, by casual forgetfulness, be innocently betrayed. The monumental inscriptions at present remaining within the building will be found in our Appendix, numbered X. The chapelry of St, Lawrence, whilst a peculiar of the abbey, was visited by a dignitary of that establishment styled "dean of the Vale." After the Dissolution it was, with the other chapelries, visited by an official appointed by the dean and chapter of Christ- church Oxford, who claimed the right, by appointment from the crown. In 1587 the right of the crown was questioned, and appa- rently waived ; for soon after, the ordinary commenced his visitation. It is at present included in the diocese of Worcester, but is ex- empted from visitation by the archdeacon. It stands as a curacy in the " Liber Regis;" is valued there at 9 16s. 8d. and is in the gift of the crown. The Terrier, or official return of the profits of this curacy in the year 1585, as extracted from the registry of the Consistorial Court at Worcester, is given in the margin beneath. 396 The original, however, does not contain the queries upon which the 395 " Its roofless walls, and broken windows, its mouldering arches, and beautiful appendage the clustering ivy, all leave a melancholy impression upon the mind." Ireland's Warwickshire Avon, page 253. 386 1585. S*. Lawrence in Evesham upon the Curates othe. 1. To the first I answere that we have not the Bible of the like translacon required. 2. To the Seconde I say that the Queenes M tie . is Patrone of o r . bnfice and that there is no gleabe Land thereunto belongiuge. Myselfe ame M r . of Arts in Oxenford and sequester the Fruits for my wages w ch . amounteth at the uttermost not above x 1 . yearly. 3. 4. 5. To the 3 4 and 5 I can say nothinge. 6. To the 6 th I say that there is but only the Vicaridge house * and one Orchard on the backside thereunto adjoininge. Pryveledges I knowe none but that we are not subject to the Archdeacons Visitacon and utterly exempte from payinge any Procto" 8 . of the Pliam 1 . ffees but only are subject to my L d . Bishopp's Visitacon. GEORGE PREEDY ) Per me PHILLIP HADDOCK ; Churchwardens RICHARD HARWARD > Minister ibni * The site of this house is not positively known ; but seems to have adjoined the pre- sent Abbey-house, at the north : whence such a tenement was recently removed. HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. 179 answers are returned ; neither, as we have been informed by the registrar, are they at present to be found. The incumbents, from the visitation of the monastery in the reign of Henry VIII. until the junction of the chapelry with that of All-saints are so far as we have been able to discover the following : EDWARD FTLD is returned in 1535 as chaplain and curate here for the term of life, by indenture from the abbot and convent. 397 WILLIAM SWETON. His name appears on the pension roll, cited at the foot of page 142, as incumbent here in 1553. PHILIP HADDOCK. His signature is affixed to the terrier, lately noticed, in the year 1585. JOHN WOOD. His signature occurs in the parochial register, in June, 1599. JOHN BALAM. The date of his appointment, as intimated in the register, was in the month of December, 1610. THOMAS T WITTY, B.D. Master of Evesham School, was appointed upon Mr. Balam's decease ; having been instituted in November, 1639, as appears from the register in the Consistorial Court, at Worcester. He ultimately became minister of Kingston-upon- Thames, where also he was buried. THOMAS MATTHEW. His signature first appears in the register, in 1647. The excellence of his Christian character, and the sterling nature of his principles, are sufficiently indicated by his refusing to submit to articles of religious conformity, which he regarded as unscriptural. Preferring, therefore, the approval of his conscience, to the retention of preferment upon other terms, he was ejected for nonconformity, about the year 1 655 ; as from an entry in the corporation books he appears to have retained his curacy until that period. 398 It has usually been considered, that since Mr. Matthew's induction, presentation to this preferment has, on account of its trifling value, been uniformly appended to that of All-saints ; and that while the church of St. Lawrence continued in repair, service was performed alternately in each edifice, by the incumbent of both parishes. But 397 Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry VIII. vol. iii. p. 255. 398 A brief notice respecting him occurs in Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, vol. iii. p. 392, ed. 1803. 180 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. from the register in the Consistory Court, it is evident that the two were not then constantly united ; though they were afterward thus conjoined. For on the 4th of July, 1735, as appears from the official copy made by the deputy registrar JOHN PRICE, M.A. was instituted to the chapel and chapelry of St. Lawrence ; and William Burkinshaw, M.A. to that of All-saints, upon the same day. No separate institution to St. Lawrence ap- pears, however, after the above entry. CHAPTER IX. CHAPEL OF ALL-SAINTS, IN THE DEANERY AND WITHIN THE PRECINCTS OP THE MONASTERY. THE parochial chapel of All-saints adjoins that of St. Lawrence ; and stands but a few feet further northward from the site of the monastery. Though presenting little in point of architectural beauty to attract attention, yet the antiquity of the fabric may be regarded as nearly coeval with the oldest portions of the adjacent church. The building comprises a nave and aisles ; two chapels, in the situation of a transept ; a chancel eastward ; and at the west a tower and spire, in front of which a porch has since been added ; while a chantry of the same period forms a like addition to the southern aisle. Mr. Tindal in his conjecture as to the origin of this structure has, because of its proximity to the gateway of the abbey precincts, singularly confounded it with a distinct chapel erected by abbot De Bois, which we have already described as having been situated near the great gate of the monastery. 399 We have no earlier intimation concerning this church than that already cited in the former chapter respecting the corredy furnished to its chaplain in the thirteenth century from the convent. 400 Its appearance presents an almost heterogeneous aggregation of aisles and angles of various dates and styles, massed together as it were by chance or just as temporary requirement called for. The space it occupies, is ample for parochial use ; being about one hundred and thirty feet long, and averaging fifty feet wide. But to aug- ment the early evil of its level being sunk below the soil, the earth,. . 3 " See Tindal's Evesham, page 221; also page 62 in the present volume, 400 See page 168, ante. 182 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. now saturated by interments, is banked against the southern wall almost to the sills of its windows. The damp and dirt and musti- ness thus caused within, are more befitting to a charnel-house than to a Christian temple : and persistance on the part of the parish- ioners in crowding their dead into this limited portion of the ground, apparently only because it adjoins the church, is, to say the least, reprehensible. Formerly some cause might be supposed for this, when an Ave or a Credo was besought from every passenger toward the purgatorial liberation of the imprisoned soul, but that graves of modern date which can merely " Implore the passing tribute of a sigh," should be heaped up in such a situation, is without excuse. The general confusion is augmented by an unsightly zig-zag wall pro- truded across the burial-ground, from the chantry of abbot Lichfield to the base of the bell-tower. This, though an old encroachment, calls loudly for removal ; and a proper representation to this effect would, we doubt not, be satisfactorily responded to by the incum- bent : when a line of palisades from the bell-tower to the porch would effectually exclude loiterers from among the gravestones during the hours of service. Such a compliance might then be met, on the part of the parishioners, by a removal of the unsightly tene- ments thrust against the vicarage, near the ancient gateway that once admitted to the abbey precincts. At the same time we would suggest the propriety of trenching the soil, against the walls of the church, to a level of at least six inches below the pavement ; thus providing a water-table into which the spouts might be discharged ; instead of, as at present, saturating the walls through the sodden ground, and leaving the stagnant moisture to be imbibed by the wainscot and furniture of the pews. This method we have seen generally adopted within the diocese of Bath and Wells, attended with a satisfactory result. The northern aisle and chancel are evidently the oldest portions of the building. This is sufficiently indicated by the formation of the windows, the rudeness of their tracery, and the extraordinary declension of the walls. From the style, there can be little hesita- tion in appropriating these divisions to an early period in the thir- teenth century. In the pediment of the aisle just noticed a seated HISTORY OF BVESHAM. 183 figure in a small contemporary niche above the window, has escaped destruction. The southern aisle is lighted by more capacious win- dows, which are filled with more fluent tracery ; and an embattled parapet here is added above. This aisle we may consider as erected in the fourteenth century by some pious benefactor most probably an inmate of the monastery, or mayhap some wealthy burgher of the town. And at about the same time, the tower would seem to have been added ; or at least its parapet and spire. By a descent of steps we enter the western porch ; a simple ad- dition of the Tudor age. It is comparatively plain within. The horizontal ceiling presents at the intersection of its transoms the emblems of the Saviour's passion, in relief, grouped with the crown of thorns ; and above the pointed arch that opens to the nave there stands a niche, now vacant, surmounted with a mutilated canopy, beneath which the figure of some sacred personage was anciently enshrined. Behind this archway, on the northern side, is the mural recess that formerly contained the holy-water stoup from whence the worshippers affused themselves on entering and depart- ing from the church. There are three spacious pointed arches at the north of the nave, and three of wholly different dimensions and appearance at the south. The arch communicating with the chancel is also pointed ; but a rude and unstudied execution seems to characterize the work. The ceiling is in general coved and plaistered ; but is in the southern aisle and transept horizontal and timber-groined. The floor throughout is paved with relics of humanity : as though a structure appropriated to the worship of the Most Holy required, as parcel of its consecration, to be gorged with corruption and decay. Upon such a subject where not only decency, but health, and even life are staked, we cannot but speak emphatically. For, in many of our churches, "earth and walls have at length become so saturated with putrefaction, that, turn where we may, the air we breathe is cadaverous ; and a man often feels that sublimated particles, perhaps of his next door neighbour or nearest relative, enter his lungs at every respiration. Thus, in truth, though in a different sense from that of the apostle 'in the midst of life we are in death.' " 401 Space, order, and convenience are 401 Westminster Review, vol. xl. pp. 149-50. 184 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. at the same time sacrificed alike, in the immethodical and wasteful arrangement of the high, deep, and unsightly pews : for pewed ap- propriately, examples for which are still discernable among the later panelling the building would doubtless accommodate an addition of at least one half to the number it is now competent to receive. There is one fair object amid the accompanying disproportion and confusion, upon which the admirer of ancient architecture will fix his gaze. This is a chantry, communicating with the southern aisle by a lofty archway with deep and panelled soffits ; a beauteous fan-roofed construction of the time of Henry the Eighth. But what will be his amazement and regret to behold it, not merely filled below with modern sittings, but even faced and lined above with an added gallery of pews ? And how will these emotions be augmented, when he is informed that within this sanctuary is laid the " mortal coil" of Clement Lichfield; the mitred architect who reared that far- famed tower which constitutes the proudest feature in the surround- ing landscape and who, with pious care, prepared this mortuary enclosure during life, as his last earthly resting-place ! In the chantry before us, the designer has employed a style somewhat objectionable when compared with that of his other erections. He here apparently satisfied himself with adopting the current fashion of the period, at a time when the pointed style had far degenerated from what it long had been. His comparative inexperience, he being at that time prior, as indicated by the monogram C P L in a shield upon the ceiling may possibly account for this single error : since he afterward proved by his erection of the adjoining tower, that he well knew how to value and to employ the style of a much chaster period. The chapel is a parallelogram. It is lighted by elongated windows obtusely pointed, retaining vestiges of the solemn-colored glass with which they once were filled ; it is ceiled with three pair of fans, locked together by Catharine wheels between them, in lieu of pendants ; and is paved with glazed armorial tiles as far as the lowest floor of pews allows us to distinguish. Be- tween two of these cumbrous intrusions there yet may be discerned a portion of the lowly stone that covers the body of the founder. It still presents indications of the sepulchral brasses with which it was inlaid ; but these, the love of pelf and plunder has long ago HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 185 removed. Mr. Abingdon thus describes the inlaid effigy and in- scriptions, as he found them in the reign of Charles the First. [Interior of All >ainti Church and its Chautrv. " " His resemblance is vested for the altar, in prayer. On his right hand is, Deus in nomine tuo salvum me fac; and on the left, Et in virtute tua judica me ; and below on the one side, Quia in inferna nulla est redemptio, and on the other, Miserere mei Deus et salvo. me ; and under his feet, Orate pro anima Domini Clement Lichfield sacerdotis, in cujus tempore nova turi*is Eveshamioe edificati est." Ignorant as ruthless, must that violator have been, who could wrench from the grave of his fellow, these solemn, these searching petitions of trembling humanity. Had this abbot inscribed above his grave, an anathema on him 2 A 186 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. who should disturb his bones like Shakspere in after-times 402 it would not perhaps now stand on record, that " This tomb was carefully opened in the summer of 1817." 403 Respecting such un- warrantable disturbance of the sanctity of the grave, in the in- stance too of a character so universally and deservedly respected we cannot but exclaim with the high-spirited and intellectual Hamlet, " Say Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death, Have burst their cerements ! why the sepulchre, Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws To cast thee up again ! Say, why is this ? Wherefore ] What hast thou done r \ " But, as has truly been observed, it seems to be the lot of greatness to be persecuted and poverty-stricken during life, and after death to be disentombed. Abingdon, in his manuscript observations, describes several coats of arms at that time emblazoned in the windows of this church, all of which have at present disappeared. In the east window of the chancel there were, gules six martlets ermine ; in the chapel at the north, standing in the position of a transept and called by him the Derby Chapel, 404 there were, in the north window, gules, three legs conjoined and armed, argent, this coat was repeated thrice ; in an- other pane, azure, three arms conjoined argent, armed with swords; in the middle pane, Mortimer, within an inescutcheon, argent ; in the next pane on the right, argent two bars gules ; in that on the left, or, two bends gules, Sudeley ; in the last pane, gules a fess and 403 " Good frend for Jesvs sake forbeare To digg y e dvst enclosed heare Bleste be y e man y l spares thes stones And cvrst be he y' moues my bones." Gravestone in Stratford Clii' Upon the Curates Othe Omnum Sanctoy $ ' An Answere to the Articles given us in Charge in the Visitacon 1585. 1. To the ffyrst I answere that we have not the Byhle of the like translacon required 2. To the 2 I answere that the queens M tie . y s Patrone of o r . benefice and y'. there y s noe gleabe land thereunto belonginge : I ame neyther Double be- neficed nor graduated but beinge Curate receip 4 . in wages o xij 1 . 3. To the 3 I can say nothinge. 4. 5. To the 4 & 5 I can say nothinge 6. To the 6 I say that there y s but onely y e Vicaridge Howse and one lyttle gardyne thereunto belonginge. Pryviledg's we have none that I remember but that we are not subject to the Archdeacons Visitacon but onely to my L Bishopps of the Diocesse. Gyles Harwell > Per me ANTHONUM MARSHALL min r . 7 r, ..i t Churchwardens. Richard Fauthey 5 407 Nash's Worcestershire, vol. ii. page 438 note. The same author remarks that " About this time licentiousness was very prevalent in this county, especially in the Vale of Evesham, where persons of considerable property led very abandoned lives, and tyrannized over their inferior neighbours. The gentlemen I allude to were Sir John Dineley, Sir Robert Jason, Sir William Keyte, Mr. Hazlewood, and many others." An authentic Account of the Robberies, Murders, and Burnings at Bretforton and Upton Snodsbury, has lately been re-published as a pamphlet, at Evesham. 408 Land at Saintbury, purchased by Queen Anne's Bounty All-saints . 54 Rent-charge on Doctor's Ground : bequeathed by Dr. Jephcott All-saints 4 190 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. tery, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, are as far as can be at pre- sent ascertained, as follow. JOHN PTBKES. He is returned in 1535, by the commissioners who then visited the monastery, as chaplain and curate of All-saints for the term of life, under an indenture from the abbot and convent. 409 ROBERT WYLLYS. He was appointed in March, 1545, as we are informed by a manuscript of Bp. Thomas, in the possession of the Antiquarian Society, and was also vicar of Cropthorne. This in- cumbent is buried in the church of All-saints ; and from the Romish solicitation inscribed upon his tomb, 410 we may infer that his re- ligious sentiments were moulded by the then vacillating religion of the state ; which affected one day by Henry's faith as a catholic, and influenced on the next by his hatred to the papal rule must have left one certain class of its ministers in doubt as to the exact measure of protestantism which they were expected to assume. ANTHONY MARSHALL. He signs the terrier, in 1585 ; and died, as appears from the parochial register, in 1600. LEWIS BAYLIE appointed on the death of the above, was a native of Wales, and fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. In the year 1611, we find him minister of Evesham, chaplain to prince Henry, son of James the First and minister of St. Matthew's, Friday- street, London. 411 On account of his fame as a preacher, he was soon after appointed chaplain to the king; and in 1616 was con- secrated bishop of Bangor. JOHN SAMON. His signature first appears on the parish register in 1611, and continues till 1639. Two-thirds of Land at Hampton, purchased with a bequest from Alderman Rudge, and other money St. Lawrence . . . . . . 30 Tenement and Land at Birlingham ; purchased by Queen Anne's Bounty for the minister of St. Lawrence . . . . . . . . 6 Payment out of the Furze Close, Hampton ; bequeathed by Anne Roberts to the minister of St. Lawrence .... . .. . . .3 Other purchases by Queen Anne's Bounty ...... 28 Exchequer payment, in the proportion of 5 to each living . . . 10 Vicarage house, with two gardens communicating one of them long enclosed from the church-yard, but still used as a place of sepulture together with a stable-yard near St. Lawrence church. In addition to these, Easter offerings and voluntary payments from the parishioners, are made. 409 Valor Ecclesiasticus temp. Henry VIII. torn. iii. p. 255. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 191 GEORGE HOPKINS, M. A. signs the register from April 1642, to September 1662. He was of New Inn, Oxford, where he took his first degree in 1641. After this he left the university, siding with the presbyterians, and took the covenant. When the garrison at Oxford had been surrendered to the parliament, he returned thither, submitted to the parliamentary visitors, and took his degree of Master. Soon after this he became minister of All-saints. In 1654 he was appointed by the parliament an assistant to the commis- sioners of Worcestershire, for the ejection of scandalous, ignorant, and inefficient ministers. Shortly after this he published "Salva- tion from Sin by Jesus Christ," a work dedicated to the borough of Evesham and levelled against the antinomian heresy. In 1662 he was ejected from his living, in common with many of the most conscientious and excellent characters of the age, for refusing to accede to the terms of conformity imposed under that most irreli- gious of princes, King Charles the Second. After his ejection, he retired to Dumbleton, near Evesham, where he died in 1666, and is interred in the chancel there. Wood says, that "besides his knowledge of divinity, he was a very good mathematician, and an example of great candour and moderation." 412 The following were incumbents of All-saints with St. Lawrence annexed : JOHN JEPHCOTT, D. D. was instituted in August, 1663. He was also prebendary of Worcester ; but, on being presented to the living of Northfield he resigned his stall in that cathedral together with his preferment at Evesham, in 1706. He died 26th of March 1713, aged 77, and is buried near the south wall of the chancel in Northfield church. JOHN MITCHELL, LL.B. His signature first occurs in 1707, and continues till his death in 1724. In 1722 he was also minister of Bengeworth, as appears from the register there. NATHANIEL NICHOLS, B. D. instituted in November, 1724, was also minister of Bengeworth, chaplain to Elizabeth countess o Pray for the souls of Robert Wyllys and Agnes his wife : upon whose souls may God have mercy.'' Gravestone near the Chancel. 411 Wood's Athense Oxoniensis, vol. i. folio 567. 412 Athense Oxoniensis, i. 370. Also Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, iii. 3.92. 192 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. dowager of Northampton, and perpetual curate of Offenham ; as appears from the register of his burial, A.D. 1734, in the parish of All-saints. A sermon preached by this divine before the corpo- ration, published in 1728, proves him to have been a man of en- larged and liberal views upon the question of civil government. 413 WILLIAM BURKINSHAW, M.A. was on the 4th July, 1735, insti- tuted to the chapel and chapelry of All-saints in Evesham, void by the death of Nathaniel Nichols, clerk. EDWARD THORNES, clerk appears in the consistorial register as instituted to the chapel of All-saints aforesaid, on the 15th March, 1736, void by the death of William Burkinshaw, clerk. EVAN JONES, appointed 24th September, 1750, on the resignation of Mr. Thornes, was also vicar of Cleeve Prior and master of Eves- ham School. The remembrance of his ability in the latter capacity is still gratefully preserved by his very few surviving pupils. EDWARD COOPER, B.A. was instituted in April, 1769. HENRY PORTMORE COOPER, B.A. instituted in February, 1808, was also perpetual curate of Hampton, and retained the mastership of Evesham School, which about this time had dwindled through neglect into a sinecure. The Rev. JOHN MARSHALL, M.A. the present incumbent, "was instituted to the vicarage of All-saints in Evesham, with the united vicarage of St. Lawrence," as entered on the consistorial register on the 18th of August, 1827. In concluding our notice of this church, we with pleasure remark that the chancel, which had long been in a dangerous state, has recently been secured and repaired, under the direction of Mr. William Smith, one of the parishioners : and that the cost, which amounted to 60 2s. Qd., was defrayed by voluntary contributions among the townspeople. At the same time it is worthy of notice, that the organ which has long been used here, is an instrument of considerable power, it having been built for the Rotunda in Ranelagh Gardens ; whence it was purchased for the parishioners, upon the breaking up of that famed place of public amusement, in the year 1796. 413 it Civil Government, how far of Divine and how far of Human Institution : " preached at the Parish Church of All-saints, in Evesham. 8vo. Cambridge, 1 728. CHAPTER X. GRAMMAR-SCHOOL HALLS AND MEETING-HOUSES. DURING the middle ages education in this country was only to be found associated with the church, and in immediate connection with our monasteries. Then, indeed, the latter may be said to have been our only schools, and their inmates our only students. It was natural, and to be anticipated, that the members of these institu- tions would select from their locality such youths as evinced indi- cations of peculiar talent ; and in placing them under a course of training for the cloister, would indulge the hope that in after times their fame would shed a lustre upon the foundation with which they were thus associated. The abbey of Evesham, among others, seems to have been early distinguished by its mode of educational initiation. Shortly after the Conquest we find Wulstan, afterward bishop of the diocese and ultimately canonized by the church, sent from Itchington in Warwickshire by his parents, that he might be taught reading in this monastery ; they having destined him for the church. 414 At a later period an increased provision was made by the convent for educational uses ; lands in the hamlet of Eyford, in the parish of Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire, being in 1472 ap- propriated to the convent "for a stipend to teach youth." 415 From a memorandum, appended to Sir Philip Hoby's schedule of the abbey site and demesnes, given by Stevens in his Additions to the Monasticon the yearly value of these lands appears to have been 414 Life of S. Wulstan by William of Malmesbury, Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. 244. 415 Atkyns's Gloucestershire, second edition, page 345. 2 B 194 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 28 10s. 2d. at that time. 416 Were the estate still appropriated to scholastic purposes, it would doubtless now furnish a stipend equivalent to at least 400 a year. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, it became requisite to provide a building expressly for scholastic use, with a distinct endowment for a master. This school-house was erected by abbot Lichfield, and the additional endowment was also made by him. 417 It stood near to the monastery, and was built upon the open Green belonging to the town : and though it shared the general wreck of other build- ings connected with religious uses, in the same king's reign, some portions of the original fabric still remain. The advantages of this foundation appear to have extended into the Vale, as well as to the town ; for provision was even made for boarding certain of the scholars within the abbey. This information we derive from one who had himself participated in these privileges, a witness in an Exchequer case during the reign of Elizabeth, who had been a pupil in the school, and at the same time a boarder in the almonry. 418 The endowment of this foundation may be regarded as absorbed in the appropriation of the abbey revenues by Henry VIII. So that not only was the hope destroyed, which as previously noticed was once cherished by the inmates here that their monastery might be one that should be preserved by the king "for the education and bringing up of youth," 419 but even the humble free-school attached to that establishment was at the same time swept away : so that Leland's melancholy observation, penned here soon after the Dissolution, once more falls dull upon the ear " in the town is no hospital or other famous foundation but the late abbey." Deprived of its free-school an advantage of peculiar import at a period when other schools in such a situation were of necessity unknown the 416 " The ferine of certeine pastures called Eifoed, in the county of Glocester, parcell of the demeanes of the late monastery of Evesham, by the yeare cleare, xxviij 1 '. x s . ij d ." Stevens, vol. i. page 463. 417 " He builded a free-school for education for children, assigning rents for main- tenance of a schoolmaster." Abbey MS. A.D. 1536, copied l>y Abingdon. 418 " He was a scholar in the said town, and did board in the said amery of the said monastery, before the dissolution thereof; in the time of one Clement Lichfield, being then abbot." Deposition of John Wilkes, in Holy v. Kighley. 419 Letter to Cromwell, printed in Appendix No. III. and cited upon page 140. HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. 195 youth of the town must have been left in ignorance ; unless we be permitted to conclude that here and there some deprived and needy member of the dissolved community, driven from his cloistered home, sought sustenance by imparting the principles of learning to the youthful burghers, from his own humble store. At length, in 1605, upon the grant of a new charter from James I. to the town, it was ordained that there should be here a grammar-school, to be styled "the Free Grammar-school of Prince Henry of Evesham," placed under the charge of a head-master, and also of an under-master or usher. The mayor and common council were appointed governors ; and were empowered in that capacity to purchase, receive, and pos- sess "manors, messuages, and lands" to the use of the foundation. Presuming that the king relied on some portion of concurrent zeal upon the part of the governors, toward the maintenance of this school, the royal grant of ten pounds yearly, still paid from the Exchequer, may be considered handsome; when we reflect that that sum was then equivalent to ten times that amount at the present day. We have only to regret that so much land as would have been then valued at 10 yearly, was not made the basis of the grant, in lieu of a fixed annual payment. The endowment would then, doubtless, by this time have exceeded the larger amount just men- tioned. The corporate body, as governors, seem early to have bestowed attention upon their charge. As early as 1653 they assessed the three parishes of the borough, to raise the sum of twenty pounds, then needed for repairing the house and school r 420 and in 1677 they appropriated the proceeds of a house near the shambles to the purchase of needful books. 421 At a later period they become remiss. Their accounts, in 1682, shew us that a sum had been left to them, as governors, by Mr. Jacob Jackson, the interest upon which, being thirty-six shillings, had in that year been paid ; but afterward this entry disappears. 422 The only other individual recorded as having augmented the endowment, is a Mrs. Anne Roberts, who in 1663 granted to the corporation a messuage and garden in Ode-street, in 420 Order of 25th March 1653, in Corporation Books. 421 Accounts of 1677, in Corporation Books. 422 Accounts of Martin Ballard and Nicholas Field, mayors. 196 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. trust for the schoolmaster ; not, alas, in his capacity of tutor, but as an inducement to administer toward temporary prejudice, by " making a speech every 5th of November." This endowment still remains : but in unison with the spirit of the institution, an exami- nation of the pupils, accompanied by a suitable oration, now takes place upon the above day. Only a small portion of the lower walls of abbot Lichfield's School-house at present remains, if we except the porch. This was till recently entire, and presented the interesting appearance de- picted beneath. It has since been unfortunately deprived of its [Abbot Lichfield'8 Porch.] gable ; and the only striking feature it retains is the original en- trance, which preserves above its low-browed arch the customary injunction with which our grateful predecessors oft complied, "Orate pro anima dementis Abbas." 423 Above this, the arms of the abbey are carved in low relief, and in a small escutcheon under, are the initials C L. A label at the crown of the arch, bearing the date 1546, shews that the porch was added in that year; and thus affectingly proves that although the abbot was at this time deprived 423 Pray ye for the soul of Abbot Clement. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 197 of his preferment, yet he did not the less exert himself for the well- being of those in the midst of whom he had so long dwelt. In 1829 the porch was altered ; the school -rooms being at that time nearly rebuilt, and the residence of the master improved also. This was effected during the mastership, and at the sole expense of Mr. Christopher Crofts ; prior to whose appointment in that year the institution had been suffered to continue for some time in a state of dormancy. The master, in addition to the endowment paid from the Ex- chequer, receives the rent of the premises in Ode-street, and occu- pies the residence connected with the school. He also instructs a certain number of private pupils. The Report from the Commis- sioners of Charities, relating to this school, states that in 1830 there were ten scholars upon the foundation ; from whom there were re- ceived, on account of English instruction, 25s. per quarter from freemen's sons, and 30s. from the sons of others : but these payments have recently been equalized, and the terms are now 15s. per quarter. The present master is the Rev. Thomas Taylor, M. A. curate of St. Lawrence, Evesham. The present TOWN HALL, or as it strictly is, the New Guild Hall, though superior in extent, must give precedence to the grammar-school in point of antiquity. This structure is most im- properly seated within that space occurring at the junction of the principal streets, known as the Market Square, which, if divested of such an incumbrance, would form a still more airy and agreeable interruption to the monotony of the street. The building before us has evidently been constructed at a period subsequent to the dissolution of the abbey ; and is most probably indebted to the ruins of that magnificent foundation for the greater portion of the material which it includes. From depositions in the Exchequer case, already cited, we learn that in 1586 the building had then been recently erected, and that it was at that time known as the New Town Hall. 424 Fifty years afterward we find its erection at- tributed by Mr. Abingdon to "one of the Hobys." But as sir Philip Hoby died in 1558, and as at that period the present hall 484 " He doth very well know the New Hall, lately builded within the said town." John Rapp, in Exchequer Case, Hoby v. Kighley, 198 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. was not erected 425 there can be little doubt but that sir Edward Hoby, nephew of Sir Philip, and heir, by the death of Sir Thomas his father, to the abbey site and demesne, as well as to almost the entire town at that period, was the individual who actually reared the present structure. The building includes a basement and upper story. The former consists of plain semicircular arches of the Elizabethan age, resting upon piers, the floor being additionally sustained by a middle row of pillars. This space is at present occupied as the market for provisions. Formerly, we find, it was employed for pitching corn ; when purchases were not made by sample : and from the corpora- tion books it evidently was used, too, as a threshing-floor, upon those days when not required for the market. The remainder of the basement was, prior to the municipal corporation act, occupied as the borough gaol 'together with apartments for the gaoler ; a more ancient building used as the gaol, standing north-east of the hall, having been taken down in 1789, and sold by the corpora- tion for its materials : the above portion of the basement is now the municipal police-station. The upper floor, which is attained by a modern and commodious staircase of iron, comprises a spacious hall partly fitted up as a court, where the borough quarter-sessions were once held, and where the nomination of parliamentary repre- sentatives still takes place. According to Abingdon, this hall was, during the seventeenth century, " sometimes used for judges to hold the assizes for the shire." The circumstance is confirmed by the mayor's accounts in 1683; one item being a payment to " James Welsbourne for the charges of the judges' horses when here." 426 Another apartment opens from this room, more modern, loftier, but less extensive than the first. This room we find to have been erected for a council-chamber, at the joint expense of sir John Rushout, bart., and John Budge, esq., members for the borough in 1728. The fact, though hitherto unnoticed by our local writers, appears in the dedication of a printed sermon preached in the above year, upon the mayor's inauguration. 427 During the years 485 R. Andrews, gent, deposes in 1586, that he had known the town thirty years; part of which time elapsed " before the New Hall was built." Excheqiier Case. 426 Accounts of John Home, mayor, in Corporation Book. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 199 1833 and 34 the whole structure was repaired, and the wing en- closing the present staircase was added ; the latter unfortunately infringing further on the market area. The cost of the alterations was met by subscription from the members of the corporation, among whom the late sir Charles Cockerell, M.P., is understood to have munificently contributed ; and the work was completed during the mayoralty of that baronet. The original Guild-hall of the town was probably that noticed in the present governing charter, as then standing next the south-west corner of the bridge, and called the Old Guild Hall. This name and application both originate in Anglo-saxon usage ; when neigh- bours mutually bound themselves either to produce any criminal member of their fraternity, or to make pecuniary satisfaction to the law. Hence the derivation of the term : the word gild being Saxon, and signifying money. During the middle ages, gilds were formed for religious and charitable purposes, a.s well as for trade and merchandize. The members were in both instances bound by certain rules, and contributed to a general fund to bear the common charge. They had annual feasts, and neighbour-like meetings, and were usually licensed by the crown to maintain one or more priests, make chantries, bestow alms, do other works of piety, and frame ordinances. 428 Hence the origin of our later guilds or companies. Chaucer thus introduces us among members of the more ancient of these fraternities, in his Prologue to the Canterbury Tales : " An Haberdasher, and a Carpenter, A Weaver, Dyer, and a Tapiser Were all yclothed in one livery Of a solemn and great fraternity. Full fresh and new their gear ypiked was. Their knives were ychafed not with brass, But all with silver wrought full clean and well, Their girdles and their pouches every deal. Well seemed each of them a fair burgess To sitten in a gild hall, on the deis." 427 t< Civil Government, how far of Divine and how far of Human Institution : A sermon preached at the Parish Church of All-saints, in Evesham, on Tuesday the first day of October, 1728, being the day of the Mayor's Admission into his Office: by Nath. Nichols, B. D., Rector of the said church, and chaplain to the Right Hon- ourable Eliz. Countess Dowager of Northampton." 8vo. Cambridge. 428 Dugdale's Warwickshire, edition 1656, page 119, etc. 200 HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. The ancient building to which we have just referred must have occupied the site of the present cooperage next the bridge. But even in the sixteenth century, either from its distant situation or from decay, it had become disused ; and another building, near to where the present hall is built, had then for some years been oc- cupied for courts and other public uses. This second hall was dis- tinguished as the Booth Hall ; and even after the completion of the new town-hall, the " three weeks court" then held before the bailiffs of the town was, by decree of the court of Exchequer in 1586, re- quired to be thenceforth holden in the former. The term booth- hall was applied to such as stood above or near a place used for exposing wares during the time of fairs : and in the term itself we trace the association of the vendors' booths and the court of pie- powder, held at such periods by the local authorities. In 1664 our booth-hall had become disused, the magistrates having then removed their sittings to the later edifice : and the ground floor of the former was then consequently let as a shop, to one John Gay, a haberdasher, at a rent of 2 15s., we presume, yearly. 429 From the situation of this building, described as near the New Town- hall, as well as from the peculiar characteristics of the oak-framed structure which yet stands, insulated at the top of Bridge-street, we are disposed to regard the latter as the original booth-hall. This curious wooden pile is at present partitioned into tenements, and the chimnies are of modern date. The ancient MARKET CROSS we find to have been standing in the market-place in 1650. In that year it is incidentally noticed, in a relation of the injurious treatment exercised toward some early members of the Society of Friends, whose books were burned by the magistrate at the market-cross, during a fair. 430 Crosses, surmounting columns or highly enriched pedestals, and elevated upon steps, were formerly usual in our market-squares ; and they are presumed to have been so placed that they might be regarded as monitors to integrity. Very fine specimens of such erections remain at Salisbury and Chichester ; but that at Evesham has been so long demolished, that it is not even mentioned in any previous 428 Corporation Books, 16th Charles I., Accounts of Philip Ballard, mayor. 430 Abstract of the Sufferings of Quakers, 8vo. vol. i. page 304, edition 1733. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 201 history of the town. A few ancient and observant residents have remembered it standing near the centre of the area, from whence it was removed by order of the corporation some seventy years ago; and, as far as we can ascertain, it was till then seated on a square pedestal raised upon steps. If so, it would have presented a similar appearance to the remains of the burial or preaching cross yet standing near the yew-tree in Hampton church-yard. The basement of that from our market is, we believe, at present within the homestead of Knowle Hill Farm. Leaving the scene of traffic, we now proceed to note the various buildings for religious worship which the dissenting community have erected here during later years. And though in these we recognize not the architectural display that often distinguishes the spacious edifices appropriated to the established church, yet it is to be remembered that while the places for worship and education reared by dissenters generally, are numerous rather than imposing, the whole expense of such erections, together with that for the support of ministers and teachers, is provided among themselves, by voluntary contribution only. The QUAKERS' MEETING-HOUSE, in Cowl-street claims our first attention, as the eldest of the whole. This religious denomination arose at Evesham during the time of George Fox, its founder ; and as early as the year 1655 his followers had become objects of ran- corous persecution from those then constituted ministers of justice in the town. Indeed, so arbitrary was the conduct of these func- tionaries, that it formed the subject of a volume, entitled "The Cruelty of the Magistrates of Evesham in Worcestershire : printed for Giles Calvert in 1655." A formal representation upon the subject from certain of the inhabitants was also made to the Lord Protector during the same year. 431 Shortly after the publication of the latter, twelve of the persons whose names had been attached, were severally fined by the Evesham court Sir Robert Atkins being then recorder in sums varying from 2 to .20 each. The 431 Entitled "A Representation of the Government of the Borough of Evesham in the County of Worcester, from many of the Inhabitants thereof, directed unto the Protector of England, Scotland, &c t , Oliver Cromwell, 1655." See it inserted at length in a work entitled "Abstract of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers," 8vo. 1733, vol. i. p. 298. 2 C 202 HISTORY OF EVE3HAM. sum last mentioned was levied on Mr. Edward Pitway, who in 1648 was mayor of the town. In the autumn of the same year fourteen quakers mentioned by name, beside others unnamed, were impris- oned by Edward Young, then mayor, for the mere act of peacefully assembling for purposes of worship ; under covert of such being an unlawful meeting, because exceeding the number of eight. Three of these sufferers were incarcerated in a miserable dungeon, deprived of light and air, and treated with much cruelty. The cell is noticed as having been distinct from the town-gaol ; and tradition still iden- tifies it with a similar substructure remaining beneath a dwelling- house in the Market-place, that adjoins abbot Reginald's gate. 432 But persecution, though it may make martyrs, cannot subdue the free opinion of the human mind. The injured and, with slight exceptions, unoffending party, began to be looked upon with sym- pathy by such as, but for the harsh treatment inflicted on the propa- gators, would wholly have disregarded their peculiar views. Their sentiments were thus now listened to ; and the new auditors, with bosoms predisposed by kindliness, yielded in several instances to the bold arguments of the oppressed, and adopted their opinions as their own. Among these was Mr. Edward Pitway one of the cor- porate body, who had already served the office of mayor. 433 At his residence in Bengeworth now the Northwick Arms Inn the teachers and their converts met for worship ; and in 1675 their re- pugnance to the prevailing formularies observed at the interment of the dead, resulted in their acquiring a burial-place for them- selves, adjoining the residence of Mr. Pitway. This ground is still the property of the society, though at present employed only as garden-ground. 434 In 1676 the still increasing community, requir- 432 See the account by Humphrey Smith, one of the sufferers, in page 306 of the octavo volume above cited. 433 The following entry occurs in the first Corporation book. " Friday the 5th day of October 1655. The same day and yeere Edward Pitway gent one of the capital! Burgesses of this Borrough was displased and removed from his place or office being indicted att the late Sessions upon twoo sevrall bills of indict', one of them beinge for publishinge a scandalous paper against the magistrates and governem 1 of this Borrough and the other for and abusinge Mr. Robert Martin and alsoe for his rude behavior in Court att the said Sessions and his evill behaviour towarde Mr. Recorder." 434 This piece of ground, by feoffment dated 16th July 1675, was in consideration of 5 conveyed by Edward Pitway of Bengeworth and again by feoffment of 1 ,0th HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 203 ing more ample space for purposes of worship than the residences of individuals would allow, purchased premises in Cowl-street, and constructed their present meeting-house and burial-ground there. 435 The meeting-house is approached from the street by a paved court-yard, and exhibits those features of antiquity that pertain to the timber-framed erections of the Stuart age. Entering beneath its low-browed portal, a glance round the unadorned interior impels the imagination backward to the cradle of Christianity itself : to that early period when the Galilean fishermen flocked round their divine Master in that " large upper room, furnished and prepared," where they hung upon his gracious words, till their minds partici- pated in that sacred influence which imbued himself. But, to ad- vance nearer toward the present time, the ancient character and almost rude simplicity of the apartment are in keeping with the era of George Fox himself: and as we stand silent and alone within its area, it requires no very fervid fancy to pourtray that primitive assembly, which during the infancy of the society here worshipped in unoffending silence, while exposed to the abrupt disturbance of the rude persecutors of that period. The burial-ground adjoins the meeting-house toward the south ; and is an unadorned enclosure of uninterrupted greensward, where, unnoticed even by a single stone, the departed members of the community as well as of others whose views respecting the simplicity of Christian burial accord with theirs " each in his narrow cell," await the final summons. The genius of the immortal Elegist seems prevalent within the March 1678, by Stephen Pitway unto trustees their heirs and assigns; "for such purposes only as between the parties and other persons concerned were formerly agreed upon and no otherwise." The property is described as a small piece of garden-ground in Bengeworth, adjoining the Parsonage close, and behind the dwelling-house of the said Edward Pitway ; with way or passage through the yard-gates on the south side of the said dwelling-house. In 1703 a fresh appointment, upon the same trust, was made ; again in 1728, and again in 1774. The present is by lease and release, JanX. 26th and 27th, 1802. 433 By indenture of lease, dated 1st January 1676, Elizabeth Young of Hampton, in consideration of 52, demised to James Wall of Evesham and his assigns, two messuages, with cherry-orchard and garden in Cowl-street Evesham, from December 21st, for 2000 years. Out of one of these messuages the present meeting-house was formed ; the orchard being converted into a burial ground and the other messuage divided into two. 204 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. enclosure, while his own exquisitely expressed sentiment echoes from its walls " Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, If memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault The pealing anthem swells the notes of praise. " Can storied urn or animated hust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death]" These premises were in 1723 assigned to John Beaufoy and others; to the intent that one messuage should be used for a public meet- ing-house for the people called quakers, and that the other, with the orchard and garden, should be applied only to such purposes, as were agreed between the parties and others. This trust was renewed in 1746, and again in 1784 ; and lastly by assignment of 14th March, 1821. The local endowments pertaining to this society, in addition to their late grave-yard in Bengeworth, are noticed below. 436 436 I. Funded proceeds of a messuage, garden and close, conveyed in 1722 by the legatees of Richard Russell of Broadway, for the remainder of a term of 900 years ; upon trust for certain charitable uses, with power to appoint fresh trustees. In 1809 the surviving trustees, by direction of the Evesham monthly-meeting, sold the above property, under certain conditions : and by indenture of August 1 1th 1810, the united proceeds, being 485 nett, were invested in government funds, in the names of trus- tees, who have settled the same upon trust, to distribute the dividends among "poor protestants commonly called quakers, dwelling in the county of Worcester." II. Six acres of land at Little Hampton, purchased with gifts and bequests to the society, conveyed in 1798 to trustees, upon trust to let or demise the same, not longer than 21 years, and to pay the nett rents to the clerk of Evesham meeting, to be applied by him as the monthly meeting shall determine. III. Funded proceeds of a messuage in High-street, together with four acres of land in the then open fields of Little Hampton, since exchanged by allotment under the Enclosure Act for 1 A. In. in the same parish, conveyed to trustees in 1716 by the devisees of Benjamin Pierce, of Beugeworth, paper-maker, upon trust to charitable uses, with power to appoint new trustees. In 1732 a new appointment was made, and again in 1756; and in 1794 the trusts of the messuage in High-street, as also the allotment at Hampton, were renewed. In 1822 the survivors of that trust, by direction of the monthly-meeting, sold the messuage for 400 : and by indenture of 8th March 1825, this 400 and the securities thereof are vested in trustees, who are to distribute the nett proceeds to "such poor people in- habiting the county of Worcester," as they shall think fit. The same indenture also conveys the allotment at Little Hampton upon the like trust. This 400 is now HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 205 PRESBYTERIAN MEETING-HOUSE. The earliest notice of the pre- sent sect of " presby terians " here, occurs about the year 1720 ; at which time they met for worship in a room in High-street. Their present meeting-house in Ode-street was erected in 1737, upon ground in that year conveyed by Mr. Thomas Bovey of Evesham, dyer, to the Rev. Paul Cardale and others therein mentioned; upon trust "that they should suffer the buildings so to be erected, so long as by law they lawfully might be used, to the use of, and to be enjoyed by, the protestant dissenters commonly called presby- terians. 437 Mr. Cardale was a native of Derbyshire, and was edu- cated with a view to the ministry by the eminent Dr. Lathom. His character stands high for learning, devotion, zeal, and charity. He published in 1740 a series of discourses preached in this meeting- house, entitled " The Gospel Sanctuary ;" and was author of other works, among which are "The true New Testament doctrine of Jesus Christ considered," and "An Enquiry whether we have any Scriptural warrant for a direct Address of supplication, praise, or thanksgiving, either to the Son or to the Holy Ghost." He died in 1775, and is buried in the north aisle of All-saints' church, where is a marble tablet to his memory. On part of the above premises a school-house has since been erected, in addition to the chapel ; the trust as to the whole having been renewed in 1759, and again in 1811. 438 This place of worship is very properly placed back from the public street ; from whence placed out on mortgage, the interest being applied according to the trusts ; and the allotment, now forms one close with the six acres purchased in 1798. IV. A mes- suage, yard, garden, and appurtenances, in Cowl-street, Evesham, purchased in 1823 with funds of the society, and conveyed upon trust, ' that the same and the rents thereof should for ever after be disposed of as the bargainees, or the trustees for the time being, or the major part, with other recognized inhabitant members, should in writing direct.' 437 It is at present a popular supposition, that the title of "presbyterian" is un- warrantably assumed by any body not adhering to that peculiar form of church govern- ment practised in the north. It will, however, be seen, by reference to our history during the Long Parliament, that even while this religion was established as the re- ligion of the state, presbyterian discipline and synodical government were very par- tially introduced. So much so, that, according to Mr. Hallam, the presbyterian church of England " was rather an assemblage of congregations, than a compact body ; having little more unity than resulted from their common dependancy on the temporal ma- gistrate." Constitutional History, ii. 427-8. 206 HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. we pass to it through a garden-like enclosure, spread with turf that here and there swells gently over the remains of those who sleep beneath ; while flowering shrubs, shaded by the drooping branches of the mournful willow, that waves above the lettered stones, stamp order, quietude, and seriousness, upon this avenue to the house of prayer. There is something, too, appropriate and time-honored in the aspect of the building. It lacks that prim and staring frontage [Presbyterian Meeting-house.] which modern meeting-houses usually present. There is repose and mellowness in the tincture of its walls, and sedateness even in the leaded lights that occupy its window-frames. We enter : and the character of the interior harmoniously corresponds ; it tells us that the fathers of the living generation worshipped here. The place is well-proportioned, airy ; not smothered in with galleries, 438 The last conveyance is to trustees, that they " permit and suffer the premises to be at all times used hy the protestant dissenters commonly called Presbyterians, as a meeting-house or place for the exercise of religious worship : the minister or person officiating being from time to time appointed by the said trustees or by a majority of them, to be testified in writing under their hands and seals." HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 207 but roomily pewed with oak. The organ-loft, the pulpit with its characteristic sounding-board, and even the dial with its ancient face, are all in unison : they speak to us of bygone years. The gallery was added in 1820 ; at which time other additions were made, at a cost exceeding 200 ; the whole of which was de- frayed by the late Mr. Anthony New, woolstapler : and in 1829 a well-built organ was liberally presented by the same individual. The present minister is the Rev. Timothy Davis, who was appointed in the year 1819. No interments take place within this meeting- house ; but there is a marble tablet against the eastern wall, to the memory of the late Mrs. Richard Ashwin and her infant son, which we copy below. 439 In the burial-ground there are inscrip- tions commemorating members of Mr. John New's family, and of Mr. Timothy Davis's ; with other stones severally inscribed with the names of John and Sarah Timbrell, John New, currier, Eliza- beth Taylor, and Elizabeth Payne. There is a Sunday and day- school connected with this meeting, in which about sixty children are instructed and partially clothed. The present endowments of the foundation are stated beneath. 440 439 " In memory of Ann the wife of Richard Ashwin of Aldington, and daughter of Anthony and Ann New of Evesham, who died February 16th 1842, aged 21 years, and was buried near this spot. " A happy childhood innocent and gay, Youth bright and stainless as a summer's day, And life unshadowed by one cloud of gloom, Prepared her spirit for an early tomb : Loving and loved, in peacefulness she trod The Christian's blessed path the way to God ; Let faith and hope our sorrowings reprove, Heaven claimed its own, and called her soul above. " Also of Richard New Ash win, her infant son, born Jan. 19th, died March 16th, 1842." 440 The Rev. Paul Cardale bequeathed by will the sum of 200, which he directed to be placed out by trustees with other money at that time belonging to the protestaut dissenters of the borough of Evesham, going under the name of " Presbyterians;" to be applied for the same purposes as the said money. With the above sums the trustees, in 1776, purchased freehold lands at Woodmancote, in the parish of Bishop's Cleeve, for the endowment of this meeting. In 1811, the endowment was increased by a leasehold messuage in Ode-street, given by Mr. John New, sen r . woolstapler, since converted into two cottages ; together with a freehold messuage in High-street, given by Mr. Anthony New, sen r . since converted into two cottages. These endowments now stand, by the conveyance of 1811, in the names of the trustees then appointed. 208 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. BAPTIST MEETING-HOUSE, Cowl-street. The earliest notice of a baptist congregation at Evesham occurs in 1704. At that period their number had so far increased, as to require larger space than could be found in private dwelling-houses ; and on this account they for some time met for worship and instruction in a barn at the north-east extremity of Port-street. Upon that site a small meeting-house was built in 1722 ; and in 1731 the Rev. Jacob More, or Mower, their first stated minister, was appointed. 441 In 1753 that meeting-house was destroyed by a calamitous fire, which burst forth in open day and consumed great portion of the street : but in the following year the place of worship was rebuilt. Since that period the premises have been sold and taken down ; the com- munity having agreed to remove to their present premises in Cowl- street. The very circumscribed burial-ground formerly connected with the building still remains in Bengeworth, and is employed by the congregation connected with the Baptist meeting in Mill- street. 442 We cannot but add that its present appearance by no means comports with the order that should invariably distinguish a place for Christian burial. We would, at least, direct the atten- tion of those who have relatives buried there to the propriety of draining the ground without the walls, and removing some of its surrounding incumbrances. In 1787 the present meeting-house in Cowl-street was built. The structure is, however, more ancient in its appearance, although erected at the above time, as no other meeting-house had pre- occupied the spot. The fabric is included within a burial-ground which has recently been enlarged, the commodiousness of the chapel having at the same time been increased by the erection of lateral 441 In 1733 the building was conveyed by Joshua Harris, by feoffment dated 14th January, to the Rev. Jacob More and others, and their heirs ; upon trust that they should convey as the feoffees or the survivors, their heirs and assigns should direct ; and that the issues and profits should be disposed of in like manner. 442 By agreement dated 3rd January 1798, the trustees covenanted with Thomas Pearce and two others and their heirs, and with " the families usually using the said burial-ground, that they and their succeeding families should at all times use the said burial-ground with the way thereto." And at the same time the major part of the baptized members notified their consent in writing to change their place of worship to the meeting-house recently erected in Cowl -street : authorizing the trustees to sell the place of worship in Bengeworth, excepting its burial-ground and way thereto. HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. 209 galleries, as well as by an additional vestry on the north. 443 An organ, purchased by subscription, has also been lately introduced. Upon the west wall is a tablet to the memory of the Rev. Lawrence Butterworth, M.A., who after being minister of this community up- wards of sixty years, died in 1828, aged eighty-seven. There is a Sunday-school connected with the meeting, wherein about seventy children are instructed, who are also partially clothed. The present minister is the Rev. John Hockin, who was appointed in 1837. The endowment seems to have been chiefly furnished by bequests from Mrs. Ann Seward of Bengeworth, who survived her husband, a gentleman of fortune, who had early attached himself to the Rev. George Whitfield. These bequests, in addition to the tenements already noticed in the trust-deed, are given below. 444 443 In 1786 the site with sundry tenements adjoining were, in consideration of 410, conveyed by Mr. Joseph Whitford to and to the use of the Rev. Lawrence Butterworth and Mr. James Pearce, their heirs and assigns. Toward payment of this sum various gifts and bequests to the society, amounting to 350, were employed ; as appears by an " order" from the members, dated 1 4th January, 1 755. In 1789 Mr. Butterworth and Mr. Pearce, by indenture of 30th October, conveyed this entire property, meeting-house included, to trustees ; who were to pay the rents, &c. to the said Mr. Butterworth and his assigns, while he continued minister, and to succeeding ministers, for their support : holding the meeting-house and burial-ground for the sole benefit of the congregation therein described. Power is also given to charge the premises to the extent of 150 and interest, being the amount of debt incurred ; with a proviso in case the community should dissolve, or cease to have a minister for one whole year. In 1 802 the trust was renewed, but limiting any charge upon the premises to 31 1 3s. 1 1 d. And in 1 827 the trust was renewed for the last time. The premises being then conveyed upon trust that the trustees should, after repairs, pay the rents and profits to the minister for the time : holding the meeting-house and burial-ground " for the benefit of the congre- gation of protestant dissenters called Particular Baptists." Provision is also made for the continuation of the trust, and for the annual audit of the trust accounts at a public meeting of the subscribers. The whole concludes with the proviso in the for- mer deed, in case of lapse or dissolution. 444 In 1753, Mrs. Seward of Bengeworth bequeathed to trustees 4450, to various religious uses among " Particular Baptists." Of this, the interest of 400 South Sea Annuities, was, after the death of the Rev. Mr. Mower, to be paid to the minister for the time being of that congregation, to be applied in support of monthly Lectures in Divinity, to be preached in Bengeworth. The interest of another sum of 400 South Sea Annuities, was also, after the death of Mr. Mower, to be appropriated to each succeeding minister of his congregation at Bengeworth, for the purpose of teaching poor children to read at Badsey, at two schools in Evesham, and at one in Benge- worth, in the proportions named. Respecting these bequests the Commissioners upon the Charity Inquiry reported in 1830 That the interest of 400 for teaching 2 D 210 HISTOKY OF EVESHAM. MILL-STREET MEETING-HOUSE. This place of worship originated in a secession occasioned by the removal of the old Baptist congre- gation from Bengeworth ; of which congregation Mr. Butterworth was then minister. In 1789 the site of the present structure was purchased from the late Mr. John Roper of Bengeworth, who liber- ally gave one hundred guineas, the amount of the purchase-money, toward the erection of the building. 445 This was soon after com- pleted : and is a neat and commodious structure ; the interior hav- ing recently been refitted and otherwise improved. This meeting- house is occupied by the baptist denomination ; and their present minister, the Rev. J. D. Casewell, was appointed in 1842. Inter- ments do not take place in the chapel ; but there is a tablet against the western wall to the memory of the Rev. William Downs, who died in 1840, and another on the opposite side to the memory of Mrs. May. In the Sunday-school connected with the meeting about eighty-five children are instructed. METHODIST MEETING-HOITSE. The Wesleyan Methodists during the earlier period of their existence in this town possessed no stated place of public worship. When first Mr. Wesley and his colleagues included Evesham in their progresses, they used a room in Deacle's school at Bengeworth. But a legacy of 400 having subsequently been bequeathed by Mrs. Guy of Great Hampton, toward the erec- tion of a chapel at Evesham, that legacy, together with subscrip- tions, was employed in 1808, in building the present chapel, with a residence for the minister, which adjoins it. 446 These are situated children, is appropriated by payments of 2 12s. to a schoolmistress in Bengeworth, appointed by the Cole-street minister ; and of 5 8s. to the two schools now con- solidated at Evesham. And that the further interest of 400 is appropriated to the preaching of a lecture every two months in Cole-street chapel ; for which 9 per an- num is paid, beside 3 for incidental expenses. Commissioners' 24tkReport,-p.5l5. 448 Conveyed by indenture of 6th October 1789, to trustees, upon trust to erect a meeting-house " which was at all times to be used for the worship of Clod by the parties thereto, their families, and the church, society, or congregation of protestant dissenters, residing within the borough," holding the very debateable but stringent Calvinian sentiments set forth at large in the deed : concluding with a proviso for ap- pointment of new trustees, when by death reduced to five. This trust was renewed by indenture of 9th and 10th January, 1824. ui! By indenture of 2.5th March, ] 808, enrolled in chancery 5th September same year, William Rose conveyed the site to trustees, that they should permit such HISTORY OF EVESIIAM. 211 in Chapel-street, the ancient Caponpot Lane, leading to the Conduit Hill, another ancient designation which we wish to keep in view, although the conduit itself has long been overthrown. There is a small burial-ground next the street, in which are stones com- memorating Mr. Richard Maile, Mrs. Robert Huxley, and children of other families. The present ministers are the Rev. John Stevens and the Rev. Edwin Thorley, appointed by the conference of 1844. In 1841 a separate building was erected adjoining the chapel, for the use of the Sunday-school, which had previously been established ; and in the school about 112 children are at present instructed and partially clothed. CONGREGATIONAL CHAPEL. A small but neat structure, called Ebenezer Chapel, situated near the Market-place, was erected during the spring of 1844, and opened on the 28th of August following. It was built chiefly by individuals who had been connected with the Wesleyan Society ; and the Rev. James Smith, recently a preacher in that community, is minister. There is a Sunday-school conducted in a room detached from the chapel, where about forty children are taught. The trust-deed of this property is not while we print the present sheet as yet completed. minister as should be appointed by the yearly Conference of Wesleyan Methodists, to preach in the chapel then erecting, and to occupy the premises during his ministry. Provided that such minister should not be so appointed for more than two successive years without the written consent of the trustees ; with a proviso for the renewal of trustees when reduced to two, together with power to mortgage the premises, until any debt contracted should be discharged. CHAPTER XL BENGEWORTH DIVISION OF THE TOWN FREE-SCHOOL CHAPEL OF ST. PETER, WITHIN THE DEANERY OF THE MONASTERY- TRANSFER OF THE ENTIRE PARISH FROM THE POSSESSION OF EVESHAM ABBEY. BENGEWORTH was at the time of Domesday Survey a mere hamlet in the then wide-spread parish of Cropthorne, and consisted but of a few detached farm-buildings, near the high-road then con- ducting to the abbey of Evesham in its vicinity. By its proximity to that foundation it, at a later period, gradually increased ; and when Evesham became deprived of the distinction of its monastery, the inhabitants here seem to have urged their claims to equality with the inmates of the older town, by arguments of no gentle character. For in the reign of James the First, that pacific ruler intimates, in the preamble of his second charter to the borough, that "controversies, dissensions" and other irregularities occurring here, had occasioned " damage, grief, and molestation " to the more se- date indwellers of Evesham : and therefore, for the better rule, government, and improvement of the entire town, he incorporates Bengeworth within the borough of Evesham. This municipal junc- tion has thenceforward continued; and Bengeworth thus partici- pates in the improvements and advantages of its elder neighbour. JEyelwey, abbot of Evesham in the reign of William I. is stated to have unjustly acquired a portion of the present parish, by defraud- ing the church of Worcester of four hides here equivalent to about four hundred acres ; these having at that time formed part of the manor of Cropthorne, which belonged to Worcester Church. In the 214 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. registry of Domesday these hides were consequently entered as be- longing to Bvesham abbey; and at a later period, abbot Whitchurch purchased the remainder of the parish from William de Beauchamp, and the whole became thus included in the demesne of the abbey. In the middle of the twelfth century, the four hides then held here were, by abbot Kandulph's Institutes, appropriated to the office of prior of the monastery ; as also the hall or grange, with its garden, vineyard, and meadow, and several tenements adjoining. 447 This grange by reason of the continuity of the houses that adjoined it, as intimated in the extract cited must have stood southward of the street ; and from the accompaniments recorded in connection, was doubtless an important mansion, one of the moated manor- houses of the olden time. The names still borne by grounds in this particular quarter, confirm our supposition as to its site. One is " the parson's close," the croft of the priorial mansion ; another "the moat orchard," as having immediately adjoined the moat. In the last meadow adjacent to the residence of Dr. Beale Cooper some extensive foundations were discovered, in levelling a bank about twenty years ago ; and, as we understand, an ancient signet ring of metal, inscribed ODO, was also found. There is little doubt but that these foundations were connected with the Grange, belong- ing to the Evesham priors : another portion of which, or of a gate- house attached to it, presents itself in part of a tenement near the north-west corner of the church. The arched doorway is here of ancient character, and in the wall of a chamber above there is a stone cupboard or ambry. The only public buildings at present standing in this division of the town that will require particular attention, are the Free School and Parish Church. The former is a substantial building of brick, standing a little way back from the street ; and includes a dwelling- house for the master, with a school-room for the boys. It is situate in the middle of Port-street ; and was erected in 1738, pursuant to the will of John Deacle, esq. This gentleman was a native of the 447 " Pertinet etiam ad priorem, curia de Benigwithe cum croftis ad eaudem curiam pertinentibus, et cum gardino, vinario, et prato, quse sunt infra ipsam curiam, et cum omnibus mesuagijs de croftis quae sunt circa ipsam curiam, videlicet, a domo Thomae Algar usque ad domum Walteri Bellard." Cotton. MS. Augustus II. num. 11. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 215 parish, and by his own exertions and good fortune became a wool- len-draper in St. Paul's Church-yard, acquired the possession of wealth, and ultimately attained the distinction of alderman of Lon- don. It is evident from his tombstone that his origin was humble, though Dr. Nash by a brief notice would fain connect him with a different class, by miscalling him D'Eagle. 448 But we regard him as one who having felt the deficiency of early education himself, in this manner sought to remove that evil from the lot of others who might struggle from obscurity in his native town as he himself had striven. By his will, dated 24th July 1706, proved 29th October 1729, 200 is bequeathed for the erection of a school for teaching, clothing, and apprenticing " thirty of the poorest boys born in this parish." But if the entire number of this description cannot be derived from hence, then such deficiency is to be supplied from " poor boys in Evesham, providing that these at any one time shall not exceed ten in number." To this foundation he further munifi- cently bequeathed the sum of 2000, to be vested in lands and tenements of the yearly value of one hundred pounds. From that income twenty pounds were to be paid as salary to the master, thirty-four pounds were to be expended in clothing for the boys, twenty-five pounds to be employed in apprenticing four of them yearly, five pounds were to be expended in books, and fifty shillings were appropriated to repairs of the school : fifty shillings were fur- ther to be expended in bread for poor parishioners, as will be noticed in our twentieth chapter. The residuary receipts are reserved for taxes and other contingencies. No boy is to be admitted into the school under eight years old, nor after the age of ten. The choice and admission of boys are vested in " the churchwardens and over- seers of the poor of the parish of Bengeworth aforesaid, and in the mayor and capital-burgesses of Evesham:" but "in case of the neglect of the said churchwardens and overseers, then in the mayor and capital-burgesses of Evesham aforesaid, or the major number of them." A further clause, somewhat unusual at the period, but exhibiting the heedfulness and forecast of the donor, provides " that the children may be carefully taught and that the schoolmaster may 448 ti ]yj r _ D'E a gi e left one thousand pounds for teaching and cloathing the poor children of the town." hash's Worcestershire, vol. i. page 411. 216 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. wholly apply himself to their instruction, that no person in any ec- clesiastical orders whatever shall be admitted to fill that situation." In fact no means that forethought could devise effectively to carry out his purpose, seem to have been omitted by the testator. He appoints the Company of Drapers in London the trustees of his foundation, with a further bequest of 200 to defray the expense of periodical visitations of the establishment by the master and wardens of that body. He then generously bequeathes to the cor- poration of Evesham the sum of 50, to secure their watchfulness over the infant institution. The testator died in 1709 ; and the Drapers' Company refusing to accept the trust, a bill was filed in chancery : the result of which was an appointment of new trustees, in lieu of the Drapers' Com- pany. A piece of ground in Port-street was then purchased, as the site of the school, from sir John Rushout, bart. and this was con- veyed to the new trustees by indenture of 23d May 1729. By an order of the court, dated 9th April 1736, the sum of 335 was directed to be applied to the building of a school ; and the erection was during the same year completed. The original endowment had in 1743 become augmented by accumulation to 3341 15s. Id. and this was ordered to be vested in South Sea Annuities, a receiver being at the same time appointed by the court. In 1749 part of the above stock was by a further order sold, and employed in the purchase of an estate at Ashton-under-Hill ; and in 1773, by award under the Ashton Inclosure Act, an allotment was made to sir John Rushout and his heirs, in lieu of the charity property : thus mak- ing the entire estate upwards of 167 acres. This produced in 1830 a rental of 251. 449 Since the award, the estate does not appear to have been conveyed to trustees, but has remained legally vested in the Northwick family. There have, however, been successive ap- pointments of trustees, without any transfer of the property. 450 The present trustees thus constituted are lord Northwick ; hon. and rev. George Rushout ; rev. Wm. Digby ; rev. John Shaw ; T. B. Cooper, M. D. ; sir Charles Cockerell, bart. ; Wm. Manning, esq. ; 449 The previous rentals were from 1796 to 1799, 250; from 1800 to 1820, 230; and from 1821 to 1823, 255 18s. 60 See 24th Report of Commissioners for Inquiry concerning Charities, page 518. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 217 hon. H. B. Lygon ; hon. Pyndar Lygon ; Hanbury Beaufoy, esq. ; and the rev. B. Preedy. The apprentice fees have lately been in- creased to 10 each, and a small addition has been made to the number of boys placed out. As regards the appointment of a mas- ter, the testator directs that the mayor and burgesses of Bvesham and their successors do present two persons to the trustees of the estate, who are to elect one of them. The salary of the master has latterly been augmented to 30. The present number of scholars is thirty ; who are clothed and instructed, but not boarded. The [Alderman Deacle's School.] Commissioners for Inquiry concerning Charities report in 1830 that vacancies are filled up on recommendation, in the first instance from the churchwardens of Bengeworth with respect to the boys from thence ; and in default of such recommendation, the other ap- pointments, whether for Bengeworth or Evesham, are made at the discretion of the acting trustees. And as regarded the appointment of master, this had for some time been made solely by the same trustees. But in the year 1837 an Information was filed by the attorney -general, on the relation of John New, esq. and others, 2 E 218 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. against the acting Trustees of the Estate : upon which the vice- chancellor, in March 1844, decreed among other things that the appointment of master ought to be in accordance with the testator's will ; and that the Trustees for Charities, chosen yearly from the corporation under the Municipal Act, sec. 73, are to exercise the trusts given under the will to the corporation of Evesham ; while the Trustees of the Estate appointed in lieu of the Drapers' Com- pany are also entitled to execute the trusts given under the will to that company. At the same time it was further ordered " that it be referred to the Master to approve of a proper scheme for the administration of the charity, and the employment of the surplus revenues." But at present this scheme is not completed. THE CHUKCH though generally considered to be dedicated to St. Peter, is, according to the king's books, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It stands on the high ground adjoining the upper part of the principal street ; having between that and the burial-ground what was formerly an open space and, doubtless, then the village- green, where the ancient wake or festival in honor of the saint to whom the church was dedicated was originally held ; where like- wise stood the tapering maypole, to festoon which the inhabitants sallied forth at early May-morn, and here returned " Deckt all with dainties of her season's pryde." But our public enjoyment of May-time and the approach of spring, in modern life forsakes us as we leave the unrestrained hilarity of boyish days, and so this green, like many others, has been en- croached upon, and is now most utilitarianly occupied by a hostelry and yard. The church, as originally seen across the greensward would form an interesting addition to the street view ; at present we must be content with catching only glimpses of it from that situation. Some writers have concluded, that it was here that Leofric, earl of Mercia, and his Countess erected a church in the reign of Canute, which they caused to be dedicated to the Trinity. 451 But this supposition is opposed to the very document upon which it professedly rests, for that expressly declares the church so dedi- cated to have been built by them at Hampton. 452 These are the 461 Tindal's Evesham, p. 239, also Nash's Worcestershire, art. Bengeworth. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 219 same personages who figure so conspicuously in the early history of Coventry. Leofric was duke or governor of Mercia, being a fourth of the kingdom, in the reign of Canute II. His possessions in the midland counties were consequently vast ; and in the down- hill of life himself and consort seem to have propitiated the church by large endowments and foundations. 453 No part of the church at Bengeworth appears to be of earlier construction than the thirteenth century, unless we may except the font ; during that period, then, we may consider it to have been erected by the abbots of Evesham, soon after their purchase of the manor in gross. And although its situation cannot be the site of that cemetery in Bengeworth which abbot D'Andeville is said to have constructed after his demolition of the castle here yet there is little doubt but that the ruins of that demolished fortress furnished much of the material employed in the present church. The struc- ture, which is of somewhat irregular form, includes a nave, a chancel with lateral aisles, and a transept-like chapel projecting from the north. At the west stand its tower and spire, both of the plainest form, but distinguished by the peculiar arrangement of four un- adorned pinnacles at its base, as well as by the vestiges of four others which have in time past occupied the angles of the parapet. This approach toward a like peculiarity in St. Lawrence's church, as well as the string-course beneath the parapet, confirm our sup- position that the same century beheld the completion of both these structures. The porch is included within the area of the tower, and finishes with a groined vault. Its inner arch deserves attention, as being at present the only specimen of the semi-circular or Nor- man style occurring in either of the churches in the town ; though we are by no means disposed to refer this, perhaps accidental or convenient, form to the early period when that style was predomi- nant. A small recess occurs here, near the inner door, originally a receptacle for the holy-water with which the ancient worshippers afiused themselves upon entering the church. The nave is at pre- 452 Ego Leofricus comes manifesto in brevi isto, quod terram quae vocatur Heam- tune, ad monasterium de Evesham dedi : et misi in illam ecclesiam quam ego et conjux mea Godgyve ibidem in honore sanctae et individuse Trinitatis pro animabus nostris devote aedificavimus." Cottonian MS. Vesp. B xxiv. previously cited on p. 34. 453 See Dugdale's Warwickshire, pp. 86-7 for an array of these pious deeds. 220 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. sent destitute of aisles ; but the chancel retains these accompani- ments, at north and south. They are separated from the centre, on either side, by two obtusely pointed arches of the thirteenth century, resting on plain and slender columns of octagonal form. Small clere-story windows are inserted above ; and open quatrefoils are wrought within the girders of the oak-framed roof. Traces of four several altars are at present visible within this church. The first is in the chancel, where, in a spacious niche within the southern wall the piscina and credence-table employed in the ancient service, both remain. The former of these received the rinsings of the sacred vessels, and the latter sustained the am- pullae or cruets that severally contained the water and the wine, Avhich the Romish church commemorating " the water and the blood" that issued from the Redeemer's side deems requisite to be mingled, prior to their consecration, in the eucharistic chalice. These appurtenances, together with the dais or elevated portion of the floor, were here appropriated to the high-altar of the church, at which the office of the greater mass was performed. A similar recess to that already noticed, points out the situation of a second altar, appropriated to private masses, in honor of particular saints, or for the repose of departed souls. This is near to the further window of the northern aisle ; and there, upon a platform ascended by a step, a portion of this altar still remains. This vestige is the more remarkable, because when some years since search was made through the kingdom for an original altar, to serve as a model for erecting one in the chapel of the Tower, nothing earlier than the Reformation could be found. This relic is of stone, finished by a simple cornice, and stands within the angle formed by the east and southern walls. Its height is four feet, and its length three, by eighteen inches wide. Had this width continued throughout, it would not then have admitted the arrangements required in the service of the mass. But this we conclude was obviated by a pro- jection in the centre ; leaving the present, with a destroyed but corresponding section, as wings on either side : a form, we believe, not unusual in such erections. Thus : | Existing Altar. : Portion. 'Piscina. HISTORY OP BVESHAM. 221 At the close of this chapter a more graphic representation is in- troduced. In the chapel on the north, and at the eastern end of the southern aisle, slight vestiges of the remaining altars may be discerned. The font is at present stationed at the east of the northern aisle. To this spot it must have been removed since the Reformation : as baptism is, in the Romish communion, performed either within or near the porch ; thus typifying the admission of the candidate, thereby, to the privileges of the Christian church. This font is by far the oldest in the town ; for its rude appearance and spacious cavity would almost suffice to connect it with the conversion of the Anglo-saxon pagans of the place. There is more of regularity in the construction of the southern aisle than in any other division of the church ; and Mr. Abingdon, in his manuscript account, has pre- served an inscription, at that time remaining in its eastern win- dow, which leads us to regard this portion of the fabric as added during the abbacy of William de Chyryton, who presided in the monastery of Evesham from 1316 to 1344. His name, in the character of a benefactor, thus appeared among the painted win- dows of this aisle, which had at least been glazed at his expense " Orate pro animabus Willielmi Chyryton * * * ." The remainder was even in Abingdon's time defaced. In the same aisle is placed the costly monument of Mr. Deacle, the founder of the free-school, adorned with his effigy recumbent in marble and enveloped in the aldermanic gown. We smile at the incongruity of a Christian figure extended on the sarcophagus of heathenism ; but we have positively nothing else to offer by way of statuary through- out the town ! The gratitude of the inmates not having hitherto sufficed to raise either in their market-place, cross-churchyard, or hall a statue even to Bishop Ecgwin, the founder of their town ; to say nothing of Eoves, his swineherd, to whom they owe the whole. Suffice it then to observe that this figure is respectable, as connected with the period of its execution, when our monumental effigies having doffed the coat of mail and set aside the attitude of devotion were content to lounge about our churches in court dress, using tombs in lieu of couches. The inscription is plain and suitable. We only quarrel with the heraldic insignia, which some ill-judging executor has perched upon the summit. Mr. Deacle 222 HISTOBY OP EVESHAM. was self -distinguished ; and could therefore spare these trappings, which are usually employed to reflect an adventitious lustre. But we cannot quit the monument, without picturing the emotion with which it must have been regarded by the first groupe of on-lookers that stood round. Some of these, doubtless, remembered the de- parture of the friendless lad a second Whittington from the place of his nativity, and now gazed with wonder on this tangible indication of the greatness to which he finally attained. In the same aisle, and within view of the monument of the self-elevated Deacle, 142 children are taught in the Sunday-school. This number, added to the Sunday-schools we have already noticed, together with fifty children similarly instructed in St. Lawrence church omitted in our account of that foundation complete, with 130 similarly taught in the National Sunday-school, a total of 690 children of both sexes instructed weekly within the town. The east window was rebuilt in 1810 by the Rev. William Al- dington, rector of Toddington; the stained glass being also in- serted at that gentleman's expense. It is to be regretted that the tracery of the original window has not been copied, as even an un- practised eye cannot but contrast the bald appearance of this with the richer tracery of the eastern windows in the aisles. The present altar-screen was put up after the decease of the Rev. Thomas Beale, a former incumbent, who bequeathed a sum for that purpose. In 1832 an organ was erected by subscription at a total cost of 202. Surely the people here ought, at all events, to be musical ; this being the fifth finger- organ we have met with, as used for public worship, in the town. In the above year the burial-ground was enclosed with, what we were about to call a well-built, wall of brick, till we chanced to observe that it is already failing in the south-east quarter. Much coloring and painting have recently heen spread within the church. Its walls are dazzling with whitelime; the arches and mouldings are striped with ochre ; and the old oak rafters striding over-head, appal the antiquary by their sky-blue covering. In soberness, we are compelled to add, that this is by no means a singular instance of modern church-garniture. The curacy of Bengeworth was formerly in the peculiar jurisdic- tion of the abbey of Evesham ; and though now within the diocese of Worcester, is still exempt from the archdeacon's visitation. 454 It HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 223 stands as a discharged curacy in the king's books, valued at 7 10s. Wd., and the advowson is at present vested in the Rev. Thomas Marsden of Childswickham. The entire parish, together with the advowson, having been formerly purchased by the abbey of Eves- ham, its mixed and preedial tythes were then impropriated by that institution. The privy tythe was, however, leased to a chaplain ap- pointed by the monastery, as appears from a separate schedule of the commissioners under Henry VIII. 455 As only a small portion of this parish was held by the convent in demesne, its great tythes were, after the suppression, transferred with the soil to various in- dividuals by the crown ; the petty tythe being then appropriated to the incumbent, as will appear from the ensuing terrier. At a subsequent inclosure of the parish, certain lands were awarded by the act, in lieu of great tythe to the impropriator and of privy tythe to the incumbent. 436 Thus the parish now stands discharged of all tythe whatsoever. In the margin we append the terrier or official return of the profits of this curacy, in the year 1585 ; as extracted from the registry of the consistorial court at Worcester. 457 The 451 A bill to make certain towns at Evesham being peculiars of the abbey, in this Vale in the diocese of Worcester, was introduced to the House of Commons, Decem- ber 18th, 1554. Journals, vol. i. p. 39. 455 See " Schedule of Spiritualities pertaining to the monastery of Evesham," in Valor Ecclesiasticus, Hen. VIII. torn. iii. p. 253 ; also Chapel of Bengeworth, under "Deanery of Evesham Vale" on page 255 of the same volume. 456 By the Bengeworth Inclosure Act, passed in 1775, Thomas Wilson Cracroft, esq. is declared then " rector impropriate of this parish and owner of all the tythes belong- ing to such rectory," Charles Henry Talbot, esq. being patron of the curacy, and the Rev. Thomas Beale curate, the latter, as such, being " entitled to the tythes thereto belonging." Therefore the act enacts that the commissioners should allot to Mr. Cra- croft and his heirs and to Mr. Beale and his successors severally, so much land as should be equivalent for the great, and impropriate, and small tythes. The commis- sioners in consequence, by their award [dated llth November, 1775, enrolled with the Clerk of the Peace for the County of Worcester 17th July, 1776], allotted to the curate ISA. 3K. 13p. in lieu of all tythes and dues, excepting oblations, &c., as di- rected by the act : which allotment they declare to be of the annual value of 30. Three roods and thirty perches adjoining the above, were likewise allotted to the curate, in lieu of right of common ; making together 1 6A. 3R. 3p. 457 Upon the Vicars othe Bengeworthe An annswere to the Articles geven us in charge in the Visitacon 1585 1 . To the Fyrst I answere that we have the Bible 2. To the Second I say that there is a Parsonage imppriate and one Mr. Thomas 224 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. original, however, does not contain the queries upon which the an- swers are returned ; neither, as we have been informed by the registrar, are they at present to be found. A second terrier, re- turned by the parishioners in 1680, we also append beneath ; having extracted it from the same registry as the former. 458 The present yearly rents and profits of the living, exclusive of Easter offerings and surplice fees, will likewise be found beneath. 459 The incumbents since the visitation of the monastery by the commissioners under Henry VIII. so far as can be at present ascer- tained, have been the following : WILLIAM PAGE is in 1535 returned by the royal commissioners as Biggs hath y l . in lease : Myselfe ame Vicar and had the Vicaridge by Psentacon from the queene whoe is patrone thereof : Double benefice I have none neyther ame I graduated but only had my yeare to be bacheler granted in Oxfford 3. I can say nothinge 4. I can say nothinge 5. I can say nothinge 6. There is the Vicaridge and a lytle gardeyne ground thereunto belonginge onely : w th out gleabe or other Comoditie save the pryvy tythes : Pryveledg's we have none but that we are not subject to the Arch Deacon's visitacon, but to my Lord Bishopps onely THOMAS HAT ) , , , By me ANTHONY HURLIBUTT JOHN GOTTEN Churchwardens yicar ib _ 458 Bengworth ^ We the Parishion rs . of Bengworth in the Burrough of Evesham in Co. Wigorn > in the County and Diocesse of Worster whose names are under- June 24 th 1680 ) wrott do unanimously declare sett forth and assert the profitts be- longing to the Vicarige of Bengeworth payable and according to o r . knowledge accustom- ubly due to the Vicar as they are distinctly exprest in the severall particulars following : Imprimis Easter Offerings, that is, threepence a peice of each person whom the Law looks upon as Comunicauts and moreover from each House-holder the smoake penney, and garden penney. For a Buriall six pence For a Christning and Churching six pence, Bees every Tenthe Stocke Piggs every Tenth or Seveth For every Cow and Calve six pence ; and for each thoro' milch Cow l d . The Vicarige House and Churchyard. One Cows Comon with the Herdlong on the Layes according to the Ancient Custome. The Tythe of Upham and of all Enclosures, whether turn'd into Gardens or whether bearing Hay or any sort of grain. And lastly the Tythe of Orchards, of Flax and Hempe. We whose names are underwrott THO : WATSON have heard that the above Particulars RICHARD HIDE are the Vicars dues and have payd JOHN WOOD MAUL, Ch r Warden accordingly WILLIAM EADON t his marke RICHARD TINKER JAMES SMITH t his marke PHILLIP GARDNER RICHARD BARNS HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 225 chaplain and curate here for the term of his life, by indenture from the abbot and convent of the monastery of Evesham : 46 and from an entry in the parish register it appears that he died in April, 1549. ANTHONY HURLYBUTT. His name first occurs on the register in 1560 ; and in July 1588, as appears from the same document, he died. WILLIAM BUSTED. From a memorandum upon the register, the date of his institution was April, 1589. HENRY WILSONS. From an entry similar to the above, he was appointed in April, 1599. * * * * # THOMAS WILLES was minister from 1677 till 1688; and was also vicar of Bretforton in 1681. ***** JOSEPH SHELTON. His name appears on the register, from 1716 till 1721. JOHN MITCHELL, LL.B. He was minister of St. Lawrence and All-saints, Evesham ; and first signs the register here in 1722. NATHANIEL NICHOLLS, B. D. Upon the death of Mr. Mitchell, in 1724, he succeeded him as minister of Evesham as well as Bengeworth ; and was, in addition, perpetual curate of Ofienham, adjoining this parish. He died, according to the register of All- saints, in February, 1734. GEORGE CLEVELY. He was appointed in March, 1734, and signs the register till April, 1766. EDWARD DAVIES. His name first occurs in February, 1767. THOMAS BIDDULPH. He first signs the register in 1769. THOMAS BEALE, M. A. From his mural tablet in the aisle, he was instituted in 1771, continued incumbent till 1793, and died in 1805. THOMAS TREGENNA BIDDULPH, M. A. then minister of Saint 459 Close of Land on Bench-Hill, as awarded 78 Charge on late John Martin's Estate at Little Hampton . . . 10 Two-thirds rent of Cottage and six acres of Land at Ashton-under-Hill : pur- chased with 150 bequeathed by Mrs. Thomazine Watson . . 15 5s. Six acres of Land at Church Lench ; purchased by Queen Anne's Bounty -. 7 Cottage and garden near the church ; being the parsonage-house, but not oc- cupied by the incumbent 10 460 Valor Ecclesiasticus, torn. iii. page 255. 2 P 226 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. James's, Bristol, succeeded the late Mr. Beale in 1793 ; but resided in the former place, and resigned this curacy in 1803. Mr. Bid- dulph continued incumbent of St. James's, at Bristol, till his death, which lately occurred at an advanced age. He was universally respected by the inhabitants of that city, and is author of several publications, which have met with an extensive sale. 461 The Rev. JOHN SHAW, M.A. the present incumbent, was insti- tuted in 1803, on the presentation of the Rev. T. T. Biddulph. The arms and mortuary inscriptions at present within the church, will be found noticed in our Appendix, numbered XII. After the suppression of Evesham abbey, its lands in Bengeworth appear to have been granted to more than one individual, by Henry the Eighth. Among these were sir Philip Hoby, 462 Thomas Watson, esq., 463 sir Richard Long, Christopher Edmondes, gent., Roger and Richard Taverner, esqrs. 464 In the following century an important portion was vested in the family of Hazlewood ; under a conveyance from one of whom to his own family the present Lord Northwick is understood to claim the lordship of this manor : a right expressly recognized by the Inclosure Act and its consecutive award. But from an abstract of sir William Hazlewood's title, commencing in 1716, it appears that his devisees and their des- cendants exercised repeated acts of ownership over the manor and appurtenances, subsequent to the Inclosure Act, and down to the 461 Among these are" Inconsistency of Conformity to the World/' 12mo. " Essays on the Liturgy of the Church of England," 3 vols. 8vo. " Lectures on the Holy Spirit," 8vo. " Theology of the Early Patriarchs," 2 vols. 8vo. and Lectures on Psalm 51, 8vo. 462 Mention is made in a schedule of sir Philip's estate, given in Dugdale, of " a park called Thrawnehill park, with all lands meadows and pastures called Thrawne- hill, in the hands of the late abbotte and convent of Evesham," described as being at that time " within the parish of Bengeworth." New Monasticon, ii. 43. 48:1 " All the premises in Beugeworth, parcel of the town and lordship of Benge- worth, of the value of 63 4*. 6d. have been sold heretofore to Thomas Watson." Note occurring in the Roll of sir R. Long, and Chr. Edmondes, in A ugment. Office. 464 In a roll dated 10th February 36th Hen. VIII. Roger and Richard Taverner " request to purchase" several lands and tenements in the parish of Bengeworth, of which the [then] yearly value was 6. In another roll, dated 25th June, 37th Hen. VIII. Richard Long, kt. and Christopher Edmondes, gent, "request to purchase," in this parish, the rent of two tenements, a garden, close, and 1 ^ virgates of land ; all copyhold. Original* in Augmentation Office. HISTOKI OF EVESHAM. 227 year 1789. For by indentures of lease and release, sir John Rush- out, first Lord North wick, being party thereto, dated 14th and 15th October in that year, John Cracroft of Hackthorne in the county of Lincoln, esq. and his trustees released certain messuages, demesne lands, and other hereditaments in this parish, "save and except the said manor or reputed manor of Bengeworth," unto sir John Rushout, his heirs and assigns : noticing at the same time, that sir John had been treated as lord of that manor in the Inclosure Act. At present there are no tenures in the parish by copy of court-roll ; nor has a court-baron been held here for many years. The extent of the parish, the whole of which was formerly posses- sed entire by the abbey of Evesham, contains by admeasurement, 128U. IR. 20r. [Font, AlUrand Credence-table, In tlic Aisle. ] CHAPTER XII. PAROCHIAL CHAPELRIES IN THE VALE, ORIGINALLY COMPRISED WITHIN THE DEANERY OF THE MONASTERY. WE have learned from preceding portions of this work that the successors of St. Ecgwin claimed for their foundation entire ex- emption from episcopal control. Not only thus, but they even further urged for themselves, and exercised, an almost episcopal jurisdiction over the chapelries within the Vale, that were subordi- nate to their monastery. These were, in consequence, not visited by the diocesan, but by one of their own establishment, who was styled the Dean of the Vale, and who likewise collected the Peter's- pence, or pecuniary acknowledgment made yearly to the court of Home which collection elsewhere usually pertained to the dioce- san. These rights they appear to have rested upon a bull from pope Celestine, which must therefore have been granted them about the period of the Norman conquest. In this manner a large portion of the Vale became what is eccle- siastically termed a monastic Peculiar ; as being not under the control of the ordinary of the diocese, but under that of an indi- vidual appointed by the monastery. Some appearance of incerti- tude has been given by previous writers to the precise number of parochial chapelries included in this peculiar. A legal opinion pre- pared for Bp. Freake, after the dissolution, 465 in citing the papal Decretals with regard to the urged exemption, considers the phrase employed "the churches of the Vale" as too indefinite. Dr. 465 In Nash's Worcestershire, vol. i. page 422. 230 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Nash, with Mr. Tindal, seems disposed to restrict the exemption to the six chapelries which had been transferred by Henry VIII. to the dean and chapter of Christ-church, and which elicited the legal opinion above noted. 466 But taking as our guide the Schedule pre- pared by the Commissioners of Henry VIII. when recapitulating the spiritualities of the monastery, at a period when these could not but have been clearly defined, we learn that the Vale ecclesi- astically considered as under the jurisdiction of the monastic dean comprised the parochial chapelries of All-saints, St. Lawrence, and Bengeworth, which chapels we have already described toge- ther with those of North-and-Middle, and South-Littleton, Offen- ham, Bretforton, Badsey, Church Honeybourne, Norton, Hampton, and Wickhamford ; being twelve in the whole. 467 In each of these places considerable possessions had been con- ferred by the two Saxon kings upon St. Ecgwin's foundation. At that early period, though these kings themselves had recently em- braced the faith as propagated from the see of Rome, their subjects could hardly have been Christians even by profession. We may then justly look upon the district as a moral waste ; and cannot err in regarding the scattered residents as semi-savages. Here then the humble inmates of the infant monastery were to employ their zeal, by gradually proselyting, as well as civilizing, the inhabitants. In this they would commence by apportioning to the residents tracts of land, which by example and advice they would assist them in cultivating ; and would then build here and there a church, wherein to collect them for worship and instruction. At length a member of their community would be statedly employed in each division as a parish priest, and in this manner tythe as well as rental would ultimately become secured to their establishment. By these means the character of the district would be gradually changed : and thus we doubt not that the foundation of all subsequent improvement in this vicinity was actually laid by the humble coadjutors of St. Ecgwin : unerring Providence seeing fit to employ here this handful 466 These are Hampton, Wykhamford, North Littleton, South Littleton, and Offenham. Nash, vol. i. page 415 : Tindal, page 236, note. 487 " Decanat' Vail' Evesham, infra dioc' Wigorn', ac in Exempt' jurisdictioue Ab- batis et Convent' de Evesham." Valor Ecclesiasticus, 26th Henry VIII. iii. 255. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 231 of partially enlightened monks as the pioneers of all future ad- vantages that should thenceforth be enjoyed by the inhabitants throughout the district. To present a brief description of each chapelry within the dean- ery, we shall note them severally. First premising that they were all, evidently, what are termed parochial chapelries ; their ancient fonts as well as well-filled cemeteries witnessing to the early period at which the rites of baptism and of burial were performed in con- nection with them. To obviate mis-description, as far as possible, we have in succession personally inspected each. And we, further, think that he who is fond of rural pilgrimages, and can full leisure- ly describe the circuit, will find himself remunerated by the rich tract of cultivated country, intermixed with touches of a ruder landscape, that will be here presented to him ; as well as by the placid pictures of rural life occasionally thrown athwart his course ; not only from the remoter and more straggling habitations, but also from those nearer and more formally arranged. So true do we find it, that the rural life of England is still the life least changed. The searcher after antiquities will further meet with mutilated re- lics of peculiar interest, while peering round those primitive, com- paratively humble, yet substantial ecclesiastical structures, which the wide-spread authority of the abbacy of Evesham reared for the observance of religious offices among its feudal thralls. Within these silent and secluded walls, where modern trimness and formal- ity are almost unknown, surrounded by mouldering vestiges of the older ritual, he will feel himself for awhile thrown back among the people, the usages, and the associations, which imagination persists in picturing as pertaining to a more heart-whole and unsophisti- cated time. NOKTON derived from north town its original distinction, as lying in that direction from the monastery is about three miles from Evesham, on the Alcester road. The Saxon kings Kenred and Offa gave, in the year 703, seven manses or farms in this parish to the abbey ; 468 and at the time of Domesday it held here seven hides. The church, dedicated to St. Ecgwin, is seated in a meadow by the way-side, and has nothing to distinguish its present grave- 468 Charteriii Cotton. MS. Vesp. Bxxiv. ; copied inTindal, p.l50,andDugd.ii.p.!5. 232 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. yard from the open field, except the mouldering tumps and scat- tered stones spread underneath the walls of the building. Or, as the poet Wordsworth writes, " Where holy ground begins, w/ihallowed ends Is marked by no distinguishable line ; The turf unites, the pathways intertwine." 468 The church is distinctly stated in the abbey chronicle to have been erected by abbot Brokehampton, 470 who florished about the year 1290. It was consecrated by the bishop of St. Asaph, upon the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, in 1295 ; 4?1 and the greater portion of the whole doubtless continues as left by the rebuilder. Alterations [Norton Church -1843.] have occasionally been made in some of the windows since, and the chapel at the north may also be regarded as a subsequent addition. The tower which is well-proportioned is also of a later and more 489 Wordsworth's Sonnet "On a Parsonage in Oxfordshire." 470 Acts of the Evesham Abbots in Harleian MS. 3763 : " De Gestis Abbatum." 471 Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. fol. 228 : in Dugdale, vol. ii. p. 34. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 233 finished style ; as indicated by the neat battlement and pinnacles, the salient figures at the angles and beneath the parapet, and the double-pointed windows under a horizontal head. We shall find most of the towers throughout the deanery of the same age and character ; from whence we are led to suppose that they were wholly additions or renovations made by some later abbot ; and, from their appear- ance, we conclude that they were erected rather early in the fifteenth century ; perhaps during the presidency of abbot Bremesgrave. The ivy which luxuriates upon the eastern wall obscures too great a portion of that side of the tower, and needs to be restrained. Its exuberance is partly attributable to great part of the nave having, through neglect, at no very distant period wholly fallen in, leaving the little tower almost disconnected from the church, the west end of the nave being consequently filled-in with lath and plaistering. The heads of the doorways at north and south are singular, being formed of a semi-hexagon, instead of the usual arch, and cuspidated inwardly. The interior of the building has an unusually jumbled look ; chiefly occasioned by its loss of great part of the nave, and also from the absence of an arch between this portion and the chancel, where a wide awkward aperture occurs, as though the arch had at no distant period been taken out, to disseminate the voice of the reader. It is in the chapel at the north that we must look for most of the original character. Here the work is less disturbed ; and the addition of three striking monuments of the Bigg family sus- taining effigies of knights in mail and dames in courtly dresses though near the age of Elizabeth add considerably to the effect. Overhead we see displayed, as trophies, the emblazoned surcoats, helmets, arms, and banners, actually used by the deceased ; and the spectacle thus complete is singularly impressive. Since writing the above, the nave of the church has been rebuilt in a manner suited to the public worship of our own time ; avoiding the obstruction of arches and pillars, by omitting the ancient side aisles. The chancel and monumental chapel have at the same time September 1844 been carefully repaired, and the burial-ground is now enclosed. Among the principal contributors to the restora- tion, we find Her Majesty Queen Adelaide ; the Bishop of the diocese ; the Dean and Chapter of Worcester ; the rev. William Brown, vicar ; 2 Or 234 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Edward Holland, esq. and family ; Robert Blayney, esq. ; Edward Rudge, esq. and family ; the rev. W. Digby ; and the rev. Matthew Lunn. The entire cost was 700, and the whole was designed, undertaken, and completed by Mr. Solomon Hunt of Evesham. Norton at the dissolution became the property of the king, and according to Nash it came, so late as the time of Philip and Mary, to sir Philip Hoby ; whose nephew, sir Edward Hoby, sold this estate and some others. The hamlet of LENCHWICK. within this parish belonged to the abbey at Domesday survey, and a manse here had previously been given by Kenred and Offa. It had once a chapel dedicated to St. Michael, a which is now wholly destroyed. The amount of pentecostals, or Whitsun-farthings, paid by Norton and Lenchwick to Evesham abbey as the mother church, was, at the dissolution, valued at Is. Wd. yearly. 472 The population of the parish, at the census of 1841, was 385. In crossing the Avon, in the direction of Twyford the two fords a part of Norton parish named in the earliest of the abbey charters, we observe on the opposite side vestiges of an ancient stone bridge which has been long destroyed : and while we sail across the ferry at " Offenham Boat " we look into a charming cor- ner, distinguished in its simple beauty from all other spots which we have met. The river bending along the foreground, the shady lane, and wooded bank from whence the rustic ale-house peeps through the intervening trees, the rude steps that ascend to it from the water's edge, and the gay colors occasionally hoisted in the sunshine from some barge at anchor, while the crew have landed to refresh complete the picture. Leaving the ferry-boat and clam- bering up the bank, we gain the rich and level tract upon the other side, called, as tradition states, after a once royal owner OFFENHAM : from Ofa's ham the holme of Offa his irrigated lowland on the river's verge. Etymologists might perhaps hastily refer the origin of the name to Offa, the most potent of the kings of Mercia. But in one of the earliest of the abbey charters, dated in the year 709, forty-six years before the accession of the Mercian Offa, we find this village noticed as Offeham, in the grant of a manse here to the abbey from Kenred of Mercia, and Offa king of 472 Abstract of Roll 33, Henry VIII. in Augmentation Office. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 235 the East Angles. 473 We cannot assent to the supposition that Off- enham, in Mercia, could be named from Offa of Suffolk; neither can we divine why he, who bestows nothing from within his own territory, should so readily assist in dispensing the property of an independent king ; unless this be regarded as an additional token of the subserviency which the East Anglian kings are known to have evinced toward those of Mercia. The vagueness of traditionary le- gend clings, however, to the apparent origin of the name. It tells of a palace here, once occupied by the Mercian ruler ; points to a platform as its actual site, which rises gently from a mead adjoin- ing ; and still distinguishes th^e former as " the king's bank," and the latter as the " king's piece " or meadow. In a list of benefactions among the abbey records, 474 Offenham is said to have been given to Evesham by Ethelred king of Mercia, as early as the year 703. In the survey of Domesday, Offenham is recorded as belonging entirely to the monastery. The village is particularly retired, there being actually no road through it ; so that those who ride into it which they may do must ride back again the same way. This seclusion is perhaps partly occasioned by the place having at an early period been a favorite retreat of the abbots. Soon after the year 1160, abbot Adam enclosed here a park, and erected a grange with other buildings. 475 In the next century, abbot Brokehampton enlarged the grange ; and some years after him abbot Ombresley added a gatehouse and stabling. In the reign of Henry VI. abbot Bremesgrave constructed an additional apartment, which he ornamented with a window of painted glass representing the Salutation of the Virgin, and at the same time repaired the private chapel. Hither the last actual abbot, Clement Lichfield, retired ; having, according to Leland, previously rebuilt the greater portion, and here he ultimately died. The deer-park was enlarged by abbot Norton, early in the reign of Henry VII. It is delightfully situated along the river's verge ; and its boundary 473 The former is the king who in 709 abandoning his throne, went to Rome in company with the latter, and there embraced the monastic life, as we have already intimated on page 93. 474 i' DePrincipalibusEoveshameusisCoenobiiBenefactoribus," vaHarl.MS. 3763. 475 Acts of the Abbots, in Harleian MS. already cited. 236 HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. is, on the north and west, still clearly defined by a broad fosse and corresponding bank, which once restrained the occupants, and which the parishioners yet recognize as " the deer's leap." The site of the abbatial mansion is upon the Manor Farm, near to if not par- tially upon the spot now occupied by the farm-house. The latter building seems to have been constructed out of the remains of the former ; and in digging, during the summer of 1843, in the yard adjoining, extensive foundations, together with fragments of mul- lions and doorways, were found. Great part of the moat that ex- tended round the mansion may still be clearly traced. The church is conveniently situated near the village-street, and is dedicated, according to Nash, to the saints Mary and Milburge. It is a simple structure, comprising merely a nave and chancel ; with the addition of a tower of similar character to that at Norton. The appearance of the interior is much impaired by the removal of the ancient arch, which occurred, as usual, between the nave and chancel. The original flooring and ancient pews have also been too much interfered with. All this, with the chilling effect of white- lime, which seems to have been almost trowelled on to the walls, breaks up the usual associations of antiquity. At the dissolution the king granted Offenham to sir Philip Hoby ; and in the reign of Elizabeth, his nephew sold it ; after which it came to the Hazle- woods, then lords of the manor of Bengeworth. The population of the parish, at the census of 1841, was 353. As, being pedestrians, we need not return through OfFenham street, we will pass the lofty May-pole yet standing on the village- green, a mere memento of bygone pastime, if not of its present abuse, and hence strike across the meadows, in our course to the Littletons. But first, we may halt at a snug Waltonian resting- place, known to the disciples of old Izaak, and to others, as "the Fish and Anchor," upon the Avon-side. Thence, mounting the bank, we proceed to MIDDLE LITTLETON or little town. In the two parishes, now dis- tinguished as North-and-Middle, and South Littleton, then ap- parently one parish, the two Saxon kings gave thirteen manses to the monastery ; and in Domesday survey Liteltune is entered as belonging to this abbey. The church here now that of North- and-Middle Littleton is cruciform, being the first of this figure HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 237 with which we have at present met. It is of moderate size, without aisles ; and has the usual substantial tower at the west. The churchyard Cross remains singularly entire to the summit of the shaft, where a sun-dial has since supplanted the more ancient ter- mination. Upon the pine between the nave and chancel there is a small stone turret, which we presume originally contained the sa- cring-bell, that was rung when the congregation sang the Sanctum, during mass. Near the chancel-window there remains an ancient grave-stone, in the churchyard ; flat, but distinguished by a cross cut in relief. The interior of the church is plain and simple ; being unusually freed from modern excrescences. The font, re- maining in its ancient station near the porch, is large and cylin- drical ; it is slightly ornamented on the face, and has the cable moulding under. It belongs, we apprehend, to the eleventh cen- tury ; and its capacious bowl is thickly lined with lead. Much of the old tiled pavement continues undisturbed ; and within the chancel-arch are some particularly interesting vestiges of the ori- ginal oak-screen, with portions, even, of its folding-doors for com- munication : the beautiful line of flowing quatrefoils here a portion of which remains next the reading-desk is a charming specimen of the ease and grace which our ancient artists threw into their most unostentatious performances. In the little chapel or transept at the north, we may trace the groove, in the angle next the chancel, which seems to have conveyed the cord to the sacring-bell without. The chapel opposite was added, under license from one of the abbots of Evesham, by a private individual, as appeared in Dr. N ash's time from a stone inlaid with an efligy and inscription in brass, which that historian notices as then occurring in its floor ; though we regret to add that the brasses have been since removed. The stone itself continues, and the recesses for the efligy and inscription may still be traced upon it. The latter ran thus " Pray for the soul of Thomas Smith, who under the licence of my lord abbot of Evesham made this chapel of his proper cost ; on whose soul Jesus have mercy." We have no clue to the name of the abbot who furnished the grant, but we conclude from the appearance of the chapel the roof of which has been clumsily re- placed that he florished at the close of the fifteenth century. Toward the north of the church, from which it is a little way 238 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. removed, but within the parish of North Littleton, which has now no church of its own, stands an extensive and remarkable barn of stone. It is about 150 feet from east to west, is in form of a cross, and has the threshing-floor along the transverse portion, with a lofty pointed archway at each end, including the great doors. The crosses, still remaining on the summit of the pines, identify it as pertaining to the Church ; and as abbot Ombresley erected a tithe- grange near this parish, 476 we have no hesitation in regarding this as the grange built by him to receive the tithe of corn from the [Abbey Tythe-Burn at Littleton.] parishes of Littleton, belonging to the monastery. After the disso- lution the three Littletons were granted, in the 13th of Elizabeth, to Thomas Leigh ; who having sold them, Middle Littleton passed to sir Matthew Carew, and at present belongs to the family of Rushout. There remains extant in the possession of Fisher Tomes, esq. of Welford, near Stratford-on-Avon, an original court-roll of the manors of Littleton, from the 17th year of Henry VIII. to the 30th inclusive [1525 to 1539]. In this is the following notice of 476 "Apud Northlyttelton sedificavit unam grangiam decimalem." Acts of Abbot Ombresley, in Harleian MS. 37(53. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 239 ancient boundaries. " At the court held for the manor of North Littleton May 3, 29th Henry VIII. before Philip Hawford, cellarer at Evesham, a grant was made to Humphrey Mountford of North Littleton of the moiety of a fishery in the water called Avon ; namely of a part of the said water, from the end of the marsh of June-meadow to Honyam-street, and thence the whole and entire fishery of the same water to Pyxham hedge, together with the lop- pings, . Evesham, 1819. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 297 return of 1295, the borough was of necessity viewed as new ; the term "burgess" being consequently restricted to those of the modern corporation. The amount of money expended upon this desperate contest, from its commencement to the close of the subsequent petition, was, upon the most moderate estimate, twenty thousand pounds ! Of this amount, the expenses for cramming and swilling electors must of itself have formed a weighty item in the sum. 1820, March. Sir Charles Cockerell and Mr. Boughton being the only candidates at this election, were now quietly returned to the first parliament of George IV. 1826, seventh of George IV. The members now returned were sir Charles Cockerell and Edward Protheroe, of Bristol, esq. son of a merchant of that city who had also represented it in par- liament : Mr. Boughton, the late representative now sir William Edward Rouse Boughton, bart. having declined to offer again. On the previous canvass, sir Roger Gresley, bart. came forward against Mr. Protheroe, but retired before the election took place. Upon this Patrick Grant, esq. afterward editor of the True Sun paper, stood the poll. The election began on the 13th of June, and terminated on the 16th. Persons claiming for inchoate rights were consistently with known determinations in other cases now for the first time not admitted here to poll ; the corporate body sitting daily to admit such individuals to the freedom claimed. The electors being thus restricted to burgesses of the corporation, sir Charles had 235 votes, Mr. Protheroe 137, and Mr. Grant 87. Of these the number from electors residing in the borough was 144, and from electors resident elsewhere 153. By adding to these 14 resident and about 125 non-resident electors who did not vote, we arrive at the conclusion that in 1826, the resident electors for the borough were only 158, while the number of out-town voters for the borough, scattered through the length and breadth of the land, exceeded 270 ! 1830. This election commenced on the 2d of August, and con- tinued till the 4th ; when sir Charles Cockerell and Archibald lord Kennedy, heir-apparent of the earl of Cassilis, were returned to the first parliament of William IV. Mr. Harris, an eminent hat- manufacturer in Southwark, announced himself during the previous canvass, but retired : upon which Alexander Raphael, esq. of Lon- 2 P 298 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. don stood the poll. At the close, sir Charles had 231 votes, lord Kennedy 148, and Mr. Raphael 110. The total number of electors polled, was 301 ; and of these 107 were inhabitants, and 159 were not resident in the place. This was the first election for Evesham witnessed by ourselves. Strange indeed to us was the procedure. Resident agents in rival interests rushed out of town, each bent in search not, like Dioge- nes, of an honest man, but of any one who would in connection with a given party poll, or avow that he would poll, " to the very last man." Each candidate, when thus secured, first sought the voices of the London voters always an important number, apolo- gizing to the inhabitants meanwhile by handbills, which intima- ted his personal arrival to pay his respects to them, when all his London promises were secured. Then came the candidate's entree, the mustering of select adherents, the canvass in form. After this followed the issue of the writ, the opening of the poll, and the dis- turbance of the quiet street by rival strains of martial music and perambulating bullies glittering in ribands and cockades. And now strange forms and faces, rarely seen, but warmly greeted as though well-known, pour in upon us by stages, omnibuses, and post-chaises, and throng the town. Inns and places of refreshment open spon- taneously at the approach of the welcome visitors ; they feast upon the best, appear when wanted at the poll, remain perhaps to wit- ness the result, and receive in person a liberal remuneration for their expenses and loss of time. All this takes place, moreover, without either candidate being presumed to know or feel that any portion of this profuse expenditure is actually furnished by himself. A petition from certain freemen, dated 4th November, 1830, was presented to the house of commons against this return. In this the conduct of the mayor in his closing the poll was called in question, and allegations were made against both the sitting members for bribery and treating. Of course no other candidate could be pre- sumed to have done the like, except the two returned ! On the 3d of December, 1830, the petition came before a committee ; who being of opinion that the election was not void on account of the conduct of the returning-officer, the petitioners went into the re- maining allegations. Upon these the committee declared on the 13th December, That sir Charles Cockerell was not duly elected ; HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 299 That Lord Kennedy was not duly elected ; and, That this election was void : It appearing to this committee as stated in the report That both the sitting members had been guilty by their agents, of the acts alleged against them in the petition. Immediately upon this decision, Charles Rushout Cockerell, esq., then absent on the continent, was proposed as a candidate in his father's room. Lieutenant-colonel Maberley, then stationed in Ireland, at the same time addressed the electors, and through his father took a general canvass. The writ for a new election was, however, stayed by motions originating with lord Chandos, heir- apparent of the duke of Buckingham, who had in view the ultimate disfranchisement of the borough. During this detention a petition was presented to parliament from 255 inhabitant-householders of the borough " having no voice in the election of its representatives," praying to be re-admitted to their ancient franchise. The Colonel in the interim took his seat for Shaftesbury, and Evesham re- mained unrepresented upwards of four months. The purpose of Lord Chandos was ultimately set aside by the introduction of the First Reform Bill, introduced by Lord John Russell on the 1st of March 1831. In this, Evesham, on account of a deficiency in population was destined to return one member only ; being con- signed to schedule B. That bill having been lost in committee on April 19th, parliament was dissolved on the 21st, and a new one was summoned to assemble for June 14th. In this manner the borough resumed the exercise of its ancient parliamentary right. 1831, second of William IV. Sir Charles Cockerell and Thomas Hudson, esq. of London, a merchant largely connected with the Portuguese trade, were returned to this which for distinction's sake, may be styled the Reforming Parliament. A fruitless op- position was maintained at this election under cover of Lord Ken- nedy's name ; who neither appeared at the poll nor throughout the canvass. Indeed, in a circular issued 26th April, by one of his adherents, it was declared that his lordship had 'withdrawn him- self and declined the representation.' This intimation was how- ever practically disregarded by his lordship's supporters. They ex- erted themselves unremittingly ; bringing up the out-votes as long as their means allowed : but when these were exhausted, the dis- tant voters, who would otherwise have polled with them, perceiving 300 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. from the lack of funds no other method of visiting their friends scot-free, for the last time, at length entered the vehicles provided by Mr. Hudson's partizans ; and thus, under the able generalship of a certain watch-maker well known as " the captain of the London voters," they were promptly exhibited at the poll. Their appear- ance there, in full prospect of the second Reform Bill, gave rise to some facetious observations from the visiting electors themselves as to this being the last occasion upon which they would be permit- ted thus to appear. The poll was in this manner protracted from Saturday the 30th of April, to Friday the 6th of May. At the close, Sir Charles had 208 votes ; Mr. Hudson 157 ; and Lord Kennedy, in spite of every obstacle, 136. The total number of freemen polled, was 322. Of these, the residents were 126, and the non-residents 196. Of the resident class, thirty individuals polled plumpers for Mr. Hudson, twenty-three for Sir Charles, and four for his lordship. The ministerial measure of reform becomes now so interwoven with our local parliamentary history, that it is necessary again to recur to it. The former bill, slightly modified, was brought before the new parliament shortly after it assembled. It was passed by the commons, but was at its second reading thrown out by the lords, on the 8th of October, 1831. Parliament was consequently prorogued : and on the 12th of December a second Reform Bill, differing seriously from the first, was now brought in. This was passed by the commons, on March 22d, 1832; and was finally ac- ceded to by the lords on the 4th of June. The boroughs' boundary bill passed also at the same time. By these bills, thus constituted parliamentary acts, this borough was rescued from the dismember- ing schedule ; property instead of population being the criterion in the new measure. The boundaries of the borough, as defined by the charter, were also continued. From the returns made from hence to a preceding inquiry, this borough then contained 847 houses, of which 293 were valued at an annual rent of .10 and upwards : the population was 3998 : the number of electors, in- cluding non-resident freemen, was 427 : and the amount of asses- sed taxes paid yearly, X1236. 562 The state of the constituency was 562 This amount was the largest, excepting two, in the class of 1 10 boroughs among which Evesham was scheduled. HISTOBY OF EVESHAM. 301 of course now materially altered. The franchise instead of being arbitrarily distributed among distant individuals, was henceforth restricted to freemen of the corporation residing within seven miles of the borough ; the right being at the same time equally exer- cised by householders of 10 annual rental. The first Register of Electors, revised under the statute in November 1832, numbered 359. Of these, 164 were freemen, including about fifty also eligible from property and the remaining 195 were registered for property alone. 563 In the Register for 1844 the total number of voters is 340 ; of whom 117 are freemen; and of the latter 48 are additionally qualified by property. It having been enacted by the Reform Act that the House of Commons should thenceforth be chosen on a more liberal scale, the last parliament elected upon the previous system was dissolved in December 1832 ; and a new and reformed assembly was summoned to represent the people : 1832, third of William IV. At this election sir Charles Cockerell and Mr. Hudson were again returned. This was mainly occasioned by their popularity as supporters of both reform bills in their passage through the house. But, especially, as having both expressed their undiminished confidence in earl Grey's administra- tion, on the memorable motion of lord Ebrington, carried in the unreformed parliament, on the 9th of May, by a majority of 228. Prior to the election, sir John Beckett, bart. addressed the electors, but neither canvassed nor appeared. Edward Rudge, of Evesham, esq. also proposed himself, but retired before the nomination took place. Then followed Walker Skirrow, esq. barrister-at-law ; who, after the issue of an admirable address, perceiving the ground to be pre-occupied, also withdrew. Upon this Mr. Peter Borthwick, formerly a trader in Dalkeith, but then of Claverton Park, near Bath, was suddenly introduced, and appeared at the poll. The polling commenced on Monday December 10, and closed according to the act in the afternoon of the following day. The numbers were, for sir Charles Cockerell 234, for Mr. Hudson 212, and for 563 A seeming discrepancy here in the number of 10 householders, as compared with the previous Report, is removed by the addition of certain freemen qualified also by property, but registered only in their freeman's right. An allowance should also be made for a few tenements occupied by females ; and we thus verify the former list. 302 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. Mr. Borthwick 126. But, upon the new constituency alone, the majority for Mr. Hudson was 14 above sir Charles, and 73 over Mr. Borthwick : and sir Charles, upon the same constituency, ex- ceeded Mr. Borthwick by a majority of 59. 1835, January sixth of William IV. At this election, occa- sioned by the sudden defeat of lord Melbourne's administration in November 1834, sir Charles Cockerell and Mr. Hudson, the former representatives, were again opposed by Mr. Borthwick, who com- pleted his personal canvass almost before Mr. Hudson appeared. This advantage, together with something of personal unpopularity on the part of the latter, rendered it a very close canvass ; insomuch that upon the eve of the nomination Mr. Hudson refused to stand. An express was then dispatched to Edward Rudge, esq. in London, requesting him to come forward ; and in the interim that gentle- man was nominated upon the hustings, when a poll was demanded on his behalf and fixed for January 6, the following day. In the mean time Mr. Rudge declined the proposal ; so that sir Charles Cockerell and Mr. Borthwick were returned without taking a poll. During the nomination, some observations were made respecting Mr. Borthwick's previous career by one of the electors ; the sub- stance of which formed afterward the grounds of an action for libel against the proprietors of the Bath Guardian newspaper. This, after a postponement by the plaintiff, was tried at Taunton, in April 1836, before a special jury, who found five counts in favor of the defendants, and three counts for the plaintiff. Damages were accordingly given against the defendants in 100. 564 1837, seventh of William IV. This election was occasioned by the decease of sir Charles Cockerell, who closed an active life in January 1837, at the advanced age of 82. Sir Charles was ninth and youngest child of John Cockerell, esq. of Bishop's Hull, So- merset. He commenced his career in life in 1776, in the surveyor's office at Bengal ; was appointed postmaster-general in India in 1804, and finally returned to England in 1806. He was afterward largely concerned in business as an Indian agent, banker, and mer- chant; and during the administration of earl Grey became an 564 See Report of the Trial in the Bath Guardian newspaper of 16th April 1836, and in the daily papers of April 12. HISTORY OF EVESHAJT. 303 honorary member of the India Board of Control. He sat as mem- ber for Tregony from 1802 to 1806; was created baronet by patent in 1809 ; and after his first return for Evesham, in 1820, was re-chosen at every subsequent election here. Sir Charles may be regarded in his parliamentary character as an uniform adherent of government. His political conduct was unvaryingly identified with the tory party, until the whigs were introduced to office, in 1831. From that time he continued to vote with that side of the house till his decease. A portrait of sir Charles was engraved by Mr. John Suffield, of London, and printed for presentation in 1818. February 4th. The candidates to supply the vacancy occasioned by sir Charles's decease, were the hon. George Rushout Bowles, nephew of lord Northwick, and lord Arthur Marcus Cecil Hill, bro- ther of the marquis of Downshire. The poll commenced on Satur- day February 4th, at 8 A. M. and closed at four in the afternoon, according to the recent act. Mr. Bowles was then declared returned by a majority of 25 votes. The polling took place, for the first time here, in booths erected in High-street ; and at the close, the numbers were for Mr. Bowles 165, and for Lord Marcus 140. 1837, July 25th. The candidates to the first parliament of Queen Victoria were the hon. George Rushout, returned at the last election as George Rushout Bowles ; Mr. Borthwick ; and Lord Marcus Hill. After a very sharp contest the former members were declared re-elected. The votes given for Mr. Rushout were 168, of which 2 were plumpers ; for Mr. Borthwick 166, of which 3 were plumpers ; and for Lord Marcus 156, of which 119 were plumpers. But in November following a petition was presented against the return of both members, on the ground of personal bribery ; pray- ing also for a scrutiny, and objecting to Mr. Borthwick, as being not legally qualified. A committee was accordingly ballotted for on the 8th of March, 1838. But proceedings against Mr. Rushout having been early withdrawn, the investigation was confined to the charges against Mr. Borthwick ; as also to a scrutiny of the votes, which terminated in giving Lord Marcus Hill a majority of one over Mr. Borthwick, On the 20th March the committee reported to the House That George Rushout, esq. was duly elected : That Peter Borthwick, esq. was not duly elected : That Arthur Marcus Cecil Hill, commonly called Lord Marcus Hill, was duly elected, 304 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. and ought to have been returned : That neither the petition nor the defence were frivolous or vexatious : That the committee had altered the poll by striking off the votes of certain persons at the last election : and, That Peter Borthwick, esquire, was guilty of bribery at such election. The major charge being thus substan- tiated against Mr. Borthwick, the question of his qualification was not entered into. Upon this decision, Mr. Rusliout and Lord Marcus Hill became the sitting members. 1841, sixth of Victoria, 30th June. Lord Melbourne's adminis- tration having been defeated on the 5th of June, upon sir Robert Peel's non-confidence motion, by a majority of one ; her majesty was prevailed upon to summon a new parliament for the 19th of August following. The nomination for Evesham took place on Tuesday June 29, when Mr. Rushout and Lord Marcus Hill, the late members, appeared as candidates in person. Mr. Borthwick, being at the time in Paris, was also nominated as a candidate. At the show of hands a poll was demanded for Mr. Rushout, and the election took place on the following day. Lord Marcus Hill and Mr. Borthwick were then the members elected. The votes polled were, for Lord Marcus 188, of which 108 were plumpers ; for Mr. Borthwick though he neither canvassed personally nor appeared in the election 161, of which 42 were plumpers ; and for Mr. Rushout 137, of which 34 were plumpers. After the canvass, but prior to the election, Lord Marcus was elevated to the rank of privy-councillor and was at the same time appointed comptroller of the royal household. At this election the absurd and insolent custom of chairing the successful candidates upon the shoulders of their adherents was first broken through by both parties. Lord Marcus rode round the town in his carriage on the following day, attended by his friends : and Mr. Borthwick, on his return from Paris in July, rode round in like manner, to the satisfaction of his long-expecting adherents. CHAPTER XV. ASSOCIATIONS FREE SCHOOLS POPULATION EMPLOYMENT- PECUNIARY TOKENS- LOCAL COURTS ASSESSMENTS NOTICEABLE CUSTOMS- MARKETS AND FAIRS. HAVING in our previous chapter regarded the burgesses in their corporate combination, we may now with propriety advert to the later association of the townspeople in general, for purposes of more varied character than those which we have just considered. And though the contents of our present section must necessarily appear of mixed and piece-meal form, we will endeavour to obviate as far as practicable the dulness of a dry detail. LIBRAE? AND READING-ROOM. The spirit of inquiry which pre- sents so gratifying a feature in the present age, has not failed to impress its influence, and to confer some portion of its advantages on this our town. A public subscription library for Evesham and its vicinity has in consequence been established for some time. It was instituted on the 20th of September 1819, at a meeting held in the guild-hall under the presidence of the mayor ; and during the same month a commodious room was employed for the purposes of the institution, till an opportunity was presented for an eligible change. In September, 1824, a piece of ground fronting the mar- ket-place was purchased, and in the following spring the building at present appropriated to the institution was completed at an expense of 480. This sum was raised by shares of 10 each. The structure, which fronts the market-place, is a neat erection, and very eligibly situated. Beside the basement, which is let for other purposes, there is a well-proportioned room upon the ground- floor, for the use of the subscribers to the newspaper department ; 306 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. as well as a second and more spacious room above, where the books belonging to the library are ranged, and where accommodation is provided for occasional perusal. The premises are duly conveyed to trustees, under a proviso that one of the apartments shall be let at a rent of XI yearly, and no more, to "The Evesham Public Subscription Library," until default of payment or actual discon- tinuance of the institution. And if the other apartment be required for a public news-room, or such-like purpose, then the trustees shall let the same at such rent as shall be agreed upon. Provision is further made for sale of the premises, with the consent of the original subscribers or their representatives, and for appropriating the proceeds. But a resolution for such sale must be passed at a meeting held between the hours of twelve and one, convened by one or more subscribers, by notice affixed to the church-doors seven days previously. Provision is also made for the election of fresh trustees, when reduced to five in number. The funds of the newspaper and book departments are distinct. Subscribers to the former are admitted by proposition from a member ; those to the latter are proposed and balloted for at the monthly meetings of the subscribers. The annual subscription to the news-room, to which the lower room has been applied since the date of the trust-deed, is 21s. ; that to the library is the same, with a present premium of five shillings on admission, in consider- ation of the advantages presented by the previously accumulated stock of books. To this stock additions are made at stated meet- ings of the subscribers, during the winter months, when all works proposed in writing by any member, are received or rejected by ballot. The principal periodical journals and reviews are also re- gularly supplied. The number of daily and other papers taken at the news-room, is six ; the volumes at present in the library including a copy of the Public Records in fifty-two volumes folio, presented by the commissioners in 1834 are about 2150; and the subscribers to the news and book departments number about 70. A MECHANICS' INSTITUTION, styled the Evesham Literary, Scien- tific, and Mechanics' Institute, was established in January, 1838 : soon after which 170 was contributed by donations and subscrip- tions toward the purposes of the society. The object of the insti- tution, as stated in its rules, is the instruction of the members in HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 307 the principles of the arts and in the various branches of science and useful knowledge, bj means of the voluntary association of mechanics and others, and the payment of a small quarterly sum in advance from each ; by donations of money, books, and apparatus ; by a library of reference, a circulating library, and a reading-room; and by lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, practical mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, literature, and the arts. The number of members is about 110, the books comprise 480 volumes, of which a catalogue is published ; and these together with a valu- able scientific apparatus are arranged in the lower room of the Public Library, which is appropriated to the use of the members of this institution every evening, excepting Sunday. The public lec- tures are delivered in the assembly-room opposite, and these have excited much interest and are in general extremely well attended. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. In March, 1827, an association styled "the Vale of Evesham Horticultural Society," was established in the borough. Its object is " to encourage the cultivation of choice flowers, fruits, and culinary vegetables." For this purpose annual subscriptions are made, to furnish prizes awardable to the owners of such productions as are adjudged to excel ; with the beneficial proviso that the exhibitors of fruit shall furnish, upon request, a written description of the mode of cultivation. This association was for some years encouraged by the annual gift of a silver medal from the London Horticultural Society ; in lieu of which a prize of 10s. is now given yearly by the treasurer, Mr. Barnes. The present num- ber of subscribers is 108, including most of the clergy and gentry round. There are five meetings or exhibition-days in the year, held in the Guild-hall, between April and September ; and though the society is, we regret to state, not quite so florishing at present as it has been, yet the character of the specimens ranged in the hall upon exhibition-days is usually of a superior order. The ap- titude of this locality to the purposes of such an institution, as also the importance of its object in a horticultural district like our own, render this institution peculiarly deserving of support. An AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, styled " the Vale of Evesham Agri- cultural Association," was established here in November 1841, under the presidency of Edward Holland,, esq. The objects of the society are to encourage and reward the exertions of agricultural 308 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. labourers and meritorious domestic servants, to encourage the breeding and feeding of stock, to give premiums to the inventors of new and improved implements of husbandry, to correspond with the neighbouring local associations, and to promote generally the views of the English Agricultural Society. An annual exhibition is made on the green connected with the Crown Hotel, of the choicest animals and most approved implements ; and a ploughing-match at the same time takes place upon land in the neighbourhood. Judging from the spirited manner in which this institution has commenced, we may presume that in the midst of so important an agricultural district it will attain a distinguished character. Of the associations for religious and charitable purposes estab- lished in the town, the BIBLE SOCIETY appears among the earliest. This auxiliary, in aid of the British and Foreign Association, having been established here on the 28th of November, 1811. The origi- nal purposes of this noble institution are, we presume, too generally understood, to require enumeration. The local business of the association is transacted at monthly meetings of the committee ; a public or anniversary meeting being likewise held in the guild-hall. A District Association in aid of the SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE was instituted at Evesham, in August 1817, under sanction of the Bishop of the diocese. A CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY in connection with the London Church Missionary Association was established here in 1826. A public meeting is annually held in the guild-hall, and a sermon is usually preached about the same time, in Bengeworth church, for the benefit of the institution. There are likewise auxiliary associ- ations in the town, connected with the WESLEYAN, and BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. Sermons in behalf of each are annually preached here, and public meetings are also held. A LYING-IN CHARITY, for the relief of poor married women, was established in Evesham, in January 1807. The funds of this society were in 1830 very seasonably increased by a legacy of <200 be- queathed by the late Miss Harriott Smith, 100 of which was paid on her decease, and the remainder is receivable upon the demise of her surviving sister. 565 866 Will, proved in Doctors' Commons, 30th September, 1830. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 309 A BENEYOLENT SOCIETY, for visiting and relieving the sick and aged poor, was instituted here in 1809 ; the members of which have been instrumental in assisting many necessitous individuals, during the inclemency of winter and the sufferings of disease. The late Miss Elizabeth Home bequeathed the sum of 200 duty free, to be placed out by trustees who were to appropriate the proceeds in aid of this institution. 566 But should the society be discontinued for twelve months, or no treasurer be appointed for three months together ; or if the major part of the trustees shall at any time consider that such institution is not conducted upon its present principles ; or if at any time its fund from other subscribers in Evesham shall not amount to at least .10 for any one year then the bequest is to be transferred to the Institutions for the Indigent Blind, the Deaf and Dumb, and the Philanthropic, all in London, equally ; or to any one of them, as the trustees shall decide. A legacy of <200, also duty free, was likewise bequeathed to this society in 1830, by the late Miss Harriott Smith. Societies for the Distribution of Religious Tracts, for the Abo- lition of West Indian Slavery, and for Discountenancing Intem- perance, have also been established here. The former in 1825, the second in 1826, and the latter in 1841. NATIONAL AND SUNDAY-SCHOOL. In 1805 a Sunday-school was established in the borough upon generally -recognized religious principles by the Rev. Samuel Field ; under whose superinten- dence it was for several years most satisfactorily conducted, in the guild-hall. But in 1812 an alteration was effected, upon the in- clusion of a daily school on the system of Dr. Bell in conformity with the principles of the established church. These schools, after being carried on upon the premises belonging to the grammar- school and elsewhere, were in 1828 formally united to the National Society for the Education of the Poor : and in 1830, in conse- quence of the re -appropriation of the grammar-school premises to the legitimate purposes of that foundation, premises on the Merstowe green were purchased for the above schools, with 100 advanced as loan by ten individuals. Upon this spot separate rooms and play-yards for boys and girls were afterward constructed ; the 666 Will, proved in Prerogative Court, 13th February, 1829. 110 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. additional expense being defrayed by subscriptions, in conjunction with a grant from the Society in London. The children are ad- mitted between the ages of six and fourteen years ; and their average attendance daily is about 150. The money advanced for purchase of the ground was discharged in 1834, upon receipt of a legacy of 100, bequeathed by the late Rev. Benjamin Rudge. The late Miss Home in 1829 bequeathed 100 duty free, to be placed at interest for the benefit of this school. But if the school be discontinued, or no teacher or treas- urer be appointed for three months, or if not continued upon the system of Dr. Bell, the above sum is then directed to be paid to the Institutions for the Indigent Blind, the Deaf and Dumb, and the Philanthropic, all in London ; or to any one of them, as the trus- tees shall decide. The late Miss H. Smith in 1830 also bequeathed to this school the sum of 200 duty free, together with a further bequest of 200, payable on the demise of her sister. In 1842 the former premises being found insufficient for the requisite accom- modation, a piece of ground adjacent to the former site was pur- chased ; and here a commodious and ornamental building has been erected, the foundation-stone of which was laid in September, 1843. The cost, which was 1080, was defrayed by subscriptions amounting to 675, together with grants from the Council for Education, the National Society, and the Diocesan Society, amount- ing to 380. INFANT SCHOOL. In 1831 exertions were made by a few benevo- lent individuals in collecting subscriptions and donations toward the establishment of this institution. The result was so satisfac- tory, that in the same year ground was purchased, and a very neat and commodious school-room was erected, having a play-ground and teacher's dwelling-house attached ; at a total cost of 680. The premises are conveyed upon trust for the education and ma- nagement of infant children of parents of any religious denomi- nation irrespectively. The trustees, with the committee, may in- troduce improved systems, and remove and appoint teachers ; they may also charge the premises to an amount not exceeding 300, but that sum once paid off, no further charge is to be laid. In case the said school should during two years cease to be thus used, provision is made for its appropriation to other educational uses ; but if this HISTOET OF EVESHAM. 311 be not done within three years, power is given to sell the premises and to apply the nett proceeds toward the public general education of the poor at any place within the county. The school-room, which fronts the termination of Chapel-street is a neat erection, somewhat in the pointed style, presenting an embattled pediment toward the street, flanked by buttresses and pinnacles, and pro- tected by palisades. The play-ground and dwelling-house are situate behind ; the latter being appropriated to the residence of the instructors, whose constant presence on the premises forms a material part of the educational scheme. The number of children instructed daily, is about 150 ; their ages varying from one to seven years. Respecting such an institution, when we consider the extreme susceptibility of the human mind during the period alluded to, how easily in consequence it is then impressed, how much in fact it tallies with the noted simile of the greatest of all moral philosophers, 567 we feel it needless to urge the vast im- portance of the object it has in view. For impressions made at such a season upon the character of the rising race, will assuredly not fail to exercise in some degree their influence throughout the whole of life. A MEDICAL-PEG VIDENT INSTITUTION, for securing medical aid for the working-classes, by means of their own prudence and fore- thought, assisted by contributions from other ranks, was established in 1841 ; to the funds of which Edward Rudge, esq. the principal landowner here, liberally contributed <100, in addition to a sub- scription of five guineas yearly. A committee of ladies connected with the society visit the sick members, and bestow occasional relief. A SAVINGS' BANK was opened upon premises in High-street, in January 1839 : and an Association in aid of the Worcestershire Friendly Institution, for securing aid to the industrious classes upon principles analagous to the system of life-assurance, was formed here, in May 1843. POPULATION. In the fifth year of Elizabeth, 1562-3, we learn from Bp. Sandys' certificates that the three parishes of this town contained together 377 families. 568 By the census made in the 667 LOCKE. Essay on the Human Understanding, book ii. cap. i. sec. ii. 588 In Nash s Worcestershire, vol. i. pp. 61 and 411. 312 HISTORY OF EVKSHAM. year 1801, the number of inhabitants was returned as 2837 : in that of 1811, the total was 3068 : in that of 1821, 3472 : and from the minute returns made to the " population inquiry " of May 1831, the number of houses within the borough was then 847, of families 837, and of inhabitants 3976. At the recent census, made throughout the kingdom upon the same day, the 7th of June 1841, the number of dwelling-houses here was 952, and the total of inhabitants 4245. Of the latter 1979 were males, and 2266 were females. 569 EMPLOYMENT. The commercial importance of this borough con- nects itself with the era of the Plantagenet and Tudor race and all the glories of those bygone times. The earliest intimation we col- lect concerning such importance, is from the summons issued to this borough in the eleventh of Edward III. 1337-8, upon which re- presentatives were deputed hence to "a council in respect to trade :" and on this occasion, as we learn from Willis, "only the chief trading towns were called upon and received such summons." 57 From one of those restrictive Acts, usual in the thirteenth cen- tury, intended to encourage trade, though practically restraining it, we find this town with four others in the county, represented as being well inhabited, and their inhabitants as well maintained by making woollen-cloths of various kinds ; but that of late years persons dwelling in other parts of the county had begun to exercise cloth-making, to the injury of the said towns. Upon this repre- sentation, an act was passed that no person in the county should make any cloth for sale, except such as resided in Worcester, Eves- ham, Droitwich, Kidderminster, or Bromsgrove. 571 In the prelude Under 20 years Persons born 869 Evesham Borough : Persons 20 years upwards In this | Else- Male Fe. Total Male Fe. Male Fe. County where Parish of All-saints . 773 874 1647 346 368 427 506 1248 399 St. Lawreuce 702 814 1516 363 375 339 439 1270 246 St. Peter's, Bengeworth . 504 578 1082 242 248 262 330 885 197 19792266 i-.'r> 951 991 1028 1275 3403 842 The return for the parish of All-saints includes five persons in barges. As the sche- dule furnished to the enumerators required the actual description of each person who had slept within the parish on the night preceding the 7th of June 1841, with refer- ence to each head of inquiry. Abstract of the Population Returns, MDCCCXLI. folio : published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1843. m Notitia Parliamentaria, pref. ix. <*i Statutes, 25 Henry VIII. c. 18. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 313 to this act, we are particularly told that part of the inhabitants were "daily set at work in spinning, carding, breaking, and sorting of wools :" others being at the same time employed as " weavers, fullers, shearmen, and dyers." Mention of a fulling-mill in Bengeworth occurs in the conven- tual registers, as does that of a shear-mill in an old title-deed con- nected with the present mill-property above the bridge. In 1608 the ancient manufacture is again adverted to, in a local act of mo- nopoly enacted by the corporation at that time. Therein it is ordered, that no person shall dye any cloth, but with one Richard Bradford, under certain penalties there declared. 572 But the only vestige now presented of these varied occupations of olden time, is in the knitting of worsted hose, still lingering in the outskirts the dying embers of our ancient trade. This last employment oc- cupied many persons in the town, till recent years ; but the supe- rior neatness of loom-production, has now nearly superseded the knitting trade. A proof of its former importance is furnished by the corporation book in the year 1615, when on the admission of one Norton, by purchase, to the freedom of the borough, it is pro- vided that no other foreigner should be permitted to exercise the same trade "so long as Norton shall buy up stockings here." 573 Parchment has been made in great perfection here from time immemorable. The advancement of this branch of manufacture may, we think, be reasonably attributed to the early demand for the article made by the inmates of the monastery ; particularly to their provision for its constant supply by a special allotment of the whole tythe of Bengeworth to furnish parchment for writing, for the monks. 574 It is singular that by the recent disuse of other yards, this branch of manufacture is at present restricted to Benge- worth alone, the tythe of which parish was so long since appro- priated to its furtherance. 373 "6th January, sixth of James the First, 1608. At this common-council, in consideration of 20, Richard Bradford of Tewkesbury, dyer, -was admitted into the liberty and freedom of this horough as a freeman, to use his trade therein for his life, to the exclusion of any other person in the same trade : provided he keep the freeman's oath, and supply the borough and market in all things belonging to his trade. And it is ordered that no person shall dye any cloth, &c. but with the said Richard Bradford," .under penalty set forth Corporation Boole. 5751 Entry of 30th May, 1615. See chapter iv. page 76. 2 K 314 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. The manufacture of Linseed Oil and Cake has been for several years carried on in the borough ; having been established by Mr. Beaufoy about the year 1730, and among the descendants of that family it has since continued. In 1806 an entirely new structure, containing improved machinery, was erected on the site of the former mill by Mr. Thomas Foster, father of the present occupier, under the able superintendence of Mr. Rennie. These mills also include one for grinding corn ; and being worked by water, are situate upon the Avon, above the bridge, adjoining other corn-mills that now occupy the site of those which, as early as the survey of Domesday, pertained to the abbey, and were then em- ployed by the people of the town.' The corn-mills last mentioned are the property of Mrs. Sarah Smith. In 1831, the preparation of bones for agricultural purposes was commenced by Mr. Thomas Nelson Foster, upon premises adjoining the above mills ; from whence vast quantities of bones, previously boiled, ground and sifted, are drawn during the summer, for em- ployment as manure, chiefly upon turnip ground. So important are its effects on certain soils, that in the county of Lincoln alone, " a tract of country many miles in extent " has been redeemed from sterility by its means. 575 Silk Throwing was in 1792 introduced into this town by the late Mr. Thomas Mann. After that it was carried on by Mr. Anthony Stratton, and subsequently by Mr. James Atkins, upon premises connected with the oil-mills, as also in a factory erected for the purpose in Littleworth, but converted into cottages in 1834. Riband Weaving was introduced here in 1822, by Mr. John Clark of Coventry, who has erected a factory in Rynal-street. Another spacious building, originally erected by Mr. Foster for silk -thro wing, is also partially fitted up at present as a riband manufactory. In addition to those females who are employed in connection with the silk trade, many others are occupied in sewing kid gloves for the Worcester glovers, upon machines provided by their employers. 678 A portion of the above, let in 1 770 at 223, now yields, in consequence of this improvement, 3000 a year. Twiddle on Bone Manure, in Fanner's Magazine, June, 1834. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 315 In consequence of the town being seated in so extensive a district for grain, very considerable quantities of barley were formerly malted here. But though many of the old malthouses yet remain, the manufacture is now diffused beyond the borough. Hops seem likewise to have been extensively grown near the town ; for as late as the middle of the last century we find six hop-kilns in Britain- street enumerated among property belonging to the Gardner and Bulstrode family. 576 Gardening is, however, at present the staple employment of the laboring class. Tradition has, with every appearance of proba- bility, ascribed its origin and practise here to the example of the inmates of our ancient monastery. In unison with this opinion, which, however, Mr. Tindal has treated slightingly, 577 we have proof, not only in the conventual records, but also in the royal grants to sir Philip Hoby, that an extensive garden-ground was immediately connected with the abbey. The very spot where such garden must have been situated where gentle banks and genial hollows lie open to " the soft south" is still thus cultivated. The situation adjoins the monastic site, and one portion is still known as " the little abbey," and another as " the great abbey" gardens. 378 This land is, of course, the richest and most productive portion of the soil, and the rental is, partly on this account and partly from its proximity to the town, amazingly high. So long ago as queen Anne's reign this seems to have been the case, since Pope has glanced at the " lords of fat E'sham," in his day. 579 In addition to the conventual origin of our gardening, the prac- tise is said to have been considerably advanced, by Signior Francis Bernardi, who, in the century succeeding that of the suppression of 576 Act for confirming a Partition of the Estate of George Gardner esq. deceased. Passed 22d May, 1751. 877 History and Antiquities of the Abbey and Borough of Evesham, page 208. 678 t< \V a lk into any large garden, and you will easily discover those flowers by their names alone which grew around the abbeys in former times : there you will find the Star of Bethlehem, Jacob's Ladder, St. Margaret, Solomon's Seal, Our Lady's Smock, Star of Jerusalem, Our Lady's Slipper, the Passion Flower, the Virgin's Bower, and numerous other similar names for plants and other natural objects, taken from the principal subjects of adoration." Miller's (Thomas) Beauties of the Country. 579 Pope's Satires and Epistles, book ii. epistle 2. 316 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. monasteries, settled here, upon retiring from court as agent from the commonwealth of Genoa, and amused himself with this de- lightful occupation on an extensive scale. This gentleman ex- pended as we are told by his son Major John Bernardi upwards of thirty thousand pounds in the indulgence of this taste : partly at Windsor and ultimately here. 580 With such precursors, and pos- sessing such local advantages as this fertile district proverbially confers no marvel that the gardeners of Evesham have long been known by the excellence and earliness of their productions, far and near. The principal markets to which their produce is transferred, are those of Birmingham, Dudley, Coventry, Warwick, Cheltenham, and Worcester ; whither they travel, or communicate by railway, weekly through the season. But beside these places, almost every town within twenty miles of their own is visited by others of them frequently. Asparagus, for the excellence of which Evesham is par- ticularly famed, has been frequently taken to the Bath and Bristol markets, and is even conveyed to the Metropolis itself. The extent of ground within the borough at present cultivated as garden-land, appears by computation to be 594A. SB. 29p. rented at prices, varied according to quality, from four to ten pounds per acre, and even at a much higher rate where it immediately adjoins the town. Of this quantity, about 459 acres are situate in the parishes of All-saints and St. Lawrence, and about 135 acres in that of Bengeworth. But though the employment is of itself so proverbially healthful, it is painful to witness in this, as in other instances, the effect of incessant toil with the lack of suitable re- creation, upon the naturally vigorous frames of those who are here engaged in it. The early period of life at which their labor usually begins, appears to repress their growth to the middle height or under it ; and though the frame is in general strongly compacted at manhood, yet they soon begin to fall away, and are often lame or decrepid, when if rationally worked, they would have still con- tinued in their prime. Their wages average ten shillings weekly. The Printing-press appears to have been introduced into Eves- ham about the year 1770, by Mr. Henry Smith, son of a maltster 680 " History of the Life of Major John Bernardi, written by himself in Newgate, where he was upwards of forty years a prisoner of State." 8vo. London, 1737. HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 317 here, upon premises in High -street at the north-west corner of Magpie-lane. The original wooden press came afterward into the possession of the late Mr. Agg, printer in Bridge-street ; and up to the year 1827 was still occasionally employed as a proof-press in the office now occupied by the writer. During the last century the supply of books here seems to have been infrequent and acci- dental ; furnished chiefly by individuals from some larger town, who visited other places periodically. Among such, Evesham was thus visited by Dr. Johnson's father, bookseller at Lichfield ; who in an advertisement issued in 1718 states that 'he has had several auctions at Gloucester, Tewkesbury and Evesham ;' and among the stock he carries with him enumerates law, mathematicks, and divinity ; observing that " to please the ladies he has added store of fine pictures and paper-hangings." 581 At present the town con- tains three printing-presses, and is supplied with the newest pub- lications weekly. PECUNIARY TOKENS. In removing a stack of cottages in Mill- street during the summer of 1843, a copper token, somewhat larger than a modern shilling was found. It bore within a heater shield three flowers de luce, and round the rim, in Norman characters, AVEMABJA -f GRACI^ PL. " Hail, Mary, full of grace." The reverse presented only a cross flory, with the initials I. A. perhaps intended for Johannes Abbas, temp. Edward I. twice repeated. This token we consider to have been a jetton or counter, employed in computing, during the ages when arithmetic was cut upon tallies. Snelling observes, with relation to such counters, that those whose legends we are able to read, usually contain some religious or moral sentence as Sit nomen Domini, Ave Maria gratia plena, or part of it. 5 " 2 The following pieces were issued by tradesmen at Evesham, prior to the year 1672, during the period in which subjects were per- mitted to coin halfpence and farthings for the convenience of trade. Peter Cross, p^=In Eveshame, 1649. William Rudge, w R A =In Evesham, 1649. 581 Copy of the original Catalogue published by Michael Johnson of Lichfield ; late in the possession of Mr. Fernyhough of Peterborough. 582 Snelling on the Origin and Use of Jettons. London, 1769. 318 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. Mathew Michell=of Evisham, 1653. John Lacey=of Evisham, 1654. William Brooke, w B A =In Evesham, 1656. Phillipp Ballord his halfepenny =of Evesham, 1664. Joshua Fransham his halfepenny = in Esham, 1666. Ric Goddard Bridg R G M =Streete in Evesham. Edward Pittway at the = Red Lyon in Bengworthe E F F . The Burrow of Evesham = For necessary exchang B E. For Exchainge. BE. = The Borough Arms. LOCAL COUKTS. This borough is, by its charter, entitled to hold a criminal court, and even to adjudicate therein in cases of felony and murder ; but that clause is at present abrogated by the Muni- cipal Reform Act. The last execution that took place here under sentence of this court was, according to Mr. Tindal, " about the year 1740," when a female was burned within the borough under the then existing statute against petty treason. 583 The court of record confirmed by the same charter, as well as the criminal court, have continued in abeyance since the Municipal Act came into force. But as pleas, actions, and suits, within the liberties of the borough, together with debts, covenants, and contracts, not exceeding 100, are eligible to be tried therein, it may perhaps at some future period be deemed convenient to revive it ; according to the provisions of the Municipal Act, section 103. Petty sessions are at present held weekly in the guild-hall by the magistrates. ASSESSMENTS. The total amount of government taxes paid by this borough, prior to the repeal of the Pitt property-tax, was for the year ending April 1814, 5188 7s. llfcZ. Being, for unre- deemed land-tax, 231 6s. 6fd. ; for assessed taxes, including game-duty, 1957 Is. 2d. ; and for property-tax, after discharges, 3000 Os. 3d. After the repeal of the last tax, the total paid for the year ending April 1833, was 1552 4s. ll^d.: and after a partial reduction of the Inhabited -house Duty, upon houses used for trade, made during that year, the total amount paid for the year ending April 1834-, was 1378 8s. 10^. In consequence of an increase of ten per cent, granted by parliament on the assessment of 1841, the amount of taxes paid here for that year was 583 History and Antiquities of the Abbey and Borough of Evesham, page 212. HISTOKY OF EVESHAM. 319 1 330 18s. 8d. : and the additional assessment for the borough to the recent Income-tax for the year ending April 1843, amounts to 712 13s. Wd. Proceeding now to local assessments : the total amount paid for poor-rates by the borough, prior to the enactment of the present poor-law, was for the year ending March 1836, 1663 13s. Id. At Midsummer 1837, being the first year after that enactment, the amount was 1156 Os. 3^d. ; and for the year ending March 1844 the amount was 2382 2s. 3d. Of the last amount 824 12s. 2d. was paid by the parish of All-saints ; 674 8s. 4d by that of St. Lawrence ; and 887 Is. 9d. by the parish of St. Peter. The assessment made in 1844, under the local Improvement Act for paving and lighting the town, amounted to 543 5s. 5d. The road rate last levied under the same Act, for the repair of carriage ways within the borough was in 1833, and amounted to 271 15s. Wd. ; and the last bridge rate, levied in 1834, amount- ed to 397 2s. 8d. Prior to the passing of the Municipal Act, this borough was exempted by its charter from payment of county rates ; but since that enactment the amount from hence paid during 1844 was 244 13s. 4d. in addition to borough rates amounting to 150, for the same period. NOTICEABLE CUSTOMS. The few peculiar and ancient customs that linger in various portions of the country are at all times wor- thy remark ; and therefore even the meagre information which we are able to gather under the above head, we deem it a duty not to cast aside. One is puerile, because connected with a sport called " thread-my-needle," a game played here by the children of the town throughout the various streets, at sunset upon Easter Monday, and at no other period throughout the year. From the season of this observance, as well as the cry of the players while elevating their arms arch-wise, which now is " open the gates as high as the sky, and let Victoria's troops pass by," it is probable that the custom originally had reference to the great festival of the church and the triumphant language of the Psalmist applied to the event commemorated at this period. 584 584 " Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors : and the King of Glory shall come in." Ps. xxiv. 9. 320 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Another custom somewhat peculiar, and observed beyond memory- till within the last two or three years, was that of rising the tenor bell, which hangs in the bell-tower, at four o'clock on the mornings of Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, throughout the year. Why these mornings should be preferred and why the early hour, espe- cially in winter, it is difficult to say. We know that the bell-tower always contained one large bell, and though that was re-cast sub- sequent to the Dissolution and as late as Charles the Second's time, yet, like the curfew-bell still rung there, the morning toll may have originated in an earlier usage. 585 Rumour vaguely ascribes the observance to the gratitude of a stranger, who at some unknown era had lost his way in the darkness of night till directed hither by an accidental peal, which he provided should be thenceforth perpetual ; but what or where was his endowment, no one undertakes to acquaint us. The curfew or, more properly, the evening bell is rung at eight o'clock at night ; except on Saturday and throughout the twelve days after Christmas, when, as if to relieve the inmates an hour earlier from toil, it peals at seven. But hoAvever well in- tended may be the call when viewed in this aspect, there are few if any of its hearers who responsively comply with it. 586 MARKETS AND FAIRS were regularly held here prior to the charter of James I. Indeed, from entries in the conventual registers, we may regard them as commencing almost with the foundation of the monastery. From the various articles enumerated in royal grants of an early period, our ancient markets seem to have been 585 The custom of covering up their fires about sunset in summer, and about eight or nine at night in winter, at the ringing of a bell called the couvre-fen, or curfew- bell, is supposed by some to have been introduced by William I. and imposed upon the English as a badge of servitude. But this opinion does not seem to be well founded. For there is sufficient evidence that the same custom prevailed in France, Spain, Italy, Scotland, and probably in all the other countries of Europe, in this period ; and was intended as a precaution against fires, which were then very frequent, and very fatal, when so many houses were built of wood. But Henry I. restored the use of lamps and candles at court in the night, after the ringing of the couvre-feu bell, which had been prohibited by his predecessor William Rufus. Henry's History of Gt. Britain, book iii, chapter 7. 586 " In the year 1 332, at a provincial council, held by Abbot Mepham, at Mag- field, it was appointed among many other things relative to holy days, " that the solemnity for Sunday should begin upon Saturday in the evening, and not before." See Brand's Popular Antiquities, obs. on chap. xii. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 321 abundantly supplied with every variety of merchandize and pro- vision. 587 But at present, although the charter has appointed two markets to be holden in every week, upon Monday and Friday throughout the year yet during a long period the former day only has been so employed ; at which time the attendance and supply are usually very large. Indeed it is probable that this though not the most convenient day for such a purpose has been thus employed here at least since the year 1201 ; down to which period Sunday was in many cities and boroughs the open market- day. But in that year the abbot of St. Germer de Flaix, by preaching in various towns against this custom, occasioned the market to be held on the following day. 588 There are still, however, some linger- ing vestiges of the Friday's market ; such as the attendance of the country carriers on that day, together with certain signals of at- tempts at traffic displayed in the immediate vicinity of the hall. The facility of communication in modern times, will hardly al- low us to form an adequate notion of the ancient importance of our public fairs. For at these seasons, only, could the householder find sufficient variety and supply of many most important articles. The concourse of buyers from the whole vicinity, as well as that of vendors from different parts, was consequently large : and the com- modities were provided in sufficient quantities to supply the pur- chasers during great portion of the year. 589 Thus the business then to be transacted within a given term was often so engrossing, that even the church itself was not exempt from secular invasion. For by the Benedictine Statutes of Reformation, enacted in 1249, it is ordained that no bargains shall be drove in churches, unless at the time of fairs ; 590 when, indeed, a universal licence seems anciently 587 Grants of 1st Edward III. 3d Edward III. and 2d Henry IV. cited in chapter xviii. of the present volume. 688 Chronicle of Jocelin de Brokeland, published by Camden Society. 589 From the earl of Northumberland's Household Book, A. D. 1512, printed by Dr. Percy, we learn that the stores of his lordship's house at Wresille, for the vihole year, were laid in from fairs. " He that stands charged with my lorde's house for the houll yeir, if he maye possible, shall by at all faires, where the groice emptions shall be boughte, for the house for the houll yeir ; as wine, wax, beiffes, multons, wheite and malt." Beiffes and rmdtons were salted oxen and sheep, cured for the winter ; when formerly fresh provisions were rarely to be had in " merrie England." 890 Stevens's Additions to Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. page 186. London, 1722. 2q B 322 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. to have prevailed. The number of fairs secured to this borough by its governing charter, is at present doubled ; and the first fair named therein has been altered from the feast of St. Silvan, to Can- dlemass-day. The present number of annual fairs for live-stock and other produce is consequently six. These are severally held on February 2, the second Monday after Easter-day, Whit-Monday, the second Monday in August, the 21st of September, and the second Monday in December. Those in August and December were added by the corporation in 1795, and are declared in the minute on the books, dated 13th June in that year, to be both toll-free fairs. There are also two yearly " statutes " held on the Friday before and after Old Michaelmas day, at which agricultural and even domestic servants stand in rows for inspection by masters and mistresses, and thus wait for hours in all kinds of weather seeking to be " hired." These strange assemblages are locally termed "mops," and are also general in the neighbouring towns. How long is the dignity of human nature to be thus outraged ? Measures have already been adopted to obviate the evil even at Winchcomb, a smaller and adjacent town. CHAPTER XVI. THE CAREER OF SYMON DE MONTFORT THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM. WHEN the sovereignty of England was at length wrested from the Anglo -saxon nation, and that indomitable race had finally submitted to their Norman conquerors, a morose and sullen gloom obscured the character of the people ; who brooded angrily over the remembrance of past injury from their Norman spoliators, and ever and anon were goaded anew by the studied insults which long continued to be offered them by their oppressors. At the commencement of the thirteenth century the heartburn- ings and animosity between the Saxons and the Normans had be- come somewhat ameliorated by time. And now, as if to induce a nearer approach toward union, king John, prone to the influence of favorites, and fascinated by the wit and sprightliness of his con- tinental allies, facilitated the ingress of adventurers from Poictou and Anjou into England ; to welcome whom, Normans were re- moved from high and courtly offices, that these fresh favorites might be dignified and enriched. The new courtiers, hastening to amass wealth, scrupled not to abuse their public station ; exacting alike from the cheiftain of Norman birth and from the Saxon vas- sal. By these measures both races of inhabitants were for the first time roused against a common enemy ; the only ground of con- currence upon which they had met, since their violent and unge- nial union. The descendants of the Norman invaders were in like manner made aware that before they could retain their Anglo-saxon spoils the lands, and serfs, and towns, with which their progenitors had been rewarded the sovereign must cease to retain the discre- 324 HISTORY OF EVESHAffl, tional powers of a supreme military commander. And such re- striction, they had already learned, could only be effected by the execution of a defined or written constitution : for while written grants, obtained from recent sovereigns had been observed, the harsher grievances of the feudal system were to some extent ame- liorated. Hence the Great Charter took its rise ; wherein were embodied the most urgent grievances of the age, to remedy which that document was prepared by the temporal and spiritual baron- age of the period. The citizens of London also lent their aid, hoping to obtain by the same charter a government less vexatious, and treatment distinguished by less of personal harshness and contempt. John, styled by contemporaries " the faithless and the deceitful " was, it is true, at length frighted into an acceptance of this charter : but his repeated renunciation of its authority, and his habitual evasion of its provisions, corroborated earlier proofs that moral obligation was to him a stranger. Henry the Third, while yet a child, succeeded him. Environed thus by the adherents of his vacillating father, we wonder not that each demand from his people for the confirmation of the charter, was for a while evaded ; nor, at a later period, when his disposition became manifested, that even his oaths and judicial imprecations were, in this particular, uttered only to be set aside. But, as though this were not sufficient imitation of his predecessor, Henry aggravated another grievance of the former reign, and inundated England with a fresh swarm of foreigners. His mother Isabel of Angouleme having re-married in her own country, his half-brothers and their connections were rapidly admitted to our civil, military, and ecclesiastical dignities. And upon his own marriage with Eleanor of Provence in 1236, the natives of that district also nocked hither, together with Savoyards, Piedmontese, and Italians. To feed these multiplied and rapacious aliens, Henry persisted in levying the most grievous exactions upon all classes of his sub- jects : 591 for even such parliaments as he and his advisers chose to 891 " He was blamed also for his mode of procuring victuals and drink, particularly his wines, also his robes ; all which were wont to be seized by violence against the will of the true owners and of those who sold them ; ou which account both native HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 325 summon, either refused him aids on each occasion, till the charter should be again nominally affirmed, or otherwise they neglected to appear; alleging the danger to which they should be exposed upon their journey from the armed bands of the king's chief favorite and prime minister, Peter de Roches, the Poitevin bishop of Winchester. The clergy were at the same time equally disaffected ; foreigners being preferred to the vacant benefices ; to what extent, may be judged from the fact that Johannes Maunsel, one of them, actually held seven hundred English livings, which brought him in an in- come of 18000 marks. 592 And in addition to the aids which the king directly wrung from them, the papal bulls exacted uncon- scionable sums ; under cover of a professed engagement to prosecute a claim to Sicily, with which the pope had deluded Henry. In this manner the English ecclesiastics were made to feel that their interest was sacrificed to the king and pontiff, thus leagued toge- ther in shameless combination. This state of national dissatisfaction had endured for upwards of thirty years, when on the llth of June 1258, the parliament at Oxford decided that all previous confirmations of the charter having been defeated by evil advisers, the only security that remained was, to vest the administration in other hands than those of the sove- reign. Twenty-four barons were therefore chosen, twelve by the king and twelve by the parliament. This body was empowered to redress grievances and to reform the state but subject to a parlia- ment to be assembled thrice a year and they were to be informed of all breaches of law and justice by four knights, to be elected for that purpose from every county. Although the Provisions of Ox- ford have been denounced as factious and unwarrantable ; yet upon a calm survey of the sovereign's aggravated violation of the con- ditions upon which he had repeatedly agreed to govern, we must admit this procedure to have been temperate as well as prudent ; in an age when no alternative was presented save deposition, or tame submission to the despotism of the crown. and foreign tradesmen withdrew and hid themselves, and goods were not imported nor brought to market. Trade became extremely injured, and the public much dis- tressed and incommoded ; for in truth mercantile people experiencing this vile treat- ment went home full of invective and contemptuous reports of the king." M.Paris. 5a Numina, and several others. In Blue Lias Beds. Pachioduoti Ligteri. Lower beds of Blue Lias. Patella Jlugosa. Inferior Oolite, Cotswolds. Pecten Lamellosus. Slates of Cotswolds. Vimenius. Inferior Oolite, Cotswold Hills. Lens. Roe Stone. Equivalvis, Depressa. Marlstone. Pentacnnus. Pisolite and Lower beds of Blue Lias. Pholodomia Ambyna, Febicula, Lyrata. Inferior Oolite, Cotswolds. Pinna Mettalloides, Tetrogona. Inferior Oolite, Cotswold Hills, Offinis. Marlstone. Playiostoma Cordiformis. Slates of Cotswolds. Lemusculum. Inferior Oolite. Biplicata. Roe Stone. Gigantceum. Blue Lias. Pleurotomaria Anglica. Marlstone and Lower beds of Blue Lias. Saurians. Ichthiosaurus, Plesiosaurus. Blue Lias and Strata above. Sauroid Fish and Scales. Blue Lias and Strata above. Trigonia Impressa. Slates of Cotswold. . Costata, Clavalota, Striata. Trigonia Grit, inferior Oolite. Terrebratulce. Nearly twenty species. Inferior Oolite. Fimbria. Oolite Marl. Conrinna. Oolite Marl and Marlstone. -- Tetraedra. Marlstone. 3 H APPENDIX DOCUMENTS AND INSCRIPTIONS. APPENDIX. No. I. LETTER FROM CLEMENT ABBOT OF EVESHAM, TO CROMWELL LORD PRIVY SEAL. CIRC. A.D. 1538. Miscellaneous Letters, temp. Henry VIII ; Series ii, vol. x. In Augmentation Office. To the Right Honable & my singler good Lorde my Lord Pryvye Seale. RIGHT Honorable and my moste singuler good Lorde, after my most humblie dutyc and most entier thanks for all your goodness showyd unto me. Theis be most in- stantly to desire yow to contynewe my good Lord as long as I do not des've the contrary, and yf I doo then I am contentyde to be ordred accordyng to my demerits. So it is my good Lorde that abowt ij yeres passide a Gentylman one of the Kyng's servandis called Mr. Wev' [Wever] brought the Kyng's gracs Lres of instance unto me for certeyn pasturs called Powdon, 1 at whych time in cosideracon that hit pleasid you to accept a lytle fee of o r Howse, 2 I declaryd unto you by my frynda Doctor Leigheton & Doctor Gwent that I colde in no wise spare the seyd Pasturs, for hit is the chyff mayntennce of o r Howsholde as well for the ^vision of o r beoffs [beeves] as mutton & other necessaries, and beso\vght yo r advice & Councell for the contentacyon of the seyde Gentylman and notw'standing that I did (accordyng to your advice) make answere to o r Sov'ayn Lorde's Lres that the pastures was such that I could in no wise spare, wherew 1 the Kyng's Hyghnes was ryght well contentyd, but ev' sens M r Wev' hath boron me great grudge and hath imagenyd many weys to have me deposed, and he hath seyd (as by the report of his s'vands which was spokyn to my face) that he had auctie to put me downe and to make whom he wolde Abbott here, as hit will more at large appere in a byll made of his Demeanure, which this berer can showe your Lordship ; and as I am enformed he doth not cease folowyng his malice towarde me. Wherefore I beseche yow to cotyuewe my good Lorde, so that I be not this wrongfully trowbled nor vexid by occasion of the seid Gentilma : and as conc'nyng the Priorye of Alcettur 3 I will ^forme ev'y thyng accordyng as I dide at large declare unto Master Richarde Cromwell at his late beyng here ; be- sechyng yo r honor to accept this my rude Lre. and to delyv' me from the malicyous suyts & vexac'ons w dl the said Gentylman doth dayly Imagyii agenst me onely be- 1 Still known by this name, and situate in the parish of Church Honeyhourne. 2 The " lytle fee" of Bribery, accepted even by the " vycar generall of the hole church of England !" 3 Alcester Priory, Warwickshire, subordinate to Evesham Abbey. 430 HISTORY OF BVESHAM. cause I wolde not grant hym the seyd Pastures. As knowes owre blessid Lorde, who ev' p's've your hono r dayly to encrease to his pleasure. Amen. At Evesham the vii day of Octobre. By yowr bowndyn bedmau Oct vij. CLEMET, Abbott ther. No. II. UNPUBLISHED LETTER FROM PHILIP, ABBOT OF EVESHAM, TO CROMWELL LORD PRIVY SEAL : A. D. 1539. Misc. Lett. temp. H. VIII. ser. ii. vol. x. Aug. Office. To the Right hon'able Lord Pryvey Seall and Vycar generall of the hole Church of England. MY bounden dutye most humblye remembrid hit may please your good Lordshipe to to be adv'tiside, wherein tymes past I have declared unto your Lordshipe the con- tynuall suet of Master Wever for a pasture allwaies heretofore occupiede by my p'de- cessors for maynten'nce of hospitalitie in our poure Monastery. And for as moch the said Master Wever hath purchased of late the king's most honerable Lres for the same unto me, beinge your most bounden Bedysman and only by your goodness p'fer- ryde to occupye the rome of Abbott here and having none other to whom I may have refuge but only unto your good Lordshipe, remembringe that I never hard any man yet repent by putting trust and hope in your goodnes, I was so bold to desire yo r most favorable ayde in this my great necessitie firmelye trusting the King's Highnes, know- ing by your Lordshipe our great necessitie will take this our stay in goode parte, and where of late I have receavid your Lordships Lres. comaunding me by the same that I sholde obeye all such order as Maister Doctor Leighe sholde take with me for our sell [cell] in Lancastershere callyd Penwortham. So it is my good Lord Master Doctor Leighe 4 hath directed his Lres unto me comaunding me by the same to send for the Pryour there and all other my Bretherne to come home to Evesham, and that I sholde appoint other honest secular prystes to s'rve in ther places, and for bycause diverse meanys and suetis hath ben made unto me for a s'rvaunt of my Lord Chan- celar's to have the said sell in farme, I know not what is meanyed by Master Docter Leighe his coniaundment therein or what prejudice thereby myghte ensue to our pour Howse, I humblye desire your good Lordshipe to helpe hime nowe which knoweth not what to doo and hath none other refuge or trust but onelye in yo r good Lordship as knoweth o r savyor Christe, who ev' kepe and contynewe your good Lordshype in honor. From Evesham, the xxvi day of June. Your most bownden Bedmau PHILLIPP, Abbott there. No. III. ORIGINAL LETTER FROM THE ABBOT AND CONVENT OF EVESHAM, TO CROMWELL LORD PRIVY SEAL. CIRC. A.D. 1539. A detached Paper in Chief Clerk's Office, Chapter House, Westminster. To the right honorable S r Thomas Crumwell, Knight, Lorde Crumwell, Lorde Privey Scale, and Vicegerent of the Churche of England. PLEASETH it your honorable Lordeship to have in remembraunce your pore Ora- tours the Abbott & Convent of the Mouasterye of Evesham, in the County of Worcester, having no other comforte or refuge but onely unto your good Lordeship : HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 431 That whereas the King's gracious Majestye of his most excellent benignity and godly disposition, and for the greate zeale and continual princely love that his Highnes always hath borne to this his Churche of England, is mynded, lyke a most gracious Prince, to alter & change the Monasteries of this his Realm, as well for the true and sincere preaching and teaching of the Worde of God unto his pore loving subjects, as for the education and bringing up of Youth in virtue and true knowledge of the same, as also for the relieving and succoring of the pore, needy, lame, and impotent persont inhabiting the same his grace's realme : it may please your honorable Lordeship, of your aboundant goodnes, to tender your pore Oratours which most desirously covet and wish the true Word of God to be knowen, and also that Youth may be educate & norished in the knowlege and lerninge of the same ; and further desiring the cha- ritable succor aud relief of the pore, needy, lame, and impotent people, as well in the towne of Evesham as in the countrey nigh thereunto adjoining : So that the said Monasterye, which is of the King's Grace's most noble foundation, [as endowed by Ethelred his predecessor] may be one of those Monasteries which his Grace doth so godly entend to dispose and reserve as to his princely wisdom and most gracious en- tent shall seem most decent and expedient, in consideration of the articles herein after declared : that is to say, for that the said Monasterye is the meetest house in all the countrey there to be reserved for any such princely and godly purpose, as well for the pleasant scytuacion of the same in goodly wholesome air, as that it is scytuate in the town of Evesham aforesaid, through which towne there is great thoroughfare and passage to Wales, as for that the said Monasterye is a house of goodly lodging and building, well repaired with all necessary houses of office belonging to the same, meet to receive the King's most noble Grace and person, with his royal Court, at such tymes as shall please his Highnes to repair, or have recourse to the said parties : And the said Monasterye is scytuate within the principalitie of Wales and nigh where the King's most honorable Council of his Marches of Wales doth continue, and is in the ready way to receive and lodge all such noblemen as shall fortune to have cause to resort toward or fro ward the said Council, and also nigh adjoyning to the Shire of Warwick in the which there is no Monastery standing ; and that the said Monastery is exempt from the Bishop, having a goodly jurisdiction in itself, in the hinderance and hurt of no person, and near immediate to the King's Grace as supreme Head of his Church of England : And that the same Monastery is and hath been always re- puted a house of keeping of good hospitality, and hath good provision for the same ; And is out of debt save onely to the King's Grace for part of the First Fruits, about the sum of 800, which is payable at sundry days yet to come : And that there is no such Monastery to all intent within the compass of 12 miles of the same. Fur- thermore, humbly advertising your Lordeship that the said towue of Evesham is well inhabited and likewise is well repaired at the onely cost and charge of the said Monasterye, wherein there is few Inns and not able to receive and lodge all such noblemen as shall repair and resort to the same towne, nor have any good provision for such purposes without the said Monasterye ; And that within the same towne and the countrey nigh adjoining to the same be divers and many pore, needy, lame, and impotent people, which daily have succor and relief of the said Monasterye : 4 The general visitation of the monasteries, which led to the suppression of the smaller houses, began in the autumn of 1535, under the immediate direction of Cromwell : one of whose most active agents was Dr. Legh. 432 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. with other more like good considerations herein not mentioned, which shall not onely seem for the commonweal but also for the maintaining of the King his Grace's said towne and his pore subjects the inhabitants of the same towne and the countrey nigh adjoining to the same, by whom your said pore Orators, for the true declaration of the premises, are contented to be reported. And your said Orators, during their lyves, according to their bounden duties, shall pray unto Almighty God for the long preservation of your good Lordship's estate, long to endure to his pleasure. Amen. No. IV. LETTER PROM PHILIP HOBY, ESQ. TO JOHN SCUDAMORE, ESQ. 5 Referred to on page 1 45. AFTER my right hartty commendacions hadd, where at my last communycacion hadd with yow I desyred yow that I myght have hadd some partt off the stone that shuld be solde at Evisham ffor my money, the princypall and best whereoff, as I am informed, ys sold, yett fforasmoche as my necessyte which shall shorttely happen in buyldyng wyll requyre a grett partt off that stone that ys unsold there, this shalbe, therefore, right harttely to desyre and praye yow that ye wyll sell me resydew that there remaynyth, and I will paye therefore yeven as ye shall thynke reasonable. And iff ye shuld nott shew me this pleasure, I were lyke in tyme of my necessyte to be very destitute ; and as consernyug the spoyle or waste that ye wrate to me off that hath be done there, I assure yow both I and myne be gyltles thereoff, besydes that hit did cost me money to persons ffor a long tyme nyghtly to weche and to take hede lest any thyng shuld to be mysordered there. I trust alsoo that att your there beyng and others the kynge's highnes' commyssyoners, ye remember that there was no lytell spoyle made, and I promyse yow sythens then your departure therehence there hath byn nothyng mynyshed to my knowlege ; and iff it bee, I wold the offenders were ponysshed to the example of other. Thus I wyll leve to wrytt unto yow any more at this tyme, trustyng that we shall mete shorttely and talke thereoff more largely, commyttyng yow to Godde's tuycion, who preserve yow with as good health as I wold to my selff, desyryng to use me as ye know ffor your assuryd to my power. Wrytten at the Courtt, the last of October : To the Right Worshipfull and my Your lovyug ffrend especyall good ffrend, master PliELYP HoBT. Johan Scudamore esquyer, this be delyvered. No. V. CONVENTUAL LIST OF BENEFACTORS TO THE MONASTERY. " Hcec sunt Nomina Benefactorum, fratrum et sororum mventium, Mona&terij Eveshamice, scripta per fratrem Thomam Wynchecombe Prcecentorem, A. D. MCCCCXLIIII." Cott. MS. Vitellius E xvii. DOMINUS dominus Willelmus Nevyle, Domina Elizabeth Boteler, uxor de dominus de Fawkenhrugge, miles. Johannes Hende ) armigeri et filij ejus- Edwardus Nevile dominus, de Bergevenye. Johannes Hende ) dem E. Botelar. 6 Scudamore and Burgoyne were the king's officers charged with the monastic property transferred within this county. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 433 Margareta. Dominus Thomas Stanley, miles et Jo- hanna uxor ejus. Dominus Ricardus Howzton, miles, et Margareta uxor ejus. Heuricus Howzton -\ Alicia C filij eorum. Sibilla 3 Dominus Baioniensis Episcopus. Dominus Karolus Whyesdenes, sacerdos. Johannes Kyngestou, armiger. Johannes Byrkehed generosus, et Eli- anora uxor ejus. Willelmus Wynton uxor ejus. F dikes, et Margareta uxor ejus. Alicia Archerd, de Worcetria. Milleward de Evesham Agnes uxor ejus. Matild. .. Ricardus Philippus. Christiana Hondy, de Evesham. Agnes Adames, de Salford. . . . Smyth, de Lenchewykeet . . . uxor ejus. Monke. Davyes 1 a i f de Bretford. Boole > Carpynter de, et Alicia uxor ejus. A uxor ejus de Wykewon. Smyth, uxor ejus de Bengeworth. Et J. Mynstrell, Tho. Harper. Nicholaus Dyer, mortuus nonhabet breve. Nich uxor ejus. redynge. Will. Lyddelow. Tho. Ynddekynne, Glasyr. Ric. Plumar. Laurencius Bocher, et Alice uxor ejus, et Petronell fil. Names of other Benefactors, Brethren and Sisters 8 then living: A.D. 1444, 23d of Henry VI. From fol. 251 of same MS. DOMINUS Th. Aseheby. Johannes Walle, et Maria uxor ejus. Segysborow. Joh. Barbur, et Margareta uxor ejus. Bodicote, et uxor ejus. Tetbury, et Alicia uxor ejus. Joh. Schypston, et Alicia uxor ejus. Th. Osteler, et Juliana uxor ejus. Juliana Coke. Dns. Joh. Irelond, rector de Met. Dns. Will. Redyng, rector de Welersey Will. Godehorus. Ric. Adams, et Alicia uxor ejus. Joh. Hyath Tornor, et Marg. uxor ejus. Logne et uxor ejus. Elionora Stafford, domina de Grafton. Will. Pulsdon, armiger. Th. Holford, armiger. Joh. Pembrok, et Elizabeth uxor ejus. Will. Crowdar, et Elizabeth uxor ejus. Th. Sadeler, et uxor ejus. Will. Tayler, et Margeria uxor ejus. Rob. Honyat, et Alicia uxor ejus. Dns. Will. Stok. Capell. Joh. Zeonge, et Marg. uxor ejus. Rob. Wystanus, et Johanna uxor ejus. Joh. Ferchlo, et Alicia uxor ejus. Dns. Heuricus, Pantri, rector de Stow. Th. Aston, ci vis Lond. et Amiciauxorejus. Wills. Gregory, civis Lond. Agn. Barue vi d . Agn. Haly xx d . Sara Ritic xii d . Magister Leodowycus Suddu, Baccalarius Juris canonici. Walterus Welsche, generosus. Magister Adam Seucher. Henricus Wolley. Bradley. Symon Cowebryge. Wills. Godebehere. Ricardus Smarte. 6 " Lay people of all sorts, men and women, married and single, desired to be en- rolled in spiritual fraternities ; as thereby enjoying the spiritual prerogatives of par- don, indulgence, and speedy dispatch out of purgatory." MS. in Fosbroke's British Monachism, 8vo. p. 173. 3 i 434 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Johannes Kynge. Laurentius Moyne, et Agnes uxor ejus. Wills. Broysaldowne, et Emotauxor ejus. Georgius Capul. Thomas Heiiley. Johannes Rolnes, et Alicia uxor ejus. Ricardus Mynsterworth, et Sibilla uxor ejus. Mauritius Panter, et Johanna uxor ejus. WillelmusGolde, et Elizabeth uxor ejus. Edwardus Arthur, et Johanna uxor ejus. Johannes Aleyn, et Matilda uxor ejus. Johannes Huntley. Henricus Crocher. Johannes Barbone. Hugo Jones, et Elizabeth uxor ejus. Matheus Grenys. Johannes Hale. Johannes Mylys, breviator Xpo. Cantuar. sancti Augustini, et de Broys fuit hie vigilia sancti Mathsei apostoli. Johannes Devell, breviator de Stodley et Bordesley, fuit hie die Veneris post festum exaltationis suets crucis. Other Benefactors. Cott. MS. Vitellius E xvii., incidentally, on fol. 229. Philip, son and heir of Walter Cook, of Evesham. Walter Morice, of Evesham, son and heir of Maurice de Baddeseye. John de Bampton. "The Principal Benefactors of Evesham Monastery." Compiled from Harl. MS. 3763, and copy of lost MS. in Dugd. Mon. ii. 14 b. Ethelred, king of the Mercians son of Ailric, son of king Osher. Walter Credan, son and heir of John Credan, of Worcester. Simon de Hocwyk, called also Howyk, of Houwyke. Simon, son of the aforesaid Simon. king Penda the Founder. Ceolred, king of the Mercians, son of Ethelred the Founder. Kenred, king of the Mercians, son of Wulphere. Ethelbald, called also Ethelard, king of the Mercians, son of Alwy. Offa, king of the Mercians, son of Tun- frith. Beortulph, king of the Mercians. Offa, king of the East Saxons, son of king Sigher. Ethelred, king of England, brother of king Edward the Martyr. Canute, king of all England. Ethelward or Aylward, governor of the Wiccians under king Kenred. Ufa, earl of Warwick. Warin Bushell. Richard Bushell, son of Warin. Albert Bushell, son of Richard. Robert Bushell. Galfred Bushell, son of Robert. 7 No. VI. CHARTER OF WILLIAM I. CONFIRMING TO THE ABBEY OF EVESHAM LANDS IN THE SHERIFFDOM OF WARWICK. Translated from MS. Cott. Vesp. B xxiv. WILLIAM King of the English to W. the Bishop and R. the Sheriff greeting : I ordain and command you, as to Adelwin the Abbot, with respect to the Lands of the Church of Evesham, namely Saltford, and Edicestun, and Milecote, and Ragele', 7 The names of Benefactors were solemnly read at the high-altar during mass, from tablets which were called " Diptycha." Mores Catholici, 8vo. 1844, p. 35. And at the present day, in the Oxford University pulpit, the preacher in "bidding prayer" recites the names of the founders and benefactors of his own college or hall. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 435 and Arrowe, and Eccleshal, and Hildeburgwrth, and Grafton, and Withlakesford, and Dorsiton, and other lands which he hath in the Sheriffdom of Warewic, that you take heed that he may hold them in great honour peaceably ; and that he hath and holdeth them for the use of the Servants of God, with my good peace and protection. And I command thee, R. Sheriff, not to suffer any one to do wrong to the Abbot, in any matter, because I will not permit it ; but will that he shall hold his own pos- sessions fully, with sac, soc, and all customs ; and if any one presumes to do injustice to him and he makes complaint to me, I will afford him full satisfaction as to the matters of which he complains. No. VII. CHARTER GRANTED BY WILLIAM II. TO THE ABBEY. Translated from, MS. Cotton. Vesp. B xxiv. WILLIAM King of the English to Urso the Sheriff, and other Sheriffs and Officers under whom the Church of Evesham holds lands, greeting : Know ye that I will and command that the said church shall have and hold all the honour pertaining to it in peace and liberty, with the lands, and under such laws and customs, as to clerks and laymen, as it ever held them in the time of King Edward, and of my father, and from me ; and as claimed by the Abbot when he pleaded before me against the Bishop S. 8 and objected to the interference of that prelate or any other powerful person to the prejudice of the rights and privileges of the Church of Evesham. Therefore if the Bishop or any other should make any claim on the Abbot as to the privileges granted to his church by my Father or by me, he shall not be bound to answer the plea, except in my court. Neither shall the Bishop hold ordinations or synods there alone, or by his sole authority, unless he is requested by the Abbot so to do. This Charter was written in the year of the Incarnation of Our Lord, 1 1 00, by the command of King William. Witnesses : A. Archbishop of Canterbury. M. Bishop of London. R. Bishop of Lincoln. R. Bishop of Durham. G. Abbot of Westminster. R. Abbot of St. Albans. EUDO, the Steward. Dated, Winchester, W. the Chancellor. at the Paschal feast. And many other Barons. No. VIII. CHARTER OF HENRY I. CONTAINING A GRANT OF THE HUNDRED OF BLACAHURSTE TO THE ABBOT AND MONKS OF EVESHAM. Translated from Harl. MS. 3763, fol. 69. HENRY King of England to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Sheriffs, and Officers, and to all his liegemen, French and English, in all England, greeting : Know ye that I have granted and by my present Charter confirmed to God and the Church of the Blessed Mary of Evesham, to the Abbot and all his Suc- cessors, and to the Monks there serving God, and their successors, that they shall 8 Samson Bishop of Worcester, who died A.D. 1 1 12. 436 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. have and hold, in frank-almoigne, the Hundred of Blacahurste, with all things per- taining to it, as their full and free property. See ye that no Sheriff or any of his officers shall question their legal right to it. I will also and firmly command, for the health of my soul and those of my ancestors that the Abbot and Monks shall have and hold all their lands and possessions, in all places wherever they have lands, in good peace, freely, quietly and honorably, in churches, in tithes, in other pro- perty, in parishes, in wood, in plain, in meadows, in pastures, in waters, and mills, in paths and highways, likewise in all other places, with sac and soc, tol and teme, and infangthof, and customary rights, exempt from pleas of the shire and hundred, from geld and Dane-geld, from hidages and talliages, from taxes for building or repairing castles, roads, and bridges, from murchre, 9 and carriage, and purveyance, and from every secular service, and servile work, and from scutage, save and except the service for four knights' fees and a half, in military expeditions which I under- take in person. Also, on the petition of Randulf, Chancellor, I will and allow that at Edwardestowe shall be a port and a market on Thursday every week, and that the said Church of Evesham shall have there for ever all customs and dues, for the use of that church, as I have myself in all my ports and burghs. And I will and command that the Abbot and Monks and their servants shall he exempt from toll throughout all England for all goods which their men can attest to be their own property. Witnesses : ANSELM, Archbishop [of Canterbury]. THOMAS, Archbishop [of York]. SAMSON, Bishop [of Worcester]. Dated, Westminster RO BERT, Earl of Mellent. [prior to Nov. 18, 1100, HENRY, Earl of Warwick, when Abp. Thomas died]. URSO DE ABITOT [Sheriff]. No. IX. VALUATION OP THE ABBEY POSSESSIONS, AS GIVEN BY THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. Abstracted and translated from Roll 33 Henry VIII. in Augmentation Office, entitled " Monasterium de Evesham: Compuf Ministrorum Domini Regis." Parish of Saint Lawrence. s. d. g. d. Rents of Assize 1 1 5 Rents of Customary Tenure . . . . 33 1 9 In Farm 41 16 1 Half fee in farm, in the town of Evesham . . 6 13 4 Rent of the site of the monastery, with the demesne land . The Chamberlain's Chamber .... 13 4 Perpetual payment from the Church of St. Lawrence [made by the curate to the abbot and his successors see p. 1 6 9] 3 13 4 86 19 3 Parish of A 11 Saints. Rents of Assize 1 5 04 Rents of Customary Tenure . . . . . 16 3 2 Rents of tenures at the will of the Lord . . .51 11 34 Divers Farms 36 12 a Synonymous with " murage," a tax levied for repairing the walls of fortified towns. HISTORY OF EVESHAM 437 *. d. s. <(. Rent of the Mill, with the Fishery . . . . 15 6 8 Half fee in Farm, in the town of Evesham 6 13 4 Perpetual Yearly Payment from the Vicarage of All Saints [made by the curate to the abbot and his successors]. 4 11 Rents to the Registrar ...... 4 Dues of Wood ....... 9 4 1 32 5 9 Domain of Bengeworth. Rents of Customary Tenure ..... 21 1 Rents of Tenures at the will of the Lord 21 4 10 Divers Farms 12 15 4 Rent of the Fulling-mill 6 Rent of Site of Manor-house, with the Demesne Lands 5 6 8 Farm of the Tythe of Grain ..... 23 10 8 Perquisites of Courts ...... 13 10 90 12 4 Site of the Monastery, "etc." Rent of the Site, with the Demesne Land . 44 8 10 Farm of the Tythe of all Grain within the Domain of Bengeworth ....... 23 10 8 Farm of the Tythe of Grain, " etc." in Hampton 27 4 4 Lands in Lenchwick ...... 8 Farm of the Tythes of Norton and Lenchwick 25 11 8 Farm of the Tythe of Grain, " etc." in Offenham 15 8 Ditto in Badsey, Aldington Wickhamford, "etc." . 16 6 Ditto in Littleton, " etc." ..... 29 8 8 Corn Rents in Talton ...... 1 1 4 Farm of Tythes in Willersey ..... 10 2 2 Farm of the Tythe-wool in Church Honeybourne 12 Rents reserved in Offenham ..... 7 3 Rents to the Registrar ..... 6 12 8 Fluctuating Rents ....... 2 9 5 Rent of the Swannery ...... 1 8 917 1 9 i County of Worcester. all ' > i Manor of Great and Little Hampton .... 63 11 7 Manor of Norton and Lenchwick .... 65 13 2 42 16 7 Badsey and Aldington ...... 30 8 4 17 5 6 Church Honeybourne ...... 11 9 Domain of Middle Littleton, with South and North Littleton ....... 65 3 4 Manor of Bretforton ...... 53 13 1 Manor of Wolbarowe ...... 15 13 2f Manor of Atch Lench 9 9 2 Abbots' Moreton ...... Hi 5 438 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. s. d. s. d. Manor of Tadlington, otherwise Tatton . . .4189 Manor of Ombersley 163 10 2^ Manor of Bradwell with Donnington, in Stowe . 53 12 1 - 649 18 f)| County of Gloucester. Manor of Willersey Bartram . . . . . 32 1 1 6 Manor of Saintbury ........ 26 4 2 Manor of Malgersbury . . . . . 38 12 11 Manor of Upper Swell . . . . . 1484 Manor of Taddlestrop 22 13 5 Manor of Burghton and Clopton, " etc." . . 78 15 2 - 213 6 64 County of Waricick. Manor of Wethely 6180 Manor of Abbots' Salford, "etc." . , . . 1615 Manor of Sambourne and Wbitlaxford, with Ilmington 4910 2 73 3 2 County of Northampton. Manor of Badby 56 8 1 1 Domain of Newnham . , . . . . 48 6 2J - 104 15 \\ City of London. Sundry rents and payment from St. Michael's Church, Cornhill 19 6 8 19 6 8 County of Dorset. Wymbourne Minster 700 700 County of Lancaster. Cell of Penwortham, annexed to the late monastery, rent of the Manor 99 5 3 99 5 3 County of York. Lands lately purchased by the abbot of Evesham, in Brodmerston 230 230 Lands and possessions of the Priory or Cell of Alcester, annexed to the late monastery of Evesham . . 74 6 8 74 6 8 Distant Bailiwicks [Ballivat Forensicor'] . . 15 18 91 15 18 9 Rents in Badsey, Aldington, Wickhamford, Church Honeybourne, and Littleton . . . . 42 16 8 42 16 8 Total amount [addition corrected.] 182910 1 No. X. ARMS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE. On Flat Stones in the Chantry. IN memory of a most dutiful child and affectionate sister, Isabella REA, she died 24th August, 1753, aged 41 years. William Clarke ADAMS died 14th February, 1827, aged 57 years. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 439 Here lies the body of John BEARCROFT, gent, son of John Bearcroft, esq. of Ateergreen in this county, who died March 14, 1753, aged 35 years. Also the body of Jane DICKENSON, daughter of Mr. Thos. and Jane Dickenson of the city of Worcester, granddaughter of John Bearcroft, esq. who died September 23, 1753, aged 4 years. Also near this place lies the body of Philip BEARCROFT, gent, who was buried May 14, 1729, aged 44 years. Underneath is interred the body of Isabella REA, relict of William Rea, gent. She died in the 82 d year of her age, June 18th, 1763. Also the bodies of her 2 d and 4 th sons, who died in their minority. Here lyeth the body of William REA, gent, who departed this life the 7th day of October, 1715, aged 57 years and 5 months. Sub hoc saxo requiescit Samuel, films primo genitus Gulielmi REA et Isabella Conjuge, qui mensibus octo non plene per actis hanc vitam terrenam cum coelesti commutavit, die 24 Apr. A.D. 1701. ARMS. A chevron engrailed, between three garbs. Here lyeth the body of Nicholas FIELD, gent, who died the 25 January, 1702, aged 65 years. Here lieth the body of M. Anne FIELD, who departed this life the 14th of January, 1697, aged 84 years. At the feet of her grandfather here lieth Elizabeth the daughter of Mr. Nicholas FIELD. She died the 24th of March 168?, aged one year and seven mouths. Here lieth the body of Jane the wife of Nicholas FIELD, gent, who departed this life November the 9th, 1723, aged 43, and had by him thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters. Sacred to the memory of Mr. George EVANS, who died the 17th of June, 1799, aged 67 years. Also to the memory of Alice EVANS his wife, who died the 5th of March, 1820, aged 80 years. By the side of her sister, of the same name, here lieth Elizabeth the second daughter of Mr. Nicholas FIELD. She died the 28th of June, 1684, aged four months. Also here lieth the body of Nicholas FIELD, gent, who departed this life the 21st day of September, 1739, aged 62 years. Flat Stones near the Pulpit. Here lie the bodies of two children named Susannah, daughters of William PHILLIPS, gent, and Mary his wife, who died young. Also the body of William the * * [The remainder is broken off]. Here lies the body of William WESTON, of this parish * * [Also broken away]. Here lieth the body of Mary Ann SMITH, the daughter of Thomas Smith, esq. and Ann his wife, who died an infant, November the 21st, 1776. Flat Stones near the Altar. Here lieth the body of James MITCHELL, who died March 10th, aged 39 years. Here lieth the body of Sarah, wife of Joseph TREBELL, preacher of God's word. She deceased August 7th, 1665. An. jEtat. 31. To the respected memory of a faithful servant, Elizabeth HERSLEY, who was buried November llth, 1781, aged 66 years, is this stone laid, by one who had ex- perienced her worth. Tablet in South Aile. In humble resignation to the divine will, John Hanbury BEAUFOY died at Upton-Gray, Hants, on the 28th November, 1836, aged 74 years. This tribute of affection is here placed by Agnes his afflicted widow. 440 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. No. XL ARMS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN ALL-SAINTS' CHURCH. Flat Stones in North Aile, beginning westward. HERE lieth the body of Isaac BAYLIES who deceased December 4, 1673, aged 21 years. Here lie the bodies of William and Ann BAYLIES, the latter of whom died February 23, 1732, aged 44; the former February 14, 1760, aged 78. Also Anna Maria, their daughter, who died January 18, 1719, aged 4 months and 13 days. Here lieth the body of Abigail, daughter of John BAYLIES, who died November 11, 1681, aged 15. Here lieth the body of Joseph BAYLIES, who died January 15, 1675, aged * * . Here lieth the body of * * * wife of Mr. JARRET SMITH, buried November the 2d, 1675, Mt * * * .Also here lieth the body of Mr. Jarret Smith above-named, who was buried August the * 1681. In memory of Woolhouse LAMBE, gent, who departed this life April the 15th, 1755, aged 50 years. Also of Mrs. Susannah BIDDLE, daughter of Joseph Biddle, esq. and Mary his wife, who departed this life May the 1st, 1774, aged 18 years. Also in memory of Elizabeth, wife of the above-named Woolhouse LAMBE, gent, who departed this life the llth day of November, 1781, aged 74 years. Also in memory of Alice PREEDY, wife of William Preedy, gent, and daughter of Joseph Biddle, esq. and Mary his wife. She departed this life the 15th day of August, 1787, aged 46. ARMS. Between three escallops, a chevron engrailed charged with a fleur-de-lis. Crest, a buck's head attired issuant/rom a mural coronet. In memory of William BIDDLE, gent, who was interred in this vault the 21st of May, 1738, aged 57. Also of Alice his wife, who died February 5th, 1738-9, aged 64. Also of Mark BIDDLE, the son of Mr. Joseph and Mary Biddle, who died October the 8th, 1739, aged seven months. Also of Joseph, the son of the above-named Mr. Joseph and Mary BIDDLE, who died October 20th, 1742, aged five days. Also of Susannah, the daughter of the said above-named Mr. Joseph and Mary BIDDLE. She died December 11, 1753, aged eleven days. And also of Joseph BIDDLE, esq. father of the above-named three children, and of twelve others who survived him. He died April 1st, 1766, aged 52. To the memory of William BIDDLE, gent, who was interred in this vault on the * * of May, 1738, aged 57. Also of Alice BIDDLE, his wife. She died February the * * aged 64. Here lieth the body of Elizabeth MORGAN, late widow of William Morgan, gent, and sister to Mr. Joseph PEARCE, whose remains lie near this place. She was buried March 18, 1758, aged 59 years. Here lies in a vault the body of Sarah the wife of Mr. Thomas NORRIS, who departed this life January 27th, 1758, aged 41 years. At the east end of the vault lies the body of Mr. Joseph PEARCE, father of the said Sarah Norris, who was buried December 18th, 1743, aged 52 years. Also the body of Elizabeth the wife of Mr. Joseph PEARCE, who was buried June 20, 1752, aged 66 years. Elizabeth, wife of Robert MIDDLETON, was buried April the 3d, 1735, aged 72 years. Also Robert, her husband, who departed this life August the 21st, 1736, aged 66 years. In memory of Mrs. Mary HIGGS, second wife of the Rev. Mr. John Higgs, who died October, 1728, aged 67. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 44:1 Here lieth the body of Sarah, the wife of William KETTLE, who departed this life December 15, 1720, aged 24 years. Also William KETTLE, their son, who died October 14th, 1720, aged five weeks. Also of William KETTLE, who died 17**, aged * And his second wife, who died the 31st, 1776, aged 70. Here lieth the body of Elizabeth, the wife of Mr. William JONES, who was buried March the 15th, 1672. Here lieth the body of William * * LEN, gent. He deceased September the 15th, 1677, aged 77. Here lies the body of Mary BOVEY, the wife of Thomas Bovey of this town, Dyer, who departed this life January 4th, 1734, aged 46 years. Thomas BOVEY, gent, died November 8th, 1762, aged 73. In hoc sepulchro conditur Josephus GREEN, obiit 14 die Decembris, 1771, astat. suse 56. Here lies the body of Robert COOKES, esq. descended from the ancient family of the Cookes of Tarbick, in this county. He was twice mayor, and more than 46 years justice of the peace in this corporation. He died January 29th, 1747, aged 83. Also of Jane COOKES, second wife of Robert Cookes, esq. She was daughter of Nicholas Feild, esq. one of the justices of this borough. She died July 10th, 1741, aged 38. Also of Jane the daughter of Robert and Jane COOKES.. She died February 23d, 1783, aged 8 years and 5 months. Here lies the body of William Cookes BAYLIES, son of William Baylies, Doc- tor of Physic, by Elizabeth his wife, the only surviving daughter of Robert Cookes, esq. deceased. He was born December 22, 1748, and died November 4, 1749, aged 10 months and 13 days. Also the body of Robert COOKES, gent, only surviving son of Robert Cookes, esq. by Jane his wife. He was born June 10, 1729, and died April 3, 1750, aged 20 years, 8 mouths, and 24 days. Tablets in the North Aile and Transept, commencing Westward. Sacred to the memory of William FREED Y, gent, alderman of this borough, second son of the Rev. Benjamin Preedy, D. D. rector of Great Brington, in the county of Northampton. He married Alice, daughter of Joseph Biddle, esq. and departed this life June 25th, 1833, aged 87 years. Near this place is deposited the body of Ann BAYLIES, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Theo. Fletcher, rector of Godington in the county of Oxon, late wife of Wil- liam Baylies, gent, of this town, apothecary, who finished her course the 23d of February, 1732, in the 44th year of her age, and 15th year of her marriage. ARMS : Baylies impaling Fletcher. Near this place lies interred the body of William BAYLIES, gent. He was born January llth, 1683, and died February 14th, 1760, aged 77. ARMS : Sable eleven mullets, or; quartering, argent upon a chief of the first three battle-axes of the second in pale. In memory of the Rev. Paul CARDALE, who married the sister of Mr. Thomas Suffield of this town. He died March the 1st, 1775, aged 70. Also of Sarah, the wife of the Rev. Paul CARDALE, who departed this life April 12th, 1767, aged 65. In memory of Mr. John SUFFEILD of this town, mercer, who died December 1st, 1712, aged 68 years. Also of Mary, his daughter, who died December 6th, 1706, aged 7 years. Also of Mrs. Jane SUFFIELD, his wife, who departed this life the 9th of September, 1727, aged 65 years. Also of two of their grandchildren, John ALDERSEY and Sarah BALL, who died in their infancy. Also of Thomas SUFFIELD, gent, who died 27th July, 1768, aged 80. 3 K 442 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. On a costly monument against the west wall. ARMS : Baylies ; over all in an escutcheon of pretence, Cookes as an heiress. Near this place, within her family- vault, lies the body of Elizabeth BAYLIES, wife of William Baylies of this town M. D. and daughter of Robert Cookes, esq. nephew to sir William Cookes of this county, bart. She was born April 6th, 1727, and died April 28th, 1754, aged 27 years. " Ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere Manes. " Cull round her tomb each object of desire, Each purer frame, informed with purer fire, Bid her be all that cheers or softens life, The tender sister, daughter, friend and wife ; Bid her be all that makes mankind adore, Then view this marble and be vain no more. Near to this lieth the body of Thomas BARTLET, gent, a professor of physick, buried the 16th of February, 1686, aged 49. Margaret his loving wife erected this monument. ARMS : Three coats quarterly. In the first and fourth three acorns quartering a lion rampant gorged and chained ; in the second ^lpon a chevron engrailed three mullets pierced between three bugle horns ; in the third a cross patee. Sacred to the memory of Harriot, youngest daughter of Thomas SMITH, esq. late of this borough, who departed this life August 29th, 1830, aged 48 years. Near this place lieth the body of George GARDNER, esq. He died November 2d, 1729, aged 70. ARMS : Sable, a chevron ermine between three kites' heads erased. In the middle alley of this church is buried the body of Mr. Samuel GARDINER, gent, late of this parish, who deceased October 7th, 1689, aged 69. This monument was erected by his son, Mr. G. Gardiner. Stones in the Central Aile, beginning West. Here lies an unprofitable servant, Samuel MORRIS, who died June 6th, 1745, aged 74 years. To the memory of Captain William BURGIS, who died December 31st, 1812, aged 84. Mrs. Elizabeth SMITH, wife of Captain William Smith, died August 15th, 1793, aged 49 years. In the same vault is deposited the remains of Capt. William SMITH, who died December 4th, ] 800, aged 70 years. Here lieth the body of Jane, the wife of George HOPKINS, mercer. She died April 9th, 1691, aged 30. Also George and Thomas, Elizabeth, and * * * Upon an ancient stone once inlaid with effigies of a male and female, has since been cut Interred in the vault beneath * * the remains of Major-general Jeffery AMHERST, who died the 15th day of June, 1815, aged 66 years. Sub hoc saxo requiescit Samuel films primogenitus Gulielmi REA ex Isabella coujuge : qui mensibus octo non pleno peractis hauc vitam terrenam cum celesti commutavit die 24 Apr. A. D. 1 704. Here lieth the body of William REA, who departed this life the 7th October, 1715, aged 57 years and 5 months. Here lieth the body of Elizabeth, the daughter of Francis and Ann PERKINS, who died the 5th of April, 1693. Also the body of Francis, son of the same parents, deceased July 20th, 1693. Also the body of Tristram HALTHAM, father of the said Ann Perkins, deceased March 26th, 1705. Also of Ann, daughter of the above parents, and wife to Charles ARMSTRONG, gent, deceased 10th December, 1715, in the 2 1 st year of her age. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 443 To the memory of Rebecca, the wife of Richard HERBERT, daughter of John Turbervile, gent, who departed this life December 12, 1769, aged 85. Also of the above-named Richard HERBERT, who departed this life February 18th, 1771, aged 75 years. In a vault underneath this stone lieth the body of Thomas DAVIS, who departed this life March 29, 1803, aged 59 years. Likewise Elizabeth wife of Thomas DAVIS, who died October 13, 1800, aged 41 years. Here lieth the body of Mr. William CANNING, who departed this life January 10, 172|, aged 63 years. In memory of Ann, the daughter of Mr. William CAN- NING, who was buried August 22d, 1710, aged 9 months. Also the body of Mrs. Elizabeth CANNING, wife of the above-named Mr. William Canning, who was buried March the 10th, 1729, aged 58 years. Also the body of Mrs. Elizabeth MURGATROYD, daughter of the above William and Mrs. Elizabeth Canning, wife to Mr. John Murgatroyd, surgeon, who departed April 17th, 1741, aged 34. ARMS : A Saltire fimbriated -until a crescent in chief, impaling afesse dancette between three leopards' faces. Sub hoc lapide requiescit pars terrena Theophili ANDREWES, armigeri, per annos xiii. jam proxime elapsos hujus burgi Recorda- toris, quern mors dura oppressit xviii. die Decembris, A.D. 1670, aetatis suae xlvii. To the memory of Edward INGLES gent, who was buried in this vault Novem- ber 25th, 1732, aged 38. Here lieth the body of Elizabeth PALMER, who departed this life May 25, 1692, aged 59 years. Also here lieth the body of John SMITH, the son of John and Elizabeth Smith, who departed this life January 1 1th, 1700, aged 23 years. Also here lieth the body of Mr. John SMITH, who departed this life June 3, 1705. In the * * * * * * who departed * * 1711, aged * He married Mary the daughter of Giles Harewell, * * Here also resteth the body of who died Jun * In memory of Mr. William PICKARD, mercer, who departed this life the 21st of August, 1702, aged 40 years. Also here lieth the body of Elianor the daughter of Mr. William PICKARD and Dorothy his wife, who died March 9th, 1671, aged 1 year and 9 months. Also here lies the body of Mr. William CHURCHLEY, who departed this life the 25th October, 1753, aged * 3 years. To the memory of the Hon. Major-general Sharington TALBOT, who died the 18th day of November, 1766, aged 67. Harriot SMITH died August the 29th, 1830, aged 48 years. Here lieth the body of * * ROBERTS, who was buried * * day of October, 1704. Also his wife Ann ROBERTS, daughter of Willam DYER, who departed this life the 26th day of * * 1738, aged 73 years. Upon an ancient slab formerly inlaid with the effigies of a female and her two husbands, has since been cut John TOVEY died August the 10th 1809. Here lieth interred the body of Edward BASELY, who deceased the 25th November, 1 657. On a similar slab once inlaid with effigies of a male and female kneeling a brass plate remains, inscribed Orate pro animabus Robert! WYLLYS et Agnetis, uxoris ejus, quorum animabus propitietur Deus. Amen. To the memory of Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Philip GARDNER, Rec- tor of Tackley, in the county of Oxford, and Godington, in the said county, who died March 31st, 1722, aged 64. An ancient slab indented for two or more effigies, partly covered by one of the pews and stripped of all its brasses, presents at present no inscription. 444 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Tablets in the Central Aile, "beginning Westward. Near this lieth the body of Mrs. Elizabeth GARDNER, daughter of Samuel Gardner of this parish, geut. who died October 26, 1713 aged 47. ARMS : Gardner. Beneath a female bust in a medallion To the pious memory of Mary BUL- STRODE, late wife of Edward Bulstrode, esq. of Tewkesbury, and second daughter of Samuel Gardner of this place, gent. Ob. 18 Nov. 1715, JEtai 61. ARMS : Quarterly ; first, sable a buck's head with an arrow in the mouth argent, attired or. Second and third, argent a chevron gules between three squirrels sable. The fourth as the first, impaling Gardner. Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Ann BODLEDGE. This excellent woman died the 10th September, 1781, in the 64th year of her age, and her remains are deposited not far from this monument of her virtues. In this church is interred the body of Mr. Thomas MARTIN, who departed this life December 14th, 1679, having been mayor of this borough in the years 1652, 1677, and justice of the peace eight years together, a terrour to evill doers and a praise to them that did well, aged 60. Flat Stones in South Aile, beginning Westward. Here lieth the body of Ann the wife of Nathaniel GOOLD, who departed this life May 14, 1689, aged 68. Also the body of Edward COMPTON, who died July 12th, 1693, aged 63. Also Mathews, the son of Edward and Hester DEAKINS, he died March 9th, 172|, aged ten days. Also Elizabeth their daughter, who died 28 October, 1732, in the eleventh year of her age. In a vault beneath this stone are deposited the remains of William BONAKER, eldest son, and at the time of his decease only child, of William Bonaker, surgeon of this town, by Elizabeth his wife. He was born April 25, 1779, and died greatly lamented by his parents, January 25th 1785, aged 5 years and 9 months. Here lies in a vault the body of Mr. John BAYLIS, son-in-law to Mr. Thomas Fairfax, deceased, only son of Mrs. Eleanor Fairfax. He departed this life Dec. 15, 1758, aged 43. Here lieth the body of Eliz * the wife of Mr. Barthol. HUCKELL, who de- parted this life July 13, 1707, aged 36. Also of their children, William aged 5 years, and Ann HUCKELL, aged 1 year. Also here lie the bodies of John aged 10 days, Thomas aged 2 years, and William aged 2 years, sons of Thomas and Eliza- beth DUNN, who died in 1737, 1740, and 1742. Here lies the body of Mr. Thomas FAIRFAX, who departed this life September 18, 1754, aged 50. Also of Mrs. Eleanor FAIRFAX, who was buried Nov. 12, 1 759, aged 72. Here lieth the body of Thomas Y ARNOLD, gent, who died July 20th, 1743, aged 48. Also the body of Elizabeth his wife, who departed this life March 20th, 1768, aged 60 years. Also the body of Thomas YARNOLD, esq. their eldest son, who departed this life October 12, 1766, aged 37. Also of Elizabeth YARNOLD their daughter, who died November 19th, 1782, aged 51. Also of Mary her sister, who died July 15, 1795, aged 61. Here lieth the body of Ann GOODWIN, who departed * * * day of December, in the 14th year * * * Here lieth the body of Judith YEARNALD, late wife of Mr. Thomas Yearnald. buried October 13th, 1660. Also Mary daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth YEAR- HISTORY OF KVESHAM. 445 NALD, who died July 26, 1727, aged 1 month. Winifred the wife of Mr. Thomas HEMMING, and daughter of Judith Yearnold above-named, died November 10th, 1727, aged 64. Here lieth the body of Margaret, the wife of Thomas RUDGE, gent, who desired to be buried in this church, and departed this life December 24, 1731, aged 71 years. Also here lieth the body of Margaret HARRIS, the daughter of Thomas and Jane Harris, baker, who died May 6th, 1740, aged 13 years. On the left hand lies the body of Jane, the wife of Thomas HARRIS above-named, who died March 16th, 1752, aged 61. Here lies the body of John WHITFORD, gent, who died May 3d, 1723, aged 51. Also, on the left hand, the body of John his son, who was buried July 9th, 1 745, aged 37. Also the body of Jane, wife of John WHITFORD, gent, who died November 16th, 1748, aged 80. Also of Ann, wife of Mr. John MURGATROYD and daughter of the above-named John and Jane Whitford. She died Nov. 28th, 1770, aged 63. Here lies the body of Isabella, wife of Mr. Thomas ANDREWS, apothecary, eldest daughter of John Woodward, esq. of Avon Dasset, in the county of War- wick. She died August 25th 1728, aged 40 years. Also of John and Elizabeth, children of Thomas and Agnes ANDREWS. John died April 27th, 1733, aged 5 weeks, and Elizabeth died April 1st, 1737, aged 1 year. North of an ancient slab indented for a male effigy, brasses gone : Here lieth the body of Mrs. Margaret LILLY, widow of Mr. Thomas Lilly, late of the city of Worcester. She died April 9th, 1740, aged 77. On the left lie the bodies of four children of Mr. Joseph PREEDY and Mary his wife, viz. Mary, Sarah, Joseph, and Margaret, who all died young. On the same hand lieth the body of Mr. William PREEDY, eldest son of the above-named, who died March 4th, 1741, aged 25. Also Charles PREEDY, their youngest son, who died June 22d, 1742, aged 2 years and 7 months. Also of Eleanor PREEDY, their daughter, who died May 20th, 1755, aged 20 years and 5 months.- To the memory of Mr. Joseph PREEDY, who died April 15th, 1770, aged 80. Also Mary, his wife, died January 4th, 176], aged 74, Also Joseph, their son, died December 19th, 1784, aged 53. Here occurs another ancient slab, indented for a male between two female effigies, Another ancient slab adjoins the above, nearly covered by a pew, part of the in- scription which ran round it remains thus C0mmtnijT : Jjttta S>aI>~lUU<1. Chantry of A bbot Lichfield. At the entrance lies a slab of Petworth marble, covering the grave of the aforesaid abbot. The indenture for his effigy in intagliated brass may still be traced, but that, together with the inscriptions once engraved upon surrounding plates of metal, is removed. Tablets upon the East Wall of the Chantry. AKMS. Azure, three detni-lions rampant couped, proper. Sacred to the memory of Henry HARRISON, late of this place, attorney-at-law, eldest surviving son of Thomas Harrison, late of Fulford in the county of York, esq. deceased, who died March 13th, 1809, aged 21. Sacred to the memory of Emma, the wife of Edward SAVAGE, attorney-at-law, and third daughter of Thomas Harrison, late of Fulford in the county of York, esq. deceased, who died September 12th, 1817, aged 27. 446 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Tablets in the South Aile, beginning West. Sacred to the memory of Thomas HILL, who died July 3d, 1793, aged 22. Elizabeth HILL died 24th July, 1796, aged 24. Mrs. Mary HILL, mother of the above, died April 24th, 1825, aged 79. Mr. Thomas HILL, husband to the above Mrs. Mary Hill, and father to the above Thomas and Elizabeth, died November 8th, 1825, aged 77. Sacred to the memory of Mary THOMAS, who departed this life June 28th, 1804, aged 44. Also of Richard King THOMAS, husband of the above; ob. 27th December, 1812, aged 54. In a vault near this place are deposited the remains of Joseph THOMAS, who departed this life February 1 9th, 1 807, aged 54. Also of Ann, his wife, who died March 4th, 1829, aged 65. Eliza, their daughter, died 27th July, 1791, aged 2 years. Also of Susannah HYATT, who died February 20th, 1838, aged 89. Sacred to the memory of Frances, wife of Joseph Middlemore THOMAS, and her infant child, who died at Cheltenham July 26th, 1841, aged 45. Also Eliza, daughter of the above, who died November 12th, 1834, aged 11 months. Near this place is interred Mr. Thomas DUNN, late of this town. He died 25th March, 1777, aged 66. In the same vault is deposited Mr. Bartholomew DUNN, his son, who died February 25th, 1786, aged 42. Mrs. Elizabeth DUNN, widow and mother of the above, died January 9th, 1792, aged 88. Also Mrs. Ann DUNN, relic of the above named Mr. B. Dunn, who died December 13th, 1810, aged 70. Also two relatives, Elizabeth and Mary WALKER, who died May 17th, 1785, and January 19th, 1788, both in the 17th year of their age. Mrs. Ann SUFFIELD, sister to these two, and wife of Mr. S. W. Suffield of this place, died January 6th, 1801, aged 26. In memory of Thomas HUMPHRIS, who died May 10th, 1820, aged 71. Also of Elizabeth, his wife, who died September 19th, 1834, aged 78 years. This tablet is inscribed by their affectionate daughter. In memory of William Clarke ADAMS, late of Evesham, surgeon, who died February 14th, 1827, aged 57 years. ARMS : those of the Borough. To the happy memory of Mr. William MARTIN, mayor of this borough in 1623, '32, and '41, and justice of the peace 8 years to- gether. He departed this life June 14th, 1653, aged 70. Also of Ann, his wife, who lived with him 43 years, and had by him 13 children. Surviving him full three years and near three months, she fell asleep September 12th, 1656, aged 68. Thomas Martin their only surviving son erected this monument. ARMS : Barry of five argent and gules ; impaling in a field of the second a chevron azure charged with three annulets, between three bucks' heads caboshed. Sacred to the memory of John STOVIN of Redness, Yorkshire, late of this borough, who departed this life August 10th, 1819, aged 44 years. ARMS : Gules a chevron or beneath a chief ermine ; impaling azure three demi-lions rampant coupee proper, beneath a canton argent charged with a torse of the field. Sacred to the memory of Thomas BLAYNEY, esquire, of the Lodge, near this place ; a deputy-lieutenant and clerk of the peace for this county, from the year 1807 till his death December 1st, 1838, aged 75 years, universally honored and respected in his public capacity, and enthusiastically beloved and venerated in his domestic circle. Flat Stones in the Chancel, beginning West. Here Heth the body of Thomas HULL, gent. He married Sarah Parsons, daugh- HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 447 ter of Giles Parsons, esq. of Overbury, and died March 12th, 1724, aged 42. Also the body of the said Sarah, who died February 2d, 1741, aged 63. Here lies the body of Agnes-Jane, daughter of Theophilus and Agnes WALFORD, who died an infant, April 1, 1770. Here lieth the body of Thomas, the son of Mr. Martin BALLARD, buried December 19, 1677, aged 2 years, 3 months, and 15 days. To the memory of Thomas ASHFIELD, gent, who died September 24th, 1766, aged 63. Beneath are inscriptions nearly defaced for Elizabeth his wife, and two of their children. In this vault are deposited the remains of Elizabeth, wife of William RUDGE, gent, who died October 10th, 1721, aged 48. William RUDGE died July 17th, 1734, aged 60. Isabella, their daughter, wife of Richard HORNE, gent, died Jan- uary 23, 1780, aged 74. Richard HORNE died October 13th, 1786, aged 84. Isabella HORNE died June 18th, 1821, aged 83. William Rudge HORNE, gent, died June 25th, 1821, aged 83. Elizabeth HORNE died January 26th, 1829, aged 97. Here lieth the body of Mr. Philip BALLARD, buried January 17th; 1670, aged 38. Mary the wife of Mr. Henry HALFORD died February 8th, 1683. Mr. Henry HALFORD died June 30th, 1705, aged 55. Francis HALFORD gent, died May 27th, 1744, aged 68. Elizabeth wife of Abraham HATHAWAY died August 1st, 1812, aged 43. Here lieth the body of Mr. John BALLARD, who was buried September 6, 1675. Here lieth the bodies of George HOPKINS of this town, mercer, and Jane his wife. She died April 9th, 1691, aged 32. He died June 4th, 1704, aged 54. Also of five of their children, George, Thomas, 2 named Elizabeth, and James, who died between the ages of 6 weeks and ] 2 months. On the right hand lies the body of George HOPKINS, mercer, only surviving son of the above, who died January 24th, 1724, aged 41. Also Deborah his wife, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Robert HILL, Rector of Condicote, co. Gloucester, who died May 15th, 1745, aged 61. Also a son and two daughters of George and Deborah HOPKINS, who died in in- fancy. Also of Jane their daughter, who died April 5th, 1753, aged 38. Sub hoc saxo requiescit Thomas filius natu tertius Gulielmi HOPKINS, S. T. P. ex Averilla conjuge. Ob. Sept. 2, A.D. 1686. Here lieth the body of Edmond YOUNG, who died September 20th, 1657. Also Richard YOUNG, gent, his third son, who died January 1st, 1690. To the memory of Edward FIELD, gent, twice mayor, and many years alderman and justice of peace of this borough, buried December 31st, 1682. Also of Anna his wife, who died August 26th, 1698, in her 87th year. Also of William MERE- DITH, gent, who died 13th April, 1741, aged 42. M. S. Marise, Johannis JEPHCOTT, S. T. P. hujus ecclesiae rectoris per xv. annos, uxoris fidissima?. Ob. Oct. 18, 1680. The Rev. Mr. Evan JONES, Vicar of this Parish, of St. Lawrence, and Cleeve Prior, died 26th December, 1768, aged 52. Here lies the body of the Rev. Edward COOPER, A. B. thirty-nine years vicar of the united parishes of All-saints and St. Lawrence. He was buried December 23d, 1807, aged 69. Also Hannah wife of the above, who was buried December 4tli 1791, aged 45. Also Elizabeth GOULD, daughter of the Rev. Edward Cooper. She was buried January 24th, 1789, aged 18 years. ARMS : Argent fretty vert ; impaling a chevron vair between three demi-liont 448 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. rampant, langued and guled. Here lieth the body of Thomas CAVE, gent, who departed this life February 24th, 1713. Also of Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of R d . FISHER, of Wellington, in co. Northampton, gent, who departed this life May 29th, 1714. ARMS : Cave. Here lieth the body of Richard CAVE, gent, who departed this life July 23d, 1718, aged 50 years. Also the body of Mrs. Ann CAVE, who de- parted this life September 7th, 1728, aged 58 years. In memory of Mary STRETCH, who departed this life June 13th, 1780, aged 64. In this vault are deposited the remaius of the Rev. Henry Portmore COOPER, A. B. twenty years vicar of All-saints and St. Lawrence in this borough, and of Hampton in the same county. He departed this life February 7th, 1827, aged 51. In memory of Thomas KEYT, son of John Keyt, mercer, who died 29th Sep- tember, 1699, aged 6 months. Also William, son of John KEYT, who died June 29th, 1704, aged 11 months, and Joseph, who died February 14th, 1705. Tablets in Chancel, beginning West. Sacred to the memory of Sarah, wife of Capt. MAURICE, R. N. who departed this life June 6th, 1815, aged 21 years. To the memory of Thomas HORNE, gent, citizen of London, who is buried near this place. He died in 1769 at the advanced age of 84. David Home, A. M. rector of Wanstead, Essex, his only surviving sou, erected this tablet. ARMS : Cave. Near this lieth the body of Adam CAVE, gent, who succeeded his father in the town-clerk's place of this corporation. He departed this life October 18th, 1698, in the 29th year of his age. This monument was erected by his sisters. ARMS : Cave, impaling a bend charged with three water-bougies between six leopards' faces, langued. Here lieth the body of Anne the wife of Richard CAVE, gent, who departed this life 13th October, 1685. Here lieth the body of Thomas the son of Richard CAVE, of Leighsinton, in this county, gent, who died March 24th, 1661. ARMS : in a lozenge, Cave. P. M. S. Juxta altare quod frequenter adibant simul infra dormiunt Elizabetha et Anna, Ricardi CAVE filise. Ad funus elatae virgines ambae vixerunt annos, Elizabeth Ixx. Anna Iviii. This monument was erected by Mrs. Cave's nephew, Rd. Rudge, whose father and family are buried iu the church-yard of this church. Sacred to the memory of Margaret, the wife of Thomas BLAYNEY, esq. and daughter of the late Charles Welch, esq. who departed this life March 15th, 1814, aged 67. In memory of Samuel BARON, clerk, A. M. Master of the Free School in this borough, who departed this life November 17th, 1713, aged 33. Also of Mr. John FRENSHAM who died March 24th, 1717, aged 65. Also Mary daughter of John FRENSHAM and John his son who died young. ARMS : Sable and argent, a chevron between two heads erased counter changed of the field ; impaling paly of six argent and gules, a bend or. At the foot of this altar resteth the body of Sarah, wife of John MITCHEL, clerk, LL.B. vicar of this church. She departed this life November 25th, 1721, aged 33. Also three of their children, Thomas, Mary, and Sarah, who all died young. The Rev. John MITCHEL interred in the same vault, died September 9th, 1724, aged 41. Also Ann his daughter, by Mary his second wife, who died December 31st, 1725, aged 1 months. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 449 No. XII. ARMS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN BENGEWORTH CHURCH. Flat Stones in North Aile, beginning West. ARMS: a/ess between three leopards' faces. Thomas WATSON, gent. Feby. 27, 1689, aged 77. Also Thomas WATSON, gent, son of the above, who departed this life May 17th, 1716, aged 76 years. Also Mrs. Frances WATSON, daughter of Thomas Watson, sen. of this parish, gent, who departed this life the 20th day of Nov. A.D. 1727, aged 80. Mr. William ALLARD, died Feby. 27, 1828, aged 63 years. Elizabeth, wife of Mr. William ALLARD, died August 20th, 1830, aged 63. Mary JEPHCOTT, relict of John Jephcott, D.D. late rector of All-saints, in Evesham, dyed Dec. 9, A. D. 1728. JEtatis 95. She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Watson, esq. of Bengeworth. Flat Stones in Central Aile, beginning West. Richard the son of Be * * * Catherine COTHER, baptized March 10th, 1710. Buried April 1 Oth, 1711. Here lieth the body of William WOODWARD, who departed this life February the llth, 1661, aged 65. Also Jane, his wife, who departed this life February 8, 1681, aged 61. On a stone partly covered by a pew. * * Also Mary his wife, who died 8th Feby. 1778 aged 54. Also Peter their son, who died 29th Dec r . 1774, aged 22 years. Also Mary MORSE, who departed this life Nov. 8th, 1808, aged 78 years. M. P. aged one year and 3 quarters. On a stone partly concealed by a pew. * Catherine the wife of Peter PENNY, gent, who departed this life the 18th of Sept. 1735, aged 53 years. And to the memory of the said Peter PENNY, who died the 23d of May, 1751, Flat Stones in South Aile, beginning West. In memory of John RODD, gent, who died Jany. 16th, 1804, aged 59. Also Mary his wife, who died Aug. 6th, 1782, aged 38. Also of John RODD, their son, who died Sep. 15th, 1799, aged 21. And of Charles and Ann, both died in their infancy. In memory * * * * of Thomas PRATT, who died Dec r . 4th, 1828, aged 30 years. Also Jane, wife of Thomas PRATT, who died Feb. 27, 1827, aged 31 years. In the vault underneath, the remains of William MORSE of this burrow, mer- chant, were deposited Nov r . 1st, 1791, in the 58th year of his age. Also of Mary MORSE his widow, the 17th day of December, 1796, in the 66th year of her age. The remains of Sarah WORRALL, Spinster, aunt of Mary Morse, were deposited in the vicar's garden, Evesham, the 24th day of January, 1782, in the 74th year of her age. Here lyeth the body of Richard FISHER, who departed this life June the 24th, 1683, aged 50. To the memory of Mr. Joshua SMITH, who departed this life the 1 6th day of February, 1775, aged 57 years. Also of Benjamin Frensham, son of the above- named Joshua Smith, who was buried y e 20th day of Dec. 1768, aged 7 years and 2 months. And also of Mr. John SMITH, son of the said Joshua, who departed this life the 15th day of May, 1781, aged 36 years. 3 L 450 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. ***** sister to Joseph BIDDLE, of Evesham, esq. * * * the body of the R * * William GOTHER, who departed this life April 10 * *, aged 28 * * Beneath this stone is interred the body of Mary PREEDY, daughter of William Preedy, esq. of Little Hampton, in this county and Alice his wife, daughter of Jo- seph Biddle, esq. late of Evesham, she was born August 8th in the year of our Lord 1771, and died Feby. 10th, 1827. To the memory of Joseph Weston WALTER, of this parish, who departed this life June 12th, 1835, aged 74 years. Wm. PENNY, 1773. In memory of George DAY, gent, who died Feb. 13th, 1830, aged 66 years. Also of Mrs. Elizabeth DAY, wife of George Day, gent, of this parish, who de- parted this life March 13th 1809, aged 54 years. Also Mrs. Mary EDEN, daughter of the above George and Elizabeth Day, and wife of Mr. Thos. Eden, of Ilmington, in the county of Warwick, who departed this life the 26th day of April, 1809, aged 23 years. Also Ann, wife of George DAY, gent, who died March 31st, 1825, aged 51 years. Also Charles, son of George and Ann DAY, who died March 24th, 1816, aged 10 months. Also Elizabeth, daughter of William and Ann FEREDEY, who died in infancy. To the memory of Mr. George DAY, junior, who died Dec r . 13th, 1827, aged 31 years. Elizabeth, daughter of the before-named George and Eliz th Day, and wife of the Rev. Henry TULL, died March 22d, 1833, aged 42 years. William Henry, son of the above named George and Ann DAY died April 27th, 1835, aged 22 years. To the memory of John STICKLY, who was justice of the peace and alderman of this borough, and died ill his mayoralty, the 18th day of February, 1795, aged 69 years. To the memory of Elizabeth the wife of John STICKLY, and daughter of Peter Penny, gent, who departed this life Nov. y e 3 d , 1762, aged 38 years. In hope of a happy resurrection. Tablets in North Aile. In memory of Mrs. Frances WATSON, who dyed NoV. the 20th, 1727, aged 80 years. She was a true member of the Church of England ; which she gave convinc- ing proofs of, not only by a constant attendance, but also her extraordinary bounty to it. She was of a meek and humble spirit, an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile, exemplary in her conversation, loving mercy and doing justly ; but as all our doings without charity are nothing worth, she was chiefly careful in the discharge of that noble and truly Christian duty, being always ready both to give and forgive. This also to the memory of Mrs. Thomazin WATSON, spinster, who dyed Decem- ber 6th, 1737, aged 81. And gave to this church 100 pounds, and to the poor of this parish, 50 pounds for ever, and lyeth by her cousin, Mrs. Frances Watson. Thomas WATSON, born in Evesham, and freeholder of this towne, in his lyfe thare a good benefactor to the poore and careful for the good qviet and repose of his neighbours, resteth heere in the assvred hope of the resvrrection, and left issew by Agnes his first wyfe v. sonns and v. davghters, and by Elyzabeth his second wife one sonn and three davghters : he died in the yere of ovr Lorde 1561, & of his age LXX. Monument in South Aile. Upon an ample tablet, surmounting a sarcophagus sustaining a recumbent effigy of the deceased ARMS : Or, a chevron sable between three roses expanded proper, HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 451 impaling in afield of the second, three workmen's hammers argent, two in chief and one in base. To the memory of John DEACLE, esq. a native of this parish, who tho' of obscure extraction yet by the divine blessing ou his industry acquired an ample fortune, was made an alderman of London, left a monument of his benevo- lence and gratitude to the place of his birth more lasting than this marble, in the establishment and endowment, among others, of a Charity-school for the education, cloathing and apprenticing of 30 poor boys of this borough. He was born June 10th, 1660 : died 20th Sept. 1709. ARMS : Sable between three eagles' heads erased, upon a chevron as many mul- lets ; impaling argent a, bend sable charged with three fleurs-de-lis or, surmounted with a chief sable charged with a lion passant. In memory of Thomas BEALE, M. A. son and heir of Thomas Beale, esquire, of Newent, in the county of Glou- cester; who during an incumbency of 22 years, from 1771 to 1793, laboured amidst many infirmities as a servant of the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls and a pastor of his flock in this parish, to promote their best interests by preaching Christ cruci- fied as the only way to life, and ground of hope in death ; and who continued the remainder of his days at his mansion in this parish, till called hence to a house not made with hands, by Him who is the resurrection and the life. He departed this mortal life June 14, A. D. 1805, in the 72d year of his age, and his remains were interred with his father's at Newent. Reader, he being dead yet speaketh : remem- ber thou art a sinner, the captive of death, yet made to exist for ever : and now, to- day, while it is called to-day, flee from the wrath to come, and rest not without timely acquaintance with that Saviour who hath opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Tablet within Altar Rails. Sacred to the memory of William ACTON, of Bengeworth, gent, died 7th Feb- ruary, 1787, aged 50. Catherine, relict of the above-named William ACTON, died 15th April, 1817, aged 80. Elizabeth daughter of John Reeve, of Kinver, first wife of John ACTON, of Bengeworth, and afterwards of Cheltenham, died 20th July, 1797, aged 33. Eliza, daughter of Thomas Gammon of Hereford, second wife of the said John ACTON, died 30th NoV. 1830, aged 48. Also of the above- named John ACTON, who died 28th Nov r . 1833, aged 71. XIII. ABSTRACT OF THREE MUNICIPAL CHARTERS, ABROGATED BY THE ISSUE AND RESTORATION OF THE GOVERNING CHAR- TER OF JAMES I. First Charter of James I. dated at Westminster *2d March, 1st of the Icing. Ab- stracted from Office Copy in the Rolls Chapel. AFTER reciting that the borough of Evesham is an ancient and populous borough, and that the burgesses thereof have from time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary enjoyed divers franchises, as well by divers charters and letters-patent, as by divers prescriptions, usages and customs, also that two maces had been accus- tomed to be borne before the bailiffs of the said borough, the king at the request of his eldest son Prince Henry, incorporates the said borough by the name of the bai- liffs aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham in the county of Worcester, to whom he grants a common seal. Twelve of the burgesses within the said borough to be aldermen, and twelve others 452 HISTORY OP EVESHAM. to be capital burgesses, who were to form the common council, out of which two bailiffs should be chosen, to be styled the high and low bailiff. David Sansom, the late high-bailiff of the town, to be first high-bailiff under the charter, and Robert Allen, the late low-bailiff of the town, to be the first low-bailiff under the same. Sir Philip Keighley, kt. Philip Gardner, sen. William Byddle, sen. James Michell, Bartholomew Mountford, Edward Walker, Hugh Lyngard, Robert Brant- ley, John Wynnall, Edward Bowland, the aforesaid David Sansom and Robert Allen, to be the first twelve aldermen, during life. Philip Parsons, Thomas Farmer, Edward Smith, Edward Leper, Richard Har- wood, William Chandler, Ranulph Leeke, John Priddy, Gilbert Smith, Philip Brook, John Harris, and William Robins, to be the first twelve capital burgesses, for life. Power given to the mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses to fill up vacancies out of the inhabitants, and to elect yearly a high and low bailiff from the aldermen and capital burgesses. Sir Thomas Challoner, kt. appointed first high steward. Russell Andrewes, gent, appointed first town-clerk. Power given to the body to hold civil and criminal courts. Two burgesses to parliament to be chosen, to be elected by the bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the borough, and their successors. Appoints two serjeants-at-mace. Provides that the village of Bengeworth shall be under the government of the borough of Evesham. Charter of Charles II. dated at Westminster, 12th June, 36th of the king. .46- stracted from Office Copy in Rolls Chapel. AFTER reciting that the borough of Evesham is an ancient borough, and so forth, as in the previous charter, and after allusion to the second charter of James I. now the governing charter of the borough The parishes of All-saints, St. Lawrence, and Bengeworth, are re-incorporated, by the name of The mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Evesham. Of this body, there should be nine aldermen, twelve capital burgesses, a recorder, chamberlain, and town-clerk, constituting the common-council ; from whence the officers aforesaid should be elected : and twelve other burgesses should be styled assistants to the mayor. John Home appointed first mayor under the present charter. Sir John Matthews, kt. Thomas Savage, esq. Theophilus Leigh, esq. Thomas Watson, Thomas Milner, William Bird, Robert Martin, Thomas Yarnold, and Richard Young, gents, to be the first nine aldermen during life. Thomas Harris, William Lane, William Martin, George Hopkins, Edward Walker, Martin Ballard, William Rudge, James Mitchel, Nicholas Feild, Thomas Bartlett, Jarret Smith, and John Home aforesaid, to be the first twelve capital burgesses, during life. Henry Halford, Thomas Harborne, Thomas Smith, Richard Hyde, John Hobbins, Richard Smith, William Walter, Edward Leatherland, Thomas Ordway, Robert Peirce, William Bolton, and Rowland Broadstock, to be the first twelve assistants, for life. Power given to the mayor, aldermen, capital burgesses, recorder, chamberlain, and HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 453 town-clerk, to fill up vacancies ; to elect the mayor from the common-council ; and to choose assistants, when required, from among the burgesses of the borough. John lord Coventry appointed first high-steward under this charter. Henry Parker, esq. appointed first recorder, during life. Richard Cave appointed chamberlain and and town-clerk, for life. Power to appoint a deputy-mayor and deputy-recorder, in the cases set forth. Other lord Windsor, Thomas earl Plymouth, Thomas Hazlewood, kt. Thomas Savage, esq. Theophilus Leigh, esq. Thomas Watson and Thomas Milner, gents, appointed justices for life, together with the mayor and recorder for the time, and four aldermen to be nominated by the chamber. Power being reserved in the crown, to nominate at all times four in lieu of the five first named ; who should thus be- come of the common-council. Power granted to the mayor and corporation to elect a coroner. Every member is enjoined before assuming office as aforesaid, to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy with all other oaths, and to subscribe all such declara- tions and subscriptions as were or should be by any statute imposed. Provision that no burgess whatever should exercise any suffrage until he also had sworn and subscribed as above. The corporate body empowered to administer the oaths aforesaid, and enjoined to keep a freeman's book registering the due observance of the same. Any alderman, capital-burgess, assistant, or burgess, absent from the borough for one whole year without license of the common-council, to lose his privilege. Power reserved in the crown at all times thereafter to remove at its own " will and pleasure," any mayor, recorder, high-steward, justice, or any other corporate officer, whomsoever, by order in council declaring such officer to be removed. In such case, other fit person or persons should be elected within convenient time. Two burgesses to be returned to parliament ; the right of electing whom is herein restricted to the mayor, aldermen, and capital burgesses only. Concludes with provisions relating to the grammar-school, as in the charter of James I. Charter of James II. dated at Westminster, Ylik September 4iA of the Icing. Ab- stracted from Office Copy in Rolls Chapel. AFTER reciting the antiquity of the borough and its liberties, with a further recital that the several charters and letters patent granted theretofore had by reason of neg- ligence become void, by which the corporation of the borough stood totally dissolved ; and that therefore the inhabitants had humbly petitioned the royal favor to grant such liberties and privileges as the crown should deem best, in which petition " the late mayor, aldermen and bnrgesses " concurred The three parishes are incorporated by the name of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham. Provides that there should be nine aldermen, twelve capital burgesses, a recorder, and chamberlain, who should constitute the common-council, from whence the mayor should be chosen from time to time : and that there should be twelve burgesses, styled assistants to the borough. Thomas Harris, gent, to be first mayor under the present charter, until Michael- mas, 1689. Edward Goodier, esq. William Atwood, Holmer Lunne, Thomas Harris, John Dover, Henry Halford, Anthony Hamerton, Anthony Saubage, and James Merrick, to be the first nine aldermen, for life, unless duly removed. 454 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Benedict Wakeman, William Stanford, Charles Notsford, Thomas Savage, Rich- ard Griffin, Compton Hanford, John Appletree, and William Vernion, esqrs. Joseph Bovey, John Turberville, Anthony Brookes, and Nathaniel Gold, to be the first twelve capital burgesses, for life, unless duly removed. Nathaniel Watson, Anthony Marshall, Thomas Harbone, Rowland Broadstock, William Freer, Richard Hyde, William Walter, Robert Pierce, William Rhea, William Wareing, Edward Brookes, sen. and William Masters, to be the first twelve assistants, for life, unless duly removed. Francis lord Carrington to be first high-steward, for life. Richard Freeman, esq. to be the first recorder, for life. Holmer Lunne to be first chamberlain and town-clerk. Power reserved in the crown, as in the former charter, to remove at will any officer of the corporation by writ of privy-council ; and to command a new election thereupon. Two burgesses to be returned to parliament, by the mayor, aldermen, and capital burgesses only ; but their charges to be borne by the burgesses at large. Provisions for the grammar-school, as before. Declaration that " by virtue of his royal prerogative, the king for himself, his heirs and successors, doth dispense, pardon, remit and exonerate " all officers ap- pointed and to be appointed in the said corporation, from taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, as likewise from that enjoined by the statute for regu- lating corporations, and from receiving the Lord's supper according to the church of England, any canon or statute whatsoever, notwithstanding, and further from subscribing either declaration under the statutes of Charles II. as well as from all criminality, conviction, pains, penalties, forfeitures, damages, prosecutions or mo- lestations, in consequence thereof. And that the officers as aforesaid, should exercise such respective offices without taking such oaths or subscribing such declarations. Power reserved in the crown, restraining from the exercise of office any future high-steward, recorder, or common-councillor of the borough, without the approba- tion of the king, under sign-manual. XIV. THE GOVERNING CHARTER, AT LARGE. Dated at Westminster, 3d April, 3d James I. 1605. Suspended by the charters of Charles II. and James II : but restored in 1688. Originals in the Chamber at Evesham, and in the Rolls Chapel, London. THE KING to all to whom these present letters shall come, greeting. Whereas our borough of Evesham in our county of Worcester is an antient and populous borough, and the burgesses of the same borough sometimes by the name of bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the same borough, and sometimes by other names, from time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary, have had, used and enjoyed divers liber- ties, customs, franchises, immunities and preeminences, as well by reason of divers charters and letters-patent to them and their predecessors heretofore made and granted, as by reason of divers prescriptions usages and customs, in the same borough of an- tient used and accustomed : And whereas the serjeants-at-mace within the borough 10 NOTE that the Municipal Act, sect. i. repeals only so much of all royal and other Charters now in force relating to Boroughs, as are inconsistent with or contrary to ihe provisions of that Act. HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 455 aforesaid do now carry and bear and in times past for a long space have been accus- tomed to carry and bear before the bailiffs of the borough aforesaid, for the time being within the borough aforesaid the liberties and precincts of the same, two silver maces engraved and ornamented with the arms of the Princes of Wales. And whereas we are informed that our town of Bengeworth in the said county of Worcester doth adjoin and lie near to the same borough of Evesham, and that many controversies, dissensions, offences, riots, and other violations and disturbances of our peace, and other abuses and misdeeds, are frequently committed and perpetrated in the same town of Bengeworth, without any punishment and correction for defect of good rule and government within the said town, to the great damage, grief, disturb- ance and molestation as well of our residents and tenants within the aforesaid town as of the burgesses and inhabitants of the aforesaid borough of Evesham ; by reason whereof our beloved subjects, as well the bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham aforesaid, as the tenants, residents, and inhabitants of the said town of Bengeworth, have jointly and of their unanimous assent and consent humbly besought us that we would be pleased to show and extend our royal grace and mu- nificence in that behalf, as well to the same bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham, as to the aforesaid tenants, residents and inhabitants of the said town of Bengeworth ; and that we for the better rule, government and improve- ment of the same borough and town would condescend to make, renew and create, as well the said bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham, by whatsoever name or names of incorporation they have been heretofore incorporated, as the tenants, residents and inhabitants of our aforesaid town of Bengeworth, in the said county of Worcester, adjoining and lying near to the same borough of Evesham, into one body corporate and politic, by the name of mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham in the county of Worcester, by our letters patent as to us should seem most meet. We therefore willing that from henceforth for ever as well in our said borough of Evesham as in our aforesaid town of Bengeworth there should be continually one certain and undoubted method of and for the keeping of our peace and the rule and government of the same borough and town and our people there residing and of others resorting thither ; and that the borough and town aforesaid from henceforth for ever may be and remain a borough of peace and quiet, to the dread and terror of evil doers and for the reward and support of the good ; and that our peace and other deeds of justice and good government shall and may the better be able to be kept there ; and hoping that if the said bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid, and the aforesaid tenants, residents, and inhabitants of the aforesaid town of Benge- worth and their successors, shall be able to enjoy of our grant more ample honors, liberties, and privileges, then they will consider themselves bound more especially and strongly to do and perform such services as they are able to us our heirs and successors ; and also at the humble petition and request of onr most dear and well- beloved first-born son the lord Prince Henry, being the first petition which he hath made to us in our kingdom of England, of our especial grace and of our certain knowledge and mere motion have created, ordained, constituted, declared and granted, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do ordain, create, constitute, declare and grant that the said borough of Evesham and the aforesaid town of Benge- worth in our county of Worcester, and the bounds, limits and precincts of the same borough and town, from henceforth for ever may and shall be adjoined and united Prince's petition. 456 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. and shall be one undivided and free borough of itself : And that as well the aforesaid bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the said borough of Evesham, as the aforesaid tenants, residents and inhabitants of the town of Bengeworth aforesaid and their successors, whether they have been heretofore lawfully incorporated or not, from henceforth for ever without any question or ambiguity hereafter to be made, may and shall be by force of these presents one body corporate and politic, in deed, fact and name, by the name of mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham in the county of Worcester. Style. And them, by the name of mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Eves- ham in the county of Worcester, one body corporate and politic, in deed, fact and name, really and fully, for us, our heirs and successors we do make, erect, ordain, constitute, create, confirm, ratify, and declare by these presents. And that they by the name of mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham in the county of Worcester, may and shall be for ever hereafter persons able and capable in the law, and a body corporate and politic, and capable in the law to have, purchase, receive, enjoy, retain and possess manors, lands, tenements, liberties, privileges, jurisdictions, franchises, and other hereditaments whatsoever, of whatsoever nature, kind, name, quality or sort they may be, to them and their successors, in fee and perpetuity, or for term of life or lives, year or years, or otherwise, in whatsoever manner ; and also goods and chattels and other things whatsoever, of whatsoever kind, name, na- ture, quality or sort they may be. And also to give, grant, demise, alien, assign and dispose of lands, tenements and hereditaments, and to do and execute all and singular other deeds and things by the name aforesaid. And that by the same name of mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham in the county of Worcester, they shall and may be able to plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered, defend and be defended, in whatsoever courts and places and before whatsoever judges and justices and other persons and officers of us and of our heirs and successors, in all and singular actions, pleas, suits, plaints, causes, matters and demands whatsoever, of whatsoever kind, name, nature, quality or sort they are or may be ; in the same manner and form as any other our liege people of this our kingdom of England persons able and capa- ble in the law or any other body corporate and politic within our kingdom of England shall and may be able to have, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy, retain, give, grant, demise, assign, alien, and dispose of, plead and be impleaded, answer and be an- swered, defend and be defended, do, permit or execute. And that the mayor, alder- Seal. men and burgesses of the borough aforesaid for ever, shall have a common seal to serve for doing the causes and business of them and their successors whomsoever : and that it shall and may be lawful for the same mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, the same seal, at their pleasure from time to time to break, change, and make anew, as to them shall seem meet. Limits. And further we will, and by these presents for us, our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, That our said borough of Evesham, and the circuits, precincts, bounds, liberties, franchises and jurisdictions of the same, shall extend themselves and shall and may be able to extend through and about all the limits and precincts of the parishes of All-saints and Saint Lawrence and the borough aforesaid, and through all the town and parish of Bengeworth ; that is to say from the south side of the bridge of Evesham, otherwise called Bengeworth Bridge, near a certain house there, now or formerly called the Old Guild-hall, by the banks of a certain river there HISTORY OF EVESIIAM. 457 called Avon ; including a certain park and meadow there called Abbey Park and Meadows towards Evesham aforesaid, unto a certain stone wall called the Abbey Park-wall ; and from thence by the banks of the aforesaid river of Avon, unto a certain ditch or water-course, being the further bound of a certain close there com- monly called Higden Close, near a certain mill there called Chadbury MM, and from thence by the further bound and limit of the same close commonly called Higden Close, towards Lenchwick unto the highway there ; and so by the same highway there unto a certain path or lane called Lenchwick Lane, otherwise Offenham Lane ; and from thence by the path or lane called Lenchwick, otherwise Offenham Lane unto a certain bridge called Offenham Bridge otherwise Twyford Bridge ; and so by the south side of the same bridge towards Evesham aforesaid unto the banks of the same river of Avon on the west side ; and from thence by the banks of the same river towards Evesham aforesaid unto a certain meadow called the Paddock, inclu- ding the meadow aforesaid and the mills commonly called Evesham Mills, with all the lands, pieces and weirs to the same mill appertaining or adjoining ; and from thence by the banks of the same river, unto certain houses called the Alms-houses, including the houses aforesaid adjoining or adjacent to the north side of the aforesaid bridge called Evesharn Bridge otherwise Bengeworth Bridge ; and so by the same bridge across the river aforesaid, unto our aforesaid town of Bengeworth ; and from thence through the whole town and all the parish of Bengeworth, and all the fines, limits, bounds, circuits and precincts of the same parish of Bengeworth ; incircling, embracing, containing and including, all the houses, mills, fields, lands and places within the aforesaid parish of Bengeworth ; by whatsoever names or appellations they are known, named or called, or heretofore have been used to be known, named or called. And further we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors give and grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough afore- said and their successors, free licence, power and authority, and that it shall and may be lawful for the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough afore- said and their successors to perambulate or make a perambulation or perambulations thereof, for the true and better knowledge thereof ; to be had so often as it shall please them or it shall seem to them to be necessary : and this without any writ or other warrant therefore from us our heirs or successors in that behalf in any wise to be obtained or prosecuted. We will also, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant and ordain, that from henceforth for ever there may and shall be within the borough aforesaid seven of the burgesses of the borough aforesaid to be elected in form here- after in these presents mentioned, who shall be and be named aldermen of the same borough. And that in like manner there may and shall be within the same borough twelve other burgesses of the borough aforesaid to be elected in form hereafter in these presents mentioned, who shall be and be named capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid. And that in like manner there may and shall be within the same borough two officers to be elected and preferred in form hereafter in these presents mentioned, one of whom shall be called recorder of the borough aforesaid and the other shall be called chamberlain of the same borough : which same aldermen, capital burgesses, recorder and chamberlain of the borough aforesaid shall be of the common council of the same borough. From which same seven aldermen, twelve capital burgesses, recorder and chamberlain, being of the common council of the borough aforesaid, one from time to time shall be elected and nominated in form hereafter in these presents 3 M Perambu- lation. Aldermen &c. 458 HISTORY OF EVE9HAM. mentioned, to be mayor of the same borough. We will further, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant and ordain, That from henceforth there may be and for ever shall be within the said borough twenty-four of the burgesses of the same borough, to be elected in form hereafter in these presents mentioned, who shall be and be named assistants of the same borough. And that the remainder of the aforesaid aldermen, capital burgesses, recorder and chamberlain of the aforesaid borough, not being in the office of mayor of the same borough, and the aforesaid twenty-four assistants, shall be from time to time aiding and assisting to the mayor of the said borough of Evesham aforesaid for the time being, in all causes, things, business and matters, touching or in any wise concerning the said borough. May frame And further, we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant laws, &c. to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Evesham aforesaid and their successors, That the mayor, aldermen, recorder and chamberlain, and the capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the aforesaid mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, upon public summons to be made thereof, assembled for that purpose in the common hall, chamber or other convenient place within the borough afore- said, may and shall have full power and authority to frame, constitute, ordain and make from time to time reasonable laws, statutes, constitutions, decrees and ordi- nances in writing, whatsoever, which to them or the major part of them, of whom the aforesaid mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, according to their sound discretions shall seem to be good, wholesome, useful, honest and necessary for the good rule and government of the borough aforesaid, and of all and singular officers, ministers, artificers, inhabitants and residents whomsoever of the borough aforesaid for the time being ; and for declaring in what manner and order the same mayor, aldermen and burgesses, and all and singular the officers, ministers, burgesses, artificers, inhabitants and residents of the borough aforesaid, shall behave, carry and conduct themselves in their offices, ministries, functions, arts and business, within the borough aforesaid, and the liberties and precincts of the same for the time being, for the further public good, common utility and good rule of the borough aforesaid, and the victualling of the same borough, and other things and causes whatsoever, touching or in any wise concerning the borough aforesaid. And that the same mayor, aldermen, recorder, chamberlain and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, so often as they shall frame, make, ordain or establish such laws, institutes, rights, ordinances and constitutions, in form aforesaid, may make, ordain, limit and provide such and the like pains, punishments and penalties, by imprisonment of the body, or by fines and amereiaments, or by either of them, against and upon all transgressors or delinquents against such laws, rights, institutes, ordinances and constitutions, or any or either of them as and which to the same mayor, aldermen, recorder, chamberlain and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the aforesaid mayor for the time being we will to be one, shall seem to be most needful, due, requisite and necessary, for the observation of the same laws, institutes, decrees, ordinances and constitutions. And shall and may be able to levy, enjoy, have and perceive the same fines and amereiaments, to the use of the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, without the hindrance of us our heirs or successors, or of any or either of the officers or HISTORY OF EVESIIAM. 459 ministers of us our heirs or successors, and without any account to us our heirs or successors thereof to be rendered or paid. All and singular which laws, ordinances, institutes, constitutions, decrees, rights and statutes so as aforesaid to be made, we will to be observed under the pains in the same to be contained. So nevertheless, that such laws, institutes, ordinances, constitutions, imprisonments, fines and amer- ciaments, shall be reasonable and shall not be repugnant nor contrary to the laws, statutes, customs or rights of our kingdom of England. And for the better execution of our will and grant in that behalf, we have assigned, First mayor nominated, created, constituted and made, and by these presents for us our heirs and alderm". &c. successors do assign, nominate, create, constitute and make, our beloved Robert Allen, now high-bailiff of the borough aforesaid, to be the first and present mayor of the borough aforesaid. Willing that the same Robert Allen shall be and continue in the office of mayor of the borough aforesaid, from the day of the date of these presents, until the first Thursday which shall happen next after the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel next ensuing, and from thenceforth until another person shall be in due manner elected, preferred and sworn to the same office, according to the ordinances and provisions in these presents hereafter expressed and declared, if the same Robert Allen shall so long live. We have also assigned, nominated, created, constituted and made, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do assign, nominate, create, constitute and make, our beloved Sir Philip Keighley, knight, Sir Thomas Bigges, knight, Thomas Watson, David Sansom, Robert Allen, Philip Harreis, and Philip Parsons, to be the first and present seven aldermen of the bo- rough aforesaid, to continue in the same offices during their natural lives unless iu the mean time for bad government in that behalf or for any other reasonable cause they or any or either of them shall be removed from the same office. We have also assigned, nominated, created, constituted and made, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do assign, nominate, create, constitute and make our beloved sir David Fowles, knight, Lewis Bayly, Philip Gardiner the elder, Bartholomew Momford, James Michell, Edward Walker, Edward Bowland, Henry Smith, Richard James the elder, Gilbert Smith, John Washborne and William Robins, to be the first and present twelve capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid ; to continue in the same offices during their natural lives, unless in the mean time for bad govern- ment or misbehaviour in that behalf or for any other reasonable cause they or any or either of them shall be removed from the same office. We have also assigned, nominated, created, constituted and made, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do assign, nominate, create, constitute and make, our beloved William Bidle the elder, George Hawkins, Richard Harwarde, John Wynnall, Robert Brantley, Edward Lepper, Ralph Eake, William Allen, Joseph Phelpes, William Chandlor, John Dacle, John Predye, Philip Brooke, John Jelfe, Richard James the younger, William Hardman, Bartholomew Tolley, Robert Bishop, Philip Gardiner the younger, Arthur Godson, Thomas Andrews, Isaac Dissou, Thomas Smithe, and William Pockins, to be the twenty-four first and present assistants of the borough aforesaid ; to continue in the same offices during their natural lives, unless in the mean time for bad government or misbehaviour in that behalf or for any other rea- sonable cause they or any or either of them shall be removed. And further we will, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors, give Election of and grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid mayor, and their successors, That the mayor, aldermen, capital burgesses, recorder and 460 HISTORY OF EVBSHAM. chamberlain of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, from time to time for ever hereafter may and shall have power and authority yearly and every year, on the first Thursday which shall happen next after the feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, to elect and nominate, and that they shall and may be able to elect and nominate, one of the common council of the borough aforesaid to be mayor of the borough aforesaid : which person so elected and nominated, after the same election and nomination, that is to say from the first Thursday which shall happen next after the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel then next ensuing, for one whole year from thence next ensuing shall be and continue mayor of the borough aforesaid. And that he who shall be so as aforesaid elected and nominated into the office of mayor of the borough aforesaid before he shall be admitted to execute the same office, shall take a corporal oath before the last mayor his predecessor, and the recorder and others of the common council of the borough aforesaid, or as many of them as shall be there present, rightly, well and faithfully to execute the same office of mayor of the borough aforesaid in all things touching the same office, in and upon every first Thursday which shall happen next after the aforesaid feast of Saint Michael the Archangel after his election and nomination : And that after such oath so as aforesaid taken, he shall and may be able to execute the office of mayor of the borough aforesaid for one whole year then next ensuing. And further we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, alder- men and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, that if the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, at any time within one year after he shall be so as aforesaid elected, preferred and sworn to the office of mayor of the borough aforesaid, shall happen to die or be removed from the same office, that then and so often it shall and may be lawful for the remainder of the common council of the borough aforesaid then surviving and remaining for the time being, or the major part of them, to elect and prefer one other of themselves into the place and office of such mayor of the borough aforesaid so dead or removed, according to the ordinances and provisions in these presents above declared : And that the person so elected and preferred into the office of mayor of the borough aforesaid, shall have and exercise the same office during the residue of the same year, having first taken a corporal oath Removals. i Q form aforesaid ; and so, as often as the case shall so happen. And that whenever any or either of the aforesaid seven aldermen, or of the aforesaid twelve capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid, shall happen to die or be removed from their offices of aldermen or capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid, which same alder- men and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid and every or either of them not well behaving himself or themselves in the same offices we will to be removeable at the pleasure of the mayor and the rest of the common council of the borough afore- said or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, That then and so often, it shall and may be lawful for the aforesaid mayor, aldermen, recorder, chamberlain and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid then surviving or remaining, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, to elect, nominate and prefer, one or more other or others of the burgesses of the bo- rough aforesaid into the place or places of the same alderman or aldermen, or of the same capital burgess or capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid, so happening to die or be removed ; to supply the aforesaid number of seven aldermen and twelve HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 461 capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid. And that he or they so as aforesaid elected aud preferred to the office or offices of alderman or aldermen of the borough aforesaid, or capital burgess or capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid, having taken a corporal oath before the mayor, aldermen, recorder, chamberlain and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid, or the major part of them for the time being, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, well and faithfully to execute the same offices respectively, shall be of the number of the aforesaid seven aldermen or twelve capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid ; and this from time to time as often as the case shall so happen. We will also and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant, that whenever any or either of the aforesaid twenty-four assistants of the borough aforesaid shall happen to die or be removed from his office, which same assistants and any or either of them not well behaving himself or themselves in the same office, we will to be removeable at the pleasure of the mayor and the rest of the common council of the borough aforesaid for the time being, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, That then and so often it shall and may be lawful for the afore- said mayor and the rest of the common council of the borough aforesaid for the time being or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, to elect, nominate and prefer one or more other or others of the burgesses of the borough aforesaid into the place or places of the same assistant or assistants so happening to die or be removed, to supply the aforesaid number of twenty-four assistants of the borough aforesaid. And that he or they so as aforesaid elected and preferred to the office or offices of assistant or assistants of the borough aforesaid, having taken a corporal oath before the mayor and the rest of the common council of the borough aforesaid or the major part of them well and faithfully to execute the same office, shall be of the number of the aforesaid twenty- four assistants of the borough aforesaid : and this from time to time as often as the case shall so happen. And further we will, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant Burgesses and ordain, That one of the residents and inhabitants of the parish of Bengeworth fr m aforesaid, shall be elected and preferred within the borough aforesaid, to be mayor of the borough aforesaid, according to the ordinances in these presents above mentioned, every seventh year at the least. And that from time to time and at all times, two of the aforesaid seven aldermen, four of the aforesaid twelve capital burgesses, and eight of the aforesaid twenty-four assistants of the borough aforesaid, may and shall be inhabi- tants of and residing within the aforesaid parish of Bengeworth. And that the afore- said sir Philip Kighley, knight, may and shall be one of the aldermen of the same Kighley. borough during his life ; and after his decease, every heir male of the aforesaid sir Philip Kighley successively may and shall be one of the aldermen of the same bo- rough, if he shall be at the time of the death of his ancestor of the age of twenty-one years ; and if he shall not be of the age aforesaid, then when he shall come to his age aforesaid he shall be elected and preferred to be one of the aldermen of the bo- rough aforesaid, and may and shall be one of the aldermen of the same borough during his natural life, any thing in these presents to the contrary thereof, or any other thing, cause or matter whatsoever notwithstanding. Moreover we will, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to Refusing the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their sue- office, cessors, That if any person or persons, who hereafter shall be elected or nominated 462 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. to the offices of mayor, alderman, capital burgess, or to any other office within the borough aforesaid, or to any or either of them, and having notice and knowledge of his or their election, shall refuse to exercise the office or offices to which he or they so refusing, hath or have been elected and nominated, That then and so often, it shall and may be lawful for the mayor, aldermen, and the rest of the common council of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough for the time being we will to be one, to tax and impose fines and amerciaments upon such person or persons refusing ; as to the same mayor, alder- men, and the rest of the common council of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, shall seem to be reasonable ; and to commit him or them so refusing, and refusing to pay the same fines and amerciaments upon him or them so taxed and imposed, to the prison within the borough aforesaid ; and to retain him or them in prison there, until he or they shall pay or cause to be paid the same fines and amerciaments, to the use of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid. Steward. And further we will, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, That they and their successors may and shall have in the borough afore- said, one honorable and discreet man to be elected and nominated in form hereafter in these presents expressed, who shall be and be named high steward of the borough aforesaid. And we have assigned, constituted and made, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do assign, nominate, constitute and make, our well- beloved and faithful servant sir Thomas Chaloner, knight, to be the first and present high steward of the borough aforesaid ; to continue in the same office during the natural life of the same sir Thomas Chaloner. And that from time to time and at all times after the death of the aforesaid sir Thomas Chaloner, the mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, shall and may be able to elect, nominate and prefer one other honorable and discreet man from time to time, to be high steward of the borough aforesaid. And that the person who shall be so as aforesaid elected, preferred and nominated to be high steward of the borough aforesaid, after the death of the said sir Thomas Chaloner, knight, shall and may be able to exercise and enjoy the same office of high steward of the borough aforesaid, during the pleasure of the aforesaid mayor, alder- men and burgesses of the borough aforesaid or the major part of them ; of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, we will to be one. Recorder. And further we will, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, That they and their successors from henceforth for ever, may and shall have in the borough aforesaid one honest and discreet man learned in the laws of England, to be elected and nominated in form hereafter in these presents expressed and specified, who shall be and be named recorder of the borough aforesaid. And that the recorder of the borough aforesaid so as aforesaid to be elected and nominated, before he shall be admitted to execute the same office shall take a corporal oath be- fore the mayor of the borough aforesaid, rightly and faithfully to execute the same office of recorder of the borough aforesaid, according to his knowledge, in all things touching or concerning the same office. And that after such oath so taken he shall exercise and use the office of recorder of the same borough by himself or his sufficient HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 463 deputy in the borough aforesaid. And we have assigned, created, constituted and made, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do assign, nominate, create, constitute and make, our beloved Henry Frowick of Lincoln's Inn in the county of Middlesex, esq. learned in the laws of England, to be the first and present recorder of the borough aforesaid ; to continue in the same office during his natural life. And that from time to time and at all times after the death of the aforesaid Henry Frowick, at the will and pleasure of the mayor, aldermen and capital burges- ses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, the afore- said mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the aforesaid mayor of the borough afore- said for the time being we will to be one, shall and may be able to elect, nominate and prefer one other discreet man, learned in the laws of England, from time to time to be recorder of the borough aforesaid. And that he who shall be so as aforesaid elected, preferred and nominated to be recorder of the borough aforesaid, after the death of the aforesaid Henry Frowick, or after the aforesaid Henry Frowick shall voluntarily relinquish the said office of recorder, shall and may be able to have, enjoy and exercise the same office of recorder of the borough aforesaid, during the pleasure of the mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough afore- said for the time being we will to be one : having first, as aforesaid, taken a corporal oath well and faithfully to execute the same office of recorder of the borough aforesaid. And further we will, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to Chaniber- the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their sue- lain. cessors, That the mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, shall and may be able from time to time to elect, constitute and create, one of the burgesses of the borough aforesaid, to have, exercise and execute the office of chamberlain of the said borough, so long as to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the same borough or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, shall seem expedient, or until the said chamberlain shall volun- tarily relinquish his said office or shall die. And that every burgess of the said bo- rough in form aforesaid elected, preferred and created, or to be elected, preferred and created to be chamberlain of the borough aforesaid, shall in due manner take a corporal oath before the said mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the same borough for the time being, or so many of them as shall be willing to be present, to do and faithfully execute all those things which to the office of chamberlain of the borough aforesaid appertain. And that the chamberlain of the borough aforesaid for the time being, shall and may be able to receive, and in his custody for the use of the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid to retain, all and all manner of rents, fines, amerciaments, revenues, profits, commodities and emoluments whatsoever, to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses and their successors, in right of their corporation in any wise belonging or appertaining, in- curred, due or payable ; and to lay out and expend the same at their mandate and command from time to time. And that the chamberlain of the borough aforesaid for the time being, shall make and write all and singular writings, deed, charters, evi- dences and muniments whatsoever, to the said mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the 464 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Deputy mayor. same borough for the time belonging, or in any wise appertaining, and shall keep the same in the chamber of the borough aforesaid ; and of all things by him or them so received or levied, kept or had, shall render a true and just account yearly, at every feast of Saint Matthew for ever, to the said mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them. And also that every chamberlain of the said borough for the time being who shall happen to be removed from his office or shall voluntarily relinquish his office aforesaid, within one month next after his removal or voluntary relinquishment of his office aforesaid shall render a true and faithful account of all things in his office by him accepted, had or done, to the mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the same borough, or as many of them as shall be willing to be present, when they shall be thereunto re- quired. Aud for the better execution of our will and grant in that behalf, we have assigned, created, constituted and made, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do assign, create, nominate, constitute and make our beloved Russell An- drews, gent, to be the first and present chamberlain of the same borough ; to continue in the same office during his natural life. And that from time to time, and at all times after the death or surrender of the aforesaid Russell Andrews, at the will and pleasure of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the afore- said mayor for the time being we will to be one, shall and may be able to elect, no- minate and prefer, one other discreet man from time to time, to be chamberlain of the borough aforesaid. And that he who shall be so as aforesaid elected, preferred and nominated to be chamberlain of the borough aforesaid after the death or surren- der of the aforesaid Russell Andrews, shall and may be able to have, enjoy and ex- ercise the same office of chamberlain of the borough aforesaid, during the pleasure of the mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being, or the major part of them, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, having first taken a corporal oath before the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, rightly, well and faithfully to execute the same office of chamberlain of the borough aforesaid. And further we will, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their suc- cessors, That if the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, shall happen so to be afflicted with illness that he cannot attend the necessary business of the bo- rough aforesaid, or shall leave the borough aforesaid, for any reasonable cause to be allowed by the capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid or the major part of them ; that then and so often from time to time hereafter, it shall and may be lawful for the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, to make and constitute from time to time one honest and discreet man of the aldermen of the borough aforesaid, to be the deputy of the same mayor for the time being so afflicted with illness or ab- sent for any other reasonable cause ; to be allowed so as aforesaid to continue in the same office of deputy mayor of the borough aforesaid in the absence or illness of the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, during his mayoralty. Which same alderman so as aforesaid to be deputed and constituted to be deputy mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, shall and may be able to do and execute all and singular those things, which to the office of mayor of the borough aforesaid HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. 465 within the same borough, the liberties and precincts of the same, appertain and ought to appertain to be done and executed, during the pleasure of the mayor of the bo- rough aforesaid for the time being, in the absence or illness of the same mayor, for the time being, by force of these our letters patent, as fully and intirely as the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being, if he could be present, by virtue of these our letters patent or by any other means, might and could be able to ex- ecute ; having first taken a corporal oath before the recorder of the borough afore- said for the time being or the deputy of the same recorder, rightly and faithfully to execute all and singular those things which to the office of deputy mayor of the bo- rough aforesaid appertain. And so, as often as the case shall so happen. And if the recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being shall happen so to Deputy be afflicted with illness that he cannot attend the necessary business of the borough Recorder, aforesaid, concerning the office of recorder of the borough aforesaid, or shall leave the borough aforesaid for any reasonable cause, That then and so often from time to time it shall and may be lawful for the recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being to make and constitute from time to time one other honest and discreet man of the burgesses of the borough aforesaid to be the deputy of the same recorder for the time being, so afflicted with illness or absent for any other reasonable cause, to continue in the same office of deputy recorder of the borough aforesaid in the absence or ill- ness of the recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being, during the pleasure of the same recorder for the time being. Which same burgess so as aforesaid to be deputed and constituted to be deputy recorder of the borough aforesaid shall and may be able to do and execute all and singular those things which to the office of recor- corder of the borough aforesaid within the same borough, the liberties and precincts of the same, appertain and ought to appertain to be done and executed, during the pleasure of the recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being, in the absence or illness of the same recorder for the time being, by force of these our letters patent, as fully and intirely as the recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being by virtue of these our letters patent or by any other means might and could be able to execute, having first taken a corporal oath before the mayor of the borough aforesaid or his deputy for the time being, rightly and faithfully to execute all and singular the same things : and so as often as the case shall so happen. And we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the Court of same mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, Record. That they and their successors from henceforth for ever shall have and hold and shall and may be able to have and hold within the borough aforesaid one court of record on every Thursday in every week throughout the year ; to be holden before the mayor of the borough aforesaid or his sufficient deputy and the senior alderman of the borough aforesaid and also the recorder of the same borough for the time being or his sufficient deputy, or any two of them, of whom the mayor or recorder of the borough aforesaid or their sufficient deputy or the deputy of either of them for the time being we will to be one : And that in the same court they shall and may be able to hold by plaints in the same court to be levied all and all manner of pleas, actions, suits and demands, real, personal and mixt, concerning whatsoever trespas- ses within the borough aforesaid, the liberties and precincts of the same, moved, ari- sing, had or perpetrated, or hereafter to be done, moved, had or perpetrated ; and concerning all and all manner of debts, pleas upon the case, deceits, accounts, cove- nants, detinue of charters, writings, muniments and chattels, taking and detaining 3 N 466 HISTORY OF EVE8HAM. of cattle and chattels, and other contracts whatsoever, from whatsoever cause or matter within the borough aforesaid, the liberties and precincts of the same arising, or hereafter happening to arise ; although the same trespasses, debts, accounts, cove- nants, deceits, detinue, or other contract, shall amount or shall not amount, or shall exceed the sum of forty shillings, provided they shall not exceed the debt, sum, damage or value of 100. And that such pleas, plaints, suits and actions, shall be there heard and determined before the said mayor or his sufficient deputy and the senior alderman of the borough aforesaid and also the recorder of the same borough for the time being or his sufficient deputy, or any two of them, of whom the mayor or recorder of the borough aforesaid or their sufficient deputies or the deputy of either of them for the time being we will to be one, by such and the like process, means and manner, according to the laws and customs of our kingdom of England, by which and as shall be agreeable to our law, and in as ample manner and form as is used and accustomed in any other court of record in any other city, borough or town in- corporate within this our kingdom of England. And that the mayor and recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being from time to time may and shall have power and authority in the full court aforesaid to nominate, elect and appoint, admit and swear, so many discreet, expert and fit men, to be attorneys and attendants in the court of record aforesaid, as often as their presence, ministry and service shall be re- quisite, as to the aforesaid mayor and recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being shall seem necessary to be elected and nominated, as in any other court of re- cord within this our kingdom of England is used and accustomed. And that the aforesaid attorneys for the time being and all other officers and ministers enjoying any office or ministry in the aforesaid court of record relating to the administration , or execution of justice within the borough aforesaid, the liberties and precincts of the same, shall have and receive, and every of them shall have and receive from hence- forth for ever such reasonable wages, fees and rewards for the execution of their ministeries or offices aforesaid as of old they have had and received or of right ought to have and receive. Prison. And further we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their suc- cessors, That the same mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid aud their successors for ever, may and shall have within the borough aforesaid, the liberties and precincts of the same, one prison or gaol, for the keeping and custody of all and singular persons attached and to be attached or in any wise adjudged to the prison or gaol of the borough aforesaid, within the liberty of the borough afore- said or the precincts of the same, for whatsoever cause which in the same borough can be inquired, prosecuted, punished or determined ; there to remain until they shall be in due manner delivered. And that the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being may and shall be keeper of the same gaol. Profits of And moreover of our further especial grace and of our certain knowledge and mere Court. motion, for us our heirs and successors, we grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, That they the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors from henceforth for ever shall have, enjoy and receive, and shall and may be able to have, enjoy, levy and receive, to the proper use and behoof of the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, all and all manner of fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeitures and profits in the court aforesaid, before the afore- HISTORY OP EVESHAM. 467 said mayor, or his sufficient deputy and the senior alderman and recorder of the borough aforesaid or the sufficient deputy of the same recorder or any two of them as aforesaid, or before the justices of us our heirs and successors, to preserve the peace within the aforesaid borough, to be imposed, accruing, coming, arising, hap- pening, or to be forfeited. And that it shall and may be lawful for the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, to levy and collect the same fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeitures and profits from time to time, by the proper ministers of the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid, according to the law and custom of our kingdom of England, and the same to have and enjoy to the proper use and behoof of the same mayor, alder- men and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors : rendering therefore to us our heirs and successors yearly out of and for all and singular the aforesaid fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeitures and profits, the antient farm or rent of 13 6*. 8d. of lawful money of England, to the hands of the bailiffs or receivers of the premises for the time being, at the feasts of Saint Michael the Archangel and Easter, by equal portions to be paid yearly for ever, as of old they have been accus- tomed to render. We have also granted and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do Waifs, &. grant to the same mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid for the time being and their successors, That they and their successors from henceforth for ever may and shall have, and shall and may be able to have, to the proper use and behoof of the same mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, all and all manner of goods and chattels waived whatsoever, deodands, goods, and chattels of felons and fugitives, felons of themselves, persons outlawed and to be outlawed, waived and to be waived, condemned and to be condemned, adjudged and to be adjudged, attainted and happening to be attainted, convicted and to be convicted, fugitives and persons put or to be put in exigent for felony and murder, and felons of themselves, of all and singular the burgesses and inhabitants within the borough aforesaid, the liberties and precincts of the same, from time to time arising, happening or accruing. And further we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to Muster, the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their suc- cessors, That the aforesaid mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being and his successors, may and shall have full authority and power to press and to take and survey a muster and array of our liege people and subjects within the borough afore- said, the limits and precincts of the same, in any competent place within the bo- rough aforesaid, the limits and precincts of the same, so often as and when it shall seem necessary to them to be done from time to time ; and to cause persons refusing the premises or any of them to be punished at the lawful command of the said mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being by imprisonment of their bodies according to his discretion. And that no lieutenant or commissioner of us our heirs or suc- cessors, assigned or to be assigned to press or to make any muster or array in the aforesaid county of Worcester, shall intermeddle in any muster or array of men within the borough aforesaid, the limits and precincts of the same, residing or dwell- ing ; nor shall enter the borough aforesaid, the limits or precincts of the same, to do or execute any thing which to his office concerning such muster or array doth in any wise belong, unless with the assent and consent of the mayor of the borough afore- said for the time being. 468 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Exemption And moreover of our further especial grace and of our certain knowledge and from Juries. mere motion we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their suc- cessors, That the same mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, or either of them shall not in any wise be compelled or required to go out of the borough aforesaid before us our heirs or successors, the justices of us and our heirs of the bench, the justices of us and our heirs assigned to take assizes and to deliver gaols, the keepers of the peace and justices of us and our heirs assigned to hear and determine divers felonies, trespasses and misdeeds, or the justices of us and our heirs of nisi prius, or the justices of us and our heirs assigned to survey walls, ditches, gutters, sewers, bridges, causeways and weirs, or other commissioners of us or our heirs, sheriffs, escheators, coroners and other officers and ministers of us our heirs and successors, or the steward and marshall or clerk of the market of the household of us and our heirs ; nor shall they or either of them be put or impannel- led in any assizes, juries or other inquisitions out of the borough aforesaid ; nor shall they or either of them in any wise forfeit to us or our heirs for the same any issues or amerciaments on that account, but shall be therefrom quit for ever ; unless they or either of them shall have lands and tenements out of the borough aforesaid, the liberties or precincts of the same borough for which they or he ought to be charged. Justices. And further we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their suc- cessors, That sir Thomas Chaloner, knight, sir David Fowles, knight, sir William Fleetwood, knight, and Adam Newton, esquire, during their natural lives, and also the mayor and recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being and four of the aldermen of the same borough for the time being, to be from time to time assigned, nominated and elected by the aforesaid mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors or by the major part of them for the time being, of whom the mayor of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be one, during the time and so long as they shall be aldermen of the said borough may and shall be the keepers and justices of us our heirs and successors ; and every of them may and shall be a justice of us and of our heirs and successors, to keep and preserve and cause to be kept and preserved the peace of us our heirs and successors within the borough aforesaid, the limits and precincts of the same ; and also to keep and cause to be kept, the statutes and ordinances of Winchester, Northampton and Westminster, for the preservation of the peace thereof ; and also the ordinances there and elsewhere concerning hunters, labourers, workmen, artificers, servants, inn- keepers, mendicants and vagabonds and others who call themselves travelling men ; and also the statutes and ordinances in the first and second years of the reign of the lord Henry the Fourth late king of England our progenitor concerning the liberty of signs, societies, knights, esquires, or valets, and other liberties concerning cloths not to be given nor in any wise used by them ; and a certain other statute of the lord Henry the Fifth enacted in the parliament holden at Westminster in the third year of his reign concerning counterfeiters, washers, clippers and other falsifiers of the money of our land ; and all other ordinances and statutes made and to be made for the good of the peace of us and of our heirs and successors and for the quiet rule and government of the people of us and of our heirs and successors in all and singular their articles within the borough of Evesham aforesaid, the limits, precincts and liberties of the same, according to the force, form and effect of the same ; and to cor- HISTOEY OF EVESHAM. 469 rect and punish all those who shall be found offending against the form of the ordi- nances and statutes aforesaid, as according to the form of the ordinances and statutes aforesaid shall be to be done ; and to cause all those who shall threaten any of the people of us our heirs or successors concerning their bodies or burning their houses, to come before them or any of them and to find sufficient security for the peace and good behaviour towards us and the people of us our heirs and successors ; and if they shall refuse to find such security, then to cause them to be safely kept in the prison of us and our heirs in the borough aforesaid until they shall find such security. Moreover we will and by these presents for us our heirs and successors grant to the Inquests, said mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, That the aforesaid sir Thomas Chaloner, sir David Fowles, sir William Fleetwood, and Adam Newton, during their natural lives, and also the aforesaid mayor, recorder and four of the aldermen of the borough aforesaid for the time being so as aforesaid to be elected and nominated from time to time to the office of justice of the peace, or any three of them, of whom the mayor and recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being we will to be two, from henceforth for ever shall be justices of us our heirs and successors ; to inquire by the oaths of good and lawful men of the borough aforesaid by whom the truth of the matter may the better be known, con- cerning all and all manner of felonies, sorceries, inchantments, witchcrafts, magic, arts, trespasses, forestallers, regraters, ingrossers and extortions, within the borough aforesaid, the precincts, limits and liberties of the same, by whomsoever and in whatsoever manuer done or perpetrated and which from henceforth shall happen to be done there ; and also concerning all and singular other misdeeds and offences concerning which our justices of the peace are able lawfully to inquire in any manner done or perpetrated within the borough aforesaid, the limits and liberties of the same, and which from henceforth shall happen there to be done or attempted : And also concerning all those who with force of arms shall go or ride, or hereafter shall presume to go or ride in assemblies against our peace and in disturbance of our people : And also concerning those who shall lay in wait or hereafter shall presume to lay in wait, to maim or kill our subjects, of which inquiry ought or hath been used to be made by the keepers and justices of the peace of us our heirs and suc- cessors and the justices of us our heirs and successors assigned and to be assigned to inquire of such felonies, trespasses and misdeeds, in any county of our kingdom of England, by virtue of the ordinances and statutes aforesaid or of other ordinances and statutes heretofore made or hereafter to be made according to the force and effect of the letters patent of us our heirs and successors, to them therefore made or to be made ; and to hear and determine from time to time all and singular the premises and other things whatsoever within the borough aforesaid, the precincts and liberties of the same, attempted or perpetrated, and from henceforth to be done, attempted or perpetrated, which by such keepers of the peace of us our heirs and successors as- signed and to be assigned to hear and determine such felonies, trespasses and mis- deeds in any county of our aforesaid kingdom of England, by virtue of the ordinances and statutes aforesaid ought and have been used to discuss and determine according to the laws and easterns of our kingdom of England and the form of the ordinances and statutes aforesaid, without any other commission or letters of us our heirs and successors to them therefore to be made. And moreover we will and of our further especial grace and of our certain know- Gaol ledge and mere motion for us our heirs and successors by these presents grant to the delivery. 470 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Return of aforesaid mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough aforesaid and their successors, That the mayor and recorder of the borough aforesaid for the time being and the aforesaid four aldermen of the borough aforesaid so as aforesaid from time to time to be elected and nominated into the office of justice of the peace or any three of them, of whom the mayor and recorder of the same borough for the time being we will to be two, from time to time for ever hereafter shall be the justices of us our heirs and successors from time to time to deliver the gaol of the borough aforesaid of the prisoners from henceforth to be committed to the same gaol on any account what- ev er : And that the coroners of the borough aforesaid for the time being shall make T ' J8r ies, '.<-. . . 114 One year's chief rent . . . . . . . 10 Balance . 12 14 127 4 Expenditure : Serjeants' dinner .... >' ' . . . 10 Servants for venison . -. * . . '- . . . 1 19 Bill for feast . . . . . , 31 8 6 Ringers for the year . . . . . . . 2 16 Ditto for Bengeworth . . . . . . ' . 100 Letting tolls . ; . . . . . , ". 1 1 Repairing town clock . . . - i*- - . 150 Coal and candles . . : v ?-;-: -.-- .- 137 Stationery and postage . . . . ". , ; ; . . 19 11 Mr. Rudge's year's fee farm rent . .- - i ' . -' . - 13 16 8 Bills for constables . . . .. . 580 Serjeants at mace, salaries and small bills . . - : -. . 619 3 Crier's suit, hat, &c. . . . . . 720 Principal on mortgage of tolls . . . . . 40 Interest of debt . . .-. J - . . . . 12 127 8 11 HI8TOKY OF EVESHAM. 495 23. The corporation appoint a master to the free school with a salary of 10 a Patronage, year ; and in default of an appointment by Lord Coventry, select the objects of a charity of 20 distributed annually among the poor of the three parishes. 24. The only local act relating to the borough is 5 Geo. IV. c. entituled " An Local Act. act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, regulating and improving the borough of Evesham in the county of Worcester ; for repairing, improving and maintaining the bridge over the river Avon within the said borough, and for selling certain waste lands within the said borough, and for appropriating the monies arising from such sales towards the purposes therein mentioned." The common council are standing commissioners under this act ; but there is also a large body of other commissioners taken from the principal inhabitants. 25. The trade of the town is small, but with the exception of a ribbon manufac- General tory in a declining state, was stated to us to be in a prosperous condition. prospects. An old privileged company, called the master ironmongers, complained that the corporation, although receiving a small fee on the admission of members, refused to assist them in the assertion of their exclusive privilege. The fees, however do not exceed 1 9s. in a year ; they are paid pursuant to the ancient constitution of the company ; and the corporation having ceased to exact fines from non-freemen for trading in the borough, can scarcely be called on to enforce exclusive privileges which would be mischievous if they were not obsolete. Gloucester, Sept. 22, 1833. PEREGRINE BINOHAM. DAVID JARDINE. XVII. BYE-LAWS, MADE BY THE COUNCIL OF THE BOROUGH OF EVESHAM, on the 7th day of February 1839, under and by virtue of an Act made and passed in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, chapter 76 ; allowed by Her Majesty in Privy Council, 26th March, 1839. I. IT is hereby ordained and enacted that every person duly qualified, who shall be Officers elected to the office of mayor, alderman, councillor, auditor or assessor, and who elected - shall not within five clear days next after notice from the town clerk of such his election accept such office and file within such five days with the town clerk the declaration required by the above-mentioned act, shall in the case of a mayor pay a fine of fifty pounds, in the case of an alderman twenty-five pounds, in the case of a councillor twenty pounds, and in the case of an auditor or assessor fifteen pounds. II. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that any member of the council Fines, not attending any quarterly meeting of the council, or any adjournment thereof, or any special meeting, or any adjournment thereof, within the first half-hour of as- sembling, after three clear days' notice in writing, from the town clerk of any such original meeting, or in case of adjournments, after such notice as the time will allow, shall pay for each default the sum of five shillings, unless in case of illness, to be cer- tified in writing ; such certificate to be addressed and delivered to the mayor, at or before any such meeting. III. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that no person shall usurp the Serjeants, office of serjeant-at-mace or of town crier, or of any other ministerial officer in the &c. nomination, gift, or appointment of the mayor or council of the said borough ; nor 496 HISTORY OF EVESHAM. Defacing walls, &c. Corporate property. Town-clerk. Paving act. Leading horses. shall any person obstruct such officer in the execution of his duties by words, ges- tures or actions, nor shall any person exercise, or attempt to exercise, any right, privilege, or usual employment of serjeant-at-mace, town crier, or other ministerial officer, who is not duly authorized so to do by the mayor for the time being ; nor shall any person, except the town crier for the time being, proclaim any estate or goods for sale, or publish, distribute, or stick up any posting bill, catalogue, adver- tisement or placard, within the limits of the said borough, without first obtaining an authority or consent, in writing, from the mayor for the time being, so to do ; nor shall any person pull down, cover or deface, any posting bill, catalogue, advertise- ment of sale, or placard, after the same shall have been put up with such authority or consent as aforesaid, except the person be the owner or occupier of the buildings against which the same shall have been affixed, or except the town crier, appointed as aforesaid, after a reasonable time has elapsed for publication thereof. IV. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that no person or persons shall write, paint, place or designate any obscene, immoral or offensive word, picture or representation, upon any place, matter or thing, so as to be legible or visible in any of the streets, ways, passages, or places, within the said borough. V. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that the mayor, serjeants-at- mace, town crier, and such other officers of the body corporate for the time being who are annually appointed, shall, on the ninth day of November in each year, and before the appointment of officers for the year ensuing, surrender and deliver up to the said council, all such goods and paraphernalia, belonging to or concerning the said body corporate, as may have been entrusted to such officers respectively, that the state and condition thereof may be inspected, and the articles delivered over to, or for the use of, the proper officers, when appointed. VI. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that the town clerk for the time being, shall prepare a schedule, in writing, of the charters, deeds, muniments and records of the said borough, and of all goods, books and papers, belonging to or con- cerning the body corporate, which are or shall, at any time hereafter, be in his cus- tody or possession ; and shall, on the ninth day of November in every year, or within ten days afterwards, deliver unto the mayor for the time being a copy of such sche- dule, signed by the said town clerk, and shall deposit another copy thereof, so signed, in the muniment chest, at the town-hall of the said borough, where the said charters, deeds, muniments, records, goods, books and papers, shall be kept ; and the mayor for the time being, after allowing the correctness of such schedule, shall testify the same by his signature thereto. VII. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that in order to enforce the due performance and observance of the provisions of the act passed in the fifth year of the reign of his late majesty George the Fourth, for, amongst other purposes, paving, cleansing and lighting the said borough, each policeman is hereby author- ized and required to lay an information before a magistrate or magistrates of the said borough, against every person whom he may find committing any nuisance or offence prohibited by the said act. VIII. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that no person shall shew, or expose, with a view to hire, any stallion horse, on any market or fair day, by leading or riding him up and down or through any street, lane, or other public passage, within the said borough, excepting in such place or places as the mayor or council of HISTORY OF EVESHAM. 497 the said borough for the time being, by writing to be affixed against the town-hall, shall appoint; and also except in leading or riding the said horse into or from the said borough, or once leading or riding him to or from the place, to be appointed, as aforesaid. IX. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that no person shall take, Defacing tear, pull down, cover, or in any wise obliterate or deface, any notice or official docu- notices, ment, exposed for public information, and which shall be posted or affixed by order of the magistrates, or the mayor or council of this borough, on the guild-hall door, or on the plac or board on or about the said guild-hall, on which such notices or public information are, is, or shall be posted or affixed, except such person or persons as shall be directed from time to time to take down or displace the same, by the order of the magistrates, mayor, or council, at whose instance they shall have been so posted or affixed. X. And it is hereby further ordained and enacted that every person who shall Penalties, offend against either of the aforesaid bye-laws or regulations, excepting the clauses 1 and 2, upon breach of which penalties have been above provided, shall, for every offence, forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding five pounds. 3 R TEXTUAL INDEX, INDEX OF PERSONS. Abingdon, Thomas. 42, 60, 61, 112, 115, 121, 122, .124, 125, 126, 128, 171, 176, 177, 185, 197, 198, 221, 246, 379 Achelm. 95 Acton, Thomas, esq. 352 Adam, abbot. 35, 41, 57, 59, 103, 106, 235 Adams, of Benge worth. 407 Adelaide, queeii. 233 Adrian IV. pope. 104 Adulf, bishop. 28, 35, 96 jEgilwin, ^Eyelwey, abbot. 40, 98, 100, 156, 213 JElfric, abbot. 29, 96 abp. 384 jElfward, abbot. 29, 35, 58, 97 Agg, John, printer. 317, 388 Agels, bishop. 28 Agelwin, bishop and abbot. 96 Ailric. 33 Albald, abbot. 95 Albert, prince. 413 Aldbath, abbot. 95 Aldbore, abbot. 95 Aldfert, abbot. 95 Aldhelm, St. 94 Aldington, rev. William. 222 Aldred, abp. 98 Alexander III. pope. 34, 37, 103 IV. pope. 112, 114 Alfer. 27, 28 Alfgar, abbot. 96 Alfred, king. 26 Almund, abbot. 95 Alnothus. 102 Aluiet. 31 Amherst, major-general. 408 Amicia. 326 Andeville, abbot de. 102, 164, 165, 219 Andrewes, Mr. 146 Andrews, Richard. 247 Robert. 255 Theophilus, esq. 284 Anne Boleyn. 135, 137 queen. 189, 289, 357, 384 Anselm, abp. 64 Antiquarian Society. 44 Asaph, St. bishop of. 1 70, 232, 240, 242 Ascalon, bishop of. 129 Ashwin, Mrs. Richard. 207 Astley, lord. 351 Aston, Thomas. 121 Athelm. 27 Athelstan, bishop. 28 Athelwold, bishop. 27, 95 Atkins, sir Robert. 201 Mr. James. 314 Attwood, of Wolverley. 118 Augustine. 21 Averill, Mr. 394 Avikin, prior and dean. 35, 97 Aylward. 33 Bacon, Roger. 340 Badby, Thomas. 405, 406 Badsey, Robert de. 275 Bajeux, bishop of. 158 Baker, Nicholas. 357 Balam, rev. John. 179 Ballard, Philip. 132 Mr. George. 383, 384 John. 400 Bale. 94, 97, 375 Baliol, Guy de. 336 Baiidinel, Dr. 10 Bangor, bishop of. 124, 190, 258, 380 Banks, Lawrence. 400 Barber, R. 401 Bard, sir Henry. 348 Barrett, sir John. 352 Barnes, Mr. William. 307, 395 Baring, sir Thomas. 67 INDEX OF PERSONS. Bartlett, Richard. 357 Bassett, Ralph. 333, 336 Bath, bishop of. 126 Baylie, rev. Lewis. 190, 258, 380 Baylies, Dr. 66, 290, 291 Baylis, John. 396 Beale, rev. Thomas. 222, 225 Beauchamp, de. 1 02, 11 4, 1 64, 2 1 4, 336 Richard. 354 Beaufoy, Mr. 67 John. 204, 314 Hanbury. 217 Beckett, abp. 27, 339, 375. See also Thomas of Canterbury sir John. 301 Bell, Dr. 309, 310 bishop. 376 Benedict, St. 23, 26, 27 Beortulph, king. 34 Beritou, bishop of. 127 Berkeley, sir Rowland. 352 Bernardi. 315, 316, 382 Biddle, Mr. 67 Biddulph, rev. Thomas. 225 rev. Thos. Tregenna. 225, 226 Bigge, sir Thomas. 279, 281, 282, 399 Bishop, Mary. 3^6 Robert. 401 Blaauw, W. H. esq. 336, 337 Blayney, Robert, esq. 58, 234 Blond, Walter le. 276 Blount, sir Edward. 276 Bohun, Humphrey de. 335, 33P Bois, abbot de. 62, 84, 118, 121, 181, 241 Bolingbroke, Henry. 123 Bond, William. 398, 400, 401 Bonner, bishop, 140, 376 Borthwick, P. esq. 301, 302, 303, 304 Boteler, Ralph. 37 Botreaux, William. 84 Boughton, sir William Edward Rouse. 285, 295, 296, 297 sir Chas. Wm. Rouse. 295 Bovey, Thomas. 205 Bowles, hon. G. Rushout. 303 Bowyer, Robert, esq. 280, 281 Brace. 125 Bradford, Richard. 313 Bradwey, Christopher. 81 Brantley, William. 255 Bredet, sir Thomas. 123 Bremesgrave, abbot de. 124, 125, 169, 233, 235, 246 Brightwald, abp. or Brithwald. 25, 91, 94 Brithmar, abbot. 96 Britton, John, esq. 10 Brokehampton, abbot. 42, 47, 50, 59, 115, 116, 129, 170, 232, 235, 240 Bromley, Henry, esq. 352 Brown, rev. William. 233 Bruce, Patrick Crawford, esq. 293 Bryan. 34 Buckingham, duke of. 299 Bulstrode. 315 Buckley, Sigebert. 379 Burmugham, William de. 336 Burnet, bishop. 140 Burney, Dr. 374 Burton, Mr. 397 Bushell, Warin, Richard, Albert, Ro- bert, and Galfred. 34, 37 Burhred, king. 157 Burkinshaw, rev. W.. 180, 192 Busted, rev. William. 225 Butler, rev. Albaii. 95 sir Nicholas. 266 Butterworth, rev. Lawrence. 209, 210 Byddle, William. 255 Byrch, William, esq. 10, 390 Calvert, Giles. 201 Calamy, rev. Mr. 397 Canning, William. 242 Cantelupe, Walter de. 330, 333 Canterbury, abps. of. 25, 27, 91, 94, 105, 122 Canute, king. 28, 29, 34, 35, 58, 97, 218 II. 219 Capon, Mrs. 384 Caractacus. 364 Cardale, rev. Paul. 205 Carew, sir Matthew. 238 Caroline, queen, 384 ; of Brunswick, 408 Cartwright, Mrs. 390 Cassilis, earl. 297 Carpenter, bishop. 38 Carr, bishop. 173 Casewell, rev. J. D. 210 Catherine of Arragon. 1 35 Cecil. 376, 378, 388 Celestine, pope. 35, 229 Cesar, Thomas, gent. 256 Chamberlayne. 1 8 Chambers, "John, esq. 381, 387 Chandos, lord. 299 Charles I. 163, 171, 177, 185. 239, 282, 343, 347, 356 II. 151, 191, 242, 261, 264, 285, 286, 287, 357, 407 ' V. emperor. 136, 137, 148 Chaucer. 199 Chelred, [Ceolred] king. 33 INDEX OF PERSONS. Ill Cheke, sir John. 376, 377 Cheek, J. M. G. esq. 10 Chyryton, abbot de. 42, 58, 5.9, 60, 64, 82, 116, 117, 118, 221, 244 Cenred, king. See Kenred Clarence, George duke of. 126, 355 Clare, sir Ralph. 352 Clarendon, lord. 284, 344, 347, 348, 375 Clark, Mr. John. 314, 395, 396 Clement III. pope. 106 VI. 119 -VII. 135, 136 dementi, Muzio. 410 Clevely, rev. George. 225 Cobbett, William. 84 Cobham, bishop. 116 Cockes, John, esq. 352 Cockerell, sir Charles. 199, 216, 294, 296, 297, 298, 299, 301, 302 sir Charles Rushout. 299, 390 John, esq. 302 Coke. 277, 388 Cokesay, Mr. 255 Cokeson, William. 141 Cooks, Robert. 39 Cookes, Thos. esq. 65, 66,290,291,352 sir William. 291 Colet, dean. 386 Collett, John. 386, 387 Colins, William, esq. 352 Colson, Mr. [now of Worcester]. 11 Constantine, pope. 25, 94. 122 emperor. 365 Conway, sir Edward. 281, 282 Corelli. 387 Constantius, emperor. 363 Courteney, abp. 122 Courtene, sir Peter. 151, 245 William. 151 Coventry, bishop of. 108 . sir Thomas. 239 hon. Henry. 381 - Thomas, lord. 390 -Mr. 283 Cooper, rev. Edward. 192, 393 rev. Henry Portmore. 1 92 Dr. Beale. 214, 216, 390, 409 , Mr. R. 394 Cox. 10, 378 Cracroft, John, esq. 227 Cranmer, abp. 138, 140 Credan, St. 50, 95 Cresheld, R. esq. 282, 283, 392, 398 Crespigny, Walter de. 336 Cressy, Paulin de. 91 Craven, lord. 281, 292 Crofts, Mr. Christopher. 197 Cromwell, Thomas. 130, 132, 137, 141 - Oliver. 283, 284 - Richard. 284 Croule, Peter de. 276 Croyland, abbot of. 375 Cullen, sir Abraham. 285, 286 sir Rushout. 288 Culverwell, rev. Mr. 397 Cuming, abp, 104 Cumin, cardinal. 375 Cutulf, abbot. 95 D'Abitot, Urso. 31 Dalmare, Thomas, gent. 256 Davis, rev. Timothy. 207 - David. 415 Davies, rev. Edward. 225 De Stafford, Robert. See Stafford, de. Other names with this prefix in like manner Deacle, J. esq. 21 4, 221, 222, 289, 393 M. P. 289, 290 Delabere, Richard, esq. 243 Despenser, Hugh le. 330, 333, 336 Devereux, William. 336 Digby, rev. William. 216, 234 Dingley, major William. 350, 352 Dobyns, Daniel, esq. 352 Downshire, marquis of. 303 Downs, rev. W. 210 Dudda. 33 Dugdale, sir William. 25, 105, 144 Duncombe, Mr. 266 Dunstan, St. 23, 27, 28, 95 Durant, George, esq. 292 Dykon, John. 121 Eafy. See Avikin Ebrington, lord. 301 Ebba, abbot. 95 Ecgwin, St. 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 39, 40, 41, 58, 64, 81, 87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 101, 155, 159, 221, 229, 230, 231, 240, 249 Edgar, the Peaceable. 27, 34 Edge, Mr. W. B. 395 - Daniel, esq. 410, 411 Edmondes, Christopher, gent. 226 Edmund, son of Edward the Elder. 27 St. 122 Edric, steersman. lt)l Edward the Elder. 27 - the Martyr. 27, 34 the Confessor. 29, 31, 39, 98, 101, 154, 373, 377 prince. 327, 329, 330, 331, 332, 334, 339 I. 114, 115, 159, 275, 276, 277, 405 INDEX OF PEESONS. Edward II. 116 III. 35, 118, 124, 241, 244, 276, 312, 359, 370, 405 IV. 37 VI. 148, 150, 376 Edwin, abbot. 26, 95 Egioake, John, esq. 284, 285, 352 Einesfield, Gilbert. 336 Eleanor of Provence. 324 Eleanora, widow of earl Pembroke. 326 Elferd, abbot. 95 Ellis, rev. John. 358 Elizabeth, queen. 175, 177, 194, 233, 236, 242, 252, 255, 256, 257, 277, 377, 380 Elstob, Mrs. 356, 383, 384, 385 Mr. Ralph. 383 Dr. Charles. 383 Ely, bishop of. Ill Eoves. 15, 22, 23, 86, 87, 93, 249 Essex, lord. 347 Etbrith, abbot. 95 Ethelbald, king. 25, 33 Ethelred, king of Mercia. 21, 23, 24, 33, 87, 88, 235 the Unready. 28,29,34,35,96 Ethelward. 33 Eugenius IV. pope. 36 Evesham, Simon de. 36 abbot de. 107 . bishop de. 107 Thomas de. 117 Cardinal de. 374 . . Elias de. 375 John de. 375 Fabricius. 375 Fairfax, general. 347 Feckenham, Dr. 141, 187, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 398 Feild, Nicholas. 394 Fermour, Richard. 38 Field, Edward. 286, 407 rev. Samuel. 309 Finch. 277 Fitzgeoffry, John. 329 Fitzthomas, William, esq. 358 Fitz Parnell, Robert. 326. Amicia. ib. Fitzwilliam. 80 Flaix, St. Germer de. 321 Fleetwood, Richard, esq. 22 John. 37 Ford, sir Francis. 292 Fort, Martha. 400 Fownes, John, esq. 352 Fosbroke, rev. T. D. 88 Foster, Thomas. 314 Thomas Nelson. 314, 414 Fox, George. 201, 203 Charles James. 352 Foxe. 379 Foote, Samuel. 385, 386 Frederick the Great. 291 Freake, bishop. 35, 229 Freodegar, abbot. 28, 95 Fryer, Leonard. 401 Fuller. 146, 374 Fyld, rev. Edward. 179 Gale, Mr. 362 Gallienus, emperor. 365 Gardner, family. 315 Philip, gent. 391 Mrs. Ann. 391 Mrs. Elizabeth. 391 Mr. George. 391, 392 Mr. John. 395 Gay, John, haberdasher. 200 George I. 289, 290, 366 II. 290, 357, 367, 368 III. 292, 293, 294, 367, 368, 408 IV. 297, 368, 408, 409 Germany, empress of. 327 Gervase of Canterbury. 105 Gibson, bishop. 382 Gibbs, Mr. Richard. 244 John. 10, 371, 412, 415 Giles, John, esq. 352 Glanville, serjeaut. 277, 287 Gloucester, abbot de. 36, 111 Walter de. 48 abbot of. 121 Richard, earl of. 329 Gilbert, . 330, 333, 334, 335 Robert of. 335 Godgyve, lady. 34 Godric, abbot. 99 Godwin, 28, 96, 97 Goodere, sir Edward. 289 John Dineley. 385 Gosfrid, bishop. 101 Gouge, Dr. 397 Grafton, major. 34 Grant, Patrick, esq. 297 Gratian, emperor, 363 Graves, rev. Richard. 15 - Walwyn. 241 Gray, Mr. 388 Greaves, John, esq. 358 Great Western Railway Company. 1 4 Gregory, pope. 35 St. 384 Grevill, Fouk. 38 Gresley, sir Roger. 297 INDEX OF PERSONS. Gresley, Richard, esq. 358 Green, Valentine. 78, 94, 386 Grey, earl. 301, 302, 410 . lady Jane. 377 Grose, capt. 60 Grosseteste, bishop. 328, 340 Grove. 394 Guy, Mrs. 210 Habingdon, William, esq. 352 Haddock, rev. Philip. 179 Hales, Robert de. 275, 276 Hampden. 163 Hancock, engraver. 386 Hanford, C. E. esq. 409 Hanks, Mr. 401 Hanmer, John, esq. 285, 286 Harris, Mr. 297 . Philip. 399 J. 401 Hardway, Mr. Thomas. 400 Hare, sir John. 282 Harely, sir Robert. 282 Harlowe, John, esq. 390 Harold, king. 28, 99 Hastings, Dr. 17, 359 Henry de. 336 Hawford, Philip, cellarer. 81 [and Hayford] abbot. 88, 132, 141, 149, 239 Hawkins, bailiff. 255 George. 255 Hawkesbury, abbot. 126 Hay, Philip. 401 Hazlewood. 226, 236 Henry I. 13,32,64,111,251 . II. 57, 104, 111, 159, 375 , III. 14, 33, 57, 108, 111, 113, 240, 242, 245, 324, 326, 327, 329, 330, 331, 332, 360, 405 IV. 123, 355, 370, 406 V. 123, 246, 406 VI. 126, 144, 235 VII. 63, 128, 235, VIII. 37, 38, 61, 81, 88, 129, 135, 137, 145, 147, 149, 150, 161, 179, 184, 190, 194, 223, 226, 230, 238, 247, 257, 360, 375, 379 Henry, prince of Wales. 190, 195, 258, 260, 380 Plantagenet. 27 Dr. 27 Herods, the. 47 Hereford, earl of. 99 bishop of. 126, 128 Herbert, col. 352 Hestelel, Thomas de. 336 Hickes, Dr. 382 Higgs, Mr. 396 Hill, lord Marcus. 303, 304 Hobbs, Mr. Philip. 376 Hoby, Philip. 56, 145, 146, 147, 149, 150, 151, 193, 197, 226, 234, 236, 241, 245, 247, 254, 257, 279, 315, 360 William. 147 Thomas. 148, 151, 1 98, 247, 255 Edward. 198,234,252,255,256, 257 Richard. 243, 245 Hockin, rev. J. 209 Hood, Robin. 337 Hodgson, Mr. 17 Holland, Edward, esq. 234, 307, 414, 415 Holte, William de la. 275 Homan. 376, 379 Hopville, Hugh de. 336 Hooper, bishop. 376 Hopkins, rev. George. 191 Dr. William. 381, 382 Home, Miss Elizabeth. 309, 310 bishop. 378 Misses. 402, 403 Hornyhold, Thomas, esq. 352 Hoveden, Roger de. 103 Howorth, Humphrey, esq. 293, 294, 295, 296 Hubert, abp. of Canterbury. 105 Hudson, Thomas, esq. 299, 301, 302 Hughes, Mr. R. H. 402 Huicciaus, the. 21 Hulls, Mr. Jonathan. 358 Hume, Mr. 17 Hunt, Mr. Solomon. 234, 402 Kurd, bishop. 388 Hurlybutt, rev. A. 225 Huxley, Mrs. Robert. 211 Iiide, John de. 336 Ingram, Henry, esq. 352 major John. 352 Innocent II. pope. 102 III. 106,107,373 IV. 111 Ireland, Mr. 177 Isabel of Angouleme. 324 Jackson, Mr. Jacob. 195, 400 James, St. 242 James I. 1 90, 1 95, 2 1 3, 258, 260, 265, 276, 279, 280, 281, 282 II. 265, 266, 266, 287, 382 - William, esq. 358 Jefferies, judge. 262, 266 Jenks, Thomas. 400 Jephcott, Dr. 191, 381, 391, 396 INDEX OF PERSONS. John, St. 242, 245 XXII. pope. 116, 11$ prince : 105. king : 106 Johns, William. 380 Johnson, Dr. 317, 388 382, 394 Jones, rev. Evan. 192 Jordan, Thomas. 187 Julian, emperor. 363 Katherine, St. 126 queen of Henry V. 144 Keighley, sir Philip. 261, 263, 264, 279, 280 Keightley, John. 263, 264 Kennedy, lord Archibald. 297, 298 Kenred, king. 24, 25, 88, 92, 93, 231, 234, 241, 242, 246, 362 Kenulph, abbot. 25 Kighley, Bartholomew. 252, 256 Kineward, high-sheriff. 101 Kinewarton, Randulph de. 34 Alexander. 34 Knighton, 121 Kynach, abbot. 95 Kynath, abbot. 95 Kynelm, abbot. 95 Lady of the Isle. 38 Langtoft, Peter. 29 Langstone. 281, 282, 345, 352 Lathom, Dr. 205 Henry. 42, 59, 170 Laurence, St. and abp. 375 Lavalette. 293 Lavender. 65, 291 Lechmere, Nicholas, esq. 352 Le Gras, abbot. 110 Legge, col. 348 Leicester, earl. See Monfort de. Leigh. 238, 239, 400 Leland. 28, 41, 42, 95, 103, 144, 161, 170, 194, 235, 359, 360, 362, 375 Leman. 362 Lench, Henry. 125 Leofric, earl. 34, 218, 219 Leofwine, bishop. 39 Leonard, St. 242 Levi. 292 Llewellin, prince. 330 Lichfield, abbot. 42, 43, 46, 53, 55, 65, 88, 129, 130, 131, 132, 149, 170, 184, 194, 196,235, 253 Lincoln, bishop of. 121, 122, 126, 328 Littleton of Frankley. 239, 352 London, George, cellarer. 81 . Dr. 146 bishop of. 331 Long, sir Richard. 226 Lopez, sir Masseh. 294 Lloyd, bishop. 189 Louis IX. 330 XIV. 382 Lucy, Rinald. 89 Lunn, rev. Matthew. 234 Lye, Mrs. 394 Lygon, hon. H. B. 217, 390 E. Pyndar. 217, 390 col. William. 352 Lyttletou, William, clerk. 253 Maberley, Lieut.-col. 299 Mackintosh, sir James. 265 Madox, bishop. 189 Maile, Mr. Richard. 211 Malger, bishop. 106 Maltby, Mr. 399 Mandeville, William de. 336 Mann, Mr. Thomas. 314 Manning, William, esq. 216, 294 Mannie, abbot. 39, 98, 101 Mansell, Mr. 398 Mant, rev. Mr. 387 Marleberg, de, prior and abbot. 41, 47, 57, 105, 107, 108, 170 Marisco, Adam de. 340 Marshall, rev. Anthony. 190 John. 192, 390, 398 Martin IV. pope. 115, 374 Mrs. Abigail. 391 Mr. Thomas. 400 Mary, queen. 140, 377 of Scots. 177 Mary and Milburge, SS. 236 Massey, col. 348, 349, 350 Matthew of Paris. 104, 339 Matthews, sir John. 287, 288, 397 Mathews, John. 253, 254 Thomas. 396 Matthew, rev. Thomas. 179 of Westminster. 337 Matty, R. esq. 358 Maunsell, Johannes. 325 Maurice, prince. 345 May, Mrs. 210 Melbourne, lord. 302, 304 Melen, Mr. 394 Merewether, serjeaut. 277 Milo, earl. 102 Mills, widow. 401 Milward, Thomas, esq. 352 Mitchell, rev. John. 191, 225 James. 393 Montfort, Symon de. 49, 114, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341 the younger. 332 INDEX OF PERSONS. Vll Montfort, Peter of. 330, 336 . Henry de. 333, 335, 336 Guy de. 336 Moore, William. 352 More, or Mower, rev. Jacob. 208 Mr. Rowe. 383 Mortimer. 186, 333, 337 Morton, William, esq. 282 Mountford, Humphrey. 239 Mountjoy, baron. 357 Napoleon. 408 Nash, Dr. 25, 33, 36, 56, 115, 118, 132, 143, 157, 177, 215, 230, 234, 236, 237, 239, 241, 242, 245, 352, 356, 364, 366, 385 Nazareth, abp. of. 120 Neckar, Mons. 293 New, Mr. Anthony. 93, 403 sen. 207, 393 John. 207,217,394 woolstapler. 395 Thomas. 345 Herbert. 415 Newbold, John, cellarer. 81 abbot. 128 Newcourt, bishop. 143 Newman, Margaret. 243 Nicholas, St. 128 the Barber. 332, 333 Nichols, rev. Nathaniel. 191, 225 Nicolson, bishop. 375 Noble. 125 Noel. 348 North, Roger. 262 Northampton, countess of. 191 Northwick, lord. 216, 226, 295, 303, 390, 414 John, lord. 227 Norreys, abbot. 104, 107, 108 Norton, abbot. 127, 235 hosier. 313 Noy. 277 Odington, Walter. 373 Odo, abp. 23 Odulph, St. 50, 97, 108, 242 bishop. 31, 100 Offa, king of the East Saxons. 24, 25, 33, 93, 231, 234, 241, 242, 246, 362 . Mercia. 34, 234 Okley, John. 187 Oliver, widow. 400 Ombresley, abbot de. 50, 121, 122, 235, 238 baron of. 125 Orange, prince of. 288, 382 Ordway, Andrew. 394 Osborne, Mr. Charles Willoughby. 86 Osher, king. 33 Ostorius Scapula. 364 Osulf, bishop. 27 Oswald, St. 40 Osward, prince. 25 abbot. 95, 359 Ottobon, legate. 114 Page, rev. William. 224 Pakington, sir John. 352 Palmer. 189, 399 Parker, Henry, esq. and hart. 286, 287, 288, 289 Hugh, esq. 289 Parkes and Brande, Messrs. 17 Parsons. 257, 406 Pashley, rev. William. 365 Paul III. pope. 136 Payne, Elizabeth. 207 Peel, sir Robert. 304 Pearce, Mr. Josiah. 345 Pembroke, abbot. 37 earl. 326 Penda, king of Mercia. 21 Penbrok, abbot. 126 Penel, Edward, esq. 352 Penny, Mr. William. 367 Pepin, king. 374 Perrott, George, esq. 358 Edmund Thomas, esq. 358, 390 Mrs. 408 Peyton, Abraham. 358 Phelps, Mr. 291 Philip and Mary. 234 Phillipps, sir Thomas. 10 Phillips, William, esq. 386 Pitvvay, Mr. Edward. 202 Poher. 187 Porter, T. C. esq. 17 Nicholas. 120 John, esq. 290 Portinari, John. 146 Portland, duchess. 384 Pratt. 356, 367 Preedy, rev. Benjamin. 217, 398 - William Frederick, esq. 398 Prior, col. 352 Price, rev. John. 180 Prideaux, bishop. 352 Procter, Mr. John. 395 Prudhome, Richard. 83 Protheroe, Edward, esq. 297, 409* Pyrkes, rev. John. 190 Pytts, Edward. 352 Ralter, James. 396 Randulph, abbot. 35, 47, 85, 107, 108, 168, 240, 245, 246 Raphael, Alexander, esq. 297 3 a Till INDEX OF PERSONS. Reginald, abbot. 40, 102, 104, 168 Rennie, Mr. 314 Richard I. 88, 105 . II. 89, 123 III. 127 of Cirencester. 363, 364 Richards, T. B. esq. 128 Ridmark, Adam de. 337 Rimeport. 89 Robert, abbot. 101, 156 of St. Albans. 104 Roberts, Mrs. Ami. 195 Roches, Peter de. 325 Roger, abbot. 103 Rogers, Mr. 52, 60 Roper, Mr. John. 210, 407 Ross, engraver. 386 Rouse, sir Thomas. 284, 352 Chas. William Boughton, esq. 292 col. 350 Rowley, Roger de. 336 Rudge, Edward, esq. 43, 44, 45, 60, 66, 67, 88, 89, 112, 118, 151, 172, 234, 301, 311, 338, 369, 391, 394, 396, 410 Edward John. esq. 54, 64, 409 John, esq. 60, 198, 289, 290 alderman. 66, 151, 286, 288, 392, 396 Edward, esq. of Wheatfield. 290 rev. Benjamin. 310 Rushorne, Mr. 400 Rushout, sir John. 198, 216, 227, 290, 291, 292, 293 hon. and rev. George. 216 family. 238 James, esq. and hart. 285, 286, 288, 289 John, esq. M. P. 290, 292 hon. George. 303, 304 Rushworth. 283 Russell, lady. 255 lord John. 299, 409 sir William. 352 of Little Malvern. 352 Sadeler, rev. John. 187 Salter, Edward, esq. 281 Sal way, Richard, esq. 352 Samon, rev. John. 190 Sandys, sir Samuel. 245, 345 * Edwin. 245 Arthur, lord. 246. lord. 352 William, esq. 282, 283, 285, 286, 355, 356, 357, 358 bishop. 311 Savage, Mr. 399 Say, William, esq. 356, 357 Scawen, Mr. 350 Scotland, queen of. 327 Scudery, Madame. 384 Scull, sir Walter. 126 Seagrave, Nicholas de. 336 Sebert, F. 379 Selden. 277 Sepinges, Robert de. 336 Severus, emperor. 365 Seward, Mrs. 209 Seymour, Henry, esq. 292 sir Edward. 292 Shakspere. 186 Shaw, rev. John. 216,226,398 Shelden, William, esq. 149 : Edward, esq. 352 Shelton, rev. Joseph. 225 Sheppey, Thomas. 363 Shrewsbury, lord. 352 Simon, bishop of Worcester. 102 Siward. 101 Skirrow, Walker, esq. 301 Sly, Mr. 11 Smith, Mr. William. 192 rev. James. 211 Thomas. 237 Miss Harriott. 308, 309, 310, 393 Mrs. Sarah. 314, 391, 414, 415 Miss Louisa Ann. 393 sir Culling Eardley. 414 Henry, printer. 316 major Edward. 352 Timothy, esq. 358 Sodinton, William de. 275, 276 Sodyngton, John de. 121 Soley, William, esq. 390 Somborne, Richard de. 83 Somerset, duke of. 292 Sonell, M. 401 Sortes, Adam. 41 Soulis, Roger de. 336 Southall, rev. Henry. 398 Sparling, priest. 102 Speke, sir Thomas. 150 Stafford, Robert de. 34 sir Humphrey. 126 Stapleton, Dr. 378 St. John, John de. 336 Staunton, abbot de. 121 Stephen, king. 102, 165 Stevens, continuator of Dugdale. 91, 104, 126, 193, 336, 373, 378 rev. John. 211 Stokes, John Allen, esq. 369 Stone, John. 401 Stowe, William. 42, 80 INt>EX OF PERSONS. IX Stratton, Mr. Anthony. 314 Strickland, Miss. 415 Strype. 378, 379 Stukeley, Dr. 14, 364 Sudeley. 187 Suffield, Mr. John. 294, 303 Sullivan, Francis, esq. 292 Sweton, rev. William. 179 Sylvester, bishop. 38 Symonds, George, esq. 352 Symons, Edmund. 399 Tacitus. 364 Tainus. 31 Talbot, earl, and son. 334 Tanner, bishop. 24,37,91,94, 375, 379 Taylor, rev. Thomas. 197 Elizabeth. 207 William, esq. 290 Taverner, Roger and Richard, esqrs. 226 Tettebury, William de. 83 Tewkesbury, abbot of. 124 Thelluson, Charles, esq. 293 Theodosius, emperor. 363 Thomas, bishop. 13, 190 St. of Canterbury. 242. See Becket John, esq. 395, 409 Thompson, Thomas, esq. 292, 293 Mr. Jonah. 403 Thorley, rev. Edwin. 211 Thornes, rev. Edward. 192 Throckmorton. 61, 89, 144, 246 Throgmorton, Robert. 141 Timbrell. 207 Tindal, rev. William. 25, 61, 159, 181, 230, 276, 315, 384, 387, 388 . Nicholas. 387 Tinthferth, abbot. 95 Tolley, Mr. George. 256 Tomes, Fisher, esq. 81, 238 Townsend, Henry, esq. 352 Tregor, Robert de. 336 Tressell, William. 336 Troia, Hugh de. 337 Tunfrith, king. 34 Turton, Richard. 357 Tusculum, bishop of. 105,107 Tuttebury, abbot. 38 Twitty, rev. Thomas. 179 Tyldbrith, abbot. 95 Tynemouth, John of. 92 Ufa, earl. 34 Ulric. 27 Upton, abbot. 127 Urban, VI. pope. 120 Urso D'Abitot. 31, 99, 158, 159, 246 Valence, William de. 336 Valentinian, emperor. 363, 365 Varney, knight-marshal. 344 Verrer, Richard de. 276 Vespasian, emperor. 365 Victoria, queen. 303, 304, 413 Vincent, St. 108, 242 Waldemar I. 37 Waller, sir William. 345, 346, 347 Walker, Edward. 401 Walpole, Horace. 291 Walsh, Joseph, esq. 352 Walter, abbot. 31, 39, 40, 84, 96, 100, 158, 246 - son of Dudda. 33 Walton, Izaak. 236 Wax-chandler's Company. 377 Warwick, earl. 122, 123, 164, 354 Watson, Thomas, esq. 226, 399 - bishop. 380, 399 - - Frances. 394 -- Mrs. Thomazin. 395, 398 Webster. 148 Wefard, abbot. 95 Welch, Mr. 43, 402, 403, 411 Wells, dean of, 41 ; bishop of, 96 Welsbourne, James. 198 W T esley, rev. John. 210 Westminster, abbot of. 376 Wever. 129 Whateley, J. W. esq. 358 Wheatley, Mr. 394 Whitchurch, abbot de. 114, 115, 169, 214 Whittington. 222 Whiting, rev. Henry Butterworth. 10 Whitfield, rev. George. 209 Wicliff. 405 Wilfred, abp. 25, 94 Wilde, major Thomas. 352 Willes, rev. Thomas. 225 William of Malmesbury. 1 4, 24 Newburgh. 285 I. 16, 29, 37, 39, 99, 100, 153, 156, 213, 246, 373 II. Rufus. 36, 285, 373 III. 288, 289, 382 IV. 269, 297, 299, 301, 302, 409, 412, 413 Prince of Orange. 268, 288 Williams, Mr. S. 11 rev. T. 240 Wilsons, rev. Henry. 225 Wilson, sir Robert. 293 Wilsin, Wulsiu, Wilsius, bishop. 47, 49, 50, 57, 79 Willis, Brown. 43, 56, 126, 132, 171, 276, 312 INDEX OF PERSONS. Winchcomb, abbot of. 99, 114 Windsor, col. and lord. 289 Winford, sir John. 352 Winning-ton, sir T. E. 54. family. 143 lord. 352, 357, 358 -- hon. Andrews. 357, 358 Wiltshire, sheriff of. 276 Worcester, bishop of. 36, 233, 330, 331, 333 abbot, de. 112 earl of. 148 dean and chapter. 233 Wistan, St. 50, 97, 114 Woodward, Daniel. 149 Wordsworth, William. 232 Workman, Benjamin, esq. 10, 411 Wolsey, cardinal. 129 Wulphere, king of Mercia. 21 Wnlstan, bp. 99, 100, 101, 193, 373 Wood, Anthony. 144, 191, 389 rev. John. 179 Wyatt, Mr. 381 Wych, Clement. 129 Wykewane, abbot. ]26 Wylde, Robert, esq. 352 Wylecote, Radulph de. 117 prior. 37 Wyllys, rev. Robert. 187, 188, 190 Yarrenton, Andrew. 357 York, dukes of. 125, 357 - William of. 336 Young, Edward. 202 Younge, William. 352 Zatton, abbot. 122, 123 INDEX OF PLACES. Abergavenny. 362 Abberley. 352 Abbot's Moreton. 30, 112, 143, 151 Norton. 279. See also Norton Salford. 151 Acton. 31, 33 Ad Antonam. 14, 15, 363, 364 Addlestrop. 29, 143 Alauna, Aluacestre. 15, 94, 363 Albans, St. See St. Albans Alcester. 14, 37, 38, 77, 1 14, 126, 162, 362, 363, 364, 366, 367, 369, 399 Aldington. 24, 30, 80, 81, 82, 83, 148, 151, 245 Alne. 34 Alnoth Leuch. 33 Alvechurch. 352 Anjou. 323 Arden's Grafton. 144 Arrow, 31, 33 : River, 38, 353 Ashtoii-under-Hill. 216, 363, 898 Astley. 352 Aston Somerville. 115, 143 Atch Lench. 30, 81 Atlantic. 358 Avignon. 119 Avon. 13, 19, 21, 24, 33, 58, 92, 168, 234, 236, 239, 283, 335, 346, 351, 353, 357, 358, 360, 362, 364, 369, 413 Badby, Baddeby. 34, 79, 82, 116, 143 Badsey, Baddeseie, Badesei. 24, 30, 76, 79, 80, 82, 143, 151, 242 Bajeux. 100 Baltic. 36 Banbury. 14, 121, 345 Bangor. 124, 190, 258, 380 Bardney. 24 Barford. 143 Bath. 182, 362, 384, 385 Batlington. 48 Battle-well. 338, 369 Beauchamp Court. 38, 144 Beckford. 368 Bengal. 302 Bengeworth. 10, 18, 24, 30, 33, 76, 99, 100, 103, 114, 121, 124, 151, 164, 191, 202, 204, 209, 210, 213, 217, 219, 225, 227, 236, 259, 260, 261, 313, 369, 380, 391, 392, 393, 394, 398, 399, 407 Bentley. 352 Beoly. 143, 352 Berkeley. 123, 350 Berkhamstead . 146 Berkshire. 110, 148 Berlin. 291 Bermondsey. 103 Bevington, Bivinton. 30, 31, 33, 82 Bewdley. 347 Bidford. 31, 33, 353, 362, 363 Birmingham. 14, 362, 363, 412 Bisham. 148 Bishop's Hull. 302 . Cleeve. 368 Blackmore Park. 352 Blakeshage, Blakeshare. 26, 32 Blakenhurste. 13, 32, 150 Bledington. 144 Blockley. 333, 414 Blue Bell. 367 Boroughbridge. 362 Bourton. 29, 82, 144, 151, 367, 369, 386 Bradwell, Broadwell, Bradewell. 29, 33, 102, 104, 143, 151 Bramber. 292 Bransford, Branesford. 31, 33 Bredon. 13, 18, 19, 353, 363, 364, 365, 368, 390 Bretforton. 24, 30, 76, 79, 80, 108, 143, 225, 241,242, 367, 369 Brickland. 399 Bridgnorth. 330 Bristol. 14, 57, 226, 291, 350, 412 Broadway. 16, 346, 351, 362, 366, 367, 369, 414 Broome. 31, 33 Bromsgrove. 312 Buckland. 369 Xll INDEX OF PLACES. Bulstrode. 384, 385 Buningtou. 33 Burchton. ib. Burghope. 289 Burton. 352 Bury. 35 Butler's Marston. 143 Caermarthen. 362 Cambridge. 60, 279, 374 shire. 378 Campden. 348, 358, 366, 367, 369, 383, 384 Camborn. 32 Canterbury. 25, 27, 57, 94, 102, 103, 104, 106, 122, 127, 275, 383 Cerasia. 39, 100 Chadbury, Chaddebury. 24, 33, 80 Charlton. 289, 352, 385, Chastleton. 31 Ched worth. 115 Chepstow. 362 Chelmsford. 387 Cheltenham. 14, 16, 17, 368, 370 Chesterfield. 362 Chester. 260, 348 le-street. 362 Chichester. 200, 387 Childswickham, 31, 33 Chiswick. 292 Chivington. 30 Church Honeybourne. See Honeybourne . Lench. 30, 407 Claverton. 301 Cleeve Prior. 192, 354, 363 Cluny. 103 Cobham. 84 Cokebevington. 1 44 Commanders, the. 352 Couderton. 364 Copredy. 345 Cornwall. 260 Cornwell. 31, 143 Cotteswold Hills. 13, 15, 18 Cotheridge. 352 Coughton. 61, 89, 144 Coventry. 219 Cow Honeybourne. See Honeybourne Crab's-Cross. 367 Cracombe. 408, 415 Cranforth. 83 Crewe. 32 Cropthorne. 157, 190, 213, 289, 394 Crowle. 352 Croyland. 25 Dailsford. 31 Dalkeith. 301 Defford. 14, 369 Denmark. 37, 101 Didbrook. 369 Dodford. 352 Doncaster. 123, 345 Donnington, Dynnyngton, Dunyngton. 32, 33, 34, ] 08, 367 Dormstone. 31 Dorsington, Dorsinton. 31, 33 Dovedale. 414 Doverdale. 125 Dresden. 291 Droitwich. 31, 312, 352, 366 Dublin. 14, 104, 375 Dumbleton. 191, 414 Earlscourt. 352 Echlench. 33 Eccleshall. 31, 33 Edricheston. 31, 33 Edwardstowe. 144 Ekeston. 34 Elmley Lovett. 132, 352 Castle. 151, 399 Ely. 378 England. 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 120, 177, 231, 284, 330, 379 Eove's Holme. 15 Essex. 93, 285 Ethomme. 15, 33 Europe. 26, 120, 374 Evenlode. 31, 151 Exeter. 108, 187 Eyford. 121, 144, 151, 193 Faryngton, Farinton. 32, 82 Feckenham. 159, 352, 376 Fisseberge. 1 3 Fladbury. 24, 36, 355, 388 Folke Mill. 80 France. 119, 330, 374, 380, 382 Frankley. 239, 352 Funen, Isle of. 36 Gascony. Ill Genoa. 316, 382 Glebon Colonia. 363 Gloucester. 29, 80, 83, 102, 107, 121, 144, 317, 330, 332, 348, 349, 350, 351, 362, 363, 364 shire. 143,147,193,241,376 Godstow. 104 Goldhore. 32 Gotherington. 368 Grafton. 32, 34 Greenwich. 387 Hackthorne. 127 Hampton, Great and Little. 16, 18, 24, 30, 31, 33, 34, 76, 77, 80, 100, 115, 143, 151, 192, 201, 210, 218, 246, 367, 392, 397, 398 INDEX OF PLACES. Hartley. 352 Hatton. 32 Hereford. 330, 332 Hertfordshire. 146 Hidcote. 29 Higden. 149 Hildindon, Hillingdon, Hildendune. 34, 36, 81, 143 Hinlip. 177, 352 Hinton. 363, 366, 368 Holland. 366, 382 Holme, Homme. 15, 24, 155 Holt. 352 Honeybourne, Huniburn. 24, 30, 36, 82, 85, 115,239, 240,241 Houpton. 32 Huddlecote, Hudicote-Bartram. 32, 33, 144, 150, 151 Hulebarewe. 33 Hurley. 110 Hurst-laue. 369 Hyldeburgwythe. 32 Ildeberga. 158 India. 302 Inkberrow, Interborougn. 284 Ireland. 104, 299, 375, 382 Itchington. 193 Juniieges. 101 Kemerton. 361, 365 Kempsey. 332 Kenihvorth. 332 Kidderminster. 14, 312, 352 Kinewarton, Kinwarton, Kyuewarton. 32, 33, 34, 36, 143, 144 Kiugle. 144 King's Norton. 352 Kingston-upou-Thames. 179 Kington. 388 Knowle-hill. 244 Konghwicke. 32 Kyre. 352 Lambeth. 380 Lancaster, 37 ; county, 37, 81, 143 Lanstoke. 144 Leamington. 14, 17 Ledbury. 366 Leicester, 14, 362; shire, 405 Lench. 31, 79 Lenchwick. 24, 29, 79, 143, 151, 234, 279, 281, 292 Leominster. 148 Lewes. 331, 334 Leylond. 32, 34, 116, 143 Liceberge, Lichberrow. 30, 143 Lichfield. 39, 317 Lincoln, 143, 227, 381 ; shire, 314 Lindridge. 381 Littleton, Liteltune, Litleton. 24, 30, 131, 238, 290, 363, 366 Mid, and North-and-Middle. 76, 81, 83, 143, 236, 238, 239, 363 South. 76, 79, 81, 83, 143, 236, 239, 363 Little Slaughter. 31 Livinton. 34 London. 14, 27, 58, 94, 97, 102, 109, 122, 127, ]43, 151, 284, 297, 324, 330, 366, 367, 369, 378, 381, 382, 386, 388, 406 Longton, Longeton. 32, 34 Long Ichington. 373 Longsmall. 149, 366, 369 Lou vain. 378 Low Countries. 366 Lucca. 382 Lucina. 375 Lutterworth. 405 Madresfield. 352 Maiden Bradley, 292 Malgersbury, Malgaresbury, Maugers- bury. 29, 33, 34, 80 Malmesbury. 144 Malvern, 15, 19 ; Little, 352 Mamble. 276 Marl Cliff, Marl Cleeve. 353, 363 Mathern. 380 Menapia. 362 Meoles. 32, 34 Merington. 143 Mercia. 21, 24, 25, 33, 34, 91, 93, 218, 219, 234, 235 Merstowe. 79, 130, 149, 394 Mickleton. 15, 143, 241 Middlesex. 143 Milnst Maylers. 285 Monmouth, 332 ; shire, 380 Morton, Moretou. 24, 33, 35, 79, 80, 366 Mulcote, Mulcoth. 32, 33 Naseby. 353 Nethercote. 144 Newcastle-on-Tyne. 383 Newenham, Newnham. 32, 34 Newstead. 124 Normandy. 100, 101, 123 Norfolkshire. 388 Northemelys. 1 43 Northamptonshire. 143 Northfield. 191 Northwick Park. 414 Norton. 24, 29, 33, 76, 79, 115, 143, 151, 231, 234, 236, 281, 292, 366, 367 co. Gloucester. 363 INDEX OF PLACES. Norville. 371 Nottingham. 344, 370 Offenham, Offeham. 24, 30, 33, 76, 79, 80, 124, 128, 129, 130, 143, 150, 192, 225, 234, 235, 236, 245, 363, 366, 369, 371, 391, 405, 415 Oldborough. 30, 81, 143 Ombersley, Ombresley. 30, 33, 35, 80, 82, 83, 116, 121, 125, 143, 352 Oswaldeslaw. 1 00 Othenesei, Othensey, Odensee. 36, 101, Overbury. 364 Oversley. 37, 144 Oxendon. 368 Oxford, Oxon. 14, 54, 60, 108, 114, 124, 144, 178, 190, 191, 279, 325, 344, 345, 347, 348, 350, 351, 375, 376, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 387, 388 shire. 143 Paris. 304 Paul s-house. 369 Pebworth. 31, 34, 38, 143, 144 Pedmore. 352 Penwortham. 32, 34, 37, 80, 81, 82, 83, 105, 111, 143 Peopleton. 369, 401 Pershore. 114, 161, 353, 356, 366, 367, 369, 376, 408 Peterborough. 373 Pevensey. 332 Pinvin. 369, 399 Poden, Podenho. 32, 115, 241 Poictou. 323 Prussia. 291 Pykesleye. 32, 79 Quinton. 31 Radford. 144 Ragley, Raggeley. 32, 33, 144 Ramsey. 29, 97 Redditch. 367 Richmond. 387 Ridgway. 367 Riole. Ill Ripple. 345 Ripon. 117 Rome. 25, 92, 106, 107, 109, 115, 118,229, 374, 375 Rouse Lench. 285, 292, 352 Saiutbury. 115, 143, 362, 367 Salford, Salfords. 30, 31, 33, 79 Oxon. 31 Salisbury. 200 Salop. 292 Salwarp River. 357 Sambourne, Samburn. 30, 33 Sanford, 80, 81, 82 Sarum. 276 Saxe Gotha. 413 Scotland. 382 Sedgeberrow. 281, 352, 365 Sele. 33 Serpham. 32 Severn. 99, 332, 347, 353, 357, 358, 359, 364 Shaftesbury. 299 Shipston, 31 Shrewsbury. 347 Shropshire. 101 Sicily. 325 Slaughter, Little. 31 Sloptree. 32 Smithfield. 406 Sodington. 276 Soleston. 32 Somerset. 302 Southam. 243, 368 Southampton. 276 Southstone. 143 Southwark. 297 Southwick. 1 43 Spetchley. 370 St. Albans, 104; Worcester, 79, 143 Stamford Court. 352 Stanford. 143 Stan way. 369 St. Davids. 362 Stock and Bradley. 29 Stoke, Stokes. 32, 33, 77 Stouebow. 366, 367, 369 Stourbridge. 14 Stower, river. 357 Stow, Stowe, Edwardstow. 32, 33, 34, 79, 80, 82, 143, 351, 362, 367, 368, 369 Stratford, Stratford-upon-Avon. 14, 24, 33, 238, 346, 353, 356, 357, 412 Strensham. 255, 352 Stretton. 371 Sudeley. 347 Suffolk. 235 Sulstone, Sulleston. 82, 144 Sunderland. 410 Surrey. 380 Sweden. 381 Swell. 29, 31, 33, 80, 367 Taddlestrop, Tatylstrop, Tetlestrop. 33, 80, 88 Tatlyngton. 116 Taunton. 302 Teddington. 368 Tewkesbury. 14, 126, 127, 317, 345, 353, 355, 356, 362, 363, 366, 367, 368, 369, 410, 412 INDEX OF PLACES. XV Thames, river. 148 Thelwell. 32 Three-springs. 369 Toddington. 222 Tong Castle. 292 Tredington. 151 Tregony. 303 Truro. 385 Twyford. 25, 32, 80, 150, 234, 362, 366 Tyne, river. 362 Upper Slaughter. 144, 151, 193 Swell. 367 Upton. 31, 33, 345, 367, 369 Vale of Evesham, the Vale. 15, 16, 35, 106, 112, 229, 230 Vineyard Hill. 18 Wales. 140, 141, 190, 260 Wallingford. 388 Waltham. 35 Warwick. 14, 338, 348, 351, 353, 355, 356, 370 . shire, county. 143, 193, 243, 363 Welford, Weylesford. 32, 81, 238 Wells. 182 Wendover. 1 49 Westminster. 88, 125, 144, 150, 259, 275, 326, 345, 346, 370, 377, 384, 410 Weston. 33, 36, 79 Subedge. 29, 367, 369 West Indies. 385 White Lady Aston. 352 Whitlaxford. 30, 34, 79, 80 Wiccia. 33 Wick. 366, 367 Wickham,Wickwane. 24, 30, 33,80, 82 Wickhamford, Wykamford. 76, 143, 245 Wickton. 32 Wifleshale, Wivleshall. 31,33 Willersey. 24, 29, 33, 115, 143, 367 Wilelei. 30 Wilts. 276, 292 Winchcomb. 29, 80, 322, 368 Winchester. 153, 378, 380 Windsor. 316, 370 Wisbech. 378, 379 Witune. 31 Witton. 33 Wodebevington. 144 Wodese. 81 Woodson. 352 Wollashill. 409 Woolstone. 368 Wolverley. 118 Worcester. 14,27, 30, 33, 38, 56, 79, 3*, 94, 96, 101, 106, 132, 143, 178, 188, 191, 222, 223, 312, 330, 332, 344, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 366, 367, 369, 370, 373, 381, 386, 387, 401, 405, 407, 412 -shire, county. 101, 143, 147, 177, 350, 354, 366, 376, 385, 412 Wrottesleye, Wrotesley. 32, 34, 144 Wudyford. 32 Wynyngton. 32 Wyre -Piddle. 369 Wythelye, Witheley. 32, 33, 34, 116 York. 36, 94, 107, 344, 374 3 T INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Abbacy void, 113 Abbey of Evesham possessed by seculars and others, 26, 27, 28, 95 ; visited by commissioners, 1 40 ; surrendered, 141 ; site and estates, 145 church founded, 39 ; re-built, 40 ; dimensions, 44, 49; vestiges, 43, 51 park, 18, 84 ; wall, 60, 116 buildings, attempts to spare, 140 estates granted to sir P. Hoby, 151 of Alcester a cell to Evesham, 37, 38, 126 house, 59, 60 ; gate, shops near, 79 Abbeys released from episcopal visitation, 104 Abingdon's, Mr. notice of the abbey, 42 ; of St. Lawrence, 43, 177 ; All-saints, 185 .- register given by, 112, 115, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 128, 177 Abbot of Evesham in parliament, 117, 141 ; omitted in summons, 278 his dignity and consideration, 74, 75, 163, 249 allowance to the poor after his decease, 85 's private residence, 59 ; servants, 101 ; hall, &c. 115 ; embattled, 116 mitred, the last in England, 377 Abbots invested at Rome, 111, 112, 115; consecrated by English bishops, 120, 124 successors to the founder, 26 Abbot's Moreton subjected to episcopal visitation, 112 Absolutions pronounced in cemetery and church, 72, 86 Abstinence, monastic, 85 Act to confirm the surrender of abbey property, 140 Acts suspended by James II. 266 of the Apostles cited, 98 Adrian IV. once an inmate of St. Alban's abbey, 104 Advent, 85 Advowsons, 115, 116, 119, 121, 143, 150, 223 JElhic, abbot, his remains, 96 jElfward, abbot, retires to Ramsey, 97 ./Eyelwey, abbot, his subserviency, 99. 156 Affiliation of Odensee priory, 36 Agreement with bishops of Worcester, 36 Agricultural Society, 307 Ait, charitable payment from, 391 Albigeuses, crusade against, 326 Aldington, a seat of sir P. Hoby and sir P. Courtene, 148, 151 Aldermen, 259, 261, 269 Ale supplied to the manciple, 81 ; to the monks, 85 ; for jurors, 252 Alien priories appropriated, 124 Almenwood, the, its present site, 1 6 1 Almoigne, 32 Almoner, 83, 163 Almonry, 58, 59, 62, 149, 163, 194 Alms-houses, 403 All-saints, parochial chapel of, 76, 79, 130, 181, 230, 407, 409; curacy augmented, 189 parish, quantity of land in, 151 Altar, high, documents placed on, 31, 70; model for, 220 furniture added, 48, 102, 108, 112, 121 tombs rivalling the high-altar, 117 | Altars in the abbey church, 49, 79, 121, 125, 128; in Bengeworth, 220 Amerciaments, by whom received, 253 : Ambry in Bengeworth, 214 Amice, 86 ; Ampulla:, 78, 220 Ancillse in Domesday survey, 1 58 Anglo-norman style, 44 saxons, 14, 21, 35, 323 Anne Boleyn, her marriage and coro- nation, 135 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Anniversaries, abbatial, 102, 104, 108, 114, 117, 131 Antiphouars, 74 Antiquarian Society's library, manu- scripts in, 177, 190 Antlers found at Sedgeberrow, 365 Apprenticing children, bequest for, 396 Aqueduct made by abbot Adam, 104 Arch of chapter-room, 4 4, 52 Archseologia, 58, 128 Archdeacon's visitations, exemptions from, 178, 188, 222 Archers levied in the county, 126 Arms in church windows, 177, 186, 221 of the abbey, 92, 177, 196 ; of the borough, 260 Arms furnished to the garrison at Eves- ham, 350 Assessed taxes paid by Evesham, 300, 318 Assessment of the abbey and the bishop- ric, 115 Assizes, county, formerly held here, 1 98 Assistants of the borough, 260 Asparagus, culture of, 316 Augmentation, court of, 138, 149 Avon, its course, 353 ; tolls upon, 283, 356 ; points of view, 353, 354 ; ren- dered navigable, 355 Badsey, garden for sick monks, 82, 244 ; church, 242 ; ancient accounts, 243 ; manor farm, 244 Bailiffs conventual, 253 town, 115, 252, 253, 254, 257, 258, 259, 270 three weeks' court, 200 of Worcester dispute respecting toll, 33 Bakehouses belonging to the abbey, 83, 119 Bakehouse and brewhouse of the abbey, servants in, 101 Ballard MSS. and Memoirs, 385 Banks's bequest, 400 Baptistery, 127 Baptism performed, and where, 78, 221, 231 Baptist meeting-houses, 208, 209, 210 missionary society, 308 Barefoot orbarelegged, exclusion of the, 82 Barn, ancient, at Littleton, 238 Barons at Worcester, 101 ; at Oxford, 325 ; sworn, 328 ; petition the king, 330 ; capture the king and prince, 331 ; slain and prisoners, 336 Basse or barton court, 60 Basons in abbot's vestry, 73; for strangers' apartment, 83 Bas-relief on St. Lawrence tower, 172 Bath-keepers in the abbey, 85, 101 Guardian newspaper, 302 Battle of Evesham fought during vacancy in the abbacy, 113; site, 337 : spring there and fragments found, 338 Baylie, rev. Lewis, royal chaplain, made bishop, 190 Beans for the monks' pottage, 85 Bead, ancient, 244 Beauchamp family, arms of, 177, 187 Beds carried by travellers, 83 Benefactors to the abbey, 33 Benediction, how given, 58 Bells, 40, 55, 73; anointed, 120; re- served, 145; casting of, 374, 406 Bell-tower, the first, 41, 112 abbot Lichfield's, 43, 44, 40, 53, 130,407 Benedictine clergy, 26 ; inmates of the abbey, 29 ; re-occupy Westminster, 377 rule, 69, 95; garments, 70: convocation, 114 statutes of reformation, 321 Benevolent society, 309 Bengeworth, once part of Cropthorne Manor, 157 saline spring, 17 ' hall or grange, 76, 214 in Domesday, 157, 158, 213; inclosure, 223, 226; extent, 227 castle, 103, 164, 165, 219 -church, 110,124,218,219, 308 226, 227 manor, 114,214,219,223, -curacy augmented, 189 ; profits, 223 ; incumbents, 224 ; in the diocese, 222, 230 incorporated, 213, 259, 260 free-school, 214, 289 - Baptist congregation re- moved from, 210 Beer for the monks, 85 ; monopoly of, 406 Berewic, or corn-farm, 245 Bewdley-street, 159, 256, 403 Bible, Cranmer's, chained in All-saints' church, 188 society, 308 Bigg family, monuments of, 223 ; be- quest from, 399 Bishops, ancient attitude of, 58 ; insig- nia of, 106 Bishop's charities, 396, 401 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. XIX Bisham abbey, grant of, 148 Blakenhurste bailiwick, 150; hundred, 251 Bleeding the monks, 82 Bloodstone found near abbey site, 89 Bodleian library, 10, 337, 375, 385 Books of the convent, 77, 78, 98, 109, 144 Book auctions, 317 Bone manure, 314 Bond's charities, 398, 400 Booth-hall, 200, 257 Boots for monks, 80 ; where not worn, 82 Bordarii, 155 Boroughreeves, 258 rates, amount of, 319 Boroughs, early parliamentary, 275 ; seek exemption, 276 ; petition to be restored, 278 boundary bill, 300 Brantley, William, asserts his privilege, 255 Brasses, monumental, 185, 187, 237 Bread and ale to fishermen, 81 tithed by the almoner, 83 ; the abbots, 85 for the poor, 114, 117 393; for jurors, 252 Bretforton rents assigned, 108, 1 12, 242; chapelry, 230 ; church, 241 ; manor, 242 Breves received in the chapter room, 50 Briar close, 401 Bridge-street, 79, 159, 160, 161, 256 Bridge, the, 103, 164,347, 360,361,362 at Twyford, 234, 362, 366 Brief for repairing St. Lawrence church, 171 Brittayne-street, 256 British settlement, presumed, 245 Museum, 22, 74, 340 and Foreign Schools, 414 Britons, 15, 21, 24 Brithwald's Life of St. Ecgwin, 91 Brut-street, 80 Buggilde-stret, now Buckle-street, 362 Bulls, papal, 34, 35, 106, 118, 136, 137 Burgage tenure, 277 Burgesses, principal, 259, 260; common, 279, 285, 288, 293 ; capital, 279 ; corporate, 280, 286, 295, 296, 297 summoned to parliament by De Montfort, 331 Burial of monks, 51 , 78 ; parishioners,231 ground, monks, 51 ; parochial, 168 Burn or watercourse, 240 Buttery of abbey, 59, 85 Camden Society, 145, 341 Cambridge, 247 Campden house burnt, 348 Camps on Bredon-hill, 364 Canal communication, 358 Canons, secular, occupy the abbey, 27 Canterbury, see of, papal quarrel respect- ing, 106 abp. of, frustrated visitation, 122, 123 Caponpot lane, 211 Cardale, rev. P. character and writings, 205 Cartularies of the monastery, 22, 94 Carlyle's Past and Present cited, 52, 72 Caroline, queen's, acquittal, 408 Carucate, 81, 119, 155 Carved oak in Vine-street, 92 Cassates of land given, 24 Castles in Stephen's reign, 103; occupied by the barons, 330 Cattle destroyed by pestilence, 120 Cathedrals, protestaut service in, 72 Cellar, abbey, 59 ; servants in, 101 ; abbot's, 128 Cellarer, 81 Cells, subordinate convents, 36, 105 Celt of basalt, 365 Cemetery, conventual, 40, 56, 102, 109 Cenred endows the abbey, 24 ; becomes a monk, 93 Census, rural, 234, 236, 239, 241, 242, 245, 246, 247 of the borough, 312 Cesar, Mr. opposes the burgesses, 256 Chair of state from the abbey, 65 Chamberlain of the abbey, 59, 80 , borough, 260 Chancellor of England, abbot le Gras, 1 1 1 Chapel of the charnel house, 62, 181 at Littleton by abbatial license, 237 street, 211 Chapels in crypts, 48 of the Vale, 76, 79, 229 Chaplains, the abbot's, 73, 74 ; of St. Lawrence and All-saints, 168, 169, 181 Chapterhouse, 41, 42, 44, 51, 52, 59, 67, 71, 101, 109 held, 42 ; in Saint Lawrence church, 169 Charles I. erects his standard, 344 ; at Evesham, 345, 346, 347, 348; at Ox- ford, 351 ; beheaded, 352 Charnel house, St. Lawrence church, 175 Charter from Henry I. 13, 251 ; James I. 195, 258, 259, 260, 269, 279 ; Charles II. 265 ; James II. 266 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Charter of St. Ecgwin, 23, 94, 159 . Cenred and Offa, 24, 25 Waldemar I. 37 Charters surrendered, 262 ; others grant- ed, 264, 265, 287 ; withdrawn, 266 regal, restricted, 287 Chargers, silver, among the abbot's plate, 122 Charitable bequests, tables recording, 389 Chaucer's allusions to gilds, 199 Chaunts led by the precentor, 76 Chests of silver, 40, 100 Chief-rents to the crown, 1.50, 163 Children taught in Sunday-schools, 222 Chimes, order for erecting, 407 Choir and chancel, abbey, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45,46, 130 Cholera, spasmodic, 410, 412 Christ-church, dean-aud chapter visit the chapels of the Vale, 178, 230 Chrism, bells anointed with, 1 20 Chronicle, Harleian, 22, 25, 28, 95, 98, 101, 103, 107, 119, 169, 337, 340 . Cotton, 22, 25, 28, 169, 340 - Bodleian, 337 Church built by the Britons, 14 of Evesham dedicated, 25, 110 yards, conventual, procession through, 72 yard, the, houses sold in, 256 painting, ancient style of, 109 garniture in Bengeworth, 222 - Lench, curacy augmented by bp. Lloyd. 1 89 - Missionary Society, 308 Church Honeybourne church, 240 j transfer of abbey lands at, 241 Churches lost to the abbey, 117; bar- gains not to be made in, 321 Civil and canon law, abbot Marleberg proficient in, 108 Clarence, Richard of, abbot Hawkesbury sponsor for, 126 Clement, St. chantry of, 174 Clergy, land held by, 32, 119 destroyed by pestilence, 120 ; bequests to, 396 of Dublin assemble at Eves- ham, 104 Clerks, secular, 36, 95, 101 Cloisters, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 50, 77, 101, 121 Cloister gardens, 44 Clock-tower and clock, 53, 332, 406, 407 Cloth only to be made in five towns of the county, 312 Coals, patent for taxing, 283 Cockerell, sir Charles, memoir of, 302 Coffins exhumed, 38, 96, 112, 118 Coins, Roman, 15 ; at Cleeve, 363 ; at Bredon-hill, 365 Cook, the abbot's, proposed as bailiff, 253 Cooks' bequest, 399 Colors consecrated, 408 Commendatory service, the, 100 Commissioners of charities' report, 197, 217, 389, 409 Common council of the borough, 260 Commonwealth, 343 Communion, conventual, 70, 72, 74 Compline service, 71 Conduit-hill, 211 Confessional in the cloister, 71 Congregational Independent chapel, 211 Constautine, pope, commands a national assembly at Eove's-holme, 25 Constitution, necessity of a defined, 324 Constitutions of the borough, 265 Convention parliament, 288 Conventual property rapidly increased, 119 life, inducements to enter, 69 Conway, sir E. elected alderman and promised a seat in parliament, 282 Corredy, 168, 181 Corn to the manciple for cakes aud pud- dings, 81 ground at the abbot's mill, 83, 103 farm at Aldington, 148 pitched in the market, 198 tithe at Bretforton, 79 Cottages acquired by the abbey, 119 order against erecting, 406 Corporals washed by the sacrist, 78 Corporation order respecting the abbey remains, 146 Corporations, act for the well-governing of, 261 . , regulations of, 265, 266 visited by commissioners, 269 Council of London, canons of, 102 chamber built, 198 for education, 310 Counties entrusted to abbot .flSyelwey, 99 County rates paid by the town, 319 Court roll, manorial, 81 leet, 84, 251, 252, 254, 256 baron, 227 Courts, local, 261, 270, 318 Courtene, sir W. sells part of the abbey demesne, 151 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. XXI Covenant, solemn league and, 191, 262 Coventry's charity, 390 Cow Honeybourne church, 241 Cowl, or Cole-street, 79, 159, 161, 256 Cranmer would preserve certain monastic structures, 140 Cresset, receptacle for, 63 Cresheld's bequest, 398 Cromwell, Thomas, made visitor-general, 137 Crosier, how held by bishops and abbots, 58 Cross, Roman, 44 ; preaching, 56 ; mar- ket, 200; burial, 201 ; at Hampton, 201, 247; at Littleton, 237; road- side, 363 ; at Wisbech, 379 holy, offerings made at, 112; light burnt before, 114 presumed head of, 172 Cross-church-yard, 44, 56, 65 Crown Inn, 151, 160 Crusades, 105 Crypt of abbey church, 40, 46 ; of char- nel house, 62 Cups for the manciple, 81 ; strangers, 83 Curfew-bell, 320 Curtilages, 119 Dais, 85 Dalmatica, the, 73 Danish inroads, 26, 27, 155 Deacle's will, 215 ; tomb, 221 ; bequest to the corporation, 261 ; for bread, 393 Dean of the Vale, 35, 76, 97, 105, 178, 229 Deaths, tidings of, received in chapter room, 71 Debts, conventual, 112, 123, 127 De Bois, abbot, invested by the pope, 119 Decretals, papal, 35, 229 Deed of resignation of the abbey, 141 Deer-park of the abbey, 128, 235, 354 De Chyryton, abbot, his coffin opened, 118 De Gloucester, abbot, invested by the pope, 111 De Marleberg, abbot, visits Rome, adorns his chapter-room and church, 109 De Montfort, Symon, a guest in the monastery, 113; buried here, 114 De Profundis, where repeated, 72 De Worcester, abbot, his coffin opened, 113 Demesne land, abbey, 154 ; grants of, 147, 149 Denarii, 81 Derby chapel, the, 186, 188 Dineley manuscript, 54 Diocesan society, grant from, 310 Dissenters, buildings erected by, 201 Dispensing power arrogated by James II. 266, 267, 268 Dishes for the manciple, 81 Distemper coloring, observations on, 247 Doctor's close, 396, 401 Domesday survey, 29, 32, 84, 101, 153, 231, 234, 235, 236, 240, 241, 242, 245, 246, 314 book and its name, 1 53 Dormitories, the, 59, 70, 75, 102, 109, 149 Dovehouse, a, added to the abbey pro- perty, 119 Draper's company appointed trustees of school, 216 Dublin, abp. of, elected in Evesham monastery, 104 Dugdale's Mouasticon, 52, 58, 88 Dwelling-houses granted to sir P. Hoby, 149; purchased from, 256 Easter, 85 ; law-day at, 252 ; custom, 319 East and west fields, 338, 396, 401 Ebenezer congregational chapel, 211 Ebrington's, lord, vote of confidence, 301 Ecgwin, St. bishop of the Huiccii, 21, 91 ; resigns that office, 25, 93 ; relics, 49; shrine, 50 ; burial and epitaph, 95 statement of his acquisitions, 25; his abbacy, 91 ; list of his works, 94; no statue to him, 221 feast of, 81 ; altar of, 49, 121 ; tomb, 155 Edward the Confessor appoints an abbot, and death of both, 98 prince, captured at Lewes, 331 ; escapes, 332 ; at Evesham, 333 ; ar- rays his army, 334 ; rescues the king, 336 ; number of his slain, 337 ; com- mands the interment, 339 I. at Offenham, 405 III. at Evesham, 405 Education in the middle ages, 193 ; mo- dern bequests for, 395 Eels, sticks of, 80 ; weight and varieties of, 359 Effigies, ancient monumental, 109, 110 . later, 148, 221 Eggs paid to the abbey, 81 Election, parliamentary, right of, dor- mant, 278 ; assumed by the close corpo- ration, 280, 281 petition from Mr. Coventry, 283 ; Mr. Andrews, 284 ; sir James INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Rushout, 285; sir R. Cullen, 288; Dr. Baylies, 290 ; Mr. Howorth, 293, 294 ; sir C. Cockerell, 295 ; freemen, 298 ; against the return of 1 837, 303 Election right of, decided in 1819, 296 .- witnessed in 1830, 298 writ stayed, 299 Electors, originally of what class, 277 ; resident and non-resident, 297, 298, 300 ; register of, 301 non-resident, conduct in 1831, 300 Elemosinary, yearly payment to the, 112 Elizabeth, queen, demands Hoby's title to the monastic site, 256 Encaustic tiles, 45 English subjects, their treatment by William I. 100 agricultural society, 308 Eoves, site of town named from, 1 5 ; his vision, 22 ; portrait, 86 ; no statue to him, 221 Episcopal ornaments granted to abbots, 103, 106 Escheats received, 253 Estates lost to the abbey, 32 thrice estimated in domesday , 154 Ethelred of Mercia abdicates and be- comes an abbot, 24 the Unready lies ill here, 29 Evesham, abbot Randulph native of, 107 in domesday, 154 ; garrisoned, 345 ; summoned, 348 ; stormed, 349 Excavations on the monastic site, 43 Exchequer case, 194, 197, 200, 252, 257 ; payment, 195 Excommunication of De Beauchamp, 102 . in the town churches, 169 Execution for petty-treason, 318 Exemption from visitation claimed by abbeys, 29, 97, 106, 229 Exempt abbeys, 35 ; visited by Wolsey, 129 abbots, 107, 111 Expense attending monastic worship, 114, 142 ^ Fabrics, monastic, officer in charge of, 84; fund for, 112 Fairs, profits of, 253 ; business at, 321 ; when held, 322 Fast-days, monks' meals on, 71 Feckenham, Dr. error respecting inter- ment of, 379; bequest from, 379, 398 Fee-farm rent from the bailiffs, 253 Feild's charity, 394 Felony, adjudication in, 318 Females to retire before the almoner, 83 Feretory of St. Ecgwin, 40 Ferry, 58 Festivals, in the abbey, provision for, 108 Feudal system introduced, 251 ; ame- liorated, 324 Fire in the abbey, only one instance of, 41 ; in Port-street, 407 of London, local collection for, 407 Fire-places in the almonry, 63, 64 First-fruits office, return to, 37 Fishponds, abbey, 59, 65, 80, 108 Fishermen in the convent, 101 Fishery, 150 ; fish in the Avon, 358 Fish and Anchor Inn, 236 Floods, remarkable, 360, 407 Folc-gemote, 250 ; folk-mote, 253 Fonts, 127, 176, 188, 221, 237, 239 Forest-ground lost to the abbey, 26 of Feckenham, Evesham included in, 159 Foreigners favored, 323, 324, 325 ; expelled, 330 Foreign troops brought in by Henry III. 330 Formularies, devotional reiteration of, 72 Fortifications, presumed site of, 349 Fortresses, royal, license to erect, 116 Fosse-way from Leicester to Bath, 362 Fountain of St. Ecgwin, 64, 80 s, worship of, 80 Fox's Martyrology in All-saints' church, 188 C. J. History of Jas. II. cited, 352 Foxhill, ancient remains at, 244 Frankpledge, view of, 251, 252, 277 Freedom of the borough, 261 ; of the corporation, 265 Freeholders polled, 286, 288, 294 ; re- jected, 293 Freemen removed by commissioners, 266 Fryer's bequest, 401 Fuller's Worthies cited, 374 Fulling-mill, 82, 313 Funded investment, parochial, 402 Gaol and older prison, 1 98 Garden, at Badsey for sick monks, 82 ; monks', 83 ; servants in, 101 ; site, 315 Gardening, market, 315 ; labourers in, 316 ground within the borough, 316 Garner or granary of abbey, 59, 64 Gardner's charities, 391, 395, 396, 402 Gas-light, 164, 371, 412 Gate for vehicles into the cemetery, 76 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Gate-keeper of the monastery, 84, 120 Gatehouse to the monastic cemetry, 53 ; its chapel, 59 Gateway near the vicarage, 58, 167, 182, 202 grand, 59, 60, 116; servant at, 101 149 of Barton, or basse court, 60, at Coughton court, 61 Geological position of the town, 13 George III. fiftieth anniversary cele- brated, 408 IV. proclaimed, 408 Glass, stained, retained in churches, 177 Glazed tiles, 45, 239 Gloria, the, 73 Gloucester monks, 107 college, Oxon, for Benedic- tines, 376 Gloving, 314 Glove, abbatial, presumed jewel from, 89 Gloves and ring, abbatial, 106 Goat's head found, 363 Goldsmith's company, quit rents from, 395 Gout, abbot yEyelwey and bp. Wulstan afflicted with, 1 00 Government, local, under the Saxons, 250 ; Normans, 252 taxes, 318 Grammar, abbot Walter's acquaintance with, 100 . school built, 130, 194; re- founded, 195; emoluments, 197 Granges of the abbey, 115, 116, 123, 124, 128, 235, 238, 245 Grange, the, in St. Lawrence parish, 150 Grants to sir P. Hoby, 56, 147, 149, 150 Graves of deceased monks visited, 86 Gray, quotation from, 204 Green-hill, 338, 369, 371 , town, 194; village, 218, 236 Great church, the, 43, 120 tower, the, 46 charter, 324, 325 seal, abbot le Gras keeper of, 111 Ground-plan of abbey church, 43, 44 Gruel for the monks, 85 Guest chamber, 69 Guild-hall, 197 ; the old, 199, 200, 402 Guilds or gilds, 1 99 Guizot's History of Civilization cited, 249, 250 Gurgoyles on St. Lawrence, 171 Guy's tower at Warwick, 338 Hall, the old, repaired, 407 Hallam's Constitutional History cited, 147 Halls in the abbey, 42 ; servants in, 101 Hampton saline spring, 1 7 chancel rebuilt, 115; its church, 246 Hamlet, quotation from, 186 Hanks' bequest, 401 Harrison's Description of England, cited, 175, 177 Harleian Chronicle ; see Chronicle Hawford, abbot, writes to Cromwell, 132, 140 ; resigns the monastery, 1 32 ; grant to, 149 Hawk's ring, 89 Hay's bequest, 401 Henry III. lodged in the abbey, 114, 332 ; evasions, 324 ; rescued, 336 IV. at Evesham, 123 VIII. seeks a divorce, 135; makes inquisition of monasteries, 1 37 ; insur- rections in his reign, 1 38 Heretics burned, 405 Hide computed, 30 Hides held by the abbey, 29, 30, 31, 96, 154, 158, 213 High-steward of the abbey, 61, 84; his official residence, 149 borough, 258, 259, 261, 267 altar, 336 ; see altar, high bailiff, 259, 260 -street, 79, 159, 161,256 Hill , lord Marcus, made privy-councillor, &c. 304 Hoby, sir Philip, bargains for the abbey materials, 145 ; grants received by, 146, 149 ; allowed meat in Lent, 148; his tomb, 148; payment released, 150 ; his schedule, 193 -, Mr. Richard, his tomb in Badsey church, 243 Holme of Eoves, 93, 249 Holborn, aqueduct built in, by Dr. Peck- enham, 378 Holy water, 86 ; recess for in All-saints, 183; in Bengeworth, 219 Honey, rents in, 81 Honeybourne, popular tumults at, 36 ; chancel rebuilt, 115 Hopkilns, 315 Horse-mill suppressed, 84 and Groom Inn, 92 , male tolled, 33 Horticultural Society, 307 Host, formation of, 78 3 u XXIV INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Hostelry, ancient, 160 Hostilarius the, 81, 82 House of Commons, importance of, and augmentation, 278 ; members demand- ed by Charles I. 343 Houses in the borough, number of, 300, 312 Householders, payments to the abbey from, 36 Howorth, Mr. plate presented to, 294 Hundred, court of the, 250 Illness pleaded by ecclesiastics, 117 Image-worship introduced in Britain, 94 Improvement act, 319, 361, 371 Income-tax, 319 Inclosure acts, 16, 226 Incumbents, lists of, 179, 189, 224 Infant school, 310 Infangtheof, 32, 251 Infirmary of abbey, 82 ; servants in, 101; Infirmarer, 108 Inhabitants at domesday, 156 ; at the dissolution, 162 ; servants to the ab- bot, 254 Inhabited house-duty reduced, 318 Ink and colors for the convent, 78 Inscriptions iu St. Lawrence, 178; All- saints, 1 88 ; Bengeworth, 226 Installations, abbatial, 119, 121, 122, 127 Institutes of the abbey, 74, 85, 107, 108, 168, 214 Instrument of government, the, 284 Insurrection in reign of William I. 99 ; of Henry VIII. 138 Interdict, papal, 106 Ireland's, Mr. notice of St. Lawrence church, 177, 178 Isaiah, quotation from, 146 Jackson's, Mr. bequest to the school, 195, 400 James I. proclamation by, 281 II. his unconstitutional policy, 267; proclamation, 269 Jephcott's, Dr. charity, 396 Jetton, copper, 317 Jewel from an abbatial glove, 89 John, king, his faithlessness, 324 Joviality, monastic, notion respecting, 85 Judges' horses, 198 Juries at domesday, 154; at the leet, 252, 255, 257 King, the, head of the church of England, 136 King's library at Westminster purged, 144 books, value of curacies in, 178, 188, 223 evil, journey hence for cure, 407 Kiss of peace, 70 Kitchens, monastic, 42, 59 ; servants in, 101 Knights of the shire, 325 and nobles slain, 336 Knitting trade, 313 Knowle-hill farm, 201, 244 Lady chapel, 44, 46, 47, 48 ; screen in, 47 ; garniture, 48 ; masses, 144 Lamps in the cloister, 76 ; refectory, 82 ; before the cross, 114 Lampreys, 359 Lancet-arch style, 45 Land held by the abbey at domesday, 29, 30, 31, 157, 158; under Edward the Confessor, 31 Lands abstracted from the abbey, 31 appropriated to educational use, 193 commonable, 371 Land-tax paid, 318 Lardeneres, house so called, 84 Lateu gate in the abbey, 108 Lauds, service of, 71 Lavalette, marshal, escape of, 293 Lavatory, abbot Adam's, 104; De Marie- berg's, 109 ; near the altar, 127 Law-agent, the abbot's, 84 Law-days, yearly, 252 Lay-investitures, 1 1 1 Lead plate found in coffin, 96 Lecterns, in the abbey, 47, 57, 78 ; in All-saints' church, 188 Legenda, 78 Leicester, earl of; see De Montfort tower, 338 Leigh's, widow, bequest, 400 Leland's visit, 42, 144, 162, 170, 194 Leuchwick chapel, 234 Lent, diet in, 85 Leet-court, 252 ; interruptions in, 257 ; appeal to, 84 Letter from abbot Lichfield, 130 ; from crown commissioners, 141 ; from abbot Hawford, 1 32, 140 ; to the corporation, with reply, 263 Lewes, battle of, 331 Liber Regis, 178 Liberties of Evesham seized, 405 Libra, the ancient money pound, 155 Library of the abbey, 42, 59 ; remains of books, 144 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. XXV Library, subscription, 305 Libraries, ancient, despoiled, 144 Lichfield, abbot, 129 : his treatment, character and death, 1 30 ; interment and bequest, 131; grant to, 149; reno- vates St. Lawrence church and chantry, 170, 175; chapel and grave, 184 Lichfield and Coventry, bishopric of, 111 Light borne before the abbot, 75 Lights in St. Lawrence church, 169 Lighting the town, 371 Lightning strikes the first bell-tower, 41 Linseed manufacture, 314 Lions in the royal arms, 88 Littletons, churches of, 236, 239 ; popu- lation, 239 Littleworth, 314 Liturgy, bill for restoring, opposed, 377 Loaves for refectory, 81 Local act respecting trade, 312 Locutory, the private, 102 Lodging for the abbot when in London, 102 London Horticultural Society, 307 citizens aid in magua charta, 324 ; adhere to the barons, 330 Lord privy seal, 129 Lords-lieutenant addressed, 268 Louis IX. umpire between the king and barons, 330 Lye's charity, 394 Lying-in charity, 308 Maces borne, 253 Mackintosh's History of the Revolution cited, 265 Magdalen tower, Oxon, 54 Magistrates, local, complaint against, 201 ; appointed for the borough, 270 Magna charta, 108, 324, 331 Magnificat, the, 73 Mail-cart for northern letters, 412 Mailross, chronicle of, cited, 328 Maltby's bequest, 399 Malting, 315 Manciple, office of, 80, 81 Mancuses, golden, 28, 96 Manors added totheabbey, 115, 1 16, 1 19, 121, 143; lost, 116 Manses given to the aboey, '_1. ; acquired by Ecgwin, 25 ; in Worcester, 30 ; at Stowe, 34 ; Norton, 231 ; Littleton, 236 Market for provisions, 1 98, 320 ; tolls, 252, 253, 257, 370 when held, 321 , cross, 200 Market sted, 162; market-place, 167, 197, 256 Markets, distant, supplied hence, 316 Marshalsea prison, 378 Martin's charity, 391, 397 Mary, St. chapel of, 125 queen erases records, 140 Mass, high, 70, 71, 220 ; by the abbot, 73; negligence, 112; after the pesti- lence, 120 Masses, private, 102, 220 Materials from the abbey, 145, 146 Matins, 71 ; lessons at, 78 Matrix of conventual seal, 86 ; of the borough seal, 259 Matrons in the convent, 101 Maunday Thursday, dole on, 83 Mausoleum, abbot Marleberg's, 109 May-day, observance of, 218, 236 Mayor, creation of, 260 ; when chosen from Bengeworth, 261 ; to sit with the action-book, 406 's feast, cost of, 407 's conduct questioned by petition, 298 Mayors, lists of, 270, 271, 272, 273 Measures, false, 405 Mechanics' Institution, 306 ; excursion and conversazione, 414 Medical-provident Institution, 311 Members, parliamentary list of, read, 283 Men transferred with the soil, 34 Merstowe, rents in, 117; green there, 160, 256 Methodist meeting-house, 210 Mill of the abbot, townspeople to grind at, 83, 162 street meeting, 210 hill, 256 Mills belonging to the abbey, 80, 115; near the bridge, 103 Militia, east Worcester, 408 Minim first suggested, 374 Ministers, Christian, employed in handi- craft, 98 commission for ejecting, 191 Minuti, 82, 85 Miracles, legendary, 91 Mission to Othensey, 36, 101 Miserere, the, 86 Mittas of salt, 34 Mitchell's charity, 393 Mitre worn by abbots, 34, 103, 106, 107 the Worcester priors, 1 06 Mitred abbots, 112 Moat in Bengeworth, 164 XXVI INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Monastery, site granted, 21, 23; com- mencement, 24; date of, 25; destroyed by Danes, 26, 155 ; purchased and transferred, 28, 155; subjected to the see, 29 ; mitred, 34 ; situation and re- mains, 39, 58 Monasteries, cause of their suppression, 135, 136 filled with Norman monks, 156 visited by commissioners, 1 37 ; the lesser suppressed and the rest revisited, 138; dissolution, 139 Monastic Chronicles noticed, 22 property increased by abbots, 114, 115, 116, 119, 121, 126 - worship, expense attending, 114, 142 Monasticon ; see Dugdale's Moniales, 36, 101 Monk, an Evesham, first abbot of Croy- land, 25 a, allowance to the poor at the death of, 85, 120 Monks expelled and canons substituted, 27 , their garments, beds, and meals, 70 ; employment and confession, 7 1 ; communion, 72 ; number, 99, 101, 142, 156 ; destroyed by pestilence, 120; diminished, 123; industry, 156; early mission of, 230 ; how occupied after the dissolution, 195 Monken-lane, 244 Monogram, abbot Lichfield's, 65, 184 Monopolies, local, 313, 406 Montague-house, fire in, 341 Montfort, Symon de, president of the council, 326 ; marriage, 326 ; earl of Leicester, 327 ; enters on his office as president, 328 ; withdraws to France, 329; elected general, 330; calls a par- liament, 331 ; at Evesham, 332; ar- rays his forces, 334 ; death, 335 ; dis- memberment, 337 ; miraculous cures, 338, 339 ; burial and epitaph, 339 ; literary correspondence, 341 ; purport of his struggle, 342 iv!6ps, or stawlte-iififs, 3'22 Municipal reform act, 269 Music, early cultivation of, 374 ; Oding- ton's work upon, 374 Mustard-seed raised at the abbey granges, 80 Napkins used in bleeding, 82 National and Sunday-school v 309, 392 Nave begun, 40 ; finished, 41 ; site, 44 ; vestiges, 45 Navigation, profits and shares, 357, 358 Negligence in religious services, mass to atone for, 112 Newel staircase, 55, 175 New's, John, charity, 395 Nocturnal, the, 71 Nonconformity, ministers ejected for, 179 None, service of, 71 Norreys, abbot, deposed, 105 Norman oppression, 323 crypt, 46 ; arch in church -yard, 168; in Bengeworth porch, 219 Northwick Arms Inn, 202 Norton church re-built, 115; chapelry of, 230; church described, 231 ; monu- mental chapel, 233, 279 ; nave re- built, 233 ; population, 234 Norton and- Lench wick estate, 281 Novices, apartment for, 69; confessed, 71 Novitiate, term of, 70 Oaths administered to corporators, 261, 263 ; to burgesses, 278, 280, 294 ; to the baronial council, 328 Oatmeal for monks' gruel, 81, 85 Obelisk upon the battle-field, 338 Obit of abbot Upton, festival at the, 128 Oblations at altars in the abbey church, to whom appropriated, 80 parochial, received by the cu- rate, 169 Ode, or Oat street, 159, 161, 195, 256 Offa endows the abbey, 24, 94 ; becomes a monk, 93 Offenders accused and chastised, 51, 76 Offenham grange, 124, 235 ; abbot Lich- field consecrated there, 129 ; retires thither, 130, 235 -- bridge, 150; chapelry, 230; ferry, 234; palaces, 235; church, 236 Offertory dish, 143 Offices the, of Evesham abbey, MS. of, 72, Oliver's, widow, bequest, 400 Ombresley, abbot's property injured there, 125 Orchard, monastic, servants in, 101 Ordway's charity, 394 O?g.-a!\s. in the abbey.. 78, jiV'e^i'.' iL>.'" rence, 173; All-saints, 192; Oat- street, 207 ; Cowl-street, 209 ; Benge- worth, 222 ; introduced into Europe, 374 Ornaments, ecclesiastical, additions to, 120, 121 Oscillatory, the, 121 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Ovens, the almoner's, 83 at Malmeslmry heated with manu- scripts, 144 Pack-horses carrying baggage, 111; gar- den produce, 366 Painshill, vineyard at, 84 Painted windows in the abbey choir, 41 ; inscription on, 55 Paintings in Lady-chapel, 47 Palmer, John,executedformatricide, 1 89 's Mr. bequest, 399 Panelling from the abbey, 65 Papal legate visits the convent, 105, 114; advises abbot Randulph, 1 07 supremacy annulled by parliament, 136 Parchment for the convent, 76, 77 ; modern, 313 Pardons obtained by the con vent, 114, 123 Parishes in Evesham, 159; rents and profits of, 189 Parliament at Ripon, 117; long, 283; little, 284 confirms the surrendered ab- beys to Henry VIII. 140 Parliamentary representatives, where no- minated, 198; wages waived, 281 petition from householders, 299 Parochial chapelries in the peculiar, 229, 230 ; rites performed in, 231 Pasture for cellarer's stock, 81 Paul and Peter, SS. portraits of, 118 Paving repaired, 370, 371 Paymasters polled, 286, 288 ; decision against, 2,96 Peace proclaimed, 408 Peculiars, ecclesiastical, 35, 178,188,229 Penance remitted, 110 Peninsular position of the town, 13 Pension to abbot Hawford, 132; and others, 141 Peutecostals, 36, 234, 246 Penwortham priory annexed to Eves- ham, 37 Pershore, street-obstruction removed at, 161 Pestilence, great, 62, 120 Petty sessions, 270, 318 Peter's-pence, 35, 76, 229 Peter ad Vincula, S. festival of, 232 Petitions for parliamentary reform, 409, 410 Pie-powder court, 200 Piers of the great tower, 46 Pike in the Avon, 359 Plague at Evesham, 371 in London, collection after, 407 Plan of the abbey church, 44 ; of the monastery, by Mrs. Elstob, 384 Plate, silver, at the abbot's table, 122 Poor-rates, amount of, 319 Poor relieved by the convent, 83, 142, 163; rents for, 112, 114, 117 Pope, the, payment to, 35, 76 ; excommu- nicates John, 106 ; foils Henry VIII. 135 ; absolves Henry III. 329 Pope's Satires, cited, 315 Population of the borough, 300, 311 ' neighbourhood, 234, 236, 239, 241, 242, 245, 246, 247 Porter of the monastery, 84 Port-street, 159, 164, 165 mill meadow enclosed, 400 Possessions of the monastery, at domes- day, 29 ; at the dissolution, 142, 143; how disposed of, 145 Pottage for the poor, 83 ; for monks, 85 Pottery, ancient, 244 Preaching-cross, 56, 201 place at Canterbury and Bristol, 57 Precentor, office of, 76, 77 Premunire imposed on abbot Lichfield, 129 Presbytery, 41 , 48, 73 Presbyterians, 191 ; meeting-house, 205 Preserver of order, 76, 85 Prime, service of, 71 Prince's chambers, the, 149 Printing introduced, 316 ; first press, 317 Prior, office of, 75, 76 ; of the cloister, 76, 127 ; third, 76 ; of Penwortham, 83 ; at the upper table, 85 Priors of Worcester, 106, 107 Procession, a solemn, 72 Processions at Whitsuntide, prohibition of, 36 Proclamation by James II. at Edinburgh, 267 Profession, on becoming monk, 70 Property- tax, Pitt's, 318 Protector, the, local complaint to, 201 Protestants, Marian persecution of, 377 dogmas among modern, 147; Provisions of Oxford, 335, 329, 330 Prynne cited, 110 Psalms, quotation from, 146 Pulpits in St. Lawrence church, 175 Quadrangles of the monastery, 59 Quakers' meeting-house, 201 XXV111 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Quarry, the abbey rented as such, 146 Quarter-sessions, local, 198 Quay-house, 401 Queen Anne's bounty, 189 Queries proposed, by the monastic visi- tors, 137; by domesday commission, 154 Querns or hand-mills destroyed, 83 Railway lines, 14 ; stations, 369 Ranelagh gardens, organ from, 192 Rapin's England, continuation of, 387 Reader in the convent, 85 Reading stand : see Lectern desk, the modern, 175 Reconsecration of churches, 110 Recorder of the borough, 260 Refectorer, the, 82 Refectory, 42, 59, 70, 81, 82, 85 Reform bill, first. 299, 300, 409, 410 ; second, 300, 410, 411 association, 410, 411 ; festival, 411 Refreshment of the convent, rents for the, 114, 117 Registers of electors, 301 Regular clergy, 27, 136 Relic Sunday, 108 Relics in the abbey church, 49, 97 traffic in, 97 ; swearing upon, 101 Religious Tract Society, 309 Rents in kind, 65 Representatives, parliamentary, wages and expenses of, 276, 281 . to a national council, 276 Restoration, the, 285 Revelation of St. John, cited, 1 31 Revenue of the abbey at domesday, 30 ; increase in one year, 120 ; amount at the surrender, 142 Revenues of religious houses, exceeded their schedules, 142 Revolution, the, 268, 287 Riband -weaving, 314 Ring, abbatial, 106; de Worcester's, 113 signet, found in Bengeworth, 214 Roads, state of, acts, and districts, 366, 368, 369 Roberts, Mrs. bequest to school, 195 Roodloft, 174 ; position in St. Lawrence, 175 ; traces of at Bretforton, 242 Robert, abbot, charge against, 101 Rome visited by abbot Reginald, 1 02 ; abbot Randulph and De Marlberg, 107, 109; abbot Brokehampton, 115 appeal to, respecting exemption, 112 Rome-scot, 35 Romanism, thraldom of, 147 Rotten-row, houses in, 256 Rouse family, descent of, 285 Russell's, lady, message to the leet stew- ard, 255 Rudge, Edward, merchant, purchase by, 151 ; bequests, 392, 396 Rushout, sir John, father of the house of commons, 291 ; returned with his son to, 290 Ryknield-street, 362, 364 Rynal, or Rinehill, the, 80, 256 ; street, 314 Sac and soc, 32, 251 Sacrarium, the, 78 Sacring bell, at Middle Littleton, 237 Sacristan, office of, 78, 79, 114, 169 Sacristy, the old, 149 Saline springs, 16 Salisbury cathedral, style of, 46 Salmon, rents, 81 ; sold, 359 Salt- work at Hampton, 16, 246 ; at Sele, 34 rent lost to the abbey, 25 ; vats held by, 31 ; mittas of, 34 and fuel for refectory, 81 ; for the abbot, in London, 102 Salted fish, paid, 80, 81 ; sold, 359 Sanctuary at Westminster, 377 Sandals, abbatial, 74 Sandys, Mr. declared a monopolist, 283 Savage's bequest, 399 Savings' bank, 311 Saxon Chronicle cited, 98, 103, 156 kings, endowments from two, 230, 231, 236, 240 Schedule of abbey property, 1 43 ; of spiritualities, 230 Schools at Exeter and Oxford, 108; monastic, 193 School-house, 194, 196; altered, 196, 197 Scholars boarded in the abbey, 1 94 Scot and lot, payers of, polled, 286, 295 ; decision against, 296 Screen to chancels, 175, 237 Scriptures, copy of, added to the convent library, 104 Sculpture local, now unknown, 110 Seal of convent, to whom confided, 78 ; description of, 87 the borough, 259 Seals, abbatial, 88, 89 found near abbey site, 89 Seal, caught near the bridge, 359 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Secular clergy, 26, 27, 29, 95 Self-denying ordinance, 347 Seneschal of the abbey, 84, 141, 252 Sergeants-at-mace, 253 arms, the mayor committed to, 286 Sermon by rev. N. Nichols before the corporation, 192, 198 Sermons, place for, 56 ; sermon-house, 57 Servants in the abbey, 101, 142 Servi, in domesday, 158 Services in the abbey church, 71 ; sus- pended in parishes, 106 feudal, claimed by bp. Wulstan, 100 Severn, bridges and craft destroyed on, 332 Sexte or sixths, service of, 71 Shakspere, cited, 186, 334 Shambles, 195, 399, 400 Sheep roasted on the Avon, 413 Shear-mill, 313 Shells of the Avon, 359 Shelburne MSS. cited, 124 Sheriff, hereditary, 102 Sheriff 's tourn, 156; hundred exempted from, 32, 251 Ship-money, assessments to, 163 Shire-gemote, 250 reeve, 258 Shoemakers in the abbey, 101 Shops near cemetery gate, 80 Shrevell park : see Thornhill Shrines of SS. Ecgwin, Wistan, and Wulsin, 40, 50, 73, 79, 104 ; of Edward the Confessor, 377 . injured, 41 ; made by abbot Mannie, 98 ; adorned by abbot Regi- nald, 102 Silence, monastic, 71 Silk-throwing, 314 Silver, chests of, 40 Site of the monastery granted, 146, 147; Hoby's title to disputed, 256 Slavery, society for abolishing, 309 Smith's, Miss Harriott, bequests, 393 Snelling on Jettons, cited, 317 Society for Promoting Christian Know- ledge, 308 Solidus or ancient shilling, the, 1 55 Southey, Robert, quoted, 156 South Littleton, church, 239 ; popula- tion, 239 Spear-heads found at Sedgeberrow, 365 Spicer's close, 399 Stabling of abbey, 59, 115 Staff and ring, abbatial, investiture with the, 112 Stall, the abbot's, 73, 120 ; stalls, col- legiate, 66 Statutes or hiring-fairs, 322 Steam-power propelling vessels, 358 Stephen, St. altar of, 120 Steward of the leet, 252 ; appointment of, 254, 256, 257 Stews for fish, 64 Stocking trade, 313 Stole, the, 86 Stone drawn for the abbey church, 30 coffin found, at Alcester, 38 ; at Evesham, 96, 112, 118 coffins, in Mr. Rudge's plantation, 45 shot found, 349 Storehouse of abbey, 59, 64 Storm, remarkable, prior to the battle, 334 Strangers conducted through the convent, 82 ; apartment for, 83 ; corporate order against poor, 406 Streets, 159 ; improved, 164 ; condition, 370, 371 Strype's Annals, cited, 378 St. John Baptist, image of, 143 St. Lawrence, parochial chapel of, 76, 79, 130, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 219, 230, 412 . northern chantry in, 171, 175; southern, 174, 175, 176 - parish, quantity of land in, 151 chaplaincy and advowson, 143, 169, 178 St. Peter's, Rome, St. Ecgwin there, 92 Subsacrist, 78 Sunday, markets formerly held on, 321 schools, 207, 209, 210, 21 1, 222 Supremacy, oath of, urged, 377 ; con- troversy respecting, 378 Surrenders of abbots, 139; at Evesham, 141, 145 Swan House, now Star Hotel, 392, 402, 403 Swannery, rent of, 360 Swans on the Avon, 359 Swineherds, 14, 22 Symous' bequest, 399 Synod at Aln-cestre, 94 Table-cloths for the refectory, 85 Tablets, monumental, 188, 207, 210, 221 Tailor for the convent, 80 XXX INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Tapers in the abbey church, 79 ; paschal, ! 377 Temperance Society, 309 Temporalities of the abbey during vacan- cies, 113; purchased by convent, 116 Temple church, London, restoration of 109 Tenements purchased by the abbey, 114, 116, 119, 121, 214 Terriers, 178, 188, 223, 224 Tewkesbury abbey, duchess of Clarence lodged in and buried, 126 battle of, 127 Text, the ancient, 73, 78 Theam and infangtheof, 32, 251 Thierry's Norman Conquest, cited, 337 Thornhill park, in Bengeworth, 151 Three -weeks' court, 200, 252. 253, 257 Thread-my -needle, sport of, 319 Threshing-floor, under Town-hall, 198 Tierce or thirds, service of, 71 Tiles, glazed or encaustic, 45 Tindal's History of Evesham, published, 388 Tithe, how secured to the convent, 34 ; of Sheriff's Lench, 189 small, received by curate of St. Lawrence, 169 barns of the abbey, 1 1 5, 238 Tokens, pecuniary, 317 Toll, freedom from, 32 Tomb of St. Wilsin, 47, 57, 73 Walter de Gloucester, 48 ; of Symon de Montfort, 49, 339 Tombs of abbots, 48, 109, 133, 184 Towels in the strangers' apartment, 83 Towers in the deanery, their character, 233 Tower of the grand gatehouse, 59, 60, 64 Leicester, built by Mr. Rudge, 338 Town, commencement of, 14, 155, 249 hall, the new or present, 197, 256 clerk, appointment of, 259 councillors, first election of, 412 Trade, council respecting, 276, 312 Transept, the great, built, 40 ; site, 44 ; foundations of, 45, 96 ; lesser, 46 Travellers of rank in the convent, 142 Tudor style of architecture, 130, 173, 183 Tumulus at Cleeve Prior, 363 Tunic, the, 73 Turnpikes first erected, and act for the county, 366 Twyford, bridge at, 150, 362 Undercroft, 40, 48 Upper-table in refectory, 85 Urso, land held by, in Bengeworth, 158 ' Vale of Evesham defined, 15 ; enclosed, 16 ecclesiastical jurisdiction of, 97, 106, 112, 229; chapelries in, 230 Vanes injurious to pinnacles, 407 Vatican, decree from, 136 Vaults sustaining the choir, 46 Venison for an abbatial anniversary, 128 Vestiary, the abbot's, 73 Vespers, 71, 73 Vicarage, unsightly tenements near, 1 82 Vice chancellor's decree respecting Dea- cle's school, 218 Victoria, queen, coronation and marriage of, 413 Vill, and Villa, 80, 154, 156 Villani, or Villeins, 158 Vills regained by the abbey, 99 ; again lost, 100 Vines cultivated in open ground, 18, 84 Vineyard at Hampton, 30, 84, 246 ; in Bengeworth, 76 keeper of the conventual, 84 ; servants in, 101 Vineyards purchased by the abbey, 119 Vine-street, 62, 92, 159 Virgates of land, 79, 119 Virgin Mary, worship of 46, 48, 94 ; image of, 62, 94 ; feast of, 128 . 's chapel, 112, 126; a second, 48 62 Visions, legendary, 91 Visitation of monasteries, 137 ; a second, 138 Visitors entertained in the abbey, 116, 127, 140, 141, 142 report upon Evesham monastery, 140 Volunteers, local corps of, 408 Vow, benedictine, obligation of, 70 Wafer, sacramental, 78 Wagons carrying baggage of the chan- cellor, 111 Wakes, ancient saintly festivals, 218 Wales, Evesham within the principality of, 141 Wall, abbot Reginald's, 40, 168 ; abbot Chyryton's, 58, 64 ; modern church- yard, 182 Walk from the abbey to St. Lawrence church, 176 Walks and drives in the vicinity, 18 Walker's bequest, 401 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Warwick, tenants of the earl of, 122, 123 Watchmen in the abbey, 101 Watsons' charities, 380, 394, 395, 398, 399 Water-table suggested, 182 Wax, rents and payments in, 79 lights for the abbey church, 114 for St. Lawrence's church, 169 AVelsh, flight of the, at the battle, 335 Wesleyan Methodism introduced, 210 Missionary Society, 308 Westminster, dean and chapter of, 241 abbey restored to the monks, 377 Review, quoted, 183 Wever's conduct toward abbot Lichfield, 129 Wheat, parched, on Bredon-hill, 365 extraordinary crop of, 408 White-book of the bishops, 35, 36 AVhitsun farthings, 36, 234 Wiccii, diocese of the, 91 ; Huiccians, 21 Wickhamford, chapelry of, 230 ; church, 245 ; population, 246 Willersey, chancel rebuilt, 115 ; ad vow- son, 115, 143 Willis's, Brown, notice of the abbey, 43 Winchcomb, abbot of, imprisoned, 99 Willows, loppings of, granted, 239 Windows, stained glass, how retained in churches, 177 Wine, the abbot's, 85, 128 Windmills purchased by the abbey, 115 Wittenagemote, 96 Wolsey, as legate, visits the abbey, 129 Wool-tithe at Bretforton, 79 Woollen cloth, manufacture of, 163 Worcester monks dying, prayed for, 100 bishop of, claims jurisdiction, 106; repulsed, 109; modern visitation, 178, 188 Randulph de Evesham elected bishop of, 107 ; Philip Hawford made dean of, 132 cathedral consecrated, 107 ; Cropthorne given to, 157 ; rebuilt, 373 ; tower added, 375 college, Oxon, for Benedic- tines, 376 Annals, cited, 107 Worcestershire Friendly Institution, 3 1 1 Wordsworth, quotation from, 232 Worsted hose, knitting of, 313 Writs, parliamentary, 35 ; the earliest, 275 Wyllys, Robert, his gravestone, 188, 190 Year, ancient commencement of, 284 's mind : see Anniversary York, letter from the duke of, 125 Youth trained for the cloister, 69, 193 Zatton, abbot, defends the conventual rights, 122 3 x NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN. HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN DOWAGER. Adams, Mr. 33, Paternoster Row, London Allies, Jabez, esq. Lower Wick, Worcester Ashwin, James, esq. Bretforton Ashwin, Mr. Manly, Cow Honeybourne Ashwin, Mr. W. Bell Inn, Broadway Austin, Mr. Alfred, Worcester Boughton, sir William Edward Rouse, baronet two copies Barton, Mr. S. K. New York Battersby, Rev. William, Bristol Berkeley, Robert, jun. esq. Spetchley Park Blackall, Rev. H. South Littleton Blayney, Robert, esq. The Lodge, Eves- ham Bryan, Mr. bookseller, Bewdley Burlingham, Mr. Henry, Port-street, Evesham Cappur, Ralph, esq. Nantwich Careless, Mr. Richard, South Littleton Cheek, J. M. G. esq. Bridge-st. Evesham Cheek, G. N. esq. Bengal Cheek, Oswald, esq. town-clerk, Evesham Cheek, Alfred, esq. Sydney Collins, Mr. Fleece Inn, Evesham Colson, Mr. artist, College-st. Worcester Cooper, Mr.Thomas, 85, West Smithfield, London Cox, John Surman, esq. Cheltenham Danks, Mr. Samuel, bookseller, Bewdley Davis, Rev. Timothy, High-st. Evesham Davis, Rev. David, Whitby Davis, Mr. W. Broadway Drury, Mr. Geo. architect, Birmingham Evesham Mechanics' Institution Fairhead, Mr. James, High-st. Evesham Field, Mr. S. H. cabinet maker, High- street, Evesham Foster, Mr. T. N. High-street, Evesham Foster, E. R. esq. Adelphi Place, Cold Harbour Road Friend, Mr. G. bookseller, Kidderminster Gammon, Mrs. Highfield Cottage, Edg- bastoii George, Mr. Edmund, Ashton-under-Hill Gibbs, Mr. Richard, Knowle-hill, Eves- ham Gibbs, Mr. John, Norville, Offenham Gill, Mr. Edmund, Bristol Gist, Samuel Gist, esq. Wormington Grange Gosling, Mr. F. N. Worcester Green, Mr. bookseller, Droitwich Gutch, J. M. esq. Common-hill, Worcester Hill, the Right Hon. Lord Marcus, M. P. Hanford, C. E. esq. Wollas-hill Hartland, Mr. A. H. Bridge-st. Evesham Hawes, William, Esq. Chipping-Campden Haynes, Mr. J. B. High-street, Evesham Hiatt, Mr. Lionel, Willersey Hiron, Mr. Henry, Bridge-st. Evesham Hiron, William, esq. Campden Hill, Rev. Reginald P. High-st. Evesham Hill, Mr. John, Market-place, Evesham Holmes, Mrs. Port-street, Evesham Holland, Edward, esq. Dumbleton Hall Hunt, Mr. Solomon, builder, Bridge- street, Evesham Eaton & Son, Messrs, booksellers, Wor- Jones, Joseph, esq. Spring Bank, Severn cester Stoke Edge, Mr. W. B. Bridge-street, Evesham Evans, Mrs. Port-street, Evesham Kershaw, Mr. John, Lapworth Evans, John, esq. F. S. A. London | Kettle, Mr. Chipping-Campden NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. Kiiisey, Mr. W. S. Bridge-street, Evesham Lumley, Mr. E. bookseller,, Chancery Lane, London Lunn, Mr. Robert, Norton Mackenzie, Mr. Robert, Abbey Manor, Evesbam Mann, Thomas, esq. General Register Office, London Marsden, Mr. bookseller, Worcester Marshall, Rev. John, Vicar of Evesbam Martin, Mr. Anthouy, surgeon, High-st. Evesham Matthews, Mr. Angel Inn, Evesham Maund, Mr. bookseller, Bromsgrove May, Mr. E. Tewkesbury Miller & Richard, Messrs. Edinburgh Northwick, the Right Honorable Lord Nepean, Rev. Evan, Fulham New, Anthony, esq. Vine-street, Evesham New, Mr. Caleb, Green-hill Villa, Eves- ham New, Mr. Herbert, Vine-street, Evesham Nicholas, Miss, Haverfordwest Norton, Mr. James L. printseller, Bir- Osborne, Mr. John, jun. Sedgeberrow Pepys, the Right Reverend Dr. Henry, Lord Bishop of Worcester Phillipps, sir Thomas, baronet, F. S. A. Pace, Mr. C. J. bookseller, Pershore Parry, Mrs. George, Haverfordwest Pardow, Mr. J. Studley Pearce, Mr. bookseller, Bridge-street, Evesham Perrott, E. T. esq. Stratford-upon-Avon Porter, John Henry, M. D. Port-street, Evesham Pratt, Rev. Ralph, Redditch Preedy, Lieut. G. W., R. N. Randell, Charles, esq. Lenchwick Richmond, Rev. Henry, Abbot's Salford Rogers, Mrs. Abbey Manor, Evesham Rudge, Edward, esq. F. S. A. Abbey Manor House Russell, Mr. Michael, Broadway Savage, Miss Anna, London Shaw, Rev. John, Vicar of Bengeworth Sheaf, Mr. William, Offenham Skillicorne, William Nash, esq. Chel- tenham Smith, Mr. Oswald, Mill Cottage, Eves- ham Smith, Mr. John, Cowl-street, Evesham Stanley, Mrs. Northwick Arms Hotel, Evesham Strickland, Henry Eustatius, esq. Tewkesbury Lodge Strode, Lieut. -colonel, Longdon's Heath, Upton-upon-Severn Suffield, Mr. Joseph, Port-street, Eves- ham two copies Sylvester, Mr. G. J. Worcester Symonds, Rev. William S. Pendock Thomas, John, esq. High-street, Evesham Thomas, Rev. Vaughan, Oxford Thompson, Rev. Thomas B. Northleach Thompson, Mr. W. St. John's, Worcester Tilly, Mr. Shuthonger house, Tewkesbury Turner, Miss, High-street, Evesham Winnington, sir Thomas E. bart. M. P. Walker, George J. A. esq. Norton-juxta- Kempsey Watson, William Conolly, esq. Eastnor White, Mr. Mill-street, Evesham White, Mr. John, Bridge-st. Evesham White, Mr. Thomas, Bridge-st. Evesham Whittaker & Co. Messrs, booksellers, London three copies Williams, Mr. G. bookseller, Stourport Williams, Mr. bookseller, Cheltenham Williams, Samuel, esq. Gloucester Gate, Regent's Park, London Williams, Mr. Charles, Hop Pole Inn, Workman, B. esq. Great Hampton Wright, William Charlton, esq. Charl- ton, Blackheath Wright, Mr. John, Bristol THE END. PRINTED BY GEORGE MAT, BRIDGE STREET, EVESHAM. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. MAR 2 5 1333 I DUE 2 WKS FROM DATE \ 6 iECEIVEO