Farewell Priory

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Coordinates: 52°42′08″N 1°52′42″W / 52.7023°N 1.8783°W / 52.7023; -1.8783
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Farewell Priory (Black Ladies)
Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield
Controlled churchesFarewell
People
Founder(s)Roger de Clinton
Important associated figures
Site
LocationFarewell near Lichfield
Coordinates52°42′08″N 1°52′42″W / 52.7023°N 1.8783°W / 52.7023; -1.8783
Public accessSite open to public. Church in use.
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameChurch of St Bartholomew
Designated27 February 1964
Reference no.1374273

Farewell Priory was a

Oxford University
.

Foundation

A religious community was founded at

Cistercian house, was established a short distance away during the same period as Farewell, incorporating hermits who already lived nearby and also with the involvement of Roger de Clinton.[6]

Order and patronage

Farewell was recorded as a

Breedon Priory, which had appropriated Breedon parish church and thus stood to lose tithes if Langley's claim was accepted. Pope Alexander III commissioned an investigation by the Cistercian abbot of Garendon Abbey and the Augustinian prior of Kenilworth Priory,[9] which adjudicated in favour of the nuns.[10] However, the nuns could not maintain their position for long and, in order to obtain exemption they were compelled in or about 1229 to hand over a toft, an acre of land and a payment of seven marks.[11]

When licensing Farewell to acquire property in 1398, Richard II described it as being "in the king's patronage."[12] However, this was an isolated incident. It was an episcopal foundation and the bishop of the time was central to its final dissolution.

Relations with Langley Priory

Langley Priory was established with nuns drawn from Farewell, as was acknowledged in its charter of about 1180 from William de Ferrers, 3rd Earl of Derby.[13] Farewell's claims over its daughter house became controversial and, under an agreement of about 1210[14] the prioress of Farewell was allowed to take part in the election of the prioress of Langley when a vacancy occurred. However, the election would go ahead even if she failed to attend or to send representatives. Other claims were withdrawn.[15] It was also agreed that Alice de Hely, a Farewell nun at that time residing at Langley, would remain in place for five years and then return to the mother house. The dispute flared up again in subsequent decades and under a composition, embodied in a charter issued by Prioress Serena of Farewell in 1248, Langley was to pay 4 marks annually, with a penalty for non-payment of 40 shillings.[16]

Estates

Sketch-map showing locations of the main estates and properties of Farewell Priory, Staffordshire.

As well as conferring the church of St Mary at Farewell, with a mill and wood, Roger de Clinton's charter to the nuns gave them the land between the banks of two streams, called Chistalea and Blachesiche.

serfs. The bishop also confirmed donations from two others: assarts and lands at Pipe, given by the bishop's chaplain, Hugh, and half a hide given by Hamminch of Hammerwich. The donation of Hamminch was to be split in two, with half held by the convent in demesne and the other half held of the church by Hamminch's heir. Walter Durdent
, Roger de Clinton's successor, appended a confirmation to the charter, adding the lands and service of Alurich de Quadraria and his sons, which were valued at six shillings per annum. The grant is explicitly stated to be monialibus de Faurwelle, to the nuns of Farewell.

Effigy of Henry II of England on his tomb in the church of Fontevraud Abbey.
An illuminated picture of King John riding a white horse and accompanied by four hounds. The king is chasing a stag, and several rabbits can be seen at the bottom of the picture.
King John on a stag hunt

Henry II granted a charter to the nuns of Farewell when at Radmore, now Red Moor,[17] south of Cannock Wood. There seem to be longer and shorter versions of the same document[18] but both are recorded as witnessed apud Rademoram.[19] Henry II is known to have stayed at Radmore in February 1155,[20] and the charter was probably issued during this visit. The king listed a number of properties and rights he wished to confirm.

  • The location and foundation of the abbacie sue apud Fagerwellan in foresta mea de Chanoc: their abbey at Farewell in the royal forest of Cannock or Cannock Chase.
  • 3 carucates of demesne land at Farewell, with the homages and mills that went with them
  • 8 acres worth 2 shillings per annum at Farewell, the gift of Robert the reeve and Thomas his son.
  • Marsh or moorland that could be turned into meadow.
  • 1 carucate at Pipe assarted from the king's forest.
  • 1 carucate at Hammerwich cum villani et franchelano nomine Hamone Vielario: with villeins and a franklin or free man named Hamon the fiddler, together with their tenancies and some pasture. The name of the franklin seems very similar to that of Hamminch, the original donor of Hammerwich, and may be him or his heir.
  • 40 acres at Lindhurst in the king's own manor of Alrewas: an area assarted from the waste in Cannock Chase and lying along the edge of the bishop's land. This came with manorial rights, including pannage, pasturage, and access to waterways.
  • A promise to recognise all reasonable future gifts which the priory might acquire.
  • Release and freedom from all secular services, including a number of specified court duties and taxes.

Around 1170 Geoffrey Peche granted land and a man to cultivate it at "Morhale" as the dowry of Sara, his daughter, when she entered Farewell[21] – commonly a source of small endowments for nunneries. The Peche family were prominent in Warwickshire and the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield at the time was Richard Peche, one of two to bear that surname in the 12th century. It was the bishop who had originally given Geoffrey the land that he conveyed to Farewell.[22]

On 3 April 1200 King John confirmed the grants enumerated by his father, Henry II.[23] Once again the nunnery was referred to as abbatia, an abbey. In the same year Farewell was listed as a nunnery receiving royal alms of 40 shillings, alongside its daughter house of Langley Priory and nearby Blithbury Priory.[24] The pipe rolls for 1203–4 record alms of 6 marks,[25] double the original amount,[26] to the same houses and some others. These were useful windfalls but never developed into a regular income for Farewell or the other houses.

In 1251

messuage in Longdon. These included two marks and the provision of a priest to celebrate Mass in the chapel at Radmore, which the prior claimed Prioress Julia had accepted in the reign of Henry III. The claim was contested.[29] Farewell also acquired a house in Lichfield and land at Curborough.[30]

In the 14th century, there is further evidence of small gains and patient defence of holdings. The original house in Lichfield, which was on Quonians Lane, off Dam Street, and in the priory's hands by 1283, had been joined by five further properties by 1399.

wardship of his heir, who was a minor. An old issue arose again in 1360, when the prior of Llanthony demanded arrears of 100 marks, apparently in vain.[34] In 1367 Prioress Agnes sued Humphrey, son of Simon de Rugeley, by writ of quare cessavit per biennium for ten acres of cultivated land and two of moor at Longdon.[35] Humphrey succeeded in getting the case adjourned and by the time it again came to court, more than three years later, he was dead and the prioress was suing his son Thomas, this time successfully.[36]

Look up inspeximus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

In 1375 Edward III issued an inspeximus confirming Henry II's comprehensive charter.[37] On 30 January 1398 the priory obtained a licence to acquire in mortmain properties to the yearly value of 10 marks, although the lands in question were not specified.[12] At the time of dissolution in 1527 the priory's holdings were recorded as:

  • Farewell and Chorley: three messuages, one cottage, a water-mill and 1400 acres of land.
  • Curborough, Elmhurst, Lea, Lenthurst, Alrewas: two messuages and 470 acres.
  • Hammerwich: a messuage and 50 acres.
  • Ashmore Brook: a messuage and 40 acres.
  • Lichfield: three messuages.
  • Kings Bromley: 11 acres.
  • Water Eaton: one messuage, a croft and 22 acres.
  • Cannock, Abnalls, Pipe and Burntwood: 140 acres.
  • Rugeley, Brereton, Handsacre: 20 acres
  • Oakley: 6 acres of meadow.
  • Tipton: a mill and 26 acres[1]

The priory's estates formed a fairly compact group. In the early 14th century, before the onset of the

agrarian crisis of 1315–22 and the still more devastating Black Death, there was demesne farming at Farewell, Curborough, and Hammerwich.[38] Hammerwich by this time had 30 about 30 tenants who were legally free but owed labour service at harvest time as part of their rent.[39] However, they had commuted the labour dues into payments of ½d. to 2d. During the course of the century the convent began sheep farming, while demesne farming at Hammerwich, at least, seems to have ceased by 1419: both common responses to a century of rising labour costs. The social status of tenants varied greatly, and could be high, as on the Abnalls estate, now in Burntwood, which seems to have evolved from the holdings at Pipe. This was held of the priory in the late 14th century by Aymer Taverner,[40] whose surname is self-explanatory and suggests fairly humble origins. However, while changing his name to Lichfield, he made himself a major landholder and represented Staffordshire twice in the House of Commons, as well as serving two terms as sheriff of his own county and two as Sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire.[41] After Aymer the estate was held for about 17 years by Sir William Newport, who was MP for the county in three Parliaments and sheriff for three terms.[42]

Monastic life

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Knowledge of the religious life in Farewell is largely based on two

Latin. It seems that there had been a Latin original, which they had not followed.[43] Two of the nuns had left the convent. In the case of Alice de Kynynton, Northburgh promised to support the prioress with la verge de discipline:[44]
this may not imply physical correction, as verge could simply mean a rod of office rather than a big stick. Cecily of Gretton, was to receive counselling and instruction from a nun nominated by the prioress. As always, Northburgh demanded proper accounts from the officials of the convent. As was quite common, he criticised the nuns for extravagant dress: in this case silk girdles and purses. They should elect an older nun to take charge of clothing. The nuns were also ordered not to sleep with each other or with young girls in the dormitory. Two servants were to be put out of the house and only young women intending to become nuns should be accommodated there. A rear door was to be kept locked to prevent recurrence of previous scandals.

Some of the same issues were discussed again in the decree of

Feast of the Purification (2 February). The same applied to unauthorised children: with the bishop's permission each nun was allowed to keep one child for education, but males over seven years were excluded. The bishop demanded that nuns keep the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience
and the prioress was to report breaches to him. The prioress and officials were to render accounts at least annually to the convent. Separate food rations had proved uneconomic and all the nuns were to eat together in the prioress's hall. Except in case of sickness, the only fire was to be in the building housing the Gesthall or infirmary. Monastic property could not to be granted away without the bishop's permission and any unauthorised grants were invalid. The decree itself was to be read out and explained in English by a literate cleric on the day after it was received.

Dissolution and after

Portrait of Thomas Wolsey.
Portrait of William, Lord Paget, by the Master of the Stätthalterin Madonna.

Cardinal

Cardinal College, in his own memory. In order to raise sufficient finance for the scheme, he proposed to suppress a number of other monasteries around the country and redirect their incomes to the college. In September 1524 Pope Clement VII issued a bull approving Wolsey's appropriation of further houses up to the value of 3000 ducats and letters patent were issued in line with the papal bull.[48] At this point, the only Staffordshire houses named were Sandwell Priory and Canwell Priory. The royal assent for the scheme on 1 October 1524 also named Sandwell and possibly Canwell: the text is partly defaced.[49] The dissolution of these male Benedictine houses went ahead with no mention of Farewell. However Wolsey, in his capacity as papal legate instituted a visitation of Lichfield in response to a complaint from the vicars about their working conditions and salaries, which forced upon Bishop Geoffrey Blythe a revision of Lichfield Cathedral's statutes.[50] Hibbert places this in March 1526 but the Victoria County History dates it to 1527,[51] which may be a confusion of Old Style and New Style dates. Hibbert considered that the visitation provided an occasion for Blythe to raise the condition of Farewell Priory with Wolsey. It is certain that the priory was dissolved in 1527 and the income granted to Lichfield Cathedral to support its choristers.[52][53] The underlying reason for the dissolution seems to have been Wolsey's need to repay a debt he owed to Lichfield in connection with his college scheme.[54]

Wolsey's commission for the suppression of Farewell was issued on 20 March 1527, having been approved by

Henry VIII two days earlier,[55] although an undated report of an inquisition into the priory has been placed in May 1526, possibly adding to the confusion about dates.[56] The commission was addressed to Richard Street, Archdeacon of Salop, and William Clayborough, a canon of York Minster and a prominent lawyer. It specified that the nuns were to be transferred to other Benedictine houses and that the assets were to go to the dean and chapter of Lichfield Cathedral, in order to enrich the choristers.[8] The dissolution took place on 13 April 1527. At this point the last prioress, Elizabeth Kilshawe, was seised of lands and properties valued at £33 6s. 8d.[1] It seems that the planned transfer of the nuns went ahead. One of the nuns, Felicia Bagshawe, probably a native of Farewell manor, was sent to Black Ladies Priory, near Brewood.[57] She was to continue at Black Ladies until it too was dissolved on 16 October 1538, receiving a lump sum of 20 shillings[58] and subsequently allotted an annual pension of 33s. 4d.[59] Prioress Elizabeth was transferred to Nuneaton Priory.[60]

A formal grant of Farewell and all its possessions to the dean and chapter followed on 18 August 1527.[61] The dean and chapter agreed to say an obiit annually for the bishop.[52] Blythe's rôle in the dissolution is one of the key pieces of evidence for continuing episcopal patronage of Farewell: it seems that on dissolution it was taken for granted that it would revert to the diocese.[62]

Sketch of an urn found in the south wall of Farewell parish church during renovation, c. 1747.

In 1535 the

leet court 10s.[63] In 1550 the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield granted the lands of the former priory to William, Lord Paget.[64] In 1564 his son and heir, Henry Paget, 2nd Baron Paget, used the legal device of fine of lands to register his right to the old priory lands, having himself sued by Richard Cupper and William Owen so that he could concede the estates and then have them made over to him in a perpetual grant.[65]
The properties fictitiously at issue consisted of:

the manors of Farewall and Chorley, and of 10 messuages, 6 cottages, 6 tofts, 10 gardens, a dovecote, 2 watermills, 300 acres of land, 10 acres of meadow, 400 acres of pasture, 20 acres of wood, 100s. of rent, and view of frankpledge in Farewalle, Chorley, Longdon, Pype, Homeryche, Curbugh, and Ocle, and of the rectory of Farewall, also of the tithes of sheaves, grain, hay, wool, lambs, and other small tithes in Farewall and Chorley.

The priory buildings seem to have disappeared by the 18th century. The parish church was altered greatly in the 1740s and restored again in the mid-19th century, leaving only the eastern end of the original structure,[66] although there are also two ranges of misericords, dated about 1300, in the chancel and some 15th-century panel tracery.[67] The 18th century renovation brought to light three ranges of earthenware vessels, presumably dating from the period of the priory. Three survived and a sketch of one was published in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1771.[68]

List of prioresses

The list is based on that in the Victoria County History account of the priory.[69]

  • Serena is known from the charter, dated 1248, in which she recognised the practical independence of Langley Priory in return for a pension of 4 marks.[16]
  • Julia was named as a prioress of the reign of Henry III when Radmore Abbey sued the priory.[29]
  • Maud was prioress probably in the early 1270s.
  • Margery was holding office in 1293.
  • Mabel died in 1313.
  • Iseult of Pipe was elected in 1313 and resigned in 1321.
  • Margaret de Muneworth was appointed in 1321 after a disputed election and sued for land at Elmhurst in 1353.[33]
  • Sibyl is mentioned in court proceedings initiated by Llanthony Priory in 1360 and seems to have held office in 1357, although the text is confusing and also seems to refer to an earlier Prioress Sybil.[34]
  • Agnes Foljambe was sued over land at Longdon around 1367.[35]
  • Agnes Turville resigned office in 1398.
  • Agnes Kyngheley was elected prioress in 1398.
  • Margaret Podmore died in 1425.
  • Alice Wolaston was elected prioress in 1425. As late as 1462 she is known to have sued Elizabeth Shephard for taking an ox worth 40s.[70]
  • Anne is known from her admission to the guild of Lichfield in 1476.[71]
  • Elizabeth Kylshaw is first mentioned when admitted to the guild of Lichfield in 1523.[72] She was prioress at the dissolution in 1527 and was then transferred to Nuneaton Priory.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 110.
  2. ^ Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 111, no. 2.
  3. ^ See Midgley, Cannock: Manors and economic history: Lesser estates, note anchors 257-67 for details.
  4. ^ a b Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 111, no. 1.
  5. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 1, p. 48.
  6. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Cistercian Monks: The Abbey of Radmore, note anchors 1-2.
  7. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 1.
  8. ^ a b Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 112-3, no. 7.
  9. ^ Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 221-2, no. 2.
  10. ^ Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, volume 2, p. 353.
  11. ^ Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 222-3, no. 5.
  12. ^ a b Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1396–1399, p. 293.
  13. ^ Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 221-2, no. 1.
  14. ^ Hoskins, Mckinley (eds.). House of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Langley, footnote 11.
  15. ^ Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 112-3, no. 5.
  16. ^ a b Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 112-3, no. 6.
  17. ^ Midgley, Cannock: Manors and economic history: Lesser estates, note anchor 238
  18. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, footnote 4.
  19. ^ Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 111, nos. 3-4. The longer version, carrying this location, was included in an inspeximus of 1375: Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1374–1377, p. 182.
  20. ^ Eyton, p. 6.
  21. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 8.
  22. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, footnote 8.
  23. ^ Rotuli Chartarum, p. 42-3.
  24. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 91.
  25. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 119.
  26. ^ However, the editor of the Pipe Rolls, Robert William Eyton, states this as a reduction to 2 marks in his notes: Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 123.. Victoria County History repeated this: Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 7.
  27. ^ Close Rolls 1251–1253, p. 12-3.
  28. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 10.
  29. ^ a b Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 6, part 1, p. 94.
  30. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchors 12-13.
  31. ^ Greenslade (ed.). Lichfield: Manors and other estates, note anchor 52.
  32. ^ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1317–1321, p. 565.
  33. ^ a b Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 12, part 1, p. 118.
  34. ^ a b Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 13, p. 13.
  35. ^ a b Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 13, p. 62.
  36. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 13, p. 85.
  37. ^ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1374–1377, p. 182.
  38. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 15.
  39. ^ Greenslade (ed.). Townships: Hammerwich, note anchor 192.
  40. ^ Greenslade (ed.). Burntwood: Manors, local government and public services, note anchor 49.
  41. ^ Rawcliffe, C. (1993). "LICHFIELD, alias TAVERNER, Aymer (d.c.1400), of Lichfield, Staffs.". In Roskell, J. S.; Clark, C.; Rawcliffe, L. (eds.). History of the Parliament, 1386–1421: Members. London: History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  42. ^ Rawcliffe, C. (1993). "NEWPORT, Sir William (d.1416), of Abnalls, near Lichfield, Staffs.". In Roskell, J. S.; Clark, C.; Rawcliffe, L. (eds.). History of the Parliament, 1386–1421: Members. London: History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  43. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 1, p. 257, footnote 2.
  44. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 23.
  45. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, series 2, volume 8, p. 118-9.
  46. ^ Hibbert, p. 20.
  47. ^ Hibbert, p. 22.
  48. ^ Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, Volume 4, Part 1, p. 284, no. 649.
  49. ^ Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, Volume 4, Part 1, p. 310, no. 697.
  50. ^ Hibbert, p. 27.
  51. ^ Baugh et al. Lichfield Cathedral: To the Reformation, note anchors 537-8.
  52. ^ a b Hibbert, p. 28.
  53. ^ Baugh et al. Lichfield Cathedral: To the Reformation, note anchors 560.
  54. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 25.
  55. ^ Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, Volume 4, Part 2, p. 1328, no. 2969.
  56. ^ Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, Volume 4, Part 1, p. 978, no. 2193.
  57. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, footnote 26.
  58. ^ Hibbert, p. 227.
  59. ^ Hibbert, p. 228.
  60. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, footnote 45.
  61. ^ Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, Volume 4, Part 2, p. 1536, no. 3390.
  62. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 2 and footnote 2.
  63. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 29.
  64. ^ Baugh et al. Lichfield Cathedral: From the Reformation to the 20th Century, note anchor 13.
  65. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 13, p. 234.
  66. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 30.
  67. ^ Historic England listing, Church of St Bartholomew, no. 1374273.
  68. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 41, p. 59.
  69. ^ Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell: Prioresses.
  70. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, series 2, volume 4, p. 120.
  71. ^ Harwood, p. 406.
  72. ^ Harwood, p. 413.

References

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