&' «*: s> «*. «* V * .r# feA' ^^X ^,^. At*. r ~ *-.y. ,/ * %.<* *< %. '• > . ,f -v. ^ - v . ^ ^c W ?-% - & % \^sm* & % ■ ** _«>* W : \^ fdk v* rV ^ - .\r# ^ ^ %. <* / ^8^ ^ ^ v /j^fe\ ^\ * v /iS^ ^V c A^ ^ ^/yv-iW/V^ ^ ^ ' 7 6 N °^ • Q, v= %/' : \ % v . > ^ ^ ■f^ ' ' » (, s CAMBRIDGE: •KIN nn in w. MK.TCAME, ST. HART'S STREET. xi VENERABLE FRANCIS WRANGHAM, M.A. F.R.S. ARCHDEACON OP THE EAST RIDING OF THE COUNTY OF YORK, THE FOLLOWING WORK is, WITH HIS PERMISSION, INSCRIBED, BY HIS FAITHFUL AND OBLIGED SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The attention of some of the most distinguished individuals, both in Church and State, has been drawn to the present condition of the Parochial Churches throughout the kingdom, and the libe- ral donations of pious individuals have, in many instances, co-operated with the provision recently made by the Legislature, in order to meet the wants of an increasing population, and to carry on repairs, which long neglect has accumulated upon the present generation. The object, therefore, of this and of similar publications which have lately appeared, is not merely to gratify the student of Architecture and Antiquities ; but also to call the attention of those, who are locally or officially connected with each particular church, to the expediency of their general improvement and restoration by every practicable means. It is a vain and idle excuse, VI PREFACE. too often originating in hostility or indifference to the cause, that since much is to be done, and we cannot do all that is required, therefore we are justified in doing nothing. At the same time it must be allowed, that a task of no ordinary difficulty has, in many cases, been imposed upon us by the negligence of our predecessors in not repairing, duly and regularly, the sacred edifices entrusted to their charge. The Church of Bridlington is under peculiar disadvantages in this respect. It was at the same time a parochial and a conventual Church, and, being appropriated to one of the richest monas- teries in Yorkshire, displayed, in the magnitude of its proportions and architectural decorations, a magnificence corresponding to the elevated rank of the ecclesiastical establishment to which it belonged. When, however, the Monastery was dissolved, its ample revenues were scattered with an unsparing hand; and in no similar instance, perhaps, was the wealth, which had been be- queathed for pious uses, torn from the Church with so little regard to secure a suitable provision for the future wants of the parish. Dining the existence of the Monastery the western part, or nave, of the ancient Priory PREFACE. Vll Church, was assigned to the use of the town, while the monks performed their devotions in the eastern part of the fabric* At the dissolu- tion, the western part of the ancient edifice was accordingly suffered to remain, and the rectorial tithes were sold to a layman, subject to the pay- ment of eight pounds a year to a Perpetual Curate, who should " perform divine service, and have the charge of souls within the parish." This remaining portion of the ancient Conventual Church, in its present condition, is calculated to excite mingled feelings of regret and admiration. Its original features may still be distinctly traced in spite of the neglect and oblivion to which they have been consigned for the space of three cen- turies ; but in order to put this beautiful speci- men of Gothic architecture in complete repair, by a judicious restoration, means would be re- quired which the Church of Bridlington no longer possesses. How far the voluntary contributions of the Parishioners, aided by a grant from the " Society for Building and Repairing Churches," might be capable of effecting this most desirable * " The scyd Church ys divided the on part for the Pryory and Covent, and the nether part for the Parysshe Church." Survey of Bridlington Priory, taken 32 Hen. VIII. Vlll PREFACE. object, the Author does not pretend to de- termine. Of the materials of the following work little can be said likely to be interesting to the gene- rality of readers : and to those who are familiar with the original sources of information common to this and similar publications, the few remarks which can be made offer nothing new. There are only two MS. volumes, — one an original, the other an abstract, if not a copy, — from which those eminent antiquarians Dugdale and Burton derived the chief part of their information re- specting the Priory of Bridlington : — the former of these MSS. is the Register of the Priory now in the possession of Sir William Ingilby, Bart. ; and the latter, the transcript of a Chartulary of the Priory, the same most probably which is enume- rated in Tanner's List of Records relating to this Monastery, and there entitled " Cartularium penes Ric. Malleverer Bar." These two sources of original information appear to have supplied materials for the notices of the Priory of Brid- lington in the Monasticon Anglicanum of Dug- dale, and the Monasticon Eboracense of Burton. To these may be added some additional materials for this history to be found in the shape of original PREFACE. IX letters, and other documents, deposited in the British Museum : in the Bodleian Library, Oxford : in the University Library, and in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge ; or in the collections of private individuals. Of course the casual notices of this Monastery, in common with others, interspersed throughout the National Records, re- cently published, must not be omitted ; and, in particular, the Survey of Henry the Eighth's Commissioners, prior to the dissolution, preserved among the Records in the Chapter House, West- minster. There is scarcely any thing to be met with more recent than the works of Dugdale and Burton, as to the history of this Priory, except the scanty hints to be gleaned from the notice taken of the Town in some local topographical works, which repeat the same facts with little or no variation. The only work, except the present, which has been expressly devoted to an illustration, not, indeed, as in this case, of the Ecclesiastical only, but also of the Civil History of the Town, is a small volume published on the spot in 1821, and entitled, " Historical Sketches of Bridlington, by John Thompson." The author of this little work has the merit of being the first inhabitant of the place who endeavoured to illustrate and make \ PREFACE. known the antiquities of his native town, and the present work has been undertaken with a similar intention. It is but just, here to acknow- ledge, that the Author of the present work is in- debted to Mr. Thompson for the first intimation of the existence of the very interesting document published by Mr. Caley's kind permission in the Appendix, and that he is indebted to the book before alluded to for the knowledge of some facts. although in all cases the original authorities have been carefully consulted. To John Caley, Esq. F.S.A. the Author is in- debted for his liberality in furnishing Messrs. Stover, the engravers, with drawings of the Priory seals : — to Thomas Rickman. architect, for his liberality and kindness in looking over the architectural part of this work, and for several useful suggestions : — to the Rev. Rulkeley Ban- dinel, D.D. keeper of the Bodleian Library, for his very valuable assistance in decyphering the Dodsworth MSS :— to Walter Calverley Treve- lyan, Esq., oi' University College, Oxford, for presenting to this work the plate of the ancient sculptured Stone (Pi. ix.) originally engraved at his expence for the Transactions oi' the Anti- quarian Society at Newcastle:— to Sir W. Ingilby. PREFACE. , XI Bart, for permission to inspect the MS. Register of the Priory in his possession: — to Sir W. Strickland, Bart, and Archdeacon Wrangham, for much kind encouragement and assistance : — to Eustachius Strickland, Esq. of York, for a transcript of that part of the Torr MSS. which relates to Bridlington : — to Robert Nairne, Esq. and the Rev. W. Greenwood, of Trinity College, Cambridge, to the former for the researches made in the British Museum, and to the latter for the use of his MSS. collections respecting the mo- nastic orders : — and to David Taylor and George Hodgson, Esqrs., two of the Lords Trustees of the Manor of Bridlington, for some information from original papers in the Town Chest. The Author begs leave to return his most grate- ful acknowledgements for the encouragement which he has received in his undertaking from a very numerous list of subscribers, and to apolo- gize for the delay which has unavoidably attended the publication of the work. I'luisi'iY College, Cambridge, Jan. 1, 1831. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. HIS CRACK THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. L. P. Anderson, the Rev. Sir Charles, Bart., 2 copies. L. P. Anderson, Lady. L. P. Affleck, Gen. Sir James, Bart., Dalham Hall, Newmarket. L. P. Abbott, Mr. T. E., Bridlington Adams, P. B., Esq., B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge Adderley, Thomas, Esq., London. L. P. Aldis, C. J. B., Esq., B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge Aldridge, Miss, Beverley Allerston, Mr. J., Bridlington Allgood, Mr. Langley, Whitwick, Leicestershire Almack, Mr. T., Bishop Burton Almack, Mr. J., Leconfield Park Anderson, Charles, Esq., Lea, Gainsborough. L. P. Anderson, Mrs. F. M., Lea, 2 copies Anderson, Miss, Lea Anderson, F. B., Esq., Hessle. L. P. Arabin, Mrs., High Beach, Essex. L. P. Armstrong, C. E., Esq., Worcester College, Oxford Ashley, Mr. Edward, Molescroft, near Beverley Athorpe, Colonel, Hull. L. P. Atkinson, Richard, Esq-, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Atkinson, Mr. A., Deputy Registrar of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Beverley Austin, Mr., Bookseller, Hertford, 3 S. P. and 3 L. P. Auther, B., Esq., Bruton Street, London. L. P. Beaumont, Sir Georgf, Howland Willoughby, Bart., Cole-Orton Hall, High Sheriff for the County of Leicester. L. P Boynton, Sir Francis, Bart., Burton Agnes. L. P. Butler, the Venerable Samuel, D.D., F.R.S., Archdeacon of Derby, and Head Master of Shrewsbury School. L. P. Babington, Rev. Matthew Drake, M.A., Incumbent of St. George's Chapel, Whitwick, Leicestershire XIV LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Baker, Rev. R. B., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Banks, George, Esq., Leeds. L. P. Baron, Messrs. J. and G., Bridlington Baron, Mr. James, Bridlington Barugh, Mr., Octon Barugh, Miss, Octon Batley, Charles Harrison, Esq., late M.P. for Beverley. L. P. Bayne, W. J., Esq., M.D., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Bean, Mr. W., Leavening Beatson, Rev. B. W., M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College, Cambridge. L. P. Beatson, A., Esq., B.A., Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Bell, Rev. John, D.D., Rector of Bainton, Yorkshire. L. P. Bell, John, Esq., Hull. L. P. Bell, Mr. P., Bridlington Beswick, Mr., Bridlington Bethell, Richard, Esq., M.P. for the County of York, Rise. L. P. Blanchard, Rev. John, M.A., Rector of Middleton. L. P. Blenkin, Mr. John, North Burton # Blomberg, Rev. F. W., D.D., Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty, Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, London, and Rector of Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire. L. P. Bodley, Mrs., Bridlington Quay Boissier, Rev. G. R., B.A., Chiddingstone, Kent Borlase, Rev. H., B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Bourne, J. G. Hutchinson, Esq., M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; Temple, London Bower, H., Esq., F.S.A., Doncaster. L. P. Bower, W., Esq., Beverley. L. P. Bower, Robert, Esq., Welham, Malton. L. P. Bowes, Rev. T. F. Foord, M.A., Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty, Rector of Barton le Clay, Beds; Coulam, York. L. P. Braithwaite, Mr. E., Thwing Brackridge, Geo. Weare, Esq., Bridlington. L. P. Brigham, Mr. John, Octon Grange Brigham, Miss, Beverley Broadley, John, Esq., F.S.A., Hull. L. P. Broadley, Charles Bayles, Esq., B.C.L., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Broadley, Miss, Sewerby House Brodie, P. B., Esq., Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. L. P. Brook, John, Esq., York Brooke, John Croft, Esq., M.A., Catharine Hall, Cambridge. L. P. Brough, A., Esq., Portland Place, London, 2 copies. L. P. Brown, Rev. J., M.A., Vice-Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XV Brown, Mr. W. H., Bridlington. L. P. Brown, Mr. W. Holtby, Scarborough. L. P. Brown, Nicholas, Esq., Somerset House, London. L. P. Brown, Mrs. L. P. Buckle, N. J. N., Esq., Downing College, Cambridge, 2 copies. L. P. Bullock, Mr. H., Bridlington Quay Bullock, Mr. John, Bridlington Bulmer, Rev. W., M.A., Vicar Choral in York Minster Burdass, Mr., Buckton. L. P. Cameron, Mr., Bridlington Campbell, W., Esq., M.D., Whitby. L. P. Campbell, Rev. C, B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Cape, Rev. H., M.A., Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge. L. P. Cape, Mr. T., Bridlington Cawood, Mr. Henry, York. L. P. Challis, Rev. James, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Champney, Mr. Alderman, York Chapman, Mr. W., Bridlington Quay Charlesworth, Rev. B., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Charnock, Rev. James, M.A., Bishopton Close, Ripon, Fellow of University College, Oxford. L. P. Chilton, Mrs., Whitby Clarke, Mrs., Lincoln. L. P. Clarkson, B., Esq., Kirkham Abbey. L. P. Coates, Mrs., Heslington Hall, York Cole, Mr. John, Bookseller, Scarborough, 4 S. P. and 1 L. P. Cole, Mr. George, Kirby Moorside Coltman, Rev. Joseph, M.A., Perpetual Curate of the Minster, Beverley Constable, Rev. Charles, Wassand. L. P. Cooke, Henry, Esq., Scarborough Cookson, A., Esq., M.D. L. P. Cooper, E. P., Esq., B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Cooper, Mr. C. H., Cambridge Cordukes, Mr., Bridlington. L. P. Coverley, S., Esq., Bridlington Cox, R., Esq., Spondon, Derby. L. P. Cox, Richardson, Esq., B.A., Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. L. P. Cox, W. T., Esq., Spondon, Derby Cox, Rev. Edward, B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge Cranswick, Mr. M., Bridlington Creeke, Mr. W. W., Cambridge. L. P. Creyke, The Misses, Marton. L. P. Croft, Charles, Esq., University College, Oxford. L. P. \vi list OP su use R I BERS. Cropper) J. v.. Esq., Grace- Dieu Cottage, Leicestershire, and Gray's Inn. London. L. P. Crosse, John, Esq., F.S.A., Hull. L. P. dimming, Rev. Professor, M.A., F.R.S., late Fellow of Trinity College. Cambridge. L. 1'. Currer, Miss, Eshton Hall, Yorkshire. L. I'. Curtis. Rev. John, M.A., Head Master of the Grammar School, Ashbyde l.i Zouch Cust, Hon. and Rev, H. C, Canon of Windsor. L. I". Cuthbert, Rev. William, Doncaster Devonshire, His Grace im Duki oi i P Palo, Mr. W., Bridlington Dallin, Rev. James, M. A., Vicar Choral in York Minster, and Vicar ol Rudston, 2 copies. L. P. Dallin, Rev. Robert, jun., Thwing. 1.. 1'. Dallin, Rev. T. J., M. V.. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge I. P Dalton, Rev. I.. M.A., Rector of Croft, near Darlington Davies, Geo., Esq., Scarborough Davison, G., Esq., Worcester College, Oxford. I.. P. Davison, Mr. R,, Bridlington Dawson. Miss M., Royds Hall, Wakefield, I.. P. Dawson, II., Esq., Catharine Mall, Cambridge, I.. 1'. Dawson, Mr., Bridlington. I.. 1'. Daws,, n. Mr. I;.. Sewerby, l.. P Do Morgan, Augustus, Esq., B, v.. trinity College, Cambridge, ami Profes sor of Mathematics in the London University. I.. P, Dixon. Rev. W. 11.. M.A., Prebendary ofYork,and Vicai of Bishopsthorpe. L, P. Dor..;. Miss, Bridlington Drake, Rev. J., M.A., Vicar of Warmfield, Yorkshire Drake, Dr., North Frodingham Drummond, Rev. H., M.A., Trinitj College, Cambridge, Vicar of Feering, Essex I.. P. Duesbery, T., Esq., Beverley, Ebden, Rev. J. C, M.A., late Fellow id Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. L. P Edgar, Mrs., 'N ork Edwards, Rev. E., M.A., F.S.A., Lynn, Norfolk. I.. P. Ellis, V.. Esq., York Ellison, Richard, Esq., Sudbrooke Holme, Lincoln. 1- P. Espinasse, Robert, Esq., Barrister, Temple, London. 1.. P. Evans, Rev. li. W., M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity Coll., Cambridge, L.P. Eyre, Rev. J. 1'. B.C.L., Lecturer of St M iry's, Beverley. 1.. P. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XVII FevershaM, the Right Honourable Lord, Duncombe Park, 2 copies. L.P. Fairgay, Mr., Bridlington Fardell, John George, Esq., Christ's College, Cambridge. L P. Farthing, Mr. Thomas, Beeford Grange. L. I'. Fawcett, Rev. Joshua, B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Fearnley, Fairfax, Esq., Middle Temple, London Featherstone, John, Esq., Hull Fenn, I)., Esq., Queen's College, Cambridge. L. P. Fenton, Miss, Boyhton Ferguson, E., F,s(|., Halifax Fielding, 11., Esq., Northallerton. L. P. Fisher, Rev. J. 11., M.A., Fellow and TutorofTrinityColl, Cambridge. L.P. Fisher, T. II., Esq., Cambridge. I-. 1'. Flather, John, Esq., Lincoln's Inn, London. L. P. Flower, Rev. VV.,.lnn., M.A., York Fojjambe, Thomas, Esq., Wakefield. L. P. Foord, Rev. H., M.A., Foxholes, near Scarborough. L. !'. Foord, Mr. J., Leavening Forth, F., Esq., Worcester College, Oxford. L. P. Forth, Mr. W., Bridlington Forth, Mr., Bookseller, Bridling) 20 copies Forster, W., Esq., Cole-Orton, Leicestershire Foster, Mr. Charles, Hull Prankish, Mr. John, Bridlington Frost, Charles, Esq., F.S.A., Hull. L. P. Furhy, Mr., Bookseller, Bridlington, 20 copies FurneSB, Mr. R. II., Bridlington. GRENVILLE, Tin: Hon. and Rev. GEORGE NEVILLE, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. L. P. GREY, Hon. John, Trinity College, Cambridge. L. P. Glynn, Sir Stephen Richard, Bart., Hawarden Castle, Flintshire. L. P. Gardiner, Mr., Bridlington Quay Gibson, Rev. John, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. I>. P. Gilhy, Rev. John, late Rector of Barmston. L. P. Gilhy, Rev. W. R., M.A., Vicar of St. Mary's, Beverley, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. L. I'. Gilling, Mr. Henry, Bridlington Ooddard, Rev. Edward, Chichester. L. P. Goldie, A., Esq., M.D., York Goode, Rev. W., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. Gowland, B., Esq., Whitby. L. P. b win LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Gray, Jonathan, Esq., York. L. P. Greame, John, Esq., Sewerby House. I.. P. Greame, Mrs., Sewerby House Greame, Yarburgh, Esq., Sewerby House. I.. 1'. Green, Rev. C, M.A.. Rector ofBuxhall, Suffolk. 1.. P. Green. W., Esq., B.A., Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Greenup, Richard, Esq.* Queen's College, Cambridge. L. P. Greenwood, Rev. W., M.A., Rector o( Thrapston, Northamptonshire, ami late Fellow ami Tutor ofCorpus Christi College, Cambridge. L. 1'. Greenwood, Rev. T., B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge Griffith, Rev. John, 1>.1>., Prebendary of Rochester, ami late Fellow and Tutor of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. L. P. IIoakk, Sik liieii.vun Coi.t, Hart., Stourhead, Wilts, F.S.A. 1.. P. 11 vrwood, 1. ^DY, Cambridge. 1.. 1'. Hacket, F. 15., Esq., Moor Hall, Warwickshire. 1- P. Haggitt, Mr. Joseph, Bridlington Hailstone, .1. Esq., B.A.. Trinity College, Cambridge Hall, John, Esq., Scorborough, mar Beverley. 1- P. Hall. Mr. James. Whitby Hall. Mr. h\. Bridlington Halladay, Mr. Joseph, Whitwick, Leicestershire Harding, John, Esq., Field House. Bridlington Quay Hargrove, Mr., York Harland, Mrs.. Bridlington. L. P. Harlaml, Mr. Thomas, Langtoft Harrison, S. B., Esq., Lamb's Buildings, Temple. London. L. P. Harrison. T. W., Esq., MA.. Christ's College, Cambridge. L. P. Hawkins, John Heywood, Esq., M.A.. Trinitj College, Cambridge. L. P. Hayzen, Mr. P., Bridlington Quay Heald, Rev. W. M., M.A., Chaplain of Trinitj College, Cambridge. L. P. Hearon, Mr. Alderman, York Henson, Rev. Francis, B.D., Fellow ami Tutor of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. L. P. Hentig, Robert, Esq., Hull. 1 1\ Heseltine, Mr. Joseph. Bridlington Hextall, Mr. George, Swanington, Leicestershire Higgins, John, Esq., Turvej Vbbey, Bedford. L. P. Hio'srins, Charles, Esq., B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge Higgins, E.T., Esq., Inner Temple, London Hildyard, Rev. W., M.A.. Fellow ami Tutor ofTrinity HaH, Cambridge. L.P. Hildyard, Rev. W., Beverley. L. P. Hoare, Charles, F.sq., Luscombe, Dawlish, Devonshire. L. P- LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XIX Hoare, Henry C, J-s. No. 71. HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 19 A charter of Henry the Second, in the Appendix to this account,* will afford an idea of the extent of the possessions of the monastery towards the close of the first century after its foundation. Among these, the following churches in the deanery of Dykering are stated to have been appropriated to the convent at an early period. The rectory of Filey was the gift of the founder, Walter de Gant ; and William Fitz- Nigel soon after added the rectory of Flamborough. The rectory of Boynton was appropriated by Galfrid, the steward; and the rectory of Carnaby by Robert de Percy. The rectories of Ganton and Willoughby were added by Adelard, the hunter. Considerable possessions, if not the rights of the manors, were granted about the same time by various donors, in the villages of Eston, Hilderthorp and Willes- thorp, Auburn, Bessingby, Speeton, Grindal, Fraisthorp, Sewerby and Marton, Buckton, Righton, Bempton, Beeford and Thwing. In these villages and hamlets, as no mention occurs of church or chapel being in existence at the time when they first came into the hands of the ecclesiastics, we may fairly suppose them to have been the founders of the several chapels subsequently erected for the use of the peo- ple in several of these parishes ; all, however, dependent on the parent church of the monastery. The Priory of Bridlington, as we have seen, was founded in the reign of Henry the First, and the next occurrence in order of time, which demands our attention, is an act of his successor Stephen, by whom a charter was granted to the monastery, in which,t after stating " that out of his abundant favor, and with the consent of his Council, and in relief of the Prior, and Canons, and their House, which is situated upon the sea coast," he was willing to grant them various privileges, which are enumerated in the charter, the King concedes * See Appendix D. No. S. t Copied from the Exemplification of Charters formerly granted to Brid- lington Priory, made iti the time of Charles the First. c -2 20 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. to them " the Port and Harbour oi* Bridlington, with all kinds of wreck of the sea which shall in future happen or issue in all places within the Dykes called Earl Dyke, and Flaynburgh Dyke." Dugdale has published a mandate from the same king, enjoining the sheriff of Yorkshire to see that the above charter be duly carried into effect, and commanding him to allow the prior of Bridlington well and peaceably to have and hold his port of Bridlington, as Walter de Gant, and Gilbert, his father, formerly held the same.* Gilbert de Gant, the eldest son of the founder, was con- temporary with King Stephen, and obtained the title of Earl of Lincoln in right of his wife. He was baptized and educated in the Priory, and had so great a regard for its welfare, that he not only confirmed all the grants of Walter de Gant, his father, but was himself also very liberal in his donations. A curious charter has been preserved,! in which he directs his body to be buried in the Priory Church ; and declares, that if by the grace of God he should ever be induced to quit the vanities of the world for the retirement of the cloister, he would assume the habit of an Augustine canon, and return to end his days among the associates of his childhood. The catalogue of priors, as collected by Burton and Torr from the register of the Priory, is printed in the Appendix. $ Of these it will not be necessary here to notice any but those who were themselves eminent for piety or learning, or who were rendered conspicuous by the transactions in which they bore a part. The name of the first prior, whose name occurs before A.D. 1124, is Guicheman, or Wikeman, to whom the Pope's bull above recited is addressed. The next in order of succession, who deserves our notice, was Robert, surnamed the Scribe, from having written or * See Appendix D. No. 5. f See Dugdale's Monast. Angl. X See Appendix F. HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 21 transcribed a great number of works, some of which have come down to us. He was the fourth prior, and flourished, according to Burton, about A. D. 1 160, in the reign of Henry the Second. Several particulars respecting him and his works have been collected by Bale, Bishop of Ossory, at the time of the Reformation. From his Lives of the English Writers, arranged in centuries down to the year 1577, Fuller derived most of his information about the Worthies of England. Bale wrote in Latin, and the biographical sketch he has given us of Robert the Scribe will be found in the Appendix.* We learn from the indefatigable Leland, who visited the monastery A. D. 1534, a few years before the dissolution, that he saw and inspected his voluminous manuscript col- lections, which were at that time preserved in the library belonging to the convent. They appear to have consisted chiefly of commentaries on various books of Scripture, com- piled from the writings of Hieronymus, Augustine, Bede, Anselm, and others. One of those enumerated in the catalogue given us by Leland, is preserved among the MSS. in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge. It is a Commentary upon the Epistles of St. Paul, beautifully written on vellum, in double columns, and is a very large sized folio. The initial letter of each epistle is splendidly illuminated. This very curious MS. is probably six hundred years old. In the prologue, the author describes the method pursued by him in forming these compilations. " Some- times," he says, " I have transcribed a passage word for word, at other times I have exercised my own judgment in abbreviating or amplifying the several extracts, as the occa- sion seemed to require." Leland visited his tomb, and it would seem that the traveller viewed the spot where the mortal remains of this once celebrated writer were deposited, with those feelings of veneration which usually accompany * See Appendix G, £* HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. our survey of the memorials of departed worth. He has left on record that, the prior was interred in the cloister, near the door of the chapter-house, with the following unostenta- tious and laconic inscription on his tomb stone, " Robertus, Scriba, quartus Prior." He was succeeded by Gregory,* who, there is reason to think, may be identified with a writer mentioned by Bale, under the name of Gregory of Bridlington, to have flourished about the same time. He is stated by Bale to have been a canon in the monastery, and to have been subsequently advanced to the dignity of precentor. His works are said to have consisted of some commentaries on the Scriptures, and sermons. As, however, his biographer sees occasion to mention with regret that very little is known concerning him, or the precise time at which he lived, it seems not improbable that he may have been that Gregory who was elected successor to the last-mentioned prior, Robert the Scribe, under whose superintendence he had pursued his literary studies, as a canon, with peculiar advantage. In the year A. D. 1200, King John, for the benefit of the monastery, granted licence to the prior and convent, that a fair should be held annually at Bridlington, on the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin, f (who was their patron saint,) and also a weekly market. The concourse of people drawn together on these occasions, could not fail to be beneficial to the interest of the canons ; and it is likely, in those lawless and troubled times, those who brought their goods to market were glad to take advantage of the security afforded to their property, when the traffic was carried on within the enclosure of the monastery. The royal charter runs thus : % " John, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke * See Appendix G. t Assumpt. B. Mariae Virg. August 15. See Calendar in Popish Breviary. J Copied from ExempI, of Charters granted to Brid. Priory, made temp. Car. I. HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 23 of Normandy and Aquitain, and Earl of Anjou, to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots/ Earls, Justices, Sheriffs, and all their Bailiffs and faithful servants greeting. Know ye, that we have given, granted, and confirmed, by this our present Charter, to God, and the Church of St. Mary of Bridlington, and the Canons there serving God, a Fair in every year, at Bridlington, to continue two days; to wit, upon the Eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, and on the day of the same Festival ; and one Market to be held there every week ; yet so that this fair and this market be not to the hurt of the neighbouring fairs, and the neighbour- ing markets. Wherefore, we will and firmly command, that they and their successors shall have and hold the aforesaid fair and market for ever, freely, quietly, wholly, honourably, and peaceably, with all liberties and free customs belonging to fairs and markets of this kind, yet so that they be not to the hurt of the neighbouring fairs and markets; and we prohibit any injury and molestation to be done to persons going to the aforesaid fair and market, or returning from thence, by either the Sheriff of Yorkshire, or any person else. Witness, Robert, Bishop of St. Andrew's, Robert de Thurnham, Hugh de Newiff, Robert de Veteri Pont©. Given by the hands of Simon, Archdeacon of Wells, at Lutegershall, the sixth day of December, in the second year of our reign." The fairs are now held twice in the year, and continue two days each time, on the Monday before Whitsunday, and on the twenty-first day of October, in the large open area, called ' the Green,' within the ancient precincts of the close of the monastery, between ' the Bayle Gate' and the church. Here, too, the market was no doubt originally held, though the present market-place is in a different part of the town. At this time lived William of Newburgh,* so called from * See Appendix G. 24 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. having spent the greater part of his life as an Augustine canon in the priory of Newburgh. He received his early education, however, in the Priory of Bridlington, at which place, or in its immediate neighbourhood, he is said to have been born. His Chronicle of English History was edited by Hearne, the antiquary. It commences with the Norman Conquest, and is carried down as far as the reign of King John. In the earlv part of the fourteenth century flourished the celebrated Peter of Langtoft* The village which gave him birth, and from which he derived his surname, is situated on the Yorkshire Wolds, about twelve miles from Bridlington, in the monastery of which place he received his education, and afterwards became one of the canons regular. He was the author of several works, the most esteemed of which was a Chronicle of England, in metre. This poem, or metrical romance, is written in French, and is comprised in five books. It is noticed in terms of high commendation by Warton, in his History of English Poetry, who has quoted several extracts from a translation of it into English metre, by Robert Brunne, in the reign of Edward the Third. This translation was published by Hearne. The history begins with the earliest traditional account of the ancient Britons, and ends with the reign of Edward the First. About the middle of this century, one of the most illus- trious ornaments of religion and learning which this monas- tery ever produced, was raised to the highest dignity which it had the power to confer. John de Bridlington was a native of the place, educated in the Prion', and afterwards removed to Oxford to complete his studies, where some of his works are still preserved in manuscript. The biographi- cal account given of him in Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, is deserving of particular notice. It cannot be doubted, that the devotion to God, and the humility (that * See Appendix G. HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 25 sure characteristic of a truly great mind) which rendered him an object of veneration to his contemporaries, would have qualified him to adorn an age less darkened by the shades of ignorance and superstitious credulity. We find, that upon his return from the University, he assumed the religious habit, in the monastery of his native place ; and that he became successively precentor, almoner, sub-prior, and at length prior of his monastery. " This last charge," says Butler, " he had averted by his tears and importunities the first time he was chosen ; but, upon a second vacancy, his brethren, who were ashamed of their former want of resolution, obliged him to take up the yoke. It is incredi- ble how plentifully he relieved the necessities of all persons in distress, to whom he looked upon every thing as due that by his frugality and prudent economy could be spared in the management of his temporal revenues. His patience and meekness, and his constant application to the holy exercises of prayer, showed how much his whole conduct was regulated by the spirit of God ; and an extraordinary spiritual prudence, peace of mind, and meekness of temper, were the amiable fruits of his virtue." He lived to enjoy his high elevation seventeen years, and died on the 10th of October, A. D. 1379. So great was the opinion of his sanctity, that he was canonized as a saint after death, by order of the Pope, according to the superstitious habits of the age. The Archbishop of York, assisted by the Bishops of Durham and Carlisle, performed the ceremony of the translation of his relics to a magnificent shrine, in the chapel behind the high altar of the Priory Church. Hither there was a numerous resort of pilgrims, and many miracles were reported to be wrought at his tomb. Burton mentions a will, made A. D. 1458, in which the testator directed his corpse to be interred in the church of St. Mary and St. John. The manner in which his name is here coupled with that of the patron saint, is very remarkable. A 26 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. strong proof of the widely extended reputation he had acquired will appear from the following circumstance. By a charter of king Edward the Fourth, it appears that the rectory of Scarborough had been appropriated to the Priory of Brid- lington by king Henry the Fourth, and his grant confirmed by his successors, Henry the Fifth and Henry the Sixth. The charter of Edward the Fourth, after reciting this, proceeds thus : " Now we, from our great regard for the praise and honour of God, and of the blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, of Bridlington, and for the special respect which we have and bear toward the glorious confessor, the holy John, formerly prior of the aforesaid place, have granted, and by these presents do grant and confirm to the canons, and convent of the monastery of the blessed Mary, of Bridlington, and their successors, the said church of Scarborough, with all its chapels, rents, &c. and the ad- vowson and patronage of the said church, with every thing appertaining, to have and to hold by the same canons and convent, and their successors, for a pure and perpetual alms for ever." The above charter is addressed to Peter, the then prior, and the canons of Bridlington. Peter Ellard was prior in the reign of Edward the Fourth ; he held that office from A. D. 1462 to 1472. Owing to this appropriation, the church of Scarborough, though situated in the North Riding, is in the archdeaconry of the East Riding. Some extracts from the writings of John de Bridlington will be found, along with the account given of him by Bale, in the Appendix.* In the time of his successor, William de Newbold, the monastery is recorded to have been subjected to incon- venience from being situated so near the sea coast. In con- sequence of the maritime attacks of the pirates, who infested the Northern sea, the property of the prior and convent be- * Sec Appendix G. HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 27 came so insecure, that king Richard the Second, A. D. 1388, granted them his royal licence to enclose and fortify the Priory with walls and gates of stone. There seems to have been four of these gates, Kirk Gate, West Gate, Nun Gate, and Bayle Gate. The last is the only one now remaining, and has already been mentioned. Its architecture would lead us to assign this period for its erection. A long interval of more than half a century follows, with- out any remarkable occurrence on record, nor should we have been led to notice Robert Brystwyk, who was prior A. D. 1472, but for a modern discovery of considerable interest. The occurrence alluded to, happened A. D. 1821, when, as some workmen were employed in digging up, and clearing away the foundations of ancient monastic buildings, south of the church, in order to prepare the ground to be used as an additional burying-place, they ac- cidentally broke into a vault on the site of the south transept. This vault was found to contain a stone coffin, in which were the remains of the prior. The hair of the beard, and the serge in which the body had been wrapped, were still undecayed, and relics of each have been preserved by several persons who were eye-witnesses on the occasion. The coffin, after being opened, was left in its original position ; but a slab of chalk-stone, which had been laid over it to mark the place of interment on the floor of the church, was taken up, and is now deposited in the vestry. On the margin of this stone, is engraven, in old English characters, deeply cut, and in the most perfect state of preservation, the following inscription : fgic wtt mb l&ofit' firssttoBtu quo oi prior fjut' Ion & olntt ano do in ctcc nonagmmo m cm* ate jptciet' ire* amen Which may be thus translated, — " Here lieth Lord Robert Brystwyk, formerly prior of this place, who died in the 28 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and ninety- three, on whose soul God have mercy. Amen."* A similar tomb-stone discovered in digging eastward of the church, A. D. 1786, is said to have belonged to Robert Danby, who was prior, A. D. 1498; but this, through neg- ligence, has not been preserved to us. In the reign of Henry the Seventh, about A.D. 1490, the indefatigable philosopher, and alchemist. Sir George Rip- ley, kniuht. was a canon, in the Priory of Bridlington. Alchemy was the favourite study of the day, and many clever ami scientific men were induced to turn aside from the useful path of natural philosophy, and to employ them- selves in useless endeavours to discover the " philosopher's stone." Ripley was one of these, and soon after he had assumed the religious habit, and had been elected a canon, he quitted England, and spent several years abroad in tra- velling, particularly in Italy. At Rome he obtained a dis- pensation from the Pope, to exempt him from attending the devotional services, and other religious ceremonies observed by the rest of his brethren in the monastery, and this leave was granted, in order to enable him to give his whole time and attention to scientific pursuits. On his return. however, he found the canons unwilling to allow one of their number to partake of the emoluments of office, while he was at the same time exempted from the discipline and duties required of each member, by the laws of the society. He therefore resigned bis canonry, ami retired to Boston, in Lincolnshire, where be ended his days, as an anchoret of the order of the Carmelites. Some curious extracts from his writings, seve- ral copies of which are preserved in various manuscript col- lections, will be found in the Appendix. f * See Thompson's Historical Sketches of Bridlington, p. 144, for a very correct representation of a similar tomb-stone found at the same time be- longing to Robert Charder. a canon. Appendix <. ; HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 29 The historical narrative of the monastery has now been brought down from its foundation, to the period of its dis- solution, which we shall shortly have to relate. A few brief biographical notices of the principal indivi- duals, who passed their lives within its walls, and who were distinguished, above the rest, either for piety or learning, are nearly all the materials of general interest that can be gathered from the records of any monastic establishment. Indeed, it is not to be supposed, that, a body of men, who by the rule of their order were devoted to retirement, and whose time was divided between the daily exercises of de- votion, and the quiet pursuits of reading and writing,* should act a conspicuous part on the stage of life, or have their private concerns mixed up with the affairs of the great and busy world. The Priory of Bridlington had now existed during a period of four centuries, and in that time had acquired a very large share of power and property. Its revenues were, at this time, of the clear value of more than five hundred pounds a year, an immense income, considering the value of money at that day, when it was thought sufficient to assign a stipend of eight pounds a year for the maintenance of a parish priest, who was to represent the prior and canons as the religious instructor of the people. During the century of which we have been speaking, the writings of Wycliffe, and others, in England, had prepared the minds of the people for some reformation in the esta- blished religion of the country. But in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the tyranny and usurpation of the Papacy were attacked with vigour and success, by such men as Luther and Calvin on the Continent; while, in our own country, Cranmer, and Ridley, and Latimer, strove with un- usual wisdom and moderation to free the church from those * See Appendix H. 30 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. erroneous doctrines and practices, which had no foundation either in reason or revelation.* Anions the various important changes, which were intro- duced into our ecclesiastical establishment at this memora- ble period, perhaps one of the greatest was the general dis- solution of the monasteries throughout the kingdom. When the church of England had refused any longer to acknow- ledge the usurped supremacy of the Pope, the King, as Supreme head of the church, appointed Cromwell, then secretary of state, his vicar-general. He was directed to employ commissioners to commence a general visitation, in order to ascertain the state of the religious houses. The alteration which had now taken place in the religious feelings of the nation, added to the diffusion of learning, had opened their eyes to the absurdity of the miracles pretended to be performed by the monks, the inefficacy of masses for the souls of the dead, and of adoring saints and relics. All these things, which had so long been the objects of super- stitious awe and veneration, were now denounced by the reformers, as idolatrous, and repugnant to the word of God ; and as having no place in the records of primitive Chris- tianity. It is not necessary to suppose that the disorders said to be discovered in the religious houses were universal, but it is certain they prevailed to a great extent. The means, how- ever, by which the monks had acquired their power, ceased any longer to exert their influence over the minds of the people ; and there was so much fraud and hypocrisy in their system, when its foundations were narrowly examined, * " Our godly forefathers, to whom under God we owe the purity of our religion, and some of which laid down their lives for the defence of the same, they had no purpose, nor had they any warrant to set up a new reli- gion, but to reform the old, by purging it from those innovations which, in tract of time, (some sooner, some later,) had mingled with it and corrupted it both in doctrine and worship." — Bishnp Sanderson, a< quoted in Words- worth's Ecclesiastical BiograpKy, vol, ii. HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. .'jl as to furnish sufficient cause for suppressing the order altogether. In the twenty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth, an act of parliament was passed, by which the state, in considera- tion of the abuses which had crept into the lesser monasteries, ordered them to be dissolved, and their revenues to be con- fiscated to the King's use. By the term lesser monasteries, all such as had an income of more than 200/. per annum were stated to be comprised within the meaning of the act. The greater monasteries, however, of which Bridlington was one, saw that the execution of this act was but a step to further aggressions, and the greatest fears were entertained of the consequences. The following letter from William Wode, the last prior of Bridlington, to Thomas Cromwell, secretary of state, is now for the first time published, and was transcribed by the author from Roger Dodsworth's copy of the original, in the Bodleian Library.* " Right worshipfull, my duty in most humble manner remembered, I recommend me to your gude mastershipp. And forsomuch as your said mastershipp, by your last letters to me directed, advised me, and in like manner counselled me, to recognize the King's hyghnes to be our Patron and Founder, forasmuch as no article, word, sentence, or clause, in our original grante to bus made by Gilbert de Gaunte, cosign to our original Founder, appeared to tfee contrarye whye of equitie his hyghnes owght not so to be, or else to appere before ane other of his gracious counsell the last day of October, as I wold avoyd His Grace's hygh displeasure. In this matter, even so humbly as I canne, I * This copy has since heen compared with the original preserved in the British Museum among the Harleian MSS. Cleopatra, E. iv. p. 53. The date, 1587, M inserted in \\, Dodsworth's copy, but. is wanting in the original 32 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION 1 . shall beseche your good mastershipp to be gude master to me, and your poor and cotidiall orators my brethren. For notwithstanding the King's Grace his noble progenitors titles and clames heretofore made to our sayd partronage and foundershipp, (thoughe all we are, and ever wil be at his most gracious commandment and pleasor) yet we have ever bene dimissed clere without any interruption on this behalf nigh this two hundred yeares, as shall appere before your gudeness under substantiall evidence of record. And so I beseech your mastershipp we may be at this tyme, ffor in your mastershipp our holle trust in all our gude causes remayneth. And wheras I am deteyned with divers infir- mities in my body, and in lyke manner am feble of nature, so that without great jeopardie of my lyffe, I cannot, nor am not liable to labor in doing of my deuty to appere before your mastershipp, I right humbly besech your gudenes to have me excused, and in like manner to accept the bearer my brother, as my lawfull deputie in this behaulf, who shall make your mastershipp answer as concerning these premises, to whom I beseeche your mastershipp geve firrae credence, of whom also ye shall receve a pore token from me, which I eftsoones besech your gude mastershipp to accept thankfully, with my pore hert and cotidiall prayers, of which ye shall be assured enduryng my lyffe, as is my duty, God willinge, who ever preserve your gude mastershipp in much worshipp long to endure, ffrom our Monastery of Bridlington, the xxiii day of October, by your humble and cotidiall servant, WillS Prior [1537.] of the same." .The discontent and fears produced by the suppression of the lesser monasteries, being fomented by the heads of the religious houses, and by several of the nobility and gentry who were strongly attached to the rites and ceremonies of popery, soon led to several acts of rebellion, which only HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 33 served to hasten the destruction of the monasteries. An insurrection in Lincolnshire was headed by the prior of Barlings in disguise ; and another broke out about the same time in Yorkshire, which was called the " Pilgrimage of Grace." Both, however, were soon quelled. The last insurrection which took place, was chiefly in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, and in this William Wode, the last prior of Bridlington, appears to have taken a prominent part. This attempt, like the former, proved unsuccessful ; and the leaders of the insurgents, among whom were the Lord D'Arcy, Earl of Holderness ; Sir Robert Constable, of Flamborough ; Sir Thomas Percy ;* the abbots of Fountains, Rievaulx, and Jervaulx ; and the prior of Bridlington, were apprehended and executed for high treason. The suppression of the religious establishments over which these unfortunate persons had presided, was now a measure of no great difficulty, and in the thirty-first year of Henry the Eighth, an act similar to the one just men- tioned was passed, for the suppression of the greater monas- teries. In pursuance of this act of parliament, an inquisition was held A. D. 1538, at York, before William Fox Esq., the King's escheator, when Sir William Fairfax, and other commissioners, who had been appointed to inquire into the value of the manors forfeited to the King, upon the seizing of the persons attainted of high treason in the late rebellion, were examined on oath, and at this time the clear annual value of the manor of Bridlington was declared to be 19G/. 5s. 5d. and that of the rectory, which had been appropriated to the prior and convent, 36/. 65. Sd.f * He was second son to Henry Algernon, fifth Earl of Northumberland, who died about A. D. 1527, and by whom the famous Percy Household Book was composed, A.D. 1512, for the use of his castles of Wressil and Lecking- field, near Beverley, where, in the minster, he erected the beautiful Percy monument in memory of the Earl and Countess, his father and mother. I See Appendix I. D 34 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. The buildings belonging to the monaster) were demolish- ed the following year A. D. 1539, including the transepts, central tower, and choir of the conventual church. The letter which follows, has been published in the new edition of Dugdalo's Monastieon : and. although the latter part only relates to tiie demolition of this Priory, yet the particulars respecting the destruction of Jervaulx Abbey serve equally to show the line of proceedings adopted in similar cases. The original letter is preserved in the British Museum, but the author transcribed it from Roger Dodsworth's copy in the Bodleian Library. It is addressed to Cromwell, the chief secretary of state by Richard Bellycys, one of the commis- sioners. " Pleasythe your good Lordshipp to be advertysed. i have taken downe all the lead of Jervayse, and made itt in pecys of half-foders, which lead amounteth to the numbre of eighteen score and five foders, with thirty and foure foders, and a half, that were there before. And the said lead can- not be COnveit, nor caryed unto the next sombre, for the ways in that centre are so foule, and deep, that no carrage, can passe in wyntre. And as concerning the raising, and taken downe the house, if itt be your Lordshipps pleasure I am minded to let itt stand to the Spring o\' the yore, b\ reason of the days are now so short it wolde be double charge to do itt now. And as concerning the selling of the bells 1 cannot sell them above 15s. the hundreth, wherein I would gladly know your Lordshipps pleasor, whether f should sell them after that price, or send them up to London. And if they be sent up surely the carriage wolbe costly frome that place to the water. And as for ByrdHngtoi) I have doyn nothing there as yet, but sparethe itt to March next, bycause the days now are so short, and from such tune ;:> 1 begyn I trust shortly to dyspatche it after such fashion that when all is fynished, T trust your Lordshipp shall that think HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. J/> that I have bene no evyll howsbound in all such things, as your Lonlshipp haith appoynted me to (loo. And thus the Holy Ghost ever preserve your Lordshipp in honor. At York this fourteenth day of November by your most bounden beadsman. [1538.] Richard Bellycys." The promise contained in this letter was amply fulfilled in the demolition of the Priory of Bridlington. Never was transition more rapid from the height of prosperity and power, to almost utter annihilation. For nearly four centu- ries this magnificent monastery had flourished in uninter- rupted security. Thirty-one superiors of the convent had succeeded each other in a long and unbroken line of succession, and the last unfortunate person, who filled this illustrious and dignified station, was now doomed to prove, by bitter experience, the instability of human fortune ; himself con- demned to perish on the scaffold, and his princely revenues squandered in reckless profusion, to gratify the rapacity of courtiers, or the extravagance of royal desires. It was not for such purposes that these revenues had been bequeathed by the noble benefactors of the monastery. In their minds, the first feeling was a sincere though mistaken notion of providing for the repose of their souls, and the remission of their sins, by bestowing their worldly possessions to promote the honour of God, and the sumptuousness of his house, and the splendid solemnities of his worship, and the maintenance of the priests of his altar; the next, a spirit of benevolence? towards their fellow men, the relief of the poor, and the care of the infirm. We mean not to assert, that these benevolent intentions had, in all cases, been carried into effect by those to whom their execution was entrusted. Suppose them to have been generally abused, and misapplied. What was the proper work of reformation? Was it not to lead back the streams 36 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. of charity into their original channel, or one more beneficial to the community at large ? * Were there no longer schools and hospitals to be founded ? No clergy to be respectably maintained ? No poor to be relieved ? — Let the present de- plorable state of many of our impoverished parishes answer. By the dissolution of the monastery, the manor and rectory of Bridlington, which had been granted by William the Conqueror to Gilbert de Gaunt, and by him to the prior and convent, now reverted to his royal successor Henry the Eighth, by whom, and his successor, Edward the Sixth, they were granted on lease to various individuals. In the time of Queen Elizabeth the manor and rectory were granted on lease to John Stanhope Esq., on condition of paying a salary of eight pounds a year to a priest, who should perform divine service, and have the charge of souls within the parish. The lessee was also allowed to take stone from the ruins of the monastery lor the repairs of the pier. The manor and rectory were conferred by James the First upon Sir John Ramsay, a Scotch baronet, to whom the title of Earl of Holderness, extinct by the attainder of the Lord D'Arcy in the late rebellion, had been given, as a reward for his services. In the time of Charles the First the manor was sold by the Ramsay family to thirteen inhabitants of the town ; by whom it was purchased on behalf of themselves and the other tenants within the manor. By letters patent of Charles the First, reciting all the former grants made by his predecessors and others to the dissolved Priory, the manor was confirmed to the then proprietors and their suc- cessors, one of whom is annually elected chief lord of the manor, f The Rectory was sold to the Boyntons, from whom it * See Sir Henry Spelman's Treatise on Tithes. I Sec Appendix K. HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION. 37 passed successively into the possession of the Fairfaxes, Bowers, and Heblethwaytes, who are the present impropria- tors.* The advowson was, however, retained by the Crown, the nomination being vested in the Archbishop of York; by whom, towards the close of the last century, it was trans- ferred, under the act of parliament, to the Rev. Matthew Buck, and his heirs, in consideration of a donation for the augmentation of the living, to enable it to receive Queen Anne's bounty, f Some account of the public charities belonging to the parish of Bridlington will be found in the Appendix. J * See Appendix L. See also Allen's History of Yorkshire, Lib. IV. c. 12. p. 15. f See Appendix M. J See Appendix N. CHAPTER It. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. The nave of the ancient Priory Church, and an arched gateway leading to it are the sole remains of the once spacious and magnificent monastery of Bridlington. But in order to form a just estimate of these beautiful architectural fragments they must be viewed in connection with those parts of the fabric now destroyed, or we shall never form a just idea of the relative proportions of the whole.* The ancient precinct of the monastery must have been accurately defined by the walls and gates with which it was enclosed in the reign of Richard the Second, but no traces of them exist, if we except the ancient gate-house, or principal entrance to the close of the Priory, now called the ' Bayle Gate.' Through this noble gateway we enter the ancient close of the monastery, which is still an open space, called ' the Green,' and used as it formerly was, for holding the fair granted by King John to the canons, f On the north side of * It is reported, I know not with what degree of accuracy, that drawings and ground plans of the church and monastery of Bridlington, token before the dissolution, are preserved along with those of many other English monasteries, in the college at St. Omer's, and in the Vatican at Rome. f This was probably also the ancient market-place, as at Whitby the market during the time the monastery was in existence was held near it, round an old cross, but after its dissolution removed into the town, for the better convenience of the inhabitants. — See Charlton a History of Whitby. 40 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. this piece of ground stands the church, and a paved cause- way, the same width as the gate, leads directly across it to the great west door; the south-west angle of the church facing the Bayle Gate. The principal tower appears to have been in the centre of the church between the nave, and the choir now gone ; it is stated in the Visitor's Survey to have been furnished with seven bells, but in a very ruinous state. A buttress of a similar style to those on either side of the great west window seems to have been raised at the north-east corner of the church on the inside for its support. At the west end there appears to have been also two towers, of which the lower stories only now remain. The north- western tower is now unroofed, and the arches connecting it with the north aisle are built up. The name of ' the old steeple ' it may have acquired probably from a bell, or bells, hung in it since the dissolution, the three bells which the church now possesses were purchased by subscription about the middle of the last century,* and the octagon turret, with its leaden cupola, which was erected for their reception on the top of the basement of the south-west tower, is as ano- malous and disfiguring to the venerable structure to which it is attached, as can well be conceived. The ruined state of the central tower may account for the extensive repairs which appear to have been in progress at the west end of the nave, when their completion was stopped by the dissolution of the monastery. The effect of these repairs was to assimilate the western front of the church, to that of the beautiful neighbouring collegiate church of Beverley, which is in the same style. Between the south-western tower, and the south door, the prior's lodge was built against the wall of the church : the hall having an ascent of twenty steps on the south : in the wall of the church the pillars and groined arches of the vaulted apartment below it still * A. D. 1763: the tenor bell weighs 11991bs. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 41 remain. * Eastward of the prior's lodge, along the south wall of the church, may be seen ranges of stone abutments for supporting the beams of the roof, of one side of the cloisters which were so situated as to connect the prior's lodge with the church, and the other domestic buildings of the monastery. On the east side of the cloister square was the dormitory, occupying, as it would seem, the position of what would other- wise have been the south transept ; and beyond it, as a building detached from the rest of the fabric, the chapter- house. The refectory was on the south side of the cloister. The buildings of the monastery thus occupying the area south of the church, the ancient burying ground was therefore entirely on the north side. And beyond the street which bounds the church-yard on the north, and surrounding a large piece of water, called 'the Green Dyke,' were the barns and stables, granary, maltkiln, and other agricul- tural premises belonging to the convent ; which, if we may judge from their dimensions, as given in the Visitor's Survey, being also built of stone and covered with lead, were on a very large and substantial scale. Such appears to have been the original plan of the monastery, and the relative position of the various buildings of which it was composed ; and, having given this general outline of the whole, we may now proceed to a more particular examination of the several parts. The principal entrance to the Priory, now known by the name of the Bayle Gate,f is still entire. Most of the larger monasteries were furnished with such an appendage ; and these gates have, in several instances, escaped the general demolition of the rest of the monastic buildings. Those re- maining at St. Alban's and Ely are similar to the present one. *The demolished prior's lodge has not been succeeded by any parsonage- house, f Ballium, a fortress or prison. 12 URCHITSGTURAL DESCRIPTION. On approaching the church by this entrance, a very beautiful new of it is presented to the eye, the. noble west front and part of the south side of the nave being visible under the archway, the groined root' ol* which is of excellent workman- ship, and very handsome. (See Plate I.)* In this view, too, the site of the eastern part of the old conventual church being hidden from the view by the arch of the gate, there is no one from which we may form a better idea of the original grandeur of the edifice, if the eye were not offended by the incongruous modern bell-turret, on the top of the south-western tower. On reference to Plate I. it will be observed that on the outer side next the town there is a greater arch and a postern, in the sides of which the hooks that, formerly supported the doors still remain. The upper part of this building, next the town, has been rebuilt with brick so as greatly to disfigure its beauty, — of the other side a view is given in Plate II. This building is thus described in the Commissioners' Survey, f at the time of the dissolu- tion of the Priory, and has been very little altered since that period : — " At the coming in of the Priory is a gate-house four square of tower-fashion, builded with ffree stone, and well covered with leade. And on the south syde of the same gate- house, ys a porter's lodge wt. a chymney, a rounde stayre ledying up to a hye chamber, wherein the three wekscourtej ys always kept in, wt. a chymney in the same, and betweene the stayre foote, and the same hie chamber where the courte ys kepte, be tow proper chambers, one above the other, wt. chymneys. In the north side of the same gate-house ys there a prison, for offenders wtin the towne, called the Kydcott. And in the same northsyde is a lyke payre of * The Numbers refer to the List of the Plates. f See Appendix O. J The Court Baron was formerly held every three weeks.— Blacks/onf. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 43 stayree ledyng up to one hye chamber in the same toure with a cliymney. Md. that all the wyndowes of Ihe sayd toure be clerely wtoute glasse." The larger arch on the outer side of the gale is orna- mented with two broad hollow mouldings, in which, at inter- vals, are placed leaves, flowers, and grotesque heads. There is a similar moulding under the great west window, of which, as well as the highly ornamented door benealh it, a separate Plate has been published as a companion to those in the present work. The arch on the inner side is elegantly wrought below its spring with two compartments of trefoil headed pannel- ling, one above the other, surmounted by a narrow band of quatre-foils. On the right side of this arch is a flat-headed door, which seems to have been formerly a window, as there is a corresponding one on the other side now filled up, and recently hidden from the view by the erection of a shed for a fire-engine, whose red brick walls and tiled roof ill accord with the grey walls of the venerable building to which it is annexed. The four corbels from which the groined roof of the gate- way springs, are well worth notice. They represent four figures in a sitting posture. Two of them are delineated in Plate VIII. On one side are two ecclesiastics, with the monk's cowl and habit, and one of them has an instrument something like a bagpipe under his arm. On the other side is a king and a warrior, the former is crowned, and in chain armour; the other bears a shield, on which may still be traced the device of a dagger : but all are much defaced, as well as the bosses upon the intersections of the jiroinin^, which are large, and seem to have been well wrought. From this fine gateway we proceed to the grand western entrance of the ancient Priory Church. (See Plate III.) It is profusely decorated, and is an exquisite specimen of the architecture of Henry ihe Seventh's time: excepting, how- 44 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. ever, the north-western tower, which we have before observed, belongs to a much earlier period. On either side of the great west door is a range of six niches with brackets for the statues, ornamented with angel heads. These niches are three feet high, and the elegant crocketed canopies with which they are surmounted rise to the same height. Above the door within the ogee canopy, which rises over it, and is like the niches ornamented with crockets, is another niche. The design of the whole seems to have corresponded with that of the high altar screen, which contained statues of Christ and the twelve Apostles, at the Assumption of the Virgin. Here, however, the niche over the door was most likely occupied by the Virgin and Child. There are also two other niches placed rather singularly, so as to interrupt the perpendicular mouldings of the great door on each side, they might be intended for stoups, or holy water-basins ; but in their pre- sent mutilated condition it is difficult to determine. Niches similar to the six on each side the great door are continued round the immense buttresses, which flank the west window ; but the brackets of these are plain, and the canopied heads of the niches on the face of the buttress are of a pattern diverse from the others. The wall below the window and the entire surface of the buttresses is richly pannelled throughout, and the base-mouldings are extremely bold, and well exe- cuted. The foliage of the ornamental borders within the arch of the great door is uncommonly elegant, although sadly mutilated. There are three patterns, one of oak leaves and acorns ; another of olive leaves and berries ; a third of fig- leaves, — and the capitals of the side shafts are blended into one broad border of vine leaves. The west window is fifty-five feet in height, from its base to the crown of the arch, and twenty-seven in breadth. The head is filled with good perpendicular tracery ; the lower compartment below the transom is the only portion at present glazed, and is fifteen feel high. Along this there is ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 45 a gallery connecting the two western towers, and it is remark- able that the upper part of the window is two feet wider than the part below the transom. The door in the south-west tower is precisely of the same character as the larger one just described ; its ornaments are in better preservation, and it has therefore been engraved in Plate VI., as a specimen of both. The north-western tower has a low door, now walled up, and a semicircular arch, the only door-way of this form now remaining in the building. The mouldings, however, are devoid of any ornament. The style of this tower is early English, as is also the whole of the north side of the church. (See Plate IV.) The windows eastward of the north porch are beau- tiful specimens of this style. Three are in pairs, and two single: the buttresses which separate them are also extremely light and elegant, surmounted by triangular heads crocketed ; in the centre of each is a grotesque figure, serving the purpose of a water-spout. The clerestory windows correspond with those on the south side of the church, which are all early decorated, excepting the three nearest the south-west tower. These, as well as the piers below them, seem to have been altered along with the west front. The tracery is perpendicular, though far inferior to that of the great west window ; and the piers, instead of being- clustered, are quadrangular, and covered with pannelling like the interior and exterior wall of the west front. All the decorated windows of the church are of an early kind, and the tracery consists of various combinations of trefoils, and quatre-foils ; there isno instance of the more elegant decorated tracery, of which the west window at York is so fine an example. The parapet of the nave is ornamented with a border of very unusual pattern (see Plate VIII.) : it is con- tinued round the top of the north-west tower. The north porch is a truly splendid specimen of architec- 40 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. hire, and perhaps better worth preservation than any other part of the fabric ; but it has been sadly neglected, as the entrance is seldom used, and the earth has been suffered to accumulate so much against the whole of the north side of the church, that there is now a descent of several steps into the porch. In spite, however, of damp and dirt, the freshness of some parts of the sculpture is astonishing. In Plate VII. an elevation of this porch is given, as it would appear if the earth were cleared away which now conceals the lower part of the columns below the two heads, which form brackets in the niches on either side. The variety and beauty of the mould- ings is very great ; among these the toothed ornament is conspicuous, and the open work of the foliage on the capitals of the columns is of the best sort. The groined stone ceiling is destroyed, and the original angular roof of the porch has been displaced to make way for the erection of a room over the porch, which has had a communication with the interior of the church. This upper story is altogether un- worthy of the lower. There is a perpendicular window of five lights in front, and an ogee arch at the side. The east wall of the church is merely an unsightly mass of buttresses. Two windows, probably taken from the rains of the choir, have been inserted, — one is decorated, the other perpendicular. The architecture of the demolished choir* appears to have corresponded with that of the north aisle of the church; nothing is said about the north transept. In the north aisle of the choir were eleven narrow windows, and similar ones in the south aisle, every one of them ' of one lyghte,' except two windows on the south with e five lyghtes apiece.' In the east end of the choir were eleven windows; * The beautiful collegiate church of Howden shared a similar fate: Mr. Pennant says, " Howden is distinguished by the ruin of its fine church, in form of a cross, length 2-51 feet, transept 100 feet, east part quite a ruin." The chapter-house is an octagon of the richest workmanship, also in ruins. — See Allen's History of Yorkshire. Book IV. c. 15. p. 165. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 47 1 ten of one lyghte, and one of three lyghtes.' The clerestory windows appear also to have been similar to those in the aisles, being described as a double story of the same. There does not seem to have been any painted glass in the choir, for it is particularly mentioned the ' windowes were all of whyte glasse.' Some fragments, however, have been found in digging near the church, and have been taken out of the upper part of the great west window, which are in the possession of some of the inhabitants. The interior of the choir is said to have been well covered with wainscot ; the stalls substantial, and at the time of the dissolution ' newly- made after the right goodly fashion.' The stone screen at the high altar is said to have been of a great height, ex- cellently well wrought, and as well 'gilded,'' according to the taste of the day. It was decorated with a number of large statues, representing Christ at the Assumption of the Virgin, (to whom the church was dedicated) and the twelve Apostles. In the space between the splendid screen and the east end of the church, was the shrine of St. John of Bridlington. This shrine ' was placed in a fair chapel on high, having on either side a stair of stone for to go and come by,' — and underneath were five chapels furnished with their respective altars and images. The vestry was on the south side of the choir. It is to be regretted that no ruins of the eastern part, of the conventual church now remain to enable us to verify and illustrate the curious particulars of the above description ; nor have the casual discoveries of the foundation of walls and pillars been recorded with sufficient exactness to throw any material light in addition upon the subject.* The nave consists of nine arches, exclusive of the western towers. The eastern wall is not perpendicular to the side walls, as will appear from the ground plan, (see Plate X.) There is an ascent of three steps to the altar, which is * See Allen's History of Yorkshire. Book IV. c. 12. p. 11. 48 . ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. probably on the site of the screen which separated the nave from the choir.* On the ground plan are marked the divi- sions by which the three eastern arches are appropriated to the chancel ; the three middle ones are filled with pews, and here the service is performed ; the three western are unoc- cupied. The font is quite plain, and raised on two steps; it is of marble, common in Derbyshire, which is full of petrifactions ; and I should be inclined to think, not the original one. The monumental stone near it is shown in Plate IX. The sculpture is very ancient, but this stone has evidently been brought from some other part of the church, after the disso- lution, to its present situation, and used as a tomb-stone. There is an inscription much defaced, the letters wretchedly executed, with the date 1587 on the under side; the stone having been turned to display the sculpture. Of the pewing of this church nothing can be said, but that it is irregular, inconvenient, and altogether unworthy of the fine building in which it is placed ,• and it is to be hoped the efforts which have been made from time to time for a general improve- ment, will ultimately be successful. One or two ineffectual attempts have also been made to procure an organ, which is much wanted. The clustered pillars (see Plate V.), are extremely fine; they consist of twelve shafts, arranged upon a quadrangular base ; the four at the angles are larger than the rest, and the eight smaller are placed in pairs between them. The capitals are plain, and the mouldings of the arches very bold and numerous. There are dripstones over many of them, terminated by heads. The triforia, on the south side, are similar to the gallery over the great west door ; being formed by pillars parallel to the mullions of the clerestory windows below the transom. They are fifteen feet high, and three * The present screen and altar-piece were probably erected in Queen Anne's reign, A. D. 1713. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 49 in breadth. Under the clerestory windows, on the north side, is a range of arches filled with open work tracery, like the windows above, and apparently intended for triforia; but there is no gallery or passage whatever. Immediately over these arches is a passage, on a level with the bottom of the north clerestory windows, and another on the op- posite side, above the triforia already mentioned. There are winding staircases leading to these triforia in the two western towers; and formerly the only approach to both, was by a door-way in the north-western tower : the com- munication being kept up by means of the gallery over the west door, which has been described. The difference between the angle of the original roof of the church is nine feet and a half; and owing to this, the upper part of the west window is hidden from view on the inside. The length of the present church, in the interior, is 185 feet; and the distance of the farthest pillar from the east wall of the church, whose foundation has been taken up, 152 feet; so that the ancient church seems to have been nearly of the same length as Beverley minster, about 333 feet : its breadth is 68 feet ; and height about 70 feet. The south door is very plain ; but in the inside wall near it is a handsome corbel terminated by a grotesque figure, for which, see Plate VIII. In the same plate will also be found a very elegant ornamental arch over the interior of the north door. A list of testamentary burials, and monumental inscrip- tions, will be found in the Appendix. * The only ancient ones now remaining are the slab near the font before-men- tioned, and a flat grey stone also near the font, formerly ornamented with the figure of a warrior, and four shields at the corners ; but the brasses are gone. It cannot be doubted from Torr's account of the testamentary burials, that several * See Appendix P. 50 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. persons of distinction were here interred ; but chiefly in the choir and transepts, and so the monuments have been de- molished along with them. * The tomb-stones of a prior and canon, now preserved in the vestry, have been described in the former chapter ; and another tomb-stone, without in- scription, with a cross beautifully sculptured on it, was found buried near the north door, and is kept in the church for the inspection of the curious. The shrine of St. John, formerly at the east end, has also been noticed. In the Harl. MSS. British Museum, (Vesp. E.,) there are two drawings rudely executed with a pen, and damaged at the edges by fire, of the shrines of Prior Gregory and Sir George Ripley ; Gre- gory was prior, A.D. 1181 ; but this shrine belongs to the 15th century : he is lying under an ogee canopy ornamented with crockets, and surmounted by a handsome finial. His dress differs little from that of a bishop, and he wears the mitre. On Ripley's tomb there is no recumbent figure, but simply a cross ; and over it, on a shield, a lion rampant. In Plate XIV. is the monument of Sir Martin de la See,f now in the chancel of Barmston church ; this monument is stated in a Bodl. MS. to have been ' brought out of Brel- lington.' Filey Church is one of the most beautiful ecclesiastical buildings in this part of the country. The architecture is Norman and early English, without any mixture of later styles— (See Plate XIII.) It is a cross church, with a tower in the centre, and consists of a nave, transepts, chan- cel, and south porch. The length of the church is 131 feet, and of the transepts 69 feet. The nave, which is the most * The only ancient monuments now remaining in the abbey church, at Selby, are two knights and a lady, and a slab tor Abbot Selby, A. D. 1504. The ancient wooden stalls remain in the choir. — See Cooke's Topography of Yorkshire, p. 217. f See Appendix R. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 51 ancient part of the building, consists of six arches ; the piers are alternately circular and octagonal with plain caps, except the two most western, which are clustered like the four which support the tower, and from their unfinished appearance at top it would seem that a western tower or towers had at some time been projected ; but there is no in- dication of it outside. The west end has only one plain lancet window. The clerestory windows are very small semi- circular headed lights. The arches of the nave pointed ; but the arch of the south door semicircular and without orna- ment. The east window has been filled with some poor per- pendicular tracery ; but the semicircular dripstone remains on the outside : below it are three brackets for statues. The chancel has four beautiful early English lancets on the south side : there has been one on the north side, as well as doors on both sides the chancel which are now walled up. On the south side of the altar is a piscina, and three trefoil headed niches with quatre-foils in the spandrils. The wooden screen between the nave and chancel is almost entirely decayed. There is a large chalk-stone slab in the middle of the chancel floor with an inscription round the margin, now so defaced as to be nearly illegible. The date 1603 upon it, determines it to be subsequent to the Reformation. There is also a tattered escutcheon on the north wall, impaling the arms of Buck and Lutton. In the north transept is a trefoil headed piscina. The clustered columns and high pointed arches which support the tower are very similar to those in Bridlington church, and there is some good work about the belfry windows inside. The tower is furnished with four bells. An ornamental moulding of Norman character is continued round under the exterior parapet of the church. Flamborough Church. — The antiquity of this village as a Danish, if not a Roman settlement, and the remains of its ancient castle at no great distance from the church, (see Plate XIII.,) would lead us to expect marks of a much e 2 04 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. higher antiquity than the present building can lav claim to. The general character of its windows is the debased Gothic, being flat-headed and usually of three lights with ogee arches. There has been a west porch, and perhaps a tower at that end. The font is ancient, and much resembles that of Barmston, (see Plate XII.) Ft wauls, however, the or- nament of circular arches at the base. The church consists of a nave and chancel, with aisles to each. There are three arches in the nave, with octagonal piers and clerestory win- dows. The chance] is separated from the nave by a wooden screen, over which are the remains of the ancient rood-loft. (See Plate XIV.) The workmanship ofthis screen belongs to the 15th century, and is extremely rich. It has for- merly been painted and gilded. It contains fourteen niches with tine canopies, and ten arches below filled with excellent tracery. The only ancient part of the church is a circular arch over the rood loft, the pillars of which have Norman tinted capitals. On the north side oi' the altar affixed to some uood tabernacle work, remaining on both sides oi' the chancel, is a brass plate with a curious inscription of some length in old English text in metre/ recording the warlike exploits of Sir Marmaduke Constable, who lived in the time of Edward the Fourth, and Henry the Seventh and Eighth; over it is a shield, on which the arms oi' Constable are im- paled with those oi' Station! of Grafton. This brass plate has been taken from an altar tomb now hidden under tlu* wall of the vestry. Opposite, in the south aisle, is another altar tomb, which lias formerly had an inscription on a brass label round the margin. Upon it lies the trunk oi' an ema- ciated figure rudely executed and much defaced ; but whether it originally belonged to this tomb seems doubtful. Near it. at the east end oi' the south aisle, is a mural monu- ment, inscribed to the memory of " that learned and pious gentleman, Walter Strickland," who died in November, * See Appendix Q. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 53 1671, and Left 2,000/. towards purchasing the lordship of Flambro' for liis family, in whose possession it still remains. In the same aisle are several monuments belonging 1o the Ogle Family : " .John Ogle, who died in 1005, came from Northumberland, and settled at Ulambro' about the middle of the 10th century, where some of his descendants stil^ continue to reside." There is also a mural monument in memory of . John Nates, who died in 1764. Over the altar table is a monument in memory of " Robert VVilsl'ord, some- time Impropriator of this Parish, who died lOfli -May, 1784:" and another in memory of " the Rev. Montague Hebblethwayte, B.D., formerly Fellow of St. John's Col- lege, Cambridge; Vicar of Sunninghill, Berks; and Mini- ster of Flambro'; who died February 4th, 1817." BeMPTON CHURCH consists of a nave and chancel, with south porch, and a tower at the west end. The south door arch is semicircular, with ornamented capitals. The nave consists of lour very low piers, irregularly octagonal or cir- cular; the arches are semicircular. There are the remains of a decorated window at the east end; but the chancel has been so repaired and modernized wiih brick, that but little of the original wall remains. Then; have been some old seats in the chancel, which is open to the rafter roof, and some of the beams have been ornamented with rudely painted flowers. In the centre of the floor of the nave there is an ancient flat monumental stone with a cross upon it. The font is in shape like that of Bridlington. Speeton Chapel is only an oblong room. The east end is used as a school, and there is a fire-place in it. On the north side are two trefoil-headed recesses. There is a very broad semi-circular arch about the middle; of the chapel. In the chancel, if it may be so called, are two pews. On the south side, near the pulpit, is a window ; the scats are open benches, the floor very ill paved. The font a plain stone basin. 54 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. Grindal Chapel is much like Speeton; the nave and chancel are lighted each by one small window on the south ; the chancel is paved with brick. The floor of the nave is covered with sea-gravel, except that a line of flag stones runs through it between the two rows of benches. The font is a plain stone basin. Fraisthorpe Chapel is much the same as the two just described, than which it is hardly possible to conceive more wretched buildings appropriated as places of public wor- ship. Auburn Chapel no longer exists, having been pulled down by license from the Archbishop of York, when it was likely, owing to the encroachments of the sea, to share the fate o{' the rest of the village. Bessingby Chapel is a modem brick edifice, very neatly fitted up. There is a mural tablet on the north side of the chancel, in memory of John Hudson, Esq., who died in 1 772 ; and pn the opposite wall an elegant monument by Wyatt, in memory of the late Lady Anne Hudson, who died in 1818 : there is also another tablet in memory of her hus- band, Harrington Hudson, Esq., who died in 1826. Carnaby Church consists of a nave, chancel, and south aisle. The north aisle appears to have been taken down, and the north wall, as well as the chancel, rebuilt with brick. The font is ancient and curiously ornamented, (see Plate XII.) A flat stone in the chancel is rather oddly inscribed to "Mr. Francis Vickerman, Esq., a lover of learning and a pattern of piety, A. D. 1616." Another tablet belonging to some of his family, with the letters 'erman' on it, has been broken and placed with another fragment of a tomb-stone, in memory of Mistress Annas, wife of — Boynton Esq., who died A. D. 1623. Thi' nave is di\ ided from the south aisle by five octagonal piers, the caps are ornamented with a very minute border of the toothed moulding, and in the south aisle are two pair o{^ small lancet windows. The door arch of the ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. 5.0 south porch is semi-circular, and quite plain. The tower at the west end is perpendicular, and very like that of the neighbouring church of Boynton. (See views of both these churches, Plate XV.) Boynton Church. — The tower of this church is a good specimen of perpendicular. The nave and chancel have been rebuilt, and are neatly fitted up. There is, however, some appearance of that confusion between the Grecian and Gothic styles, from which the beautiful interior of Beverley Minster has only recently been freed, and which was so prevalent during the last century. In the space behind the altar are several monuments of the Strickland family. In the east window is some painted glass, and the date of the rebuilding of the church, 1768. There is an old monument in memory of Sir William Strickland, Knt., the first Baronet who died Sept. 12, 1673; and his second wife, the Lady Frances Finch, daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Winchelsea, who died December 17, 1663. Another to the wife of Sir Thomas Strickland, (son to the former), Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Pyle, Bart., of Compton Beauchamp, in Berkshire, who died June 13, 1674. Among the Dods- worth MSS. in the Bodleian, the following notices occur of some ancient monuments in the old church, before the Rebellion : " Bointon Church, 14th Nov. 1620. A handsome tombe in the north wall in brasse, the portraiture of a man in armor kneeling : under, I^tc jatet ^Robertas "Netoport Urmiger, qui oblit XXIII. Die JWaii "anno Born: M°. CCC. LXXXIII". tufts anlma requieatat in pate, "amen. ©rate pro anima line ifflargarete uxotis elus que obitt XVIII. We hubs Septembris anno ©mi M». CCC. LXXXIII. Cujus ale propftUiur ®tvm. %mva. 56 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. ON A STONE. 1§tc jactt Stomas Tsktoport a Iclisab't uxor etus filia «t J)crea 3of;s ISopnton filii st btreBte 5Bo j . 3&obti. ISognton mtltlis q 1 . ©bos. obtit XV . nit Itfobembr. a°. ©°. M°. CCCC . XXIII cruorum antmabus propltietur IBcus. "amen. ANOTHER STONE. 3$ic Ja«t SSRills ^croport armtger qui obiit tjcdmo Kie mensis Ttfobcmbrts ^nno Bo. M°. CCCO. LXXX°. cuius ane propitietur IBeus." The following subjects, although not properly contained within the prescribed limits of the present work, have been introduced into the Plates : Rudston church, (see Plate XVI.) and the stone in the church-yard, very like those called the deviPs arroivs at Boroughbridge, whose origin has often exercised the ingenuity of the antiquary ; the fonts in Rud- ston, and Reighton churches ; and the ornamented Norman door at Kilham church.* * See Appendix R. APPENDIX APPENDIX. EXTRACT FROM BISHOP TANNERS NOTITIA MONASTICA. [ Burlington or Bridlington, olim Brellinton or Berlintona, in the Deanry of Dykoring and Archdeaconry of East Riding.] Vide in Mon. Angl. torn. 2. p. 1G1. Cartam fundationis. p. 162. Cartas duas Gilbert! de Gaunt Corn. Lincoln. Cartam. R. Hen. I, donatorum concessiones recitantem et confirmantem. P. 163. Cartas It. Stephani, de portu de Bridlington ; R. Hen. 2. con- firm, donationes. P. 164. Cartas Joannis fil. Joannis de Harp- ham, de medietat. eccl. de Twenge ; R. fil. Hernisii, pro eccl. de Gausla ; Walteri de Ver, pro eccl. de Sprottle ; Matildis filia? Steph. Com. Britannia?, pro eccl. de Swaldale, cum Gronton ; Roberti de Gaunt pro pastur. et herbagio in Swaldale ; Radulphi de Nevil, conced. petram in petraria de Fivele ad fabricam mo- nasterii ; Bullam P. lnnocentii 3. contra Archidiac. Richmondiac visitantem ecclesiam quandam ad hunc Prioratum spectantem, cum 97 equis, 21 canibus &c. P. 166. Procuratorium Joannis de Nevile in appellatione contra Priorem et Conv. in causA deci- marum de Edenham. Registrum honoris de Richmond, p. 44. de carucata terra? in Grynton ; p. 57. de sex bovatis terra? in Mikel Couton cum Smetbon ; et in Append, p. 32. de quatuor bovatis terra? et una salina in Holbech. 60 APPENDIX. Ryleii Plac. Parliam. p. 131. 172. 627. Year Books 22. 19. 19 Hen. 6. Hill. 16. Dugdale's Warwickshire, edit. 1730. p. 585. of the church of Whichford, for a short time belonging to this Priory. Rymeri Conventionum, Feeder. &c. torn. 8. p. 161. Prynne's Records, vol. 3. p. 864. claus. 28. Ed. 1. m. 17. p. 1192. pat. 35 Ed. 1. m. 6. pro appropriation eccl. de Gousle [Lincoln, dicec] In Append, ad Stevensii vol. 2. p. 337. Cartam Walteri de Ver, donantis eccl. de Gousle, ex Hearnii notis in Guil. Neubr. p. 714. Cartam R. Stephani donantis carucatam et dimid. terrae ex dominio ejus in Estona, et dimid. carucat. ex dominio in Hil- dertorpe, et confirm, donationes aliorum. P. 338. abbreviatur. plurimar. donationum : Sententiam Officialis Archidiaconi Rich- mondiae, de ecclesiis de Couton et Grenton conventui de Brid- lington appropriatis, A. D. 1319. Registrum hujus Prioratus olim penes Will. Ingleby mil. modo penes dom. Joannem Ingleby equ. aur. 1697.* Cartularium penes Ric. Malleverer Bar. Registrum penes Walterum Clavell arm. Computos, rentalia, &c. in baga. intit. Bridlington in superiori area quintae arcae in officio Curiae Augmentations. Inter MSS. collect. V. cl. Rog. Dodsworth. in Bibl. Bodl. * Bridlington Register Book. — The following information has been received through the medium of Sir William Ingilby, Bart., of Ripley, in whose possession this valuable and curious record at present remains. It is not known when, or by what means, the MS. came into the hands of the Ingilby family. It is called the Bridlington Coucher, or Register Book, and is a very thick, small-sized folio, plainly written on parchment in ab- breviated monkish Latin, containing upwards of 1,000 pages, and is in a state of excellent preservation. It consists chiefly of various deeds of gift of parcels of lands, &c, to the Priory Church of Bridlington from different persons in Yorkshire, more particularly confined to the East Riding and Holdermess ; together with a great number of ' quit-claims,' {quieta-clama- tiones,) with regard to various kinds of rights, privileges, and property. From this ancient document the elaborate and minute account of the possessions of the Priory of Bridlington, given by Burton, in his Monasticon Eboracense, is almost entirely derived. APPENDIX Gl Oxon. Cartarum quamplurimarum ad hunc Prioratum spectan- tium ineditarum apographa. vol. 7. f. 11. 128. 168. 213. 230. 246. 247. 260. 264. 274. 275. 294. 308. 309. 310. 311. 317. 330. 331. vol. 8. f. 119. 213. vol. 9. a f. 139 ad 155. vol. 76. f. 147. vol. 118. f. 68. Mr. Gascoign's notes from the Coucher of Bridlington, vol. 159. f. 130. ex Cartulario Monasterii de Bridlington in custodia Jacobi Bellingham de Levens in com. Westm. mil. 1627. Ibid. f. 174. ex cartis in cista de Bridling- ton in turre B. Marise Ebor. Cottonian Library, Aug. 11. 53. In Registro Joannis Romani Archiepisc. Ebor. f. 68. ordina- tionem vicariae in eccl. de M. Cowton huic Prioratui appropriata : in Registro Gul. Grenefeld. Archiepisc. p. 11. f. pronunciatio- nem super appropriatione ecclesiarum de Bridlington, Flayn- burgh, Kerneleby, Oteringham, Fyfle, Attynwyke, Bovington, Galmeton, Willarby, et Scaleby, priori et conv. de Bridlington, A. D. 1310. Ibid. f. 119. inhibitionem adorationis cujusdam imaginis B. Mariae in monasterio de Bridlington : in registro Alex. Nevile. Archiepisc. f. 99. vel 100. commissionem ad cog- noscendum de miraculis ad tumbam Joannis de Tweng prioris de Bridlington, examinand. testes, &c 26 Jun. A. D. 1386. Fin. Ebor. 1 Joan. n. 3. de advoc. medietat. eccl. de Bidford, n . . pro 10 bovatis terrae in Rednes : Cart. 2 Joan. m. 18. n. 61. pro mercat. et feria apud Bridlington : oblat. 2 Joan. m. I 9. pro eisdem : Fin. Ebor. 4 Joan, de terris in Beverle. Fin. Ebor. 10 Hen. 3. n. 133. de terris in Brunthon : Fin. Ebor. 14 Hen. 3. n. 77. 84. de bovata terra in Caton : Plac. apud Ebor. 15 Hen. 3. rot. 3. d. de eadem : Fin. Ebor. 20 Hen. 3. n. 199. 235. de eadem: Fin. Ebor. 24 Hen. 3. n. 11. de com- mun. turbariae in marisco de Wilarby : Fin. Ebor. 33 Hen. 3. m. de advoc. eccl. de Beford : Ibid. n. 85. de bovata terrae in Flotmanby : Plac. assis. apud Ebor. 52 Hen. 3. rot. 11. d. 27. 51. 65. pro tertia parte duarum partium maner. de Bridlington : Fin. Ebor. 52 Hen. 3. n. 53. pro medietat. feodi. mil. in Brid- lington. Fin. Ebor. 5 Ed. 1. n. 48. pro mess, et terris in Killum : Plac. assis. apud. Ebor. 8. Ed. 1. rot. 31 d. pro 22 toftis in 62 APPENDIX. Bridlington : Pat. 13 Ed. 1. m. Plac. assis. apud Ebor. 14 Ed. 1. rot. 5. d. rot. 7 et 58 de serviciis tenendum in Frakisthorp : Cart. 18 Ed. 1. n. 32. pro lib. war. in maner. et pro mercat. et feria apud Bridlington : Pat. 18 Ed. 1. m. 11. de terris in West Askham: Plac. de quo war. 21 Ed. 1. rot. 29. allocat. libertat. in Bessingby etc. Plac. 27 Ed. 1. rot. 65. Pat. 29 Ed. 1. m. 4 vel 5. Pat. 32 Ed. 1. m. Fin. Ebor. 32 Ed. I. n. 60. de prato in West Askham: Pat. 33 Ed. 1. p. 1. m. 1 vel 2. p. 2. m- Pat. 34. Ed. 1. m. Pat. 35. Ed. 1. m. 6". Pat. 2. Ed. 2. p. 2. m. 1 et 14. Pat. 4. Ed. 2. p. 1. m. 5. Cart. 5. Ed. 2. n. 19. Pat. 5. Ed. 2. p. 2. m. 14etl6. Pat. 12. Ed. 2. p. 2. m. 6. Claus. 16. Ed. 2. n. 18. Pat. 5. Ed. 3. p. 2. m. Pat. 12 Ed. 3. p. 3. m. 4 vel 5. Pat. 16 Ed. 3. p. 2. m. 29 vel 30. Claus. 20 Ed. 3. p. 1. m. 9. Pat. 20 Ed. 3. p. 1. m. 36. de libertat. in soca de Scalby ra- tione terr. in Cloughton. Pat. 26 Ed. 3. p. 1. m. 3. pro ten. in Sywardby, Burton etc. Ibid p. 2. m. 24. Pat. 1. Ric. 2. p. 1. m. 26. pro ten. in Eston, Louthorp, etc. Pat. 11. Ric. 2. p. 2. m. pro Kernelatione prioratus : Pat. 12 Ric. 2. p. 2. m. 26 pro ten. in Bessingby, Fraythorp, New- ton, etc. Brev. orig. 15 Ric. 2. rot. 34. Cart. 15 Ric. 2. n. 26. Rec. in scacc. 19 Ric. 2. Mich. rot. 14. Pat. 2 Hen. 4. p. 1. m. 21. confirm, wreccum maris et alias libertates: Ibid. p. 4. m. 15. pro ten. in Welthorp et Bucton : Fin. Ebor. 4 Hen. 4. n. . de 22/. 2s. 9c?. ann. reddit. in Brid- lington: Pat. 8 Hen. 4. p. 1. m. 8. pro eccl. de Scardeburgh. Rec in scacc. 1. Hen. 5. Mich. rot. 12. Pat. 1. Hen. 5. p. 4. m. 9 vel 14. Pat. 9 Hen. 5. p. 1. m.24. Pat. 20 Hen. 6. p. 1. m. 4 vel 5. Cart. 21 Hen. 6. n. 5. Pat. 23 Hen. 6. p. 2. m. 21 vel 22. Cart. 24 Hen. 6. n. 6. Cart. 25 vel 26 Hen. 6. n. 15. Cart. 27 Hen. 6. n. 26. Cart. 30 Hen. 6. n. 26. Rec. in scacc. 33 Hen. 6. Mich. rot. 5. Pat. 1. Ed. 4. p. 3. m. 15. Pat. 5 Ed. 4. p. 3. m. 19. Rec. in scacc. 8 Ed. 4. Mich. rot. 6. APPENDIX. 63 B. EXTRACT FROM DOOMSDAY BOOK. ART. EVRVISCIRE. k In Bretlinton cu. n. berew. Hilgertorp i, Wiflestorp sunt ad _ cim a gld. xin. carucatae. qs poss. arare vn carucae. H tenuit — or Morcar #. i. manerio. Ne. e in rnanu regis, et suA. ibi mi. burgenses censii reddentes. Pti ae. vm. iEccla. i. Tot k k — p ■ Robert Danby, 28 > rnois Rudston church, 56 See de la, Sir Martin, 125 Selby abbey, 50 Speeton chapel, 53 Strickland, family of. 55 Whitby abbey, 7- 18 Wikeman, Prior, 20 William de Newbold, 26 William of Newhurgh, 23. 24. 88 William de Wode, 31—33. CAMBRIDGE •RINTED BY W. 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