ammma B81h| H Wmm ¦ E ¦ »1 ¦ '"nil ¦HB ehBW ¦B^H IlilliiiS 99 Hi ra ¦I ¦ HI mam bBSSSm Hi B 3H ¦ iv'; tarn ¦ 589 SJ H ¦•,-* H ¦¦¦ H ¦¦ , .*^ ¦ ¦ •w MM H ¦ . ¦M ¦1 mlPk Hi ms wan YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY A HISTORY OF D UNST ER A HISTORY OF D U N ST E R AND OF THE FAMILIES OF MOHUN & LUTTRELL BY SIR H.C.MAXWELL LYTE,K.C.B. Deputy Keeper of the Records. PART II I LLUST RA TED LONDON THE ST. CATHERINE PRESS LTD 8 YORK BUILDINGS, ADELPHI I909 YALE Bx^d.isjr CHAPTER X. The topography of Dunster. The station of the Great Western Railway bearing the name of ' Dunster ' is actually in the parish of Carhampton. A little to the south of it stands Marsh Bridge, formerly of some importance as situate on the road between the Haven, or sea-port, of Dunster and the town. It was reckoned to be in Dunster, and in the middle ages the commonalty of that borough was responsible for its maintenance. 1 Higher Marsh, now a farmhouse close by, seems to occupy the site of Marsh Place, the cradle of the Stewkleys, who eventually became rich and migrated to Hinton Ampner in Hampshire. Further south are several scattered houses, dignified collectively by the name of Marsh Street. There were formerly two public approaches to the town of Dunster from the north. One of these, known in the fourteenth century as Brook Lane, diverged from the highroad between Carhampton and Minehead at the western end of Loxhole Bridge, formerly Brooklanefoot Bridge, which spans the river that there divides the parishes of Carhampton and Dunster. 2 The other, skirting round the eastern side of Conigar, was a southern continuation of Marsh Street, and was anciently known as St. Thomas's Street, 1 D.C.M. xii. 4. Wills, vol. iii. p. 195. 3 D.C.M. 1. 4 ; Somerset Medieval 33© A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. from a chapel on the north side of it, dedicated to that saint. J After the disappearance of the chapel, the street gradually acquired a new name. In 1735, Dr. Poole was fined 6s. Sd. by the court of the borough " for causing cobb to be made in the street called Rattle Row, otherwise called St. Thomas's Street, in the common highway leading from Dunster town's end to Minehead. " Brook Lane and Rattle Row were alike superseded, soon after 1830, by a broader and easier ascent to the town, about midway between them. The course of the former is still marked by a right of way for pedestrians ; the latter is closed. Near the place where the two roads from the north converged stood of old ' le barrys, ' which was pre sumably one of the boundaries of the space available for markets and fairs. In the reign of Henry the Seventh, there is mention of ' le est baryer ' and ' le west baryer. ' 2 The rising ground to the right of the former has for some time been known as 'the Ball. ' In 1743, John Delbridge was presented at the local court for making an encroachment on the lady's waste, by building on a place called ' the Ball. ' Few street views in England have been more often drawn, painted, and photographed than that from this spot, with the Luttrell Arms Hotel on the left and the Market-House on the right, backed by the wooded Tor and the Castle. The main street of Dunster running southward from the Ball, has, in the course of centuries, borne various names. In the reign of Henry the Third, Reynold de Mohun styles it North Street {vicus del Nord). 3 In 1362 and 1432, it is called ' Chepyng- 1 D.C.M. xn. 4 ; xix. 4. » See above, page 277. 2 D.C.M. xm. 1. THE HIGH STREET, DUNSTER. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 331 strete, ' rendered in Latin as ' Vicus Foralis. ' At a later period, the old English name was supplanted by an equivalent in the form of ' la Market Streete, ' which occurs in 1478. Eleven years later, it is called ' Eststrete. 1 In 1648, there is mention of ' the markett streete of Dunster called the High Streete.' 2 Savage, in 1830, describes it as ' Fore Street. ' 3 A little to the south of the Ball stood the Corn Cross, mentioned in 1705 as close to the Wheat Market. To the east of it was a building known as the Tub House. The whole site is now quite bare. Nothing is known as to the exact date of the erection of the octagonal Market-House which is one of the most picturesque objects of the sort in England. It may, however, be ascribed to George Luttrell, the first of that name. The sellers of cloth or other merchandise formerly stood under its shelter back to back and carried on their business with purchasers outside. One of the rafters still has a hole through it made by a cannon-ball from the Castle during the siege in the middle of the seventeenth century. The roof must have been renewed after this, for the vane bears the initials of the second George Luttrell, with the date ' 1 647. ' Some shambles were erected in the Market Street of Dunster in 1423, with timber from the Hanger Park close by.4 Various pictures and plans made in the early part of the nineteenth century show that they extended some distance southward from the Market-House, thus dividing the street into two parallel ways, the eastern much wider than the west ern. In the middle was the wooden building known as the Town Hall. There is a record in 1426 of the 1 D.C.M. vm. 2. 3 Hundred of Carhampton, p. 381. 8 D.C.M. xv. 30 * D.C.M. xi. 3. 332 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. cost of making a new pillory (collistrtgium) in the market-place with timber brought from Marshwood. x A prison, or ' stockhowse, ' is mentioned in the seven teenth century. 2 Each trade had its own section of the shambles, and the lord got rent from all. In the seventeenth century, the rate for ' shops inclosed ' was much higher than that for ' standings ' occupied by butchers, shoemakers and the like. 3 The old Town Hall, the range of shops in the middle of the street, and the open shambles were alike demolished in 1825, when "a new and convenient market house," not remarkable for beauty, was erected by John Fownes Luttrell on the eastern side of the street. i Some medieval shambles may still be seen in the county of Somerset at Shepton Mallet. 8 The first building on the left is the well-known hostelry called the Luttrell Arms Hotel, which appears to occupy the site of three ancient houses. In 1443, William Dodesham, son and heir of Ellen daughter and heiress of Robert Homond, conveyed to Richard Luttrell, esquire, two messuages on the east side of the Market Street of Dunster, bounded on the south by a house already belonging to the purchaser, on the north by the road leading towards Marsh, and on the east by the park of the lord of Dunster. The property, which was in the hands of feoffees in 1 467, was, in 1499, conveyed to Sir Hugh Luttrell and Margaret his wife in fee, and it thus became an in tegral part of the demesne of subsequent lords of Dunster. 6 The arched doorway, with quatrefoils in the span- 1 D.C.M. xi. 3. s See the illustrations in Proceedings * D.C.M. xv. 30. of the Somerset Archaeological Society, » D.C.M. xi. 51. vol. liii. ' Savage's Hundred of Carhampton, 6 D.C.M. vm. 2. p. 381. ../!/,«: ,^- IN THE LUTTRELL ARMS HOTEL. ^ Kfl#t' . ... Jk IN THE C \STI.E. OVERMANTELS, DUNSTER. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 333 drels, and the northern wing may perhaps be assigned to the early part of the sixteenth century. The exterior of the latter is richly carved in oak, having a double row of windows with panelling between them, not unlike that of the principal screen in the church. An open roof to the upper storey was until a few years ago hidden by a plaster ceiling. The porch-tower facing the street and part of the adjoining fabric appear to have been built, or very materially altered, between the years 1622 and 1629. In one of the rooms on the first floor, there is a shield commemorating the marriage of George Luttrell of Dunster Castle and his second wife, Sil- vestra Capps. In another room there is a remark able plaster overmantel of the same period. An oval in the centre of it is believed to represent Action being devoured by hounds. On either side stands a lady richly attired, each, however, showing one leg quite bare from the thigh downwards. Above, two lions carry shields of the arms of England and France. A male figure within a triangle between them may possibly be intended to represent either the King of the day or George Luttrell. The face is almost grotesque. An overmantel at Dunster Castle, obviously by the same hand, bears the date ' 1620,' and there is a third example of his work at Marshwood. The whole building has been an inn for a consider able period. In a valuation of the year 1651, it is described as ' The Ship, ' and entered as worth 1 61. a year. At the beginning of 1736, a large new sign- 334 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. post made of timber and iron was set up in front of the house and painted by Richard Phelps. The keepers of some other inns and taverns in Dunster may have regarded it as prejudicial to their interests. The following occurs in the record of the borough court held in October of that year ; — " We present Philip Harrison for his base usage to the lord of the manor for pulling down and destroying of the sign and sign-post belonging to the house called the Ship Inn in Dunster, being a very great imposition upon the lord of the manor and cost and charge, for which we do amerce the said Philip Harrison 5/. " The matter did not stop here, for, in 1739, the receiver of Miss Margaret Luttrell's rents debited himself with 11/. 10s. from William Hoyle and Philip Harrison, " moneys recovered on a judgment, for pulling down the sign of the Ship. " Some greater misfortune afterwards befell the house, for in 1 JJJ, " the ruins of the old Ship Inn and garden, " yielded no rent. In the autumn of that year, James Stowey prepared " a plan and elevation for the Ship Inn " at a charge of 1/. in. 6d. After the necessary alterations, the premises became the Luttrell Arms Hotel, and advertisements for a suitable tenant were issued in 1779. So conservative, however, were the parochial authorities that they continued for ten years to assess them under the name of the Ship Inn. The landlord, John Mountstephen, of course called his house by the name which it still bears. * Several houses in High Street retain traces of Eliza bethan work, although most of their exteriors have been unfortunately modernized. At the bottom of the street stood formerly the High Cross, called also the Market Cross and, later, the Butter Cross. From ' Chadwick Healey's History of part of West Somerset, p. 400. LUTTRELL ARMS HOTEL. DUNSTER. THE ENTRANCl':. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 335 this point a direct continuation of High Street leads steeply up to the Castle Bailey, while the main thoroughfare turns sharply to the right. The house next but one to the south-western end of High Street once belonged to the Abbey of Cleeve and was known as ' le Smyth ' * The last house in the street was known in the fifteenth century as ' le Cornershoppe. ' After being rebuilt by William Snell about 141 o, it came to be called ' the Cage House, ' presumably on account of its shape and wooden con struction. ' The ancient cellars remain, but all the rest of it was rebuilt in the early part of the nineteenth century by Dr. Abraham, who had bought the house from John Fownes Luttrell. The house adjoining it on the west, once belonging to the chantry of St. Lawrence, was rebuilt at the same time. Opposite to the Cage House was ' the Glasiar's House, ' men tioned under that name in 1647 and again 1684. 3 The thoroughfare turning westward between the Cage House and the Glazier's House has borne dif ferent names. In 1367, it is called simply " the street which leads from Market Street towards the churchyard. " 4 So again in 1636, it is called " the strete which leadeth from the Markett Crosse towards the church of Dunster. " B It was, however, generally known as ' New Street ' in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.6 Conveyances of the years 1781, 1804, and 1834, describe it 'Middle Street,' while the parochial authorities of 1760 and 1782 called it ' Church Street, ' the name which it now bears. On the north side of Church Street and separated from the Corner Shop, or Cage House, by a tenement 1 D.CB. no. 44. 3 D.C.M. in. 12 ; xv. 38. 8 D.C.M. 1. 27 ; in. 12 ; viii. 2 ; xiii. 4 D.CB. no. 43. 2 ; XV. 37 ; Rentals of 1739 & 1777 ; 5 D.C.M. xv. 49. Rate-book of 1774. 6 D.CB. no. 91. D.C.M. passim. 336 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. formerly belonging to the Chantry of St. Lawrence is a long and picturesque building with projecting eaves partially covered with small slates. In 1346, Hugh Pyrou (or Pero) of Oaktrow in Cutcombe ob tained royal licence to grant to the Abbot and Con vent of Cleeve in mortmain three messuages and a yearly rent of lid. in Dunster. x His benefaction probably included the site of this building, which may have been erected by the monks soon afterwards. The finials of the two gables and a small original window in the eastern wall seem to date from the fourteenth century. In course of time the Abbot and Convent acquired several houses in Dunster, in cluding the smithy already mentioned and a fulling mill in the western part of the town. Their rent therefrom amounted in 1535, to 4/. js., out of which they used to pay 4J. to the Castle of Dunster, pre sumably the old rent of four burgages, and to dis tribute 1 js. in alms for the soul of Pyrou and others.2 At the dissolution of the monasteries, all their property passed to the Crown, which consequently became liable to the Luttrells for the rent of 4.s. In 1609, George Salter of the parish of St. Dunstan in the West, London, gentleman, bought from the King a great number of houses and lands in different parts of England, including the houses in Dunster that had belonged to Cleeve Abbey. 3 He seems to have been either an agent for other persons, or a specu lator on his own account, for he soon split up his purchase.4 Further subdivisions followed in the course of the next few years, and it was not until 1620 that Robert Quircke of Minehead, mariner, acquired the two separate tenements in Dunster " commonly knowne 1 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1345- 3 Patent Roll, 7 Jac.i. parts 22, 34, 35. 1348, p. 67. « Close Roll, 10 Jac. 1. part 32. 3 Valor Ecclesiasticus, vol. i. p. 217. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 337 by the name or names of ' the Highe Howse or Howses, ' " subject to a yearly rent of il. to the Crown. When sold again in 1 683, it comprised four several dwellings, but in 1703 there were only three tenants. In 1781, it is described as " that dwelling house called or known by the name of ' the High House, ' lately converted into a malthouse, with a kiln thereon for drying malt. " By 1 834, the maltster has disappeared and a joiner had taken his place. The building now comprises two dwellings not used for trade. As late as 1804, it is described in a con veyance by its ancient and appropriate name of ' the High House, ' but in 1769, and perhaps earlier, it was commonly known as ' the old Nunnery. ' This misnomer is thoroughly characteristic of the eighteenth century, when the wildest theories about history and antiquities found ready acceptance. There was never any establishment of religious women at Dunster ; no nunnery even owned a particle of land in the parish. From the High House, Church Street proceeds past a garden formerly belonging to the Priory to the churchyard, at the south-eastern corner of which there is a picturesque timbered cottage of the sixteenth century, which also pertained to the monks. This is described in 1588 as "the stone-healled howse," a fact of which the late Mr. Street was unaware, when he covered the roof with tiles and rebuilt the chimneys in a style suggestive of Sussex rather than Somerset. * In the southern wall of the churchyard there is a large arched recess of the middle ages, the original purpose of which has given rise to various conject ures. It was almost certainly a fountain, connected with ' le cundyte ' in New Street which is mentioned in the reign of Henry the Sixth. 2 In the seventeenth 1 D.C.M. xiv. 26. 2 D.C.M. xi. 3 ; xvm. 3. 338 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. and eighteenth centuries, the ' bow ' in the wall of the graveyard was let as a shop and yielded is. a year to the churchwardens. It is now empty. Close to it are some steps leading from the street to the south western corner of the churchyard and described as a staircase (scald) in 1348.1 In front of the churchyard, the main road through Dunster turns sharply to the south-west, and assumes the name of West Street. It is mentioned by that name in the thirteenth century, and it has borne it ever since. The point at which it is intersected by a road on either side was known in the seventeenth century as Spear's Cross. In i486, there is mention of " the cross opposite to the dwelling-house (man- sionem) of William Sper, " doubtless identical with "la crosse in la Westestrete " mentioned in 141 3.* Here there is a Wesleyan Chapel of 1878, which does not harmonize with its picturesque surroundings. The road on the left was formerly one of the prin cipal streets of Dunster, containing houses belonging to different freeholders. From its position imme diately under the stronghold of the Mohuns and the Luttrells it was called, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, ' Castelbayly, ' ' le Castellebale, ' ' le Baley Strete, ' or simply ' le Baleye. ' One branch of it turned northward into Market Street, another south ward up the hill to the gate of the Castle. Eastward it led to St. Benet's Well, to the Hanger Park, and to the Barton, or home-farm, of the medieval lords of Dunster. 3 In course of time, the Luttrells bought out all the smaller proprietors in the street, and put their own dependents into such houses as they did not demolish. This process was completed by 1791, 1 D.CB. no. n. » D.CB. no. 66. 2 D.C.M. XI. 2 ; xhi. I. A COTTAGE DOORWAY. st. George's street, DUNSTER. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 339 when the road is described as ' Castle Street. ' The older name of ' Castle Bailey ' was in use as late as 1769. The road has no name at present and it has long since ceased to be a public thoroughfare. Here are the dairy, the stables, the coach-house, and the farm-yard pertaining to the Castle above. From the western end of the Castle Bailey there is an ancient and hilly road to Alcombe and Mine- head, the first section of which, in the town of Dunster, is known as ' St. George's Street, ' because it skirts the grave-yard of the church dedicated to that Saint. It is mentioned by that name in 131 1. Opposite to the churchyard are the schools, erected in 1 87 1, from designs by Mr. St. Aubyn, at the cost of the Revd. Thomas Fownes Luttrell, and now let to the Somerset County Council. Behind them is the cemetery enclosed in 1880, and behind that again are some allotments. On the right of St. George's Street was the former Priory Green, and further up is Rockhead. * According to local tradition, the shaft of a medieval cross, raised on several steps, at Rockhead, was removed thither, in 1825, from the junction of High Street and Church Street. It is accordingly marked in the Ordnance Survey as the ' Butter Cross. ' While the tradition may be true enough with regard to the existing remains, or part of them, a number of workmen were employed by Henry Fownes Luttrell in 1776, in " levelling the ground round the cross at Rockhead and gravelling the road towards Conigar. " Conduit Lane on the left of St. George's Street leads steeply up the northern slope of Grabbist, past a little medieval building that encloses the spring known as St. Leonard's Well. This is mentioned, in 1375 ' D CB. no. 20. 340 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. en. x. as being ' under Grobbefast. " 1 The Benedictine Prior of Dunster was formerly responsible for the maintenance of the lane. z Pipes have been found in the ground leading from it to the Priory, and thence through the churchyard to the conduit in New Street mentioned above. The houses in West Street are for the most part later in date than those in High Street. Taverns and other buildings with distinctive signs were always less numerous there. A little above the street on the north stands the Cottage Hospital, established in 1867 for the reception of nine patients. On the south of West Street a road skirting the base of the Tor diverges towards the old grist-mills mentioned in the previous chapter. Here the Wes- leyans placed a small school in 1825, which was rebuilt thirty years later. It is no longer used for its original purpose. Three small houses close to it, near the corner of West Street, were between 1696 and 1699, let to the overseers of the parish, to serve as a workhouse. Several members of the Luttrell family made bequests to the poor of Dunster, and the accumulated capital remained for generations in the hands of successive owners of the Castle, who paid interest on it at varying rates. Curiously enough it came to be known as ' the Luttrell and Eld Charity, ' Eld having been merely the Master in Chancery who regulated the affairs of Margaret Luttrell the heiress. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the little workhouse was supposed to accommodate upwards of thirty persons, besides the housekeeper. The cost of maintaining the inmates was at that time 1 s. 6d. apiece by the week, besides their clothes. Heather and turf for fuel came from the neighbouring hills. ' D.CB. no 39. > D.C.M. xi. I. GALLOCKSBRIDGE, DUNSTER. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 341 Some receipts came from the sale of yarn made by the paupers. The workhouse seems to have been closed in 1836.1 A second street diverging to the left of West Street was formerly one of the main approaches to the town of Dunster. It is described as ' la Waterstret ' in 1323, and as ' Gallokystret ' in 1342, and it long continued to bear these names indifferently. Neither name was more authoritative than the other. Both of them, especially the latter, occur frequently in conveyances, court- rolls and other legal documents. As late as the year 1800, there is a mention of ' Gallox Street otherwise called Water Street, ' but by that time the name of Water Street had, in com mon parlance, become restricted to the northern part of the thoroughfare and that of Gallocks Street to the southern part beyond the river. 2 A footpath, no longer public, connecting this street with the road to the grist-mills was known, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as ' Colyerslane, ' or simply ' le Lane. ' 3 Carts going down Water Street can cross the water formerly known as ' le Oldstreme ' at a ford, by the side of which there is a picturesque medieval bridge of two arches. In the middle of the fourteenth cent ury, this was known as ' Doddebrigge, ' but by the time of Henry the Seventh it had acquired the name of ' Gallockisbrigge, ' which it has since retained. i A little beyond the bridge, close to the present Park gate, and in the parish of Carhampton, was Gallocks Cross, where four roads met. 6 That which led westward to Frackford, on the way to Avill, is described, in 1756, as' Galloxwell Lane.' The spring ' D.CB ; Overseers' accounts. * D.C.M. vm. 2 ; xv. 3, 39. ' Rate-book, 1774. ° D.C.M. xv. 6, 28. 3 D.C.M. vm. 2 ; x. 1. 342 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. from which it took its name is mentioned in the reign of Henry the Seventh. * In 1708, Alexander Luttrell demised to Caleb Spurrier, glazier, two other springs near it, with a view to his laying leaden pipes there from to cisterns at the High Cross and the Corner House in Dunster, and supplying seven hogsheads of water weekly to the Priory. One of these springs was called Heart's Well. From Gallocks Cross a public road, dating from the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, formerly led upwards in a south-easterly direction, near Holway H ouse, the exact situation of which is now forgotten, to the village of Carhampton. Since the creation of the Deer Park, this has become a mere footpath. A third road from Gallocks Cross went north-eastwards by Avelham Corner, Henstey, SkibberclifF, and Gilt- chapel close to the junction of Saltern Lane with the present main road from Carhampton to Minehead. The Prior of Dunster was responsible for the repair of this road. 2 Gallockstreet, Gallocksbridge, Gallockscross, Gal- lockswell, Gallocksclose, Gallocksdown, and Gallocks- wood, alike take their names from the gallows per taining to the early lords of Dunster. Close to Gallockscross is one of the entrances into the present deer-park. The area and the very situation of Dunster Park have altered considerably in the course of centuries, and some points connected with its history are obscure. There can be no doubt, however, that it was always of less account than Marshwood in the parish of Carhampton, so long as the latter was maintained as a park. It is described in 1 279 as the " small park," and in 1330 as the " Hanger," a name which it bore 1 D.C.M. xv. 5. » D.C.M. vm, 2 ; xvm, 6. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 343 until 1752 and possibly later. J Numerous documents show that the Hanger Park was close to the back-yards or gardens of the houses on the eastern side of the High Street, separated from them by a wooden paling, afterwards replaced by a stone wall. One acre of it was occupied by a fishpond. 2 In 1355, Sir John de Mohun lodged a complaint at Westminster that Philip of Luccombe, William Everard, John Everard, Robert Everard, Hugh of Durborough, Hugh of Crowdon, Thomas Denays parson of Selworthy, Simon Waleys, and Robert late parker of Minehead had carried away deer and young sparrow-hawks from his parks at Dunster, Minehead, and Marshwood, and hares, coneys, partridges and pheasants from his free warrens at Carhampton and Rodhuish, and assaulted Richard le Scolemaister, his collector of the toll of Dunster Fair. * Eleven years later, when he seems to have been in want of money, he demised to William Coule of Dunster his closes called 'le Hangre' and 'Nyweperk' in Carhampton for four years at the nominal rent of a rose, in consideration, doubtless, of value received. 4 During Lady de Mohun's long widowhood and absence from Somerset, the park, the vineyard, the orchard, and a garden called ' Puryhay ' in the park were alike let. Sir Hugh Luttrell coming to live at Dunster, took these different pieces of ground into his own hands, together with the fishery in the little river. 6 At his death in 1428, it was found that the Hanger Park contained a hundred acres of pasture and wood, worth 20J. a year beyond the feed of the deer therein. Marshwood Park, comprising two 1 Inq. post mortem, C Edw. I. file m. 241! 22 (1) ; Edw. III. file 22 (11). 4 D.C.M. XVII. I. 3 Mohun Cartulary. See p. 358. 5 D.C.M. x. 1 ; xi, 1, 3 ; xvn. 4 ; 3 Patent Roll, 29 Edw. III. part 1, xvm. 2. 344 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. hundred and seventy acres was valued at double that amount. Minehead Park comprised a hundred and fifty acres. * Sir John Luttrell, son of Sir Hugh, granted the office of parker of the Hanger to a certain Benedict Tolose for life, with a yearly allowance of 40J. out of the issues of the borough of Dunster, and granted the office of parker of Marshwood to a certain John Blaunche upon exactly similar terms. 2 It was the parker of the Hanger who used to kill coneys at the warren, for consumption at the Castle, and for presentation to the friends of the lord or lady. 3 At different dates there are mentions of the park pale by Loxhole Bridge, the park-pale below Henstey, and the pale between the park and Great Avel- ham. Hence it appears that the medieval park of Dunster comprised the sloping ground between the town and the river, and the northern part of the level ground beyond the river now known as ' the Lawn. ' Although Great Avelham on the south was afterwards added to it, the total area in the middle of the sixteenth century was only seventy-two acres. By that time Marshwood Park had also been reduced to a hundred acres, and Minehead Park had become agricultural land. 4 On the other hand the Luttrells' park at East Quantockshead had increased in importance. In 1 65 1, 'Dunster Parke alias Dunster Hanger' was valued at 120/. a year. 5 No record has been found of the date at which it was converted into pasture and meadow, but it is tolerably certain that there were not any deer there in the first half of the eighteenth century. A survey of the year 1746 shows that ' the Higher Park, ' reckoned as part of the demesne 1 Inq. post mortem, 6Hen.vi.no. 32. * See above page 160. ' Inq. post mortem, 9 Hen. vi. no. Si. 5 D.C.M. m. 12. " D.C.M. xi. 3 ; xvm. 3. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 345 of Dunster, was let to a certain John Hurford, and that ' the two Lawns, ' reckoned as part of the demesne of Carhampton, had recently been rented by a certain John Heme. There is at Dunster Castle a portrait of a man holding a fish, which is described in an inventory of 1781, as a " picture .of Old Her ring. " Tradition had, however, misinterpreted the pun intended by the painter. An inventory of 1744 calls it a " picture of Farmer Heme of Carhampton, drawn by Mr. Laroon to the life. "* The allusion is to the fondness of a heron for fish. In 1755, Henry Fownes Luttrell and his wife determined " to bring the park home, " or in other words to remove the deer from Marshwood to Dun ster. This involved the creation of a new park, and an area was selected for it which did not include any part of the medieval park, but lay entirely to the south of it on higher ground. Various plots of free hold land had to be bought from their respective owners ; leases had to be extinguished, with compen sation to the tenants; hedges had to be abolished; and a continuous fence had to be made to enclose the whole. Altogether the new park comprised three hundred and forty-eight acres, many of which, cover ed with fern, whorts, and heather, had never been brought into cultivation. They are all situated in the parish of Carhampton. There is a detailed memor andum about the construction of a wooden fence along certain portions of the boundary not otherwise safe guarded : — " That part of the designed park that is to be paled is 6390 feet long and will take as under : — "710 posts 7 J feet long, to be set i\ feet into the ground, 9 feet distance from the middle of one post to the middle of 1 Master Eld's Report in the suit Kymer v. Trevelyan, 1744. 346 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. the other, the top of the upper mortice to be one foot under the top of the post, and the lower part of the under mortice to be four feet under the top of the post. " 1420 rails, 9^ feet long, the ends to be drove into the mortice, one over the other, with the heart upwards. 4260 pales, 6 feet long ; 7100 ditto, 5^ feet long. Set the sapey edge of one pale close to the harty edge of the next, nail a long pale on each side every post and then two short ones to one long one. Drive no more than two nails to one pale. 22720 nails will naile on the pales if none be lost. " The transfer of the deer from Marshwood to Dun ster Park seems to have been effected in 1756 or the following year. A direct route having been prepared by cutting openings through intervening fences, a great part of the population of the neighbourhood turned out to drive the deer to pastures new and prevent them from straying to the right or the left on the way thither. Many of the trees in the existing park were plant ed by Henry Fownes Luttrell, who had considerable taste in such matters. Some of the oaks, however, in the upper part of it are of very great antiquity, possibly relics of the forest of Dunster mentioned in the reign of Henry the Third. Among the various memoranda made by George Luttrell in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, the following are of some topographical inter est : — " The perambulacon of processyon in the weke caulyd Processyon weke, or Gayn weeke, or Rogacon weke, of the parysh of Dunster. " The Monday in the Rogacon weke, the parysh going [toward] Alcombe a gospell sayd by Skilaker by the west part of the waye that lieth at the south part of Deneclose where somtyeme was a crosse, and from thence to Alcombe A COTTAGE DOORWAY, WATER STREET, DUNSTER. ch. x. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 347 Crosse and there was accostomyd to be sayd a gospell, and from thence to the Chapell of Alcombe and theare a gospell, and from thence backwarde downe by the water to Yllycombe to Pyne's howse and theare a gospell, and thear the parysh were accostomed to have a drynkyng, and from thence to Dene Lane, and so to Dunster Church. "The Tewysdaye, upp St. George Strete and through Dene Lane and thear torne west by the Pekyd or Threcorner close along in the Marsh, and so over the Fresse to Dunster Hawn, and so from thence over the felde to go to Salterne Lane, and so by Gyltchapell alonge by the parck [pale] under Henstye to a crosse by thollow elme, and from thence leving Holwaye Howse and grounde which W. Hart now holdyth uppon the left hande, and so to Gallockes Crosse, and theare a gospell, and from thence over the stone brydge through Gallockes Strete and over the tymber brydge, and so home. " The Wennysdaye, from the church through Westrete over the sayd brydges through Gallockes Strete and by Jone Fynnes dore west in the way to Fayer Oke, and from thence to Avell and thear was accostomyd to be sayd servys in the chapell of Mary Maddaleyne and thear was a drynkyng for the parysh at Avell Howse, and then from thence the sayd parysh went over the water to Hurlepole path and so to the crosse that stoode by est [of Fra]ckford Howse, whear the bowndes of the burugh of Dunster begann, [and so] home." " The perambulacon of the processyon of the parysh of Carhampton in the Rogacon weke as followith : — " The Monday, from the parysh church to the crosse in the strete which stode uppon the strete and from that southwarde to a howse or tenement nowe in tholdyng of Lawrence Escott thear and from thence west along by Jeles Dyes howse to Aller styele where was wont to be a crosse and thear sayd a gospell, and from thence to Colstones Crosse whear was sayd another gospell, and from thence to Holwaye Howse now W. Harte's, and so to Holwaye [Hollow] elme at Henstye fote and from thence to Henstye hedd and thear another gospell, and so home. " The Tewysdaie, from the church to the wester [thester] church styele and from thence by Henry Lee's towards 348 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. x. Webber's and so towards Brethren Crosse and thear a gospell, and so upp by Hadley's howse and so towardes the parsonage of Wythicomb by Sanhill grounde to Laurence Escotte's and thear wont to be sayd a gospell, and thear was wont to be som refresshing for the pryst, and from thence to Rodehuysh by Chestershowse the wydo Doddrydg and to Georg Escot te's and thear a gospell sayde and thear they dranck, and so to St. Barthemewe's Chapell whear they sayd a gospell, and from thence to Harry Dowlle's howes whear they sayd a gospell, and dranck, and from thence to Poppers [Pyppers] Crosse where also was sayd a gospell, and from thence to Okehowse whear was sayd a gospell and drank, and so to Harpers and a gospell and thear they drank, and from thence they goo to a crosse that goyth to Lokesborowgh and thear was sayd a gospell, and from thence to Everarde's howse whear was wont to be sayd a gospell, but now they goo without hys wawles homeward by Lawrence Escotte's, Rogers howse and so to the Hundred Elme wher the Sherow turne is kept, and from thence to the churche agayne. " The Wennysdaye, westward along the towne to Dunster- ward and at the fotewaye entry going to Hensty thear was wont to be a crosse caulyd Emmys Crosse alias Lanhey Crosse, and thear was sayd a gospell, and from thence by Gyltchapell to the lorde's feelde gate and so along the waye in the north part of the parck to Broklanefote over the brydge thear and so along by Chapman's howse and the wydow Hobbes [Holes] and so over Marsshbrydge to Poynz' howse, and thear was sayd a gospell and was some refresshing, and from thence to March waye estward along by all the Chesell and so to Marshwood and thear sayd a gospell and wear also wont to be refresshed, and from thence towards Shilves and to a crosse that was wont to stande by est the styele that goyth into Rogers grounde caulyd South C[arhamp]ton, and so home alonge the depe waye to the churche. " 1 1 D.C.M. v. ss. The words given a shorter version also, in the execrable above within brackets are taken from hand of George Luttrell. ijs^^j^^ssss^ PAR ¦qo Yards MAP OF THE TOWN OF DUNSTER. CHAPTER XI Dunster Castle. Domesday Book mentions only two castles in the whole county of Somerset, that of the powerful Count of Mortain at Montacute, and that of William de Mohun at Dunster. Both were presumably strongly fortified according to the system in vogue at the time of the Norman Conquest. Much learning and in genuity have been expended in the endeavour to fix the relative dates of the great mounds which charac terize so many English castles of early origin and the massive stone structures that were erected upon them. This interesting question has, however, very little direct bearing upon the history of Dunster. On the one hand, it is practically certain that the stronghold of the first William de Mohun crowned the Tor, a conical hill, whose summit, artificially levelled, measures about thirty-five yards east and west by about seventy north and south. On the other hand, it is almost as certain that Dunster Castle never had one great tower, quadrangular like that of Rochester, or circular like that of Arundel. The defences were mainly natural, the bare slopes of the hill being very steep on all sides and almost precipitous in places. In order, however to make the place more secure against possible enemies, the upper part of the Tor was, where necessary, scarped to a depth of about 350 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. eighty feet. Whatever may have been the material employed in building the original castle on the sum mit, there was, neither in the eleventh century nor in the later middle ages, any need of the very massive construction used in castles more easy of attack. Such few notices of the keep as have been found tend to show that it comprised several buildings connected by walls of moderate height. If the account of Dunster Castle given by the author of Gesta Stephani may be taken as correct, the fabric subsisting in 1 1 3 8 had been created by the second William de Mohun, and this is not at all unlikely, in view of the undoubted fact that many Norman castles of the previous century had been made of wood. The walls and towers mentioned by the chronicler must certainly have been built of stone. His description, moreover, suggests that there was a lower ward, which, indeed, would have been necessary for the accommodation of the great number of men and horses collected for warlike purposes by the then lord of Dunster. x No traces of distinctively Norman work now remain at the Castle, and although it seems likely that the earliest masonry is to be found at the north-eastern angle, where the walls are exceed ingly thick, no definite date can be assigned to it. It was perhaps the second William de Mohun, Earl of Somerset, who, in granting out various manors to be held of him and his heirs on the ordinary terms of feudal service, added a stipulation that the respective tenants should, when required, assist in repairing the walls of Dunster Castle. Reynold de Mohun the Second, who lived in the reign of Henry the Third, is specifically stated by the chronicler and eulogist of the family, more than a century later, to have allowed 1 See page 6 above. GATEWAY OF THE LOWER WARD, DUNSTER CASTLE. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 351 his tenants to compound for this service once for all by a pecuniary fine, and to have applied the money so received to new buildings in the Lower Ward. * Untrustworthy as this writer is often found, his note on this particular subject proves to be correct. While Reynold de Mohun is otherwise known to have released three different military tenahts from their obligation to repair the walls of his stronghold, architectural evidence points to the middle of the thirteenth century as the period at which some exist ing parts of the Castle were built. To Reynold de Mohun we may safely ascribe the old gateway of the Lower Ward, which has plain chamfered jambs, and a low stiff drop-arch. It shows no traces of any former portcullis, and it can never have had a draw bridge. On either side is a semicircular mural tower, containing on the ground floor a vaulted chamber with the usual three loops for cross-bowmen. The upper portions of both these towers have been long since demolished. About sixty-six feet to the west of the tower on the right, and connected with it by the old curtain wall, there are remains of a small semicircular tower, the bottom of which was approximately level with the first floor of the gateway, by reason of the slope of the ground. How much further the curtain wall formerly extended westward it is now impossible to say. There was certainly one other tower beyond, long known as ' Dame Hawis's Tower, ' and clearly identical with the ' Fleming Tower, ' to be mentioned 1 " Qui quidem Reginaldus fecit infer- necesse fuerat, remisit concessionem ad iorem castrum de Dunster, et pluribus affirmandum castrum, ut dictum est, et tenentibus suis qui tenuerunt per feodum hoc fecit pro inferiori castro faciendo. " militare et solebant kernellitare in su- St. George's extracts from the Mohun periori castro, affirmare et facere cum Chronicle. 352 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. below. Reynold de Mohun had married, as his first wife, an heiress in Devonshire named Hawis le Fleming, and this tower, which was a building of some importance, may have been built with her money. It probably stood at the western end of the Lower Ward, overlooking the vale of Avill, not far from the point at which the wall began to turn southwards and upwards in order to join the older wall of the Upper Ward. The range of buildings erected by Reynold de Mohun for his own occupation was at the opposite end of the Lower Ward, on the left of the gateway. Although placed by him on the edge of a precipice almost overhanging the river, he saw fit to fortify its southern front with two towers projecting from a lofty wall, which varies in thickness from 4 ft. 8 in. to 6 ft. Two small pointed windows of his time, belonging to a closet, still remain. While the western end of this pile was partially excavated out of the native rock, there was at the eastern end a basement on a lower level, the ground sloping steeply in that direction. Amid all the changes that the fabric of Dunster Castle has undergone in the Jacobean, the Georgian, and the Victorian periods, the walls of Reynold de Mohun can still be distinguished by their great thickness. In the agreement made between Reynold de Mohun and the Benedictine monks, in 1254, with regard to the massess to be said for the soul of his son John, a sharp distinction is drawn between the ' upper ' chapel of St. Stephen in Dunster Castle and the ' lower ' chapel of St. Lawrence in the Priory. The former is known to have stood on the summit of the Tor, within the original castle, while the latter was an adjunct to the parochial church. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 353 An ' extent ' of Dunster of the year 1 266 gives a clear though very brief description of the Castle. It states that the Upper Ward comprised a hall with a buttery, a pantry, a kitchen and a bakehouse to the south of it, a fair chapel, a knights' hall, three towers containing various rooms, and a prison. The hall is described as having two ' posts,' two ' couples ' and two ' pignons ' or pinnacles. The Lower Ward comprised three towers, of which that known as ' the Fleming Tower ' was a prison, and also a granary. The gateway must evidently have been reckoned as one ' tower ' and the irregular pile at the end of the Lower Ward must have been reckoned as another. The cow-house and the stable, with accommodation for a hundred beasts, the dovecot, and the dairy lay outside the Castle, far below, near the river. x In 1284, when the heir of Dunster was under age, an enquiry was held by royal authority as to the repairs recently made to the Castle by John de Vescy, and the repairs that were still necessary. The report gives the names of various buildings, but conveys very little information as to their relative situations. Thus we read of " the oriel over the gate .... the bakehouse over the oven .... a garderobe near the bakehouse .... the tower near the said bakehouse . . . . another tower called the Fleming Tower .... the tower near the gate .... the new tower over the great chamber .... the children's chamber .... the great hall, the saucery (salsaria), the kitchen and a certain chamber between the same .... the chapel .... a certain knights' chamber and armoury (quadam camera militum et domo ad arma) .... the lord's chamber . . . . the oriel of the same chamber the bell-turret (campanario) the great knights' chamber (magna 1 Mohun Cartulary. 354 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. camera militum) " and various embattled turrets. While the towers and certain buildings were roofed with lead, the hall and others were to be covered with wooden shingles (cindulis). There are no documentary allusions to the fabric of Dunster Castle in the fourteenth century. One of the later Mohuns seems, however, to, have lengthened the principal building of the Lower Ward by adding a tower and some rooms at the western end of it, on a narrow strip of ground close under the eastern end of the Upper Ward. The accounts of the first Sir Hugh Luttrell contain many references to his castle. The following occur in 1406 : — " In a key bought for the door of the tower over the gate, 2d. In hinges (jemeuxj, ' staples, haspes, ' and a c bolte ' of iron for the deal (sappis) placed in the gate, lid. In a lock (cera), a key, a ' haspe ' and a staple (stapulo), bought for the tower towards the west in ' le Dongeon ' 8d. In a lock and a key bought for the door of the closet (latrine) at the end of the hall, 6d. " " In paid for two bushels of lime (calcis) bought, id. In a hundred ' lathnailles ' bought, \d. In a workman cover ing the slope (penticium) of the tower over the angle of the ' Dongeon ' towards the west, for two days, \d. In a car penter making the said slope for three days, 6d. " " For three ' bordes ' of ' pipler ' bought for the garde- robe of my lord, is. " " In paid to two ' masones ' working on the chapel in ' le Dongeon ' for nine days and a half, at 2d. apiece by the day, 35. 2d. In paid to three workmen carrying earth for the same, at T,d. apiece by the day, for one day, yd. In paid for two quarters of lime bought at Wachet, together with 2d. for the carriage of the same, 1 %d. Also, on the same day, in paid to a carpenter for fourteen days and two 1 Miscellanea (Chancery), Bundle 3, salle des chevaliers of French castles, No. 21 (5-7). and the fitter saal of German castles The camera militum seems to be the ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 355 carpenters for two days, at 2d. apiece by the day, working ' cippes, bordes, tresteles, ' and windows and doors in the upper and the lower castle. Also on the same day, in two hundred nails (clavis) at ^d. ; in a hundred and fifty nails at 6d. ; in a hundred nails at 6d., i6d. In twenty-two pounds of iron wrought in ' twystes, hokes, ' and other necessaries, at \\d. the pound, 2s. yd. " " In a new lock with two keys, and the mending of the locks of the doors of the pantry, the kitchen, and the oats'- house (avenar1), lod. Also the same day, in paid for cleansing the house within the gates, full of filth, \d. " " In paid to John Corbet, smith, for a ' wexpan, ' two ' wexirens, ' a ' wexknyfe, ' an ' iren rake, ' a * pikeys, ' a ' matok, ' thirty-six ' hoques ' for hanging bacons in the kitchen, two ' twistez ' for the door in the tower over the angle of the ' Dongeon, ' and little bars for the glass windows in the hall, 6s. Sd. Also on the same day, in paid to a glazier making glass windows in the hall and my lord's chambers, at 2d. by the day, for twenty-one days, y. 6d. Also on the same day, in paid for two ' hoques ' and two hinges (jemeux) for the shutters (foliis) of the glass windows at the end of the hall, 2d. Also on the same day, in paid to two carpenters fashioning chests by order of my lady and also c lez rakkes ' in the gate, for six days, at 2d. apiece by the day, 2s. And in two hundred nails for the same chests, is. In three hinges for the same, \d. In two hooks (hamis) and three great nails for the said ' rekkis, ' 2d. In a new padlock (cera pendenti) and the mending of another, \d. Also on the same day, in paid for the making of an earthen wall below (infra) the tower over the gate, 2d. And for the making of a door with a ' lacche ' in the same, ^d. " The following payments were made in 1 4 1 6 : — " In four thousand pounds of lead, at 5*. 6d. by the hundred, 11/. In the carriage of the said lead from Wellys to Dunster, 8j. In expenses for buying the said lead, 2s. " " In c bordes ' and ' nailles ' bought for the covering of the towers in the Castle, 23^. In nine pounds and a half of solder (soldura) bought, 14^/. In the salary of a plumber for four weeks, io*. " 356 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. In addition to this salary the plumber received i/\.d. a week for food, and presumably free lodging in the Castle. The accounts for 141 7 show the following pay ments : — " To a carpenter on the repair of the gates of the Lower Castle, for seven days at 3d. by the day, 2 id. Also in iron work for the same gates, viz. eighty-seven pounds at i\d. by the pound, in nails, plates, and bands (vinculis), ys. \d. Also in little nails (clavis) bought, with a key (clavi) for the door of the chamber of J. Bacwell, \d. Also in a key for the chamber of the garderobe and in a key for the door of the barn in the barton of Dounsterr, 412'. " " In four hooks for the door of the chapel in the hall 2d. Also in the repair of two iron bands (vinculorum) with the nails necessary for the same for the principal gate in c le Dongeon, ' A.d. Also in the cutting of a wicket (valve) in the same gate, 3d. Also in iron hinges (geminis) for the same wicket with the nails necessary, \d. Also in a c hag- odeday ' with a ' lacche ' for the same wicket, 3d. Also in a mason (muratore) making a chimney (caminum) in the porter's lodge (domo janitoris) for five and a half days, 1 id. Also in the carriage of a stone for the key-stone (clavi) of the said chimney given by the Prior of Dunsterre, id. Also in the repair of two locks on the chamber of the outer gate of the Castle, with a key for the bakehouse, $\d. Also in plates [and] nails with a knocker (martella) on the inner gate of the Castle, weighing 104$. at i\d. by the lb. 10s. lod. Also in the expenses of a ' mason ' coming from Brigewater to see my lord's hall in the Castle which is to be rebuilt, 35. %d. " The gates of the Lower Castle mentioned above may perhaps be those which still hang under the archway of Reynold de Mohun. Their framework is a massive grating of oaken bars four inches thick, four inches and a half wide, and four inches and a half apart, covered on the outside with vertical bands of the same material an inch and a half thick. These ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 357 planks are held together by external iron bands, spiked to the internal bars of oak by great nails with diamond- shaped heads. In the right valve there is a wicket four feet four inches high by two feet one inch broad, fastened with a huge iron lock in a wooden shell. The accounts for 1 4 1 8 show the following char ges :— " In a tiler (coopertore) for two day's at my lord's board (mensam) for the bakehouse, \d. In a mason (lathamo) for five days at my lord's board for certain chambers to be mended in the Castle, lod. In a lock of the outer gate of the Castle repaired, 3d. " In 1 42 1 , there was a payment " to Thomas Pac- chehole for making ' reckis ' and ' mangers ' in my lord's stable, " which was apparently below the Castle on the north side. The following payments are recorded in 1426 : — " For ' twystys, ' ' yemeaux, ' and nails bought of Hugh Lokyer for the screen (le spere) and a new door in my lord's hall, 3s. lod. And to John Burgh for two carriages of timber from ' le lymekyll ' to the Castle for the said screen (le dit spere) in my lord's hall, 2d.... In a thousand tile-pins (pynnys tegulinis) bought, 3d.... In two thousand tile-stones (petris tegulinis) bought of Henry Helyer, 2od. In the carriage of the said stones from Treburgh to Dunster Castle, 3 s. A.d.... In paid to John Eylysworthi, tiler (tegulatori) there hired to repair my lord's chamber and the constable's chamber, for three days at my lord's board (repastum), yd.... In a great key bought of Hugh Lokyer and in the mending of a lock for ' Damhawys Towre', 4^. In John Bowman hired for a day to cleanse ' Damhawys Toure, ' at my lord's board (sibum), 2d. Also to Thomas Pacheholl with his man (famulo) there hired for a day and a half to make three ' gestys ' anew in the keep (castello) by ' le Portcoleys, ' at my lord's board, J^d. In nails bought for mending ' le store hous ' in the keep (castello) in which my lord's armour is placed, id In two carriages of timber from ' le 358 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. Fysspole in le Hanger,' towards my lord's said stable, without board, 2d In ten thousand tile-stones (petris tegulinis) bought for my lord's store, that came from Cornwall to the Haven (portum) of Dunsterre, at 2s. 'jd. by the thousand, sum total, 2$s. lod. In carrying the aforesaid stones (lapi- dibus) from the ship to ' le slymvat, ' \d. " The following entries occur in 1427 : — " Thomas [Pachehole] was hired there to make 'le enter- clos ' and ' hachys ' between my lord's hall and the chapel there, for two weeks at my lord's board, receiving i%d. by the week, 3s In paid to Thomas Smyth for six pairs of hinges (yemeaux) for ' lez hacchys ' in the chapel there, 2s Also paid to John Myryman of Wylyton for two mantelpieces (lapydibus clavelT ) bought of him for two chimneys to be newly made in the keep (castello), 3s Thomas Pacheholl was hired by order of Thomas Bemont at the keep (castellum) for pulling down the old kitchen in ' le Donyon ' for a week at my lord's board, i%d And Thomas Pachehole was hired there to make a ' whelberwe,' for a day at my lord's board, 3d. " Sir Hugh Luttrell, not content with maintaining the old castle of the Mohuns, resolved to make a material addition to it, more for comfort than for defence. His receiver's account for 1420 has a separate section as follows : — " The new building in my lord's castle. In divers work men hired for pulling down old walls, both a part of the walls of the hall and a part of the wall of the Castle, and laying the foundation of the new building close to the said hall, and for removing to a distance the old timber of the hall when pulled down, and for hauling great stones and carrying the said stones, with sand and timber, together with the purchase of free stone at Bristol and the carriage of the same by sea and lastly by land, and the carriage of water, and for making ' hurdelles, ' together with the purchase of ropes, cords, and divers other necessaries for the work, and likewise in the hire of men for burning lime in the pit near the Castle, with the making of the same pit, and coal and ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 359 fuel bought for the same, with the shoeing of my lord's horses and oxen for carriage, and making and repairing divers iron implements, to wit 'crowes, mattokkes, pycoyses, wegges, spades ' and 'schovylles' and 'sleigges,' all reckoned together, as appears in a paper made thereupon and examin ed at the audit (super compotum), 45/. i$s. lod. In 2379/^. of iron bought and wrought, that is to say for hinges (gumphis), ' kacchers ' for ' lacchis ' for doors and windows, and also for putting ironwork in the lights (illuminaribus) of the windows, 14/. 17.S. \\d. In 141 quarters, 4 bushels of lime bought, at f>d. for the quarter, 4/. 14J. A.d. Also paid to Thomas Hydon, mason (latamo) for making walls, in part payment of a greater amount, 11/. Also paid to William Boulond, free-stone mason (sementario liberarum petrarum) beyond 1 005. received by him last year from Thomas Hody, as appears in the account of the same Thomas Hody, in part payment of a greater amount, 20/. Also paid to Thomas Pacchehole, carpenter, beyond 60^. received last year from Thomas Hody, in part payment of a greater amount, 20s. in 13 quarters of coal bought wholesale for burning lime. Total, 98/. 2 s. 1 o^d. " There were further payments of the same nature in the four following years, and in 1424, Thomas Pacchole, the carpenter, was boarded at the Castle for nineteen weeks with an assistant or two, and Thomas Hydon the ' mason, ' for eleven weeks, also with an assistant. Irrespectively of them, the total cost in the five years amounted to about 252/. 1 Sir Hugh Luttrell's ' new building ' was a Gate house, spanning the approach from the town and situated without the enceinte of the older castle. In order to erect it in the position selected, he had to pull down part of the curtain-wall and to close at least two of the loops in the semi-circular tower on the right of the gateway leading into the Lower Ward. The Gatehouse as built by him was divided 1 D.C.M. 1. 17. 360 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. into distinct sections by a transverse wall reaching from the ground to the roof, and it does not appear that there was any internal communication between them. The lower part of the eastern section is pierc ed by a passage open to the air, i oft. 6in. broad, with a plain wagon vault and at each end a pointed arch. There can never have been a portcullis, but there was formerly a pair of large gates adjoining the outer, or lower, arch, which has moulded jambs continued round the head. Close to the inner, or southern, arch, there is a small pointed doorway giving access to a room and also to a spiral staircase leading to a larger room on the first floor, to a similar room on the second floor, and lastly to the roof. In the western section there were three rooms on as many floors, con nected with each other and with older buildings behind by a spiral staircase. The two upper rooms in this section were rather lower down than those on the other side of the transverse wall. Each of the six rooms in the Gatehouse had a simple fireplace and a small, dark closet. Such of the original windows as remain are square-headed but cusped, and in some cases divided by mullions and transoms. The accounts rendered to Sir John Luttrell contain a few references to the fabric of Dunster Castle. Thus in 1428 : — " To John Eylesworthe, tiler (tegulatori), hired for three and a half days to roof the chamber over the gate near my lord's stable, at my lord's board, receiving 3d. by the day, io^d. Also in the wages of John Eylesworthe, tiler, hired to plaster (sementanda) the house by the outer gate of the Castle, in order that salt might be put therein, for a day and a half at my lord's board, receiving 3d. by the day, A.\d. " The following charges occur in 1430 : — ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 361 " To John Joce hired to gather stones on Croudon for * les botreaux ' by the gate of Dunsterre Castle, for one day at my lord's board, 2d. To John Stone of Wotton, ' mason, ' hired to make two c botreaux ' by the gate of the Castle, at my lord's board for two weeks, receiving i%d. by the week, 3^. And paid to John Thresshe of Wotton, ' mason, ' hired to work with the said John Stone at the aforesaid 'botriaux' for two weeks, receiving i\d. by the week, 2s. \d. And paid to John Joce, hired to wait upon John Stone and John Thresshe, the aforesaid ' masons, ' for two weeks, receiving by the week n^., at my lord's board, 22d. And paid to John Burgh, hired with his cart and four horses to carry stones from ' la Hangre ' to the gate of the Castle for making the aforesaid ' botriaux ' for one day at my lord's board, receiving 1 2d. by the day, 1 2d. " The two buttresses mentioned were presumably those which still help to support the eastern end of Sir Hugh Luttrell's gatehouse. After the death of Sir John Luttrell in 1430, a third of Dunster Castle was assigned to his relict as part of her dower. At an earlier and less peaceful period, military consider ations would have prevented such a division of a fortified castle, while lawyers would have protested that no widow could claim dower in a place that was the nucleus of a feudal Honour. Lady Luttrell's third thereof is very minutely specified, as follows : — " Two gates at the entrance of the same castle of Dunster, together with all buildings situate over the said two gates, together with a certain old kitchen immediately adjoining the said buildings, and also a certain tower nearest to the said two gates on the western side of the same, and a certain garden lying between the said tower and a certain other tower called ' Hayveystoure, ' to hold to the same Margaret as a third part of the aforesaid castle of Dunster, saving, however, to the heir of the aforesaid John Luttrell, or to whosoever shall for the time have two parts of the aforesaid castle, free entry and egress to the said two parts of the castle whenever necessary or expedient. u 362 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. Lady Luttrell also received for her life, as before: — " Three acres of pasture and an acre of wood around ' le Castel Torre, ' which three acres of pasture lie next on the western side of the entrance of the aforesaid castle of Dun ster, and the aforesaid acre of wood lies on the eastern side of the same castle at the northern end of the wood there growing, with free entry and egress over ' le Castel Torre ' aforesaid to the said acre of wood whensoever expedient to the same Margaret. " x Very little explanation is necessary. The two gates mentioned are clearly the gateway giving access to the Lower Ward, and the Gatehouse, or ' new building, ' of Sir Hugh Luttrell, just below it. The kitchen was in the Lower Ward, near a hall previously mentioned, and the first tower mentioned was that of which some part still remains, projecting northward from the curtain wall. ' Hayveystoure ' situate further to the west was the ' Dame Hawis's Tower, ' or the ' Fleming Tower,' of earlier records. The pasture assigned to Lady Luttrell was more suitable for goats. or sheep than for cattle, as it was on a steep, narrow strip of ground between the outer wall of the Castle and the back-yards of the townsmen living in West Street below. The outlying acre of wood must have been on the precipitous side of the Tor overhanging the river and difficult of access. Her four acres constituted a third of twelve acres known as ' Castel- dichepasture, ' a name which suggests that there was an artificial ditch round part of the Tor below the curtain wall. The moat of Dunster Castle is men tioned in 1 318, and in 1381, a certain William Garland was admitted tenant for life of a burgage in ' la Baleye, ' between the ditch and the king's high way, and consequently on the north side of it. 2 1 Inq. post mortem. 9 Hen. VI. no. 51. de su e le ewe que court vers Daiyns- 3 Lease of a curtilage " de souz la brigge en part de nortz, " D.C.M. vm. mote du chaztel de Dunsterre en part 2 ; ix. 5. THE GATEHOUSE DUNSTER CASTLE. FROM BELOW. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 363 Little or nothing is known about the condition of the Castle and its immediate surroundings for a con siderable period after the death of Sir John Luttrell. It may, however, be taken for granted that the Her- Scale* Z« ftMax-weN^ytc id. berts did not spend an unnecessary penny upon the the place during their temporary occupation of it. After the restoration of the Luttrells in the reign of Henry the Seventh, Sir Hugh, the second of that name, and Sir Andrew, his son, are stated to have accomplished some work there. John Leland, who visited West Somerset in 1542, writes : — 364 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. " The Moions buildid the right goodly and stronge Castelle of Dunestorre. " The Dungeon of the Castelle of Dunestorre hath beene fulle of goodly building ; but now there is but only a cha- pelle in good case. Sir Hugh Luterelle did of late dayes repaire this chapelle. " The fairest part of the Castelle welle maintenid is yn the north est of the court of it. " Syr Hugh Luterelle in the tyme of Dame Margarete his wife, sister to the olde Lord Dalbeney, made a fair tourre by north cummying into the castelle. " " Syr Andrew Luterelle, sunne to Sir Hugh, buildid of new a pece of the castel waul by est. " 1 The writer thus ascribes to the second Sir Hugh the Gatehouse which had been erected by the first Sir Hugh, but his confusion of them is pardonable in view of the fact that the latest of the sculptured shields on a panel over the entrance of that gateway commemorates the marriage of the second Sir Hugh with the half-sister of Lord Daubeny. In other respects his accuracy appears unquestion able. He implies that the chapel, which is known to have been dedicated to St. Stephen in 1254 or earlier, was the most important of several different buildings in the Dungeon, or Upper Ward, and we find that the summit of the Castle Tor was known as ' Mount Stephen's' in the seventeenth century and ' St. Stephen's' in the eighteenth. The piece of wall which Sir Andrew Luttrell is stated by Leland to have built cannot now be identified. Perhaps it connected the outer end of Sir Hugh Luttrell's gatehouse with the north-eastern angle of the inhabited castle, thus enclosing a triangular piece of ground outside the old enceinte. The next reference to the fabric of Dunster Castle occurs in 1556, when, by an agreement between 1 Itinerary (1907), p. 166. U'. Turner. A. SOUTH WEST VIEW OF DUNSTER CASTLE. ,s\ Umrtc ixon. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 365 Thomas Luttrell and Robert Opy, the latter was allowed to retain for a short time " the hall, parlor, kichyn, and every rome within the same pyle called the Inner Pyle, or Lodginges, of the said Castell and the stables, the grist-mill of Dunster aforesaid, and the fedinge and pasturinge of tenne rother beasts or kyne and three geldings in the Hanger, or Park, of Dunster. " 1 George Luttrell, the first of that name, may from some points of view be regarded as the creator of the existing Castle. Dissatisfied with the irregular medi eval buildings which he found at the eastern end of the Lower Ward, he set himself to convert them into a mansion suitable to the requirements of a more luxurious age. Retaining at least two project ing towers and the thick outer walls on three sides, he inserted in the latter a series of square-headed windows, each divided by a mullion and a transom into four oblong lights. Furthermore he entirely reconstructed the facade, giving to it as symmetrical an appearance as circumstances would allow. All his external masonry is laid in regular courses of red stone with quoins of a lighter colour. Within the Castle, his walls may be recognised as being thinner than those of the thirteenth century and thicker than those of the eighteenth. Owing to the slope of the ground and perhaps also to earlier arrangements, he found it difficult to establish uniform levels throughout the mansion, and so divided it into two sections, each comprising three storeys, the floors of the rooms in the southern section being several feet higher than those of the rooms on the northern side of the trans verse wall. To him may certainly be attributed the ornamental plaster ceiling of the Hall, the frieze of the 1 D.C.M. xiv. 5. 366 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. Gallery, the balusters of part of the smaller staircase, and at least two architraves within the existing fabric. Although the date ' 1 589 ' is to be seen under a large coat of arms in the Hall, and an iron fire-back there bears the arms and initials of Queen Elizabeth, the remodelling of the Castle was not completed until thirty years later. In October 1617, George Lut trell entered into an agreement with William Arnold of Charlton Musgrove, gentleman, who was reput ed to have had " great experience in architecture, " with regard to " a house or parcell of building to be sett up and built within the castle of Dunster. " Arnold was to supply a ' plot, ' or plan, and an ' upright, ' or elevation, of the projected edifice, and to oversee the work until the completion of the roof. Luttrell was to pay him 40/. in instalments for his pains, to defray his travelling expenses, and to give him a beneficial lease of lands called Burchams, the Holl- ingborro wes, and Lyncroft, situate in the north-western part of Dunster. Many persons less litigious than George Luttrell have been known to quarrel with their architects, and it is not surprising to find that, within two years, Arnold had to apply to the Court of Chancery to enforce the settlement of his claim. For the defence it was contended that he had substi tuted a fresh plan for that originally approved, and that the building actually in course of erection did not agree with either. It was also stated that there had been a great waste of good material, that the work had been unduly protracted and imperfectly done, and that the cost, which had been estimated at 462/., was likely to amount to 1200/. 1 An allusion to stairs leading from the new building into the new cellar, and another allusion to a pre-existing back wall, 1 Chancery Proceedings, series n, bundle 299, no. 307. THE STABLES, DUNSTER CASTLE. INTERIOR. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 367 seem to show that Arnold's addition to the Castle comprised the central portion of the main facade. An overmantel in the principal room leading out of the Gallery, removed from the room on the first floor now demolished, bears the date ' 1620. ' Dunster Castle suffered some injury during the siege of 1 645 and 1 646, and it certainly lost much of its medieval character in 1650, when three hundred men were employed to dismantle its fortifications. The chapel of St. Stephen and other ancient buildings on the summit of the Tor were then totally demol ished, while the Lower Ward was laid open by pulling down at least two towers and all the curtain wall on the western side. Prynne also records the destruction of ' a fair new building', which cannot be located. There is no documentary evidence as to the date of the extensive stables belonging to the Luttrell family which stand below the Gatehouse, at the corner of the Bailey, afterwards called Castle Street. In an exposed position just without the enceinte of the Castle, they can hardly have escaped considerable damage in the course of the long siege : their roof must have been renewed once or twice since then. The mullions of the windows are of wood. The chief interest of the stables is, however, in the interior, where there are now twenty-eight stalls, exhibiting three varieties of design, but all apparently erected in the first half of the seven teenth century. Untouched by any modern 'restorer,' they merit the careful examination of architects. Colonel Francis Luttrell and Mary his wife made some internal changes at the Castle in the sumptuous style of their time. To them is due the elaborate plaster ceiling of the Parlour, divided into panels and enriched with raised foliage and figures in circular medallions. The continuity of the garlands of flow- 368 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. ers along the frieze is broken by two shields of the arms of Luttrell impaling those of Tregonwell, and a separate crest, which, curiously enough, is that of Tregonwell. 1 The work may have been done under the direction of the lady and with money provided by her, for she was a considerable heiress. It bears the date " Anno Dommini (sic) Christi mdclxxxi. " To the same period must be as cribed the former architraves of the two doorways in the Parlour richly carved in oak, the one giving access to the Hall and the other to a small room which is described in 1690, in 1705 and in 1741, as "the Withdrawing Room, "and in 1781 as "the Library." This room has an ornamented ceiling similar in char acter to that of the adjoining Parlour, now the Dining Room, and obviously executed at the same time. The Great Staircase, which is the chief architect ural glory of Dunster Castle dates also from the reign of Charles the Second. It may perhaps occupy the site of a staircase of the previous century. Although fitted into a medieval tower with a rounded exterior, it is rectangular in plan, the ornamental plaster ceiling being an oblong, similar in character to that of the Parlour, but somewhat severer in design. The general scheme of this staircase and some of the details may be compared with those of the stair case at Tythrop House, near Thame in Oxfordshire. ! It is more customary than correct to attribute all such work to Grinling Gibbons. At Dunster, the stairs, the dado against the external walls, the plinth opposite, the newels and the massive hand-rail are all of oak, while the perforated panels between the newels, and the vases of fruit and flowers above the newels, are 1 There is an illustration of part of s See the plates in Statham's English this ceiling in Statham's English Homes, Homes, pp. 104, 105, 176-179. p. 106. THE GREAT STAIRCASE, DUNSTER CASTLE. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 369 elaborately carved in elm. Oak and elm alike were, until thirty years ago, thickly covered with paint, one of the lower layers of which was dark brown relieved with gold. All this has been stripped off and the wood has been revealed. In the open panels on the left of the stairs, the carver has allowed his fancy to run riot, and, amid graceful foliage, one may see cherubs blowing horns, hounds in full chase after a stag and a fox, and guns and military trophies, allusive perhaps to Francis Luttrell's devotion to arms and sport. As completed in the later part of the seventeenth century, the Staircase seems to have been separated from the Hall by a wall or screen pierced with two openings, each of which was flanked by engaged columns with capitals finely carved in lime. The gallery, or return, of the staircase on the first floor seems to have given access to a large landing over part of the Hall. In 1691, there were " in the Stair case " various pieces of furniture — " one small round table, two tables with foulding leaves, one couch " and eight cushions, which may have been on the window-seats of the landing. " One large casement and its frame, " clearly moveable, may have served to keep off the draught either on the ground floor or on the first floor. In 1 741, there were " in the Great Staircase " " a mahogany harpsichord " and " four elbow cane chairs and four other cane chairs." The inventory of that year devotes a separate section to " the closett under the Great Staircase, " which con tained " a walnutt scrutore, four cane chairs, " eight framed prints, over three hundred volumes of books, and various small objects. Here there were " a stove grate and huffer, " corresponding with " one grate of iron for sea coals " that was standing " in the stair case " protected by a fender, in 1691. 370 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. The inventory of 1691 enumerates the rooms in the Castle in regular sequence, giving the names that they then respectively bore. Many of these names were, however, altered from time to time in the course of the eighteenth century, whenever changes were made in the colour of hangings and furniture. Thus, to take one instance, ' the White Chamber' of 1691 and 1705, on the northern side of the Gallery, was known as ' the Yellow Chamber 'in 1 74 1 , and as ' the Red Chamber ' in 1781. At some date subsequent to 1815, it began to be erroneously called 'King Charles's Room.' ' The King's Chamber ' of 1691 and 1705, which is explicitly described as situate " within " the Red Room of that time, was a small room with only one window and no fireplace. After the closing of the Castle for ten years (1737-1747), and the re-modelling of part of the interior by Henry Fownes Luttrell, it lost its old name. In 178 1, it was merely ' the Best Dressing Room, ' within ' the Best Bedroom ' at the western end of the Gallery. However, there still lingered a tradition that Charles the Second, when Prince of Wales, had occupied some room near the Gallery, and it was known that, in the course of his adventures, he had been glad to avail himself of hiding-places. Inasmuch then as there is a narrow, dark closet behind the panelling of the Red Chamber of 1781, a mistaken idea arose that he may have used the room to which it is an annexe. When he came to Dunster as a boy in 1 645, the Castle was one of the principal fortresses in the west of England, and was manned by soldiers devoted to his father's cause ; when he passed through Somerset after the disastrous Battle of Worcester, in his flight from Boscobel to Lyme, he did not come to Dunster. In point of fact there was no communication between PLAN OF TMI MAN'.iOnHoMII ~ DUNSTER CASTLE eifOM THl M.1ERATIOW — A 0 1667 ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 371 the room which he really occupied and the closet, or possible hiding-place, which was separated from it until 1869 by a very thick stone wall. The inventories of 1741 and 1781 alike mention ' the Spirit's Room, ' and the latter shows it to have been situate immediately above the little room at the eastern end of the Hall. Although the name has survived to the present time, nothing is known about its origin ; Dunster Castle has no ghost. The furniture specified in the inventory of 1691 would nowadays be considered very scanty. In the Great Hall there were only " one small square table " some fire irons, " one large brass candlestick with two (six ?) socketts laquered yellow, and eighteen chaires of redd leather. " In the Great Parlour there were twenty-one " (Turkey) wrought chairs, " two slabs of black and white marble on wooden frames serving as " side tables, " and the necessary fire irons. The Withdrawing Room adjoining contained nothing except " eight large pictures and five small pictures. " So again, in the Long Gallery the furniture consisted of " six pieces of arras of one suit and two pieces of arras of another suit, two white lacquered sconces, and eight pictures. " The contents of the bedrooms were more valuable. Many of them were hung with tapestry and had curtains to the windows. The White Chamber adjoining the Gallery was furnished in a style then fashionable. A table, two stands, a large mirror, eight chairs and two pictures in it are alike described as "Japan. " Here there were "fourteen little toyes over the chimney cornish. " Mrs. Luttrell, who seems to have occupied the bedroom over the Great Parlour, also had a table and two cabinets of ' Japan, ' and an " olive chest of drawers " that probably came from Italy. There were some " hang- 372 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. ings of guilt leather " in her " closett, " and half of one of the rooms occupied by the household was " hung with greene and guilted leather. Most of the tapestry and many pieces of furniture were removed to London by Mrs. Luttrell, and perished in the fire at her house. Part of the residue, including various portraits left at Dunster, was event ually purchased by Colonel Alexander Luttrell from her second husband, Sir Jacob Bancks. When Colonel Alexander Luttrell went to live at Dunster Castle in 1705, he re-named many of the rooms, but he did not make any important structural changes. Dorothy Luttrell, his relict, was more enter prising. Until her time there was only one approach to the Castle. After ascending the direct road from the town to Sir Hugh Luttrell's gateway and passing under its vaulted archway, carriages, horsemen, and pedestrians had alike to turn abruptly to the right through the earlier gateway of Sir Reynold de Mohun, and thence to describe a curve to the left, still ascend ing, in order to reach the porch on the western facade of the Jacobean mansion. From first to last the road was exceedingly steep, and the angle between the two gateways was so sharp that great skill was required to drive a carriage safely through them in descending to the town. Tradition says that a horse had its brains dashed out there, and minor accidents must have been numerous. Mrs. Luttrell therefore made an alternative road branching off to the left opposite to the stables, and winding upwards round the eastern side of the Tor until it reached the level of the south eastern angle of the Castle. There it ended in a little platform close to the domestic offices. If it was less dignified than the older approach, it was at any rate 1 Chancery Proceedings, Mitford 538, no. 2. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 373 considerably safer. 'The New Way,' as it was called was finished in 1720, and the trees lining it are very correctly represented as young in Buck's view of Dunster Castle, which was engraved in 1733. To protect it from above a yew hedge was planted below the eastern front of the Castle, and this hedge has grown since to a height of about 54 feet. The New Way was barely finished when Dorothy Luttrell began to build a florid chapel projecting from the eastern front of the Castle, partly on the site of an ancient semicircular tower. This work was ex ecuted in 1723 and the following year, at a cost of about 1 300/. under the direction of Sir James Thorn- hill, who painted for the interior a huge picture of the Lifting up of the Brazen Serpent. By a will dated in October 1723, Dorothy Luttrell bequeathed 350/. for the completion of the Chapel. There is a definite statement that it was eventually consecrated. An indifferent portrait of George Hooper, Bishop of Bath and Wells, still hanging in the Castle, may be a memorial of his connexion with this chapel. A silver flagon, salver, and cup with cover are mentioned in 1 744 as belonging to the communion table.1 These are now in use at the new chapel of St. Michael at Alcombe, having been presented by the present owner of the Castle. In the early part of the eighteenth century, the site of the ancient keep was levelled and converted into a bowling-green. Any relics of the chapel of St. Stephen and of other buildings erected by the Mohuns that had survived the wanton demolition of 1650 were then removed. Some traces of a drain on the west side are all that now remain. An oct agonal summer-house at the eastern end of the bowling green, almost overhanging the inhabited part of the 1 Master Eld's Report in the Chancery suit Kymer v. Trevelyan 23 July 1744. 374 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. Castle, has a good leaden pipe-head with the Luttrell arms and the date '1727.' A large mullioned window in it dates from the fifteenth century. In 1741, this summer-house had " a stove grate and huffer, fire shovel, tongs and poker, and four pieces of the hunting chace, " and " a mahogany octagon table and 8 leather bottomed chairs with walnutt frames. " The room beneath it contained " twelve pair of Brasil bowles and 3 jacks " valued at 2/. 1 is. At some period between 1705 and 1737, one of the Luttrells acquired the magnificent corami, or pictures on leather, that adorn the Gallery at Dunster Castle. It has been seen that, in 1691, there were some " hangings of guilt leather" in Mrs. Luttrell's " Closet, " but they must have been comparatively small, and there is a note in 1705 that almost all the furniture of that room had been " sent to London, except the guilt leather sent to Abbey Milton. " In the inventory of 1741, " gilt leather hangings " are specified among the moveable objects in the Gallery. Alexander Luttrell, deceased, had also possessed a set of " gilt leather hangings " of lesser value that were in his house at Venn near Heathfield. In 1744, there is specific mention of " the gilt leather hangings being the History of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra" in the Gallery, valued at 21/. The next allusion to them is in a letter from Margaret Fownes Luttrell to her husband, undated, but evidently written in or soon after 1759, from Bath. In this, she says : — " 1 have a great mind to consult Cooke about repairing Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, whether a gilt leather border would be the best method, and perhaps his man could do it better than any one in the country. " Eventually the corami were flattened and affixed to the walls of the Gallery. As originally made in ANTONY RECEIVING CLEOPATRA. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 375 Spain or Portugal about the middle of the seventeenth century, the historical panels must have been intended for some particular house, and they accordingly vary considerably in width, their height, exclusive of borders, being about 6 ft. 10 in. The subjects are: — (1) The Triumvirate, Caesar, Antony and Lepidus, at Rome, with soldiers and trumpeters in the back ground. (2) Antony, seated on a throne, receiving Cleo patra, who kneels before him, one of her attendants bearing her train. In the background is the barge in which she had come to him. (3) Antony taking Cleopatra by the hand and holding over her head a garland, to symbolise the grant of authority over Phoenicia. (4) Antony and Cleopatra on horseback flying before Caesar's soldiers. (5) Antony presenting to an attendant a dagger wherewith to stab him. (6) Cleopatra applying to her breast an asp, which has been brought to her in a basket of figs. All these panels are in very fine condition and richly coloured, the surface relieved in places by the use of iron tools. The metallic decoration of silver foil assumes a golden aspect where covered by a trans parent yellow glaze. In addition to the historical series, there are a number of busts of comely damsels rising out of rich foliage, which may perhaps have served as frame-work, and there are various borders which have been unfortunately cut up from time to time and misplaced. Leather hangings of this sort are by no means common. There is, or was, a set at the old palace at Turin. Another set is stated to hang at Knowsley. A third set at Blenheim, present ed by Victor Amadeus of Savoy to the great Duke of 376 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. Marlborough, is based upon drawings by Perino del Vaga.1 Henry Fownes Luttrell made considerable alter ations at Dunster Castle between 1 747 and 1 774, sett ling every detail himself. In the Great Parlour he closed the two Jacobean windows facing northwards, but without altering their exterior, and he inserted a Venetian window of three lights in the eastern wall. Pursuing a similar course in the large bedroom over it, he converted it into a Drawing Room. The ornaments for the ceiling were made by the firm of Spinnage and Crompton in London, and sent down to Dunster, in 1758, in a box weighing only 50$. to be put up by local workmen. By the middle of the eighteenth century, paper hangings had come into favour as a substitute for arras, and there is at Dunster a letter from Henry Shiffner to his friend Henry Fownes Luttrell quoting the prices of suitable papers in London. " India paper representing trees, birds and flowers of various colours on a whitish ground " was offered at 4J. 6d. per square yard. " India paper representing the several stages of a Chinese manufacture upon a greyish ground .... a smaller pattern, but the figures very compleat and intersperst with romantick views " could not be obtained under ys. per square yard. " Flock paper " was quoted at only is. 6d. The Castle had to be practically refurnished at this period. In the Great Staircase, Henry Fownes Luttrell made various changes, several of which can hardly be des cribed as improvements. Thus he abolished the two openings leading from it into the Hall and substituted three arches of less substantial character. While two of the engaged columns were made to do duty 1 Waagen's Treasures of Art, vol. iii, p. 133. ANTONY CROWNING CLEOPATRA. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 377 again as such, the other two were enlarged and con verted into detached columns to support the new arches. The bill rendered in 1773 by Stowey and Jones states explicitly that one third was added to each of their carved capitals, and that new bases and necks were provided for them. All this was removed in 1869, but the gallery immediately above remains as remodel led in 1773. The delicate mouldings of the dado of this gallery are markedly different from the bolder mouldings of the dado of the staircase. Pine takes the place of oak and elm. The cost of the two door ways facing the head of the stairs is minutely specified in the bill : — " Two sett of best moulded double faced archatraves with three members full inriched, 61. 6s. " Two door caps with inriched mouldings and ornamental friezes and basso relief tabletts, 12I. 12s. " " Two mahogany doors 2 inches thick of best Jamaica wood framed into six pannels, wouth mouldings on pannels the same fluted and patera corners, 12I. 12s. " The charges for packing, carriage and fixing were of course additional. It is worthy of notice that the doorcaps facing the Staircase are ornamented with stags' heads and hunting horns, thus carrying on the idea suggested by the carved panels of the seventeenth century below. At some unspecified date, Henry Fownes Luttrell, departing strangely from the style prevalent in his own day and usually followed by him, made a large window on the staircase from an atrocious design which he believed to be " Gothique. ' This has been removed. From March 1772 to September 1773, workmen of different professions were employed in making alterations in Dunster Castle. A ' Break fast Room ' was created over the Hall, the oaken w 378 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. flooring and the two eastern windows alone dating from an earlier period. To connect it with the Gallery, a passage was cut through two intervening bedrooms, the nearer one called " the Red Chamber " in 169 1, " Mrs. Lucy Luttrell's Chamber " in 1705, " the Purple Chamber " in 1 744, and " the Yellow Room " in 1781, the further one called " the Yellow Chamber" in 1691, "the Plodd Room " in 1705, " the Plodd Chamber "in 1741, " the Plaid Room " in 1744, and " the Chintz Room "in 178 1. All the southern part of the Castle, used chiefly by the servants, was so remodelled that it is almost impos sible to ascertain the previous disposition and names of the different rooms. The alterations that Henry Fownes Luttrell made within his dwelling-house were insignificant in com parison with those that he made outside it. By creating the present Park, by planting trees, by build ing a tower on Conigar, and by doing other things of the sort, he greatly enhanced the natural beauties of Dunster. In this chapter, however, it is necessary only to describe the change which he wrought on the Tor, a change which unfortunately could hardly have been carried out without serious detriment to the medieval character of the Castle. While every antiquary must deplore the destruction of the Lower Ward, due consideration should be given to the necessities of the case, and a country gentleman need not be des cribed as a Vandal because he wanted to have a safe roadway to his own front door. A surveyor named Thomas Hull proposed in the first instance that such a roadway should ascend the Tor in zigzags above the stables, but this scheme was found impracticable or undesirable. As an alternative, he suggested that the New Way of 1720 should be continued round the THE GATEHOUSE, DUNSTER CASTLE, FROM THE GREEN COURT. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 379 western and northern sides of the hill to the porch of the Jacobean facade. In order to do this, the whole of the Lower Ward was reduced to one level by lowering it slightly on the south and raising it very considerably on the north. A wall against the hill on the south and another wall connecting it with the old curtain wall on the north were alike removed. The original road that passed through Sir Reynold de Mohun's gateway towards the Jacobean mansion was entirely obliterated by piling tons of earth upon it, covered with green turf. Happily, the gateway itself was spared, and its remarkable doors, although closed, were protected by the erection of a wall behind them. For the benefit of persons on foot, a little staircase was made close by, to give access to the new artificial platform above known as ' the Green Court. ' All this was done in 1764. Up to the date of these drastic changes, the ground floor of Sir Hugh Luttrell's gatehouse had been directly accessible from the Lower Ward on the south. The effect of them was, however, to leave not only the ground floor, but also the middle storey, below the newly created level. Some remains of a vaulted chamber adjoining appear to have been simply buried. The Gatehouse itself was materially altered. A door way of the early part of the sixteenth century and an oaken door, taken from some demolished building, were put together and set up at its southern end, on Hull's new level, to give access to the spiral staircase leading to the two lower storeys, and across the landing of that staircase to the upper south room. On either side of the door was built a polygonal turret, battle- mented above and pierced below with narrow apertures intended to represent ancient loopholes. The original turret above the northern staircase was at the same time 380 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. removed and the roofs of the two sections were reduced to uniformity. So cleverly did Hull do his work that it has sometimes been ascribed to the sixteenth century. Very little of the old curtain wall is now visible to the west of the Gatehouse, its external face being almost entirely hidden by earth placed in front of it. From the time of the first Henry Fownes Luttrell to that of his great-grandson, the present owner, nothing was done to Dunster Castle beyond necess ary repairs of a minor character. Hardly a piece of furniture was changed. It is unfortunate that nothing is known about the history of three curious and interesting chairs now preserved in the Castle, the description of such things in the old inventor ies being very meagre. A picture of the largest of them, which is made of ash, is given opposite. The other two, made of pear-wood with triangular seats of oak, are much simpler. Chairs of a similar, though rare, type exist at Hereford Cathedral, the Bishop's Palace at Wells, the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, Harvard College, U.S.A., Barlborough Hall in Derbyshire, Cheshunt Manor, and some other private houses. A recent writer goes so far as to say that the type is " of Byzantine origin... introduced into Scandinavia and from thence doubtless brought to England by the Normans. " 1 The three examples at Dunster cannot, however, be ascribed to an earlier period than the sixteenth century. Horace Walpole was for some years very envious of Richard Bateman who had picked up in farmhouses in Herefordshire a number of old chairs, " the seats triangular, the backs, arms, and legs loaded with turnery. " 2 Eventually he secured six of them for Strawberry Hill after the 1 Macquoid's History of English Fur- 3 Letters, 20 Aug. 1761; 24 Sept. niture vol. i. pp. 71-73. 1762 ; 16 March 1765. TURNED CHAIR, DUNSTER CASTLE. ch. xi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 381 death of Bateman, who had disfigured some with heraldic and other painting. * Mr. G. F. Luttrell had not been long in possession of Dunster Castle before he resolved to make material alterations in the fabric, so as to adapt it to modern requirements. The task entrusted by him to the late Mr. A. Salvin was singularly difficult, because there was so little ground available for the necessary ex tension. In the first place, additional accommodation was provided by pulling down the northern tower of the Jacobean facade and building a more important tower on its site, with a turret staircase attached. The tower over the main entrance was at the same time rebuilt on a larger scale, and a passage was in geniously constructed in the roof. On the eastern side of the Castle, the incongruous Chapel of 1722 was replaced by a lofty tower containing a drawing- room on the ground-floor and bedrooms above. In the Parlour, in the room over it, in the Great Staircase and elsewhere, stone mullioned windows of simple design were substituted for the Venetian and the so- called ' Gothic ' windows inserted by Henry Fownes Luttrell in the middle of the eighteenth century. The internal alterations devised by Mr. Salvin were numerous and important. An additional hall, loftier than the old one, was created by the abolition of two rooms and a passage on the ground floor and the like on the floor immediately above. The kitchen and other offices further south were converted into sitting rooms, and a new range of offices was con structed between the new northern tower and the old gateway of the Lower Ward. The massive doors of this gateway, closed in 1761, were reopened, and a staircase was made behind it to give access to the 1 Catalogue of Strawberry Hill (1842), seventeenth day, lots 102, 114. 382 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xi. Green Court in front of the house. By a change of floor levels and the removal of a transverse wall, the two upper rooms of Sir Hugh Luttrell's gatehouse were thrown into one. As seen from the town, from the park, and from elsewhere, Dunster Castle is now more imposing and withal far more picturesque than it was forty years ago. The chief matter for regret in connexion with Mr. Salvin's work is that he should have thought it necessary to remove the handsome woodwork of the Parlour and the Hall, dating from the time of Charles the Second. 1 It remains to be added that the Castle is now ap proached by a carriage-road winding round the Tor on a gradient much easier than that of the eighteenth century, and commanding beautiful views of the Park and the vale of Avill. The collection of pictures at Dunster Castle has been enriched in recent years by the transfer of several portraits of Drewes from Wootton Fitzpaine, and portraits from Nethway, including one of Henry, Prince of Wales, by or after Van Somer, and a large full- length by Bower of a gorgeous cavalier, aged 24 in 1633, but unfortunately nameless. Little is known about the history of two bronze guns lately removed from Minehead to Dunster Castle. They bear the date 1787, the name and arms of Pope Pius the Sixth and the arms of a Cardinal. They must presum ably have come by sea from Civita Vecchia or Ancona. 1 Some of it is now in the Billiard-room. FIREPLACE IN THE HALL, DUNSTER CASTLE. CHAPTER XII. Dunster Church and Priory. The earliest mention of the church of Dunster is to be found in a charter of the first William de Mohun, which may be translated thus : — " Be it known to all faithful members of the Catholic Church both present and future that I, William de Moione, pricked by the fear of God, give and grant in perpetuity for the weal of my soul and that of William, King of the English, and those of all my ancestors and successors, to the church of St. Peter of Bath and to John, Bishop of that monastery, and to the monks both present and future, the church of St. George of Dunestore, and myself, and the tithe of the same town, both of vines and of ploughs and of the market as also of all sheep, and the whole town of Alcume and all things belonging to it, free and quit of all service, that is to say a hide of land, and a moiety of the tithe of Maneheafe, and the whole tithe of Bradeuude, and all the tithe of Carentun so far as it belongs to me, and the whole tithe of Niwetun, and a moiety of the tithe of Brun- feld, and the whole tithe of Stokelande, and the whole [tithe] of Kilvestune, and two fisheries, the one belonging to Dunesthor and the other to Carentun, and the whole tithe of my mares on the moors. And I grant all these things to the aforesaid church of Bath by consent of my wife Adelisa, in order that the Bishop and monks of the same may build and raise the church of St. George. Of this benefaction there are these witnesses on my behalf — Henry de Port, and Durand the steward, and Ogis and Geroius, and Walter de Celsui, and Robert le Blond (flavus) and Geoffrey and Robert my sons, and Wilmund my 384 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. brother, and Odo de Altaribus, and William de Hermod- ville, and Robert son of Richard, and Humphrey de Pierre- pont (Petreponte), and Ralph son of Osbern, and Herbert of Kent, and Richard le Blond (flavus), and Picot, and Engelram son of Juelin, and Alexander de Percy. These are on behalf of the Bishop, that is to say Gireward the monk, and Girebert the archdeacon, and Dunstan the priest, and Gilbert the priest, and William the clerk, and Adelard the steward, and Turald and Sabian." 1 The charter is not dated, but as it was issued during the episcopate of John and the reign of William, it may with certainty be referred to the decade between 1090 and 1100. Two of the wit nesses, Durand and Ogis, were tenants under William de Mohun at the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086. The property given to the monks comprised the manor of Alcombe, the advowson of the church of Dunster, dedicated to St. George who was popular with the Normans, and tithes of various manors which William de Mohun held in demesne, Dunster, Minehead, Broadwood, Carhampton, Newton now known as Bicknoller, Broomfield, Stockland now known as Shurton, and Kilton. The two fisheries mentioned may have been in the little river flowing from Avill, or on the sea-shore. The charter of William de Mohun is known to have been confirmed by St. Anselm and by William Rufus, but the charter of the Archbishop and that of the King have alike disappeared. 2 Ere long, a moiety of the tithes of Exford was given to the monks of Bath by William de Mohun, probably the second of that name. It was he who gave them some land called Avelham, for the benefit of the soul of his son Ralph, and apparently three 1 Two Chartularies of Bath (S.R.S.), a Ibid, C. 65. C 34- ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 385 ferlings of land at Northcombe. ' From documents of much later date, it seems clear that Avelham was near the southern end of Dunster, and that North combe was in the neighbouring parish of Cutcombe. 2 Between the years 11 38 and 11 60, the monks of Bath obtained from Theobald, Archbishop of Canter bury, a solemn confirmation of the lands and tithes granted to them at Dunster, Carhampton, Stockland, Kilton, Avelham, Staunton, Minehead and Exford with the church of Dunster. They must have acquired the tithes of Staunton from the person who held that manor of the lord of Dunster by military service, as it is not mentioned in any of the early charters issued by the Mohuns. For some reason unknown, the archbishop ignores the tithes of Broadwood, Newton and Broomfield, specified in successive charters. If correctly transcribed, his charter is remarkable as recognising the canonization of his eminent predecessor, Anselm of Aosta. ' William de Mohun the Third confirmed the grants made by his predecessors. His charter is obviously based upon that of William de Mohun the First, as given above, but it contains some variations. Thus, among the tithes of Dunster it specifies those of the mills and the copses, and it mentions the church of Kilton as well as the tithes of that parish. On the other hand it contains no reference whatever to the 1 D.C.M. xvi. 7 process are not clear. His canonization ' Taxatio. was demanded, but without effect, by * Two Chartularies of Bath, C. 55. Thomas Becket ; the final ratification The original charter has long disap- of it is ascribed to a papal bull some peared, and ' Sancti Anselmi' in the centuries later. " Saint Anselm, p. 301. early transcript of it at Cambridge On the other hand there is a bull of may be a clerical error for ' Sancte Pope Alexander the Third of the year memorie Anselmi ', a phrase which 1163, empowering the Archbishop of occurs earlier in the document. "His Canterbury to proceed with the canon- name ", writes Dean Church, " as was ization desired. Rymer's Fcedera, to be expected, passed into the roll of vol. i. p. 42. saints ; but apparently the steps of the 386 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xn. monks of Bath, all the endowments being described as belonging to the church of Dunster. 1 Although the charter of William de Mohun the First cannot be regarded as founding a cell, or priory, at Dunster, it is quite possible that a few of the Benedictine monks of Bath may have been established there as early as the eleventh century, in pursuance of an unrecorded agreement made with him. The first specific refer ence to a religious house at Dunster occurs in 1 1 yy, when the Bishop of Winchester, as guardian of the heir of William de Mohun, paid 54J. " to the monks of St. George of Dunster " for tithes from his ward's estate for the previous eighteen months. * By this date at any rate, if not much earlier, the Benedictines were settled at Dunster on the northern side of the parochial church. A charter of William de Mohun which, if authen tic, must be ascribed to the fourth of that name, defines the boundaries of the hide of land at Alcombe belonging to the monks, and enumerates among their endowments the tithe of the demesne of Shurton, which was really Stockland, and some land at Kyne- wordisham which the Taxatio of 1291, shows to be Kersham in Luxborough. 3 ' In the course of the twelfth century, the Benedict ine monks duly built and raised the church of St. George at Dunster. Some work of that period remains to this day, though much altered in later centuries. The northern wall of the nave is Norman, as is also the central part of the western wall of the nave, in 1 D.C.M. xvi. 7. It is worthy of Somerset. remark that a bull of Pope Honorius s Two Chartularies of Bath, L. 845. the Third dated at the Lateran 13 Kal. The charter may have been forged Dec. a.p. 7 (A.D. 1224) confirms to the with a view to the general confirmation monks of Dunster only two churches, granted by John de Mohun the Fifth in those of Dunster and Carhampton. 1341. Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. iv. D.C.M. xvi. 2. p. 202. * Pipe Roll, 23 Hen. II. Dorset and ch. xn. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 387 which a round arched doorway was discovered and reopened in 1 876. It is almost certain that the nave, which measured internally about 80 feet in length by 26 in breadth, had no side aisles, and that it had an almost flat wooden roof, much higher up than the arches that now exist on either side. At the eastern end of the nave was a large round-headed arch, of which the jambs and capitals remain. Beyond' this was a tower, or the place for a tower. Whether the chancel was square or apsidal it is impossible to say. As early as the reign of John, the church of St. George was served by a secular priest called simply Richard the Chaplain, Vicar of Dunster. On his death, or resignation, in that reign, Richard, Prior of Bath gave the " perpetual vicarage " of Dunster to Robert de Vaus, and promised that he should have free food at the monastic table, food for his groom or servant, and forage for his palfrey. 1 As the monks were not necessarily in priests' orders, and were liable at any time to be recalled to the mother house at Bath, it was convenient that the cure of souls and the maintenance of services for the lay-folk should be entrusted to a secular vicar, nominated by the Prior of Bath and to some extent dependent upon him, but instituted, as to a benefice, by the Bishop of the diocese and not liable to be removed without good cause. The emoluments of the Vicar of Dunster were, however, so small in the middle ages, and his position so subordinate, that resignations were fre quent. There was some controversy in 1 240 between the monks of Bath and Sir Reynold de Mohun, the for mer claiming tithe of the hay of Caremore, a large field in his demesne in the parish of Carhampton, 1 Two Chartularies of Bath, L. 70. 388 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xn. tithe of the pasture of the Waterletes in the parishes of Dunster and Carhampton, tithe of a windmill at Kilton, and tithe of his pigs at Dunster, Carhampton and Kilton. The question was referred by the Pope to the Dean, the Precentor, and the Succentor of Salisbury, who, in the following year, heard both parties in the Lady Chapel at Glastonbury, and effect ed an elaborate agreement between them. * There is no need to set out the details here, but it is worthy of mention that the document contains the earliest mention of Marshwood Park, the principal park of the lords of Dunster, situate about a mile and a half to the east of their Castle. At some unspecified date, Sir Reynold de Mohun confirmed to the church of Dunster " and to the monks there serving God " the endowments granted to them by his father and his ancestors, but it is significant that his charter to that effect follows almost word for word the charters of the third William de Mohun, and makes no mention of Shurton or Kers- ham. 2 By another charter, he granted to the Prior and monks of Dunster and their successors in perpe tuity every tenth pig, " live or dead, " belonging to him at Dunster, Carhampton, and Kilton, in accord ance with the terms of the compromise of 1241. He also released them from the obligation of doing suit to the court of his Hundred of Minehead, which had not been entirely absorbed into the Hundred of Carhampton. 3 In the reign of Henry the Third, the Benedictine monks rebuilt and enlarged the chancel of the church of Dunster, in the prevailing style known as Early English or First Pointed. It measured internally 50 1 Mohun Cartulary. » D.C.M. xvi ' D.C.M. xvi. 4. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 389 feet in length by 22 in breadth, being thus somewhat narrower than the Norman nave. In the eastern wall there were three lancet windows, the central one higher, as usual, than the other two. There was a row of simpler lancets in the south wall, where the sedilia occupied the normal position. The small sacristy on the north, which retains its ancient stone altar, may also date from the thirteenth century, although its doorway and windows are of much later date. Another specimen of Early English work may be seen in the upper part of the curious opening between the southern transept and the south-eastern chapel. There is, however, some reason to doubt whether it occupies its original position. The agreement made, in 1254, between Reynold de Mohun and the monks of Bath mentions a chapel of St. Lawrence in the Priory of Dunster, but does not define its situation. 1 In course of time the chapel of St. Lawrence became a popular chantry, served daily by a secular chaplain, who was more or less independent of the Prior and the Vicar alike. Various burgages in Dunster were given or bequeath ed to it before the Reformation. a In 1276, Walter Lucy arranged with the monks of Bath that a secular chaplain should say mass daily at the altar of the Holy Rood, after matins, for his soul and the souls of his wives Margery and Lucy, Robert Lucy and Agnes his wife, Roger Lucy and Sir John de Mohun and Eleanor his wife. s This chantry is described as * perpetual ' in 1 308, when the chaplain received 20s. a year, but the allowance had been reduced to 131. 4J. by 1 333. 4 There was no separate endowment for it and, after a while, the Lucy 1 D.C.M. xvi. 1. See above, p. 31. 221. 3 D.CB. nos. 80, 91, 92, 93 ; D.C.M. s Two Chartularies of Bath, L. 368. XV. 5 ; Somerset Chantries, pp. 42, 219- * Ibid. L. 679, 745. 390 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. mass seems to have been undertaken by the Vicar or one of the other secular priests connected with the church. The altar of the Holy Rood presumably stood at the end of the nave, close to the north-western pier of the tower, and almost under the crucifix from which it took its name. By a will dated and proved in 1369, Gilbert Scutt of Dunster directed that 3/^. of wax should be made into two candles to burn by his corpse on the night and the day of his burial, and afterwards to burn re spectively before the altar of the Holy Rood and in the chapel of Our Lady. ' Although a Prior of Dunster is specifically men tioned before 1262, it is doubtful whether the little Benedictine house at that place had then any definite organisation. 3 A document of the year 1330 describes it as being of the foundation of John de Mohun, recently deceased, and Ada his wife, and fixes the number of members at five, that is to say a Prior and four brethren. 3 This was doubtless the John de Mohun for whose soul the monks continued to distribute 6s. %d. yearly among the poor until the dissolution of the establishment in the reign of Henry the Eighth. 4 Under an arrangement made between 1290 and 1 301, the Prior and monks of Dunster used to pay 20 marks a year to the mother house at Bath for the two churches of Carhampton, of which half a mark was due to the chamberlain on the feast of St. Carantoc and a like amount on the anniversary of Martin, Prior of Dunster. 6 There is mention in the reign of Edward the Second of a church of St. Carantoc at Carhamp- 1 D.CB. no. 12. * Valor Ecclesiasticus, vol. i. p. 220. ! Two Chartularies of Bath, L. 241. 5 D.C.M. xvi, 3. 3 Ibid. L. 694. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 391 ton. ' The existing church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. When Robert of Sutton, Prior of Bath, was turned out of his place in order to make room for a papal nominee, he was sent to rule the little community at Dunster, and endued with special power to choose his own associates. An allowance of 20/. assigned to him, in 1332, for the increase of his position and honour, seems to have been purely personal. 2 John de Mohun the Fifth issued three charters in favour of the Benedictine house that stood almost under his castle. The first of them, dated in 1 341 when he was only just of full age, is a general con firmation of the gifts of his ancestors to the church of St. George and the monks, specifying all the endow ments mentioned above and some others, that is to say pasture called Fowlersmarsh, land called Frackford (situate between Dunster and Avill), a ferling of the manor of Cutcombe at Chaldewell, another ferling between Sten twill and Cowbridge mill, several burgages in Dunster and the tithes of Combe and Codford. ' In this connexion it is worthy of remark that, at a somewhat later period, the monks of Bath interpolated a mention of the tithes of Shurton, Combe, Codford and Exford into a copy of the charter of the first William de Mohun. i Although the actual charter has long since disappeared, the earlier copy of it at Cambridge and several confirmations of it show clearly that these tithes were not named as part of the original endowment. The monks had recourse to falsification in order to support claims of which some at any rate needed no such assistance. 1 Historical MSS. Comm. Tenth ' Register of Bishop Ralph (S.R.S.) Report, App. vi, p. 73 ; Leland's Itin- pp. 121, 176. erary; Savage's Hundred of Carhamp- s Dugdale'sAfonasfrcon.vol. iv. p.202. ton, p. 287. ' Two Chartularies of Bath, L. 844. 392 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xn By a second charter, dated in August 1342, John de Mohun remitted to the Benedictine monks a yearly rent of Bs. 6d. due to him from burgages which they had acquired in the town of Dunster, and a yearly rent of lib. of pepper from Kilton. He also gave them common of pasture on Croydon for all their beasts at Cowbridge, pasture on Grabbist, and twelve cartloads of windfall wood for fuel from Marshwood Park, and the ' foreign ' woods of Dunster, provided that the carts should not be too large to be drawn by two horses. J His third charter was merely a con firmation of the second, and the necessity for its issue is not obvious. 2 In connexion with the endowments of the Priory, it may here be mentioned that the monastic estate in Dunster and the neighbourhood was a manor quite distinct from that of the Mohuns and Luttrells. None of the original court-rolls remain, but some extracts from them record the admission of tenants for life. 3 On the other hand, the Priory was merely a ' cell ' subordinate to the larger establishment at Bath, whose Prior and Convent sometimes exercised the right of granting leases, corrodies, and the like. * There is mention in 1345 of the sumptuous build ings erected by Adam of Cheddar, who had been appointed Prior of Dunster some eight years before. 6 It is, however, uncertain whether these were at Duns ter or at Bath, where he then occupied the office of Chamberlain of the great Benedictine house. The earliest existing remains of the monastic buildings at the former place date only from the first half of the fifteenth century. Adam of Cheddar may have had something to do 1 D.C.M. xvi. 3. ' Two Chartularies of Bath, passim. D.C.M. xvi. 6. s Ibid. L. 780, 876, 880. D.C.M. vm. 2 ; D.CB. no. 51. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 393 with the erection of the great piers connected with pointed arches that carry the central tower of the church. From the fact that there are four such arches, uniform in size and design, it is clear that the build ing was intended to be cruciform at the time of their erection in the middle of the fourteenth century or soon after. The two eastern piers are supported by angle-buttresses which project through the chancel into the chapels on either side of it. The other two piers are built against the massive Norman work at the eastern end of the nave, and consequently occupy a larger space. In January 1357, as it appears, a very interesting agreement (pees) was made, in the presence of Sir John de Mohun, between Richard of Childeston, Prior of Dunster, and the monks on the one side, and the parishioners on the other, with regard to the services of the church, the provision of lights, and the repair and maintenance of the aisles (les eles) and the central tower (le clocher) . l The following is a summary of the terms which are recorded in clumsy French : — (1) On festivals and Sundays, the Prior and the monks shall begin their service at such a time that high mass may be said in summer, between Easter and Michaelmas, by the hour of tierce (nine o'clock), and in winter, between Michaelmas and Easter, by twelve o'clock (hur de midy ou nonne) at latest. The 1 The agreement is dated " in the with that of the lower part of the thirteenth year of the reign of King existing tower. Furthermore it should Edward, Friday next after the feast of be observed that in 1302 the feast of St. Wulstan. " The absence of any St. Wulstan fell on a Friday and that numeral after the name of the King in the week following there came the suggests that it may have been drawn feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, far up in 1302, and Richard of Childeston more important in the calendar. In may be identified with a certain 1357, there was a Friday only one day ' Richard ', who was Prior of Dunster after the feast of St. Wulstan. This in 1301. On the other hand, the use year seems on the whole the more of the French language suggests the probable of the two. later date, which would agree better 394 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. monk who is to perform the high mass shall bless the water, and shall sprinkle it throughout the church if the Vicar be not ready to do so. The Prior, the monks, and the Vicar shall unite in one procession, after which the high mass shall be begun at the altar of St. George. There the parishioners shall make their offerings four times a year. On festivals, the Vicar may begin to say mass privately at the altar of the Holy Rood for his parishioners after the reading of the gospel at the high mass. (2) At Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Trinity, and the feasts of St. John Baptist and Sts. Peter and Paul, the parishioners shall provide two candles (cirges), and the Prior a third, to burn on the altar of St. George at vespers, at matins, at the high mass, and at the second vespers, and at these festivals the parishioners shall provide candles (chandeles) for the choir as necess ity may require. On the three days before Easter, the parishioners shall provide all the lights for the hearse (la herte) except the ' Judas, ' which the Prior and the monks shall provide, and the parishioners shall provide candles for the choir, any remains being saved. The parishioners shall provide one half of the Paschal Candle, and the monks the other half. After the feast of the Trinity, any of the wax of the Paschal Candle remaining over shall be divided evenly between the monks and the parishioners. The parishioners shall provide a lamp to burn before the altar of St. George at night for ever, and the monks shall provide another lamp to burn there by day. For other lights, the parishioners shall give to the Prior and monks two pounds of wax at Michaelmas yearly for ever. (3) The Prior shall repair and roof (covera) the tower suitably without defect, and shall receive from the parishioners 8 marks in three instalments. He ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 395 shall roof and for ever maintain (amenderd) the chapel of Our Lady and the dorter aisle (la ele dortur) . The parishioners shall for ever maintain the chapel of St. Leonard and the aisle between the chapel of St. Lawrence and the tower. The terms of the agreement point to the existence of the usual rivalry between the regular and the secular clergy, the parishioners sympathising with the latter. The monks had their stalls in the chancel, or, far less probably, beneath the unfinished tower, and they had the exclusive right to use the altar of St. George for high mass, with deacon and subdeacon and music, while the vicar was restricted to saying low mass in the nave of the church. Nevertheless his was the more popular service, as shown by the monks' stipu lation that the lay-folk should contribute to the offertory at their mass four times a year. The ' hearse ' mentioned above was a triangular frame for the candles used at the service called Tenebrce on three afternoons in Holy Week, and the ' Judas ' was apparently a false candle connected therewith. 1 As it is not likely that the great Paschal Candle was to be made in two sections, we must suppose that each of the parties to the agreement was to contribute an equal amount of wax towards it, the surplus being divisible between them after it had burned for the appointed period. 2 Proceeding to important questions with regard to the fabric of the church, the agreement presupposes that the monks were responsible for the maintenance of the chancel, and the parishioners for that of the 1 For notices of the ' Judas ', see pp. 168-170 ; Feasey's Holy Week Cere- Archaeologia, vol. xiv. p. 119 ; vol. i. monial, p. 91 ; Micklethwaite's Orna- p. 44 ; New English Dictionary, s. v ; ments of the Rubric, p. 53. Fowler's Memorials of Ripon, vol. iii. 2 See Customary of St. Augustine's, p.212; Wordsworth's Medieval Services, Canterbury, p. 121. 396 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. nave. Both parties were interested in the tower. In the division of liability for the rest of the church, the monks undertook the Lady Chapel and the adjoining northern transept, styled the ' dorter aisle ', whence a flight of steps presumably led up to their ' dorter ', or dormitory. The parishioners undertook the south ern transept giving access to the chapel of St. Law rence, which may be located to the east of it. Whatever Richard of Childeston may have done to the tower, most of it dates only from the fifteenth century. In the heart of the north-western pier there is a spiral staircase leading from the nave to the roof. A four-centred doorway some way up on the southern side of it formerly gave access to a roodloft, or gallery, stretching across to the south-western pier. The date of this wooden structure, long since removed, is fixed by the will of William Pynsoun " citizen of Dunster," who, in 1420, bequeathed 6s. Sd. to the work of the new loft of the Holy Rood fad opus novi solarii Sancte Cruets J in the church there. 1 Below the roodloft, or rather a little eastward of it, there was the usual open screen, the former situa tion of which is marked by notches on the western archway of the tower. The roodloft and this screen were probably connected by a deep cove, purely orna mental, but giving an appearance of support to the upper part of the lofty structure. A screen now standing under the eastern arch of the south transept, and clearly dating from the first half of the fifteenth century, may be identified with that which was 1 The very indifferent scholar who and Priory, p. 14.) William Hamper, transcribed this will in 1716 was in the of Birmingham, who obtained pos- first instance unable to decipher the session of the original will, has fortun- last of the Latin words quoted above, ately given a quotation from it which and afterwards guessed it to be Trini- is clearly more correct. (Gentleman's tatis. D.CB. no. 16. Mr. Hancock Magazine, vol. lxxviii. p. 877.) has followed him. (Dunster Church DUNSTER CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 397 then set up under the western archway of the tower. William Pynsoun mentioned above further be queathed a.os. to the building of a new bell-tower and 20s. towards a new bell. * The lower stage of the tower above the roof of the church has a window of two lights on each of its four sides, and was clearly built about this period. In 1443, the parish of Dunster resolved to com plete the work, and accordingly entered into a con tract with a certain John Marys of Stoke Courcy for the addition of two upper stages. According to the terms of this interesting document written in English, the tower was to be a hundred feet high above the ' gras-tabyl ' or plinth. There were to be three ' French ' buttresses, that is to say angle-buttresses ' fining, ' or diminishing, at the ' water-table, ' or string-course, and three ' gargylles, ' one at each angle. In the fourth angle there was to be a ' vice, ' or spiral staircase. The top of the tower was to be adorned with a ' batylment ' and four ' pynacles, ' one of which was to be placed ' upon the vice, after reson and gode proportion. ' On the first new stage, called 'the first flore,' there were to be two windows, one on the north side and the other on the south, each of one ' day, ' or light, with four ' genelas, ' or cusps. At the ' bell-bed ' there were to be four win dows, each of two ' days ' separated by a ' moynell ' or mullion, and further divided horizontally by a 'trawnsom' designed by a freemason named Richard Pope. The main walls to be built by Marys were to be 4 feet thick up to the ' bell-bed ' and 3 feet 6 inches thick above. The parish undertook to provide all the material and the necessary appliances, such as ' ropes, poleys, winchchys ' and the like, and to pay 1 D.CB. no. 16. 398 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. Marys 1 3J. aJ. per foot for ' workemanchyppe, ' with 20J. extra for carving the pinnacles. ' He had apparently only one or two assistants, and he was allowed three years for the completion of the work. l The absence in this elaborate contract of any allusion to the lower stage of the tower may fairly be taken to show that it was already in existence. On the other hand the reference to the ' gras-tabyl ' as a level from which measurements could be taken is worthy of notice. Both the transepts appear to have been rebuilt or altered shortly after the completion of the tower. The southern one, being visible from the town, is the more ornamented of the two, and has on the outside a canopied niche on either side of a large window over the door. The north-eastern chapel, presumably the Lady Chapel, must also have been rebuilt in the middle of the fifteenth century, the arch which connects it with the northern transept being purer in style than most of the Perpendicular work in the church. About the same time, a large window was inserted in the eastern wall of the chancel and another over the western door. The chapel of St. Lawrence on the east side of the southern transept seems to have been enlarged and rebuilt in the later part of the fifteenth century. The octagonal font in the nave seems also to date from the same period. One remarkable fact in connexion with the contract of 1443 is that it contains no reference whatever to the Prior and Convent of Dunster. The monks had apparently relaxed their interest in the western part of the church. A will of John Batelyn of Dunster, 1 Archaeological Journal, vol. xxxviii, first stage to be built by Marys. Those p. 217, from D.CB. no. 15. The walls of the lower and earlier stage are of the clockchamber are 4 feet thick, 6 inches thicker, and the arches that thus corresponding with those of the carry the tower are 4 feet 9 inches thick. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 399 made in 1420, is interesting as bequeathing a pair of silver cruets apiece to the high altar, the parochial altar, and the altar of St. Lawrence. x We may fairly infer that these were the altars at which he was wont to worship on particular days or at particular hours. The ' parochial altar ' was presumably that ot the Holy Rood mentioned in the formal agreement of the previous century. In the ordinary course, the high altar was served by a monk, the parochial altar by the Vicar, and the altar of St. Lawrence by its own chaplain. The altar of Our Lady had no special priest attached to it, and was probably served by one of the monks. Later in the fifteenth century, a chantry was found ed at the altar of the Holy Trinity, which is described vaguely as situate " in the parochial church of Duns ter. " Its exact position there is not defined. The founders of it appear to have been Henry Frank and Christina his wife, and William Cadman alias Clerke and Alice his wife. Some of the original trustees had died before 1491, when the survivors assigned the endowments to a secular chaplain named Richard Baker for the term of his life. His primary duty was to celebrate mass daily for the founders and the trustees at the altar of the Holy Trinity, but he was also bound to assist "in the choir" of the "parochial church " on Sundays and holy days " with the other priests, " presumably the monks, and the chaplain of the chantry of St. Lawrence. 2 In the reign of Henry the Seventh, the Prior and Convent of Bath applied to the Lord Privy Seal for remedy of certain wrongs which, they said, had been done to their brethren at Dunster. Their main griev ances were : — 1 D.C.M. vm, 2. document in Mr. Hancock's book (p. 15. 2 D.CB. no. 94. The version of this is unfortunate. 400 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. (i) That, whereas the Prior had been wont to re ceive a fee of 6s. Sd. " for breking of the grounde " in the church " for every sepulture there made, " certain persons had taken upon themselves " to breke the said grounde " without his " licence or favour, " and without payment to him. (2) That the parishioners had caused holy water to be " halowed within the bodie of the churche, con- trarie to tholde custome and to there composicion. " (3) That they had withdrawn their customary offerings to the Prior " at wedynges and at bury- ynges, as was wele shewd at the buryyng of the modre of Maistir Loty, gentilman. " (4) That they would not suffer any citation or privy seal " to be executed there within a certeyn brigge. " (5) That " to fulfill and satisfie theire croked appe tites, thei toke up the bell roopis and said that the Priour and Convent there shuld have no bellis there to ryng. " The principal persons banded together were stated to be " Sir William Harries, vicary there, wiche hathe cure of there soules, and shuld move and councell them to be of better condicions to Goddes pleasure, " but who " contrary to his dewtie comfortethe them in theire ill doinges and wulnot that they shuld be refourmed to a better and a more godlie way; Thomas Upcote, merchaunt; Thomas Kodogon, yeoman; John Withur, baker ; Adam Wilkyns, clothemaker ; Wil liam Crasse, bocher ; Symond Pers, yoman ; John Greyme,yoman; John Philippis, tanner; John Paynter, barbour; John Morgan, parker ; Martyn Glover." ' No answer on behalf of these persons has been preserved. We may, however, reasonably suppose 1 Star Chamber Proceedings, Hen. VII. no. 122. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 401 them to have contended that the complainants had no concern with weddings, funerals, and other services conducted by the Vicar in the body of the church, that is to say in the part lying to the west of the chancel in which the monks had their stalls and said their offices. With regard to the bells, it has been seen already that the upper part of the central tower in which they hung had been built at the cost of the parish, and that the staircase leading up to them was accessible only from the nave. There seems to be some error as to the Christian name of the chief offender. A certain Richard Harris was Vicar of Dunster from 1485 to 1494 ; William Harris, clerk, who is mentioned in a local court-roll of 1509, was probably one of the chantry priests. 1 It may be noted by the way that Thomas Upcot, Thomas Codogan, yeoman of the Crown, an ancestor of Earl Cadogan, Simon Pers and John Gryme alike left money to the Prior of Dunster by wills proved in the earlier years of the sixteenth century. 2 John Wyther the baker, their associate, is commemorated by a brass in the church bearing the following inscription : — 4)f gout cflarife ptty for *0e eoufee of %o^n TOgffler ti <&%mb 0is wgf ef %oh TOgffler tyeit dt>tet 6one, w0o*e fiobg* uatytty uneet ffjis stone anno eomitu tniffestmo ccccfrrjuij penufttmo ©ie J&ej>& em6ri0 ejpecf anbo generafem uauvvtccontm morf novum tt urifatn ttetn&mf amen* Above this are the figures of a man and a woman. 3 • D.C.M. xm. 3. mental Brasses, vol. ii. p. 179. Seethe ' Somerset Medieval Wills, vol. ii.pp. cuts of them on the next page. John 60, T39, 158, 175. Wyther was amerced 20d. in 1448 for 3 Haines thinks that the figures were buying corn in Dunster market before not engraved until about 1520, and 9 o'clock. D.M.Cxn. 3. John Wyther suggests a doubt whether the inscrip- the younger made his will in 1532. tion refers to them. Manual of Monu- Weaver's Wells Wills, p. 72. 402 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. Fresh disputes between the monks and the lay-folk arose ere long, and it was eventually agreed to refer the questions at issue to arbitration. On the one side were the Prior and Convent of the cathedral church of Bath, impropriators of the church of JOHN WYTHER AGNES WYTHER Dunster, and Dan Thomas Browne and the Convent of the cell of Dunster, who are explicitly described as removeable at the pleasure of the superior author ity. On the other side were William Bond, Vicar of the parish church of Dunster, and Sir Hugh Lut- ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 403 trell, the representative of the inhabitants of the town. The three arbitrators chosen were Richard, Abbot of Glastonbury, Thomas Tremayle, one of the king's justices, and Thomas Gilbert, a doctor of canon law. 1 By their means an agreement was made at Glastonbury on the 4th of April 1498 and ratified by the five seals of the Prior and Convent of Bath, the Prior and Convent of Dunster, the Vicar of Dunster, Sir Hugh Luttrell, and the parish of Dun ster. The terms, set out at considerable length in legal phraseology, were to the following effect : — (i)That the Vicar, renouncing all previous endow ments, should receive from the Prior of Dunster an allowance of 8/. a year, paid quarterly, and should continue to occupy the house in which he then lived, upon condition of keeping it in repair, and, if neces sary, of rebuilding it. (2) That the Vicar should have all offerings made by devout lay folk for the celebration of obits, trentals, anniversaries, private masses, and prayers, known as " the bederaele penys, " the Prior and Convent con tinuing to receive other ecclesiastical payments due to them as impropriators of the church. (3) That the Vicar should have a choir independent (separatum) of the Prior and monks, to be made and maintained at the cost of the parishioners " in the nave of the church, that is to say at the altar of St. James the Apostle, which is situate on the south side of the door (hostium) which leads from the choir of the monks into the nave of the church. " (4) That in this choir the Vicar, having the cure of souls, should, without interference on the part of the Prior and monks, administer the sacraments and 1 Thomas Tremayle was the owner in 1509. D.C.M. xm. 3. of 8J burgages in Dunster. He died 404 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. celebrate sacramentals, to wit the hallowing of water, bread, candles at the Purification, ashes on the first Wednesday in Lent, flowers and boughs, and the con secration of fonts, receiving the customary offerings on behalf of the Prior and monks. (5) That the Vicar and the parishioners should be free to make processions from their choir in the church or in the graveyard on any day of the year except on thirteen important festivals, to wit those of Christ mas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Easter, Ascension Day, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Purification, St. George, the Assumption, All Saints, and the Dedication of the Church, on each of which there was to be a joint procession in the church or in the graveyard according to season and weather. On these days, the little band of monks " coming through the middle of their own choir " was to be met by the rest of the congregation as they began to issue through (egredi) " the door (hostium) on the north side " of the new parochial choir. Then the bearer of the monks' cross and the bearer of the parish cross were to walk side by side, followed by the clerks, the Vicar, the monks, the Prior and the lay folk. On their return, the two bodies were to separate at " the same door, " the monks passing through (ingredientibus) it and the Vicar and his clerks returning to their choir, to finish divine service. * Under this new system, the parishioners were released from any obligation to attend mass in the chancel, and the Vicar was empowered to celebrate high mass in the western part of the church, even on the principal festivals of the ecclesiastical year. The arrangements made by the arbitrators of 1498 were materially altered a few years later. By an 1 Register of Bishop King, f. 45. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 405 ordinance issued in 1 5 1 2, Cardinal Hadrian de Castello, Bishop of Bath and Wells, reduced the yearly stipend of the Vicar of Dunster from 8/. to 4/. On the other hand he decreed that the Vicar should receive free meals in the monastic refectory, sitting at table below the Prior and brethren, but sharing in their food and in the refreshments provided by the fireside in the winter evenings. He also assigned to the Vicar a small meadow, a rent of 2s. from a fulling-mill and the rent of the former vicarage, the Prior being required to provide for him a room adjoining the graveyard. Furthermore the payments made by the lay-folk for the publication of the ' Bedrolle ' after the Gospel at high mass, and the offerings made by them when going to confession in Lent, were specifi cally made over to the Vicar.1 The award of 1498 had important and lasting effects upon the church of Dunster, the parishioners soon proceeding to remodel all the western part of it in order to suit their new requirements. There is reason to believe that, in the early part of the sixteenth century, they lowered the Norman walls of the nave, connecting them with a new wooden roof, and that they built, or rebuilt, an aisle on either side. In 1 504, Thomas Upcot of Dunster bequeathed ten tons of iron to the fabric of the church of St. George, " that is to the new aisle there to be built or repaired on the north side, " on condition that the work should be undertaken within three years. 2 The use of the word ' repair ' seems to indicate that there was already an adjunct to the nave on this side. In any case it is not likely that the monks would have allowed the parishioners to encroach upon their ground for an 1 Register of Bishop Hadrian, f. 104. p. 60. ' Somerset Medieval Wills, vol. ii. 406 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. extension of the church. As reconstructed, the north ern aisle is separated from the eastern part of the old nave by four Perpendicular arches resting on three pillars with capitals of an ordinary type. A debased capital to the eastern respond testifies to the lateness of the work. The aisle is lighted by a win dow in its western wall, and four windows in the northern wall, the latter not uniform in size. At its eastern end the aisle communicates with the northern transept. In 1509, John Gryme of Frackford bequeathed a considerable sum to the fabric of Dunster Church, and, some eight year later, his relict followed his example, while specifically limiting her bequest to the repair of the aisle of the Holy Trinity.1 A docu ment of the year 1537, written during the short period when there were two distinct churches under one roof, describes the chantry of the Holy Trinity as being in the ' parochial ' church of Dunster, and so presumably in the non-monastic section. a It may thus be located either on the northern or on the southern side of the nave. In the reign of Edward the Sixth, there is mention of the Chantry of the Trinity or St. George, which may have got its second dedication after the exclusion of the laity from the chancel containing the original altar of St. George. 3 It has been seen that the award of 1498 directed the Vicar and parishioners to make a new choir in the nave of the church at the altar of St. James, which must have stood against the south-western pier of the tower, parallel with the altar of the Holy Rood standing against the north-western pier. In order to do this they set up a very handsome oaken screen of 1 Somerset Medieval Wills, vol. ii. ! D.CB. no. 17. pp. 139, 193. » Somerset Chantries (S.R.S.), p. 221. DUNSTER CHURCH. INTERIOR. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 407 fifteen unequal compartments stretching, like others in this county, right across the building, and sur mounted by a loft or gallery. A small head of St. James may still be seen in one of its spandrels facing westward. There are three pairs of doors in this screen, one opposite to the centre of the north aisle, the second opposite to the centre of the nave, and the third approximately opposite to the centre of the south aisle. Over the middle pair of doors the gallery projects eastward, and it has been suggested that the additional space there provided was intended for an organ.1 On the other hand it is possible that, on the completion of the screen in the early part of the sixteenth century, the great rood was removed to it from its former position on a beam between the two western piers of the tower. The gallery over the new screen was formerly approached by a spiral staircase in a turret which projects into the churchyard from the outer wall of the south aisle. Between this turret and the western wall of the transept there are three windows differing in size, in design, and in date. Internally the south aisle is separated from the nave by six arches some what similar to the four arches on the north side, but not opposite to them. If the southern arcade had been made to correspond with the northern, the cent ral part of the gallery over the screen would have been difficult of access. In the four western bays of the southern aisle, there is some attempt at symmetry of plan, but even there the work shows signs of haste. A flat wooden roof divided into panels and enriched with carving fits the aisle badly, having no wall-plate on the north or on the south. On the whole it seems probable that 1 Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological Society, vol. Hi. p. 66. 408 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. both the aisles were largely composed of old materials put together without much skill. Fragments of round shafts, possibly relics of a Norman clerestory to the nave, may be recognised in the south wall, and the stonework of several windows may have come from demolished chapels of the fifteenth century. The debased capital of the eastern respond of the southern arcade, inscribed with the letter ' M ', is obviously later than the other capitals in line with it. The south porch may be ascribed to the reign of Henry the Eighth, or even to that of James the First. In no less than nine wills executed by inhabitants of Dunster between the years 1 53 1 and 1534, there are legacies to " the four lights " in the parish church. ' Other wills refer to one or more of them by name, and three wills executed between the years 1509 and 1 5 17 specify their respective dedications : — The Light of St. George, the original patron of the undivided church. The Light of Our Lady. The Light of the Holy Rood, called also the Light of the High Cross. The Dead Light, called also the Light of Devotion. ' It may be further identified with the Light of ' Wex- silver ' which is mentioned in the will of Ralph of Cogston, executed in 13 48.' In some parishes of Somerset, a similar light was called the light of All Souls. 4 In 1 5 1 o, there was a Light of St. Leonard in the Priory Church of Dunster, presumably in the monastic section, whereas those of Our Lady and St. George are 1 Weaver's Wells Wills, pp. 76-80. 3 D.CB. no. 11. 1 Somerset Medieval Wills, vol. ii. * Weaver's Wells Wills, p. vii. pp. I3L 158, 175, 180, 193- ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 409 distinctly stated at the same time to have been in the parochial section, as were indeed the other two. 1 An image of St. Christopher is mentioned in 141 9, but its position is not defined. ' The Benedictine monks of Dunster were ejected in the early part of 1539, their Prior having signed the deed of surrender in company with the Prior, the Sub-prior and the other monks of the mother house at Bath. No inventory has been preserved of the furniture, ornaments and books found in the Priory, but it would be possible to trace in detail the subsequent history of its more valuable possessions. The endowments were in the first instance divided into three sections and committed to laymen, to be made profitable to the Crown. One section, consist ing entirely of temporalities, comprised the manor of Alcombe and various lands in the parishes of Dunster and Cutcombe that had been let out to farmers. A second section, consisting entirely of spiritualities, was limited to the rectory of Carhampton. The remain ing section, consisting partly of temporalities and partly of spiritualities, is the only one of which it is proposed to treat in this place. It comprised the site of the Priory, with its demesnes and the rectories of Dunster and Kilton, all of which were committed to John Luttrell, a younger brother of Sir Andrew Luttrell of Dunster Castle, then lately deceased. 3 After rendering an account at Michaelmas 1539, which was duly examined, John Luttrell obtained from the Crown a definite lease of the premises for 1 Somerset Medieval Wills, vol. ii. of S. John attached to Dunster Church " p. 142. as stated there (p. 17). At any rate one 8 D.CB. no. 16. There is a longer of the two quotations given in support list of lights in Hancock's Dunster of the theory refers neither to the Church and Priory (p. 39), but several Baptist nor to the Evangelist of that of those mentioned there were actually name, but, to the lord of the neigh- at Carhampton. It is also very doubt- bouring manor of Luccombe. f ul whether there was ever " a chantry 3 Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. iv. p. 202. 41 o A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. twenty-one years, at a rent exactly corresponding with the nett revenue shown in that account, the whole amounting to i 3/. 1 5J. jd. Out of this amount 3/. were payable in respect of the rectory of Kilton, con cerning which nothing further need be said here. The other two sub-sections may be considered separ ately. Under the terms of the lease dated 28 October 1539, John Luttrell was to pay 3/. 13J. \d. yearly for "the site of the late house, or priory, or cell, of Dunster now dissolved, with all houses, buildings, barns, yards, orchards, gardens, land and ground within the precinct of the same, " land called Wag- londes, a close under ' le Conynger, ' a close above the highway, a close at the head of the same, and lands called Le Dene, Hyllyberes, Lower Hillebouer, Alger, Gillechappell, Clerkelome, Foxgrove, Lynche, les Hams, Awcombe Meade, and Birchehame, all situate in Dunster and recently in the occupation of the Prior. The Crown reserved all large trees grow ing on the property thus demised, but undertook to provide timber sufficient for necessary repairs. x It may fairly be presumed that the lessee saw his way to get ting somewhat more out of the land than it was yielding when he first entered upon it. Furthermore, he got the empty buildings of the Priory, on the north side of the church, as a residence for himself and his family. Although the confiscated monastic property yielded a considerable revenue, the Crown was generally willing to sell outright, a lump sum of money in hand being preferred to a rent, however regular. Thus, when a very small part of John Luttrell's term had expired, the King, in March 1543, arranged to 1 Augmentation Office, Miscellaneous Books, 212, ff 2d., 3. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 411 sell the rent and also the reversion of the Priory and demesnes of Dunster. The purchaser was Humphrey Colles, gentleman, who undertook to pay close upon a thousand pounds, a very large sum at that time, for these and other former monastic possessions in the west of England. The property at Dunster conveyed to him was that specified in the lease of 1539, the only reservation to the Crown being a rent of js. \d., which was exactly a tenth of the rent payable by John Luttrell. 1 An examination of the proceedings of Humphrey Colles, after the issue of letters patent in his favour, makes it perfectly clear that in most cases he was merely an agent for persons who thought that they could purchase monastic property on better terms through him than in their own names. Each of the principals got his or her pre-arranged share. Within a few days of the date of the grant to Colles, he obtained licence to transfer his rights at Dunster to Dame Margaret Luttrell, the relict of Sir Andrew and the mother of the actual lord of Dunster. 2 Thenceforward John Luttrell rendered no account to the Court of Augmentations of the rent payable by him for the site and the demesnes of the Priory, debiting himself only with js. \d. a year described as * tithe, ' payable to the Crown and of course deduct ed by him from the rent which he paid to his sister- in-law. 3 Lady Luttrell presumably obtained actual possession of the Priory in 1560. Under a settlement effected by her, and under her will, it passed at her death to her grandson George Luttrell, and it has ever since 1 Patent Roll, 34 Hen. VIII. part 11, was party to a fine for the settlement m. 19. of Lady Luttrell's dower in 1542. 3 Ibid, part 2, m. 19; D.C.M. xvi. 10. ' Ministers' Accounts, Hen. VIIL Colles may have been a solicitor. He nos. 3148-3150. 412 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. been regarded as an integral part of the Luttrell estate. J After the determination of John Luttrell's lease, the duty of collecting the rent of ys. aJ. was transferred to the Sheriff. Reverting now to the year 1539, it is necessary to trace briefly the subsequent history of the rectory of Dunster as distinguished from the Priory and its lands. The lease of that year assigned to John Luttrell for twenty-one years the tithes of sheaves, wool and lambs, and all other small tithes of Avill, Ellicombe, Alcombe, Staunton and Medyet, of the demesne lands of Minehead, Lophall (sic), Skyllacre, and Dunster fields, and of the mill of Dunster, the Lordesfeld, and Exford. The rent for these was fixed at 7/. 2 j. 3 d. ^06. John Young, d. 1667. Ursula, b. 1575, m. Henry St. John. 1719 T Tl Sir Charles Shuck-==Catherine, Edward, Lord=Mary, ...Townsend=Sarah, burgh, b. 1659, d. j d. 1725. 1705. 4> Stawell,rf.i755. r d. 1740. d. 1760. Honora, d. 1754- 1750 I 1768 Stewkley Hon. Henry Bilson== Mary, Baroness== Wills, Earl of Hillsborough, Stawell,^. Legge, d. 1764. I Stawell,6.i726, d. 1793. 1731- I d. 1780. I 1779 Henry Stawell Bilson,Lord Stawell,==Mary, dau. of Asheton, Viscount b. 1757, d. 1820. | Curzon, d. 1804. r 1803 Henry b. 1785. John, Lord Sherborne d. i862.=Mary, b. 1780, d. 1864. 1 D.C.M. xn. 4 ; xm. 7, 10 ; Inq. Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries, post mortem, C. II. 220, no. 74 ; Visit- vol. iv, p. 257 ; Exchequer Depositions ations of Somerset, p. 80 ; Berry's by Commission, 10 Will, m ; CoUins's Hampshire Genealogies,p.3io;Bvown's Peerage; Epitaphs at Hinton Ampner. S omersetshire Wills, vol. i, pp. 79-81 ; 4i 8 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. " The Minister hath eight pounds per annum, beside the aforesaid meadow and garden, and not anything else. " * From the Curate's point of view, the only redeem ing feature of the case was that, as Dunster was not accounted an ecclesiastical benefice, he was free to hold another church without dispensation. In course of time, various small additions were made to the emoluments of the Curate. Thus, in the middle of the eighteenth century, Queen Anne's Bounty pro vided 400/., Mrs. Pyncombe's Charity 100/., and Mrs. Sarah Townsend, daughter of Sir Hugh Stewkley, 100/., towards a permanent endowment. Thence forward the Curate ceased to be removeable at pleasure.2 There is no record of the exact date at which the pittance provided by the lay impropriator was raised from 8/. to 20/. In a valuation of Lord Stawell's estates in Dunster and Minehead made in 1789, there are deductions of 20/. for "the Curate's stipend" and 1 2s. 6d. for " payments to the Bishop and Arch deacon. " In ordinary parlance, the Curate was often styled the Vicar, but he had no official residence. The rectory continued in the possession of descend ants of Hugh Stewkley until about 1790, when Lord Stawell sold it, with his farm at Marsh and various scattered pieces of land, to John Fownes Lut trell of Dunster Castle for the sum of 5,000/. A brass in Dunster Church in memory of the Rev. George Henry Leigh, who died in 1821, states some what inaccurately that he had been Perpetual Curate of the parish " upwards of fifty years. " From 1800 to 1805, he was also one of the churchwardens. During the last four years of his life, he was assisted by Thomas Fownes Luttrell, who succeeded him, and who altogether served the cure for some fifty-five ' D.CB. f. 626. ' 1 Geo. I. st. 2. c. 10 ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 419 years. Unlike his predecessors for nearly three cent uries, Thomas Fownes Luttrell, being presented to the Bishop by the trustees of his brother's estate, was formally instituted to the living. He resided at the Castle until a short time before his death. In 1872, arrangements were made for establishing the vicarage of Dunster upon a suitable footing. Mr. Luttrell, having built a permanent residence for the clergyman in a charming situation on the Priory Green, handed it over to the Ecclesiastical Commis sioners, who, in consideration of this, increased the value of the benefice. Mr. Luttrell also transferred such of the great tithes as had not merged in fixed rents, receiving in exchange some pieces of glebe scattered in several parishes. Reverting again to the reign of Henry the Eighth, it is more interesting to endeavour to trace the effect of the ecclesiastical changes upon the fabric of the church of Dunster. The first result of the expulsion of the Benedictine monks in 1539 was that the parishioners recovered their rights in the old chancel. This is a fact which has been too often overlooked. The late Mr. Freeman was wont to refer to Dunster as a typical place where there were two churches under one roof, the eastern church monastic and the western church parochial. Many instances have been cited to show that lay grantees of the sites of suppressed monasteries and colleges had the right to secularize and even to demolish buil dings which, from the architectural point of view, formed integral parts of parochial churches. Even in recent years, the chancel of the church at Arundel has been adjudged to be the private property of the Duke of Norfolk. In view, however, of documentary evidence that was not known to Mr. Freeman, some 420 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. caution must be observed in reading what he has written upon this subject. J It is difficult to say what would have happened at Dunster if John Luttrell had wished to secularize the non-parochial part of the divided church. He might have contended with force that the chancel, having been adjudged to the monks in 1498, was legally one of the conventual buildings, like the tithe-barn and the dovecot. On the other hand the parishioners had rights in the southern transept, and in the central tower which they had built in the previous century. They seem also to have had rights in the chapel on the eastern side of the southern transept. Furthermore it is necessary to observe that even if the whole eastern part of the church had belonged to the monks, John Luttrell could not have pulled it down, as he was never the owner of the Priory. For the first year after the Dissolution, he was merely an agent of the Crown, and afterwards he was a lessee. In point of fact there were good reasons why John Luttrell should not claim rights in the chancel at Dunster more extensive than those which he had in the chancel at Kilton, the rights that is to say of the representative of the lay rector. Whatever his theo logical views may have been, he could hardly have wished to desecrate wantonly a building in which his grandmother and other ancestors lay buried. Fur thermore, the final separation of the monastic church from the parochial was comparatively recent. Many of the lay-folk living in 1539 could remember the time when they were not wholly excluded from the chancel, and we may readily credit them with a desire to recover their ancient rights : notwithstanding all 1 English Towns and Districts, pp. Archaeological Society, vol. vi. pp. 1-13. 348-350 ; Proceedings of the Somerset ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 421 changes, the original high altar of the undivided church had a special sanctity. Private sentiment and local opinion might alike be gratified by the opening of the gates of the screen under the tower. John Leland, the observant antiquary, who visited Dunster within seven years of the dissolution of the monasteries, has left an instructive statement as to the position of ecclesiastical affairs there : — " The hole chirch of the late Priory servith now for the paroche chirch. Aforetymes the monks had the est part closid up to their use. " " Nothing could be clearer or more positive. Le- land's personal observations are moreover confirmed by the accounts which John Luttrell, as lessee of the rectory, rendered year after year to the Court of Augmentations. In 1 540, he claimed allowance of 3 2 j. lod. spent by him on the repair of ruinous cottages at Alcombe and of the chancel of the church of that place, which was in the parish of Dunster. In the following year, he claimed allowance of 59J. for repairs at Dunster, specifically to the chief man sion of the manor — that is to say to the Priory in which he lived — and to the window of the chancel of the church, obviously the great Perpendicular window over the high altar. After the sale by the Crown ol John Luttrell's rent of 3/. 1 3J. aJ. for the site of the Priory, with the reversion of the premises on the expiration of his lease, there are of course no further charges for the repair of them in the accounts which he rendered to the Court : from 1 543 onwards the purchaser, Lady Luttrell, was responsible for all necessary ex penses incurred by him as her tenant. In 1546, 1 Itinerary (1907), p. 166. 422 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. however, he claimed allowance of 3J. $d. from the Crown for repairs to the chancel of the church of Dunster, " very ruinous, " and similar claims of varying amounts were allowed by the auditors in each of the three following years. Clearly therefore the chancel was regarded as an integral part of the church rather than as part of the monastic buildings. In order to realize the position at this period, it is necessary to remember that, although the monks had been expelled, and the papal supremacy renounced, the services of the church were conducted very much as before. The various altars were still in use. Under the award of 1498, the parishioners of Dunster were still responsible for the maintenance and repair of the whole of the church on the western side of the tower. The King, however, had become the lay rector, and, as such, responsible for the maintenance and repair of the architectural chancel. Year after year, his representative, John Luttrell, provided the bread, wine, and wax necessary for the celebration of masses in the churches of Dunster and Kilton, the usual charge being 6s. Sd. for the former church and 2j. for the latter. In consequence of the ecclesiastical changes under Edward the Sixth, no wax was provided after 1550, and in that year the allowance for bread and wine was reduced to 1 s. Sd. at Dunster and at Kilton alike. When, in 1548, a large Bible and a copy of the Paraphrases of Erasmus were bought for the church, one half of the cost was borne by the parishioners and the other half by the King as rector or patron, in accordance with the royal injunctions. 1 There is no record of the exact date in the middle of the sixteenth century at which side altars, cruci- 1 Ministers' Accounts. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 423 fixes, images and the like were removed from the church of Dunster. One very ancient altar-slab was suffered to remain in its original position in the little sacristy on the northern side of the chancel, where it is still to be seen. After the expulsion of the monks in 1539, the Vicar is hardly likely to have used it for the celebration of mass. Hence perhaps its immunity from the fate of other altars in constant use, such as those of Our Lady, St. Lawrence, the Holy Rood, and the Holy Trinity. After the suppression of chantries by the act passed in the first year of Edward the Sixth and the general demolition of side altars, the two chapels on the eastern side of the transept at Dunster must have been useless for the services prescribed by the new Book of Common Prayer. Both of them, however, having been virtually rebuilt since the introduction of the Perpendicular style of architecture, were pre sumably in good condition. A resolution seems there fore to have been taken, in or after the middle of the sixteenth century, to connect them with the intervening chancel by piercing apertures in the northern and southern walls of the latter, or by greatly enlarging such apertures as then existed. The erection of a pillar carrying two arches on either side of the chancel caused the lateral chapels to become aisles to it, useful at times when divine service was conducted at the communion table occupying the site of the high altar. All the details of these pillars and arches are of a very debased character, indicating the late period at which they were built. A return of the second year of Edward the Sixth gives the approximate number of " partakers of the Lord's Holy Sooper " in Dunster as five hundred. J 1 Somerset Chantries. (S.R.S.) p. 43. 424 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. To the desire of the laity for practical convenience unattended by unnecessary expense is probably due the extraordinary opening between the south-eastern chapel and the transept. Here there is a moulded arch of the thirteenth century, supported by jambs of the fifteenth century, which bend outwards im mediately below the capitals, a standing puzzle to archi tects and antiquaries. The solution now offered is that, after the suppression of the chantries, an ingenious and economical builder united the ancient arch with the later jambs by inserting one stone on either side so shaped as to give a wider opening below than the former would have had. The communion table thus became visible from the southern transept. The oaken screen which now stands under the shouldered arch mentioned above was placed there about thirty years ago, at the time of the restoration of the church. Before that, it stood under the eastern arch of the tower, giving access to the chancel. There is reason to believe that it was made about 1420, and that it originally stood almost under the rood between the two western piers of the tower. * By a will dated 23 May 1558, John Luttrell, the lessee of the Rectory and of the Priory of Dunster, directed that his body should be buried in the Lady Chapel, which had perhaps been refitted in the reign of Mary.2 When Hugh Stewkley acquired the rectory of Dunster, he became responsible for the repair of the chancel, and correspondingly entitled to the chief seat therein. 3 Dame Margaret Luttrell, who obtained possession of the Priory in 1560, does not appear to have disputed his rights in the church, although she 1 See p. 396 above. p. 211. 3 Somerset Medieval Wills, vol. iii. 3 Phillimore's Ecclesiastical Law. I r i i ¦i v ARCH IN THE SOUTH TRANSEPT, DUNSTER CHURCH. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 425 owed him many a grudge. By a will dated in Janu ary 1587, he directed that, if he should die in Somer set, he should be buried in the Priory Church of Dunster over against his own seat or pew, or else in the church of Carhampton near his parents. ' The register of the parish of Dunster shows that he was buried in the church there. If the principal services were conducted in the nave, his pew in the chancel must have been more dignified than convenient. A brass in memory of his relict Elizabeth, who died in 1598, formerly in the chancel, is now to be seen on the floor of the chapel on the eastern side of the south transept. Their younger son, George Stewkley of Dunster and their daughter Margaret alike left direct ions that they should be buried there near them. a Joan their daughter, wife of George Luttrell of Duns ter Castle made a will in April 161 3, by which she similarly directed that she should be buried in the Priory Church of Dunster, near her parents. 3 She and her husband had doubtless been allowed to occupy a seat in the chancel. After her death, George Luttrell set up a great monument of marble and alabaster against the southern wall of the chancel, whence it was removed in 1 876 into the south-eastern chapel. Two recumbent figures on it represent his own father and mother. The inscription on one of the two panels beneath, as recently restored, runs thus : — " Here lyeth the body of Thomas Luttrell esquire who departed this lyfe in sure hope of a most joyful resurrection the 16 day of Jany, anno Dom. 1570, anno 13 of Elizabeth late Queene of England, being then High Sheriff of the countie of Somerset &? one of the youngest sones of Andrew Luttrell, knight : the sayd Thomas being lawfully married unto Margery Hadley daughter and sole heire of Christopher 1 Brown's Somersetshire Wills, vol. i. 3 Ibid. p. 80. p. 79. 5 Ibid. vol. vi. p. 16. 426 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. Hadley of Wythycomb esquire, by whom he had issue 3 sones and 3 daughters. George, John, Andrew . . . 3 daughters, vidz. Ursula, Margaret and Mary, the which Andrew, Ursula and Margaret dyed without any issue of theire bodyes. " It is necessary to observe that the words printed in italics above are purely conjectural, and that the actual situation of Thomas Luttrell's grave is quite unknown. The monument bears also the effigies of George Luttrell and his wife, the former kneeling westward, the latter lying dead by his side. Curiously enough, the heraldic achievements above do not cor respond with the figures, for while one shield shows the arms of Luttrell and Hadley, that which should show the arms of Luttrell and Stewkley shows instead the arms of Luttrell and Popham. On one of the outer stones above the western window of the south aisle there is an inscription : — "GOD SAVE THE KING. 1 624. JULY XX."1 This may perhaps be the date of the completion of some important repairs to the aisle. The masonry of some of the buttresses appears to be post-reforma- tional, and an ancient sepulchral slab may be seen in the parapet. The windows seem to have been re-set in the seventeenth century, and there are some grounds for believing that the whole of the southern wall was then rebuilt with old materials. A narrowing of the aisle by two or three feet would account for the absence of wall-plates and for various irregularities in con struction. The almsbox, bearing the date ' 1634' and the initials of the two churchwardens of part of that year, 1 Savage misread the inscription and Hundred of Carhampton, p. 413. Mr. somehow took the later part of it to Hancock has followed him. Dunster indicate the year 1520. History of the Church and Priory, p. 6. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 427 has a brass cover roughly engraved with two appro priate verses : — " He that hath pity on the poore lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will He pay him againe. Prov. xix. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poore he also shall cry himself but shall not be heard. Prov. xxi. " The will of Thomas Luttrell of Dunster Castle dated the 25th of October 1643, contains the follow ing direction : — " My boddie I will to be buried decently in the parish church of Dunstarr, in my isle which is there." 1 The position of the aisle thus mentioned was so well known at the time as to need no further description. All that can now be said is that if this aisle was the old chancel, the Stewkleys must, tacitly or otherwise, have ceded their rights to the Luttrells before 1643. On the other hand, the place in question may have been one of the aisles of the chancel, and so quite independent of the lay rector. In any case Thomas Luttrell's aisle was " in the parish church, " and not on his private property. It is unfortunately impossible to specify the date at which the chancel ceased to be used for the ordin ary services of the church. In the reign of Elizabeth, the Stewkleys, as lay rectors, could presumably have been compelled to maintain it in decent order. The church, however, as a whole was singularly unsuitable to the services sanctioned by the Book of Common Prayer. Owing to the great diameter of the four piers that support the central tower, and to the length of the chancel, a priest ministering at the eastern end of the building could hardly be seen or heard by persons in the nave, and conversely a preacher dis coursing from a pulpit in the nave could hardly be 1 P.C.C. Twisse, f. 169. 428 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. seen or heard by persons in the chancel, in either of the eastern chapels, or in the transepts. This seems to have been the real cause of the eventual division of the church into two parts, the somewhat similar division of 1498 having lasted only some forty years. A guess may be hazarded that, during the period of Puritan ascendancy, in the middle of the seven teenth century, the communion table was removed from the chancel and placed lengthways east and west under the western arch of the tower, near the site of the parochial altar sanctioned by the arbitrators of 1498. However this may be, there is no indication that any religious services, except the office for the burial of the dead, were performed in the eastern limb of the church between the middle of the seven teenth century and the later part of the nineteenth. A payment of 1/. ioj. made by the churchwardens, in 1 676, " for timber for the rayles about the Com munion Table" suggests a recent change at the eastern end of the nave. In 1729, they paid no less than 40/. to Richard Phelps of Porlock, an indifferent painter, " for doing up the altar-piece. " An ugly gallery of the usual type was set up at the western end of the nave in 17 17, thus diminishing the scanty light in that part of the church. Eight bells were bought or re-cast between 1668 and 1782. Chimes were provided in 171 1 to play the 113th Psalm every fourth hour through the day and night, at one, five, and nine. A very handsome brass chan delier of eighteen lights was suspended in the nave, in 1740, at a cost of 22/. 15J. The churchwardens' accounts contain several entries about this ' candle stick ' or ' branch. ' After the removal of the communion table from the chancel into the nave, the great majority of the ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 429 parishioners ceased to take any interest in the eastern part of the church. So long as the wind did not blow upon them through its broken windows, they did not insist upon its being maintained as an integral part of the fabric. The Stewkleys had moreover ceased to occupy the principal seat in the chancel after their migration from Somerset to Hampshire. To them and to their successors in title, the rectory had become simply a source of income, and they left the care of the chancel to others. In course of time, this part of the fabric came to be called " the old church " and to be regarded merely as the mausoleum of the Luttrell family. Many causes contributed to this result. The successive owners of Dunster Castle in the seventeenth century were nearly related in blood to the Stewkleys ; several of their ancestors lay buried in the chancel ; they were altogether predom inant in the little town of Dunster ; and the ground on three sides of the eastern part of the church belonged to them as owners of the former Priory. It is not likely that any Stewkley formally alienated his rectorial rights in the chancel, or that any Luttrell formally undertook to keep it in repair. On the other hand there are fair grounds for believing that the Luttrells had practically obtained exclusive rights there before the end of the seventeenth century. In 1 79 1 , there were in their private vault in the chancel nineteen coffins, which, according to the register of burials, would represent as nearly as possible a cent ury. * So again, the series of funereal hatchments, formerly affixed to the walls, begins with that of Colonel Francis Luttrell, who died in 1 690. In 1699, the churchwardens of Dunster paid is. 6d. " for tiles taken out of the old church. " In 1 Collinson's History of Somerset, vol. ii. p. 18. 430 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. 171 3, they paid is. aJ. to Sir Hugh Stewkley's agent " for paving stones for the church, " perhaps removed from the same part of the building. The two fol lowing payments are recorded in accounts rendered to Alexander Luttrell of Dunster Castle in 1 7 1 8 : — " For new leding 20 feet of glass in the old church, 3d. per foot, 6s. 6d. For 5 dozen of new quarry s in the old church, lod. per dozen, 4;. 2d. " For some years after the death of this Alexander Luttrell in 1737, a certain Robert Coffin was in re ceipt of a yearly salary of 5J. : — " For cleaning the seats and monuments in the old church at Dunster belonging to the family of the Luttrells and which had always been allowed by the family. " A mention of their ' pews ' there at the same period is not without interest, as suggesting that the eastern part of the building was still used. Collinson, how ever, writing in or shortly before 1791, describes it as "stript of all its furniture and totally neglected." 1 Its condition was if possible worse in 1830. 2 In 1838, J. C. Buckler, the well-known architect was called in to examine the fabric of Dunster Church, and he drew up an elaborate report upon its condition. With regard to the eastern part, or ' old church, ' he stated that the walls were " shattered and infirm in places, " that the roof was very defective and covered with " a thick coat of moss, " that the mullions and tracery of the windows were "dilapidated and ruinous, " and that the floor, " stripped of its pavement, " was " strewn with relics of canopied monuments and various kinds of rubbish. " In rainy weather, water lay in a pool in the northern transept. 1 History of Somerset, vol. ii. p. 18. of Carhampton, pp. 400, 401. 8 Savage's History of the Hundred ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 431 Proceeding westward, he found that " the recessed arch at the back of the altar " was a " receptacle of rubbish. " The windows in the northern aisle were decayed. The piers in the nave although structurally safe, were far from upright. The gallery at the west end blocked out the light and gave to that part of the church " the gloominess of a crypt. " All the doors admitted " intolerable draughts. " The pavement, composed of fragments of stone, brick and tiles, was " in the worst possible condition, " dangerous by reason of its unevenness. Many ancient oaken seats " elaborately and finely ornamented " were concealed by later wood work, " the most promiscuous, unseemly and uncomfortable assemblage of pews that can be met with. " Buckler's vigorous language was not without effect, and many of his recommendations were followed. Although his proposal to place the communion-table under the eastern arch of the tower was rejected, it seems to have been set back a little. A large screen with glass panels was put up immediately behind it, and similar screens were put up to separate the aisles from the transept, which thus became a mere vesti bule. A useless arch was at the same time built to connect the two Norman jambs attached to the western piers of the tower. The external turret which formerly gave access to the loft over the main screen was converted into a small vestry. In the ' old church ' nothing was done beyond the most necessary repairs. In 1875, a complete restoration of the church was undertaken, at a cost of about 12,000/., of which nearly 10,000/. were contributed by Mr. Luttrell. The Norman door at the west end was re-opened, the gallery was removed, and new oaken seats, carved by 432 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xii. Hems of Exeter, were provided for nave and aisles alike. By the advice of Mr. G. E. Street, a raised platform, separated from the transept by open screens, was constructed under the tower, and the communion table was placed upon it, in the situation previously recommended by Buckler. The ancient screen that had stood there, giving access to the chancel, was placed under the curious shouldered arch in the southern transept. In the ' old church, ' Mr. Street's alterations were numerous and important. Fragments of Early English mouldings found in the walls afforded him a certain clue for the reconstruction of three lancet windows in the eastern wall and of the corresponding piscina and sedilia in the southern wall. The old sacristy on the northern side was practically rebuilt, and all the encaustic tiles found in the building were put together in it. The Jacobean monument set up by the first George Luttrell, the earlier incised slab of Dame Elizabeth Luttrell, and the brass of Elizabeth Stewkley were alike removed into the south-eastern chapel. The only monuments now remaining in the chancel are that attributed above to Dame Christian de Mohun and the mutilated effigies of the first Sir Hugh Luttrell and his wife lying upon an Easter Sepulchre of later date. Stalls, like those of a private chapel, were set up in the chancel, and open screens were made to divide it from the lateral chapels, that on the north being converted into a vestry. A medi eval altar-slab, which had lain over the grave of the Poyntz family, was re-erected upon short columns on the site of the high altar below the east window. The chancel and its lateral chapels were alike repaved with encaustic tiles copied from the old ones, with the addition of some bearing the arms of Luttrell. ch. xii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 433 Since 1876, many of the windows of the church have been filled with stained glass, scriptural, heraldic, or decorative. Part of the garden of the Priory, on three sides of the ' old church ', has been added to the graveyard, with some reservations, and a lych-gate has been erected over the entrance from St. George's Street. Some of the buildings of the Priory now go with the Vicarage, some with the Castle. One of the rooms near the western end of the church has a mullioned window and a fine stone fireplace, dating apparently from the early part of the fifteenth century. Beyond the great barn stands the monastic pigeon- house, a circular building with a series of internal niches, and a central ladder revolving on a pivot. In the garden of the Vicarage there is an oak tree of yet greater antiquity. OLD GLASS QUARRY IN DUNSTER CHURCH. d CHAPTER XIII. The Manor of Avill. Avill is a hamlet in the south-western part of the parish of Dunster. For many centuries it was a sepa rate manor and tithing, extending into the parishes of Carhampton and Timberscombe, and its history is quite distinct from that of the manor of Dunster. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Avill (Auene) belonged to iElfric (Aluric) who also owned Dunster (Torre) , Bratton and Broad wood. Like those places, it was, at the Norman Conquest, bestowed upon William de Mohun, who, however, did not long retain it in demesne. In 1086, his military tenant there was a certain Ralph, the other householders being a villein and five bordars. The estate comprised two ploughlands, four acres of meadow, two acres of wood, fifty acres of pasture, and a mill which yielded 2od. The whole was assessed at half a hide and valued at 1 os. 1 It seems probable that Ralph's descendants took a surname from the place of their abode. Henry of Avill (Aule) was a witness of several charters of William de Mohun the Fourth, between 1 1 jj and 1 1 94. * In 1 20 1, Agnes of Avill was entered as holding a knight's fee of the Honour of Dunster, but 1 Domesday Book. 7, 73, 224, 393, 394. ' Bruton Cartulary, (S.R.S.), nos. 6, ch. xm. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 435 in the following year, the holding of William of Avill was entered as half a fee, the amount at which it remained fixed in subsequent centuries.1 In 1233, there was a dispute between Hugh of Avill and his overlord, Reynold de Mohun of Dunster, as to the boundaries of their respective properties, and the Sheriff was ordered by the King to make a peram bulation of them. 3 The next member of the family mentioned was Richard Avele, or Havel, who was returned as holding half a fee under the lord of Dunster in 1279, 1285, and 1303.3 He was succeeded by his son Geoffrey, who held the half fee in 13 16, 1330, and 1 346. * In 1 3 1 4, Geoffrey son of Richard of Avill ( Auele) quit-claimed to Simon de la Torre and Lucy his wife, late the wife of William Astyng of la Bergshe, for their lives, all his right in the tenement and land of la Bergshe, and granted to them common of pasture on his hill on the south side of Avill and reasonable estovers there. In consideration of this, they paid a fine of 4 marks and undertook to pay a yearly rent of 6/., to do suit twice a year at his court at Avill, and to render certain services elaborately set out, such as assisting their neighbours in repairing the " millegrip " of Avill and the " watercloses, " ploughing, harrowing, reaping, mowing, carrying hay and the like. A further rent of bread, capons and eggs was also exact ed. 5 It is remarkable that the lord of the manor is not mentioned among the six persons assessed at Avill to the subsidy of 1327. Simon de la Torre appears in the list under the name of Simon atte Burghe. 1 Pipe Rolls. vol. iv, p. 302. 3 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1231-1234, 4 Feudal Aids, vol, iv, pp. 334, 341 ; p. 295. Inq. Post Mortem, C Edw. III. file 22, * Calendar of Inquisitions post mor- no. n. tern, vol. ii, pp. 177, 352 ; Feudal Aids, * D.CB. no. 10. 436 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiii. Another contributor was Godfrey of Illycombe in Dunster, and a third was Ralph atte Foremarsh, who must have lived at the place of that name in the parish of Carhampton, on the north side of Dunster. 1 There is evidence at a later date that part of the manor of Avill, or at any rate part of the estate of the lord of Avill, was close to the sea-shore, where he had a " fysshinge were. " * The family of Avill seems to have come to an end about the middle of the fourteenth century. Perhaps the heiress married a Kempe. In 1 371 , John Kempe, citizen and girdler of London, and Ellen his wife sold the manor to William Cheddar of Bristol. Their conveyance of it makes an obscure allusion to a knight's fee, and states that certain services were due by Sir James Audley, who is otherwise known to have been lord of the adjoining manor of Staunton. 3 About this period, there is the earliest mention of a curious and doubtless very ancient obligation upon the Prior of Dunster, the lords of Avill and Withy- combe, and the owner of Gillcotts (Gildencote) in Carhampton, to supply a wagon with two men and eight oxen to carry the corn or hay of the lord of Dunster for one day apiece. As he had to provide food, this * carriage work ' was valued at only 1 s. 4 There is no reason to suppose that William Ched dar ever took up his abode at Avill. The little manor in fact became a mere source of income to a series of very wealthy persons residing at a distance. William Cheddar died about Christmas 1382, and was suc ceeded by his brother Robert, who had been Mayor of Bristol. 5 In 1383, the manor of Avill was, with 1 Lay Subsidies, 169/5. " D.C.M. ix, 2, 3 ; xvm, 2, 3 ; xix, 4 ; 3 A.D. 1484. Ministers' Accounts, bun- xx, 38 ; xxn, 13. die 968, no. 4. « Proceedings of Somerset Archoeologi- s Feet of Fines, Somerset, 45 Edw. cal Society, vol. xxxiv, p. us. III. (Green, iii. 82.) ch. xni. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 437 other property, settled upon Robert Cheddar and Joan his wife, who was the daughter and heiress of Simon Hanham of Gloucestershire. 1 After his death a few months later, she married Sir Thomas Brook of Weycroft near Axminster, who held the settled estate jointly with her until his death in January 141 8. 2 The earliest account of a reeve of Avill that has been preserved belongs to the year 1396, when the main source of revenue consisted of fixed rents amounting to close upon 23/. Courts held twice a year yielded only a few shillings. No mention is made of the demesne, which was evidently let. Among the expenses were payments of 2s. at Dunster for respite of suit to the court of the Barony, and 1 s. as a composition for the carriage-work noticed above. 3 As late as the middle of the seventeenth century, the lord of Dunster used to receive four separate payments from Avill, that is to say 2s. from the tithing as a ' common fine ' to the Hundred Court of Carhampton, 6d. as a Candlemas rent, 2s. as a feodary rent to the Castle, and 1 s. as a ' high rent ' to the manor of Carhampton Barton. 4 Lady Brook is entered as holding half a fee at Avill in 1428 and in 143 1. 6 She died in April 1437 and, as her eldest son Richard Cheddar survived her only a few weeks, the property passed to her second son, Thomas. 6 It is difficult to give any satisfactory ex planation of an original indenture in French witnessing that Thomas Cheddar did homage to John Luttrell, " lord of Dunster, " on the 3rd of March in the ninth year of Henry the Fifth, for the manor of Avill held 1 Feet of Fines, Somerset. 6 Ric. II. no. I. (Green, iii. p. 118.) * D.C.M. in. 12. 2 Ibid. Divers Counties, 11 Ric. II. 5 Feudal Aids, vol. iv, pp. 390, 430. (Green, iii, p. 204); D.C.M. IV ; Inq. 6 Inq. post mortem, 15 Hen. VI. no. post mortem, 5 Hen. V. no. 54. 62 ; Proceedings of Somerset Archaolog- 3 Ministers' Accounts, bundle 968, ical Society, vol. xliv. p. 17. 438 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiii. of him by the service of half a knight's fee. * Such homage would only be due on succession, and John Luttrell was lord of Dunster from March 1428 to June 1430, whereas the document professes to belong to the year 1422. Thomas Cheddar died in July 1442, leaving as his coheiresses two daughters, Joan, aged eighteen the relict of Richard Stafford, and Isabel, aged fourteen, the wife of John Newton, son of the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Avill, however, seems to have been assigned in dower to the widow, Isabel, who survived until January 1476. It then passed to Eliza beth daughter and heiress of her eldest daughter Joan, by her second husband John Talbot, Viscount Lisle. 2 This Elizabeth was the wife of Sir Edward Grey, who was created Baron Lisle in 1475, and Viscount Lisle in 1483. 3 Some accounts of the reeve of Avill in the reign of Edward the Fourth show that the rents of the free and the customary tenants had remained practically unchanged since the close of the previous century. In 1476, however, there was an unusual receipt of over 43/. " coming from the fines of divers customary tenants made with Edward Basyng, the steward, in full court held there. " 4 A conjecture may be offered that the tenants paid this money for the enclosure of the lord's waste, or some other surrender of his rights. After the death of Elizabeth, Viscountess Lisle, in September 1487, her husband continued to hold the manor of Avill, presumably by the courtesy of Eng- 1 D.C.M. iv. 28. mortem, 32 Hen. VI. no. 38 ; 7 Edw. * Inq. post mortem, 21 Hen. VI. no. IV. no. 42 ; 12 Edw. IV. no. 40 ; 16 55 ; Escheators' Enrolled Accounts, 37, Edw. IV. no. 67. m.34. An engraving of Thomas Ched- 3 D.C.M. v. 55; xxxi. 10. dar's monumental brass is given in • Ministers' Accounts, bundle 968, Proceedings of the Somerset Archaolo- no. 3. gical Society, vol. xliv, p. 44. Inq. post ch. xiii. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 439 land, until his own death in July 1492, when it passed to their son John, Viscount Lisle, who died in Sep tember 1504. By a post-nuptial settlement, this John had given a life interest in Avill to his wife Muriel, daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey. l She married a second husband, Sir Thomas Knyvett, and died about Christmas 1512.2 Her only child Eliza beth, Baroness Lisle, married Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon, but died under age and without issue, in the spring of 1 5 1 9, when the property passed to her aunt. 8 Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Edward, Viscount Lisle by Elizabeth Talbot his wife, married firstly Edmund Dudley, the celebrated minister of Henry the Seventh. After his execution in August 15 10, she married Arthur Plantagenet, an illegitimate son of Edward the Fourth, who was created Viscount Lisle in 1523. The steward who held a court at Avill in their names in 1521, describes her as ' Viscountess Lisley', although she was only Baroness at that time. 4 On her behalf, her husband paid 50J. to Sir Andrew Luttrell of Dunster in 1530, by way of relief on half a fee. 8 She died without issue by him, and, in 1 5 3 1 , Sir John Dudley, her son by her first husband, con veyed the manor of Avill and other property inherited from the Cheddars to feoffees, presumably with a view to sale. 6 Sir Edward Seymour, afterwards celebrated in hist ory as Duke of Somerset, bought the manor before 1536, but he did not hold it long. 7 In 1539, when 1 Inq. post mortem, C. II. vol. 8, no. ' Court Rolls, General Series, Portf. 10 ; Early Chancery Proceedings, file 198. no. 17. 95, nos. 63-65 ; Inq. postmortem, E. II. 5 D.C.M. v. 9, 11. file 497, no. 52. * Feet of Fines, Somerset, 23 Hen. ' Nicholas's Testamenta Vetusta, p. VIIL 516. ' Chancery Proceedings, Series II. * Patent Roll, 11 Hen. VIIL part 2, file 42, no. 82 ; Star Chamber Proceed- m. 6. ings, xvii, no. 366. 440 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xm. he was Earl of Hertford, he and Anne his wife sold the manor and various lands in Avill and Slape to John Stocker of Poole, merchant, and Edith his wife. The fine levied for this purpose professes to deal with thirty messuages, ten cottages, four hundred acres of land, forty of meadow, a hundred of pasture, fifty of wood and a thousand of furze and heath, but these round numbers must not be taken literally. On the other hand, a specific mention of 3 ox. rent suggests that very few of the tenants then held estates in per petuity. * The purchaser died in September of the same year and his relict Edith, daughter of Richard Phelips, married John Horsey of Clifton Maubank, six months afterwards. 2 When John Stocker the second came of age in 1555, Sir John Horsey and Edith his wife surrendered the manor to him in con sideration of an annuity, but he died within a few years and they re-entered. Elizabeth his relict, daughter and coheiress of Sir Christopher Hales, who married secondly George Sydenham, had a long suit against them in the early years of Elizabeth, on behalf of her infant son, John Stocker the third. 3 There was also litigation about the same period with regard to the manor-house and farm of Avill, which the Horseys had demised for three lives at a yearly rent of 40/. and half a tun of Gascon wine. * In the sixteenth century, there was a chapel of St. Mary Magdalene at Avill, close to the boundary of the parish of Dunster. 5 The number of tenants was about ten. 6 In 1594, John Stocker the third paid 50J. t». George Luttrell of Dunster Castle by way of relief on suc- 1 D.C.M. v. 21. * Ibid, file 45, no. 10 ; file 42, no. 82 ; 3 Inq. post mortem, E. II. 929. file 41, no. 11. no. 1. 5 See page 347 above. " Chancery Proceedings, Series II. 6 Court of Requests Proceedings, file 169, nos. 11-13. 127, no. 12. ch. xm. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 441 cession to the manor of Avill, reckoned as half a knight's fee. * He married Margaret daughter and coheiress of Anthony Skutt of Stanton Drew. 3 In 1609, John Stocker and Margaret his wife conveyed to Robert Roper three messuages, a water grist-mill, two fulling-mills, a dovecot, seventy acres of land, fifty of meadow, eighty of pasture and fifty of wood, and common of pasture in Avill and Dunster. 3 The gristmill doubtless occupied the site of that mentioned in Domesday Book. A new fulling-mill at Avill had been let, in 1476, to John Cockes, ' touker ' for three lives according to the custom of the manor. * The conveyance of 1609 must be regarded as part of a mortgage or settlement rather than a sale, for the Stockers continued to hold Avill for some time longer. Their usual residence was at Chilcompton. John Stocker died in 161 2 or 161 3, and was suc ceeded by Anthony his son.5 This Anthony Stocker was a free suitor to the Hundred Court of Carhampton in 1 6 14 and 161 9." He married Margaret daughter of Sir Arthur Capel of Hadham, in Hertfordshire, and had issue at least four sons and two daughters. ' John Stocker, the eldest, was born in 1 6 1 5. Through serving as a Colonel in the King's army he got into trouble and had to pay a fine of over 1300/. in 1648. 8 He conveyed the manors of Avill and Hinton Blewett to feoffees in the following year, but he was entered as a free suitor to the Hundred Court of Carhampton as late as 1658. ' His brother and heir William was similarly entered in 1661 and 1668. This William 1 D.C.M. v. 43. 6 D.C.M. xxxi. 19. 1 Visitation of Somersetshire, 1623, 7 Visitation of Somersetshire; Brown's p. 105 ; Brown's Somersetshire Wills, Somersetshire Wills, vol. iv, p. 88. vol. iv, p. 19. 8 Calendar of Committee for Com- 3 Feet of Fines, Somerset, 6 Jac. I. pounding, p. 1836. 4 D.C.M. v. 55. 9 Feet of Fines, Somerset, Mich. 5 Visitation of Somersetshire, p. 105. 1649 ; D.C.M. 442 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiii. Stocker, his wife Mary and their eldest son John alike died in 1669, when the inheritance passed to the second son Anthony.1 In 1 699, Anthony Stocker and Sarah his wife sold the manor of Avill and land in the parishes of Dunster, Carhampton, Crowcombe, Stogumber, Timberscombe and St. Decumans, to William Blackford.2 The family, however, continued elsewhere in the county. 3 William Blackford of Dunster, the purchaser of Avill, had but recently bought the manor of Bossing- ton and an estate at Holnicote. Dying in 1728, he was buried at Selworthy. His son and successor of the same name died in 1730, leaving an infant daugh ter Henrietta, who died in 1733, in the seventh year of her age. The Blackford property in Somerset then passed to her second cousin, Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Dyke of Tetton in the parish of Kings ton. * This lady, who eventually inherited the large, though scattered, estates of the several branches of the Dyke family, married, in 1745, Sir Thomas Acland, and a part of the ancient manor of Avill, extending from the ridge of Grabbist nearly to the sea-shore, belongs to their descendant Sir C. T. Dyke Acland. Courts baron for the then undivided manor used to be held at Kitswall in the early part of the nine teenth century. 5 The old feodary rent of 2j. used also to be paid to successive owners of Dunster Castle. It was extinguished in 1870, in connexion with an exchange of lands between the late Sir Thomas Dyke Acland and Mr. G. F. Luttrell, by which the latter acquired the mill of Avill and the adjacent land in the valley. 1 Brown's Somersetshire Wills, vol. ii, p. 130. iv, pp. 88, 89. ' Chadwyck Healey's History of part ' Feet of Fines, Somerset, 10 Will. of West Somerset. III. s Savage's Hundred of Carhampton 3 Collinson's History of Somerset, vol. pp. 307, 451. CHAPTER XIV. The Manor of Staunton. Staunton occupies the eastern part of the parish of Dunster, immediately south of Minehead. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, it belonged to a certain Walo or Walle, whose estate there comprised three virgates. William the Conqueror granted it to William de Mohun, under whom its value rose in the course of a few years from ys. 6d. to i $s. At the time of the great survey of 1086, he had two and a half virgates in demesne. There were also five acres of meadow and forty of pasture. The tenants consisted of two villeins, two serfs, and two bordars, who held half a virgate and a carucate. There was only one plough-team, although the arable land was sufficient for two. To this estate had been added another comprising one virgate, two acres of meadow and fifty of pasture, worth altogether 3J. Here there was only one bordar. 1 A charter of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, issued in the middle of the twelfth century, shows that one of the earlier Mohuns had granted, or con firmed, the tithes of Staunton to the Benedictine monks of Bath. 2 There is no record of the date at which a lord of Dunster gave the manor to a military 1 Domesday Book. C 65. 3 Two Chartularies of Bath (S.R.S.), 444 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiv. tenant, to be held of him and his successors upon the usual terms of feudal service. In 1 196 and in 1201, a certain Walter of Dun- heved, or Downhead, held of the Honour of Dunster a knight's fee which may safely be located at Staunton.1 He presumably took his name from Downhead near Mells, in the eastern part of Somerset. We find him claiming land at Edington in 1208, and the advowson of the church of Badgworth twelve years later. s He died in or about 1224. 3 Several members of the Downhead family were connected with Ireland in the thirteenth century, but it is impossible to say which of them owned Staunton in the long reign of Henry the Third. A second Walter of Downhead, who had land at Mells in 1280, is described as grandson and heir of Erneis of Downhead. * This Walter may probably be iden tified with a person of that name who, in 1 279 and again in 1285, was found by inquisition to hold a knight's fee at Staunton of Sir John de Mohun of Dunster recently deceased. B Staunton was one of the fees assigned to Eleanor de Mohun the widow, who married a second husband, Sir William Martin. ° Under this arrangement, the Martins obtained of course only the overlordship, valuable in the event of the death of Walter of Downhead during her life time, after which it would pass to the owner of Dunster Castle. Before long, however, they obtain ed actual possession of the manor, presumably by purchase. 1 Pipe Rolls; RotulideOblatis,p. 136. of Manuscripts of the Dean & Chapter 1 Rotuli de Finibus, p. 430 ; Curia of Wells (Hist. MSS. Comm. 1907); Regis Roll, no. 74. m. 1. Feet of Fines for Somerset,vo\s. i. andii; 3 Somersetshire Pleas (S.R.S.), p. 80. Feudal Aids, vol. iv ; Somersetshire * Assize Roll, no. 763, m. 38. Fur- Pleas. ther notices of the Downhead family 5 Calendar of Inquisitions post mor- willbe found in Calendar of Documents tern, vol. ii. p. 177. relating to Ireland XIJ1-130X; Calendar * Ibid. pp. 352, 353. ch. xiv. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 445 In 1296, John Downhead sued Gilbert de Pero, William Martin and Eleanor his wife, William of Wells, Gilbert atte Putte, and four others, for disseis ing him of the manor of Staunton Downhead by Dunster. Gilbert de Pero had, it appears, recently enfeoffed the Martins, but the record of the proceed ings does not show his title to it or the relationship of John Downhead to Walter Downhead. Eventually the plaintiff failed to appear and the Martins were left in possession. J From this date onwards, the history of the manor of Staunton is tolerably clear. The chief point to be noted is that it seldom, if ever, had a resident lord. Passing from one family to another, it was simply a source of income to persons living at a distance. In 1303, William Martin, 'lord of Staunton', was returned as holding half a fee there of John de Mohun, the amount being, as in many other cases, understated, to the prejudice of the Crown. 2 He is described as lord of Kemeys in the celebrated letter from the barons of England to Pope Boniface the Eighth. s Dying in October 1324, he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son of the same name. * William Martin the second was summoned to Parliament in the following year, but he did not long survive his father and died in August 1326, leaving a widow, Margaret, without issue. 6 At an inquisition taken in that year, it was found that at the time of his death he was seised of two-thirds of the ' hamlet ' of Staunton, which was held of John de Mohun by service of a quarter of a fee. It then comprised a 1 Assize Rolls, no. 13 10, in. 5d.; no. 4 Escheators' Enrolled Accounts, 1. 1313, m. 34. m. 16; Fine Roll, 18 Edw. II. m. 17. 3 Feudal Aids, vol. iv. p. 302. 5 Escheators' Enrolled Accounts, 1. 3 The Ancestor, no. vii. p. 256. m. i6d. 446 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiv. capital messuage and a garden of two acres, a water- mill, fifty-two acres of arable land in demesne, six acres of meadow, twenty-one acres of pasture, and some ' mountain pasture ' of small value. There were on the manor three free tenants and eight bondmen, whose services are minutely specified. * From the fact that William Martin the second held only two thirds of the estate, it may be inferred that the remainder was in the possession of a widow, either his mother Eleanor, or his sister-in-law Jouette, daughter of Sir John Hastings and relict of his elder brother Edmund Martin. * A third of the lands and fees of William Martin was assigned in dower to the widow Margaret, who soon afterwards married Sir Robert of Watevill. The other two thirds were divided between his two coheirs, his sister Eleanor, the wife of Philip Columbers, and his nephew, James Audley, son of his sister Joan by Sir Nicholas Audley. 3 Staunton fell to the share of James Audley, who was summoned to Parliament in 1330, when he was about seventeen years of age. * At some unspecified date, he demised to his aunt, Eleanor Columbers, six messuages, one carucate of land, eight acres of meadow, two acres of wood, and two thirds of the mill at Staunton, for which she undertook to do the necessary suit at the court of the lord of Dunster. At her death in 1 342, without issue, this property reverted to him. 5 In 1353, Sir James Audley arranged to sell to the King the reversion, after his own death, of certain 1 Inq. post mortem, 19 Edw. II. no. 10. n0- I0°- ' Feudal Aids, vol. iv. p. 341; Calen- 3 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1292-1301, dar of Inquisitions, vol. vi. p. 220. P- 314- s Inq. post mortem, 16 Edw. III. 3 Ibid. 1327-1330, p. 261 ; 1 381-1385, no. 51. p. 515; Inq. post mortem 33 Edw. III. ch. xiv. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 447 manors and advowsons in Cornwall, Devon and Somer set, including his estate at Staunton. In connexion with this sale, an elaborate ' extent ' was made at Staunton ' in Dunsterdene ', the details of which may be compared with those given in the inquisition of 1 326. If we may assume both valuations to have been made with equal impartiality, the arable land had in twenty-seven years risen in value from \d. to is. an acre, and the yield of the mill had risen from js. 6d. to 1 /. The pleas and perquisites of the man orial courts were, however, assessed at only 6s. Sd. l The transaction between Sir James Audley and the King was completed in the same year by a fine levied in the Court of Common Pleas. 2 The object of Edward the Third in buying from Sir James Audley the reversion of various manors and advowsons was to bestow them upon the Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary Graces, recently founded by him near the Tower of London. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and others were accordingly appointed as feoffees to carry out his intentions in the matter. 3 Little, however, could actually be done, as Sir James Audley lived to a considerable age and survived the King by nearly nine years. In May 1 374, Sir James Audley ceded his life interest in the manor of Staunton to William Gambon, for a yearly rent of 61. 6s. Sd. Some two years before this, Gambon had been appointed Constable of Gainsborough Castle by John of Gaunt, and he was also one of the yeomen of the King's Chamber. By means then of his influence at Court he obtained not only a royal confirmation of his arrangement with Audley, but also a definite grant in fee of the reversion 1 Misc. Inq. 27 Edw. III. file 169. 3 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1388-1 392, 8 Feet of Fines, Divers Counties, 27 p. 364. Edw. III. 448 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiv. of the manor. 1 It was easy for Richard the Second to be generous at the expense of the Cistercian monks. Subject to the temporary rent payable to Audley, and to the feudal services due to Dunster Castle, William Gambon became the owner of Staunton. In 1379 accordingly, we find him paying 2s. to Lady de Mohun for respite of suit of court for a twelvemonth.2 Complications, however, arose ere long. In the first place, the feoffees of Edward the Third, ignoring the grant to Gambon, formally conveyed to the Abbot and Convent of St. Mary Graces the reversion which he had bought from Audley. 3 In the second place, Richard the Second, altogether disregarding the pious intention of his grandfather, granted them to his own half-brother, John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon. His letters patent to this effect bear date the 1 8th of December 1384, but, within two months, he, with the assent of the Council, made a fresh and incon sistent grant of them to his favourite, Robert de Vere, Marquess of Dublin. 4 In the course of the financial year ending at Michaelmas 1385, the Marquess paid two visits to West Somerset, presumably for the pur pose of inspecting the property at Staunton. On one occasion he stayed at Minehead and on the other at Dunster Castle, and the costs of his entertainment at those places amounting to 61. 1 s. $d. were defrayed by Lady de Mohun. 5 The letters patent in favour of the Earl of Hun tingdon mentioned above were not revoked until the 2nd of April 1386, the day after the death of Sir James Audley. 6 Although the property that should 1 Patent Roll, 48 Edw. III. part 2, p. 267. m. 4 ; Duchy of Lancaster Miscellane- * Ibid. 1381-1385, p. 515. ous Books, vol. xiii, f. 55. » D.C.M. xxxi. 2. » D.C.M. iv. 13. e Calendar oj Patent Rolls, 1 385-1 389, 9 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1401-1405, p. 113. ch. xiv. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 449 then have passed to the monks was valued at 200 marks a year, they had perforce to be satisfied with an annuity of 1 10 marks derived from other sources.1 Upon hearing of the death of Sir James Audley, the Sheriff of Somerset entered upon the manor of Staunton, with a view to handing it over to the Marquess of Dublin. William Gambon, however, came forward with his letters patent of 1374, and, as the Marquess failed to appear to show cause against them in Chancery, those of 1386 were revoked in so far as they related to the manor of Staunton, 2 Even after this, Gambon was threatened with the loss of his property. In 1388, Robert de Vere, now Duke of Ireland, was cited to appear before ' the Merciless Parliament ' to answer charges brought against him by five lords opposed to the King's policy, and was condemned to death as a traitor. His unen tailed estates were consequently forfeited. 3 The King thereupon, in the month of July, made a fresh grant to the Earl of Huntingdon of various lands that had belonged to Sir James Audley, including specifically the manor of Staunton ' by Dunsterdene. ' * The Earl of Huntingdon was promoted to the dignity of Duke of Exeter in 1397, but joining in a conspiracy against Henry the Fourth, he was taken prisoner and beheaded in January 1400. Two months later, the Parliament declared his estates to be for feited. 8 Once more then the Crown was enabled to dispose of the lands acquired from Sir James Audley. Henry the Fourth, however, instead of bestowing them upon a relation or a favourite, determined to 1 Calendar of Patent Rolls,i 399-1 401, 138Q, p. 495. p. 275. 5 Rotuli Parliamentorum, vol. iii. p. 3 Ibid. 1385-1389, p. 332. 459. His son, restored to the Earldom, 3 Rotuli Parliamentorum, vol. iii. eventually got compensation for the p. 237. loss of Staunton. Calendar of Patent 1 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1385- Rolls, 1441-1446, p. 242. / 450 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiv. carry out the intention of his grandfather. With this object he issued letters patent granting to the Abbot and Convent of St. Mary Graces various manors, including that of Staunton. The pension assigned in lieu of them was of course withdrawn. x Staunton was again enumerated in a list of the possessions con firmed to the monks by Pope Boniface the Ninth in 1403. 2 When Sir John Cornwall and Elizabeth his wife, the King's sister, sought to recover a third of this and two other manors as definitely assigned to her in dower by her former husband, the Earl of Huntingdon, the Abbot pleaded as if all three belong ed to him and his convent. 3 Whether they ever got anything in compensation for Staunton does not appear. It is doubtful whether a certain William Gambon who died in 1392 was the person who had acquired the manor of Staunton. i If he was, we must sup pose him to have conveyed it to feoffees, or to have sold it outright, leaving the purchaser to take the risk of a lawsuit. In different years between 1403 and 1409, the tenants of the lands "late of William Gambon " paid 2s. to the bailiff of Sir Hugh Luttrell for respite of suit of court. 6 One list of the fees belonging to the Honour of Dunster at this period specifies John Wadham and William Fry as the tenants of a fee at Staunton. 6 In 141 o, and in every year from 141 3 to 1420, William Fry paid 2s. for respite of suit of court. 7 The earliest of the existing title- deeds of Staunton is a quit-claim by John son of William Gambon to William Fry and five others of ' Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1399- * Inq. post mortem, 17 Ric. II. no. 26. 1401, pp. 275, 284, 397. s D.CM. iv. 15. 2 Calendar of Papal Letters, vol. v. 6 D.C.M. iv. 18. P- 548- ' D.CM. iv. 15, 25. 3 Placita de Banco, 574. m. 116. ch. xiv. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 451 all his right in the manor, the water-mill, lands, tene ments, rents, services, wardships, marriages, reliefs and escheats pertaining thereto. The over-lord, Sir Hugh Luttrell, was a witness to this document in 141 6. An inquisition of the following year shows that a certain John Milward had been in actual possession for many years, presumably as an undertenant. 1 The court-rolls of the Barony of Dunster give Peter Fry as owner of Staunton from 1421 to 1427. In 1429, the tenants of lands there "late of Peter Fry " were required to do homage and fealty to Sir John Luttrell. 2 Two years later, a second Peter Fry, described as of Kingsbridge in the county of Devon, esquire, was in possession. 3 Although he paid yearly for respite of suit to the court of the Barony of Dunster, he did not do homage until October 1449. i A third Peter Fry paid 5/. by way of relief to the Yorkist lord of Dunster at the beginning of the reign of Edward the Fourth. 5 Dying some nineteen years later, he was succeeded by his son Robert, then about sixteen years of age. At the inquisition taken shortly afterwards, it was found that Staunton was held of the Earl of Huntingdon by knight's service and a yearly rent of 2s. 6 This Robert Fry did homage to Sir Hugh Luttrell in May 1500. 7 He died in March 1531. 8 William Fry, son and heir of Robert Fry, similarly did homage to Sir Andrew Luttrell in May 1532. 9 Some nine years later, he settled the manor of Staunton on his son William Fry the younger. 10 Bartholomew 1 Inq. post mortem, 4 Hen. V. no. 50, no. 41. and Exchequer transcript. 7 D.C.M. iv. 56. ' D.C.M iv. 30. 8 Inq. post mortem, C. II. 81 (312). 3 Feudal Aids, vol. iv. p. 430. 9 D.C.M. v. 14. 4 D.C.M. iv. 38. 10 Feet of Fines, Somerset, Hilary, s D.C.M. 1. 27. 32 Hen. VIIL • Inq. post mortem, 20 Edw, IV, 452 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiv. Fry seems to have done homage to Thomas Luttrell for a fee at Staunton, in April 1 559-1 He is describ ed as son of William Fry. 2 His wife's name was Elizabeth. 3 In 1593, Bartholomew Fry, gentleman, and Ferdi- nando Fry, his eldest son, conveyed to Richard Godbeare the whole manor of Staunton, with its appurtenances in the parishes of Dunster and Mine- head, subject to the rents and services due therefrom. 4 Four years later, Godbeare in turn conveyed it to Nicholas Downe, a merchant of Barnstaple, and the purchaser did homage to George Luttrell in No vember 1 60 1. 5 Nicholas Downe seems to have been succeeded by Richard Downe, who matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, in 161 5 and eventually proceeded to the degree of D.D. He became rector of Tawstock and of Marwood in Devonshire. Although the little manor of Staunton had for centuries had its own court baron, the tithingman had been required to attend the lawdays at Minehead. When Minehead received a royal charter of incorpor ation in 1559, and became a parliamentary borough, the householders at Staunton obtained the franchise as belonging to it. In a custumal of 1 647, there is the following curious entry : — " The custom is that the tithingman of Staunton every yeare upon Hocke Tuesday, beinge the third Tuesday after Easter, in the morninge before sunne risinge, doe bringe into this mannor [of Minehead] a greene boughe and set the same in the place within the said mannor where the lord's courts have been kept most usually, and, after he hath so done, he shall goe to the next tennant's house within the 1 D.CM. v. 29, 32. 15 Eliz. and Easter 26 Eliz. 2 Chancery Proceedings, Series 11, 4 Ibid. Mich. 35 and 36 Eliz. bundle 67, no. 20. 6 D.C.M. v. 50. 3 Feet of Fines, Somerset, Trinity ch. xiv. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 453 saide mannor and call them and say ' Arise, sleepers of Mynehead ' three times, ' and beare witness that the tithing man of Staunton hath done his duty '. And if he doe not the same, he shall forfeit 3s. \d. " 1 John Downe, son of Dr. Richard Downe, matri culated at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1665. In a list of the feodary rents due to the Honour of Dunster Castle in 1685, he is entered as liable for 2s. in respect of the manor of Staunton Fry. From him it passed to his brother Richard, at whose death in 1692, it was divided between his two sisters, Mary the wife of John Blake, and Anne the wife of Edward Carpenter. By a will dated in 1 7 1 8, Anne Carpenter bequeathed her moiety to her nephew John Blake, who also got his mother's moiety. On his death without issue in 1727, three quarters of the manor passed to his sister Joan the relict of Lewis Gregory, of Barnstaple, and her descendants eventually ob tained the other quarter which had passed to the children of her sister Elizabeth Lee. Her son, George Gregory, clerk, of Combe Martin in Devon shire, was succeeded by his son Lewis Gregory of Barnstaple, who, in December 1760, caused the manor of Staunton to be put up for sale by auction at Dunster. A purchaser was found in the person of Jonathan Hall, gentleman, who, however, did not long survive. By a will executed in 1764, this Jonathan Hall bequeathed his manor of Staunton, otherwise Staunton Fry, to his great-nephew Richard Hall Clarke, subject to the life interests of the father and the two uncles of the legatee. The old feodary rent of 2s. was duly paid in the following year. After clearing off all encumbrances 1 Hancock's Minehead, p. 211. 454 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xiv. on the Staunton estate, Richard Hall Clarke sold it outright to Henry Fownes Luttrell, in 1774, for 5,500/. Thus after many centuries it was reunited to the Dunster estate. It has been seen above that the householders in Staunton were as such electors for the parliamentary borough of Minehead. Although they were but few in number, the formality of a court baron was main tained there down to the year 1854, and perhaps even later. There are now no traces of a manor- house and it is clear that from a very early period the successive lords of Staunton were absentees. FRAGMENT OF ANCIENT GLASS, DUNSTER CHURCH. CHAPTER XV. The Manor of Alcombe. The history of Alcombe is singularly uneventful. Although a manor of very ancient origin, it has not had a resident lord since the Norman Conquest. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, it belonged to a certain Algar, whose estate there was assessed at one hide. Like many other places in the neighbour hood, it was granted by William the Conqueror to William de Mohun, and it was in his possession at the time of the Domesday Survey. The demesne then comprised three virgates, for the cultivation of which the lord had one plough and four serfs. The remaining virgate was in the hands of three villeins and four bordars, who had two ploughs. Mention is also made of eight acres of meadow and three furlongs of pasture. The live stock comprised a riding-horse, five beasts (animalia) and two hundred sheep. The yearly value of the estate was 20s., as in the previous reign. 1 Between the years 1090 and 1100, William de Mohun gave the whole of Alcombe unreservedly to the Benedictine monks of Bath, and so it became part of the endowment of their cell at Dunster. 2 A questionable document of later date sets out minutely the boundaries of the hide of land there belonging 1 Domesday Book. 3 See page 383 above. 456 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xv. to them. x From the end of the eleventh century to the middle of the sixteenth, the history of Alcombe is almost blank, the manorial court-rolls and accounts having alike disappeared. Two incidental notices show that there was a chapel there near ' le Lynch ' dedicated to St. Michael. 2 As part of the pre-Norman Hun dred of Minehead and Cutcombe, Alcombe was exempt from suit to the hundred court of Carhamp ton, but its tithing-man was required to appear at the half-yearly c law days ' at Minehead. 3 After the suppression of the monasteries by Henry the Eighth, John Luttrell, his agent, rendered a series of yearly accounts of the profits of the manor of Alcombe, divided under seven sub-heads. First came the rents of three freeholders, John Sydenham of Brympton being liable for icr in respect of land called Wyneard and Pytte, Nicholas Bratton of Bratton for Ss. in respect of land at Sparkhayes in Porlock, and the heirs of Bythemore for aj. in respect of land called Wilaller in Wythycombe ; there was, however, considerable difficulty in collecting these amounts. Secondly, there were the rents of ' customary tenants, ' or copyholders, of houses and cottages in Alcombe. Thirdly, there were rents from Budcombe (sic), Keynsham (sic), Cowbridge, Frackford and Marsh. Fourthly there were rents of ' conventionary tenants, ' or leaseholders, in Alcombe. Fifthly, there were rents from lands and tenements in Dunster. Sixthly, there were rents from land in Carhampton. Lastly, there were the proceeds of the manorial courts. 4 After remaining for some time in the possession of the Crown, the manor of Alcombe was, in 1561, 1 Two Chartularies of Bath, L. 845 ; 3 D. C M. xxvi. 4, 6, 8 ; xxvn. 10, 11 ; Dugdale's Monasticon vol. iv. p. 202. xxvm. 13, 15. 2 Two Chartularies of Bath, L. 940 ; * Ministers' Accounts, Hen. VIII. Calendar of Patent Rolls 1467-1477^.65. ch. xv. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 457 sold to Sir George Speke of Whitelackington, whose first wife was a daughter of Sir Andrew Luttrell of Dunster. x He died in March 1584, seised of it and of lands in and near Alcombe, which had formerly belonged to the Benedictine monks. 2 The same estate is mentioned in the inquisition taken after the death of his grandson, George Speke, fifty-six years later. 3 John Speke of Whitelackington is mentioned as one of the principal owners of land in Dunster in 1 7 1 6. 4 Courts are stated to have been held at Alcombe in the early part of the eighteenth century about once in three years, but without any sworn jury or homage. In or about 1722, Colonel Speke sold the whole of his estate at or near Alcombe in small sections. The ' royalty ' of the manor, with various small ' chief rents ' from freeholders, was then bought for about 20/. by Aldred Escott, whose family already owned property there. 5 In 1830, the manor belonged to the Rev. T. Sweet Escott of Hartrow, and it now belongs to his grandson, the Rev. W. Sweet Escott. 6 On the sale of the Speke estate, most of the tenants purchased their respective holdings, but in course of time many of these have been acquired by the Lutt rells of Dunster Castle. Until the disfranchisement of Minehead, the votes of the householders of Alcombe, which was within that parliamentary borough, were of some importance. In recent years, many new houses have been built at Alcombe, and there is now a chapel there served by the Vicar of Dunster and his curate. Several picturesque buildings of the sixteenth or seventeenth century remain. 'OriginaliaRoll^Eliz.partS,!^ 105. 5 Brown's Somersetshire Wills, vol. 2 Inq. post mortem, C II. 205 (198). iv. p. 102. 3 Inq. post mortem, C. II, 552 (126). ' Savage's History of the Hundred oj 1 D. C. B. Carhampton, pp. 449, 354. i CHAPTER XVI. Lower Marsh. The interesting old house now known as Lower Marsh stands near to the disused sea-port of Dunster and near to the modern railway-station. Although it is actually in the parish of Carhampton, its success ive owners have always been so closely connected with Dunster that a brief account of them will not be out of place here. Going back two full centuries before the erection of the existing house, we find in an ' extent ' of the year 1266 of the manor of Dunster, including that of Carhampton : — " Agnes of Marsh holds a ferling of land for sixteen capons to be rendered at Christmas and Easter, and she does suit likesthe said Gilbert (atte Cross), and she shall have in every year six cows and six calves in La Waterlete quit of herbage. " 1 In an undated rental which may be ascribed to the reign of Richard the Second, a certain John Ryvers is entered as rendering sixteen capons to the lady of the manor for his tenement at Marsh. 8 In 141 1, John Ryvers and Robert Ryvers were amerced 6d. apiece in the court of the borough of Dunster for a breach of the peace against Thomas Yarte. The stick of the former was found to be of no value 1 D.C.M. vm. 4. » D.CM. xviii. 4. ch.xvi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 459 and the dagger of the latter fetched aJ. when sold by the constables, probably to the owner himself. * John Ryvers was still living in 1421, when he was entered as paying 3J. \d. a year for pasture in the East Marsh, in addition to the sixteen capons for his freehold at Marsh. Being then woodward to Sir Hugh Luttrell, he had a house and twenty acres of land free from rent. 2 Robert Ryvers of Marsh mentioned above may confidently be identified with the person of that name who was successively bailiff of Dunster and steward of the household and receiver-general to Sir John Luttrell, and afterwards to Dame Margaret his relict. That he was a man of considerable means is clear from the fact that he could advance large sums of money to her, taking silver vases and cups in part payment.3 He died in April 1441, leaving as his co-heirs four young daughters. All his property, scattered in different parts of Dunster and Carhamp ton, had been conveyed to feoffees in the previous year, and it is not unlikely that most of it had been already sold. 4 John Loty ' the younger ' became a burgess of Dunster in 1440, and the former Ryvers estate was vested in him and his descendants for more than three centuries.6 He was constable of Dunster Castle in the later years of the reign of Henry the Sixth, and the trusted feoffee of Sir James Luttell in various legal transactions. 6 Dying in September 1462, he was succeeded by a son of the same name. 7 By the year 148 1 at latest, the ancient rent of sixteen 1 D.C.M. x. 3. s D.CM. xii. 2. 3 D.C.M. xvm. 7. 6 D.C.M. xviii. 14 ; Inq. post mortem, • D.C.M. 1. 17; xi. 3 ; xxxvn, 11, 12. 1 Edw. IV. no. 43. Seepage 117 above. 'D.C.M. xii. 4; Inq. post mortem ' Inq. post mortem, 19 Henry VI. 2 Edw. IV. no. 23. no. 31. 460 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xvi. capons had been commuted into a monetary payment of Ss. x John Loty the third seems, like his father, to have had some connexion with Dunster Castle. In 1487, Nicholas Bratton of Bratton, esquire, and others were charged with having broken the pound- fold of Hugh Luttrell, esquire, at Nether Marsh, and taken away twenty ewes, while certain other persons were charged with having, on the same day, lain in wait for John Loty at Nether Marsh with intent to murder him. 2 An undated rental of the later part of the fifteenth century shows John Loty to have been by far the largest proprietor of burgages at Marsh and in the main streets of Dunster, paying upwards of 14J. a year at Martinmas to the lord of the borough. 3 Another rental of the year 1496 shows him to have also owned various pieces of land at Carhampton. * We may fairly suppose that the Lotys, like the Ryvers before them, as agents of successive Luttrells, had opportunities of acquiring little pieces of land on their own account by purchase or by foreclosure of mortgages. The earlier portion of the house at Lower Marsh, including a little chapel over the porch, with three mullioned windows, two niches for statues and a carved wooden roof, may perhaps be ascribed to John Loty the third. He died in June 1499, leaving a widow Joan, who continued to occupy his free tenement then called ' Mershe Place. ' She is known to have been the relict of John Bratton of Bratton in the parish of Minehead, and a statement that she was a daughter of Richard Chichester of Arlington in Devonshire is confirmed by the fact that Richard Chichester was a party to the settlement made upon her by her second 1 D.C.M. xix. 4 ; xx. 38. 3 D.CM. xv. 5. 2 D.C.M. xxxi. 10. ' D.C.M. xix. 4 ; xx. 38. LOWER MARSH. THE ENTRANCE. ch. xvi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 461 husband. A bill which she filed in Chancery against her "unnatural" son, Robert Loty, shows that she had three daughters, Margaret, Elizabeth and Jane, whose interests she was anxious to protect. She lived to a considerable age and died in 1518. ] Robert Loty, son and heir of John, predeceased his mother. By a will dated and proved in 15 10, he gave directions that he should be buried in the church of Carhampton, but he also left money to the light of St. Leonard in the Priory Church of Dunster and to the lights of Our Lady and St. George in the parochial part of that building. 2 Joan his relict had a large and varied experience of matrimony. Soon after his death, she became the wife of Silvester Syden ham of North Petherton, who died in June 1525. 3 Thirdly, she was " mareyed and espousyd " to John Luttrell, brother of Sir Andrew Luttrell of Dunster Castle. This union was, however, dissolved by a sentence in the legatine court of Cardinal Wolsey. The grounds of the divorce are not known, though it is stated to have been granted " according to the lawys of the church. " The lady was a daughter of Thomas Flamank, one of the leaders of the Cornish rebellion of 1497, and not of kindred or affinity to the Luttrells. Perhaps there was some question of a precontract. At any rate she proceeded to marry a fourth husband, Peter Fauntleroy of Fauntleroy's Marsh in Dorset. According to bills filed in the Court of Star Chamber, John Luttrell subjected his former wife and her new husband to systematic persecution during a great part of the year 1 528. He and his men drove 1 Inq. post mortem, C II. 14 (139) ; 2 Somerset Medieval Wills, (ed. Wea- E. n, 158 (12); Early Chancery Proceed- ver) vol. ii, p. 142. ings, bundle 332, nos. 97, 98 ; Chadwick 3 Inq. post mortem, E. 11. 913 (9). Healey's History of part of WestSomer- * Star Chamber Proceedings, Hen. set, pp. 329, 331 ; D.C.M. xxvni. 19. VIIL 15, nos. 32-34 ; 24, no. 188. 462 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xvi. away three hundred of her sheep on one occasion and sixty on another. They killed her doves and pigeons. Entering the house called ' Foremarsh ' at different times, they carried off deeds, household goods and even wearing apparel. They also flooded the lower chambers by cutting the dykes in the neighbourhood. The tenants on the estate were incited to disregard the Fauntleroys, and people in general were requested to withhold the necessary supplies of meat and drink. In modern parlance, a ' boycott ' was proclaimed against them. Steps were also taken to deprive them of the consolations of religion. A certain William Horsman was sent to Dunster Church to break up the pew which Silvester Sydenham had made there by consent of the parishioners, and although the lady still had a domestic chaplain, John Luttrell prevented him from celebrating mass by carrying off the chalice. To these and other charges, partly fictitious, John Luttrell would not make any detailed reply. He took his stand on the common law of the realm as administered by the regular judges. It is, however, worthy of remark that he describes the complainants as " Peter Fauntleroy and Jane supposed to be wyeff onto the said Peter. " We may reasonably suppose that, in virtue of his marriage to the widow, he claimed the enjoyment of all the lands and rents that had been settled on Robert Loty and Joan his wife in April 15 10. Although the judgments of the court of Star Chamber are no longer extant, it seems clear that Joan Fauntleroy got the best of the controversy. She was entered as owing suit to the court of the Hundred of Carhampton in 1534, and to that of the borough of Dunster two years later. 1 At her death, the 1 D.C.M. xix. 6; xm. 3. ch. xvi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 463 whole of the property covered by the entail of 1 5 1 o passed to her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Poynes, or Poyntz, of Mettcombe in Devon, relict of Richard Poyntz, whose eldest son, Edward, married Margaret daughter of Amias Chichester of Arlington, a member of a well-known Roman Catholic family. 1 At the inquisition taken after the death of this Edward Poyntz in 1583, it was found that he held twenty- two burgages and two messuages in Dunster in free socage at a yearly rent of 1/. 2s. 2d. to George Luttrell, their actual value being twenty times as much. His messuage called ' Foremarsh,' with fifty acres adjoining, was found to be held of the manor of Carhampton at a fixed yearly rent of 15J. \d. also far below the value. 2 In accordance with directions contained in his will, Edward Poyntz was buried in the parish church of Dunster, apparently in the eastern part of the northern aisle of the nave. His epitaph was carved on a stone that had formerly been the slab of an altar. 3 Robert Poyntz, the eldest surviving son of Edward and Margaret, obtained from his cousin Ursula Syden ham a grange and land at Leigh in the parish of Old Cleeve and went to live there. By a will dated and proved in 1 6 1 1 , he directed that his body should be buried in the church of Old Cleeve, though he also left money for the maintenance of the chapel at Leigh. He bequeathed his ' manor ' of Foremarsh and other lands in Dunster and Carhampton to his eldest son Giles. 4 1 Chancery Proceedings, Series n, 3 Savage's History of the Hundred oj bundle 89, no. 43 ; Brown's Somersetshire Carhampton, p. 41 1 ; Hancock's Dunster Wills, vol. vi, p. 32. Church and Priory, p. 82 ; Brown's 2 Inq. post mortem, C II. 203 (5). Somersetshire Wills, vol. vi, p. 32. The rent of 15s. 4d. was composed of a * Ibid. p. 34; Inq. post mortem, C 11. ' high rent ' of 12s and 35. qd. for 324 (144). common at the Marsh. D.C.M. m. 12. 464 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xvi. This Giles Poyntz was admitted a student of the Inner Temple in 1619. Some twelve years later, he paid 30/. to the Crown for relief from the burden of knighthood. 1 He was afterwards proscribed by the authorities of the Commonwealth as a Papist and a Delinquent, and his estates were " forfeited for trea son. " Although his then wife Agnes was allowed to retain a fifth part of them, his own petition for leave to compound was rejected, and his lands at Leigh, Dunster and Carhampton were, in 1653, sold to Thomas Wharton of Gray's Inn. The farm called Lower Marsh was at that time rented by Nicholas Blake of Dunster.2 In the same year Giles Poyntz married a second wife, Prudence, daughter of George Rowe of Staverton. 3 By a will made after the Restoration, he bequeathed 20J. apiece to his Catholic servants, and 200/. to be paid in a manner known by his wife, meaning presumably for the maintenance of a priest at Leigh. * Clement Poyntz, who succeeded on the death of his father Giles in 1660, died without issue in 1685, having bequeathed all his lands to his mother Pru dence. The heir-at-law, however, Giles Poyntz of Arlington, son of Edward, son of John, a younger son of Edward Poyntz of Dunster mentioned above, seems to have questioned the validity of the will. The widow therefore took it up to London. When she arrived, the town was in a turmoil on account of the flight of James the Second. Fearing therefore that her precious documents would not be safe at her lodgings in Drury Lane, she deposited them in the 1 Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries, 3 Vivian's Visitations of Devon, vol. iv, p. 118. p. 660. 2 Calendar of Committee for Com- * Brown's Somersetshire Wills, vol. pounding, p. 3010 ; S. P. Dom. Inter- vi, p. 36. regnum, G. 167. f. 1. ch. xvi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 465 house of the Spanish Ambassador in Wild Street, close by. She could hardly have chosen a worse place. " The wrabble, being very tumultuous, " broke into the Embassy and " ryfHed it, " scattering the contents of her trunk " up and down the streets. " Some she managed to recover, and the will was eventually up held.1 By her own will made in 1 69 1 , she bequeathed her property at Leigh, her manor and lordship of Dunster and Carhampton, and her burgage tenements at Dunster to Robert Rowe of Kingston in the parish of Staverton in Devonshire, who seems to have been her nephew. According to one account, she had made arrangements for the maintenance of a Bene dictine chaplain at Leighland who was to have his diet free, a horse, and a salary of 7/. However this may be, her will contained a provision that, notwith standing the unkindness shown to her by Giles Poyntz of Bachet in Arlington, and in consideration of his relationship to her late husband, he should be allowed to have her lands on payment of 600/. to Robert Rowe, her principal legatee.2 Giles Poyntz did not take full advantage of the option thus given to him, but, by some amicable agreement with Rowe, he obtained the property at Dunster and Carhampton, thenceforward quite sepa rate from the property at Leighland and Leigh Barton. In a will executed in 17 14, he describes himself as " of Yarnscombe " in the county of Devon, and he was buried there in the following year. His manor, " or reputed manor, " of Foremarsh was by this will put into the hands of trustees, but his relict, Anne, got the barton of Marsh, that is to say Lower Marsh, and some land around it, for her life, in lieu 1 Chancery Proceedings, Reynardson 2 Brown's Somersetshire Wills, vol. 421, no. 120 ; 425, no. 161. vi, p. 38. 466 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. ch. xvi. of dower, with 5/. a year out of " conventionary and other rents of the said manor. " l In the early part of the reign of George the First, this Anne Poyntz was registered as one of the Roman Catholic landowners in Somerset. * There is nothing to show whether she ever kept a priest at Lower Marsh, to minister in the little chapel over the porch. It is more likely that a priest came over occasionally from Leighland, where there was usually a Benedictine or a Jesuit in residence until the early part of the nineteenth century. 3 A cursory glance at a Poyntz pedigree, showing three Prudences, three Temperan ces, and a Christian, might suggest that the family had a leaning towards Puritanism, if intermarriages with Chichester and Rowe did not show it to have been Catholic. Several members of it are recorded to have been buried at Arlington " without a priest," that is to say " unattended by a lawful presbyter of the Church of England. " 4 Giles Poyntz, the eldest son of Giles and Anne mentioned above, was buried at Dunster in May 173 1, when most of the property passed under an entail to his brother John. Anne, their mother died three years later. When Henry Fownes Luttrell was making the Park at Dunster, he might have been put to some inconvenience if John Poyntz had refused to part with a little piece of land near Hensty . By this time the family had apparently ceased to reside in West Somerset. John Poyntz was a member of Gray's Inn ; one of his unmarried sisters lived at Weston in Buckinghamshire, and another at Arling- 1 P.CC Fagg. f. 163. 3 Oliver's Collections, pp. 62, 181, 182, 2 Oliver's Collections illustrating the 229, 239, 242, 263, 312, 334, 341, 356, history of the Catholic Religion, p. 172. 401, 415, 432. Cosin's Names of Roman Catholics, * Ibid. p. 387. Nonjurors, &c. (1862) p. 100. ch. xvi. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 467 ton. 1 All their houses and lands in Dunster and Carhampton were let, mostly for lives. Some five years later, in 1760, they agreed to sell them outright to Henry Fownes Luttrell for the very low sum of 2400/. 2 The fine levied for this purpose enumerates 18 messuages, 25 cottages, 40 gardens, 20 orchards, 150 acres of arable land, 30 of meadow, 80 of pasture, 10 of wood, 100 of furze and heath, 20 of moor, and common of pasture for all manner of cattle in Dunster Marsh, East Marsh, Lutts (Loty's) Marsh, Colebor- row, Croydon, Townswood, Holly Hill, etc. together with the ' manor ' of Foremarsh. More precise particulars are given in the 'recovery.' The farm at Lower Marsh alone yielded 49/. a year and, the property comprised houses in High Street, New Street, St. George's Street, West Street and Gallock- street, and many isolated pieces of land adjacent to others belonging to the Luttrell estate.3 From every point of view the transaction was very advantageous to the purchaser and his successors. Of course they lost the ancient ' chief rent ' of 1 2s. and the burgage rents of il. 2s. 2d. due from Poyntz and his prede cessors. 1 In an elaborate but not too accurate 1732 under the name of Beaumont. Memoir of the Family of Poyntz (p. 278), 2 Feet of Fines, Somerset, Easter 33 Sir John Maclean has confounded John Geo. II. Poyntz of Gray's Inn, the vendor of s Recovery Rolls, Hilary 33 Geo. II. Foremarsh, with his namesake and m. 95 ; Trinity 33-34 Geo. II. m. 50. contemporary, who became a Jesuit in ELIZABETHAN CHALICE AND PATEN, DUNSTER CHURCH. APPENDIX A. The Mohuns of Ham Mohun in Dorset. Among the estates granted by the Conqueror to William de Mohun was one at Ham in Dorset, which in course of time came to be known as Ham Mohun, since corrupted into Hammbon. 1 William de Mohun the Fourth of Dunster appears to have granted it to his brother Geoffrey, to be held of the Honour of Dunster on the usual conditions of mili tary service. Geoffrey, however, got into trouble in the reign of Richard the First through adhering to the King's brother, John, Count of Mortain, and his lands were for feited. For more than four years from 1 193, the King's ministers gathered the profits of the manor of Ham, usually reckoned at 7/. 2 In the summer of 1 198, John de Mohun, a brother of Geoffrey, succeeded in obtaining possession of Ham, on promising to pay 30/. to the Crown, a sum six times as large as that which was ordinarily exacted by way of relief on succession to one knight's fee. 3 Furthermore, in 1201, he undertook to pay 20 marks for seisin of land at Brinkley, in Cambridgeshire, which had been given to him by his brother William, but afterwards taken into the King's hand.* The accounts for scutage in that year show that he held two fees, one doubtless at Brinkley and the other at Ham. s Some seven years later, his rights at both these places were chal lenged by his nephew, Reynold de Mohun, who had suc ceeded to the Dunster estate after a long minority. There 1 The pedigree of this family given * Rotuli de Oblatis, p. 136 ; Rotulus in Hutchins's History of Dorset is a tissue Cancellarii, p. 142. of errors. i Rotuli de Oblatis, p. 170 ; Rotulus 2 Pipe Rolls. Cancellarii, p. 143. 8 Ibid. ; Rotulus Cancellarii, p. 204. 470 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. app. a. were two separate suits between them. In one, Reynold claimed that Ham ought to belong to him in demesne, possibly on the ground that the King's grant of it to John had ceased to be valid when he came of age, while John maintained that Reynold was merely the overlord, as owner of the Honour of Dunster. 1 The other suit seems to have turned upon a question whether John had ever received actual seisin of the land at Brinkley. In this case the court decided that Godeheut de Mohun, John's mother, had died seised of it in fee and that Reynold was her heir. 2 Event ually, an arrangement seems to have been made that John de Mohun should hold Ham and Brinkley alike under the lord of Dunster. This Sir John de Mohun was deprived of his lands in Dorset for siding with the barons against King John, but they were restored to him in 1 2 1 7, when he made his peace with the government of Henry the Third. 3 He died in 1 22 1. * On his death-bed he had given instructions that he should be buried at Salisbury, in the cathedral church of the diocese in which he usually lived, but as the corpse rested for a night in the church of Bruton, the Prior and Convent of that place took upon themselves to inter it there among the bodies of his ancestors and cousins. They thereby incurred the wrath of the Bishop and the Chapter of Salisbury, and they eventually had to make public apology, undertaking to hand over the corpse or such part of it as might be claimed. 5 William de Mohun, son and heir of John, arranged, in 1222, to pay 12 marks to the Crown by way of relief on succession to lands which are described as held in chief, but which were more probably in the hands of the King as guardian of the heir of the overlord, Reynold de Mohun of Dunster. 8 Under the name of ' William de Moun of Hamme', he, in 1252, obtained licence to hunt the hare, the ' Curia Regis Roll, no. 48, mm, 6, n ; (R. S.), pp. 225, 226. If the transcript is no. 50, mm. 6, 8, 11. correct, the date of the apology is • Ibid. no. 47, m. 3 ; no. 48, m.Jd. between 1228 and 1235. The editor has ' Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum, vol. erroneously identified " J. de Mayna " i. pp. 300, 303. with Reynold de Mohun's son John, lExcerpta e Rotulis Finium, vol. i. who was living in 1254. P'77- 6 Excerpta e Rotulis Finium, vol, i. 5 Sarum Charters and Documents p. 79. app. a. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 471 fox, and the cat in the forests of Dorset, and exemption from service on juries and the like. 1 He occurs in connex ion with Brinkley in 1234, and, in 1253, he received a royal charter for a market and fair at that place. 2 He is describ ed as a knight in 1255.3 He was still living in 1261, when the day of the market was altered from Wednesday to Tuesday, at the instance of the King's daughter Beatrice. 4 Sir William de Mohun was the last of the family to hold the estate in Cambridgeshire together with that in Dorset. In 1285, it was found that Andrew de Mohun held a knight's fee at Brinkley, and John de Mohun a knight's fee at Ham, under John de Mohun of Dunster, recently deceased. 8 Andrew de Mohun of Brinkley made a settle ment on his wife Maud in 1301. 6 A later Andrew occurs in connexion with Cambridgeshire in 1353. 7 Brinkley had long ere this ceased to be reckoned as one of the fees held of the Honour of Dunster. Nicholas Mohun occurs as parson of the church of Ham Mohun in 1297. 8 After the time of William de Mohun, the manor of Ham Mohun was held of the Honour of Dunster, by service of one knight's fee, by a series of Mohuns named John. The second of these Johns de Mohun died early in 1 331, leaving a son and heir of the same name aged twenty-three. 9 This John de Mohun, the third, did homage to the King for the manor of Ham Mohun, the lord of Dunster being a minor and a ward of the Crown. 10 He married firstly Matthia daughter of Sir William Stokes, but had no issue by her. They were both living in 1344. His second wife Hawis survived him and afterwards married Walter Perle. u John de Mohun the fourth, son of John and Hawis, left a son of the same name, who died in 1407. His relict, Sibyl, soon took another husband, John Harryes. 12 As the 1 Patent Roll, 36 Hen. Ill, m. 4. ' Close Roll, 27 Edw. III. m. 19^. 2 Close Roll, 18 Hen. III. m. I7d., * Patent Roll, 25 Edw. I. m. 13d. Patent Roll, 37-38 Hen. Ill, m. II. 9 Inq. post mortem, C. Edw. III. file • Patent Roll, 39 Hen. III. part 2. 29, no. 6. m. 13d. 10 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1 330-1 333, 4 Charter Roll, 45 Hen. III. m. 1. p. 448. * Inq. post mortem, C. Edw. I. file " Originalia Roll, 27 Edw. Ill ; Feet 43 (6). of Fines, Dorset, Easter 42 Edw. III. 6 Feet ot Fines, Cambridge, 29 I2 Assize Roll, no. 1519, mm. 26, 27,31. Edw. I. 472 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. app. a. heir, John de Mohun the sixth, was only three years of age, he became a ward of his overlord, Sir Hugh Luttrell of Dunster. The nett income of the manor of Ham Mohun was at this time valued at 8/, and, in February 1409, Sir Hugh Luttrell granted two thirds of the manor to Thomas Hody, to be held during the nonage of the heir at a yearly rent of 8 marks. * John Mohun the sixth and last was for some years High Steward of the borough of Dorchester. 8 He died in May 1479, seised of the manor of Whitchurch in Hampshire, and the manors of Holcombe, Godmanston, Ham Mohun, Fifehead Quyntyn, Child Okeford, Wolveton, Upwey (Wey Bayhous), and Combe Deverell and various lands in Dorset. He was succeeded by his grandson, John Trenchard, aged over twenty-six, son of his daughter Christine. 3 The Mohuns of Fleet in Dorset. A branch of the Mohun family was seated for six gener ations at Fleet near Weymouth. It might be supposed to have sprung from the Mohuns of Ham Mohun in the same county, if the arms which it bore were not more similar to those of the Mohuns of Dunster. A pedigree compiled in 1606 by William Dethick, Garter King of Arms, but not registered at the Heralds' College, appears to be the author ity for deducing its origin from Sir Robert Mohun of Porlock, the second son of Sir John Mohun of Dunster who died in 1330. * This Sir Robert is stated to have been the great-great-grandfather of John Mohun of Ottery in Devon, father of Richard Mohun, father of Robert Mohun with whom the official pedigree begins. 5 1 D.C.M. iv. 15, 16, 22. <¦ Genealogical details in this section 2 Municipal Records of Dorchester, not authenticated by specific references pp. 291, 296, 298, 442. are based upon the Heralds' Visitation 1 Inq. post mortem. 19 Edw. IV. of Dorset, 1620, and the account of no. 51 ; Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1467- Fleet given in Hutchins's History of 1477, p. 293. Dorset, vol. ii. pp. 741-749. * See page 40 above. app. a. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 473 Robert Mohun of Baunton died on the 14th of November 1580, seised of the manors of Loders Maltravers, Manger- ton, and Fleet, the advowson of Fleet, the rectory of East Chaldon, and other property in the neighbourhood. * A brass in the church of Fleet represents him in armour, but without a helmet, kneeling at a desk, with nine sons kneeling behind, and his wife with eight daughters similarly kneeling opposite. 2 The inscription runs : — " Hicjacet Margarita uxor quondam castissima viri dignis- simi Roberti Mohun alias Moun de Bothenhampton in comitatu Dorcestrensi armigeri, qua quidem Margarita frit filia et coheres Stephani Hyde de Hyde in eodem etiam comitatu armigeri. Hac 17 liberorum fieticissima frit parens. Vixit annos circiter 90, ac in Domino requiescit. Obiit primo die Decembris anno regni serenissimi Jacobi Anglorum regis 1° ac Scotia 36°, salutis 1603. " Although there were no less than seventeen children, the names of only three are known : — Robert, heir to his father. Maximilian, heir to his brother. John, matriculated at St. Alban Hall, Oxford, in 1586, and was admitted a student of the Middle Temple in 1 59 1. His daughter Anne died in 1600. Robert Mohun, son and heir of Robert and Margaret, matriculated at St. Alban Hall in 1577, being then nineteen years of age. He afterwards married Meliora daughter of ... Pitt of Blandford, and by her had issue three daughters : — Meliora, born in 1587, married to ... Daccomb. Margaret, born in 1588, married to ... Hele. Anne, born in 1594, married to ... Hele. Robert Mohun the second died in 1598, when the entailed estates passed to his brother. 3 Maximilian Mohun matriculated at St. Alban Hall in 1 58 1, being then sixteen years of age. He afterwards became a student at the Middle Temple. He married, on the 4th of October 1593, Anne daughter and coheiress of 1 Inq. post mortem. C. II. 193 (45). West, p. 330. 2 An engraving of this brass is given 3 Inq. post mortem, C. II. 252 (35). in Hamilton Rogers's Memorials of the 474 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. app. a. John Churchill of Corston. ' They and their five sons and eight daughters are represented on a brass at Fleet bearing the following inscription : — " Hie jacet Maximilianus Mohun armiger, filius Roberti Mohun alias Moun de Bothenhampton in comitatu Dorces- trensi, qui quidem Maximilianus una cum uxore castissima Annafilia et coharede Johannis Churchill de Corston generosi tredecim liberorum fcelicissimus frit parens. Vixit annos circiter 48 ac, vita bene beateque peracta, in Domino requi- escit. Obiit xiii". die Octobris anno regni serenissimi Jacobi Anglorum regis x°. ac Scotia xlv" anno salutis 1612."2 The names of twelve of the children are known : — Maximilian, heir to his father. Churchill, matriculated at Oxford in April 16 13, with his elder brother. He died without issue. Robert, of Buckham near Beaminster, a Major in the Royalist army. 3 He was taken prisoner near Bridge- water, and afterwards compounded for his estate.4 In 1634, he married Elizabeth daughter of John Hillary of Meerhay. John, born in 1605. George, born in 1607. Mary, born in 1595, married in 16 10 to Cornelius Weston of Colyton in Devon. s Elizabeth, married to John Gollop. 8 Anne. Margaret, born in j6o6. Eleanor. Thomasine, born in 16 10. Catherine, born in 1612. Maximilian Mohun the second was born in November 1596, and matriculated at Oxford in April 1613. In 1631, he paid 10/. for exemption from the duty of taking knight hood. 7 By reason of his adherence to the King in the 1 Hutchins's History of Dorset, vol. ii. * Calendar of Committee for Com- p. 45- pounding, p. 1684. 2 This brass is engraved in Rogers's s Vivian's Visitations of Devon,p.7%o. Memorials of the West. The date of 6 Hutchins's History of Dorset, vol. ii. the death is placed ten days later in the p. 113. inquisition. (C. II. 330, no. 94.) 7 Somerset and Dorset Notes and ' Minute-books of Dorset Standing Queries, vol. iv. p. 18. Committee, p. 366. app.a. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 475 Civil War, his estate was sequestered for about seven years, during part of which he was in prison at Weymouth. He was eventually allowed to compound for 1 540/. 1 %s. \d. ! He died in 1673. By Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Francis Chaldecot of Whiteway, he had issue ten children, the names of six of whom are known : — Maximilian, baptized at his mother's old home at Steple in March 1622. He was living in 1651, but he predeceased his father. Francis, heir to his father. Robert, a Captain in the Royal Navy. He died in 1667. William, who obtained a small property at Portishead in Somerset, and married Mary daughter of Richard Morgan of that place. He died on the 23rd of March 168 1. His wife survived until the 25th of July 1692. Their only son, Maximilian, seems to have died young, as their property passed to Eliza beth their daughter, who married Sir Edward Fust, bart. 8 Edith, who died in 1672. Elizabeth, who married Robert Yardly. Francis Mohun was born about 1628. He was one of the principal men in Dorset who refused to support the repeal of the penal laws in 1688. 3 A monument to him at Fleet is more commendable for its brevity than for its Latinity : — " Vir dignissimus, Franciscus Mohun armiger, filius Maxi- miliani qui frit filius Maximiliani Mohun, obiit 25 Feb. I7ii-i2m0, anno atatis sua 840. Prisca fides, cultusque Dei, patriaque mentis Fidus amor promavum excoluere virum. " Eleanor his wife, daughter of Ralph Sheldon of Stanton in Derbyshire, and niece of Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, survived until 1722. She bore him three children : — 1 Calendar of Committee for Com- History of Somerset, vol. iii. p. 145. pounding, p. 1633. 3 Somerset and Dorset Notes and 3 Brown's Somersetshire Wills, vol. Queries, vol. v. p. 53. ii. p. 15 ; vol. v. pp. 95, 98 ; Collinson's 476 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. app. a. Gilbert Maximilian, heir to his father. Catherine, born in 1688, married in 1702 to Sir Edward Fust, bart. Elizabeth, born in 1671, married in 1698 to Robert Broadrepp of Mapperton. She died in 1708. * Gilbert Maximilian Mohun was born in 1675. He married firstly, in 1696, Elizabeth daughter of... Squibb, and by her had issue two children : — Gilbert Maximilian, who died young. Elizabeth, born in 1700, married in 1720 to Thomas Lyte of Lytescary in Somerset. 2 Their descendants are the representatives of the Mohuns of Fleet. After the death of his first wife in 1701, he married Sarah daughter of Thomas Cooper of Sherborne. He died in 1721 ; she died in 1735. By this second marriage there were four sons and two daughters. Gilbert Maximilian Mohun the second is stated to have been born in 1706. When, however, he matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, in 1726, he was entered as sixteen years of age. He married Dorothy daughter of Roger Thompson and relict of Sir Edward Fust, bart. She died in 1734. He died without issue in 1739, wnen the estate passed to his brother Francis, an intermediate brother, Thomas, having died in 1727. Francis Mohun was born in 17 13. He was third Lieutenant on the Victory in October 1744, when the ship was lost, and the estate passed to Robert, the youngest of the four brothers. 3 Robert Mohun, the last male member of this branch of the Mohun family, was born in 171 5. He died unmarried in 1758, and the remains of the property were then divided between his two sisters. His father's eldest daughter, Elizabeth Lyte, being only his half-sister, was not accounted one of the coheirs. Fleet went to his sister Sarah, the wife of Thomas Farwell and afterwards of John Gould of Upway. 1 Hutchins's History of Dorset, vol. ii. iv. p. 117 ; Proceedings of the Somerset P- 159- Archaeological Society, vol. xxxviii. p. 81. 2 Brown's Somersetshire Wills, vol. 3 Admiralty List Book 24. app. a. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 477 She died without issue in August 1774, aged 63. 1 In the absence of any effectual entail, her share eventually passed to a son of her second husband by a former wife, not descended from the Mohuns. Judith, the youngest child of Gilbert Maximilian Mohun the first, married firstly Edward Tizard and secondly Henry Worral. Surviving them, she died in December 1788, aged 71. 2 The Mohuns of Hall and Boconnoc in Cornwall. 3 Sir Reynold de Mohun, a younger son of Sir John de Mohun of Dunster, the third of that name, by Ada Tibetot his wife, seems to have been born at the end of the thir teenth century or the beginning of the fourteenth. The earliest notice of him is in 1323, when he received royal pardon for his share in the rebellion of the Earl of Lan caster and Roger Mortimer. * In the two following years he was in Guienne on the King's service. 6 He went abroad again in 1344, in the company of Henry of Lancaster, Earl of Derby. 6 From his father he received the manor of Ugborough in Devonshire, but only for the term of his life. 7 There is a story of very doubtful origin that Sir Reynold de Mohun, coming into Fowey harbour with soldiers bound for Ireland, let fly a hawk at some game which came down in the garden at Hall, and that he thus first met the daughter of the owner, Elizabeth Fitzwilliam, whom he afterwards made his wife. 8 The circumstances connected with their marriage are so singular as to justify an attempt 1 Hutchins's History of Dorset, vol. i. 1327^.63. p. 345. s Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1324-1327, 3 Ibid. p. 344. pp. 12, 178 ; Calendar of Close Rolls 3 Genealogical details in this section 1323-1327, p. 376. not authenticated by specific references 6 Rymer's Fcedera, vol. iii. p. 11. are based upon Vivian's Visitations of 7 Feet of Fines, Devon, 21 Edw. III. Cornwall. 8 Gilbert's History of Cornwall, vol. * Calendar of Patent Rolls,i 321-1 324, ii. p. 410. p 351 ; Calendar of Close Rolls, 1323- 478 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. app. a. to unravel a very complicated story out of legal and episcopal records of the time. In the first place it is clear that Elizabeth Fitzwilliam was a considerable heiress, and that Sir John Daunay, a powerful neighbour, had designs upon her property. In July 1333, the Bishop of the diocese directed Master Richard of Wideslade, Treasurer of Exeter, and Master John of Stoke, Canon of Glasney, to proceed with a suit, partly heard, for a divorce between Dame Elizabeth " of Boden- neke " and Sir Reynold de Mohun. The lady so styled was certainly Elizabeth Fitzwilliam, but it is not clear whether she herself took any active part in the business. When her husband obtained a royal writ of supersedeas against Stoke, Wideslade was ordered to proceed alone if necessary. In the following January, however, a fresh commission was issued to Henry Bloyou, Canon of Exeter, and Bartholomew de Castro, rector of St. Ives. The former, it may be observed, had recently been rector of Cornwood, a living in the gift of Sir John Daunay. Under his in fluence perhaps, these two churchmen pronounced a decree of divorce, on the canonical ground that the lady had been previously contracted to Thomas de Mohun, a brother of Reynold. 1 From them the husband appealed to the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, whence a further appeal was carried to the Roman Court. The Bishop of Bath and Wells and the Abbot of Glastonbury, being appointed the papal delegates in the case, referred it to the Abbots of Buckland and Tavistock, who eventually re-affirmed the original decree of divorce. At this stage of the proceedings, the lady seems to have fallen into the power of Sir John Daunay, who is stated to have ' eloigned ' her from Mohun. He seems further more to have got her married to a certain Henry Deneys. According to Daunay, Mohun quit-claimed to him all his right in Arworthal and several other Cornish manors, in February 1336, and Elizabeth " daughter of Sir John Fitzwilliam " did the like seven months later. His state ments as to this were, however, flatly contradicted. There is clear evidence that, in May 1337, a fine was levied in the 1 The chronicler of Newenham Ab- genealogy of the Mohuns. Archceolog- bey does not give any Thomas in his ical Journal, vol. xxxvii. p. 89. app. a. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 479 King's court, by which Bodennek and another manor were settled on Henry Deneys and Elizabeth his wife, for the term of her life only, with remainder to Sir John Daunay. It may be presumed that, after this, Mohun made a successful appeal to the Pope, for, in February 1346, he and Elizabeth his wife, now re-united to him, brought a suit against Daunay, Deneys and others, to recover lands of her inheritance of which they had been deprived. At the trial, Deneys, although living, did not put in an appearance, but the proceedings were stopped by the death of the prin cipal defendant. The Mohuns had therefore to bring a fresh suit against Lady Daunay and others. Eventually they recovered enormous damages from two parsons who had been the accomplices or tools of Sir John Daunay. 1 Half a century later, Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, as grandson and heir of Sir John Daunay, made an attempt to wrest from the Mohun family the property of which the reversion had been settled on him by the fine of 1337. 2 Sir Reynold de Mohun was succeeded by a son named John, who is stated by the Heralds to have married Joan St. Aubyn. Legal proceedings of the year 1397 show that he left a widow named Isabel who married Sir Henry Ivelcombe, and a son named Thomas, who was then under age. 3 This Thomas Mohun was in possession of some of the Fitzwilliam inheritance in 1428. 4 In the church of Lanteglos by Fowey there is a low altar-tomb under an obtuse arch, with the effigy in brass of a man in plate-armour and the following inscription : — "%\c jdeent £0otM0 be (gtoflutt <*c 3°^nne0 pater ejus fifiue et 0ere* QReginaf bi be Ottoman mifitis et <£fi;a6et0e urorie mt, fifie et flerebia 2fo04nntB ittswiffiam mime, qui [ciuibtm (geginafbuB fuit] aecunbuB fatter Sfcfcnftis uftitnt ©omini be QJtoflutw St prebictua tfyomte oBiit... bk mensis... anno ©otntni 1 Register of Bishop Grandison, pp.72, Assize Roll, 1434, m. 3 ; Feudal Aids, 410, 701, 721, 727, 1309 ; Placita de vol. 1. pp. 214, 215, 218. Banco, 346, m. 193 ; Year Books, 20 2 Placita de Banco, 545, m. 332. Edw. III. part. 1. pp. 270-289 ; Feet of 3 Ibid. Fines, Cornwall, 10 Edw. Ill; Inq. * Feudal Aids,vo\.i. pp.223, 229-231, post mortem, 20 Edw. III. no. 33 ; 236. 480 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. app. a. mtfktiimo CCCC... Quorum animaBuB propictetur Idem. Qmtn. " The feet of the figures rest upon a lion, beneath which there is the following verse : — " Q()ert)tbeant etmcti etc tvAntiit gfortd muvtoi ". The brass must have been executed during the lifetime of Thomas Mohun, whose relations did not take the trouble to supply the exact date of his death in the middle of the fifteenth century. With regard to the inscription, it should be observed that Sir Reynold de Mohun was not the brother, but the uncle, of the last Mohun of Dunster, and that, according to the contemporary chronicler at Newenham, he was the fourth son, not the second. Thomas Mohun, the subject of the brass, is stated by the Heralds to have married Elizabeth daughter and heiress of Richard Hayre, whose surname in this form is probably a phonetic rendering of Eyr. 1 William Mohun, son and heir of Thomas, is stated by the Heralds to have married Joan Cavell. Some legal proceedings taken by him, in 1442, against the relict and the heir of Nicholas Cavell of Bokelly are not inconsistent with a theory that his wife was a daughter of this Nicholas. 2 William Mohun the second, stated to have been son of William and Joan, married Isabel daughter of Sir Hugh Courtenay of Boconnoc, eventually one of the coheiresses of her brother, Edward, Earl of Devon. 3 They left issue John and Thomas. 1 Richard Eyr of Trewelesik is men- * Maclean's History of Trigg Minor, tioned in a fine of 1370 ; Sir William vol. ii. p. 159. Mohun held land there in 1588. 3 Inq. post mortem, C II. 113 (4; 261). app. a. A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. 481 John Mohun, son of William and Isabel, married Anne daughter of Richard Coode of Morval. They both died of the sweating sickness in September 1508. In the church of Lanteglos there is a brass showing the effigies of John Mohun in armour, but without a helmet, Anne his wife, their five sons and their four daughters. It bears the fol lowing inscription : — %\t iacent tumufata corpora 2fo0anniB (JJtoflun armigeri et @tnne uroriB ejuB ftfie Q^icarbi Cobe armigeri et qui <\uibtm JfoflanneB fuit fifius et #erea Wiffefmi (gto^un armigeri ac ;f forencie uroria t\w uniuB Bororum (Bbwarbi Courtneg ComiiiB ©evonie et <\ui quibem Jfo^anneB et Qwxk o^ittunt metuse §bfyttmbvifi 482 A HISTORY OF DUNSTER. app. a. infra viQinti quatuor floras er injtrmitate vocata J&ubore, anno ©omini mbvii1}, quorum ^ximtescaryin Charlton Makerel, 502, 55o- Lythe (Scotland). See Leith. M Macclesfield (Chester), manor and hundred, 54. Macclesfield, Earl of, 263, 493. Maddock, Samuel and Isabella, and Anne their daughter, 227, 487. Madras. See Pitt. Magor (Monmouth), 33. Maine, Alexander and Joan, 496. Mainwaring, Charlotte daughter of James, 493. Roger, Bishop of St. Davids, 180. Maisons (Normandy), 16. Malet, Sir Baldwin, 72,86, in. Baldwin, 206. Dame Joan, in, 116. Sir John, in. Richard and Elizabeth, 141. Thomas and Elizabeth, 127, 129. Mandeville Geoffrey de, 29. Robert de, 70. William de, Earl of Essex, 29, 30. family, 70. Mangerton (Dorset), 472. Mantelpieces, 333, 358. Mapledurham (Sussex). See Shelley Mapowder, Catherine daughter of Narcissus, 521. Mapperton (Dorset), 171, 530. See also Broadrepp ; Morgan. March, Countess of, 80. Mariansleigh (Devon), 20. Maritz,Helena daughter of Stephanus, 270. Mark, Philip, 61. Markham, John, judge, 86. Marlborough (Wilts), 535. Marlborough, Duke of, 375, 376, 492. Marmion family, 2. Marriage, 117, 135, 167, 168. See also Divorce. Marsh in Dunster and Carhampton, 96, 97, 172, 229, 269, 282, 283, 332, 347, 418, 456, 467- bridge, 329, 348. court and grange, 316. 584 INDEX Marsh, contd. East, 459, 467. Higher, 329. Lower, 460, 464-467. Place, 329, 460. Street, 329. See also Fauntleroy; Loty; Ryvers; Poyntz ; Stewkley. Marsh, Agnes of, 458. John, 238. Marshals, Earls of Pembroke, 32. Marshwaterlete in Carhampton, 317. Marshwood in Carhampton, 41, 48, 98, no, 117, 170, 175, 179, 185, 186, 202, 203, 332, 333, 342, 345, 346, 5H, 550- Park, 125, 160, 202, 313, 324, 343, 344, 388, 392- Marshwood, Wymarca of, 314. Martin, Samuel, 240. Edmund and Jouette, 446. Eleanor and Joan daughters of William, 446. Sir William and Eleanor, 36, 444- 446, 500. William and Margaret, 445, 446. arms of, 500. Martock, 72. Marwood (Devon), 452. Marys, John, builder, 397, 398. Massey, Major General, 191. Mathu, John, no. Matthews, Samuel, 293. Maud, the Empress, 5, 9. Maulay, Peter de, 18. Mede, Michael arte, 50. Medyet (Minehead ?), 412. Meerhay See Hillary. Menheniot (Cornwall). See Trelawny. Melbourne (Australia), 528. Mells, 444. See also Downhead. Mercer, Joan, 520. Merchaunt, John, 99. Thomas, in. Merewether, H. 527. Meriet, Sir John and Mary de, 34. Merssh. See Marsh. Mersswode. See Marshwood. Meschine, William le, Earl of Cam bridge, 63. Mettcombe (Devon). See Poyntz. Mevagissey (Cornwall), 487. Milbourne St. Andrew (Dorset). See Pleydell. Milbourne, Simon, 122. Mildenhall (Wilts), 32-34. Militia, Commissioners of, 196, 198. Milledar (Cornwall). See Rosuggan. Milton Abbas (Dorset), 215, 217, 218, 374. See also Bancks ; Tregon well. Milton Falconbridge, manor, 71. Milton, South (Devon), 34. Milward, Mr. 254. John, 451. Milverton, 519. Minehead, 35, 44, 57, 81-83, 90-93, 97, 112, 167, 180, 181, 194, 230, 232, 233, 241, 245, 252, 256, 257, 264, 274, 294, 296, 320, 323, 329, 330, 336, 339, 342, 382, 413, 443, 448, 453, 534- borough of, 169, 174, 229, 230, 244, 246, 252, 267, 268, 294. Bowling Green Club, 244. Church, 12, 221. Churchwardens' accounts, 187. courts held at, 254, 452, 456. Cross, 249. gallows at, 297. Harbour, port and quay, 89, 132, 140, 169, 174, 176, 180, 182, 220, 234, 247, 251, 543- Hundred of, 4, 388, 456. Lane, 415. Manor of, 4, 21, 36, 47, 48, 50, 52, 53, 77, 84, 95, 96, 105, 119, 124, 126, 130, 153, 166, 202, 228, 316, 317,322,415. Market-place, 249, 254, 258. Mill, 12, 328. Park, 159, 343, 344. Parliamentary elections at, 169, 179, 184, 217, 220, 222, 230-233, 530.(1747), 234-236. (1754), 236-241. (1761), 242. (1768), 245-251. (1774), 251-257- (1780), 257-259. (1783), 262. (1784, 1790, 1796), 263. (1802J, 264-267. (1806), 267. (1807, 1812), 268. disfranchisement, 272, 457. Plume of Feathers Inn, 234, 241, 244,252,255,264,267. reeve of, 89, 112, 320. ships of, 81. Lord StaweU's estate at, 418. tithes of, 383-385, 412. Vicarage of, 20. Vicars of, no. See also Herring ; Luttrell, Alexander Fownes, Alexander Henry Fownes, Tho mas Fownes. Vice-Admiralty of, 132, 220. Vineyard at, 325. Warren at, 280. Whitehouse, the, at, 415. INDEX 585 Minehead, contd. See also Blackford ; Bratton ; Clan- ville ; Cox ; Foughler ; Greena- leigh ; Hayman ; Kyng ; North- ridge ; Myne. Mohun, Ada wife of Sir John, 39, 41, 42, 390. Adeliza wife of William, 5, 383. Agnes wife of William, 7-9. Agnes, daughter of William, n. Agnes, 495, 496. Alice wife of Reynold, 17, 18, 22. Alice daughter of Sir Reynold, 32. Alice, 496. Andrew, 471, 497. Anne, 473, 474, 481, 483, 494, 496. Arnald, 497. Arundel, 483. Baldwin, parson of Brinkley and of Luppit, 17. Baldwin, parson of Whichford and of Fordingbridge, 40. Beatrice wife of Sir William, of Ottery, 33, 34. Bridget, 483, 484. Catherine, 474, 476, 487, 488. Charles, third Lord Mohun, 487- 489. Charles, fourth Lord Mohun, 489- 494- Charles, 487, 496. Charlotte wife of Charles, fourth Lord Mohun, 493. Christian wife of Sir John, 39, 43, 432- Christine, 472. Churchill, 474. Cordelia wife of John, first Lord Mohun, 486. Cordelia, 487. Delia, 494. Denise, 496. Dorothy, 476, 484, 494, 496. Durand, 5, 385, 556. Edith, 475, 483. Edmund, 482, 495. Edward, 496. Eleanor daughter of Sir William, of Ottery, 33, 556. Eleanor wife of Sir John, 36, 389, 444, 500. Eleanor daughter of Sir John, 42. Eleanor, 474, 496. Elizabeth daughter of Sir John, the fourth, 39. Elizabeth daughter of Sir John, the fifth, 51, 57, 83. Elizabeth, 474-477, 479, 480, 483, 484, 489, 493-496- Ellis, 496. Ferdinand, 484. Florence, 481. Frances, 496. Francis, 475, 476. Geoffrey son of William, 5, 383. Geoffrey, of Ham Mohun, 11, 469. Geoffrey, 497. George, 474, 484. Gilbert Maximilian, 476. Godeheut, or Godehold, wife of William, 10, 13, 15, 470. Grace, 496. Hawis wife of Sir Reynold, 29, 30. Hawis wife of John, of Ham Mohun, 471. Henry son of William, 9. Henry, 16. Hervey, 41, 42. Honor, 483. Hugh, 482. Isabel wife of Sir Reynold, 32. Isabel daughter of Sir Reynold, 34. Isabel, 479, 480, 482, 487, 497, 560. Ivan, 9. James, parson of Walkhampton and of Brompton, 34. James, 487. Jane, 482, 483. Joan wife of John, 31. Joan wife of Sir John, 24, 41, 44, 46-50, 52-58, 80, 84, 86, 104, 284, 295, 313, 317, 325, 343, 448, 479, 556, 557- Joan, 479, 480, 482, 496, 560. John son of Sir Reynold, 30-32, 279,352. Sir John, the second, 31, 33, 35,36, 280, 292, 389, 390, 444, 471. Sir John, the third ( d. 1330), 36-38, 42, 43, 281-283, 295, 326, 445, 472, 495, 500-502. Sir John, the fourth, 39, 501. Sir John, the fifth ( d. 1375), 39, 40, 42-49, 51-53, 56, 86, 104, 391, 392, 501, 556- John, of Ham Mohun, 11, 38, 469, 470. Sir John, of Porlock, 40. John, first Lord Mohun, 485-487. John, 472-474, 479-482, 484-487, 494-497, 499, 500, 556, 560. Judith, 477, 502. Juliana wife of William, 17, 556. Juliana daughter of Sir Reynold, 32. Laurence, 42, 502. Lucy wife of William, 14, 18. Lucy daughter of Sir Reynold, 32. Margaret daughter of William, 34. Margaret daughter of Sir John, 39. Margaret, 473, 474, 485, 497. Mary daughter of Sir William, 34. Mary, 474,475,483, 484- W 586 INDEX Mohun, contd. Matthia wife of John, of Ham Mo hun, 471. Maud daughter of Sir John, 52, 57. Maud wife of Andrew, of Brinkley, 471. Maximilian, 473-475, 502. Meliora, 473. Nathaniel, 483. Nicholas, parson of Ham Mohun, 471. Nicholas, 497. Patrick, 41, 45. Payn, 41, 45. Penelope, 485. Peter son of William, 9. Peter, 496. Philadelphia, 487. Philip, 483. Philippa daughter of Sir John, 51, 57. See also York. Philippa wife of Sir Reynold, 484. Philippa daughter of John, first Ba ron, 487. Philippa wife of Charles, third Ba ron, 488, 489, 493. Ralph son of William, 9, 384. Ralph son of William son of Dur- and, 5, 556. Reynold (d. 1213), 14-17, 469, 470. Sir Reynold, wrongly styled Earl of Somerset ( d. 1258), 17-32, 49, 277, 278, 280, 281, 330, 350-352, 356, 387-389,435, 470, 498, 499- Reynold son of Sir William, 33. Sir Reynold, of Ugborough (1344), 41, 477-480, 502. Reynold, of Boconnoc (d. 1567), 482. Sir Reynold, of Boconnoc ( d. 1639), 24, 483-485- Reynold, 482-485, 496, 560. Richard son of William, 9, 14. Richard son of Reynold, 17. Richard, 472, 496, 497. Robert son of William, 5, 383. Robert son of William, the third, 11. Robert son of John, 31, 35. Sir Robert, of Porlock, 38, 39, 41, 472. Robert, 472-476, 495, 497- Roger, 482. Sarah, 476, 477. Sibella wife of William, 495. Sibyl wife of Sir John, 42-44. Sibyl wife of John, of Ham Mohun, 471. Theophila, 487. Thomas son of William, parson of Moyon, n, 12. Thomas, 476, 478-480, 483, 495- 497, 56o. Thomasine, 474. Warwick, second Baron, 487. Warwick, 494. William, the first, 1-5, 49, 276, 324, 326, 349, 383-386, 391, 434, 443, 455, 469- William, the second, Earl of So merset, 5, 7-9, 350, 384. William, the third (d. 1 176), 9, 10, 385, 388. William, the fourth (d. 1193), 11- 14, 386, 434, 469- William son of William the fourth, 14- William son of Reynold (d. 1265), 17,20-22,499,556. Sir William son of Sir Reynold ( d. 1282), 33, 499. William, 470, 471, 475, 480, 482- 484, 494-497, 56o. Wilmund, 5, 383. Yolenta daughter of William, 556. arms of, 24, 25, 29, 55, 58, 498-503. barony, 37, 38, 45, 52. barony of Okehampton, 485, 486, 493- monk of, at Cleeve, 557. Molland (Devon). See Courtenay. Monk, Elizabeth daughter of An thony, 515. Monmouth, Duke of, 205. Montacute, 349. Montacute, William de, Earl of Salis bury, and Elizabeth, 51, 56, 57, 83. arms of, 55. Montchaton (France), 13. Montfichet family, 2. Montfort, Alexander, 72. Moore, William and Frances, 496. Mordaunt, Charles and Elizabeth, 494. Morgan, Anne relict of Christopher, 530. John, parker, 400. Mary daughter of Richard, 475. William, 298. Morocco (Africa), 161. Morris, Mr. 240. Mortain, Count of, 59, 349. John, Count of, 11, 469. Mortimer, Roger, 477. family, 73. Morval (Cornwall). See Coode. Morys, Walter, 284. Mottisfont Priory (Hants), 20. Moulton manor (Suffolk), 77. Mourning rings, 224. Mount Edgcumbe (Devon). See Edg cumbe. Mountfort, William, actor, 490. INDEX 587 Mountstephen, John, innkeeper, 334. Moyon (Normandy), 1, 12, 13, 16, 503. Church of, n. Honour of, 14. Moyon, Henry de, 16. William de (1266), 16. Moysey, Abel and Anne, 536. Charles Abel, Archdeacon of Bath, and Charlotte, 536. Mugford, John and Jane, 517. Mulgrave Hall (York). See Phipps. Muntchenesy, Agnes of, 63. Murray, Captn. Alexander, 527. Musgrave, George, 269. Myne, in Minehead, 258, 531. Myryman, John, 358. N Napoleon, the Emperor, 269. Natal (Africa), 270. See also Maritz. Nethway in Brixham (Devon), 232, 235, 236, 246, 382. See also Fownes. Nettlecombe. See Trevelyan. Court, portraits at, 223, 224. Newcastle (Northumberland), 145. Newcastle, Duke of, 239, 240, 244. Neweleyghton, la, in East Quantocks head, 71. Newenham Abbey (Devon), 17, 20, 23-28, 31, 33, 42, 501. Abbot of, 2, 17, 22, 24, 25, 27. See also Hou. registers of, 480, 498-500. Newmarch, Henry and Frethesant of, 61, 63. Newport Pagnell (Buckingham), 62. New South Wales (Australia), 528. Newton. See Bicknoller. Newton, John and Isabel, 438. ' New Year's Gift ' at Westminster School, 532. Nicolls, John and Isabel, of Penvoyce, 482. Nicholls, John and Bridget, of Tre- wane, 484. Niweton. See Bicknoller. Nonsuch (Surrey), 162. Norfolk, Duke of, 419. Normandy, 87, 89. 108, 543, 544, 558. Adela, Duchess of, I Seneschals of, 92, 95. North, Lord, Prime Minister, 255, 256. Northam, Robert, 115. Northampton (Northampton), 5, 60, 125- Northcombe in Cutcombe, 385. Northcote, William, 206, 219. Northleach (Gloucester), 529. Northridge in Minehead, 531. Northumberland, Earl of, 123. Norton (Cornwall), 17. Norton Fitzwarren, 202. Norwich, Bishop of. See Ayreminne. Noryse, Joan, nurse, 115. Nostell Priory (York), 65. Nova Scotia (America), 526. Nywecomesone, William le, 287. O Oaktrow in Cutcombe. See Pyrou. Oare, 296, 553. Obits, 139, 403. O'Brien, Percy Wyndham (Earl of Thomond), 232-237, 242, 245, 246, 248. Odeland, John, 101. Offerings in church, 105, 403, 405. Ogis, 383, 384- Okehampton, 486. See also Courtenay. Old Court in Carhampton, 317. Olditch in Thorncombe (Devon), 30. Oldley, John, 304. Oke House in Carhampton, 348. Opie, John, painter, 261, 271. Opy, Philippa, 511. Robert, 365, 511. Orange, William, Prince of, 206. Orchard. See Wyndham. Orchard, John and Alice, 289. Paul and Mary, 518. Paul, 518. Ordnance, Committee of, 196. Osbern, Ralph son of, 384. John, Constable of Dunster, 24, 29, 30, 47, 49, 296, 297. William, Constable of Dunster, afterwards steward, 281, 282. Ostend (Belgium), 269. Otterhampton. See Everard. Ottery, Ottery Fleming, Ottery Mohun (Devon), 1, 19, 21, 29-31, 33. See also Carew. Owl Knowle (now) in Timberscombe, coins found at, 170, 171 Oxford (Oxford), 27, 34, 60, 130, 186, 189, 194, 474- the Crown tavern at, 219. the Star at, 222. University of, 523. ' Caution money ' at, 222. Chancellor of. See Luttrell, John. Ashmolean Museum, 380. All Souls College, 533. Balliol College, 533. Brasenose College, 273. Broadgates Hall, 514. 588 INDEX Oxford, contd. Christ Church, 204, 218, 219, 222, 269, 270, 273, 535. Exeter College, 271, 452, 484, 485, 494, 5i6, 521, 53i, 537- Hart Hall, 476. Lincoln College, 176, 179, 184. Magdalen College, 275. Oriel College, 270, 272. Pembroke College, 204. Queen's College, 227, 262, 535. St. Alban Hall, 473, 537. Trinity College, 453. Oxford, Bishop of. See Fell. Oxford, Earl and Countess of. See Vere. Oyly, Maud daughter of Henry d', 63. Pacchehole, Thomas, carpenter, 303, 357-359. Paisley (Scotland), Abbot of, 149. Palestine. See Holy Land. Palmer, Thomas, antiquary, 70, 74, 158. Sir Thomas, 147. Palton, Joan daughter of Sir John, 71. Sir John, 71, 72. Sir Thomas, 72. Sir William, no, in. Panmure (Scotland), the laird of, 151. Paramatta (New South Wales), 528. Paris (France), 164, 493. Parker, George, Viscount, 263. Parlebienshay in Dunster, 298. Parliament, the ' merciless ', 449. Parliament, summonses to, 37, 38, 45, 505,506. Parnham (Dorset). See Strode. Parry, Sir Thomas, 171. Partridges, 343. Paschal candle, 394, 395. Patteson John, 265, 266. Paulet, Captn. 182. Paunsefote, Walter, escheator in Somerset, 114. Pawlet manor, 64, 71. the lady of, 82. Payne, Mr. 234. Paynell, Adam, 63. Alexander and Agnes, 63. Alice daughter of William, 63. Ellis, Prior of Holy Trinity, York, 63- Frethesant daughter of William, 61, 63. Jordan and Gertrude, 63. Isabel daughter of William, 61, 63. Jordan and Agnes, 63. Ralph and Maud, 62, 63. Richard, 63. William, of Bampton, 17. William, 63, 65. William and Avice, 63. family and estate, 2, 61-64. Paynter, John, 400. Peas, green, at Christmas, 82. Pekin (China), 538. Pelham, Mr., 234. Pembroke, ' Earl ' of, 80, 81. Marshals, Earls of, 32. See Herbert. Penang (Malay), 270. Pendennis Castle (Cornwall), 198. Penny, Giles, 179. Penryn (Cornwall). See Trefusis. Penvoyce (Cornwall). See Nicolls. Percare, William, chaplain, 115. Perceval family, 272. Percies, the rising of the, 73. Percy, Alexander de, 384. Sir Henry, 73. Perderiall, William, a Breton pris oner, 90. Periam, John, 230, 235, 236. Perle, Walter and Hawis, 471. Perring, John, 269. Pers, Simon, 400, 401. Person, William, 91, 327. Peterborough, Lord, 240. Petherton, North. See Sydenham. Petherton, South. See Hele. Pewter, 215. Peyntore, Walter, 121. Pheasants, 343. Phelips, Edith daughter of Richard, 440- Phelp, Walter, 304. Phelps, Richard, painter, 224, 227, 260, 334, 428. Philip, a carpenter, 97. the carter, 314. Philippes, John, 400. Phipps, Charles, 263. Picardy (France), 558. Picot, 384. Pierrepont, Humphrey de, 384. Pigeons 117. Pilgrimages, pilgrims, 13, 33, 76, 77, 81, 105, 306, 508. Pilton (Devon). See Punchard. Pinford manor (Devon), 30. Pinkie, battle of, 142. Pinto, a Portuguese merchant, 137, 138. Pipe, the clerk of the, 87. Piper's Inn, 535. Pitt, Meliora, 473. Thomas, 494. William, statesman, 243, 244. Pixton in Dulverton, 224. INDEX 589 Plague, the, at Dunster, 186. Plantagenet, Arthur, Viscount Lisle, 439- Plate, silver and gilt, 93-95, 117, 129, 130, 139, 141, 173, 200, 214, 217, 226, 513. Plays, 82. Pleydell, Edmund Morton and Anne, 221. Plugenet, Alan, 35. Plumer, Thomas (Master of the Rolls), 264. Plymouth (Devon), 206, 215, 544. See also Maddock ; Stucley. Plympton, Robert of, 42. Poachers, 175, 343. Pointer. See Kedley. Poitou (France), 60, 62. Pole, Admiral Charles Morice, 263, 264. Pollard, Roger, 277. Polmangan (Cornwall), 487. Polrode (Cornwall), 485. Poltimore (Devon). See Bampfield. Pommeraie, Gislain and Joan de la, 16. Ponyngys (Poynings), Sir Robert, 91. Poole (Dorset), 90-93 . See also Knyte ; Stocker. Poole, Dr. 330. Mary Ann daughter of Joseph Rus- combe, 537. Poore, Robert, 292. Pope, Richard, 397. Popham, Alexander, 184. Jane daughter of Sir Francis, 179, 184. Richard, 74, 79, 84. Thomas, 72, 74. family and arms, 179, 201, 426,550. Popper's Cross in Carhampton, 348. Porlock, 39, 40, 294, 456, 472, 533. See also Phelps ; Sparkhayes. Sir Roges of, 279. Porpoises, 97. Port, Henry de, 383. Portishead, 475. See also Morgan. Portland, Duke of, 268. Portman, Viscount, 273. Portman, John, 287. Walter, in, 114, 116. Portsmouth (Hants), 91, 161, 206, 529. Portugal, 88, 137, 375- Potheridge (Devon). See Monk. Pottesham. See Putsham. Poughill (Devon). See Pyncombe. Poulett, Earl, 492. Poundesford Park, 131. Powderham (Devon), 120. See also Courtenay. Powell, Andrew, 246. Powis, Lord, 240. Pownall, Thomas, 256, 257. Poyntz, Clement, 464. Edward and Margaret, 463, 464. Elizabeth relict of Richard, 463. Giles, Agnes, and Prudence, 291, 463, 464- Giles, son of Edward, son of John, son of Edward, and Anne his wife, 464-466. Giles, son of Giles and Anne, 290, 466. John, 228, 291, 466, 467. Robert, 463. family residence and estate, 348, 465. See also Marsh, Lower. Practice of Piety, the, 179. Prater, George, 206. Pratt, Charles (Lord Camden), 241. Prayer, Book of Common, 423, 427, 432- Prestelonde in Dunster or Carhamp ton, 314. Price, Mr. 234. Prideaux, Elizabeth daughter of Ni cholas, 200. Prigg, Henry, of Exeter, 201. Processions, 346-348, 404. Provisions, 95-97, 147, 148, 150. Prowse, Elizabeth, relict of James, 495- Mrs. 237. Thomas, 290. Thomas and Jane, 532. William, 185. Pryer, Roger, 277. Prynne, William, antiquary, 97, 198, 200, 367. Puinz, Nicholas, 14. Punchard, Mary daughter of John, 515- Pury, Thomas, 100. Puryhay in Dunster, 343. Puslinch (Devon), 497, 560. Putney Hill (Surrey). See Leader. Putsham, 98, 302. Putte, Gilbert de la, 281, 282, 445. Robert de la, 280. Pym, Charles, 202. John, 202. Pyn, Thomas du, 35. Pyncombe, Amy daughter of John, 520. Pyncombe Charity, the, 418. Pyne, Lewis and Catherine, 177. Pynsonn, William, 396, 397. Pyrou, Pero, Gilbert de, 445. Hugh, 336. William, 280. 59° INDEX Q Quantockshead, East, 62-73, 75, 79, 105, 119, 124, 126, 130, 132-136, 138, 140-142, 162, 166, 172, 173, 177-179, 202, 274, 296, 509, 511, 514, 534, 541, 548- Church and Rectory, 66, 69, 72, 73, 75, 105, 119, 126, 139, 140, 168, 547- home farm, 318. Manor-house, 132, 136, 138, 175, 178, 179, 185, 186, 550. Park, 136, 160, 174, 179, 202, 344. Richard, Rector of, 79. Rectors of. See Luttrell, Alexander Fownes. reeve of, 100, 117. Question, John, surgeon, 195. Dr. 246. Quircke, Robert, 336. R Rack Close in Dunster, 301. Radipole (Dorset), 519. Radlet, 124, 166. Raith (Scotland). See Ferguson. Raleigh, Elizabeth daughter of Sir Warin de, 69. Sir Simon de, 279. Sir Warin de, 67, 69. Sir Wymond de, 22. Ralph, tenant of Avill, 434. Ramsgate (Kent), 269. Rancliffe, Lord, 267. Reading (Berks), 535. Reason, Hugh, 525, 526. Recusants, 165, 177. Rede, John, 90. Redlinch, 10. Reeve, office of, 319, 320. ' Reeve 's Ale ', 278. Reghmede, la, in East Quantocks head, 71. Regiments : — Footguards, 525. Grenadier Guards, 26, 275. Lambert's, 192. Luttrell's, 206. Marines, 219, 526. Rifle Brigade, 275, 537. Royal Horseguards Blue, 260. Skippon's, 193. 19th Foot, 206. 31st Foot, 219. 45th Foot, 526. 49th Foot, 260. 89th Foot, 260. Regni, Sir John de, 277. ' Regraters ', 305, 307. Reskimer, Anne daughter of William, 483- Retford (Nottingham), 497. Revels, 162, 180. Reynell, George and Amy, 184, 203, 204. Reynolds, Elizabeth, 510. Sir Joshua, portrait by, 260. Rhinegrave, the, 151, 152. Rhuddlan (Flint), 33. Richard, King of Almain, 35. Richard, Robert son of, 384. Richards, Rice, 320. Ridley. See Kedley. Rixen, 124, 126. Robert, keeper of the horses, 82, 100. the Hunter, 277. priest of Alexander Hody, 121. Roberts, Mr. 258. Robinson, John, politician, 256. Major William, Governor of Dun ster Castle, 195, 197, 199. Roche Abbey (York), 65. Rochester Castle (Kent), 349. Rockhead in Dunster, 339. Rodbourne (Wilts), 527. Rodes, Ralph de, 61. Rodhuish in Carhampton, now in Withycombe, 48, 166, 202, 343, 348, 531. tithing-man of, 313. Uphill in, 269. Rogers, Mary, 517. Sir Richard and Cecily, 549. Richard, 141. arms of, 549. Roger's house in Carhampton, 348. Roges, Elizabeth daughter of Simon de, 39- son of Simon, 277. Rondevin, Hugh, 277. Rooke, Sir George and Mary, 215. Roos, Lord, 84. Roper, Robert, 441. Roscarrock, Charles and Margaret, 485- Rosuggan, John and Joan, 482. Rouen (France), siege of, 543. Rouston (Lincoln), 497. Rowe, Prudence daughter of George, 464. Robert, 465. Royal Oak, proposed Order of the, 201. Royton (Lancaster), 67. Rughe, Walter, 327. Ruishton, 93. Rumilly, Avice de, 63. Russell, Lord John, 272. Mr. 258. INDEX 59i Russell, contd. William, 82, 100. Ryce, Mary daughter of Sir Griffith, 142, 162. John, Vicar of Dunster, 414. arms of, 164. Ryvers, John, 458, 459. Robert, 116, 117,458,459. Sabian, 384. St. Albans (Hertford), 122, 127, 522. St. Albyn, Aubyn, Joan, 479. Mr. 339. John, 232. Lancelot, 226. St. Amand, Amaury de, 36. St. Audries, 534. St. Buryan (Cornwall), 326. St. David's, Bishop of, 84, 85. See also Main waring. St. Decumans, 442. St. Ewe (Cornwall), 494. St. Inglevert near Calais, 78. St. Ives, (Cornwall), Rector of. See Castro. St. John, Edward, 116. Henry, 417. St. John of Jerusalem, Hospital of, 507, 54i- St. Leger, Arthur, (Viscount Done- raile) and Elizabeth, 494. Ste. Mere Eglise, William de, 13, 14. St. Pinnock (Cornwall), 484. St. Nicholas, the clerks of, mummers, 83- St. Nicholas, Isle of Wight, 514. Salisbury, cathedral church of, 41, 470. Bishop and chapter of, 470. Canon of. See Luttrell, Robert. Dean, Precentor, and Succentor of, 388. Salisbury, Elizabeth, Countess of, wife of William, 56, 57, 83. Saltash (Cornwall), 522. Saltby manor (Lincoln), 508. Salter, George, 336. Saltern Lane in Carhampton, 342, 347- Salt Marsh in Dunster, 291, 292. Saltren, Thomas and Margaret, 517. Salvin, Anthony, architect, 381, 382. Sampford Arundel, manor, 105. Sandhill in Withycombe, 269, 348. Sandwich, Sir Ralph of, 68. Santiago (Spain), pilgrimages to, 33, 77- SarsdenHouse(Oxford).SeeLangston. Sartrye, Thomas, sacristan of Bruton, "4- Saunton in Braunton, 82, 91-93, 105, o Hi, 5H, 519, 520, 525, 527. Sauvey Castle (Leicester), 19. Savage, James, author, 70, 302, 331. Savage, Lord, 486. Scamerdon, gallows at, in Dunster, 297. Scherpe, 287. Scobell, Mr. 491. Scolemayster, John, 101. Lawrence, 303. Richard, 343. Scotland and Scots, 65, 69, 142-156 l66, 504, 530. Scrope, Beatrice daughter of Sir Geoffrey, 506, 508. Constance daughter of Sir Geoffrey, 507- arms, 542. Scutt, Gilbert, 390. Sedgemoor, battle of, 205. Seeman, Enoch, portraits by, 223. Segrave, Christian daughter of John, 39- Seine river (France), 558. Selwood Forest, 10. Selworthy, 274, 442. Thomas Denays, parson of, 343. Sempringham Priory (Lincoln), 66. Seymour, Edward (Duke of Somerset) and Anne, 122, 123, 142, 145- 148, 150-152, 439, 440. Seynsbury, Reynold, Margaret, and Catherine, 326. Seynt Jon. See St. John. Shaftesbury, 92, 108. See also Bien. Shaftesbury, Earl of, 523, 524. Shapwick, 22. Sheen (Surrey), 54. Sheerness (Kent), 218. Sheldon, Eleanor daughter of Ralph, 475- Gilbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, 475- Shelley, Henry and Mary, 165. Sheotemouth in Old Cleeve, 296. Sheppard, Jane, 526. Shepton Mallet, shambles at, 332. Sherborne (Dorset), 131, 180. See also Cooper. Sherborne, John, Lord, 417. Shereveton. See Shurton. Shervidge in Kilton, 4. Shiffner, Henry, 236-252, 376. Ships : — Collingwood, 537. Colossus, 529. Double Rose, 143, 145. Experiment, 528. 592 INDEX Ships, contd. Governor Macquarie, 528. Herald, 529. Howell, 81. Impetueux, 529. Leonard, of Dunster, 88. Mary Hamborough, 146. Mediterranean, 529. Namur, 529. Porpoise, 528. Sacre, 143. Si. Mane Cog, 294. Fi'cfory, 476. Willoughby, 143. Shilves in Carhampton, 348. Shobrooke (Devon). See Cotton. Short, John, 246. Shotover (Oxford), 34. Shrewsbury, Earl of, 123. Shuckburgh, Sir Charles, 417. Shurton in Stoke Courcy, 4, 295, 296, 384, 386, 388, 391- Sindercombe, Catherine daughter of Gregory, 532. Singleton, Grace daughter of Richard, 496. Skibbercliff, in Carhampton, 342. Skillacre, in Dunster, 346, 412, 511. Skippon, Major Gen. 193. Skory, Sir Edmund and Silvestra, 178, 179, 186. Skutt, Margaret daughter of Anthony, 441. Skynner, Thomas, 99. Slape, 440. Slowley, Slaworthi,in Luxborough,2o. Slug, John, 98, 103. Smyth, Cecily, 134. Sir J. H. Greville, 273. Sir James and Bridget, 484. Thomas, 358. Snell, William, 335. Snuff, 210. Soldiers, pay of, 149, 151, 156. Soldon (Devon). See Prideaux. Somer, John, a friar, 107. Somerset, 54, 109, 122, 125, 130, 132, 167, 363- County Council, 339. Fencible Infantry, 260. Militia, 180, 270. Sheriffs of , 4, 7, 73,86, no, 122,131, 137, 170, 175, 179, 200, 237, 425, 537- West, Foxhounds, 270, 273. Somerset, Duke of. See Seymour. Earl of, 14, 25. Mohun Earldom of, 7, 25, 26, 49. Somerton, 45, 236. Somery, Margaret de, 63, 64. Ralph de, 63. Sir Roger de, 66. Southampton, Hampton (Hants), 87, 90-93- Southcote, Sir Edward and Frances, 519, 520. John Henry and Margaret, 261. Mary daughter of Sir George, 484. family, 261. Southwark (Surrey), 559. Spain, 269, 375. Sparkhayes in Porlock, 456. Spaxton,i33, 512, 513. See also Collard. Speccot, Sir John and Jane, 483. Speke Col. 457 George, 416, 457. Sir George and Elizabeth, 141, 457. John, 457. Spencer, Earl, 275. Spencer, Sir Thomas, 204. Sper, Spere, John, chaplain, 303. William, 338. Spices, 103. Spinnage and Crompton, decorators, 376. Sport, 132, 250. Spurrier, Caleb, 342. Squibb, Elizabeth, 476. Stable accounts, 98, 99. Stafford, Edmund, Bishop of Exeter, 77- Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, 118, 119 Sir Humphrey, 118. Joan, 438. John, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Archbishop of Canterbury, 118, 119. Richard, 438. Stamford (Lincoln), chantry at, 66. Stanhope, Cordelia daughter of Sir John, 486. Stanley family, 8, 52. Stannaries in Devon and Cornwall, 54, 485- Stanton (Derby). See Sheldorr. Stanton Drew. See Skutt. Stanton, Philip and Monour, 511. Stapleton, Florence Blanche daughter of the Rev. Henry Elliot, 537. Star Chamber, the, 135, 175, 197, 461, 462. Staunton, Staunton Downhead, Staun ton in Dunsterdene, Staunton Fry, 229, 230, 276, 385, 412, 436, 443-454. Staverton (Devon). See Rowe. Stawell, Lord, 269, 417, 418. Lady, 417. Stawell, George, 201. Sir John, 181. Stewkley, 417. INDEX 593 Stentwill in Cutcombe, 391. Stephen, King, 5, 6, 9. Stephens, John and Eleanor, 516. Steple (Dorset), 475. Stucley, Anne daughter of Charles, 220. Sir W. Lewis, 518. Stewkley, Elizabeth relict of Hugh, 425,432- George and Jane, 122, 289. George son of Hugh, 425. Hugh, 159, 172, 413-416, 424- Sir Hugh, 291, 415, 430. Joan daughter of Hugh, 172, 173, 425- Margaret daughter of Hugh, 425. Richard, 289. Sarah daughter of Sir Hugh, 418, Susan daughter of Hugh, 172. family and arms, 176,269, 329, 417, 426, 427, 429. tabular pedigree of, 417. Stocker, Anthony and Margaret, 441. Anthony and Sarah, 442. Capel, 206. John and Edith, 440. John and Elizabeth, 440. John and Margaret, 440, 441. Col. John, 321, 441. John, 442. William and Mary, 441, 442. Stockhey, Sir Robert and Elizabeth of, 40. Stockland, 4, 64, 71, 178, 383, 385, 386. See also Shurton. Stoford, Thomas and Agnes, 496. Stogumber, 122, 126, 205, 442. Stoke Courcy, 203, 296, 521. See also Marys ; Shurton. Stoke Damarel (Devon), 494. Stoke Fleming (Devon), 29, 30, 33. See also Southcote. Stoke, John of, Canonof Glasney, 478 . Stokes, Matthia daughter of Sir William, 471. Stone, John, bondman, 319. John, mason, 361. Walter, fisher, 304. William, clothier, 103, 115. Stonehall (Suffolk), 124, 167. Stoneley, Oliver of, 509. Stou, 287. Stoukedostre, Alice, 287. Stourton, Sir John, letter from, 109, John, no. Stoway, Thomas, 290. Stowey, Nether, 114, 222. Stowey and Jones, surveyors, 334, 377- Stradling, Edward and Philippa, 511. Strange, Sir John and Maud le, 52. Richard le, Lord of Knockin and Mohun, 52, 57, 83. arms of, 55. Stranraer (Scotland), 530. Stratton, John and Elizabeth, 107. Strawberry Mill (Middlesex), 380. Streatley (Berks), 19, 30, 36, 37, 48. Strecche, Catherine relict of John,io4. Sir John, 105. Michael, 99. Strechleye, John, 72. Street, G.E., architect, 337, 432. Stretton in the Fields (Derby). See Cave-Brown. Strode, John and Margaret, 172-174. Sir Robert and Mary, 171. Stroude, , 246. Stuart, Douglas Wynne and Marcia, 536. Stuckey's Banking Company, 559. Sturminster Marshal (Dorset), 33, 48. Suakim (Egypt), 275. Sudbury. See Chippmg Sodbury. Sudbury, Simon of, Bishop of London, 49, 50. Suffolk, 109, 122, 125. Sumpterman, John, 58. Surderval, Maud daughter of Richard de, 63. Sutton, Agnes daughter of Sir Richard de, 506. arms of, 507, 542. Sutton, Robert of, Prior of Bath, 391. Sutton Place near Guildford (Surrey), 164. Swan-upping, 160. Sweating sickness, the, 161, 481. Sydenham, Col. 188. George and Elizabeth, 413, 440. John, 456. Silvester and Joan, 461, 462. Ursula, 463. family, 206. Sydling St. Nicholas (Dorset). See Hardy. Symes, William, 306. Symonds, Lucy daughter of Thomas, 201. Tailebois, Joan, daughter of Henry, 509- Sir Walter, 509. Taillor, Taillour, Geoffrey, 305. Hugh, 100. Laurence, 99. William, 297. Tailors' charges for clothes, 207-213. 594 INDEX Talbot, John and Elizabeth, Viscount and Viscountess Lisle, and Eliza beth their daughter, 438, 439. Tallage, exemption from, 278. Tamerton Foliott (Devon). See Mad- dock. Tapley Park (Devon). See Clevland. Taunton, 82, 98, 116, 131, 183, 187, 188, 194, 198, 205, 224, 232, 235, 241, 261, 510, 519. Castle, 121, 195, 196, 199. Crown tavern, 226. cloth, 300. Archdeacon of, 80, 412. Canons of, 9. Taunton, John, 99. SeeafaoMerchaunt. Tavistock (Devon), 275, 452, 495, 496. Abbot of, 478. Tawton, South (Devon), 556. Tay, river (Scotland), 145, 147, 151. Taylor, Hannah daughter of William, 529- John and Denise, 496. Tenebrce, 395. Tenters, or racks for cloth, 299. Tessy sur Vire (Normandy), 11-13. Tetton in Kingston, 224, 226, 260. See also Dyke. Tewkesbury (Gloucester), 127. Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, 385, 443. Thermes, M. de, 154. Thimelby family, 510. Thomond, Earl of. See O'Brien. Thompson, Dorothy daughter of Roger, 476. Thornhill, Sir James, painter, 373. Thorp (Lancaster), 67. Thorverton (Devon), 75. See also Chilton Luttrell. Threshers, 322, 323. Thresshe, John, 361. Tibetot, Ada, 38. Robert, 36, 39, 69. arms of, 548. Timberscombe, 272, 434, 442, 553. Tirwhit, Robert 86. Titchfield (Hants), 47. Tiverton (Devon), 188. Tizard, Edward and Judith, 477. Todbere (Dorset), 12. Toge, M. de, 154. Tolose, Benedict, 344. Tolveme (Cornwall). See Arundel. Tonbridge (Kent), 528. Tony, Roger de, 556. Toomer. See Carent. Torre, Tor Mohun, Torquay (Devon), 1, 17, 19, 20, 27, 28, 36, 48, 270, 276, 434- Torre, Simon and Lucy de la, 435. Tort, Geoffrey le, 280. Ralph le, 281-283. Totnes (Devon), races at, 269. Touker, Toker.Towker, John,i2i,3o5. Robert, 298. Thomas, of Dunster, 287, 298. Thomas, of Old Cleeve, no, 116. Townsend, Sarah, 417, 418. Townshend, Charles, statesman, 243, 245, 248. Townswood, in Dunster, 467. Tracy, Henry de, 6, 7. Trade, Board of, 295, 296. Tranter, Robert, 526. Treasure trove, 170, 297, 308. Treasury, the, 530. Treborough, quarries at, 357. Treffry, John and Joan, 482. Trefusis, Jane daughter of Thomas, 483- Thomas and Mary, 483. Sibella, sister of Thomas, 495. Tregonwell, Mary daughter of John, 205. arms, 368, 550. Tregoz family, 2. Trelawny, Anne relict of John, 483. Dorothy daughter of Sir John, 494. Sir John and Elizabeth, 484. Tremayle, Thomas, judge, 403. Trenchard, John son of Christine, 472. arms, 502. Trencreke, Honor daughter of John, 483- estate, 494. Trevanian, Joan daughter of Sir William, 482. Trevelyan, George and Margaret, 182. George, 226. Joan relict of Hugh, 520. Sir John, 131, 290, 309. John and Margaret, 177. Sir John, 220, 222, 226, 237. Margaret daughter of Sir John, 222. Thomas, 170. arms of, 551. Trevenna (Cornwall). Sec Roscarrok. Trewane (Cornwall). See Nicholls. Trewynard, Matthew and Isabel, 482. Trivet, Sir Thomas, judge, 70. Trot, Trott, Catherine daughter of Sir John, 417. Hugh, 139. Truro (Cornwall). See Singleton. Tuchet, Sir John, 114. Turf, 281, 282, 307, 340, 384. Turin (Piedmont), 375. Tynte, Sir Halswell, 205. Tythrop House (Oxford), 368. INDEX 595 Ugborough (Devon), 17, 36, 48, 477. Upcot, Thomas, merchant, 400, 401, 4°5- Upwey (Dorset), 472. See also Gould. V Vaga, Perino del, painter, 376. Vanderbank, John, portraits by, 223, 224. Van Dieman's Land, 528. Van Somer, Paul, painter, 382. Vases of tin, 102. Vaus, Robert de, Vicar of Dunster 387- Veel, Sir Peter de, 48. Venables, John, 74. Venn, in Heathfield, 202, 220, 374. Vere, Sir Aubrey de, 49, 50. Elizabeth de, Countess of Oxford, 135. Elizabeth relict of Sir John de, 76. Hugh de, Earl of Oxford, 26. Robert de, Marquess of Dublin, Duke of Ireland, 448, 449. Vernon, Juliana de, 17, 556. Vesey, John de, 36, 353. Vexford, 124, 126, 133, 166, 202. Victor Amadeus of Savoy, 375. Vilers, a crossbowman, 18. Villiers, Col. George, 219. Virginia (America), 495. W Wadham, John, 450. William, 109. Wagland in Dunster, 410. Wake, Lady Blanche, 41. Wakefield, battle of, 122, 123. Waldingfield (Suffolk), 77. Walerand family, 296. Wales, 80, 81, 180-182, 295, 543. Wales, Princes of, 131, 186, 187, 274. Waleys, Simon, 343. Walker, Robert, 200. Walkhampton Rectory (Devon), 34. Walo, 443. Walpole, Horace, 380. Sir Robert, 523. Walsingham (Norfolk), Prior and Convent of, 138. Walter the webber, 297. Walters, Martha, 528. — ,266. Walton (Northampton), 32. Warbeck, Perkin, 131. Ward, Sir Roger la, 48. Wardour. See Arundell. Wardropere, Warderope, William, 115, 116. Warkworth (Northumberland), 145. Warminster, prebend of, 40. Warnere, Waryner, William, 92, 93. Warren, Mr. 246, 254. Warwick, Earl of, 124. Earl of, 240. Watchet, 72, 73, 98, 124,277,294,354, 497, 500. See also Kentsford ; Whevere. Waterlete, the, in Carhampton 315, 317, 388, 415, 458. Waterloo, battle of, 269. Watevill, Sir Robert and Margaret, 446. Watkyns, Ellen, 305. Watts, Richard and Anne, 74. Wayssford. See Touker. Weare, 64, 537. Webb, Col. 190. Wedderburn, Dorothy daughter of Sir William, 275. Wedding apparel, 134, 135. Welles, barony of, 163. Welles, Catherine, 487. Wellington, Duke of, 530. Wellington, Sir Ralph and Eleanor, 42. Wellow, 74. Wells, 139, 180, 355, 535. prebends of, 40, 534. the Palace, 380. the George Inn, 222. Wells, William of, 445. Wembury (Devon). See Hele. Wentworth, Lord, 190. West, Richard, 319. Westbury, Lord. See Bethell. Weston, (Buckingham), 466. Weston, Mary daughter of Cornelius, 474- Thomas and Anne, 531. Wey Bayhous (Dorset). See Upwey. Weycroft. (Devon). See Brook. Weymouth (Dorset), 475. See also Dennis. Wharton, Thomas, 464. Whatcombe House (Dorset). See Pley dell. Wheddon, Robert and Margaret, 511. Whevere, William, in. Whichford (Warwick), 7-9,15, 18, 19, 36, 37, 4°, 52- Whitchurch (Hants), 472. White, Humphrey and Dorothy, 165. Mr. 226. Whitelackington. See Speke. Whiteway (Dorset). See Chaldecot. 596 INDEX Whitewyke, 514. Whittlesford (Cambridge). See Sy- monds. Whitwell (Devon), 69. Whitw'orth, Sir Charles, 230, 232-240, 242, 246-253, 256. Francis, 230, 231. Whorts, 281, 345. Wibwell in Heathfield, 124. Wideslade, Richard of, 478. Wight, Isle of, 206. Willett. See Blommart, Wilkyns, Adam, 400. William the clerk, 384. the fuller, 297. William, Thomas son of, 67. William called ' Lytelwille, ' 92. Williams, a goldsmith, 533. Williton, 74, 167, 202, 223, 270, 302 See also Fitzurse ; Myryman. Wiltshire, Earl of, 123. Wimborne (Dorset), 93. Winchelsea (Sussex), 248. Winchester (Hants), 7, 536. Winchester, Bishop of, n, 386. See also Courtenay. Winchilsea, Earl of, 205. Windsor (Berks), 35, 124, 504. Windsor, William and Agnes of, 11. Wine, 89, 93, 97, 99, 103, 112, 201- 203, 277, 324, 325, 440. Wine-press, the, 324. Winsford, 512 Winterboume (Gloucester), 497. Wither, Wyther, John and Agnes, 400-402. Withycombe, 167, 202, 272, 321, 348, 436. Wilaller in, 456. See also Fitzurse ; Hadley ; Rod huish ; Sandhill. Wittenham, Little (Berks), 553. Wiveliscombe, 302, 519. See Capps. ' Wodewater, ' 298. Wogan, John and Diana, 178. Wolavington, 97, 117. Wolridge, Christopher and Joan, 496. Wolsey, Cardinal, 461. Wolston manor (Devon), 105. Wolverhampton (Staff.). See Bearsley. Wolveton (Dorset), 472. See also Trenchard. Wood, Anthony, antiquary, 204. Robert, 263. Woodbridge, James, 265-267. Woodhall (Suffolk), 124, 167. Woodville, Mary, 124. Wootton Courtenay, 167, 272. See also Stone ; Thresshe. Wootton Fitzpaine (Dorset), 382. See also Drewe. Worcester, battle of, 370. Worcester, William of, 124. Worral, Edward and Judith, 477,502. Worth, Andrew, 292. Richard, 177, 299. Wosham, John, 47. Wotton. See Wootton Courtenay. Wraxall, 519. See also Gorges. Wreck of sea, 12, 295, 296. Wrotham, William of, 14. Wydevill, Richard, Seneschal of Nor mandy, 95. Wylkyns, John, 290. Wyndham, Charles, Earl of Egre- mont, 232, 235-237, 239-242. Col. Francis, 182, 183, 188-194. Hopton, 206. Lady, 194. Margaret daughter of Sir Thomas, 134, *35- See also Luttrell. Thomas, 146, 155, 157, 160, 161, 559. Thomas, of Kentsford, 177. Sir William 216, 223. arms of, 513, 547. Wynne, Owen and Dorothy, 522. Wyschard, Roger, 287. Yard, Dorothy daughter of Edward, 133, — , 220. Yardly, Robert and Elizabeth, 475. Yarmouth (Norfolk), 263. Yarn. See Cloth. Yarnscombe (Devon), 465. See also Trevelyan. Yarte, Thomas, 458. Yates, Oswald Vavasour and Marga ret Jane, 538. Yeatman, Edward Jordan and Caro line Lucy, 535. Yeovil, 132. Yevelchestre. See Ilchester. Yllycombe. See Ellicombe. York (York), the Grey Friars, 39. Priory of Holy Trinity, 63. York, Archbishop of, 506. York, Edward, Duke of, 52, 57, 83, 84. Edward, Duke of (Edward IV.), 122, 123. Philippa, Duchess of, 51, 52, 57, 83, in, 501. Yorke, Roger and Eleanor, 133. Walter and Walthean, 133. Young, Mary daughter of John, 417. Zincke, CF. enameller, 223. Zouche, William la, 33. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 04078 5124 VALE BRITISH HISTORY PRESERVATION PROJECT! SUPPORTED BY NEH