Full text of "The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Berkshire"

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FOUNDED BY

GOL,D\VlN SMITH
HARRIETS>\ITH

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9 *-*

ZTbe IDtctotia Ibfstor^ of the
Counties of Bngtanb

EDITED BY WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.

A HISTORY OF
BERKSHIRE

VOLUME II

THE

VICTORIA HISTORY

OF THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND

BERKSHIRE

LONDON

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE

AND COMPANY LIMITED

This History is issued to Subscribers only

By Archibald Constable & Company Limited

and printed by Eyre & Spottiswoode

H.M. Printers of London

INSCRIBED

TO THE MEMORY OF

HER LATE MAJESTY

QUEEN VICTORIA

WHO GRACIOUSLY GAVE

THE TITLE TO AND

ACCEPTED THE

DEDICATION OF

THIS HISTORY

THE

VICTORIA HISTORY

BERKSHIRE

EDITED BY THE REV. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., AND

WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.

VOLUME TWO

LONDON

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE

AND COMPANY LIMITED

1907

670
5W6

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

PAGE

Dedication ........... v

Contents ....... 1*

List of Illustrations xiii

Editorial Note v

Ecclesiastical History . . . . By the Rev. J. C. Cox, LL.D., F.S.A. . . i
Religious Houses :

Introduction ..............49

Abbey of Abingdon 51

Abbey of Reading 62

Priory of Hurley 73

Priory of Wallingford -77

Priory of Bromhall ............. 80

Cell or Grange of Faringdon . . . 8 1

Priory of Bisham ............. 82

Priory of Poughley ............. 8$

Priory of Sandleford 86

Preceptory of Greenham . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Grey Friars of Reading . 89

Crouched Friars of Donnington . . . . . . . . . . 9 1

Hospital of St. Helen, Abingdon . . . . . . . . . 92

Hospital of St. John, Abingdon 92

Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, Abingdon . . . . . . . . 93

Hospital of Childrey ............. 93

Hospital of Donnington ............ 93

Hospital of Fyfield 94

Hospital of St. John Baptist, Hungerford 94

Hospital of St. Laurence, Hungerford . . . . . . . . . 95

Hospital of Lambourn . 95

Hospital of St. Bartholomew, Newbury . . -95

Hospital of Mary Magdalen, Newbury 97

Hospital of St. John, Reading 97

Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, Reading . . . 98

Barnes Hospital, Reading 99

Hospital of St. John Baptist, Wallingford 99

Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, Wallingford 101

Hospital of St. Peter, Windsor 101

Hospital of St. John, Windsor 102

College of Shottesbrook . . . . . 102

College of Wallingford . . . . . .103

Collegiate Church of Windsor . . . . . . . . . . .106

Alien Priory of Steventon . . . . . . . . . . . .112

Alien Priory of Stratfield Saye . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 3

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

FACE

Political History .... By Miss ALICE SERGEANT, Oxford Honours School of

Modern History . . . . . .115

Social and Economic History . . By Miss E. C. LODGE, Oxford Honours School of

Modern History . . . . . .167

Table of Population, 18011901 By GEORGE S. MINCHIN . ..... 234

Schools By A. F. LEACH, M.A., F.S.A.

Introduction 245

Reading Grammar School 245

Abingdon School ............. 259

St. Bartholomew's School, Newbury . . . . . . . . . .272

Childrey School ............. 275

Wantage Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . . .276

Hungerford Grammar School . . . . . 277

Wallingford Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . *77

Radley College , 277

Bradfield College ............. 279

Wellington College 281

Elementary Schools founded before

1750 ... 281

Sport Ancient and Modern . . Edited by the Rev. P. H. DITCHPIELD, M.A., F.S.A.

Hunting .... By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. . .285

Staghounds .............. 285

The Royal Buckhounds . . . . . . . . . . .285

Berks and Bucks Farmers' Stag-
hounds . 287

Lord Barrymore's Staghounds . . . . . . . . . .287

Mr. Seymour Dubourg*s Harriers . . . . . . . . .287

Fox-hunting. 287

South Berks Hunt . 289

The Garth Hunt ............. 290

The Craven Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . .291

The Old Berkshire Hunt 294

Harriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295

Berkshire Vale Harriers . . . . . . . . . . .295

Draghounds 296

Basset Hounds ............. 296

Bull-Baiting . . . . By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. . . 296

Cock-Fighting .... 297

Coursing .... . . 298

Shooting . . . . By the late CHARLES JOHN CORNISH, M.A. . . 300

Angling By C. H. COOK, M.A. 302

Racing By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. . . 305

Flat-Racing ............. 305 %

Royal Ascot . 305

Steeplechasing ... ... 309

Rowing By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., and

WALTER B. WOODGATE . . . . .310

Radley ... 310

Thames Regattas ...... . ....311

Archery By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. . 311

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

Sport Ancient and Modern (continued)
Pugilism .....

Cudgel Play and the Revels .

Cut-legs and Kick-shins

Goli

Cricket

Wellington ....
Radley ....
Bradfield ....
Sandhurst ....
Football

Wellington ....
Radley ....

Bradfield ....
Sandhurst ....
Town and Village Clubs
Agriculture .....

Forestry .....

By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. .

By the Rev. E. E. DORLING, M.A

By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., assisted
by P. J. de PARAVICINI, H. W. BROUGHAM, and
A. C. M. CROOME . ...

By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., assisted
by J. L. BEVIR and A. C. M. CROOME

By the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., and
W. ANKER SIMMONS, F.S.I. ....

By the Rev. J. C. Cox, LL.D., F.S.A.

PAGE

313

315
3 l6

317

3H
3H
325
326

327

327
328
328

329
329

33'
341

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

PAGE

The Thames at Maidenhead . . By WILLIAM HYDB Frontispiece

Ecclesiastical Map of Berkshire facing 47

Berkshire Monastic Seals

Plate I full page plate facing 62

Plate II 86

Meet of the South Berks Hounds, Culverlands, 1905 . >,,,, 29

Mr. W. Moreland's Improved Plough-Share

The Hinton Plough . J. 332

The Common Berkshire Plough

Xlll

EDITORIAL NOTE

THE Editors wish to express their thanks to
Mr. P. Vinogradoff, D.C.L., Professor of Jurispru-
dence, Oxford, and to Mr. J. H. Round, M.A.,
LL.D., for assistance in the revision of articles, and
to Mrs. A. H. Thursby of Culverlands, Mortimer,
for a photograph of the South Berkshire Hounds.

A HISTORY OF

BERKSHIRE

ECCLESIASTICAL
HISTORY

JUST across the border line that separates Berkshire from Hampshire, in
days long anterior to the parcelling out of the country into shires or
counties, stood the once important city of Silchester. Within its walls
the foundations of a little fourth-century Christian church were
uncovered in 1893. Even if this archaeological fact stood alone, unsupported
by any records, it would suffice to prove that Christianity was at least well
known in the district afterwards termed Berkshire during the time of the
Roman occupation. Further speculation as to the extent of this early Christi-
anity, or what hold it had upon the population immediately to the south of
the Thames in Celtic days, would be but unprofitable guess-work, saving so
far as it is illustrated by archaeological discoveries.

The Christian orientation of early interments at Frilford, near Abingdon,
disclosed during the excavations of 18648 has already been discussed, as well
as the Romano-British graves uncovered by Dr. Stevens at Reading in iSgo. 1
Among the latter interments, two distinctive Christian relics of the pre-Saxon
church came to light. One of these was a leaden plate with three simple
crosses of the Greek form ; the other was a pewter chalice denoting the body
of a Christian priest. 2

There is no necessity to repeat, even in outline, the story of the con-
version or reconversion of Wessex by Bishop Birinus in the first half of the
seventh century. 3 It will be sufficient to recall that the bishop's stool for
Wessex was first placed on the confines of the kingdom, immediately north of
Berkshire, at Dorchester on the Oxfordshire side of the Thames. On the
death of Birinus, the missionary bishop from Rome, in 650, the bishopric
passed into the hands of Agilbert who had come to this country from Ireland.
In 676 Bishop Haeddi transferred the centre of the great Wessex diocese
from Dorchester to Winchester, and on his death in 705 the unwieldy see
was divided through the influence of King Ina. Daniel, in the year of
Haeddi's death, became bishop of Winchester, whilst Aldhelm was appointed
first bishop of the new see of Sherborne.

But there was one incident in the ecclesiastical history of Berkshire that
occurred in the seventh century, which was of supreme importance in con-
nexion with the spread and establishment of Christianity throughout the
shire prior to the subdivision of the diocese, and which cannot be here passed
by, although it is more fully discussed in the subsequent account of the abbey
\ of Abingdon. This incident was the foundation of that important religious

1 V.C.H. Berks, i, 235-8.

* This should be compared with the chalice pertaining to a Romano-British set of altar vessels, found in
1897 at Appleshaw, near Andover. See plates 1-3 of Bell, Old Pewter. ' V.C.H. Hants, ii, 1-3.

2 1 I

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

house, which was arranged about 675, though it was not until the close of the
century that the Benedictine monks were firmly established there, mainly
through the influence of St. Aldhelm, when still abbot of Malmesbury, and
before he had been called to the episcopacy.

It is no easy or straightforward matter to decide off-hand the question as
to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction to which Berkshire pertained at the time of the
subdivision of 705. The large Forest of Selwood seems to have served as a
rough boundary between the two dioceses ; but Bede contents himself with
the bare statement that Wessex was divided into two dioceses, and his words
are merely repeated by Florence of Worcester. 1 William of Malmesbury, on
the other hand, states in one passage that only two provinces (duos pagos),
Hampshire and Surrey, remained to form the newly constituted diocese of
Winchester, whilst all the others, including Berkshire, were assigned to
Sherborne. 2 Such sound authorities as Bishop Stubbs and Canon Bright have
accepted Malmesbury's statement on this point as conclusive s : but it clearly
demands further consideration. To begin with, Malmesbury is certainly
wrong in stating that Devon and Cornwall were part of Wessex and included
in the Sherborne diocese in 705 ; and yet this statement occurs in the same
sentence that assigns Berkshire to Sherborne. Now the Saxon Chronicle
(under the year 709) states that Aldhelm was bishop ' west of Selwood.'
Henry of Huntingdon asserts that Daniel was bishop east of the woods, and
Aldhelm west of the same 4 ; moreover in Ethelwerd's Chronicle the see of
Sherborne is expressly called Selwoodshire. 6 It therefore follows that Sher-
borne diocese included the great woodland district of Selwood and all to the
west of it as far as Wessex influence then extended, and that all the eastern
side of this forest pertained to Winchester.

Whatever disputes or difficulties may arise as to what parts of Wiltshire
were within Selwood Forest or lay to the east or west of it and the extent of
this woodland district at the beginning of the eighth century will always
remain to some extent a problem 6 there can be no doubt that the whole of
Berkshire was to the east of Selwood. It seems, then, conclusive that the
county of Berks at this period in its history, and hence for the next two
centuries, owed its ecclesiastical allegiance to Winchester and not to
Sherborne. 7

During the two centuries that elapsed before the occurrence of another
diocesan sub-division, Abingdon must have played a most important part in
laying the foundations of the future Christian parishes of all that section of
the north of the county which lay within her more immediate reach.
Abingdon was the missionary centre and mother church of the whole of
that district.

In the year 909 came a further division of the diocese of Wessex. As
to the date and occurrence of the subdivision of Winchester, there can be no

1 Bede, Hist. Eccl. v, 1 8 ; Florence of Worcester, Chron. i, 46, 235.

'William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 175.

3 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii, 277 ; Bright, Early Engl Ch. 423.

* Hen. of Huntingdon, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), no.

6 Ethelwerd, Chron. cap. xi ; Provincia quae vulgo SealuuJscire dicitur. Wilts. Arch. Mag. i, 192.

1 Green accepts the statement of Henry of Huntingdon and the Angl.-Sax. Chron. as conclusively assigning
Berks to Winchester diocese ; see Making of Engl. 391; Conquest of Engl. 46. This, too, is the view taken in
Jones, Dioc. Hist, of Salisbury, 37-8.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

doubt, as it is proved by contemporary charter evidence ; l and probably the
rest of Wessex was divided at the same time by King Edward. The two
bishoprics became five, the sections being Winchester, Sherborne, Wells,
Crediton, and Ramsbury. The succession of bishops of these last three sees
begins in each case with the year 909.*

The diocese of Sherborne as then reconstructed, merely included Dorset ;
Wells included Somerset ; and Crediton, the county of Devon. As to the
exact confines of the third new see, which had its chief seat in the little
town in the north-east of Wiltshire termed Hrefenesbyrig or Ravensbury,
corrupted into Ramsbury, it is not easy to write with so much certainty.
There is no doubt that by the time of Edward the Confessor, when Herman
was bishop of Ramsbury, the see embraced Wiltshire and Berkshire. Probably,
too, throughout the century and a half of the existence of the see of Rams-
bury, its jurisdiction had been over these two shires or the major part of
them. The position of Ramsbury was suitable for a see of that extent, for
the bishop if there resident would find himself in about the middle of his
diocese. There were, however, two other places in these counties that
occasionally gave names to bishops in the tenth century, one being Wilton,
the shire-town of Wiltshire, and the other Sonning near the centre of Berk-
shire. 3 At both these places there is no doubt that there were early episcopal
residences and estates.

So far it is easy to imagine one and the same bishop being sometimes
termed generically of Ramsbury, and at other times after Wilton or Sonning ;
a state of things to some extent paralleled by the later instance of a bishop
styled interchangeably from his three cities of Lichfield, Coventry, and Chester.
But with regard to Berkshire, the matter is somewhat different. Ethelstan
was the first bishop of Ramsbury (909), and he was followed by Odo; yet in
their days there was a bishop named Cynsige who is expressly termed ' biscope
of Barrocsire.' 4 The only possible explanation of this is that Cynsige was a
suffragan bishop of Ramsbury, and acted as shire-bishop for this county.
' The see of Ramsbury,' writes Dr. Stubbs, ' had no cathedral, and was moved
about in Wiltshire and Berkshire, resting sometimes at Sonning, but finally
joined to Sherborne just before the Conquest. It may have existed in the
same way before the time of Alfred, and been a kind of suffragan see to
Winchester.' 6

Ramsbury was not at all a populous or important see, and but small in
value ; nevertheless, three out of its ten bishops, Odo, Sigeric, and ^Elfric, all
became archbishops of Canterbury. Herman, 8 the last bishop of Ramsbury,
who succeeded Brihtwold in 1045, was a Fleming by birth, and brought
into England by Edward the Confessor. He endeavoured to annex the abbey

1 Kemble, Cod. Dip!. Nos. 1090, 1092, 1094, 1095. ' Stubbs, Reg. Sacr. Anglic, (ed. 2), 227-9.

3 Wiltoniensis episcopus, or like terms occur several times in William of Malmesbury, whilst Florence of Wor-
cester writes of episcopal Sunningnensis ; indeed the latter term is applied collectively by Florence to those who
are elsewhere termed bishops of Ramsbury.

4 Jones, Dioc. Hist, of Salisbury, 55. Mr. Grant Allen, usually so accurate, makes the mistake of saying,
'There has never been a bishop of Berks.' County and Town in Engl. 26.

s Stubbs, Const. Hist, i, 271. In another place, when writing of ninth-century matter, Stubbs says :
' We must therefore suppose that occasional shire-bishops were appointed in this kingdom (Wessex) perhaps
without distinct sees, such as are found in the next century, as bishops of Berks, Cornwall, &c.' Haddan and
Stubbs, Councils, iii, 596.

6 He is styled indifferently bishop of Ramsbury, of Wilts, and of Berks.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

of Malmesbury to the bishopric ; but disappointed at his failure, he retired
for a time from his diocese in 1055, entrusting his administration to Ealdred,
bishop of Worcester, who obtained the assistance as suffragan of Ralph, a
Norwegian bishop, who was at that time abbot of Abingdon. Three years
later, in 1058, Elfwold, bishop of Sherborne, died, and Herman had sufficient
influence with the Confessor to secure that bishopric and to hold it in union
with the see of Ramsbury.

By this act of union Berkshire became linked with both Dorset and
Wiltshire in episcopal rule. For seventeen years Herman ruled the three
counties, residing chiefly at Sherborne, but moving the episcopal seat to Old
Sarum, where he began to build a cathedral in 1075. He died in 1078,
and was succeeded by St. Osmund, under whom the union of the three
counties as forming the see of Sarum, or Salisbury, was continued, Berkshire
remaining a component part of that diocese for nearly eight centuries.

The ecclesiastical and other incidents of Domesday are dealt with else-
where, so that there is no need again to call attention to the considerable
share that the church had at that time in the lands of the county. And it is
hardly necessary to reiterate that the main purpose of the great Survey was a
fiscal one, and that therefore the mention of churches is fitful, those only as a
rule being named that had attached to them lands subject to geld.

The exact number of churches mentioned in the Domesday Survey of
Berkshire is twenty-nine, 1 and we know at once that this is no approach to
the complete list of the churches then extant ; there is, for instance, record
evidence of churches at Abingdon (St. Helen), Hurley, Reading, and Sonning.

In some counties the invocations of the old churches or chapels afford
not a few clues to the faith of our forefathers in their local or national saints.
There is but little evidence of that kind in Berkshire. Whatever there may
have been of reverence for English saints was swept away in the days of
Norman re-building and reconsecration, save in the case of St. Frideswide
and St. Swithun. The former occurs at Frilsham, formerly Fridesham, said,
according to one legend, to have once been the residence of the virgin saint.
The churches of Compton Beauchamp and Combe, and the old chapels
of Kennington and Twyford (Sonning) were all dedicated in honour of
St. Swithun, and help to confirm the connexion of Berkshire with Winchester
rather than Sherborne diocese in the eighth and ninth centuries.

The question of pre-Norman work in Berkshire churches will be dealt
with elsewhere in the discussion of their fabrics, but the obvious cases of
Wickham and Hurley may be named as instances of structural proof of Saxon
Christianity.

Berkshire, though lying somewhat remote from Salisbury, was from the
outset closely connected with the new diocese. The charter of the year 1 101,
by which the famed St. Osmund, the second bishop of Old Sarum, founded
a chapter for his cathedral church, assigned to the canons in Berkshire the
churches of Blewbury, Sonning, and Greenham, with all their appurtenances,
and also ten hides of land at Ruscombe. s Bishop Jocelin, who ruled the

1 Ashbury, Barton-at-Abingdon, Blewbury, Buckland, Brightwell, Compton Beauchamp, Childrey,
Cholsey, Cumnor, Denchworth, East Lockinge, Faringdon, Fyfield, Great Coxwell, Hendred, Hinton Waldrist,
Letcombe Regis, Long Wittenham, Longworth, Marcham, Moreton, Pusey, Shrivenham, Sparsholt, Steventon,
Streatley, Wallingford, and Wantage. ' Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 27 ; Insp. Chart.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

diocese during much civil trouble from 1142 to 1 1 84, made a more particular
grant of the church and chapel of Blewbury to the common fund of the
resident canons of Salisbury in the year H48. 1 In his days certain specific
provisions were made for particular members of the chapter, as for the pre-
centor and treasurer, but no general system of separate prebends for the
several canons had yet been adopted.

It was mainly owing to the efforts of Bishop Herbert le Poor (1194
1217), supported by his brother, Richard le Poor, who was first dean of
Salisbury and afterwards succeeded to the bishopric, that progress was
made in the development of the diocesan chapter. The prebend of Oke-
burne in the church of Salisbury, as constituted by Bishop le Poor in 1208,
consisted of the churches of the two Ogbourne villages in Wiltshire, and of
the churches of Wantage and Hungerford, with the chapel of Sandburn, in
Berkshire. The prebend was to be held by the abbots of Bee. The abbot
was to be exempt from residence, but was bound to provide a vicar in priest's
orders to minister in the cathedral. The confirming charter of the dean and
chapter of Salisbury of the same date expressly states that honourable
provision was to be made for the sustenance of the vicars who were to
administer in the four parish churches. 3

This Berkshire prebend was assigned to the alien abbot of Bee in return
for that abbey having made over various estates to the cathedral body. The
whole organization of the cathedral chapter was accomplished by Bishop
Richard le Poor (1217-29), prior to the removal of the cathedral church
and residence from Old to New Sarum. On 28 April, 1220, the founda-
tions of the new church were laid with much solemnity.

A statute had been passed when Richard le Poor was dean ordering the
regular visitation by the dean and chapter of the prebendal estates. Accor-
dingly, William de Wenda, who succeeded to the dignity of dean of Salisbury
in the year of the new foundation, at once proceeded to make a visitation. 3
He began his tour at Sonning on the vigil of St. Michael, 1220. The
church of St. Andrew was well stocked with plate and vestments of all
descriptions, including a new set provided by the executors of Dean Adam in
the place of those in which he had been buried. Vitalis was the name of
the perpetual vicar ; he produced a charter of Dean Jordan's circa 1185, by
which he had been granted the chantry of Sonning, and the chapel of Rus-
combe with their appurtenances, for 40^. to be paid quarterly. It was explained
that the cantaria of Sonning included altar dues, mortuaries, and the tithes of
flax, wool, and cheese. The vicar also exhibited the confirmation charters of
this vicarage granted by the chapter of Salisbury and by Bishops Jocelin and
Hubert. Two of the chapels of Sonning were Erleigh (or Arley, modern,
Earley) St. Bartholomew and Erleigh St. Nicholas ; the chaplain of the former
did homage to the dean, but the latter was without a minister. There was also
a third chapel at Sindlesham, concerning which Vitalis produced a charter of
Dean Jordan as to its rights and obligations. Robert de Sonning was allowed
to have this chapel for the use of himself, his wife, his household and guests,
but the rustics (rustici] or outdoor servants were not to hear mass save in the
parish church ; for this privilege Robert was to pay the vicar 4^. a year.

1 Vet. Reg. Sar. (Rolls Ser.), i, 216. ' Ibid. 190.

' Some particulars of this visitation are printed in Maskell, Anc. Lit. of the Ch. ofEngl. 181.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

There was a fourth chapel (parochial) at Ruscombe, in honour of
St. James, held by Vitalis with his vicarage, the vicar paying to the chapter
los. for this chapel, and 3OJ. for the vicarage of Sonning. Baptismal rights
pertained to Ruscombe, but it had no cemetery. The ornaments and vest-
ments of this chapel are duly set forth. The church of Sonning was in course of
rebuilding ; it lacked its roof, the chancel was being rebuilt by Vitalis, but
the windows had not been glazed ; and it was noted that it would require
consecration. The font was of wood. The vicarage adjoining the church-
yard was in a ruinous condition. It was complained that the wife of John
Paucot had given a stone for the altar of St. John (in Sonning church), but
that Vitalis had taken the stone and used it for the altar of the chapel of
Ruscombe. 1

Details are supplied in the same visitation of the chapel of All Saints,
Wokingham ; of the chapel of St. Nicholas, Hurst ; of the chapel of
Sandhurst, not dedicated but described as of St. Michael the Archangel ; and
of the old wooden chapel of Edburgefeld (now Arborfield), not dedicated, but
called after St. Bartholomew. Although a good list of books and ornaments
of Arborfield chapel is set forth, the building itself was in a disgracefully
ruinous state and shamefully desecrated. 8 It is described as dependent on the
church of Sonning, from whence it had oil and chrism. John, rector of
Barkham, held the chapel by rendering half a mark to the dean ; he had been
instituted to it by Dean Jordan. Henry, the chaplain of Arborfield, lived with
the rector of Barkham, and received a stipend of 2os.

A sad part of this visitation, which was clearly of a most searching
character, was the ignorance thereby brought to light of some of the country
clergy. There were many priests ministering in the chapels or dependent
churches of Sonning, but none of them save the vicar appeared before the
dean in 1220. The dean, therefore, ordered that all these clergy should
appear before him to be examined as to their orders and learning. This was
eventually done at Sonning on Martinmas Day, 1222. Vitalis presented one
Simon, a chaplain of Sonning, whom the vicar was only retaining up to
Michaelmas. He stated that he had been ordained sub-deacon at Oxford by
a certain Irish bishop named Albinus, acting for the bishop of Lincoln ; that
he was ordained deacon by the same, and priest by Hugh, bishop of Lincoln,
four years previously. The dean examined him in the gospel for the first
Sunday in Advent, when it was found that he did not understand what he
read. He was then tested in the opening of the canon of mass, Te igitur
clementissime Pater rogamus, &c. He had no idea in what case Te was, nor
by what it was governed. Requested by the dean to look more closely at the
words, the chaplain gravely suggested that Te was governed by Pater, because
the Father governed all things ! Nor could he state the case or decline the
word clementissime, or explain the meaning of clemens. Further he knew
nothing as to antiphons or hymns, and could not recite either the mass or the
psalter by heart. He could not remember by whom, or in what, he was examined
before his priest's ordination, and contented himself with declaiming against

1 Vet. Reg. Sar. i, 275-9. The whole of the interesting visitations of 1220 and 1222 are
given in the Vetus Registrant Sarisberiense (Rolls Ser. 1883), i, 275-314. By far the greater part of the dean's
peculiars were outside Berks.

1 'Atrium ecclesie bestiis pervium, porcis eversum.' The chapel was rebuilt in chalk and flint in i 256.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

examining a man who was already ordained. No wonder that the dean caused
it to be entered on his minutes, Sufficienter illiterates est.

Richard, chaplain of Hurst, a wholly ignorant young man, who eventually
refused to answer, was suspended ; Reginald, chaplain of Arborfield, at first
refused to answer, but when he did submit to examination proved almost as
ignorant as Simon ; Jordan, chaplain of Ruscombe, could not explain Te igifur,
and when the book was placed in his hands refused to sing ; John de Scireburn,
chaplain of Sandhurst, was equally ignorant ; and the aged priest of Arbor-
field, who could not see to read, and did not know the canon of the mass nor
the gospel by heart, was forbidden to officiate any more.

As to the chaplains of Sonning and Ruscombe for whom Vitalis was
immediately responsible, the vicar was ordered at once to procure good
chaplains or else the dean would take those benefices into his own hands. 1

The result of this special visitation of the ministers of Sonning and its
dependencies was the practical suspension or dismissal of four chaplains for
gross ignorance, and the prohibition of the ministrations of a fifth for incom-
petency arising from old age and infirmities. The vicar also received a severe
rebuke and warning. To assume hastily from these incidents that the
scandals of Sonning are to be taken as representing ' the normal condition of
parish priests in those days,' 2 is simply an absurdity. The state of affairs at
Sonning was clearly most exceptional, and it is on that very account entered
in detail among the acta in the old register usually known by the name of
St. Osmund. The stories that these men told of their successive ordinations,
usually by some Irish bishop's suffragan, and always outside the diocese, are
freely set forth ; probably with the intention of having the truth of their
tales tested. Before a man could be admitted to deacon's orders he was
required to know the psalter by heart, and the idea of a priest not knowing and
not understanding the canon of the mass is almost monstrous. There doubt-
less were occasionally slovenly ordinations, but it seems far more probable
that these evil chaplains of Sonning were in reality only in first tonsure
orders, and were instances of taking the priesthood upon themselves. Not
one of them made any attempt to produce letters of orders. Vitalis, whose
father was a farmer of Sonning rectory, was evidently a careless worldly vicar,
and his aim seems to have been to get the cheapest assistant priests that he
could find.

The dean found no such abuses to correct or note in the other peculiars,
or we may be sure they would have been entered. In the other churches,
such as Heytesbury, Mere, or Godalming, there was no endeavour on the part
of chaplains to abstain from presenting themselves at the decanal visitations. 3

In 1224 the dean visited the chapels of Erleigh St. Nicholas and Erleigh
St. Bartholomew ; no fault was found with the learning or life of either of the
chaplains there, but both were rebuked for irregularities in ministering to
ordinary parishioners of Sonning within their respective chapels. The dean
when visiting the chapel of Erleigh St. Bartholomew, which stood in the
court of Thomas Erleigh, in the octave of Martinmas, 1224, found that it
was of wood, but that dressed stones were heaped up in preparation for building

1 Vet. Reg. Sar. i, 304-6. ' Dioc. Hist, of Saruet, 103.

3 We cannot find anything in these visitations to justify the use in the Dioc. Hist, of Sarum (p. 103) of
the words ' the dean was compelled in many instances to accept a very low standard of efficiency.'

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

one of stone. Round both chapels there were preparations for inclosing
them with pales, as though to form a graveyard. 1

The interests of the Chapter in Berkshire were slightly increased in 1223,
when Hugh de Saneford gave a moiety of the church of Chilton to the church
of Salisbury. 8

In 1227, when Abbot Luke was the holder of the prebend of Blewbury,
definite arrangements were made for securing perpetuity and stipend for the
vicar. To Richard, described as (up to then) chaplain of Blewbury, were
assigned all the obventions of the altar of Blewbury, and of its chapels of
Upton and Aston, together with the tithes of wool, lambs, cheese, and all
small tithes of animals, and also a house and garden. But Richard and his
successors were themselves to find another chaplain to help the vicar to serve
the cure, and the vicar was also to sustain all burdens, such as synodals and
procurations. 3

Before the middle of the thirteenth century, the Salisbury diocesan
organization was completed. There were four archdeacons, namely those
of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Dorset, and Berkshire. The archdeaconry of Berkshire
was founded by Bishop Richard le Poor, in 1220, and was coterminous with
the county boundaries, being divided into four deaneries, namely, those of
Abingdon, Newbury, Reading, and Wallingford.

Berkshire played an important part in striving to resist papal extortion
which was so rife during the papacy of Gregory IX. The demands made on
the clergy culminated in 1 240, when the papal legate sought to obtain a fifth
of England's ecclesiastical revenues for his master.

When the bishops assembled at Northampton refused to answer the
legate's demand until they had consulted their archdeacons, it was stated that
the reason for asking for this delay was because the archdeacons were con-
stantly in contact with the beneficed clergy and understood their position.
After an adjournment, the bishops and archdeacons put forth their united
reasons against the demanded contribution. Thereupon the disappointed
legate resolved to deal directly with the beneficed clergy, and sum-
moned the rectors of Berkshire to meet him. He treated them to long
harangues, at one time adding threat to threat, and at another promise to
promise. But his words were wasted, for the Berkshire rectors unanimously
declined to contribute, and put forth an elaborate and well weighed re-
joinder. Among the pertinent arguments that they used, these Berkshire
clergy contended that each church had its own patrimony ; that the pope
could with no more justice claim a share in the revenues of their churches
than they could claim a share in the revenues of the church of Rome ;
and further, that if the income of the clergy was more than sufficient for
their support, they were bound to apply the remainder in the relief of the
poor, and not in furthering the protracted bloody war between the pope and
emperor.*

The taxation roll of Pope Nicholas taken in 1291 shows that there
were then 189 churches in Berkshire, exclusive of many chapels. About a

1 Vet. Reg. Sar. i, 307-9. * Sarum Chart. (Rolls Ser.), No. bonds. * Vet. Reg. Sar. ii, 31-3.

4 Matth. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 37-43. Much of the elaborate reply of the Berkshire
rectors appears in the Annab of Burton (i, 205), under the title Responsio clerl Angllae, their arguments being
adopted by the clergy at large.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

third of these churches were by this time appropriated to religious houses
and served by vicars. 1

At that date there were also four churches that are entered as having
their vicarages consolidated with the rectories ; these were Bearwood, Lock-
inge, Stanford, and Button Courtenay.

It will be noticed that of these thirty-eight appropriations exactly half
(nineteen) were to religious houses in the county, and almost the whole to
houses in the diocese. The abbeys of Cirencester and Chertsey, though
respectively in Gloucestershire and Surrey, were close at hand, so that it was
only in two cases that the great tithes went to a distance, and in those
instances they crossed the seas to the Normandy abbeys of Bee and Lyra.

A particular feature of this return, so far as Berkshire is concerned, is
the altogether exceptional number of pensions or portions paid to monasteries
from the unappropriated churches or rectories. It is of some interest to notice
the distribution of these pensions among the various religious houses. The
ancient seat of Christianity in Berkshire, the abbey of Abingdon, naturally
had by far the largest number, especially in its own neighbourhood. It
received various sums or pensions in kind from twenty-two churches of the
county, as detailed in the story of that monastery. Reading Abbey received
pensions from seven churches, namely Compton, Englefield, Pangbourne,
Purley, Sulham, Sulhamstead Abbots, and Thatcham. Wallingford Priory
had annual grants from six churches, namely Aston, Buckland, Shaw, South
Moreton, and St. Leonard and St. Mary, Wallingford. Poughley Priory had
a pension from West Hendred, and Hurley Priory from East Garston. Chil-
ton paid a pension to one of the Abingdon hospitals. Of pensions paid to
houses outside the county but within the diocese Sherborne Abbey had
four, the nuns of Kingston two, and the abbey of Stanley one. The
adjoining county of Oxford had six contributions to Oseney Abbey, two to
Eynsham Abbey, and two to the nuns of Goring. In Hampshire, the
Wherwell nuns had two pensions, the Winchester nuns one, and the
Cistercians of Beaulieu one. The Gloucestershire abbey of Cirencester
received a pension from one of the Berkshire churches, and the alien cell
of Newent, in the same county, from another. But although these
sums from the churches of this county did not travel far afield, so far as
England's monasteries were concerned, the result of so many early Norman
landowners having claims from the country they had left shows itself in
contributions from five churches to the great abbey of Bee. Cluny re-
ceived 15-f. a year direct from Letcombe Regis, and in seven other cases
pensions were sent from Berkshire churches across the seas to other abbeys of
Normandy.

1 Abingdon, St. Helens (Abingdon, ab.) ; Aldermaston (Shirburn pr.) ; Basildon (Lyra (alien), ab.) ;
Beenham (Reading, ab.) ; Binfield (Cirencester, ab.) ; Blewbury (Sarum, d. and c.) ; Bray (Cirencester, ab.) ;
Buckland (Edington, pr.) ; Bucklebury (Reading, ab.) ; Compton Parva (Reading, ab.) ; Cookham (Ciren-
cester, ab.) ; Cumnor (Abingdon, ab.) ; East Garston (Amesbury, ab.) ; Fawley (Amesbury, ab.) ; Hunger-
ford (Sarum, chaplains and vicars) ; Hurley (Hurley, pr.) ; Kintbury (Amesbury, ab.) ; Letcombe Regis
(Amesbury, ab.) ; Marcham (Abingdon, ab.) ; Reading, St. Mary (Reading, ab.) ; Reading, St. Giles (Read-
ing, ab.) ; Reading, St. Lawrence (Reading, ab.) ; Shaw (Reading, ab.) ; Shrivenham (Cirencester, ab.) ;
Sonning (Sarum, signitaries) ; Sparsholt (Abingdon, ab.) ; Steventon (Steventon Priory, alien cell of Bee) ;
Stratfield Mortimer (Clatford, pr.) ; Streatley (Hurley, pr.) ; Sonning (Sarum, dean and chapter) ; Tilehurst
(Reading, ab.) ; Wantage (Sarum, chaplains and vicars) ; Waltham Abbots (Chertsey, ab.) ; Waltham
St. Lawrence (Hurley, pr.) ; Wallingford, Holy Trinity (Wallingford, pr.) ; Wargrave (Reading, ab.) ;
West Hendred (Wallingford, pr.) ; Winkfield (Abingdon, ab.).

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Bishop Simon de Gandavo, or Ghent, made a parochial visitation of
his diocese in 1298, the first year of his episcopate. When visiting the
rural deanery of Reading, he found that William de Burton, rector of the
church of Aldworth, was charged with various excesses. After inquiry, the
bishop removed the rector from his benefice, and in September, 1298, he
wrote to the prioress and convent of Bromhall, as patrons, telling them of
his action, and requiring them -to present another priest. 1 In January, 1301,
the bishop took action in another case of clerical wrong-doing. Popular
rumour (clamor populi) reached the bishop's ears as to the grave offences
(scandala gravissima) of Walter, the perpetual vicar of Hungerford. The
bishop issued a mandate to his official to summon the vicar to appear before
him on the feast of the Purification.' In the same year the bishop had to
intervene in a third instance of clerical scandal in Berkshire. In this case
Lawrence, rector of Ufton, was charged with certain excesses ; the time at
which he had been summoned to appear had elapsed, and the bishop, in a
letter to the rural dean of Reading, dated 5 July, 1301, ordered Lawrence to
appear before him on the day before the feast of St. Margaret (19 July). 3

The bishop undertook a second parochial visitation of his diocese in the
autumn of 1302. On 8 October he issued his mandate to the archdeacon of
Berkshire, stating his intention of visiting that county, beginning with the
deanery of Abingdon, and continuing according to the days and places in the
schedule. The archdeacon was ordered to see that all rectors, vicars, and
chaplains were duly summoned, and also from four to six trustworthy men
(jide dignos viros) from each parish or parochial chapelry. 4

Bishop Simon was an energetic patron of the Austin Friars, and welcomed
them in his diocese, although there was no house of that mendicant order in
the counties under his rule. In June, 1304, the bishop instructed the arch-
deacon of Berkshire or his official to license the prior and brethren of the
Austin Friars to preach and hear confessions in the county. At the same time
he took the strong step of inhibiting the two chief orders of the friars the
Dominicans and the Franciscans from exercising either of these offices, and
this notwithstanding the fact that there was an important settlement of
Franciscans at Reading, and friaries of both Dominicans and Franciscans at
Salisbury, and of Dominicans at Wilton. At the same time the bishop sent
out a like intimation to all the rectors, vicars, and chaplains of Berkshire,
inhibiting the use of their churches or chapels by any friars save those of the
Austin order, particularly excluding the Carmelites as well as the Black and
Grey friars, although the Carmelites had a friary at Marlborough. 5

Though his register proves Simon de Gandavo to have been an ener-
getic bishop, he found it necessary to resort to the assistance of a suffragan,
and empowered David Martin, bishop of St. Asaph, to act in his place.
From the circumstance that his commission empowered him to ordain in any
parish church in Reading, it has been supposed that he had for a time a
delegated jurisdiction over Berkshire. 6

A visitation of the dean of Salisbury's peculiars, made in the year 1300,
brought to light various deficiencies in the church of Sonning and its chapels

1 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol. zb. ' Ibid. fol. 19.

8 Ibid. fol. ^^b. Ibid. fol. 27 b.

6 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fols. 40, 40^. 6 Dix. Hist, of Sarum, 1 1 9.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

or dependent churches. Hurst had a defective missal, a worn-out gradual,
no processional nor ordinal, and no separate psalter, the chrismatory lacked
a lock, and the chancel was uncovered ; Ruscombc had no Lenten veil, the
gradual was non de usu, the chancel door was out of order and hence much
had been plundered, the roof of the chancel was defective and the glazing of
the windows broken ; Wokingham had an insufficient pyx, no holy-water
stoup, no cruets, an insufficient censer, and the chancel roof defective ;
Sandhurst had no psalter, no Lenten veil, a manual that was not of Salisbury
use, and two windows of the chancel unglazed. The only deficiencies at
Sonning were tunicle, dalmatic, and quire cope. 1

The Nomina villarum roll of 1316, which was drawn up in consequence
of a grant of the Parliament at Lincoln of one man-at-arms of each -villa not
being a city, borough, or part of the royal demesne affords remarkable proof
of the hold and influence of the church in Berkshire as compared with
neighbouring counties. Of the three boroughs, Wallingford, Windsor, and
Reading, the last-named was under the lordship of the abbot of Reading.
The rights over the hundred of Sonning, with the vills of Sonning, Burgh-
field, and Wokingham, pertained to the bishop of Salisbury ; the hundred of
Wargrave, with the vills of Wargrave, Waltham St. Lawrence, and Warfield,
to the bishop of Winchester ; the hundred of Reading, with the vills of
Tilehurst, ' Burghildeburg,' Thatcham, Beenham, and Cholsey, to the abbot
of Reading ; the hundred of Theale, to the abbot of Reading ; the hundred
of Faringdon to the abbey of Beaulieu ; the hundred of Compton to the
bishop of Bath and Wells ; and the hundred of Hormer to the abbot of
Abingdon. In several of the other hundreds that were under the general
jurisdiction of the king or of laity, a great number of the vills also
pertained to the church. Thus in the hundred of Ock and Sutton, seven
vills belonged to the abbot of Abingdon, and one to the abbot of Bee ; in
other hundreds collectively the same abbot had nine more vills ; whilst in
the hundred of Kintbury and Eagle, which the king held, the prior of
Sandleford, the prioress of Amesbury, the abbot of Titchfield, the prior of
St. Frideswide, the prior of Sherborne, the prior of Montagu, the abbot of
Cluny, and the bishop of Chester held certain vills. 8

A full return that was drawn up towards the end of the reign of
Edward I as to the property of the alien priories throughout England shows
that Berkshire contributed not a little to the total of their English possessions.
The priory of Preaux held lands at Aston ; the abbey of Longueville at West
Hanney ; the abbey of Bee at Wantage, Hungerford, and Steventon ; the
abbey of Vallemont at Stratfield Saye ; the abbey of Caux de Colets at
Stratfield Mortimer ; the abbey of St. Vigor, Cerisy, at Hinksey ; the abbey
of St. Stephen's, Caen, at West Hendred ; the abbey of Noyon at East
Hendred and East Hanney ; and the abbey of Montebourg at Ufton and
Woolley. The total annual value of the Berkshire lands pertaining to these
houses amounted to 278 8j. 6d.\ whilst their goods and stock were
returned at 330 9^. 4</. 8

1 Sarum Chart. (Rolls Ser.), 378-9.
* Feud. Aids, i, 47-54.

'Add. MS. 6164, fols. 11-21, 35-43. The returns for Steventon and Stratfield Saye are set out
subsequently, in the accounts of those two small priories.

I (

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

During the episcopate of Roger Mortival (1315-30) there was a good
deal of activity. Robert le Petit, bishop of Enaghdun, Ireland, who was
commissioned in 1326 to act as suffragan for Salisbury, consecrated no fewer
than fifty-three churches between that year and the death of Bishop Mortival
in March, 1330.* But it must be remembered that these consecrations were
certainly not in all cases new churches or new sites ; most of these consecra-
tions would be required when the position of the high altar was changed
owing to the enlargement of the chancels, which was so common a feature of
the architectural development of that period.

In the time of Mortival's successor, Bishop Wyville, who ruled from
1330 to 1375, the Nonal Inquisitions supply the numbers of the churches.
These inquisitions were taken in 1341 to give the value of the churches'
possessions, so that the ninth of corn, wool, and lambs might be taken by the
king. This return, exactly fifty years later than the return of Pope Nicholas,
shows that the churches of Berkshire (apart from the chapels) then
numbered i 19.*

Another proof of the spiritual earnestness of the fourteenth century is to
be found in the remarkable frequency with which Bishop Wyville granted
licences for private chapels or oratories where celebrations might be held.

As early as 1304 Sir Richard Fowkerham, knt., had obtained the epis-
copal licence to have daily divine service in his chapel in the east part of the
town of Thatcham, at his own expense, with the consent of the abbot of
Reading as patron, and of Master Anthony the rector. The rights of the
rector were reserved, and no service was to be held on solemn days and
festivals, when attendance at mass and at the canonical hours was to be
made in the parish church. 8 Although such grants may occasionally
indicate a certain amount of spiritual pride and exclusiveness, it may on
the other hand be fairly said that the granting of upwards of forty such
licences in Berkshire between 1330 and 1348 is a proof of the prevalence
of genuine faith and appreciation of the means of grace. 4

1 Dioc. Hist. ofSarum, 123. ' Nonae Inquis. Berks.

* Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fbL 39^.

4 Among those granted on Berks manors are the following: 1332, Roger de Ryvers, lord of
Blagrave, near Lambourn, in his oratory at Blagrave. 1333, Alexander de Medborn, rector of St. Aldate's,
Oxford, in his manse at Lyford ; William de Ufton in his manse at Ufton Robert. 1334, Sir Peter de Bau,
en his manor in Lambourn parish ; John de Holte, in his manor of Holte, in Lambourn parish ; Lady Sarah
de Ryvers, on her manor of Poughley. 1335, John de Coleshull, in his manse at Ashbury. 1338, Sir
William de Wytefeld, in his manor of Kingston. 1339, John Ody, on his manor of Thorp, in Faringdon
parish ; Sir John Corbet, on his manor of Stubury, in Marcham parish. 1340, Robert Hoppegrass, in his
oratory at Charlton, near Hungerford ; Sir Peter de Bathon, on his manor of ' Ideweveston,' in Ashbury
parish. 1341, Hugh de Morton, on his manor of Le Hoo, in Cookham parish ; Emeric de Denchworth, in
his manse in Hanney parish ; John de Brom, in his manse at Sutton Courtenay ; Thomas de Foxle and
Katherine his wife on the manor of Ynhurste, in Bray parish ; Margaret widow of John le Despenser, in her
manse in Cookham parish ; Robert de Haddele, in his manse at Lambourn ; Joan de Lillebrook, in her
manor at Cookham. 1343, Henry de Pusey, on his manor of Pusey ; Robert Marie, on his manor of
Wytham. 1 344, Edmund de Polhampton, in his manse at Balaston, in Kingsbury parish ; Sir Thomas de
Courdray, on his manors of Padworth and Lyford ; Sir John Barls, on his manor of Hampstead Ferrers.
1345, Sir Robert Achard, on his manors of Aldermaston and Sparsholt ; Ralph de la Stane, on his manor of
Wyke, in Shrivenham parish ; Sir John Brocks, in his manse at Clewer ; John de Schebenhangre, in his house
at Bray ; Alina de la Hesse, in her manse at Finchampstead ; John de Stafford, in his chapel of East
ShefFord ; Amicia de Farendon, in her chapel of Ekerdon, in Sutton parish ; William de Shotesbrook, in the
rectory of Basildon. 1346, Edmund de la Beche, archdeacon of Berks, in the rectory of Ramsbury ; Geoffrey
de Eye, in his manse at Bromhall ; Alice Danvers, in her oratory at Winterbourne. 1347, William Trussel,
on his manor of Shottesbrook ; Thomas Fettiplace, on his manor of Denchworth, at the instance of Sir Gilbert
Shottesbrook ; Adam de Wambergh, in his rectory of Ashbury ; John Fachel, in his house at Colle, in

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Wyville's registers contain no application for such oratory licences after
the shock of the Great Pestilence ; for some years there would have been
the greatest difficulty in getting priests for such extra services.

No part of England escaped the terrible ravages of the Black Death
of 13489. The archdeaconry of Berkshire suffered about equally with
those of Dorset and Wiltshire. The dreadful death-rate among the
beneficed clergy can be gathered in this diocese, as elsewhere, from the
episcopal registers. The average number of episcopal institutions a year
during the long rule of Bishop Wyville (1330-75) for the whole diocese of
Salisbury was about fifty. In 1348 the institutions nearly quadrupled, and in
1 349 they about trebled the average. The following are the exact numbers
of the institutions 1 about this period : 1345, thirty ; 1346, fifty -six; 1347,
fifty-four; 1348, one hundred and ninety; 1349, one hundred and forty-
five; 1350, ninety-three; 1351, sixty-six. As to the religious houses of
the county, it will be noticed in the subsequent accounts that vacancies were
filled up, in 1348-9, in the headships of the nunnery of Bromhall and the
hospital of Newbury, and twice in the priory of Poughley. The monasteries
throughout the kingdom found much difficulty in keeping up their numbers,
and hardly any of the larger ones ever again attained the complement they
had known in previous days. At both Abingdon and Reading, the numbers
sank considerably below their previous standard; the abbot of the latter
house petitioned the pope to allow thirty of his monks to be ordained
priests in their twentieth year so that they might have a sufficiency to sustain
divine worship in their house and its cells. Some years after this visitation,
the priory of Bisham supported their petitions for the appropriation of
several churches by stating that the great pestilence had much im-
poverished them by the reduction of rents. The marked advance in the
price of labour must have also materially affected the profits of the many
manors of the shire that were farmed by the monasteries.

An entry of a very remarkable character in Wyville's register must not
be passed over, although it has more connexion with Dorset than with
Berkshire. The bishop, in 1355, issued his mandate to the archdeacon of
Berkshire,* directing him to instruct all his clergy, both regular and secular,
to celebrate masses and to ask the prayers of the faithful for the success of
the bishop's champion in a forthcoming trial by combat ; more particularly
on the morrow of the Purification and the subsequent octave when the duel
was expected to take place. The case, put very briefly, was this. King
Stephen seized the castle of Sherborne from Roger, bishop of Old Sarum, in

St. Mary's Parish, Reading. 1348, Hugh de Normanville, in his house at Eithokele, in Bray parish.
Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, passim.

It will be noticed that three of these licences are for rectories. In two cases a chapel is mentioned,
when doubtless there was a special and probably a detached building. The more usual case of the licence
being for the manse would generally mean a particular chamber or oratory in the manor house, especially
upstairs. A licence for the manor probably implied a building within the court or inclosure. A single
house implies that the dwelling did not belong to anyone who was a manorial lord.

There are various licences for oratories in Bishop Mitford's register, though nothing like the number that
are to be found in those of Bishop Wyville. Among the Berkshire parishes wherein licences were granted
by this bishop for private oratories or chapels occur those of Thatcham, Cookham, Shellingford, Bradfield,
Pangbourne, Sutton, South Moretcn, East Hendred, Reading, and Abingdon. (Sar. Epis. Reg. Mitford, passim},

1 Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, lib. ii, passim.

2 Doubtless also to the other three archdeacons in like terms ; but the one to the archdeacon of Berks,
happens to be the one cited in the register.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

1142. From that time onwards it remained with the crown until 1337,
when Edward III granted it to the earl of Salisbury. The claims, however,
of the see of Sarum to their ancient possessions had never been relaxed, and
Bishop Wyville seized the opportunity of the old residence of the bishops of
Sherborne being transferred to lay hands, to bring a writ of right for its
recovery. The. case after much delay came before the Court of Common
Pleas at Westminster, but the earl of Salisbury claimed to defend his right
to the castle by single combat, and the question had therefore to be referred
to a trial by battle. On the appointed day the earl and the bishop's
champion were subjected to the usual preliminary examination for the
detection of illegal weapons or unallowed armour. The latter was found to
be wearing several ' rolls of prayers and charms,' and this caused the combat
to be deferred. The adjournment gave time for the combatants to come to
a compromise. The bishop paid 2,500 marks to the earl, and the latter
allowed judgement to go by default. 1

Bishop Erghum (137588) was a prelate of vigorous mind and strenuous
in action. It came to his ears in the summer of 1385, when sojourning at
his Berkshire manor of Sonning, that 'idolatrous' proceedings were rife at
Bisham, on the Buckinghamshire frontier of his diocese. On 20 June he
sent a peremptory mandate on the subject to the rural dean. From the
preamble to this mandate it appears that considerable multitudes, especially
from Wycombe and Great Marlow across the river, were flocking to a
certain newly found well at Bisham. With a too credulous trust in
feigned tales and diabolical deceits the people were venerating this alleged
holy well, after the manner of approved relics, and contrary to the catholic
faith. The bishop recited two of the imaginary miracles in connexion with
this well. Just over the spring was a certain bush, and in this bush a certain
bird had made its nest ; it was asserted that the bird, contrary to nature and
affected by its nearness to the sacred spring, did not fly away when touched,
but allowed itself to be freely handled by those visiting the well. It was
also stated that a blear-eyed man (lippus) bathing his eyes in the water had
received his sight, a natural result, remarks the bishop, of the wholesome
application of cold water ; but many people insisted on the miraculous
quality of the well, and flocked there, placing offerings in the nest. The
bishop ordered the rural dean to cause the well to be filled up with earth
and stones, and to tear up the tree, nest and all, by the roots and see to its
being burnt. Greater excommunication was to be pronounced against all
who in the future should visit the site. 3

There are a few cases in the episcopal registers of the amending, by
way of increase, of the ordination of vicarages. An instance of this occurred
when Bishop Ralph Erghum was visiting his Berkshire parishes in 1386.
The archdeacon of Berkshire reported that the vicarage of St. Nicholas
Abingdon had been wont to consist of all the oblations and obventions of the
altar ; of the tithes of lambs, wool, linen, flax (whether grown in garden or
field), milk, cheese, honey, artificers' work (negoctactonu), calves, geese, pigeons,

1 Kite, Wilts. Brasses, 15-18 ; Dioc. Hist. 126-7. The recovery of Sherborne Castle for the diocese was
considered so great an achievement that a representation of the contest for its recovery appears on the brass to
Bishop Wyville in Salisbury Cathedral.

'Sar. Epis. Reg. Erghum, 2nd Nos. fol. 76.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

eggs, and apples ; of certain other small tithes ; and a corrody in Abingdon
Abbey. The whole, however, barely amounted to 5 a year, for the area of
the parish was small, and such an amount, in the archdeacon's opinion, was
insufficient for a vicar. It was, therefore, covenanted between the proctors
of the abbot and the vicar, and endorsed by the bishop, that for the future
the vicar, John Gray, and his successors should have the great tithes of wheat
and hay in the township of Sugworth ; also that the vicars should have, as
they had been wont, for their dwelling a hall adjoining the church, with two
adjacent rooms and a kitchen, which houses they were henceforth to keep in
repair, the abbey bearing all charges for chancel repairs, the payment of the
pension of 14*. to St. John's Hospital opposite the church, the payment of the
royal tenth whenever granted, and all other such charges. The bishop
reserved to himself and his successors the right to augment, diminish, or change
the vicarage in the future. This re-ordination was confirmed by Pope Boni-
face in 1400, at the petition of John Russell, when he succeeded John Gray
as vicar of St. Nicholas's. 1

Berkshire, as will shortly appear, had but few gilds in connexion with
its churches. The returns made to the king (Richard II) in council, by
order of Parliament in 1389^5 to the ordinances, usages, and properties, are
often of notable interest ; but they have been only fitfully preserved and are
altogether lacking for some counties. So far as this county is concerned,
only a single long narrow membrane has been preserved. It does not take
the form of the usual certificate as to the founding and endowment of the
gild, and is, we believe, unique among the bundles of certificates. The
document belongs to the Confraternity of Our Lady of Brightwell, which was
evidently well established and in a flourishing condition at this date ; it was
probably sent up as a proof of the gild's working condition as a kind of
appendix to the certificate ; or it may have slipped in accidentally, for it
appears to be an original document, and its absence, unless a copy was taken,
must have embarrassed the gild clerk. It consists of a long list of the names
of the members of the Confraternity, eighty-six in all, each being followed by
four columns of figures or payments. There are no headings to these
columns, but as the date of the twelfth year of Richard II is inserted in small
lettering at the top of the figure columns, it may be assumed that they
represent the quarterly payments of the members. In the great majority of
cases there is a fifth sum entered immediately to the left of the names, which
may possibly represent an entrance fee. The payment in the first column
after the name is usually the highest, and probably represents the sum given
at the time of the annual feast or festival. The list opens with the name of
Master Richard Tonworth, whose scale of payment was the highest, for the
sum of 3-r. Afd. is entered to the left of his name, and is repeated four times
to the right. A good deal lower down appears the name of ' D n John
Bentby,' with 6d. to the left, followed by zs. and three more sixpences to the
right. None of the other names are distinguished by any title or prefix. The
majority were much lower than this, a usual payment being 4^., followed by
three payments of a penny. There are several instances of women members ;
Matilda Wyga paid an initial 2^/., and only a penny on one other occasion.
In a single instance a man and his wife were entered under a joint payment ;

1 Sar. Epis. Reg. Erghum, 2nd Nos. fol. 8o ; Cal. Pap. Let. v, 275.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

John Prince and Joan his wife contributed 4^., and subsequently a penny
each time. The last on the list is the lowest of all; John le Frenssh paid 2</.,
and a penny at the next two collections. This list brings out strongly, in its
varying scale of contributions, the excellent social side of the mediaeval
English religious gilds, wherein class distinctions to so large an extent
disappeared.

The most interesting feature of Bishop Waltham's register (1388-95) is
a fairly full account of the parochial visitations which were held throughout
his diocese in 1393. The commissaries of the bishop made a systematic
visitation of the archdeaconry of Berkshire in the month of April. On
Wednesday, 14 April, the visitation was held in the church of Bradfield ; at
Thatcham on 15 April; at Welford on 17 April; at Lambourn on 19 April;
at Chieveley on 20 April ; at Brightwalton 2 1 April ; at Cholsey for the
deanery of Wallingford, on 22 April ; at Brightwell on the feast of
St. George (23 April) ; and at Sutton Courtenay for the deanery of Abingdon
on 24 April.

The acta et comperta of this series of Berkshire visitations covers eleven
folios of the bishop's register. 1 The following are a few of the more salient
points :

The clergy are expected to produce their letters of orders. At Brad-
field Rector Robert produced these documents, but John Manhyng, parochial
chaplain, stated that his letters of orders had been burnt, and he was given a
short time in which to produce evidence confirmatory of his statement. At
Kintbury the vicar produced not only his letters of orders, but also those of
his institution and induction, which, although not mentioned elsewhere, were
probably expected to be shown by the beneficed clergy.

The evidence with regard to rectories strongly confirms the idea that
parishes which had vicars were, as a rule, in a happier state than those that
retained the great tithes. At Woolhampton the rector was non-resident, and
put in no appearance at the visitation ; the same was the case with the
rectory parishes of Sulham, Newbury, Shefford Parva, Avington, Walling-
ford St. Leonards and Sutton Courtenay. The complaints made as
to the condition of both churches and parsonages were far worse in
the rectory than in the vicarage parishes. The report of the church
of Ufton Roberts was wholly bad ; the tower was so defective that no bell
could be hung in it. The chancel roof of Woolhampton was in bad con-
dition, and the rectory ruinous, although the rector had recently received
1 8 marks for its repair. The rectories and chancels of Englefield, Sulham,
Shefford Parva, Brightwell, Brightwalton, and Sutton Courtenay were in a like
evil plight. An additional complaint against the absentee rector of Wool-
hampton was that he found neither surplice nor ferial vestment ; nor could
the rector of Englefield, though present at the visitation, show a ferial
vestment. The rector of Sulham had alienated a portifer or breviary without
leave of the parishioners, and the bishop in that case called upon the neigh-
bouring rector of Tidmarsh to look after the parish. At Welford, which
was a rectory, the bishop's commissaries when holding their visitation in the
church remarked that it was affected by a very bad smell (cum magno fetore]^
and found that it was on account of the jackdaws (monedule) and other birds

1 Sar. Epis. Reg. Waltham, fols. 57-68 d.
16

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

that gained an entrance through the tower and made their way over the whole
church ; the windows, too, were badly glazed both in nave and chancel, and
the roof of the former was defective. The condition of the church of
Hampstead Marshall (a rectory) was generally bad, and its repair was ordered
by Michaelmas under pain of a 2os. fine. Complaint was made of the non-
resident rector of Sutton Courtenay, that he assigned no alms to the poor, and
that he caused the churchyard to be grazed by horses and cows to the
destruction of the monuments of the dead. The church of Shaw lacked both
portifer and chalice, which the parishioners said had been committed to the
custody of the rector. The condition of things at St. Leonard's, Wallingford,
was deplorable ; no wonder that John Bynne, the rector, did not appear ; not
only was there a defective chalice and one of the service books lost, but he
was charged with drunkenness and revealing of confessions. Moreover, at
the chapel of Southwell, which was annexed to the rectory of St. Leonard's,
and had an independent value of >C5> the building was kept in such a
scandalous state that pigs had not only entered but had actually violated the
Eucharist out of the unlocked pyx.

In the case of vicarages, the appropriator or his proxy was expected to
be present at the visitation. Thus, at Cholsey, the proxy of the abbot of
Reading appeared ; at Chieveley the abbot was represented by William
Bareford, one of his monks ; whilst at Thatcham he appeared in person.

All of the appropriated churches did not escape blame. It was reported
that the nave and roof of the church of Cholsey were in bad repair ; the
parishioners were ordered to make it good by the ensuing All Saints' Day
under the heavy penalty of IOQJ. The roof of the church of Thatcham was
also in bad repair. There were two sad cases of delinquent vicars. At Kint-
bury, appropriated to the Wiltshire house of Amesbury, the vicar was found
to be incontinent ; he had to pay a fine of 40.;., and to present a wax taper of
2 Ib. weight to the cathedral church of Sarum. At Basildon, appropriated to
the wealthy foreign abbey of Lyra, there had been no 'mattens,' vespers, or
mass for a long time, no notice had been given of festivals, people had been
married without banns and children baptized without unction ; one of the
vicar's minor offences was the cutting down of large oaks and ashes (? on the
glebe) and selling them ; eventually he was excommunicated for incontinence.
With regard to the less serious irregularities of the clergy and those in
minor orders Richard, a chaplain in Thatcham parish, had celebrated
marriage contrary to the wish of the vicar ; at Chieveley, Richard, a chaplain,
was presented for having celebrated mass twice in one day, to this he confessed
and was fined 2s. ; both vicar and chaplains of Chieveley were celebrating in
two chapels (Oare and Leckhampstead) which had neither been dedicated nor
licensed. Although parish clerks in England about this period were now and
then married, as can be proved from wills, &c., these visitations show that
such marriage was considered an irregularity. At Woodhay, John Sandres,
the clerk of the church, is stated to have been married. At Thatcham, William-
Scry vyn is entered as a clerk, ' but he is married ' (sed conjungaf esi) ; at
Lambourn, Philip and John Pety, clerks of the church, were both presented for
being married ; and at Chieveley, John Waker, the clerk, confessed to being
married and was fined izd. The like fine was also paid at Thatcham and
probably in the other cases. From the particular mention of these four cases
2 17 3

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

it may fairly be assumed that the very great majority of the Berkshire parish
clerks of this period were unmarried. 1

The presentment of lay folk at these visitations, particularly for incon-
tinence, was fairly frequent. At Thatcham, John Scone was charged with
keeping a disorderly house (lenocinium in domo suo) ; at Kintbury, William
Alisander was charged with alienating 300 pounds of church wax ; at
Sheffbrd Parva a man was fined for felling trees in the churchyard. Richard
Smyth charged with detaining wool due to the vicar of Lambourn was ordered,
under a penalty of loos., to go before the procession at the Feast of St. Peter
with bare feet and head, carrying 3 Ib. of wool and a wax taper of i Ib.
weight, and thus to stand in the church after the procession to the time of obla-
tion, and then to offer the wool and taper. Henry Sutter, of Beedon, did not
come to hear mass on Sundays or festivals, but in the midst of service-time sold
shoes outside the church ; he was fined i zd. John Thresher of Cholsey was
presented for not having been that year to confession or the sacrament.

From these visitations some idea can be gathered of the number of
unbeneficed clergy assisting in parochial work in the more populous parishes.
At Newbury, in addition to the rector, who did not appear, and the regular
parochial chaplain, John Moryn, six other chaplains were present at the
visitation, namely Robert Taylor, Thomas Whyte, Nicholas Wymond, Richard
Endesley, and John Milward, as well as John, chaplain of John Grygg. At
Lambourn, the vicar and three chaplains (or, as we should now say, curates)
appeared, in addition to a chantry chaplain ; and at Chieveley, Cholsey, and
Brightwell, the vicar and two chaplains.

As to church furniture, in addition to matters already noted, there are
various references to the absence of locks or keys on three articles, all of which
ought to be kept locked, viz. the pyx, the font, and the chrismatory. In the
churches of Bradfield, Cholsey, Peasemore, Sheffbrd Parva, Sutton, Welford,
and Woolhampton, all three were unlocked. In some cases proper locks were
ordered to be found before Michaelmas, under a penalty of 40^. At Newbury,
the pyx and chrismatory lacked locks, and at Brightwalton only the pyx.
The Lent veil at Cholsey was quite worn out; and Welford lacked its
' principal image,' that is the image of its patron saint, St. Gregory.

It only remains to offer a single but necessary comment on these visita-
tions. Grievous as are some of the defects disclosed both in churches and
their ministers by this record of 1393, the satisfactory side must not be
omitted from notice. It is obvious that the parochial visitation entries in the
episcopal registers, after the bishop's commissaries had completed their tours,
are merely records of the cases in which there were reformanda, and the
delinquencies are entered in order that they might be amended in future. The
Berkshire parishes which satisfied in every way the searching inquiries of the
visitors were at least six to one as compared with those where scandals or
deficiencies came to light.

Several of the pre-Reformation registers of Salisbury lack their ordination
lists, but in Bishop Mitford's register (1395-1407) they are given in full.

1 See Wickham Legg, Clerks Book (Henry Bradshaw Soc.), p. xlii. Lyndwood says that the married
clerk is not to sit or stand among the clerks, but among the lay folk ; that when unmarried clerks are not to
be had, married clerks may perform the duty, provided they have not been twice married, and retain the
tonsure and clerical dress.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

The very large number of titles for orders given at this time by the religious
houses is most remarkable. If it had not been for the monasteries, it is difficult
to imagine whence the Church of England could have obtained the necessary
supply of secular clergy during the half century that followed the Black
Death. At the ordination held by Bishop Mitford in the church of the
Black Friars, Salisbury, on i April, 1396, out of the thirteen secular sub-
deacons ordained, twelve were on monastic titles, one being from the small
priory of Poughley ; out of the sixteen deacons, fourteen had monastic titles ;
and the same was true of six out of the nine priests. Again, at the ordination
held in the church of St. Thomas, Salisbury, on 23 September of the same
year, out of twenty sub-deacons eighteen had their titles from religious houses,
one being from Wallingford Priory ; the like was the case with eight out of
the eleven deacons, and with seventeen out of the twenty priests, one of the
latter being from Poughley. It must be clearly understood that these titles
were in no way concerned with clergy attached to or members of the
monasteries, for such, of course, would require no title. At this last-named
ordination there were nine admitted to thesub-diaconate from religious houses,
two of them being monks of Reading. On 23 December the bishop held his
ordination in the great conventual church of Reading. Three were admitted
to the first tonsure. The acolytes numbered nineteen, fifteen secular and four
religious, three of the latter being monks of Abingdon. Twenty-three were
admitted to the sub-diaconate, several by letters dimissory from other dioceses ;
eight of these were religious while five of the seculars, including three from
Poughley, had monastic titles. The deacons numbered twenty-one in all : of
these six were religious, two being monks of Reading and one of Abingdon ;
out of the fifteen secular deacons, thirteen had monastic titles. Fifteen priests
were ordained, seven of whom were religious, three from Reading and one
from Abingdon ; five out of the eight secular priests were ordained on the
strength of titles from religious houses. 1

In a collection of ecclesiastical formularies, from the reign of Edward III
to that of Edward IV, there are various excerpts from the acts of Bishop
Richard Mitford. These included a licence to the prior of Abingdon to
hear confessions, injoin penance, and pronounce absolution for all members of
that convent, and also for all others resident within the abbey precincts. A
like licence was also issued by the same bishop to William Heneley, prior of
Reading, to hear the confessions of that abbey. 8

Several of Bishop Hallam's (140717) ordinations were held in
Berkshire. At an ordination held by him in the church of St. Nicholas,
Abingdon, on 14 April, 1408, five monks of Abingdon were admitted to the
sub-diaconate. On 9 June, 1408, there was an ordination in the parish church
of Sutton Courtenay. The bishop held ordinations in his episcopal chapel at
Sonning in 1411 (2), 1412, 1413, and 1414. On 2 June, 1414, an acolyte
and two deacons were ordained by Bishop Hallam in the chapel or oratory
of the hospice at Abingdon. 3

The episcopate of John Chandler (1417-27) seems to have been
uneventful, but there is one exceptionally interesting entry relative to Berk-
shire in his register. It is a full account of the admission of Richard Ludlow

1 Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fols. 152-3 b. ' Harl. MS. 862, fols. 129, 1291$.

3 Sarum Epis. Reg. Hallam, passim.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

to the hermitage of the bridge of Maidenhead on 29 October, 1423. The
bishop commissioned John, warden of the collegiate church of Shotte&brook,
to admit the applicant, provided he was satisfied, after diligent inquiry, as to
his honest conversation and laudable life. On the appointed day, the bishop's
commissary standing at the entrance of the rebuilt hermitage, in the presence
of Andrew Sperling, senr., the mayor of Maidenhead, accompanied by his
beadle, by Robert the chaplain, and by many of the principal men of the
town and district, received the following solemn profession from the applicant,
which is thus set forth in English in the episcopal register :

In the name of God Amen. I, Richard Ludlow, byfore God and you commissary of my
reverend lord and fader Johan by grace of God, Bisshop of Salisbury, and also in presence
of all these worshipful men here beyng, I oppon by profession of heremite under this forme
that I foresaid Richard make protestation and by note fro this day forward to be obedient to
god and to holye churche havynge ye mynstres profession in worship and reverence ; Also
to lede my lyf to my lyves ende in well continente and chastite, and to eschew all open
spectacles, commone scotales, and tavernys which yt bey unlawful and forbodyn by holy
churche and all other suspect placis of Synne, furthermore I graunte on my profession every
day to here masse and to sey every day continually onyce oure lady Sauter, and on Sundays
and other holidays to saye our lady Sauter, and also xv pater nosters and aves in ye worship
and mynd of the woundys that oure lord suffered for me and all mankynde, Also to faste
every Firday in ye yere and ye vigils of pentecost and alle Halweyn and ye fyve vigils of
oure lady to bred and water, and this foresaid observance as of heryng masse, praying, and
fastyng, I shal kepe treuly, but ef het be so that any gret sykness or travaile or any other
resonable lette or impediment the which may not be eschewed by cause of my lettyng, and
yt ye godes yt I may gete othir by some gift of cristen people or by quest or testament othir
by eny othir resonable and trew wey Recevyng only necessarie to my Sustinaunce as in
mete, drink, cloth, and fuell, I shal trewly wt owte deceyte uppon reparacion and amendyng
of the brigg and of ye common weyes longing to ye same town of Maydenhith.+

Thereupon the warden recited a brief Latin office, blessing the hermit's
habit, and pointing out that these garments betokened in their wearer
humility of heart and contempt of the world. He then admitted him to the
hermitage and they thence passed into the chapel juxta pontem. 1

The appointment of Robert Neville to the bishopric of Salisbury, which
he held from 1427 to 1438, is an apt instance of the ecclesiastical abuses of
the times. Neville, a nephew of Henry IV, was both provost of Beverley
and canon of York when only seventeen years of age. On the death of
Bishop Chandler the chapter elected their dean as bishop ; but influence was
brought to bear on the pope, who set the chapter's election on one side in
favour of Neville, granting him a dispensation as he was not of canonical age
for consecration. In 1438 Neville was translated to the far richer see of
Durham. The work of the diocese of Salisbury, when Neville was supposed
to be bishop, was chiefly done in Berkshire and elsewhere, by a suffragan
termed Richard 'Katensis.' 2 In 1435 the two adjacent little parishes of
Ufton Richard and Ufton Robert were united, with the assent of the bishop,
the patron, Richard William Perkyns, and the prior of the Hospitallers.
The reason alleged for this union was the poverty of the two endowments.
Ufton Richard was made a chapelry dependent on Ufton Robert. 3

1 Sarum Epis. Reg. Chandler, fols. 40, 41. There is a good article on Hermits and Bridge Chapels by
Rev. C. Kerry, in vol. xiv, Derb. Arch, journ. wherein forms of admission are cited from the Ely Epis. Reg.
1 Sarum Epis. Reg. Neville, passim.

* Ibid. 2nd Nos. fols. I, z. These two parishes are better known as Ufton Nervet and Ufton Greys.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

The rule of Richard Beauchamp (145082) was marked in Berkshire
by the rebuilding of the collegiate chapel of St. George's, Windsor, of which
he was some time the dean.

During the brief uneventful episcopate of John Blyth (1494-9) a
good deal of space is occupied by proceedings against heretics in various parts
of the diocese, and particularly by the recital of their detailed recantations.
A considerable number of these cases occur in this county.

In 1498 proceedings were taken against John Bisshop, tanner, and Alice
his wife, John Roye, cooper of the parish of St. Lawrence, Reading, and
against John Scotwyn, tailor, and John Stamwey, weaver, of St. Giles's,
Reading, with the result that they acknowledged and confessed * of free
willes and unconstrayned ' that they had received into their houses ' certayn
mystering and evil techyng personnes against the veray faythe and true
byleave of holy church.' The teaching was against transubstantiation,
pilgrimages, images, confessions, pardons, &c., whilst the pope was termed
' Anticryste ' and priests his disciples. Other heretics were brought before
the ecclesiastical courts from Letcombe Regis, Hanney, Hungerford, Coxwell,
and Wantage. They all eventually made formal recantation, much after the
same fashion, of which the following opening phrase used in the case of a
Wantage woman will serve as a pattern :

In the name of God Amen. I, Joan Martyn, late Wife of Thomas Martyn, of Wantage,
now deceased, of the diocese of Saresbury, noted defamed, and to you Revered Father in
Christ, John by Goddys Grace, Bishopp of Saresbury, my judge and ordinary, denounced
and detected for a mysbelieving woman acknowledge and confesse openly and with my
freewill that before this tyme I have holden and believed divers openions and articles
contrary to the veray fayth of Christ and to the determination of Holy Church. First that
the Sacrament of the Aultar is not the veray body of our Saviour Christ but only
natural bred. 1

In Blyth's register occurs one of the latest cases of appropriation of
churches. The church of Sutton Courtenay was appropriated to Windsor
College on 8 January, 1495."

Berkshire or the diocese of Salisbury could have seen but little if any-
thing of its last bishop before the Reformation. Lorenzo Campegio, an Italian
cardinal, who had papal dispensation to hold at the same time an Italian
diocese, was thrust on the Salisbury chapter, and held the bishopric from
1524 to 1535. In the latter year he was deprived by Act of Parliament, as
a continual resident at the see of Rome. 8

His successor, Nicholas Shaxton (15359), made a strenuous endeavour
to curb the irregularities that came to a head during his rule, when the first
convulsions of the Reformation were in progress. Shaxton's injunctions to
his clergy in Berkshire and the rest of the diocese, issued in 1538, are set
forth at length by Burnet. 4 No French nor Irish priests, taking the place of
non-resident incumbents, were to be permitted to officiate, unless they could
perfectly speak the English tongue. At high mass the gospel and epistle
were to be read in English. The clergy were to set forth the king's supremacy

1 Sarum Epis. Reg. Blyth, fols. 70-79. The registers of Edmund Audley, who was bishop from 1502
to 1524 also contain many abjurations of heresy.
1 Ibid. fols. 80-4.

3 Cardinal Campegio was still considered at Rome to be bishop of Sarum down to his death in 1558.
' Burnet, Hist, of Reformation, iii, pt. 4.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

and the usurpations of the bishop of Rome. Sermons were to be preached
purely and sincerely, in accordance with the Scriptures. No friar or
person in a religious (conventual) habit was to perform any service in the
churches. The clergy were directed to commit to memory the gospels
of St. Matthew and St. John, together with other portions of the New
Testament, in English. The people were to be taught the Our Father and
the Creed in their own tongue. Lights before images were to be abolished.
A Bible was to be supplied for each church. Complaints were made as to
false relics, and Shaxton ordered that all relics, with the writings relative to
them, were to be brought to him, promising to restore such relics as were
genuine, with an instruction as to their use.

The penal Six Articles Act was passed in 1539 under strong pressure
from the wayward convictions of Henry VIII, affirming the doctrine of tran-
substantiation, the sufficiency of Communion in one kind, the necessity of
clerical celibacy and vows of chastity, and the desirability of private masses
and private confession. Under this Act Bishop Shaxton was condemned and
silenced, but his courage afterwards failed and he recanted. At the burning
of Anne Askew and other heretics, Shaxton was the preacher, although so
recently himself condemned as a Sacramentarian heretic. 1

This cruelly tyrannical Act of the Six Articles for the 'abolishing diver-
sity of opinions concerning the Christian religion ' became law on 28 June,
1539. All who disputed the accepted doctrine as to the Sacrament of the
Altar were condemned to be burnt, whilst those who opposed the remaining
five articles were to die the death by hanging of an ordinary felon. Under
the first of these articles three men of Windsor, Anthony Peerson, Robert
Testwood, and Henry Filmer were burnt at Windsor in 1543. Two others
narrowly escaped the like fate, one of them being John Marbeck, the cele-
brated musician, who was pardoned through the good offices of Bishop
Gardiner. 3

Another execution took place at Windsor in the previous year, when a
canon of the college was the victim of the king's tyranny. James Mallet,
an aged man, who had held a Windsor canonry since 1516, and was also a
canon of Lincoln and rector of Long Leadenham, Lincolnshire, was put to
death for the sole cause of having spoken adversely at his own table of the
king's policy in the dissolution of the monasteries. His remarks were
repeated by a treacherous guest. 3

It was in 1539, the year of Shaxton's retirement from the bishopric of
Salisbury, that the abbot of Reading was executed as a traitor. This execu-
tion, as well as the various details relative to the suppression of the religious
orders throughout Berkshire in 15359, are discussed in the subsequent
accounts of the various religious houses of the county.

Miles Coverdale was busy in parts of Berkshire in 1539-40 under
Cromwell's directions in the detection of popish books and ' the hindrance of
superstition.' He made Newbury his head quarters. Writing from thence
to Cromwell on 7 February, he complained that through overmuch suffer-

1 Nicholas Shaxton resigned the Sarum bishopric in 1539 ; for some time he acted as a suffragan in the
diocese of Ely ; he died in 1556.
x ' Foxe, Acts and Monti, v, 466, &c.

* Ashmole, Hist, of Berks, iii, 256 ; L. and P. Hen. fill, xvii, 1251, (26, 27).

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

ance there were in those countries an innumerable sort of popish books
which kept the people in error ; he had required the curate of Newbury
to call in all books that were either incorrect, or against the king's acts
touching Thomas Becket and the bishop of Rome. A great many had
reached him in the last two or three days. The next day he wrote again to
his master to signify that a great number of priests had incurred the penalties
of ' praemunire ' for not having ' utterly extinct ' from the service books
all that was 'against his grace's most lawful supremacy and prerogative.'
In the feast called Cathedra S. Petri ' great part of mattins was plainly a
maintenance of the bishop of Rome's usurped power, as appeared by the great
mattin books of Newbury and other churches. Again, on 5 March, Cover-
dale wrote a third time to Cromwell from Newbury, stating that he had just
received information that in the stained glass of the Lady chapel of the
church of Henley-on-Thames there yet remained the image of Thomas Becket '
with the whole feigned story of his death; also that the beam, irons, and candle-
sticks whereon tapers and lights to images used to be set up, had not been
taken down. At the same time he reported that he had taken a great
number of primers and other most ungracious popish books within Newbury,
and wished to know if he should burn them at the market cross. Cover-
dale charged the bishop of Lincoln with ' great and notable negligence ' in
not weeding out so great a fault as this Becket window. 1

Early in the episcopate of that unscrupulous time-server John Capon
alias Salcot (1539-57), the wide responsibilities of the bishop of Salisbury
over three counties, which had lasted since the see was founded, were materi-
ally lessened by the formation in 1542 of the diocese of Bristol ; for the new
diocese consisted of the whole county of Dorset with the deanery of Bristol.
One of Henry VIII's paper schemes for new bishoprics had proposed to
unite Berkshire with Oxfordshire to form a new diocese, with the abbeys
of Oseney and Thame as cathedral centres ; but this formed part of several
projects for using the wealth of suppressed abbeys in a national direction,
which were never, in all probability, intended to be fulfilled, and merely sent
forth as stalking-horses to prevent undue alarm at the wholesale confiscations.
For three more centuries after this date Berkshire, in conjunction with Wilt-
shire, continued to form the see of Salisbury.

The spoils that came to the crown through the overthrow of the
religious houses were soon dissipated. Henry VIII had to apply to Parlia-
ment to discharge his debts in 1 544. In the following year it was resolved
to try to obtain further supplies by a renewed policy of confiscation. An
Act was passed towards the close of 1 545 for vesting in the crown all free
chapels, chantries, and colleges, together with all hospitals, brotherhoods,
and gilds of an ecclesiastical character. The Act was limited to the lifetime
of the then monarch, and Henry's death occurred when hardly anything had
been accomplished save the taking of an elaborate preliminary survey. But
the evil of the Act did not perish with Henry VIII, for it suggested a further
source of revenue to the council of his youthful successor, and a similar Act,
though of still wider powers, became law in the first year of Edward VI.

The first commission to arrange the preliminaries for this confiscation in
Berkshire and Hampshire was appointed in February, 1 546, and consisted of

1 L. andP. Hen. VIU, xiv, pt. i, 245, 253, 444 ; Coverdale, Remains (Parker Soc.), 498-502.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

' Sir John Wellesborne, kt., Walter Hendley, Richard Worsley, George Pow-
lett, Richard Powlet, esquyers, and John Hammond, gentylmman.' l Nothing
was accomplished by this commission beyond putting on record a long and
detailed report. Just two years later, under the authority of an Act passed in
November 1547, a second commission was appointed for this county, con-
sisting of Sir James Mason, knt., Thomas Denton, esq., and Roger Amyer,
gentleman. 8 On this occasion not only were certificates as to the value of
these properties issued, but their transference to the crown was speedily
effected. The information given in these two detailed reports of the chantries,
&c., of Berkshire for 1546 and 1548 is of much value in forming an estimate
of the religious condition ,of the county on the eve of the Reformation
changes ; the particulars are fuller and more varied than those which are extant
for several other shires.*

The commissioners of Henry VIII found that several Berkshire chantries
had lapsed into lay hands or were vacant. They reported them as dissolved
without licence since 4 February, 1536, the date on which the session of
Parliament began, whereby sanction was given to the suppression of the
lesser religious houses and under whose provisions about 400 monasteries were
suppressed. It would seem that certain of the patrons of chantries and free
chapels took advantage of this general confiscation, and affected to believe, a
little in advance of the royal will, that the Act applied also to chantries.
Bullock's chantry at Newbury, worth over 10 a year, had been dissolved
since 4 February, 1536, by the parson of Newbury without licence; he seems
to have appropriated the property. The Englefield chantry, Reading, had
been dissolved since a like date by Sir Francis Englefield, the patron ; the
commissioners of i Edward VI found that there had been no incumbent for
the past five years. John Leigh, esq., had in like manner dissolved the
chantry of Binfield, worth 6 1 3^. 4^. a year. The chantry of Our Lady at
Clewer, founded by Bernard Brooke, in the parish church, worth 9 14^. a
year, had had no incumbent for two years when the commissioners of
Henry VIII were on circuit, and the commissioners of Edward VI entered
nemo in the incumbent's column. At North Moreton they found there was a
chantry founded by Miles Stapleton for daily service ; one Richard Nyelson
held the benefice which was worth 3 6s. %d. a year, but did no service for
it, being also the vicar of a Bedfordshire parish.

Much the same had taken place, during this transition stage of religious
observance, with regard to some of the free chapels. The free chapel of
' Filherd ' in East Hendred parish, worth 5 a year, had been dissolved with-
out licence by the patron, Alice Yate, widow. The free chapel of Woolley-
field, in Chaddleworth parish, two miles from the parish church, with a
foundation of 6oj. employed towards finding a minister there, had no incum-
bent temp. Henry VIII, and in the next reign it was reported that
Mr. Tate, Esquier, keepith it in his owne handes.' In Hungerford parish
there were two of these independent chapels ; one of them, dedicated to

1 Coll. and Chantry Cert. No. 51.

' Ibid. No. 3. Cert. No. 7 gives an epitome of the more important points of No. 3, with certain
variants and small additional particulars ; it is termed ' a brief Declaration,' &c.

* The particulars herein given as to the colleges (Windsor, Shottesbrook, and Wallingford) and various-
hospitals or almshouses will be found under their respective heads in the accounts of the separate religiou*
houses.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

St. John Baptist, worth 4 8.r. a year, where there had wont to be daily service,
and distant quarter of a mile from the parish church, was held by a layman
incumbent, one John Thynne ; the other one at North Standen, a mile from
the parish church, was held by ' Edward Hungerford, gent, no prieste.'
At the south end of the bridge over the Thames in the lordship of Sutton
Courtenay, a mile and a half from the parish church, was a free chapel called
'the Mawdlyn chapel'; the endowment brought in only 30^. a year; but
this had been dissolved without licence by Henry Hogge. It had been
despoiled of church goods, and only a little bell worth 5^., remained.

In two cases free chapels had been suffered, apparently in quite recent
years, to go to decay. The commissioners of 1546 reported that the parson
of Monxton (Hampshire), had been wont to say mass once a year in the free
chapel of Crookham, in the extreme south of Berkshire in the parish of
Thatcham, but it could no longer be done, as the chapel was ' holy decayed
and fallen downe ' ; nevertheless the parson still drew his fee of 6s. %d. The
commissioners of Edward VI on the contrary reckoned the income attached
to this free chapel as 201., and said that it was taken by John Barrel, clerk, aged
seventy-one. The other case was that of a free chapel in the parish of East
Garston, to which there was attached an endowment of 33^. \d. for masses at
certain times ; but this could no longer be done, as the chapel was ' holly
decayed and fallen downe to the grounde.'

There were several other free chapels and chapels of ease in this county
in use when the commissioners reported which were swept away under
Edward VI. The free chapel of Ockworth, half a mile away from the
parish church of Wytham, and endowed with 3 i$s. id. a year, was
established to say divine service ' for the ease of the inhabitants.' Under
Wallingford two free chapels were entered by the first commissioners. One
of these was the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, founded by the inhabitants of
Wallingford, with an endowment of 30.;. for a priest saying mass on St. Mary
Magdalen's day ; this sum was employed ' towards the findinge of Richard
a Deane priest thereof; but as the chapel stood on the Oxfordshire side of
the river within the parish of Newnham, though only a quarter of a mile
distant from Wallingford, the Berkshire commissioners of Edward VI took
no notice of it. The other free chapel founded by the inhabitants of Walling-
ford was that of St. John Baptist ; it is described as a furlong distant from
the church of St. Leonard, and worth 6 a year ; John a Deane, clerk, re-
ceived this stipend towards his living. At Brimpton stood the free chapel of
St. Leonard, only a furlong from the parish church and endowed with 40^.
for mass on St. Leonard's Day ; it had no ornaments of its own and was served
from the parish church. A return was also made of the free chapel of Sandle-
ford, near Newbury ; it is stated that the dean and chapter of Windsor (to
whom the suppressed priory of Sandleford had been appropriated) found a
priest, but at will.

A free chapel called ' Arley Bartlemews,' in the parish of Sonning, had
a foundation for a priest to say mass in the chapel on St. Bartholomew's Day.
The chapel is described as situate within the manor of ' Arley Bartilmewes,' a
mile distant from the parish church. The endowment was worth 331. 4*/.,
which was received by Queen's College, Oxford, on condition of their finding
a priest to sing this annual mass. This entry seems to imply that, whilst

2 25 4

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

there was only an endowment for this particular mass, the inhabitants (as
was often the case elsewhere) provided for the stipend of a regular chaplain
for regular services out of devotion. There had also been another free chapel
in the same parish at ' Arley Whiteknights,' two miles distant from the parish
church, of unknown origin, which had been dissolved without any licence in
1536, by Thomas Beke; its endowment only produced a yearly income of
26s. 8^., but the ornaments and plate at the time of its dissolution were
worth ' according to credyble reporte ' 6 6s. 8d. According to the return
of Edward VI, this last-named free chapel was then served by Hugh Beke,
aged thirty, and was worth 33^. ^d. a year.

The chapel of ease differed from the free chapel in being entirely under
the control of the parish priest. In the parish of Basildon was the chapel of
Ashampstead, which was spoken of by both commissions as a free chapel or
chapel of ease, but as it was annexed to the vicarage, and as the vicar ap-
pointed the priest who served it, there can be no doubt that the latter title
was the correct one. It was worth 6 a year ; the chapel was three miles
distant from the parish church, and therein were ' ministered sacraments and
sacramentals and all divine service' to the inhabitants around it. At 'Isbury' 1
there was a chapel of ease annexed to the vicarage, for the purpose of afford-
ing opportunity for divine service for inhabitants who were more than a mile
from the parish church ; there was no separate endowment. In the wide-
spread parish of Chieveley there were three chapels erected ' for ease of
parishioners dwelling far from the parish church ; ' they were situated at
Winterbourne, Leckhampstead, and Oare. In this case there were no
funds to be seized, as they were served ' by sundry priests at charge of the
vicar.' There was also a chapel on the bridge at Appleford, dedicated to
St. Mary Magdalene, which is entered simply as a chapel ; it had an endow-
ment of 3OJ. The commissioners of 1548 paid particular attention to the
towns, adding memoranda to the definite information that they were
required to furnish.

Of Reading they reported that St. Giles's was a great parish with 500
houseling people, and the vicarage worth only 7, and that the vicar had no
assistant though one was necessary ; that St. Mary's had 500 houseling
people,

priestes acystant unto the vicar in serving of the living none, but the great Cuer
of the parishioners consideride and the small value of the vicarage which is but jCio by-
year requierithe some Assistent,

and that St. Lawrence had 1,000 houseling folk. No recommendation was
made as to assistance for the parish of St. Lawrence, doubtless because they
expected or implied the continuance of one of the extra priests that they
named in other parts of their report. In this parish there was the Jesus
chantry worth 14 js. id. a year, out of which 8 los. was paid as stipend
to Sir Richard Deans, aged thirty-nine. There was also a stipendiary priest
who was paid 7 a year at four times, by the Haberdashers' Gild in London,
whilst 6s. 8d. was paid ' to the maior for his coste ryding to London for the
same ; ' the priest who then held it was William Webbe, aged fifty-two, who
was reported as not able to serve an independent cure.

1 Possibly Ilsley.
26

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

In the parish church of St. Mary there was a chantry founded by one
Thomas Colney temp. Edward III ; it was worth 7 i^s. 6d., but the incum-
bent, Richard Turner, a chaplain of the bishop of London, was vicar of
Hillingdon, Middlesex, worth in the King's Books 16, and non-resident;
probably he paid the vicar of St. Mary's some portion of the chantry stipend
to say masses for the founder.

At Windsor there were 900 houseling folk ' and above ; ' the vicarage
was worth only 8 a year, and there was no provision made for requisite
assistance, save the priest supported by the gild members of the Holy Trinity
for ' the general ease of the inhabitants.'

The Berkshire commissioners of Edward VI seemed to think it their
business to report concerning the towns even where there was no chantry ;
this was the case at Wallingford, of which place they said : ' There be iii
parishe churches within the towne whereof ii wolde be sufficient to serve the
inhabitants of the same if it may so stande with the kinges pleasure.' Their
proposals as to the town of Wallingford are given under the account of that
college.

The popular idea that the chantry priests, suppressed by the council
of Edward VI, were but ' mass priests ' with lazy leisure before them when
mass was said, is as completely dispersed in the case of Berkshire as in every
other shire where the question has been thoroughly investigated. In seven
cases (Abingdon, Bray, Childrey, Fyfield, Lambourn, Newbury, and
Reading) an almshouse was attached to the chantry and the priest acted as
chaplain and distributor of alms to the bedesmen ; whilst in four other in-
stances (Childrey, Lambourn, Newbury, and Wokingham) the chantry priest
was also the schoolmaster. In several cases it is made quite clear that the
chantry priest was an active general assistant of the parish priest, and that the
commissioners themselves viewed with alarm the idea of his suppression.

The chantry of Our Lady at Bray was founded, according to the 1 546
commission, ' to have a preste to celebrate the dyvyne servyce within
ye parishe churche of Braye, and sondry tymes in the yere to provyde certayn
Almes whiche he dothe accordyngly.' It was worth 14 os. yd. of which
1 2s. zd. came to the poor. A memorandum was added to the effect that
' ther ys in the same parishe above the nombre of vijc c ' (700) housling people
and no preste (in addition to the vicar) but the sayd chauntre preste.' Again,
at Wokingham, the chantry priest of Our Lady was to all intents and pur-
poses an assistant parish priest or curate ; he was bound to say ' masse
mattens and evensonge dayly with other suffrages ' in the parish church.
Robert Avis, M.A., was then incumbent of the chantry, and received an in-
come of 12 2s. 6%d. ; he was a busy man, for he was also teacher of a
grammar school in connexion with the chantry.

As a further proof of the identity of interests that often existed between
the vicar and the chantry priest in several of these Berkshire parishes, it may
be mentioned that the commissioners of 1 546 found that at Newbury and
Binfield, as well as at Bray and Wokingham, the chantries possessed no
ornaments or goods of their own, but used those pertaining to the parish.

Fyfield is an interesting instance of the several examples of combined
chantry and almshouse. It was founded not only to provide a chantry priest
but also to relieve five poor men. In addition to house room, each bedesman

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

received SJ. a week in ready money, an annual livery (at a total cost ot
jT8 13.?. 4^.), and a quarter of coals (at a total cost of 13^. 4^.). The total
income was 20 i $s. and the stipend of the chantry priest was 7 4*.,
nearly two-thirds of the whole going to the poor.

The chantry of the Holy Trinity and St. Katherine at Childrey, founded
by Sir William Fettiplace, not only supported a chantry priest and an almshouse
for three poor men, but the incumbent of the chantry was bound ' to kepe
and teche the gramer scole there.' The whole endowment of the chantry
was 23 13-r. 'jd. The priest's stipend was 8 I3J. 4^-, and the remainder,
after paying for the support of the bedesmen, and 40;-. to the poor scholars of
Queen's College, Oxford, was used for various parochial purposes, such as the
maintenance of lights in the church, and the clerk's fee for ringing the
curfew every night.

There were eight chantries in the great collegiate church of St. George's,
Windsor, but they are named under the account of that college. The
chantry of St. John Baptist at East Hendred is described in the 1 546 return
as founded by ' Rauf Arden by licence of the Bishop of Rome about cc yere
past.' Among the later chantry foundations were those at Hungerford and
Faringdon, which were established respectively in the years 1456 and 1483.

The difference between a chantry priest and a stipendiary priest was that
the latter did serve on a perpetual foundation ; the stipendiary also differed
from the unendowed gild or fraternity priest who was required only so long
as the devotion of the people lasted. The stipendiary priest, strictly speaking,
was one who served for a stipulated term of years in accordance with a
definite bequest. Thus there was a stipendiary at Abingdon, appointed in
1534 to say certain masses for twenty years at a stipend of 401. The com-
mission of Edward VI found that this appointment was held by one John
Crystall, aged 60, a late monk of Abingdon, who was also drawing a pension
of 10. At Newbury there was a stipendiary who received 6 13*. 4</. a
year, and whose chief duty was to sing for the soul of the late Lady Engle-
field ; only four years of the twenty for which provision was made had
expired at the time of the commissioners' visit. The Reading instance has
been already given. Occasionally the term stipendiary priest was carelessly
misapplied, as is the case of the Wormstall chantry, which was a foundation
in perpetuity.

Only four fraternities or gilds are mentioned among these certificates ;
and of these the two Reading examples would bring no grist to the royal mill,
for they were voluntary organizations. The fraternity of Jesus in St. Mary's
Church, Reading, according to the 1546 return, was ' of devotion without any
corporation or foundation under scale, To thentent to have a preste every holy-
day in the quyer to serve and every Fridaye to synge Jesus masse at thaulter
of Jhesus,' for which he received from the fraternity a salary of 4 i is. \d.
It was stated in 1548 that the fraternity priest received more from the
devotion of the people at large.

A fraternity of Jesus was also reported as founded in like manner, merely
out of devotion, in the church of St. Giles, Reading, to find a priest to sing
every Friday Jesus mass at the altar of Jesus, whose stipend was paid yearly
by the parishioners. It was reported in 1548 that there was a small endow-
ment of I2J., but that 6 was gathered of the devotion of the people for

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

the stipend of the chaplain. The fraternity or gild of the Holy Trinity,
Windsor, is described by the commissioners of Henry VIII as founded
by the consent of two wardens and certain brethren and sisters ; they main-
tained a priest in the parish church of New Windsor ' for the ease of then-
habitantes ther for ever.' Its annual value was 19 q.s. ^d. of which
>/ 6s. 8*/. went to the chaplain, and 41 s. %d. in alms to poor people.

A fraternity or gild of the Holy Cross was formed by John, duke of Suffolk,
the bishop of Lincoln and the commonalty of the town of Abingdon, in
I Richard III and confirmed in 28 Henry VIII. The latter king's commis-
sioners reported that the gild consisted of twelve masters, and certain brethren
and sisters. It was their duty to repair certain bridges and highways, and to
maintain seven poor men and six poor women, giving to each of them a
chamber, fuel, and 8d. a week. They had each also the gift of izd. on
Good Friday. The annual value was 83 4.?. %d. The two priests of the
gild received 13 6s. 8d. There was also an additional distribution of alms
to the amount of 26s. %d. a year. The commissioners of 1548 described the
thirteen inmates of the gild's almshouses as ' all decrepid and of greet and
sondry ages.' Since the report of 1 540 the gild wardens had sold sixteen
silver spoons and a maser.

The Berkshire obits, or annual memorials of death-days, returned by the
commissioners of Edward VI, were also swept into the needy coffers of the
king and council as ' superstitions,' quite regardless of the fact that the poor
were to a considerable extent sufferers by their suppression, as the obits which
made no provision for the poor were quite the exception and small in amount. 1
The paltry excuse made for confiscating the poor's share in these obits, and
the money for the support of many an almshouse bedesman, was that these
benefactions were conditional on the recipient saying an Our Father for the
soul of the founder.

In addition to all this the stocks held by the wardens of gilds, chan-
tries, &c., were seized. These produced 147 kine .7 iij. ; 2 oxen, 3^-. ;
i mare, is. ; 223 sheep, i 14^.; 56 quarters of barley, i QJ. i id. ;

Full Value

Portion assigned

1 Parish

of Obit

to the

Poor

Abingdon .... 3

.... o

....

Binfield O

Bisham o

Bray I

j
I

Brightwell .... I

Didcot o

Easthampstead o

Faringdon .

Fyfield . .

Finchampstead

' Isbury '

Lambourn

Pangbourne

Peasemore

Reading St. Lawrence i

Full Value

Portion assigned

Parish of Obit

to the Poor

' <<

> d -

Reading St. Mary ..074

o 3 4

Shalbourn ....020

O I

Sonning 036

Sotwell o I o

O O 4.

T
O82

Sunningwell . 080

O4O

Sutton Courtenay

o 10 4

o 3 4

o i 8

Swallowfield

020

O I

Waltham St. Lawre

ncc

050

Windsor, New

2 19 IO

i 16 5

Old

o 3 4

Winkfield .

014

O O IO

Woolhampton

o 18 o

090

Wytham

060

030

21 o 6 819

From this it will be seen that a third of the income accruing from obit foundations went to the poor.
In the case of Cookham there was an obit worth IO/. 8</. a year, but in this instance 8/. ^d. went to the
repair of the bridge of Maidenhead.

2 9

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

' Redy money,' 36 14^. The general ornaments or goods of the suppressed
chapels produced 52 9*. 5</., in addition to 35002. of plate and eight
bells.

Occasionally, throughout England, the corporations of boroughs were
sufficiently powerful to recover from the crown certain funds connected with
chantries that pertained to the poor and purely secular purposes ; but no
instance is known of a small town or village securing any redress. At a
meeting of the Privy Council, held on i March, 1552, a letter was read
from the chancellor of the Court of Augmentations signifying the king's
pleasure touching the restoration to the town of Abingdon of certain lands
appointed for the maintenance of the two bridges and for the sustenance of
certain poor men, ' lately taken to the kinges majesties behoof uppon coullour
that the same was within the compasse of thact of Chauntries.' l

The origin and gradual establishment of the chapel of Maidenhead,
which can be traced with some fulness, is of value as setting forth the
manner in which many another chapelry came into being; it also yields
evidence of the extreme hardship and wrong done to religion by the
suppression of such chapels in the time of Edward VI.

The site now occupied by the town of Maidenhead (a corruption of
Maydenhythe) was known up to the latter part of the thirteenth century as
South Elington or Aylington. The change came about when a new hythe
or wharf was constructed at this place on the river, with the result of an
influx of population greater than that which would suffice for the tilling of a
small agricultural hamlet.

The population of Maidenhead was divided between the two parishes
of Cookham and Bray ; the boundary line, as the little town began to grow,
passing exactly along the main street from east to west. This riverside
wharf found itself in the awkward position of being at no small distance from
its respective mother churches ; for Cookham was three miles to the north,
and Bray a mile and a half to the south. The piety of the times led the
residents to desire a place for divine worship nearer to their own doors.
Therefore, towards the close of the episcopate of Walter de la Wyle (i 263 74),
a chapel was irregularly erected without obtaining any sanction from
the vicars of either of the parishes concerned. The bishop naturally refused
his licence, and placed an interdict on the building with the threat of greater
excommunication against any priest who should therein celebrate. On the
bishop's death the inhabitants attempted to get their own way, but his
successor, Robert de Wickhampton, upheld the interdict, and on 30 January,
1277, formally confirmed it, and issued his mandate to the archdeacon of
Berkshire for its publication in the churches of Cookham and Bray, and in
other adjacent churches. The bishop further ordered that if any should
contravene this interdict their names were at once to be forwarded to him.*
During the episcopate of Simon de Ghent (12971315) the inhabitants made
a further but fruitless attempt to make use of the building for the purposes
for which it had been erected. It was not, however, until after the chapel

1 Acts of P. C. 1552-4, p. 126-7.

1 Sarum Reg. Mortival, ii, fols. 344^, 355. The Rev. G. C. Gorham printed privately in 1838 a
scholarly account of The Chapel, Chauntry, and Guild of Maidenhead, wherein most of the documents referred to.
are set forth at length. This account was also printed in vol. vi of Nichol, Col. Topog. et Geneal.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

had been standing desolate for more than half a century that the ecclesiastical
ban was removed.

In the year 1324 the Maidenhead residents at last prevailed upon the
then vicars of Cookham and Bray to come to terms and withdraw their
opposition. Application was made to Roger de Mortival, bishop of
Salisbury, and he procured the necessary authority from the archbishop of
Canterbury for the relaxation of the interdict. On 23 June, thirty-two
inhabitants of Maidenhead, thirteen of whom were parishioners of Cookham
and nineteen of Bray, met the bishop's commissaries, when they chose
two of their number to be their proctors, to confer on two points, namely,
the founding of a perpetual chantry in Maidenhead chapel, and the
determining in what parish the building stood. The latter point was
decided in favour of the chapel being entirely in Cookham, though an earlier
inquisition had held that a portion of it was in Bray. On 25 June the
proctors of the inhabitants, the proctors of the abbot and convent of
Cirencester (the patrons and appropriators of the two mother churches), the
vicar of Cookham, and the vicar of Bray by proxy, appeared before the
bishop at Sonning, when the interdict and its revocation were recited. It
was then decreed that the mass, to the exclusion of other sacramental offices,
might be celebrated in Maidenhead chapel for the benefit of the inhabitants
and travellers without prejudice to the mother churches ; and that the
minister or chantry priest was to be wholly maintained by the inhabitants.

In the following year, namely, on 20 June, 1325, the bishop addressed
a letter to the two vicars as to the chapel ' in villa de Southelyngton quae
Maydenhath vulgariter appellatur,' followed by his final order of 15 July,
whereby it was injoined that the vicar of Cookham was annually to nominate
and present to the archdeacon a priest to serve the chapel, who was to be
bound by oath as to the indemnity of the two mother churches ; that
baptism was not to be performed, but that women might be churched, their
offerings being transferred to their respective vicars ; that of all devotional
oblations the vicar of Cookham was to receive two-thirds, and the vicar of
Bray one-third, save on the fair-days of St. James and St. Mary Magdalene,
when the vicar of Cookham was to receive the whole ; that the priest's
stipend and the maintenance of the fabric was to be wholly defrayed by the
inhabitants ; and that the townsmen were to resort to their respective parish
churches at Christmas, Palm Sunday, Easter, Whitsuntide, and All Saints'
Day, as well as on the dedication feasts of Cookham (Trinity Sunday) and
Bray (Michaelmas). 1

The inhabitants, with the bishop's sanction, agreed to provide their
chaplain with a house and a stipend of 4.* The dedication of the chapel
to the honour of St. Andrew probably took place at the time of the relaxing
of the interdict, though the name does not appear until twenty-seven years
after the use of the building. In 1352 John Hosebonde, citizen and corn-
dealer of London, left by will 100 to purchase a rent-charge for the
endowment of a chantry of St. Mary Magdalene in the Maidenhead chapel
to pray for the souls of himself, his wife Margery, and Richard Bryde. His
executors arranged with the priory of Hurley to find and maintain a secular
priest to say a daily placebo and dirlge and a commendatio (save at Christmas,

1 Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii, fols. 189, 356. * Maidenhead Corp. Muniments.

3 1

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Easter, and Whit Sunday), in addition to mass. 1 This chantry priest was to
be nominated by the prior of Hurley, so that it is quite clear that there were
to be two priests at the Maidenhead chapel, and not one as has been supposed
by Mr. Gorham, who thought the endowment too slender for the support of
two, and that the chantry endowment was merely added to the stipend
provided by the inhabitants. 1 Other small endowments were soon added to
the Hosebonde bequest. The Hurley chantry priest disappeared before the
days of Edward VI.

The question of the sale or confiscation of the goods of the old parish
churches and the abandonment of the ancient ecclesiastical monuments is, in
some respects, fully illustrated in the case of Berkshire. In this county, as
has been seen, there had been for a long period a considerable strain of
Lollardism, which reappeared as Puritanism in later days. No sooner was
the masterful Henry VIII dead and the protectorate established under his
boy successor, than the Puritans asserted themselves, and in certain parishes
the wardens began to discard ornaments and effect sales without waiting for
any general signal or order. To check this action commissions were issued
in 1548 to draw up inventories of church goods throughout England. The
results of such commissions are only extant for a few counties, and Berkshire
is not amongst the number.

It will be remembered that a great store of church or chapel plate had
accumulated early in this reign from the spoiling of the chantries and free
chapels, and most of the collegiate churches and hospitals, which included
not only ornaments and goods, but also the lead and bells of such buildings
as were not integral parts of parish churches. To this large sum Berkshire
had contributed no inconsiderable share. Though the youthful sovereign
inherited none of the extravagant and dissipating tastes of his father, the
same could not be said of all the members of his council, and these church
spoils were soon exhausted. Looking round for some exceptional means for
refilling the coffers of the state, the council bethought themselves of the
plate and vestments that yet remained in the parish churches. On 3 March,
1551, the following entry was made by the clerk to the Privy Council :

This daie it was decreed that forasmuche as the Kinges Majistie had need presently of
a masse of mooney, therefore Commissions shulde be addressed into all shires of Englande to
take into the Kinges handes suche churche plate as remaigneth to be emploied unto His
Hignes use.*

It was not, however, until May, 1552, that a commission for this
purpose was appointed for the county of Berks. The commissioners were
William Parry, marquis of Northampton, Sir Philip Holey of Bisham,
Sir Maurice Berkeley, Sir Humphrey Foster of Aldermaston, Thomas
Weldon of Windsor, John Norris, gentleman usher, and Thomas Denton,
M.P. for Berkshire in the Parliament of 1547. A quorum of these
commissioners visited the county at the beginning of August to receive
the sworn inventories from each parish. Of these inventories sixty-three
are extant at the Public Record Office, pertaining to the hundreds of Beyn-
hurst, Sonning, Theale, and part of the hundred of Moreton. 4

1 Close R. 26 Edw. Ill, m. 19 J.

1 Gorham, Maidenhead Chapel, 22. A stipend of 4 and a house was quite up to the average of those
days for a chaplain.

3 Acts ofP.C. (New Ser.), iii, 228. ' K.R. Ch. Goods, \, \, &c.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

The country churches showed much richness in their vestments. Thus
at Burghfield there were vestments of blue damask embroidered with silver ;
at Sandhurst, of red-branched damask embroidered with gold ; and at
Aldermaston, of white satin of Bruges embroidered with gold. Moulsford
chapel had 'a coope of blew saten and tawdrey bawdkyn in payns,' and
Great Sheffbrd one of crimson velvet embroidered with divers colours of silk
and gold, whilst at Leckhampstead there was a vestment of blue chamblet
spangled with gold wire. 1

Another feature of these inventories was the abundance of banners and
streamers possessed by many churches. Doubtless such would be used in
the Whitsuntide parochial processions made to the abbeys of Reading and
Abingdon from the churches in their respective neighbourhoods. 2

It is somewhat remarkable to find that in only three of these sixty-
three churches, viz. at Finchampstead, Ufton, and Boxford is there any
mention made of the Bible, and in each case where it is mentioned it is
associated with the Paraphrase of Erasmus. Coverdale's English version of
the Bible (1535) had been ordered by Henry VIII to be placed in the quire
of every church ' for every man that will to look therein and read,' and the
Paraphrase was ordered to be placed in every church in 1 547. Probably the
wardens and others responsible for these inventories did not think it neces-
sary, in many cases, to include these volumes in their lists.

The commissioners were instructed to leave a minimum of church
goods, such as a chalice and bells, for parochial use.

A long narrow strip of paper at the Public Record Office gives a list
of the goods left by the commissioners for the use of nine churches in the
hundred of Wantage, eight in that of Ganfield, and fourteen in Ock hundred.
As a rule only a chalice and bells were named, but at Sutton, Steventon,
Marcham, and Long Wittenham there were two silver chalices ; whilst there
was a silver pyx both at Sutton and at Garford.

1 As an example of these inventories that of the church of Bucklebury is set forth at length : Thys
Inventory indented made the iiij of August in the vijth yere of our sovereigne lord King Edward the vjth
betwene the Comyssyoners of our said Soveraigne lorde for the vyewe of all goodes plate jewelles belles and
ornamentes to everye Churche and Chapell within the Countye of Berks belonging or in anywyse apper-
taynge of thone partye, and Willm Goddard and John Harbert Churche Wardens of the paryshe Churche of
Bucklebury of the other partye, Wyttenessithe that the said Comyssioners have delyvered by these presentes
to the said Churche Wardens all parcells hereafter particularly wryten, viz. : iiij Great belles, the trebill
waying by estymacion v 1 weight, the seconde bell waying by estymacion vii c weight, the third bell waying by
estymacion ix c weight, the greate bell waying by estymacion xi c weight ; two sanctus belles and one leche
(corfu) bell ; two payer of Candlestycks of latten ; a holy water potte of lattyn ; a basyn and a Ewer of
lattyn ; viij bolles of lead to sett Tapers before the Roode ; a herse of Iron ; one surplus, one rochett, one
Alter-clothe, and one Towell of dyaper, two alter clothes of bockeram ; a Red Saten coope wt. a bleue
damask border ; a Redde brothered coope wt a blue satten bordre ; one redd sylke scope wt two tenecles of
redd sylke and grene ; a Redd satten vestyment wt a redd satten crosse ; a grene saten vestyment wt a redd
saye crosse ; a redd sylke vestyment wt a redd sylke crosse ; v albes of bockeram wt amyces ; a corporis clothe;
an old frounte of sylke and vellvett paynd ; two paynted clothes which were wount to cover the Sepulcre ;\
a clothe of cancas paynted wt redd panes and yellowe. And all the said parcells safely to be kept and pre-
served, and the shure and every parcell thereof to be forthcomyng at all tymes hereafter when yt shalbe of
them requyered ; K.R. Ch. Goods, Jjl.

' The following are among the more exceptional and interesting items of these inventories : ' A payre
of grete candylstyckes callyd Slanders, A payer of small candylstyckes Standyng uppon the heye Altare '
(Sulham) ; ' a litell bell hangyng in the Chancell, iii old chestes to kepe the church geyre in, ij small belles to
ring afore Corpses ' (Englefield) ; ' ij payer of orgayns ' (Newbury) ; ' a case to bere the sacramente in
vysytation ' (Kintbury) ; ' a paxe of glass ' (Mitcham) ; ' a canopy of unwatered chamblett wt the frenges
aboute of redd and yelow cruell, a canopy clothe of stitched wourke wt a fring of redd and yelow sylke, a
Stone of dyverse colours to pull the Canopy downe wt all ' (Shalbourn) ; ' a box of Ivery with elapses of
sylver and a payre of organes wt ten pypes' pertaining to a return of which the name has been torn off.

2 33 5

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Another parchment slip gives the same information with regard to
twenty-two other churches and chapels of the county. In all these parishes
only a chalice and bells were left, save at North Moreton, where there were
two chalices and two silver cruets. 1

There was clearly no objection on the part of these commissioners to
the continued use of the ' sanctus ' or sacring bells at the Eucharist, for in
the large majority of cases such bells were given back to the parishes, in
addition to those that swung in the belfries. In several instances there were
more than one of such bells retained. At Denchworth ' a sance bell ' and
' a sacrynge belle ' were left for the parish ; at Stanford, both a saunce and
a sacring bell ; at Sutton, ' a sance belle, four sacrynge belles ' (the latter
probably a ring of four attached to a wheel) ; at Steventon, two sacring
bells; and at Marcham and at Milton a saunce bell and two sacring bells.
There are also several cases in which the commissioners left for parochial
use the ' leche belle ' or ' buryinge belle,' which was carried at the head of
the funeral procession.

A certificate was supplied to the Lord Protector and the Council of the
total of the plate and bells found by the commissioners in the churches and
chapels of Berkshire. From this return it appears that there were in the
shire 262 churches and 544 bells. With regard to other parcels of plate
(silver or silver-gilt) the inventories showed three crosses, thirteen pyxes, two
candlesticks, four censers, a ship for incense, twelve cruets, a chrismatory,
a little spoon, and ' ij elapses.' To this was added 80 in money for the
sale of 'certayne stuf ' since the previous inventory of 1548 had been taken. 2

A return furnished of the broken plate, spoiled from the chapels and
chantries of Berkshire, and forwarded to London by ' Thomas Weldon and
Vachell, Esquieres,' the commissioners for the county, between i June, 1553,
and 4 February, 1554, shows the considerable total of 1,479 ounces. Of
this total 401 ounces were silver-gilt, 660 parcel- gilt, and 418 white plate
or plain silver. 3

During the grievous Marian persecution three victims suffered death in
1556 in the sandpits at Newbury for their adherence to reformed principles.
The most eminent of these was Julius Palmer, who had been a fellow of
Magdalen College, Oxford, and master of Reading Grammar School. It is
said that the sheriff offered him a yearly stipend and maintenance if he
would recant, but he stood firm. 4

Bishop Capon, who had professed to hold successively every variety of
Protestant, Anglican, and Roman Catholic opinions during his tenure of the
see of Salisbury, died in 1557. Nearly three years elapsed before his
successor, John Jewell, was consecrated.

Bishop Jewell in early life, whilst still resident at Corpus Christi
College, was ' a preacher and catechiser at Sunningwell, near Abindon,' 6 and
seems to have had a considerable knowledge of Berkshire before he became
its bishop.

Elizabeth was no sooner seated on her sister's throne than Cecil and
other advisers urged a general royal visitation of the dioceses of England and
Wales to secure the signed acceptance by the clergy of the 1559 Acts of

1 K.R. Ch. Goods, No. . * Ibid. No. T %. ' Ibid. 3JL.

4 Foxe, Acts and Monti, iii, 218. * Wood, A 'then. Oxon. i, 132.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Uniformity and Supremacy. It was not until 8 September, 1560, that the
archbishop commissioned Bishop Jewell and other commissioners to make a
visitation of his diocese for this purpose. The number of Berkshire incum-
bents that were deprived at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign was but small,
namely those of Englefield, Hampstead Marshall, Inkpen, and Purley. 1

The original parochial return of this date is ruled into four columns,
headed respectively for the name of the parish, whether served by parson or
vicar, if provided with chapel-of-ease, and whether supplied with a curate.
In the Berkshire archdeaconry seventy-one parishes were supplied with
parson or rector, and fifty-nine with vicars. Eighteen parishes had one or
more chapels-of-ease. No curates are entered except for the parishes that
had chapels. At Stanford in the Vale (Goosey), West Hanney (Lyford),
Faringdon (Little Coxwell), Sutton Courtenay (Appleford), Marcham (Gar-
ford), East Garston (Fawley), and Shinfield (S wallowfi eld) , the entries certify-
that the chapels-of-ease each had a curate.

In the rest of the cases the bishop was content to certify, after a slovenly
fashion, that there was 'a curate, or curates, or ought to have.' The instances
of one curate, or ought to be, are Basildon (Ashampstead), Cholsey (Mouls-
ford), and Welford (Wickham.) In eight parishes, where there were more
than one chapel-of-ease, ' curates or ought to have curates ' is the entry.
These are Shrivenham (Longcot and Watchfield), Uffington (Barkham and
Woolstone), Sparsholt (Fawley and Kingston Lisle), Letcombe Regis (East
Ch allow and West Challow), Cumnor (North Hinksey, South Hinksey,
and Wootton), Abingdon St. Helen (Shippon, Drayton, and Radley),
Chieveley (Leckhampstead and Winterbourne), and Thatcham (Midgham
and Greenham). 2

The Acts of the Privy Council during the reign of Elizabeth have
numerous references to religious and other troubles within Berkshire. Early
in the reign a case of ' prophesying ' or indulging in irregular rambling
devotions, so generally suppressed in 1577, was severely treated. A letter
was sent from the Privy Council on 9 December, 1564, to Sir Henry Nevill,
signifying the sending of John Veal, Joan Stamford, and Edmund Cowper,
parson of Burghfield, from the Tower to the mayor of Reading. Sir Henry
was required to repair to that town and cause on some market day Veal and
the woman to be put on the pillory with papers on their heads, bearing in
great letters ' for forging of false prophecies,' and so to suffer them to stand
all market day. If they showed themselves sorrowful for their offences they
were to be set at liberty, otherwise to be detained in prison,

and because it is known by reporte of him and others that the priste, saving this falte,
hathe ben alwaies well given, he is willed to appointe him to make sum declaration to the
people to beware of suche vaine and fanatticall vanyties, and so to set him at libertye.

On i z December a briefer letter of the same nature was sent to the mayor of
Reading injoining his obedience to the orders of Sir Henry Nevill in the
matter ; in this letter it is stated that the three prisoners have been for some
time in the Tower 'for vayne abusing the people with fond prophesies.' 3

The Roman Catholic recusants of Berkshire, and more particularly the
priests of the unreformed faith who ministered to them, experienced the usual

1 Gee, Elizabethan Clergy, 159, 284, 292. ' Harl. MS. 595, fols. 193-203.

3 Acts of P.O. (New Ser.) viii, 171-8.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

harsh treatment that prevailed throughout Elizabeth's reign. A letter was
sent from the Privy Council in October, 1578, to Lord Russell, Lord Norris
and the other justices of Berkshire, thanking them for the energy they had
shown in hunting for disguised mass priests in accordance with their order
of the previous month. Thomas Blewet and William Allyn, priests, and
' one Phillipes backward in religion ' whom they had arrested, were to be
sent immediately to their lordships under sure guard. 1

In July, 1580, the council addressed a letter to the sheriff of Berkshire,
urging immediate measures against ' sundrie obstinate Recusants who remain
excommunicated' within the shire. He was directed to obtain the combined
assistance of well-affected justices near recusants ' residences, to secure their
simultaneous apprehension, so that the rest might not escape away from the
arrest of one or two. They were to be committed to the common gaol. In
the following September the council wrote to Lord Norris and other
magistrates, inclosing certain examinations sent by the bishop of Salisbury
declaring that masses were being said in the houses of Mr. Norris of Coxwell
and Mrs. Weekes, and showing to what places in Berkshire and Oxfordshire
' divers massing priestes use to resorte ' ; the justices were again required to
be diligent in searching after such priests, and in the arrest of any that had
been present at such masses. A month after the receipt of the second letter
Lord Norris wrote to the council explaining the action that had been taken
in certain houses and cases, but that the houses of Mr. Norris and Mr. Yate
were closed against them, and they refused to open although they made them
acquainted with their authority to search. The council in reply ordered
entrance to be made by force if the justices were again refused. They also
ordered that Richard Browne, a massing priest, arrested at ' Blacklands ' be
sent up to London, as it seemed that he was able to discover further matter
than he had yet done. The Lord Chancellor was instructed to draw up a
special commission to proceed against sundry persons lately detected hearing
mass in Berkshire. The sheriff of Wiltshire was directed by the council in
December, 1580, to send Henry Clarke, a priest, and a miller detected in
hearing mass, as appeared by examinations taken before the bishop of Salis-
bury, under sure guard to the sheriff of Berkshire, to remain in Reading Gaol,
to await the special proceedings about to be taken against the papists of that
county.*

The sad story of that foolishly brave and gifted Jesuit, Edmund Campion,
who * is praised by all writers, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, not
only for his talents and acquirements, but also for the amiability of his dis-
position,' * is closely connected with Berkshire. Educated at Christ's Hospital
and Oxford, where he became a fellow of St. John's, Campion was admitted
to deacon's orders in the Church of England in 1567. Being led to reject the
tenets of the Reformed Church, he left England for Douay, where he passed
his novitiate as a Jesuit. In 1588 he was sent by Gregory XIII on a
propagandist mission to England and at once challenged the universities and
clergy to dispute with him.

On 20 July, 1581, the council issued a warrant for the payment to Sir
Thomas Heneage of the considerable sum of 3 3 ' for bringing uppe of one
Edmund Campion, a jesuite, iij other Popishe priestes, and viij other persones

1 Attt t/P.C. (New Ser ), x, 348-9. ' Ibid, xii, 90, 211, 252, 256, 289. * Encjchf. Brit, ir, 762.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

taken in that shire, and by their Lordships' order committed to the Tower.' At
the same time a letter was sent to the sheriff as to the women lately arrested in
Mrs. Yate's house ; Mrs. Yate was to be kept in the common gaol without
bail, but bonds might be taken in good sums ' if they can put in anie ' for the
appearance at the next sessions of Gillian Harman, Katherine Kingsmill, and
the wife of Edward Keynes. 1

Mr. Yate of Lyford was a prisoner for religion in London in 1580, but
had written to Campion begging him to visit his family. He reached the
moated grange of Lyford on 1 1 July, where Mrs. Yate had eight Brigittine
nuns under her protection. He left on the morrow, but was persuaded by a
number of adherents of the old religion to return for further services. On
Sunday, 1 6 July, a congregation of sixty assembled to hear Campion say mass
and preach. Elliot, a renegade spy, implored to hear mass and was ad-
mitted ; leaving after service he returned with pursuivants and men-at-arms.
Eventually on the morrow they found Campion's hiding-place and arrested
not only the Jesuit and two priests, but seven gentlemen and two yeomen for
the crime of hearing mass. Three days later the order of the council reached
Lyford for conducting the prisoners to London. The company made two
halts on the way, in Berkshire, namely at Abingdon, where divers Oxford
scholars came to greet Campion, and at Henley, where William Filby, a
priest, incautiously attempting to speak to the Jesuit, was arrested and added to
the prisoners. 5 In December Edmund Campion was done to death at Tyburn
after the revolting fashion reserved for traitors.

Thomas Ford, a former fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, acting as
private chaplain at Lyford, was one of the priests arrested with Campion and
condemned at the same time ; but his execution was delayed until 28 May,
1582. William Filby, a young priest, only twenty-seven years of age,
arrested at Henley, was also convicted at the same trial ; his execution was
deferred until 30 May, 1582.*

Although no lay person was done to death out of Berkshire under the
penal Act of 1581, many from that county suffered long periods of imprison-
ment solely for their religion. Among those in the common gaol of Reading
for refusing to come to church was one Mrs. Buckley, who petitioned the
council in January, 1582, that she might have some liberty for the recovering
of health, being visited with sickness. The council therefore instructed
Sir Henry Nevill to send a messenger to Reading to ascertain the truth of
this, and if her allegation was found to be true, he was empowered to set her
at liberty

for TJ or viij weeks, as the qualitie of her disease shall require, upon sufficient bondes to
returne to prison after thexpiration of the said time, unless by order from hence it shalbe
prolonged, or that she shall reforme herself in Religion. 4

Certain of the Berkshire justices in 1586 informed the council of their
suspicions as to ' Franceys Parkins, esquire, and divers of his servants.' They
were instructed to repair to his house, to arrest certain of the servants, and
the one suspected to be a priest, examining them and committing them to

1 Jets if P.O. (New Ser.), xiii, 1 36.

' There is a fall and interesting account of the betrajal and arrest at Lyford in Simpson's Lift tf Campu*
<i86;), chap. xL

' Challoner, Mtrtjn, 5*, 59. 4 Actt tfP.C. (New Ser.), ii, 3**.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

prison. They were also to take bonds for the appearance of Perkins before
the council in a good sum of money, to search the place where mass is
supposed to be said, and also his study and other places where his writings
could be concealed, and to send up anything they might discover whereby he
might be further charged. 1

In the summer of 1588 the mayor of Reading discovered certain
popish books together with copes and vestments in a house in that town.
The council ordered the arrest of two men (Oliver Coxhead and Combes),
the tearing and burning of the books, and the defacing of the copes and
vestments, which were afterwards to be bestowed ' uppon such poore men of
the towne as tooke anie paines in the discoverie.' 3

Executions and imprisonments were, however, only a small part of the
continuous Elizabethan and early Stuart persecution of the recusants. A fine
of izd. was imposed in the first year of Elizabeth's reign on all absent from
church on Sundays and holydays. In 1581 this penalty was enormously
increased, for it was actually laid down that 20 a month was to be imposed
on all absenting themselves from church, and such as did not pay to be
imprisoned until they conformed. The crown had also the power by further
legislation of seizing two-thirds of the offender's lands and all his goods in
default of payment.

The Recusant Roll for 1592 gives about forty Berkshire names, ranging
from gentlemen to labourers, about half being termed yeomen, who were
actually entered as owing cumulative sums to the crown, varying from 280
to 300 each. 3 To meet these defaults the crown frequently adopted the
plan of farming out the recusants' lands at yearly rentals. This was done in
1592 with the Berkshire estates of Thomas Vachell, James Braybrook,
Frances Perkins, Thomas Hulse, and Walter Hildesley. 4 The roll for 1601
also enters such farmed estates, and where parties are dead the farms are
assessed on the tenants, who are held responsible for arrears, which in some
cases amounted to 500 or more. The list of that year includes seventy-two
persons who were fined 14.0 each for seven months' recusancy ; for the most
part they are entered as gentlemen, but some were weavers, millers, joiners,
and husbandmen. 6

On the death of Bishop Jewell in 1571, the Salisbury diocese was ruled
from that time until 1576 by Edmund Gheast, and from 1577 to 1589 by
John Piers ; neither of these prelates seems to have made any particular mark
upon Berkshire or other parts of the diocese. Much the same may be said
of the next bishop, John Coldwell, the first married prelate of the see of
Salisbury, and of his successor Henry Cotton, who died in 1615, and who
was celebrated for having ' 19 children by one woman, which is no ordinary
blessing, and most of them sonnes.' 8

There is preserved at the Bodleian an archidiaconal court-book of the
latter part of the rule of Dr. Thomas White, who was archdeacon of
Berkshire from 1557 to 1588. The entries bear witness in many cases to
the somewhat unhappy and disastrous state of ecclesiastical affairs in country
districts during the transition period of Elizabeth's reign. The story is much
the same wherever archidiaconal records have survived. 7

1 Acts ofP.C. (New Ser.) xiv, 215, 218. * Ibid, xvi, 215, 218. 3 Recusant R. Berks, No. i.

* Ibid. 5 Ibid. No. 10. 6 Harrington, Nugae Antlq. i, 109. ' V. C. H. Essex, ii.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Nevertheless it should always be remembered that in such records there
are no presentments of one kind or the other in the majority of parishes,
and it is only charitable as well as reasonable to suppose that in these
instances the church was doing her work with a fair amount of success.

As a striking instance of misrule and alleged scandals in a Berkshire
parish, the following extracts of a presentment made as to Binfield in the year
1583 may be taken from this court-book :

Certain articles concernynge the abuse of the Persone (parson) of Bynfylde in the
Countie of Berkes.

Our Persone, being utterlie unlerned, sometymes taketh uppon him to expound whenne
he rather perswadeth the people to sedition than otherwise, as of late in his exposition he
shewed the people that no man shuolde honor or reverence any ryche man or gentelman
except he was a magestrate.

Our Persone doth not, neither ever have, called the youthe of the parishe to examine
them of their faith, neither hath catechysed to anye of the youthe in the parishe, which
ought to be lookedon, for we have much youthe and rudely brought upp and not in the
knowledge of their duties towarde God.

Our Persone and his wyfe be people of evill dispositions, seditious, and full of brawles
and unquiet with their neighbours, slanderers and evil speakers both openlie and publicklie,
a matter to be carefully looked to, and himself doth minister the Communion when he hath
given occasion of greate offence to his neighbours, and doth not seeke before he goeth to the
administration of the Sacrament to be in love and charitie, but dothe persist in his lewde
proceeding.

Our Persone neither hath studied the Holye Scripture, neyther yt doth but will rather
leade an evyll life than take any paynes that way.

Our Persone hath been a Fryer in his younge tyme, and so in parte continuethe still
in that profession, for we have heard him saye yf ever we had masse agayne he would say it,
for he must lyve.

Our Persone is a common haunter of ale-houses, a greate swearer, a carder, a table-
player, and a brawler. 1

Bishop Henry Cotton (15981615) held a visitation of his whole
diocese in 1614. The first of the printed 2 'Articles to be enquired of by
the Churchwardens and Swornemen of every severall parish ' related to the
Book of Canons whether it has been purchased by the parish, and whether
the minister read the same or some part thereof on Sundays and holydays in
the afternoon before divine service. Other questions related to the use of a
surplice with wide sleeves, the saying of the Litany every Wednesday and
Friday, ' the catechising of the youth for half an hour or more every Sunday
before Evening Prayer. The churchwardens were also asked whether they
had ' suffered any Plaies, Feasts, Banquets, Churchales, Drinking, Temporall
Courts or Leets, Juries, Musters, or any other prophane usages to bee kept
in the Church, Chapel or Churchyard.'

Considerable difficulty was experienced with the clergy as well as the
laity of Berkshire in the matter of the ship-money. In 1635 Henry Dolman,
the sheriff of Berkshire, wrote to Secretary Windebank sending the names of
the clergy who had paid their assessment. Several parishes had exempted
their clergy, others had paid their clergy's assessment, but would not have it
appear in the return. But he had only received 200 out of the 400, and
had to distrain for the remainder. The sheriff cordially disliked the work he
had to do in gathering this assessment, and concluded his letter by praying
Windebank to move for his discharge out of his office. 8

1 Dr. White, Court-book, cited in Dioc. Hist. ofSarum, 193-4.

1 B.M. Press Mark 5155, c. 6. ' S.P. Dom. Chas. 1. cccvi, 49.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Archbishop Laud was born at Reading on 7 October, 1573. He was
the only son of William Laud, a clothier, and was educated at the free
grammar school ; in 1590 he obtained a scholarship at St. John's, Oxford,
which was one of two that were reserved for boys from the Reading school.
His great interest in Reading school must be the excuse for his interference
with the corporation of Reading in 1636. Understanding that a vacancy in
the mastership was likely to occur Laud induced the king to direct the
corporation to make no new appointment without the consent and approba-
tion of the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of the diocese. In
November, on Dr. Byrd's death, the corporation wrote meekly to the arch-
bishop for his directions, whereupon Laud suggested that they should apply
to the president and senior fellows of St. John's to name a new master. The
college recommended ' Mr. William Page, a master of arts and fellow of our
house ; a man able for his scholarship, conformable to the doctrine and
discipline of the Church, and for his demeanour (for aught we could ever under-
stand) unblameable.' Laud also wrote strongly approving the choice of the
college ; he expressed himself confident as to the learning and integrity of
William Page, but added, ' I desire you to trye him (if you think fitt) by
any or all of your three learned ministers that lyve with you in the towne,
whom I doubt not but he will satisfye.' Page seems to have proved a good
schoolmaster, but he was ejected by the Commissioners of Sequestration in 1644.

Reading stood next to Oxford in Laud's affection. He procured a royal
charter for the town in 1638. In his diary for January, 1634, is the
following entry :

The way to do the town of Reading good for their poor ; which may be compassed,
by God's blessing upon me, though my wealth be small. Send I hope God will bless me in
it because it was his own motion in me. For this way never came into my thoughts
(though I had much beaten them about it) till this night, as I was at my prayers, Amen,
Lord.

This was written a little before he became archbishop, and at that time
he decided to set apart 3,000 to produce IO a y ear f r a hospital at
Reading in the house where he was born. But his wealth increased after he
became primate, and when the project was carried into execution six years later,
the amount was made up to double that sum, and his intentions diverted to an-
other channel. He conveyed to the corporation in 1 640 lands at Bray to the
value of 200 a y ear 5 jC I2 to be spent for two years in apprenticing twelve
poor boys, and a like sum every third year in finding marriage portions for
six poor maids ; 50 per annum to the vicar of St. Lawrence ; 20 to the
Reading schoolmaster ; and 10 to defray the expenses of a triennial visita-
tion of the school by the chancellor of Oxford, the president of St. John's,
and the warden of All Souls.

The arrangements for this generous gift to the town of his birth were
drawn up at the end of March, 1640. Before the end of the year Laud was
a prisoner in the Tower. It is somewhat touching to find how great was the
anxiety of the imprisoned archbishop, in the midst of his own troubles, as to
the success of his Reading scheme. He wrote to the corporation as to the
rents from Bray, &c., and many details from the Tower on 28 October, 1641,
and again on 23 December, signing himself on the second occasion 'Your
verye lovynge but unfortunate friend.'

4 o

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Laud's will, that striking document drawn up in January, 1644, a year
before his execution, so remarkably illustrative of his character and opinions,
provided so far as Berkshire was concerned that 50 a year should be
settled on each of the towns of Wokingham, Henley-on-Thames, Wallingford,
and Windsor, and this in addition to the 200 already settled on Reading. 1

In February, 1637, Thomas Sheylor, curate of Swallowfield, petitioned
Archbishop Laud to provide some timely remedy and relief out of his ' tender
favour to the poore distressed clergie.' George Miller and Mary Phipps,
wife of John Phipps, having for a long time lived scandalously together at
Miller's house, Sheylor and the churchwardens presented them at the visita-
tion of the archdeacon of Berkshire in October, 1636. Whereupon Miller
and Mary Phipps were injoined a purgation. They appealed to the Court
of Audience, and made Sheylor and the wardens parties, where the cause
still depends to their great cost and affliction. Moreover Miller abused the
petitioner in violent assaults and vile language. Instances of both are set
forth, including the following utterance : ' That a boy that goeth to plough
and dounge cart every day his callinge is better and honester than myne of
the Ministrie.' The petition is endorsed in Laud's hand, to be referred to
Sir John Lambe, and to award an attachment for the party here mentioned
to answer these misdemeanours in the High Commission Court. 2

William Twisse, the learned Puritan divine, was intimately associated
with Berkshire. He was born in the parish of Speen, near Newbury, about
1578. He was educated at Winchester and at New College, Oxford, and
was instituted to the vicarage of Newbury in 1620. His convictions were
strongly Puritan and he declined to read the Declaration of Sports. When
the Lords and Commons determined on 12 June, 1643, to call together an
assembly to consult with Parliament * for settling the government and Liturgy
of the Church of England ' an assembly forbidden by the king under the
severest penalties Dr. Twisse was appointed prolocutor, and on i July
preached the opening sermon. This was the assembly that put forth the
Directory for Public Worship, when the use of the Book of Common Prayer
was forbidden, even privately, under severe penalties. Twisse, however,
resigned the prolocutorship of the assembly in April, 1645, on the ground
of ill-health, but apparently from distaste at its proceedings. He died in
Holborn, July, 1646, and was buried, in the pomp of a public funeral, at
Westminster Abbey, only to be disinterred by royal mandate in 1661, and
flung into a common pit in St. Margaret's Churchyard. 3

Among the parliamentary sequestrations of royalist clergy and the sub-
sequent comminations of Puritan ministers, so far as they appear in the
journals of Parliament, the following Berkshire examples occur : William
Durham to Burghfield, 24 June, 1647 ; John Commin to Cholsey, with the
rectory of Moulsford annexed, 1 3 December, 1 667 ; Hugh Pugh to Shriven-
ham, 28 July, 1648 ; John Jemmett to St. Giles, Reading, and William
Owen to Remenham, 23 September, 1648 ; Thomas Whitefield to East
Hendred, 30 November, 1648 ; Thomas Dayriell to Milton, 12 December,
1648 ; and John Carrill to Boxford, 23 December, 1648.*

1 Orig. Let. &c. relative to Abp. Laud's Benefactions (Berks. Ashmolean Soc. 1841).

8 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ccclxxxi, 62. s Money, Hist, of Newbury, 503, &c. ; Diet. Nat. Biog.

4 Shaw, Eng. Ch. Under the Commonwealth, ii, App. 2 c.

2 XT f.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

The Berkshire beneficed clergy ejected during the Commonwealth
troubles were smaller in proportion to their number than those of Wiltshire
in the other half of the Salisbury diocese. Walker (Sufferings of Clergy] gives
seventeen in Berkshire and fifty-six in Wiltshire ; but other estimates give
the Berkshire number as twenty-three. To these, too, ought to be added
the twenty-two ejected from the large collegiate establishment at Windsor,
bringing the full Berkshire total up to forty-five.

One of the sad cases of ejection was that of Guy Carleton from the
benefice of Bucklebury. As a sympathizer with the king and a determined
churchman, he was imprisoned in Lambeth House and afterwards escaped
beyond the seas. His wife and daughters were meanwhile maintained in
London partly by charity and partly by their own labour. Happily he
survived till the Restoration, when he became successively dean of Durham,
bishop of Bristol, and bishop of Chichester. 1

Among the augmentations made to particular ministers during the latter
part of the Commonwealth period, the following Berkshire instances occur :
In 1655, 33 2s. yd. to the minister of West Woodhay ; in 1656,
23 13-r. \d. to the minister of Wokingham, 15 to the minister of Buck-
land, and 20 to the minister of Wantage; and in 1657, 20 to the minister
of Blewbury, and 40 to the minister of Ruscombe. 3

Above 15,000 of the money realized from sales of dean and chapter
lands during the Commonwealth was settled on sundry ministers and lecturers
by way of augmentation and stipend. In 1649 John Piborne, minister of
Woodhay, received 18 ioj. ; Thomas Gilbert, minister of St. Lawrence,
Reading, 37 6s. %d. ; William Clarke, of Hurst, 18 ; Jeremiah Tarrant,
of Wingfield, 50; Thomas Roebuck, of Ruscombe, 10 13-r. 4^.;
Mr. Woodbridge, of Newbury, 37 IQJ. ; William Clarke, of Hungerford,
_i6 roj. ; Nicholas Lockur and John Bacheler, ministers in the castle of
Windsor, 18 ; Thomas Fitch, of Sutton Courtenay, 3 ; Robert Bacon,
of New Windsor, 37 IQJ. ; and John Bateman, of Wokingham, 13 6s. 8*/. 3
Out of the amount realized by the sale of bishop's lands, John Pendarnes,
minister of St. Helen's, Abingdon, received the large sum of 127 ioj. 4

The parliamentary Survey of Livings undertaken in 1650 possesses
several points of interest. The commissioners made various practical sug-
gestions for the amalgamation of parishes. The following will serve as an
example of these returns :

Catmer is a parsonage situate about two miles from Farneborough conteyning but one
family worth 45 li yearely the Incumbent whereof is Mr. John Hende, and the right of
presentation in one Mr. Evans in right of his wife. We conceive in regard of the smalnes
of the meanes belonging to the said Churches of Farnborough and Catmer and by reason
that Catmer is but one family that the said parsonage of Catmer may be fitly united to that
of Farnborough whereby the maintenance may be made a competence for a godly able
preaching minister."

At the Restoration in May, 1660, Brian Duppa returned to Salisbury as its
bishop, but before the expiration of the year he was translated to Winchester.

The ejection of the nonconformist beneficed ministers who declined to
accept the Prayer Book in 1662 resulted, according to Calamy, in the dis-

1 Diet. Nat. Blog. ' Shaw, Eng. Ch. Under the Commonwealth, ii, App. 6. * Ibid. App. 7.

4 Ibid. App. 8. 6 Commonwealth Surveys, P.R O. vol. i, m. 8.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

missal of twenty-nine from Berkshire livings, but a careful examination of
his list reduces the number to twenty-three. 1

In Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers, published in 1753, twenty-eight folio
pages are devoted to their treatment in Berkshire between 1655 and i688. 2
It will be admitted on all hands that the treatment of the Quakers both
during the Commonwealth and after the Restoration was bad. But in Berk-
shire, as elsewhere, the treatment they received was mainly caused by two
kinds of action in which they persisted, the one the non-payment of tithes,
and the other their insisting on interrupting the worship of others, whether
Presbyterian or Episcopalian. It must always be remembered that the
Quakers of the seventeenth century, with their fanatical interference with
and abuse of others in their devotional exercises, were in absolute contrast to
the gentle forbearance of Friends of later times.

The first 'suffering' recorded by Besse is that of one Leonard Cole, im-
prisoned for six weeks in 1655 for non-payment of tithes. The second case,
in 1656, is the imprisonment at Reading of Joseph Cole and five others 'for
offering to speak,' we use Besse's own words, ' by way of Christian exhorta-
tion to the priest and people when assembled in their place for public worship
at Reading.'

In 1660 and the following years there was a good deal of rough treat-
ment of the Quakers at Newbury, Reading, and Abingdon, chiefly for refus-
ing to take the oath of allegiance, a refusal arising from their objection
to any form of swearing, and not from any disloyalty to Charles II. Others
were proceeded against as recusants for not attending church.

The most remarkable of the post-Restoration bishops of Salisbury was
Seth Ward, who was translated from Exeter in 1667, and ruled until his death
in 1689. He was a most gifted man, and remarkably generous, but incurred
much odium from the thorough way in which he carried out the Act of
Uniformity. To keep his diocese in conformity, he took great care to
settle able ministers in the great market and borough towns, as Reading,
Abingdon, Newbury, &c. ; and because they were for the most part vicarages
of small value, as prebends in the (cathedral) church fell void he bestowed
them on the ministers of these towns. 3 He left behind a manuscript volume
of Notitia of his diocese, wherein he enters 128 churches and 37 chapels in
the archdeaconry of Berkshire.*

The ministers licensed for Berkshire under the short-lived royal indul-
gence of Charles II show a considerable preponderance of Presbyterians.
They were thus divided : Presbyterians 20, Baptists 9, Congregationalists 2.
With regard to the number of dissenting ministers in comparison with
other counties, Berkshire was above the average when size and population
are taken into account.

Apart from such qualifications Berkshire stood eleventh on the list of
counties with Presbyterian ministers, only five from the bottom of Congre-
gational ministers, and seventh from the top of Baptist ministers. 6

1 Marshall, Dloc. Hist. ofOxf. 147. * Besse, Sufferings of the Quakers, \, 1 1-39.

3 Pope, Life ofSetb Ward (1696), p. 67. 4 D. Jones, Dloc. Hist, of Scrum, 240.

s The following places in the county had licences for buildings for Nonconformist worship, and the same
indulgence :

Presbyterian (19) : Abingdon, Cholsey, East Ilsley, Frogmore, Hagbourne, Hungerford, Lambourn,
Maidenhead, Newbury, Pusey, Reading, Sandhurst, Shalbourn, Shilton, Shippon, Tubney, Wantage, Windsor,

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

On 1 6 April, 1672, Sir William Armour, one of the Berkshire j
wrote a strong letter of protest to Lord Arlington, as to a particular
under the royal indulgence. He had heard that the Nonconformists oi
ing were about to apply for a licence for Christopher Fowler, and thot
his duty to state what manner of man he was. Fowler had been put
Reading church by a parliamentary committee, and remained in it
was put out by the Act of Uniformity. ' Till the Restoration he wasi
the most violent man against the king, and the most malicious ag; (
that were for him. Many instances of his behaviour could be giv
one, which if needful could be deposed to by as honest and sufficient ;
any in this town, will suffice. His prayer in the pulpit for His M
father was several times, and they believe constantly, in these words :

And as for the king let the blood of England, the blood of Scotland, and the
Ireland fly in his face and dog him night and day, and let him never have peace of
conscience until he return to Jesus Christ and his Parliament.

I say not this [added Sir William], to make him incapable of His Majesty's pardon, of
which he had, I think, as much need as anyone that lives by it, but to let you see the
humour of this people and to preserve this town from such a man, who has been the author
of most of the evil in it, and whose coming in this manner at this time would be the ready
way to set us altogether by the ears.' 1

But this remonstrance was of no avail. On 19 May Colonel Blood
applied for licence for Christopher Fowler, Presbyterian, at Griffith Bully's
house, Reading, and on 25 May this crown licence was granted. 8

In 1675 Dr. Thomas Pierce, dean of Salisbury, made his primary visi-
tation of the churches within the peculiar jurisdiction of the deanery of Salis-
bury, which included, as we have seen, several of Berkshire. The articles of
inquiry were printed in a small black-letter quarto of sixteen pages, and
correspond in the main with other episcopal and archidiaconal visitations of
that period. The queries were thorough and searching, and include ques-
tions as to ' a Font of stone with a Cover,' a ' fair communion cup and
challice with a cover of silver and one or more flaggons of silver or pewter,'
&c. Under the same head as the question relative to the licensing of ' School
Masters, Physician, Chyrurgeons and Midwives ' are inquiries as to any
hospital, almshouse, or free school, not of the king's foundation or patronage. 3

The non-juring movement in opposition to the claims of William and
Mary to the throne made no small stir at the centre of the diocese. Gilbert
Burnet, ' chaplain in ordinary of the revolution,' was appointed to the vacant
bishopric of Salisbury, with the effect of rather intensifying the feeling of
those in that city who could not see their way to taking the oath of allegi-
ance to the new dynasty. Robert Frampton, bishop of Gloucester, who
held the Salisbury prebend of Torleton, was one who followed Archbishop
Sancroft in his retirement. Robert Tutt, the sub-dean, and John Martin,

Wokingham. Congregational (4) : Hinton, South Moreton, Ufton, Wallingford. Baptist (7) : Abingdon,
Appleton, Cookham, Longworth, Maidenhead, Reading, Wallingford. Presbyterian and Congregational :
Reading. Cal. S.P. Dom. CAat. II. 1672. Preface, pp. xliv-xlvi.

In a single case the application for a licence for meeting was not for a private house, licences being
granted on 9 April, 1672, for the use of the Town Hall, Newbury, for Presbyterian worship and for Benja-
min Woodbridge to preach therein ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1671-2, p. 298.

1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Chat. II. 1671-2, p. 328. * Ibid. 1672, p. 6l.

* B.M. Press Mark 5155, c. 73. The articles of the visitation follow for the most part those of
Bishop Ward in his general visitation of the previous year. B.M. 5155, c. 72.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

prebendary of Preston, were also among the non-jurors, as well as that saintly
scholar Nathaniel Spinckes, rector of St. Martin's, Salisbury, who was after-
wards consecrated as one of the non-juring bishops. But there was little stir
in Berkshire ; no beneficed clergyman gave up his preferment, though
William Sloper, schoolmaster at Wantage, after taking the oath, recanted and
joined the non-jurors, and his example was followed by Mr. Vincent, curate
of Sulhamstead. Shottesbrook, however, was famed as the meeting place of
Ken, Nelson, and other non-juror leaders at the residence of Francis Cherry.
The Articles of Visitation and Inquiry for the churchwardens and sides-
men of the Berkshire parishes, for the visitation held by Archdeacon William
Richards in 1695, were printed at Oxford, forming a quarto pamphlet of
eight pages. 1 The questions are divided into seven heads or titles. Among
the inquiries as to the ornaments and furniture of the church are those that
ask as to 'a font of stone with a good cover thereunto, standing in a con-
venient place towards the lower end of the church' ; ' two Books of Common
Prayer (1662) well and substantially formed' ; 'A comely large Surplice for
the Minister to wear at all times of his publick Ministration in the Church';
' A Bier with a black Hearse cloth for the burial of the Dead ' ; ' Any
Funeral Monuments erected since 1640 without licence from the Ordinary.'
The queries as to the minister ask inter alia

Doth he observe the Holidays and Fasting days, as also the Ember week and the yearly
perambulation in Rogation week as in the Common Prayer-Book or by the Ecclesiastical
Canons is appointed, giving notice to the parishioners of every of the same in the Church in
time of Divine Service, upon the Sunday next before ? And doth he constantly read the
Litany on Wednesdays and Fridays weekly ?

The queries put to the ministers as to the due discharge of their duties by
the churchwardens and sidesmen include ' Do they permit no dogs or Hawks
to be brought or come into your Church, to the disturbance of the Congrega-
tion ? ' The last section is as to ' schools, Schoolmasters, Physicians, Chirur-
geons, and Midwives ' not duly licensed by the Ordinary.

Josiah Thompson, ' minister of the congregation at Clapham, Surrey,'
drew up, in 1773, two manuscript lists of dissenting congregations arranged
under counties for the respective years 1715 and 1772." From these dates
it would appear that there was a very considerable diminution of dissent in
Berkshire during the half-century between the two dates.

In 1715 there were twenty-seven congregations, all save four having the
distinguishing letters signifying Presbyterian, Baptist, or Independent, and in
most cases the rough estimate of the number of their adherents : Abingdon,
P. 400, B. 400; Aston, 200; Beech Hill, 160; Buckland, P. 150; Buckle-
bury, 150; Cookham, B; Faringdon, B. 140; Hungerford, P. 100 ;
Maidenhead, P. 100, B. 100 ; Newbury, P. 500, B. 120, I. 400; ' Ock-
ingham, P. 200 ; Reading, P. 800, B. 300 ; Ruscombe ; Sandhurst, B. ;
Sonning, B. ; Twyford, B. 'not content' ; Wallingford, P. 300 ; Wantage,
P. 300, B. ; White Waltham ; Windsor and Wokingham, P. 100.

In 1772 only nine dissenting congregations are named, and the difference
of sect is unmarked : Abingdon, Aston, Faringdon, Maidenhead ' small,'
Newbury, ' Ockingham,' Reading, Tadley, and Wantage.

1 The press mark of the B.M. copy is 5155, cc. 13. ' B.M. Add. MS. 32057.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

John Wesley, the great itinerant evangelist of the eighteenth century,
was a frequent visitor to the county, but he made no striking impression
in Berkshire, and formed a poor opinion, for the most part, of the abilities
of the inhabitants.

The first time that his Journal bears witness to his being in Berkshire
is on 26 September, 1738, when he 'declared the Gospel of peace to a
small company at Windsor.' During the next few years Wesley paid some
fitful visits to Reading and Windsor, when passing to London from the
west of England. In July, 1741, he was at Abingdon, where he formed
a poor opinion of the inhabitants : ' Both the yard and house were full ;
but so stupid, senseless a people, both in a spiritual and natural sense, I scarce
ever saw before.' This was his first and last visit to Abingdon. When he
was passing through Reading in September, 1747, Mr. Richards, a tradesman,
called at his inn and entreated him to preach in a room that he had built
for the purpose ; Wesley complied, and preached there the next morning
at the early hour of 6 a.m. In this county, as elsewhere, the people were
for the most part ready to hear Wesley whatever the hour might be. His
next visit to Reading was on a Monday in June, 1748, when he preached at
noon, and found ' a serious, well-behaved congregation.'

John Wesley had an unpleasant first experience of Newbury, where his
horse fell with him in deep mire, in 1744, and afterwards he several times
passed through the town. But having been much importuned to preach at
Newbury in 1770, he arrived there on Monday, 5 March. But where was
he to preach ?

The Dissenters would not permit me to preach in their meeting-house. Some there
were desirous to hire the old play-house ; but the good mayor would not suffer it to be so
profaned ! So I made use of a workshop, a large commodious place. But it would by no
means contain the congregation. All that could hear behaved well ; and I was in hopes
God would have a people in this place also.

After this Wesley frequently visited Newbury, generally about the same
time of the year. In 1775 he writes :

I returned to Newbury. Some of our friends informed me that there were many red-
hot patriots here ; so I took occasion to give a strong exhortation to ' Fear God and honour
the King.'

In March, 1777, when on his way to Newbury, he preached on the
Monday evening at Reading, when he wrote in his "Journal : 'How many
years were we beating the air at this town ! Stretching out our hands to a
people stupid as oxen ! But it is not so at present. . . .' His last visit to
Reading was in 1780. On Monday, i March, 1790, when in his eighty-
seventh year, and just a year before his death, John Wesley paid his last visit
to Newbury. The entry in his diary says : ' In the evening preached at
Newbury ; the congregation was large and most of them attentive, but a few
were wild as colts untamed.'

After some eight centuries of union with the diocese of Sarum, the arch-
deaconry and county of Berks was transferred to the small diocese of
Oxford by legislation that came into operation in the year 1836. Berkshire
thus came under the control of Bishop Bagot. In 1845, on t ^ ie translation
of Bishop Bagot, that remarkable organizer and assiduous worker, Samuel

3 1 "I

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Wilberforce, was consecrated bishop of Oxford. Shortly before Bishop
Wilberforce's translation to the see of Winchester, namely in 1869, an official
statement was put forth as to the money which had been spent between 1845
and 1869 on churches, church restoration, houses of mercy, and parsonage
houses ; the result, divided into archdeaconries, showed that Berkshire had
raised the considerable sum of 828,310 13^. n</., an amount far in advance
of that contributed by either of the two other archdeaconries of Oxford and
Buckinghamshire. l

Berkshire is distinguished for a remarkable spiritual advance made by
the Church of England under the episcopate of Bishop Wilberforce, which
has greatly developed of late years and spread throughout the church at
large, both at home and abroad. The Rev. W. J. Butler, dean of Lincoln
(188094), was vicar of Wantage in 1846 and has been well described as
* the model parish priest.' He founded the Sisterhood of St. Mary at
Wantage in 1850 as a teaching community and to maintain a penitentiary
home. A house of mercy was also established at Clewer in 1856, for the
reception of penitents, under the control of religious sisters. Speaking to
his clergy shortly before leaving the diocese, Bishop Wilberforce said of
this most successful work : ' High Christian graces, firm faith, ardent love,
and undaunted courage alone could have founded this ; patience and sobriety
alone could have maintained it.' 2

APPENDIX

ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTr

The early connexion of Berkshire with the old dioceses of Dorchester and Ramsbury and
its inclusion in Norman days in the diocese of Salisbury has been already set forth.

The county was separated in 1836 from Salisbury diocese by the re-adjustment of the
boundaries of various sees in accordance with the report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
presented in the previous year. The small Oxford diocese was at that time enlarged by the
addition of the county and archdeaconry of Buckinghamshire from Lincolnshire diocese, and of
the county and archdeaconry of Berkshire from Salisbury diocese. 3 So soon as the union of
Berkshire with Oxfordshire was accomplished the rural deaneries of the former county were
placed by Bishop Bagot on the same footing as those of Oxfordshire. Bishop Bagot was one
of the first prelates, in the revival of church life in the nineteenth century, to restore the office
of rural dean to active administration. 4

At the time of the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV, in 1291, the archdeaconry of Berkshire
was divided into four deaneries, which derived their names from the four principal towns, namely
Abingdon, Newbury, Reading, and Wallingford. At that date there were 113 parochial churches
in the archdeaconry, in addition to several dependent and separately assessed chapelries. In the
next ecclesiastical survey, which was undertaken in 1340 to ascertain the exact value of the
ninth of corn, wool, and lambs which had been granted to Edward III, it was found that the
archdeaconry then comprised 118 parish churches.

When the Palor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII was compiled, it was found that the parish
churches of Berkshire had increased to 152, in addition to a still larger proportional increase
in the chapels. Nevertheless, the increase in the parishes did not lead to any increase in the
number of the deaneries, which continued for many centuries to adhere to the adjustment
adopted at the first foundation of the archdeaconry. The first change in the Berkshire deaneries
was made in 1865 under Bishop Wilberforce, when the number was increased to eight, known
by the following titles : Abingdon, Bradfield, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading, Vale of the White

1 Marshall, Dice. Hist. o/Oxf. 188. * Wilberforce, Charge, Oxf. 1869, p. 19.

3 6 & 7 Will. IV, cap. Ixxvii. An Order of Council to this effect, so far as Berkshire was concerned, was
made on 5 Oct. 1836, and it came into operation on 7 Oct. which was the date of its publication in the
Land. Gaz. * Marshall, Disc. Hist, of Oxford, 1 80.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Horse, Wallingford, and Wantage. A further change, increasing the number to nine, was made
by Bishop Mackarness in 1874, when the deanery of Sonning was instituted, composed of
parishes chiefly taken from the deaneries of Maidenhead and Reading.

The present archdeaconry of Berkshire is therefore divided into the following rural deaneries :
Abingdon, Bradfield, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading, Sonning, Vale of White Horse, Walling-
ford, and Wantage.

The deanery of Abingdon includes the following parishes : St. Helen with St. Nicholas and
St. Michael Abingdon, Appleton, Bessels Leigh, Cumnor, Drayton, Fyfield, Kennington, King-
ston Bagpuize, Marcham with Garford, Milton, Radley, Sandford with Cothill, Shippon, Steventon,
Sunningwell, Sutton Courtenay with Appleford and Sutton Wick, Tubney, Long Wittenham, and
Wytham.

The deanery of Bradfield includes : Aldermaston, Ashampstead, Beenham Valence, Bradfield
with Buckhold, Brimpton, Burghfield, Englefield, Frilsham, Padworth, Pangbourne, Purley,
Stanford Dingley, Sulham, Sulhamstead Abbots with Sulhamstead Bannister, Theale with North
Street, Tidmarsh, Tilehurst, St. George's Tilehurst, Ufton Nervet, Wasing, Woolhampton, and
Yattendon.

The deanery of Maidenhead includes : Ascot Heath, All Souls Ascot South, Binfield, Bisham,
Boyne Hill with St. Paul, Bracknell, Bray with Touchen End, Braywood, Clewer with All Saints
Dedworth Green and St. Stephen, Cookham, Cookham Dean, St. Peter Cranbourne, Hurley,
Knowl Hill, Littlewick, St. Luke, St. Andrew and St. Mary Maidenhead, Shottesbrook with
White Waltham, Stubbings, Sunningdale, Sunninghill, Waltham St. Lawrence with All Saints,
Warfield, Windsor with All Saints, Holy Trinity Windsor and Old Windsor, and Winkfield.

The deanery of Newbury includes : Avington, Beedon, Boxford, Brightwalton, Bucklebury
with Marlston, Catmore, Chaddleworth, Chieveley with Winterbourne and Oare and Curridge,
Cold Ash with St. Bartholomew Denford, Eastbury, East Garston, Enborne, Greenham,
Hampstead Marshall, Hermitage, Hungerford, East Ilsley, West Ilsley, Inkpen, Kintbury,
Lambourn with St. Luke Upper Lambourn, Leckhampton, Midgham, Newbury, St. John
Newbury, Peasemore, Shalbourn, Shaw with Donnington, East Shefford, Great ShefFord, Speen,
Speenhamland, Stock Cross, Thatcham, Welford, West Woodhay, and St. Mary Woodlands.

The deanery of Reading includes : Barkham, Beech Hill, Easthampstead, Finchampstead,
Grazeley, Mortimer West End, Christ Church Reading, Grey Friars Reading, St. Giles Reading,
St. John the Evangelist with St. Stephen Reading, St. Lawrence Reading, St. Mary the Virgin
with All Saints St. Saviour's and St. Mark's Reading, St. Mary's Chapel Reading, Holy Trinity
Reading, Shinfield, Stratfield Mortimer, and Swallowfield.

The deanery of Sonning includes : Arborfield, Bearwood, Crowthorne, Dunsden, St. Peter
Earley, St. Bartholomew Earley, Hurst, Remenham, Ruscombe, Sandhurst, Sonning, Twyford
St. Mary, Wargrave, Wokingham, St. Sebastian Wokingham, St. Paul Wokingham, and Woodley.

The deanery of Vale of White Horse includes : Ashbury, Balking with Woolstone, Bourton,
Buckland, Buscot, Coleshill, Compton Beauchamp, Great Coxwell, Eaton Hastings, Faringdon with
Little Coxwell, Hatford, Hinton Waldrist, Littleworth, Longcot with Fernham, Longworth with
Charney, Pusey, Shellingford, Shrivenham with Watchfield, Stanford in the Vale with Goosey,
and UfHngton.

The deanery of Wallingford includes : Aldworth, Aston Tirrold, Basildon, Blewbury,
Brightwell with Sotwell, Cholsey, Compton, Didcot, Hagbourne, Hampstead Norris with Langley,
North Moreton, South Moreton, Moulsford, Streatley, Upton and Aston Upthorpe, St. Leonard
Wallingford, St. Mary the More with All Hallows Wallingford, St. Peter Wallingford, and Little
Wittenham.

The deanery of Wantage includes : Ardington, East and West Challow, Childrey, Chilton,
Denchworth, Farnborough, Fawley, Grove, Hanney with West Hanney, Harwell, East Hendred,
West Hendred, Letcombe Bassett, Letcombe Regis, East Lockinge, Lyford, Sparsholt with
Kingston Lisle, and Wantage with Charlton.

THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES
OF BERKSHIRE

INTRODUCTION

Berkshire occupies a distinguished position in the history of religious
houses as almost the only shire that had within its limits two Benedictine
abbeys of the first rank and of ancient foundation, namely, Abingdon and
Reading.

The original founding of Abingdon goes back to the seventh century,
for there seems no reason to doubt the main features of the early narrative of
this house as set forth in two ancient manuscripts. The great influence of
Abingdon as a centre for the diffusion of Christianity is apparent from the
large number of tributary pensions of ancient origin from various mission
stations throughout Berkshire, which gradually developed into parishes. It
seems also clear that the abbey of Reading, though usually spoken of as
founded by Henry I, was in reality refounded by that king on the site of a
religious house that had been established there at least a century before the
coming of the Normans. In giving sketches of the annals of these two noted
abbeys, it has only been possible to select the more salient points of interest.

There were two other Benedictine houses of some importance in the
county, namely, the priories of Hurley and of Wallingford, neither of which
had, however, an independent existence. The priory of Hurley was founded
in the reign of the Conqueror as a cell of Benedictine monks, subject from
the first to the abbey of Westminster. There is a great store of charters and
other evidences relative to the priory of Hurley among the muniments of
the Dean and Chapter of Westminster ; they were carried there at the time
of the suppression of the cell in 1536. The priory of Wallingford, which
seems also to have been founded in the days of the Conqueror, was a cell of
St. Albans, and was first colonized by a company of Benedictine monks sent
thither by Abbot Paul, who ruled over that abbey from 1077 to 1093.
Wallingford was one of several small monasteries for whose extinction, in
favour of his college at Oxford, Cardinal Wolsey obtained papal consent in
1524.

A priory of Benedictine nuns was founded at an early date at Bromhall,
within the limits of Windsor Forest. This small house was suppressed in
favour of St. John's College, Cambridge, as early as 15212.

There were no establishments of the reformed Benedictine order of
Citeaux within the bounds of Berkshire, but the Cistercian abbey of Beaulieu,
Hampshire, had a cell or grange, and much property at Faringdon.

2 49 7

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

The other reformed order, that of Cluny, had a temporary and most impor-
tant connexion with the county, the great abbey of Reading being originally
founded as a Cluniac house, and being the only abbey of that order in
England. Although it remained affiliated to the order as late as 1207, it
seems to have become absorbed into the unreformed Benedictine order soon
after that date. The control exercised by the mother-house of Cluny appears
never to have been more than nominal.

The earliest known foundation of Austin canons in the county dates from
1 1 60, when the site of an old hermitage at Poughley with adjacent property
was assigned to a company of canons regular of the order of St. Augustine.
This house was another instance of those small establishments suppressed in 1 524
in favour of Cardinal Wolsey's Oxford college. A small house for the same
order was founded about 1 200 at Sandleford, near Newbury. The foundation
charter of the more important house of Bisham is dated 22 April, 1337.
After a life of close upon two centuries Bisham was suppressed in July, 1536 ;
but this Austin priory was re-established in December, 1537, by charter of
that utterly fickle king, Henry VIII, as a Benedictine abbey to pray inter alia
for the soul of Jane, his late queen. Hither were translated the ejected abbot
of Chertsey, with his fourteen monks, but after enduring for just six months
the new foundation was, in its turn, summarily suppressed.

The manor of Greenham, a little to the east of Newbury, was given to
the Knights Hospitallers of St. John in the time of Henry II, and here this
military order had apreceptory, whence annual collections were made from
the whole county.

The mendicant orders were slenderly represented in Berkshire itself, but
there were large convents of the four chief orders just over the county boun-
dary at Oxford, whence, it is known, they regularly visited many of the
Berkshire parishes. The Franciscans, or Grey Friars, were first established at
Reading in 1233, obtaining the grudging grant of an often flooded site from
the great abbey. Their position was somewhat improved in 1285 by the
importunity of Archbishop Peckham, himself a Franciscan. There was also
a small establishment of Crouched, or Trinitarian, friars at Donnington, of
which comparatively little is known.

Berkshire was unusually well supplied with hospitals, which provided
for the relief of the sick, the aged, and the wayfarers, and were for the most
part, as elsewhere, under the control of vowed religious. They were eighteen
in number, and at least five of these were originally founded as asylums for
lepers. The Berkshire instances afford yet another proof that hospitals were
the invariable accompaniment of the larger Benedictine houses ; they were
to be found in this county at Abingdon (3), Childrey, Donnington, Fyfield,
Hungerford (2), Lambourn, Newbury (2), Reading (3), Wallingford (2),
and Windsor (2). These hospitals were chiefly of quite early foundation,
but three of the number were of late establishment and partook more of the
almshouse character; these were Fyfield (1442), Lambourn (1485), and
Childrey (1526).

The county had three collegiate churches, which differed much in
numbers and administration, as well as in the emoluments provided for the
clergy who served them. They were at Wallingford, where there was a
college of very early foundation in connexion with the castle ; at Windsor,

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

whose far-famed college had its origin in the days of Henry I ; and at
Shottesbrook, where the parish church became one of collegiate rank in
J 337-

The list of Berkshire religious houses is completed by the mention
of two small alien priories or cells of foreign abbeys, which were respectively
situated at Steventon and at Stratfield Saye.

HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE MONKS

i. THE ABBEY OF ABINGDON

Wonderful, but quite baseless, legends were
once current with regard to the very early history
of the abbey of Abingdon, as to its being founded
by King Lucius and destroyed by the Emperor
Diocletian ; as to the Emperor Constantine re-
ceiving here his education as a youth ; or as
to the five hundred monks who lived by the
labours of their hands in the surrounding wilds
and woods, returning to the abbey on Sundays
and festivals, whilst sixty quire monks continu-
ously maintained a round of services. 1 Sweep-
ing aside, however, all such fond inventions, the
genuine history of the abbey is well established
from an exceptionally early date. The story of
the rise and growth of this ancient religious house
is told, with much circumstance, in two valuable
manuscripts of the Cotton Collection, which
cover the period of its first five hundred years.
These two copies of the Histaria Monasterii de
Abingdon, both of the thirteenth century, though
one is about fifty years older than the other,
were selected as one of the first subjects to be
treated in the ' Chronicles and Memorials,' or
Rolls Series, founded in 1857 ; tnev wer e ably
transcribed and collated, with useful introduc-
tions by the late Mr. Stevenson. 2

From these chronicles, the general authenticity
of which Mr. Stevenson saw no reason to doubt,
it would appear that the abbey was traditionally
founded about 675 by Cissa, and the foundation
furthered by Ceadwalla and Ina,all three successive
kings of the West Saxons. It was established in
honour of the Blessed Virgin, for the support of
twelve monks. Cissa, a chieftain who ruled in
Berkshire and Wiltshire under Centwin, had a
nephew, Hean, who, with his sister Cilia, resolved
to lead a life of poverty and humility. Obtaining
a large grant of land to the south of Oxfordshire
they added to it their patrimonial inheritance.
Cilia speedily founded a nunnery, dedicated to
St. Helen, on a site named Helenstow (part of

1 Stevens' Addit. to Dugdale's Mm.

' Chron. Mm. de Abingdon, z vols. 1858, ed. by
Rev. Joseph Stevenson. The two Cottonian MSS.
are Claud. B. vi and Claud. C. ix. Various original
charters of Abingdon are to be found in Augustus ii,
and there are other transcripts in C.C.C. Lib. Camb.;
all these are printed in Mr. Stevenson's volumes.

the future Abingdon), which was moved after
her death higher up the Thames to Wytham.
There the nuns continued for about a century, but
in the war between Offa and Kinewolf they were
dispersed and never reassembled.

When Cissa first granted the land round
Abingdon to Hean, it was on the understanding
that a monastery should be there founded ; but
delays arose. On Cissa being succeeded by
Ceadwalla, the grant to them was confirmed and
considerably augmented. In 688 Ceadwalla
departed to Rome and was succeeded by Ina,
who possibly irritated at the delay in building
the abbey withdrew the conditional grants made
by his two predecessors ; but at a later period a
reconciliation between Hean and King Ina took
place, and at last the long-delayed foundation of
Abingdon was accomplished, and its precinct walls
were raised within view of the hostile kingdom
of Mercia, on the verge of the remote limits of
the reduced see of Winchester.

Hean became the first abbot and outlived Ina,
dying in the reign of his successor Athelwulf!
He was followed in the abbey by Cumma.
Owing to its situation on the frontiers of Wes-
sex and Mercia the early history of this abbey
was one of conflict, for important battles were
fought in its immediate neighbourhood. In 752
Cuthred, king of Wessex, gained a great victory
over Ethelbald, king of the Mercians, at Durford
in Oxfordshire ; but twenty years later the re-
verse was the case, when Offa routed Cynewulf
of Wessex at Bensington. One result of this
was the disruption of the nunnery at Wytham.
In the time of Offa a certain bishop of Leicester,
by name Hrethun, renounced his bishopric, and
becoming a monk at Abingdon was elected its
third abbot. Hrethun obtained certain important
privileges from the king and journeyed to Rome
to obtain their confirmation.

After flourishing for about two hundred years
the abbey was destroyed by the Danes. Accord-
ing to one of the early chronicles of Abingdon
the original monastic church, as built by Hean,
was 1 20 ft. long, and had both a western and an
eastern apse. 3 The high altar stood on the site
afterwards occupied by the lavatory. There

3 Cott. MSS. Vit. A xiii : ' Erat rotundum tarn
in parte occidentali quam in parte orientali.'

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

were twelve small chambers for the twelve
monks, with an oratory attached to each. The
whole was surrounded by a high wall. Both
church and buildings had undergone much altera-
tion and reconstruction ere they were swept
away in the Danish incursion.

King Alfred for some reason did not see fit to
restore this ancient monastery, but granted its
estates away.

St. Ethelwold (who was afterwards bishop of
Winchester, 963-84) was instructed by Edred to
supervise the re-establishment of the monastery,
though the work was not accomplished until the
days of King Edgar. Ethelwold was appointed
abbot during the reconstruction. He caused the
new church to be rebuilt with a chancel apse ;
the nave also, which was twice the length of the
chancel, had an apse and a round tower. With
\ his own hands he made organs, and caused to
be constructed a great wheel, or crown, of gold,
from which hung twelve lamps and innumerable
little bells. Among his other gifts were a tablet
of pure gold and silver, sculptured with the
Twelve Apostles, over the altar, worth 300, and
three crosses of gold and silver 4 ft. high. With
his own hands he also made two bells and various
ecclesiastical vessels of brass. Among other
works of Ethelwold were the mills on the river,
and the aqueduct that brought water under the
river. 4

In 963, when Ethelwold left Abingdon to be
bishop of Winchester, he was succeeded by
Osgar. Ethelwold returned to Abingdon to be
present with Dunstan and other bishops at the
consecration of the completed monastery. Osgar
died in 984, in the same year as his predecessor
Ethelwold.

Wulfgar, the tenth abbot, obtained an im-
portant charter of privileges and confirmation
from King Ethelred II in 993. Siward, the
twelfth abbot, was consecrated bishop of
Rochester in 1058. Sparhavoc, the fourteenth
abbot, a monk of St. Edmund's, was a wonderful
artificer in gold and silver. Of him the early
chronicler of Abingdon tells the discreditable
tale that he was entrusted with gold and gems to
make a crown for Edward the Confessor, but
decamped with the materials. 6 Sparhavoc was
not, however, abbot at that time, for he had then
just been promoted to the bishopric of London
and was succeeded in the abbacy in 1050 by
Ralph, a Norwegian bishop, who was a relative
of King Edward. 6

Ealdred, the seventeenth abbot, was ruling at
the time of the Norman Conquest. He made
early submission to King William, but in 1071
he was deposed, committed for a time to prison
in the castle of Wallingford, and then suffered to

4 Cott. MS. Vit. A. xiii, as transcribed in Steven-
son's Chron. ii, 2779 > see a ' so Chron. \, 3434.

5 Chron. i, 463 ; ii, 281.

6 Ibid.

end his days in the custody of Walkelin, bishop
of Winchester. 7

The two following abbots were both Norman
monks from Jumieges. It was in the days of
Rainald, the latter of these, that the Domesday
Survey was taken ; it has already been shown
what a large and rich portion of Berkshire the
abbey then held, as well as a considerable tract
in Oxfordshire, and manors in Gloucestershire
and Warwickshire. 8

Motbert is entered as the twentieth abbot in
Bishop Kennett's list, and in this he is followed in
the enlarged Dugdale. But Motbert was only
prior of Abingdon ; he was appointed abbot of
Milton Abbey in the year noo, when Faricius
became twentieth abbot of Abingdon. 9 Faricius
was a distinguished benefactor. He rebuilt the
nave of the church, with two great towers, and
almost the whole of the conventual buildings.
The materials were brought from Wales, six
wagons, each drawn by twelve oxen, being
engaged in the work. The journey there and
back took six or seven weeks. A fine list is
given of the ornaments and vestments that he
supplied for the church. A considerable cata-
logue of the books that he caused to be tran-
scribed for the abbey library, in addition to the
service books, begins with St. Augustine's
De Civitatf Dei, and concludes with multos libros
de physical His own skill in medicine was con-
siderable. In two instances the abbey benefited
by his success as a physician. One Miles
Crispin, in the year 1106, sent his steward and
chaplain to place on the high altar at Abingdon
the title-deeds of a hospice and adjacent lands at
Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire, on account of the
service rendered to him in his illness by the
abbot. For a like cause Geoffrey de Vere
conferred on the abbey the church of Kensing-
ton."

Vincent, the twenty-first abbot, another
Jumie'ges monk, who ruled from 1121 to 1130,
by his timely boldness obtained an important
charter from Henry I. Understanding that the
abbey had no legal right to certain of its
privileges, the king instructed his officials to
take the whole abbey into the crown's hands
whilst its claims were being investigated.
Vincent hastened to court, taking the charter of
Edward the Confessor with him, which secured
to the abbey the market of Abingdon, and their
rights over the hundred of Hornmere. The
king ordered it to be read aloud by the bishop of
Salisbury, his chancellor, whereupon the abbot
instantly asked for confirmation under the royal
seal, offering 300 marks to secure it. The king
closed with the offer, but the required sum could

7 Ibid, i, 486, 493 ; ii, 283.

8 V.C.H. Berks, i, 286, 296, 336.
3 Chron. ii, 286.

10 Ibid. 150-1, 286-9.

11 Ibid. 57, 97.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

only be obtained by breaking off some of the
beautiful gold and silver work wherewith
St. Ethelwold had adorned the back of the
high altar. 13

Vincent's successor, Ingulf, who had been
prior of Winchester, ruled the abbey for nearly
twenty-nine years (1130-59). During his day
and that of his successor, Walkelin, who died
in 1164, there was much conflict as to the
valuable market privileges of Abingdon granted
to the abbey by the Confessor and confirmed by
Henry I. On the accession of Henry II the
inhabitants of Wallingford united with the
townsfolk of Oxford in an attack on this market
privilege, disputed the charters, and obtained
from the king, when on the eve of sailing for
Normandy, an ad interim prohibition of the
Abingdon market, saving for a few trifling
commodities. Armed with this authority, the
men of Wallingford, under the constable of the
royal castle, marched to Abingdon, and in the
king's name proceeded by force to clear 'the
market, but the abbot's retainers were strong
enough to put their enemies to the rout and
drove them from the town. Thereupon the
proctors of Wallingford crossed the seas, laid
their side of the case before Henry II, and
returned with a writ addressed to the Chief
Justiciary. This writ summoned a county court
from which thirty-two aged men were selected
to testify as to the usage in the time of the king's
grandfather. Their finding was that they had
all distinct and personal knowledge of a full
market for the sale of every kind of vendible
product. Thereupon the men of Wallingford
appealed on the ground that some of the jury
were connected with the abbey. A new writ
was accordingly issued addressed to the whole
county of Berkshire, save those who were tenants
of the abbey. The cause was heard at Oxford.
The men of Wallingford swore that in the reign
of Henry I the market was only for bread and
beer. Other jurors supported the abbey in all
save the important point of produce conveyed by
boats other than those of the abbot. The earl
of Leicester, who sat as Chief Justiciary, pro-
nounced no sentence, but took the report to the
king at Salisbury, adding his own testimony that
he had seen the market in full operation in the
time of Henry I and earlier, for his memory took
him back to the time of the Conqueror, in whose
reign he had been educated within the abbey
walls. The aged earl's testimony turned the
scale, and the king affirmed the former judge-
ment.

The next step of the opponents of the abbey's
rights was one of singular rashness. They
appeared before the king at Reading and told
him that if the market at Abingdon was con-
tinued they could no longer fulfil their feudal
tenures. This aroused the indignation of the

12 Chron. \\, 278, &c.

king, who drove them tumultuously from his
presence and commanded that from that day for-
ward a full weekly market was to be continued
at Abingdon under the abbey's rule. 13

After a succession of three superiors of no
particular mark, Hugh, the twenty-ninth abbot,
was elected in 1189, and ruled until his death in
1221. The annalist gives him an unstinted
character for modesty, liberality, and kindness.
He was a considerable benefactor to the monas-
tery, and his obit was always observed by the
convent. 14

Another occasional annalist of this house now
appears on the scene. The Chronicle of the
Monastery of Abingdon (1218-1304), in the
University Library, Cambridge, makes special
mention of the death of Abbot Hugh in 1221.
The annalist describes him as a noble and liberal
man.

He did many good things, for the new building
was commenced and finished in his time, and before
his death he solemnized mass there ; he lies buried
in the northern part. To him succeeded Robert
de Henreth then the chamberlain. 15

Licence was granted by the crown in 1227 to
the abbot to inclose with ditch and hedge, so
that wild animals (deer) could either enter or
depart, six acres of wood at Shaw, which the con-
vent had cleared and cultivated. 16 The abbot
of Abingdon in 1229, at the request of the king,
granted timber from his wood of Shaw for the
making of piles in the work of walling the town
of Oxford, and for the work then in progress at
the castle of Oxford. In return for this the
king granted the abbot full power to clear and
cultivate the 26^ acres of wood whence this
wood had been taken. 17

In February, 1232, the abbot and convent
of Abingdon obtained a faculty from Pope
Alexander IV to wear caps suited to their order
at divine offices, the cold of those parts being
vehement. 18

In 1258 King Henry came to visit Abingdon
after the feast of the Holy Trinity, for the first
time since his return from Gascony, and was
received with a grand procession. About the
same time the chapter gave the church of Sutton
to Peter de Wylebi, which the pope had con-
ferred on an Italian youth, Richard Hannibal.
Matthew Hannibal, the youth's father, happened

13 Chron. \\, pp. Ixxv-lxxix, 229.

"Ibid. 293, 316, 331.

'" Abingdon Chron. I, 35. This chronicle was
printed and translated by Dr. J. O. Halliwe'l in
1 844, for the short-lived Berks. Ashmolean Society.
This brief chronicle, written at Abingdon, is for the most
part a record of leading national events in Church
and State, and concerns itself but little with the story
of the abbey proper.

16 Pat. 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 3.

"Close, 1 4 Hen. Ill, m. 21.

w Cal. Papal Let. i, 355.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

to be in England when he was nobly entertained
by the king ; he proceeded at once to Salisbury
and demanded the institution of his son. But
Peter, who was a brother of Abbot John of
Abingdon, declined to resign ; whereupon the
bishop of Salisbury sent the archdeacon of Berk-
shire and the rural dean with the Italians to carry
out Richard's institution. On their arrival,
however, at Sutton the church was found to be
full of armed men, who attacked the Italians,
beating and wounding them. The Italians were
furious with the abbey (ira maxima inflammati\
but at this crisis John Mansel, keeper of the
king's seal and about the most influential man
in the kingdom, arrived on a visit to the abbey ;
he was able to allay the animosity and persuaded
the monastery to give way to the pope. 19

Immediately after Michaelmas, 1260, Henry
III again visited the abbey and was honourably
entertained ; in 1261 he came once more to the
house, arriving on the Sunday before the feast of
St. Barnabas, and tarrying there for three days.
At Martinmas, in the former of these years, this
monastery was the scene of the inquiry into cer-
tain miracles stated to have been performed by
Richard, bishop of Chichester, in consequence
of a petition for his canonization ; the inquiry
was conducted by the bishop of Worcester and
certain Dominican and Franciscan friars, and all
the miracles were pronounced to be genuine. 20

Henry de Fryleford, the thirty-second abbot,
died suddenly on Trinity Sunday, 1262, after
dinner ; he had celebrated high mass that morn-
ing. The baronial war was now being waged ;
on 2 November of this year Henry III, with his
whole army, arrived at Abingdon with banners
flying. The king himself was received within
the abbey. 21

On 17 May, 1265, a violent thunderstorm
broke over Abingdon ; the south-west tower of
the abbey was struck with lightning and much
damaged ; the building caught fire and the flames
were with difficulty extinguished. 22

In March, 1274, Abbot Richard de Henred
obtained the king's licence to cross the seas to
attend the council of Lyons, and appointed John
de Cernay, his fellow monk, and William de
Sparsholt to make attorneys in his place in all
pleas until St. Peter ad Vincula, unless he should
return to England by an earlier date. 23

Edward I sojourned for several days at Abing-
don Abbey in December, 1276, and also for two
nights in March, 1281.

A chapel of St. Edmund not St. Edmund
the king, but St. Edmund Rich of Abingdon,
treasurer and prebendary of Salisbury, and
archbishop of Canterbury from 1234 until
1240 was founded by Edmund, earl of

13 Ming. Chron. (Halliwell), 10.

2(1 Ibid. 12. " Ibid. 14.

22 Ann. de Waverleta (Rolls Ser.), 363.

23 Close, 2 Edw. I, m. 1 1 d.

Cornwall, in the parish of St. Helen, in the
year 1288, on a site where St. Edmund was
known to have been born. The abbey, recog-
nizing the earl of Cornwall as 'a kind of
bounteous defender and protector,' covenanted
always to maintain within this chapel two priests
to celebrate for the souls of the earl and his
ancestors. 2 ' The annals of Worcester state
that many miracles took place in this chapel at
Abingdon in 1289, the year after its foundation ; 2 *
hence the chapel became famous, and the greater
portion of its revenues were at one time derived
from oblations on the altar. In 1404-5 these
offerings amounted to j 6 \y. 5^., and in 1405-6
to 5 ID*. 5< ; but afterwards the amount fell
off: it was 301. in 1422-3, 58*. lod. in 1466-7,
45*. $d. in 1469-70, and only I2s. 8d. in 14789.
As the offerings diminished, the receipts from
tenements in Abingdon appropriated to the
chapel fell off. Adjoining the chapel was a
house containing hall, pantry, buttery, upper
chamber, kitchen, and dormitory, where the two
wardens lived.

The general chapter of the Benedictine monks
of England was held in this abbey in July,

I290. 26

At the king's request, in 1292, the abbot and
convent granted sustenance, by letters patent
sealed under their chapter seal, in their house for
life to Nicholas de Teweng, on account of his
services to Margaret, sometime queen of Scotland,
the king's sister ; the king notified the abbot that
he would not charge them with the maintenance
of any other person during the life of Nicholas. 27

In January, 1296, Edward I sent his mandate
to the abbot and convent requesting them to re-
ceive his servant Wobrodus, and to admit him
with two horses and two grooms into their house
until the ensuing Michaelmas, and to find them
meanwhile all necessaries. 28

Edmund de la Beche, clerk, in 1315 obtained
the king's letters to the abbot and convent to
have the pension that they were bound to grant
to one of the king's clerks by reason of the new-
creation of the abbot. 29

On the election of Garford, the crown nomi-
nated William de Elmham, clerk, to receive a
pension at the hands of the convent until they
could appoint him to a benefice, according to>
custom on the new creation of an abbot. 30

There were various appointments of old servants
of the crown to receive life sustenance in Abing-
don Abbey during the years 1329 and 1330.
Sometimes such servants received the king's letters
to this effect for more than one religious house,.

21 Accts. of the Obedientiaries, xxxix-xl.

25 Ann. Mon. (Luard), iv, 499.

K Ann. de Wigorn. (Rolls Ser.), 502.

" Pat. 20 Edw. I, m. 12.

25 Close, 24 Edw. I, m. 10 d.

*> Ibid. 9 Edw. II, m. 24 d.

30 Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, m. 2 d.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

showing that there must occasionally have been
a money commutation for the food and clothing.
Thus Henry de Dytton, late usher of the king's
chamber, sent to Abingdon on 5 April, 1329, to
take the place as pensioner of Vivian de Luke,
deceased, had like letters to Waverley Abbey and
to St. Andrew's, Northampton, whilst Vivian de
Luke had been a pensioner of St. Albans as well
as of Abingdon. 31

A commission of inquiry was granted in
December, 1295, on the complaint of the abbot
of Abingdon. A grant of a yearly fair at their
chapel of St. Edmund in the town of Abingdon,
for the octave of the translation of that saint, had
been heretofore allowed by the king ; but Richard
de Shupene, Thomas le Spicer, and nineteen
others named, together with a multitude of
malefactors, drove away men who were coming
to the fair from the place of the chapel where it
was appointed to be held. They also assaulted the
three bailiffs appointed by the abbot as keepers
of the fair, who were bearing wands according
to custom, broke their wands, prevented the
fair being held according to the king's grant,
and caused it to be held in the hundred of Sutton,
outside the town and the abbot's liberty. 32

In 1318 the abbey found itself in financial
difficulties, and the king, at the request of the
abbot and convent, took it into his protection.
William de Monte Acuto was appointed keeper
during pleasure on 14 August. This appoint-
ment also included protection for the town of
Abingdon. 33 Two years later, in August, 1320,
dissensions arose with respect to a composition
entered into by the abbey and convent for the
division of the goods of their house and the satis-
fying of their debts. Thereupon the king again
took the administration of the temporalities into
his hands, and appointed Master Robert de Aile-
ston, king's clerk, to be keeper ; and the bishop
of Salisbury and Hugh le Despenser the elder
were ordered to inquire into the state of the
abbey. 34 In November of the same year the
crown appointed the abbot of Reading and
another to make a thorough investigation of
the abbey's affairs, and to order what amount
was to be set aside for the maintenance of the
convent, for the relief of the poor, and the dis-
charge of its debts. The composition made by
the abbey without the king's authority or consent
was set aside as illegal. 35

John de Sutton, the thirty-sixth abbot, was
elected in 1315. In the sixth year of his rule
the convent protested against his administration,
and carried their remonstrances to Rome. After
the matter had been successively examined by
Nicholas cardinal of St. Eusebius, and Peter
cardinal of St. Stephen's on the Coelian, Pope

" Close, 2 Edw. Ill, m. 10 d.\ 3 Edw. Ill, m. 27 d.

32 Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 24^.

33 Ibid. 12 Edw. II, pt. i, mm. 27, 35.

34 Ibid. 14 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 21. w Ibid. m. 7.

John XXII, in February, 1322, on the strength
of their report (which was based on the deposi-
tions of witnesses) suspended Abbot John de
Sutton, on the charge made against him by the
prior and convent of alienating property to the
amount of ^1,000, and abstracting the docu-
ments relative thereto. The abbey of Westmin-
ster was ordered to administer the monastery of
Abingdon during the suspension ; whilst the
abbots of Eynsham and Oseney, and Master
Henry de Goldingham, canon of Ossory, were
to publish the sentence of suspension, and to cite
Sutton to appear before the pope within three
months. 36 Sutton, however, died whilst under
suspension, and his successor, John de Cannynges,
was elected in June, I322. 37

In May, 1327, a commission of oyer and ter-
miner was issued to Thomas le Blount and four
others, on complaint that a large number of
malefactors of the counties of Oxford and Berks,
had lately, in confederation, attacked the town
and abbey of Abingdon, entered and burnt
houses, assaulted and beat the monks and abbey
servants, killing some and detaining others in
prison until they had paid fines for their release,
and had also carried away chalices, vestments,
and ornaments of the church with other goods. 38
In the following month protection was granted
for one year to the monastery, the house having
been so wasted by incursions of malefactors that
the monks had for the most part withdrawn, and
dared not for fear approach the place. The sheriff
was ordered to cause proclamation to be made
that the abbey was under his official protection. 39
Moreover, Gilbert de Ellesfeld and Thomas de
Coudry were appointed by the crown, in August,
1327, to the custody of the abbey, which is de-
scribed as having been devastated by the rioters,
and consequently abandoned by the monks. The
custodians had power assigned them to arrest
malefactors who injured the abbey and hand
them over to the sheriff. 40 In November the
abbot was licensed to receive divers goods, such
as chalices, books, vestments, ornaments, jewels,
charters and muniments, of which the abbey had
lately been despoiled, from certain of those who
took them, and from others into whose hands
they had come. 41 A further commission was
issued in the same year empowering Fulk Fitz
Waryn and others to do justice to those arrested
and imprisoned for their share in the Abingdon
disorders. 42 It is stated in the Close Rolls that
the value of the spoiled goods of the abbey
amounted to ^io,OOO. 43

36 Cal. Papal Let. ii, 218.

37 Sar. Epis. Reg. Mortival, i, 183.

38 Pat. i Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 2 1 d. ; Close, i Edw.
Ill, pt. ii, m. 23 d, ^^d.

39 Ibid. m. 12.

40 Ibid. pt. iii, m. 26.

41 Ibid. m. 9. " Ibid. m. 1 1 d.
43 Close, i Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. \\d.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

The commission issued in January, 1328, on
complaint of the abbot, gives many more par-
ticulars of the affray and those concerned in it.
About eighty names are set forth, in addition to
many unrecognized. Among these various trades-
men of Oxford are named, such as bakers,
butchers, chandlers, fishmongers, skinners, and
taverners, in addition to Thomas de Legh, the
town clerk, and Master Matthew de Alverchurch,
notary public. The rioters also included various
tradesmen and others of Abingdon. It is stated
that the mob besieged the abbey in a warlike
manner, burnt the gates and certain of the
houses within the abbey precincts, destroyed
other houses of the abbot at Barton and North-
cote, broke the walls of the abbey and the stalls
(seldas) of a house of the abbot in Abingdon
called Newhouse, dragged the timber of the
stalls to the ground, and entering the abbey
carried off plate, vestments, and other church
goods, together with divers charters, writings,
and other muniments. Further, they carried off
Robert de Halton, the prior, who was then sick
within the abbey, to Bagley Wood in Radley,
and there threatened him with the loss of his
head unless he did their will ; afterwards they
carried him back to the abbey, broke open the
coffer containing the common seal, and compelled
him under fear of death to seal three writings
obligatory, by one of which the convent became
bound to them in ^1,000, by another they were
released and quitclaimed from all trespasses,
whilst a third granted the men of Abingdon
power annually to elect a provost and bailiffs for
the custody of the town, together with power to
make a profit of the wastes opposite their houses
towards the king's highway through the town.

A separate complaint of the abbot, which
brought about the issuing of another separate
commission at the same date, referred to forcible
interference with his Monday market, with his
seven days' fair at the feast of the Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin, and with a court called 'porte-
mot,' held fortnightly by his bailiffs. 44 These
commissions were renewed in the following
March.

The disturbances brought about the death of
the abbot, and on 18 January, 1324, the tem-
poralities were restored to Robert de Garford,
one of the monks, whose election as abbot had
been confirmed. 45

The trial of some of the rioters does not

44 Close, I Edw. Ill, pt. ii, mm. 5 d. 4 d.

45 Pat. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, mm. 10, 3. These scan-
dalous riots were a sequel to the attempts of the
Wallingford folk to suppress the Abingdon market in
the previous century. On this occasion the tradesmen
of Oxford were the chief aggressors, being stirred up
by their jealousy of the trade done at the markets and
fair of Abingdon. They gained over to their side
certain of the disaffected townsmen of Abingdon.
Twelve of the offenders were hanged, and sixty others
imprisoned.

appear to have been finished even as late as
May, 1330. In that month a writ of aid was
issued for Robert Marye and Richard Peper, in
conveying to Windsor Castle John le Spicer and
five others, all of Abingdon, indicted for divers
felonies and trespasses at Abingdon Abbey, and
for whom Robert and Richard had given bail. 46

In 1343 Pope Clement VI granted a faculty
to the abbey of Abingdon to appropriate the
church of Lewknor, Oxon.; in his instruction
to the bishop of Lincoln the pope stated that the
abbey had suffered losses amounting to J ^6,ooo. 47

As a sequel to this attack the monks decided
to strengthen their house as a matter of pre-
caution, and royal licence to crenellate the whole
of their site, including the hospital of St. John
and the church of St. Nicholas within the precinct,
was obtained in July, I330. 48

Edward III granted to the abbey in July,
1332, to have full administration of its tem-
poralities during a vacancy, saving only the
knights' fees and advowsons of churches, upon
their rendering during such voidance at the rate
of 100 marks per month. 4 *

When the archbishop of Canterbury visited
the abbey in 1390, he granted faculty to the
abbot and his successors to reconcile, if neces-
sity arose, the conventual church, the chapel of
St. Helen, and the chapel of St. Nicholas, and
their cemeteries, the water having been blessed
by some Catholic bishop. 60

In February, 1391, Boniface IX issued his
mandate to license a cemetery for the parishioners
of St. Helen's, Abingdon, in response to the
petition of the vicar, Henry Bryt, and the
parishioners. The petition set forth that they
had no graveyard of their own, and that the
funerals took place within the monastery pre-
cincts; that the abbot and convent were annoyed
with the tumult made by those who followed
the funerals, which interrupted their worship ;
that the monks did not allow the office for the
dead to be said in the monastery ; that lately,
when the vicar celebrated the office of the dead
in the parish, the monks closed the monastery
gates and refused the body burial for three days
and nights ; that the gates being often carelessly
kept, pigs had got into the cemetery and dug up
corpses ; and that the monks, without consent of
friends or executors, removed, sold, and appropri-
ated to their own use the costly tombstones. The
proposed cemetery adjoined the parish church,
and was inclosed by a stone wall. 51 The papal
mandate for licence was addressed to the prior of
Llanthony, near Gloucester. Meanwhile the
abbot and convent of Abingdon complained to-
Rome on the prior granting the licence, that they

43 Ibid. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 20.
" Cal. Papal Let. m, 14.

48 Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 6.

49 Ibid. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 15.

60 Cal. Papal Let. v, 354. " Ibid, iv, 371.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

had not been cited by the prior, and that they
had obtained the committal of the cause to
Master Brander, papal chaplain and auditor, who
had proceeded to a number of acts short of a
conclusion. Therefore, Boniface, in February,
1392, called in the case to himself. 62

A mandate was issued by Pope Boniface IX
in 1396 for the restoration of certain burial
rights pertaining to the abbey. The petition of
the abbot and convent stated that of ancient
custom they had on the death of parishioners of
the parish church (called a chapel) of St. Helen,
and on their burial in the cemetery of the
monastic church, the right of taking : (i) legacies
and bequests made to them on account of burial
there, (ii) for each body a candle and a farthing,
and (iii) all oblations and other emoluments arising
out of obits and anniversaries. When Henry
Bryt, the perpetual vicar, and the parishioners
tried to get a place adjoining the parish church
for burials, and to take the said legacies and
emoluments, they appealed to the apostolic see.
Afterwards, when the vicar and parishioners,
under protest that special licence had been granted
by the said see, got the place dedicated, the abbot
again appealed. The cause was committed by
Boniface to Master Branda de Castilione, papal
chaplain, before whom Master John Lane, the
abbey's proctor, appeared, stating that since the
new cemetery had been dedicated the bodies of
sixty-seven persons had been buried therein. 63
For these persons there buried the vicar had cele-
brated mass and other divine offices, despoiling
the abbey of its rights.

Proctor Lane produced public instruments and
other muniments, and prayed for the revocation
of such proceedings. Thereupon Proctor Scrivani,
on behalf of the vicar and parishioners, took cer-
tain exceptions to the proofs of the other side.
The commissioner cited Scrivani to hear sentence
on a certain day, and on his not appearing, pro-
nounced unlawful and annulled the said licence,
dedication, consecration, burials and burial dues,
and went so far as to order the exhumation of
all the bodies and their reburial in the conventual
cemetery. The burial rights of the abbey were
fully restored, the vicar was ordered to make
restitution, and the vicar and parishioners were to
pay the costs of the suit.

The vicar and parishioners' appeal against this
decision was committed to Andrew, late bishop
of Llandaff, who was a papal chaplain ; he con-
firmed Master Branda's decision as good, save in
the matter of the exhumation of two of the
bodies, namely, those of Edith the wife of Patrick

53 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 439.

63 The list of the names is complete, beginning with
William atte Grene, priest ; in almost each instance
the name of the father is given ; this list is confirma-
tory of the view often taken that careful registers were
kept by the monks long before the days (1538) when
parish registers became obligatory.

2 57

Workman, and of John son of Richard Proute,
who had been buried after the appeals. A further
appeal of the vicar and parishioners was per-
mitted, which was committed to Master Nicholas
de Bovrellis, who was also a papal chaplain.
The appeal failed, and Masters Branda and
Nicholas condemned the vicar and parishioners in.
costs to the respective amounts of sixty and forty
gold florins in regard to the causes heard by
them. Thereupon the pope ordered the three
chaplains to publish the sentences, restoring all
rights to the abbey, making satisfaction to the
abbot and convent in respect of candles, legacies,,
costs, &c., and ordering the exhumation of the
bodies save of the two named in the bishop of
LlandafF's judgement. 54

Innocent VII, in 1406, received a petition
from Abbot Richard, to the effect that the then
bishop of Salisbury, with the consent of Hugh,
the late abbot, and the convent, made a statute,
on the assertion that contentions and scandals
arose as to the removal of claustral priors, that as
in the election of priors the common consent of
all was required, so in their removal for just
cause the vote of all should be required ; and
that afterwards Alexander IV confirmed this
statute, together with an ordinance as to the
prior's groom, horse, stable, and a room to receive
monks and visitors ; but that the result of this
statute had caused the priors to repute themselves
perpetual and irrevocable, and brought about dis-
turbance and disobedience to the abbot, and that
therefore he pleaded for the recall of the statute
and its confirmation. Thereupon the pope, con-
sidering the statute to be contrary to the canons
and institutes of the order, annulled it, and
decreed that the present prior and his successors
were removable at the sole pleasure of the
abbot. 66

An important privilege was granted to this
abbey by Alexander V in 1409. The pope
authorized the abbot and his successors for twenty
years to choose six priests, secular or religious,
who might, on the feasts of Christmas and the
Annunciation, from first to second vespers, and
also during the whole octaves of both feasts, hear
confessions, and absolve all who visited the
monastery church, save in cases reserved to the
Apostolic see. 66

Richard de Boxore, who was abbot from 1422
to 1427, was licensed by the bishop on 30 Sep-
tember, 1423, to be absent at the schools of art
English university for three years to gain further
knowledge for the defence of the Catholic faith. 67

On the resignation of Abbot Ralph Hamme,
an election was held to appoint his successor on-
12 January, 1435-6. The account of the pro-
ceedings in the episcopal register is exceptionally
fullj William Ashendonand thirty-one monks were

" Ibid, vi, 8.

51 Cal. Papal Let. v, 5, 6.

66 Ibid, vi, 158.

57 Sar. Epis. Reg. Chandler (and nos.), fol. 53.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

present in the chapter-house, and the election
was by way of inspiration (una voce et uno spiritu),
or general acclaiming, the choice falling on
Ashendon. 68

On 2 January, 1442-3, Bishop Aiscough
issued his mandate to the abbot as to an ap-
proaching visitation, but no record is extant of
the actual visit. 68

Pardon was granted by the crown in June,
1481, to John Sante, abbot of Abingdon, John
Dunster, prior of Bath, and others, for the
acceptance and publication of certain apostolic
bulls, with licence to accept and publish the
same. 60 In October of the same year a general
pardon to the abbot and convent was granted
under the privy seal. 61

Abbot Thomas (?) and the convent obtained
licence in November, 1482, to acquire in mort-
main lands, rents, and other possessions, to the
annual value of 40, for the support of four
scholars of the monastery to pray for the good
estate of King Edward and Elizabeth his queen,
and for their souls after death. 62

At the election of an abbot on 12 April, 1496,
when John Kennington, the prior, presided over
a chapter of twenty-eight monks, the proceedings
were conducted by way of scrutiny, when ten
voted for Kennington, and the rest for Thomas
Rowland, S.T.B., who was then prior of
Luffield. 63 The number of inmates was evi-
dently on the decrease, as the chamberlain's roll
for 1418 shows that there were then thirty-five
monks. 64

Thomas Pentecost alias Rowland supplicated
for his B.D. degree at Oxford on 17 May, 1514 ;

68 Sar. Epis. Reg. Neville (2nd nos.), fol. 23-5.

59 Ibid. Aiscough (2nd nos.), fol. 79.

60 Pat. 21 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 10.

61 Ibid. m. 7.

e> Ibid. 22 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 31. At this date
John Sante was abbot ; he was, however, often absent
at Rome as ambassador both for Edward IV and
Henry VII. Thomas was probably prior or vice-
abbot of Abingdon.

63 Sar. Epis. Reg. Blyth, fol. 86.

64 The Camden Society, in 1892, printed a most
valuable series of monastic accounts of the officials of
this abbey, extending from 132210 1479. These
account rolls pertained to the offices of pittancer,
infirmarer, lignar (wood steward), gardener, treasurer,
kitchener, sacristan, refectorer, and chamberlain, as
well as to the common chest account, the Trinity
warden's account, and the chapel warden's account.
They throw much though not full light on the inner
economy and administration of a large Benedictine
house, and are prefaced by a valuable introduction by
the editor (Accounts of the Qbedientiars of Abingdon
Abbey, edited by R. E. G. Kirk). The originals are
preserved in the collection of Sir Edmund H. Verney,
bart., of Claydon House, Bucks. The duties and
emoluments of the various obedientiaries, or officials
drawn from the monastic ranks, of Abingdon Abbey,
are set forth in detail from the Cott. MS. Claud. B. vi,
Jn vol. ii of the Chronlcon, 335-417.

he had been elected abbot of Abingdon in 1511-
12, being the fifty-third and last who attained to
that dignity. 66

The new year's gifts of Henry VIII in 1532
included ^20, in a white leather purse with gold
buttons, to the abbot of Abingdon. 66

A noteworthy letter was written by Abbot
Thomas to Cromwell in May, 1533. Cromwell
had requested him to present one Mr. Keytt to
the church of Sunningwell. The abbot replied
that he did not think he could get it out of his
convent without much trouble. The convent
had complained of his giving away other pre-
sentations without consulting them, and of the
ingratitude of the parsons presented,' several of
whom had put the house to trouble by refusing
to pay the due pension. He had refused this
same benefice to my lady of Norfolk, promising ,
her the next that should fall. He begged
Cromwell to have patience with him. 67

Cromwell's next move was to endeavour to
interfere with the internal administration of the
house. He wrote to the abbot in June, 1534,
asking that Richard Berall, one of the monks,
might have the office of chamberlain for life.
The abbot replied with some dignity that
Cromwell was mistaken in thinking that ' the
chamberer's office and the collector's of this
house ' was void ; and it would be inconsistent
with the rules to give any office to one of the
monks for life under the convent seal. If any
monk had such a grant it would be the abbot's
duty to take it from him, and he therefore
desired Cromwell to excuse him. 68

During Lent, 1535, Cromwell wrote to Abbot
Thomas desiring him to appoint a day before
Easter for the auditors to examine the matter of
accounts between him and John Audelett, the
steward of the abbey lands. The abbot replied,
on 1 7 March, stating that in the following week
he was bound by his religion to attend daily to
the service of God, and asking that the question
might be defered until after Easter. On 4 June
the abbot wrote to Cromwell saying that he was
in readiness for the commissioners who were to
sit between him and John Audelett, suggesting
14 June as the date, and hoping that the matter
might be finally settled before the king and
Cromwell left Abingdon. The dispute, however,
between the abbot and the steward (who had
been appointed for life by the crown) dragged
on for a long time, the latter apparently putting
every impediment in the way of a settlement.
At last it was terminated by the death of John
Audelett in November, 1536. His wife,
Katherine, who from time to time sent 'poor
tokens ' to Cromwell whilst the matter was

61 Foster, Alumni Oxon. iii, 1205; Woods, Fasti,
i, 41.

<* L. and P. Hen. Vlll, v, 686.
67 Ibid, vi, 545.
69 Ibid, vii, 850.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

sub judice, wrote one of these flattering letters
with a token on 8 November, stating that
her husband was sickly ; it is endorsed, in
Cromwell's hand, ' Katherine Audlett, widow,
Nov. xxiii.' 69

Meanwhile, Dr. Leyton visited Abingdon as
commissary of Cromwell, and issued the injunc-
tion, then generally set forth, of strictly confining
the monks all the year to their precincts. On
27 September, 1535, the abbot wrote to
Cromwell, naming this, and adding : ' So I and
my brethren continue within, although we have
been accustomed at Michaelmas to look over our
farms, see what wastes have been done, and keep
courts in the manors.' He desired liberty to do
this at times. 70

In October of the same year the abbot wrote
again to Cromwell, but on a very different
matter. His officers had arrested at Abingdon a
priest, a suspect person with a book of conjurations
for finding hidden treasures, for consecrating
rings with stones in them, and for consecrating
a crystal in which a child may see many things.
There were also many figures in it, one of a
sword crossed over a sceptre. The book he sent
to Cromwell, and desired his instructions whether
he should send the priest to Oxford Castle, to
Wallingford Castle, or elsewhere. 71

The abbot and convent had been much
embarrassed by the long-sustained lawsuit with
their steward, and by the ever-growing exactions
of Cromwell. 72 The ' surrender ' that was at
last wrung from them was probably as genuine a
one as any of the whole series, though the way
for it was smoothed by a lavish expenditure of
money, most of which would probably fall to
the abbot's share.

On 7 February, 1538, the round sum of
600 equal to at least ^6,000 of our money
was paid by royal warrant to Doctors Tregon-
well and Petre 'to be spent by them to
bring about the dissolution of the monastery of
Abingdon.' n

Two days later the surrender was signed by
Thomas Rowland, abbot, Richard Eynsham,
prior, and twenty-four other monks. 74 The abbot
was rewarded for his complacency after a most
unusually lavish scale. By letters patent of
23 February he had the great pension of 200
assigned him, and in addition to this was allowed
to hold the manor-house of Cumnor as his
residence for life. The prior obtained a pension

63 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, viii, 401, 824, 971 ; ix,
45, in, 156, 264, 663; x, 610, 996; xi, 143,
364, 397, 1020.

'"Ibid, ix, 45 5.

71 Ibid. 551.

;> Cromwell was in receipt of a yearly fee of 20
from the abbey, according to his accounts for 15378.
Ibid, xiv, pt. ii, 319-20.

73 Mins. Accts. cited in Gasquet's Eng. Man. ii,
299.

71 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii, pt. i, 242.

of ,22, and the sub-prior 20 ; four of the
monks 8 ; seven 7 ; two 6 ly. 4^.; two
6; and five 5 6s. 8d. H

The Comperta of visitors Legh and Layton
made the most terrible accusations against Abbot
Pentecost, and his memory has been specially
defiled, as the charges were printed both by Bale
and Speed. It is almost impossible to believe in
their truth, and if true the assigning of this
great pension to the criminal by those who well
knew the charges is the greater sin. Bale, how-
ever, himself lays down the principle that ' where
the religious had pensions, it was a proof of
their innocence,' for the king and his visitors
were only too willing on any pretext to discard
them. 76

Henry VIII had some thoughts of turning
this abbey into a royal residence. Sir Richard
Rich forwarded his report on 22 February to
Cromwell as to the condition of the deserted
monastery. He stated that the buildings were
in great decay ; the abbot's lodgings were unfit
for habitation, and would require a large ex-
penditure to make them fit for the king, and
there was no ground suitable for a park. He
asked what part of the church, cloister, dorter,
chapter-house, and frater should be defaced.
'I think,' he adds, 'a great part thereof may
be defaced and sufficient left to the king's con-
tentation." 77

In 1548 the lead on the buildings at Abing-
don pertaining to the late monastery was
estimated to weigh 47 fodders, at 15 ft.
square to the fodder ; the lead had long before
that date been stripped from the church and
cloister.' 8

The wealth and extensive influence of the
abbey of Abingdon, together with the sway that
it formerly exercised as a great mission centre,,
are plainly shown in the Pope Nicholas Taxation
returns of 1291.

The Berkshire churches that were appropriated
to the monastery have been already set forth in
the Ecclesiastical History, and allusion has been
made to the remarkable extent of the pensions
or portions paid to it by other churches. So far
as Berkshire is concerned these pensions are
chiefly from the adjacent deaneries of Abingdon
and Newbury, and there can be no doubt that
they were survivals of the time when Abingdon
was the mother church or minster of a great
number of Christian settlements or chapelries,
which gradually became parishes. The follow-
ing is the list of the twenty-one Berkshire

76 Aug. Off. Bks. ccxxxii, fol. 7-11.

76 Bale, Summarium, iii, 170; Speed, Hist. cfGf.
Britaine, 1027. See also Willis, Mitred Abbeys, and
Dugdale, Mm. The charge was that the abbot
' kept three whores, and had two children by his
owne sister.'

77 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii, pt. i, 332.

78 K.R. Ch. Goods, / F .

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

churches that paid tribute to Abingdon in
1291 :

Lockinge ......

Boxford ......

Wantage (vicarage) ..
Chieveley .....

Hanney ......

Uffington .....

Longworth .....

Milton ......

Winterbourne (chapel) .
V/elford ......

Cumnor (vicarage) . . .
Stanford ......

Sutton ......

Wittenham Abbots . .
Winkfield .....

Wytham ......

Beedon (chapel) ...
East Ilsley (to sacrist) ..
Appleton .....

Sewekesworth [Seacourt] .
Tubney ......

' d -

668
600
36
368
3^8
200
200
i 6 8
168
o 16 4
015 O
O 13 4
o 13 4
013 4
o 13 4
O 13 4
068
060

3 9
030
o I o

< d -

Brought forward 272 8 4
Bourton 75 o o

18 5

There were also pensions from five Oxford-
shire churches amounting to 9, and another 9
from the single church of Dumbleton, Glouces-
tershire. The temporalities from the Oxford-
shire manors of Lewknor and Tadmarton, and
from various other places in that county, were
considerable, and produced an annual revenue of
89 2s. g^d. The temporalities of Dumbleton,
Gloucestershire, brought in the round annual
sum of 20, whilst from Kensington, in London
diocese, came a further revenue of ^5 8s. 4-d.

The temporalities in Berkshire are of particu-
lar interest, as they set forth the way in which
at that date certain rentals and issues were
assigned to particular administrators or officials
of the great monastery, although by far the
larger part is entered under 'abbas.' The
abbot drew the following annual sums for his
own or the common use :

> d -

Uffington 24 i 8

Withanesfield . . . . 10 10 O

Goosey 900

Wittenham Abbots . . 1268

Appleford 13 o o

Marcham and Garford . 50 10 O

Longworth and Charney . 30 o

Sonning 500

Cumnor and Wootton . 70 o O

Lockinge 1600

Middleton 32 o O

Shellingford
Lambourn ....
Welford and Chieveley
Farnborough .

Bray

Winkfield .

1300

1 16 8
54 15 o
13 10 o

o 13 4

2 l6 O

433 '9 4

Carried forward 272 8 4

From various lands and tenements in the
county, which were chiefly within Abing-
don itself, the following annual sums were
allotted to particular obedientiaries : The cook,
66 19*. $d. ; the chamberlain, 9 2s.; the
cellarer, 2 6s. lod. ; the refectorian, 1 2s. ;
the infirmarian, 15*.; the sacrist, 2 145. 8<;
the precentor, 8s. ; the master of the works,
15 6s. 8d. ; the gardener, 2Os. ; and the lignar,
10 13*. 8d. It follows then that the gross
annual receipts of the abbey in 1291 amounted
to 711 14*. ii^' exclusive of the few appro-
priated churches.

A papal confirmation made in 1401 of a
grant of the archbishop of Canterbury when
visiting Abingdon in 1390, upon proof before
him of the abbey's right to the following
appropriated churches within the archdeaconry
of Berkshire, is of interest as showing with
exactness the churches and chapels of the county
then within the control of that ancient founda-
tion. They were : Cumnor, with the chapels
of North Hinksey, South Hinksey, and Wootton ;
St. Helen's, Abingdon, with the chapels of
Drayton, Radley, Sandford, and Shippon ; Mar-
cham, with the chapel of Garford ; Chieveley,
with the chapels of Beedon, Leckhampstead,
Winterbourne, and Oare ; Uffington, with the
chapels of Woolstone and Balking ; and St.
Nicholas, Abingdon. The advowson or pre-
sentation to eleven other rectories in the county
were also in the abbey's gift. The abbot and
convent at the same time made good their claim
to a number of pensions or portions. 79

Pope Gregory IX, in 1231, permitted the
appropriation to the abbey of the church of
Cuddesdon, for the uses of hospitality, a vicar's
portion being reserved, and a yearly pension to
the rector. A somewhat later repetition of this
papal licence states that the appropriation
was to be devoted to the uses of the monks'
infirmary. 80

In 1308 the abbey obtained the royal licence
for the appropriation of the church of Chieveley,
with the chapels of Beedon, Leckhampstead,
Winterbourne, and Oare pertaining to that
church. 81

79 Cal. Papal Let. v, 351-4.

80 Ibid, i, 126, 129, 132.

81 Pat. i Edw. II, pt. ii, m. II.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

The abbot obtained licence in 1380 to alienate
a messuage and 31. rent in Oxford to the warden
and scholars of Canterbury Hall. At the same
time licence was granted to John de Reynham and
Thomas de Bolton to assign two Oxford messuages
to the abbot and convent of Abingdon in aid of
the fabric of their church. 83 In December of the
same year Abbot Peter, by payment of 301., ob-
tained an interesting licence from the crown,
whereby he was permitted to acquire a toft or
garden in Stokwellestreet, Oxford, adjoining
houses of the abbot used for the lodging of his
monks when studying in the university; the land
to be used for the enlargement of their houses,
and those of certain other black monks studying
at the university. 83

Thomas de Hanney, rector of Longworth,
brother of Abbot Peter de Hanney, obtained
licence in 1381 to bestow on the abbey three
messuages and other property in Abingdon and
Marcham, for finding two wax candles to burn
daily at mass in the Lady Chapel of their con-
ventual church. 84

The abbot of Abingdon from early days had the
right of appointment of the woodwards of both
Cumnor Wood and Bagley Wood, as well as of
the keeper of Radley Park by Abingdon. In
1387 the crown filled up these offices, but in the
following year the letters patent of appointment
were revoked on the petition of the abbot, as it
was shown that the grants were based upon faulty
inquisitions of surveyors of the county of Oxford,
whereas the woods and park were all in the
county of Berks. 85

In May, 1389, there was a large increase in
the endowment of the abbey, the gift of Thomas
de Hanney, rector of Longworth, in aid of the
maintenance of the fabric of the conventual
church. 86 The rector of Longworth was brother
of Abbot Peter.

The original Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII
for Berkshire is lost. The summary merely
states that the clear or net annual value of the
whole of the spiritualities and temporalities of
this monastery was ,1,876 10s. gd. Speed
gives the gross total as 2,04.2 2s. 8f</.

ABBOTS OF ABINGDON

Hean, 87 675

Cumma

Hrethun

Aland

Cynath

Ibid. m. 5.

6! Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 17.

84 Ibid. 4 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 13.

65 Ibid, ii Ric. II, pt. ii, mm. 35, 6.

86 Ibid. 12 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 8.

67 The best record of the early abbots of Abingdon,
from Hean to Hugh, is that which can be culled from
De Abbatlbus Abbendoniae (Vit. A. xiii), which is
printed in the second appendix to vol. ii of Steven-
son's Cbron. This list and the dates are taken from

Godeseale, 830

Ethelwold, 954

Osgar, 963

Edwin, 985

Wulfgar, 989

Ethelwyne, 1017

Siward, 1030

Ethelstan, 1044

Sparhavoc, 1048

Ralph, 1050

Ordric, 1052

Ealdred, 1065

Ethelhelm, 1071

Rainald, 1084

Faricius, noo

Vincent, 1117

Ingulf, 1130

Walkelin, 1158

Godfrey, 1164

Roger, 1176

Alfred, 1184

Hugh, 1189

Robert de Henreth, 88 1221

Luke, 1234

John de Blosmevil, 1241

William de New bury, 1256

Henry de Fryleford, 1260

Richard de Henred, 1262

Nicholas de Coleham, 89 1289

Richard de Clive, 60 1306

John de Sutton, 91 1315

John de Cannynges, 92 1322

Robert de Garford, 93 1329

William de Cumnor, 94 1332

Roger de Thame, 95 1334

Peter de Hanney, 96 1361

Richard de Salford, 97 1401

John Dorset, 1415

Richard Boxore, 1421

Thomas Salford, 93 1427

Ralph Hamme," 1428

William Ashendon, 100 1435

it, after collation with other original chronicles given
in Mr. Stevenson's two volumes, and with the list up
to 1266 given in Harl. MS. 209, fol. ib. The suc-
cession of the first four abbots of Abingdon is un-
doubted, but the actual dates are matter of conjecture.
68 Pat. 5 Hen. Ill, m. 3.

89 Ibid. 17 Edw. I, mm. 9, 8, 6.

90 Ibid. 34 Edw. I, m. 36 ; Sar. Epis. Reg. Gan-
davo, fol. 49-5 1 .

91 Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 22 ; Sar. Epis. Reg.
Mortival, fol. 181.

82 Sar. Epis. Reg. Mortival, i, fol. 183.

93 Pat. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 3.

94 Ibid. m. 13 ; Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii, fol. 17.

95 Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, mm. 7, 5 ; Sar. Epis.
Reg. Wyville, ii, fol. 35.

96 Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii, pt. 2, fol. 1 1.

97 Ibid. Mitford.

98 Pat. 5 Hen. VI, pt. i. m. I 5.

99 Ibid. 6 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 7.

100 Sar. Epis. Reg. Neville, pt. 2, fol. 23-25.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

John Sante, S.T.P., 101 1468

Thomas Rowland, S.T.B., 102 1496

Alexander Shottisbrook, 103 1504

John Coventry, 104 1508

Thomas Pentecost alias Rowland, 105 1511-12

The pointed oval seal of the eleventh century
bears the seated crowned Virgin, with sceptre in
right hand and ring in the left, with the Holy
Child on her knees. Legend :

-f-SIGILL . . . SANC . . . DONLS:.

There are casts of seals of Abbot Robert,
1231, and Abbot William, 1371, in the British
Museum.

The pointed oval seal of John Sante, abbot
and papal commissary, 1469-95, bears the
Virgin and Child in a canopied niche between
St. Peter and St. Paul in smaller niches. In the
base are three shields of arms : (i) a fruit tree,
eradicated ; (2) a lion rampant ; and (3) a cross
pattee between four martlets (Abingdon Abbey).
The legend is :

SIGILLV : DNI : JOHIS : ABBATIS : ABENDONIE :

s : D : N : PAPE : COMMISSARII.

2. THE ABBEY OF READING

It is clear from the opening words of the
foundation charter of Henry I, which states that
the three old abbeys of Reading, Cholsey, and
Leominster had been supposed to be destroyed
for their sins and their lands alienated and pos-
sessed by laymen, that there was an earlier
religious house at Reading known as an abbey.
It is probable that the abbeys of Reading and
Cholsey were destroyed in 1006, which was the
year when the Danes overran this district and
burnt Wallingford. Cholsey Abbey was founded
about 986, by Ethelred, as an act of expiation
for the death of his brother Edward the Martyr,
and it has been conjectured that the first religious
house at Reading was established at the same
time by Elfrida in atonement for the like crime.

Henry I laid the foundation of the new abbey
at Reading on 23 June, H2I. 106 By charter of
the year 1125 he bestowed on this house lands
at Reading, Cholsey, and Leominster (Hereford),
with their churches, woods, mills, fisheries, &c.,
and with a mint and one moneyer at Reading.
He also granted immunity to the monks and
their tenants from all customs, tolls, and port-
dues throughout the kingdom. Moreover he
bestowed full privileges of the hundred court,
and all manner of pleas, and every kind of

101 Pat. 8 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 16 ; Sar. Epis.
Reg. Beauchamp, i, fol. 1 50.

108 Sar. Epis. Reg. Blyth, fol. 86.

113 Ibid. Audley, fol. 7.

104 Ibid. fol. 41.

104 Pat. 3 Hen. VIII, pt. ii, m. 1 8.

106 Ann. de Wav. (Rolls Ser.), 218.

jurisdiction over the town of Reading and its
precincts. On an abbot's death, the possessions
of the monastery were to remain in the hands
of the prior and convent, with full power to
elect his successor. The abbot was not to pos-
sess any revenues of his own, but to hold in
common with his brethren ; he was not to use
the alms of the house for his own relations, but
solely for the relief of the poor and in the enter-
tainment of strangers. No office was to be
made hereditary, but to be filled at the discre-
tion of the abbot and monks. 107

At the same time, or shortly afterwards,
Henry gave the monks a second charter, which
is solely concerned with their exemptions from
all lay and ecclesiastical charges of every kind,
and with their special privileges. An important
addition is therein made 'to the statements of the
foundation charter, namely, that no royal forest
officials were to interfere in any way with the
monastic woods ; for the abbot and his tenants
were to have the same power and liberty in
their woods as the king had in his own. 108

By a third charter Henry granted to the
abbey a fair on the festival of St. Laurence and
the three following days. 109

The founder by other charters conferred on
the monks the churches of Thatcham and War-
grave (Berkshire), and Handborough (Oxford-
shire) ; and confirmed several donations of other
benefactors, which included the church of'Wych-
bury ' (Wiltshire), the gift of the earl of Leicester.

Although the monks first introduced into this
abbey were Cluniacs, and the first two abbots
were members of the great Cluniac priory of
Lewes, while Abbot Hugh II in 1199 became
abbot of Cluny, the connexion between Reading
and Cluny appears to have been slight and not
to have lasted beyond the thirteenth century.
In 1207 the abbey of Reading was still con-
sidered to be a Cluniac house, 110 but soon after
this date it seems to have become attached to
the general Benedictine order.

The buildings of the abbey, with the excep-
tion of the church, were completed in five years.

The death of the royal founder occurred in
Normandy in December, 1135, and his body
having been embalmed was, agreeably to his own
request, brought over to England, and interred

107 Chart, of Reading Abbey, Cott. MSS. Vesp. E. v,
fol. 17. This is a manuscript of the fourteenth
century of 41 folios, but with later additions. There
is a fuller chartulary, beautifully written in an early
fifteenth-century hand, among the Harl. MSS.
(No. 1708) ; it contains 123 folios. The founda-
tion charter is on folio 14. A third chartulary
(Vesp. E. xxv) is almost identical with the better
written one of the Harley Collection.

109 This charter is cited in the appendix to Coates's
able Hist, of Reading (pp. 464-5), from the Wollascot
MSS.

Iffi) Harl. MSS. 1708, fol. 15^.

110 Cal. Papal Let. i, 28.

READING ABBEY (Obverse]

READING ABBEY (Reverse)

HUGH, ABBOT OF READING,
1180-99

ABINGDON ABBEY

JOHN SANTE, ABBOT OF ABINGDON, 1468-96

BERKSHIRE MONASTIC SEALS : PLATE I

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

before the high altar of Reading Abbey. Over
the vault a splendid monument was subsequently
erected to Henry I, and in 1398 Richard II con-
sented to confirm the abbey in all its rights
and privileges, only on condition that the abbot
would, within a year, honourably repair the tomb
and effigy of King Henry their founder over his
place of burial. 111

Henry's queen Adeliza, who survived him and
married William de Albini, earl of Arundel,
gave to the abbey, on the first anniversary of the
king's death, the manor of Aston, Berkshire,
which had been settled on her as part of her
royal dower, offering a pall upon the high altar
as a testimony of confirmation. The queen
dowager subsequently gave them the church
land at Stanton Harcourt, to the intent that a
lamp should be kept perpetually burning before
the pyx and the tomb of the founder. 112 After
the death of her second husband, Adeliza be-
stowed on the abbey the churches of Berkeley
Harness (Gloucestershire), Cam, Arlingham,
Wotton, Beverstone, and Almondsbury ; and
also looi. to be paid every Christmas out of
a wharf in London, for the expense of the
founder's anniversary. Adeliza herself was
eventually interred at the abbey.

The Empress Maud, the daughter of the
founder, for the souls of Henry her father and
Queen Maud her mother gave to the abbey the
Berkshire manors of Blewbury and East Hendred,
as well as lands at Marlborough, 113 &c. The
empress was at Reading during Rogationtide,
1141, when she was received at the abbey with
great honour. King Stephen granted confirma-
tion charters, but no bequests of his own.

Henry II was a firm friend to the monastery.
In addition to various confirmation charters, he
permitted the monks to inclose ' the park of
Cumba ' for the use of infirm monks and the
guests of the house. By other charters he
granted them a second fair at Reading on
St. James's Day and the three following days,
and also a weekly market at Thatcham. He
also granted them a revenue of 40 marks out
of the Exchequer, until he could secure them a
landed revenue of like value, which he after-
wards did out of the manor of Hoo ; and the
right of importing goods free of all seaport
duties. 114

Henry II having marched an army into Wales
in 1 163, Henry de Essex, his standard-bearer at
the battle of Coleshill, supposing the king to
have been slain, threw away the standard and
fled. He was subsequently charged with treason
by Robert de Montford, and trial by combat was
sanctioned by the king. The site selected for
the encounter was a small island of the Thames

111 Pat. 21 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 1 6.
m Harl. MS. 1708, fol. 18, 1 8l>.
113 Ibid. fol. 17, 1 8, lU.
'"Ibid. fol. 21,22.

close to Reading. The combat took place in
the presence of the king and many of the
nobility. Essex was defeated, but the king re-
mitted the death penalty and is said to have com-
pelled him to become a monk at Reading. 115

In the following year the great church of the
abbey was finished ; it was consecrated by Arch-
bishop Becket, in the presence of the king and
the great magnates of the realm. 116

William, the eldest son of the king, died in
1156, and was buried in the abbey, as was
Reginald, earl of Cornwall, a natural son of
Henry I, in 1175. The king kept his court at
Reading at Whitsuntide 1175, and at Easter
II77- 117 There was a great gathering of the
suffragan bishops of the province of Canterbury
and the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury,
in this abbey, on 5 August, 1 1 84, to elect an
archbishop. Henry II was present, and the
assembly was adjourned to Windsor. 118

Kings Richard and John granted confirma-
tion charters and small additional bequests ; the
latter granted yet a third fair to the abbey, to be
held on the vigil, festival, and two following days
of SS. Philip and James. 119

Hugh II, the eighth abbot, who ruled from
1180 to 1199, was a great theologian ; in the
latter year he was made abbot of Cluny. 1 "
Several of the earlier abbots of Reading were
promoted to important posts ; Hugh, the first
abbot, was consecrated archbishop of Rouen in
1130, and William, the sixth abbot, archbishop
of Bordeaux in 1173.

Pope Innocent III in 1207 granted protec-
tion to Helias, abbot of Reading, and his
brethren, present and future, in their possessions,
viz., Reading, Cholsey, and Leominster, with
their churches, chapels, cemeteries, tithes, and
oblations, Thatcham, and the churches of War-
grave, Whitley, ' Wybury,' Blewbury, land in
Hendred, Aston and its church, ' Ravinton ' and
its church, the churches of Stanton, -Hand-
borough, Englefield, and ' Dudelesfaude,' land in
Houghton, lands in ' Lingeborche,' and that in
Stratfield which belonged to Hugh de Mortimer,
and in Sawbridgeworth, lands and rents in
London and Berkhampstead, land acquired with
the tenement of Hoo, and the priory of May
and Lindegros in Scotland. 121

On 28 March, 1228, when Henry III was at
Reading, the abbot was successful in resisting the
claim of the bailiff of Windsor to tolls on the
vessels of the abbey descending and ascending
the Thames to and from London with goods
and merchandise. Claim was made for ^52 of

115 Chron. Stephen, fefc. (Rol's Ser.), i, 108.

116 Ann. de Winion, 57 ; Ann. de Bermond. (Rolls
Ser.), 441. " 7 Coates, Reading, 7.

lli Ibid. " 9 Harl. MS. 1708, fol. 29-33.

120 Coates, Reading, 283.

'" Cat. Papal Let. i, 28. The Scotch priories had
been granted by King David, Harl. MS. 1708, fol. 17.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

arrears of such tolls. But after inquisition and
searching the rolls of the Exchequer, the abbot
made good his claim to exemption by charters of
the king's progenitors. 122

In May, 1231, the sheriff of Oxford received
a mandate authorizing him to take with him
upright and qualified men and to go in person to
the chapel of St. Anne on the bridge of Reading
(on the Oxford side of the Thames) part of
which is founded on the fee of the abbot of
Reading, and part on the fee of William earl
of Pembroke and in the sight and testimony of
the men to give to the abbot such seisin of the
chapel as he had on the day when the earl died. 123

An interesting pittance grant was made to the
monks in 1282. Ela Longespeye, countess of
Warwick, granted to the abbey 20 marks annu-
ally out of Southwood manor, Doddington, Cam-
bridgeshire, to provide spices to be distributed by
the prior and sub-prior ; with a further grant of
her wardship of Shenstone, so that the whole
convent might be provided each Sunday with a
good pittance by the cook in honour of the Holy
Trinity, and each Thursday in honour of the
Ascension. 124

In 1310 licence was obtained by the abbot
under the king's privy seal, for the appropriation
of the church of Thatcham. 1 " 5

Licence was granted in 1327 to the abbot and
convent for the alienation to them by Robert de
Abingdon of four messuages and a stone quay in
London, on condition of their finding two secular
chaplains to celebrate divine service daily in the
Lady chapel of the abbey church, for the souls of
Master Richard Abingdon, his ancestors and
heirs. 126

The abbey received a considerable endowment
in 1331. In November of that year licence was
obtained by Hugh de Redynges for the abbot and
convent to acquire in mortmain three messuages,
240 acres of land, 10 of meadow, 3 of pasture,
40 of wood, and i6j. of rent in Leominster,
Ivington, and other places in Herefordshire, to
find two chaplains to celebrate daily in their
convent church. 127

William Pakynton, king's clerk, and another,
obtained licence in October, 1384, on payment
of the exceptionally heavy fee of 20 in the
hanaper, to alienate to the abbey of Reading
three messuages, three shops, two tofts, and
13 I2s. lod. rent in Reading for finding a
monk chaplain to celebrate daily in the conven-
tual church for the souls of the king, of Thomas
Spigurnel and Katharine his wife, of Adam
Hartington, and others. 128

m Close, 12 Hen. Ill, m. 11.
183 Ibid. 15 Hen. Ill, m. 14.
114 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 3589.
135 Pat. 3 Edw. II, m. 7.

126 Ibid, i Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 13.

127 Ibid. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 9.
118 Ibid. 8 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 1 8.

In 1232 John son of Richard of Cornwall
was buried at the abbey, and two years later
Isabel his sister was laid by his side. 129

On 15 June, 1235, Robert Grosteste was
consecrated bishop of Lincoln and Hugh bishop
of St. Asaph, in the great conventual church of
Reading, by the archbishop of Canterbury. 100
It was through Grosteste's influence that the
king changed the days of several of the abbey's
markets from Sunday to an ordinary week day.
Another consecration was held in the abbey
church in 1244, when the bishop of Winchester
consecrated Roger bishop of Bath and Wells.' 31

The debts of the house were considerable
in 1275. An entry on the Patent Rolls in
February of that year requests the knights free-
men and other tenants of the abbey to aid the
convent with a subsidy in consequence of its
embarrassed condition. At a later date in the
same month a mandate was issued to the abbot
to remove from the abbey and from its cell of
Leominster all Serjeants and horses, with their
keepers, either of the king or others, staying in
either house, and to receive no more until the
said abbey be relieved of its indebtedness. 1 " 2
Edward I visited Reading and lodged at the abbey
in January, 1273, and again in December, 1275.
In December, 1275, Sir Roland de Herlegh was
appointed by the crown to the custody of the
house of Leominster, a cell of Reading. It had
fallen into debt, and all that Sir Roland was able
to save, after finding the dean and chaplains in
food and clothing, and poor mendicants in alms,
he was to apply to the discharge of its debts by
view of the abbot and prior of Reading. Power
was reserved to the abbot to remove Roland from
this custody at will. 133

Licence was granted in August, 1289, by
Pope Nicholas IV, to the abbot of Reading and
his successors to use the mitre, ring, gloves,
dalmatic, tunicle, and sandals, according to the
indult of Clement III ; and this both within the
monastery on solemn days, and in processions
and episcopal synods. 134

The seals of the abbot and convent of Read-
ing were counterfeited in 1290 by Jonas de
Newbury and Isaac de Pulet, two Jews, and
attached to false writings involving large sums of
money ; for this offence, and for other felonies in
divers parts of the realm, the delinquents were
committed to the Tower. 135

Entry was made on the Close Rolls in July
1290 of the indebtedness of Abbot Robert to
Lewis de Bello Monte, canon of Salisbury, of
the large sum of 450 marks ; but it was subse-

129 Ann. de Theok. (Rolls Ser.), 89, 93.

130 Ibid. 97.

131 Coates, Reading, 9, 243.

132 Pat. 3 Edw. I, m. 32, 30.

133 Ibid. 4 Edw. I, m. 34.

134 Cal. Papal Let. i, 495.

135 Pat. 1 8 Edw. I, m. 2 1 d.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

quently cancelled on payment being made. 138
Possibly, however, it was partly owing to
financial entanglements that on 2 November,
1290, when the king was at Clipstone, news of
the cession of Abbot Robert was brought by
Richard de Wynton, Nicholas de Leominster,
and William de Sutton, monks of Reading.
One of the three messengers, William de Sutton,
was elected abbot in the same month. 137 On
the occasion of his election, the king, to spare the
labour and expense of the abbot-elect, ordered,
on 28 November, 1290, that Master William de
Meschia, his treasurer, should proceed to Read-
ing and take the elect's fealty, on the election
being confirmed ; he was to certify the king
thereof by envoy, and instruct the prior and
convent to cause the temporalities to be delivered
to the abbot. 138

Among the interesting set of letters of the
first (English) Prince of Wales, afterwards
Edward II, at the Public Record Office, written
in 1302-3, are two addressed to the abbot of
Reading. The first of these, dated 10 June,
referred to a proposal of the abbot to tallage the
prince's good friend Adam the skinner and other
burgesses of Reading, on account of the tallage
on the king's demesnes, and as such an action was
novel the prince begged the abbot, ' for love of
us,' to stay his action for a month that counsel
might be taken. The second letter, of 6 Septem-
ber, is of more interest. The prince sends his
Iwell-beloved John Lalemaner, keeper of one of
his chargers, who had wounded his hand, to the
abbey, as he understood they had a good surgeon
at the house, promising his special gratitude
to the abbot if they would keep him and sustain
him at the abbey until the wound was healed. 139

On the death of Abbot Sutton in 1305 the
monks elected Nicholas de Quappelade, the pre-
centor, in his room ; but on his name being
submitted to the bishop of Salisbury certain
defects in form were discovered and the election
was quashed. The bishop, however, recognizing
his good qualities, collated him to the abbacy on
8 September. 140 Soon after his installation
Abbot Nicholas found that the debts of the abbey
had reached the great total of ^1,227 Js. 8d.
He at once resolved to bring about considerable
reductions in the household expenditure. A
committee of eight monks was formed under the
abbot, and they adopted, inter a/ia, the following
resolutions : That a law clerk should be appointed
with whom the abbot and treasurer could con-
sult ; that a steward should be elected yearly
with a stipend of 6 13*. 4^., livery for himself
and two servants, and two horses to be kept at

136 Close, 1 8 Edw. I, m. 6 d.

137 Ibid. m. 3 ; 19 Edw. I, m. 25.
"Ibid. 1 9 Edw. I, m. ii.

39 Misc. Exch. ; printed in The Antiquary, xxx,
190.
140 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol. 42, 49.

the charge of the house ; that the town clerk
was to be chamberlain in waiting in the abbot's
hall ; and that one of the two chaplains of the
countess of Salisbury's chantry was to be the
abbot's secretary. The reduced staff of servants
and officials (though some of them were obedien-
tiaries of the house and unsalaried) numbered
thirty-seven. To lessen the expenditure, it was
further resolved that the days when special pit-
tances were provided by the obedientiaries were
to be reduced to ten, pertaining to the treasurer
and cellarer. All the obedientiaries were to give
exact annual accounts of the money that passed
through their hands, whilst one of the treasurers
was to examine the accounts of grain and of the
larder every month. The accounts of grain
bought or sold, of malt and cheese from the
different manors, of the cattle for labour and live
stock, and of the fish or flesh purchased or brought
were all to be entered up in writing week by
week. It would seem that this scheme of im-
proved accounts answered for the time, for Abbot
Quappelade found money to build the Lady
chapel in 1314, and when he died in 1327 left
money put at his disposal by a Reading burgess
to Balliol College. Had the abbey then been in
a necessitous condition, he would scarcely have
made this considerable bequest to Oxford. 141

Just before the vacant abbacy was filled up in
1305, the bishop commissioned Master Walter
Henny, canon of Sarum, to absolve certain sus-
pended and excommunicated monks of Reading
(we know not their offence) to enable them to
take part in the election of a superior. 143 When
the election actually took place there were sixty-
five monks present, but one was objected to as
being still excommunicate, and another as being
an idiot.

Edward II, in 1310, at the instance of Queen
Isabella, ordered the abbot and convent to admit
into their house Robert Pipard, who had long
served the late Queen Eleanor and the king, and
to provide him for life with food and clothing
according to his estate, and to confirm this by
letters patent under their chapter seal. At the
same time the king revoked orders that he had
recently made on them with regard to doing the
like service for William Becok. 143

Thomas de la Naperye, who had served
Edward II and his father, was sent to the abbey
in October, 1316, to receive the allowance that
Philip le Charetter had had in that house. 144 In
March, 1318, Robert le Orfevre, who had long
served the king, was sent to Reading Abbey, to
be thence forwarded to their priory cell of Leo-
minster, where he was to receive a monk's

141 Harl. MS. 82, fol. 1-2 ; a fragment of Quappe-
lade's Register. See Coates, Reading, 286-7.

14J Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol. 46^ ; Coates,
Reading, 245.

143 Close, 3 Edw. II, m. 26 d.

144 Ibid. 10 Edw. II, m. 23^.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

allowance, together with a robe and all neces-
saries of life. 146

Reading was one of those abbeys where the
crown claimed to pension a clerk on the house
until such time as they could find a benefice for
him, on each new creation of an abbot. Abbot
Quappelade, dying in 1327-8, was succeeded by
Abbot John de Appleford. On 9 March, 1328,
Henry de Carleton, one of the king's clerks, was
sent to the new abbot, with pension-claiming
letters from Edward III. 146

Whilst John de Appleford was abbot, in the
year i338,Edward III borrowed from the abbey
certain valuables, estimated at ^277 41., includ-
ing a chalice and paten of pure gold worth
22 15*., another pure gold chalice worth
^54 9*., and a small reliquary of pure gold after
the fashion of a feretory, garnished with sapphires,
pearls, rubies, &c., and worth ^200. The king
pledged himself to restore them or their value.
In consideration of this loan, the king renewed
to the abbey the privilege of a mint, of which
they had been deprived by Edward I. 147

Although this is not a place to give an account
of the structure or remains of the old abbey, an
incident that connects the structure with the
world-famed beauty of the mother church of
Salisbury can scarcely be omitted. There were
evidently important works of reconstruction in
progress at this abbey during the rule of Abbot
John de Appleford. In June, 1334, Master
Richard de Farlegh, the builder (cementarius) of
the glorious spire of Salisbury, covenanted with
the dean and chapter to give up all other work
on which he was engaged notably at the mon-
astery of Reading and at the cathedral church of
Bath and labour solely and diligently for the
Sarum chapter. 148

The abbot and convent of Reading petitioned
the pope in 1354 for faculty to have thirty
monks in their twentieth year ordained priests
by any Catholic bishop, for the service of their
monastery and places (that is cells or granges, not
churches) subject to it, in consequence of so
many of the monks having died during the recent
epidemic. The prayer was granted. 148

In August, 1384, the bishop of Hereford in-
sisted with much vigour on the monks of the
cell of Leominster undertaking the burden of
collecting a moiety of the tenth granted by the
province of Canterbury to the king, in the
deanery and archdeaconry of Hereford. The
abbot of Reading brought the matter before the
king in council, and was able to show that
although the monks of Reading were deputed by
grants of the king's progenitors to stay in the
Leominster house and to celebrate there divine

145 Close, 1 1 Edw. II, m. 9 d.
148 Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, m.

147 Coates, Reading, 288 and App. viii.

149 Sar. Chap. Act Bks. Hemingsley, fol. 103.

149 Cal. Fatal Pet. 282.

service and pray for the king, they were remov-
able at the will of the abbot alone, as appeared
from the composition made between the then
bishop and chapter of Hereford, and the then
abbot and convent of Reading, and afterwards
confirmed by Pope Honorius III (1216-27).
Thereupon the king, after mature deliberation
with his justices and council, declared under his
signet that all the Reading monks so staying at
Leominster should be for ever exempt from the
collection of clerical tenths and subsidies in that
diocese. 150

Thomas Pentecombe and two others were ap-
pointed by the crown in March, 1390, to arrest
and deliver to the abbot of Reading, Thomas
Abingdon, an apostate Benedictine monk of that
house, who was a vagabond in the city of London
and other parts of England. 161

There is a curious instance of the interference
of that energetic pope, Boniface IX, circa 1400,
with the internal administration of this abbey.
William Henley, claustral prior of the Reading
monks, had held office for some time, and had
yearly received from the common rents as much
for food as two other monks ; 6 for his clothing
and other necessaries ; for the food and clothing
of the three servitors in his office (a yeoman, a
groom, and a page), the usual allowance for
monastic servants ; and 26s. 8d. and sufficient
hay for the keep of a horse. It had been the
custom for the holder of the office of claustral
prior to be removed at the pleasure of the abbot ;
but the pope ordered that William Henley was
to hold the office for life, with the usual emolu-
ments, and not to be removed against his will.
If he resigned there was to be given him for life
as much for his food and clothing as is allowed
to two other monks. 152

On the Saturday before Palm Sunday, 1432,
the Common Council of Reading, at a meeting
at which seventy-four were present, elected
twenty-four burgesses to represent them at an
interview with Abbot Thomas Henley. 163 This
was probably on account of the oft-recurring
disputes between the abbey and the town as to
the gild privileges. The town records, under
2 October, 1444, contain an entry of a composi-
tion between the burgesses and the lord abbot. 164
On 25 June, 1451, a bill was drawn up, to be
shown to the abbot's counsel, containing the
articles of the gild. 15 '

In the tyme of William Rede, Meyre (1456), and
all y' have be Meyrys, with all the Bourgeys of the
Geld Halle, byndyth them selfe by ther feyth to abyde
a rule as in expence for materys the wheche be
betwyxt my lord of Redynge and the same Meyres
and Bourgeys of the same Gyld. 156

150 Pat. 8 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 26.

161 Ibid. 1 3 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 29 d.

151 Cal. Papal Let. v, 550.

153 Rec. of Borough of Reading, i, I.

154 Ibid, i, 20. 1M Ibid, i, 37. 158 Ibid, i, 43.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

The town records between 1456 and 1478
show that part of the entrance fees into the gild
were paid throughout that period to the abbey.
Thus, in 1456, Gilbert Sayer's entrance fee of
6s. 8d. was divided equally between the hall and
the abbey, and the fee of William Swerdbreke,
tailor, of los. was similarly divided ; but in each
of these cases the new member also paid 6s. 8d.
for a luncheon (jantaculum) for the mayor and
his brethren. In 1460 Robert Quedamton paid
13*. 4< as entrance fee, 5*. of which went to
the hall, and 5*. to the abbey, whilst 3*. 4^. was
allotted to the lunch. William Cokkyng in
1462, as the son of a burgess, was admitted on
lower terms ; his fine was 4*. for the abbot, and
2od. for the lunch. This seems to have been
the usual scale for the son of a burgess. 167

According to the tenor of an agreement of
I254, 158 the brethren of the gild were annually
to present three persons to the abbot, out of
whom he was to choose one to be master or
warden, a title afterwards changed to mayor.
This custom was maintained with but little
variation up to the dissolution of the monastery.
Several instances of this submission to the lord
abbot occur in the first extant volume of the
Corporation Annals. Thus, in 1458, William
Hunt, William Rede, and William Pernecote
were elected on 25 July to serve the office of
mayor by their fellow burgesses, and on 29 Sep-
tember Abbot Thome appointed the last of
the three to be mayor for the ensuing year. 158
One of the later entries of this kind is of the
year 1499, when, on 27 September, Abbot John
Thorne II ' out of his special grace ' chose Chris-
tian Nicholas, the first of the three names nomi-
nated by the burgesses to be mayor, and discharged
Robert Benett and John Tumour from their
office of constable, because they had been ap-
pointed thereto by the abbot, and not by the
mayor and his brethren, nor by the burgesses of
the gild. 160

In 1507, when Christian Nicholas was again
mayor (on the abbot's appointment), certain vari-
ances as to the ordering of constables, warders,
&c., between the town and abbot were set at
rest by decree of the justices of Common Pleas.
The old custom as to the selection by the abbot
of one of three to be mayor was confirmed ; the
two constables and ten warders of the five wards
were to be chosen by the gild-merchant, but
sworn in before the abbot ; the name of any
person petitioning to be elected a burgess was to
be given to the abbot fourteen days before the
election ; a monk was to be present at the
assessing of the fine which was to be divided be-
tween the abbot and the gild ; an alien's fine was
to be determined by six burgesses on oath, and if

57 Rec. of Borough of Reading, i, 46-76.

158 Printed in full, Reading Rec. i, 280-2.

159 Reading Rec. \, 49.

160 Ibid, i, 49, 98.

6 7

they affirmed it to be reasonable it was to be
accepted by the abbot ; and

as towchyng Chepyngavell, which is a yerely fyne
onely, of all and every Surges of the seide Gylde,
whiche out of tyme of mynde hathe bene payed yerely
to the predecessouers of the seid Abbot by every
Burges,

burgesses were to pay 6d. yearly, and their
widows 2d. ul

Reverting to the fifteenth century, we find
that Abbot Thomas Henley died on 1 1 Novem-
ber, 1445. The election to fill the vacancy was
conducted by Thomas Stainton, the prior, and
thirty-four monks. It was decided to proceed
by way of scrutiny, when thirty-three votes were
cast for John Thorne, and one each for Robert
Chittenham and John Henley. 162

Records remain of projected visitations by the
bishop of Salisbury, and of the abbot's letter
acknowledging receipt of the letters of monition to
prepare for the same in 1501, 1505, 151 1, 1514,
1519, 1520, and I526. 163 But there is no entry

ie: Ibid, i, 105-9. This customary payment of
' Chepyngavel ' by the burgesses to the abbey was
originally a permission to trade within the honour of
Reading. The collection of it from individuals was
so inconvenient to both sides and caused so many dis-
putes that it was usually paid in the aggregate by the
commonalty in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The amount of 'Chepyngavel' paid in 1487-8, for
twenty-two burgesses, at s,d. each, was gs. zJ. ; and
in 14901, izs. lid. for thirty-one burgesses ; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. xi, App. clxxv.

162 Sar. Epis. Reg. Aiscough (2nd nos.), fol. 15-17.

163 Reading Reg. (Sarum), fol. 61, 71, jqb, 80, 84,
85, 90^, 91. In the diocesan registry at Salisbury
is preserved this valuable register of Reading Abbey,
which has hitherto escaped attention. Our thanks are
due to Mr. Maiden, the registrar, for kindly drawing
our attention to this register, of which he has made
an excellent manuscript analysis. Many leaves have
unfortunately been cut out at the beginning ; it now
consists of ninety-one parchment folios. It is not a
chartulary, but a record of important acts of the
Reading chapter, etc., of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, and is of unusual interest, as there is so little ex-
tant of an authoritative character concerning the action
and administration of English monasteries during their
later life. Full records are given of the presentations
made by the abbot and convent to their livings of
Aston (1462-1533), Beenham (1462-1503), Buckle-
bury (1470-1 537), Cholsey( 147 1-15 3 7), Eye (148 5-
1517), Pangbourne(l464-l523),Leominster (1432-
1533), 'Ravinton' (1477-1536), Stanton Harcourt
(1471-1531), Sulhamstead Abbots (1479-1514),
Tilehurst (1459-1538), Wargrave (1459-1517), St.
Lawrence, Reading (1518-34), St. Mary, Reading
(1485-1536), St. Giles, Reading (1449-1519), and
four presentations to Handborough. In this same
register of the abbey are seventeen late cases of manu-
mission of the native or villein tenants of the
monastery. In most instances this also involved the
freedom of their family, and as a matter of course of any
descendants they might have. The phrase to denote

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

of the result of these visitations. It should always
be remembered with regard to the Benedictines
that they were subject to capitular visitations of
their own order, as well as those undertaken
by the diocesan.

At the general chapter of English Benedictines
held at Northampton in 1480 the duty of visit-
ing the monastery of St. Augustine's, Canterbury,
was assigned to the abbot of Reading. The
abbot was not able, however, to travel, in conse-
quence of bodily infirmity, and nominated John
Thorne, the prior, holding a bachelor's degree,
and Richard Wokingham, another of the monks,
who was bachelor of theology, to visit as his
proctors. 164 Abbot John was appointed visitor of
all the Black Monks in the diocese of Sarum
when the general chapter of the order was held
at Northampton in I495. 165 Again, at the pro-
vincial general chapter held in 1521 at West-
minster the Reading abbot was appointed visitor
of Glastonbury Abbey. 166

On Sunday, 30 January, 1521, Henry VIII
was at Reading, and made oblation of 31. ^.d.
to 'the Child of Grace' at the monastery. 167
The king was the guest during this visit of
Hugh Faringdon, a monk of Reading, whose
election by his fellows as abbot had been con-
firmed by Henry VIII on 26 September of the
previous year.

In a letter from the bishop of Lincoln to
Wolsey, dated 3 March, 1528, as to further
information he had received of the distribution
at Oxford and elsewhere of ' books of heresy' by
Thomas Garret, M.A., the bishop expresses a
fear that he has corrupted the monastery of
Reading ; he had sold to the prior more than
sixty such books, and it seemed necessary that
attention should be paid to John Sherbourne,
prior of Reading. 168 The result of this attention
was the committal of the prior to the Tower ;
in October, 1532, we hear of the prior being
removed to Beauchamp Tower, from some other
part of the prison fortress, 'accompanied with
the parson of Hony Lane and Christopher Coo,
to be converted.' 169 Eventually the prior, whose
office at the monastery had been filled up, was
converted that is, he agreed to recant his
heresies.

this is usually cum sequela, or cum iota sequela sua in
fosterum procreanda. In ten instances these freed
' natives ' were attached to the abbot's manor of Leo-
minster, two were of Whitley, two of Cholsey, and
one of Wychbury. The most interesting carta manu-
missionis is that of John Pole junior, clerk, son of John
Pole of Ivington, who was at that time scholar and
bachelor of arts at Oxford. Reading Reg. (Sarum), fol.
28, 29, 67, 68, 69.

164 Reading Reg. (Sarum), fol. 92.

165 Ibid. fol. 75.

166 Ibid. fol. 76.

167 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iii, pt. i, p. 498.

168 Ibid, iv, pt. ii, 4004.
168 Ibid, v, 1467.

With regard to this ex-prior, John Sherbourne,
Abbot Hugh wrote to Cromwell, in August,
1533, acknowledging a letter from the latter re-
quiring his restoration ; but the abbot inclosed a
letter he had received from Sherbourne, showing
that such a course was ' clean contrary to his
mind.' The abbot had got him a benefice of
20 marks a year, but this, too, he had utterly
refused. 170

Among the numerous new year's gifts made
by Henry VIII in 1532 was 20 in a white
leather purse, to the abbot of Reading, who was
one of his royal chaplains. 171 Abbot Hugh
Faringdon alias Cook was at this time and
for several years in good odour with the king.
In 1530 Abbot Hugh had been one of those
peers spiritual and temporal who signed a peti-
tion to the pope impressing on him the danger
of delay in the divorce proceedings ; he had
also offered the king the use of the library of
the Reading Abbey to find arguments in favour
of the divorce. At a later period (1536) he
accepted, in common with the majority ot
the ' religious ' of England, the Act of Royal
Supremacy. It has been argued by some that
he was a thoroughly illiterate man ; but this is
only on the authority of an anonymous reviler,
and of Chronicler Hall, who roundly states that
the abbot was 'a stubborn monk and utterly
without learning.' Brown Willis, however,
points out that his letters to the University of
Oxford (still extant in the register) and his zeal
for education at Reading prove the absurdity
of such a contention. 172 In 1532, when the
University begged for stone from the quarry
belonging to the abbey for the rebuilding of their
schools, Abbot Hugh wrote (or a letter was
written for him) in the exaggerated humility of
the times speaking of himself as an unlearned
man ; but the very letter itself is proof that such
phrases were not to be taken literally.

He was probably born at Faringdon, and hence
the name he often bore ; but his true family
name was Cook, and he bore the arms of Cook
of Kent.

The abbot was a great friend of Arthur Planta-
genet, Lord Lisle. There are some pleasant letters
of Abbot Hugh's, written in November, 1534,
both to Lord and Lady Lisle, which give evidence
of his kindly nature and ability in languages. He
had been entrusted with the special charge of
Lord Lisle's young stepson, James Basset, who
was to be educated at the monastic grammar
school of Reading. The abbot writes to each
parent, saying how he had committed the boy to
his under-steward, who had an honest wife who
would see to his dressing, as he was too young to
shift for himself. He considered him ' the most
towardly child in learning' that he had known.

' ro Ibid, vi, 943. n Ibid, v, 686.

"' Mitred Abbeys, i, 161 ; Wood's Athenae, i, 252.

See also Diet. Nat. Biog.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Alexander Aylmer, Lord Lisle's agent, visited
Reading, and wrote to the mother saying that
Master James was in good health ; the abbot
made as much of him as if he was the king's son,
and ' nlythe hym to his learning, bothe to Latin
and Frenche.' *""

Evidences of Cromwell's avaricious and illegal
exactions from the religious houses come to light
all over the country. A brief letter is extant
from Abbot Hugh, dated 15 December, 1534,
stating that the convent had sent him by the
bearer an annuity of 20 marks, to be taken out
of their manor of Aston, Herts. 17 * Among
Cromwell's papers, seized when the time came
for his own execution, were a large number of
private accounts never intended to see light. In
February, 1557, he received 5 marks from the
abbot of Reading, in April 10 in addition to
20 marks as steward of the monastery, and in
November the like payments as in April. This
was repeated in 1538. In January, 1539 the
year when the monastery was blotted out and
the abbot was gibbeted at his own door Crom-
well did not hesitate to take 10 from the abbot,
and the great sum of 50 in the following
March. 176

There was a good deal of trouble in 1535
between the abbot of Reading and the prior of
the cell of Leominster, grave charges being alleged
against the latter, which the bishop of Hereford
repudiated, saying the prior was quite as good as
the abbot ; but the matter of the discipline main-
tained at Leominster pertains far more to Hereford
than to Berkshire.

On the death of Queen Jane Seymour, the
mother of Edward VI, on 24 October, 1537,
the king ordered the most elaborate religious
functions. The interment at Windsor did not
take place until 12 November, but meanwhile
there was daily solemn mass in the chapel of
Hampton Court, where the body lay in state.
On Sunday, 4 November (the most honourable
of the days), the abbot of Reading celebrated
mass, and solemnly sang the dirige. Abbot
Hugh had also his place assigned him in the
quire of Windsor at the time of the burial. 176

In March, 1538, Abbot Hugh was still in
favour, and was placed on the commission of the
peace for the county of Berks. 177

It was in this year that Cromwell's set of
visitors were busy extorting surrenders from the
larger houses and from the friaries, to whom the
Act of 1536 for the suppression of the lesser
monasteries did not apply. Early in 1538
Abingdon had been flagrantly bribed into sur-
render. But there were no signs of complacency
or willingness to accept bribes or big pensions by
Abbot Hugh, although he had been willing to

173 L. and P. Hen. 7111, vii, 451-3.

174 Ibid, vii, 1544. m Ibid, xiv, pt. ii, 782.

176 Ibid, xii (pt. 2), 1060.

177 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. iv, m. 4</.

purchase favour from Cromwell. Henry VIII's
vicar-general now, therefore, began to harass
the abbot.

Abbot Hugh wrote to Cromwell in June,
1538, in reply to his letter corrtplaining that the
divinity lecture had not been properly given, and
that the monks were thereby brought to corrupt
judgement, and desiring him to receive one
Richard Cobbes as lecturer, with stipend and
common. The abbot replied that he had already
in the house one of the brothers (Roger London)
who was a bachelor of divinity, and who was
esteemed by competent judges very well learned
both in divinity and humanity, and that he
profited the brethren both in the Latin tongue
and in the Holy Scriptures. He offered him to
be examined by any that Cromwell should
appoint. He understood from the bishop of
Salisbury that Cobbes, once a canon and a priest,
was then married, and therefore degraded.
Though learned, he could not but instil like
persuasions of marriage, and that would be an
occasion of slander, the laws standing as they do
yet. Nevertheless, whatever seemed best to
Cromwell should be done. 178

Subsequent letters from the bishop of Salisbury
to Cromwell show that he was most anxious to
obtain the lectureship for Cobbes, who was a
servant of his ; he assured the Lord Privy Seal
that Roger London, their present reader, had
been accused to him of heresy by three of the
monks half a year ago, and he had therefore
inhibited him. Cromwell, however, on this
occasion took the part of the abbot rather than
the bishop, and did not rebuke Abbot Hugh for
disregarding the inhibition. Thereupon the
bishop wrote a strangely petulant letter to Crom-
well ; feels sure that the Lord Privy Seal has a
grudge against him, and consequently waters his
letters with tears ; loves not Cobbes the less
because he was a priest and for marriage de-
graded, he is now at least an honest layman.
The bishop's three chief charges of heretical
opinions against the abbot's reader were rather
strange, namely (i) that Holy Scripture is not
sufficient of itself, (2) that ability to preach sin-
cerely is not sufficient qualification for a cure,
and (3) that faith does not justify without
works. 179

When Dr. London, with Layton, Pollard, and
Moyle as assistants, was securing the surrender
of the Grey Friars, Reading, he also visited the
abbey. At the end of a letter about Caversham,
1 8 September, 1558, he thus refers to the great
monastery :

I have sent upp the principal relik of idolatrie
within this realm, an aungell w' oon wyng that
browght to Caversham the spere hedde that percyd
o r Saviours syde upon the crosse. It was conveyd
home to Motley, butt I sent my Servant purposely

6 9

178 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiii, pt. i, 147.

179 Ibid. 264, 571.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

for ytt. I have sent also iij cots of the Images w r such
things as I fownde upon them, w' the dagger that they
slew King Henry the vj and the knyff that kylled
saynt Edward, w' many other lyk holy things. I have
defacyd that chapell inward and have sent home the
chanon to hys monastery to Notley. I have requyred
of my Lord Abbott the relyks of his howse wich he
shewed unto me w' gudde will. I have taken an in-
ventorie of them and have lokkyd them upp behynd
the high awtter and have the key in my kepyng, and
they be always ready at yo r Lordeschippcs command-
ment. They have a gudde lecture in Scripture daylie
redde in their chapitor howse both in Inglyshe and
Laten, to the wich is gudde resort and the Abbott is
at yt himself. In any other thing I can do yo' Lorde-
shippe service I am and always shalbe reddy, Godde
willyng, w' increase of moch honor long preserve yo'
gudde Lordeschippe.

At Reding xviij Septembris

Yo r most bounden orator and servant

John London. 180

The Inventorye of the Relyques off the Howse off
Redyng.

Imprimis twoo peces off the holye crosse. Item
Saynt James hande. It. St Phclype scolle. It. a bone
of Marye Magdalene w' other moo. It. Saynt Ana-
thasus is hande w' other moo. It. a pece off saynte
Pancrats arme. It. a bone off saynt Quyntyns arme.
It. a bone off saynt Dayde is arme. It. a bone off
Mary Salomes arme. It. a bone off saynt Edward ye
Martyr is arme. It. a bone of saynt Hierome w' other
moo. It. bones off saynt Stephyn. It. a bone off saynt
Blase. It. a bone off saynt Osmonde. It. a pece of
Saynt Ursula scole. It. a jaw bone of saynt Ethelwold.
It. bones off saynt Leodigarye and of S. Hereuei.
If. bones off Saynt Margarett. It. bones off Saint
Arnal. It. a bone of Saynt Agas with other moo.
It. a bone of S. Andrewe and ij peces of his crosse.
It. a bone off S. Fredyswyde. It. a bone off saynt
Anne. With many others

There be a multitude of small bonys, large stonys
and coinys which wold occupie iiij shets of paper to
make particularly an inventory of any part thereof.
They be all at yo' Lordschippes commandment. 181

An exceptionally interesting covenant was
entered into by the abbey, immediately before
the suppression (31 Hen. VIII), with Leonard
Cox concerning the school (ludus literarius] of
the abbey, and a lobby (venella) attached to the
same on the east side. By this it was agreed
that Leonard should rule the school moderately
and temperately, should teach the youth flocking
there grammar and poesy with exactness, should
conduct the school on pious and orthodox lines,

180 Cott. MSS. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 144.

181 Ibid. 22 j(. The hand of St. James was a special
gift to the monastery by Henry I ; his daughter the
Empress Maud brought it with her from Germany ;
Harl. MSS. 1708, fol. i$i. 'The relic was inclosed
in a case of gold ; of which it was stript by Richard I ;
but in compensation, King John granted the abbey a
mark of gold to be paid annually at the exchequer,
which Henry III afterwards changed to ten marks
of silver.' Coatcs, Reading, 247.

instructing the scholars in good morals and in the
Catholic religion, and do his utmost to impart, if
possible, an even higher culture (cultioribus literis)
than they had yet received. 182 Leonard Cox,
about 1524, printed a small treatise on The Arte
or Crafte of Rhethoryke, which is dedicated to
' The reverend father in god and hys singuler
good lorde the lorde Hughe Faryngton Abbot of
Redynge.' The opening sentence of the intro-
duction runs :

Consyderyng my spccyall good lorde howe greatly
and how many wayes I am bounden to your lorde-
shippe, And among all other that in so greate a
nombre of cunnynge rules which ar nowe within this
region, it hathe pleased your goodnes to accept me as
worthy to have the charge of the instrucyon and
bryngyng uppe of suche youthe as resorteth to your
gramer schole founded by your antecessours in thys
your towne of Redyng.

About the last act of Abbot Hugh was this
arrangement with Leonard Cox for the carrying
on of the abbey's school, so long famed for the
education of the children of the nobility and
gentry. In April, 1539, a new Parliament met,
which condoned the past illegal surrenders and
practically vested all monastic property in the
crown.

There is no surrender extant of Reading ; it
seems certain that nothing of the kind was
executed, and that the abbot refused to be a
party to the betrayal of his trust. The phrase-
ology of the new suppression Act 183 did not state
blankly that all monasteries were to be dissolved,
but that those that were suppressed, renounced,
relinquished, forfeited, or given up were to be
the king's. There is also what Abbot Gasquet
terms ' an ominous parenthesis,' including such
others as 'shall happen to come to the king's
highness by attainder or attainder of treason.'
No surrender could be obtained from Reading,
Glastonbury,or Colchester ; hence by the attainder
of their abbots for high treason their property was
secured for the crown, 'against,' as Hallam says,
' every principle of received law.' 184

Apparently some kind of justification for the
charge of high treason against Abbot Hugh was
devised or forthcoming, but it is impossible now
to find out what it was. The abbot was hurried
off to the Tower, probably early in the summer,
and whilst there Cromwell coolly decided, as we
have seen, that he was to be tried and executed
at Reading. Meanwhile it was assumed that the
abbey was even then the king's, the superior was
under lock and key, and on 8 September, Thomas
Moyle, an agent employed on like work at Glas-
tonbury, wrote from Reading that he, with
Layton and ' Master Vachell of Reading,' had
been through the inventory of the abbey plate

163
183
184

Reading Reg. (Sarum), fol. 32.
31 Hen. VIII, cap. 13.
Const. Hist, i, 72.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

' at the residence,' that is at the abbot's chambers.
There, too, they found a room hung with
' metely good tapestry, which do well for hang-
ing some mean little chamber in his majesty's
house.' There was another chamber ' hung
with six pieces of verdure with fountains, but it
is old and at the ends of some of them very foul
and greasy.' They noted several beds with silk
hangings (in the guest rooms where kings often
tarried), and in the church eight pieces of
tapestry ' very goodly ' but small. In conclusion,
Moyle reported that he and his fellows thought
the sum of 200 a year would serve for the
monks' pensions. 186

Soon after Cromwell turned a pair of his most
trusted visitors, Pollard and Williams, into the
abbey to ransack it. On 17 September, 1539,
Pollard thus writes to Cromwell :

Ser,

Pleasyth your Lordship to be advertysed that att
my comyng to Readynge I did dyspatche Mr. Wrythe-
slys servant wyth every thyng accordyng to your
comandment wyche amountythe to the some of
cxxxi/;' ix/ viijV as apperythe by the partyculars
herein inclosyd, and part of the stuffe receyvyd for
the kings majesties use, wyth the schole house and
church undefasyd. I and my followers have lefte hytt
by Indenture in the custody of Mr. Penyson. And
as for the Plate, vcstements, copys and hangyngs wyche
we have left hytt in the custody of Mr. Vachell by
Indenture wych shalbe conveyed to London agaynste
my coming thyther, and thanks be to God every
thyng ys well fynyshed there and every man well con-
tentyd and gyvyth humble thanks to the kings grace.
I with my followers intend on Tuesday next, God
wyllyng, to take owr journey from Readynge as
knowyth God who ever preserve youre good lordshyp

From Readyng the xv daye of
September. Yo r servant assuryd to comand
Rychard Pollard "

In one of the miscellaneous books of the
Public Record Office is a schedule of

such peaces of clothe of gold tyssue and bawdkyn as
also remainiths (remnants) of the same of diverse
colors taken out of the monastery of Readyng to the
use of cure Sovereyne lord the kyng by Rychard
Pollard and John Wylliams Esquyeres Comyssioners
assigned for the same.

The schedule opens with ' fyrst a peace of clothe
of gold wyth pyrled ground Garnetts.' Pieces
of white, green, crimson, and variegated cloth of
tissue are next named, and these are followed by
pieces of purple and of white baudekin . The rem-
nants were of blue and crimson baudekin, and of
red and white cloth of tissue.

The same schedule shows that in addition to
the above, which seem to have been the abbey's

185 Cited in Gasquet, Hen. Vlll and Engl. Monas-
teries, ii, 372.

186 Cott. MS. Cleop. E. iv, 224^. This letter is
by mistake referred by Wright to the friary and the
year 1538.

store for the making and repairing of vestments
and hangings as required, these two commissioners
seized and dispatched to the king, as specially
valuable, ten copes of green cloth of tissue, ten
copes of white cloth of tissue, six rich copes of
diverse sorts, four copes of baudekin, two altar
cloths, a complete suit of vestments of crimson
tissue, and a vestment of red tissue. 187 At the
same time they specially reserved for the king
41 oz. of gold plate, and 47 oz. of broken gold
plate; gilt plate, 378 oz.; broken parcel gilt,
3iioz. ; plate, parcel gilt, 423 oz. ; white or
plain silver plate, 32 oz. The total of the plate
that thus went straight to the king from this one
wealthy abbey amounted to the great weight of
2,645 oz - 188

On 19 September, 1539, whilst Abbot Hugh
was in prison, and the abbey sacked for the king,
the burgesses of Reading assembled in the Gild
Hall under Thomas Mirth, the mayor, to
nominate, according to custom, three names
for the coming mayoralty, Richard Justice,
Robert Watlyngton, and John Whyte. But
the entry in the town minute book then pro-
ceeds to state that before that day the monastery
had been suppressed and the abbot deprived of
his abbacy ; that after the suppression all things
there remained in the king's hands ; that on the
king's precept they proceeded to make their own
election of a mayor, and, with the assent and
consent of Thomas Cromwell, high steward of
the liberty of the town, appointed Richard
Justice mayor, and presented him in the great
hall of the late monastery before Thomas Vachell,
who had entertained the commissioners the pre-
vious year. On 9 October Thomas Vachell, by
the king's precept, as deputy of the high steward,
administered the oath to the mayor. 189

Among Crormvell's notes or ' remembrances '
of October, 1539, ' n n ' s own handwriting, are
memoranda that amply justify Froude in asserting
that he acted as 'prosecutor, judge, and jury'
in the case of the three Benedictine abbots of
Reading, Glastonbury, and Colchester, who were
executed in the following month. 180 So far as
the aged abbot of Reading was concerned, it was
nothing but a judicial murder ; his death was
decided upon ere he had been sent down from
the Tower to Reading. Cromwell's notes read
that the abbot was

to be sent down to be tried and executed at Redyng
with his complices. Similarly the abbot of Ghstoa
at Glaston. Counsellors to give evidence against the
abbot of Redyng, Mr. Hynde and the King's
Attorney. To see that the evidence be well assorted
and the indictments well drawn. 191

187 Misc. Bks. (Exch.), cliv, 175.

188 Ibid. 179.

189 Reading Borough Rec. i, 172.

190 Froude, Hist, iii, 432.

191 Cott. MS. Titus, B. i, 433.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

According to all current law, Abbot Hugh, a
mitred abbot, who had sat in many a Parliament,
ought to have been arraigned for high treason
before Parliament ; but Cromwell set law com-
pletely at defiance, and Hugh, with two brother
abbots, had been cut to pieces by the common
executioner ere Parliament reassembled.

On 1 5 November, the same day that the abbot
of Glastonbury was done to death at Glaston-
bury, the abbot of Reading, with two priests,
suffered the butchery reserved for traitors on a
platform outside the gateway of his own' abbey,
decked with the gallows for partially hanging,
the knife for disgustingly mutilating the still living
body, and the caldron of boiling pitch into which
to fling the limbs when the quartering was
accomplished. With him suffered John Eynon,
a priest attached to St. Giles', Reading, and John
Rugg, a former prebendary of Chichester, who
had retired to the monastery of Reading.

At the Public Record Office are thirty-three
pages of a closely-written mutilated manuscript
concerning Abbot Hugh and the two priests
executed with him. It is in an educated but
unidentified handwriting. The occasion for
which it was written and its author are both un-
known. From its presence among these state
papers it was probably the work of some tool of
Cromwell's, and was perhaps intended to be
printed and circulated to try to stem the odium
excited by the execution of ' my lord of Reading.'
It is impossible to exaggerate the ribaldry and
low scurrility of this infamous production. Great
play is made on the name ' Cook,' and the king
is supposed to have raised a mere kitchen scullion
to this exalted position. The king is represented
as the bountiful benefactor of Abbot Hugh, who
has repaid him with the most dastardly treachery
' if he had lived when Christ was betrayed he
would have put Judas out of his office,' and again
he was 'able to teach even Judas the part of a
traitor.' Such a sentence as ' a ragman's roll of
old rotten monks, and rusty friars, and pockyd
priests ' is a fair sample of this literary reviler.
No attention would have been paid to this stuff,
only that its very virulent violence and total
absence of any definite charge of treason against
the king is a strong proof that no true treason,
as ordinarily understood, existed. The worst that
could be said of the abbot is that he is accused of
stating that ' he wolde pray for the pope's holynes
as long as he lived and wolde ons a weke saye
masse for hym.' The writer also unconsciously
bears witness to the integrity of the abbot, stating
that he was ever a great student and setter forth
of St. Benet's, St. Francis's, St. Dominic's, and
St. Augustine's rules as being right holy and of
great perfectness ; adding that he never left
mattins unsaid, spoke loud in the cloister, or ate
even eggs on a Friday. 192

1 L. and P. Hen. HI I, xiv, pt. ii, 613.

Marillac, the French ambassador, writing to
Francis I on 30 November, states that the re-
mains of the abbot of Reading were hanged and
left in chains outside the abbey gateway. 183

With the execution of Abbot Hugh, this
great monastery, wherein for the four centuries
of its existence kings and queens had been lodged
and the poorest entertained, where great councils
of the Church and Parliaments of the state had
frequently been held, and which had been a great
centre of almsgiving and of a liberal education,
passed absolutely into the hands of Henry VIII,
together with its property, declared to be of the
clear annual value of ^1,908 14*. It remained
uninterruptedly in the immediate control of the
crown down to the Commonwealth.

The vast conventual church, where the remains
of royalty and other notables had been laid to
rest, remained desolate, but undisturbed so far as
its fabric was concerned, until 1548. The lead
on the roof of the abbey church and buildings
was then so considerable that the amount helps
to form some idea of the extent of the premises.
It was measured and estimated to weigh 417
fodders, at the rate of 1 5 ft. sq. to the fodder.
Six great bells still swung in the monastery's
belfry. 194

When the pension roll of Philip and Mary
was drawn up there were thirteen ex-monks of
Reading on the list ; one in receipt of ^6, eight
of ^5, one of ^4 6*. 8^., one of 3 6s. 8d.,
and two of 2. 19i

ABBOTS OF READING 196

Hugh, 1123-30

Ausger, 1130-75

Edward, 1175-54

Reginald, 1154-58

Roger, 1158-64

William, 1164-73

Joseph, 1173-80

Hugh II, 1 1 80-99

Helias, 1199-1212

Simon, 1213-26

Adam de Lathbury, I226 197 ~38

Richard de Cycestre, 1238-61

Richard de Rading alias Banaster, 1261-68

193 Ibid, xiv, pt. ii, 607.

194 Ch. Gds. ^ (Exch. R. R.).
194 Add. MSS. B.M. 5082.

19e This list of abbots is taken from Browne Willis'
appendix to Leland's Collect. (2nd ed.), vi, 183-7 ;
save that Nicholas, mentioned as the twenty-third
abbot, is omitted, as the reference cannot be sub-
stantiated and another abbot was then ruling. It
has been tested by the chartularies, and various re-
ferences to the Patent Rolls, &c., have been inserted.
There are numerous references to the earlier abbots
in Luard's Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.) down to Robert de
Burghate.

197 Pat. to Hen. Ill, m. 7.

7 2

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Robert de Burghate, iz68 m -c)O

William de Sutton, I29O 198 -I3O5

Nicholas de Quappelade, i3O5 200 -

John de Appleford, i328 201 -42

Henry de Appleford, I342 20a -6o

William de Dombleton, i

John de Sutton, 136$ **-}&

Richard Yateley, 1 3 78 sos - 1409

Thomas Erie,

Thomas Henley,

John Thome, i446 208 -86

John Thorne II, i486 209 -! 519

Thomas Worcester, I5I9 210 -2O

Hugh Cook alias Faringdon, i520 211 -38

The twelfth-century seal of this abbey 212 shows
the crowned Virgin seated on a throne, in her
right hand a dove-topped sceptre and in her left
the model of a church ; the holy Child seated on
her knee has the right hand raised in benediction,
and in the left an orb. The legend is wanting.

The second noteworthy and elaborate seal is
remarkable for giving the exact date of its pro-
duction, 1328. It is circular, and 3^ in. in
diameter.

On it is the crowned seated Virgin with
holy Child, between the figures of St. James the
Great, with the usual pilgrim symbols, and of
St. John standing on an eagle with a scroll
inscribed In principle in the right hand and a
palm branch in the left. Each figure is in a
canopied niche. Legend :

s . COE . ECCE . COVETVAL' . RADYNG

FVDATE . I . HONORE . SCE . MARIE . ET

APOSTL'OR' . JOH'IS . ET . IACOBI.

Inside the edge in smaller letters is the first line
of the date verse, Anno milleno trlctteno fabrlcat.

On the reverse are three more figures under
three similar canopies. The centre figure re-
presents the seated founder Henry I, with sceptre
in right hand and model of church in the left ; to
his right is St. Paul, with book and sword ; to his
left is St. Peter, with keys and book. Legend :

DNS . REX . HENRICVS . SVMM . DEITAT

AMICVS . SECVR' . DEGIT . ENTV . DOM

ISTE . PEGIT.

93 Pat. 53 Hen. Ill, m. 9.
93 Ibid. 19 Edw. I, m. 25.

100 Ibid. 33 Edw. I, pt. ii, m. 14 ; Sar. Epis. Reg.
Gandavo, fol. 49.

101 Pat. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 23.

08 Ibid. 1 6 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 49, 29.
203 Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 13.
104 Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii, pt. ii, fol. n.
* 5 Pat. l Ric. II, pt. v, m. 1 7.
106 Ibid. 10 Hen. IV, pt. ii.
07 Ibid. 9 Hen. VI, pt. i.

8 Sar. Epis. Reg. Aiscough (2nd nos.), fol. 15-17.
*" Pat. 2 Hen. VII, pt. i.
10 Ibid. 10 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 20.
811 Ibid. 12 Hen. VIII, pt. ii, m. 19; Reading
Borough Records, i, 141. "' Add. Chart. 19, 610.

Inside the edge, in smaller letters, is the second
half of the date verse, ' Signu bis deno b' quarto
consociat.' 213

There are impressions extant of three of the
abbots' seals. Of these the most striking is the
early one of Abbot Hugh II (1180-99). The
abbot is represented standing on a dwarf column,
holding a pastoral staff in the right hand and a
book in the left. Legend :

-j-SIGILLVM . HVGONIS . RADINGENSIS . ABBATIS.

3. THE PRIORY OF HURLEY

Towards the end of the Conqueror's reign,
Geoffrey de Mandeville, ancestor of the Mande-
villes, earls of Essex, bestowed the church of St.
Mary, Hurley, and certain lands to form a cell
of Benedictine monks, subject to the abbey of
Westminster.

The exceptionally interesting foundation
charter 214 states that Geoffrey grants to God
and to St. Peter the church of Westminster,
as also to the church of St. Mary of Hurley
for the salvation of his own soul and that of his
wife Leceline (' at whose counsel by the provi-
dence of divine grace I began this work'), and
for the soul of Athalais his first wife and mother
of his children, and for the souls of his heirs and
successors the church and town and surrounding
wood of Hurley with all rights pertaining, the
church of Waltham with a hide and a half of
land belonging to it, and the soke of the chapel
of Remenham. He also gave to the church of
Hurley, on the day that he caused it to be
dedicated by Osmund, bishop of Sarum, in the
presence of many of great authority, the land of
Edward of Watcombe (in Fawley parish). He
further states that on the day of dedication the
bishop confirmed all the grants made to that holy
place, to wit, in all the manors then in his
demesne, the third part of the tithe of corn,
two-thirds of the tithe of all stock, the whole
tithe of pannages both in hogs and payments,
and the whole tithe of cheese, fowls, horses,
calves, orchards, and vineyards. Moreover he
granted in every manor of his demesne one
churl who shall hold eight acres free of all
custom, and in his park one hog-run with land
for the swineherd. To these he added a fishery
in the isle of Ely that supplied 1,500 dried eels

'" Engraved in Coates's Reading, 247 ; and in
Dugdale's Man. iv, pi. xxi.

111 There is no register or chartulary of Hurley
extant, but there are many transcripts of Hurley
evidences in the Walden Chartulary now in the
Harleian collection. The foundation charter (Harl.
MS. 3697, fol. 51^) is printed in extenso in Dugdale's
Man. ill, 433, and in Madox's Form. Angl. 239-40.
The original charter is in the custody of the Dean and
Chapter of Westminster ; a literal translation from the
original appeared in the Quart. Journ. of Berks. Arch.
Soc. ii, 58-61.

73 10

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

and 40 fat eels ; and from the hamlet of
Mose (Essex) a supply of 3,000 dried herrings.

At the same time, and named in the same
charter, Thorald, Geoffrey's steward, with his
right hand on the altar, granted two-thirds of
the tithe of all his corn in Ockendon (Essex),
and the whole tithe of all his stock, and the
whole tithe of both corn and stock in Bordesden
(Essex). Also JEdric, his bailiff, gave the whole
tithe of his corn and stock.

To this charter there were many witnesses ;
the first were Osmund the bishop, and Gilbert,
abbot of Westminster, and the last, it is in-
teresting to note, was jElfric, the builder of the
new church of St. Mary, Hurley, and of the
conventual buildings.

On a comparatively modern metal plate,
fastened to the outer wall of the still standing
refectory of Hurley monastery, to the north of
the church is inscribed :

Osmund the Good, Count of Seez in Normandy,
afterwards earl of Dorset, and Lord High Chancellor
of England, and at last Bishop of Sarum, consecrated
this church of Hurley, A.D. 1086, and died Decem-
ber 4th, 1099, in the reign of William Rufus.

It has lately been stated with some confidence
that 1086 cannot have been the exact year,
because neither church nor monastery is entered
in Domesday Survey; 215 but such an omission,
as all Domesday students know, proves nothing.
The date is at all events prior to the death of
the Conqueror, on 9 September, 1087 ; whilst
Gilbert, one of the witnesses, only became abbot
of Westminster towards the end of 1085. The
statement on the metal inscription, repeated in
another place on stone, as to the year 1086,
must therefore be approximately correct.

Soon after the foundation, Geoffrey issued a
mandate to his bailiff jEdric, and to all his men
of Waltham, forbidding them to intermeddle
with the water of the priory at Hurley, or
to take anything from their wood. 216

William Constable of Chester, c. 1 1 40, gave
lands at Pyrton and Clare to the priory.
Geoffrey de Mandeville and Roesia his wife
made a small increase to its endowments about
the same time. 217 This Geoffrey was grandson
of the founder and the first earl of Essex ; he

115 See papers of Rev. F. T. Wethered on Hurley
parish and priory in Vols. ii and iii of Berks. Arch.
Journ.

816 West. Chart, ii. There is a great store of
charters and deeds (562 in all) among the West-
minster muniments, which were conveyed there from
Hurley when that cell was suppressed. They have all
been calendared by the Rev. F. T. Wethered, vicar
of Hurley, in his book Hurley and the Middle Ages
(1898). A considerable number of them have,
however, no connexion whatever with the priory ;
and were probably stored at the monastery for safe
keeping by neighbours. References to Westminster
Charters are all taken from Mr. Wethered's useful
work. 11? Westm. Chart, v and vi.

specially confirmed his grandfather's Essex gifts.
There were also early bequests of land at King-
ham, Oxford. 218

Laurence, abbot of Westminster 1159-75,
granted to the priory the church of Easthamp-
stead. 219 William de Mandeville, third earl of
Essex, brother of Geoffrey, the second earl,
made various bequests and confirmations to
Hurley, the more important being the whole of
the woods on the manors of Hurley and Little
Waltham. 220

Ralph de Arundel, prior of Hurley, granted a
pension of 45. out of the church of Easthampstead
for providing wax tapers at the mass of Our
Lady. 221 The only one of the priors of this
house to attain to the dignity of abbot of West-
minster was this Ralph de Arundel, sometimes
called Ralph Papillon. Ralph was a West-
minster monk and for some time almoner of the
abbey. He is said to have been a studious and a
good preacher. He was a great favourite with
Abbot Laurence, who appointed him prior of
Hurley circa 1170. Ralph was elected abbot
of Westminster on 20 November, iaoo. 222

Herbert, bishop of Salisbury 1194-1214,
granted to the priory all tithes of corn at
Waltham and the oblations on St. Laurence's
Day, to be applied to the office of the sacrist.
The residue of the income of Waltham church,
both small tithes and other offerings, was to go
to the support of the perpetual vicar presented
by the priory. 223

Nicholas, bishop of Tusculum, papal legate,
issued a general exhortation to the faithful, dated
at St. Albans, 17 December, c. I22O, to assist
William Prior of Hurley and his monks in the
work they had begun about their church, grant-
ing a ten days' indulgence to contributors. 224
William, abbot of Westminster 12202, granted
about the same time an indulgence to all
contributors to new works at the abbey, and also
participation in the spiritual benefits exercised
by the abbey in their own church, and in the
church (inter alia] of Hurley. 226

Richard, abbot of Westminster 122236,
granted Prior Richard and the monks of Hurley
all the manor of Easthampstead on payment of
i oo*. a year. 226

Prior Richard le Gras resigned in 1236, on
being appointed abbot of Evesham. 227 In the
same year the priory obtained a confirmation
charter from Henry III ; it already possessed like
charters from Henry I and Henry II. 228

A surrender was executed about the close of

"" Ibid, ix, x. "" Ibid. xvi.

" Ibid, xix to xxiv. *" Ibid, xxvii.

'" Leland, De Script. Brit. 246 ; Decent Script. 708 ;
Widmore, Westm. 34. "* Westm. Chart, xxx.

"' Ibid. xlv. " Ibid. xlvi. * Ibid. Ii.

"' Annales de Theok. 101 ; Annales de Wigon. 428 ;
Annales de Dunst. (Rolls Ser.), 145.

818 Westm. Chart. Ivi.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Henry Ill's reign, by William Marescall and
Juliana his wife, of all their lands at Kingham,
Oxfordshire, in return for a life grant daily from
the prior, Theobald, and the convent of Hurley,
of a loaf of first quality, two loaves of second
quality, a gallon of convent beer, another gallon
of second quality, and a dish of meat with pottage
from the kitchen ; also 5*. a year, two cartloads
of wood, and suitable accommodation. 229

A corrody was granted by Richard de Cole-
worth, prior, to Geoffrey de Hurle and Isabel
his wife and Amice their daughter in 1320,
much resembling that granted to William and
Juliana Marescall about fifty years earlier ;
only in this case there seems to have been no
residence in the priory. 830 Other corrodies of
white convent loaves weighing 2^ lb., and of
black loaves called ' bastard loaf,' and of beer,
were granted by this prior in I336. 231

In 1307 a daily grant was made by Prior
Gyppewych,at the instance of Henry earl of Derby
(afterwards Henry IV), to Peter Peterwych, his
servant, of a white conventual loaf, a gallon of
conventual beer, and a dish from the kitchen,
such as is the portion of a monk in the refectory,
together with a chamber in the priory whenever
he wished to lodge there. 232

A late thirteenth-century grant by William
Seger, prior, to Randulph the marshal, of half
a virgate of land and a meadow in Hurley,
covenants that Randulph, in addition to an
annual rent of 3^., is to serve as marshal in the
prior's court, carrying his wand, to shoe the
horses and oxen when necessary, and to keep
clean the hall and grange, strewing straw and
fresh rushes at the proper seasons, and having
the old straw, &c., for his own use. 233

The Taxation Roll of 1 2 9 1 enters the churches
of Streatley and Hurley, of the respective annual
value of ,10 13*. \d. and 10, as appropriated
to the priory, as well as a pension of i IDJ.
from the church of East Garston. Outside the
county the priory drew annually from the
churches of High Easter 5, of Sawbridgeworth
j^3 6;. 8a?., from Chippenham 5, and from
Northall 6;. 8d. Their temporalities in Hurley
parish were declared of the annual value of
22 IOJ., and in other parishes they reached
a total of 4 1 4;. 8d.

Edward prince of Wales wrote to the prior
of Hurley, from Windsor, on 9 September,
1302, reminding him that he previously asked
him to present his

beloved clerk John de Bohun to the vacant benefice
of Warfield, and had received the reply that his house
was charged with a pension of 10 for a clerk whom
he was bound to present to this vacancy. But the
Prince was now informed that the Bishop of Salisbury
refused institution as that clerk was not sufficient.

130 Ibid, ccxxxiv.
232 Ibid, cccclxxxix.

Therefore the prince again begged it for John
de Bohun, and wished for a reply by his mes-
senger, ' that we may know how you value us
and our fathers.' 234

An ordinance of Prior Henry and the convent
of Hurley, in 1313, decided that the custom
observed at Westminster Abbey, of continuing
to a defunct brother for a year after his death
the daily corrody in the refectory and his clothing
allowance as though still alive, to provide for
a year's masses for his soul being said by a
secular priest, should henceforth be maintained
at Hurley. 236

Roger, vicar of Bray, and rural dean of Read-
ing, pronounced, on 4 January, 1333, absolution
of the prior and convent of Hurley from excom-
munication incurred by non-payment of procur-
ations due to the papal nuncio in England ;
Yeherius de Concoreto, canon of Sarum, the
said nuncio, had delegated his powers in this
instance to Roger. 236

A mandate was addressed by Edward III, in
1347, to the wardens of the sea-coast in Hants,
and to the arrayersand sheriff of Berks, to refrain
from demanding a man at arms for service on the
coast from the prior of Hurley, who had departed
across the seas on the king's business. 237

Confirmation was made by Pope Boniface, in
1397, to William de Gyppewych, prior, and the
convent of Hurley, of the appropriation of the
church of Warfield, Berks., granted by the bishop
of Salisbury in 1397, which by reason of the
omission of certain legal formalities was said not
to hold good. It was stated that Richard II, by
word of mouth, prayed the bishop to appropriate
the church to Hurley, with the condition of their
celebrating his yearly obit, and also that of Anne his
late queen, and that the crown licence was entered
on the Patent Rolls under date of 29 March, 1397,
wherein provision was made for a yearly distri-
bution to the poor. The appropriation was
to take effect on the resignation or death of
Nicholas Brixton, the then rector. Yearly pen-
sions were reserved to the bishop, the chapter,
and the archdeacon of Berks. The priory was
also bound to distribute at Warfield, every year
at Easter, from the fruits of the church, 5*. to
the poor, by view of the vicar and six of the
parishioners. 238

In June 1392 a petition to the king from the
prior and convent of Hurley to approve of the
appropriation to them of the church of Warfield
brought out in addition to the plea of poverty
through Thames floods and modest endowments
the interesting fact that they claimed royal assist-
ance ' out of reverence due to Lady Edith, sister
of the holy king Edward, the Confessor, there
(at Hurley) buried.'

Henry IV, whose queen, Mary de Bohun, was

Westm. Chart. Ixxxvii.
Ibid, cccx, cccxv.
Ibid. cxix.

m Misc. Exch. f .

236 Ibid, clxcix.

238 Cat. Papal Let. v,

235 Westm. Chart, clxiv.
237 Ibid, ccccx.
246-7.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

descended from Geoffrey de Mandeville, the
founder of Hurley, granted to the prior and con-
vent of Hurley, in May 1401, licence to cut
down and sell or receive for their own use wood
suitable for timber and other wood, to the value
of 100 marks, within the forest for the repair of
their church, belfry, and houses, which are
ruinous, saving vert for the king's deer there, by
the supervision of the king's foresters and other
officials. 839

In 1411 Prior John Feryng and his convent
covenanted to celebrate yearly the anniversary of
William de Colchester, abbot of Westminster (he
died in 1420), and also to celebrate for his parents,
and for Thomas Merks, late bishop of Carlisle. 240

Geoffrey Poole granted a lease to Prior Edward
Downe and his convent, in 1461, of the water
and fishing within the lordship of Medmenham,
with all manner of fishing pertaining to the same ;
reserving, however, the right during the term of
eighty years of fishing six times a year with a
draught net, the priory at such times finding them
fishing-nets, fishing-boats, and servants. 241

In the time of Henry VII the priory had
become much impoverished through manifold debts,
floods of the Thames, and tenths granted to the
king by convocation. One Richard Lessy came
to their rescue, in the year 1489, with a gift of
60, in return for which Prior John Hilston
and the monks undertook to always keep his
anniversary during his life and after his death,
and to observe the vigil of the anniversary of
Agatha his wife, and of other relatives. 242

The priory of Hurley was suppressed by
Henry VIII, in 1536, amongst the religious
houses under the value of ^200 a year. Its
clear annual value, according to the Valar^ was
121 i8x. ffd,

On 3 July, 1 536, the king granted the site of the
late priory, with all houses, closes, and gardens, the
manors of Hurley, Easthampstead, the rectories
of Hurley ,Waltham, and Streatley, the advowson
of the vicarages of Hurley and Waltham, a
messuage in Kingham, Oxon, &c., to West-
minster Abbey, to be held at a rent of 1 4, and
granted in exchange for the abbey's manors of
Neyte, Tottington, and other manors and bene-
fices adjacent to Westminster and Chelsea. 243
But on 1 6 January, 1540, Westminster Abbey
was itself surrendered to the king, and the site
and property of the old priory of Hurley passed
into lay hands.

PRIORS OF HURLEY
JEric, c. H40 244
William, c. n6o 246
John de Roalla, c. 1169

133 Pat. 2 Hen. IV, pt. iii, m. 1 6.

840 Westm. Chart, dxv.

841 Ibid. dxxx. fu Ibid. dxl.

813 Pat. 28 Hen. VIII, pt. ii, m. 5 ; Westm. Chart,
dlxi. 844 Westm. Chart, vii.

" 5 Ibid. xvi. m Ibid, xviii, xxii.

Ralph de Arundel, c. n 75-1200 247

William, occurs c. 1220 248

Richard le Gras, occurs 123 1-36 249

Samson de Eswelle, occurs I236 250

William de Stanford, temp. Hen. Ill 251

Theobald, c. I25O 262

Geoffrey, I258 263

Theobald, occurs I273 252

John de Lyra, c. 12 74-9 254

Walter de London, 1279-1:. 1284 255

Richard de Walden, I285 256

Adam, i 285-95 2M

Richard de Walden (reappointed) 1295 258

William Seger, occurs c. I299 259

Richard de Walden, occurs I304 258

Alexander de Newport, 1 305-9 26

Henry, 131 1-13 2el

Richard de Coleworth, 1320 36 262

John Tuttehall, 1336-49 263

Thomas de Cumbrook, 1 352-63 264

William Bromley, 1365-75 266

William Gyppewych, 1389-1400 266

John Feryng, 1411-15 2W

William Pulburgh, 1416-17 26S

John Saffrey, 1 4 20-5 2 269

Edward Downe, 1461 87

Thomas Preston, 1468-86 271

John Hilston, 1487-97 m

John Hampton, temp. Hen. VII m

William Graunt, 1504-10 274

247 Ibid, rxvii, xxviii, xxix ; Leland, De Script. Brit.
246 ; Ann. de Wint. (Luard), 73.

"'Westm. Chart, xlv, I.

849 Ibid, li, Hi, liii, Ivi ; Ann. de Thcok. 101 ; Ann.
de Wigorn. (Rolls Ser.), 428.

150 Ann. de Dunst. (Rolls Ser.), 145.

851 Westm. Chart. Ixxi.

ta Ibid. Ivii, Ixxix, Ixxx, Ixxxvii.

853 Dugdale, Man, iii, 438.

854 Westm. Chart. Ixxxviii, xci, xcii, xcvi, xcvii,
clxxxix.

856 Ibid, xcviii-civ, cci, cxciii. t56 Ibid. cv.
157 Ibid, cvii ex, cxii, cxiv.

* M Ibid, cxv-cxviii, cxxii, cxxiii, cxxiv, cxxvii, cxxxi,
cxxxii, cxxxiv.
853 Ibid. cxix.

860 Ibid, cxxxviii, cxlii, ccii.

861 Ibid, cc, ccxiv.

168 Ibid, ccxxxiv-vii, cclxxix, cccii, cccviii-x, cccxiv,
cccxv.

163 Ibid, cccxlviii, cccliii, ccclxi, ccclxxiii-ccclxxxiv,
cccxc-xcv, cccxcix, cccc ii, ccccxi xiii, ccccxxi.

864 Ibid, ccccxxix-xxxiii, ccccxxxvi, ccccxliv, cccclii.

865 Ibid, cccclix, cccclxi, cccclxiii-cccclxxix.

866 Ibid, ccccxcii-iii, ccccxcvii, dii, dv, dviii, dx ;
Cat. Papal Let. v, 246-7.

867 Westm. Chart, dxvii, dxviii.
863 Ibid, dxx, dxxi.

8C9 Ibid, dxxii, dxxv-dxxix.

870 Ibid. dxxx.

171 Ibid, dxxxii, dxxxiv-vi.

88 Ibid, dxxxviii xl, dxlviii-ix.

873 Wethered's Hurley in the Middle Ages, 85.

174 Westm Chart, dliii, dlvii, dlix.

7 6

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

A full account, with four plates, is given by
Mr. Wethered of the various seals pertaining to
Hurley Priory among the store of deeds at West-
minster Abbey. 276 In addition to the seals of
certain priors, there are impressions extant of
three distinct common seals of the priory, the
subject of each being the Annunciation of the
Blessed Virgin.

The first of these occurs on several charters up
to 1 200, but there is not a good impression extant.
The second occurs in the reigns of the first three
Edwards ; it is a handsome bold example of seal
designing and engraving of the last quarter of
the thirteenth century. The Blessed Virgin and
the Archangel stand on each side of a conven-
tional lily springing from a vase ; below is the
prior kneeling in profile holding his pastoral staff
in both hands. Legend, in Lombardic capitals :

+ SI COMMUNE CAPITULI PRIORAT' HURLEY.

The third common seal is evidently of fifteenth-
century date, but only one mutilated example is
known.

4. THE PRIORY OF WALLINGFORD

The foundation of the Benedictine priory of
the Holy Trinity, Wallingford, is assigned by
some to Robert D'Oyley, a Norman chief who
came over with the Conqueror, and was the
holder of Wallingford Castle. 378

In the days of Paul, fourteenth abbot of
St. Albans, who ruled from 1077 to 1093, the
manor of Hendred, Berks., was conferred on
the abbey, which the abbot's successor transferred
to the monks of Wallingford. 277 During Paul's
rule, the church of the Holy Trinity, Walling-
ford, the moiety of the church of St. Mary,
Wallingford, together with half a hide of land
outside the town, were given to the abbey of
St. Albans. Walsingham states that it was
Abbot Paul who sent a few of his monks to the
church of the Holy Trinity, and, constructing
buildings for them, established it as a cell of the
great abbey. 278 This statement is so explicit
that Paul may be regarded in one sense as the
real founder, though the gifts to the abbey must
have been made by Robert D'Oyley, as lord of
Wallingford. 279

Its history was bound up with that of the
abbey of St. Albans up to its dissolution.
Wallingford Priory had but little independent
life, as the priors were appointed by the abbots

178 Wethered, Hurley in the Middle Ages, 69-81.

176 Clutterbuck, Herts, i, 38 ; Newcombe, St. Albans,
495. '" Walsingham, Gesta (Rolls Sen), i, 55.

'" Ibid. 56.

879 Geoffrey the chamberlain (? chamberlain of
Wallingford) is said by Matthew Paris to have been
the donor of the church of the Holy Trinity to the
abbey. If so it would be with the assent of D'Oyley
as lord.

and could be recalled if the stress of circum-
stances demanded it.

Jocelin, bishop of Salisbury, in 1 1 60 confirmed

to his beloved and religious sons the monks of
St. Albans, serving God in the church of the Holy
Trinity at Wallingford, all their Berkshire possessions
to wit the churches of Holy Trinity, St. John,
St. Martin, and St. Mary in Wallingford, the church
of Hendred, two parts of the tithes of Moulsford, and
the whole tithes of the demesnes of ' Cherseville,'
Donnington, Earley, Moreton, and Sotwell. 180

In the days of Prior Thomas, circa 1275, the
claims of the priory to the church of Chinnor,
Oxfordshire, were successfully maintained. 281

In March, 1319, the muniments of the priory
were inspected by visitation commissioners of
the archbishop of Canterbury, concerning the
appropriation of the church of Ashton, a pension
of iooj. from the church of Garsington, Js. from
the church of Chinnor, a portion of the tithe of
Mongewell estimated at a mark, and icu. from
Tonfield. 282 In the following year the arch-
bishop confirmed to the priory the appropriation
of the churches of ' Sholeyndon ' and Aston
Rowant with the chapel of Stokenchurch,
together with the pensions mentioned above. 283

The vicarage of Shephall was granted to the
abbey of St. Albans in 1474, a pension of
1 3*. ifd. being reserved to this priory ; but in
1480, when Anthony Zouche was presented to
the priory for life, the presentation to this vicarage
was transferred to the priory. 284

Among the Bodleian muniments is a certifi-
cate from John de Wyly, rector of Semley, a
commissary of the bishop of Salisbury, that he
has audited the account of Richard Knight,
sacrist of Wallingford Priory, who served the
church of the Holy Trinity during a vacancy
that extended from Michaelmas 1349 to All
Saints 1355, and finds that a sum of 25*. 6|^.
is due to him. 286 This proves that part of
the church of the Holy Trinity was considered
parochial.

The oldest charter extant of this priory is one
at the Bodleian, temp. Henry I (1100-35),
whereby that king grants to the monks of
Holy Trinity, Wallingford, the tithes of Mouls-
ford and of the land of Henry the larderer, with
small benefits as they had in the days of
King William his brother, and as on the day
when Geoffrey the chamberlain was seised of
that land. 286

880 Bodleian Chart. 3. >81 Ibid. 456.

*" Coxe and Turner, Cat. Chart. 17-18. B Ibid. 14.

184 Wallingford, Register (Rolls Ser.), ii, 121, 235-7.

285 Coxe and Turner, Cal. Chart. 19.

886 Coxe and Turner, Cal. Chart, pp. 4-23. At
the Bodleian Library there is a great store of docu-
ments relative to the possessions of the monks of
Wallingford, numbering 162. These are undoubtedly
the evidences forwarded on 2 April 1538 by Crom-
well to Oxford, as mentioned below.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Master Christian de Wallingford granted cer-
tain lands in 1180, in consideration of the monks
providing him and his servant with a daily
corrody ; moreover, after his death the priory
was to have all his books of the Divine Scriptures
for ever. 287

An undated thirteenth-century charter of
William Gurmond of Wallingford grants to the
sacristan of the priory 31*. id. annual quit-rents
in the villages of Wallingford and Clapcot, for
providing lamps and candles to burn in honour
of the Blessed Virgin ; Hubert de Hethfield, in
1270, granted 5*. 6d. of annual rents for the
sustentation of one wax candle of two pounds to
burn before the image of the Virgin in the priory
church. 288

An early undated grant of William de Druval
shows the care bestowed by the monks on the
sick outside their own order. William, with the
consent of his sons, gave a hide of land in
Goring to the monks of Wallingford for their
care of him when he was ill. 289

Licence was obtained, by a fine of loos., in
January, 1332, for the alienation in mortmain
by Richard de Louches to the priory of Walling-
ford of 13^ acres of land and an acre of meadow
in Wallingford, to find a chaplain to celebrate
daily in the priory for the soul of Richard and
others. 290

At the time when Nicholas de Wallingford
was prior of Wallingford he was made abbot of
Malmesbury in 1182 a letter of complaint was
addressed to the abbot and convent by Peter
de Blois, archdeacon of Bath, as to the rough
treatment and lack of hospitality shown by the
prior of Wallingford. Peter, on returning from
the visitation of his archdeaconry, sent on his
servant to prepare for his entertainment at the
priory for one night, and to ask the prior to
assign him vacant rooms and all that was needful
for himself and his men and horses ; but

the prior replied to them with much pride and
abusive language, and breaking out into insult, almost
to the extent of blows, provoked them by the dis-
graceful baseness of his words.' 91

A declaration was made on the vigil of the
Conversion of St. Paul, 1 246, by the archdeacon
of Berks, that, a synod having been held in the
priory church of Wallingford during the vacancy
of the see of Salisbury, no claim was hereafter to
be made nor the liberties or privileges of the
priory be in consequence thereof disturbed. 292

The most eminent of the early priors of
Wallingford was John de Wallingford, some-
times termed John de Cella from having been

** Coxe and Turner, Cal. Chart. 15.

188 Ibid. 15-17.

a* Ibid. ii.

>M Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. z.

191 Hedges, Wallingford, ii, 359.

191 Ibid. 1 6.

superior of this important cell of the great abbey.
Though of humble origin he had studied in Paris,
and came home

with such a reputation that in grammar he was
considered a very Priscian, in poetry a perfect
Ovid, and in physics esteemed equal to Galen.

After taking the Benedictine vows he was sent
to Wallingford and became prior in 1191. Four
years later he was elected abbot of St. Albans,
where he presided with sanctity and success until
his death in I2I4. 293

Owing to the disturbance made by the prior
of Wymondham, one of the several important
cells of St. Albans, Hugh the twenty-seventh
abbot, in 1319, ordered that the priors and
brethren of all the cells were to make oath of
obedience to the abbot. The prior of Walling-
ford was present in chapter when this decree
was ordained. 294

In January, 1333, justices were appointed, on
the complaint of the prior of Wallingford, to
inquire into the charge made against Sir Roger
Ruwand and many others, of breaking into the
prior's close at Chalford, county Oxford, burn-
ing his house there, taking away five horses,
twenty-three oxen, two cows, and fifty swine
worth ; 50, carrying away his goods, and im-
pounding his plough cattle without reasonable
cause until he made a fine of iooj. with the said
Roger for their delivery, and further for assault-
ing and imprisoning his servants. 296

In 1396, when there was an election of an
abbot of St. Albans, William Bynham, prior of
Wallingford, was excused attendance on account
of infirmity. 296 Whilst John V was abbot (1396-
1401) a contribution of twenty marks was for-
warded by this priory to St. Albans on one
occasion, and 401. on another. 297 On the election
of William Heyworth as abbot, in 1401, Richard
Hely was present as prior of Wallingford ; but
the new abbot speedily recalled him from his
priory and made him sacrist of the abbey,
appointing Robert Botheby in his place. This
change caused some excitement in the monas-
tery. 298

Ordinances of the abbey temp. Richard II
decided that the prior of Wallingford was to pay
a pension of 311. <)d. towards the support of the
scholars at Oxford. 299 In an inventory of the
jewels and church goods of the church of
St. Albans, drawn up in the reign of Henry IV,
the list of lapides pretiosi is headed by a sapphire
stone of an intense yellow colour, weighing six
pennyweights, the gift of Thomas a former
(thirteenth-century) prior of Wallingford ; it had
been mounted on a ring. 300

293 Walsingham, Gesta (Rolls Ser.), i, 217-20.

294 Ibid, ii, 148. " 5 Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. I d.

296 Walsingham, Gesta (Riley), iii, 426.

297 Ibid, iii, 456, 468. 298 Ibid, iii, 493-4.

299 Cott. MSS. Claude. E. iv, fol. 34^.

300 Ibid. fol. 351.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Cardinal Wolsey, commendatory abbot of
St. Albans, obtained a papal bull in 1524 for the
dissolution of Wallingford and other small
monasteries, to obtain funds for founding his
college at Oxford. Accordingly the surrender
of the priory was made by Prior Geoffrey, on
19 April, 1525, to John Allen, notary public,
Thomas Cromwell being one of the witnesses. 301
But its actual dissolution was delayed for some
time, whilst the college was building.

Thomas Cannar, the sub-dean of Wolsey's
college, wrote in January, 1528, to Cromwell,
saying that he had heard the cardinal intended,
on the authority of the pope, to suppress the
monastery of Wallingford. In that event, he
begged Cromwell to let the people of Basingstoke,
where he was brought up, have the bells.
With the letter the sub-dean sent Cromwell a
pair of Oxford gloves ' as a token.' 302

In the following April, Cromwell wrote to
Wolsey to the effect that he had visited the
monastery of Wallingford, and found all the
church and household implements had been con-
veyed away, save the evidences which he had
forwarded to the dean of Cardinal College. 303

It was not until 6 July, 1528, that the grant of
the lands, site, &c. of the priory of Wallingford,
suppressed on papal authority, was formally
transferred by the crown to Wolsey for his
Oxford college; and on 10 July Dean Higden
appointed Nicholas Gifford and Hugh Whalley
to take seisin of the monastery and its lands. 304

PRIORS OF WALLINGFORD

Hubert, occurs 1 1 1 2 305

Nicholas, resigned 1 1 82 306

John de Wallingford, 1191-95 307

Simon, appointed 1195 308

Rualend (thirteenth century) 309

Geoffrey, occurs c. 1250 31

Ralph de Watlington, occurs 1254-74 m

801 L. and P. Hen. Fill, iv, pt. i, 1 1 37 (19).
302 Ibid. 3806.

803 Ibid. 4135.

804 Ibid. 4471, 4496.

305 Chron. de Abingdon (Rolls Sen), ii, 104.

806 Cole MSS. xxvi, fol. 172*.

807 Walsingham, Gesta (Rolls Ser.), ii, 127.

308 Willis and Hedges, Hist, of Wallingford, ii, 361.
Hedges gives a descriptive list of priors based on
Willis, Newcombe's S/. Albans, and Clutterbuck's
Herts. The list given above contains several new
names and corrections.

309 Coxe and Turner, Cal. Eodl. Chart. 1 \.

310 Ibid. 1 6. s " Ibid. 4, 14, &c.

Thomas, circa I275 313

Gregory, temp. Edw. I 313

William de Kirkeby 314

Germanus 31 *

Stephen de Wittenham, occurs 1314 31S

William de Huntingdon 317

William de Huron, occurs 1335 and I357 318

William de Stevington, occurs 1359 and

1367

William de Bynham, occurs 1379 32
Richard Hely, occurs 1401 321
Robert Botheby, appointed 1401 3 " 2
John Stoke, 1402, resigned I44O 323
Robert Ormsby, circa I442 324
Henry Halstede, appointed I444 325
John Peyton , LL.D., occurs I452 326
William Wells alias Wallis, occurs 1453 327
John de Ban bough, occurs I458 328
Thomas Wilton, occurs 1465 329
William Hardwick, D.D., 1465-72 33
William Risborough, appointed I473 331
Anthony Zouch, occurs 1480, 1485 332
John Thornton, occurs between 1497 and

1503 333

John Clare, occurs 1515 831
Geoffrey, surrendered 1525 338

The original eleventh-century common seal 33e
of this priory, of which only an imperfect
impression remains, shows Our Lord with
cruciform nimbus, in drapery of an archaic
style, seated on a rainbow ; right hand raised in
benediction, and open book in the left hand.
The remaining letters of the legend are :

SIG

E TRINITAT EFORD.

11 Walsingham, Gesta (Riley), i, 456.

313 Cal. Chart. 1 1, 12, 19, 21.

314 Dugdale, Man. ii, 196.

315 Willis, Mitred Abbeys, ii, 7.
816 Ibid. 8 " Ibid.

818 Ibid.; Coxe and Turner, Cal. Chart. 7, 8, 18.
319 Willis, op. cit. "<> Cal. Chart. 4.

321 Walsingham, Gesta (Rolls Sen), iii, 480.
122 Ibid, iii, 493. 3 * Abbot of St. Albans.

324 Amundesham, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 370.

825 Pat. 23 Hen. VI. pt. ii, m. 7.

826 Whethamstede, Reg. (Rolls Ser.), i, ii, 15.

827 Kennett, Par. Antlq. ii, 392.

Cal. Chart, iz. 3!9 Ibid. i.

330 Albon, Reg. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 1 08.

331 Ibid. 123-4.

332 Wallingforde, Reg. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 235, 237.

333 Willis, op. cit. ii, 7; Cal. Chart. 22.

334 Cal. Chart. 23.

835 L. and P. Hen. Fill, vi, pt. i, 1137 (19).

836 B.M. Ii, 10.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

HOUSE OF BENEDICTINE NUNS

5. THE PRIORY OF BROMHALL

Of the early foundation of the priory of
Benedictine nuns at Bromhall within the limits
of Windsor Forest, nothing is known. The
first mention of it occurs in the year 1200,
when King John bestowed on the priory of
St. Margaret the church of Sunningwell with
all its appurtenances. 1

The consent of Bishop Simon de Gandavo to
the appropriation of the church of Aldworth to
the priory was obtained in May 1308. A
vicarage was at the same time ordained, whereby
a messuage with place adjoining and certain
crofts and virgates of land were assigned to the
vicar, together with mortuaries and oblations,
and tithes of mills, as well as various small
tithes, including those on apples, gardens, flax,
wool, milk and cheese. 8

Licence was granted under privy seal, in 1391,
to the prioress and nuns of Bromhall, to appro-
priate, in consideration of their poverty, the
advowson of North Stoke, co. Oxford. 3 The
priory had to pay 3*. 4^. pension on Christmas
day to the dean and chapter of Lincoln in
recognition of their consent to this appro-
priation. 4

In 1228 the king issued his mandate to Jordan,
the forester of Windsor, to give full access to
the prioress and nuns of Bromhall to the 100
acres of waste which the king had granted to
the convent, in accordance with the bonds and
divisions laid down by the king's courts.' In
1231 the king pardoned the nuns the pannage
fees due to the crown for 36 pigs, and ordered
the agisters of Windsor Forest henceforth to
permit the priory to have free pannage. Later
in the same year Henry ordered the constable of
Windsor to grant the prioress three beams of
timber in Windsor Forest, to make shingles for
the repair of their refectory, and also to give her
an oak. 8 The prioress and nuns of Bromhall
obtained licence from the king in 1283 to
inclose with a small dyke and a hedge sufficiently
low for the entry and exit of the deer, the 100
acres of land which they had of the king's gift
within the forest of Windsor, and which they
had brought into cultivation. 7

In July 1285, an inspection and confirmation
of the charter of Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln,
and Margaret his wife to the nuns of Bromhall,

1 Rot. Chart. I John, m. 1 1.
' Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fols. 88, 89 ; Pat.
2 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 24.

1 Ibid. 15 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 27.

4 Dugdale, Man. iv, 507.

6 Ct. R. 12 Hen. Ill, m. 13.

6 Ibid. 15 Hen. Ill, m. 14, II, 2.

7 Pat. 1 1 Edw. I, m. 22.

was granted by Edward I. By this charter the
priory obtained 100 acres of the waste of
'Asserigge' which lay between Pillingbere' and
the high road from Bracknell and Reading. 8

On 8 April, 1310, Constance de Bluntesdon,
Maud de Burghton, and Dionisia de Horshulle,
three nuns of Bromhall, arrived at Windsor to
acquaint the king with the resignation of Isabel
de Sunnyng their prioress, and to obtain letters
of licence to elect her successor."

On 22 May Edward II issued his mandate to
the escheator for the restitution of the tempor-
alities of Bromhall to Claricia de Cotes, a nun
of that place, in consideration of the poverty of
the house, and being unwilling to cause loss to
the nuns by a prolonged voidance. He accepted
her preferment as prioress by the bishop of
Salisbury in place of Maud de Broughton, whose
election, though the king had assented thereto,
was found by the bishop to be canonically
void. 10

Margery de Fouleston died in December,
1327, and on the 6th of that month the nuns
obtained licence to elect. After a little delay
Gunnilda de Bokham was elected prioress, and
the king, compassionating the poverty of the
house, empowered the constable of Windsor
Castle to grant royal assent to the election, and
upon canonical confirmation to receive the fealty
of the new prioress. 11

Archbishop Arundel, on 6 November, 1404,
issued a commission to the archdeacon of
Berks., the dean of Windsor, and three others, to
hold an inquiry concerning a complaint made by
the nuns of Bromhall, who alleged that Juliana
Bromhall, one of their number, had for twenty
years led an evil life, having without their con-
sent usurped the rule of the house, and had
appropriated to her own nefarious uses chalices,
books, jewels, and rents and property of the
convent. 12 The exact result of the commission
is not known, but Juliana resigned in 1405.

The early charters of this priory were burnt
by mishap in 1462. Thereupon Alice, the
prioress, and the nuns obtained inspection and
confirmation of letters patent of 14 Edward II,
whereby five charters of Henry III and letters
patent of Edward I had been inspected and
confirmed. The nuns were only charged the
small fee of half a mark, doubtless in con-
sideration of their misfortune. 13

There is another reference to this disastrous
fire. In this same year Walter de Cantilupe,

8 Ibid. 13 Edw. I, m. 9.
8 Pat. 3 Edw. II, m. 8.

10 Ibid. m. 6.

11 Ibid. I Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 8, 4, I.
" Cant. Arch. Reg. Arundel, fol. 129^.
13 Pat. 2 Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 1 6, 15.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

bishop of Worcester, issued his mandate to the
abbots, priors, and archdeacons of his diocese, to
collect alms for the nuns of St. Margaret of
Bromhall, in Sarum diocese, as their house had
recently been destroyed by fire. 14

It seems impossible to ascertain the exact facts
that led to the early suppression of this small
nunnery. Henry VIII, writing to the bishop of
Salisbury on 13 December, 1521, thanked him
for the care he had taken in suppressing the
nunnery of Bromhall ' for such enormities as was
by them used.' He concludes by ordering the
bishop to deliver to the bearer the evidences of
the house then in his hands. 16 In the following
March, at an inquisition held at Windsor, it was
found that a priory of Benedictine nuns, dedicated
to St. Margaret, was founded by the king's
progenitors at Bromhall, under the authority of
the bishop of Salisbury ; that Joan Rawlyns, the
prioress, resigned on 12 September, 1521 ; that
the two nuns who were there with the prioress
left the priory as a profane place, and that it is
consequently dissolved ; that the convent was
seised of the church of St. Margaret and of the
churchyard, and of the site and grange of the
nunnery, which last included the mansion, manor,
water-mill, gate-house, and gardens ; that the
church and churchyard were of no value, being
set apart for divine service, and that the rest was
worth 4*. a year. They believed that the
convent was also seised of the manors of Brom-
hall and Wingfield, and that it held all its
possessions of the king, to whom they reverted. 16

On 21 October, 1522, the various possessions
of the priory of Bromhall were transferred by
the crown to the master, fellows, and scholars of
St. John's College, Cambridge. 17

PRIORESSES OF BROMHALL

Agnes de St. Edmund, occurs 1268 18
Margery de Wycombe, appointed 1281 19
Isabel, occurs I295 20
Matilda de Berghton, appointed 1302 n
Isabel de Sunnyng, resigned I3io 22
Claricia de Cotes, appointed i 3 1 o M
Matilda de Bourton, appointed 1 3 1 5 n
Margery de Fouleston, appointed 1326,'* died

1327"

Gunnilda de Bokham, elected 1327 26
Isabel de Hautford, elected I349 27
Alice de Falle, occurs 1358, I363 28
Eleanor, occurs 1392 29
Juliana Bromhall alias Dunne, occurs 1404,

resigned 1405 w

Thomasine Bodyngton, appointed 1405"
Alice Burton, 1437, J 445 32
Isabel Beale, resigned 1483 33
Anne Thomas, resigned 1498 34
Elizabeth Leukenor, appointed I498 38
Joan Rawlyns, 1511-1521

There is an impression of the seal of this
priory attached to a deed of 1 6 Richard II, at
Westminster Abbey, whereby Eleanor the
prioress and the convent undertake to pay 3;. ^d.
yearly to the dean and chapter of Lincoln for
their consent to the appropriation of the church
of North Stoke. The seal, which is circa 1200
in style, represents St. Margaret trampling on the
dragon, and is exceptional in having two large
faces in profile protruding from the inner side of
the margin. Only a few letters of the legend

remain.

HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS

6. THE CELL OR GRANGE OF
FARINGDON

There is no Cistercian abbey among the
religious houses of Berkshire ; but the valuable
manors of Faringdon, and certain adjacent
property in the county, were granted to the

"C.C.C. Oxon. MSS. 154. \

15 L. and P. Hen. Fill, iii, 1863.
18 Ibid. 2080.

17 Pat. 14 Hen. VIII, pt. ii, m. 5. In Baker, Hist.
of St. John's Coll. Camb. references are given to various
letters contained in the ' Red Book,' relative to the
suppression of the priory, and the transference of the
property, dating from Oct. 1521, up to the following
Feb. ; the letters are numbered consecutively from
168 to 173.

18 Cole MSS. xxviii, fol. 656.

19 Willis, Mitred Abbeys, ii, App. 3. * Ibid.
81 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol. 42^.

* Pat. 3 Edw. II, m. 8, 6.

2 8l

house of St. Mary of Citeaux by King John in
1203, on condition of a house being established
there for Cistercian monks. But in the following
year he founded in the New Forest the abbey
known as Beaulieu for thirty monks of that
reformed Benedictine order. By the Beaulieu
foundation charter of 25 January, 1204-5, that

* Sar. Epis. Reg. Mortival, i, fol. 182.

14 Ibid. fol. 1 8 6.

14 Pat. i Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 8. * Ibid. m. I.

87 Sar. Epis. Reg. Mortival.

18 Willis, Mitred Abbeys.

19 Cart. Misc. Westm. (Dugdale, Mm. iv, 507).

80 Cant. Arch. Reg. Arundel, fol. 129^.

81 B.M. Ducarel MSS. xiii, 184.
s> Willis, Mitred Abbeys.

38 Ibid.

34 Sar. Epis. Reg. Blyth, fol. 100.
85 Ibid.

i6 This seal is drawn on pi. 25 of vol. iv of
Dugdale, Man.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

abbey was endowed, inter alia, with the manors
of Great and Little Faringdon, Great and Little
Coxwell, Shilton and Inglesham, and the churches
of Shilton and Inglesham, and the chapel of
Coxwell, and all that the king had in Langford.
Beaulieu being thus founded, the monks who
were already at Faringdon were transferred to the
important abbey of which Faringdon was hence-
forth a cell.

Tne chartularies of Beaulieu have many

records of the manorial customs and the tenants,
with the value of their Berkshire estates, but they
contain nothing of interest with respect to the
actual grange and chapel of the few monks who
would from time to time reside at Faringdon to
superintend the farming of the property they
held in this county. 1

At the time of the dissolution of Beaulieu
Abbey, the Berkshire property was valued at
102 js. id. a year.

HOUSES OF AUSTIN CANONS

7. THE PRIORY OF BISHAM

The manor of Bisham (Bustlesham or Bistle-
sham) was given by Robert de Ferrers, in the
time of Stephen, to the Knights Templars, and
here they had a preceptory. On the suppression
of that order, the estate did not pass to the
Hospitallers, for it had previously been granted
to Hugh le Despenser. It afterwards came to
William Montacute earl of Salisbury, who in
1337 built here a priory for Austin canons.

On 1 5 April licence was granted for the earl of
Salisbury to give in frankalmoign to the prior and
canons of the house to be founded on his manor
of Bisham, land, rent, and advowsons to the yearly
value of 500. The monastery was to be
founded in honour of Jesus Christ and St. Mary. 1 '
Special licences were also enrolled in the course
of the next twelve months for the alienation in
mortmain to the new foundation of the manor
of Hurcott, in Somerset ; of an assart of
104 acres inclosed on the heath of Berendenville
in the parish of Cookham, Berkshire ; of the
advowson of the church of Kingsclere, Hamp-
shire, with an acre of land ; of the manor of
Bisham, and of the manor of Bulstrode,
Buckinghamshire.

The actual foundation charter, dated 22 April,
1337, is explicit in declaring this house of Austin
canons to be dedicated ' in honour of Our Lord
Jesus Christ and St. Mary the glorious Virgin
His Mother,' yet in the time of Richard II and
right down to its surrender the dedication is
given as the Holy Trinity. We can only
conclude that the dedication was changed when
the time came for the actual consecration of the
conventual church and buildings.

William Montacute, earl of Salisbury, for 1 oo
paid in the Hanaper, obtained licence in 1386 to
alienate the advowsons of Curry Rivel, Somer-
set, and Mold, Flintshire, to the prior and

1 V.C.H. Hants, ii, 140.

Ia Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. i, mm. 30, 29. See also
Chart. R. 11 Edw. Ill, 35, 37 ; by these charters
every possible right and exemption was conferred
upon this house and its tenants ; the foundation

convent of Bisham, and for the priory to hold
the appropriation of both. 3

The appropriation of the church of Curry
Rivel, Somerset, to the priory of Bisham, of
a value not exceeding 60 marks, was confirmed
by Pope Boniface in August, 1398. This con-
firmation recites that the appropriation had been
consented to by the bishop of Wells, by the
chapter of Bath and Wells, by the archdeacon
of Taunton, and by King Richard, in accordance
with the custom of the realm. The bishop's
letters, as recited in the Lateran registers, state
that the priory was weighed down with debt, that
its rents had diminished through pestilence, that
its church was in a great measure unbuilt,
that its situation by the highway (along which a
great multitude of rich and poor pass to divers
markets) rendered much hospitality necessary,
that its arable lands, crops, and buildings suffered
by the flooding of the Thames, so that the priory's
resources were not sufficient for the support of
the canons and that of their servants (usually
numbering thirty), and for the due discharge of
hospitality. Yearly pensions were to be paid of
3*. 4^. to the bishop, 2<M. to his chapter, and
y. 4.d. to the archdeacon of Taunton. 3

Two days later, Boniface confirmed the ap-
propriation made by the bishop of Salisbury of
the church of Hilmarton, Wiltshire, to the
same priory, which had been granted in 1396-7.
The reasons assigned by the bishop for sanction-
ing the appropriation are much the same as
those put forth by the bishop of Bath and Wells j
but there are additional statements as to the
priory's loss through murrain among their cattle,
sheep, and horses, and also that their nearness to
Windsor Castle increased the claims on their
hospitality. 4

In May, 1401, Pope Boniface confirmed the
priory in their rights to the appropriations of the
churches of Kingsclere, Hampshire, and of

charter was witnessed, inter a/ia, by the archbishop
of Canterbury, two bishops, and three earls. The
charter is recited in Sar. Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, i, 46-8.

- Pat. 9 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 21.

1 Cal. Pafal Let. v, 157. 4 Ibid. 162-3.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Mold, Flintshire, as well as those of Curry
Rivel and Hilmarton, and granted that in
future visitations of archbishops, bishops, or
others, the prior and convent should not be
bound to exhibit other titles than the present
papal letters, which were to have the force of
the originals. 6 From this it would appear that
at least some of the originals were missing.

Pope Innocent VII directed his mandate, in
1404, to the bishop of St. Asaph to summon the
prior and convent of Bisham, who were unduly
detaining possession of the parish church of Mold,
and to collate John ap Kadegan to its perpetual
vicarage, if found fit in Latin ; the church
had been so long void, that by the Lateran
statutes its collation lapsed to the apostolic
see. 6

In 1409 Pope Alexander sent his mandate to
the bishop of Salisbury, at the petition of the
prior and convent of Bisham, authorizing the
conditional appropriation of the parish church of
East Claydon, diocese of Lincoln. It is stated
therein that Urban VI, on its being set forth to
him that the late earl of Salisbury had been
prevented by death from sufficiently endowing
the priory, had assented, owing to its great
poverty, to the appropriation of East Claydon
when it became vacant. The priory afterwards
took possession, notwithstanding the general
revocation of appropriations of Boniface IX. If
the facts were as stated the bishop was to see
that the church was duly appropriated, a fitting
portion, if that had not been done, being
reserved for a perpetual vicar, who was to be a
secular priest. 7

The chief revenues of this priory came from
appropriated rectories. Two more churches
were appropriated to Bisham in the time of
Henry V, namely Shalfleet, Isle of Wight, in
1413, and West Wycombe, Berkshire, in
I4I4. 8 In 1461 the convent paid 2os. in the
Hanaper for the inspection and confirmation of
the charters granted by Edward III. 9

Prior Richard, writing to Cromwell in August,
1533, asked him to receive 'the poor young
man ' the bearer, in his great necessity, as it had
pleased him to show great love to Lord Montagu,
the founder of their house. The young man
had been good and religious in his conversation
among them, and they would gladly have
retained him longer, but their many charges and
changes of priors had brought their house
behindhand. 10

Cromwell, in his scheming for his friends and
tools, desired to secure the appointment of prior
of Bisham for William Barlow, who was at that

5 Cal. Papal Let. v, 430.

6 Ibid, vi, 60. 'Ibid. 157.

8 Pat. i Hen. V, pt. iii, m. 10 ; pt. v, m. 20 ;
2 Hen. V, pt. i, m. 3.

9 Ibid, i Edw. IV, pt. v, m. 41, 3.
^L. and P. Hen. nil, vi, 971.

time prior of Haverfordwest. He ordered the
then prior to resign, and sent his instructions to
Thomas Benet, LL.D., vicar-general of Sarum,
to repair to the priory for the election, doubt-
less to see that his nominee was appointed.
Benet, however, wrote to Cromwell on 1 6 April,
1535, stating that he would have executed his
commands before, only the promised resignation
of the incumbent had not been received ; never-
theless he would proceed to Bisham on 23 April.
A letter of Sir William Carew of 27 April stated
that he had heard that the prior, by the per-
suasion of my Lady of Salisbury and other
people, refused to resign, though these very
people thought him very unmeet to continue, until
they saw that Cromwell meant to prefer one
contrary to their minds. 11

Cromwell succeeded in forcing Barlow on
Bisham Priory, but it is doubtful if he ever
visited his new preferment, for he was speedily
dispatched on an embassy to Scotland. Whilst
absent in Scotland in January, 1536, Barlow
was appointed bishop of St. Asaph, the first of
the many sees that he held ; in April he was
translated to St. David's, but was allowed as a
court favourite to hold the priory of Bisham in
commendam.

The summary of the Valor of 1536 gives the
income of this priory as 185 us. o^., which
would have brought it within the suppression of the
lesser houses ; but the full Valor for Berkshire is
missing, and the abstract among the first fruits
documents is obviously incorrect in some par-
ticulars. The ministers' accounts of the Aug-
mentation Office give the total income as

327 4*. 6 ^-

The obsequious Barlow was ready, however,

at once to comply with the desire of Henry and
Cromwell, and on 5 July, 1536, he surrendered
Bisham to the king. But now came about a
singular state of things. Bisham alone among
all the monasteries of England was selected by
the fickle Henry VIII to be re-established on a
much more imposing and wealthy scale, the
priory being converted into an abbey.

On 6 July, 1537, John Cordrey, abbot of
Chertsey, Surrey, with William the prior and
thirteen monks, surrendered, on condition of
being re-established as an abbey about to be
founded by the king at the late priory of Bisham.
On 1 8 December, 1537, the king granted a
charter of portentous length to the new founda-
tion of the order of St. Benedict ' out of sincere
devotion to God and the Blessed Virgin His
Mother.' It was to consist of an abbot and
thirteen monks, and was founded by Henry to
secure prayers for his good estate during life, and
for the soul of Jane his late queen, also for the
souls of his posterity and progenitors, and for the
souls of all the faithful departed. This new
abbey of the Holy Trinity was to be endowed

11 Ibid, viii, 553, 596.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

with the house, lands, and all the appurtenances
of the late priory of Bisham, and also with the
lands of the late abbey of Chertsey, and of the
priories of Cardigan, Beddgelert, Ankerwyke,
Little Marlow, Medmenham, &c., to the annual
value of j66 1 141. <)d. Moreover, to give
greater dignity to this new abbey, Henry granted
his beloved John Cordrey licence to wear an
episcopal mitre. 13

What John Cordrey and his monks thought
of it all as they entered their new home, and
whether they had any doubt as to the perma-
nency of their re-establishment, it would perhaps
be idle to inquire. But no sooner had they
entered than Cromwell at once pressed his
claims upon them. In less than ten days from
the receipt of the king's charter, we find the
abbot writing to Cromwell, acknowledging the
receipt of his letter requesting the office of sur-
veyor and receiver of the lands of the new
monastery for his friend Mr. Stydolf, who would,
according to precedent, have well requited Crom-
well on obtaining the position. The abbot was
bold enough to say that there were neighbouring
gentlemen whom he would offend if he did not
let them have such an office ; and he also re-
minded Cromwell that he had granted Stydolf a
charge of 40*. a year on the late abbey of Chert-
sey before its surrender, and that he was adding
another 2Os. a year of his own free will. 13

This rebuff no doubt angered Cromwell, who
would throw in his weight against the new
foundation. Moreover, the king's sorrow over
the death of Jane Seymour soon evaporated, and
with it seems to have gone his short-lived desire
for prayers either for the living or for the dead.
The abbey of Bisham lasted for exactly six
months, and then John the abbot, William the
prior, and the convent of monks were called
upon to execute a second farcical ' surrender ' of
all their possessions, which they duly executed
on 19 June, 1538, in favour of Richard Layton
and Edward Carne, doctors of law, the king's
visitors. 14

Three days later Layton wrote to Cromwell
from Bisham, with a not unnatural air of con-
tempt for these twice surrendering monks. ' We
have taken,' he writes, 'the assurance for the
king, the abbot a very simple man, the monks
of small learning and less discretion.' The plate
and household stuff was but little. Layton had
to borrow a bed from the town for Dr. Carne
and himself. Cattle none but a few milch kine,
grain none, vestments few. The abbot, he
thought, had sold everything in London, and,
doubtless, within a year would have sold house
and lands, for ' white wine, sugar, burrage leaves
and sake, whereof he sips nightly in his chamber

" Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. iv. Cited at length in
Dugdale, Man. vi, 528-534.

1S L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xii, pt. ii, 1267.
" Rymer, Foedera, xiv, 607.

till midnight.' For money to dispatch the house-
hold and monks they must sell the copes and
bells, and if that sufficed not even the cows,
plough oxen, and horses. The grain crop was
the fairest he had ever seen, and there was much
meadow and woodland. The carters and plough-
men were retained because of the hay harvest.
That day (22 June) they dispatched the monks,
who were desirous to be gone. On the previous
day, when they were selling the vestments in the
chapter-house, the monks cried a new mart in
the cloister and sold their cowls. 16

It may at first seem surprising that a house so
well endowed should have been in so poor a
plight, but it must be remembered that it had
not lasted long enough for the revenues to come
in. Moreover, the goods of Bisham had been
sold at its first suppression as an Austin priory.

The most revolting charges were made against
Cordrey and his monks by Dr. Legh when he
visited them at Chertsey in 1536. Out of their
small number, if Legh is to be believed, seven
were incontinent, four guilty of unnatural offences,
and two apostate. But this is in direct contra-
diction to the visitation report about the same
time of the bishop of Winchester and Sir W.
Fitzwilliam. 16 The matter is of considerable
importance as affecting the general credibility of
the monstrous accusations made by Legh and
Layton against monasteries up and down the
country. Had the king and his advisers really
given credit to the Comperta of these two visitors,
is it possible to conceive that the abbot of Chert-
sey and his monks could have been transferred
en bloc to the new foundation at Bisham ? More-
over, John Cordrey was placed on the commission
of the peace for Berkshire the year after these
outrageous accusations had been presented.

PRIORS OF BISHAM

Thomas Wiltshire (first prior), 1337
Richard de Marlborough "
John Preston, appointed I378 18
Adam Wargrave, elected 1398 19
Edmund Redyng, elected 1423 *
Hugh Somerton, elected 1433 21
John Blissett, elected 1442 22
Richard Sewy, occurs 1483 23
Richard, occurs 1533 24
William Barlow, appointed abbot 1536 S5
John Cordrey, 1537

15 L. and P. Hen. 7111, xiii, pt. i, 1239.

16 Ibid, ix, 472 ; V.C.H. Surrey, ii.

17 Dugdale, Man. vi, 527.

18 Pat. 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 4.

19 Cal. Papal Let. v, 357.

K Sar. Epis. Reg. Chandler, fol. 38*.

" Ibid. Neville, fol. 1 3 b.

'' Ibid. Aiscough, fol. 20.

Harl. MSS. 433.

!) L. and P. Hen. Vlll, vi, 971.

15 See above.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

The seal 26 of the first foundation is a pointed
oval, bearing the Coronation of the Virgin under
a double-arched canopy. Legend :

C . . . IMI D . . . TLESH . .

The pointed oval seal of the re-foundation
(1537) ^ a Benedictine abbey shows the Trinity
in a renaissance niche, and bears in base the
royal arms of Henry VIII. The lettering is :

s' : COB : NOVI : MONASTERII : REG : HENRICI :
OCTAVI : DE : BISH'

8. THE PRIORY OF POUGHLEY

A charter of inspection and confirmation of
the year 1330 gives an authoritative account of
the origin of Poughley Priory. It was founded
by Ralph de Chaddleworth, about the year 1 160,
who endowed it with the site of a hermitage
called Clenfordemere ' or ' Ellenfordemere,'
with an adjacent wood, and with the church of
Chaddleworth, including the chapel of Wulney
(Wolley) and all its appurtenances. At the same
time or shortly afterwards the priory received, from
Thomas de Mazuy, the land that he held at
West Batterton, Wilts ; from Roger de Cur-
ridge, his lands at Curridge ; from Nicholas de
Hedinton, his lands at Peasemore ; from Lambert
de Faringdon, his lands at Faringdon ; and from
Hugh de Bathonia, his lands at 'Werdeham,'
and his meadow at Colthrop. The same con-
firmation charter also briefly recites a number of
later small donations, chiefly of plots of land in
Berkshire. 27

This priory, erected on the site of the old
hermitage and dedicated to the honour of
St. Margaret, was assigned to canons regular
of the order of St. Augustine.

Pope Alexander in 1182 granted to the
newly-founded house entire exemption from tithes,
and further ordered by his apostolic authority
both the bishop of Salisbury and the archdeacon
of Berkshire and their officials not to impose
any new charges of any kind on the priory. In
this bull of papal protection the house is de-
scribed as the priory of St. Margaret of
' Elenfordesmer.' M

Pope Alexander IV granted two bulls to this
house in September, 1256. By the first of these,
dated 22 September, the privilege was conferred
of celebrating the divine offices in a low tone
(uoce supressa), and with closed doors and without
ringing of bells, during interdicts. By the second,
dated five days later, the priory was taken, in
general terms, under apostolic protection. 39
The taxation roll of Pope Nicholas in 1291

26 Harl. Chart. 44, B. 40.

17 Chart. R. 3 Edw. Ill, 26 ; cited in Dugdale,
Mon. v\, 400.

88 Rymer, Foedera, i, 59-60.
w Ibid. 607, 6 10.

names a pension of 2s. 6d. due to this priory from
the church of West Hendred. Under the head
of temporalities the annual sum of 14 195. 4^.
was due from lands in Belton, Lambourn, Pease-
more, Speen, and Marcham, all in the arch-
deaconry of Berkshire, and also 9*. out of the
Wiltshire deanery of Marlborough.

A forty days' indulgence was granted by the
bishop on 12 April, 1313,10 all who gave assist-
ance to the convent of Poughley, for a grievous
fire had destroyed their granaries and mills, and
other buildings in which their goods were stored. 30
A commission was issued in February, 1428, to
inquire into the complaint made by John Dyke,
who stated that he had a crown grant, under a
yearly rent, of a messuage, lands, meadows, and a
moiety of the water of Lambourn in the lordship
of Speen, and that the prior of Poughley had
recently built a mill across the water, where-
through the water could not keep its right course,
but had flooded its banks and the king's lands and
meadows. 31

In January, 1469, the pope granted to Prior
Thomas Sutton of Poughley, the annual income
of whose priory was stated not to exceed 50,
dispensation to hold with the priory, for the term
of his natural life, some other ecclesiastical bene-
fice, usually held by a secular priest, whether it
should be a rectory or vicarage, provided he was
duly presented and instituted. 32

Prior William Mordon died on 5 October,
1521 ; whereupon a congi d'Hire was at once ob-
tained from the prioress and convent of Amesbury,
its patrons. William Gerves, sacrist and presi-
dent, together with Nicholas Dyleys and Thomas
Goodere, brethren, met on 7 October, appointed
the morrow for the election, and sent letters to
the absent brethren. On 8 October, mass of the
Holy Ghost having been sung in the quire, Gerves,
Dyleys, and Goodere entered the chapter-house.
They appointed Master Richard Arche, LL.B., to
be their counsellor, director, and scribe, whereof
Master Thomas Dan and William Symson, rector
of East Shefford, were witnesses. The licence
of the prioress and other documents having been
read, Arche expounded the constitution of the
General Council touching an election. Then
the president and chapter referred the nomination
of the prior to Edmund, bishop of Salisbury, their
ordinary, made out an instrument accordingly, and
appointed Thomas Yonge, LL.B., and Thomas
Dan, M.A., their proctors to notify this to the
bishop. Thereupon the bishop collated John
Devynyshe, canon of Bradstock, to the priorship.
The appointment was notified to the chapter on
14 March by Master Arche, the Te Deum was
sung, the elect led to the altar, and the election
published to the clergy and people. After dinner,
Yonge, at the request of the chapter, went to

30 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol.

31 Pat. 6 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 2 d.
31 Rymer, Foedera, xi, 639.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

the elect, who was in an upper chamber of the
priory, and obtained his formal assent to the elec-
tion, licence having been procured from the
prior of Bradstock. He was pronounced to be a
fit person, of good fame, a priest of the order of
St. Augustine, of lawful age, legitimate, grave
and learned. 33

This small priory was amongst the first group
of religious houses for the incorporation of which
Cardinal Wolsey obtained the pope's bull and
the king's licence, in 1524, for the use of
his college in Oxford. On 4 January, 1525,
Wolsey's commission was issued to Sir William
Gascoigne, William Burbank, LL.D., and Thomas
Cromwell, gentlemen, to make survey of the
monastery of Poughley and its possessions. The
dissolution of the monastery was formally accom-
plished on 14 February in that year, John Somers
being prior, the spiritualities being declared of
the annual value of 10 and the temporalities
6 1 in. Id."

The inquisitions taken at the time of its sup-
pression showed that the priory then held the
churches of Chaddleworth and Kingston, the
manors of West Batterton (Wilts.), Peasemore,
Curridge, and Bagnor, and messuages, lands, and
tenements in thirty-two Berkshire parishes. 38

In January, 1527, Edward Fetyplace, treasurer
to the duke of Suffolk, wrote to Cromwell, up-
braiding him with breaking his word as to granting
him the site of Poughley, on the faith of which
he had given Cromwell 40*. at the time of its
dissolution, and yet the lease had been granted to
another man. This letter is of particular interest,
as showing that the house of the dissolved priory
was for a time occupied by scholars of Wolsey's
great college then in course of erection. Fetyplace
complains that he had bought of Cromwell cer-
tain implements belonging to the house, of which
he left there the well bucket and rope, and a
brass pan set in the wall to brew with, which
said implements the scholars of the Cardinal's
College ' have perused and worn in the time of
their lying there,' but the bursar refuses to pay
for them. 36

In February, 1529, Fetyplace wrote again to
Cromwell desiring his interest that he might be
assured of more years in the farm of Poughley.
From this letter it is evident that Cromwell had
been recently visiting the dismantled priory, as
Fetyplace records a visit to Poughley, on ' the
Thursday after our departing,' of one John Edden
who came with a cart to carry off such stuff as
was appointed to go to Wolsey's College at
Oxford ; the bedding was in Fetyplace's chamber,
which was locked, but Edden ' with great oaths
and with levers brak up the doors.' 3J

" L. and P. Hen. 7111, iii, 1722.

34 Ibid, iv, 650, 697, 989.

" Inq. p.m. 17 Hen. VIII, Ixxvi (Cardinal's Inq.).

* L. and P. Hen. nil, iv, App. 103.

" Ibid. 5285.

Certain ' wages ' or pensions were being paid
in 1 530 by Wolsey to the dispossessed canons and
monks of the dissolved houses. An entry was
made that year of ' wages of 3 canons at Poughley,
40*.' The same year goods were sold at Poughley
that realized ^29, and the bells were valued at
33 6*. &/.

PRIORS OF POUGHLEY

Jerome, occurs 1 1 82 * 3

William, occurs 1236 40

Robert, thirteenth century 41

Yvo, resigned 131 3**

John de Lamborne, elected I3I3 43

Ralph de Pesmere, 1348

Geoffrey, occurs 1350 44

William Marlborough, resigned 1442 46

John Helme, alias Hungerford, elected I442 46

Thomas Sutton, occurs 1469 ^-1474 48

Thomas Ware, resigned 1497"

William Nordon, elected I497, 60 died 1521"

John Devynyshe, appointed 1521 61

John Somers, surrendered

The common seal of this priory (1244) bears
St. Margaret trampling on a dragon, with a triple-
thonged scourge in the right hand, and a book in
the left. Legend :

SIGILL' : SCE MARGAR . . . : CLENFORDE . . .

The reverse has the small counterseal of Prior
William, representing the prior in his habit holding
a book. Legend :

SIGILL' : WILL'MI : PRIORIS : DE : POCCHELEG

9. THE PRIORY OF SANDLEFORD

This small priory of Austin canons was founded
by Geoffrey, the fourth count of Perch, and
Matilda of Saxony, his wife, on a site about a
mile south of Newbury, called Sandleford or
Sandford, close to the banks of the Enborne,
which forms the boundary between Berkshire and
Hampshire. The date of the foundation lies
between the years 1193 an ^ J 202. It appears
from the confirmation charter of Archbishop
Stephen that the house was dedicated to the
honour of St. John Baptist, and endowed with the

9 Ibid. 6222. 39 Rymer, Toedera, i, 59.

40 Madox, Form. Angl. 374.

41 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 3038.

41 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, pt. ii, fol. 131^.

43 Ibid.

44 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 4720.

45 Sar. Epis. Reg. Aiscough, fol. 50^ ; Anct. D.
(P.R.O.), C. 2467.

48 Ibid. 47 Rymer, Toedera, xi, 639.

43 Sar. Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, ii (2nd nos.), fol. 9.

49 Ibid. Blyth, fol. 99. M Ibid.
51 L. and P. Hen. 7111, iii, 1722.

58 Ibid, iv, 697.

HURLEY PRIORY

BISHAM PRIORY

WALLINGFORD PRIORY

POUGHLEY PRIORY

ST. JOHN BAPTIST'S HOSPITAL,
WALLINGFORD

BERKSHIRE MONASTIC SEALS : PLATE II

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

church and all the lands of Sandleford. The
boundaries of the lands are set forth in detail,
and the whole was inclosed with hedges and
ditches. The endowment also included the wood
of Bradmore (still known as Broadmore), the right
to construct a mill on the Enborne, and thirteen
marks sterling to be paid the canons annually out
of the mills of Newbury. 53

The information that can be gleaned of this
house is meagre and fragmentary. In 1204 the
rent of thirteen marks out of the mills of Newbury
was confirmed by the crown, 64 and when Henry III
was at Reading in June, 1231, he instructed the
sheriff of Berkshire to see that the prior and
canons of Sandleford had the 13 marks a year
out of the mill of Newbury, granted to them by
Earl Geoffrey de Perch; the mill having come
into the hands of the crown on the death of the
earl, 55 as Thomas, the son of the founder, and
the last count of Perch, was killed at Lincoln
in 1217.

The taxation roll of Pope Nicholas in 1291
names temporalities that the prior of Sandleford
held, which were worth 2 8s. 8d. at Newbury,
ji 151. at Enborne, jCi 6s. at West Ilsley,
and los. at Aldworth.

Thomas de Sandleford obtained licence in
1312 for alienation in mortmain to this convent
of a messuage, 2O acres of land, and 2 acres of
meadow in ' Clere Wodelond,' by Kingsclere,
Hampshire. 56 Confirmation of grant and release,
which Agnes widow of Richard Neirnut and
others made to the church of St. John Baptist,
Sandleford, and the prior and canons of that place,
of possessions in West Ilsley and the advowson
of that church, was entered on the patent rolls in
13 13- 67 The prior and convent obtained licence
under the privy seal in March, 1320, to appro-
priate in mortmain the church of West Ilsley,
which was of their advowson. 68 Nicholas de la
Beche obtained licence in April, 1339, to alienate
to this house the advowson of the manor chapel
of Hacklestone, Wiltshire, and of a portion of the
tithes of the manor, in exchange for a messuage
and a carucate of land in Aldworth, Berkshire. 69

In 1340 the prior and convent obtained privy
seal licence to acquire land and rent, not held in
chief, to the annual value of jiO. Two years
later they acquired, under this licence, the sixth
part of three mills at Newbury, of the gift of
Hugh de Mortuo Mari, but this only produced
an annual sum of 5*. 60 A considerable augmen-
tation of endowment came to the priory in 1349,

53 Dugdale, Man. vi, 565.

54 Che R. (ed. Hardy), i, 3.
65 Close, 15 Hen. Ill, m. 12.
56 Ibid. 6 Edw. II, m. 10.

" Ibid. 7 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 15.
58 Ibid. 13 Edw. II, m. 9.
69 Pat. 13 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 19.
60 Ibid. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 6 ; 16 Edw. Ill,
pt. i, m. 38 ; Inq. a.q.d. 15 Edw. Ill, No. 39.

when John de Estbury and three others assigned
to this house 144 acres of land, 20 acres of
meadow, 12 acres of wood, and los. rent in
Newbury. 61

In 1310 a release was granted from Edmund
de Wyntreshull to Walter de Wyntreshole, his
brother, of his right in the manor of Eastleigh,
Hampshire, with the advowson of the priory of
Sandleford, Berkshire. 62

Notwithstanding the smallness of the house
and its endowments, the priory was expected to
receive royal pensioners, and on 28 February,
1317, William Spyny, who had served the king
and his father, was sent to the prior and convent
of Sandleford, to receive his maintenance for life. 63

In 1320 Edward II was visiting in this neigh-
bourhood ; on 31 August he was at Sandleford
Priory, where he apparently tarried for the night. 64

In February, 1297, protection was granted by
Edward I until All Saints' Day to the prior of San-
dleford, his men, lands, goods, rents, and posses-
sions, on fine being made before the chancellor. 65

Proceedings were begun to be taken in
February, 1440, against Simon Dam, prior of
Sandleford, on account of the dilapidation of the
property and goods of the house during the time
he had been superior, and more especially for
personal incontinence. The charges were suffi-
ciently grave and well-founded to secure his
deprivation at the hands of the bishop ; sentence
was pronounced in the church of Newbury on
19 April. 66

A dispute that arose in the reign of James I,
between the rector of Newbury and the lessee of
Sandleford as to tithes, enables us to learn some-
thing more as to this priory and its later days.
The case came before the King's Bench in 1615,
and the details then set out show that among
privileges granted the priory by papal bull no
person was allowed to build a chapel or oratory
within the limits of Sandleford parish without
the convent's consent ; that, therefore, Sandleford
was not within the parish of Newbury, but was
a parish to itself; that there never was any in-
cumbent presented or instituted to the church or
chapel of Sandleford, for the prior and canons
were parson, without any endowment of vicar ;
that when the priory and its possessions were
united to the collegiate church of Windsor, about
1478, the dean and canons placed a stipendiary
priest to say divine service at Sandleford at a
stipend of ;8. 67

This appropriation of Sandleford Priory to
Windsor was brought about by Bishop Beauchamp

61 Money, Newbury, 149.
"Close, 4 Edw. II, m. 22 d.

63 Ibid. 10 Edw. II, m. i 5 <t.

64 Money, 'Newbury, 1 60.

65 Pat. 25 Edw. I, m. 15^.

66 Sar. Epis. Reg. Aiscough (2nd pt.), fol. 50.

67 Lysons, Mag. Brit, i, 353 ; Money, Newbuty,
67-70.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

of Salisbury, during the time that he also
held the deanery of Windsor (1478-81). It
was then stated that the religious had wholly
forsaken the monastery, but no particulars seem
to be extant. The Valor of Henry III gives the
annual value of the Sandleford estates to Windsor
College as i o, and at the same time the free
chapel of Sandleford was entered as 8. The
Chantry Commissioners of 1548 returned Sandle-
ford as a free chapel of that value, but said that
the dean and canons of Windsor claimed to
appoint to it at will. 68

The lawsuit of 1615 also shows that at that
date the chapel had been suffered to fall into
decay by the farmers of the priory, and that the
bells, seats, and other furniture had all been taken
away. The chapel was converted into a dining-

room in the eighteenth century, when the property
belonged to Elizabeth Montagu, the famous ' blue-
stocking.'

PRIORS OF SANDLEFORD

Stephen, c. 1260 69

Robert de Wynton, elected 1301 70

Thomas de Sandleford, occurs I3ii, 71 1330 72

William de Wynton, resigned 1334"

Robert Gilbert, elected 1334 73

John, elected 1383 u

Richard Stanford, elected 1403 76

Hugh Warham, elected 1406

Symon Dam, deposed 1 440 77

William Costyn, elected 1 448 78

William Westbury, occurs 1457 7 *

HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS

10. THE PRECEPTORY OF
GREENHAM

The Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem had
a preceptory at Greenham, in the old parish of
Thatcham, a little to the east of Newbury. The
manor of Greenham was given to this order by
Maud, countess of Clare, in the time of Henry II,
and at the same time Gervase Paynell gave them
the village. 1

The church of Brimpton in the adjoining
parish was appropriated to the Hospitallers, and
here, too, they had a house and lands called
Scaldford, or Shalford, which, though returning
separate accounts, was considered a member of
Greenham in the fourteenth century. Green-
ham was confirmed to the Hospitallers by King
John in i igg. 2

In the Testa de Nevill (temp. Henry III) there
is an entry to the effect that the prior of the
Hospitallers held Greenham in demesne, which
had been of the fee of Earl Ferrers, and granted
in marriage to Ralph Paynell, and that his son
Gervase gave it to the brethren of St. John. At
the same time it is stated that the Hospitallers
held three hides of land in Brimpton, the gift of
Simon de Ovile. 3

A note of Tanner's cites an entry in a Reading
cartulary naming a quit-claim, dated 1254, be-
tween Brother Luke, master of the Hospitallers
of Brimpton, and the abbey, as to a messuage in

68 College and Chantry Cert. No. 7.

69 Witness to a deed. Money, Netobury, 131.

70 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol. 26.

71 Witness to a deed. Money, Netvbury, 161.
"Close, 4 Edw. Ill, m. $oJ.

73 Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii (2nd pt.), fol. 35.

74 Ibid. Erghum, fol. 716.

75 Ibid. Mitford, fol. 76.

Reading. He also mentions several undated
deeds to which Nicholas, master of Brimpton,
was a witness. 4 From this it would appear that
the more important house, or, at all events, an
independent one, was at Brimpton (or Shalford)
in the thirteenth century. Moreover, the
Hospitallers of Shalford are mentioned in the
Hundred Rolls of 1276.

The full return of all lands, tenements, &c.,
pertaining to the English language or province
of the Hospitallers made to the Grand Master in
1338, by Prior Philip Thame, of St. John's,
Clerkenwell, gives full particulars with regard to
the Berkshire preceptory of Greenham.

The garden was valued at los. a year ; dove-
cote, 5*. ; 360 acres of arable land, ^7 8s. ; and
100 acres of pasture, 625. (>d. The rents from
free tenants ought to have brought in i i i u.,
but that year, on account of the poverty of the
community and the tenants, and lack of money,
they had with difficulty raised 10 5*. The
labour of the customary tenants, in such matters
as reaping the corn and mowing the meadows,
was considered to be worth 22J. ; but that year
it was valued at 6s. 8d. There was also four
marks from outside rents ; 2s. -$d. in crop rents ;
2s. in hen rents ; and $d. in egg rents, the eggs
numbering eighty, and thus worth a penny a score.
Manor court fees averaged 6s. 8d. Pensions from
the churches of Speen, Ilsley, Woolhampton,
Upton, Wasing, and Catmore produced ^4 5*. 8d.

" Ibid. fol. 103.

77 Ibid. Aiscough (znd pt.), fol. 50.
"Ibid, (istpt.) fol. 71.
79 Madox, Form. dngl. 126.
1 Dugdale, Man. ii, 510, 547.
* Chart, i John, m. 17.
1 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 125.
4 Tanner, Notitia, Berks. 3.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

In addition to these regular items of income,
each preceptory had its Confraria or voluntary
collections made throughout the churches of the
county or district where it was situated ; so that
the collectors for the needs of the central work
visited every parish in the kingdom. The pre-
ceptor of Greenham reported that the average
value of the collections made in the churches of
Berkshire was 27 marks ; but that that year, on
account of the general poverty of the common-
wealth of the kingdom, caused by the various
recent exactions made by the king for the
upholding of the navy etc., they had only been
able to raise the sum of 10, and that with
difficulty.

The receipts of Shalford, a member of Green-
ham, were entered separately. The house,
which was out of repair, with the garden, was
worth annually i6s. ; 25 acres of meadow, 25*. ;
360 acres of arable land, 18 ; rents of free
tenants, i o 2s. 8d. ; a water mill 30*.; the
appropriated church of Brimpton, 6os. ; 40 acres
of pasture, 251. ; hen rents, 2s. 6d. ; a dovecote,
6s. 8d. ; and the autumn labour of 48 customary
tenants, 8s. The woods had produced nothing
save that which was necessary for the sustenance
of the house.

A memorandum is attached to the Shalford
return, that nothing was entered under the head
of stock, as it had been sold in the time of brother
Thomas Lardner ; but they were able to support
20 cows and 500 sheep.

At the head of the outgoings of the preceptory
of Greenham are entered three pensions. A life
payment of 20s. a year was made to one Master
William Auschelin, according to the ordering of
brother Thomas Lardner, lately prior of Eng-
land ; ' William de Latton received a like life

payment as ordered by brother Leonard when
prior, 6 for saving to the order the advowson of
Blewbury ; and William Le Port of Greenham
had a corrody at their table, by order of Prior
Lardner, worth 6s. 8d. The chaplain of the
house also received 2Qs. a year.

The following were the expenses of the house,
for the preceptor, his confrere, the chaplain, the
servants, and in the cause of hospitality : Thirty
quarters of wheat at 3*. 4^. a quarter, and ten
quarters of oats at 3.?., 6 los. ; kitchen expenses
in addition to stock, 2s. 6d. a week, 6 los. ; for
the two days of the prior's visitation, 401. ; for
the archdeacon's visitation visiting yearly the
appropriated church, gs. ^\d. ; robes, mantles,
and other necessaries for the preceptor and his
confrere, 69*. 4^. ; garments for the squire,
steward, bailiff, woodward, cook, baker, 50*. ;
stipend for the chaplain of Shalford Chapel,
celebrating three times a week, and not boarded,
265. 8d. ; wages of the women, 6s. 8d. ; wages
of the squire and three servants, 2ds. ; wages of
cook, baker, and carter, 151.

All the expenses amounted to 34 8;. 8^.,
leaving the handsome balance of 41 45. lO^d.
to be transmitted to the prior of England.

Brother Roger de Draycote is entered as pre-
ceptor of Greenham in 1338, with Brother
Robert Brayboef, knight, as his confrere. 7

In a catalogue of Berkshire gentry, temp.
Henry VI, John Prendergast is mentioned as
preceptor of Greenham. 8

The order of the Hospitallers was suppressed
in England in 1540. During its temporary
restoration under Queen Mary the preceptory at
Greenham was revived, with additional endow-
ments, 9 but Queen Elizabeth speedily and finally
extinguished it.

FRIARIES

ii. THE GREY FRIARS OF READING

The Franciscans or Grey Friars were first
established at Reading in the year 1233. By a
deed dated 14 July, Abbot Adam de Lathbury
and the convent granted to these friars a piece of
waste ground by the king's highway leading to
Caversham Bridge, 33 perches in length and 23
in breadth, with permission to build and dwell
there so long as they should be content to be
truly mendicant and hold no property of their own,
and abstained from interfering with the rights of
the abbey. The friars also bound themselves
never to seek any other land or extension of site at
the hands of the abbey. 1

6 Prior Lardner died in 1329.

6 Leonard de Tybertis was prior between
Lardner and Thame ; it was in his days that most of
the Templar possessions were transferred to the Hos-
pitallers.

In 1282 Archbishop Peckham, himself a
Franciscan friar, addressed a letter to the abbot
and convent of Reading, on behalf of the friars
of that town, asking that they might be permitted
to enlarge the site of their house, although they
had unadvisedly covenanted never to make such
a request, as their buildings were so often inun-
dated with flood water in the winter season. 2

It was a long time before the prayer of the
archbishop was granted ; but in 1285 he wrote
to Brother Allot, the minister general of the
Friars Minor, asking him to confirm the change
of site of the dwelling of that order at Reading.
He therein told the head of the order that the
simplicity of the friars in the province of England

7 Kemble, Estates of the Hospitallers (Camd. Soc.), 3-6.

8 Lysons, Berks. 387.

* Pat. 4 and 5 Philip and Mary, pt. ii, m. 14.
1 B.M. Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxv, fol. 217.
' Reg. Epist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), ii, 414-16.

3 12

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

had caused them to show more ignorance than
prudence in the choice of situation, and in the
erection of buildings, to the inconvenience of
posterity. That at Reading, compelled by the
monks who owned the town, they had accepted
a marshy site so subject to floods that at times of
inundation they had to leave or be subject to
much danger ; also that their distance outside the
town made it inconvenient to procure necessaries.
Being solicited by many persons of consequence,
the monks had at last given permission to the
friars to place their buildings on higher ground
within the town, but that their consent had been
surrounded with many restrictions. The arch-
bishop had consented thereto in the hopes they
might be remedied in process of time by royal
benevolence, or possibly by the authority of his
own office, the protection of which the Benedic-
tines of Reading were sometimes under the
necessity of imploring. The archbishop there-
fore hoped that the superior of the order would
confirm the agreement thus made, and now
forwarded to him with the seal of his office. 3

The new covenant whereby the somewhat
niggardly monks granted the friars a new though
smaller site was fortified by even stronger safe-
guards than those of the grant of 1233. In this
deed the abbot and .convent of Reading stated
that they had unanimously received as guests the
Franciscan friars in the town of Reading, upon
a piece of ground between the house of the rector
of Sulham on the east and the sandy ditch on the
west, and extending from the common way
called New Street, the use whereof the friars
should continue to have, of the grace of the
abbey and convent, saving the following condi-
tions : It should be lawful for the friars to build
and dwell upon this additional plot of land
(i6 perches by 1 6 perches) so long as they
remained without property and, in accordance with
their profession, observers of the deepest poverty.
The friars promised, for themselves and their
successors, that they would never seek any other
dwelling on the land of the abbey, or extend
their boundaries, and that they would never ask
alms from the abbey as a due, but only out of
mercy and by special grace. Further the friars
promised that, whatever liberty of sepulture they
enjoyed or hereafter should enjoy, they would
never receive for burial the bodies of deceased
parishioners of the monastery or of the churches
appropriated to the abbey in Reading, or outside,
without the special licence of the abbot and con-
vent ; and that they would never receive tithes
or offerings or legacies due of certain knowledge
or by custom to the abbey. The friars granted
that if they failed in any of these particulars the
abbot was to have power to expel them of his
own authority, all appeal or obstacle being waived.
In case the abbot and convent desired to expel the
friars from their dwelling on this land for any other

8 Reg. Efist. Pekham (Rolls Ser.), iii, 211-12.

causes, the king and his heirs had free power to
house them there, all appeal being waived, so that
they should have of royal grace what they had
previously had of the convent's grace. To this
deed the seals of the abbey on the one part, and
of the minister general and provincial on the
other, were appended, together for corroboration
with the seal of the king and of the archbishop
of Canterbury. 4

The only property these mendicant friars were
allowed to hold was the site of their friary and
its extensions, and in 1288 Robert Fulco be-
queathed to them certain other void plots of
ground in New Street, adjoin ing the land gran ted
to the abbey. 6

Edward I, when the Franciscans were on
their old flooded site, had granted them from the
forest of Pamber, in 1280, three oak trunks for
fuel 6 ; and he now came to their help, just at
the end of his reign, with the handsome donation
of fifty-six oaks out of the forest of Windsor for
their new buildings then in progress. 7

Certain works were still in progress in 1311,
for in that year Alan de Banbury bequeathed 5*.
open fratrum minorum in this town. 8

In 1320 Bishop Mortival licensed Warner,
warden of the Franciscans of Reading, to hear
confessions in the diocese. 9

Margaret Twynho, a Reading widow, by will
proved in 1501 left her body to be buried in
the chapel of St. Francis in the Grey Friars of
Reading, near the tomb of her father and
mother. 10

Dr. London, writing to Cromwell from Ox-
ford on 31 August, 1538, as to 'capacities' or
licences to give up their vows for the friars,
says :

A friend of mine, the warden of the Grey Friars
in Reading, also wishes license for them to change
their garments ; most of them are very old men. 11

The surrender of the house was made on
13 September, 1538. There is a comparatively
modern copy of this surrender at Lambeth. It
is signed ' Per me Petrum Scheffbrd guardianum,
ac S.T.B. ; per me Egidium Coventre, S.T.B.,'
and by ten others. 12

On the following day London wrote to
Cromwell telling him of the surrender, and that
that day they should change their coats ; he

4 Close, 1 4 Edw. I, m. 2 d.

6 B.M. Cott. MS. Vcsp. E. xxv, fol. 55.

6 Close, 8 Edw. I, m. 5.

7 Ibid. 3 3 Edw. I, m. 1 7.

8 B.M. Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxv, fol. 189.

9 Sar. Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii, fol. 186.

10 Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 171.

11 B.M. Cott. MS. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 227.
"Lamb. MSS. 594., fol. 129. The actual phrasing

of the surrender is given in Coates's Reading, 303-4 ;
it follows a common pattern used by Cromwell's
agents.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

adds, ' of friars they be noted here honest men.'
He further reported that

in the house there were three pretty lodgings, one
kept by the warden, another by Mr. Ogle the King's
servant, and the third by an old lady called my Lady
Saynt Jane. There is a goodly walk in their back
side, with trees, pond, and an orchard, in all 20
acres. Household stuff coarse ; what little plate and
jewels there is I will send up this week. There is a
great trough of lead at their well, and another in
their kitchen, and the bell turret is covered with lead.
Church ornaments slender. The inside of the church
and windows decked with grey friars I have defaced,
and yet made some money out of these things. On
Monday I will pay their debts to victuallers and rid
the house of them all."

A few days later London wrote to Crom-
well :

As soon as I hadde taken the Fryers surrender the
multytude of the Poverty of the town resorted thedyr
and all thing that myght be hadde they stole away,
insomuyche that they had conveyed the very clapers
of the bellys. And saving that Mr. Fachell (Vachell)
wich made me great chere at hys house and the Mayor
dydde assist me, they wold havd made no litell spoyl.
In thys I have done as moche as I cowde to save
everything to the King's Graces use, as shall appear to
your Lordeschippe at the begynnyng of the terme,
Godde willing, who wt increse of moche honor long
preserve yor gudde Lordeschippe.

At Redinge, xvii Septembris.

I besyt your gudde Lordeschippe to admytt me a
pour sutar for theis honest men of Redinge. They
have a fayre town and many gudde occupiers in ytt ;
but they lacke that house necessary of the wiche for
the mynystration of Justice they have the moit nede
of. Ther Town Hall ys a very small Hous and
stondith upon the ryver, wher ys the commyn
wassching place of the most part of the Town, and in
the cession days and other court dayes ther ys such
betyng with batildores as noe man can nott here
another, nor the guest here the chardg givyng. The
body of the Church of the Grey Fryers wiche is selyd
with laths and lyme wold be very commodoise rowme
for them. And now I have rydde all the fasschen of
that Churche in pardons, ymages and awtters it wolde
make a gudly Town Hall. The Mayor of that
Town, Mr. Richard Turner a very honest gentill
person with many other honest men hath expressyd
unto me ther gref in thys behalf and have desyred me
to be an humble sutar unto your Lordeschippe for the
same if it shoulde be solde. The wallys, besyd the
coyne stonys, be but chalk and flynt and the coveryng
butt tile. And if it please the King's grace to bestow
that house upon any of hys servants, he may spare
the body of the churche, wich standith next the
strete very well ; and yet have roume sufficient for a
great man.

Your most bounden orator and servant,
John London."

13 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii, pt. ii, 346.

14 B.M. Cott. MS. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 225.

Being friars, the inmates were of course ejected
after their surrender without a farthing of pension ;
but in the troubles of the next year the king
found accommodation for two of their number.
In a list of prisoners in the Tower on 20 Novem-
ber, 1539, appear the names of Peter Lawrence
(alias Scheffbrd), late warden of the Reading
Friars, and Gyles Coventry, a friar of the same
house. 16

The house and site were granted to a groom
of the king's chamber ; but the body and side
aisles of the church 16 were granted by Henry VIII,
at last mindful of London's entreaty, in April,
1544, to the mayor and burgesses of Reading, to
serve as a new gild hall, the town paying for the
same a yearly rent of one halfpenny.

12. THE CROUCHED FRIARS OF
DONNINGTON 17

The first mention of the house of Crouched
Friars at this place that we have been able to find
occurs in the year 1404, when William Graun-
felde, prior of the priory of Crouched Friars at
Donnington, in the diocese of Salisbury, obtained
from Boniface IX an indult of plenary remission
(being penitent) from the confessor of his choice
at the hour of death. 18

It does not seem possible to ascertain the date
of the foundation of this house, or the name of its
original founder.

Sir Richard Abberbury in 1393, the year after
he had refounded Donnington Hospital, directs
that the inmates should ' every day go to masse
to a chappel of Fryers neer adjoining, and
should say sixty Pater-Nosters and as many Ave-
Maries. 19

Lysons cites the will of Robert Harre, minister
of Donnington Hospital, dated 1500, wherein
he directs his body to be buried in the new
chapel of Jesus, on the south side of the church
of the Friars of the Holy Cross in Donnington ;
his two great standards of laten and four candle-
sticks of laten were to stand before the altar of
Jesus in the said chapel. 20

Ibid. Titus B. i, fol. 133.

l * Records of Bar. of Reading, i. 195-8, 207; 'Lez
body et lez side iles Ecclesie Domus Dudum Fratrum
Minorum.'

17 Messrs. Lysons, in their account of Donnington
in the Magna Britannia, made the mistake of denying
the existence of a priory apart from the hospital of
Donnington ; but in their ' Additions and Corrections'
they retract that statement, though making several
other blunders (repeated in Dugdale) both as to hospital
and priory which the improved marshalling of the
public records enables us to some extent to correct.

19 Cal. Pap. Let. v, 562 ; Grunfelde is wrongly
described in the calendar as ' brother of the house of
St. Cross," but this is corrected in the corrigenda and
the index.

" Dugdale, Mm. vi, 1 562.

" Lysons, Berks. 716.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Further information as to this small house is
very meagre. Among the grants of suppressed
houses, &c., made to Cardinal Wolsey in July,
1528, occurs 14*. annual rent for a portion of
tithes in Donnington, paid by the prior and
convent of Donnington. 21

The prior of Donnington was among those
summoned to convocation in I529- 22

The friars of Donnington surrendered to John
London on 30 November, 1538. The surrender
is signed by Henry Whete and Richard Ungull, 23
and the house is here stated to be of the Trini-
tarian order. 24

Williams and London, writing to Sir Richard
Riche, chancellor of the Augmentations, from
Newbury in December, stated that on taking
the surrender of the ' Crossed Friars of Don-
nington ' they assigned the minister (or prior),
Henry Whete, an extreme aged man, a pension
of j6 131. 4^., and to Richard Ungull, priest
and brother there, 4.. They begged him to

ratify this (which was duly done) and stated that
the house was worth /2O a year, and was out of
debt. 25

At the end of the same month London wrote
from Oxford to Cromwell (inclosing 'a poor
token ' for the new year, with a half-year's fee
from him and his house) saying that he had
doubtless heard from Williams as to what they
had done at the ' Crowche Friars at Newberye.'
In another letter of the same date, probably
to Thomas Thacker, London stated that at the
' Crutched Friars, Newbery,' there was nothing
but a poor chalice. The lands, he added, were
worth 22 a year, but all the goods not ,6. 28

There is a cast of an imperfect impression of
a fifteenth-century seal of this priory in the
British Museum. There is a full-length saint,
but the emblems are indistinct. Below is a friar
kneeling in prayer. Legend :

S PRIORIS : DOM : DE : DONYNGTON

HOSPITALS

13. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. HELEN,
ABINGDON

From an early date there was an important
gild or fraternity at Abingdon (of which some
account has already been given) dedicated to the
Holy Cross, and associated with the church of
St. Helen. In the reign of Henry V a hospital
or almshouse was established in connexion with
this gild, and dedicated to the honour of St. Helen,
and mainly founded through the munificence of
Geoffrey Barbour and Sir John de St. Helen. 1

In 1442 this gild was incorporated by royal
charter, and empowered to possess lands of the
annual value of 4.0, to the intent they might
maintain and repair the two bridges and the
highway between Abingdon and Culham, and
also provide for the relief of thirteen poor persons
of both sexes (seven men and six women), and for
the support of two chaplains. In 1446 the
members of the fraternity rebuilt the almshouse,
providing it with thirteen separate chambers.
No one was to be admitted to the almshouse save
by consent of the gild in their place of meeting
over the north porch of the church of St. Helen.
The money allowance for each inmate at that
time was but a penny a week, but in 1456 the
amount was raised to 41. a quarter. They
attended daily service in St. Helen's church.

11 Pat. 20 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 20.

" L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, pt. iii, 6047.

13 Rymer, Foedera, xiv, 613.

14 The various names here assigned to this house
and its inmates confirm the opinion as to the identity
of the Crossed or Crouched Friars with those termed
Trinitarian or Maturine.

15 L. and P. Hen. PHI, xiii, pt. ii, 1025.

The gild was incorporated afresh by Richard III
in 1483, when 'the continual maintenance of
thirteen impotent weak men and women' was
again put forward as one of their chief objects.

Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIII,
says 'There is now an Hospital of 6 men
and 6 women at S. Helenes, mainteind by a
Fraternite ther.' la

The gild, with all its good works, including
the hospital, was suppressed and stripped of its
endowments in 1548, under the plea of supersti-
tion, by the council of Edward VI. But Sir John
Mason, a native of the town and chancellor of
Oxford, had sufficient influence at court to bring
about the restoration of much of the gild pro-
perty, wherewith he refounded the gild hospital,
in May, 1553, on lines very similar to the old
foundation, under the name of Christ's Hospital.
Each inmate was to receive 8d. a week, with an
extra shilling on Easter Day, and 5*. yearly for
livery.*

14. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN,
ABINGDON

The hospital of St. John, Abingdon, stood
without the gate of the great Benedictine abbey,
over against the church of St. Nicholas. It was
founded by one of the earlier abbots, for the

16 Ibid. 1153, 1154.

1 Leland, I tin. ii, vii, 161. la Ibid, ii, 16.

1 For these and other particulars of the gild and
hospital, see A Monument of Christian Munificence,
written in 1627 by Francis Little, master of the
hospital. The MS. is in the possession of the gover-
nors of Christ's Hospital, Abingdon ; it was printed
in 1871.

9 2

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

maintenance of six poor persons. The master or
prior who governed the house was appointed by
the abbot, and it is probable that the inmates
were at first directly sustained by the abbey.

The house was well established at the time or
the taxation roll of 1291, when mention is made
of 3;. annual rents at Oxford, and a pension of
2os. from the church of Chilton, Berkshire, as
pertaining to the hospital.

Licence was granted to the master and brethren
of the hospital of St. John, Abingdon, on 29 May,
1318, to acquire in mortmain lands, tenements,
and rents, to the value of IOOJ. a year. 3 On
15 March, 1320, six messuages in Abingdon,
together with arable land, meadow, and wood, of
the value of i js. ^\d. a year, held of the abbey
of Abingdon, were acquired in mortmain by the
hospital, in part satisfaction of the licence of
1318.*

The ratification of the estate of Simon Cal-
lyng, as master or prior of the hospital of St. John,
Abingdon, was enrolled on 10 June, 1387."

There is a cast of the seal of this hospital at
the British Museum, 8 showing St. John Baptist
with nimbus, holding the Agnus Dei, between
two trees. Legend :

DOM

sci : IOHIS : ABYDOIE.

15. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY
MAGDALEN, ABINGDON

There was a third hospital at Abingdon of
early foundation, dedicated in honour of St. Mary
Magdalen ; very little can be gleaned respecting
its history.

A year's protection was granted by Edward III
in 1336 for the keeper and brethren of the
hospital of St. Mary Magdalen on the bridge
over the Ock without Abingdon. 7

This is probably the foundation referred to in
a manuscript account of the possessions of the
Benedictines in Abingdon, shortly after the sup-
pression of the abbey :

There is also another poore house, called the Olde
Almeshouse, standinge upon the ryver of Thames,
wherein been xx poore creatures, relieved at this
present onelie by the charitable allowance of the good
devout Christian people of the towne of Abingtone. 8

1 6. THE HOSPITAL OF CHILDREY

A chantry with almshouse annexed for three
poor men was founded on the eve of the Re-

* Pat. II Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 13.
4 Ibid. 13 Edw. II, m. ii.
6 Ibid. 10 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. I.
6 B.M. Iviii, 50.

1 Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. n.
8 Univ. Lib. Camb. Gz. iv, 21 ; cited in Tanner,
Notitia, Berks, i.

formation (1526) by William Fetyplace, in
honour of the Blessed Trinity and St. Katherine.
The founder assigned certain lands to Queen's
College, Oxford, for its maintenance. They
were to pay j8 yearly to a priest of good con-
versation to serve as chantry priest in the south
transept of the parish church ; the priest was to
have a habitation adjoining that of the three poor
men, and to pay them their dole. Each bedes-
man was to receive 9^. weekly and 9;. 4^.
yearly for livery, with 2s. Sd. for wood and coals.
Notwithstanding the close connexion of the
almshouses with the chantry, and the obligation
that rested upon the three bedesmen of attending
daily mass and praying for the founder and his
friends, the Chantry Commissioners of 1548,
finding that the lands were assigned to the pro-
vost and scholars of Queen's College, decided,
after conference with the judges, that it was 'not
within the compass of the statute.' 9

17. THE HOSPITAL OF DONNINGTON

Up to the present time it has always been as-
sumed that the hospital of Donnington was first
founded in the reign of Richard II ; 10 but its
origin, is of far earlier date, for it was evidently
well established in the reign of Edward II, as
confirmation was granted by Edward III in 1327
of the grant by the late king to John de Wodes-
ford, king's clerk, of the custody of the hospital
of St. John, Donnington, for life. 11

John de Wodesford resigned in 1333, and the
custody of the hospital was granted to Master
John de Saresbers. At the same time a mandate
was addressed to the constable of the castle of
Donnington to induct him, and a writ de inten-
dendo was directed to the brethren and sisters of
the hospital. 13

Sir Richard Abberbury, a leading man in the
county, who was justice not only of Berkshire,
but also of Oxford and Wiltshire, assigned con-
siderable lands in 1365 to two chaplains to
celebrate divine service in a certain chapel at
Donnington which he was newly constructing,
but it is by no means certain that this chapel had
any connexion with either the priory or the
hospital. 13 However, the same knight, who had
been one ot the guardians of Richard II during
his minority, founded in 1393 a hospital at
Donnington, which was almost certainly a re-
organization and enrichment of the former
hospital of St. John. He assigned to the poor
of this hospital two acres of land of his manor of
Donnington and the manor of Iffley, near Ox-
ford. One of these poor brethren was to preside

' Chant, and Coll. Cert. Nos. 3, 51.

10 Dugdale, Tanner, Lysons, and Money.

11 Pat. i Edw. HI, pt. ii, m. 14.
13 Ibid. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 5.

13 Inq. a.q.d. 39 Edw. Ill, No. 29.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

over the rest, and to be called the minister of
God of the poor house of Donnington. The
inmates were to pray daily for the good estate
(and after death for the souls) of King Richard
and Sir Richard Abberbury, and to attend mass
at the adjacent chapel of friars. 14

Confusion as to the actual founders of the
smaller and less-known houses often arises from
forgetfulness or ignorance of the fact that the
termfandator was frequently used in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, in returns, as the equiva-
lent of patron, and merely implied a descendant
of the original founder, or even one who had
purchased or inherited through marriage the first
benefactor's estates. Thus Leland says that
Donnington Hospital was founded by Thomas
Chaucer, who died in 1434, whilst Dugdale
describes it as founded by William de la Pole,
duke of Suffolk, who had married Chaucer's
heir. 18

Thomas Barrie, one of the almsmen of this
hospital, was concerned in spreading a rumour
(apparently well accredited) in 1538 of the death
of Henry VIII ; he was most barbarously
punished, having his ears nailed to the pillory in
Newbury throughout a market day, and at its
close released by having his ears cut off. 16

The commissioners of Henry VIII (1548)
reported that the hospital of Walter Abberbury
was founded for the maintenance of thirteen poor

men,

every of them to have towards theyr lyvynge \d. by
the day, one chamber, and xijs.vjd. in themone(th) of
corne money whyche they have accordyngly. The
patron or donor thereof nowe ys the Kynges Majestic.

The hospital is described : .s adjoining the castle
and half a mile distant from the parish church.
The annual value was returned at ^28 i6s. 8d.,
whereof 19 5*. $d. w,:nt as stipend to the
thirteen poor men, and

The balance was used in r

2s. 6d. in corn money,
pairing the tenements.
There were then no ornar.yents or goods in the
chapel, as it was served frorri the parish church.

The hospital revenues wtfre among those con-
fiscated to the crown, and so remained until
1570, when they were restored to their original
purpose, on the petition of Qharles Howard, earl
of Nottingham, lord adrr iral. On its re-
establishment it was termed \

the Hospital of Queen Elizabeth at Donnington, in
time past begun to be founded tjy Sir Richard Abber-
bury, Knight, and by Charles Howard, Earl of Not-
tingham, perfected and consumirifted.

The elaborate statutes and Ordinances for the
hospital drawn up by Charges Howard were

14 Pat. 1 6 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 1 3!
14 Leland, I tin. ii, 33 ; Dugdale, J Baronage, ii, 189.
6 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii, pt. ii 7. See the pre-
vious account of Hugh, abbot of Reading.

confirmed in 15 James I by the archbishop of
Canterbury, when Richard James, gent., was
master. One of the rules provides that the
almsmen were to attend service at the parish
church, not only on Sundays and festivals, but
also on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and
there to give God thanks for their founders and
benefactors. 17

1 8. THE HOSPITAL OF FYFIELD

A hospital or almshouse was founded at Fyfield
in 1442, in conjunction with a chantry at the
altar of St. John Baptist in the parish church,
and pursuant to the will of Sir John Golafre,
who is styled in the foundation ordinance ser-
vant to kings Henry V and Henry VI. The
chaplain was to have charge of the almshouse,
and to be called the Master of the House of
St. John Baptist, Fyfield. The endowments
were Fyfield Grove, and the manors of Baldwin's
Court and Wyke, in Charlton. 18

The Chantry Commissioners of I Edward VI
reported that its value, including the almshouse
to which about two-thirds of the income were
assigned, was 20 15*. a year. The hospital
was swept away, together with the actual chan-
try, into the royal coffers. 19 On the pension
roll of 1554 appears the name of Thomas
Clenson, ' Bedesman chantry of Fyfield,' who
was in receipt of 40*. a year. 20

19. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN
BAPTIST, HUNGERFORD

A hospital was founded at Hungerford in the
twelfth century in honour of St. John Baptist ;
it was situated just outside the town on the
north side. On 14 May, 1232, Henry III,
when at Wallingford Castle, granted his protec-
tion to the brethren of this house, giving them
permission to seek for alms, and commending
them to the faithful. Later in the same year
these letters were renewed sine termino ; they
were addressed to the prior that is, to the master
of the hospital. 81

On 20 May, 1281, an inspection and confir-
mation was obtained from Edward I of a charter
of Edmund his brother (dated the same day),
which was a ratification of the grant made by
Simon de Montfort, late earl of Leicester, to the
hospital and fraternity of St. John Baptist, Hun-
gerford, for lodging poor, sick, and infirm persons.
The grant conveyed to the hospital half a virgate

17 Tanner MSS. bdle. 304, fol. 99.

18 Pat. 20 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 27 ; 22 Hen. VI,
pt. i, m. 24.

19 Coll. and Chant. Nos. 3, 51.
80 B.M. Add. MS. 5082.

" Pat. 1 6 Hen. Ill, m. 6, 3.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

of land and meadow on the north side of Hunger-
ford. 22

In October, 1399, Henry IV appointed John
Frank, king's clerk, master or warden of this
hospital, and at the same time appointed him
parson or warden of the free chapel of Standen-
by-Hungerford. 23

It is stated by Tanner that the full endow-
ments of this house in 1405 were I carucate of
land, 2 acres of meadow, six cottages producing
a yearly rental of 40*., and the oblations offered
on the feast of St. John Baptist. The prior or
warden had to celebrate in the chapel three times
a week, and to relieve the poor inhabitants of the
town in times of scarcity.

John Orum, archdeacon of Barnstaple, ob-
tained dispensation from Pope John XXIII in
1411 to hold the archdeaconry together with a
canonry of Wells, the free chapel of Standen,
and the wardenship of the hospital of St. John
Baptist, Hungerford. 24 It was, alas, at this
period the rule rather than the exception for the
major part of the funds of England's hospitals,
both small and great, to be absorbed by non-
resident masters.

20. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LAU-
RENCE, HUNGERFORD

There was a leper hospital for women at
Hungerford. Two references to it have been
found of the thirteenth century, but it was prob-
ably of earlier foundation. This leper house is
first mentioned in a recital of the bounds of the
forest of Savernake, in a perambulation of the
year I228. 26

The leper sisters of St. Laurence, Hungerford,
had royal protection granted them in 1232, with
commendatory permission to seek alms for their
house sine terminal

21. THE HOSPITAL OF LAMBOURN

John Isbury, who died in 1485, desired by
his will to found a chantry in the parish church,
in conjunction with a hospital or almshouse.
His son of the same name carried out his father's
intentions. A hospital was built on the north
side of the church for ten poor men, six to be
nominated by the Warden of New College,
Oxford, and four by the founder's heirs. These
bedesmen were to use the chapel of the Holy
Trinity, on the south side of the parish church,
for their devotions, kneeling round the tomb
(in the centre) of John Isbury, their founder.
The original pension was 8rf. a week, with

M Pat. 9 Edw. I,m. 19.
"Ibid, i Hen. IV, pt. i,m. 34.
14 Tanner, Not. Man. Berks, xii.
"Close, 12 Hen. Ill, m. 9 d.
K Pat. 1 6 Hen. Ill, m. i.

clothes, and allowance of fuel and corn. The
chantry priest was to govern the almshouse and
pay the inmates their stipend. The annual value
of the almshouse, as separate from the stipend of
the chantry priest, was declared at 1 7 13*. 4^.
This hospital was technically dissolved in
I Edward VI as ' superstitious ' ; but sufficient
influence was brought to bear to cause its re-
establishment by Act of Parliament in 31
Elizabeth. 27

There is a cast of the seal of this hospital at
the British Museum. 28 The Holy Trinity is
represented under a heavy canopy, with a kneel-
ing figure of the founder and his arms (bendy,
wavy of six) in base. Legend :

SIGILLO : COMUNE : DOMS : ELEMOSINAR : IOHIS :
ESTBIR '

22. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. BARTHO-
LOMEW, NEWBURY

It is not known at what date the hospital of
St. Bartholomew, Newbury, was founded. It
was extant in the reign of John, when it was a
recipient of the royal favour. On 7 July, 1215,
John instructed the sheriff of Berkshire to give all
facilities to the hospital of St. Bartholomew at
Newbury, and to the brethren serving God there,
to have a two days' annual fair at Newbury on
the day and on the morrow of St. Bartholomew. 29

William Otnel, rector of Shaw, granted circa
1260 to this hospital, and its brethren and sisters,
and to the poor folk resorting there, all the hold-
ing with 1 6 acres of arable land in Newbury
which he had bought of Simon White, 2^- acres
bought of Simon le Cur, and I acre bought of
John Showe, for the health of his soul and the
souls of his ancestors. 30

Protection, that is authority for the collecting
of alms, was granted in October, 1285, for three
years for the brethren of the hospital of St. Bartho-
lomew, Newbury. 31

About 1295 John le Frankelayn granted to
Henry, warden of the house of St. Bartholomew,
i acres of land and the third of a croft. In
1311 there was a further grant of lands in East-
field, Newbury, by Edmund de la Bulhuse. 32

On 27 August, !30i,BishopSimondeGandavo
instituted William de Byschopeston, priest, to
the custody or wardenship of the hospital, with
its brethren and sisters. 33 From that date on-
wards, down to 1510, the episcopal registers of
Sarum give the succession of the hospital wardens.

87 Ashmole, Antiq. of Berks, ii, 244 ; Lysons, Berks.
309-10 ; Coll. and Chant. Cert. Nos. 8, 51.
K EM. Iviii, 5 2.
29 Close, 17 John, m. 28.
80 Money, Hist, of Newbury, 131.
" Pat. 13 Edw. I, m. 4.
" Money, Hist. ofNetebtiry, 161-2.
33 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol. i6b.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

These institutions were made on the presenta-
tion of the commonalty of the town of Newbury.

The warden or custos of this house is sometimes
termed the prior, and, judging from analogy,
the brethren and sisters followed to some extent
the Austin rule and were under vows. The
warden was of course always in priest's orders,
and the buildings included a chapel and fit
accommodation for the entertainment of the aged
and infirm to whom the hospital ministered.

The commissioners of Henry VIII, in I546>
reported that the origin of the hospital was
unknown, but that it was founded to maintain a
priest to sing in the hospital, and two poor men
to pray there continually. The annual value
was returned as 23 is. 8^d., from which sum
,4 was paid to the priest, and 265. 8d. to the
two bedesmen. The large balance, save what
was required for repairs and tithes, went to ' Sir
Roger Bermer,clerke, Mr. of the same hospytall.' 34

From this it is manifest that this hospital, like
so many others, had by this time fallen into bad
hands ; the master absorbed more than three-
fourths of the income, the sisters had disappeared,
the brethren were reduced to two, and the poor
and infirm had lost all share of the endowment.

It appears from proceedings in the Court of
Exchequer that in 1554 the master and two
brethren of this hospital demised all their lands
and rents to one Philip Kistill and three others
for the term of sixty-one years, and that in 1576
an information was laid by the Attorney-General
against Philip for intruding upon chantry or priory
lands that were escheated to the crown by the
Chantry Act of 1548. The defendants denied
that they were priory or chantry lands, and after
the examination of divers witnesses by interro-
gations, it was decided that it was a hospital for
poor men and was outside the Acts. The oldest
of the six witnesses was Robert Flagget, cloth-
worker of Newbury, aged 94.

All the witnesses deposed to having known
two priors who were masters of governors, ' Sir
Maggott' and 'Mr. Bromall ' ; they were always
called priors, and boarded in the house adjoining
the church or chapel of St. Bartholomew. One
Philip, a monk, hired by Mr. Bromall, also
boarded there. The prior was always a religious
person (that is under vows) ; he used to say mass
in the church and there was burying of the dead
in the churchyard. Flagget did not know, nor
had he ever heard, of any poor people kept or
maintained by either of these priors, of alms or
charity within or near the house ; but William
Blandye, aged 72, remembered four people in the
house at one time, and afterwards two, who re-
ceived 2Qs. a year. The witness deposed to a
curious custom that used to prevail of the wives
of the town of Newbury, on the morrow after
they were churched, visiting the chapel of
St. Bartholomew with their midwives, and there

34 Coll. and Chant. Cert. 51, No. 49.

making offerings of wax, candles, money, &c.,
and these oblations were converted to the use of
the prior for the time being, and for no other
purpose. Sir Bromall was the last prior ; he left
the house and town about 1547. After his
departure the inhabitants of Newbury took upon
them the management of the house and received
the rents, Philip Kistill being one of them ; the
statements of the witnesses on this point were
conflicting, but apparently the old house was
pulled down, four small tenements erected, and
four almsmen maintained therein by the town.
Blandye stated that the town presented ' one
Mr. Pyckeringe to be master of the same hospital,
before Bushopp Jewell,' and the inhabitants chose
two proctors to gather up the rents and to pay
the master and the poor people their stipend.

The steeple of the church, with two bells, was
pulled down by the inhabitants. They deposed
that the house was then governed ' by certain of
the chefest of the inhabytanr.es, as Mr. Kistill,
Mr. Chamberlayne, &c.' The chapel was con-
verted into a schoolhouse in the time of
Edward VI. 36

We are not now concerned with the future
history and development of this foundation,
particulars of which can be found in Money's
Newbury.

WARDENS OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL,
NEWBURY

Henry, circa 1295 M

William de Byschopeston, 1301 37

John de Gloucester, 131 3 38

Richard Orsett, 1333 39

John leSone, 1338*

Henry die' le Vicary de Aldermaston, 1341 41

Michael Lawles, 1362 **

Stephen, resigned 1381

Henry Pake, I38i 43

Thomas Whyston, 1381 **

Henry Hales, I383 46

Roger Russel, 1 39 1 46

Thomas Pall, I402 47

William Baker, 1438 48

William Hutchyns, 1441 **

John Bradstone, I443 60

84 Excheq. Depos. 407, 413, 416, 439 ; cited in
Money, Hist. ofNetviury, 215-24.

36 Money, Hut. of Newbury, 161.

37 Sar. Epis. Reg. Gandavo, fol. i6b. The dates are
those of appointment.

38 Ibid. fol. 1 34.

" Ibid. Wyville (pt. 2), fol. 22.

40 Ibid. fol. 5 U. "Ibid. fol. 184.

Ibid. fol. 296. a Ibid. Erghum, fol. 42^

44 Ibid. fol. jib. *> Ibid.

46 Ibid. Waltham, fol. 45.

" Ibid. Mitford, fol. 76.

48 Ibid. Aiscough, fol. 10. 49 Ibid. fol. 39.

50 Ibid. fol. 6 1.

9 6

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

William Mahew, 1451 61
William Lee, 1463
Robert Bryteyn, resigned I4&3 62
William Belyngham, 1463 63
William Bray, 1469"
Edmund Worthyngton, I5o8 56
Robert Strete, r 5 1 o 56
John Magott, 1522"
Roger Bridmold alias Bromall

23. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY
MAGDALEN, NEWBURY

There was a leper hospital for women at
Newbury ; but we have only succeeded in find-
ing a single reference to it. On 26 July, 1232,
the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, Newbury, for
leprous women obtained the crown protection. 59

24. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN,
READING

Abbot Hugh II, the eighth abbot of Reading,
founded a hospital, dedicated in honour of St. John
Baptist about the year 1 1 90. Tanner, followed
by the extended Dugdale's Monast'icon, and
others, has made the mistake of naming a
hospital dedicated to St. Laurence, as though
there were three and not merely two hospitals
at Reading dependent on the abbey. The
mistake obviously arose through the headings in
the different chartularies naming the church
or chapel of St. Laurence in conjunction with
the founding of the hospital.

The charter of Hugh II, the eighth abbot
of Reading, recites that the foundation of the
abbey by Henry I was not merely for the sus-
tenance of the monks, but also for the reception
of poor guests and wayfarers, and then proceeds
to state that he (the abbot) had founded a
hospital outside their gates for the double
purpose of relieving the distress of the (local)
poor, and for the help of needy wayfarers.
With the consent of Bishop Hubert Walter
(1189-93) ne na ^ assigned the church of
St. Laurence 60 to this hospital, for the support

*' Sar. Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, fol. zb.

M Ibid. fol. 73*. M Ibid. fol. 73*.

M Ibid. fol. 1 54^. K Ibid. Audley, fol. 33.

48 Ibid. fol. 383. " Ibid. fol. 93.

58 Ibid. Capon, fol. 5. Pat. 1 6 Hen. Ill, m. 3.

60 It is stated by Coates and repeated in the revised
Monasticon and elsewhere, that the church of Thatcham
and other properties were settled on the hospital of
St. John Baptist and confirmed to it by Bishop
TJ 'ibert. But reference to the chartularies shows that
is an error. For instance, the church of
Thatcham was merely appropriated to the general
hospitality of the monks (ad hospitalitatis onera support-
anda), its revenues being administered by the almoner
of the abbey and forming part of the large funds
appropriated to that office. Vesp. E. v, fols. 20, zoi> ;
Harl. MS. 1708, fol. 179.

of thirteen poor persons (resident) in food and
clothing and all necessaries, and for the supply of
the daily wants in food and customary alms of
thirteen other poor persons. 61

The bishop, in confirming this grant of the
church of St. Laurence to the hospital, provided
for the establishment of a perpetual vicar for the
church, who was to receive yearly 20*. for his
clothes ; bread and beer the same as a monk ;
"]d. weekly for meat ; suitable lodging, and
legacies not above 6d. The vicar was not only
to serve the parish church, but to act as chaplain
to the infirm and poor of the hospital, giving
daily and assiduous attention to their souls.
The monks were to find the vicar a horse when
he had to journey on the affairs of the church. 62

On one of the last folios of the chartulary
there is the entry of the appointment of Philip
as chaplain of the hospital and vicar of St.
Laurence's, in accordance with the ordination of
Bishop Hubert. This occurs towards the end of
long entries as to the rentals and property
administered by the almoner. Towards the
bottom of the same page is an estimate as to the
clothing required by the almoner for the poor,
apparently for the year. The amounts are
large, namely, 300 ells of woollen cloth, 124 ells
of linen, 100 ells of canvas, and 24, or at least
15, yards or serge. This estimate has been
assigned by Coates and Dugdale to a hospital of
thirteen inmates, not realizing the extraordinarily
extensive wardrobe that this amount would
provide for so small a number. The fact is
that the amount was that which the almoner
of the monastery required for the whole of his
important department. 63

This hospital stood close to the church of St.
Laurence, and the north chancel aisle served as
the chapel for the inmates, and is still known as
St. John's or St. John Baptist's chapel.

The sex of the poor inmates is not mentioned
in the foundation charter, but probably from the
beginning (as in some other houses of thirteen)
the accommodation was divided between seven
men and six women, the senior brother having
certain authority under the chaplain as sub-
warden. They were all under celibate vows,
the sisters being often widows of those who had
held some office in the town and had fallen into
poverty. The senior sister was termed the
prioress. Both brothers and sisters were admitted
by a religious formulary in the chapel. The
one to be admitted said certain prayers and the
Veni Creator kneeling before the altar, was
anointed with holy water and given the habit,
with a veil in the case of the sisters. 64

61 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v, fol. 19^.

61 Ibid. fol. 20 ; Vesp. E. xxv, fol. 3 ; Harl. MS.
1708, fol. 178.

63 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v, fol. 79 ; Coates, Reading,
279 ; Dugdale, Man. iv, 31.

61 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v, fols. U, I \a.

97 '3

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

The allowance for the brethren and sisters
differed somewhat from time to time according
to the terms arranged with the almoner of the
abbey. A brother who had been a shoemaker
in the Sartuary (afterwards Cobbler's Row) of
Reading, and who was admitted in 1337,
received weekly seven loaves of white flour,
called de chopyn de abbatis, and three of black
wheat (blakwythe, probably rye) ; he had also
half a mess of meat daily from the kitchen. He
was allowed 3^ ells of russet cloth for his habit
in the year, and I2d. for his shoes. In the
same year there were six sisters at the house ;
they received amongst them twenty-four white
loaves and nineteen chopln weekly, and a farthing
each daily for meat. At each of the festivals of
Easter, Pentecost, All Saints, and Christmas, and
also on Shrove Xuesday, the sisters received a
whole dish of meat or a penny. The oldest
sister was termed the prioress ; at Easter and
Christmas she received a penny for an oblation,
whilst the other five only received a halfpenny
each. At the feast of the Purification she received
a good candle. Two shillings and sixpence was
the yearly allowance for their habit. The sisters
had a maid servant, who was provided with
seven miches 66 weekly. The almoner was
responsible for keeping the building and chapel
in repair, and he provided oil for the lamp in the
hall. Any brother or sister guilty of incon-
tinence was to be expelled. 68

Joan Grome, who was admitted to the
hospital in 1376, was to receive daily a loaf
called ' prikkedlof,' and a pottle (two quarts) of
beer, but in other respects to be provided like the
rest of the sisters. Matilda, who became a sister
in 1380, had a weekly allowance of four founders'
loaves and three chopynes."

In the fifteenth century, laxity of administra-
tion suffered this interesting foundation to lapse
into the general fund of the almoner, and the
buildings were let at an annual rent. An
instance occurs in 1368 of Joan Derby, a
widow, covenanting to pay to Robert Uffington
the almoner an annual rent for her life, together
with a fine on taking possession, for a chamber
in St. John's Hospital. 68

When Edward IV was at Reading in 1479
he gave ear to the various complaints as to
neglects on the part of the abbey, and caused
an inquiry to be made. In a report that was
consequently drawn up it is stated that :

Also there was without thabbey-gate a place called
Seynt Johnys Howse wher in were founde and kepte
certeyne relygyous women wydowes in chast lyvynge
in Goddes servyce praying nyght and day for the
Kyng's estate, and for the sowles of their founders and
benefactors, wherin was a feyr chapell of Seynt John
Baptyst, for the seyd women to sey their prayers in

65 Mica or micha (cf. manchet) was a small loaf.

C6 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v, fol. 8o.

67 Ibid. fol. 6a. Ibid. fol. 62.

certain seasons of the day and nyght, and wher also
irussys were seyd many tymes in the yere, and other
devyne servyce also ; whyche women wont to have
out of thabbey every weke certeyn of bred and ale and
also money ; and as yt ys seyd oons in the yere,
a certeyne clothyng ; and thys was ordeyred for such
women as had been onest mennys wyvys that had
borne offyce in the towne before, and in age were fall
in poverti, or that purposed no more to marye. And
now ther ys nother Goddservyce nor prayour, nor
creature alyve to kepe hyt. But thabbot takethe the
profytts ther of and dothe no suche almes nor good
deds ther wyth. 69

This was in the days of Abbot Thome I, who
was succeeded in 1486 by Abbot Thorne II.
King Henry VII, as Leland tells us, visited
Reading in the year of the new abbot's
appointment. The king desired the abbot to
convert the hospital, which had been sup-
pressed several years previously, to some pious
uses ; and the abbot desiring that it might be
made a grammar school, the king assented to his
wishes. 70 Leland adds :

One William Dene, a riche man and servant in the
abbey of Reading, gave 200 marks in mony toward
the avancement of this Schole ; as it apperith by the
Epitaphie on his Grave in the Abbey Chirch of
Reading. 71

There is a cast of a seal of this hospital at the
British Museum, 72 wrongly assigned to the
imaginary hospital of St. Laurence in the Cata-
logue of Seals. It is pointed oval, bearing a
mitred abbot. In the place of a legend is a
wavy scroll.

25. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY
MAGDALEN, READING

A hospital was founded for twelve lepers and
a chaplain at Reading by the second abbot,
Ausger, who ruled from 1130 to 1175. It
was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen. The
abbot provided that each inmate of the hospital
was to receive as a daily supply half a loaf of
bread and half a gallon of middling beer (cervisie
mediocris) ; also $d. a month for buying meat.
In Lent the bread was to be of barley. The
scale of clothing was generous ; each one was

69 B.M. Add. MS. 6214, fol. 14.

70 Leland, I tin. ii, 4, 5 ; Collectanea, iv, 185.

71 It must not be imagined that this was the
beginning of the connexion of the abbey with
scholastic work at Reading. It was of far earlier
origin. Bishop Hubert (1190-93) granted and
confirmed to the abbey the school of Reading in
express terms : Vesp. E. xxv, fol. I lob ; B.M. Harl.
MS. 1708, fols. 99^, 91. Bishop Roger (1315-30)
issued his mandate to the archdeacon of Berks, to the
rural deans and all the clergy of the county prohibiting
anyone from governing the schools at Reading save
with the consent and at the appointment of the abbot
and convent. B.M. Harl. MS. 1708, fol. 190.

" B.M. Iviii, 53.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

supplied with hood, tunic and cloak, and with
two woollen vests and under-linen. The hood
or cape was to contain three ells of cloth, the
tunic three, and the cloak two and a quarter ;
these were supplied as often as required. Each
inmate also received ten yards of linen yearly,
and one yard of serge for shoes. Fifteen yards
of linen were supplied every second year for
covering the tables. On giving out new table
linen the old was to be returned. The chaplain
was supplied with six ells of russet and ten yards
of linen every Michaelmas ; he also received all
oblations made by the brethren of the house, but
other offerings he divided with the brethren.
The almoner of the monastery was to undertake
any new building or repairs that might be
required. The clothes-mender (sartuarius) of
the monastery was to supply them with
leather girdles at Michaelmas and with shoes at
Easter. Their carter was to receive bread daily
from the granarian and 32^. a year from the
almoner. The woman servant was to be sup-
plied with bread and 2s. a year in like fashion.
The chamberlain was to supply the hospital with
provender for a horse, with four loads of hay,
and with the milk of four cows.

The rules of the house were strict. For
incontinence or striking a brother the punish-
ment was expulsion ; for defamation or disobedi-
ence to the master, fasting on bread and water in
the midst of the hall, the culprit's portion of meat
and drink being placed on the table and distributed
by the master. No one was allowed to leave
the house or stand at the gate without a com-
panion. Anyone desirous of leave of absence
for one, two, or three nights had to obtain per-
mission of the master and of the whole convent,
but if for longer the master's consent was
necessary, and then only with a companion.
The brothers were to prepare to rise at the first
ringing of the bell, and when it rang for the third
time to enter the church. If anyone found any-
thing on the premises it was not to be concealed,
but shown to the brethren and placed in the com-
mon fund ; but if it was found outside it might be
considered the finder's if he so willed. Alms
given by anyone to an inmate on the roadside
for infirmity were to go to the common purse.
No one was to enter the wash-house with-
out a companion, nor was anyone to send the
servant of the house any long distance without
leave. 73

The administration of this lazar-house was so
intimately connected with the general administra-
tion of the abbey by the founder that it required
no separate endowment. In later and laxer times,
however, the house had endowments of its own.
Coates cites the Wollascot MSS. to the effect of
the hospital owning a house at Arley White-

" Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v, fols. 38, 38^. Details
of the ordination of this leper hospital are also set
forth in Sar. Epis. Reg. Beauchamp (and Nos.), fol.yo^.

knights, of which they received the rents and a
heriot when due and also two acres of land in
Spittlefields, the gift of one of the abbots. 74

In 1413 an inquisition was held showing that
200 acres had been assigned to this hospital, but
that the abbot was not supporting it. Henry V
in the following year assigned the wardenship of
it to John Beck by letters patent ; this trust was
apparently hereditary, for the free chapel of Arley
Whiteknights was in the hands of the Beck
family in 1547, according to the chantry certifi-
cates return. 76

The history of this leper-house seems to be
similar to the majority of such foundations,
namely that as time went on and leprosy became
unusual the house was neglected and the master
or warden usually absorbed the funds.

An inquiry set on foot by Edward IV when
he was at Reading in 1479 as to alleged neglects
by the abbey produced the following memo-
randum respecting this hospital :

Moreover an other chapell ther was in the est syde
of the towne callyd Mary Magdelyn Chapell, and
lyvelod therto for to releve therin syke folks, as lazarrs,
and an house for them to dwell in besyde wt feyr
lends perteynyng therto ; wherof thabbot takethe the
profytts, and hathe taken downe the seyd chapell and
all the howsys therto apperteynyng. And so ther be
no poor people relevyd therby as now, nother were
not many days. 76

26. BARNES HOSPITAL, READING

There was a third hospital at Reading of late
but pre-Reformation foundation. It is thus
described by the College and Chantry Commis-
sioners at the end of the reign of Henry VIII:

One hospitalle or Almeshouse there founded by
William Barnes to thentent to have certayne pore
people there lodged, and for that purpose he dyde
endowe the same house with certen londes and tene-
mentes, howbeit they have not showed any foundacion
or graunte.

The hospital is reported as being in the parish
of St. Mary, and having an income of j 6s. 4^.,
employed in lodging poor folk and maintaining
the building. 77

27. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN

BAPTIST, WALLINGFORD

Without the south gate of Wallingford, in
what is now called the Lower Green, stood a
hospital of early foundation dedicated to St. John
Baptist. There are various references to it in
the thirteenth century, when it supported a
master or warden and certain brothers and

sisters.

74 Coates, Reading, 278.

75 Ibid. Tanner, Notitia, xvii, 4.
76 B.M. Add. MS. 6214, fol. 14.

77 Coll. and Chant. Cert. 51, No. 73.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

On 21 March, 1224, the king, when at
Reading, granted letters of protection for a year
to the master and brethren of the hospital of
St. John, Wallingford. This grant was renewed
by Henry III on 6 September, 1225, when he
was stopping at the castle of Wallingford. 78 On
25 August, 1227, when the king was again at
this castle, simple letters of protection, sine ter-
mino, were granted to the master, brethren, and
sisters of St. John. 79

Stephen de Stalles, of Wallingford, granted to
the brethren and sisters of this hospital, about
1240, a messuage in the parish of St. Leonard,
within the south gate of Wallingford. 80

Among the muniments of the corporation of
Wallingford are many deeds relative to this hos-
pital, including several of the reign of Henry III,
which are undated. 81

One of these, executed by the famous Simon
de Montfort, earl of Leicester, records his grant
to the brethren and sisters of St. John Baptist of
%d. rent of assize which he had been wont to
receive of them for an acre of land held of him
in Chalmore ; the first witness is Master Peter de
Benham, mayor. Another deed witnessed by
the same mayor records the grant by a widow of
her dower right in the moiety of a messuage to
the hospital for the sum of 401. A third deed,
when Alexander de Stalles was mayor, is a grant
by Richard Robechild of a piece of land in
Wallingford opposite his own house, for the sum
of I2s. paid beforehand; the hospital paying to
Eustace Clement and his heirs a yearly rental
of 6d., and to himself one clove yearly at
Easter.

There are various other deeds of grants to and
from the hospital when Sir Ralph the chaplain
was warden. By one of these they obtained
from Stephen de Stalles for 5 marks of silver
2j acres of land in Newnham, I acre near the
land of Master Peter de Banham, and i J acres
elsewhere in Wallingford. By another one
Ralph, the master, and the brethren and sisters
grant to Stephen the carpenter for 45. 6d. paid,
and for a rental of 4*. 6d., a house with a tiled
solar and a small tiled chamber, where Stephen
was wont to abide ; the said Stephen was to
keep the tenement in proper repair and well

tiled.

The corporation muniments also include various
undated documents relative to the hospital of the
reign of Edward I, Sir Ralph the chaplain still
being master. 82 The most remarkable of these
is one whereby Christine Joes testifies, making
oath and touching the Holy Gospels, that she
has bound herself to Sir Ralph and the brethren
and sisters to give the fullest security for the

78 Pat. 8 Hen. Ill, m. 9 ; 9 Hen. Ill, m. 2.
"Ibid, ii Hen. Ill, m. 3.

80 Coxe and Turner, Cal. of Eodl. Chart. 15.

81 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 586, 587.
ra Ibid. 587-8, 590.

peaceful holding by them of 3 acres of land
which they had from William her husband

so namely, that I may be excommunicated from day
to day, and denounced as excommunicate through the
whole deanery of Henley, if I shall in any way pre-
sume to contravene the said gift. . . . And if of this
I shall be convicted I will give to the archdeacon of
Oxford for the time being for the breaking of my
vow and for my perjury 2O/., and to the said Ralph
and brethren and sisters 2O/. for such unjust vexation,
renouncing the royal prohibition and all right of
remedy, civil or canonical.

On 12 October, 1276, Edward I sanctioned
the seeking of alms by the master, brethren, and
sisters of St. John Baptist, Wallingford, for the
period of seven years.

In July, 1305, licence was granted, after in-
quisition, for the alienation in mortmain by
Robert de Turneston, chaplain and master, of
13 acres of land in Wallingford, Clapcot, and
Newnham to this hospital. 83

In 1313 John de Perssore, warden, granted a
tenement in the parish of Great St. Mary to
Richard Az, Cecilia his wife, and Agnes his
daughter, for their lives, at a yearly rent of 5*. ;
after the death of the survivor the tenement was
to return to the warden ; the mayor and bailiffs
of the town were among the witnesses. In the
following year John Roulond, warden of the hos-
pital, and the brethren andsisters there, granted to
Henry de Wyncestre, Alota his wife, and Alice
their daughter, a tenement in the parish of
'St. Mary the More,' for the term of their
lives, at a yearly rental of ~]s. ; the mayor and
bailiffs for that year are again witnesses. 84

Licence was granted in March, 1334, to the
master and brethren of the hospital of St. John
Baptist, Wallingford, to acquire in mortmain
land and rent to the annual value of loo*. 86

In June, 1391, Thomas Athelyngton, king's
clerk, obtained the grant for life from the crown
of the wardenship of this hospital. 88 It is quite
clear, however, that the appointment of the
warden had rested with the commonalty or
corporation of Wallingford throughout the thir-
teenth and earlier part of the fourteenth century.
This crown nomination was something excep-
tional. So much was the hospital considered as
pertaining to the town that the various deeds
recited, and others not here named, were not
only usually witnessed by the mayor and bailiffs,
but in some cases it is stated that they were
testified to ' by the whole Burgmote ' or ' by the
whole Portmote.' This is but natural, for the

83 Pat. 33 Edw. I, pt. ii, m. 16. Robert de
Turneston, warden of the hospital, witnesses one of
the corporation deeds of the year 1298, and grants
were made to him as master in 1301 and 1306.

84 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 593.

85 Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 26.
88 Ibid. I Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 29.

100

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

hospital was first founded by the inhabitants at
large.

Every old hospital had its chapel annexed, and
not a few like the chapel of the hospital of
St. John Baptist and St. John Evangelist in
Northampton 87 had a good-sized chapel used
by other than the inmates. This was the case
at Wallingford. The hospital chapel of St. John
Baptist was in the parish of St. Leonard, but
having no parochial obligations it was technically
termed a free chapel.

In the corporation ledger, under the date 25
November, 1542, appears the following entry :

Richard Adene appeared before the mayor and
produced the advowson of the hospital of St. John
and that of St. Mary Magdalen, under the seals of the
guild and the mayoralty, and was inducted into pos-
session, and the mayor received his oaths faithfully to
perform all the constitutions of the hospital. 88

The return of the Chantry and College Com-
missioners of Henry VIII states that the free
chapel of St. John Baptist was founded by the
inhabitants of the town, and was situated in the
parish of St. Leonard, a furlong distant from that
church. The annual income for the chaplain,
then John Adeane, was j6. 89 The return of
the commissioners of Edward VI two years later
gives the annual value of the lands and tenements
as 9 15*. SJ.

The fine fifteenth-century seal of this hospital
represents St. John Baptist, under a canopy,
holding in the left hand an Agnus Dei on a
plaque, with a scroll inscribed Ecce Agnrf Del.
Legend :

s' : FRM : ET : SOROR' : OSPIT : . . . ci : IOHIS :
BAPTIST' : WALINGF'

24 August, 1227, when the king was again at
Wallingford, he granted full protection to the
tenants, and to property of every kind of this hos-
pital, and directed his subjects when the mes-
sengers of the hospital came seeking alms to
receive them kindly and bestow on them of their
substance. 90

To this hospital ' a free chapel ' was attached ;
in the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII the
same chaplain served the hospital as well as that
of St. John Baptist. The admission of Richard
Adeane to the advowson of both by the mayor
in 1542 has been already recorded. The Chantry
Commissioners of 1546 reported that the free
chapel of ' Marye Maudlyn ' was founded by the
inhabitants of Wallingford, and that it was
situated within the parish of Newnham, a quarter
of a mile from the parish church. 91

BAPTIST' : WALINGF'

28. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY
MAGDALEN, WALLINGFORD

There was a second hospital, also of early
foundation, at Wallingford (not mentioned by
Dugdale or Tanner) dedicated to St. Mary
Magdalen.

This hospital was for lepers, and though it was
technically in Oxfordshire, being placed at the
Newnham end of the old bridge over the Thames,
it is rightly named under Berkshire, as it was
under the immediate control of the town of Wal-
lingford. The references to it are scanty, but
begin in the reign of Henry III.

The master and brethren of the hospital of
St. Mary Magdalen extra Wallingford obtained
letters of protection from the king in December,
1226, when he was visiting the castle, to last
wntil Christmas in the following year. On

87 Northants Borough Rec. ii.

88 Hedges, Wallingford, ii, 371.

89 Chant. Cert. Berks. 51, No. 56.

29. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. PETER,
WINDSOR

There was a hospital for lepers in the park of
Windsor of early foundation, usually known as
the hospital of St. Peter-without-Windsor. The
first references that have hitherto been found to
this hospital are of the reign of Henry III.

On 24 February, 1232, the brethren of the
hospital of St. Peter of Windsor obtained the
protection of the crown sine terminal The
Testa de Nevill states that js. a year was paid to
the lepers of Windsor out of the fee-farm of
Windsor, the gift of King Henry. 93

This hospital was for both leprous maidens and
brethren, as we learn from a charter of 1251,
whereby Henry III, for the souls of King John,
Queen Isabel, Queen Eleanor, and for his chil-
dren, granted them 120 acres, part of a purpres-
ture in the forest of Windsor; to be held free of
all secular service, by finding a chaplain to say
mass daily in the hospital chapel for the souls
before mentioned. 94

The leper hospital of Windsor is mentioned in
the special inquisition of 1273 (Hundred Rolls)
as entitled to 2^ marks out of the inclosed lands
of Geoffrey de Denne, and the hospital without
Windsor is mentioned as a boundary in a grant
of land in Windsor Forest dated 23 October,
1289."

On 24 August, 1290, Robert de Cancell,
chaplain, was granted the custody of the hospital
of St. Peter-without-Windsor, by the king during
pleasure. 98

In February, 1327, Edward III granted the

90 Pat. II Hen. Ill, m. 9, 3.

91 Chant. Cert. Berks. 51.
"Pat. 1 6 Hen. Ill, m. 8.

93 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 129
"Chart. 35 Hen. Ill, m. 8, 6.
95 Pat. 17 Edw. I, m. 5.
"Ibid. 1 8 Edw. I, m 13.

101

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

custody of this hospital to John le Chapelur for
life. 97

John Hardin, chaplain, was granted on
29 April, 1382, custody for life of the chapel of
St. Peter in the parish of Windsor, called ' le
Spital,' void by the resignation of Simon de Mer-
stone. A few days later, namely on 9 May,
revocation was made of this collation, as it ap-
peared that Simon de Merstone had resigned un-
willingly through fear. However, on 2 August
Simon de Merstone executed a second resignation
of ' le Spital juxta Windsor,' and William de
Briggeford was appointed in his place by the
crown. 98

In 1390 Richard II granted to his servant
Laurence Hunt the wardenship of Windsor
Hospital, provided the hospital might be held by
a layman. 89

Among large grants made by Edward IV to the
provosts and college of Eton in 1462, chiefly of
the possessions of the forfeited alien priories, that
they might pray for the good estate of the king,
and for the souls of his progenitors, &c., the

hospital of St. Peter of Windsor is first named. 10
The practical extinction of leprosy by this time
in England formed a genuine excuse for the trans-
ference of this property.

The site and land of this hospital still bear
the name of Spital, about half a mile south of
Windsor proper.

30. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN,
WINDSOR

Grant during pleasure was made by Edward II
in September, 1316, to Walter de Redynges,
king's yeoman, of the place which is called the
hospital of St. John, Windsor, to hold with all
lands, rents, and other things pertaining, provided
that he found a chaplain to celebrate divine ser-
vice in the chapel there daily, for the souls of the
king's ancestors, so long as he should hold the
place. 101 Nothing more, however, appears to be
known of this hospital, which would seem, from
the wording of the grant, to have already ceased
from active existence at this date.

COLLEGIATE CHURCHES

31. THE COLLEGE OF SHOTTES-
BROOK

Sir William Trussell, of Kibblestone, Stafford-
shire, founded a college consisting of a warden
and five other chaplains and two clerks at Shottes-
brook in the year 1337, and endowed it with the
church of Shottesbrook, and a rental of 40*. on
the manor of the same parish, held in chief, as of
the castle of Windsor, by rendering zos. yearly
at the castle. The letters patent granting licence
for this foundation also authorized the founder
to alienate to the college a further yearly payment
of loos, of land or rent not held in chief. 1 In
the following year licence was granted to the
warden of the college to acquire in mortmain
further lands or rents up to ^10 yearly. 2

There had been a parish church at Shottes-
brook a parish formed out of the older one of
White Waltham for some time before Sir
William Trussell's days. Both the church and the
college, subsequently attached to it, were dedicated
in honour of St. John Baptist. The foundation
ordinance laid down that the warden and the five
chaplains were to keep the canonical hours, be-
ginning at daybreak (in aurora diet) ; they were
to follow in all things the use of Sarum and to
sing from the heart with distinct and suitable

9? Pat. i Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 32.
93 Ibid. 5 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 21, 14; 9 Ric. II,
pt. i, m. 23.

99 Ibid. 13 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. I.
1(10 Ibid, i Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 24.
101 Ibid. 10 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 21.
1 Ibid. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 24.

voice (corde et voce distincte et apte psallere] ;
they were to wear surplices and black copes, after
the manner of the vicars of the church of Salis-
bury ; and the mass of Our Lady was to be
celebrated daily with the utmost devotion. Full
provision was also made for high mass and for
particular collects for the king and founder, with
many other details both of a liturgical and house-
hold character. 3

On 24 May, 1337, the founder presented John
de Lodyngton to the bishop, as the first warden
of the perpetual chantry of Shottesbrook. 4

From that date onwards there are frequent
entries of presentations to the wardenship or to
the different chaplaincies in the episcopal registers.
Thus, on 12 June, 1346, Thomas de Wokynge
was instituted to the fifth place or grade among
the chaplains, on the nomination of the founder ;
and John Fakenham to the second grade, on
1 6 November, I35I. 5

Edward III in 1338 granted to Sir William
Trussell, ' out of our special grace and on account
of the affection we have for so beloved and faith-
ful a servant,' the advowson of the Berkshire
church of Basildon, with licence to transfer and
appropriate it to his chantry or college of Shottes-
brook. 6 In the same year Sir William, described
as the king's yeoman, obtained a grant for him-

2 Ibid. II Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. II. The foundation
was not carried out till this date, but the first licence
had been obtained in April, 1336 ; Pat. 10 Edw. Ill,
pt. i, m. 22.

3 Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, i
5 Ibid, i, fol. 171, 296.

35-4-
* Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iv, m. 9.

Ibid.

102

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

self and his heirs and all their tenants of the
manor of Shottesbrook to be quit of expeditation
of their dogs within the forest ; 7 a grant of real
value, as the officers of the forest exacted a fee for
each case of mutilation. The whole manor was
within the bounds of the forest of Windsor. On
8 June, 1341, Sir William Trussell added to the
endowments to the extent of 7 yearly value
(out of the ,10 for which licence was obtained
in 1338), by the gift of a messuage in Cookham,
with lands, meadow, weir, and rent. 8

Some difficulty (probably with the ecclesiastical
authorities) must have arisen with regard to the
appropriation of the church of Basildon ; for the
licence was repeated in 1 340, 9 and again in 1 344. 10
But it was not accomplished until many years
later. Towards the end of the reign of Edward III
the church and college were almost destroyed by
fire, and all the priests and clerks left, save John
Bradford, the warden. Thereupon the king once
more, in 1371, repeated his licence for the appro-
priation of the church of Basildon, 11 but even now
there was some further delay before papal and
episcopal sanction was obtained. By letters
patent of 1384, John Bradwell, the warden, and
the chaplains obtained ratification from Richard II
of the appropriation of Basildon, as sanctioned
by the pope, the archbishop of Canterbury, and
the bishop of Salisbury, when William Sharp was
warden. 12 The episcopal registers show that the
rectory was formally appropriated and the vicarage
endowed in the year I38a. 13

In 1386 a chantry was ordained in this colle-
giate church for the soul of William Frithe, a
London merchant. 14 In 1392 the college en-
dowments were slightly increased by some further
messuages in Shottesbrook and White Waltham. 15

The last warden but one of this college was
Dr. William Throcmorton, who died in 1535.
His alabaster effigy is still in the chancel. An
account of this monument and inscription with
many other particulars as to the manor and
college of Shottesbrook was written by
Mr. Hearne in 1711, and inserted in the
second edition of Leland's Itinerary. 16

The College and Chantry Commissioners of
Henry VIII of 1546 reported that the college
of St. John Baptist, Shottesbrook, was founded
by the ancestors of the earl of Oxford to have
a warden and two (sic) priests to say the divine
office. They found that the warden at that time
was a layman, Robert Vere, brother to the earl
of Oxford ; ' he recyveth the prophetts and

7 Rymer, Foedera v, 86.

8 Pat. 15 Edw. Ill, pt, ii, m. 43.

9 Ibid. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 10.

10 Ibid. 1 8 Edw. III,pt. ii, m. i.

11 Ibid. 45 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 35.
18 Ibid. 8 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 7.

13 Sar. Epis. Reg. Erghum (and Nos.), fol. 63.

14 Ibid. fol. 93*.

15 Pat. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 22.

" Leland, I tin. (1744), ii, 119-35.

comyth nott there.' They also reported that
the college was a parish church situated between
two other parish churches, each of which was
but half a mile distant. The annual value was
62 14;. Out of this the two priests received

fi2 is. ifd. and the clerk or sexton 33*. $d. ;
4 went to the vicar of Basildon, and 6s. for
bread, wine, wax, and oil. The considerable
balance was received by Robert Vere ' to his
owne use and profytte.' 17

The commissioners of I Edward VI, in which
year the college was suppressed, gave the annual
value as 59 55. 8^., of which ' Robert Verre
Esquire Mr. or Warden' received ^31 3*. 11^.
The two chaplains or ' co-brethren,' William
Hall, aged 51, and Thomas Bersly, aged 50,
each received 6 8*., whilst William Standysh
the clerk had 33$. 4^. 18

WARDENS OF SHOTTESBROOK

John de Lodyngton, appointed 1337 19

William Sharp

John Bradford, occurs 1371 20

John Bradwell, occurs 1384"

Richard Sprotburgh 22

Thomas Rawlyns 22

William Throcmorton, died 1535 s3

Robert Vere, last master 24

32. THE COLLEGE OF WALLINGFORD

The college and church or chapel of St. Nicho-
las was situated in the south-east corner of the
outer bailey of the castle of Wallingford.
Leland, in the time of Henry VIII, wrote :

There were a dean and prebendaries in the King's
free chapel within the third dyke of the Castle here
in the beginning of King John's reign and prob-
ably before which Edmund Earl of Cornwall
(ii Edward I) endowed with lands and rents for the
maintenance of six chaplains, six clerks, and four
choristers etc. 25

The charters of King John show that there
were then two royal prebendal chapels at Wal-
lingford ; one of which is described as ' our
chapel of Wallingford to wit the church of All
Saints ' ; 26 whilst there are several later refer-
ences to prebends in ' our chapel within the
castle.' The last of these is of the year 1214,
when William de London received the king's

17 Coll. and Chant. Cert. 51.

18 Ibid. Nos. 3, 7.

19 Sar. Epis. Reg. Wyville, i, 40.
* Pat. 45 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 35.
11 Ibid. 8 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 7.

85 Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 56, No. 113.

" Leland, I tin. (ed. 1 744), ii, 1 1 9.

24 Coll. and Chant. Cert. 51.

85 Leland, I tin. ii, 40.

K Chart. R. ^ John, m. 24.

103

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

letters of presentation to the prebend which had
been held by Master William de Pottern, ' in
the chapel of the Lord the King in the castle
of Wallingford.' Letters were at the same time
sent to the canons of the chapel, and likewise to
the bishop of Salisbury, ' if perchance that pre-
bend may lie in his diocese.' 27

Kennett records an inquisition of the year
1183, from which it appears that Miles Crispin
was the founder of the Wallingford prebends. 28
Miles Crispin came in with the Conqueror, and
died in 1 107.

On 19 March, 1227, the king presented
Hugh de Bathon to the rectory of Stokes-
Basset, Oxfordshire, which was at that time a
prebend of the chapel of St. Nicholas in Wal-
lingford Castle, on the resignation of John de
Wighenholt. 29

In November, 1229, the king committed the
custody of Wallingford Castle to his brother
Richard, earl of Cornwall, together with the
honour of Wallingford and its appurtenances ;
but it is expressly stated that the king reserved
in his own hands the gift of the prebends of the
castle chapel. 30

This collegiate church of St. Nicholas was
further endowed and re-established in 1278, on
so important a scale, by Edmund, earl of Corn-
wall, that he was usually regarded as the founder.
Edmund's foundation charter, together with
another of the year 1280 extending the endow-
ment, received royal confirmation at Michaelmas,
I283- 31 ^7 this charter a college was founded
in the chapel of St. Nicholas, consisting of a
dean (Roger Drayton was the first appointment),
six chaplains, six clerks, and four taper-bearers 32
(ceropherarii\ with an endowment of jC6 1 12s.
yearly rental in Warborough and Shellingford.
It is stated in the charter that Edmund founded
the college for the salvation of his own soul, and
of the souls of Richard, king of the Romans,
his father, of Sanchia his mother, of the king
of England, and of the souls of all the faithful
who had died in the Lord.

In 1356 Edward III gave his licence for the
appropriation of the church of Harwell, Berk-
shire, to the dean of the free chapel of
St. Nicholas within Wallingford Castle, the
gift of his son, Edward the Black Prince, for the
sustenance of the six chaplains, six clerks, and
four taper-bearers. 33 Five years later the college
received the additional gift of the manor of
Harwell. 84

" Pat. 1 6 John, m. I?.

18 Kennett, Par. Antlq. \, 130.

" Pat. 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 8 bis.

30 Close, 14 Hen. Ill, m. 23.

31 Chart. R. 1 1 Edw. I, m. 2.

32 The four boys are termed choristers in the earlier
charter, at the Bodleian, of 1278 ; the dean is therein
termed master.

33 Pat. 30 Edw. Ill, m. 15.

34 Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 1C.

The dean and college or the king's chapel
within the castle of Wallingford obtained licence
in January, 1389, to appropriate towards their
maintenance the church of All Saints, Walling-
ford, which did not exceed the value of looi. a
year. 36 The church of All Saints stood within
300 yards of the college ; there was no special
provision made for vicarage, but the church and
parish were served by the clergy of St. Nicholas.

The deanery, as in so many similar cases,
appears to have been often bestowed upon promi-
nent pluralists who treated it as a sinecure.
Richard Feld, who was appointed by the crown
dean of the free chapel of Wallingford in
November 1399, probably never saw the college
of priests over whom he was supposed to preside ;
for at the time of his appointment he held the
rectories of Ringwood and Cleeve, Worcester
diocese ; and was also prebendary of Alveley in
the free chapel of Bridgnorth, prebendary of
Cotton in the collegiate church of Tamworth,
and warden of the free chapel of Tickhill,
Yorks. 39

Henry VI, in 1444, at the petition of Stephen
Morpeth, the dean, granted to the college ten
marks yearly out of the fee-farm of the town and
honour of Wallingford. The letters patent of
this grant mention that the stipends originally
assigned were 40 marks to the dean and his
substitute, 10 marks to each of the six priest
chaplains, 7 marks to each of the six clerks, and
40J. to each of the four choristers, and that there
were other considerable and heavy charges ; but
that the true annual value of the rents and
possessions of the college had so materially dimin-
ished that the income, after paying for repairs
and necessary burdens, barely left a balance of
ten marks, so that either the number of ministers
must be materially lessened, or the foundation
ordinance set at naught. The king thereupon,
in addition to the grant of ten marks, ordained
that the dean and chaplains on festival days
might procure extra boys from elsewhere, and
only be obliged to support two choristers through-
out the year. 37 The choristers were, however,
ere long increased to the original number.

Dr. Underhill, who was dean of the college
from 1510 to 1536, built a new west tower for
the collegiate church. 38

Leland, writing about 1538, states :

The Deane afore Dr. London that now is built a
fair steple of stone at the west end of the collegiate
chapel, in making whereof he defaced, without license,
a piece of the king's lodging joining to the eastward
end of the chapel. The Deane hath a fair lodging of
tymbre within the Castle, and to it is joined a place
for the ministers of the chapel."

15 Ibid. 12 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 29.

36 Ibid. I Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 29.

37 Ibid. 23 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 17.
88 Hedges, Wallingford, ii, 296.

" Leland, Itin. ii, 40.

104

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

The notorious Dr. London, of evil fame, one
of Cromwell's monastic visitors, was dean of
this college from 1536 until his final disgrace.
On 23 February, 1538, John London wrote to
Cromwell detailing the condition of the estab-
lishment over which he presided. After every
man's portion (a dean, six priests, six clerks, a
deacon, and four choristers) had been paid, there
was very little left for other charges, ' wherbye
such ornamentes as the noble founders gave unto
that chapell do oonly remayne, very olde and
dyvers of them past mending.' 'The Kinges
Grace of hys most tendre benyvolens dydde
within the viii yeres past bylde newly the hole
Colledge, in maner all, as well the Deans as the
Prests and Clerks lodgyngs.' London then pro-
ceeds to beg for the t>rnaments of the conventual
church of Abingdon about to be dissolved, stating
that they had ' very few copys, few vestments,
and butt oon awlter clothe of sylk, and all thees
very olde.' He proceeded to state that if the
king granted them these Abingdon goods, he
would be glad at his own charge to repair them,
and to ' sett in every of them hys Grace is armys,
.with a scripture of memory that hys Grace con-
feryd such ornaments to that hys Grace is
Colledg.' 40

John London, one of Cromwell's favourite
tools in the work of suppression, was richly re-
warded. He was not only made dean of Wal-
lingford, but was also dean of Oseney, warden of
New College, Oxford, canon of York, Lincoln,
Sarum, and Windsor, and rector of several
parishes. With his wealth and promotion came
the display of his dissolute nature. Archbishop
Cranmer styled him ' that filthy prebendary of
Windsor' ; he was convicted of perjury and of
the foulest form of adultery. His life and death
were both evil. After riding through the public
streets of Oxford, Wallingford, Windsor, and
Wokingham with his face to the tail, and spend-
ing some hours in each town ' in a pillory where
every voice might revile and every hand might
hurl filth at him, he was thrust away into
the Fleet Prison, where he miserably died ' in
1540."

The College and Chantry Commissioners of
Henry VIII, of 1546, reported that the college
of St. Nicholas in the castle of Wallingford was
founded by the Black Prince for one dean, six
priests, six clerks, and four choristers for daily
divine service, ' whyche they do observe accord-
yngly.' The annual value was ji55 41. \%d.
The stipends of the six priests amounted to ^40;
of the six clerks, 2% ; of the four choristers,
8 ; and of the sexton, 265. 8d. The wages of
' certayn manialls and servantes ' amounted to
4 131. ifd. ; bread, wine, wax, and oil cost
5 ; 6 6s. jd. was paid for certain obits, and
40*. as a pension to the church of All Saints,

40 L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii, pt. i, 341.
e, Hist, iv, 296.

Wallingford. The remainder, after certain dues
had been discharged, went ' towards the lyvynge
of John Dune deane,' and for the repair of the
houses and tenements. 42

The commissioners of Edward VI, of 1548,
stated that John Donne, the dean, bachelor of
divinity, and subdean of the king's chapels, had
31 2s. \\d. as his annual stipend from this
college, and that he had besides this j6o to-
wards his living in other benefices. Of the four
priests of the college, one, Richard Crane, aged
74, was bedridden ; Richard Fotherby, aged 52,
was unable to serve cure ; William Donkeley,
aged 38, and John de Ayshedale, 52, were also
pronounced ' unable to serve cure,' which seems
to mean that in the opinion of the commissioners
they could not with success discharge the duties of
an ordinary parish priest. Each of the four were
drawing stipend of 6 19*. 10^., ' which is their
only lyvynge.' The names of the six clerks and
the four choristers are also set forth. One of
the former was organist and teacher of the
choristers.

The commissioners added to their report
that :

A vicar is to be endowed, or a preste must be
allowed to serve the cure of Allhallowes without the
Castell Gate, forasmoche as by impropriation the
deane was both parson and vicar, unles it shall stande
with the Kings Majisties pleasure to unite and
annexe the same unto Saunte Maries or some other
parishe within the Towne. Within whiche parish
of Allhallowes be of howslyng people lx. 4S

The Church Goods Commissioners of the same
year estimated that the lead on the chapel, tower
and cloister amounted to ten fodders, at 15 ft. sq.
to the fodder ; and there were four bells. 44 The
college was suppressed in 1548, and the site
granted to Michael Stanhope and John Bellew.
From them it was purchased in the same year by
the dean and canons of Christ Church, Oxford,
as a place of retirement in times of sickness. In
1552 the clerk's lodgings and other premises
were leased to Thomas Parry, but on condition
of his quitting the entire premises, save one
chamber, at eight days' notice, in the event of
the plague or other serious visitation occurring
at Oxford. 46

The pension roll of Philip and Mary, 1554,
shows that the members of the dissolved com-
munity were treated liberally. Two of the
chaplains who then survived were receiving 6
a year, being only i gs. i od. less than their former
salary, whilst all the clerks were in receipt of the
income they had previously drawn less a single
shilling, viz. 4. i6s. 8d* 6

41 Coll. and Chant. Cert. Berks. 51.
a Ibid. iii.

44 K.R. Ch. Gds. ft.

45 Hedges, Wallingford, ii, 315-16.

46 B.M. Add. MS. 5806.

105

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

DEANS OF WALLINGFORD

Ralph de Norwich, presented 1 2 1 6 47
Roger Dray ton, presented 1283^
Richard Feld, presented 1399"
Stephen Morpeth, occurs I444 60
Dr. Berworth, ' late dean 'in 1534 61
John Underbill, 1510-1 536 63
John London, presented 1536 M
John Donne, occurs 1546"

33. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH
WINDSOR

There was an old free or royal chapel of some
importance within the castle of Windsor, dedicated
to St. Edward the Confessor, wherein Henry I
established a college of eight secular priests." It
is supposed that these priests had no regular en-
dowments and were not prebendaries, but were
merely stipendiaries of the king.

In the year 1313 Edward II granted to the
thirteen chaplains celebrating daily for the
king's soul and the souls of his ancestors and
heirs in the chapel in his park of Windsor, and
to the four clerks serving those chaplains,
/1 56 131. 4^. a year, namely to each chaplain
10, and to each clerk 10 marks a year for their
sustenance, to be paid out of the Buckingham-
shire manors of Langley Marsh and Cippen-
ham, until such time as the king should make an
assignment to those chaplains and clerks of bene-
fices to the like value. 66

Soon after his accession, Edward III removed
these chaplains and clerks out of the park into
the castle. On 3 March, 1331, the king gran ted
to John de Melton, Andrew de Bodekesham,
Peter de Wyde, and Edmund de London, his
chaplains, lately celebrating in the chapel in
Windsor Park by appointment of the late king,
and now staying in Windsor Castle, to be atten-
dant with his other chaplains on the divine
offices of his soul, &c., a yearly allowance of ten
marks each for their sustenance. 67

An interesting matter relative to these thirteen
royal chaplains and four clerks of the park in the
time of Edward II occurs in letters patent of
1 346, wherein it is recited that Edward II had

Pat. i Hen. Ill, m. 13.
48 Chart. 1 1 Edw. Ill, m. 2.
" Pat. I Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 29.

50 Ibid. 23 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 17.

51 Tanner, Not. Man. xxxviii.

5> Ibid. Hedges, Wallingford, ii, 296.

M L. and P. Hen. fill, xiii, pt. i, 341.

54 Coll. and Chant. Cert. 3 and 51.

" Tanner, Notitia, Berks, xxiv. In Lysons' Berks,
423, the curious mistake is made of turning eight into
eighty! Leland (Coll. i, 89) says that Hen. I established
five chantries at Windsor Castle.

56 Pat. 7 Edw. II, pt, i, m. 16.

47 Ibid. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 29.

granted to all those ecclesiastics privileges of
meals at the table of the royal hall (or their liver-
ies of meat and drink) whenever the king or
queen should be at Windsor ; but now that the
king had removed the chantry to the castle
Edward III granted to the eight chaplains and
their two clerks that every time that the king or
queen or his heirs stayed at the castle they and
their successors were to be admitted to the table
in hall or have their liveries ; and further, that
they were to receive all oblations offered in the
castle chapel in like manner as they used to
receive them in the park chapel. 68

On 6 August, 1348, the king signed a charter
of foundation, whereby he established and defi-
nitely endowed a chapel within the castle,
wherein (as he recites) he had himself been bap-
tized, and which had been begun by his pro-
genitors in honour of Edward the Confessor. It
was to be rebuilt on a more magnificent scale, to
be served by a much enlarged establishment, and
to be dedicated in honour of the omnipotent God,
the glorious Virgin His Mother, St. George the
Martyr, and St. Edward the Confessor. In the
first instance the king bestowed on this royal
chapel soon afterwards known only by the
dedication to St. George the advowsons and
appropriations of the churches of Wyrardis-
bury, Buckinghamshire ; South Tawton, Devon ;
and Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. To the eight
existing chaplains he added fifteen other canons,
a warden and twenty-four poor or infirm
knights. 69

Between 1348 and 1350 the king largely in-
creased the endowments of his first charter, add-
ing thereto the appropriated churches of Datchet,
Eure, Rhiston, Whaddon, Caxton, Simonsburn,
and Saltash, with the manors of Eure and
Caswell, &C. 60

In 1350 Pope Clement VI, after confirming
the statutes of this royal college, granted to the
warden and his successors that whilst residing
there they might enjoy the fruits of other
benefices. He also granted exemption from
ordinary jurisdiction to the whole college ; but
for this privilege they were to pay a mark
annually to the papal camera on St. George's

Day. 61

In 1351 there was some alteration and exten-
sion of the arrangements of the college, accord-
ing to the direction of the bishop of Winchester,
acting as papal commissary. The establishment,
as then ordered, was to consist of a warden,
twelve canons, thirteen priest-vicars, four clerks,
six choristers, and twenty-six poor or alms
knights.

A miscellaneous register ot affairs of the

48 Ibid. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 23.
w Ibid. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 6.

60 Ibid, passim.

61 Cal. Papal Let. iii, 383, 399.

106

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

college at the Public Record Office thus
opens : 62

Here ffolowithe sertayne Actes and statutes made by
the noble Kyng Edwarde the thirde, to the Colledge
in the Castell of Wyndesere, and firste founder to the
highe and honorable ordre of the garter.

Item for the amplification of his hevenly merytes
and noble memory, of his knyghtley fame, devised or
desyned and establishede in his chappell and Colledge
of Seynte George off Wyndesore, A custos or Deane,
and xij secular preestes chanones, xiij preestes vicares,
vj queresters, and xxvi pore contemplatyne knyghtes
under one corporation, And as one joynte bodye,
ffor whose perpetuall sustentation he fowndede full
blessedly and approved certayne landes, lordeshipps,
benefices and possessions To the yerely value of a Mli
or more, as hereafter shalbe Rehersed by the particular
parcells of the same.

At the head of the details of the property the
composition of the establishment of the college
is repeated. It is in the same words as the
previous statement, save that ' iij Clerkes ' are
inserted between the vicars and the choristers.

The list begins with the particulars of the
first foundation, i.e. of the whole reign of
Edward III. It included the three manors of
Eure, Caswell, and Castle Donington, the quit
rent of 100 marks of the town of Northampton,
' one last of Rede heryng ' of the town of Yar-
mouth, eighteen rectories, and thirty pensions or
portions from other churches.

The sum total of the annual value of the
original foundation and of all subsequent gifts,
' the blessede disposycions of other dyvers kyngs
and prynces ' &c. is put down as 2,193 135. ifd.
for the year 1516.

The yearly charges were : the dean I oo ;
twelve canons 243 ; fifteen vicars jiOO ; one
gospeller 8 ; one epistoler and organist 535. 4^.;
thirteen clerks 130 ; thirteen choristers
52; two ' sacristorys ' 8; two bell-ringers
jC6 131. ifd. ; two chantry priests for the
duchess of Exeter 16 ; one verger 10 ; four
chantry priests for the king 42 131.4^.; for
bread, wine, wax and oil 2O ; for ' there
officer outwarde and innewarde 20 ' ; for the
clerk of accounts 10; for 'there Rydyng
officers and for other that goythe upon Errandes
necessarye yerely' 28 ; and to ' theire learned
Councelles for their ffees ' 20.

The expenses amounted to 825 131. t,d.

and so the remaynethe in surplusage yerely above
all the ordynary Charges, besides the greate oblations
unto Or Lady, The holly Crosse, and blessed Kyng
Henry, the sum of 1,368.

An indulgence, or a relaxation of injoined
penance, for two years and eighty days was

68 Misc. Bks. (Treas. Receipt), cxiii, wrongly labelled
' Order of Garter.' No notice is here taken of the
details pertaining to the Poor Knights or to the subse-
quent establishment of the Order of the Garter.

granted by Innocent VI in 1354, to penitents
visiting on the principal feasts, and on those of
St. George, the Exaltation of the Cross, and
St. Stephen and St. Edward, the royal chapel in
Windsor Castle, in which there is a cross of
great length of the wood of the true cross brought
by St. Helen. 63

Notwithstanding the papal exemption from
jurisdiction, Richard II in 1378 directed Adam,
bishop of St. Asaph, chancellor of the kingdom,
to hold a visitation of the college, lest there
should be anything unseemly (indecens vel in-
konestum) requiring correction. The visitation
was held in the chapter-house on 1 7 September,
when every member of the establishment was
examined. 64

The following were the reformanda :< (a) The
dean, Walter Almaly, was no longer to appro-
priate the fines of the poor knights for absence
from office, but they were to be divided among
the knights ; (b) the dean was to divide all
donations of lords and magnates among the
knights as well as the canons ; (<:) two knights
guilty of incontinence were reprimanded ; if
they or others were in the future guilty of such
offences, they were to be corrected by the dean,
if repeated to be gravely corrected, and for a
third occurrence expelled ; (d) one of these two
knights was given to insolence, attended chapel
but rarely, and when he did come immediately
went to sleep ; his case was referred to the king
and council ; (e) one of the canons was jocular
with the laity and frequently absent from mass
and hours ; the dean was to deal severely with
all such cases without delay ; (/) the church of
Uttoxeter, appropriated to the college, was
farmed by one Thomas Tapley, who lived in
the rectory house, with wife and children and
servants, contrary to the canons ; the king was
desired to find a remedy ; (g) one of the canons
of the college did not celebrate as he ought, but
was a huntsman and a hawker ; he was therefore
to be admonished by the dean to take his due
share of masses, and to give up his illicit life, and
if he proved incorrigible to be removed from his
office by the chancellor, without any hope of
restoration ; (h) the dean was too remiss, simple
and negligent in the correction of the vicars, so
that they did not show the reverence they ought
to the canons ; (/') the charters and other muni-
ments of the college were to be placed without
delay in a chest with two or three locks in the
treasury of the chapel, the dean to keep one key
and the king to appoint the custodian of the
others ; (j) the dean to pay the vicars' salaries
regularly ; (/) a vicar's stall money during
vacancy not to be retained by the dean, but to

63 Cal. Papal Let. iii, 523.

64 Rymer, FoeJera, vii, 203-6. It is generally
stated that the title of Dean was not used at Windsor
till 1412, but Walter Almaly is styled Dean through-
out this visitation.

I0 7

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

be given to those other vicars who take his
place ; (Z) the order of celebration by the canons
to be better observed ; (m) a vicar charged with
incontinence was left to the correction of the
dean ; (n) the swans and cygnets lately given to
the college by Oliver de Bordeaux were to be
divided between the dean, canons, and knights ;
(0) the gift of the late William Edendon, bishop
of Winchester, of 200 to the college that he
might become an associate (confrater) could not
be traced, so the dean, into whose hands it was
paid, was to be obliged to produce an account of
it ; (p) the dean was strictly injoined, under
pain, to keep the cloister in a decent condition
worthy of a royal chapel, and to have it at once
cleansed of nettles and noxious weeds.

The college seems to have been peculiarly
unfortunate in its second warden or dean, as
appears from this visitation. Further difficulties
arose in July, 1384, when nine of the canons
lodged a complaint against their warden, who
was usurping the chancellor's power of visitation,
expecting them to appear before him ; both
parties were summoned to appear before the
chancellor's commissary at Westminster. 66

A grant for life was made by Richard II in
1387 to John Cray, a king's esquire, of the office
of usher of the king's chapel at Windsor, to carry
a rod before the king in processions on festivals
when the king is there, with I2d. a day wages
and lodgings in the castle. 66

In 1399 Henry IV confirmed letters patent
of 1 7 Richard II granting all the chapel offerings
to the warden and canons, and ordering that
certain lasts of herrings should be divided
between the warden and canons resident. 87 An
addition was made to the endowment in 1422,
when the spiritualities of the suppressed alien
priory of Ogbourne were granted to the college
by John, duke of Bedford. 68

Large grants of property, both spiritual and tem-
poral, were made to the college by Edward IV,
especially of the lands &c. of alien priories.

In 1494 Pope Alexander consented to the sup-
pression of the small priory of Luffield, North-
amptonshire, in favour of Windsor College. 69

Thomas Butler, warden of the chapel, was
permitted by Pope Boniface IX, at the king's
request, to farm, without obtaining licence of the
ordinary, the fruits of his wardenship, and to be
absent therefrom, providing it be served by a fit

vicar. 70

Letters patent of 1429 recite that when the
wardenship with a prebend became vacant

65 Pat. 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 35 d.

66 Ibid. 10 Ric. II. pt. ii, m. 12.

67 Ibid. I Henry IV, pt. v, m. 9.

68 Ibid. 10 Hen. V, confd. 1 1 Hen VI, pt. v, m. 14.

69 Rymer, Foedera, xii, 563-4.

70 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 395. Butler was archdeacon
of Canterbury, and also held five prebends and a
rectory.

through the death of Thomas Butler, Henry IV,
disregarding the terms of the foundation, granted
the prebend and wardenship to his clerk Richard
Kingston, by name of the deanery. Richard
was admitted and had possession all his life ; but
on his death, Henry V, not being aware of the
foundation, when with his army before Rouen,
granted letters patent of wardenship and pre-
bend, by name of deanery, to John Arundell,
who was duly admitted as dean in 1417. The
said John had become troubled lest he might be
disturbed, as the foundation charter specifies
warden and not dean, therefore Henry VI con-
firmed him in possession as dean. 71

From this date the head of the college was
always called dean ; but, as we have seen, John
Arundell was unnecessarily troubled and misled
the king, for the second warden (custos) was
repeatedly and officially styled dean by the chan-
cellor.

On 6 December, 1479, letters patent were
granted by Edward IV in confirmation of a
parliamentary grant in 8 Henry VI for the incor-
poration of the warden or dean and the canons
as one corporate body, with perpetual succession
and a common seal. The same letter authorized
the grant to them by the duke of Suffolk of the
manor of Leighton Buzzard, and licence to
acquire in mortmain lands, rents, or advowsons
to the value of ^500 without any fines or fees. 7 *

Edward IV, who was the great rebuilder of
Windsor Castle, finding the foundations of the
noble collegiate chapel of Edward III in an un-
safe condition, began its reconstruction on a more
magnificent scale in 1474. The fabric itself
was completed in five years, but it was not until
1481 that the stalls and tabernacle work in the
choir were set up.

On the appointment of Bishop Beauchamp to
the Windsor deanery he obtained papal sanction
for the translation of the remains of John Shorne
from North Marston to a shrine in the new
chapel of St. George. The church of North
Marston, Buckinghamshire, had before this been
appropriated to the chapter. Of this church John
Shorne, who died about 1290, was the pious
rector. Miracles were reported of him in his
lifetime, which were afterwards continued in
connexion with his remains, and with a well
that he had blessed. The most popular of his
achievements, actually represented on church
glass, painting, and carvings, was the conjuring of
the devil into a boot. Round his holy well, so
late as the eighteenth century, these words were
legible :

Sir John Schorne,

Gentleman borne,

Conjured the Devil into a Boot.

The visits and offerings to his shrine at Windsor
were so numerous that they were actually said

71 Pat. 7 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 13.
71 Ibid. 19 Edw. IV, m. 5.

108

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

to have averaged $00 a year at the time of the
Reformation. 73

Edward IV died in 1483. By his will, dated
1475, he desired to be buried 'in the church of
the Collage of Saint George within owre Castell
of Wyndesour, by us begoune of newe to bee
buylded.' He was to be buried in a vault with
a chapel or closet over it with space for an altar,
and tomb with his figure of silver and gilt ; oral
least of copper and gilt. The will further pro-
vided for a chantry of two priests, and for a com-
pany of thirteen poor bedesmen to live within
the college. 74

Edward IV was duly buried in St. George's
chapel in 1483, and in the following year the
body of Henry VI was removed from Chertsey
abbey and here re-interred. Edward the Fourth's
queen, Elizabeth Wydville, was buried by her
husband in 1492, according to the terms of her
will,

I bequeathe my body to be buried with the bodie
of -my Lord at Windesoure, according to the will of
my saide Lorde and myne, without pompes entreing
or costlie expensis doune thereaboughts. 74

The original intention of Henry VII was to
be buried at St. George's, Windsor ; he drew up
elaborate plans for a stately chapel and special
almshouse for bedesmen. For this project he
procured no fewer than four papal bulls of
indulgence between 1494 and I499. 78

The work of the new chapel, begun by
Edward IV in 1474, was not fully completed
till the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII,
when the beautiful roof of the choir was erected.

This royal collegiate chapel was marvellously
equfpped with rich ornaments, jewels, vestments,
books, and relics, many of which were no doubt
transferred from the earlier chapel of Henry III,
otherwise we could scarcely expect so varied and
wealthy a display in the days of Walter Almaly,
the second dean, 1380-1403. A full inven-
tory compiled in the reign of Richard II (with a
few additions), names, r.mong a large number of
service books, an ordinal which had belonged to
Edward III, another ordinal bound by William
Mugge, the first dean of the college, a new text
of the Gospel, bound in silver on each side, and
a book of legends and of masses of Our Lady,
the gift of John Grandison, bishop of Exeter
(132770). In addition to the service books,
there were thirty-four books on different subjects
(diversjrum scientiarum) chained in the church ;
among them was a Bible and a concordance, and
tv/o books of French romance, one of which
was the Liber de Rose.

" Ashm. MSS. mcxxv, 107; Ashmole's Order of
the Garter, 172 ; Lipscombe, Bucks, i, 339 ; Lysons,
Berks. 603.

74 Excerpta Hlstorlca, 366-76.

" Nichol, Royal mils.

n Rymer, FoeJera, xii, 565, 591, 644, 672.

The list of vestments is an amazingly rich one,
beginning with a set of ruby velvet, woven with
figures powdered with jewels, and comprising a
chasuble, two tunicles, three albs, three amices,
a good cope, and two other copes without jewels,
an altar frontal, and riddels or side curtains.
There were seventeen other complete suits of
varying colours and texture, as well as many
single chasubles, &c. Some of the sets were
appropriated for particular uses, as for use at the
Lady Mass, at a private altar behind the high
altar, for the two altars in the nave, and for the
altar on the rood-loft.

In addition to the copes belonging to the sets
of vestments, there were twenty special copes ;
one of red velvet embroidered in gold, the gift
of Henry, duke of Lancaster ; another of black
velvet with ragged staffs of silver, the gift of the
earl of Warwick ; and two of deep red cloth of
gold, with dragons and lions fighting, the gift of
the duke of Gloucester. There were also two
large sets of red copes, one of eighteen, and the
other of twenty-two, evidently intended for the
processional use of the whole staff of ecclesiastics
on special occasions.

Fourteen costly cloths or hangings are enum-
erated ; two large linen cloths, 6 ells long, are
also mentioned, which were unfolded in the
quire to place the copes on at the principal
feasts.

There is a wonderful catalogue of the jewels
and relics infra tabulam summi a/tarts. The list
opens with the richly jewelled noble cross, vocat.
Greth. 77 The second is the still more richly
ornamented cross, formed from the true cross, set
in gold and blazing with sapphires and enamel,
which must have been the gift of Edward I.

This display included silver gilt images, and
jewelled tabernacles, reliquaries borne by angels,
cups, vessels, crystal phials, &c., and there was
another shorter list of jewels and reliquaries
standing super summam altare. The actual relics
were very numerous, and included bones of St.
Bartholomew, St. Thomas the Apostle, St. George,
St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Thomas of
Hereford, St. David, St. William of York, a
girdle given by St. John to the Blessed Virgin,
and part of the jaw-bone of St. Mark containing
fourteen teeth.

The inventory of plate, all elaborate of its
kind, included five jewelled morses ; a golden
chalice and seven of silver gilt ; two paxes ; nine
candlesticks ; four censers and two ships ; a

77 Edward I offered $s. to the cross of Greth on
2 Feb. 1 300, at the altar of his chapel at Windsor.
It was highly esteemed as containing wood of the
true cross, and was given to Edward I by certain
Welshmen at Aberconway in 1273. This cross had
formerly been in the possession of Prince Llewellyn,
and is supposed to have derived its name from Greyt,
a native of Wales, who brought it from the Holy Land.
Tighe and Davis, Annals of Windsor, i, 1 1415.

109

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

cross and four processional crosses ; four beauti-
ful pyxes ; six super-altars, one being of jasper
encircled with silver gilt ; two mitres and a
pastoral staff; as well as paxes, cruets, staves, &c.
The swords of King Edward, the earl of
Suffolk, Lord Thomas Banaster, King Richard,
the earl of Derby, the duke of Lancaster, and
the earl of Salisbury are enumerated, as well as
six helmets and six mantles.

In addition to all this, there is a long supple-
mentary list of jewels and relics in the treasury.
Among them were a silver gilt cup which had
belonged to St. Thomas of Hereford ; a pyx of
beryl, enamelled with the arms of St. Edward
and St. Edmund ; a pyx of red jasper with foot
and cover of silver gilt, containing a bone of
St. Louis ; three jewelled crowns for the images
of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, and St. Edward ;
and a banner for Rogationtide bearing a dragon
and a lion. 78

There is another inventory, 8 Henry VIII, at
the Public Record Office, which, whilst still very
extensive, shows certain losses since the list,
temp. Richard II, was compiled. 79

The abstract of the Valor of 1535 the full
return for Berkshire is missing gives the clear
annual value of the college as 1,396 ijs. i^d.,
but in 1547, when the College and Chantry
Commissioners of Henry VIII made their
reports, the full annual value was declared as
1,530 id*. 6J<, out of which 138 is. 8%d.
went to the king for tithe. The stipend and
commons of the dean were valued at 6 6 131.4^.
a year ; of thirteen prebendaries, 26 each ; of
eight petty canons, collectively, 106 135. 4^.;
of eight vicars, 80 ; of thirteen clerks, 130 ;
of thirteen choristers, 52 ; whilst a certain
priest received 401. for 'ordinary sermonds.'
Bread, wine, wax, and oil cost 36 ; 120 was
spent on obits and lights, 8 4*. "]d. for masses
and suffrages, and 6 19*. 8d. in perpetual
(obligatory) alms. Out of the balance of up-
wards of 650, eight chantry priests received
78 6s. 8d. for their salaries, whilst 237 5*.
was spent in the ' cotydyan dystrybucion ' to the
thirteen priest-vicars. 80

The chantries enumerated in this return,
within the collegiate chapel of St. George, were
those of Edward IV (two priests) ; the duchess
of Exeter, sister to Edward IV (two priests) ;
William Lord Hastings; Canon Thomas Passche;
Verger John Plumer ; and John Oxenbridge. 81

Although this college was specially exempted
from suppression, it was visited by the commis-
sioners of Edward VI of 1548. The names
and ages and incomes of the clerical staff are set

78 Ashm. MSS. 1 6, 22; printed at length in
Dugdale, Man. viii, 1362-7.

79 Misc. Bks. cxiii, 108-11.
"Chant. Cert. Berks. 51.

61 For particulars as to the Windsor Coll. Chantries,
Tighe and Davis, Annals of Windsor, i, 398, 460-1.

down ; the two chantry priests of Edward IV
were 'continuall preachers according to the
foundation.' 82

In consequence of numerous extensive
peculations with respect to the goods and property
of the royal chapel of Saint George, in 1552
a commission was appointed, consisting of the
marquis of Northampton, Sir Philip Hobey, Sir
Maurice Berkeley, and two esquires, to hold a
visitation of the college. They were instructed
to inquire, inter alia, as to the vestments and
jewels, going through the old inventories, and
including ' the palles of herses, namely of King
Henry the vii and King Edward iiiith beside the
palle of Henry theyght, whether thei kepe length
and breadth, the organes and pipes, the plates of
copper upon the graves, the spoile of the Chappell
plucked donne in the College, King Edwardes
cappe of maintenance, the sworde and girdle of
perle and stone, the Duke of Suffolkes sword.' 83

The Commissioners had an inventory prepared
in July, 1552, showing that there were then
three chalices with patens, six great candlesticks,
two little candlesticks, two great basins, two
censers, a monstrance, a cross, and two pairs of
cruets, all of silver gilt ; as well as a square
agate stone furnished with silver (a pax), and
seven rector's staves tipped with silver.

There were twenty-six copes ; seven chasubles,
each with two tunicles ; various altar frontals,
including one ' of needle woork conteining the
lief and martirdom of St. George ' ; numerous
hangings and cushions ; three hearse cloths ;
'a palle or canopie to bear over the Kinge,' and
' the coate Armour and banner of King Henry
theight.'

In addition to these goods, which were in the
two vestries, there were the following 'Jewelles
in the Erarie ' (treasury) : a pyx of gold, two
paxes of gold, a tablet of gold with the image of
the Trinity, a tablet of gold set with diamonds,
cruets of ' bryraals,' and ' St. George's head with
a helmet.' 84

Valuable as these ornaments were, it was but
a sorry remainder of the magnificent and glorious
array that the college possessed a few years
earlier. At the same time that this inventory
was drawn up, the dean and chapter put in a long
document giving as their reason for selling certain
plate and jewels, that excessive charges had
been enforced upon them. Their estimate was

81 Chant. Cert. Berks. 7.

83 Add. MS. 5498, fol. 42. All the documents
relative to this elaborate visitation are in this MS. A
paper on them was read by Mr. Townsend to Soc. of
Antiq. in 1869.

81 This was probably part of the ' grete ymage of
St. George of gold, cclx unses, garnished with rubies
perles and saphires and diamonds ' left to the college
by Henry VII, by his will, to be set on the high altar
on solemn feast days ' for a perpetual memorie ther to
remaigne while the world shall endure.'

110

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

that these charges amounted to the sum of
I ^5 3 s - l kd. The details included the cost
of building parts of the castle wall, and the
conveying of water in lead pipes, the furnishing
of ten demi-lances when the late king went to
Boulogne, and 'the taking doune the Alters,
leveling and paving the ground and for peinting
of the East end where the high alter was.' 88 .

A threefold excuse was made by the dean and
chapter for making partition of certain copes and
ornaments, leaving the best (as they said) still in
the college ' We thought it lafull for us to do,
both bicause the goodes are owres, and also
bicause the use of such thingeswere abolished by
the Kinge's Majestic godlie proceadinges, and
finallie because the thinges did dailie decay for
lack of occupying' . . . 'Concerning the
Sapphires and a Balist that were in certain capsis
of golde, thei were divided by common assent of
them that were ther present, everie man having

one.

Certificates were obtained from various gold-
smiths, showing that they had paid the great sum
of 1,489 8s. to the dean and chapter for various
parcels of plate and jewels sold at different times
during the reign of Edward VI.

On 8 August Sir Philip Hoby and one other
commissioner examined the dean and each of the
canons both singly and collectively. They were
able to plead that the chapel of St. George had
been expressly exempted from the late statute as
to church goods. The various separate con-
fessions and statements of the members of the
chapter are somewhat paltry and sordid, and for
the most part endeavour to show that each got
but little, but that his fellows profited more.
Their explanations and excuses availed them not,
and they were ordered to surrender to the king all
their remaining treasures whether held individually
or collectively. These were dispatched to the
jewel house in the Tower, where they were
weighed on 25 October ; the gold and precious
stones weighing 685! oz. On 9 November the
silver and silver gilt was ordered to be ' put to coyne
with convenient spede ' ; the gold plate to be
preserved for further consideration. 86

Notwithstanding the vast changes in the
wealth and beauty of this great collegiate church
by the Reformation, Queen Elizabeth was by no
means content that the fame of its music should
cease. On 8 March, 1560, a royal proclama-
tion was issued prohibiting the removing of
singing men and boys from St. George's and
expressing the opinion that it should ' not be of
less reputation in our days, but rather augmented
and increased. 87

85 A peremptory letter had been sent to the dean
and chapter of Windsor by the Privy Council, in
1550, 'to deface the aulters out of hande.' Acts of
P.O. in (New Ser.), 92.

89 Add. MS. 5751, fol. 328.

87 Nichol, Progr. ofQ. Eliz. i, 8 1.

The Virgin Queen had ever a difficulty in
recognizing the marriage of her clergy, and on
2O September, 1561, sent

a commandment unto the college of Windsor, that
the priests belonging thereunto that had wives should
put them out of the College ; and for time to come
to lie no more within that place. 88

DEANS OF WINDSOR 89

William Mugge, 1348

Walter Almaly, 1380

Thomas Butler, 1403

Richard Kingston, 1412

John Arundel, 1417

Thomas Manning, 1452

John Faux, 1462

William Morland, 1470

William Dudley, 1473"

Peter Courtney, 1476

Richard Beauchamp, 1478"

Thomas Danett, 1481

William Bealey, 1483

John Morgan, I484 92

Christopher Urswick, 1495

Chris. Bainbridge, ifOS 93

Thomas Hobbes, 1507

Nicholas West, 15 io 84

John Voysey alias Harman, 1 5 1 5 8S

John Clerk, ^ig 96

Richard Sampson, I523 87

William Franklin, 1536

Owen Oglethorpe, I553 98

Hugh Weston, I556 89

John Baxall, i$57 m

George Carew, 1559

William Day, I572 101

Robert Bennett, I595 102

Giles Thompson, i6o2 103

Anthony Maxley, 1612

Marcus Antonius de Dominic, i6i8 1U4

88 Ibid.

13 The following list of fifty-five deans of Windsor
is taken, from I to 32, from Ashmole's descriptive
cata.\og\ie(4ntiyuiti(s of Berks. (171 9-2 3),iii, 2 1 9-240)
corrected by the Patent Rolls ; twenty-two of the
number have been promoted to the episcopal bench.
The dates are those of appointment.

90 Bishop of Durham, 1476.

" First Chancellor of the Order of the Garter ;
bishop of Salisbury, 1478.

" Bishop of St. David's, 1496.

93 Dean of York, bishop of Durham, 1507.

M Bishop of Ely, 1515.

95 Bishop of Exeter, 1519.

BG Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1523.

97 Bishop of Chichester, 1536.

93 Bishop of Carlisle, 1557.

99 Deprived 1557, for incontinence.
00 Deprived 1559.

101 Bishop of Winchester, 1595.

03 Bishop of Hereford, 1603.

03 Bishop of Gloucester, 1 6 1 1 .

104 Archbishop of Spalato.

Ill

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Henry Beaumont, i622 105
Matthew Wren, i628 106
Christopher Wren, 1635
Edward Hyde, i658 107
Bruno Ryves, i66o 108
John Durell, 1677
Francis Turner, 1683
Gregory Hascard, 1684
Thomas Manningham, 1 708 110
John Robinson, I7O9 111
George Verney, 1713
Peniston Booth, 1729

Frederick Keppel, 1765
John Harley, I778 113
John Douglas, I788 11S
James Cornwallis, 1791
Charles Manners Sutton,
Edward Legge, i8o5 116
Henry Lewis Hobart, 1816
George Neville Grenville, 1846
Gerald Wellesley, 1854
George Henry Connor, 1882
Randall Thomas Davidson, i884 lle
Philip Frank Eliot, 1891

ALIEN PRIORIES

34. THE ALIEN PRIORY OF
STEVENTON

A small alien priory was established at Steven-
ton in the time of Henry I, when the manor
was granted by that king to the great abbey of
Bee, Normandy. 1

In 1294 the king caused a complete survey
to be made of the lands and goods throughout
England owned by abbeys subject to French
government. According to that return the
priory manor of Steventon had a garden and two
dovecotes witlrn the precincts, worth yearly
I2s. 8d. Also 1,500 acres of arable land, worth
j2i i os. a year, at 6d. an acre ; 220 acres of
meadow, j6, at I 'id. an acre ; twenty acres of
pasture for sheep and oxen, worth ijs. 8d. at
lod. an acre; two water-mills, worth 57*. zd.
a year ; total, ^3 1 i js. 6d. There were sixty-
three customary tenants, whose labour was worth
f25 7*. 5^. a year, in addition to rents of
1 8 ijs. yd., and cocks and hens worth 6js. id. ;
total, 47 1 2s. %d. The income from the appro-
priated church was ,20, so that the full annual
income amounted to 99 I is. <)d.

The goods of the priory of Steventon, according
to the same return, included a silver cup on a
foot, worth i6s. ; another silver cup, 51. ; three
masers, 5*. ; ten silver spoons, 8s. ; also a palfrey,
6os.; another horse, 40*. ; four cart-horses, 36*. ;
a colt, 2Os. ; eight oxen (a team), 531. ; eight
oxen, 50*. ; a third team, 531. ; two teams, 861. ;
a sixth team, 6os. ; six cows, 27*. ; eight cows,
381. 8d. ; five heifers, 151. ; twelve calves, 91. ;
two boars, 31. $d. ; nine sows, gs. ; thirty-nine

Died

05 Dean of Peterborough.

106 Bishop of Hereford, 1634.

107 Appointed by Charles II when in exile,
just before the Restoration ; never installed .

10S Dean of Chichester.

109 Bishop of Rochester, 1683.

110 Bishop of Chichester, 1709.

111 Bishop of Bristol, 1710; bishopofLondon,l7i3.
113 Bishop of Hereford, 1787.

113 Bishop of Carlisle, 1788 ; bishop of Salisbury,
1791.

yearling pigs, 39*.; four little pigs, I2d. ; a
hundred sheep, 66s. 8d. ; three wethers, 35. ; a
hundred lambs, 91*. 8d. ; two peacocks, 2s. ;
and eight geese, i6d. ; total, ^37 8s. 8d. Other
household utensils were estimated at 20J. "jd.

A hundred and sixty acres of sown corn were
valued at 29, at 3*. 6d. an acre ; forty acres of
winter wheat at 46*. 8d., or 14^. an acre ; fifty-
eight acres of drage at j $s. ; thirty acres of
oats, 60;. ; thirty acres of beans, 6os. ; thirty-
four acres of pease, 56*. 8d. ; and hay, 40*. The
full total amounted to ,87 17*. jd. besides
tithes (in kind) which averaged 20 a year.*

The Patent Rolls afford certain other par-
ticulars relative to this priory in the reign of
Edward I. In 1302 a commission was issued to
John de Batesford and Roger de Suthcote,
touching the persons who had reopened a way
in Steventon which the prior had stopped for the
enlargement of his court by the king's licence,
after inquisition had been made by the sheriff of
Berkshire that such closing of the way would
damage no one. 3

Although the advowson of the vicarage of
Steventon was in the hands of the prior on behalf
of the abbey of Bee, Edward I, in consequence
of the wars with France, took the advowson into
his own hands, and presented both in 1303 and
1304.*

Pardon was granted to the prior of Steventon
on 8 May, 1305, in consideration of a fine made
by him in Chancery, for acquiring without leave,
in mortmain to himself and his house, a messuage
in Steventon from John Braundiz, and a moiety
of an acre of land there from John de Sale, and

u Bishop of Norwich, 1794 ; archbishop of Can-
terbury, 1805.

15 Bishop of Oxford, 1815.

118 Bishop of Rochester, 1891 ; bishop of Win-
chester, 1895 ; archbishop of Canterbury, 1903.

1 Henry II, in a confirmation charter in Bee, refers
to Steventon as the gift to that abbey by King Henry
his grandfather. Dugdale, Man. ii, 954.

'Add. MS. 6164, fol. 37.

s Pat. 30 Fdw. I, m. 17.

4 Ibid. 31 Edw. I, m. 43 ; 32 Edw. I, m. 22.

I 12

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

others, which for that reason had been taken
into the king's hands, but were at that date
restored to him. 5

When the difficulties as to alien priories were
renewed in the latter part of the reign of
Edward III, the abbey of Bee was allowed to
sell the valuable manor and impropriated rectory
of Steventon, with the advowson of the vicarage,
to Sir Hugh Calveley. 8 After Sir Hugh Calveley's
death his trustees conveyed it to John, bishop
of Salisbury, and Roger Walden, and they in
their turn granted it to Richard II, who be-
stowed it on the abbot and convent of West-
minster. This gift was confirmed by Henry IV
in 1400.'

35. THE ALIEN PRIORY OF
STRATFIELD SAVE

Although the church and greater part of the
parish of Stratfield Sayeare in Hampshire, the site
of the small alien priory was just over the county
border in Berkshire.

Nicholas de Stoteville gave the church of
Stratfield Saye, with a small hermitage dedicated
to St. Leonard within the parish, to his newly-
founded abbey of Vallemont, in Normandy,
about the year 1 1 70.* Two or more monks of
the abbey lived here to look after their property,
and established a small priory.

In 1294, when difficulties arose as to the alien
priories owing to the wars with France, Edward I
had the whole of their property and goods valued
throughout England. The prior of Stratfield Saye
at that time held a messuage with dovecote
within the precincts of the priory manor, worth
6s. 8d. a year ; he held also one hundred acres of
arable land, worth 2$s. a year, at 3^. an acre ;
seven acres of meadow worth 8j. gd. an acre, at
1 5< an acre ; and six acres of underwood, worth
i8d. ; total, 41 s. lid. There were seven free
tenants holding two virgates at a rent of 35*. gd.
The prior also drew a pension from the church
of Stratfield Saye of Jis. 8<, making the total
annual value j gs. $d?

At the same time the stock of the priory was
thus valued : three plough horses and six foals,
33*. 6d. ; a team of eight plough oxen, 481. ;
another inferior team, 40*. ; five cows in poor

6 Pat. 33 Edw. I, pt. i, m. 3.

' Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 14 ; Lysons, Berks.

375-

7 An endeavour was made by David and John

Calveley, heirs of Sir Hugh, to claim the property.
The repeated transfers are somewhat complicated.
See Pat. 17 Ric. II, m. 7 ; 23 Ric. 2, m. 7 ; I
Hen. IV, pt. vi, m. 5 ; pt. viii, m. 37.

8 Dugdale, Man. vi, 1044.
Add. MS. 6164, fol. 21.

condition, 20*. ; nine calves, 4*. 6a. ; a bull, 4*. ;
four bullocks, 12*.; three heifers, 9;. ; twenty-
six two-year-old sheep, 1 8*. 4^. ; nine lambs, 35. ;
two boars, 35. ; three sows, 4*. ; fifteen pigs, 1 5*. ;
and eight little pigs, 2s. ; total, ^11 1 1*. j.d.
The kitchen utensils were valued at 23*. 5<,
and the value of the sown crops at 54 J > giving a
full total of 15 8*. gd. 10

We find from the Patent Rolls of Edward III
that the priory evidently occupied the site, and
perhaps used the actual buildings of the old
hermitage. In March, 1332, William Valaran,
who is styled ' prior of the hermitage of Stratfield
Say' and proctor-general in England for the
Abbey of St. Mary's, Vallemont, had licence to
sell wood to the value of 10 out of the wood
belonging to the abbey at Wydemore, in Pamber
Forest, to find funds for the repair of the
hermitage. 11

On 25 April, 1341, the king granted the
hermitage of St. Leonard, Stratfield Saye, to John
le Fevre, of Connellan, of the order of St. Bene-
dict, the priorship being in his gift owing to the
king's assumption of the lands of all alien religious
persons throughout England. 18

In June, 1342, restitution was made to
Brother Ralph, monk of Vallemont, warden of
the hermitage of Stratfield Saye, of the hermitage
and its lands lately taken into the king's hands,
owing to the war with France ; because it had
been found by inquisitions taken by the sheriffs
of Berkshire and Hampshire that the same was
charged with a chantry of two monks, and with
divers other alms and works of piety, for which
it had an endowment of ^5 8*. 5^., and if the
priory was retained in the king's hands these
could not be maintained. 13

On 3 March, 1345, the mayor and bailiffs of
Dover were directed to permit Brother Ralph,
prior of Stratfield Saye and monk of the abbey of
Vallemont, who was about to set out to parts
beyond the sea by the king's licence, to cross
from that port, and to allow him reasonable
expenses so far as a gold noble ; but he was to
make no apport or tribute to a foreign abbey
contrary to the statute. 14

Edward III in 1399 permitted the abbot and
convent of Vallemont to grant the hermitage of
Stratfield Saye and its lands, valued at 30 a year,
to Thomas Colle and his heirs. 16

In 1461 Edward IV granted the old priory
estates of Stratfield Saye to Eton College. 16

10 Ibid. fols. 41-3.

11 Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 14.

11 Ibid. 15 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 23.

13 Ibid. 1 6 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 40.

14 Close, 19 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 27 <
16 Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 19.

16 Ibid. I Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 24.

POLITICAL HISTORY

IN political development, as in geographical situation, Berkshire has
ever been the first of the 'lands south of Thames.' Lying in a
long line east and west along the south bank of the river, which itself
constitutes its northern boundary, and forms the line of demarca-
tion between the midlands and the south, the county has been, from the days
of its earliest settlement, in traditions, in institutions, and even in speech,
essentially part of southern and West-Saxon England. 1

There is little history of the district before the coming of the Saxons.
During the Roman period it was traversed rather than colonized, and the few
signs of settlement that are found are connected with the Thames valley, or
with the roads which crossed the Kennet in the south. 2

The stormy period of English settlement and Danish invasion saw the
first organized existence of the shire. Its early formation, and the lines of its
later development, were both decided, in no small measure, by the river barrier
of the Thames, and the gaps which its fords provided for the passage of an
enemy. Round the river towns and fortresses of Abingdon, Reading, Windsor,
and Wallingford, which sprang out of settlements made in this early period,
the later life of the county has centred, whether in the feudal development of
the Middle Ages, the military activity of the civil wars, or the political and
economic growth of modern times.

There is no account of the division of the shire into its component
hundreds, nor of the fixing of its boundaries, previous to the Domesday Survey.
Probably the course of the Thames had long been taken as the northern
boundary, but the boundaries of the south and west, on the Hampshire and
Wiltshire borders, were, ' for geographical reasons, difficult of delimitation. 8
Of the twenty-two hundreds of Berkshire entered in Domesday, twelve exist
under the same names at the present day (Bray, Beynhurst, Charlton, Eagle,
Ganfield, Hormer, Kintbury, Lambourn, Reading, Ripplesmere, Shrivenham,
Wantage), while of the remaining nine modern names, eight (Compton,
Cookham, Faringdon, Moreton, Ock, Sonning, Theale, Wargrave) are found
in the re-arrangement of hundreds given in the Nomina Villarum* The
entirely modern hundred of Faircross has absorbed parts of the Domesday
hundreds of Thatcham and Blewbury, and the mediaeval hundred of Cott-
settlesford.

Faint and vague amid the shadowy outlines of the early history of
Wessex is the account of the conquest and settlement of its northern border-
land. For sixty years, as the Chronicle records it, 6 the war-bands of Cerdic

1 As early as the time of the Tribal Hidage, which is thought to have been the tribute roll of the Bret-
walda Edwin in the seventh century, Berkshire seems to have been included in Wessex (Corbett, in Trans.
Royal Hist. Soc. xiv, 203 ff.).

1 See < Romano-British Berkshire,' 7.C.H. Berks, i, 198.

3 See ' Domesday Survey,' V.C.H. Berks, i, 319.

4 feudal Aids, i, 47 ff. 5 Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 15-17.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

and Cynric had been forcing their way inland and northwards, up the river
valleys of Hampshire and Wiltshire, and along the great Roman road of the
west. One by one the Roman fortresses of the south-west Winchester,
Sarum, Marlborough had given way before their persistent progress ; one
by one the British armies of West Wales had been driven back behind their
eastern border ; 6 until at last, in 556, on the field of 'Beranbyrg' in mid-
Wilts 7 the West-Saxon host found themselves, after a great and critical fight,
masters of the southern uplands, with the unconquered reaches of the Thames
and Severn valleys at their feet.

In their advance northwards the invaders had perforce turned aside
before the impenetrable barrier of upland and forest which protected southern
Berkshire. Their deflection to the west and the conquest of the Wiltshire
downs secured for them a ready descent, by the ancient Ridgway, into the
fertile district by the Thames. 8 There is no record of the conquest by
Cynric's army of the district of rolling upland and rich woodland between
the Kennet and the Thames. It is probable that it preceded the victory of
the West Saxons at Wimbledon in 568;' it is no less probable that the
southern bank of the Thames was more or less definitely occupied and
colonized before the tide of war rolled north across the river into Oxfordshire
and Gloucestershire. 10 Loath as the West Saxons were at this time to see in the
Thames a barrier against their further progress north, they were driven to
adopt a more moderate policy of consolidation and defence by the rapid south-
ward advance of Mercia early in the seventh century. 11

For the next 200 years the importance of Berkshire lies in the fact that
the upland district south of the Thames provided what was practically a
buffer state between the two kingdoms, a strip of disputed territory over
which the rivals wrangled with varying success. At first the fortune of war
was in favour of Mercia, for in 645 Penda its king fell upon Kenwealh son
of Cynegils, and for a breach of faith drove him from his kingdom. 13 Whilst
Kenwealh sought to retrieve his fortunes by a timely conversion to Chris-
tianity, 18 he probably carried on an active intrigue amongst the West- Saxon
princes whom his own exile, and perhaps Mercian policy, had invested with
a royal authority. For his return three years later was certainly accomplished
by the aid of one of them, Cuthred, son of Cwichelm, to whom the Chronicle
ascribes a royal title. The service was rewarded by the enormous grant of
' 3,000 lands by Ashdown.' 1 * Beneath the immediate purpose of this gift
there may have lain a deeper policy, for it practically involved the setting up

' Green, Making ofEngl. i, 98 ff.

7 Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 1 7. ' Beranbyrg ' has been identified with Barbury camp, between
Swindon and Marlborough ; Plummer, op. cit. ii, 15.

8 Cf. Green, op. cit. 108-9. ' Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 19.

10 Ibid. The capture of the ' iiii tunas,' Lenbury, Aylesbury, Bensington, and Eynsham (the ' quatuor
regias villas' of Florence of Worcester), is recorded in 571 ; Plummer, loc. cit. ii, 1 6.

11 Penda and Ceawlin met in a great battle at Cirencester in 628 ; ibid, i, 24. The cession of his Ox-
fordshire lands, with the exception of Dorchester, may have followed Ceawlin's defeat ; Plummer, loc. cit. ii, zo.

11 Ibid, i, 26. u Ibid. ; cf. Bede, Hist. Eccl. (ed. Plummer), i, 140.

14 Plummer, op. cit. i, 28. ' Her Cenwalh gesalde Cu) rede his maege iii j^usendo londes be ^Escesdune.' So
in E form of the Chronicle. B and C insert the word blda, making the grant the enormous one of 3,000 hides
(Plummer, ii, 23). But there were not 3,000 hides in the whole of Berkshire, even at the time of the Survey
(Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, 505, gives 2,493) ; Mr. Stevenson therefore thinks (Asset's Life of
King Alfred, \ 54) that the numbering is according to a different and early scheme of denomination which had
fallen out of use in the tenth century.

POLITICAL HISTORY

of a little independent state on the Berkshire downs. 15 The idea which
underlay it was, in fact, that of the later counties palatine. Ashdown com-
manded the Ridgway and the Roman road that ran by Wanborough to
Silchester : an independent district here, organized for purposes of defence,
would be equally well calculated to guard the escarpment of the downs or to
bar the progress of an invader along their crest. Against the barrier thus set
up the Mercian invaders threw themselves in vain in the struggle which
followed. In 66 1 the Chronicle records the ravaging of Wulfhere, Penda's
son, as far south as Ashdown ; the entry for the year closes with the significant
words : ' and Cuthred son of Cwichelm died.' 18 The conclusion is suggested
that the Mercian foray was checked by a force drawn from the district
ruled by Cuthred ; possibly Cuthred himself was killed in the encounter.
Three years after Kenwealh's death in 672, his distracted realm was again
invaded by Wulfhere, who inflicted a crushing defeat on the weak King
^Escwine at Biedanheafod. 17 Whether this battle took place at Bedwin in
Wiltshire, 18 or at Beedon on the East Berkshire downs, 19 there can be little
doubt that Mercia was at this time rapidly encroaching on the West-Saxon
position. 20 A temporary usurpation of the West-Saxon see of Dorchester
took place under Ethelred of Mercia between the years 679 and 68 6, 21 and
although Cadwalla seems to have recovered this Oxfordshire outpost in the
latter year, neither he nor his able successors Ine and Cuthred were able, in
the half century that followed, to keep the Mercians entirely out of the lands
south of the Thames.

Full of interest in their relation to the strange vicissitudes of the time
are the annals of the young monastic house at Abingdon struggling into
existence in the very heart of the disputed country. 22 Endowed ' by the
costes of King Cissa,' 23 a West-Saxon sub-regulus, 24 at about the date of the
battle of Biedanheafod, the young house seems to have been projected under
the fostering care of King Cadwalla, who gave it its first charter and a grant
of lands. 25 King Ine, Cadwalla's successor, appears to have revoked the grant
for a time, 28 although he is found in 699, by a change typical of the time,
re-endowing the house in association with Ethelred of Mercia. By 737
Ethelbald of Mercia was assuming sufficient power over the lands of Berk-
shire to make a confirmation to the monastery of all the lands granted pre-
viously by West-Saxon and Mercian kings. He even went so far as to grant
lands at Cookham out of the county, to St. Saviour's at Canterbury. 27
Ethelbald's power was indeed broken by the West-Saxon revival under
Cuthred, and the triumph of West-Saxon arms at Burford in Oxfordshire in

14 It has been suggested, too, that Kenwealh may have desired to buy out any claims of Cuthred to the
throne. Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), ii, 23.

" Ibid, i, 33. " Ibid. 35. " Editor of Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 3 1.

19 Suggested by Col. Cooper King, Hist, of Berks.

10 See 'Angl.-Sax. Remains,' V.C.H. Berks, i, 242. " Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), ii, 24.5-6.

" A description of the site of Abingdon is given by its chronicler : Hist. Man. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 3 ;
* Est autem locus ille in planitie mentis, visu desiderabilis, . . . inter duos rivulos amaenissimos qui locum
ipsum quasi quemdam sinum inter se concludentes, gratum cernentibus proebent spectaculum et opportunum
habitantibus subsidium.'

a Leland, I tin. (ed. Hearne), i, 17. Leland says that Cissa was buried at Abingdon, but, he adds, ' the
very Place and Tumbe of his Burial was never knowen syns the Danes defacid Abbingdon.'

" Hist. Man. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 10. * Ibid. 8, 9.

* Ibid. 10. ' Sed Ini rex eandem terrain postea dum regno potiretur diripiens ac reipublicae restituit.'

17 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 405.

117

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

752 ; S8 but Wessex was as yet too weak to maintain any long resistance, and
during the zenith of Mercia's supremacy under Offa, Berkshire suffered a
second period of invasion. In 777 Offa, driving Cynewulf of Wessex in
rout from Bensington back behind his old frontier of Ashdown, proceeded
to lay violent hands on all the lands westwards from Wallingford by the
Icknield Way to Ashbury, and northwards from Ashdown to the Thames.
To strengthen his line along the river he seized for his own use the lands of
St. Saviour at Cookham, 31 which Cynewulf had held since the battle of Bur-
ford, and put to flight the timid nuns of Cilia's foundation at 'Helnestoue' by
his fort at Wytham. 32 The completeness of the Mercian conquest is shown
by the utter subserviency of the monks at Abingdon, who humbly received
the patronage which the king was pleased to bestow upon them, and accepted
without a protest the Mercian bishop whom he put at their head. 33

With the death of Offa and the rise of Wessex to supremacy under
Egbert, a time of comparative peace and security settled down upon these
border lands. During Egbert's reign the Mercians appear to have been finally
driven out of the lands south of Thames, and now, probably for the first time,
Berkshire became an integral part of the West-Saxon kingdom. As late as
821, indeed, the Mercian king Cenwulf is found confirming to the abbey of
Abingdon all the lands held by the house in Berkshire, 8 * many of them, such
as Sunningwell, Eaton, Sandford, grants made by himself in 811, ' non solum
pro anima mea sed pro totius gentis Merciorum salute'; 86 but it is probable
that, by the later date at any rate, his confirmation was nothing but an act of
conventional patronage, showing little real lordship over the places mentioned.
All vestiges of Mercian power in Berkshire must at any rate have disappeared
after Egbert's great victory over Beornwulf of Mercia at ' Ellandun ' in 823,"*
or at latest after that sweeping advance over ' all that was south of the Humber '
which led to his triumphant assumption of the Bretwaldaship in 827."

It is probable that the definite organization of Berkshire as a shire dates
from the later years of Egbert, though there is no mention of it as such till
the reign of Ethelbert his grandson. 38 In the division of the kingdom which
seems to have been found necessary after the great expansion under Egbert,
Berkshire remained, with Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset, in the hands
of the king himself, while the conquered districts Kent, Essex, Surrey, and
Sussex were given to a son or brother of the king. Such a division took
place as early as 836, when, on the death of Egbert, Ethelwulf, his eldest
son, became king of the consolidated west, while his brother Athelstan ruled
over the eastern provinces. 39 There seems to have been a considerable con-
centration of royal domain in Berkshire at this time, probably around the

13 Angl. Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 46. >9 Ibid. 50.

30 Hist. Mon. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 14 : 'Omnia quae juridictioni suae subdita fuerant ab oppido
Walingefordiae in australi parte ab Ichenildesstrete usque ad Esseburiam, et in aquilonali parte usque ad
Tamisiam rex Offa sibi usurpavit.'

31 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 405-6. 3 " Hist Mm. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 8. 33 Ibid. 14.
34 Ibid, i, 25. 35 Ibid. 24. 36 Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 60.

37 Ibid. As late as 844 Bertulf of Mercia is found granting land at Pangbourne to Abingdon Monastery
(Hist. Mon. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 31). This may have been a graceful way of resigning 'a possession
which it was difficult to hold. The land had, moreover, been a gift from Bishop Ceolred to the Mercian
king (ibid.), and was not a conquest.

39 In 860. Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 68.

39 Ibid, i, 62. Stevenson, Asset's Life of King Alfred, 10. The chronicler declares : ' Occidentalis pars
Saxoniae semper orientali principalior est.'

118

POLITICAL HISTORY

nucleus of the famous grant to Cuthred in the seventh century. In this
district at any rate, in the heart of Berkshire, and just to the south of Ash-
down, Ethelwulfs youngest son, Alfred, was born in 849 at the 'villa regia of
Wantage.* This same ' cyninges tun ' figures later in Alfred's Laws, 41 and in
the testaments of several of his line. 43 In this accumulation of private estates
belonging to the crown are perhaps already to be seen the germs of the later
royal county.

External pressure was, however, to achieve more than internal organi-
zation in the consolidation both of Wessex as a whole and of those outlying
districts upon which the brunt of invasion fell most heavily. In the Danish
wars, as in the struggle with Mercia, Berkshire provided a buffer state, a
battle-field on which the opposing armies met, and on which the various
lines of invasion converged, from the Trent valley, from East Anglia, from
Southampton Water, up stream from London, to diverge again by the many
fords of the Thames. Necessary as was the defence of such an important
district, it is on the wider issue of national defence, in a danger which
seems at once to have been recognized as national, that the ' men of Berk-
shire' first step upon the page of history. In the first great land attack of the
formidable Danish host in 860 the Berkshire fyrd, under its ealdorman
Ethelwulf, is found fighting side by side with the men of Hampshire in
defence of Winchester. 43

Ten years later Berkshire was itself the scene ot the beginning of the
struggle which made the last year of Ethelred's reign momentous, and which
lasted, almost without intermission, through Alfred's life. The great ' year
of battles ' was ushered in by the capture of Reading, a ' villa regia ' on the
south bank of the Thames, in mid-winter, 871, by the heathen army 'of
hateful memory ' in a raiding expedition from East Anglia. 4 * Availing
themselves promptly of the natural advantages of the place, and recognizing
the importance to themselves of such a strong outpost within the border of
Wessex, the Danish host proceeded to make their position strong by throwing
up works in the narrow strip of land between the Thames and the Kennet
on the east side of the town. 45 Here Ethelwulf the ealdorman met them with
his men, 46 and on the marshy ground of the Englefield, defeated them with
much slaughter, driving them back within the burh. 47 Four nights after
Ethelred the king and Alfred his brother led a ' mickle fierd ' against
Reading, 48 and forced their way up to the gate of the burh, slaying as they
went ; but they could not stand before the fierce sally of the heathen men,
who rushed upon them like wolves, (luplno more)?* and fled away to ' Wiscelet,'
and over the Loddon at Twyford, 60 leaving the ealdorman Ethelwulf dead upon
the field." Berkshire now lay open and undefended before the invaders, who

40 Asser, Life of Alfred (ed. Stevenson), i . Anno Dominicae Incarnationis DCCCXLIX natus est
^Elfred, Angul-Saxonum rex, in villa regia, quae dicitur Wanating, in ilia paga quae nominator Berrocscire.'

41 Ibid. 1 54 n. 41 Ibid.

45 Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 68, 'wip pone here ge fuhton Osric aldorman mid Hamtunscire
and ^Ethelwulf aldorman mid Bearruc Scire and pone here ge fliemdon.'

44 Stevenson, Aster's Life of King Alfred, 27 ; cf. Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 70.

45 Stevenson, op. cit. : ' vallum inter duo flumina Tamesen et Cynetan a dextrali parte eiusdem
regiae villae facientibus.' For their position see Simcox, 'Alfred's Year of Battles,' Engl. Hist. Rev.
April, 1886.

46 Ibid. ' ^Ethelwulf, Bearrocensis pagae comes cum suis sodalibus.'

" Ibid. 48 Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 70. 49 Stevenson, op. cit, 28.

60 Gaimar, Lestorie des Engles (Rolls Ser.), i, 123. " Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), loc. cit.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

instead of making a dash for Winchester by way of the Loddon, moved
out from Reading and the bogs of Pangbourne on to the higher ground of
the Ridgway which commanded the whole of the shire. Here, ' on
^Escesdune,' Ethelred and Alfred with the remnant of their fyrd came up
with them and gave battle, 63 though the odds against them, in men and in
the place, were not small. Both armies fell into two bands for the fight,
King Ethelred went to meet the Kings Bagsecg and Halfdene, while Alfred, his
'second-man' (secundarius) , moved out to meet the jarls. But just as
battle was about to be given, so the story runs, Ethelred tarried in his tent,
unwilling to begin the fray until the mass were finished, until at last Alfred,
' unable longer to withstand the enemy's lines without either retiring or
giving battle,' and ' filled with divine counsel and help,' dashed forward
against the foe with all the fury of a wild boar (aprino more), bearing the
royal standard with him. 63 His prayers ended, Ethelred came up to join the
fight, and together they gradually drove the Danes from their position. 6 *
The chronicler of King Alfred had the story from an eye-witness how all
day long the battle raged, now up and down around a solitary thorn-bush,
which stood on the slope between the forces, now hither and thither (bine
inde ubique) over the rolling down, until at length, at night-fall, the heathen
army, bereft of one of its kings and five of its jarls, broke and fled in
' shameful flight ' before those who were there fighting for ' life and loved ones
and the home-land.' Leaving many thousands dead upon the field, the Danes
fled away all that night and part of the next day until they came to the ' burh '
whence they had set out. 66 The weary English host made little pretence at
pursuit and left the heathen men secure in their stronghold at Reading. 66 A
raid thence, up stream along the Loddon, fourteen days after Ashdown fight,
led them to Basing on the Hampshire downs, well on the road to Winches-
ter. 67 The fyrd came up with them here, and though beaten in the fight that
followed, gave them check enough to make them turn their steps north
again to Reading. 68 Here for two months in the early spring of 871 they
lay quiet hatching their plans. 69 At the end of this time they made a second
bold dash, now along the Kennet valley, skirting the Berkshire downs on
the south, to gain the Wiltshire uplands and the great road south to
Winchester. But the victory of ' Meretun,' 60 like that of Basing, could not be
followed up, and though a great ' summer force ' 61 came up the Thames to
Reading and swelled the Danish host in four other battles against Ethelred
and Alfred, ' in the southside of Temese,' and though king and thanes rode
countless raids of which they kept no reckoning, save in the number of
kings and jarls they slew, 62 the campaign had no decided issue, and the year
of battles ended with little gain to either side, and a promise of a stormy
reign to Alfred. Peace was, however, made for a time ; and the Danish host
went down stream from Reading into their winter quarters at London. 63

At the lowest ebb of his fortunes in 878, Alfred, driven deep into the
fastnesses of the west, seems to have lost his hold on Berkshire altogether.

61 Two Sax. Chrm. (ed. Plummer); cf. Stevenson, op. cit. 28.
53 Stevenson, Asset's Life of King Alfred, 29, 30.

M Ibid. " Ibid. 30-1. M Simcox, ' Alfred's Year of Battles,' Engl. Hist. Rev. April, 1886. p. 8.
" Two Sax. Chnn. (ed. Plummer), i, 70. M Simcox, op. cit. ' 9 Ibid.

60 Two Sax. Cbrm. (ed. Plummer), i, 70. 61 Ibid. " Ibid.

63 Ibid. ; cf. Simcox, op. cit ; Plummer, Life of Alfred, 98.

1 2O

POLITICAL HISTORY

He is said in that year to have had ' bote thre ssiren in is hond, Hamtessire
and Wiltessire and Somersete of al is lond,' 61 and there is no sign of Berk-
shire men among the ' fasselli ' who rallied round the king at Egbert's Stone
and Ethandun in the same year. 66 Nor is there any mention of them in the
band raised by the ealdormen of Mercia, Wiltshire, and Somerset in 894,"*
to meet the raiding Danes who had come up the Thames from Shoebury,
burning on both banks as they came ; though they were probably there
with the rest ' from every town east of the Parret as well as west and
east of Selwood,' 67 only now without an ealdorman of their own to lead
them. 68 It is probable too, in spite of this disintegration, or perhaps as a
consequence of it, that Berkshire received a certain amount of rigorous
military reorganization at Alfred's hands later in the reign. It is not un-
likely that the local peculiarities of military service in Berkshire, conspicuous
later in the Custumal of the Survey, had their rise in the defence measures
of these years of stress.

How greatly this border district suffered in both the earlier and later
Danish wars is evident from the record of destruction in the annals of
Abingdon Abbey. The abbey itself was destroyed, and the monks scattered
at the first coming of the Danes into Berkshire. The very allegation of the
monks against King Alfred that he violently seized the town of Abingdon
and all the lands of the monastery after Ashdown, 69 shows how necessary it was
at this time to hold the district in a state of defence. The monastery does
not appear to have recovered from its degradation, even by the close of the
tenth century, and the reason is still given as devastation by the Danes. 70

In the second Danish invasion, that of Swegen, early in the eleventh
century, and in the conquest which followed, Abingdon escaped lightly, 71
though the county as a whole suffered considerably. As of old the strong-
holds by the Thames and the upland reaches of the downs attracted the
invaders. In 1006 the Danish host, which had been ravaging off the south
coast, marched north through Hampshire, ' as itself would,' lighting its war-
beacons as it went, and came at length to Reading, by the old route of the
Loddon valley. 73 From Reading the invaders turned off up stream to Walling-
ford, which they burned to the ground, ere marching in proud vaunt along
Ashdown to 'Cwichelmeshlaewe.' 78 When they had thus braved the shire
at its very heart, the home of its shire moot, they retraced their steps, and
in despite of the proverb which said that ' if they came to Cwichelmes-
hlaewe they would never go to the sea,' 7 * were back at Winchester
before the unwieldy fyrd could march up from Cynetan. 75 Again, in 1009,
the Danish host burned its way north from Wight; while in 1010 and 101 1
raiders fell upon Berkshire from north and east. 76 From the north too came
Swegen in 1013 on his triumphant march to Winchester, passing back

64 Robert of Gloucester, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 388. M Stevenson, Aster's Life of King Alfred, 44.

66 Ivio Sax. Cbnn. (ed. Plummer), i, 87 ; ii, 107-8. "' Ibid. M Plummer, Life of Alfred, 98.

69 Hist. Man. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 50 : 'Hie vero mala malis accumulans, quasi Judas inter xii,
villam in qua coenobium situm est, quae vulgari idiomate Abbendonia appellatur, cum omnibus suis appenditiis
a praedicto coenobio violenter abstraxit, victor! Domino, pro victoria qua functus est de Danis super
Essedune victis, imparens reddens talionem.' 70 Ibid, i, 357.

71 Ibid, i, 432 : 'coenobium Abbendonense a Danorum devastatione permansit immune.'

" Two Sax. Chron. (ed. Plummer), i, 137. " Ibid.

" Ibid. ' gif hi Cwicchelmeshlaewe ge sohton pet hi naefre to sae gan ne sceoldan wendon pa odres
waeges hamweard.' Cf. ii, 184. "Ibid. 76 Ibid. 139-41.

2 121 l6

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

again thence in the same year, through Wallingford to Bath. 77 Berkshire
seems, however, to have remained faithful to the West Saxon king to the
bitter end, and it was only on the death of Edmund Ironside in 1016 that
it passed with the rest of England to the Danish Cnut.

Thence to the Conquest the political history of the county is scanty.
During Edward the Confessor's reign it passed, with most of the ancient
Wessex, into the hands of Godwine and his sons 78 ; among the lands held by
his house being much of the ancient demesne of the crown. Under Edward,
too, Old Windsor first rises into prominence as a royal residence. One chronic-
ler has it that it was at ' Windelsore,' at the ' fair veast ' of Christmas in 1053,
that Earl Godwine met what he relates to have been a sudden and tragic death. 79

In the political and social upheaval which followed the Conquest of 1066
Berkshire played a considerable part. The prominence of many of the great
tenants-in-chief of the shire, among whom were Harold and several members
of his family, 80 and the activity of the thanes of the shire in the defence at
Hastings, 81 brought upon it peculiarly sweeping changes in the territorial
reorganization which followed.

In the actual steps of the Conquest Berkshire was also involved. The
manors and towns and fields of Berkshire, with those of Kent, Surrey,
Hampshire, and Hertfordshire, received the first deep impress of the footprints
of the Conqueror as he passed in his wide sweeping raid from the field of
Hastings to the castle of Berkhampstead. 83 It is probable that the conquering
army swept up through Berkshire in two wings, ravaging as it went, and
converging at Streatley and Wallingford for the passage of the Thames. 83
William himself crossed at Wallingford, and encamped his troops for a time
on the north side of the river. 8 * Godric, sheriff of Berkshire, had been killed
at Hastings, 65 and probably the district, disorganized and leaderless, was able
to offer but little resistance to the conquering army. Wigod of Wallingford,
the Oxfordshire sheriff and magnate, who appears in Domesday as the
' antecessor ' of the Norman Robert of Oilly in several manors of Oxford-
shire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire, is said to have met William at
Wallingford at this time, and made his peace with him. 86 Here, too, came
Archbishop Stigand, 87 swearing fealty, and anticipating by his renunciation of
the Atheling Edgar the general submission which the magnates were to make
a few weeks later at London.

In the early confiscations of the reign the monastery of Abingdon, as one
of the largest landowners of the shire, suffered considerably ; its abbot Alured
incurred William's hatred, and was imprisoned at Wallingford, while the new

77 Two Sax. Cbron. (ed. Plummer), i, 143-4. 78 Cf. Dom. Book, fol. 57^, ff.

79 Robert of Gloucester, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 507.

80 Freeman, Norm. Conj. iv, 34 ; cf. Round, ' Domesday Survey,' V.C.H. Berks, i, 306.

81 Freeman, op. cit. 33 ; Hist. Mon.de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), ii, 3.

8a Baring, 'Footprints of the Conqueror in Domesday,' Engl. Hist. Rev. xvii, 19. ra Ibid.

84 William of Jumi^ges, Histoire des Normands, bk. vii, c. xxxvii ; William of Poitiers, Gesta Guilelmi Ducts
Normannorum et Regis Anglorum, a. 1066 ; Ord. Vit. Hist. Eccl. Florence of Worcester does not mention
Wallingford. Mr. Round thinks that the settlement of Frenchmen in the town at the time of Domesday may
be connected with this first march, ut supra, 310.

85 Hist. Mon. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 484, 490,

86 Ellis, Intro, to Dom. ii, 267 ; cf. Freeman, Norm. Cony, iv, 721. William of Poitiers, op. cit., says
merely, 'At cum in eandem regionem Dux Normannorum adventaret, obviam ei clementiam deprecando,
processerunt civitates et municipia.'

87 Wm. of Poitiers, op. cit. 1066.

122

POLITICAL HISTORY

sheriff Froger in his absence despoiled the house. 88 William soon reversed
his policy, however, and confirmed by mandate all the lands and customs of
the monks, and in particular the hundred of Hornmere, with all the rights
and privileges pertaining to it. 89 This hundred the abbey continued to hold
as a liberty, side by side with the great lay fiefs now rising in the county.
Of these the two of greatest importance, fated to influence the history of
the county throughout its course, were the royal honour and castle of
Windsor and the great fief of Wallingford.

From the earliest days of the Norman period Windsor was used as a
royal residence, 90 and, its necessary corollary, a royal prison. Here the Nor-
man kings held their courts, and called their Witan to meet them at many
of the great festivals of the year. At Pentecost in 1095 William Rufus met
his Witan there, 91 and later in the year had as his guest in the dungeons of
the castle, Robert Mowbray, the arch rebel and pirate of the north. 92 It was
at Windsor in the winter of 1 127, at the king's Christmas court, that David,,
king of Scotland, with the magnates of the realm, whether archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, or thanes, swore an oath of fealty and allegiance to
Matilda the widowed empress, as her father's heir. 93

Prominent among those who remained loyal to this oath and to Matilda
in the dynastic struggle that followed Henry's death, was Brien of Walling-
ford, lord of the second great Berkshire honour, and heir through his wife
of the Saxon Wigod. 94 The zealous partisanship of its great magnate, coupled
with the geographical and strategic importance of a district which lay between
the great rival centres of London and Bristol, and commanded the water-way
of the Thames, drew Berkshire prominently into the war of Stephen's reign.
At the outbreak of hostilities in the autumn of 1 139 the shire was as a whole
favourable to Stephen ; 95 the castles of Windsor and Reading were held for
the king, while the royal fortress of Oxford, just outside the shire boundary,,
dominated northern Berkshire and held in check the isolated outpost of the
enemy at Wallingford. 98 But Wallingford Castle had been fortified and
strengthened in the early days of the anarchy, 97 and was practically impreg-
nable. 98 In spite of its threatening neighbours at Reading and Oxford, and a
blockade carried on intermittently throughout the war, it remained to the
end a very effective thorn in the flesh to the king's party.

Pledged like the other nobles of the county to support the succession of
Matilda, Earl Brien seems to have taken a temporary oath of allegiance to
Stephen in 1 135, while as yet the empress delayed in Normandy. 99 In the
period of universal castle building which followed he proceeded to fortify his
castles of Oxford and Wallingford, but it was not till the autumn of 1139,
and the arrival of Matilda and Robert of Gloucester in England, that he

88 Hist. Man. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), i, 486. 89 Ibid, ii, I.

90 ' Domesday Survey,' y.C.H. Berks. i, 306. Castles were built at Wallingford, Windsor, and Oxford
at this time ; Hist. Man. de Ablngdon (Rolls Ser.), ii, 3.

91 Two Sax. Chnn. (ed. Plummer), i, 230. M Ibid. 93 Ibid. 256.

91 She married first Miles Crispin, spoken of by Hist. Man. tie Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), ii, 12 as ' Milo de
Walingaford cognomento Crispin,' and Brien, in 1113 (cf. Hedges, Hist of Wallingford, 228). Brien accom-
panied Matilda to Normandy in 1 127 after the scene at Windsor (Two Sax. Chron. op. cit. 256), and is spoken
of as the son of Alan Fergant, hence his title Fitz-Count.

M Davis, 'The Anarchy of Stephen's Reign,' Engl. Hist. Rev. Oct. 1903.

96 Round, Geof. de Mand. 10. 97 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 51.

98 Gesta Stephani (in Chron. of Steph. Hen. II and Ric. I, Rolls Ser.) , iii, 5 7.

83 Round, Geof. de Mand. 10.

123

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

broke out into open rebellion. 100 Thenceforth to the close of the war he was un-
swerving in his fealty to the empress, and provides an instance of disinterested
loyalty to a cause in a time of self-seeking and political inconstancy. The
gates of Wallingford Castle were thrown open to Robert of Gloucester on his
march from Arundel to Bristol in 1 139, 101 and Brien Fitz-Count seems at once
to have joined the empress's forces. In the rout at Winchester, and the
consequent flight of Matilda in September, 1 141, it was to the care of Brien of
Wallingford that John the Marshal committed the defeated lady, 108 while it
was to Brien again that Matilda turned on her escape from Oxford in the
winter of i I42. los

Meanwhile Stephen had testified to the importance of Wallingford by
marching against it at the beginning of hostilities in 1139, and by laying
siege to it with a large army. 104 In view, however, of the excellent equip-
ment of the garrison to withstand a siege, and its refusal to offer any more
definite attack than by occasional sallies, Stephen was advised by his barons
to draw off for the time. 106 As soon as he had turned off west, in the
direction of Malmesbury and Trowbridge, Miles of Gloucester ' ad magna
invadenda impiger et perpromptus,' marched up to the relief of Wallingford
and destroyed the counter-castles which Stephen had thrown up. 106 Six years
later, in 1145, the siege was a second time attempted, with the like unsatis-
factory results 107 ; though the king had in the meanwhile considerably im-
proved his position in the county by his successful siege of Oxford and the
reduction of the enemy's castle at Faringdon. 108 The latter event, achieved
with the aid of a ' terrible and innumerable ' army of Londoners, had been a
double triumph : it effectually stopped the threatened advance of Robert of
Gloucester on Oxford, and seems to have brought over to the king's side the
turn-coat earl of Chester. With him there came, too, Philip of Cricklade,
Robert's son, and successor in the upper Thames valley of the freebooter
and military adventurer, William of Dover. 109 Accompanied by these two
new allies and by 300 other knights ('virilis pectoris equites comitatus'),
Stephen had undertaken the blockade of Wallingford a second time, throwing
up fortifications at Crowmarsh across the river, but again without success. 110
These forts were renewed in the last desperate attack on the town in 1152,
when the garrison found themselves so hard pressed that they sent to Henry of
Anjou for aid, declaring that without it they must submit to the king. 111 In
this same year Stephen was occupied for two or three months in the siege
of Newbury, an important outpost held for the empress in the south of the
county by John the Marshal. 11 *

100 Gesta Stephani, loc. cit. ' Fuit ea tempestate Brienus filius comitis vir genere clarus et dignitate
magnificus, qui de Morum adventu eximie lactificatus, firmato in expugnabili, quod penes Walengefordiara
habuerat, Castello, cum militum urgentissima copia adversus regem vive et constantissime rebellavit.'

101 Ibid. 10> UHistoire de Guil/aume le Marechal (Soc. de 1'histoire de France), i, 9.
101 Will, of Malmes. Gesta Reg. Angl. ; cf. Gesta Stephani, 53 (sub Hist. Novella), ii, 593 ; Gesta Stephani,

91 ; Ann. Man. ii, 53, 229 ; Henry joined Matilda at Wallingford, Round, Geof. de Mand. 198.
104 Gesta Stephani, loc. cit. 58. 105 Ibid. 106 Ibid. 59.

107 Ibid. 115. W8 Ibid. 114.

109 Gesta Stephani, loc. cit. 1 14-17 ; cf. Davis, 'Anarchy of Stephen's Reign,' Engl. Hist. Rev. April, 1903.

110 Gesta Stephani, loc. cit. 117 ; Ann. Man. ii, 231 ; Hen. of Hunt. Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), 284.

111 Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), i, 191.

111 Hen. of Hunt. op. cit. 284. A long account of the siege is given in L'Histaire de Guillaume le
Marechal, op. cit. v, 399-680 ; it is said to have lasted for more than two months. The story centres in
William, the young son of the Marshal, whom Stephen held as a hostage.

124

POLITICAL HISTORY

The misery of the country at this time was extreme : men were weary
of the cruel war, and called for peace. 113 Old animosities had lost their
bitterness with the passing away of the older combatants. The time was at
hand for a compromise. After a period of half-hearted hostilities before
Wallingford, where the two armies lay at a distance of three miles from
each other, a parley was at last arranged by the earl of Arundel, one
of Stephen's advisers. Out of it came the treaty of Wallingford, and the
assurance of the succession to the Angevin Henry. 114 It was fitting that
such a conclusion to the war should have been brought about before the walls
of Wallingford, the garrison which had remained true throughout to the Ange-
vin cause, and whose resistance had perhaps more than anything else determined
the nature of the compromise. Henry was not unmindful of his debt of
gratitude, and rewarded the faithful town with a charter and privileges,
' pro servicio et labore magno quem pro me sustinuerunt in acquisitione
hereditaris juris mei in Anglia.' 1U At the Parliament which met at Wal-
lingford early in the reign the honour of Wallingford was declared, after legal
inquisition made, to have escheated to the crown. 116 Henry II kept it in
his own hands, and it thereafter remained as an appanage of the crown in the
hands of some prominent member of the royal family. 117 Under the Angevin
kings Berkshire became essentially a royal county.

During the reign of Henry II Berkshire played little part in poli-
tical affairs of any importance; the link of the county with the national
life as a whole lay mainly in its personal connexion with the king's house-
hold, through the royal centres of administration at Windsor, Reading, and
Wallingford. A few vivid scenes are recorded by the chroniclers in connexion
with one or other of these towns, which afford incidental but picturesque
glimpses of the great drama which was being enacted outside. In 1163
King Henry and Archbishop Thomas met in amicable co-operation, for one of
the last times, at the dedication of the foundation of Henry I at Reading. 118
Following hard on the notice in the annals is the ominous entry for the next
year, ' Hoc anno facta est dissensio inter regem et archipraesulem Thomam,' 119
a terse reference to one of the greatest struggles between Church and State
in England. A scene of a different kind, though intimately connected with the
same struggle, took place at Windsor in 1 170, where, at an Easter court similar
in composition to that which had accepted Matilda in 1 1 27, king, prelates and
magnates, with the king of Scots, decided on the rash and ill-considered step
of crowning the younger Henry, in despite of Becket's refusal to perform the
ceremony. 120 This faux pas placed the king at a decided disadvantage for the
rest of the contest. It led directly, moreover, through Becket's pertinacity in
persecuting the bishops who assisted at the ceremony, to the archbishop's murder
in 1 170, a conclusion fraught with disastrous issues to the king himself.

115 VH'utnre de Guillaume le Marechal, v, 660-2. As a result of the war the writer declared ' tote joie
esteit fondue E toz gaainz tornez a perte, E tote richesse a poverte.' For misery in Berks, cf. Davis, Engl.
Hist. Rev. April, 1903.

114 Gervase of Cant. Opera (Rolls Ser.), i, 151 ; Matt. Paris, op. cit. i, 191 ; Ralph de Diceto, 527.

114 Round, Geof. de Mand. 198.

118 Cf. Hedges, Hist, of Wallingford, 265-6 ; cf. Trivet Annales (ed. Hall), 29.

"' A diligent inquisition was made with regard to this honour after Henry's death, by the constables, with
the aid of the sheriff and knights. The history of its passage, from Wigod of Wallingford to Henry II, was
fully given (Testa de Ncvill, 1 1 5, a, b). " 8 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 57.

"' Ibid. I2 Benedictus Abbas, Gesta Hen. II et Ric. I (Rolls Ser.), i, 6.

125

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

From the position of shame and obloquy in which he found himself
Henry turned with zeal to the conquest of Ireland, a project which, in the
eyes of the pope at any rate, in some measure condoned the previous offence.
Typical of the policy of mistrust and suspicion with which the king treated the
English adventurers in Ireland at this time is the treaty which he concluded
with the envoys of Ruadhri, high king of Connaught, at Windsor in i I75. 1S1
In disregard of the half-completed plans of the Clares and the Geraldines for
the subjugation of western Ireland, Henry by this treaty turned round and
confirmed to the Irish king all his lands in Connaught, in return for his
fealty and a small tribute, both precarious ; thereby effectively paralyzing the
English pioneers in their advance.

In the feudal rebellion of Henry's later years the centres of disturbance
lay far removed from Berkshire, in the north and east, and across the sea in
Normandy. The last scene in which the shire appears in the reign is one
which has nothing to do with the dark events of this domestic struggle ; it is
a glimpse of the wider relationship in which the Angevin king stood to
European politics in general, and to the greater Christendom which had
spread into the Mohammedan East. It was natural that the kingdom of the
Angevin Fulk at Jerusalem should look for aid in its hour of extremity to the
Angevin king of the west. It was with a special message to Henry there-
fore that the Patriarch Heraclius set out on his mission to Europe in 1 1 84.
He came up with the king at Reading in the February of 1185, and laying
the royal standard of Jerusalem and the keys of the holy places at his feet be-
sought him to carry them back at the head of a crusading army. 122 Henry
was moved to go, but the great council summoned at Clerkenwell in March
for consultation bade him fulfil his coronation oath rather than his crusading
vow. Heraclius was bitterly disappointed, and begged that John might go
in his father's stead. John was not averse to the proposal, but Henry hastily
had him knighted at Windsor, and dismissed him on a mission to Ireland. 125
It is grotesque to think of John as the hero of the third crusade, though no
doubt as king of Jerusalem he might have outwitted Saladin in craft and
subtlety. His absence would at any rate have freed England as a whole and
Berkshire in particular from a source of much turbulence and unrest in the
years that followed.

Previous to his departure for the east in 1190 Richard I bestowed
Windsor Castle upon Hugh bishop of Durham. Upon this fortress William
Longchamp at once laid violent hands. 124 At the same time, as one of many
inducements to loyalty, Richard gave to John the honour of Wallingford. 125
With her centres thus held by the rival authorities Berkshire was dragged into
the plots and faction fights which lasted throughout the time of Richard's ab-
sence. Disturbances began with John's attack on Longchamp for the summary
treatment of Archbishop Geoffrey of York in the autumn of 1191. Seizing
the opportunity given him by popular indignation John summoned a council of
prelates and barons to Reading to demand from the Chancellor a justification
of his conduct. 126 Longchamp was summoned to meet the prince and the
justiciars on 5 October at Loddon Bridge, on the road between London and

121 Benedictus Abbas, Gesta Hen. II ft Rie. I (Rolls Ser.), i, 101-3. '" Ibid - 33S~7-

123 Ibid. '" Bened. Abbas, Gesta Ricardi (Rolls Ser.), ii, 109.

124 Ibid. 78. 1!6 Ibid. 212.

126

POLITICAL HISTORY

Reading, there to stand his trial. 127 With many protests the Chancellor
marched up as far as Windsor, but afraid to leave the protection of the royal
castle, and pleading ill-health, he delayed there, sending the earls of Arundel,
Warren, and Norfolk in his stead to the rendezvous. John and the barons
had taken up their position in the fields west of the Loddon, and on the
failure of Longchamp to appear proceeded to discuss the grievances against
him, and the probable exercise of the commission given to the archbishop of
Rouen, by Richard, to supplant him. On the following day, Sunday, 6 October,
in spite of Longchamp's bribes, all the participators in the outrage on Arch-
bishop Geoffrey were excommunicated at a mass solemnized with lighted
candles in Reading Church. Cowed by this extreme measure Longchamp sub-
mitted and swore to stand his trial at the bridge on Monday morning. He
accordingly set out from Windsor ; but hearing on the way that John's forces
had crossed to the London side of the stream, and part of them gone on
thither, he would not wait for the party of barons who were riding to meet
him, with John at their head, but fled back to Windsor and thence down
stream to London. In the neighbourhood of Staines he fell in with John's
men-at-arms, and in the sharp skirmish which followed, John's justiciar, Roger
de Planes, was mortally wounded. While the Chancellor made his way to the
Tower John prevailed upon a council called immediately at St. Paul's to depose
him and demand the surrender of the royal castles. 128

On the strength of the recognition of himself as Richard's heir which he
wrung from the council soon after, John persuaded the constables of Windsor
and Wallingford to surrender their castles to him, 129 and refused for a year, in
spite of persuasions and threats, to give them up. Circumstances were in his
favour, for in the council which met to discuss his misdoings, though it was
'the united will of all that Earl John should come up to answer for his
seizure of the castles,' 130 each was distrustful of his neighbour, and preferred
that another rather than himself should voice the complaint. Meanwhile a
complication arose from the fact that John was known to be treating with
the fallen Chancellor, and the barons, seeing in the latter their greater enemy,
promptly let the question of the castles drop, m and set themselves to buy
John out with bribes. 132 He jeered at them from his stronghold at Walling-
ford, but swallowed the bribe none the less, rejoicing to keep his castles
unmolested.

These became the centre of his treacherous conduct against Richard in
the spring of 1193. Failing to obtain recognition as king on the false
rumour of Richard's death in December, 1 192, John went off in anger with
his army of Scotch and Welsh mercenaries to fortify the castles of Windsor
and Wallingford, 133 into which he threw supplies by a series of raids in the
counties round. 134 The Archbishop of Rouen and Queen Eleanor with
many of the barons among them William the Marshal marched at once

l " Giraldus Cambrensis, Vita Galfrldl Arch. Ebor. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 397. U8 Ibid. 405.

119 Richard of Devizes, De Rebus gestis Ricardi Primi (in Chronicles of Steph., Hen. II, and Ric. I, Rolls

Ser.), iii, 433.

30 Ibid. ' Omnium erat una voluntas convenire comitem Johannem de praesumptione castellorum.'
131 Ibid. 434. ' De castris nulla fit mentio ; de cancellario tola fuit querela et consultatio.'
13> Ibid. ' Ad comitem itaque tune morantem apud Walingeford et ridentem illorum conventicula,

mittuntur multi ex magnatibus, .... Creduntur comiti de fisco per fiscarios quingentae librae sterlingorum.

. . . Nee dilatio.'

133 Roger of Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 204. 1S4 Ibid. 205.

I2 7

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

to Windsor and laid siege to the castle, 136 swearing that nothing should
move them thence till it fell. 136 Matters were not, however, pushed to
extremes. John gave in, and a truce was made by which the castles of
Windsor and Wallingford were surrendered to Queen Eleanor for custody
until Richard's return. 137

In the ecclesiastical and constitutional struggles of John's reign the
county took little direct part. At the close of the long struggle between the
king and the pope certain details in the king's submission, left unsettled in
the general pacification of May, 1213, came up for discussion in a council
summoned at Reading in November. 138 John did not appear at this meeting,
but three days later, at Wallingford, he promised full satisfaction to the
Church. 139 At a later council at Reading, on 8 December, the business of the
interdict came up again, and a document with a full list of losses and com-
pensations was produced. The king had now, however, obtained the favour
of the legate, and was allowed some delay with regard to the 1 5,000 marks
due to the clergy. 1 *

Timely submission to the papal legate had removed the immediate
danger of a French invasion, but John's short-sighted and headstrong policy
in appealing to the pope against the obligations of the Charter called it down
upon the country in the closing year of the reign. From December, 1215,
to September, 1217, England suffered the humiliation of having a foreign
army lodged in her southern counties. During this time Berkshire, with the
royal fortresses on the Thames, formed the southern line of John's position.
Early in the war he retired from London, and made Windsor and Reading
the centres of the savage raids by which he attempted to satisfy the clamours
of his mercenaries. 1 * 1 A great store of arms and food was thrown into
Wallingford, 1 * 8 while Windsor was entrusted to the king's doughty constable,
Ingelard de Attie (vir in opere martio probatissimus), with a garrison of sixty
men. 1 * 8 He maintained a gallant defence here against the attack of the
count of Nevers, one of the leaders of Louis's army, until such time as John,
with the argument of fire and sword in the eastern counties, and with the
added one perhaps of English gold, succeeded in distracting the invaders
from the siege. 1 ** Ingelard seems to have kept his custody of Windsor Castle
through the early years of the minority of Henry III, for in the disturbances of
1 22 1 which accompanied the resumption of the royal castles he incurred the
suspicion of Hubert de Burgh, and was for a time imprisoned, though pro-
mises of good conduct seem to have restored him to a position of trust. 1 * 6

Through the first difficult years of the minority England was piloted by
the great regent, William the Marshal. It is in connexion with his death
in 1219 that a memorable council meeting at Reading is recorded. The

135 Roger of Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 206.

134 'Cest siege avom jur6 por veir, Si ne lairons por nul avoir, De si que li chasteals seit pris, Ou rendus
Si I'avom enpris' Histoire de Gull, le Marechal, op. cit. vi, 9893-9960. William the Marshal was sent for
from Wales to take part in the siege. He would not bind himself by oath to stay before the castle, saying that
if Count John knew it he would ravage the country round. Cf. Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 47.

137 Roger of Hoveden, op. cit. iii, 206.

188 Roger of Wendover, Floret Hist. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 95. 1! " Ibid. " Ibid.

141 Roger of Wendover, Chrm. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 163. ' "' Ibid. 183. "> Ibid. 192.

144 Ibid. 193. Roger of Wendover suggests that the count of Nevers was bribed by John, 'per consilium
comitis Niverniae, qui, ut dicebatur, donariis regis Angliae corruptus fuerat, de nocte ab obsidione recedentes
relictis tentoriis versus Cantebregge cum festinatione iter arripiunt.' Cf. Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 47.

145 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 68.

128

POLITICAL HISTORY

story runs that as the Marshal lay dying at Caversham, in Oxfordshire, he
sent for the young king, who had come up to Reading, with the papal legate
and Peter des Roches, in order to be near him (for la maladie le conte). In
the impressive interview that followed the regent gave an account of his
regency, and formally surrendered up his charge, recommending the papal
legate to the council as his successor. 146 The policy which prompted this
recommendation, i.e. that of drawing England into closer connexion with the
papal curia, though no doubt wise and even necessary at the time, led to
disastrous consequences later in the reign. 147

In the Barons' War, with which the constitutional struggle of the reign
closed, the castles of Windsor and Wallingford were, as in previous struggles,
centres of activity for the county. Throughout the reign the shire had been
in close touch with the crown through these castles. Henry himself took
his popular title from the royal castle of Windsor, 1 * 8 while his brother Richard,
earl of Cornwall and 'king of Almain,' had been invested with the fief of
Wallingford in the fifteenth year of the reign. 149 It was at his Christmas
court at Windsor in 1261 that Henry, armed with a dispensation from the
pope, determined to shake himself free from the irksome compact to which
he had been bound by the Provisions of Oxford and Westminster, and sum-
moned a Parliament to meet him at Windsor in rivalry to that called by the
barons to St. Albans. 150 Open hostilities broke out almost at once over the
disputed questions of the introduction of mercenaries, and the charge of the
royal castles. In open defiance of both the barons and the Provisions, Prince
Edward had fortified Windsor Castle, throwing into it a garrison of mercen-
aries whom he had brought with him from Flanders. 1603

As a result of a secret conclave at Oxford and the denunciation of all
infringers of the Provisions, Simon de Montfort put himself at the head of an
army in the spring of 1263, and fell upon the castles of the Thames valley.
Windsor surrendered after a difficult siege, whereupon the alien garrison were
suffered to depart in possession of their arms and horses, on the condition
that they would not return. 151 At about this time Richard of Cornwall de-
serted de Montfort and joined the king, and it is probable that the earl secured
his castle of Wallingford before marching down the Thames on London. 152
He was at any rate in possession of it after the battle of Lewes in the follow-
ing year, and dispatched thither into strong ward his prisoners, Richard of

140 Hutoire de Gull, le Marickal, vv. 18041 ff.

117 The reason given by the Marshal for his action is interesting :

' Car n'a tel gent en nule terre,

Comme il a dedcnz Engleterre,

De divers corages chascuns,

Se la terre n'est defendue,

For 1'apostoire en icest point

Dont ne sai je qui la defende." (Ibid. w. 18041-6.)

148 A popular song written after the battle of Lewes connects the king and his brother with their castles
of Windsor and Wallingford respectively ; e.g. :

' Richard of Alemaigne, whil that he was kyng,
He spende al his tresour opon swyvyng ;
Haveth he nout of Walingford o ferlyng :
Let him habbe, ase he brew, bale to dryng,

' Maugre Wyndesore.' Political Songs (Camden Soc.), 69.

149 Exemplification of charter of 1230-1 to Richard is given in Cal, of Pat. 1281-92, p. 150.

150 Rishanger, Chnn. et Ann. (Rolls Ser.), 7. 150a Ibid. 18.

151 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 100 ; iii, 223. 15a Ibid, ii, 247.

2 129 17

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Cornwall himself, with his son and Prince Edward. 153 The queen, hearing
that the defences at Wallingford were weak, sent an urgent message to
Sir John de Musgrove and three other loyal knights at Bristol to attempt a
rescue. They rode up to Wallingford with 300 horsemen, 'in a fryday ri^t
as the sonne aros,' and succeeded in forcing a way up to the inner wall of the
fortress. Here they were stopped by the slings and gins of the defenders,
who threatened moreover to send out Prince Edward to them from a
mangonel if they did not speedily retreat. Edward himself came out to them
upon the wall beseeching them to go, ' oj>2r he was ded.' 1M In fear of a
second attack, Earl Simon sent his prisoners on to ' betere warde ' at Kenil-
worth, 155 and with strange inconsistency strengthened the garrisons of
Wallingford and Windsor with French troops. 156 His high-handed policy
in the treatment of the royal castles alienated many of the barons from him,
and helped to bring about his defeat at Evesham. 167

The king celebrated his triumph at Windsor in October, 1265, when he
received the humble submission of the rebel Londoners who had fought
against him at Lewes, and threw their leaders into ' strong prison.' 158 At
the same time he rewarded the fidelity of his brother Richard by restoring to
him the fiefs which he had lost in the recent disturbances, 169 among them the
honour of Wallingford, which Richard is found transmitting to his son
Edmund at his death in izjz.

During the reign of Edward I, Edmund of Cornwall, the king's kinsman
(son ame et feal et tres-chier cosyn) 1 and regent of the kingdom in his absence,
held the honours of Wallingford and St. Valery, which extended over the
greater part of Berkshire, as outlying appendages to the earldom of Cornwall.
His fiefs were of the nature of a great regality or royal appanage rather than
of a mere baronial estate, and having been lately confirmed to his house by
the crown were not among those whose curtailment was aimed at by the
investigations of the reign. In the petty legal encroachments which the
baronial courts made everywhere upon the jurisdiction of the king's courts, the
earl of Cornwall was not, however, behind his smaller neighbours. At
Wallingford he held the plea de namio vetito with the jurisdiction over thefts
and the right to hold assizes of bread and beer, by what warrant the com-
missioners knew not. 163 A similar encroachment on market tolls due formerly
from neighbouring villages to the liberty of Windsor, and certain dues in
Windsor itself, had been started by William Pasket, Earl Richard's bailiff, in
the previous reign, and were kept up by Earl Edmund. 163 In spite of the

151 Robert of Glouc. Chron. ii, 750 ;

'& fe king of Alemaine & sir edward also
In \ e castel of Walingford in warde he let do.'
M Ibid. 751. '"Ibid. 752.

56 Ibid. 752 : 'As in the castel of walingford, of douere, of windelsore.

Wardeins he made of frensse men fat of fojte put lond sore.'
li7 Cf. Robert of Glouc. Chron. fol. 752 ; Rishanger, Chron. 32.

158 Robert of Glouc. op. cit. ii, 767. Their goods and chattels he confiscated to Prince Edward. Pat.
49 Hen. Ill, m. 36*. ' Ibid. m. 3 63.

160 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Com.), 56 Hen. III. The memory of Richard of Cornwall's connexion with Walling-
ford seems to have been still green in the sixteenth century. Cf. Leland, Itln. ii, note : ' The Toun
and the Castelle was sore defacid by the Danes warres. Yet they meatly reflorischid in the Tyme of Richard
king of Romaines and Erie of Cornewaulle, Brother to King Henry the 3. This Richard did much cost on
the Castelle.'

*' So spoken of in a writ of 1299 (Pad. Writs, \, 320).

161 Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), i, 9, 96. 1CJ Ibid. 18.

130

POLITICAL HISTORY

investigations Edmund remained in full possession of his fiefs and their privi-
leges till his death in 1296, when his earldom of Cornwall, with all its
appendent holdings, escheated to the crown. The importance to the crown
of the falling-in of these great fiefs (together with a similar occurrence in
Norfolk at the same time) is shown by the statement of a contemporary
writer that as an event it ranked with the conquest of Wales and Scotland. 164
The Liberty of the Castle and Forest of Windsor was never at any time
alienated from the crown, but was administered by royal bailiffs, together
with the ' seven hundreds of Cookham and Bray.' 165 Their administration
was not of the best apparently, and the forest became the refuge of robbers
and outlaws. In the reign of Edward II there was still a complaint that as
the coroner of the liberty of the forest was not ' sworn in the county in
geldable,' thieves were ' much strengthened ' in those parts. 166 The Patent
Rolls testify to continual disturbances in the district during these reigns.

On Berkshire as on all the shires of England fell the burden of providing
levies, both feudal and stipendiary, for Edward's numerous campaigns in
Wales, Scotland, and ' parts beyond the seas.' During the Welsh war, which
lasted intermittently from 1277 to 1294, and was mainly concerned with the
reduction of Llewelyn and other recalcitrant chieftains in Gwynedd and the
' four cantreds ' of northern Wales, the demand for a levy from the shires was
almost a yearly occurrence. In June, 1277, Edmund of Cornwall and the
other magnates of Berkshire received a direct summons to appear at Wor-
cester with their due equipment of knights, while the tenants in chief of
Oxfordshire and Berkshire received a general summons through the joint
sheriff of these counties. 167 This was the normal feudal levy, the burden of
which fell on all military tenants of the crown holding lands of the value of
20 and upwards. A similar force was called up to Rhuddlan in March,
1282,10 carry the war into the Snowdon country; 168 and in 1287 Earl
Edmund himself, in the absence of the king, led a large feudal host out from
Gloucester against Rhys ap Murdoc. 169 The last campaign of the war
(September, 1294) was fought by levies called out from the shires to Ports-
mouth for service in Gascony, but sent off across the Severn to Chester, and
finally to Conway, on the sudden outburst of Madog's rebellion. 170

Foreign service brought before the king the advantage of supplementing
his feudal levies, who were apt to drop away at the expiration of the
customary period of forty days, with stipendiaries raised throughout the coun-
ties. The first levy of the kind from Berkshire was raised for an expedition
to the Low Countries in October, 1295, when two commissioners, John de
Lenham and William de Bliburg, were sent into Oxfordshire and Berkshire
to select 2,000 men, as the quota to be contributed by these two shires.
This levy was not one of inexperienced peasants, but of experts, ' slingers and
bowmen capable of offensive and defensive action, and well equipped with
adequate arms.' m An equal, if not a greater, difficulty was experienced in
the Scotch campaigns with regard to levies from the southern shires. The
Berkshire levies were called upon to assemble at such distant rendezvous as

164 Chrm. Edw. 1 andEdw. 11 (Rolls Ser.), ii, 8. lei Part. Writs. \, 150.

166 Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 329. lw Par/. Writs, i, 193, 196. 1<a Ibid. 224-8.

169 Ibid. 253. "' Ibid. 259.

171 Ibid. 270 : 'Hominum tarn sagitariorum quam balistariorum potencium ad insultandum et se defen-
dendum, et armis sibi competentibus bene munitorum.'

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Newcastle (March, I296), 173 York (May, lagS), 173 Carlisle (June, 1299,
June, i30o), m Berwick-on-Tweed (June, 1301, May, I3O3). 173 It was only
with very great labour that the troops could be got as far north as Falkirk
and Stirling. The footmen who followed Edmund of Cornwall and the
other magnates from Berkshire to Newcastle, and on to Dunbar in the spring
of 1296, had to be dismissed after two months' service, while at Falkirk
Edward was forced to supplement his levies with 1,300 paid men-at-arms.

The reign of Edward I saw the definite inauguration of a representative
parliamentary system for England. As early as 1265 representatives of the
cities and boroughs had been called up to Parliament, side by side with the
knights of the shire; it was not, however, till 1295 that the system was
finally organized on the lines which it has maintained with little variation
till the present day. To the Parliament of 1295 thirty-seven counties, of
which Berkshire was one, were called upon to return two knights. 176 This
remained the regular shire representation until 1832. Of the boroughs,
Reading and Wallingford alone sent the required two burgesses to the
Parliament of I295, 177 and they alone of the Berkshire towns continued to be
thus regularly represented until the time of the Reform Bill. Windsor and
Newbury were each represented, for the first time, by two members, in
I3O2; 178 Windsor, however, had no regular representation until the late
fifteenth century, 179 while Newbury dropped out altogether after the abnormal
Parliament of I337- 180 Abingdon returned one member to this same Parlia-
ment, but was not again represented till the Tudor revival of borough repre-
sentation in 1558 ; 181 from 1558 to 1832 it returned one member. 182 Both
shire and borough representation remained on the old footing till the Reform
Act of 1832.

In the civil outbreaks of the reign of Edward II the honour and castle
of Wallingford were involved through their connexion with the fortunes of
several of the prominent men of the time. In the first year of the reign the
fief of Wallingford was granted with the earldom of Cornwall to the favourite
Piers Gaveston. 183 In honour of Gaveston's marriage to Margaret of Glou-
cester, the king's niece, in 1 307, a great tournament was held at Wallingford, 18 *
to which the neighbouring earls, Thomas of Lancaster, Humphrey of Here-
ford, Aymer of Pembroke, and John de Warenne, were invited. The dis-
courteous action of the upstart earl in charging on his guests with 200 armed
knights, and his overthrow of the Earl of Warenne in the jousts, ' for whech
he had gret indignacion,' 186 increased considerably the odium in which he
was held by the earls, and hastened his fall. On his death his fiefs escheated

178 Par!. Writs, i, 270. 173 Ibid. 311. m Ibid. 317, 330. m Ibid. 347.

' 6 Ibid. 40. Richard of Windsor, one of the knights returned in this year, seems to have repre-
sented the county frequently up to 1320; cf. ibid. 149 (1304) ; 173 (1306), etc. He appears, too, in
the shire levies among the knights holding land of over zo value; ibid. 290, 330, etc. He is a typical instance
of the ' most substantial knights and Serjeants ' required for parliamentary representation at the time.

177 Ibid. 178 Ibid. 125-6.

179 Cf. Prothero, Parliamentary Representation of England and Wales down to 1832. (Lane-Poole, Hist. Atlas,
xxiii) Windsor returns seem to have been very much at the mercy of the bailiffs of the hundreds of Cookham and
Bray. A typical entry is one in 1 304, when the Windsor burgesses do not seem to have been returned ;
' brevem retornatum fuit Ballivis libertatis septem hundredorum de Cokam et Braye qui habent returnum
omnium brevium et executionem eorundem, et iidem ballivi nullam michi dederunt responsionem.' Parl.
Writs, i, 149, 150. Cf. also 1309, 1314, 1318, 1323.

180 Prothero, op. cit. 181 Ibid. 18J Ibid. 163 Chron. Edward I and Edward II (Rolls Ser.), i, 258.
184 Ibid. 259 ; cf. Capgrave, Chron. of Engl. (Rolls Ser.), 175. l85 Ibid.

132

POLITICAL HISTORY

to the crown, and in 1317 Queen Isabella received the grant for life of the
honours of Wallingford and St. Valery. 186

During the period of estrangement between king and barons which
followed the execution of Gaveston in 1310, Edward kept himself from
destitution by appropriating to his own uses the confiscated lands of the
Knights Templars. In the sordid story of the crusade against the order
Berkshire shared with the other counties in which the Master of the Temple
held lands. A writ of December, 1307, ordering the sheriff to lay hands on
all the ' lands and tenements, goods and chattels ' of the knights, together with
all charters, muniments, and deeds of title, 187 drove them out from their Berk-
shire houses at Bisham and Templeton. Gentler in its injustice than the
measures taken in France, the writ provided that the knights were not to be
ill-treated, but were to be ' decently maintained out of the property of the
order.' 188 Edward does not seem to have profited much by the Berkshire
confiscations, for his kinsman Thomas of Lancaster, already a considerable
landholder in the county, laid greedy hands upon them and annexed them
to his fief. 189

It was the opposition of this Thomas of Lancaster, and the main part
of the baronial body, to the king and his favourites, the Despensers, in 1321,
that brought about the second civil disorder of the reign. Recovering
quickly from the first attack, in which he had suffered the banishment of
the Despensers (at the Parliament of July, 1321), Edward raised an army by
asking for loyalist forces in the counties. In November two commissioners
were sent into Berkshire and Wiltshire with a writ of aid, empowering them
to raise if necessary all the horse and foot of the counties ' against the king's
insurgents.' 19 This was followed early in December by a second writ of
aid 'to seize into the king's hands' all the lands and goods of insurgents. 191
The king followed the commissioners, and passed through Berkshire, de-
manding the oath of fealty from all, on his way to Cirencester and Borough-
bridge. 192 After the fall of Thomas of Lancaster at Boroughbridge in March,
1322, his lands and those of all other insurgents in the shire were forfeited
to the crown. 193 His supporters Hugh of Audley and Maurice of Berkeley
were imprisoned by the king in Wallingford Castle, 19 * and are found early in
the following year in conspiracy with Roger Mortimer, then a prisoner in the
Tower, to seize the royal castles of Wallingford and Windsor and the Tower
itself. The conspiracy was, however, promptly quashed by Richard Damery,
steward of the king's household, who was sent into Berkshire with a writ of
aid, ' to besiege the castle of Wallyngford and to arrest all rebels who have
entered therein.' 195 Though thus successful for a time Edward's patronage
of the Despensers cost him dear in the end, and led to his deposition in
1327 at the hands of the estranged queen and barons. The reign of
Edward III practically begins with the great court at Wallingford at the
close of 1326, at which Queen Isabella and Roger of Mortimer, with the

m Cal. of Pat. 1313-17, p. 668. w Par!. Writs, ii, 10. 18S Ibid.

189 Bustlesham (Bisham) and Templeton are held by the ' Magister Milicie Templi ' in Testa de Nevill
(\t,\a, 12$") ; by the earl of Lancaster in 1316 (feud. Aids, i, 50).

190 Cal. of Pat. 1321-4, p. 39. " Ibid. 40.

19! Chron. Edw. I and Edvi. 11 (Rolls Ser.), i, 300, 301. m Cal. of Pat. 1321-4, p. 161; ibid. p. 211.

194 Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 189 ; Thomas of Walsingham, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), i, 170.

195 Cal. of Pat. 1321-4, p. 234; cf. ibid. 257. Cf. Thomas of Walsingham, Hist. Angl. i, 170.

'33

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

prince and the prelates and barons of the realm, kept their ' real Christ-
rnasse ' after the capture of the king and the execution of the younger
Despenser. 198

In the Scotch wars of the reign of Edward II Berkshire levies played an
intermittent part, the burden of the almost yearly campaigns falling mainly
on the northern counties. The southern counties are found, however,
responding on more than one occasion to the demand now arising for large
levies of paid foot soldiers, a demand which followed the change in military
tactics brought about by the defeat at Bannockburn. In 1316 three com-
missioners were sent into Berkshire to levy a well-equipped foot-soldier
( un homme de pe forcible et defensable], armed with the necessary imple-
ments, ' aketon et bacinet . . . espeies, arks et seetes, arbalistes, lances, ou
autres armures convenables por genz de pee ' from every township in the
shire. The rate of pay is given as 4^. per day. 197 A similar demand was
made in 1322, when a special mandate was sent to the two Berkshire com-
missioners ' to induce and if necessary to compel ' the borough of Walling-
ford to supply its due quota, i.e., four armed footmen, to the host at
Newcastle. 198 This was followed, in the same year, by a more general levy
of 500 foot, arranged in twenties, hundreds, and constabularies, called out
from Oxfordshire and Berkshire, ' excepting the towns of Oxford, Abin-
don and Reading,' for service in the Scotch expedition. 199

Berkshire does not seem to have supplied any levies either to the Scotch
or the French wars of Edward III, and apart from the continuous and
regular use of Windsor Castle as a royal residence the shire took little part
in the activities of the reign. The castle itself was closely connected with
the renewal of chivalry in England during the wars with France. Here
the king set up his famous Order of the Garter, and here in 1344 he
renewed the Round Table ' first mad be Arthure,' a step which drove the
king of France to jealous imitation, ' to drawe the knytehod of Almayn fro the
Kyng of Ynglond.' 800 The rebuilding of the castle was energetically pursued
in 1359, 'divers faire and sumptuous workes' 801 being erected by ' Mayster
William Wikham,' 202 the king's chaplain, with supplies and services drawn
from all parts of the county. 203 An event of much future significance took
place at Reading in 1359, when John of Gaunt, the king's third son, was
wedded by special papal dispensation to his kinswoman Blanche of Lancaster. 204

The same monotony of record for the shire is found in the reign of
Richard II, a period of political and economic activity for the country as
a whole. Berkshire stood but on the outer edge of the district in which
the great social upheaval of 1381, limited to no locality either in its causes
or its ultimate results, found its local vent, and was agitated by no more than
the inevitable ground-swell radiating from the centre of disturbance in the
east. In the immediate political consequences of the great rising Berkshire
has therefore practically no concern, a few detached cases coming up for
punishment or pardon being the only traces of participation. 206

" Capgrave, Cbrtm. (Rolls Ser.), 197 ; cf. Thomas of Walsingham, op. cit. i, 185 ; Chron. Edw. I and
Edw.ll (Rolls Ser.), i, 319.

197 Par/. Writs, ii, 464-5. 198 Ibid. 581-2. " Cat. of Pat. 1321-4, p. 96.

100 Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 211. ol Holinshed, Cbnn.

203 Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 219. l03 Pat. 33 Edw. Ill, passim.

*" Capgrave, De lllustribm Henticii (Rolls Ser.), 164. " Cal. of Pat. 1381-5, passim.

'34

POLITICAL HISTORY

Similarly in the constitutional struggle of the reign, with the alternate
triumph and humiliation of the king, Berkshire provided neither scene nor
prominent figures. It is probable that the county was agitated by the conflict
which took place at Radcot Bridge, in Oxfordshire, between the lords and
the king's favourites, Michael de la Pole and Robert de Ver, earl of Oxford
and duke of Ireland, in 1387. It is said that de Ver, seeing defeat to be
imminent, forded the Thames on horseback (' being made of an horseman a
swimmer') and fled away, no doubt through Berkshire, to one of the ports of
the south-east coast, and thence to Flanders, out of harm's way. 205 " It is not,
however, till the close of the tragedy of Richard II, when the usurper is
already on the throne, that there is a flicker of action in the royal county on
behalf of the king.

What local activity there is for the reign is of a military nature, and
is connected with the panic-stricken and ineffectual policy of home defence
into which the schemes of Edward III for the conquest of France had fallen.
In the last years of Edward's reign a privateering naval war had broken out
in the Channel, and a series of raids by the enemy on the ill-guarded southern
coast, in the first year of Richard's reign, seems to have thrown the country
into a panic. Now, as later in the reign of Elizabeth, the maritime counties
could not be relied upon to bear the whole burden of defence, but had to be
supplemented by levies from ' assistant ' shires. Accordingly in 1377, 1378,
and 1380 Berkshire received commissions 'to array and equip all the men
of that county, and to keep ever arrayed the men-at-arms and archers to
resist foreign invasion ; ' to keep them moreover at the sea-coast, ' those
peculiarly appointed thereto having been so negligent and remiss that the
French have landed, and by arsons and homicides done immense mischief.' S0fl
The commission of array for 1380, made by nine commissioners and the
sheriff, required that the whole efficient male population of the county
between the ages of sixteen and sixty should be arrayed and equipped as
* men-at-arms, hobelers and archers,' and kept in readiness to resist foreign
invasion. 307 In the second panic of the reign, in 1385, the shire levies were
again called out ' in view of imminent invasion by the French.' 208 The
rumour of a meditated invasion by Charles VI in September, 1386, led to
the immediate demand from Berkshire of 200 archers, to join the army
which the king, in the fear of the moment, was assembling at London. 209

Although Richard II had weakened his hold on the affections of his
subjects by the unconstitutional tyranny of the last two years of his reign,
his deposition and the establishment of the House of Lancaster were not
effected without a considerable amount of opposition. The insurrections of
the early years of the reign of Henry IV were, indeed, more the outcome of
resentment, on the part of the barons, against a strong central government,
than any whole-hearted harking back to the rule of the last Plantagenet.
The spirit of faction and of aristocratic discontent which was to set all
England on fire in the Wars of the Roses, and finally to overthrow Henry's

SOSl Thomas of Walsingham, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 167-8 ; cf. Stow, Annale.

06 Cal. of Pat. 1377-81, p. 306. m Ibid. 471, 473.

05 Ibid. 1381-5, pp. 588, 590.

109 Ibid. 1385-97, p. 217. Stow (10 Ric. II) describes the panic in London in this year. The
Londoners he said were ' trembling like leverets, fearefull as mice, not one Frenchman having set foot on
ship-bord.'

'35

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

house in the third generation, is already apparent in the short-lived rebellion
of 1400, which burned itself out almost completely within the boundaries
of Berkshire. It was the plan of the conspirators, led by the malcontent
earls of Kent, Salisbury, and Huntingdon, ' to falle on the kyng sodennly at
Wyndesore under the coloure of mummeris in Cristmasse tyme,' to kill him
and his sons with him, and ' restore Richard ageyn onto the crowne.' 21
The uneasy conscience of one of the plotters let the secret out, and the king
was warned in time to save himself. Feigning, however, not to believe
the tale, he would not leave Windsor, until the arrival of the Mayor of
London post-haste at the castle showed him how real the danger was.
He and his sons then fled away to London on 4 January, and the same
day, at night-fall, the conspirators, in a band 400 strong, with the earl
of Kent at their head, rode up to Windsor. Disappointed in their
quest, they turned aside to Sonning 'fast by Radyngis,' where King
Richard's queen lay.

And there before the qwenes household, he blessed him this erl of Kent, ' O Bene-
dicire,' he seide, ' who may this bee that Henri of Lancaster fled fro my presens, he that is
so worthi man of armes. . . . Therefor frendis, know this, that Henri of Lancaster hath
take the Toure at London, and oure very Kynge Richard hath broken prison, and hath
gadered a hundred thousand fytyng men.' ... So gladed he the qween with lyes. 211

After a rapid march west through Wallingford and Abingdon and on through
the vale of White Horse, the conspirators came the same day to Faringdon,
' warnyng alle men be the weye that thei should make hem redy to help
Kyng Richard,' 21S and offering to the view of the credulous country side
Richard's double, the priest Maudelen. 213 They were fated to get little
further than this; for the loyalty of the citizens of Cirencester, whither
they marched from Faringdon, speedily quashed the ill-planned rebellion.
The history of Berkshire, lighted up for a moment by this meteoric flash,
falls back again, for this reign at least, into comparative obscurity.

Throughout this uneventful period in the county annals the leaven of
Lollardy was no doubt doing its secret work in Berkshire, as in the midlands
north of the Thames. Hamlets and townships, as well as the larger indus-
trial centres throughout the district, became permeated with the doctrines of
WyclifFe, as expounded and disseminated by his indefatigable priests, and
Reading, the industrial centre of Berkshire at the time, seems to have been
specially infected. In the troubles of 1417, in which a conspiracy against
the king was discovered, and of a share in which Sir John Oldcastle and the
Lollards were much suspected, ' billes of gret malyce ageyn God and the
kyng ' were said to have been scattered by the latter through all the large
houses and hostels of Reading. 214 The Lollards were very generally suspected of
mixing themselves up with politics throughout the reign ; the tale was told
in the next reign before the Privy Council, by a clerk of the crown (pleading
for the renewal of an allowance), how, during the absence of Henry V
abroad, a Welshman, who was also a Lollard, had been caught, after an

810 Capgrave, Cbron. (Rolls Ser.), 275; cf. Stow, Annales ; Thomas of Walsingham, Hist. Angl. (Rolls
Ser.), 389.

m Capgrave, loc. cit. " Ibid. 275. " Stow, Annaks,

214 Capgrave, Chrm. of Engl. (Rolls Ser.), 317. Stow speaks of 'poisoned bils,' and Thomas of Wal-
singham (Hist. Angl. 472) of ' scedulae Lollardorum venenosae impringentes contra cunetos status Ecclesiae.'
The author seems to have been unknown ' auctorem nullo sciente.'

136

POLITICAL HISTORY

exciting chase, in the very act of attempting the rescue of the king of
Scotland from his prison at Windsor. 215

Berkshire levies do not seem to have been called upon to any great
extent for the French wars of Henry V. A somewhat indirect connexion with
the war was the visit which the Emperor Sigismund, actuated by peace-
making motives, paid to the king at Windsor in April, 1416. He was
entertained with every mark of honour during the festival of St. George, and
Parliament and all business of State were postponed so long as he remained
in the country ; but in spite of his efforts, he ' could make no peace between
England and France.' 21a A disastrous war with France was part of the
heritage which Henry left to the heir born to him at Windsor in I422. m
With the last stage of the great Hundred Years' War Berkshire was
more intimately connected, through the person of William duke of Suffolk,
husband of the Oxfordshire and Berkshire heiress, Alice, daughter of
Thomas Chaucer 218 ; 'the which for Love of her and the Commodite of
her landes fell much to dwelle yn Oxfordshire and Berkeshire wher his
wifes Landes lay.' 219 Suffolk took a prominent part in the closing scenes
of the war, though his notoriety brought neither credit to himself nor
satisfaction to the nation. As the ' abhored tode and common noysaunce
of the realme,' he was made to bear the blame for that ' want of provydent
wisdome in the governance,' by which, it was declared, ' all things went
to wracke as well within the realm as without.' 220 The charge which
filled up to the brim the cup of condemnation against him was that he had
fortified the castle of Wallingford with a view to assisting the French king
to invade England. 231

In the civil wars of the reign of Henry VI, the last feudal outburst in
England, Berkshire was saved from the evils of divided local partizanship by
the fact that as a royal county, with its great honours long since absorbed by
the crown, it lay almost entirely in the hands of the ruling house of
Lancaster. The castles of Windsor and Wallingford were the centres of
the royal appanage ; while the only part of the county held for the Yorkists
was certain lands north of Wantage belonging to the Nevill fee of Warwick.
The county had always been remarkably free from small feudal centres and
turbulent feudal lords ; none of the Domesday holders had given rise to
permanent county families, while the lands of the county had gained the
reputation of being 'skittish, and apt to cast their owners.' 222 It is the
lament of a seventeenth-century writer that the ' ancient gentry in this
county sown thick in former, come up thin in our own age,' m and Camden
closes his article on the antiquities of Berkshire with the sentence : ' Haec
de Barkshire, quae hactenus Comitis honore insignivit neminem.' 5

> 224

815 Proc. of the P.O. (Rec. Com.), 1438, p. 105, a schedule with a list of all the lodgings between
Windsor and Edinburgh was found in the traitor's purse.

216 Stow, Annales, 1416. " 7 Ibid. 1422.

15 Thomas Chaucer had married the heiress Matilda of Ewelme. He was high sheriff of Berkshire,
knight for the shire in Parliament, Speaker of the House, and ultimately a member of the Regency Council
in 1423. He was moreover made constable of Wallingford Castle and steward of the Honours of Walling-
ford and St. Valery in 1400 (Col. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 34). These offices were bestowed in turn on
William duke of Suffolk, and his son John. (Doyle, Official Baronage of England, iii, 436, 438.)

819 Leland, Itin. (ed. Hearne), ii, 6. 2U Holinshed, Chron. ii, 1269.

821 Fasten Letters, Introd. 60. * 2:> Fuller, Worthies (ed. Nichols), 113.

883 Ibid. 97. *-" Camden, Brit. (ed. Gough), 146.

2 137 18

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

In the actual hostilities of the Wars of the Roses the county took little
part. At the close of the first period of the war, in 1460, Newbury, held
then by the duke of York, was the object of a merciless attack by the earl of
Wiltshire, who took the town, and hanged, drew, and quartered such of the
inhabitants as persisted in their loyalty to the White Rose. 225 In other parts
of the county local order broke down during the protracted warfare, and a
certain amount of lawlessness became general. In 1461 it was found
necessary to send commissioners down into the shire to seize and imprison
certain persons who are described as wandering about, ' Killing, spoiling, and
oppressing the King's subjects.' 228 With the accession of Edward IV in
this same year the royal castles passed into Yorkist hands. Ten years later,
during the last Lancastrian rally in the West, Berkshire was the scene of
a reassertion by Edward of his claims to the throne. In the spring of this year,
1471, Queen Margaret and her son gathered the remnant of their troops
together at Glastonbury and Bath, with the object of marching eastwards
through Berkshire on London. The queen accordingly sent out scouts in
this direction, ' to make men understand that they would have drawn towards
Reading, and by Berkshire and Oxfordshire have drawn towards London, or
else fallen upon the king at some great advantage.' 227 Edward answered by
a counter rally at Windsor, a rapid march to Abingdon, whence he issued a
proclamation reasserting his three-fold title to the crown, and denouncing
the leaders of the enemy as traitors. It was his object to cut the queen's
army off from London as far west as possible. The battle of Tewkesbury
in Gloucestershire achieved his purpose, and secured the final humiliation of
his rival. 828

The death of Edward IV in 1483, the seizing of the crown by Richard
of Gloucester, and the brutal murder of the princes in the Tower drove
England rapidly into the closing struggle of the Wars of the Roses. The
house of York was divided against itself; a series of crimes alienated its
warmest supporters, and the country, weary of faction and bloodshed, gave a
ready welcome to the Lancastrian claimant, Henry of Richmond. To his
claims Berkshire showed itself a supporter in the early days of Richard's
reign. In October, 1483, after the murder of the princes, the duke of
Buckingham, hitherto Gloucester's warmest friend, had turned in disgust
from him ; in alliance with the Woodville faction he threw himself at once
into the schemes which had been set on foot to marry the Yorkist heiress Eliza-
beth to the Lancastrian Henry. He rapidly attracted many of the prominent
men of the southern counties to his party, and ' perswaded all his complices
and partakers of his intent with all possible expedicion, some in one place and
some in another, to sturre against Kyng Richarde.' 229 Several of the Berk-
shire gentry joined him ; in the list of his supporters are to be found such
county names as Norris, Hungerford, Harcourt of Stanton, while Sir Thomas
Bourchier, constable of Windsor Castle, was also among the disaffected. 230

* Stow, Annales. m Cal. of Pat. 1461-7, p. 28.

*" Chron. of the White Rose (ed. Giles), 74.

88 Ibid. Edward IV, like the majority of his predecessors, made Windsor his royal residence. A
glimpse into the domestic life of the palace is afforded by the account of the complimentary visit of the
lord of Granthuse, governor of Holland, to Edward after his restoration in 1472 ; Cbron. of the White
Rose, 146.

219 More, Hist. ofRic. Ill (Pitt Press Ser.), 95. J3 Cal. of Pat. 1476-85, p. 371.

138

POLITICAL HISTORY

Newbury was chosen as the secret gathering place of the conspirators of the
shire. Richard's discovery of the plot, his prompt action in dealing with
local disaffection, and the summary execution of Buckingham himself, soon
quashed the rebellion. Richmond sailed back to France to await his time,
and a proclamation was sent down to the sheriff of Berkshire offering a
reward for the capture of all who had ' assembled the people by the comfort
of the great rebel the late Duke of Buckingham.' 231 The grant of the castle
and honour of Wallingford with the honour of St. Valery and the Chiltern
Hundreds to Lovell, the ' dogge,' in August, 1 48 3, 232 kept this part of the
country quiet until the close of the reign.

With the success of Richmond's second attempt on the crown two years
later, the country began a long period of peace and prosperity. Throughout
the reign of Henry VII Berkshire was little more than the home county of
the royal household. Windsor Castle became the most popular residence of
the Tudor monarchs, the frequency of whose visits is attested by the number
of proceedings and ordinances issued thence. 833

While rejoicing with the rest of the country in the benefits of the strong
central government, Berkshire was destined to feel at times the heavy hand of
a somewhat tyrannical bureaucracy. The picturesque figure of Henry VIII
might overshadow his royal county from the castle and forest of Windsor, 834 but
his great ministers Wolsey and Cromwell were to come to still closer quarters,
and in a more sordid quest. In 1525, the order went out from the great
cardinal-minister that all the kingdom should be taxed ; the demand was for
a sixth, a forced loan for the French War, to be collected by commissioners
in every shire. 285

When this matter was opened through Englande howe the greate men toke it was marvell,
the poore curssed, ye riche repugned, the light wittes railed, but in conclusion all people
curssed the Cardinal and his coadherentes as subversor of the Lawes and libertie of Englande.
For thei saied if men should geve their goodes by a Commission, then wer it worse then the
taxes of Fraunce and so England should be bond and not free.

And Berkshire was not behind the country as a whole in resenting
such a violation of liberty. The matter came to a head at the session
of the commissioners under Lord Lisle at Reading. For the people utterly
refused the sixth ; though, ' of their owne mere mynde,' and for the love of
the king, they would concede a twelfth. The commissioners, at a loss in
the face of such opposition, sent off Sir Richard Weston to bear the offer to
Wolsey ; * which therewith was sore greved,' and had it not been that the
matter was ' but communed of and not concluded,' it had cost the Lord Lisle
his head. ' His landes should be solde to paie the kyng the values that by
him and you folishe commissioners he had lost, and all your lives at the
kynges will,' quoth the wrathful minister, which words 'sore astonied'
Sir Richard Weston, but he said little. However, he went back to Reading,
with directions to the commissioners, ' in no wise to swarve one iote upon
pain of their lives.' But neither would the stubborn Berkshire men swerve
from their position, and ' for all that could be perswaded, saied, lied, and

831 Cal. of Pat. 1476-85, p. 371. ' Ibid. 365.

133 Proc. of the P.C. (Rec. Com.), 1558-70, pp. 5-7, 68-72, &c.

134 A typical tale of Henry's feats in Windsor Forest is the ' pleasant history of King Henry VIII and
the abbot of Reading.'

135 Hall, Chron.

'39

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

flatered, the demande could not be assented to.' Bills of protest were posted
up in all the prominent places, and the land was filled with cursings and
weepings, that ' pitie it was to beholde.' A second commission in the
following year only increased the resistance, ' the commons in every place
were so moved that it was like to have growen to a rebellion.' Whereupon
the matter came to the ears of the king, who professed nothing further from
his mind than such a demand, declared his desire merely for what ' his
lovyng subiectes would graunt to hym of their good mindes toward the
maintenaunce of his warres,' and a general pardon to all. The peace-making
commissioners turned to the populace, at the conclusion of the matter, for a
prayer for the cardinal, to whom they declared the reconciliation was due,
* but the people toke all this for a mocke, and saied God save the Kyng, for
the Cardinall is knowen well enough the Commons would heare no praise
spoken of the Cardinall, they hated hym so muche.'

They were not like to love much better his successor in office, Thomas
Cromwell, though there is no recorded rising of the county as a whole
against his commissions to suppress the monasteries. In 1536 Wallingford
and ten other small houses in the shire, with a total income of a paltry 500,
were swept away. 336 At the close of the same year, by an irony of fate, the
abbots of Reading and Abingdon were called upon to provide 120 of the
660 men called out from the shire 'against the northern rebels',; 237 of the rest
Sir Humphrey Foster, Sir William Essex, Sir Anthony Hungerford, and
Sir John Norres each sent 100 men. 238 To them, with four or five other
gentlemen of the shire, was entrusted the work of guarding against sedition
in those parts, while the king himself was engaged in the more serious
business of the north. The great abbeys of Abingdon and Reading fell in
1539, and their lands were at once either appropriated to the crown or
granted to colleges at Oxford ; their usefulness and their popularity had
passed away, and no rising followed their suppression.

The shire levies do not appear to have been called out to any great
extent during this reign ; money rather than troops was demanded for the
French war, and the danger from Scotland had been removed once for all,
early in the reign, on Flodden Field. To the army which destroyed the
military power of Scotland in 1513, Berkshire appears to have supplied a
contingent. The local hero, Jack of Newbury, is traditionally said to
have raised, 'at his own charges,' a sturdy band of 150 men, whom he
equipped with ' white Coats, red Caps and yellow Feathers,' and at
whose head he himself marched. ' Fifty of them were valiant Horsemen,
fifty Pikes, and fifty Musquetiers ; all brave Steeds, good Arms, and
valiant men.' The gallant little troop won the special commendation of
Queen Catherine. 239

In the religious as in the economic disturbances of the reign of
Edward VI, Berkshire no doubt shared in a moderate degree ; though the
discontent did not voice itself in a political demonstration here, as in the east
and west. The county is more closely connected with the Protestant
Reformation, and with the reconstruction of the national church liturgy,
through the Windsor Commission, which met here under Cranmer in 1549,

836 L. and P. Hen. nil, x, 597 (43), 1238. " 7 Ibid, xi, 580.

2 " Ibid. " 9 Hist, of Jack of Newbury (Wood).

140

POLITICAL HISTORY

and which gave to the English Book of Common Prayer the form that it
still maintains.

Windsor was, in this same year, the scene of the disgrace and fall of the
Protestant Protector Somerset. Anticipating the attack which the council
were about to make upon him, Somerset retired to Windsor Castle in
October, taking the king with him. 240 The council at once addressed the
king as to the expediency of getting rid of the Protector. 2 * 1 Edward
promptly answered that Somerset meant no. harm to his royal person ; but on
the insistence of the council, and the advice of Cranmer and Paget, then also
at Windsor, he gave way and assented to his arrest. 342

In the Roman Catholic revival which ushered in the reign of Mary
Tudor, four years later, Berkshire troops are found taking a prominent part
in the support of the queen. Marching up to London with the men of
Buckinghamshire and Middlesex, in a band ten thousand strong, they came on
1 6 July, 1553, to the palace of Westminster, and there took to themselves
such ' armure and munytyone ' as they could find, ' in the defence of the
Queen's Majestes person and her tytle.' 243 It is not, however, till the reign
of Mary's successor that the strenuous period of shire musters begins.

In the history of military development in England the Tudor period is
one of transition. The old system of feudal levies had passed away with the
Wars of the Roses ; armies of disciplined regiments were not to be known in
England until the great wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ;
meanwhile haphazard shire levies, under the unsatisfactory ' Coat-and-Conduct-
Money ' system, fought in the minor French and Scotch and Irish wars of
the period, and served for the defence of the realm. A long series of muster
rolls, for service by land and sea, is practically the only record of Elizabeth's
reign for many of the shires. Each little quota, insignificant in itself, has
its part in the international drama of the reign, at the close of which England
was to stand out as a nation among the nations of Europe, and mistress of
the seas.

The military activities of the reign fall into two main periods, separated
from each other by the momentous Armada year. They were associated, in
both the earlier and the later period, with the great war of religion which
was filling Europe at the time ; the struggle, fought out in small expeditions
of shire levies to Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, or on the high seas, was
part of the struggle of the new Protestantism, in politics as in religion, against
the despotic Catholicism of the Middle Ages. In this conflict the policy of
England, and of Elizabeth herself, was one of opportunism rather than of ardent
partizanship ; its results, which are mainly political, are seen in a narrow
scheme of home defence and small expeditions, rather than in any sweeping
aggressive movement.

The Berkshire levies were first called out in the Scotch expedition of
I56o, 244 the plans for which are typical in many ways of the methods used
throughout the reign. A fleet, for which the queen disclaimed responsibility,
in the Forth, and a small army before Leith, were enough to show favour to
the Protestant lords of the Congregation, to secure the treaty of Edinburgh,
and the dismissal of the French from Scotland, without implicating England

140 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 24. "' Ibid. 25. ! " Ibid. 25, 26.

143 Acts of the P.C. 1553-4, p. 293. f " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 152.

141

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

in war with France. The raising of the troops seems to have been a matter
of considerable trouble to the counties. In May, 1560, the Berkshire
lieutenants, Sir Thomas Parry and Sir Harry Nevill, received orders to see
that the forces of the shire were assembled ' with weapons, furniture, and
horses necessary for military service.' 845 One thousand men were got together
at Windsor, Reading provided another 1,000 ' goodmen,' 'besides other
rascall,' and Newbury turned out a levy of 1,500. The county was willing
to serve, but ' furniture ' was scarce, and armour had to be provided from
London. 246 Out of the midst of the stress of preparations Sir Harry Nevill is
found wishing for ' a quiet day to go a-wooing in.' The county does not
seem to have been called upon for levies for Scotland again. In the northern
Catholic rebellion of 1569, which followed the imprisonment of Mary Queen
of Scots, the shire musters were merely put into training for defence, the
usual step in any disturbance. 847

Semi political, semi-religious, and but half-authorized, too, was the
expedition to France in 1562. Hankering after the bait offered by the
Huguenot leader Conde in the towns of Havre and Calais, Elizabeth allowed
some of the shire levies to pass over into these ports, though without official
conduct. A Berkshire levy was due at Portsmouth in October, 1562, for
transport, 248 and in 1563 the lieutenants were again raising a levy in the
county, to be armed with corslets at the least charge. 849 The war came to a
close in the next year, however, and no doubt the Berkshire free-lances
found further occupation for themselves among the English privateers and
adventurers who infested the coasts of northern France and the Netherlands
at the time. A Protestant demonstration, accompanied by the usual calling
out of shire musters, followed the news of the massacre of St. Bartholemew
in 1 572. In Berkshire a certificate was drawn up of the demi-lances, light
horse, and other troops which the various hundreds sent up to the rendezvous
at Abingdon. 850

The need for greater efficiency and better equipment was now becoming
very greatly felt, and nowhere more than in the numerous Irish expeditions.
The English government in Ireland had long been in a very rotten condition,
and not least among its curses had been a disorganized soldiery, always on the
verge of mutiny for arrears of pay, and driven to pillage in self-support.
An army sent out under Walter Devereux, earl of Essex, in 1574, was
expected to do much towards reforming matters. Towards this army Berk-
shire supplied its quota, raised under the direction of the justices in January. 861
Seven years of guerilla warfare followed. In 1581, however, a second large
force was sent out. For this the sheriff and justices of Berkshire received
orders to levy their men, and to provide them with coats ' of some darke and
sadd colour as russett or such like,' and not of so light a colour as the ' blewe
and redd ' which had previously been commonly used. 858 It was more than
mere uniform, however, that was unserviceable, and the English levies with
a badly managed commissariat were again driven to ravage the country for
their supplies.

Meanwhile delicate three-cornered negotiations had been going on
between Elizabeth, Philip of Spain, and Alenfon, and to back up her

144 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 152. Ibid. 153, 154. M7 Ibid. 350.

<" Ibid. 208. Ibid. 225. SM Ibid. 466. ' 5I Ibid. 474. K> Ibid. 1581-90, p. 1 6.

142

POLITICAL HISTORY

temporizing policy the queen had sent out a ' general memorandum ' to
Berkshire, and six or seven of the other ' upland counties,' ' for the putting in
a readines of such nombers of men to repaire to the marityme Counties
next adjoininge for the better defence of the same if nede shall require.' 258
Elizabeth did not break openly with either Spain or France, and though she
was offered the sovereignty of the United Netherlands in 1576, her help to
them continued to be only pecuniary, and that of the slightest. In 1585,
however, Elizabeth found herself driven to take active steps against Philip in
view of his attack on English ships off the coast of the Netherlands. In
July and August of this year Berkshire levies were called out towards the
army of 5,000 men with which Elizabeth's general, the earl of Leicester,
was to hold the towns of Ostend, Sluys, Brille, and Flushing for her. 254 Early
in 1586 a further levy of 150 voluntarie footemen ' was asked for, and the
men put into the care of one Hambden Poulet for conduct to the Low
Countries. 255 Later in the same year a commission and letters were addressed
to Sir Henry Nevill, Sir Thomas Parry, and others 'for the nomber of 300
voluntarie men ' 256 a form of levy found much preferable to the ' pressed '
men. But these raw English troops could do little in the face of Parma's or-
ganized armies, and the campaign ended disastrously at Zutphen in September.
Encouraged by this success Philip prepared for a combined attack of
Spain and the Netherlands on England. In the autumn of 1587 England
began her preparations to resist him, and the levies of every shire were
mustered for service. In November, 1587, Berkshire sent up a certificate of
' 400 able and selected soldiers, with their several kinds of armour and
weapon,' in the five Vale hundreds of Wantage, Lambourn, Shrivenham,
Faringdon, and Ganfield. 257 In December, 1587, and January, 1588, Sir
Francis Knollys, lieutenant of the shire, received letters for ' the furnishinge
of such Souldiours with Coates which were appointed to be levied . . .
to be emploied under the conducte of Sir John Norrys and Sir Frauncis
Drake.' 253 As the summer drew on the threatened Spanish invasion loomed
ever larger on the horizon, and during the months of May, June, and July
the shires were pressed to the utmost for men and money, and for timber for
the ships. In April letters were sent down into the shire ' for the reviewinge,
training and newe musteringe of souldiers,' with an account of the defects of
previous levies 269 ; while in June the justices of the peace in Berkshire, Oxford-
shire, and other well-wooded counties were busied with the cutting down of
timber 'for the use of her Majestie's navye.' 26 On 12 July the Armada left
Corunna. An order was at once sent out for troops of every kind footmen,
lances, and light horse to repair to the court ' into Stratford of the Bow.'
To this royal guard Berkshire sent first the substantial contribution of ' 1000
Foote,' and later in the month, on 28 July, while the fate of England hung
undecided at Gravelines, another levy of 500 trained men ' to attend uppon
her Majesty's person.' 2 " With the victory at Gravelines the danger passed,
and on 2 August, the day on which the English ships gave up their pursuit of
the flying Armada, letters were issued ' for the sendinge backe of the footemen '

J53 Acts of the P.C. 1578-80, p. 381.
255 Acts of the P.C. 1 586-7, p. 56.
Cal. S.P. Dom. 1581-90, p. 438.
159 Ibid. 1588, p. 17.

13 Ibid. 117.

" M Cat. S.P. Dom. 1581-90, p. 253.
>M Ibid.

1M Acts of the P.C. 1588-9, p. 25.
* Ibid. 195.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

(500 for Berkshire) ' with lyke letters for the staie of the horsemen.' 262
Only a couple of months later, however, levies of ' voluntarie souldiours '
were again called out for the Low Countries, and Berkshire sent a quota
towards the required i,5oo. 263 In December of the same year the county is
found offering to raise and furnish 1,000 men armed ; while in view of the
continued strained relations in January and February, 1590, the queen asked
for fifty additional men. ' To ease the country of an over-great new charge,'
it was suggested that half the men should be drawn from the ' trained or
furnished bandes ' of the shire, ' burdening the countie the les for the armour,
furniture and weapons of the rest.' Men who had seen previous service
were specially asked for, ' able men to serve as soldiers under the leadinge
of fitt officers.' 264 For the distribution of the arms it was thought good to
have in every hundred men ' 40 pickemen with corsletes and pikes, and
5 halberdiers wel armed, and 20 muskieters, and 25 Callivers,' the other ten
being discounted as ' dead pay.' At the end of March the lieutenants were
required to send 200 men for shipment to Flushing. 265

In the June of the following year Elizabeth made a further move
against Philip by joining with Henry IV of France against his rival to the
throne, Philip's daughter, the Infanta Isabella. Of the 1,200 men who sailed
from London under Essex, Berkshire and Oxfordshire each provided ioo. 26 *
These troops probably served before Rouen, but their stay abroad was short,
as Her Majesty was 'not mynded that they should continueue out of the realme
above two monethes' ; having with forethought, moreover, arranged that they
should ' retorne home to the places from whence they were chosen, there to
lyve in that condicion wherein they were with their parentes, masters, or
otherwise in some particular estate of themselves.' 267 In August of the
following year Berkshire provided 50 of the 200 men led to Brittany by
Sir John Norrys, and sent later 30 extra men at the queen's request. She
changed her mind about these last, ' fyndinge . . . some cause not to use so
greate number as was purposed,' but they had got away before the order was
revoked, and Her Majesty was pleased to allow their use ' consideringe in what
forwardnes they were for their journey (attending nothing but the wynde).' 288
A new expedition was proposed for the summer of 1593, but a ' newe adver-
tizment out of Fraunce of the state there ' (i.e. Henry's acceptance of the
mass in July) led to its abandonment. 269

The year 1595 saw the revival of the war with Spain. In November
and December Berkshire was providing not only loads of timber for the
Navy ' out of Bearwood and Sonning Parkes,' 27 but stores of every kind,
300 quarters of wheat, 300 quarters of malt, 40 oxen, ioo pigs, 400 flitches
of bacon. 271 Three thousand men were asked for from the maritime counties
* to withstand the descent or landing of the ennemy,' and Lord Norrys was
ordered to muster, train, and diligently instruct his men to use their several
weapons. 273 Many of them were soon after shipped on the expedition to
Cadiz, but 3,000 were kept behind in expectation of a retaliatory movement
on Philip's part, and ten in every ioo of the 3,000 were to be pioneers

267 Acts of the P.C. 1588, p. 215. * Ibid. 297. SM Ibid. 1590, p. 363.

245 Ibid. 2M Ibid. 1590-1, p. 220. K? Ibid. 1591, p. 353.

68 Ibid. 1592, p. 267. ** Ibid. 1592-3, p. 416. 87 Ibid. 1595, p. 54.

71 Ibid. p. 109. Ibid. IS95-6, p. 164.

POLITICAL HISTORY

' with instruments to entrench and fortify.' 273 While the panic lasted strict
orders were sent down to the county that none of the ' principall gentlemen
and others of good hability ' were to leave it ; they were expected to be on
the spot, ' ready for the service of the country and for the releyfe of their
neighbours,' with arms and necessary furniture. Free permission was also
given to lay hands on the arms belonging to recusants. The Spanish invasion
continued to hang fire throughout 15978. In the 'Island Voyage' of
May, 1597, led by Raleigh, Howard, and Essex against the Azores,
100 'choice men . . . as well out of the trayned bandes as otherwise,' went
out from Berkshire under Captain Conway, one-half of them armed with
pikes, the other half with muskets. 37 * The Berkshire horse and foot were kept
on tenterhooks throughout the autumn of 1597 and the spring of 1598. A
levy of 3,000 men had just been ordered to march south to the defence of
Devonshire in February, I598, 275 when Philip's death put an end to the imme-
diate danger. A force of ' voluntary horse ' was called up to Westminster
in August, 1599, nominally for defence against the threatened Armada 278 of
Philip III, but probably as an intentional check on Essex's soaring
ambitions.

Throughout this second period of hostilities Ireland had been a most
consistent ally to Philip, who had found an able lieutenant in the rebel
Tyrone. It had been felt necessary in consequence to send out English
levies almost every year to grapple with the disaffection. A regular stream of
them, drafted from all the counties, had been pouring out through the ports
of Chester and Bristol. In November, 1595, Berkshire was called upon for
forty-four men,

one half of the whole to be shott, whereof one fourthe part to be muskettes, the other half
of the whole to be armed with corslettes and pikes, savinge some fewe halbertes, . . . with
coates of blue clothe welle lyned and of blewe cullor. 277

Coat and conduct-money was allowed to all the levies at the rate of 4^. per
coat, and 8</. a day conduct-money to the coast. 278 In the autumn of 1596
forty-seven ' hable and likely men, knowen to be of good behaviour,' were
asked for on the same conditions as before. In the levy of mounted troops
made in July, 1598, Berkshire was called upon for three horses, but it was
thought good, ' consydering in former tymes how the horses that have been
raysed by the severall shires have been badly chosen,' to allow the shire to
pay a sum of 30 for the charge of each horse, ' so as none do contrybute to
this charge under the valeu of io//. in landes and xx//. in goodes.' 279 Com-
plaints were incessant, too, about the raw foot levies, who seem to have
deserted their colours before coming to the port. The trustees were asked to
use careful oversight in the choice of the 300 men asked for from Berkshire
(in separate bands of 100 and 200), in August and November, 1598, and
were advised not to leave the work of selection to the constables, who were
apt to take ' such refues of men as the villages desire to be rydd of for their lewd
behavyour.' s In spite of this insistence on efficiency, particularly urged

m Acts of the P.C. 1596-7, p. 289.

174 Ibid. 1597, p. 162. The arms returned to the county after the expedition were '35 Armours,
35 Pikes, 32 Musketeers, 32 Bandeleers ' ; ibid. 15978, p. 250.

175 Ibid. p. 307. >76 Ibid. 1598-9, p. 741. m Ibid. 1595-6, p. 262.
178 Ibid. 1596-7, p. 164. "> Ibid. 1597-8, p. 587. 88 Ibid. 1598-9, p. 94.

2 H5 19

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

with regard to the big November levy, the troops turned out to be very
badly armed, ' and so nakedly apparelled as they daylie fell into sicknes and
infirmytie.' m A new arrangement was made by which the shire paid 3
for each man to be apparelled at the port, while the Treasury paid out four-
score pounds towards the coat and conduct-money. This was so successful that
the levies met with special approbation, and the ' gratyous acceptacion of Her
Majesty.' 282

Towards the 2,000 new levies Berkshire sent 50 men in June, i6oo, 283
20 more in November and December, 284 and a third band, of 25, ' furnished with
no other armes than good swordes with baskett hikes and Turky blades ' in
April, 1 60 1. 286

Elizabeth, like all her predecessors, lived a good deal at Windsor, though
less in her later years. In the last year of her reign she made a progress into
Berkshire, to Windsor and Reading, and was received by the lieutenant,
Sir Edward Norrys, and the sheriff of Berkshire, the latter, ' almost out
of heart at the Queen's coming, being unacquainted with courting.' He
seems, however, to have risen to the occasion, and acquitted himself very
creditably. 286

The reign of James I was uneventful for Berkshire save for the raising
of an occasional levy, and the regular demand for timber for the Navy. 287 In
the early years of Charles I the shire levies were called out for foreign service
in the war with Spain and in the Thirty Years' War. In May, 1625, the
third month of the new reign, 200 Berkshire soldiers were ordered to Plymouth
to take part in an expedition to Spain, 288 while in the spring of 1627, 100
' pressed ' men were sent down to Southampton to be shipped for the king of
Denmark's service. 289 Later in the same year fifty more men were ordered to
Plymouth for Buckingham's expedition to Rochelle. 290 A general muster of
the shire had been made the previous year to see if the county could, in case
of emergency, send out 3,000 armed men, but it was found that ' they have
not 1,000 armed men in the whole county, and these are the Trained Bands.'
Arms could not be obtained, ' and if they could they have no money.' 591 A
certificate of the military forces of the shire made in July, 1629, declared
them to be 1,000 foot and 80 horse, with ammunition in the magazines
of Reading and Abingdon. 292 Meanwhile the county had had to bear its
share in the burden of providing for the 6,000 men billeted on the south of
England under the hateful system then in use. 293

The great financial struggle of the reign began in 1626 over the question
of a ' voluntary gift,' and Berkshire was not behind other counties in the
vigour of her protest against the unconstitutional methods of the crown. In
response to the justices' attempts at persuasion, the people ' all with one voice
cried out that their bodies and goods were ready to do His Majesty's service,
but that they (the commissioners) would depart with no money, except it was
granted in a Parliamentary way.' SM The commissioners were more successful
in their attempts to raise money at Reading and Abingdon towards the 'forced
loan ' which took the place of the 'voluntary gift.' 295 They went so far, in-

181 Acts of the P C. 1 598-9, p. 328. I82 Ibid. p. 398. *" Ibid. 1 599-1600, p. 416.

194 Ibid. p. 790. "" Ibid. 1600-1, p. 318. 286 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1601-3, p. 98.

" r Ibid. 1611-18, p. 86. 888 Ibid. 1625-6, p. 31. 889 Ibid. 1627-8, p. no.

890 Ibid. p. 380. "' Ibid. 1625-6, p. 399. s92 Ibid. 1629-31, p. 8.

m Ibid. 1627-8, p. 451. 29< Ibid. 1625-6, p. 397. 89i Ibid. 1627-8, p. 25.

146

301

POLITICAL HISTORY

deed, as to take Berkshire soldiers to speed the business in Oxfordshire. 898 Mean-
while, in the absence of Parliament (1627-8), Charles was forced to cast about
for new methods of raising supplies. On the pretext of the raising of a fleet
to aid the king of Denmark, preparations for which could not safely stay for
a Parliament, as he declared, the counties were asked for their first levy of ship-
money in February, i628. 297 The sum laid upon Berkshire in this year was
2,445. 298 During the years 1635 6 7, negotiations were on foot for even
greater sums. In January, 1636, the sheriff, Sir Humphrey Dolman, paid in
4,000 to the Treasury, and received thanks ' for his diligence.' 299 A ship of
war was demanded in October of the same year, 300 and a couple of months
later Sir Francis Norris was called upon to raise a further sum of 4,ooo.
This was paid in by the new sheriff, Sir Richard Harrison, in 1637,
a further sum of 1,450 in 1638. The county could not long bear this
intolerable strain, coupled as it was in 1639-40 with repeated demands for
men and money for the Scotch war. ' I wish the office of sheriff had fallen
this year upon some more able and experienced man,' the harassed sheriff
wrote to Nicholas in March, 1640,

Truly, sir, I met with such obstacles I know not which way to turn myself, ... to
deal plainly with you I conceive the main ground of the slackness at this present more
than heretofore is the expectation they have of the Parliament that it will be represented to
the king as a grievance whereby they hope to obtain a remission thereof. 302

Even the bailiffs set to collect the money showed themselves ' better furnished
with protestations of diligence than any testimony thereof by the sums
delivered.' 303

The same half-heartedness met the demand for levies in 1639. In
February 400 men of the trained bands of the shire had been called out for
service in Scotland. At the same time about twenty of the ' best well-
affected men ' were asked for contributions for the king's journey north. The
troops set out, but deserted when they got as far as Daventry. 304 The same
thing happened the next year when 600 Berkshire men were on their way to
Newcastle. The men became insubordinate, and refused to obey their leader,
Captain Andrews, whom they declared to be a recusant. They broke away
from Sir Jacob Astley's regiment, into which they had been drafted with the
Oxfordshire men, at Daventry, and mutinied, ' some alleging they would not
fight against the Gospel, and others that they were to be shipped and com-
manded by Papists.' 805 A hue and cry was made after the deserters, and it
was decided to enforce martial law and execute those who were caught.
Sir Edmund Sawyer, who was in the county at the time, wrote up to Secretary
Windebank that it would be wise, before any new ' press ' were made, to
vindicate His Majesty's power in pressing, ' now so much in disgrace.' This
was publicly done by Justice Jones, who made a declaration at Abingdon
that it was the power and prerogative of the king ' to cause any person whatso-

896 CaL S.P. Dom. 1627-8, p. 25. 'If it succeed not so where they are going, Berkshire soldiers will
be well content to eat Banbury cakes.'

597 Ibid. p. 555. '" Ibid. " Ibid. 1635-6, p. 184. Ibid. 1636-7, p. 160.

301 Ibid. 1636-7, p. 251. Partial details of this assessment are given. Windsor paid 100, Reading
220, Wokingham 50, Newbury 120, Abingdon 100, Wallingford 20, the Dean and Canons of Wind-
sor 30, while the clergy were taxed separately.

30J Ibid. 1639-4.0, p. 588. 3 Ibid. 1640, p. 599.

304 Ibid. 1639, pp. 99, ioo. 5 Ibid. 1640, p. 476.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

ever to serve him in the wars.' In view, however, of the general discontent,
Earl Holland thought it wise to go down into the shire with a ' proclamation
of grace.' The loss of character involved ensured the submission of the men
in a short time, however ; ' since it is known how they ran away nobody will
set them to work,' a news-letter of August, 1640, declares, and they were said
to desire ' with all their hearts ' to return to their officers. 806 None the less
when 240 men were asked for in September, not half the number turned up,
and those ' very ill persons, poor and ragged, and no coats ready for them.'
Captain Belloes was sent to Reading to hasten the levies, but found only
100 men, and a vague promise of more at a rendezvous at Abingdon. 307

Meanwhile the discontent aroused by the arbitrary demands of the crown
had been coming to a head in Berkshire as elsewhere in the kingdom. In
July the grand jury empanelled to serve at the assizes for the county turned
aside from the ordinary course of business to draw up a list of grievances on
behalf of themselves and the rest of the county. Among the matters of com-
plaint in the petition were the speedy dissolution of the Short Parliament in
the spring of the year, the royal disregard of the Petition of Right, the irksome
monopolies of necessaries of life, the hated forest regulations ; but the greatest
stress of all was laid on the ' illegal and insupportable ' charge of ship-money,
and the ' new ' tax of coat and conduct-money. 808 So odious was this last that
Charles, even before the Long Parliament met, ' to sweeten his proceedings
therein,' abolished the charge, and released those who had been imprisoned for
resisting it.

In the first months of the Civil War Berkshire was predominantly
Royalist. All the county save the 'barren district' near Windsor was favour-
able to the king, who had also in his hands the garrisons of Abingdon,
Wallingford, and Reading, on the road between Oxford and London. In the
strategical plan drawn up by Prince Rupert after Edgehill in the autumn of
1642, the Thames valley and the Berkshire towns provided one of the three
converging Royalist lines to London, and the one at the time most important,
as it checked Essex's advance on the capital. Everything depended at the
time on the local organization of the counties, and the counties held by the
king soon became amongst the most disintegrated. As early as November,
1642,11 had been necessary to issue a proclamation at Reading 'for the
better government of his Majestie's Army, and for the preventing the Plundring,
Spoiling and Robbing of His Majesties subjects.' S09 Rupert had none the
less full power to levy contributions, and to seize forage and provisions, and
the king seems early to have begun his demand of 3,000 per week from
the shire. 310

At Reading Charles entered into negotiations with the Parliament. He
refused however to accede to their request that he should return to London,
and at the close of November established himself with a rival Parliament at
Oxford. Meanwhile Essex was getting together at Windsor an army of
'honest disjointed fellows,' with whom he proposed to undertake the siege of
Reading. 311 The king had left the town in a strongly fortified condition,

306 Cal. S.P. Dm. 164.0, p. 555. 3o; Ibid. 125. 30S Ibid. 466.

309 Misc. Broadsides and Proclamations.

310 Cf. Rushworth, Hist. Coll. vi, 67 ; Gardiner, Hist, of Great Civil War, i, 9.
111 Gardiner, op. cit. i, 155.

148

POLITICAL HISTORY

with a garrison of 3,000 men under Sir Arthur Aston ; it accordingly refused
to surrender when Essex, who had marched up from Windsor through War-
grave, summoned it from his position outside the Newbury gate, on 1 5 April.
The Parliamentary army, consisting of 15,000 foot and 3,000 horse, 812
split up at once into two parts ; the main part remained with Essex on the
south of the town, while the others proceeded, under Skippon, Barclay, and
Roberts, to hold Caversham Bridge and the Oxford road, by which the garrison
was expecting help from the king. 313 A battery also commanded the town
from Caversham Hill. Meanwhile Charles had sent for Rupert and Maurice,
and had marched up through Wallingford to relieve the town ; before the suc-
cour could arrive, however, the garrison, ' full of wants, both of Provision
and Ammunition,' had hung out the flag of truce. 814 The besieging army was
not in much happier state, 'Wee want provision much, and money,' writes
*T. C.' on 20 April, with the postscript, ' Pay is Scarce.' s15 In spite of the
king's approach with forty-five troops of horse and nine regiments of foot, 818
and the success of an attempt to throw powder into the town from a barge at
night, 817 Colonel Fielding, who had succeeded Aston as governor early in the
siege, thought himself in honour bound to capitulate. The town accordingly
surrendered on 27 April, on the honourable terms that the troops should
march out with flying colours, and that the lives of the inhabitants should be
spared. 818 Essex showed his moderation in the hour of victory by giving 1 2s.
to each soldier in lieu of plunder. 319 The garrison marched out meanwhile and
joined the king in his retreat through Wallingford, leaving behind them ten
pieces of cannon, and a goodly store of ' Western cloaths.' The king waited
for a while at Wallingford to call up new levies and arms from the county, but
a sudden panic seems to have come upon the royal troops, which ' confounded
the consultations of the Councill of Warre then sitting,' and precipitated the
retreat to Oxford. 320 Essex was meanwhile refortifying Reading, but sickness
had broken out among his troops, and discontent followed the long arrears of
pay, ' for the Parliament at that time was put to it for want of money, upon
which discontents great numbers daily deserted their colours.' 3S1

The king had failed in his first attempt to secure the road to London,
but he still possessed a superiority of military organization which might
have enabled him to outwit Essex. With the summer of 1643, too came
the break-down of the Parliamentary plan of defence in north and west,
at Adwalton Moor, Lansdowne, and Roundway Down. If the king had
pressed down Thames in August it is doubtful whether Essex could have
held either Reading or London against him. He chose, however, to turn
aside to Gloucester, in the hope of securing a base in the west. This move

311 Rushworth, Hist. Coll. vi, 265.

313 ' A more Full and Exact Relation from Reading of their Proceedings there. As it was writ in a letter
sent from a sergeant-major there to a Lieutenant-Colonel in London. April 20.' Signed 'T. C.'

su < -pjjg Second Intelligence from Reaiing.' 24. April.

" ' A more Full and Exact Relation.' The spirit which marked Cromwell's Ironsides later is already in
the army. ' T. C.' writes (ibid.) ' I thanke my God I find as much comfort and health lying under a hedge
and suffering Hunger, Thirst and Cold as when I lay in a Feather Bed and fared well.'

316 ' An Exact Relation of the delivering up of Reading ' (Gough) ; this is a letter from Sir Philip
Stapleton, John Hampden, and Arthur Goodwin, to the Speaker.

317 ' Victory Proclaimed in an Exact Relation of the Valiant proceedings of The Parliament forces in the
siege before Reading,' 1527 April (Gough).

31S Rushworth, op. cit. vi, 288 ; Mercurius Belllcus, 26 April. "* 'An Exact Relation,'

3!0 'Fourth Intelligence from Reading,' 30 April. 3>l Rushworth, op. cit. vi, 290.

149

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

drew Essex and the London trained bands out in pursuit. Their attempt to
regain London by the South Berkshire route, out of striking distance of
Oxford, and the king's resolution to cut them off before they could reach
Reading, brought the armies face to face at Newbury. 822 The king marched
south from Gloucestershire through Faringdon and Wantage, regulating his
movements according to the instructions which he received from Rupert and
Hurry, who had been deputed to harass the enemy on their march through
Wiltshire. 323 These two, with a body of 5,000 horse, 32 * came up with Essex's
army at Aldbourn Chace on the Berkshire border, and claimed to have done
considerable damage, ' taking two Coronets and killing Forty or Fifty men.' 826
They were however driven back by a rally of the Parliamentary troops under
Sir Philip Stapleton, with whom Digby and Jermyn and the Marquis de
Vieuville got into unpleasantly close quarters. The marquis was killed, but
Rupert rescued the troops and withdrew to Newbury in anticipation of a
battle. The same night the Parliamentary army ' much distressed from want
of sleep, as also for other sustenance,' wet to the skin, for it was ' a night of
much rain,' and unable to forage through the smallness of their cavalry,
marched with what speed they could to Hungerford, and thence, through
Shelton to Newbury, only to find, however, that the king had already taken up
his quarters in the town. 328 On the evening of 19 September Essex came up
to Enborne, and ' invited to it by the extraordinary advantages of the Place
or engaged to it by the despaire of escaping,' took up a strong position in
a line north and south between the Kennet and Enborne stream, with the
baggage and principal reserve on a wooded hillside near Hampstead, ' fenced
by hedges and ditches inaccessible but by such and such passes,' and the rest
of the army in a line between Hampstead and Enborne. 827 Meanwhile the
king's army, ignorant of the enemy's disposition, and half expecting that they
would retreat during the night, ' which upon all their former proceedings we
had reason to expect,' says the Royalist writer, 828 had taken up its position on
Newbury Wash, directly barring the London road. The two armies became
aware of each other at daybreak on the 2oth. It was clear from the positions
assumed on what lines the day's action must go. Essex, with his nearest base
at Gloucester, a famishing army, and no means of renewing his supplies,
found himself compelled to take the offensive, in the hope of sweeping away
the barrier across his road to London. For such action he had on the whole
the advantages of position, as the enemy recognized. 329 His right wing,

331 Newbury seems to have been well affected to the Parliament throughout the war, and suffered much
through its proximity to the Royalist centres at Oxford, Faringdon, Donnington, Wallingford, and Basing.
When held by the Parliament it menaced the roads from Oxford to London and from Oxford west ; as a
Royalist outpost, it could, together with Donnington Castle to the north of it, intercept any passage, and was
an invaluable settlement inland from the Thames (cf. Money, Battles ofNttvbury, 29).

323 t ^ True and Impartiall Relation of the Battaile betwixt His Majesty's Army and that of the Rebells
neare Newbury in Berkshire,' 20 September, 1643 (Gough).

384 Heath, Chron. 50. " 5 ' A True and Impartiall Relation.'

386 < A True and Impartiall Relation ' ; cf. ' A True Relation of the late Battell neere Newbery ' (by a
Parliamentary soldier) ; and ' A True and Exact Relation,' Foster (Wood). Essex had expected to be well
provisioned at Newbury, for certain clothiers going up to London from Wilts, had informed the Parliament
' That the Town of Newbery, having intelligence of his Excellencie the Parliaments Lieutenant General his
advancions that way had provided great store of provisions and other necessaries for horse and man for the enter-
tainment of his army.' True Informer, 21 Sept. 1643 ; cf. Money, Baltics ofNcwbury.

327 ' A True and Exact Relation ' ; ' A True and Impartiall Relation.' 3:8 ' A True and Impartiall Relation.'
sirs i j True and Impartiall Relation.' They being so advantageously placed for fight (and so disadvan-
tageously for Subsistence).'

ISO

POLITICAL HISTORY

consisting of ' three bodies of Foot (the Blue and Red Regiments of the Trained
Bands) both lined and flanked with strong bodies of Horse and under favour
of Cannon,' held the ' little Heath ' on the south side of Enborne, which was
such a formidable feature in the day's action, and the ' round hill ' from
which the Parliamentary cannon commanded the whole Royalist position. 830
Over against this wing, on the Wash, and ' far lesse than twice musket shot
distance from them,' the main body of Royalist horse was massed under Rupert.
In the centre, at Enborne Lodge, the troops of Stapleton, Ramsey, Harvey,
and Goodwin faced the main body of the king's horse and foot, while the
Grand Reserve and Roberts's troops held the hillside near Hampstead. 831 A dash
made by Roberts's horse on the strong position held by the King's Life-Guards
near the Kennet, began the action at about seven o'clock in the morning. It
was repulsed by the brilliant defence of Byron and Falkland, the latter of whom,
however, was shot down in the skirmish while attempting ' more gallantly
than advisedly ' to spur his horse through a gap in the musket-lined
hedgerows. 833

The main battle then passed to the ' open campania ' around Enborne.
Here, on the extreme right, after three desperate charges, Rupert's horse,
reinforced by Culpepper's brigade and Byron's Blacks, succeeded in routing the
two regiments of Parliamentary cavalry, and compelling the Blue and Red
regiments to retire after a sturdy resistance, and still unbroken, ' into the
adjoyning Fastnesses. ' S3S Rupert secured the hill, ' the place of most concern-
ment,' and kept it until the Royalist retreat at night. The resolute bearing
of the trained bands throughout this action, in which they suffered con-
siderably, won for them the praise of the enemy. 334 Meanwhile the Par-
liamentary centre had been trying to force back the king's main position
and to gain a footing on the Wash. They were not able, however, to stand
the onrush of the Royalist horse, and were carried right back into the
intricacies of Skinner's Lane, out of which they only disengaged themselves with
considerable loss. 836 At four in the afternoon the Blue and Red regiments
were called up to support the artillery in the centre, and after several hours'
hard fighting all along the line, the Parliamentary army seems, by nightfall, to
have secured a footing on the Wash. For the king, who had been all day
long, either on the field, or on a hill near, riding in and out among the troops
in a grey coat, drew off as night came on, to the ' farther side of the Green,' 8S8
and thence after midnight back into Newbury, leaving the London road open.
The anonymous Royalist writer of the ' True and Impartiall Relation ' gives
the reasons for the retreat as, in part, the need to rest the troops for the next
day's pursuit, ' but in part,' he adds, ' (for I will conceale nothing) to make
a Bridge to a flying Enemy, lest indeed too great a despaire of retreat might
have made them opiniate a second fight in that disadvantageous place.' Powder
too had run out, four-score barrels had been used, and there was not enough
left ' for halfe such another day.' 337 The Parliamentary army had been

80 ' A True and Impartiall Relation.' ' This hill and that heath were the two eminent sceanes of all
that dayes action.'

31 Ibid. SM Byron's Narrative. "' ' A True and Impartiall Relation.'

3t Ibid. 'Give them their due they showed themselves like men.' Cf. Heath, Chnn. 51 : Both armies
fought 'with great valour and obstinacy,' especially the trained bands and auxiliaries 'against whom the
Royali-ts had the greatest spleen, and therefore tasted of their Resolution.'

S33 , A True Relation.' " 6 Rushworth, op. cit. vi, 293-4. 33? A True and Impartiall Relation.'

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

expecting a second day's fight, but were in no way averse to the change of
plan, as they had ' endured much hardship both for want of rest and diet.' 3S8
They waited till twelve o'clock the next day, but seeing no signs of renewed
hostilities they marched quietly away over the field, their business being only
' to break thorow their Army home.' 339 Both sides claimed the victory. The
Royalist writer speaks of it as a ' happy successe,' with all the ' confest ensignes
of a battaile gained.' But he surmises that the enemy will also call it a victory :

I am confident . . . that our having gained the field will not have kindled higher bonfires
with us in joy and thanksgiving than with the remaining Rebells, in hopes yet further to
abuse the people by passing still upon their deliverancies for victories. 840

The author of the ' True Relation ' is more philosophical : 'Let the impar-
tiall Reader judge on which side the occasion of triumphing is, ... there Is
no victory in Civil warre that can bring the Conqueror a perfect triumph.'

On leaving Newbury Wash, the Parliamentary army had marched, on
the aist, through Greenham Heath on the way to Reading. Before they
reached Aldermaston, however, Rupert and Hurry, with a Royalist troop, fell
upon the cavalry in their rear. These, with ' base cowardice,' turned in a panic,
and rode right through the foot in the narrow lane. The latter recovered
themselves promptly and formed into lines behind the hedges, whence they
shot the enemy down ' like Dogs, . . . making them quickly retreat and take
time to repent their hasty bargain.' 341

At the close of the 1643 campaign the king seemed to be regaining his
position in Berkshire. Soon after the retreat from Newbury, Essex abandoned
Reading, and the town was immediately reoccupied by a Royalist garrison
under Sir Jacob Astley. 342 Meanwhile the king had been making a humble
appeal, through the high sheriff and the justices of Oxfordshire and Berkshire,
to the ' Gentlemen of Abilitie and Yeomen ' of these counties for further
contributions of money, plate, and horses, for his ' perspicuous and obvious
wants,' 843 while on 13 October a definite agreement was drawn up at a
council of war at Oxford, by which the high sheriff, gentlemen, and free-
holders of the county of Berkshire bound themselves to provide

by way of Loane, during the space of a Moneth, a weekly contribution of jiOOO by the
week towards the maintenance of the King's army, ... to be proportionably laid upon all
the parts of the County, ... to be levyed and rated upon the Lands, Rents, Annuities,
Parsonages, or Tythes and Personall estates of the inhabitants of the whole County.

Half the levy was to be paid in money, half in provisions, the latter to be
delivered at Abingdon every Friday. 844 In the original Royalist scheme for

339 Heath, Chron. 51.

339 t^ T rue Relation.' The numbers of the killed seem to have been 5,000 or 6,000 men, 'the greatest
loss whereof, if any material difference, fell on the Parliament's side.' The author of this account writes as
an eye-witness, ' Some talk of thousands slain on the King's side. I viewed the field and cannot guess above 500,
but this the Townsmen informed us that they carried 60 Cart-load of dead and wounded men into the Towne
before I came to view the place, and such crying there was for surgeons as never was the like heard.'

S4o i A True anc j Impartiall Relation.' For the other side see Foster, in ' A True and Exact Relation.'

341 ' A True Relation.'

342 Gardiner, Hist, of Great Civil War, i, 285. MJ State Tracts, 1642-4.

344 'Agreement between His Majesty and the county of Berks, 1643." Most of the supplies seem to have
been appropriated by Rupert's horse at Abingdon ; cf. Clarendon, Hist, of Rebellion, vi, 166 : ' Prince Rupert
considered only the subsistence and advance of the horse as his province, . . . and therefore would by no
means endure that the great contributions which the counties within command willingly submitted to should
be assigned to any other use than the support of the horse, to be immediately collected and received by the
officers.'

152

POLITICAL HISTORY

the campaign of 1644 the king was again to attempt to hold the Thames
valley with its garrisons of Oxford, Banbury, Abingdon, Wallingford, and
Reading, in order to leave the main fighting army free for the north and west.
Considerable numbers of troops were also thrown into such outposts of the
district as Faringdon and Newbury. 845 Divided counsels, however, soon
brought the plan to nothing. In May, Firth insisted on slighting the works
at Reading, and abandoned the town before Essex's advance, sending his
provisions and ammunition to Donnington Castle, Wallingford, and Oxford. 348
Ten days later Abingdon was similarly abandoned by the royal troops. 347
The Parliament was not slow in laying hands upon these important centres.
In July, Major-General Browne was sent to fortify Reading, and he at once
took steps, in conjunction with the committee of Berkshire which had its
head quarters in the town, to block up the various ' inlets and avenues ' that
made the place untenable. 848 He found this no light task, and calculated that
he would require 1,000 or 1,500 men to keep the enemy out. The local
committee were none too ready to provide funds. After sending 1,000 to
meet the greater needs at Abingdon in August, Browne complained that he
had only a week's pay in hand. He wrote up despondently to the Committee
of Both Kingdoms :

The work will not be carried on with honour and safety, the committee of these counties
being neither able to raise a competent number of men to do the work nor money to pay
them if raised ; so that I pray God the King possess not again, in despite of us, his winter
quarters.

Meanwhile Sir William Waller had been engaged in fortifying Abingdon,
a matter of much consequence, ' both in respect of the present straitening
and future taking in of Oxford.' S49 Reinforcements of horse were ordered
into the town from Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, and Kent, and in
August, Browne was sent down to supersede Waller with additional levies
from Manchester's army and from the City horse. He found even greater
difficulties here than at Reading, and soon wrote for a recall, ' not being able
to command men without constant pay.' He was harassed by the desertion
of his men, and the complaints of the county against the ' unruly soldiers.'
The garrison was always on the verge of starvation and misery. ' I expected
the county would have supplied me horses, men, and money,' he wrote on
21 August. 'But as I never was, since my coming hither, so I see no
probability of being in a posture to offend the enemy or defend ourselves.' 86
The inefficiency of his troops became apparent, when, early in September, a
relieving force from Oxford not only got away across the county to Basing
unknown to the garrison, but returned unmolested, while the force sent out
to cut them off lay still at Newbury, ' for want of good intelligence ' their
stupidity providing ' as great a riddle as a trouble ' to their commander. 8 "
The misery in the garrison and the consequent mutiny of the troops drove
him to write to the Committee of Both Kingdoms again for money :

My Lords, it troubles me much to complain, and did I not see so many pressing
necessities in the soldiers, as well those of the County as all the others from London,
whose bare feet and hollow cheeks plead aloud, I should for ever be silent. 352

'" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 54 : in March, 500 horse at Faringdon ; p. 135, April, 1,000 musketeers
asked for at Newbury.

" Ibid. 163. '" Ibid. 176. " Ibid. 364. S49 Ibid. 419.

* Ibid. 443. 3il Ibid. 506, 507. SM Ibid. 527.

2 153 20

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

His declaration of weakness was endorsed by Manchester, who declared to
the committee, on his arrival at Reading, that, if the king chose to march
into those parts, Abingdon could not resist him, but must fall a prey. 853 The
danger of the king's approach from the west brought out a promise of money
for the garrison, and an order for revictualling from all the country round. 354
Its continued weakness in spite of this, combined with its proximity to the
centre of action, reduced it to a state of continual alarm throughout the
autumn campaign.

In order to frustrate the Royalist plans for holding the towns of this
central district, the Committee of Both Kingdoms proposed the junction of
the Parliamentary leaders Essex, Manchester, Waller, and Cromwell, at some
comparatively western rendezvous such as Newbury, from which it would be
easy to intercept the king's passage, and to isolate the garrisons which he
proposed to hold. 856 The apparent hesitation and half-heartedness of the
earl of Manchester, 856 together with the difficulties of combined action under
the orders of a distant committee, led to the bungling of the scheme, and
the postponement of any decided issue. Manchester wasted time at the
outset by marching in a roundabout way through Basingstoke, Alder-
maston, and Swallowfield ; thus giving the king time to come up through
Hampshire and to throw his troops into Newbury. He at once got
into communication with Donnington Castle and Shaw House, which
were held for him by Colonel Boys ; and when the Parliamentary troops
came up from Bucklebury and Thatcham, on the evening of the 26th, already
' lessened and disabled for the service ' by their long march, instead of finding
the town ' open and naked,' and a valuable base for attack on the castle, they
found it fortified against them, and supported by all the king's forces drawn
up to the best advantage in Speen Field. Manchester at once took up a
position on Clay Hill, about a mile to the east of Shaw House, at ' about an
hower before night ' on the 26th, and for two hours the armies fired purpose-
lessly on each other across Lambourn Stream. 357 Meanwhile the Parlia-
mentary leaders had been drawing up a scheme for a double attack, on the
rear and front of the king's army, to secure their own line of provision on
the one hand towards Reading, and to cut the king's communication with
Rupert on the other. Accordingly, early the next morning (Sunday,
27 October) a flanking column under Skippon and Balfour, with Waller,
and Cromwell, and the majority of Essex's troops, 858 made a rapid march to
the north of the king's position, through North Heath and Wickham Heath
to the woody uplands of Speen, where Prince Maurice and the artillery
guarded the king's rear. They began their attack on the enemy's breast-
works at between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. The position,

" 3 Cat. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 542. Ibid. 1644-5, PP- 35. 3<5-

as Cromwell wrote afterwards : ' if his Lordship (Manchester) had advanced thither accordingly the king
would not (in probability) have passed Salisbury river or the plaines, for this winter, and soe the seiges of
Dennington, Basing and Banbury Castles had been secured and those places ours ere now,' in Quarrel of
Manchester and Cromwell (Camden Soc.), 84.

156 Cromwell speaks of it as ' some principle of unwillingness in his Lordshipp to have this war prosecuted
unto a full victory and a designe & desire to have it ended by accommodation ... on some such termes to
which it might be disadvantageous to bring the king too lowe.' (Ibid. 79.)

167 Symonds, Diary (Camden Soc.), 144.

58 Rushworth (op. cit. vi, 724) gives the numbers of this flanking force as '4,000 of Rebels Horse and
Dragoons and 500 Pykes.'

154

POLITICAL HISTORY

which had been strengthened by nine pieces of cannon (among them some
captured from Essex at Lostwithiel), was stormed by the Forlorn Hopes,
Skippon and Balfour leading the charge on the right, Waller and Cromwell
on the left. The whole line swept up over the entrenchments and drove
Maurice's troops back on to the Guards ; it was repulsed, however, on Speen
Field by a rally of Royalist troops under Sir Humphrey Bennet. 359 Mean-
while, early in the day, Manchester, to mislead the Royalists, had made a
false charge across the Kennet ; but the 400 musketeers whom he sent over
had been driven back with great loss. It had been part of the original
scheme of the divided attack that Manchester, who had remained in front of
Shaw House with 1,500 horse, should fall on the weak points of the king's
front as soon as he saw that the flanking column had given battle. Cromwell
declared that he did not keep to his engagement, and delayed his attack ' till
allmost halfe an hour after sunsett,' then attacking only an inaccessible side
of the house which was particularly well guarded by Astley, Lisle, Page, and
Thelwall ;

whereas had he fallen on by daylight and according to agreement he might on the open side
have taken that house with the men and ordnance in it, and if so we had betwixt our two
hedges in probability ruined the enemy who had then had noe free passe over that river to
gett away. 360

His action seems, however, to have met with the approval of the com-
missioners, who declared that he fell on ' in a seasonable tyme,' and profited
the other forces much by keeping so many of the king's soldiers engaged. 361
The battle lasted only three hours, the last ' by moonshine,' but the two
parts of the army knew nothing of each other's fortune till the next morning. 362
Then, too, they discovered, with many mutual recriminations, that the
Royalist army, storing its carriages and ammunition in, or near, Donnington
Castle, had gone off soon after midnight, the main body to Oxford by way
of Wallingford, and a small troop, with the king at its head, to Faringdon,
on its way to Bath. 863 A council of war was called at once at Speen, and all
the horse and dragoons, with the exception of i ,000 men left with Manchester, 364
went off under Waller, Hazelrigg, and Cromwell, to Blewbury, in pursuit of
the Royalist army. Fearing, however, to adventure their weary troops in
the bad roads and woodland country about Abingdon, without the support of
the foot, 365 they returned to Newbury, requesting that either the whole army
should march across the Thames to cut Rupert off from Oxford, or that they
should be allowed 2,000 or 3,000 foot to assist in the pursuit. Both requests
were refused, until, on i November, the king returned to Oxford from the
west determined to raise the siege of Donnington Castle. 368 Then, too late,
Manchester allowed himself to be persuaded to march north. He got as far
as Blewbury, on the 2nd ; but changing his mind, on the pretext of bad roads,
and in spite of the opinion of a council of war, he returned to Newbury ; in
his haste to get back anticipating the orders of the committee, and leaving

359 Rushworth, op. cit. vi. Cromwell does not seem to have taken any prominent part in the day's work ;
he was commended by the Commissioners Johnstone and Crowe for ' very good service ' (Cal. S.P. Dom.
1644-5, p. 76), but Major-General Crawford declared that ' if Cromwell had played the part that became
him the enemy had been totally routed.' (Quarrel of Manchester and Cromwell (Camden Soc.), 63.)

360 Ibid. 86. 361 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, P- 77- Ibid.

303 Quarrel tfManchesTtr and Cromwell (Camden Soc.), 87. 3M Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, P- 77-

361 Quarrel of Manchester and Cromwell (Camden Soc.), 87-8. * 6 Symonds, Diary, 144.

155

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

the supplies which had come up stream for the army, to go on to Abingdon. 867
The brilliant and successful march of the king on Donnington followed. On
6 November, Manchester had but ' uncertaine intelligence ' of his where-
abouts, though he knew that it was his intention to fetch his artillery and
ammunition from the castle. The following day scouts brought the news to
Newhmry garrison that the king's whole army, reinforced by Rupert and
Northampton, and consisting of 15,000 troops in all, had crossed the river at
Wallingford, ' which advice it seems they did not believe.' m The news of
the king's arrival at Ilsley, six miles off, on the 8th, led the over-cautious
council to decide that it was ' infeisible to drawe out time enough to inter-
pose.' 369 The Parliament horse was massed on Newbury Wash, south of the
Kennet, but was not brought across the river until the evening of the gth
when the need for it had passed. On the morning of that day, the king had
made a rapid march on Donnington, braved the enemy at the works, and had
then withdrawn with the carriage and ammunition, ' leisurely and souldier-like,'
on Winterbourne. 870 On the following morning the Parliamentary army drew
out, hoping to attack the king in the rear, but again retired with many
excuses of ground and weather and unfitness of troops, and, not least, the
assurance ' that upon quitting Newbury the enemy would occupy it.' 871 They
finally retired into the town to watch the king's movements and await further
orders.

For all this bungling of plans the allied commanders were severely taken
to task both by Essex 872 and by the Committee of Both Kingdoms. The
latter wrote coldly on the 1 2th, ' We have received your letters concerning
the relief of Donnington Castle by the enemy, and are very sorry that they
met not with that opposition that was expected from an army which God
had blessed lately with so happy a victory against them.' 873 In spite of
reiterated commands to try to regain the lost advantage, a task quite
impossible to troops worn out by a long campaign, 874 the army hung on idly
at Newbury for a time, making little attempt either to check the king's
advance on Basing or to assist in the defence which Abiflgdon was still
gallantly making against the royal outposts at Faringdon and Wantage. 376 It
finally left Newbury on the i Qth, with the professed intention of blocking
the king's road to Basing at either Mortimer or Aldermaston. Once, how-
ever, in the open, and within reach of provisions, the troops encouraged by
Manchester in view of their ' weakened and wasted ' condition, withdrew
wholesale into Reading. 878

The mistakes and mismanagements of the second Newbury campaign
taught the Parliament the need of thorough military reorganization. As a
result of the quarrel between Manchester and Cromwell came the Self-Denying
Ordinance, the New Model, and ultimately the fall of the monarchy. By
an irony of fate royal Windsor was the scene of the making of the new army.

167 Quarrel of Manchester and Cromwell (Camden Soc.), 90.

68 Rushworth, op. cit. vi, 729. 369 Quarrel of Manchester and Cromwell (Camden Soc.), 90.

170 Ibid. 92 ; Rushworth, op. cit. 730. There was no general action, for the horse had hardly got over
the river by nightfall. Crawford declared that the officers of horse were ' matelie against drawing the horss
through the towne from Newbury Wasche, saying that the horss could not stand without great danger and
great losse." Quarrel of Manchester and Cromwell (Camden Soc.) 371 Cal. S./". Dam. 1644-5, P- IID -

71 Rushworth, op. cit. vi, 730. 3n Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, p. 117.

74 Ibid. 125. Waller declared that his men had been out since the first battle of Newbury.

"Ibid. 142, 176, &c. " 6 Ibid. 139.

I S 6

POLITICAL HISTORY

Day after day in Windsor Great Park, Skippon, veteran commander of foot
and chief-of-the-staff, held his parade, and here the royal colours were first
worn, at the head of a rebel army, by the senior corps of foot. 377 From
Windsor at length there marched out in 1645 those twenty-one regiments of
horse and foot which were to turn the tide of war at Taunton and Oxford,
and finally to bring it to a glorious close at Naseby.

Meanwhile the duel between Oxford and Abingdon had been going on
intermittently. Early in January, 1645, a royal force of 800 horse and 1,000
foot, commanded by Rupert, Maurice, and Sir Henry Gage, made a sudden
swoop upon the garrison, and had come within half a mile before they were
discovered, having by then ' gotten half way along the causeway towards
Abingdon great bridge.' m As rapidly as possible forces were thrown out into
the meadows at the side of the town, and a skirmish followed in which Gage
was killed, and the enemy retreated. Rupert's horse was pursued within a
mile of Faringdon, and the Royalists withdrew again from Culham.

Faringdon and Wallingford, with the castle at Donnington, were now
the only Royalist centres in the county. The first was of particular
importance as it guarded the western road by which Charles looked for aid
from Goring. Support sent by the garrison there to the Royalist troops at
Woodstock in April called down upon it a sharp attack by Cromwell. After
a two days' siege, on the first of which Cromwell was repulsed with some
loss, the garrison gave in on the terms of submitting to mercy, the Parlia-
mentary army securing as spoil 200 muskets, with some barrels of powder,
and 200 prisoners, of whom 20 were officers. 879 After the defeat of the
Royalist army at Naseby in May, the reduction of Wallingford and
Donnington was merely a matter of time. In May and June the garrisons
of Reading and Abingdon were reinforced in preparation for the attack. 880
Part of Fairfax's army lay before Donnington in September, while in the
following month reinforcements were called up from Reading and Windsor,
and many of the southern counties, for the siege. 381 Wallingford held out
for some time against Colonel Dalbier, but surrendered with the remaining
Royalist garrisons after the king's submission to the Scotch army. 383

The loyalty of the county does not seem to have been able to bear the
strain of the long war, and in November, 1648, the general impatience
with the king's vacillations found voice in a ' humble petition ' sent up to
the Parliament by ' divers of the Committee, Gentry, Ministry, and other
well-affected of the county of Berks ' ; backed by a representation to his
Excellency and the ' prayer meeting ' at Windsor. The petitioners suggest,
in no veiled terms, the ' Desir'd Execution of Justice upon all great
offenders, . . . vigorous Courses for timely inflicting Condigne Punishment
at least upon the Heads of them, and Accompt of all that Innocent Blood
which hath been spilt as Water upon the Ground in both the primer and
later Wars,' bold language at a time when the fate of the king was as yet
undecided by the central tribunal. They go on to declare that until such
summary measures have been taken there can be 'no exercise of Religion, no

377 Fortescue, History of the British Army, 213. s78 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1644-5, P- 2 4-6.

178 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 56^, the prisoners are given as 'nine score besides officers.'

880 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1644-5, p. 556.

381 Ibid. 1645-7, pp. 204, 220. " Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. vi,

'57

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

use of Lawes, no Assurance of Libertie or Protection,' and, with no unsound
sense of future possibilities, urge a decided course of action upon the council,
that * all the world shall see it was in your Hearts only to serve the necessity
of the Nation, not yourselves of it only to seeke yourselves in it, not set
yourselves above it, not to become a new oppression to us, but (under God)
our Redemption for all our Oppressions for the present, and our Bullwarke
and Preservation against them or their like for time to come.' 88S This
language was part of the inevitable logic of war ; as was the execution of the
king in the spring of the following year.

Into the activities of the various revolutionary governments of the
Interregnum, Berkshire was only drawn by its participation in the military
expeditions of the period. During Cromwell's attempted settlement of
Ireland between August, 1649, and May, 1650, 20,000 per month was
asked from Berkshire as a contribution for the war, 88 * and in December, 1 649,
a county levy was sent over to take part in the brutal guerrilla warfare. 386
During the Scotch war of the next year militia commissioners were
empowered to raise a troop of 100 horse for the defence of the county, 388
while in the panic of the invasion of 1 65 1 there was a demand for all the forces
that could by any means be got ready 387 for the rendezvous at Daventry.
A preference was shown for voluntary soldiers, ' rather than men com-
pelled,' and the Berkshire mounted troops seem to have met with special
commendation. 388 During the peace years at the close of the Commonwealth
the defence force was reduced to 8o. 389

With the Restoration ( 1 660) the old customary order of the Monarchy and
the Established Church settled down once more upon the country, ' heavy
as frost, and deep almost as life.' But not unopposed. In 1664, disturbances
broke out at Newbury in which the mayor and churchwardens were set upon
in an Easter vestry meeting by a ' rude and confus'd multitude of all sorts of
Phanaticks,' the special venom of the mob being directed against a certain
Pocock, odious on account of his known loyalty to the king. Sir Thomas Dole-
man, true to the traditions of his house, and a staunch Royalist, called up the
deputy lieutenants of the county and proceeded to fine the brawlers heavily. 390

Berkshire levies do not appear to have taken any prominent part in
the wars of the reign of Charles II. In August, 1 666, several companies from
the shire were ordered down to the Isle of Wight to assist in the defence
against the Dutch. Three companies of foot and one of horse were in
quarters there when peace was declared in June, 1667. Throughout this
period of naval expansion the demand for timber for the navy was incessant. 391

The reign of James II did little more than prove to England that of the
two institutions restored in 1660, the Church of England and the Stuart
dynasty, the former was the stronger and more permanent. Little more than
a year after the public entry of the papal nuncio, at Windsor, on Sunday,
3 July, i687, 892 William of Orange landed at Torbay and effected the
Protestant Revolution.

383 A true Copie of the Berkshire Petition. ** Cal. S.P. Dam. 1649-50, p. 537.

885 Ibid. 449, 537. 8M Ibid. 1650, p. 476. '"' Ibid. 1651, p. 340.

888 Ibid. 428. s39 Ibid. 1655-6, p. 200.

390 Heath, Chron. 525. 391 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1668-9, p. 316, et seq.

39> Misc. Broadsides and Proclamations there was great excitement and expectation throughout the town,
'by reason there has not been any Publick Minister of State from the Pope for above 140 years.'

I 5 8

POLITICAL HISTORY

Berkshire lay in the direct line of William's march from Torbay to

London. Marching through Exeter, Sherborne, and Salisbury, he came to

Hungerford, just over the Berkshire border, on 17 November. Here he

waited some weeks hoping that his advance on London might be

simplified by the flight of James ; and meanwhile sent out reconnoitring

forces to try the temper of the king's army. One force of 150 foot and 500

dragoons marched against Reading under the Count of Nassau. 893 They found

the place in a state of defence, with three companies of Irish dragoons and a

regiment of Scotch horse holding the bridge. In the skirmish that followed

the king's troops were driven back from the bridge in complete rout, ' pelle et

melle,' with a loss of 20 killed and 40 prisoners. 89 * Hearing that there were

three battalions of the royal infantry coming up, Nassau retreated to William

at Newbury, but the news soon followed him that this force, leaderless save

for a serjeant and two corporals, was anxious to desert to William's standard.

With the serjeant raised to a captain and the corporals made lieutenants,

the army was sent back to hold Reading for William. The feeble defence

made by the king's troops surprised the invaders. Bentinck wrote from

Hungerford on 9 December, 895 ' les trouppes du Roy ce sont toujours retirees

a mesme que nostre armee c'est avancee, ils ont mesme abandonne ... la

reviere de la Tamise dont nous avons toujours creus qu'ils defendoit le

passage, ce qui estoit la chose la plus apparente a pouvoir faire, mais ils ont

quitte Reading une petite ville (sic) sur le passage avec assez de confusion.'

While still at Newbury William received a pressing invitation from the

University of Oxford to go north. He marched as far as Abingdon (which

he reached on 2 1 December) ; but hearing there of James's flight, he turned

down stream through Wallingford and Henley to Windsor, receiving the

submission of the king's troops as he passed. 396

With the great continental wars of the eighteenth century a new
period of military organization began for England. For two centuries the
country had been content to base her defence, both at home and abroad,
on such support as shire levies and local militias could give. In the Scotch
invasions of 1715 and 1745 the militia of the Home Counties had been
called out to defend the capital. As a non-continental nation England had
found such defence possible though not altogether adequate. The part
which she was forced to play in the Seven Years' War, both on the
continent and in the American colonies, first impressed upon her definitely
the need of an organized military system. So inadequate was the home
defence at the outbreak of hostilities in 1756 that George II had called in
Hanoverian troops to form large defensive camps in various parts of the
country. This step was thoroughly odious to the nation, and a reorganisation
of national forces was at once instituted. The Berkshire bands were
among the first of the militia forces to be embodied under the new
regulations. The Army List of 1762 gives the date of the embodiment

"* Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, 226.

394 The action at the bridge was commemorated by a poem called ' The Reading Skirmish' (to the tune of
' Lilli borlero'), which begins, 'Five hundred Papistes came there to make a final end, Of all the Town, in
time of Prayer, but God did them defend.' !9i Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, 228^.

396 A definite action at Windsor, in which the Prince of Orange 'got an absolute conquest,' is described in
'A Short Account of a Second Engagement . . . between the King and Prince of Orange's Army near
Windsor ' (Misc. Papers, Ashmole).

159

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

as 25 July, 1757. The officers of the regiment are given as colonel
(then Sir Willoughby Aston), lieutenant- colonel, major, six captains,
captain-lieutenant, nine lieutenants, seven ensigns, adjutant, quartermaster,
surgeon. 897 The duke of St. Albans, lord-lieutenant of the county, was called
upon to provide 560 of the 32,000 men required from the whole country.
A return of the arms, accoutrements, and ammunition of the force in 1759
gives its composition as thirty Serjeants, twenty drummers, and 560 rank and
file formed into eight companies. The full force, with the complement of
officers, was reported as out on duty at Hungerford, Marlborough, and
Devizes during the panic of French invasion in July, \j$g. tw The Militia
Acts, under which the first embodiments were made, were not, however,
satisfactory, and with the close of the war in 1762 the troops were
disbanded.

Meanwhile, side by side with the militia reform had gone a reorganiza-
tion of the various line regiments which had been formed at the close of
the Stuart period, or in the early years of the eighteenth century. In
1758 the 2nd Battalion of the old igth Regiment, formed in 1730, was re-
enrolled as the 66th of the line, and connected with Berkshire,'*' though it
was not till the territorial arrangement of 1881 that it received its definite
title of the Berkshire Regiment.* 00 The regiment saw its first active service
in 1775, in the American War of Independence, and distinguished itself
by the gallantry of its light companies in the actions at Bunker's Hill
and Brandy wine.* 01 In 1796 and the following years the regiment was again
out west, this time for the defence of the British outposts in the West Indies
and Nova Scotia, which were threatened by the French in the first period of
the great war. In 1796 the 66th took part in the action at Port-au-Prince
and in the occupation of San Domingo.* * In the summer of 1798, the pay-
list is signed at Halifax ; in February, 1799, at Kingston. At the close of
the March pay-list, in Jamaica, the entry is made : ' The Regiment embarked
on Board the Cecilia Transport on the 27th March, 1799, and are charged
with sea rations.' In the autumn of the same year and the spring of 1800
they were back in Nova Scotia, at Halifax and Annapolis.* 08 In the same
year part of the regiment, reinforced by a considerable number of the
disbanded militiamen, took part in the action at Egmont-op-Zee in Holland,
and were allowed to commemorate the victory by placing the name on
their colours. 40 * For the next ten years, the period of greatest excitement
for the militiamen and volunteers, the regiment saw no active service.

As early as December, 1792, two-thirds of the Berkshire militia had
been called out for home defence ; in 17945, when the panic of French
invasion was at its height, the Berkshire bands helped to strengthen the
cordon of 30,000 men, militia, fencibles, and new corps along the southern
coast.* 06 The amateur warlike ardour of the county broke out meanwhile in
such local volunteer associations as the Windsor Foresters, the Loyal Berkshire
Volunteers, the Reading Volunteers, the Wantage Volunteers, the Abingdon

M Thoyts, Royal Berkshire Militia, 87. m Ibid. 79.

"* The earliest pay-list of the regiment, tinder the name of the 66th, is that of July, 1760, with John
la Fauselle, colonel. Sworn at Beccles. War Office Muster Rolls, general series, 7458.
tn Rudolf, Short Hist, of the Territorial Repments of the British Army, 489.

* Ibid. 4M Ibid. m Muster Rolls, op. cit. Rudolf, loc. cit.

"* Thoyts, Royal Berkshire Militia, 131.

1 60

POLITICAL HISTORY

Independent Cavalry.* 08 The system of vigilant home defence continued in
full force until the peace of Amiens in 1802 brought the first period of the
war to a close and made large numbers of supplementary troops unnecessary.
By December, 1803, however, early in the second period of the war, 400,000
men had again been called out in the various shires, and a regular defence by
volunteers and militia-men was kept up until the general disbanding of the
years 181314. A considerable number of the supplementary troops thus set
free passed over into the line regiment for the Waterloo campaign.* 07

In the great wars of the nineteenth century the Berkshire Regiment has
played a prominent part. Drafted from Calcutta in 1840 to take part in the
China war, the 66th were present in May, 1841, at the storming and capture
of the heights above Canton, and took part in the various successes of the
campaign at Chinhoe, Lingpo, Saignan, Chefoo, Woofun, and Chinghanfoo.
They were allowed at the end of the war to add 'China,' and the Dragon
device, to their colours.* 08 On the outbreak of the Crimean war in 1854 the
regiment was again ordered to the front. Landing in the Crimea on 14 Sep-
tember, they took part on the 2Oth in the battle of Alma. Six days later they
were at Balaklava, and on 5 November at Inkerman. They won special
commendation for their heroic action in the trenches before Sebastopol in the
terrible winter campaign. 409 The long peace time which followed was
broken in 1879 by the Afghan war, in which the Berkshire Regiment
covered itself with glory. After a whole day's battle before Kandahar on
27 July the British general had been forced to retreat into the town before
the 25,000 men of Ayoub Khan. The retreat was covered by the 66th
Foot in a defence which filled the enemy with fear and cost the regiment the
lives of 10 officers and 275 men. The official dispatch runs : * History
records no finer instance of devotion to Queen and country than that dis-
played by the Berkshire Regiment at the battle of Maiwand.' * 10 Three
years later the troops were serving on outpost duty in Egypt under
Wolseley, and in January, 1885, were landed at Suakin for action in the
Soudan. On 20 March they took part in the victory at Hasheen, and two
days later, by their resolute bearing in a sudden attack by the Arabs on
General McNeill's forces, they turned what might have been a terrible
catastrophe into a glorious victory. For their valiant action the queen
restored to the regiment their title of Royal.* 11

The territorialization of the army had meanwhile taken place in 1 88 1, and
the 66th Regiment was given a definite geographical connexion with the
county of Berkshire, for purposes of recruiting. With the two battalions of
the regiment there were associated in the new scheme, two militia battalions,
and the volunteers of the locality, the whole resting on a brigade centre or
dep6t at Reading. The auxiliary forces thus became an essential part of the
territorial army, a step which had been strongly advocated by Wellington in
1852. In the South African War of 18991902 the Berkshire militia, known

'* The Volunteer movement had received a certain amount of official recognition as early as 1779. The
Militia Act of that year (19 Geo. Ill, cap. 76) declared that 'if any person or persons properly qualified accord-
ing to the law, should offer to hit Majesty's Lieutenant of any County to raise one or more company or
companies to be added to the Regiment or Battalion of any County or Riding it should be lawful for His
Majesty's Lieutenant to accept such services and appoint such officers accordingly." Cf. Berry, Hut. Volunteer
Infantry, 51. *" Thoyts, op. cit. 157.

" Rudolf, op. cit. 490. Ibid. "* Ibid. 4 " Ibid. 491.

2 l6l 21

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

as the 3rd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, with the ist Volunteer
Battalion of the regiment, served side by side with the two regular battalions
of the regiment under Generals Gatacre, French, and Clements, and per-
formed useful service in skirmishes and reconnaissances, though they were
not called upon to take part in any of the serious engagements.* 12

Of even greater importance than the military organization of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been the growth during the same
period of the system of party government ; and side by side with it the
working out of the long struggle for reform in popular representation. Into
the various activities connected with these two movements the county and
boroughs of Berkshire have perforce been drawn.

Although ultimately a matter of party politics, the agitation for reform
had begun even previously to the formation of parties. During the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries a parliamentary election had meant little but
the peaceful choice of a respectable and well-known local representative by
the freeholders of the county and the franchise holders of the borough. 413
A disputed election was therefore practically a thing unknown until Tudor
times, when through the demand by the crown for popular, or so-called
popular, support in Parliament, a seat became a matter of great value and
importance. At this time many small and insignificant boroughs were en-
dowed with the franchise, to secure extra votes for the crown, some to vanish
again immediately from political life, others, however, to maintain a more
sturdy and continuous existence. Of the latter was Abingdon, renewed after
a lapse since the eventful Parliament of 1337, to which it had first been
called, and whose name is preserved as a parliamentary division to the
present day. 414

With the increase in the value of a parliamentary seat elections began
to be attended not only with the excitement due to contest, but with a good
deal of bribery and intimidation. This was more markedly so in the case of
borough elections, where the distinct elements of landed or official interest
and commercial independence found themselves in closer juxtaposition, and
where the uncertain and varying bases of the franchise gave scope for a good
deal of discord. Unlike the county electors, those of the boroughs had not as
a body the basis of 40^. freehold for the franchise ; in some few cases the
possession of such property was the qualification, in others it was constituted
by general burgage tenure, or the tenure of certain houses and sites, in others
by the personal qualification of membership of a gild or the payment of scot
and lot ; it was even found occasionally within the narrow bounds of the
corporation itself. There was an election contest raging at Windsor in 1679
around the question as to whether the ' ancient right way ' of electing had
been by the ' Common Burgesses in general, to wit, the Inhabitants, House-
holders of the Burrough (being neither Inmates, Lodgers, Sojourners, nor
Alms-takers'), or by the more exclusive body of the corporation, in number

412 Rudolf, op. cit. 492.

111 By Acts of Hen. IV, Hen. V, and Hen. VI, residence had been made a condition of candidature for
both shires and boroughs. Stubbs, Const. Hist, iii, 411.

414 Prynne, Part. Reg. Apart from this addition and the abnormal scheme of the Commonwealth Parlia-
ment of 1654 to which Berkshire sent seven members, five for the county and one for each of the boroughs of
Abingdon and Reading (vide The Government of the Commonwealth. Published by His Highness the Lord
Protector's Special Commandment), the county continued its ancient representation fairly regularly, returning
two knights for the shire, and two for each of the towns of Reading, Wallingford, and Windsor.

162

POLITICAL HISTORY

not exceeding thirty, ' called by the name of Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses.' 415
The dispute was one of old standing, and the elections had been contested for
some time past by candidates of the rival parties. As long before as 1 640,
for instance, the poll had been carried by the general inhabitants ; in 1 66 1
their rivals had been successful, while just before 1679 again the burgesses as
a whole seem to have got the power into their hands. John Carey and John
Powney, the special burgesses for the year, were therefore very much put to
it to increase their poll against their more popular rivals, Richard Winwood
and Samuel Stankey. In their attempt to secure a majority they beat up to
the poll

not only Inhabitants, but likewise the Inhabitants of the adjacent villages round about,
Inmates, Lodgers, Sojourners, Almesmen, Bargemen, living 30 miles from thence, citizens
of London, and in short, every person that could give an account of his name.

Not content with this, they boarded Windsor Castle, ' a place wholly exempt
from the Burrough,' and taking advantage of the residence of the king and
queen, they took the poll through all the offices

from the Board of Green Cloth down to the Grooms, Water-men, Letter-men, helpers in
Stables and Turnspits, pleading that by residence of 40 days they were all free burgesses. They
polled likewise Yeomen of the Guard, Gentlemen of the Horse-guard ; and no doubt would
have proceeded both to Horse and Foot ; but that the other party cried Quarter, and yielded
them the majority of those votes.

So disguised was the poll-book at the close of this sweeping campaign ' that
it was hard to distinguish whether it were a Poll-book of the General Bur-
gesses of the Burrough, a Roll of the King and Queen's Servants, or a Muster
of the Soldiers.' The mayor proceeded to declare the poll for Carey and
Powney ; their indignant opponents chronicled their protest and appealed for
a trial of the case by the Commons, declaring the election a ' General assault
upon all the Laws made for the preservation of the Freedom of Elections.'
There is, however, no record of a remedy. It seems indeed to have been
practically impossible to dispute a decision of the mayor, however arbitrary.
In the same year at Abingdon a certain Mr. Dunch, of Pusey-Town, is found
standing for popular interests against Sir John Stonehouse, the candidate sup-
ported by the mayor and the Catholic interest. 416 The election was delayed
by the mayor for three weeks, during which time ' three considerable Persons
in the Corporation ' made a thorough canvass of the borough to secure votes
for Stonehouse either by persuasion or threats. They made a list of all the
tenants of the town, and promised immunities to all who would vote for
Stonehouse

withal threatening them severely if they would not. And told them, That they should be
raised in their Fines, and taxed at greater Rates than they were before, and to some said,
They should never renew their Leases any more.

They proceeded to arrest and imprison many on the charge of debt, though
it was noticed that ' not one of the many Debtors that promised to vote for
Sir John, though more in number, and for more considerable summes due
from them, were in the least molested.' In spite of all this Dunch was
returned at the top of the poll with 297 votes as against Stonehouse's 171.

1:5 The Case of the Burrough of N eta Windsor, 1679.

416 A letter from a friend In Abingdon to a Gentleman in London, Sept. 1679.

163

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

To Dunch's demand for a return according to law the mayor at first refused
an answer, but finally declared to his brethren in the privacy of the Council
Chamber 'That he had Examined the Poll and found that the number 171
was greater than 297.' He therefore declared Sir John the elected burgess.
Hissed to his house by the crowd crying 'A cheat! a cheat! ' the craven mayor,
moved by ' Guilt and Panick Fear,' fled away, first to the town clerk's house,
and thence " over a High Wall where he Secreted himself amongst the nettles,
and kept himself incognito all that day, and the next, until Mr. Dunch and
his Council were gone out of Town.' Dunch had meanwhile been parading
the town, accompanied by a hundred horse, and near two hundred foot of his
electors, ' in a very handsome and decent order,' crying ' A Dunch, a Dunch.'
In the end, however, he seems to have retired in despair. The ' short and
true account of the election ' given by an Abbendonian declares that the
result was the doing of the Papists, one * of very great estate ' having been
heard to declare, ' He would not for 1,000 but that Sir John should be our
Burgess.'

Matters do not seem to have improved much in the next hundred years.
At a disputed election, again at Abingdon, in March, 1768, a demand for a
scrutiny of votes followed the declaration of a majority of two in favour of one
of the candidates, but was not allowed by the mayor. Whereupon a supporter
of the defeated candidate made a lengthy protest against the methods of his
opponents, which he declared to be ' infamous in themselves, and subversive
of the Freedom, Privileges, and Independence of the Legal Electors.' * 17

This cry of freedom and independence was now coming strongly to the
fore as the watchword of the Whigs in the great party contest of the reign of
George III. Ever since the first triumph of their principles in the carrying
through of the Protestant Revolution, and the foundation of a limited monarchy
under William and Mary, the Whigs had had a more or less free hand in English
politics. The Tories had moreover lost credit in the nation by implicating
themselves in Jacobite schemes. With the reign of George III the position was
reversed. Led by their principles to hold the popular tenets of resistance to the
crown, to over-much privilege of Parliament, to parliamentary corruption,
the Whigs found themselves driven, in 1775, to the bold policy of opposition
to the unconstitutional taxation of the North American Colonies, a step which
destroyed their prestige with the crown, and led finally to the temporary seces-
sion of the party from Parliament in 1776. Meanwhile, in November, 1775,
the Whig freeholders of the county of Berkshire, supported by the earl of
Abingdon and Lord Craven, 418 met in the town hall of Abingdon to draw up
a ' humble Address and Petition to the king.' 419 In this, while declaring
their ' boundless confidence ' in His Majesty's goodness, and in the wisdom of
his Parliament, they felt themselves bound, in view of ' dangerous and sedi-
tious' attempts to embarrass His Majesty's Council, to express with all humility
and deference their own sentiments on the nature and origin of the trouble,

117 A True Copy of the Pall, Wednesday, 16 March, 1768. To this pamphlet is affixed a declaration
made in the House of Commons in 1708 that 'The Right of electing a Burgess to serve in Parlia-
ment for the Borough of Abingdon is in the Inhabitants paying Scot and Lot, and not receiving alms or
any charity.'

418 These two seem to have been exceptions to Camden's statement that ' the landed interest is almost
altogether anti-American' (Camden to Chatham, in Chatham Corresp. iv, 401).

Berks. Chron. I Dec. 1775.

164

POLITICAL HISTORY

and its probable results. This they did in very forcible language. Ac-
knowledging the need for maintaining the authority of the Parliament over
all the British Empire, they went on to make the following declaration :

As English freeholders who value ourselves on our own inestimable right of granting our own
property, either by ourselves or representatives of our own choosing only, we cannot, without
divesting ourselves of every principle of equity, justice, and even of common decency, consider
the complaints of millions of our fellow subjects separated from us by an immense ocean, on
being taxed, without any voice, directly or indirectly, in the grant, to be entirely groundless,
and the result of nothing but a factious spirit, aiming at the dismemberment of the Empire.
The substantial and not nominal assent of the subject in the grant of their own money we
can never hold to be a frivolous concern to English freeholders, it can never be exterminated in
one part of the Empire without being endangered in all.

In the decisive struggle for legislation on Parliamentary reform, in the
early part of the nineteenth century, the Whigs were fated to be more
successful. It would appear, however, from the records of elections at this
time that in their zeal for power in the House, to achieve their end, even the
Whigs were not above using the methods of corruption which they deplored.
In the county elections of 1812 and 1 8 1 8 in Berkshire, a certain Mr. Hallett,
an extreme reformer, demanded a poll of the freeholders, as against the two
previous representatives, Mr. Dundas and Mr. Neville, putting forward as his
platform the abolition of aristocratic influence and ' purse consequence '
in elections, the establishment of ' Independent Representation,' unbiased by
party. His aristocratic rival, Mr. Neville, was the special object of his attack.
In a letter addressed to the freeholders of the county on the last day of the
poll 4SO in the 1812 election, Hallett wrote :

Is not Mr. Neville the son of a great Pensioner, and the nephew of three great Pen-
sioners ? . . Can a person so circumstanced ; So linked and tied to Pensioners disclaim all
connection with their Pensions ? With what face,

he goes on,

can persons miscalled Noblemen and Gentlemen, eat day by day the public bread and do
nothing for it, at a time too when so many starving manufacturers, when a raging and
extended war, when so many mutilated and disabled heroes, when so many widows and
orphans of the fallen, make demands on our charity, our gratitude, our justice, generosity and
patriotism, greater than well can be supplied ?

His declamations were of little avail ; the county was as yet lukewarm
enough about reform to accept Mr. Neville's declaration that

he could not bring his mind to endanger the tree to get rid of a cankered branch ; he never
had yet seen a plan of Reform he could approve, nor would he listen to those disgusting
theories Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments. 431

Hallett, however, showed all the insistence of a reformer, declaring that the
resolution of men of integrity at contested elections, to spend not a farthing
' beyond what the law allows and necessity may demand,' would in time train
public opinion to feel that the seat itself was of minor importance, and, when
obtained by dishonourable means, a ' false acquirement,' the outcome of a
system which was ' a stain on the character of the nation.' His successor in
the reform crusade in Berkshire was a Dr. Dodson, contester of the Walling-
ford poll in 1826. The borough of Wallingford seems to have fallen in course
of time into a state of absolute political degradation and corruption. It was

480 Reading Mercury and Oxf. Gaz. 26 Oct. 1812.

421 The Trial and Conviction of Wallingford Whig^sm, Berks. Pamph.

165

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

a notorious fact that from time immemorial the majority of the constituents
of the borough had received after every election a sum of 20 each for their
votes, delivered some time after the election by a mysterious person with the
sobriquet of * the miller.' The power of returning members thus lay in the
hands of a corrupt faction, who were content to barter away their franchise for
personal gain. The Whigs were not ashamed to make use of this system of
venality, pleading that they were, still, better than their neighbours, and that
while other towns had ' solid lumps of pudding,' the voters of Wallingford had
but ' small slices.' The Reform party in the town, called the ' True Blues,'
lent their support to Dr. Dodson. He lost the poll, but seems to have won
over a good deal of public opinion in his attack on what he called an 'anomaly
in law and in reason,' the ' popular ' representative who represented nothing
but his own pocket.* 2 *

A greater purity in the political life of the boroughs began with the
reforms of 1832. The previous diversities of franchise gave place to a
uniform system, and old anomalies were done away with. As far as the
redistribution of seats was concerned, no sweeping changes took place. Of
the boroughs, Reading and New Windsor continued to return two members,
while Wallingford joined Abingdon in the ranks of one-member boroughs.
Three county members, one from each of the districts of Abingdon, Newbury,
and Windsor, took the place of the two knights of the shire. 433

Through the peaceful course of the nineteenth century the county has
entered into an ever-widening political life, until with the extension of
political rights, given by the Acts of 1867 and 1894, it has attained to that
'representation of the taxed ' which was the cry of its early reformers.

m The Trial and Conviction of Wallingford Whiggism.

03 Act to Amend the Representation of the People, 2 Will. IV, cap. 4;

166

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC

HISTORY

BERKSHIRE in the Middle Ages fell, as it does now, into four
natural divisions according to the physical features of the country.
The vale of the White Horse on the north, fertile and full of rich
corn-growing land and meadow ; the hill country of the Downs,
with its poor and stony soil, chiefly fitted for the pasture of large flocks of
sheep ; on the south the vale of the Kennet, again suitable for arable
cultivation, although wilder, more woody, and more sandy than the north ;
while to the east the forest district, stretching from the vale of the Kennet to
the Thames, must in early days have comprised an almost unbroken extent
of woodland from Finchampstead to Windsor, or even to Bray and Maiden-
head. White Waltham and Cookham, now some miles distant from Windsor
Forest, were surrounded by extensive woods in William the Conqueror's,
time, and Winkfield had ' 4 hides in the King's own Forest.' l

Outside the actual forest district the most extensive woods were those of
Bagley and Cumnor, 3 one containing more than ' 60 jugera ' in the neigh-
bourhood of Pangbourne, 8 and others near Basildon, Wargrave, Sonning, 4 and
Hurley, 6 all in the valley of the Thames, which was apparently wooded along
the greater part of its course ; and also at Swallowfield, Bucklebury, and
Aldermaston. 6

Besides the greater extent of forest in the Middle Ages the county had
a larger amount of water and was more subject to inundations than it is at
the present day. In the vale of the White Horse the termination ' ey ' to
many of the village names, such as Goosey, Hanney, Charney, &c., points to
the time when they stood out as islands, and were dependent on their cause-
ways for communication with the surrounding country ; floods were constant
and most destructive to property along the river banks, and frequently ren-
dered intercourse between neighbouring places dangerous, if not impossible ; T
and a good deal of land, now in the most fertile parts, was scarcely worth
the trouble of cultivation until new methods of improving the soil became
known. 8

1 See article on the Domesday Survey, V. C. H. Berks. \. ' Chri t. de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), ii, 113..

'Ibid, ii, 183. 'Dra. Bk.

5 Abbreviatio P/acitorum (Rec. Com.), 246^. 6 Pom. Bk.

7 Assize R. 3 7, Floods at W. Compton. (All documents are in the Record Office, unless otherwise
stated.) Tighe and Davies, Annals of Windsor, i, 126, Floods at Wi-'idsor. Clarke MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), 20.
Floods at Faringdon.

8 Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.). At Reading in the 1 4th century a good deal of the land was too watery to-
make satisfactory pasture ; at Milton, near Abingdon, much was 1- ft uncultivated on account of the poverty
if the soil ; at Abingdon itself the land was described as of little vilue ; and at Lambourn, Brightwalton, and
other places in the neighbourhood of the Downs, the ' stony and mountainous land ' was put at a low valua-
tion. Cf. Inq. p.m. 1336, quoted by Footman, Hist. ofLambo, rn Church, 80.

I6 7

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

On the whole, however, Berkshire was in advance of much of England
in its agriculture and general well-being, for although its wealth was chiefly
dependent on rural industries alone, it took a high place in comparison with
other counties. According to an estimate based on taxation returns, Berk-
shire was the sixth richest county in 1341, and in 1450 and 1563 only
Norfolk, Oxfordshire, and Middlesex seem to have surpassed it. 9

Besides arable land vineyards actually existed in several places. Domes-
day Book speaks of 15 arpents of vine at Bisham, 10 and we find them
mentioned later at Windsor, 11 Wallingford, 19 Burghfield, 13 and Abingdon. 1 *
It is not likely that the produce of these vineyards was of very good
quality ; in the fourteenth century, indeed, the grapes appear to have been
chiefly employed for the making of verjuice, but a ' Master of the Vines '
existed at Windsor as late as the reign of Richard III," although by that time
the office had probably become something of a sinecure.

Throughout the Middle Ages Berkshire was cultivated, as was the rest
of England, on the manorial system, a system which, despite considerable
local varieties, may be said to have been firmly established from the Norman
Conquest onwards.

Under Edward the Confessor much of the land was in the hands of free-
men and alodial owners, but the manorial arrangement had already taken
root, many of the tenants being said to hold pro manerio. With the Con-
quest the terra regis, already very considerable, was still further augmented,
the division into manors became universal, and five alodiarii at Solafell were
all to whom the title was still given. 18

The majority of manorial lords held their land now by military service,
and were bound to supply a fixed number of knights, although the nature and
extent of their obligation was frequently left extremely vague. 17

There is plenty of evidence in Berkshire that there was great variety in
the size of knights' fees ; in the eleventh century whole manors were
often held for the service of one knight alone. 18 The practice of frequent
sub-infeudation, leading to the breaking up of single holdings, until one
man might have as little as the fifth, tenth, or even the twentieth part of
a knight's fee, had appeared in Berkshire by this same century, and the
solution had already been found by the lords, to whom such tenants paid
in money instead of in service. 19 Occasionally some very odd tenures came
to be called military. At Englefield, for example, in 1350, 3 virgates of
land were held by knight service, us. of rent, the annual gift of a goose
worth 2j</., suit of court every three weeks, and also the payment, on death,

'Thorold Rogers, Hist, of Agriculture and Prices, i, 100 ; iv, 895 Close R. 10 Edw. Ill, m. 22;
II Edw. Ill, m. 36.

10 Dom. Bk. " Pipe R. Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.), vi, 53.

u Assize R. 42, m. 12 (53 H.-n. III). u Reading Cartul. Harl. MSS. (B.M.), 1708, fol. 152.

14 Kirk, ObedlenAan ofAblngdn Abbey (Camden Soc.), 54. " Harl. MSS. (B.M.), 438, fol. 135.

:8 For the social condition of Berkshire at this time see the article on the Domesday Survey.

17 Cat. Inq.p.m. Hen. Ill, 488. \t Shottesbrook knight service consisted of the payment of 2O/. to the
keeper of Windsor Castle, or 40 days' service in the army. Chron. de Abingdon, ii, 135. The abbot of Abing-
don let out four hides for half a knight, ; tipulating for three weeks in the year castle guard, or expeditions on
either side of the sea, and ' any other servi ~es such as Knights of Churches owe.'

18 Chron. de Abingdon, ii, 3. Leckhampstead and Buckland, each with 10 hides, Lyford with 7, and
5 scattered hides all alike owed the service of one knight (l2th cent.). 1213, Wm. de St. John had to provide
ten knights, to equip them for service in Poitou or elsewhere, and to keep them for a whole year. Cf. Round,
Feudal England, 225 sq. Pollock and Maitland, Hist, of Eng. Law, 235. These variations may have depended
to a certain extent upon locality. " Testa de Nevlll, 532.

168

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

of the best beast as a heriot, a due owed, as a rule, by the villeins. Several
other small holdings, some as little as ij acres, were also held by military
tenure and rent, one being obliged in addition to find four men for harvest
work. 80

By the fifteenth century, however, military service had ceased to be the
almost universal duty of the manorial lord, and even tenants in chief frequently
held large manors by socage tenure, strictly non-military and rent-paying. 91

Besides actual duty in war, knights might hold their lands by the per-
formance of some definitely personal service. Berkshire was particularly
-ich in holdings of this kind, so many manors being in the hands of
ants in chief, amongst whom ' Grand Serjeanty ' was very frequent.
b rt e of these services were quite important, and represented real offices.
* or ipstead Marshall, for example, received its name because the holder of it
^ ei M the king as marshal, or, as it was expressed, ' held of the king by
an 'ice of the marshal's wand.' 23 In other instances the service required was
a ful, if not distinguished, although frequently the noble only held the
office in name, while a subordinate performed it in- deed. Thus Nicholas
Cook, in Clapcot, held land ' per servicium coquine domini regis ' ; Henry
Balistarius ' per servicium faciendi balistas ' ; another Nicholas by carry-
ing messages in the neighbourhood of Wallingford ; 83 the lord of Bock-
hampton kept a pack of harriers, and carried the king's horn when he hunted
in those parts ; s * and many held by the serjeanty of keeping a royal ger-
falcon." Other services again were extremely nominal. A virgate of land in
Pusey was held from the king in return for saying five paternosters for him
daily ; zt the manor of Padworth provided a servant to hold a rope in the
queen's ship whenever she crossed over to Normandy ; * 7 at Shrivenham the
tenant had to come before the king with two white capons whenever he
passed over the bridge, and say : ' Behold, my lord, these two capons, which
you shall have another time but not now ! ' 28

The tenure by which the manor was held, however, did not affect the
method of its cultivation. The old system of husbandry existing in the
Anglo-Saxon vills continued, to a great extent, in the Norman manors, and
changes were only gradually introduced as knowledge of cultivation increased,
and the need for money led the landholders to pay more heed to the manage-
ment of the soil. As a rule a manor was worked on one of two plans, either
on a two-field or a three-field system ; in the former case half, in the latter
one-third being left to lie fallow each year in order to recover for the
next year's crop. Berkshire furnishes examples of both kinds of estates.
Amongst the ' members ' of the manor of Great Faringdon, Great Coxwell
had three fields, of which two were sown each year with wheat, oats, rye,
barley, and beans ; Little Faringdon had two, the east field of over 200 acres,

K Rentals and Surv. R. 57 (23 Edw. III).

11 Cal. Inq.p.m. Hen. III. 822. Lollendon Manor held by free socage of \d. Add. Ch. B.M. 38561.
Manor of Finchampstead granted for 20 marks a year, 1452. Feudal Aids, i. List of tenants in chief, 14012 ;
manor of Shottesbrook I o marks socage ; manor of Moulsford I o socage.

" Cal. Iny.p.m. Hen. III. 744. " Testa de NeviU (Rec. Com.), 556 (Hen. Ill and Edw. I).

" Cal. of Close, 1323-7, p. 58.

15 Testa de Nevill, 556. Land in Kintbury Hundred ; Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 559. Land in
Faringdon Hundred, &c.

K Assize R. 37 (25 Hen. III). " Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. Ill, 230.

18 Blount, indent Tenures, 280.

2 169 22

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

the west field with a little more than 1 50 ; and Inglesham 29 apparently only
one, a possible though rather primitive system, in which some of the strips
would have to be left unfilled in turn. 30 Woolstone, an estate lying at the
foot of the White Horse Hill, was again a two-field manor, and each year
the rotation was made with fair regularity. 81 Fuller information would
be required to judge whether this form prevailed in one part of the county
more than in another ; probably the nature of the soil was chiefly responsible
for the arrangement. Harwell, another manor on the edge of the Downs,
where sheep-farming would supplement the arable cultivation, had likewise
only two fields ; 82 Beenham, in the more fertile Kennet valley, had three. 83

These open fields in Berkshire were divided into the usual scatter
strips, the number of strips which went to make up the holding of '
tenant being subject to endless variety, although for the villein a virgaf"
half virgate was about the typical amount. These virgates did not al
contain the normal 30 acres, but varied in different localities. In Harwe^
virgate constantly contained 20, occasionally 21 acres. 8 * Much vaguei.
often resulted from this custom of scattered possessions ; a tenant sometime
found that he had, by mistake, sown the strip of his neighbour, or had
even lost one of his bits altogether. 85

Besides the large open fields, each manor possessed meadow land which
was particularly valuable, and constantly reckoned at double the worth of
the arable. 86 This would be held in severally during part of the year, the
division being often effected by lot ; " but after the hay had been carried it
was usually thrown open to the beasts of the villagers.

Of pasture there was no lack in Berkshire. Every tenant could send
out his plough beasts to feed, according to the extent of his arable acres ; 3S
but if he had more than the stipulated number he had to pay extra, and for
other animals slight payments were very generally exacted. Pannage for
pigs was universal ; herbagium, lesselver, horspenny, sheepsilver are all
found in various parts. 89

Throughout the vale of the White Horse, corn was so profitable that
little was done in the way of extensive sheep-farming. At Great Faringdon
one man and one woman were able to shear the lord's sheep between them ;
neither at Inglesham nor at Little Faringdon was a shepherd numbered
amongst the regular manorial servants, though both the Coxwells provided
some sheep each year to the abbot of Beaulieu. 40 On all the Magdalen
manors it is only at Harwell that sheep are specially mentioned." It was
chiefly in the neighbourhood of the Downs that really large flocks were to

" Inglesham is now in Wiltshire. * Cartul. of Beaulieu Abbey, Cott. MSS. B.M. Nero, A. xii.

81 Mins. Accts. bdle. 756, No. 3 ; bdle. 756, No. zz (Woolstone, 1308-9, 1367), &c.

M Berks. Deeds, Magdalen College, Oxford ; Harwell, 4 A. u Ibid. Benham.

34 Ibid. Harwell, 266, 51*, 64^. " Court. R. ptfo. I, 5, 7, No. 64 (Bray, 6 Hen. VI).

M Rentals and Surv. R. 5 (33 Edw. III). At Windsor, when arable was from is. to is. ^d. an acre,
meadow was 2t. Bodl. Lib. Berks. Rolls, i (41 Edw. III). At Shaw, arable was 8</. to u. 3</., meadow, 21.

37 Reading Cartul. B.M. Harl. MS. 1708, fol. 68 ; 'pratum predictum solet singulis annis, partiri per
perticas et distribui per sortes.' Berks. Deeds, Benham, 60, Harwell, 6417.

33 Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 67 (Brightwalton, Z4 Edw. I). Every holder of a virgate might send out two horses
and four oxen ; of a cotagium one horse and two oxen.

59 Scargill-Bird, Custumah of Battle Abbey, 58-71 (Brightwalton, iz83), lesselver of id. yearly for every
animal two years old. Mins. Accts. bdle. 72, No. 14 (Bray, 25, 26 Edw. I) ; Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 12 (Cook-
ham and Bray, 5 Hen. IV), &c.

10 Cartul. of Beaulieu Abbey. " Berks. Deeds, Magdalen College.

170

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

be found. Woolstone was particularly important as a sheep farm, and its
sheep-fold expenses were often extremely heavy ; * 3 Hendred, Blewbury, 43 and
Ashbury, 44 on the north, Brightwalton 45 on the south of the line of hills, all
had considerable flocks of sheep, and in the two latter, washing and shearing
were the most constantly exacted labour services.

In the east of the county the stretches of forest were a great check on
cultivation, since nothing might be cut down, not even a man's private wood,
without special licence ; *' but improvements were made in this respect as
time went on. Mills were very plentiful and very valuable in all parts,
chiefly water-mills, since there was so much water-power to work them.

Of the crops grown, wheat as a rule was the largest, all desiring wheaten
bread if they could afford it ; barley followed closely, a great deal being used
for brewing ; oats, drage, and pulse were also grown ; 47 vineyards existed
here and there (see ante), and there were orchards for the production of cider
and perry. 48 As for the usual stock of animals, we find oxen, cows, sheep, pigs,
and occasionally horses; goats were almost non-existent, geese and ducks are
mentioned occasionally ; cocks and hens were universal and extremely cheap.

The cultivating class on the Berkshire manors contained both free and
unfree, as it did elsewhere, but there was no hard-and-fast line of division
between them, and the lists of tenants kept in the manorial registers were, as
a rule, more concerned with the nature and extent of the holdings than with
the actual status of the occupant. Some tenants, however, are generally
enumerated as freeholders, their distinguishing feature being rent, usually
accompanied by occasional labour services.

The rental of Brightwalton heads its list with ' These hold freely,' and
rent and services follow. Wm. Fulco, who held 14! acres, paid 5^. lod. a
year, and came for the autumn boon-days ; for the first with one man, for
the second with two, and for the third with his whole family ; besides which
he was liable to be required for three days' ploughing during the year. The
* virgarii ' who came after are not expressly called unfree, but their work
was much heavier and also uncertain. There seem to have been very few
distinctly free tenants on this manor ; only six are mentioned in the list we
are quoting, and in the records of the court it is almost always the villeins
who take a prominent part: in 1296 when the chaplain is 'in mercy,' his
pledges are all villeins but one. 49

Some small estates apparently existed without freeholders at all. The
tenants in Great Coxwell all seem to be burdened by servile conditions, and
the cartulary speaks of the meadow land as belonging to the lord and the
villeins ; 60 but, as a rule, there were at least some free tenants, and free land
increased as more assarts were brought under cultivation, and were let out for
money rent.

The number of sokemen in Berkshire was very considerable, so many
manors being ancient demesne of the crown, on which sokemen existed in great

" Mins. Accts. bdle. 756, No. 3 ; bdle. 758, No. 24 (Woolstone, 1308-1477).

43 Reading Cartul. Harl. MS. 1708, fol. l6S6. " Ashmole, Antiq. of Berks. (London, 1722), i.

45 Scargill-Bird, Custumals of Battle Abbey. Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 17 (Brightwalton, 25-26
Edw. III). Three shepherds kept, and a boy to help.

46 Cal. of Close, 1205 ; Hund. R. No. 2, m. 18. " Mins. Accts. For this and for stock of animals.
^ Pipe R. (Pipe R. Soc.), xiii, 135 ; Madox, Hist, of the Exchequer, 251.

49 Maitland, Select Pleas in Manorial Courts (Selden Soc.), 172. " Cartul. of Beaulieu.

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

numbers. 61 These sokemen were not necessarily free ; they might form a class
of privileged villeins, privileged in that they had services rather more certain
in character, 68 and the use of the little writ of right close ; 6S but occasionally
they are expressly designated as * liberi ' and distinguished from villeins how-
ever privileged. In Colecote there were at one time eight free sokemen
owing suit to the hundred court of Kintbury," or as it is elsewhere called
'sectas octo libere tenencium,' emphasizing the idea of sokemen as freeholders.
At Cookham in 1323 the free sokemen give an auxilium of io6j. j\d. while
the custumarii only owe 1 2s. qd. H At Bray, in Henry Ill's reign, the soke-
men are included in the list of free tenants, and they owe rent and boon-work,"
and in 1323 they are called free sokemen, although there are other free-
holders in a more secure position since they hold by charter."

A large number of tenants, however, were betwixt and between the two
classes, and had characteristics of both. 68 The ancient demesne tenants of
Blewbury, after complaining against the services demanded from them by the
abbot of Reading, were judged in the end to be bound to very elaborate
services with a distinct tinge of servitude about them ; they are not called
sokemen however, and were probably privileged villeins, whose privileges
had become a little uncertain and out of date. 6 ' It was decided that the
holder of each virgate, besides paying js. a year, was to cut corn in autumn
for three days, on the first day with four men, afterwards with three, and
they were to have two meals a day provided by the abbot. Three days
carting corn were to follow, also with food and a sheaf of corn each in the
evening. They were also to cart hay until all was carried, receiving a sheep,
cheese, vessel of salt, and 6d. ad potationem. Each was to do manual work
with one man on the day after Michaelmas Day from sunrise to 3 o'clock ;
cutting corn at harvest time was to continue as long as was needful, and
they were to receive for each half-acre cut a sheaf of English measure ; two
plough boon-days, called ' benerthes,' were also owed, and two men were to
be provided for each plough ; they owed suit of court every three weeks and
paid the usual pannage for their pigs. Besides these services they were
bound to other rather typical villein payments : licence for brewing, redemp-
tion of their land ad voluntatem so long as the abbot was not too severe, and
also reasonable merchet. A widow had to give the best beast as a heriot on the
death of her husband, and could keep the whole land if she did not marry
again. Churchset of three hens a week was owed by all, and tallage might
be collected by the abbot whenever the king levied it on his demesne ; it
was not, however, to be arbitrary, but strictly in proportion to their land
and chattels. They were allowed their own sheepfolds on their own lands,
and if they were amerced for any fault it was to be in full court and by four
laymen of the court. Other conditions follow for those with smaller holdings

51 Cf. Vinogradoff, Villainage in England, Essay I, c. 3, &c. Berkshire is a particularly important county for
the study of the very interesting question of Ancient Demesne.

6> Reading Cartul. fol. 227. " Assize R. 38 (Reading, 32 Hen. III).

54 Hund. R. No. 2, m. 20.

" Ct. R. ptfo. 742, No. 6 (Cookham, 16-17 Edw. II).

66 Rentals and Surv. R. 5 1 (Bray, Hen. III).

" Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 6 (Bray, 16-17 Edw. II).

58 A very interesting discussion about a tenant at Winkfield illustrates this. Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.),
84. Cf. VinogradofF, Villainage in England, 89 sq. 201. Pollock and Maitland, Hist, of Eng. Law, \, 366 sq.

69 Reading Cartul. fol. 228^ (12 Edw. I).

172

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

all a curious mixture of servile and privileged. The work, when reckoned
up, comes to very few days a year, and cannot have been of much value to
the lord, when he had provided all the necessary food.

The Berkshire villeins, from the time of Domesday Book onwards the
most numerous of the manorial cultivators, do not seem to have differed in
any marked particular from those in other parts. They often paid some
rent for their land, but chiefly held it in return for labour services, generally
so many days in the week for the week-work was one of the distinguishing
features of servile tenure but in many cases leaving the lord to decide in
what way those days should be employed ; M as time went on, however, it
was usually found more convenient to specify what ploughing, weeding, or
reaping should be done. Legally, too, their tenure was uncertain ; they held
' at the will of the lord.' As a matter of fact the ' custom of the manor ' was
fully as important, and unless they were turned out for some fault, their
tenure was practically permanent, and land was constantly handed down
from father to son in regular succession. 81 Certain conditions were especially
typical of unfree tenure. A villein was bound to the soil, he was not only
given with it, but could not leave it without licence ; * 3 he might not have
his son ordained without leave, for by taking orders he became free ; 63 he
might not sell his ox or horse without the lord's permission ; M and above all
he might not marry his daughter within or without the demesne unless he
paid a merchet to his lord. 65 All these characteristics could be illustrated
again and again from" Berkshire records; constantly, in early times especially,
a grant would be made of a man and all his brood (sequela sua), a term parti-
cularly expressive of the family of a serf ; " a runaway villein could be dragged
back, unless he had been fortunate enough to reach the demesne of the king
himself ; " but he was not a slave, he was not given merely as a chattel apart
from the land, and he would not necessarily desire to escape from the manor
where his means of livelihood were to be found.

Perhaps, of all these, the most certain test of villeinage was the pay-
ment of merchet, and it often appeared as such in the courts. 68 There was
no fixed sum taken for this marriage licence, but the lord probably got what
he could ; 69 indeed, arbitrary payments were another rather typical condition
of villeinage. To be tallaged 'high and low' was a recognized disability,
and on the Woolstone manor the ' tallagium bondorum ' differed from year
to year, and in bad times was once let off altogether. 70 Heriot on death had

60 Scargill-Bird, op. cit. (Brightwalton, 1283). Virgatarii owing week-work are to work from 24 June
to I August at whatever is required.

61 Maitland, Select Pleas in Manorial Courts, 173.

61 Harl. Cart. (B.M.) 45 E. 48., Release of nativus at Balking, 1286 ; ' ut eat quo voluerit et redeat ut
liber homo quiete in pace.'

Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 69 (Brightwalton, 6 Edw. III). M Assize R. 36 (Winkfield, 9 Hen. III).

65 Cartul. of Beaulieu. ' Pro filia maritanda infra et extra libertatem.'

66 Hunter, Feet ofF. \, 98 ; (9 Rich. I). Grant of ' Hugonem porcarium suum de Cliveware cum tota
sequela sua et cum quinque acris terre . . . quas ipse Hugo tenet.'

67 Chronic, de Abingdon, 235 (i 1 54-89). Abbot to have ' omnes natives . . . nisi sunt in dominio meo,
qui fugerunt de terra sua.'

69 Assize R. 36 (Winkfield, 9 Hen. III). Certain tenants, trying to prove their freedom, asserted that
divers sums which they had paid were assized rents and not merchet.

69 Cartul. of Beaulieu. ' Pro filio coronando, et pro licencia recedendi de terra domini et pro filia
maritanda .... faciet finem secundum qualitatem personarum et quantitatem substancie et terre.'

70 Mins. Accts. bdle. 756, No. 3 (1308-9), tallage was z6s. %tl. ; 1325, 101. ; 1334, 30*.; Ct. R.
ptfo. 154, No. 77 (1351), tallage 6s. 8</. relaxed.

173

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

become a common villein payment, but never typically so, since the small
freeholders constantly owed the same. The best beast was the usual form
which the heriot took, and this might vary from a cow worth IQJ. to a little
pig worth is., and in cases of poverty had to be excused altogether; 71 but, as
a rule, the villein possessed animals of some sort, and the creature or its value
was strictly exacted.

The usual names are employed in the Berkshire rentals and cartularies
to describe the unfree tenants. Virgatarii, semi-virgatarii, and^operarii accord-
ing to the extent of their holdings or the principal characteristic of their
tenure ; plenty of instances also occur of the more definite term nativi. On
the manor of Bray some of the customary tenants were called ' hurmanni,'
their rents being entered separately from the rest, although the exact differ-
ence in their position is obscure. 73

The labour services comprised all the usual work necessary for the
cultivation of the estate, and were sometimes extremely elaborate : a good
illustration of these occurs in a description of the tenants of Great Coxwell. 73
The holder of half a hide apparently a villein, since he needs licence to sell
his beasts, to ordain his son, or to depart from the manor, besides being liable
to fill the office of reeve has his work rather curiously entered, according to
the number of animals which he wishes to send to the common pasture. He
pays IO.T. j\d. a year and fifteen sheep at Easter ; if he has an ox or cow
he ploughs for each virgate i acre in return for pasture on the lord's
meadow ; for pasture in * inlonde,' to which his horses, cows, and other
animals, with the exception of sheep, may go from Michaelmas to the
Purification, he ploughs for each beast a quarter of an acre, or in the case of
bullocks half an acre for every three of them ; he must also plough i acre
' ad grasurthe ' for pasturing them on the heath, or more in proportion to
their number ; he also has to thrash and winnow sufficient seed to sow these
acres, which seed he carries to the field on his own beast ; he weeds with one
companion, either for part of the day without food, or for the whole day with
a meal of bread and cheese and water ; and he cuts hay similarly for one day,
when he receives wheaten bread, beer, and either fish or meat, but he must
not carry away any fragments ; he works at making hay for three days, carts
the hay and also three loads of stubble without receiving any provisions ; he
comes with one man for a day's reaping in August, at which they are fed, and
for another day when required to help thatch houses. He owes suit to the
lord's mill, and loses corn if he grinds elsewhere without licence ; and he
may not brew without paying toll for the same. A special note is added to
the effect that he must forfeit his land if the rent and services are not paid ;
but it must have been almost as burdensome to see that these exact conditions
were carried out as to do them ; and commutation probably came, in the end,
as a relief to both parties.

The operarii, on the same manor, owed similar services but more of
them, also elaborately enumerated ; but in many cartularies services are
simply reckoned at so many days in the week according to the season, and

71 Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 77 (Woolstone, 1340). No heriot because no beast.

" Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 6 (Bray, 16-17 Edw. II) ; Rentals and Surv. R. 51 (Bray, Hen. III).
A tenant is ' hurmannus,' and works in autumn on Mondays and Fridays, but does not plough or thrash.
" Beaulicu Cartul.

174

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

the labourer did whatever was required. At Cookham in 1323 there were
1,1 6 1 winter works from 21 virgatarii ; 988 from 13 custumarii, who
worked every Monday and Wednesday, except at certain seasons ; 4 operarii,
driving and holding the plough, did 142 among them ; sowing 101 acres
with spring seed was reckoned as 101 works ; 126 were occupied in carting
manure and 17 in spreading it ; 131 were required for weeding, 170 for
harrowing, while several odd days were spent in carrying straw, fencing,
thatching, and repairing. 7 * It must, however, be noted that the present ex-
ample occurs in the fourteenth century, by which time this method of
enumeration tends to become more general.

Below the villeins, on account of their smaller holdings, came the
cottarii or cotsetli ; subject to similar disabilities and doing similar work.
So numerous in 1086 (if the bordarii are also included), they do not appear
to have been a very large class in later days, although most manors had a few
of them, but they did not fill so important a place as the regular strip-
holders. They were important, however, in a different sense, since they
were the class to which recourse was most frequently had when extra labour was
required. They were often employed by the lord as shepherds or swineherds
at regular pay, or they came to his assistance when he needed additional
labourers at harvest-time to ensure the gathering up of his crops. 75

Examples of cottarii with small holdings and light work occur fre-
quently. At Coxwell there were cottarii who only paid a farthing, * terra
non habentes ' ; 78 at Brightwalton a few had cottages alone, and owed nothing
but rent. 77 There were, however, other cottarii in the same place extremely
like the ordinary villeins, holding as much as half a virgate each, and doing
an amount of work ' at whatever required,' every day but Saturday during
harvest, and three days a week for the rest of the year. They differed from
the virgatarii by neither ploughing, carrying, mowing, nor harrowing ;
evidently they had no beasts of their own and only did manual labour, unless
sent for by the lord to work his own plough. 78

At no time was it possible for a manor to be wholly worked by the
labour services of the customary tenants ; some duties required more
permanent workers, and so from quite early times a few regular labourers are
found, who were kept in food and clothing by the lord, and perhaps paid
something in money also.

The earliest plan was to choose these from amongst the regular strip-
holders, who were then let off their ordinary rent and labour services for the
time. At Bray, In Henry Ill's reign, there were ploughmen, shepherds, and
swineherds, each of whom held half a virgate, and were found herbage and
pasture for their own beasts, while at shearing-time they were given the
'wombesloks' (edges of the fleece). 79 By Edward I's reign these servants
received yearly wages ; the shepherd and carter each had 5^. a year ; the
dairyman 4^. 6d. ; the driver of the plough (minator or fugator) 5^. ; while

" Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 5 (Bray, 13-14 Edw. II) ; ibid. No. 6 (Cookham, 16-17 E ^w. II).

'* Scargill-Bird, Custumals of Battle Abbey. If the lord wants any cottar as his ' carucarius ' he is let off
2S. of rent.

rs Cartul. of Beaulieu Abbey. n Scargill-Bird, Custumals ; cf. Introduction.

78 Ibid. For smaller tenants at Blewbury, holding J virgates and doing manual labour, see Harl.
MSS. (B.M.), 1708, fol. 2283 seq.

78 Rentals and Surv. (Bray, Hen. III).

175

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

the ploughman who held it was paid as much as izs. yd. This does not
represent their whole salary, a great part of the corn grown on the estate
being yearly bestowed upon them. 80 In some cases clothes were provided for
these labourers, more particularly, however, in the case of actual servants
belonging to a monastery or an individual. At Abingdon boots were bought
for the carters and a tunic for the gardener, 81 and everywhere workers fre-
quently had gloves provided for them ; probably some rough kind when they
were employed in hedging, ditching, or similar work. 89

Very often at harvest-time extra work had to be procured and paid for.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries all the inhabitants being expected to
work at this time "there was not much need of hiring, unless the season
required unusual haste in collecting the crops ; occasionally the accounts
contain so much for extra labour ' because it was rainy this year ' ; but as
time went on the practice grew increasingly common. Such extra workers
might be paid by the day or by the job. At Bray, towards the close of the
thirteenth century, thrashing and winnowing were almost always paid for
at so much a quarter ; 83 and in 1 274 the cost of hired work in one year
amounted to 22J. 6\d. M

The manorial system comprised not only the cultivation of the soil but
the general control of justice and supervision of the morals of the tenants.
The court rolls are invaluable for the picture they give of the working of
the manorial constitution ; and it was the fact of being able to appeal to an
entry in a court roll, which did so much to fix the old customary rents and
labour services ; until villeins, holding precariously by the custom of the
manor, developed by degrees into customary tenants holding by copy of
court roll.

There was a great deal of private jurisdiction of an important nature in
Berkshire, owing to the existence of large religious houses, the heads of
which almost always received grants of liberties and franchises, conferring
greater judicial powers than were exercised in the ordinary manorial courts.
Very full rights were granted to the abbots of Abingdon, 85 Reading, 86 and
Hurley Priory ; 87 but such grants represent but partially the privileged courts
which existed by the time of Edward I. At that date it was rare to find
any large manor which did not have a gallows, or where fines were not
inflicted for breach of the assize of bread and beer, for failure to be in
frankpledge or similar offences ; though few churches or nobles could show
the written title or warrant by which they held these rights. 88

Much of the judicial system of the county has, however, to be studied
in the courts of the itinerant justices, before whom were tried the pleas of
the crown.

From Henry IPs reign onwards, the assizes for the settlement of land
cases were actively employed in Berkshire ; especially that of novel disseisin,

50 Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 4 (Bray, 25-26 Edw. I). For similar workers on other manors, see
Scargill Bird, op. cit. ; Cartul. of Beaulieu ; Chron. de Abingdon, App. 3, &c.
81 Kirk, Obedlentlars of Abingdon Abbey, 8, 88.
a Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 19 (Brightwalton, 33-34 Edw. Ill)
Ibid. No. 4 (Bray, 25-26 Edw. I) ; ibid. No. 5 (13-15 Edw. II).

84 Ibid. No. i (Barkham, 2 Edw. I). " Chron. de Abingdon, ii, 173.

16 Reading Cartul. Harl. MSS. 1708, fol. 12.

87 Dugdale, Man. iii, 434 (chart, v). M Hundred R. passim.

176

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

which was used, amongst other things, for settling disputes as to pasture
rights, an endless source of litigation.

In criminal cases the usual procedure was for the neighbouring hun-
dreds to present their pleas of the crown before the justices settled at some
central place, the accused man, as a rule, putting himself ' super patrtam' for
good or ill, after which the decision as to his guilt was made by jurors, as-
sisted in the majority of cases by the four neighbouring vills. Out of five
rolls for Henry Ill's reign, only one instance of wager of battle appears, 89
so that the advantages of the jury system seem to have been at that time fully
realized.

Theft was the most common of all crimes, but murders were frequent,
and often committed by strangers, who were wandering about the country
and not in any tithing. 90 These murders were punished by hanging or by
outlawry ; if you caught your man you hanged him, 91 but as often as not you
could not catch him, so that he was then put out of all protection, and was
liable to be killed by anyone. 92 Flight from justice led to outlawry, whether
the fugitives were guilty or not ; and over and over again suspected men did
fly instead of trying to clear themselves ; in most cases presumably it was
judged rightly to be a real confession of guilt.

Theft was punished as severely as murder, by death and outlawry. If the
thief was caught ' red-handed,' with the stolen property upon him, he was
almost certain to be hanged. 93 The exact value of the property stolen, which
raised a theft into a plea of the crown worthy of outlawry and forfeiture of
chattels, was uncertain ; but one coroner did get into trouble for making a
man abjure the kingdom when he had only stolen coin to the value of 6^. 94

William, of Cookham, who had been captured with four stolen hens, was
only imprisoned at Reading, and later the whole hundred sentenced him to
lose an ear; 95 but this is a very unusual entry. Prisons were not often used by
way of long-continued punishment, but merely for temporary detention, and
this for obvious reasons. The chief characteristic of mediaeval prisons seems
to have been the ease with which they could be quitted ; over and over again
the tithing, or vill, or lord of the criminal was fined because he had escaped
before his trial ; 96 besides to keep a prisoner cost money, 97 whereas to let him
go with a fine was to fulfil the chief aim of justice in those days, namely to
fill the exchequer. If a man were hanged or outlawed his chattels could be
taken, for anything short of that it was most profitable to fine him ; and the
number of fines which could be exacted was extraordinary. When a man
was found dead and the hundred was unable to prove his Englishry, it be-
came responsible for the murdrum The vill again, within whose borders a
corpse was found, thinking to save the ' murder ' fine, might throw the dead

89 Assize R. 36 (Hundred of Ock, 9 Hen. III.)

" Ibid. 27 (Reading, 25-6 Hen. III). Cf. Pollock and Maitland, Hist, of Eng. Law, i, 554. On the
whole subject of crime and its punishment, cf. ibid, ii, caps. 8, 9.

91 Assize R. 27 (Wallingford).

91 Ibid. Question about a man who having confessed and abjured the kingdom, was captured and hanged
after all.

93 Assize R. 38 (32 Hen. III). A man hanged for theft ' eo quod captus fuit cum manuopere.'

94 Ibid. 37 (25 Hen. Ill), Hundred of Ganfield.
94 Ibid. 40 (45 Hen. Ill), Hundred of Theale.
96 Ibid. 38, Hundred of Blewbuiy.

" Cat. of Close R. 1226, p. i 39 ; \d. a day for a prisoner at Windsor.
98 Assize R. 37 (Hen. Ill), Hundred of Button, &c.

2 177 23

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

body into the river or quickly bury it ; but such clandestine action without
view of the coroner entailed another fine." The hue and cry had not been
raised to capture a malefactor, or it had been raised unsuccessfully and the
wrong-doer had escaped ; or it had been raised unjustly without due cause
all such offences were atoned for by a money payment. 100 The fines were
not heavy, but they were certainly numerous.

Two other crimes, besides murder and robbery, had been added to the
pleas of the crown by the reign of Henry III : any sort of tampering with
the coinage involved forfeiture to the king 101 ; and arson was punished with
outlawry and loss of the felon's goods. 10 *

As the courts of the itinerant justices became increasingly active the
lords' courts sank to an inferior place, and were chiefly reserved for the in-
vestigation of rural crimes, for the making of manorial by-laws, and for
punishing bad work on the estate. In the courts the old oath system
' waging law ' long continued ; the offenders constantly put themselves ' ad
/egem.' When their own word was to be supported by oath-helpers they put
themselves on the law to the sixth, seventh, or eighth hand : examples of this
occur as late as the reign of Henry IV. 108

By far the most constant matters brought before the lord's court, and
almost always punished by amercements, were all sorts of rural offences, such
as allowing beasts to trespass on the lands of others 10 * ; overcharging the
common by sending out too many beasts, or those of a wrong sort 105 ; neglect-
ing to come to work when required by the lord, or performing it badly when
actually present. 108 Such offences were very general and committed by all sorts
of people. The vicar of Bourton was fined for letting his sheep go on for-
bidden ground 107 ; the chaplain at Brightwalton was convicted of having
broken the lord's hedges and stolen his fowls. 108 All these cases are of par-
ticular interest as illustrating the working of the by-laws ; that ' body of
rural customary law ' based on manorial regulations and immemorial or
ancient usage which imposed various restrictions and conditions on the con-
duct and cultivation of the villagers. 109

A few crimes of violence come before the lords' courts from time to
time, quarrels between the villeins as a general rule, but if serious they appear
most frequently in the assize rolls ; and in the town courts more is heard of
frays and assaults than in the hallmoots. The Burghmoot roll of Wallingford
is full of curious cases. 110 One man had his house broken into, his horse
carried off, and his wife injured ; the damage to the horse was reckoned at
half a mark, that to the wife only at 2s. (1233.)

Agnes Pain beat a maidservant so severely that she had to lie in bed for
fifteen days, besides tearing her clothes to such an extent that she ' would not

99 Ibid. 38 (Hen. Ill), Hundred of Sutton and Blewbury.

100 Ibid. Hundred of Kintbury, &c. 101 Ibid. Vill of Reading.

101 Ibid. 44 (12 Edw. I), Hundred of Kintbury.
103 Ct. R. ptfo. 54, No. 7 (Colthrop, 5 Hen. IV).

101 Add. Ch. (B.M.), 26814 (Shilton, 20 Edw. Ill), &c.

105 Maitland, Select Pleas in Manorial Courts, 169 (Brightwalton, 1296).

106 Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 69 (Brightwalton, 14 Edw. Ill and 29 Edw. III).
""Add. Ch. (B.M.), 26814 (Shilton, 20 Edw. III).

109 Maitland, Select Pleas in Manorial Courts, 173; cf. Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 56 (Beenham, 4 Hen. VI, &c.)

109 VinogradofT, Growth of the Manor, 185-9.

110 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 572-94 (chiefly I3th century), Documents of Wallingford Corporation.

178

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

have had the damage and disgrace of it for 5^.' Injury done is generally
reckoned in this way. One man was accused of stealing cloth, ' the loss and
disgrace of which he would not have had for one besant.'

Slander was early a punishable offence in the manorial courts. At Bright-
walton a tenant begged the lord's aid regarding slander and injury done to him
by a woman ; but he finally forgave everything ' for the sake of peace,' on
being paid i s. Cursing was much dreaded : Walter Hureur received 6d. com-
pensation because a certain Isabel cursed him (i 233), and this is not at all an un-
usual entry, women generally being the chief offenders in this respect ; and it
was women also who were presented as ' scandal-mongers' and ' common scolds.'

In all these cases fines were the most common solution. At Wallingford
the tumbrel and the cucking stool existed as early as Henry Ill's reign m ; and
failure of service in the manors sometimes involved forfeiture to the lord ; but,
as a rule, the offender was ' in mercy ' : a phrase which implied an arbitrary
amercement, not a fixed and settled fine. It is difficult to find any general
rule as to the amount of these amercements. They were always much heavier
before the itinerant justices than in the manor courts. In the former the fine
for transgressions varied from half a mark to a whole mark or more : the vil-
leins of Steventon had to pay as much as five marks for a false claim, and
individuals owed for the same from half a mark to I OJ. 113 : whereas, in the
Hallmoot of Inglesham, 6</. alone was imposed for this same offence. 113 It was,
however, largely a question of what could be got, and often those who
appeared before the itinerant justices were unable to pay what was required.
This was chiefly the case in disputes as to villeinage : the tenants who failed
to prove their freedom, and were consequently in mercy for the false claim,
had often to be pardoned on account of their poverty. 114

In the manorial courts from zd. to 6d. is the most usual rate, for default
of attendance, abuse of pasture rights, drawing of blood and so forth.

Sometimes an amercement sinks as low as i</. 115 ; occasionally Sd. is exacted
for an offence usually charged much lower, such as breaking the assize of
beer. 116 The rate was doubtless fixed in part by local custom, but also largely
by the capacity of those who paid the fine ; there was, however, some rough
idea of estimating the amount of damage done, and the importance of the
person injured. To assault any ordinary man was 2d., but to assault a bailiff
was 6</. 117 ; to beat a man and to break his teeth was amerced at the compara-
tively large sum of 2J. 118

Certainly, the judicial system was not ideal. The manor courts were
capricious, uncertain and extremely leisurely. Again and again the same
person was summoned, failed to appear, and was given a day at the next
court, or the case was put off for lack of suitors. 119 It was not only in the
lords' courts that suits were postponed. Even in pleas to be tried ' coram rege '
delay was caused ' pro defectu juratorum quia nullus venit,' m or else because
one of the parties to the suit failed to put in an appearance. 181

111 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 580. IU Assize R. 36 (9 Hen. III).

113 Add. Ch. (B.M.) 26814 (Inglesham, 1346).

114 Assize R. 36 (9 Hen. Ill), Villeins of the Abbot of Glastonbury.

115 Add. Ch. (B.M.), 24443 (Woolley, 1378). For cutting down 2 elms.

116 Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 12 (Cookham, 17-18 Rich. II).

117 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 583 (Wallingford, 23 Edw. I).

118 Ct. R.ptfo. 153, No. 67 (Brightwalton, 14 Edw. I). ;19 Ibid. ptfo. 153, No. 64 (Bray, 5 Hen. VI).
110 Placita coram rege, 1297 (Index Library), 156. " R. de Finibus, i, 1 6, 27, 56, &c.

179

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Writs were expensive things too, and only those who were fairly well
off could, at first, afford to put their cases on assizes, and money was often
needed to smooth the way with various officials. When Edward I inspected
the judicial system, he found sheriffs freeing prisoners in return for money, 132
coroners refusing to do their work until they were bribed, 123 and even jurors
receiving presents from the accused in return for swearing in his favour."*

There were weak points also in the method of punishment. Outlaws
were a great danger to the country, until they had * abjured the kingdom.'
Prisons were not only ineffectual, but disgracefully kept. In 1314 the
burgesses of Windsor petitioned that their gaol might be removed, because
they were too poor to keep it properly, so that the accused constantly died
before justice was done, innocent as well as guilty. 136 Even in Reading Gaol,
in the opening years of Richard IPs reign, men were found dead for lack of
food, because no one knew who ought to make provision for the prisoners. 126

Berkshire, however, does not appear to have been at all backward as far
as justice was concerned. On the contrary, the frequent presence of the
king, and his close connexion with many of the manors, introduced rather
more supervision than usual ; and on the church estates the courts, as a rule,
tended to be fairly well managed.

To sum up, the manorial system of Berkshire does not offer, either in
agriculture or in justice, any very peculiar or abnormal features ; but it is an
excellent district for the study of a manor in its typical form. The county
was early feudalized, early in close touch with the king, early furnished with
courts and officials ; the tithing system was universal and well organized ; the
great monastic estates were in good condition, and the whole land prosperous
and fertile according to the ideas of the time. There were no widespread
disturbances to throw the ordinary working of the country out of gear.
The gradual advance which led eventually to the substitution of the modern
farming and industrial system for the manorial estates and mediaeval methods,
can be traced developing, as the growth of knowledge and care for better
cultivation and for greater enterprise both in town and country increased.
But there were also events which helped on, or at least influenced, this gradual
advance ; and these events and the process of this change must now be
considered.

The decay of the old manorial system in Berkshire was very slow and
gradual ; it was long before the free rent-paying tenant and the wage-paid
labourer took the place of the dependent cultivator of early days. There
were the ordinary ways open for the villein to obtain freedom, but these
were not within the reach of all. Some were fortunate enough to have their
freedom given them. In 1286 Robert le Galeys* nativus was granted
liberty to go as a freeman where he would, quietly and in peace, without
claim or impediment henceforth. 127 Some purchased their enfranchisement ;
a nativus at Brightwalton in 1296 gave 2 marks of silver that he might

m Hundred R. No. 2, m. 17.

10 Ibid. Coroner refused to examine a body until he was given 1,000 herrings, although his boy already
had the dead man's tunic (Borough of Abingdon).
124 Ibid. No. 2, m. 17.

115 Tighe and Davies, Annals of Windsor, i, 126. From Par!. R. i, 300.
w Coroners' Rolls, 9 (1-8 Rich. II).
127 Cart. Harl. (B.M.), 45 E. 48, Release of nativus at Balking.

1 80

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

depart freely from his lord's franchise without any claim of naifty being
made against his body hereafter. 128 On the whole, however, the records of
such enfranchisements which survive for Berkshire are extremely few ; and
this was certainly not the normal line of advance for the serf.

The first step for improving the condition of the servile tenants was the
fixing of their services, which although uncertain in theory were in practice,
even in early days, elaborately mapped out and written down. In most cases
they knew at least the number of days they were expected to work, and the
court rolls show that they were ready to make objections if more was
required of them than custom enjoined.

Once fixed these services were often commuted for money. It was
generally the boon days which went first, since they were of very little profit
to the lord, who usually provided food and supervision. The freeholders it
is true are the tenants most constantly found ' buying their services,' but
the villeins early began the same system. In the cartularies and rent-rolls
services are often entered according to their money value, and although this
did not always mean that money was paid for them, it facilitated commuta-
tion when required. The usual practice at first was not to commute for
good and all, but to sell a certain number of works from year to year, probably
as it suited the convenience of the lord. Thus the money received for
relaxation of work varies in different years, but it became a very regular
custom from Edward I's reign onwards. At Barkham in 1 274 commuted
labour services and dues were entered at i 51. 9!^., in 1276 they amounted
to i I9 J - 8*/. 129 The Ministers' Accounts for the manor of Bray give a good
example of this growing practice of selling work, and of the fluctuations to
which it was subject. Bray was a large manor and quantities of labour
services continued to be rendered at the same time, both by villeins and free
sokemen. In 1297 for labour services relaxed the receipts were 3 %s. 4^/. lso ;
in Edward II's reign these amounted to 3 i$s. id. in one year, to 3 5-r. gd.
in another. 131 At Cookham, in the same reign 157 works were sold for
6s. 6\d. only \d. each. 133 Certainly a day's work under the conditions it
involved was not looked upon as very valuable.

The other line of advance which could be followed, whether services
were translated into money or not, turned upon the habit of writing down
upon the rolls of the manor the conditions of tenure, concerning which any
dispute had arisen, or at the time when a new tenant was taking up the
holding. This was a useful plan for the settlement of future difficulties, and
when a tenant appealed to the court rolls for a decision as to his tenurial
obligations an important step was taken in the formation of a new copyhold
tenure.

No very early instances of this appear in the Berkshire records, but by
the fourteenth century it was becoming common. In 1338 at Brightwalton a
case was settled without inquest because the services were written down. A
woman who had claimed to owe no work for four years after her husband's

118 Maitland, Select Pleas in Manorial Cts. 175 (Brightwalton, 1296). Cf. Mins. Accts. bdle. 787, No. iz
(Woolstone, 1387-8). A woman gave 30^. to be quit of all 'jugo servitutis.'
"' Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. I (Barkham, 1274-6).

130 Ibid. bdle. 742, No. 4 (Bray, 25-26 Edw. I) '" Ibid. bdle. 742, No. 5 (Bray, 13-15 Edw. II).

131 Ibid. bdle. 742, No. 6 (Cookham, 16-17 E ^w. II). Cf. Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 69 (Brightwalton
14 Edw. III). Labour services sold for 9*. 6d.

181

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

death, lost the claim because no such custom appeared on the rolls. 133 By this
date such entry of services was evidently becoming a recognized plan, since
in 1346 a tenant at Shilton newly entering a tenement to be held 'according
to the custom of the manor,' paid 2s. to the lord pro irrotulamento isfo. By
1378 to hold 'by copy of the court' had become a definite tenure, and
appears by the side of free tenure by charter. 135 It was of course quite
possible to hold different kinds of land ; and J. Rose at Woolley held one
croft by charter, another by copy ls8 ; and the copyhold might be held by rent
alone as well as by fixed service. On all sorts of estates copyhold tenure
grew apace, until by the close of the fifteenth century the greater number of
the customary tenants held ' by copy of court roll,' and a minority ad
voluntatem sine copia. By this time also the tenure was recognized by the
regular tribunals, and the copyholder could maintain an action of trespass
against his lord.

Though both the commutation of services and growth of copyhold
tenure marked an improvement in the villein's position, neither made any
direct break in the system of manorial cultivation. Indirectly, however, the
commutation of services led to a very great change, since the lord needed to
supply the labour which he had relaxed from some other quarter ; and the
villeins, on their side, needed to earn money wherewith to buy their inde-
pendence. The increase in the number of hired labourers had made con-
siderable progress before the Black Death devastated the county, and the
amount paid for extra work was becoming an important item on some estates.
At Barkham when labour services were relaxed to the value of i 5^. 9J</.,
the expenditure for ploughing, weeding, and carrying the produce, together
with some haymaking work, came to i zs. 6\d. ; and the next year when
rather more labour services had been sold, i js. lod. of extra labour was
needed. 137 At Bray, where as we have seen a good many labour services were
still performed, and quite a large staff of permanent servants ploughmen,
shepherds, carters, &c., were kept, some work was commuted each year, and
a very considerable amount was hired from 1307 onwards. For some reason
or other, the thrashing on this manor was always done in return for money,
otherwise the hiring was chiefly to obtain extra work at harvest-time. The
uncertainty of this sort of work, and the idea still that it was only an
expedient, not an established system, is shown by the fact that after continuous
entries as to extra money expended, in 1313 only thrashing was paid for,
the rest of the work having been apparently completed for once by the
customary tenants. 138 Coleshill, to take an example from a different part of
the county, exhibits similar features. In 1337 thrashing and winnowing were
paid for at so much a quarter, some meadows were mown at %d, an acre, and
the cost of extra labour amounted altogether to as much as 5 13^. 3J*/. 139
Unfortunately the accounts throw little light on the character of these
hired labourers, as to whether or not they were simply tenants doing extra
work, or landless men from other counties. In most cases they were pro-
bably cottars, or villeins with few labour days imposed ; but at harvest-time

133 Ct. R. ptfo. 152, No. 69 (Brightwalton, 12 Edw. III).

134 Add. Chart. (B.M.), 26814 (Shilton, 1346). 135 Add. R. (B.M.), 24444 (Wolveleye, 1378).

116 Ibid. 137 Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. I (Barkham, 1274-6).

138 Ibid. (Bray, 16-17 Edw. II). 139 Ibid. (Coleshill, 10-11 Edw. III).

182

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

there were generally bands of men wandering about to seek extra work,
and the crimes committed by vagrants, and men who belonged to no tithing,
show that there was a certain amount of circulation despite the strictness of
the vagrancy laws and the dislike of strangers. 1 * The attempts to check the
practice of hiring men from outside, to the disadvantage of the residents, is
shown by a by-law passed by all the tenants of Bright walton in 1330, to
the effect that no stranger should be received in autumn for corn harvest, and
that no one belonging to the liberty should work outside without licence. 141

The advance in this direction, however, was less marked in this county
than was the growth of the class of rent-paying tenants. There was a good
deal of rent-land from the first, chiefly amongst the freeholders, but not
exclusively so, and though much of this rent was rendered in food, 142 it is
usual to find also money payments on every manor. On the Abingdon
estates, as early as the twelfth century, more cottarii held ad geldum than
ad opus, and the villeins with half hides paid quite large sums, some as much
as 7/., in addition to their work ; and in one manor Easton there appears
to have been no private demesne at all, and therefore no demand for labour. 143
At Brightwalton in 1253 quite a number of cottarii held at rent alone. 144

The chief way in which the number of rent-paying tenants increased
was by the letting out by the lords of assarts, pieces of waste or clearances in
the forest, invariably granted for money, and forming separate holdings de-
tached from the open fields. The villeins constantly augmented their posses-
sions, since the rents of these assarts were usually very low, and they came to
hold tofts and crofts as well as their scattered strips. 145 That this new property
lay outside the ordinary manorial scheme is shown by the fact that no assart
rent was relaxed, as were the payments from ordinary strips, if the owner had
to take up the office of reeve or other similar employment ; U6 the assize rents
being the result of new arrangement, not subject to the same rules as
customary dues and services. This terra assiza, distinguished at first from
free land by not being held by charter, and not being protected by the king's
courts, came in practice, as time went on, to be regarded as free, though
held, of course, by either free or villein. 147

Partly owing to these assarts, partly owing to the development of culti-
vation, the custom of inclosing began to spread more and more on manorial
estates, not only for the short period when meadow-land was held in severally, 148
but as a permanent arrangement. As early as the 'reign of Henry III signs
of small inclosed holdings appear from time to time. In Beenham a plot of
land, inclosed, ditched, and hedged, paid an annual quit-rent of two capons, 1 * 9
and in West Compton a dispute arose about a hedge which the defendant
had put upon his own separate land, where no one could pasture against his
leave ; judgement, however, went against him and it was destroyed. 150 As a

140 Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 69 (Brightwalton, 14 Edw. Ill) ; ^d. amercement for receiving a Londoner even
in autumn. "' Ibid.

IU Chron. de Abingdon, ii, 149. IU Ibid. App. 3 ; Consuetudines Abbendoniae.

144 Scargill-Bird, Custumali, 58-71 (Brightwalton, 1283).

J4S County Placita, Berks, bdle. 48, No. 2 (Windsor Forest, 9 Edw. II). 80 acres at \d. an acre to be
brought under cultivation. 300 acres of heath likewise at \d. an acre. <8 Scargill-Bird, Ctutumals.

147 Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 5 (Bray, 13-15 Edw. II). 'Detoto redditus assisi tarn liberorum quam
custumariorum.'

48 Ibid. Tenants had to make hurdles as one of their customary services.

149 Berks Deeds, Magd. Coll. Beenham, 60 (1240-60). 1M Assize R. 37 (Reading, 25 Hen. III).

183

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

rule it was the lords who first ventured to begin this practice of inclosing,
sometimes on their own demesne ; m more frequently when they appropriated
some of the waste land, 152 either to form a private park, 163 or to rent it out in
small pieces to their tenants. 154

Simultaneously with these new developments, a class of leasehold tenants
began to be formed. Not only were the manors themselves occasionally let
out at farm for a certain number of years, but within the manor, tenants
often had small holdings granted to them for life or a term of years as the
case might be. These leasehold tenements increased more rapidly later, but
the practice was already becoming usual before the Black Death. 155

From all this a general idea can be obtained of the stage in economic
advance which the county had reached by 1348, and before the great shock
sustained by the whole country from the sudden loss of almost half the
population, an event bound to have some effect on rural conditions, although
the extent of its influence has frequently been exaggerated.

Whatever else it did, the Black Death did not introduce the system of
rent or wages, or leasehold farms ; although it must be clearly understood
that all these changes were only in process at the time of the plague, not
yet fully worked out. In 13478 serfs were still being given away with all
their following and chattels; 168 they were still known as natvui domini 1 but
growing discontent with old disabilities was very wide-spread. Over and
over again we find villeins in trouble for not doing their work properly, 158 for
sending insufficient substitutes instead of coming themselves, 169 for trying to
shake off their duties altogether. 160 There was a marked reluctance to
undertake the burden of villein services. In Brightwalton fines were often
paid for permission not to take land in villeinage from the lord ; in one case
a man was finally elected and forced to take it, being let off the entry money
in consideration of his reluctance. 161

The old state of things was evidently bound to be swept away, but there
was no reason to think that its destruction would be rapid.

Even before the outbreak of plague, Berkshire does not appear to have
been in a very prosperous condition, to judge from an 'inquest' taken in 1342
to estimate the value of the ninth of corn, wool, and lambs. 162 One reason of
this was only temporary, namely, that there had just been a great deal of
disease amongst the sheep owing to a particularly hard winter, and the Lent
corn had failed, possibly from the same reason. All along the Thames valley
complaints were made of this Tilehurst, Basildon,Streatley, Cholsey, and Wal-
lingford had all equally suffered, besides the higher lying lands near Brightwalton
and Ashbury. There seems to have been pretty wide-spread poverty in other
parts also ; in Wargrave the parishioners were too poor to cultivate, at Henley

141 Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. I (Barkham, 4-5 Edw. I).
Ia Hund. R. No. 2 m. 1 8 (Bray, 4 Edw. I) ; Ibid. m. 19.

155 Ash. MS. Bodl. Lib. 860, fol. 130 (9 Edw. III). Leave given to two men 'imparcare boscos suos de
la Beche et Yatingden.'

154 Ibid. 833, fol. 336, 337 (27-33 Edw - l )> &<=.

155 Berks D. Harwell, $\b (1301) ; Ibid. Beenham, 84 (1349), Harwell, 132, 170, &c.

156 Ibid. Tubney, 66 (1347) ; Tubney, 68 (1348).

167 Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 69 (Brightwalton, 13 Edw. Ill), &c.

158 Ibid. 154, No. 43 (South Moreton, 10 Edw. III).

159 Ibid. J. Faber in mercy for sending a boy to plough in his place.

180 Ibid. ptfo. 153, No. 69 (Brightwalton, 12 Edw. III). A great many works 'subtracted.'
161 Ibid. I0 Inj. Nonarum (Rec. Com.).

184

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

there was great lack of tenants, Lambourn, Boxford, Ilsley all complained of
poverty and the departure of the cultivators, while some gave as the reason
for their distress the heavy extortion and great aids they had paid to the king.
Hay, however, was apparently more successful, and several places give as the
reason of the smallness of their returns the fact that so much of the land
' stands in hay.'

The belief, however, that 1 342 was an exceptionally bad year, and that
things were looking up again before 1348, is supported by a consideration of
the profits made upon the manor of Woolstone, for which a most excellent
series of Ministers' Accounts fortunately exists.

In 1336 the receipts from the estate amounted to 79 2s. $d. 16S (already
a decline, for in 1332 they had risen as high as 114 4 J - 7^0 '> m : 34 2 they
sank to 58 13^. 8j*/., being 2s. less than the expenses; but by 1345 (the
last year before the plague of which an account is given) they had gone up
again and were reckoned at ^76 12s. i</., 164 leaving in hand a balance of
4 6s. $d., a modest sum certainly, but much on the level of preceding years.
The mediaeval manor was not generally expected to return great profits, but
simply to provide requisite food and clothing.

Berksh.' V, immediately before the years of plague, was probably in a
condition ne\ther of great prosperity nor of unusual distress, but more or less
normal, and therefore any signs of great misery which thereafter appear may
fairly be put down as resulting from that great disaster.

There are few means of judging the extent of the calamity in Berkshire,
or the actual number of deaths. There are gaps in the Court Rolls and
Ministers' Accounts just during those years when the disease was probably at
its worst. At Woolstone the records of the court cease apparently between
1348 and 1352, and we have no Ministers' Accounts preserved for a still
longer period, namely between 1345 and 1352; at Brightwalton similarly
there is a break in the Court Rolls between 1344 and 1350. This may be
merely a coincidence, but it is at least an interesting one.

Here and there a few hints can be gathered from the records to show
that there must have been pretty wide-spread mortality. In Newbury a
tanning mill was so busy before the pestilence that even a twelfth part of it
was worth 26s. 8</., but afterwards nothing 'on account of it.' 185 At Woolstone
tallage of the villeins, as high as 6oj. in 1347, sank to 23^. ^d. in 1348, and
in 1351 the whole homage only owed 6s. 8</. and this the lord relaxed. 166
Tallage being an uncertain quantity in any case is not a really satisfactory
test, but there must have been some very good reason for so great a drop as
that. It was at Woolstone again in 1352 that 13 J virgates were in the lord's
hands ' causa pestilationis nuper accedentis.' 1 * 1

Some idea of the effects of this great mortality may be gathered from a
more detailed comparison of the state of this one manor of Woolstone before
and after the event, taking the two years 1345 and I352. 168

The assize rents remained exactly the same ; whatever changes there may
have been in their holders, there had been no difficulty in letting out this

163 Mins. Accts. bdle. 756, No. 10. IM Ibid. No. 1 1.

'" Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 37. Quoted in Money's Hut. efNctvbtiry, 148.
166 Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 77, ptfo. 154, No. 78.

1H Mins. Accts. bdle. 756, No. 12 (Woolstone, 1352). 168 Ibid. No. II.

2 185 24

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

kind of land. The defects of work had increased enormously, however,
from i6/. \d. to 55^. iod., probably on account of deaths ; and there are
repeated entries in 1352 as to tenements once belonging to such and such a
man now let out to a new tenant, often with freedom from work for a year,
as though the land had fallen into bad condition and would need time and
trouble before it recovered. Some of these new occupiers held ' at the
will of the lord,' but others at firm or for a term of years, showing the
tendency of leasehold property to increase. A certain villein toft also, for
which herbage was due, had now fallen into the lord's hands and been sold
again pointing to the disappearance of those who before had need of it.
Then follows a long list of relaxed works, which do not appear at all in the
former account, these now amounting to the considerable sum of 6 gj. q\d.

The sale of corn in 1352 only fetched ^8 ijs. id. as against 33 I3J. 2d.
in the earlier year. Beasts did rather better, stock-raising would not require
so many labourers as tillage, but even the profit from the sale of stock is very
much less than in 1345 ; >C39 5 s - l ^- then, later only 28 6j. i id. The
regular labourers still earned as much as 51. for the year, but two women had
to be hired at 2d. a week for milking the ewes ' in defect of the customary
tenants who are dead and their lands in the lord's hands.' Washing and
shearing the sheep had also to be paid in money for the same reason.

Then come the expenses for extra labour : weeding and mowing, which
before was all done by the tenants, except that the place of one who did not
work had to be supplied, was now wholly hired ; 1 5^. ^.d. was paid for hay-
making ' in defect of the custumarii.' Thrashing and winnowing were paid
for as before at zd. a quarter for thrashing and \d. for winnowing. Autumn
expenses in the purchase of food were very similar ; possibly the boon days
still continued, or in any case the hired labourers needed food during their
work, but there is an addition as to reaping ad tascham, ^d. an acre being
paid for pulse and barley, ^d. for wheat.

The amount of corn from the two open fields was exactly three times as
much in 1345 as in 1351, and the stock of beasts was just slightly diminished
in the latter year except in the case of lambs, of which there were thirteen
more. The total number of sheep in 1345 was 523, in 1252, 401, although
the live stock of the farm was more important here than the arable crops.

Despite all this evidence of decline the total receipts had not sunk so
much as might have been expected, being 61 19^. q^d. with a margin after
the expenses were paid of about 3 zs., while in 1345 the receipts were
only 76 I2J. nd. and the expenses 72 6s. \d. They were to sink a few
shillings lower yet in 13 54,"' and then from 1355 to pick up again very
gradually, though with a few fluctuations, until in 13756 a very bad year
threw things back to almost the condition of 1352, since from a total of
82 1 3-r. i\d. in the preceding year, the receipts had now fallen to 63 qs. jd.

In 1354, despite the low receipts, things were evidently beginning to
improve. Tallage was again paid, though it was only ios., and the 13^
virgates which had lapsed to the lord on account of the pestilence, once
more found tenants ; but it is significant that they were now let out at
rent, and also that even more works were relaxed than in 1352, the sum
paid in commutation amounting to 8 2s. yd.

169 Mins. Accts. bdle. 756, No. 13. 1 ' Ibid. No. 13.

1 86

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

The effects of the plague were, therefore, very marked, and there is no
reason to think that Woolstone was an exception to other manors ; indeed,
lying as it does on the edge of the Downs, and having so large a stock of
sheep and other animals, it probably suffered less than some of the more
purely arable estates.

The Ministers' Accounts for Brightwalton in 1352 present similar
features, 171 although, unfortunately, there are none existing just before the
plague to offer a chance of comparison. There were many tenements which
paid no rent ; extra labour had to be obtained praeter opus et consuetu-
dines ; fifteen cottage holdings which had always owed three days' work a
week at harvest time did nothing this year ' because all were in the lord's
hands.'

Thus the first impression obtained from a study of these estates is that the
Black Death did a great deal to accelerate the process of emancipation, that
there was a large increase in consequence both of wage-paid labourers and
rent-paying tenants, while the lords had to yield to a great extent to the
wishes of their tenants, who were all anxious to overthrow the old condition
of things. But here great care is needed to guard against error. All these
results were visible immediately after the visitation, but it is a very different
matter to say that such results were permanent, and that the Black Death
effected a really great revolution in the villeins' position.

To return to Woolstone. Even by 1361 the manor seems to have fallen
back very much into its old condition. The receipts were not high, but
the expenses had been reduced in proportion, and the balance to the good
amounted to between 9 and >io. The dairy- women who had been
hired extra since 1352 were this year given up, because their work was
once more done by the customary tenants. There were no expenses for
weeding, and only a few for mowing ; even some of the thrashing and
winnowing was done ' per opera custumaria ' ; and only 1 8j. 6d. was ex-
pended upon hirelings, most of the labour being performed by the regular
workers, for whom supplies of food were bought in large proportions. A
typical example of the temporary character of much that appeared like
real change is given by two payments made this year. One man for $s.
has leave to work outside the demesne for a year ; another was allowed for
is. to hold a piece of land at rent, only until some one was ready to take it up
again for labour services. 173 By 1370 relaxed works, which had once risen to
13 6s. 8</., now fell to jTS ^.s. ; and in 1372 the tallagium bondorum
had risen to 3 2s. Then there were plenty of real servile dues exacted :
6s. $>d. for merchet ; 13^. 4^. for sending a son to school and having him
ordained ; 173 in 1374 a nativus was given leave to live outside the demesne in
return for 1 3^. 4</., but he was to give a horse-shoe a year to his lord as a
recognition of his suzerainty. Woolstone evidently had not advanced to any
very great extent when all is told ; the pendulum had swung a little far, but
now it was settling down again.

Brightwalton was the same. Indeed the changes there were perhaps
rather less marked, and the reaction consequently came sooner. In 1355
ten virgatarii had to work every other day during the summer ; a new cottar

171 Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 17 (Brightwalton, 25-26 Edw. III).

171 Ibid. bdle. 756, No. 17 (Woolstone, 35 Edw. III). Irs Ibid. No. 23.

187

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

tenant agreed for thirteen days' labour at the same period ; from i August to
Michaelmas as many as five days a week were due from virgaters and cottars
alike ; 351 acres were sown this year, and none 'pro denariis.'

One place does show a real and permanent change about this time, and
that is Windsor. In 1369 a special' arrentation ' was made there by William
of Wykeham and others, and all the old villein services were commuted for
money. 17 * Perhaps this would have come in any case ; royal tenants were always
privileged, and the practice had long prevailed to a smaller extent, but the
date tempts one to consider that the upset of the Black Death and the grow-
ing dislike of the villeins to labour services led to this special arrangement.
In any case a really sweeping alteration was made, and lands were now leased
out for life or years or held at fee-farm for money rent, and all the dues and
services ' tam nativorum quam liberorum ' were extended ' in denarios.' It is
only in Old Windsor that a definite description is given of the various
services from this time abandoned. Most of the works had been devoted to
reaping of these there were 158 ; hay-making of all kinds, including the
carting, came to 52^; there were 14 hoeing labours, and 18 of carting
manure and spreading it on the land. Their value when commuted was
2 gs. 6%d., almost ^\d. each, which was a good deal for those days.

In New Windsor the new rents came to as much as j \^s. y%d.,
which represented a good deal of work owed before. All land in these manors
was now held at so much an acre, meadow for 2J., arable land varying from
is. to is. 8d.

Windsor, however, was an exceptional place ; elsewhere there are abun-
dant signs that villeinage was still a very living tenure ; the labourers had not
been able to enforce their will for more than a very short period, while the
diminution of their numbers really gave their services a monopoly value.

Similarly, the effect of the Black Death on prices appears to have been
of a transitory character. Temporarily they went up, all the ordinary com-
modities of life being much augmented in value ; but by the beginning of
Richard II's reign they had returned to the old rate or less.

At Woolstone prices were low in 1345 compared with what they had
been in 1308, but in 1352 things were a great deal dearer than in either of
these former years, judging from those articles which appear in the accounts.
Wheat, instead of being from 3^. \d. to %s. 8d. a quarter, was from 9^. to los. ;
barley had gone up from 2s. %d. or 2s. lod. to 6s. ; vetch, which was 2s. \d.
a quarter in 1345, was only sold by the bushel in 1352, and the bushel
fetched as much as Sd. (5J. 4^. the quarter). By 1379, however, wheat
had sunk to 4^. Sd. or 6s ; barley to 2s. 6d. or 2s. 8d. ; other grains un-
fortunately are not given. Sheep are the only animals of which the price
appears in all the years. They were is. after shearing in 1345, is. ^d. in
1352, and is. 2d. in 1379 not a very great difference; hens had risen
to 2</., but went back to the more common price of id. in 1379.

The Woolstone accounts do not give sufficient data to judge whether
the rate of wages was much enhanced by the diminution in the number
of labourers ; certainly the two figures which are given, namely ^d. an
acre for reaping barley and 4^. for wheat, were higher than the lawful
amount according to the Statute of Labourers of I3oo, 175 which tried to

171 Rentals and Sun'. R. 5. (33 Edw. III.) 17S Statutes of the Realm (Rec. Com.).

1 88

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

enforce the rule that all corn should be reaped at zd. during the first
weeks of August, and 3^. afterwards, without any food being supplied in
addition. Wages, however, always varied considerably from place to place,
and will need more complete consideration later.

On the whole, then, the effects of the Black Death in Berkshire were
severe rather than lasting. The villeins who had already shaken off their
services profited by the amount of work which was procurable, and the
high rate of pay which, for a time at least, they could command : on
the other hand those who were still tied down to their old customary
services were liable to be treated with increased strictness, since the lord
wanted all the work done for him that was possible on the old terms, and
when population began to recover again the old terms would be pretty
generally enforced.

One thing, however, is certain : the discontent which already existed
was distinctly enhanced. Those who had once worked for wages did not
want to return to labour services ; those who were still bound to work
envied their more fortunate neighbours, and strove to imitate their position.

It was one constant struggle between lord and tenant. If the lord
did not relax their work, his villeins escaped to some other manor where
they were sure of finding employment, and it was not always so easy to get
them back. The constant injunction in the court rolls for the tithing
to produce such and such a villein who had left the demesne, repeated from
year to year apparently without any result, gives the impression that his
fellows sympathized with the defaulter.

The close of the reign of Edward III and the opening years of that of
Richard II are full of examples which show this increasing independence on
the part of servile tenants, and point to the coming storm.

The court rolls of Coleshill in 1377 are extremely interesting from
this point of view. 178 Henry Jordan was in mercy, because not only did he
refuse to do his work for the lord, but he reaped his own corn at the time
of the great ' bedrip.' Thomas Jordan possibly a brother went and dis-
turbed those who were performing their proper boon work. Robert Sym-
mings, a nafivus, had left the demesne, and the whole homage was in mercy
for not producing him. The hay on six acres of meadow was all spoilt because
the villein whose business it was to cart it never put in an appearance. All
the tenants who used to work in autumn did nothing this year on account of
the great grumbling (magnum rumorem) amongst the other serfs : only one
solitary carter carried the lord's corn as well as his own. The lord here, at
least, is trying to maintain his authority ; he cannot always retain his villein,
but he can at least seize his property. The land naturally came into the
lord's hand : the villein was content to become a landless labourer rather than
stay on the estate, but goods and chattels also were forfeited to the lord on
failure to fulfil the conditions of tenure. At Coleshill the peasants were
obviously ready for revolt. Other manors, on the contrary, were continuing
a very even and uneventful course. At Woolstone the lord sold a good deal of
work just before the revolt (13789 relaxations amounted to 40 $s.), 177 and
the villeins appear to have kept fairly quiet, despite the fact that tallage and

Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. i (Coleshill, I Ric. II).

177 Mins. Accts. bdle. 757, No. 6 (Woolstone, 1378-9).

189

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

merchet were still being exacted. There is no doubt, however, that any shock
so great as the Black Death must have tended to throw things out of gear,
and if once that happens agitation is very likely to follow. The Peasants' Re-
volt came for many reasons, political as well as social ; but in Berkshire there
are a good many signs that villein services, whether never relaxed or freshly
imposed, were galling the cultivating classes beyond endurance, and that they
sought to accelerate the changes which were coming slowly but surely in the
natural course of events. Another point to notice is that the period of revolt
was not one of special distress ; manors were distinctly more flourishing than
in the previous reign, wages were tending to go up and prices to go down ;
the rising would probably not have taken place had the labouring classes been
in very great poverty, and it was the improvement in their material condition
which made them all the more hostile to control of any sort, whether it took
the form of statutes of labourers, exorbitant taxation, or seigniorial oppression.

Berkshire was not one of the counties which took a really leading share
in the Peasants' Rising of 1381. Richard Wallingford, constable of the
castle, acted as Wat Tyler's lieutenant ; but within the county itself, though
there was evidently some support given, it was nothing like that from Essex,
Kent, Cambridge, and other parts. In 1381, when commissioners were
empowered in all the disturbed counties to arrest rebels, those in Berk-
shire were only specially told to lay hands on seven men in Abingdon,
insurgents against the king. 178 In December of the same year there was a
fresh commission to preserve peace, to arrest those who congregate in un-
lawful assemblies or make insurrections, and to put down rebels with armed
force if necessary. 179 All was not quiet even after that, for in March, 1382,
this order for the suppression of meetings was repeated, and the posse comitatus
was to be employed in case of need. 180 All this shows that Berkshire was
stirred to some extent at least, and the court rolls have already proved that
the villeins were tinged with the new ideas and were galled by the old
restrictions. What results may be ascribed to this effort at emancipation
by force ? The promises which lulled the insurgents to quiet were of course
revoked ; but did the agitation help on in any way the movement towards
freedom and the decay of the old system, or did the lords enforce with more
vigour than ever the obnoxious services ?

Certainly there was no immediate and marked change. The Ministers'
Accounts, on some manors at least, show no trace whatever of the event.
At Woolstone the estate continues to be worked exactly on the same lines
and with similar results. 181 The defects of rent in 13812 were exactly the
same as in 137980. The exits of the manor, mostly relaxed work, only
differ by a few shillings ; the tallage of the villeins is 2OJ-. instead of 23^ $d.
There are rather more acres mowed by hired labourers at harvest than in the
previous year, 91 as against 68, but they are paid at a lower rate, roughly
Afd. an acre instead of 5J</., in any case higher than the very low allowance
of the Statute of Labourers; one thing looks as though times were rather bad,
and that is the very small number of acres sowed in the open fields. (For
some reason or other, this particular manor was distinctly going down in
value, and the receipts steadily sank all through the fourteenth century.

"' Cal. of Pat. 1381-5, p. 72. 17t Ibid. p. 86. I80 lbid. p. 141.

181 Mins. Accts. bdle. 757, No. 7 (Woolstone, 1379-80) ; ibid. bdle. 757, No. 8 (Woolstone, 1381-2).

190

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

The year 13812 was not a particularly bad one, but 13834 shows a distinct
drop, and this was never recovered. The receipts, which in 1308 were
101 $s. z\d.^ were only 49 os. $\d. in 1400 ; but the profits were never
large at any time, and the receipts barely covered the expenses.)

The year 1382 shows the lord of the manor at Coleshill still endeavour-
ing to enforce old services; 182 even new land was let out for villein rent and
services 'to do all as the other customary holdings' ; in 1389 we still read
of nativi sa nguinis ; in 1422 merchet was still being exacted ; 18S in 1438 land
was not only held by the custom of the manor, but at the will of the lord. 18 *

In Brightwalton after the revolt there are plenty of instances of servile
fealty, of new grants at old service, of merchet and heriot and villeinage by
blood (6 Henry IV). 186 Proofs that villeinage was far from dead can be
collected from all over the country, right on through the reigns of Henry V
and Henry VI. A man and his wife at North Moreton were claimed to have
been villeins of the manor time out of mind; 186 in 1410 at Inglesham an
inquiry was made into all the nativi domini; in 1470 at Shilton a man was fined
for taking two trees which grew on his servile tenement ; 187 in 1463 a grant
was made of 'all the lands and tenements, serfs and their chattels and follow-
ing,' which the grantor possessed in Tubney, Frilford, Abingdon, Uffington,
and Dench worth ; 188 and such examples could be multiplied to any extent. But
although the peasants failed although they did not gain their freedom, nor
shake off their services, nor acquire land at ^d. an acre, they did succeed in
teaching the lords a lesson. The rising showed that the villeins were no
longer chattels who could be treated without consideration, and above all
that unwilling work was most uneconomical and far more trouble than it
was worth. It was this really which brought about the change ; the villein
was freed only by a gradual economic revolution, and it was the desire to
improve cultivation which made the lords drop the old services and resort
to paid labour instead. Still, the Peasants' Revolt did help on this revolution,
and although no very visible change came immediately, every year afterwards
showed signs of development. The same documents which give evidence
of old survivals illustrate also the slow process towards new methods ; and
it is from 1381 onwards that this process is most conspicuous.

To return to Woolstone, which seemed so little affected at the time of
the revolt. In 1383-4 only 56 acres out of 132 were reaped by hired
labourers, and they were given 6d. an acre ; 189 in 13923, at the same rate of
pay, 1 14 were reaped out of 164 ; 19 in 1407 and 1408 the rate of reaping
wages sank to 4^. an acre for some reason or other, about the same propor-
tionate amount was hired, and the sixteen custumarii who had been hitherto
working were now reduced to twelve. 191 This sort of proportion continues
more or less till 1457, wnen the manor was leased for seven years. 193 There
was still some customary work at that date, but less food was bought

181 Ct. R. ptfo. 1 54, No. i (Coleshill, 5 Rich. II).

163 Ibid. bdle. 154, No. 2. 1M Ibid. bdle. 154, No. 3.

166 Ibid. 153, No. 70 (Brightwalton, 2 Rich. Il-io Hen. IV).

186 County Placita, No. 19 (12 Hen. IV). "'Add. Chart. (B.M.), 26814.

58 Berks Deeds, Magd. Coll. (Tubney 1 1).

1S9 Mins. Accts. bdle. 757, No. 9. The number of acres they reaped is less than in the year immediately
after the revolt, when the lord had to pay for the reaping of 91 acres ; evidently the landowners were still
keeping up the customary work while they could.

190 Ibid. bdle. 757, No. 15. I91 Ibid. bdle. 757, No. 21. I91 Ibid. bdle. 758, No. n.

191

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

for the boon days than betore, only 100 herrings, whereas it had generally
been as many as 300 ; all but 20 acres were reaped by hirelings at 6d. the
acre; and tallage was only 4^., a rate which was still continued in 1463. All
this shows that nothing very sudden happened on this estate, but that labour
dues were tending by degrees to become of less account.

No other manor has quite so good a series of accounts as this, but
there are indications that in Coleshill from about 1392 onwards wage-paid
labour and rent-paying land were coming to the fore. At that date, though
there were still twenty-seven custumarii and seven cottarii doing harvest
work, a very great number of workers had to be hired, besides seventy-
four men and women for washing sheep at zd. each: 193 in 1405 there
were only nineteen custumarii, and in 1422 all meadow work was done
for wages.

In Brightwalton many of the tenants managed to avoid some of their
work, though not all. In 1401 a man dropped his week's work, but was
still bound for the boon days ; he sent a good many men to work for him,
whom he would naturally have to pay. m

Bray is one of the few places where a marked advance followed the
Peasant Revolt at once. 195 In 1382 a great many labour services were
relaxed; 408 winter works from the 21 \ virgatarii, 419 from the 13 operarii,
and the brewing done by the hurmanni. These, however, do not represent
anything like the whole amount of work owed, judging from earlier accounts,
and nothing is said about the sokmanni who existed on the manor ; but,
unfortunately, we have no records of the year immediately preceding the
revolt to see how far the tenants had already advanced. 416 acres of
demesne were let out this same year at money rent of 6</. an acre; the
woods also were farmed out to different tenants, and the tenants seem to
have succeeded in making real progress in a very short time ; but this is an
exceptional case.

Villeinage, therefore, decayed in Berkshire by very slow degrees. The
Black Death came at a time when things were improving, and after a
momentary acceleration of this improvement brought about an attempt to
check and delay it, resulting in an outburst of discontent, general and
alarming enough to cause the lords to see the uselessness of insisting on the
maintenance of a decaying system ; and to lead bit by bit to further advance
and emancipation an advance which was, however, very far from complete
at the opening of the Tudor Period. The manorial system was dying, but
it was far from dead, and above all it was kept up on the monastic estates,
more conservative in character than the lay lands, which latter changed
owners pretty frequently, and were also cultivated rather more with an eye
to profit. The advance towards freedom also had in England its own
particular character. Freeholders were tending to consolidate their strips,
to purchase their holdings, or to take up leases of land at money rent ; but
the villeins as a rule, except those who had developed into copyhold tenants,
tended to drop their land altogether and to earn their living by working for
a money wage, so that a large class was forming of landless labourers hiring
themselves out on the best terms they could.

193 Mins. Arcts. bdlc. 743, No. 7. I94 Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 70 (Brightwalton, 2 Hen. IV).

195 Mins. Accts. bdle. 742, No. 12 (Bray, 5 Rich. II).

192

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

It is possible that the increase of leases and farming out of manors
during the fifteenth century was also an indirect result of the Peasant Revolt,
since the lords were only too thankful to throw off the trouble of looking
after their tiresome tenants. Woolstone goes through some rather amusing
vicissitudes in this respect. Having been leased for seven years in 1458,
just before his time was up the farmer made off, carrying with him a good
deal of the stock of the manor, viz. 87 sheep, 5 cows, 4 oxen, 10 quarters
of wheat, 13 of barley, 7 of beans, and various utensils. History does not
relate whether he was captured, although he should have been easy to trace
with all his encumbrances. Undeterred apparently, the lord let it out again
in 1463 to Richard Westhrop for eight years, and after his term was up he
continued for a time to hold it from year to year ; ' tradita hoc anno Ricardo
Westhrop' heading the roll of accounts ; but in 1477 a regular stock and
land lease for twenty years is made of the manor and 200 sheep, and we
lose sight of the little estate, now evidently considerably reduced both in
size and importance, and paying only 14 a year. 198 It is curious that the
tiny hamlet it has now become, chiefly known because of its proximity to
the White Horse, should have preserved so much of its story.

Advancing side by side with the decay of villein services and the growth
of regular farms was the increase in the practice of inclosures which has
already been noticed in its early stages. In the fifteenth century these
became far more numerous, so much so that hedging and ditching is entered
as a regular item of expenditure year by year. This is found as a separate
section in the Coleshill Accounts, from the beginning of Henry VTs reign
onwards; 197 and in 1470 the homage of Great Coxwell presents that the
whole tribute have well and sufficiently repaired the divisions between the
separate fields of Longcot and Coleshill, and the common field of Coxwell ; 198
the Beenham Valence Court Rolls also have a good deal about keeping up
the inclosures. 199 It is very evident that the idea of inclosures was extremely
unpopular, and a new crime of destroying hedges repeatedly appears on the
Court Rolls ; so troublesome had this nuisance become at Coleshill, that in
1451 it was ordered by the consent of the lord and his tenants that all
breakers of hedges should be find 31. ^d. each time without any mercy. 200

Before leaving the subject of the manor, something might be said as to
wages. First, to take the regular servants paid by the year. A few points
appear from a comparison of these wages at different periods ; they all
steadily rise, being in almost every case at a higher rate in the fifteenth century
than in the fourteenth. This was general throughout the country, as is proved
by the Statutes of Labourers. In 1388 yearly wages were first definitely fixed,
and then again in 1445, when a very great increase had to be allowed, so that
Berkshire is no exception. The next obvious feature is that some places gave
a steadily higher wage all round than others. This was noticeably the case
at Coleshill, which sometimes gives as much at the close of the fourteenth
century as other places are paying in the fifteenth, leading one to suppose
that the rate depended on the size and prosperity of the estate, and also showing

196 Mins. Accts. bdle. 750, Nos. 1 1, 14, 22, 24.

197 Ibid. bdle. 743, No. 17 (Coleshill, i Hen. VI).

193 Add. Chart. (B.M.) 26514 (Coxwell Magna, 10 Edw. IV).
199 Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 56 (Beenham Valence, 15-20 Hen. VI).
800 Ibid. ptfo. 154, Nos. 3, 4 (Coleshill, 16 Hen. VI-2O Edw. IV).

2 193 25

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

that residents were employed for these offices, and that they had not to suffer
the competition of other places. Thirdly, wages in this county were not to all
appearances excessively high seldom rose much above the statutable rate, and
occasionally fell below it. 201

To give a few examples and illustrations of these statements.

The carter, whose wages were fixed by statute in 1388 at icxr., in Berk-
shire received in different manors in the fourteenth century from 4J. id. to ioj. ;
in the fifteenth from IO.T. to 14^., but in 1445 he was allowed by law to
have as much as 2os.

The driver of the plough, according to the Statute of Labourers, was to
receive js. ; he did have as much as IQJ. at Coleshill in the fourteenth
century, and the same at Brightwalton in the fifteenth century, but the rate
was fixed by the later statute at 1 $s.

The shepherd was supposed to receive IQJ. ; his wages varied from 5^.
(Cookham) to 13.?. $d. (Coleshill) ; and in the fifteenth century from Ss.
(Abingdon) to 1 3^. 4^. (Brightwalton) ; but did not reach the 2os. of the
statute of I445. sos

[It must be remembered that the pay of these servants was sure to be
augmented by gifts of corn, and probably by food and clothing. These
additions are not calculated in the rate named by the statute of 1355 ; in
1445, besides the prices mentioned, a regular sum was also allotted for clothes
in every case, bringing the actual wages to more than the amount stated here.]

Casual labour was paid, as a rule, by the acre, which was reckoned as a
day's work. These wages were fixed by the second Statute of Labourers in
1350 at $d, an acre or day for mowing meadows, id. to ^d. for reaping, and
id. for weeding or haymaking. Mowing at Woolstone and Carswell in 1354
was paid at the legal rate ; at Coleshill it was 8d. in 1337 and 1393, and had
risen to 8*/. in Woolstone by 1370 ; by the fifteenth century it had sunk to
5l</., and at Brightwalton in 1450 was b\d. ; the statute of 1445 fixing it at 6d.

Reaping zd. to ^d. in 1350 and $d. in 1445, was in 1354, even at
Coleshill, paid at the ^d. rate ; the highest to which it rose in the fourteenth
century was %d. at the same place. (Harvest work is often calculated together,
not specially distinguishing reaping, so that there may be a little uncertainty
about these payments.) In the fifteenth century, to take examples again
from the same place, it varies from 4^. in 1407, to jd. in 141 1.

Weeding does not often appear in the accounts of extra labour, but in
1355 at Brightwalton less than the statutable rate is paid, only </. an acre
being given ; but at Coleshill in 1392 it had risen to \\d. This item is not
repeated in 1445.

Thrashing was fixed by statute at 2J</. for the quarter of wheat, and
\\d. for oats, barley, and pulse ; reckoned together at Woolstone in 1352 it
was paid at id. the quarter, exactly the legal amount.

These figures are too insufficient for much generalization, but they seem to
imply that the statute was obeyed for the first few years after its promulgation,
but that legislation was unable to check the rise of wages, 203 which reached

*" Cf. Statutes of Labourers. Statutes of the Realm (Rec. Com.).

801 All these examples are taken from the various Ministers' Accounts of the different dates.

* 3 Attempts were made to enforce this legislation from time to time. At Wallingford in 1370 four
thatchers were fined for charging in excess against thestatute (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 581) ; and in 1385 tilers
were fined for charging labour too dear, and tailors for demanding too high prices (Hedges, Hist, tf Wallingford).

194

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

their highest towards the close of the fourteenth century, whilst in the fif-
teenth century they tended to fall slightly, and approximate to the average
rate. The rates fixed by the statute here given, however, are reckoned without
food, and the accounts do not specify whether or no the labourers were fed ;
if they were, which is very probable, the pay during the fifteenth century
would still be a good deal higher than the statute tried to enforce ; wages
with food were fixed in 1445 at 4^. for the mowers, and 3</. for the reapers ;
2.\d. for women and other labourers.

The following tables will give some idea of wages on different manors,
but they are very incomplete, so little information being obtainable for the
fifteenth century, and the examples only being taken from a few estates.

COMPARISON OF WAGES BY THE YEAR

STATUTE

FOURTEENT

a CENTURY

FiFTEENTt

CENTURY

STATUTE OF

OF 1388

Lowest Rate

Highest Rate

Lowest Rate

Highest Rate

1445

S. d.

.. d.

J. d

I. d

s. d

Carter . . .

IO O

Sutton . 4 i

Coleshill | io Q

B. Walton 10 o

Woolstone 14 o

zo/. & clothes

Abingdon j

4/.

Cowherd .

6 8

Wick. . 3 10

Coleshill . 8 o

B. Walton 6 o

Woolstone 14 o

IJ/. & clothes

3/. 4</.

Daye . . .

6 o

Woolstone 3 o

B.Walton 7 o

Bray ..70

Messor

Wick . .410

B.Walton 1 8 o

Woolstone I 5 o

Woolstone 1 6 o

Ploughman

7 o

Shilton . 4 4

Coleshill .100

B. Walton 10 o

1 5*. & clothes

(driver)

3-r. \d.

Ploughman

Shilton . 4 10

Coleshill. 8 o

Abingdon 7 o

B. Walton 1 3 4

(holder)

Shepherd .

IO O

Cookham 5 o

Coleshill .134

Abingdon 8 o

B. Walton I 3 4

20/. & clothes

Swineherd

6 o

Wick. . 3 6

Coleshill . 10 o

Oxherd . .

6 8

Woman

6 o

I os. & clothes

labourer

4_r.

STATUTE

OF I35O

Reaping, &c. .

2</. & 3</.

Coleshill

Woolstone

'354=3^-

1370 1 SJ

1 407 = 4*2'.

1411 =7</.

5</.

'393 )

Other examples

1352

Woolstone

3</. and 4*/.

'354

3</.

1370

Coleshill

8</.

1381

Woolstone

4</.

1387

5</. and 6J.

'39 2 {

Coleshill

1393

'394

Woolstone

sy-

1397

\\d.

1405

4</. and 5^.

1407

\d.

1409

S^-

141 1

jd.

1413

sy-

1416

$<*

1432

'434

(,d.

195

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

WAGES BY THE ACRE OR THE DAY (STATUTE RATE WITHOUT FOOD)

STATUTE

FOURTIENT

a CENTURY

FIFTEENTH

CENTURY

STATUTE

1350

Lowest

Highest

Lowest

Highest

H45

Mowing .

Woolstone

Coleshill, 1370

Coleshill

1354=5^

and 1 393=8^.

1407 = 4*2'.

141 I 74

Other examples

1337

Coleshill

I3S4

Woolstone

1356

Carswell

Sl-

1364

Woolstone

ed.

1370

Woolstone

SJ.

"379

Woolstone

1380

Woolstone

1384

Abingdon

6d.

1389

Woolstone

6d.

'393

Coleshill

1432

Woolstone

&d.

1450

Beenham Valence

6\d.

Weeding . .

\d.

Brightwalton

Coleshill

. 1355=^

1392= \\d.

Carpenter .

2J. & 3</.

Brightwalton

Windsor 6d.

l\d. & ftd-

I352 = 2</. & 3</.

Mason .

3</. & 4^.

l\d. & 5 U

Tiler . . .

Id.

Brightwalton .

I352 = 2</. & 3</.

Thatcher . .

Knaves

i\d.

*~~

If wages were high in Berkshire, the prices of farm produce generally
seem to have been good, tending to rise slightly above the average. The
value of grain was extremely fluctuating from year to year, and it is interest-
ing to compare it with the average for the corresponding years given in
Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices

The price of grain on the manor of Bray was distinctly high in 1297.
Wheat was sold for js. the quarter, whereas the average was only $s. T.\d. ;
barley $s. 6d. as against 4*. 2%d. ; drage on the other hand was low for some
reason or other 3^. instead of 3.?. 3^. Throughout the fourteenth century
Woolstone furnishes the greatest number of examples, but Brightwalton
provides a few figures which show that there also corn prices tended to follow
a similar course. Their tendency, as we have already seen at Woolstone, in
considering the effects of the Black Death, was to sink during the first half of
the century, to rise suddenly about 1352, and then to fall gradually during the
latter half. Average prices vary in the same way, but in every case, both at
Brightwalton and Woolstone, the prices in 1352 are considerably above the
average, and have almost always fallen slightly below it by 137980. Thus
wheat in 1352 had risen to from 9^. to IDJ. at Woolstone, and IDS. to
i u. \d. at Brightwalton, the average being only js. z^d. ; in 1360 at Bright-
walton it was from 4^. %d. to 6s., where the average was 5-r. <)%d. ; in i 379
at Woolstone, 4J. 8d. to 6s. ; a slightly lower average than the 51. q%d. given
by Rogers. Barley and oats have exactly the same history ; pulse exceeds the
average in 1352, but is still a little above it in 1379. The supply of corn

104 Rogers, Hist, ofdgric. and Prices, i, 226 sq., 342 sq. ; iv, 282 sq., 346 sq.

196

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

in Berkshire was certainly extremely reduced after the Black Death, so many
of the arable acres being left unsown: perhaps the mortality in this county had
been rather less than elsewhere, and the demand in consequence not so
much reduced ; while on these great sheep-farming estates, arable cultivation
was easy to drop when there was profit to be made out of the live stock.

The prices of beasts vary very much less, they rise slowly just as they
were doing all over the country, but appear on the whole to be slightly
below the average. The Berkshire sheep is not so valuable as one would
have expected, when the Berkshire wool stood so high. * Muttons ' varied
from is. to u. lod. after shearing; ewes were generally about is. Lambs
were almost invariably 6</., although in 1419 they could fetch, taking the
average throughout the country, as much as I id.

Horses are of so many kinds that it is very difficult to compare in any
way ; a horse mentioned amongst the deodands as worth i ooj. 205 was doubtless
a good riding horse ; the accounts would mostly concern cart-horses, which
ran from 15-r. to zys. (Abingdon, 1355) ; affri and stotts were much cheaper.

Oxen varied from IQJ. to 15^. 6d., but according to the average price
they should have fetched from 1 2s. to nearly zos. ; cows on the other hand
were of good average value, from js. to 1 4-r. ; the only bull mentioned was
sold for 1 2s. in 1 404 ; the average given for such animals at the opening
of the century being 8j. $d.

Pigs were all sorts of prices, from is. ^d. to 5^. 6d. ; according to
Rogers the highest price ever fetched during the fifteenth century was
6s. 8</.

Capons, hens, and ducks were all very much as the average : capons going
up from 3</. to ^d. ; hens from id. to ^d. ; ducks, of which there were not
many, being valued in the fourteenth century at ^d. and ^d.

Wool, despite the fact that it was much sought after, scarcely ever appears
in the accounts. This may be for the reason which Rogers suggests, that the
owner very often sold it directly himself to the wool-stapler, and therefore the
reeve or bailiff would have nothing to do with the transaction. Woolstone
furnishes us with a few prices of this commodity, and in each case they are
invariably above the average.

The usual measures for wool were the clove of 7 Ib. in the fourteenth
century, and the todd of 28 Ib. in the fifteenth. In 1379 the accounts
estimate the price by the sack a measure which according to law was to
contain 364^. or 52 cloves. 208

To compare Woolstone prices with the average : In 1 345 the average
was is. i if*/., at Woolstone zs. o\d. ; in 1352 there was more difference, the
average being is. A^d. and the Berkshire price is. jd. ; in 1379 it was 3^.
instead of zs. 8J</. ; and in 1457 tne to dd varied from $s. to 6s. %d., whereas
the average for that decade was only 4^. 3|d r . 207

Of course prices like this from a single manor give no safe idea of the
whole county, but certainly Berkshire wool and Berkshire corn were both in
considerable demand, all the more from the fact that the Thames opened a
way for sending supplies to the London market. In any case, partial and
insufficient though these figures are, it would seem that rural occupations in

**Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 583 (Wallingford, 23 Edw. I).

106 Statute of 1357 (Statutes of the Realm). m Rogers, op. cit. iv, 328.

197

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Berkshire were, on the whole, flourishing and profitable, and becoming
increasingly so as time went on. Thus, when the old manorial system was
dropped, there was every inducement for new and energetic men to take up
farming in the county, and turn it to excellent account.

It was not only in agricultural pursuits that Berkshire was making
progress throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its towns were
increasing in population and importance, industries were growing, and above
all the production of cloth was being actively carried on, and bade fair to
become the leading occupation of the non-agricultural population. Reading
and Abingdon were the leading towns, partly on account of their large
religious houses, partly on account of their excellent facilities for trade.
Windsor, as the seat of a royal residence, and Wallingford, at the time of
the Conquest the largest of the Berkshire boroughs, were also important,
but not such centres of industry as the other two. Wallingford had a
Merchant Gild which existed from Henry IFs reign if not earlier, 208 but it
never made very great advance, and by the fifteenth century was a quiet
town, consisting chiefly of a number of small retail traders. The Reading
Gild granted in I253, 209 and closely connected with the abbey, was made
up of all sorts of members, carpenters, bakers, drapers, butchers, dyers,
weavers, fishmongers, brewers, innkeepers, and many others/ 10 Abingdon,
though it had no gild, early developed the clothing industry, and increased
in importance with the construction of its bridge in 141 6. 211

Besides these four principal Berkshire towns, others were fast developing
and aspiring to become centres of trade and industry. Of these Newbury
was the most important, since it was there that the clothing industry was
particularly prominent, and that its chief industrial hero Jack of Newbury
flourished in the sixteenth century. 213

Clothing was not confined to the towns alone. Fulling mills were
scattered about all over the country, wherever the generous supply of streams
and rivers, with which Berkshire is favoured, offered a suitable opportunity
for carrying on the work. Thus there was a fulling mill at Little Far-
ingdon, 218 at Beenham Valence, 21 * at Thatcham, 211 and probably in other villages
also. Certainly the industry had taken firm root quite early in the thirteenth
century if not before ; the mention of nine fullers and weavers of Walling-
ford in 1227 is, however, the earliest indication I have yet been able
to find. 218

Similarly brewing was carried on very universally, as is proved by the
constant mention of tolcestre payment for the privilege of making beer for
sale, a due which was very common at Brightwalton, 217 Coleshill, 213 and Beenham
Lovell, 219 to say nothing of the constant fines for breach of the Assize of Ale.

208 Gross, Gild-Merchant, i, 1 5 .

209 Ibid, and also ii, 202 ; Reading Cartul. Harl. MSS. 1708, fol. 163.
1 !1 Guilding, Reading Records ; Diary of the Corporation, i, passim.

811 Madox, Hist, of Exchequer, 382 (1310 c.) ; Devon, Issues of the Exchequer (Rec. Com.), 132
(9 Edw. II).

m Money, Hist, of Newbury. lls Cartul. of Beaulieu.

214 Berks Deeds. Magd. Coll. Beenham, 115 (1251-59).

" s Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 8 (Colthrop, 10 Hen. VI). "' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, pt. i, 576.

217 Ibid. 153, No. 7 (Brightwalton, 2 Rich. II).

218 Ibid. 154, No. 2 (Coleshill, 10 Hen. V).

219 Ibid. 153, No. 56 (Beenham Lovell, 28 Hen. VI).

198

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

This increase of trade and industry meant the rising wealth and im-
portance of Berkshire ; but the county still remained essentially rural. Even
the chief towns were largely agricultural, the burgesses holding and cultivating
land outside the walls; whilst almost all the buying and selling done in the
numerous fairs and markets was concerned with the produce of the land,
either live-stock, grain, or wool. The two notable exceptions and only
important industries were malting and clothing, for these Berkshire was
becoming increasingly famous ; a fame, however, which was not to last.
Still it was Berkshire corn and Berkshire wool which constituted the real
wealth of the county, and these were in great demand both at home and
abroad. 220

Berkshire possessed in the River Thames a priceless asset available for
the increase of her wealth and the spread of her trade. 221 The roads also
were numerous, and Berkshire still abounds in traces of the old Roman
highways. 222 The direction of the roads depended chiefly on the passages
over the Thames, the best known of which in old days were at Wallingford,
Moulsford, Shillingford, and Appleford, besides the bridge at Staines on the
Great Western road. At Streatley also there was a ferry, at the junc-
tion of various Roman ' streets ' ; and a ferry at Pulham was in use until
superseded by the Abingdon Bridge. Bridges, however, were gradually
built as the need for communication became more urgent. Windsor Bridge
was begun as soon as the royal castle was erected there ; Reading Bridge
is mentioned in the reign of Henry III ; 223 Maidenhead Bridge dates from
the fourteenth century ; 224 Abingdon Bridge was built in the fifteenth. 225 At
Newbury there was a bridge over the Kennet, 226 at Coleshill over the Cole, 227
from Faringdon the main road crossed the Thames at Radcot Bridge, said
to date from about the year i aoo. 228

The roads and bridges were at first made and repaired by forced labour,
wood for such work being allowed from the royal forest land, of which
there was no lack in Berkshire. Where stone bridges were constructed
it was a more expensive matter ; the requisite material was provided at
Abingdon by the lord of Bessels Leigh, and a gild of the Holy Cross was
formed for looking after it. From this time onwards the giving or be-
queathing of money for repair of bridges and highways became a favourite
form of charitable expenditure.

There were naturally sundry reasons for some parts of the county ad-
vancing more rapidly than others. All along the Thames waterway, towns
were developing their resources by trade, villages their supply of food by
fishing. Wherever there were bridges centres of population were formed,
and wherever there were good roads fairs and markets became of greater
importance, while the most flourishing manors were those which were so
situated as to enjoy the benefits both of .good pasture and rich arable soil.

Pipe R. (Pipe R. Soc.), xvi, 88; xviii, 13. Cheese and corn sent to army in Ireland (16 and
1 8 Hen. II). Ibid, xix, 63 ; cheese and corn for Windsor (19 Hen. II). Hundred R. No. 2, m. 1 8 dorso
(4 Edw. I), wool sent abroad from Newbury and Wallingford.

m See article on ' Industries.' " See article on Roman Period.

123 Cal. of Close R. 1227-31, p. 499. "* Murray, Guide to Berkshire.

* 5 See Verses on Bridge preserved in Abingdon Almshouses.

m Cal. of Close R. 1307-13, p. 557, repair of bridge.

827 Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 2 (10 Hen. VI), remaking of Coleshill Bridge.

" s Inq. a.q.d. ^ Hen. V, No. 8.

199

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Such places lay chiefly at the foot of the downs, and more particularly on
the northern slopes. Places actually on the hills, such as Lambourn and
Letcombe Bassett were, as a rule, poor ; but Coleshill, Brightwalton, and
Blewbury could carry on sheep-farming and the cultivation of grain with
equal chance of success.

There were, of course, accidental causes of distress from time to time
pest, famine, cold winters, heavy taxation, and so forth ; 2M but on the whole
Berkshire flourished, and the Middle Ages were not a time of very great
individual poverty and distress, owing to supervision and mutual dependence.
From time to time in manorial accounts instances occur of land lapsing to
the lord because the tenant was too poor to cultivate it; but very generally
if the man were poor his rent and dues were relaxed. Money payments
were constantly in arrears, and year after year the bailiff continued to enter
on his roll bad debts which apparently he had little chance of recovering;
occasionally there was distraint for rent, but very often it was dropped. At
Woolstone, in the fifteenth century, when the estate was declining, there are
a good many instances of poverty, and the tenants were frequently unable
to pay their churchset and other dues. The chief cases of destitution, how-
ever, were amongst the vagrants. Wandering criminals had scarcely ever
any goods to forfeit, and entries are fairly frequent of ' unknown beggars '
found dead on the roads; 230 but so long as a man chose to stay on the estate
where he was born, and work under the protection of his lord, he was
unlikely to fall into absolute misery. In any case the monasteries were
always ready to support the poor and the pilgrims, and none need starve if
they could find their way to one of the religious houses.

Besides casual gifts to beggars, the monasteries had hospices for tra-
vellers and infirmaries for the sick, in which outsiders were often received,
as well as members of their own body. Abingdon, 231 Reading, 232 Wallingford, 288
and Donnington, 234 all possessed establishments of this sort, and frequent gifts
were made to them for the support of the poor. 235 Lepers were always a
very universal object of charity. In Edward Fs reign money was granted
to the lepers of Windsor, as though a special establishment existed for them; 236
and at Reading regulations were drawn up as to the exact allowance which
was to be made to them in food and clothing. 237

Nothing more organized was, therefore, as yet required in the way of
poor relief. The rich who wished to be charitable gave lands and goods to
the monasteries, founded churches, and endowed chantries ; the poor often
gave their land to a religious house, and either held it from them during their
lifetime, or else received whilst they lived a supply of food and clothing. 838

When the Statute of Mortmain put a check upon the free granting of
lands to corporations, the Berkshire monasteries had already acquired very

229 Inq . Nonarum for Berkshire, 1 342.

230 Assize R. 40 (45 Hen. III). ' Ignotus mendicans' found dead, no wounds, ibid. 44 (12 Edw. I).

231 ' Consuetudines Abbendoniae' ; Cbron. de Abingdon, ii, App. 3.
"* Reading Cart. Harl. MSS. 1708, fol. 24 (Charter Hen. II).

233 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 580 (1287).

234 Cal. of Close, i33-3> P- IO 4-

235 Cott. MSS. (B.M.) Vesp. E. 5, fol. 19 v (Extracts from Reading Cartul.), Church of St. Lawrence
given to sustain thirteen poor men in food and clothing.

236 Testa de Nevill, 560. *" Cott. MSS. Vesp. E. 5, fol. 38.
838 Harl. MSS. 1708, fol. 66 ; Newbury Field Club, ii, 53.

2OO

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

vast estates, and there were still ways in which the law could be evaded.
The religious houses played a prominent part in the social life of the Middle
Ages ; and the time when poor relief and education were looked upon as
incumbent on laymen as well as clergy was yet to come.

The Wars of the Roses and the changes of dynasty seem to have little
affected the even tenor of life in the Berkshire villages ; the economic
advance continued, but gradually as before. There are plenty of indications
that the old manorial system, both as regards cultivation and social status,
long prevailed in this county ; open fields and scattered strips were still the
normal state of things, and some manors had not even advanced beyond the
stage of the old two-field system.

A terrier of land belonging to Fyfield manor in the reign of Henry VII 239
describes the arable strips existing in the different ' shots,' and the more
separate pieces of meadow ground. The abbot of Battle held various
scattered acres. ' Item : an half acre chotyng Est and West in the South
side, a half of the Abbot of Battle on the North. Item : in the same
furlong another half acre lying in the South side and a half of the Abbot in
the North side : another yard of land lying Est and West, a half lying in the
flodde land,' and so on.

Ashmole has printed, from a manuscript in the library of Thomas

.awlinson, a most interesting description of the manor of Ashbury in 1520,

hich shows the condition of one of the large sheep-farming estates of

:rkshire before the dissolution of the monasteries. 510 Ashbury was at that

trine in the possession of the abbot of Glastonbury, who had full judicial

powers in the court held every three weeks, which the ti things of Ashbury

id Edwynestone (Idstone) were bound to attend. Ashbury was a two-field

Lanor, but its importance was certainly due far more to its sheep than to its

>rn ; situated on the northern slopes of the Downs, it had plentiful facilities

)r pasture and apparently made good use of them. The demesne land,

irmed out to Clement North, was extensive, and contained beside arable and

leadow, a wood called Aysher Park, out of which the lord was allowed

:very third year to sell 36 acres (price of an acre with trees upon it was iSs.),

nd 112 acres of mountain pasture sufficient for 500 of the lord's sheep,

resides which certain commoners had the right to send beasts there to feed ;

/iz. the king, 200 sheep, 12 oxen, and 4 cart-horses; John Harding,

101 sheep and 6 oxen ; the parson of Ashbury, 8 oxen ; and the farmer

of an Oxford college, 120 sheep 'although old custom only allowed him

1 8 oxen.' On this land also all the tenants, free or villein, were allowed to

send their plough beasts ; for every virgate two oxen the old normal rate.

Besides the demesne pasture, there was more on the hills, which belonged to

the tenants, ' tam liberi quam custumarii,' and also some meadow land which

they used during the open season, but for which they had to pay. Of the

tenants on this estate there were seven free tenants, whose holdings were still

reckoned as knights' fees, or parts of knights' fees ; they all paid rent and did

homage and suit, some to the half-yearly court, some to that held every three

weeks, and a few to both. After the free, the customary tenants are entered by

name. Of these, twenty-five paid rents amounting to 22 i8j. i|</.,. owed

Harl. R. (B.M.), No. 28.
2

240 Ashmole, Antiq. of Berks. (London, 1723), i, 65-103.
2OI 26

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

heriot, and were all bound to labour services in the shape of washing and
shearing sheep. Four of these customary tenants were still unfree, but appa-
rently they did no more for their land than the others ; one had been recently
enfranchised. One man alone, John Frensh, instead of attending to the
sheep, owed the duty of ploughing and carting, which must therefore have
been almost wholly done by hired labourers. A good many of these
tenants had some of their land in separate holdings tofts, crofts, or closes ;
but they all had arable acres in the open fields as well. The lack of inclosure
for pasture is evident by the discords which arose between the men of
Ashbury on the Berkshire side of the Downs, and the men of Bishopstone on
the Wiltshire slope, as to the limits of their respective pasture rights ;
arbitration finally settled the matter, and hedges and ditches were ordered to
be established between the respective lands, and kept in good condition, so
that beasts might not stray on to the wrong estate. Ashbury was a good
instance of a manor midway between the old and the new. Labour services
still continued, but lighter than they had been ; the villeins were becoming
copyholders, and the practice of inclosing was increasing.

Evidence points to old customs, tenures, labour services, and villeinage
continuing to a much later date than this, however. Cholsey, for example,
was being cultivated on a four-field system in the reign of Edward VI 241 ; in
the manor of Windsor Underowre in 1561 arrangements were made between
lord and tenants touching the throwing open of common fields after harvest
and the stint of common 243 ; in 1594 a commission sent out to report to the
Exchequer described the three-field system of Beenham Valence, the land lef'
fallow every third year, and the common of pasture in the open fields after
the corn was carried. 243 This report is particularly interesting from the
description it gives of two manors lying intermingled. Beenham Valence and
Beenham Lovell lay and commoned together ; the lord of Beenham Valence
chose the hay ward for both, and the tenants of Beenham Lovell ow
suit and service to the lawday and court baron of the larger manor, xc
was the common fields which were the chief subject of inquiry. The
two manors had c plots intermingled there ' ; and though most of the
tenants knew their own strips and to which manor they belonged, two men
who held from both had very naturally got confused, and could not ' sever
the said lands.'

Military service still remained in the sixteenth century the principal
tenure for manorial lords ; even the confiscated lands, given away by
Henry VIII after the dissolution, were granted out anew for this old knight
service. The fact that this meant little more now than the continuation of
certain dues and incidents peculiar to the tenure, is shown by the fact that
whole manors were held for such extremely small fractions of knights' fees,
when the amount is specified at all. The manors of Hungerford and Church
Speen were each held for the fortieth part of a knight's fee ; South Moor was
only reckoned as one-fiftieth. 84 * This survival is found also amongst sub-tenants,
though not so frequently as for tenants-in-chief. In the manor of Cholsey
in 1 45 1 several men held messuages and arable strips by military service, but

841 Rentals and Surv. $ (Cholsey, 4 Edw. VI). '" Annals of Windsor, i, 591.

843 Exch. Dep. 36-7 Eliz. Mich. 39.

844 Top. Berks, (Bodl. Lib.) D. 10, fols. 5, 6 (Tenants-in-chief from Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. VI, 10 Eliz.).

202

.dOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

\n ^ - e ft always a money payment attached ; a few held freely by socage,
^ Q X ~ ase the rent was rather higher. 245

* " anty, however, especially grand serjeanty, was beginning to die out.
.ests Post Mortem state over and over again that the service of some
: other is unknown, this service having often been grand serjeanty of
geft e md. 246 A few roses and flagons of wine were still tendered, 247 but
d\f lir iy with rent in addition ; in the case of Beenham Lovell the process of
d\ibut is shown, since though it was known that a pound of pepper was
i arly, it had not been exacted for fourteen years. 248

\ bimongst the cultivating classes in Berkshire, customary tenants were still
1 ( the most numerous during the sixteenth century ; the accounts of
\ 'h Speen, 249 Shippon, Cumnor, 250 and Cholsey 251 all show the same thing.
1 .a, however, was not the case in towns. There free tenants were distinctly
I* the majority. At Abingdon and Reading, according to the reckonings
made after the dissolution of the monasteries, there were only free tenants
and those holding ' at will ' ; 252 in the town of Newbury in James I's reign
there was some copyhold of which the rents amounted to i js. 8</.; but the
i rents were higher, coming to 3 6s. 8^. 253 In any case the county was
i of a large number of customary tenants ; and this, in some instances,
} bunt the performance of the old customary services. In the king's manor
f Conyngton in 1539 the old method of conveyance 'ad opus et usum '
fas continually employed ; and the new tenant held ' by the will of the lord
nd the custom of the manor,' and owed besides rent ' other services as
Accustomed.' 254

In 1 547, on the lands appropriated after the dissolution of Abingdon
Abbey, much was held ' under old conditions ' *" ; at Clewer in Elizabeth's
reign (a royal manor), the tenants conveyed their lands only through surrender
to her, and owed suit of court and services. 256 All these examples, however,
e taken from crown lands, where changes seem to have come more slowly
lan on other estates.

It remains to be seen how much real serfdom survived amongst these
;ustomary tenants. To hold by copy of Court Roll naturally tended to
permanence ; but it is another thing to find actual villeinage continuing on
jhroughout the sixteenth century.

Certainly villeinage did survive here and there, and not only the tenure
of villeinage, but the actual status of the villein, the ' nativus ' of the lord.
In the reign of Henry VII at Coleshill the very legal term of 'villein
regardant ' was used, and the man was said to be worth in goods and

245 Rentals and Surv. ^ (Cholsey, 4 Edw. VI).

" 6 Ca/. oflnj. p.m. Hen. VII, 460. Manor of Becote, service unknown. (It had been to meet the king
with two white capons.) Manors of Clewer, White Knights, Tidmarsh, Ilsley, Bockhampton ; all entered
as ' service unknown.'

'" Ibid. 928. Idstone and White Waltham gave roses, Sutton Wick and Draycott gave a flagon of
wine ; Rentals and Surv. R. 45 (2 Edw. VI).

" s Depos. by Com. (37 Eliz. Hil. 4).

<9 Harl. R. (B.M ), T. 14 (Church Speen), assize rents, 6d.; customary rents, 8 61.

* M Dugdale, Man. i, Lands of Abingdon ; Mins. Accts. bdle. 77 (29-30 Hen. VIII) ; Shippon, assize
rents, <)d.; customary, 4 l8/. dd.\ Cumnor, assize rents, 13*. 2\d '; copyhold, 23 21. 6d.

251 Rentals and Surv. -fa (Cholsey, 4 Edw. VI). IM Mins. Accts. (1-2 Eliz. No. 2).

253 Ibid. (1-2 Jas. I). 8M Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 1 8 (Conyngton, 30 Hen. VIII).

255 Ibid. 154, No. 38 (38 Hen. VIII 3 Edw. VI).

156 Ibid. 153, No. 83 (ii Eliz. 2 Jas. I).

203

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

chattels 100 marks, although he was still called ' nativus domini de
he was dwelling outside the demesne, and needed to be recall? \ n
Henry VIIFs reign there is a good example of the lingering rel) f vil-
leinage at Sotwell ; especially interesting because neither on the land-jf the
church nor of the king. Ambrosius Pope, ' nativus domini,' was wise ough
to make some use of his position, for although elected several times> the
office of constable, he managed skilfully to evade it, on the plea that he id
not sufficient goods and chattels for such an office, since ' all his gcis
belonged to his lord.' He was, however, a member of the court and shaii
in presenting a freeman for default ; but finally he got into trouble ft
cutting trees on his land, which were distinctly the lord's, and wished for /
to purchase freedom for himself and his ' sequela.' 2 Unfortunately the end
of the story does not appear.

Queen Elizabeth again, in acquiring the land of Stratfield Mortimer, \
once in possession of Queen Katherine, was said to have ' natives et nativas
ac villanos cum eorum sequelibus,' and she released her tenants at Clapcot
whether free or villein does not appear, from the service of carting hay on
the demesne lands. 859 ^

The fact that these examples are so isolated shows that serfdom \^
becoming the exception, and that customary tenants were as a rule free, evy
though bound to do the old services ; villeinage died hard, but it was dyink
and one is surprised to find in the charter of James I to New Windsor, thai
in granting the manor of Windsor Underowre he gave it with ' villaynes mala
and female with their issues.' S8 Perhaps by now this had become rather a
form of words than an actual reality ; in any case such offensive conditions!
as merchet and leave for the sale of an ox are conspicuous by their absence. \

The due still surviving, which seems more than any other to recall the
old condition of dependence, was ' hedsilver,' paid in East Hendred in
Mary's reign, 861 and in Beenham Valence in Elizabeth's ; but there the tenants
were beginning to deny the obligation, and the payment was being dropped. 263
Heriots showed no sign of ceasing, but though beasts were occasionally taken
still they were generally reckoned at money value, and sometimes money
alone was mentioned. 868 Other dues which were paid throughout the sixteenth
century were chiefly in return for rights of herbage ; SM or were commutations
for some of the vanishing services or old church payments. 265

Old social classes and old conditions, already on the wane, may be said
to have practically disappeared in Berkshire by the close of the sixteenth
century ; the Tudor period marking, therefore, an important epoch in its
economic history.

The great inclosing movement, especially active at the close of the
fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, had also important effects
upon the county. The only really full account existing upon this subject is
an inquest which Wolsey ordered to be made in 1517, for the purpose of

" Ct. R. ptfb. 154, No. 4 (Coleshill, 21 Hen. VII).

* Ibid. No. 65 (Sotwell, 24, 25 Hen. VIII).

* Mins. Accts. 1-2 Eliz. bdle. i, No. 2. m Ashmole MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), 1126, fol. 83.

*' Ibid. 1 Mary I & 2 Philip and Mary. "* Excheq. Dep. 36, 37 Eliz. Mich. 39.

10 Ct. R. ptfb. 154, No. 4 (Coleshill, Hen. VII).

164 Ashmole MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), 1126, fol. 124 ; 'Lostfeld' or 'losefield silver' paid round Reading in
the seventeenth century.

165 Mins. Accts. 20-2 1 Eliz. bdle. I, No. 2, m. 1 8 (Sonning). Wardsilver, waisilver, sharesilver, salt rent, &c.

204

SOCIAL AND ECON<'b MIC HISTORY

scovering what land had already been in^ ^ c i ose d ) an d w hat damage had been
Dieted thereby, with the hope of c ^ eck ^ r '" r ig the loss of occupation and the
:tual depopulation of the country, wl ^ iCn was taking place through the
ioption of large sheep-farms and throu^g^ tne p u ni n g down of houses on
lerossed lands. Unfortunately the rep^on leaves much to be desired in the
ray of exact definition as to the natur- c e o f t h ese inclosures.

Inclosing might be of several - es descriptions. It might be merely the
onsolidating together of scattered j* strips, and the forming or ' ingrossing ' of
t into separate fields for purposes a 9 of private and more systematic cultivation ;
t mieht be the taking up of olcf e i waste land or woods, in which the tenants
lad erazine rights, and fencing ' a 4t in either for separate pasture or in order to
Drine it under arable cultivation a ^ or it might be the conversion of the common
irable fields into large grazi^J^ tracts for flocks of sheep, thereby depriving the
tenants of land and occuupation. It is obvious that these different forms were
not all equally objec vtionable ; and it is therefore of great importance in
ideine the effects <>t>f the movement in Berkshire to discover, if possible,
whether much arab'ale land was converted into pasture, whether commons
-e much absorbed ; and, if so, whether it meant infringements of old
w r ights, a^d if the tenants were compensated for the same ; or whether,
rethcont' ar y> inclosing was largely done for the sake of improving
centra arj d that tillage tended to increase rather than diminish.
^Leadam, in elaborate tables and notes to his publication of the 1517
2^ * has proved that inclosures in Berkshire were more frequently for
arable cultivation than for pasture, that the country still remained essentially
important for corn growing, and that the arable acres were worth considerably
more than the pasture lands. Dr. Gay, on the other hand, has very severely
criticized these conclusions, 887 considering that the amount of data is really
insufficient for making any general and certain statements. He reminds us,
truly enough, that the whole point of the inquiry was to find out about the
decay of tillage ; that certainly it was that aspect which the Commissioners
expected to find ; and that therefore when, as is frequently the case, they do
not specify the nature of the inclosure, it was most probably for pastoral
purposes.

These criticisms may be true to a great extent, and although Berkshire
long remained a great corn-growing county, as is shown by the description
of Leland in 1 542, 888 yet this does not prove that the corn lands of which he
speaks were not still lying open and unhedged ; iet nevertheless there is some-
thing to be said in favour of the view that up to 1517, at least, many of the
inclosures involved a continuation of arable cultivation instead of a conversion
to pasture. It is difficult to believe, when an exact statement of this
change is given in so many instances, that its omission in others is of no
importance ; also, it is significant that amongst the 24^ ploughs put down,
all occur on the land in which the dropping of arable cultivation is specially
mentioned. There are plenty of evictions and displacements in the other
cases, but they seem to be rather an accompaniment of the destruction

*** Leadam, Domesday oflncksurei. "" Trans. Royal Hist. Sar. MT.

* Leland, I tin. (Oxford, 1711), ii.

* Dr. Gay quotes from Pearce, General Flea of the jfgric. of Berks, to show that in 1794, when the great
dosing movement was in progress, half still lay in open fields.

205

of messuages than of any special vcuTT?"R >

frequently pulled down when farms OF BERKS

labourers on a more economical foo^ f orm o f i nc losure ; these were very

Another argument, though not a v were i n g ros sed and cultivated by hired

always a tendency to dislike inclcj SQ ^t this in itself is not surprising.

occurred in Berkshire early in the . y stron g O ne, is that though there was

done no special damage at first. . eg no O p en movement against them

The county did not apparently sh^ wn ich implies that they had
the Pilgrimage of Grace ; the religious .

economic discontent, but by the reign of Edw^ t h e disturbances at the time of
brought fresh land into the market, and possi ses W ere not sufficient without
movement, there was greater tendency to rise. ir( j VI, when the dissolution had

In any case, abandoning as hopeless an^y increased the sheep-farming
conclusions, we can learn some things at i

Commissioners in 1517. First, as to the nature c-<, c t statistics and definite
almost every instance it was an inclosure of already crn the report of the
The few pieces of common and waste were taken as addii inclosed lands. In
Hampstead Marshall as much as 100 acres were inclosed Itivated arable land,
at Wilde 50 acres, and there were four evictions ; at lions to parks. A*
Yattendon 20 acres of common land, and 4 acres at Bradfielbr this purpo
there were also two small bits of arable land imparked at Hanst 60 ar ' . '

* "* V 1 T"l

and Bisham, but that was all. The park inclosures were not very o.r>3 .

dvinsn
In the thirteen places which inclosed both arable and pastt,/ , ^ .-

extent of the arable was just slightly the greater, 898 acres as contrasted
with 828 ; another indication of the fact that arable land inclosures were
popular. Twenty-five places are clearly mentioned as inclosing arable and
converting it to pasture, the land so converted amounting to some 1,555 acres ;
Woolley, Barkham, Milton, and Southcot are instances of this. Woolley,
although throwing 1 20 acres out of cultivation, is not recorded as having put
down any plough or dispersed any labour ; possibly, as Mr. Leadam
suggests, it was the demesne land which was so used. The connexion
between ploughs and acreage is not, however, very distinct, for Southcot with
i oo acres inclosed, and Lyford with 40 acres, each put down two ploughs ;
while Barkham, with 100 acres turned into pasture, put down none, although
eight people were evicted and a messuage pulled down.

The largest number of displacements of population occur at Milton,
where eighteen lost employment (two ploughs were put down), and twelve
at Marcham and at Langford respectively ; amongst the doubtful cases
tabulated by Mr. Leadam as arable, there is only once a mention of over
twelve being displaced, and that was at Fulscot, where twenty-nine persons
altogether were turned out after three inclosures and the pulling down of
three messuages, though nothing is said as to the destruction of ploughs.

Taking it altogether, between 1485 and 1517, 6,615 acres had been
inclosed in one way or the other, out of a total area of 430,210 acres ; the
most active period, and the one in which pasture appears to have made most
progress, taking the certain cases alone, being the first ten years of the
sixteenth century. It meant a good deal of change in any case, for it
involved the eviction or displacement of 639 persons, and the destruction of
1 1 1 messuages and eight manor-houses. This must have been a considerable

206

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

shock to such a very rural population, and although in the end the inclosures
improved the arable cultivation and rendered sheep-farming more secure and
profitable, there was bound to be a period of distress while the change was
going forward. The large sheep farms on the Downs continued open as
ever, the inclosures were chiefly in the middle, north-west, and east. They
were the work apparently of all classes, though rather more numerous on
lay than on church land ; besides the lords of manors themselves, freeholders,
leaseholders, copyholders, and tenant farmers, all inclosed ; the leaseholders
were, however, particularly active, and these existed principally on lay lands ;
whilst copyhold tenants were always especially prominent on church estates.

The movement undoubtedly continued after 1517, though possibly not
quite so rapidly as before until accelerated by the dissolution. At Beenham,
Enborne, and Southborne the tenants had to keep up various hedges. 270
In Pangbourne, in the second year of the reign of Edward VI, the
scattered bits of which one estate was composed were almost wholly closes of
several acres instead of strips. 271 In the next year mention was made of an
inclosed park at Radley, whose hedges were not to be destroyed by the
tenants ; 272 and there were signs of considerable discontent amongst the
peasantry of Berkshire at this time. In 1549 a rising, partly political, partly
religious, partly social, swept over the country ; and, although the heart and
of it all was in Norfolk, other parts were not untouched. In July,

, a royal order to repress uproars ' if any suche shall happen in the coun-
S of Oxforde, Berkes, and Bucks,' 273 looks as though no actual rising had taken
jplace, but that it was threatening and probable ; while in the same month
sir W. Paget, writing to the Protector Somerset, advised him to go into
/Berkshire. 27 * A little later the movement did spread to several of these midland
'counties, and in July, 1550, Somerset had to go to Reading 'to keep the
peace'; 27S while Berkshire was one of the counties which the commissioners
were especially ordered to inspect in 1 549.

On the royal manor of Shippon, in Elizabeth's reign, a form of inclosure
took place which was free from most of the objectionable features. It was
an inclosure of common land, but every tenant was to separate his own piece
with a ditch, so that their rights remained intact, and the value of the whole
was increased. 276 At Cookham, on the other hand, common land was inclosed
' to the great undoeing of the poorer soarte,' as one witness declared. 277 This
was the fencing and leasing of a good portion of fir-wood formerly open to
all tenants for pasture, and from which they might take a ' tithe braunde ' for
their Christmas fire. Much discontent was felt at this encroachment on their
rights.

In Beenham in 1604 a leaseholder who had ventured to inclose a heath,
where others ' from time immemorial ' had possessed rights of pasture and
estovers, had an Exchequer decree passed against him ; 278 and in 1700 those
who petitioned against injury caused by common land being added to the
little park of Windsor received compensation for their consequent loss of

170 Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 5, 30-37 Hen. VIII. m Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 51 (Reading, ^ Edw. VI).

Ibid. No. 38 (Radley, 3 Edw. VI.). 17J Cal. of State Papers (Rec. Com.), 1547-80.

171 Strype, Eccles. Mem. ii, pt. i, 344. ;5 Ibid.

176 Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 56 (Shippon, 1 1 Eliz.).

877 Depositions by Commission (Cookham, 31-32 Eliz. Mich. No. 26).

178 Berks Deeds, Magd. Coll. (Benham, 157).

20 7

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

lammas land, herbage, and loads of gravel. 279 Partly as a result of legislation,
partly by reason of political events, the inclosing movement did not make
great advances during the seventeenth century, and Berkshire was still very
largely a county of open fields till the great development of inclosures at the
end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries.

As Dr. Cunningham says, it was these evictions and inclosures which
marked the real end of serfdom ; the few services still found here and there
even in the seventeenth century having generally cropped up anew as matters
of agreement. 280

It is not easy to estimate the part played in these economic changes by
the dissolution of the monasteries. Of the confiscated estates in Berkshire
much land came into the hands of quite new men, rich members of the now
growing middle class, who either bought or rented them, most frequently for
a term of years in the latter case. 281 Land also began to change hands pretty
rapidly, 282 all of which tended to the weakening of old ties and to the intro-
duction of new methods. Leaseholders, now much increased in number,
were generally active inclosers, and some of the numerous copyholders were
changed into yearly tenants, or at any rate had their rents increased. In any
case the extension to the rather backward church lands of the developments
fast going forward on lay estates, meant a good deal of change throughout the
whole of Berkshire, where up to this time religious houses had been suc^;-^-v
extensive landlords. 288 \ were

Amongst the new classes now coming into prominence the yeomen ta\ and
a leading place in both the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Berkp ;
shire the word was used by contemporaries in a very general sense, not onhjey,
for a peasant proprietor, but for any small farmer, whether leaseholder, copy-out
holder, or even tenant at will, occupying a place rather lower than that of them
' gentleman,' and not having land of above a more or less recognized value, on
An instance of a yeoman owning land, and also being contrasted with ath
' gentleman,' occurs in reference to the manor of Finchampstead, where in > ;
1572 a tenement was declared to belong to Thomas Hollo way, yeoman, 284 who ;h
sold it in the following year to Henry Hinde, gent. 286 There are more
examples of out-and-out purchase and sale by yeomen, in other words, there- i,
fore, proprietors, than there are of yeomen taking up land for a term of years; e
but in 1695 a lease of ninety-nine years was made to Simon Ball, yeoman, of :s
White Waltham, for the sum of 20, one peppercorn to be paid annually. 288 r
Copyholders are often entered as yeomen. For example, land was sold in s
1591 which had been held by 'Edward Grove, yeoman, by copy of court f
roll in the manor of East Court in Finchampstead.' m

Some of these Berkshire yeomen seem to have had considerable farms n
and to have been very comfortably off; in 1558 one left by will to his son e
a portion of his land worth 10 a year, 'for his keepinge and learninge in it

279 Tighe and Davies, Annals of Windsor, ii, 467 (Chamberlain's Accounts).
250 Cunningham, Growth of Engl. Ind. and Commerce, i (new ed. 1905).

291 Dugdale, Man. iii ; Mins. Accts. 2-3 Edw. VI, &c. of

*" 2 Berks. Arch. Soc. 1889, p. 3. Common given to Abbot Rowland, 1538; ceded to king, 1539 ; granted
to Owen and Bridges in I 546 ; leased to A. Forster 1560, to Dudley, 1572 ; sold to Henry Morris, 1575, &c. '
263 See article on ' Religious Houses.'

284 Add. Chart. (B.M.), 38589 ; Lyon, Chron. of Finchampstead, App. (London, 1895).
155 Add. Chart. (B.M.), 38590. IN! Rawl. D. (Bod. Lib.), 148, fol. 29.

257 Deed of Sale, 1591 ; Lyon, Chron. of Finchampstcad, App.

208

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

Oxford for 5 years nexte ' ; 288 and in James Fs reign ' Andrew White, yeo-
man,' describing the sum paid by his father for certain lands, said ' that it
was a great heape to the quantitie of half a bushel or thereabouts, but hath
herd that it did break a horse's back with carriage of the said money.' * 89

Leaseholders were a thriving part of the community, and often the chief
capitalists at this time ; besides the ordinary leases, however, in which the
tenant provided the capital and reaped all the benefit from improvements,
stock and land leases also lingered on in Berkshire as late as the sixteenth
century, a very good example being that of Chokey Farm in Edward VFs
reign. 290 Some curious entries occur in the accounts of property belonging
to the deanery of Abingdon in 1548, where the stock appears to be leased
apart from the land, and in very small amounts, 291 possibly to add to the
already existing stock leased earlier.

Not only beasts and seed were rented, but also ready money, e.g.
Denchworth, R. Smith, for rent of a cow valued at js., per annum u.; Fyfield,
for 1 5 kyne, price ' the piece ' 7*., per annum 1 5-r. ; for i quarter of barley,
price 2s. 8d., per annum is. ; for rent of a stock of ' 2os. ready money per year,'
is. 8*/., and so on. Similar entries also occur in Sunningwell, Long Witten-
ham, North Moreton, Shippon, Faringdon, Peasemore, Brightwalton, and East
Garston. In ordinary leases the length of time was very various : 3, 20, 21,
30, 99 years are all found. The practice became increasingly popular, and
copyholders frequently obtained leave to sublet their holdings for periods of
varying lengths. 292

Copyhold tenure was still extremely common. Mr. Leadam calculates
that about one-third of the land on church estates at the beginning of the
century was held in this manner ; * 93 and the number of copyholders was
certainly very considerable on the confiscated estates of Abingdon and Read-
ing. 294 On the whole, such tenants seem to have held their own, as far as
numbers were concerned, right into the seventeenth century. A rent roll of
Sonning in 1 607 gives a good opportunity for comparing the different tenures
then existing on a manor. 295 Here the rents of the freeholders amounted to
33 1 7 S ' ll ^~ t^ 056 f the copyholders roughly to 91 ; the leaseholders,,
of whom there were only twelve, paid 32 ijs. 2d. At Finchampstead
sixteen years later six ' free sutors ' with various scattered bits of land, a good
many of which were sublet, owed 4 $*. id. : the customary tenants, under
which heading six leaseholders and ten copyholders are comprised, together
12 los. 2d. iM i

The great number of customary tenants implies that rent was very largely
settled by old arrangement, and but little affected by competition. The
freeholders also paid according to the original assessment ; and even in the
case of leasehold property rents were more often fixed according to the
capacity of the lessee than by anything else. Thus there is very little change

JS8 Berks. Wills, Berks. Bucks, and Oxon. Arch. See. iv, 1 16.
183 Excheq. Dep. (Sutton Courtenay, 17 Jas. I, Easter, i).

190 Rentals and Surv. & (Cholsey, 4 Edw. VI).

191 Mins. Accts. Deanery of Abingdon ; Rentals and Surv. R. 45 (z Edw. VI).
151 Ct. R. ptfo. 154, Nos. 56, 57 (Shippon, i Eliz. 12 Eliz. i Jas. I).

in Leadam, Domesday of Inclosures.

'" Mins. Accts. 27, 28 Hen. VIII, No. 77 ; 29, 30 Hen. VIII, No. 77 ; 30, 31 Hen. VIII, No. 85.

>9i Rentals and Surv. -/$ (Sonning, 1607).

196 Lyon, Chron. of FincbampsteaJ, App. 79 (West Court Manor, 1623).

2 209 27

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

from year to year in the entries on the rent rolls, and differences in total
receipts can often be explained by arrears on the part of the tenants, by
the vacancy of some holdings, or by actual reversions allowed by the lord.
Thus on the confiscated estates of the abbey of Abingdon, although Abing-
don Vill gave less rents on account of decline, the various farms let out,
such as Layces Court, Caldecot, Fitzhary Farm, &c., paid exactly the same in
1540, in 1545, and in 1550 ; the rents of Appleford only varied from

^42 15-r. 6d. to 41 I2s. yd. ; those of Drayton from 71 6s. ^\d. to
72 ys. 3*/. in 1545 (it had been leased at the later date) ; Wootton and
Boars Hill, South Hinksey, Sandford, Ginge, are all exactly the same in
1545, and do not appear later. Some others vary, but up or down in-
differently, and more because of arrears being counted, or perquisites of
courts changing, than for any definite movement in one direction or the
other. 297 A comparison of the Ministers' Accounts for 12 and 202 1 Eliza-
beth produces similar results ; the assize and copyhold rents of the town
of Newbury had not changed at all by the opening of the reign of James I.
In the seventeenth century it was still the same, to judge from a series
of rent rolls for Finchampstead East Court Manor, where many small
holdings continued at exactly the same rent from 1602 to ij2j.

There are one or two things to be remembered concerning the question
of rent. One is that a good deal was still paid in kind corn and malt, both
of which tended to vary and be uncertain in value ; and another that often
rents appear to be remaining exactly the same, at a time when one would
expect them to rise, but that in reality the landlords had made up for not
increasing the yearly payment, by enforcing a very heavy entry fine, which
equalled or more than equalled the small addition which might otherwise
have been made ; the heriots also by the close of the sixteenth century were
almost invariably paid in money, and could be altered in value by the mano-
rial court. Thus, on the manor of Clewer in 1603, a tenant who only paid
6s. 8d. rent had to render a fine of 3OJ., and a heriot of IQS. was due on his
death; another with 23^. 4^. paid the large fine of 3 icxr., and his heriot
was valued at 4OJ. 299 Thus, often when rents appear to be stationary, the
landlord is getting more from his land in some other way, and the comparison
of rents alone may be a little misleading. But, in some cases, rents, even of
the copyholders, were increased. In 1 600 an inquiry was instituted to
examine the possibility of ' improving ' the rent of copyholders on various
manors ; 30 and in 1603 on the Clewer estate cases of surrender and regrant
constantly occur, with the statement that the same is ' worth more at an
improved rent,' although 'the usual rent time out of mind has been less.' 301

To gather knowledge of the value per acre by any but leasehold rents is
impossible, freehold rents were so often merely nominal. Thus on the
manor of Finchampstead, Thomas Laward owed only ^d. for 40 acres ; Sir
Richard Harrison paid is. for 16; 20 acres in one place were worth 3*., in
another 5J. 803 Copyhold rents constantly represented part payment for the
holding, which might be extended by labour services also, and value per acre

897 Mins. Accts. for the different dates. "* Lyon, Cbron. of Finchampstead, App.

199 Excheq. Spec. Com. 159 (Clewer, 45 Eliz.). ! Ibid. 414 (Clewer, 42 Eliz.).

301 Ibid. 159 (Clewer, 45 Eliz.).
101 Lyon, Chron. of FinchampsteaJ, App. (Rent Roll, West Court Manor, 1603).

2IO

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

is but very occasionally mentioned. In 1517 an acre of pasture land,
calculating only from the entries which expressly state the nature of the
inclosure, was worth roughly y\d. a year; but at Cholsey in 1557 wood
for pasture was let out at as little as 4^. an acre. 303 Arable land in 1548
alternated between 8</. and is. per acre on various different estates, 304 and on
the whole appears to have been worth rather more than pasture, especially if
it were inclosed.

Wage-paid labour was becoming increasingly- the rule ; even before
the almost total disappearance of labour services Berkshire farmers had
already required a good many extra workers. Unfortunately no record
seems to exist of the wages received for the different operations of husbandry.
There were ' common labourers ' employed at different times for digging
and levelling. At Windsor in 1533 and 1534, work of that kind was paid
at the rate of 4^. to $d. a day, 306 which if it means, as is probable, without
food, would more or less correspond to the statutable ^d. fixed for ordinary
day labourers in the summer. 806 At Reading, however, in 1605, labourers
working ' about the buttes ' earned as much as 8d. each.

In the case of ordinary unskilled labour, ^d. is certainly the usual rate
for some time ; it occurs far more frequently than any other rate. In the
accounts of St. George's College, Windsor, in 12 Henry VII, labourers
working about nine hours a day always received ^d. These hours are short
compared with what was expected during the summer, according to the
statute of 1514. There it was laid down that from mid-March to mid-Sep-
tember the labourer was to work from 5 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m., with only two
hours off for meals and mid-day sleep. It is certainly to be hoped that this
statute was not very strictly enforced. In the same account, masons, carpen-
ters, plumbers, and tilers all received 6d. a day.

Later in the century these rates seem to have very much increased,
despite legislation. For working at Windsor Castle in 1532, carpenters
earned 8d. as a rule, although one had as much as 9^., and the remuneration
for some ' timber work,' probably quite unskilled labour, sank as low as ^d.
a day.

Masons also received 8*/., plumbers from 6d. to 8</., plasterers from yd.
to gd. (but yd. was the most common), bricklayers yd. to Sd., and sawyers
is. to is. zd. the couple. 307 In 1568, during the preparations for Queen
Elizabeth's visits to Wallingford, Donnington, and Reading, wages were still
higher : 308 but this may have been exceptional. The fact, however, that
artificers making the conduit at Windsor in I555 309 were paid at a high rate
(carpenters gd. to iod., masons 8d. to is. t bricklayers, lod. to is. 2^.), and
that labourers employed by the churchwardens at Reading received as much
as %d. a day, 810 points to the conclusion that wages were good in any case, did
not fall below the statute rate, and were often considerably above it.

303 Harl. MSS. (B.M.), 607, fol. 142^ (Cholsey, 1517).

304 Rentals and Surv. R. 45 (Deanery of Abingdon, 2 Edw. VI) ; cf. also Roll -fa. Lyon, Chrtm. offinchamp-
ttead, App. ; Rent Rolls, 22.

306 Rawl. D. (Bod. Lib.) 775 ; Pay-books of Windsor Castle.

306 Berks Rolls, (Bodl. Lib.) 4 (St. George's College, Windsor, 12 Hen. VII).

307 Rawl., D. 775 ; Pay-books of Windsor Castle.

308 Ibid. A. 195 C. ; Progress Book of Elizabeth, 1568.

309 Ashmole MSS. 1125; Printed in Annals of Windsor, i, 599.

al Churchwardens' Accounts ; Coates, Hist, and dntiy. of Reading, i, 377.

211

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Prices at the same time were going up fairly steadily, although food
seems cheap enough compared with modern standards. Leland gives an
account of a dinner in 1561, when a leg of mutton cost is. t partridges ^d.
each, rabbits z\d.^ and eggs zd. the dozen. 311 Beef at this date was generally
\d. the Ib. ; in the next century, in 1637, beef and mutton were bought at
Windsor for zs. ^d. the stone, 813 a price below the average as estimated by
Rogers, which came to about 3^. for that amount. Prices of ale and beer
seem often to have been settled locally. At Wallingford in 1538, ale was
to be sold at \d. the quart, when malt was not more than Ss. the quarter ; 313
beer (ale with the addition of hops) was sold in 1637 at id. a quart for the
best, and a ' dussen of ale ' in that year was 1 4</. 314 Sugar, \\d. the Ib. in
1561 815 (Barbary sugar, perhaps cheaper than usual), was very expensive in
the seventeenth century, and constantly given as presents to people of im-
portance; it cost in 1637 from is. 8d. to zs. the Ib. 316 Claret is. the gallon
in 1561 was zs. 8d. in 1637 ; a salmon cost zs. at the early date, i is. at the later
(respective weights not given), and so on. Prices of more important commo-
dities, such as wheat and malt, have been calculated in the Annals of 'Windsor ;
as standing at a high figure in the seventeenth century, and getting gradually
cheaper till the middle of the eighteenth. 317 Such scattered examples can, un-
fortunately, allow of no general estimate for prices throughout the county.

Leland describing his journey through Berkshire in 1542 certainly
gives the impression of general well-being. He is impressed by the ' fruit-
ful ground of corn ' round Wallingford ; by the ' plentiful wheat and barley '
of the Wittenham Clumps ; by the ' fertile vale of the White Horse.'
From Oxford to Faringdon he passed through ' some corn, but most pas-
ture ' ; and only at Faringdon itself does he speak of stony ground. The
land was apparently doing well, not noticeably converted from arable to pas-
ture, and with plenty of natural wealth in its own fertility ; even in the east,
where less capable of good cultivation, it was rich on account of its valuable
timber. 818

The Berkshire towns shared to some extent in the general industrial
growth which characterized the Tudor reigns, but what they gained in the
sixteenth century was largely lost in the seventeenth. Reading easily took
the first place amongst them, and various new industries began to develop 819 ;
but as these grew the old cloth trade declined, despite attempts to encourage
it artificially. 320

Plague and civil war came in the seventeenth century to put a finishing
touch to this decline. Reading suffered exceedingly from both, and as a
centre of military operations was so impoverished that it refused to pay any
more money to the soldiers in 1644, and the mayor had to be content with
half his ordinary salary. 331 Although the town recovered from these misfor-
tunes later, the clothing industry never did, its real importance being over
with the close of the seventeenth century.

811 Leland, I tin. vi (3rd ed.). *" Corp. Accounts, 1637-8 ; dnnab of Windsor, ii, 599.
11 Wallingford Corp. Ledger, 29 Hen. VIII, in Hedges, Hist, of Wallingford.

14 Reading Corp. Diary, 1637 ; Guilding, Reading Rec. iii, 396.

114 Leland, I tin. vi. " 6 Corp. Accounts; dnnali of Windsor, ii, 131.

117 Annals of Windsor, ii, 292. "" Leland's I tin. (Oxf. 171 1), ii, I sq.

19 Reading Corp. Diary ; passim. Guilding, Reading Rec. iii.

>M Ibid, ii, 153, &c. 3>1 Ibid, iii, 50, 61, ill ; iv, 12.

212

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

Wallingford had declined earlier ; Abingdon suffered from the loss of its
abbey, though still a flourishing little town ' stonding on clothing ' 322 ; but it
was Newbury which really made the most marked progress. Here Jack of
Newbury flourished, entertained King Henry and Queen Katherine in 1518,
and himself led one hundred men to fight at Flodden, clothed with the pro-
duce of his own looms ; Shaw House was built by the Dolmans, a family of
rich clothiers, and in 1601 the Company of Clothworkers or Weavers was
incorporated by Royal Charter. 823 Windsor also did a little in the way of
manufacturing cloth, but not to any very great extent. 834

A few industries were also carried on outside the towns. Fulling mills
were built at Colthrop in 1541 8S5 ; others were in use at East Hendred in
I 57 I S28 > an d at Brimpton in 1619 S27 ; malting continued here and there, 828 and
trencher-making was practised at Finchampstead. 329 The county had nothing
in the way of mines, but there were chalk pits in Windsor Park and else-
where ; sand, gravel, clay, and fuller's earth were all obtained. 830

On the whole it may be said that, with the exception of cloth and
malt, Berkshire had no really important industries, and was still through the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries mainly an agricultural county ; and with
the decline of its two chief trades its rural character was all the more empha-
sized. That its agricultural prosperity survived the changes of the sixteenth
century is proved by Rogers's calculation from the taxation returns of 1636,
according to which Berkshire appears as the sixth richest county in England. 831
The beginning of the seventeenth century was, however, a time of great
agricultural welfare and advance everywhere ; but the civil wars came as a
great check on this forward movement. Besides the actual devastation in
Berkshire, owing to the military operations which took place, there was a
general sense of insecurity and misery fatal to any efforts at progress ; and
even after the Restoration agriculture languished for some time ; as a Berk-
shire proverb said :

He that havocs may sit ;
He that improves must flit. 838

These effects of the struggle are shown by an estimate from taxation. In
1 649 Berkshire sank to the position of twenty-first only amongst the counties,
and then slowly recovered, having by 1693 regained the rank she had occu-
pied in 1636.

The prosperity of the county depended not only on local well-being, but
on means of communication. Roads as a rule suffered with the fall of the
monasteries, which had often kept them in repair ; they now came to be the
charge of the different localities, were kept up or not kept up as the case
might be by forced labour ; and throughout the seventeenth century fines

381 Leland, I tin. ii, 14.

133 Money, Hist, of Newbury, 200-2 ; Ashmole, Antiq. of Berks, ii, 288 ; Depos. by Com. (n Chas. I,
Easter, 24), Rules for weighing and selling of wool, &c.

314 Annab of Windsor, ii, 143 ; Ash. MSS. Bod. Lib. 1123, fol. 51.
" Harl. MSS. (B. M.) 606 ; Value of crown knds.
818 MSS. Top. (Bod. Lib.) Berks. D. 10, fol. u.
327 Excheq. Spec. Com. 3565 (Brimpton, 16 Jas. I).

" Rawl. (Bod. Lib.) D. 399 ; Regulations for 'maulters' in county of Berks.
119 Lyon, Chron. of Finchampstead, 212 (1518) ; Oak tables with scooped-out places to hold trenchers.
* 30 Annals of Windsor, ii, 253 ; Depos. by Com. (36-37 Eliz. Mich. 39) ; Beenham Valence.
331 Rogers, Hist, of Agric. and Prices, v, 1 04. "' Social Engl. iv, 44 1 .

213

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

were constantly inflicted for failure to perform these repairs satisfactorily. 833
Sometimes this important work was dependent on individual charity, or money
left by chance benefactors 834 ; although by the end of the sixteenth century
surveyors or justices of the peace were generally made responsible for the
condition of the highways. 836

A good deal of the traffic of the country went by what were known
as ' pack and pen ways,' with only room for packhorses and foot-passengers.
One of these, a short cut from Newbury to Abingdon over Milton Hill,
was described in the reign of William III as a very rough track indeed,
covered with flints washed down by constant streams of water. 836 Roads were
certainly not good, and travelling was dangerous, although Berkshire was not
exceptional in this respect. In 1664 a charitable person left money to pay
for the daily ringing of a bell at Wokingham at 4 a.m. and 8 p.m. to guide
strangers to the town ; and at Maidenhead the parson was paid an extra salary
because of his constant danger in passing a thicket noted as a highwayman's
resort. Towards the close of the seventeenth century travelling began to be
encouraged. In 1673 the first stage-coach was started between Windsor and
London, to the great detriment of the watermen, according to a contem-
porary pamphlet 337 ; and when the king was at the Castle, post was conveyed
between the two. In 1687 Windsor also established a stand of hackney
carriages for hire. 338

The Thames, however, still remained the best means of communication,
and the cost of water carriage was far lower than that of transport by land. 839
Naturally, like everything else it was a very uncertain quantity. In 1532
plaster had been conveyed from London to Windsor at is. lod. the ton ; in
1636 the king commanded that 5-r. the ton should be the established rate
between London and Oxford ; but the bargemen were charging 151. when
they could, only as far as Wallingford. 340 Roads were evidently not used
when water was available. In 1686 extra had to be paid for the convey-
ance of timber by land between London and Windsor, because the river
was too low to allow barges to pass 3 " ; and when Coates wrote his history
of Reading (1800) he estimated that carriage by canal was one-third as
expensive as that by land, although by that time the roads must have been
in much better condition than in these earlier centuries. 842

As to the good order and justice kept in the county, on which the
security of property and the welfare of society must so much depend, infor-
mation is unfortunately very scanty. With the sixteenth century matters of
importance were coming more and more into the hands of the justices of the
peace, and the records of their quarter sessions, where theft, murder, and other
crimes were now tried, have not been preserved earlier than 1724 onwards.

The old local courts were fast falling into complete insignificance ;
manorial courts still met here and there ; they continued to pass rural

331 Ct. R. ptfo. 153, No. 60 (Beenham Valence, 22 Hen. VIII), Hampstead Bridge to be repaired by all
the tenants. Ibid. ptfo. 153, No. 66 (Bray, 22 Chas. II), fines for not sending men to work on the king's,
highway.

334 Petty Bag Inq. (Berks.), Hi, 13 (1648). m Ibid, v, 4 (1625).

336 Depos. by Com. (3 Will, and Mary, Trinity, 8).

337 Annals of Windsor, ii, 366. ** Ibid. 42 1 .

33 Rawl. MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), D. 775, Pay-books of Windsor Castle ; ibid. A. 195, C.
340 Hedges, Hist, oj " Walling ford, iii, 129 ; Petition, 1636. MI Annals of Windsor, ii, 420.

S4> Coates, Hist, and Antiq. of Reading.

214

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

regulations and to punish rural crimes ; courts of piepowder still fined for
offences committed in fairs and markets, and some cases of interest still
appeared before the old portmoots ; but little new information can be
gathered from their now very scanty rolls.

In the manorial rolls, amongst much that is old, such as fines for
default, collection of heriots, rules as to ringing of pigs, encroachments,
overcharging of pasture, &c., there is an increasing number of entries
about the duty of keeping up hedges and of working on the highways ;
and a few new offences make their appearance. Tenants at East Enborne
in the sixteenth century got into trouble for making pig-sties on demesne
land ; 84S several fines were inflicted for not shooting with bow and arrows on
feast-days, as was by statute enjoined ; 844 and in the seventeenth century
repairing of stocks, whipping-post, and pillory appears to have been the work
of the tenants, though the lord had to provide the timber. 8 * 5

These manorial courts were fast being superseded, and did not meet so
regularly as heretofore. In Charles I's reign, the courts of Cookham and
Bray, formerly held every three weeks, now only met four or five times a
year as occasion required. 346

A regular forest court was still being held at Windsor in the seventeenth
century, chiefly for the punishment of poaching, and to supervise the good
condition of the wood. 847

Fines for old offences, such as default, encroachments on the waste, and
so forth, were generally paid on the old scale of zd. to 6d.\ but on the
whole the arr^unt of the fines was distinctly going up. At Sotwell, in
Henry VI I I's reign, selling with unfair measures was amerced at from
i s. to 3J., 8 * 8 failure to keep up boundaries in the manor of Beenham Valence at
3-r. 4</., and failure to repair the bridge at 6s. 8d. ; 349 whilst in 1657 a tenant
of Thatcham was ordered to dismiss * strangers ' from his house on pain
of 5 . 85

In the seventeenth century fines were often levied by the churchwardens
for all sorts of offences, such as swearing, drunkenness, absence from church ; 351
and for various misdeeds in the ale-houses, such as being there on a Sunday,
or above all for gambling ; 862 but there was also an increase, especially in
the towns, of actual punishments by means of the cage, 353 the stocks, the
pillory, and the cucking stool. 854

One man got three hours in the stocks for swearing ; 855 but a very
hardened offender might even be sent to the assizes, which apparently was

843 Ct. R. ptfo. I S3, No. 58 (E. Enborne, 1 8 Hen. VIII).

44 Ibid. 154, No. 1 8 (Enborne, 37 Hen. VIII) ; Ibid. 155, No. 56 (Shippon, 24 Eliz.).
845 Newbury Field Club, iii, 154 (Extracts from Thatcham Ct. R. 1657) ; Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 1 6
(Cookham, Chas. II).

346 Dep. by Com. 14-15 Chas. I, Hil. 10.

347 Rawl. MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), D. 399, fbl. 90, Justices in Eyre Seat, Windsor, 1632.
MS Ct. R. ptfo. 154, No. 69 (Sotwell, 28 Hen. VIII).

849 Ibid. 153, No. 58 (Beenham Valence, 15-18 Hen. VIII).
150 Newbury Field Club, iii, 1 54 (Thatcham, Ct. R.).

351 Annals of Windsor, ii, 78 ; Churchwardens' Accts. 1618 ; three men for drunkenness, each 5/.; for
absence from church, each is.; Widow Thinkittle for swearing (1624), is. &c., &c.
52 Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. ii, 379.

43 Ashmole MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), 1126 ; Chamberlain's Accts. Edw. VI and Mary.

44 Money, Hist, of Hungerford, 45 sq.; Constable's Accts. from 1658.
*" Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. iii, 199 (1633).

215

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

done with one who ' did swear in the market-place not so little as 40 oathes,
per Deum et alia &c fearfull oathes.' 866

Whipping was a very common punishment for small offences. In
Reading there was a house of correction largely employed for this purpose.
In 1626, 34-r. was laid out in whipping rogues; this was the duty of the
bellman, who was paid 4-r. 6d. the quarter for his agreeable task ! 367 Boys
were often punished in this way, as in the case of three apprentices who
threw turnips at a man and hurt him. 358 At Hungerford there were constant
whippings of poor men and women, presumably vagrants, who were generally
given 2d. or \d. at the same time (this may have been to enable them to get
back to their place of settlement) ; and the whipping-post was a common
object in most towns and villages.

Offences of greater importance were treated in either quarter sessions or
assizes, and the punishments inflicted would differ but little from county to
county. Theft, now and for long after, was frequently punished by death ; 85 *
and in 163 1 a boy was hanged for having set fire to some houses in Windsor. 36 *
Little evidence of these matters is to be found for Berkshire during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the eighteenth provides plentiful
examples of similar penalties for similar crimes, and it was long before
milder measures were introduced.

Perhaps the most interesting of all the developments of the Tudor period
was the attempt at meeting the growing problem of pauperism, rendered
more acute by the extension of sheep-farming and the loss of monastic
support. There are no signs of excessive poverty in Berkshire, except
perhaps when the plague was working havoc, as it so frequently did in some
parts of the county throughout the seventeenth century ; but a pauper class
existed there as elsewherb, and there are many illustrations of the working
out of the various statutcls on the subject. All through the sixteenth century
men were giving land anjl money for the use of the poor. Almshouses were
the most favourite f^itf'of relief. Some were established at New Windsor
as early as ^503, the corporation being given the power of electing the
inmates ; 361 V>me at Abingdon already existed and received constant donations ; 8W
in the reign "pf Henry VIII more almshouses were founded at Windsor ; 86S in
1 549 land wa x given at Speen (near Newbury) that the proceeds of it might
be annually distributed amongst the poor ; SM under Edward VI a charity
school and a Hospital were opened at Newbury ; 865 and above all there were
constant gifts of\money to be expended on the regular distribution of bread.
Charity was extremely unsystematic. Sometimes the churchwardens were to
distribute, sometimes the mayor and aldermen, sometimes the 'most sub-
stantial men' of ifhe place; often a bequest failed to be fulfilled by the
executors and might in the end be lost altogether. 868 As a rule, however,
supervision was put\ in the hands of the justices of the peace who were con-

56 Reading Corp. Diary \Reading Rec. iii, 82 (1631). "" Ibid, ii, 301. " Ibid. 352 (1637).

09 Ibid. 124 (1623). Siunders, a rogue, was suspected of the theft of a riding-coat and two or three
cheeses. He was hanged at thfe assizes.

160 Ashmole MSS. (Bodl. Lab.), 1 1 26, fol. 2 ib. 861 Ibid. fol. 63^.

162 Berks. Wills, Berks. Buck, and Oxon. Arch. Sac. i, 90.

163 Ashmole MSS. (Bodl. Lib.) 1126 ; Acct. Bk. A. (24 Hen. VIII).

"Money, Hist, of Speen. \ ** Money, Hist, of Newbury, 212.

66 Petty Bag Inq. passim. \

2l6

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

scientious and effective ; and with the opening of the seventeenth century, and
the passing of Elizabeth's poor law, overseers were regularly appointed and
together with the churchwardens are found distributing the different sums.

The early years of the reign of James I were marked by a great out-
burst of charitable zeal in Berkshire. Besides money left to be distributed
at the discretion of the overseers new hospitals and almshouses were estab-
lished, 867 money was given ' to set the poor on work ' ; 863 poor boys were to
be apprenticed to learn a trade ; 869 and education was encouraged by the pro-
vision of schoolmasters to teach the poor boys of the place. 370 The House of
Correction at Reading, established in accordance with 7 James I ' to set
rogues on work,' was in constant use for this, as well as for the whipping
of these same rogues, 871 and in 1632 a girl was sent to a hospital that she
might be taught to spin and earn her living ; 372 whilst one of the most
famous benefactors of Berkshire in this century was Archbishop Laud, who
left money to be used for apprenticing boys from several different villages*
There was still, however, plenty of absolutely indiscriminate almsgiving, and
very hap-hazard distribution. A favourite plan of bestowing money for
marrying the two poorest couples, 873 was not exactly calculated to encourage
prudence ; the prisoners in Reading Gaol to whom money was left 874 seem
rather an unusual object of charity (though doubtless they needed it
badly to judge from the reports of how prisons were kept), but perhaps
the most curious illustration of the casual character of relief was the
money left for maidservants, the recipient to be selected by lot. 876 It is true
that the lot was only drawn amongst those who fulfilled certain conditions
in the way of length of service ; but, nevertheless, the plan was rather char-
acteristic of the methods of the day. Real efforts were being made, how-
ever, to meet the growing difficulty, and charity was extremely active if not
always very wise. 876

Morals were being looked after with some care during the seventeenth
century. Under the Commonwealth only twelve inns were licensed at
Wallingford instead of thirty-two, and a religious discourse was to be
preached every market-day. 377 At Reading an innkeeper was threatened
with losing his licence because he allowed bowling, playing at nine-pins,
'and other disorderly courses.' 878 A good many amusements of this sort had
been started during the sixteenth century. They had bowling-alleys in the
Tudor reigns, 879 besides cards, dice, and gambling games. Local authorities
always considered such amusements to be under their supervision, and at

867 Kerry, Hist, of Hundred of Bray, 1609 (Jesus Hospital, Bray); Petty Bag Inq. iv, 19, 1613 (Alms-
houses, Blewbury) ; ibid, v, 4, 1615 (Almshouses, Lyford) ; Clark MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), 20, 1659 (Alms-
houses, Maidenhead).

863 Petty Bag Inq. iv, II, 1607, 40 left at Wantage to buy wool to be spun into yarn. Ashmole MSS,
1123, 1671 ; j2OO for making cloth at Windsor.

169 Ashmole MSS. (Bodl. Lib.) 204, 1654; thirty poor children apprenticed; Char. Com. Rep. xxxii,
65, 1691, money to apprentice children at White Waltham.

70 Kerry, Hist, of Hundred of Bray (i yth c.), schoolmaster at Bray to have 20 a year to teach 20 boys gratis.

s71 Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. ii, 226, 262-8. 37J Ibid. 294.

373 Petty Bag Char. 3-17, Inq. at Wokingham, 1608. 374 Petty Bag Char. 4-19 ; Inq. of 1613,

375 Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. iii, 7.
76 For the assistance of education by charitable donations, see article on ' Schools.'

377 Hedges, Hist, of Wallingford, Ledger Book, 1600.

878 Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. iv, 365 (1600).

179 Money, Hist. ofSpeen ; Bowling-green mentioned in Speen Registers.

2 217 28

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Wallingford servants were forbidden to play any games of the sort in ale-
houses on a working day. 880 There were festivities and dancing also on May
Day, and at other times. The churchwardens of St. Mary's at Reading paid
3J. to the minstrels and hobby-horse on May Day, and 3^. 4^. for meat and
drink to give to the ' Morrysdauncers ' at Whitsuntide, besides five pairs of
shoes for them, which cost the large sum of 4-r. 381 Even before the Com-
monwealth, Reading was, however, becoming very Puritan and averse to
these ' godless amusements.' In 1631 cudgel-playing was moved from the
market-place, and properly licensed players were forbidden to act in the
town ; some were actually paid 2os. to depart without giving their perform-
ance ; one ale-house was suppressed for being the scene of a disturbance at
1 1 p.m. ; and the constables reproved another where ' shovegroate ' - was
played. 382 One amusement, of a far more reprehensible character, was con-
tinued at Wokingham right up to 1832, the horrible custom of bull-baiting.
This was considered to be good for the quality of the meat, as well as an
enjoyable spectacle, and the rates provided one bull a year, a charitable
bequest another, with the stipulation that the proceeds from the sale of the
flesh should be expended on shoes and stockings for the poor children of the
town. 883

As is only natural, Berkshire maintained many superstitions through
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries : witchcraft was still a punishable
crime, and indeed serious enough to be brought before the assizes ; 88 * to make
an image stuck with pins, or even to pierce with a rusty pin the name of an
enemy written on a piece of paper, was a deed of a most suspicious char-
acter, and could bring its perpetrator before the justices. 885 Women were
constant victims of these charges, and it was generally women also who
bore the punishment of the cucking-stool, whether for slandering, scolding,
or eavesdropping.

One great fear of the seventeenth century, where so much wood was
used in buildings, was that of fire. Regulations were constantly passed to
guard against this : such as the infliction of fines on those who neglected
to sweep their chimneys, 888 or who went into stables and outhouses with
lighted matches, or who failed to keep water apparatus. 387 Damage, however,
was constantly done notwithstanding these effbrtb. 388

Despite dangers of this sort towns were beginning to be much better
kept in the seventeenth century. The cleaning of the streets and the services
of a scavenger were making them both more respectable and more healthy,
though there was room left for later improvement. It was the duty of each
householder to look after the street in front of his own door, 389 and it was the
duty of the town crier to warn him when this needed to be done. 890 The

880 Hedges, Hist, of Wallingford, Corp. Ledger, 1508. *" Garry, Churchwarden? Accts. 1556-7.

** Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. iii, 74, 76, 79, 96, 144.

S83 Berks. Bucks, and Oxon. Arch. Sac. July, 1890 ; Ditchfield, Hist, cf Wokingham.

184 Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. ii, 3 ; iii, 243 ; ^3 $1. expended at assizes in prosecution of
witches.

385 Ibid, ii, 395. s86 Hedges, Hist, of Wallingford, Corp. Ledger, 1628.

387 Reading Corp. Diary, Reading Rec. ii, 51 ; Every burgess to have three leather buckets ready in his
house.

1=8 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, 50^ ; Petition from Faringdon, 1646, stating losses by fire.

389 Hedges, Hist, of Walfingford, Ledger Book, 1650 ; Fines for not pitching and gravelling street before
house ; is. for not cleaning streets. 19 Annals of Windsor, ii, 391, Chamberlain's Accts. 1682.

218

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

town crier was quite an important personage, as he had to make known all
subjects of general interest to the inhabitants. Most places also had watch-
men, who performed to some extent the duty of police, keeping guard during
the night that the town might rest in peace. 891 Other officials were the sexton
and the clerk. The latter at St. Mary's, Reading, was paid quite a good
salary in the seventeenth century, since from 33^. \d. in 1577 it had risen
in 1620 to 2 los - a year. 893 Towns chiefly showed their loyalty by constant
bell-ringing on Gunpowder Plot day, on the occasion of royal visits, or any
other time of special rejoicing ; the ringers on great occasions generally
received presents of tobacco as well as their pay.

To sum up shortly the general condition of the county at the close of
the seventeenth century : Town and country alike had suffered from the
expenses and troubles of the civil wars, had passed through a period of
material recovery, if of moral repression, during the Commonwealth, and after
the Restoration there was a further enjoyment of substantial prosperity un-
hampered by Puritan ascendancy. The best days, however, of the clothing
and malting industries were now over, and Berkshire was more and more to
develop on agricultural lines.

For Berkshire the ' Industrial Revolution ' of the eighteenth century
meant improvement in means of communication and greater development of
scientific cultivation. Abandoning any pretensions to figure as an important
manufacturing centre, the county was occupied with the introduction of new
crops, of better manures, of more elaborate rotation, and with the completion
of the inclosing movement.

Common fields died hard, for the chief period of inclosures was not
until the latter part of the eighteenth and early half of the nineteenth
centuries. In 1717 when a register was taken of the Papists' estates
throughout the country, their lands were largely lying scattered in the open
fields. 393 Anne Parker had besides four closes ' 25 acres lying dispersedly in
the Common fields of Padworth and Benham.' In the manor of Buckland
a good many separate holdings had been consolidated, but there were also
4 yardlands '103 acres more or less dispersed in the Eastside Common fields,'
and ' 23 acres dispersed in Westside Commonmead,' and examples could be
multiplied.

Describing the county in 1794, Pearce estimated the common fields and
downs at 220,000 acres, the inclosed lands as only I7o,ooo 894 ; and in 1809
Mavor wrote at length on the many disadvantages of common land, which
he considered to be one of the greatest hindrances to improvement. 395

Some land, in the eighteenth century, continued to be held by old
services, and boon days were not uncommon. In 1717 Charles Eyton of
East Hendred leased out land for rent, a couple of turkeys, and carriage of
six loads of fuel from any place ten miles distant ; he himself allowing ' cart
boot, plow boot, and stick Soot,' quite in the old form. 396 Brimpton Farm was
let on lease, together with ' lands, services, works, days and services which
are and ought to be done by the customary tenants ' ; one tenant of a

81 Money, Hist, of Hungerford, Constable's Accts. 1688.
m Garry, Churchwardens' Accts. 1577, i6zo, 1621.

93 Document in the office of the Clerk of the Peace at Reading.

94 Pearce, Agriculture of Berks (1794, Agricultural Soc.).

895 Mavor, Agriculture of Berks (1809). 3X Register of Papist Estates (1717), 14.

219

400
' )

402

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

messuage had to keep a dog and a hound ; another did four days' work with
a team and cart, and so on. 397

There were great difficulties to be got over before improvements could
be introduced. Nothing much could be done till the land was held in
severally ; the proper rotation of crops was hindered by the old custom of
laying the land open for pasture at certain times, and, unless common agree-
ment could be arrived at on this point, there was no remedy, as the tenants
would say 'they had their rights'; 898 and the inclosures themselves involved
considerable expenditure. 399 The work, however, did go forward. There had
always been instances here and there, such as East Hagbourne in 1719 ;
Speen in 1737 ; 401 and then from 1760 onwards a regular series began.

The greater part of these inclosures were now for arable purposes, and
meant the partitioning and dividing of the old open fields ; some of the
pasture land and downs were also fenced for the better safe-guarding of the
flocks, and some of the waste and commonable lands were brought
under cultivation, although this, according to Mavor, was not a very profit-
able undertaking, and they were of more use when planted;* 03 there is much
open country still left in the sheep walks on the central ridge of the
downs.

Aston Upthorpe, Bockhampton, Bourton, Bray, Great Faringdon,
Hampstead Norris, Longcot, and Speen were all inclosed before the nine-
teenth century ; in the case of actual commons such as Earley (1761) and
Baling (1778) an agreement was made between the commoners and the lord
of the manor, before the bill for inclosing was procured. The rest followed
in the nineteenth century. Steventon remained open until 1885 ; and the
last award is that of Chilton, dated 1890. Although there was bound to
be some difficulty in settling the different; claims, the general benefit of
inclosures seems to have been no longer disputed, and Mavor states that the
demand for labour was very little altensd by them. 404 At Upton after the
Inclosure Act of 1804, the produce /tlmost doubled, and 2,000 sheep were
kept instead of 200 ; doubtless thh must have been a common experience. 405

The introduction of turnirs and artificial grasses was another great step
in agricultural advance. The .brmerjwere grown quite early in the century;
in 1717 a certain Mistress Keate was said to have a whole acre of them in
Hagbourne field ; 406 and by 1794 their value as a substitute for leaving the
land fallow was fully recognized. The usual rotation of crops on the rich
soils was (i) wheat, (2) beans, (3) barley, (4) oats, (5) clover, (6) vetches and
turnips, and on the downs a six-course was also practised, only that two
years of grass generally took the place of beans and clover ; but on the
open fields turnips wer\e not yet commonly introduced. 407 Jethro Tull, a
farmer of Shalbourn, di<4 more than anyone to further the improvement of
tillage ; his chief contributions were an extension of hoeing, and the use
of the drill for sowing, which diminished considerably the amount of seed

97 Register of Papist Estates (1717), 60, 65. MS Pearce, op. cit. 26.

399 Mavor, op. cit. 40 Deposns. by Com. 3 Geo. I, Mich. 4.

01 Money, Hist, of Speen.

' Inclosure Awards, office of the Clerk- of the Peace at Reading.

403 Mavor, Agriculture of Berks, 498. 4P4 Ibid.

405 Mary Sharpe, Hist, of Ufton Ct. (Londi. 1892), 172 (Notes from Oriel Coll.).

1M Deposns. by Com. 3 Geo. I, Mich. 4. 407 Pearce, Agric. of Berks (1794), 25.

220

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

required. 408 The drainage system was also improving, the king himself setting
a good example in his Norfolk farm in Windsor Park, where 200 acres had
originally stood under water, and where he introduced all the modern
improvements with conspicuous success. 409 The Vale of the White Horse
remained by far the most productive part of the county, was famed
for its wheat and beans, and did much, too, in the keeping and fattening of
cattle. Wheat, barley, and oats were grown everywhere, and were parti-
cularly good ; 41 rye, beans, and peas were cultivated in smaller quantities.
The Berkshire meadows have always been valuable ; along the Kennet
between Hungerford and Reading they were perhaps at their best, and
besides hay produced excellent peat, for the sale of which as much as 300
was gained from one acre in 1794, for not only was it in demand for
fuel, but the ash had just begun to be used for the dressing of crops.* 11 Hops
were grown in a few places (mentioned at Ufton in i^62, 112 Bisham I783) 413 ,
and osiers all along the Thames and Kennet, the latter being in great demand
for the London basket-makers. 414 Market gardening and fruit farms were being
tried towards the close of the eighteenth century, but not to any very great
extent ; there were apple and pear orchards in the Vale of the White Horse,
cherries round Wantage and Hagbourne, and a good many vegetables near
Reading and Newbury by 1809 ; 415 but large arable and sheep farms were the
general rule. The forest division of the county, though less cultivated, could
make considerable profit by its timber, the value varying, however, according
to its distance from or proximity to the river. It was largely required for
hurdles, faggots, and coach-building in London. 418

The Berkshire sheep farms have been large and well stocked from 1794
onwards. Pearce speaks of the sheep as ' useful and handsome,' and the
fleece of each weighed on an average as much as 4 lb. 417 ' The neat cattle '
were kept in all parts, but the chief dairy farms were in the vale, round Far-
ingdon and Shrivenham, where a great deal of butter- and cheese-making
went on. At the beginning of the nineteenth century 2,000 to 3,000
tons of the latter were annually sent to London. 418

The Berkshire farmers were particularly proud of their horses, accord-
ing to Pearce, and kept more of them than were really required ; they
were also sold a good deal for London drays, being * in legs pretty short,
in bodies thick, and their whole figure being framed for strength rather
than for activity.' 419

Pigs were chiefly numerous in the dairy parts of the county, and
Faringdon was famous for them ; they were made into bacon for the use
of London and Oxford. 420 Fowls also were in request for London, and
poultry farms flourished in the eastern county in the eighteenth century. 431
These were, however, diminished by the growing consolidation of farms, and
have been of less importance in late years.

408 Jethro Tull, Hand-hoeing Husbandry (1822 ed.), 69, 70. 409 Pearce, op. cit. 64.

410 Roque's Surv. (Bodl. Lib.) 1771 ; barley mentioned as especially fine. 4U Pearce, op. cit. 51.

4I> Mary Sharpe, Hist, of Ufton Ct. 41S MSS. Top. Berks. (Bodl. Lib.), D. 1 1.

414 Depos. by Com. 7 Geo. I, Hil. 1 1 ; Mavor, op. cit. 3. 41i Mavor, op. cit. 299.

416 Pearce, op. cit. 54 ; Mavor, op. cit. 307. For nineteenth-century advance see article on ' Agriculture,'
and A grit. Returns ; Reports to Board of Agriculture, 1900 to 1905.

4 " Pearce, op. cit. 44. 4 " Mavor, op. cit. 374. 19 Ibid. 396.

4>l) Pearce, op. cit. 44 ; Mavor, op. cit. 403. ol Mavor, op. cit. 407.

221

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

As to the size of farms in Berkshire. The general tendency was for
them to be large; Pearce, indeed, speaks of them as too large in I794. 422
This was especially the case in the sheep farms, Cholsey farm being amongst
the biggest in England ; it was let out, in 1771, at i,ooo. 423 Small farms
certainly existed in 1717 424 and on the Finchampstead estate in I786, 426 but
the yeoman farmers were gradually dying out, partly because unable to afford
the more expensive methods of machinery now being introduced. 426

By 1794, also, Pearce is complaining of the scarcity of leasehold
property, which had been much superseded by tenancy from year to year. 427
This change is shown to be coming in 1717, although much property was
still leased at that date ; but on the estates of the earl of Shrewsbury the
phrase constantly appears : ' Leased by the late Duke, now let by me from
year to year.' 428 Mavor says that at least one-third of the land was occupied
by the proprietors themselves, and that leases were few and, as a rule, not
long ; they were mostly for seven years, but these were not very successful
owing to the severity of the fine demanded.

Copyhold tenure continued to be fairly frequent, but general^for cottages
or small holdings. In 1717 five farms on the estate of WillilMlWallascot

^^^^^^

were let out by copy of Court Roll, and this generally meant Icwrsfe rents
and the gifts of capons and pullets ; but though their rent was usually
small, the copyholders suffered very much from the levy of extremely
heavy 'fines': a man paying a rent of id. or 6d. had to supply as entry
money 1% and $o.* M

The labouring class was extremely numerous. According to the
population returns of 1831, out of 31,081 families 14,047 were engaged
in agriculture, only 9,884 in trade : the agricultural labourers numbered
14,802, factory hands 321, and retail traders io,758. 430 The manufacturing
class only appear in Reading, Abingdon, Wantage, Newbury, Bisham,
Speenhamland, Thatcham, and Wallingford ; and in Abingdon alone did
they exceed in numbers the agricultural class, which therefore constituted a
very important section of the population.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century is. was a very ordinary
payment for a day's work of all sorts. In some accounts kept at Donnington
for Mr. Robert Parker, 1706 9, 431 a good many labourers were paid at that
rate, though their actual employment is not specified ; occasionally they
were given as little as i od. ; an old woman for mending was only allowed
4</. a day; and in 1721 is. was the amount paid to the labourers who
looked after the osier beds. Towards the close of the century the usual
plan was to keep a certain number of permanent farm hands paid by the
year, and other labourers given so much a week with the chance of making
more at harvest time.

This extra harvest work was occasionally done at so much a day : it
was possible to gain as much as 3^., Sir Meredith Eden tells us, in ijqj.
The most popular plan, however, and that which both Pearce and Mavor

128 Pearce, op. cit. 19. 423 Rocque's Survey, 1771. 4M Register of Papist Estates.

425 Lyon, Chron. of Finchampstead ; Deed of Settlement, 1786.
126 Article on ' Agriculture.' For riots against machinery see Poor Law Rep. 1834.
487 Pearce, op. cit. 17. 428 Register of Papist Estates, 71. 429 Ibid. 9.

430 'Population Returns, 1831. 431 Rawl. (Bodl. Lib.), D. 1480 ; Donnington Accounts, 1706-9.

43> Sir F. M. Eden, State of the Poor (1797), ii, 15.

222

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

recommend, was to let it out * by the great,' as it was called : which meant
that a certain sum was offered per acre, and then that the labourer could
come with wife and family and do as much and as quickly as he could.
When this method was adopted, Pearce says that the poor were always more
industrious and more comfortable.* 33

The pay by the year did not change to any very great extent between

1794 and 1809, but rose slightly. A carter in the first instance might get
from 5 to 10. In 1809 an under-carter would be given 4 guineas, whilst
a head man could get up to 12 guineas. A shepherd at both dates generally
received 10 \os., but he had also the right of pasturing a few sheep. At
the earlier date a 'stout' ploughboy earned 2, a small one i IDS. ; in
1809 a 'boy' would get from 2 to 3 guineas.

The weekly wages varied from place to place, and were rather higher
in the eastern part of the county and in the neighbourhood of towns ; they
are difficult to compare, because in some cases allowances were made with
them, such as supplying cheap provisions, as at Wallingford, where the
labourer was only paid from js. to 8s. a week ; or giving him beer, as at
New WinJ^fr, or milk or a potato ground ; or enabling him in some way
to eke^niffis very meagre earnings ; but in any case the wages appear to have
been lamentably low, though tending to rise slightly. 434 In 1794 the general
average for a day labourer was 6s. 6d. a week in winter, 8j. in summer. 435 In

1795 at New Windsor 9.1-. a week and beer was given ; at Wallingford js.
and the chance of buying cheap food :* 38 in 1809 Mavor estimates the average
per week to be from 9^. to izs., which seems rather higher than is usually
stated elsewhere.

The work by the piece was paid fairly well, and by working early
and late the labourer might earn as much as 41. 6d. or $s. a day. The
rate of pay for this also went up slightly in the first few years of the nine-
teenth century. In 1794 cutting beans or wheat varied from 5^. to 9^. an
acre, according to the richness of the soil ; on the down land where crops
would be light, never more than 6s. In 1809 beans were cut from js. to 5^.
the acre ; wheat on poor soil from 6s. to IQJ. ; and on good soil from qs. to
I2J. Similarly in the case of barley: for cutting this in 1794, is. 3^. to
is. 6d. an acre was paid : at the later date 2s. to %s.

For the other piecework Mavor does not inform us ; but Pearce says
that mowing hay was paid at is. 6d. an acre and small beer; peas at is. 4^?.;
hoeing turnips at as much as 6s. to 9^.

Even with this addition, however, a farm labourer at the close of the
century was often very badly off. Sir F. M. Eden gives a description of a
labourer at Streatley in 1795. 437 A man with a wife and seven children, the
two eldest of whom were ploughboys, and three out at service, earned in
winter 8s. a week, and during July 1 2s., whilst in wheat harvest for about
ten days he was able to make as much as %s. a day ; to this his wife con-
tributed is. 6d. a week by her work ; and the total annual earnings of the
whole family amounted to 46. Then follows an estimate of his yearly ex-
penditure, which, only allowing bacon and cheese, no meat and no beer,
amounted to ^63 i8j. %d. the year !

03 Pearce, op. cit. 35. "' Mavor, op. cit. 412. 4S5 Eden, State of the Poor, ii, 17 sq.

436 Pearce, op. cit. 40. " 7 Eden, State of the Poor, ii, 15.

223

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

The lowness of wages was, in part at least, caused by the mistaken
system of poor relief which prevailed. According to what was known as the
Berkshire Bread Scale, or Speenhamland Act of 1795, which continued in
force until the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, every poor industrious
man was to be allowed 3J. a week from the poor rates, and is. 6d. for- his
wife and any children not working, as soon as the gallon loaf of bread cost
is. : and for every id. rise in price a proportionate extension of this relief of
3</. for himself and id. for each of his family.* 38 In the foregoing instance of
the Streatley labourer the parish paid the house rent (the usual plan in that
place), and allowed him is. ()d. a week for the two children not working,
whilst charitable people also provided clothes for the family. It is not
surprising to find that the poor rate in Streatley, formerly 3^. in the pound,
had risen in 1795 to as much as 6s. or js.

Prices of food were rising all through the war period, but they varied
somewhat from place to place. Streatley, Wantage, and Wallingford were
amongst the cheapest places ; Reading often id. a Ib. dearer for meat and
cheese, &c. ; Windsor and the eastern county more expensive still. In
I795 439 beef at Wallingford was from $kd. to jd. a Ib.; at Reading from \d.
to jd. ; at New Windsor, 6d. to 8</. ; mutton from 6d. to jd. ; veal, $d. to
jd. ; bacon, as a rule the labourer's only meat, ^d. (this was the price paid
by the Streatley labourer, but it is so unusually cheap that it may have been
specially allowed by the farmer) to lod. ; butter, ()d. to is. zd. ; new milk, zd.
and ^d. the quart, and the gallon loaf of bread from is. to is. y\d. In 1809
beef and mutton at their lowest were jd. ; bacon and cheese, 6d. to Sd. ;
butter, is. to is. 6d'. 440 Wheat, which in 1740 and 1756 had been at 4 and
i6j. the quarter, was sold at Newbury market in 1812 for 6 i6s. and
iSs. ; bread went up to 2s. n^d. the gallon. 4 * 1 Tea was still fairly dear,
that bought by the Streatley labourer being 3^. the Ib., although this is a
great improvement on the 25^. a Ib. which was given by the Donnington
family in 1706.^ Coals, which had to be brought by water, were beyond the
reach of the poor at jTi los. a ton (1809), and labourers mostly burnt peat
near the Kennet, turf occasionally in the forest districts, furze and bean
stubbles on the chalk hills and in the vale. 443

Even after the Peace of 1815 had reduced prices, and when the Poor
Law Amendment Act of 1834 had removed one check on the rise of
wages, the labourer's position was not at once ameliorated, but his remunera-
tion tended to improve by degrees. Wages are still low in Berkshire com-
pared with other counties inevitable in arable districts where the absence of
large towns and chances of other occupation keeps down the rate ; but to
judge from the outside, the cleanness and brightness of the village and the
well-kept cottage to be met with throughout the county, the Berkshire
peasantry must be thrifty and careful and turn their money to good
account. 444

The Berkshire towns made no special advance during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries; the clothing industry finally disappeared, and a few new

433 Nicholls, Hist, of the Poor Law, ii, 131. * Eden, State of the Poor, ii, 1 1-24.

440 Mavor, op. cit. 460. "' Money, Hist. ofNetvbury.

'' Rawl. MSS. (Bodl. Lib.), D. 1480. "* Mavor, op. cit. 420.

14 For wages, &c., throughout nineteenth century, see article on 'Agriculture'; also Rep. of Agric. Com. on
Agric. Depression, 1896 ; Wilson Fox, Rep. to Board ofAgric. 1900.

224

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

occupations were developed;** 5 but with the exception of Huntley & Palmer's
biscuits, no product of a Berkshire factory is much known outside the county
itself ; markets and fairs are wholly for the sale of agricultural commodities ;
and the wealth of the county consists in the fertility of its soil and the
facilities which it possesses for the conveyance of rural produce. Great
improvements have been made in these means of communication since the
early years of the eighteenth century, and some account of the development
of the waterways of the county will be found elsewhere.* 48

Berkshire roads are now extremely good as a general rule ; but this was
not always the case in former times. In the eighteenth century the statute
work that could be demanded for them from the different places was six
days for every 50 per annum of rent ; but this was very often neglected,
or even if done was not always sufficient. The justices of the peace were
constantly inflicting fines for lack of repair or for individual defaults from
the work ;** 7 in 1809 Mavor says that despite the plentiful supplies procur-
able of flint and gravel, roads were not so well kept as they might be, and
required more raising in the middle ; occasionally they were let in contract
by the mile, a very bad plan, since the contractors wanted to save as much
profit as they could for their own pockets ; ** 8 and the cross roads were often
extremely bad, except in the forest. In 1813 Lysons considered the main
highways to be well kept, but some of the smaller roads were poor, especially
in the vale, where they were totally impassable in the winter.** 9

When statute labour was insufficient highway rates had to be raised ; in
1771 these amounted to about 6d. in the pound,* 60 but they varied according
to need, and a great deal was procured during all this period from the turn-
pike tolls. A good many new roads were opened during the eighteenth
century, and with the period of inclosures these became all the more
numerous, the making of a village road almost always following an inclosure
award.*"

The oldest and most important roads *" were the great Bath road ; the
London Road, through Reading; the highway between Oxford and Faring-
don ; and from Oxford through Newbury to Winchester. In the eighteenth
century the road running through Bessels Leigh, Wantage, and Hungerford
was widened and improved ; * 63 new ways were opened from Wallingford to
Oxford and Wantage ; and in the early nineteenth century from Uffington
to Faringdon,* 5 * and from the villages of Letcombe Regis, Basildon, Warfield,
the towns of Wantage and Wokingham, and many others ; *" besides which
a good many bridges were constructed, and those already existing were rebuilt
with stone whenever necessary.*

456

ta See article on 'Industries.' On the towns in 1722 ee Defoe, Tour through Great Britain (2nd edit.

1738),", "7 s q-

" V. C.H.Berks, i, 375 et seq.

447 Quarter Session Books, 1713, Buckland ; 1717, Reading ; 1802, Beenham, Boxford, and Westbrook ;
1813, &c. &c.

448 Mavor, op. cit. 422. 449 Lysons, Magna Brit. ' Berkshire.'

450 Quarter Sessions Order Books. 4il Ibid, (especially 1806-12).

451 See also 7. C.H. Berks, i, 376.

44S Quarter Session Books, Easter Sessions, 1772.

454 Ibid. Oct. 1802.

455 Ibid. 1806 12 ; see Lyon, Chron. of Finchampstead, 217. The village was almost inaccessible until
1854 and 1861, when two new roads were opened.

456 Lysons, Magna Brit. -gives a list of roads and bridges in 1813.

2 225 29

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Travelling was becoming more common with the eighteenth century,
and attempts were made to facilitate this to some extent. In 1704 an enter-
prising individual started a stage coach between Wallingford and London,
and Henley and London. This does not appear, however, to have been by
any means a profitable undertaking, and not much in request ; owing to
' lack of passengers and dearness of corn,' and also in consequence of the
horses being old and worn out, and one dying on the journey, he lost about
200 in three years, and was glad to abandon the undertaking. 457

In 1752 the Newbury 'Flying Coach' was started, which gained its
name by accomplishing the distance to London in twelve hours, at the great
pace, that is, of 4! miles an hour ! The cost was los. per passenger, and
there was only room for four of them. 468 In 1826 a coach ran between
London and Blewbury three days in the week, 459 and in 1832 a steam coach
passed through Newbury on its way from Southampton to London, and this
was able to go at the rate of about 1 2 miles an hour. 460 Since then the county
has been well provided with railways, and is now fairly accessible ; the last
line to be opened being one which connects Lambourn with Newbury.

The real problem of the nineteenth century was that of poverty and
relief of the poor. All through the eighteenth century money and land
continued to be left for charitable uses, the building of almshouses, the
distribution of food and clothing, the apprenticing of poor boys, the marrying
of poor girls, and so forth. 481 There was besides, however, the regular poor
rate established ever since Elizabeth's great Poor Law, the distribution of
which was in the hands of churchwardens, overseers, and under the super-
vision of justices of the peace. The question of how best to distribute this
money was one very difficult to solve, and yet on it depended to a very great
extent the whole well-being of the county. The consideration of this subject
falls into two divisions: the period before the Poor Law Amendment Act of
1834, and that which follows, in which the results of the measure can be
traced.

Before 1834 attempts had been made to meet the difficulty of distin-
guishing between deserving and undeserving, to set the able-bodied to work,
and to force relatives who were able to do so to provide for the indigent mem-
bers of their family. By Gilbert's Act in 1782, visitors and guardians were
appointed to all Poor Law unions ; no one was to be relieved at home except
the old, sick, or infirm, and work was to be provided for the strong ; 4M also
in 1795 an Act was passed which attempted to diminish the evils of the 1662
Settlement Act, by saying that poor persons were not to be removed until they
became actually chargeable ; 483 but Gilbert's Act was extremely difficult to
carry out ; the reform of 1795 came too late to be much good, and the
Speenhamland Act of 1795, already mentioned, which laid down the giving
of relief according to the price of bread and the number of the family, intro-
duced a system which rendered all efforts in the opposite direction unavailing.
There are various traces of attempts made in Berkshire to carry out these good
intentions. In 1709 a son was forced to contribute 2s. a week to support his

'' Dep. by Com. 2 Anne, Mich. 22. <M Money, Hist, of Newbury, 337.

i9 Richardson, Notes on Blewbury. 46 Money, Hist, of Newbury, 338.

Char. Com. Rep. * Nicholls, Hist, of the Poor Law, ii, 83.

Ibid, iii, 109.

226

461

413

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

father who was on the parish ; 464 in 1726 the overseers exacted 6d. a week
from a man towards his mother's support ;*" in 1740 a man was sent to the
House of Correction at Reading for twice removing away from his family ; 4M
in 1771 a heavy fine was imposed for the same, 467 and in 1801 three months'
imprisonment and a public whipping. 468

The question of providing work for vagrants was occasionally met by
sending them to hard labour in the House of Correction if they could not
give a good account of themselves, 469 otherwise they were sent to work on the
roads, or in public gravel pits, 470 or if lodged in the workhouses hemp-spinning,
hair and wool picking, and even linen and stocking manufacture for the use
of the inmates were enforced, and a few were sometimes sent out to work on
farms. 471 In 1809 Mavor speaks of a well-conducted house of industry at
Faringdon, a good workhouse at Abingdon, a sacking manufacture in the
Bray Poor House, 473 and in 1819 there was a vagrant depot at Maidenhead,
which obliged tramps to work for the neighbouring farmers. 473 These
attempts did not, however, meet with universal success. The Maidenhead
depot was ordered to cease after two years, because it encouraged vagrants,
and as a justice of the peace said, 'real hard labour in gaol and a few
commitments would probably do more good.' 474

The provision of work for the able-bodied which was artificial and not
really required tended to diminish the industry of the worker, and very
often the men refused to do the unnecessary labour ; Mr. Hall (Assistant
Commissioner for Berkshire, 1834) asked a party of labourers at Brightwell
why they were not doing anything to the road, to which they replied, that
* it does no good ; overseer only puts us here to punish us.' 476 The work-
houses also were badly managed and open to much abuse ; one in Wallingford
formed a pleasant home for several young married couples, and there was an
absolute scramble for rooms whenever a vacancy occurred. 476 Finally, the Act
of 1795 diminished the duty of parents towards their children; as Mr. Hall
said, in Berkshire the maxim was : ' We pay so much for the third, fourth,
and fifth child ' ; nowhere did he hear, * We require the parent to maintain
children by his own industry.'* 77

In 1831 a very careful investigation of the conditions of labour and poor-
relief throughout the county supplied plentiful evidence of the evil result of
the old system. 478 In almost every village all families with more than three
children were receiving regular help from the parish, the scale of relief being
generally determined by the price of bread, according to the Speenhamland
Act ; in Reading help was given after the second child ; in nearly every
instance where this policy had been adopted the report also stated that the
industry of labourers was diminishing, and also that they changed their service
more frequently than in old days. This was, however, often due to the
farmers themselves, who would not offer long engagements for fear of giving
the labourer a ' settlement ' in that place. At Milton and Uffington relief to

464 Quarter Sess. Order Book, 1709, St. Thos. Sess. 48S Ibid. 1726, Epiphany Sess.

466 Ibid. Abingdon, 15 July, 1740. '"Ibid. Easter, 1771.

468 Ibid. 15 July, 1801. 469 Ibid. Reading 10 Jan. 1741-2.

470 Mackay, Hist, of the Poor Law, 194. 4n Eden, State of the Poor, ii, 1 1-24.

4 " Mavor, dgric. of Berks. 100. 4 " Quarter Sess. 19 Oct. 1819. 474 Ibid. I May, 1821.

ai Poor Law Com. Rep. 1835, 206 sq. Also quoted in Mackay's Hist, of the Poor Law.
476 Mackay, Hist, of the Poor Law, 197. 477 Ibid. 194. "* Poor Law Rep. 1834.

227

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

the able-bodied took the form of compulsory work on the roads ; and in a
few places the bread-scale system had been already given up. At Bray no
able-bodied were receiving relief, which was given ' according to merit,'
and only a few large families were helped in the winter. At Burghfield
also the plan of allowance for large families had just been discontinued, but
the industry of the labourers was said to be diminishing on account of the
gravel-pit system. Cookham had likewise thrown over the practice of relief
of this sort, and, except in case of illness, gave no help save through the
workhouse ; here it was stated that the labourers were improving, although
there had been some disturbances on account of the maladministration of the
Poor Law. Great Faringdon had abandoned giving any allowance after the
third child during the previous year, when the parish was farmed, since
which the industry of the labourers had begun to improve. At Milton the
capacity of the workmen was said to be as good as in former years,
but their inclination was less, as long as they had piece-work to do they
were not idle ; and the same was said at Speen. The general impression
gathered from the report is that labourers at that time were badly paid, hired
as a rule from week to week, the farmers hoping to keep down the rates by
avoiding the labourers' settlement ; that all but quite small families were kept
at most places by the parish instead of the father trying to earn more by his
labour ; that considerable discontent existed throughout the county, and much
bad feeling between masters and men ; and that some actual riots and machine
breaking had taken place. Some amusing instances of the general slackness
of the time and the dependence on the rates appear in the reports of the
assistant commissioners. 47 ' At Wantage, Mr. Gibson writes, eight or ten
young men played marbles under the market-house during a shower of rain
and did not attempt to go to their work until it had stopped, while five or
six more strolled up under umbrellas ! At Ashbury a pauper who was lame
bought a horse in order that he might ride daily to the stone-pit, whilst a
pauper wedding at Compton was quite a grand affair, costing the parish
6 1 5-r. &f\d. At Yattendon the parish accounts contain such entries as :
To Elizabeth for kindness to her father 5*. ; to Lucy for looking after her ill
mother 3^. 6d. ; to Mary for sitting up at night with her father 2s. ; and at
Caversham $s. was paid to William Dormer, ill (through drink) ! One
overseer at East Ilsley did endeavour to reduce some of the expenditure by
suggesting that a bell need not be tolled at the death of every pauper, but
apparently gave up the effort on the clerk threatening to fight him on the
subject. Altogether it is not surprising that the poor rate rose to prodigious
proportions. At Sutton Wick it amounted in 1831 to i 14^. 6d. per head
of the inhabitants ;* 80 in East Hendred to 1 8s. ^d. and was frequently over
1 ; whereas at Bray and Cookham, where the allowance system had been
dropped, the poor rate had also dropped to js. i id. and 5*. per head ; and at
White Waltham, where help was only given to the sick, to 5^. ()d.

As to the evils caused by the Settlement Act, which empowered two
justices of the peace to remove any person coming to settle in a tenement
under the yearly value of 10, on complaint being made by the warden and
overseers, one has already been noticed in the hesitation of the farmers to

479 Poor Law Rep. 1835 ; Mr. Gulson's Rep. 182-206 ; Mr. Hall's Rep. 206-16.

480 Quarter Sess. Order Book (passim).

228

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

give security of permanent occupation to their labourers ; it diminished the
chance of labour reaching the market where it might be most profitable,
the actual removals caused constant troubles and expense, and in 1832 a
report to Quarter Sessions showed how many vagrants made a regular trade
of being conveyed from place to place, and advocated providing them
with food, and not with money as heretofore.* 81

In 1834 a great step was taken: the Speenhamland Act was annulled,
the ' workhouse test ' was established, a central board of control was formed,
and no removal was to be legal until twenty-one days' notice had been sent to
the parish to which the removal was directed, to give the chance of appeal-
ing against it.* 82

The good effect of this measure was immediately apparent. In the
Faringdon Union eighty-seven labourers with families, who had been on
the poor rate for years, almost all provided for themselves when out-door
relief was refused ; only two stayed in the workhouse for more than a couple
of days, and the relief sank from >C?59 J 6j. 2 ^' m l %34 to 367 2s. ^d. in
the following year.* 88

A table in Mr. Gulson's report for his district offers similar evidence ;
some places being reduced in the year by more than half.* 8 * Other things
improved besides the saving of expense. Mr. Stevens reports that in Streatley
the labourers were more civil and more provident, and there was no longer an
inducement to marry too early ; at Bradfield and Pangbourne no able-bodied
men were out of work ; at Abingdon never more than six able-bodied were
in the workhouse, and better discipline was enforced there.

Since 1834 the chief advance has been in the better management and
inspection of workhouses, in the boarding-out of pauper children and their
better education, and in the further reduction of money expended in poor
relief. In 1845 the total expenditure for poor relief in the county of Berk-
shire was 92,615, and the total number of paupers 21, 840 ;* 85 in 1900-1,
including lunatics in asylums, the total number relieved was 6,46o,* 88 and the
money expended on them altogether 4i,7i5.* 87

Not only is such a reduction extremely satisfactory, but Berkshire in
1900 stood well in comparison with other counties, only nine unions had
fewer paupers in proportion to their population, and thirty-five had more.

In 1794 an Agricultural Society was started for the purpose of exciting
farming enterprises, and premiums were offered for the best ploughman, the
best sheep shearer, the servant who had stayed longest in the same place, the
father of the largest family who had never required parish help, and so forth. 488
Also through the nineteenth century there was a great development of

481 Quarter Sess. Order Book (passim), 3 July, 1832.

481 Mackay, Hist, of the Poor Law, 146 ; Nicholls, Hist, of the Poor Law, in, 365. In 1876 three years' con-
tinuous residence was necessary to effect a ' settlement,' and no removal could be made unless there was ' per-
manent chargeability.'

483 Mackay, op. cit. 191.

1834 1835 1834 1835

' d. ,. d. ><! ' d.

184 Ashbury 25 14 6 22 o 7 Uffington 37 13 3 16 19 7

Buckland 1 06 1 6 o 4115 9 Woolstone 14 I 8 853

Coleshill 19 i 4 10 2 4 Abingdon 648 9 5 380 12 o

Compton 14 7 2 660

485 Poor Law Rep. 1846, 8275 d. 28. 4S6 Rep. to Loc. Gov. Bd. 1901, 347.

487 Ibid, bovii. 4 ' 8 Mavor, Agric. of Berks, 498.

229

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

Friendly Societies, which must have helped to encourage thrift and saving,
and to be a support to their members. In 1809 these were established at
Bisham, New Windsor, Wantage, and Sunninghill; in 1814 at Old Windsor;
in 1815 at Hungerford and Clewer; in 1819 at Kingston Bagpuize; in 1820
at Abingdon, Wokingham, Wargrave, Beenham, and Woolhampton ; and
many others followed.* 8 '

Bequests for charitable uses were still numerous, more particularly so
during the eighteenth century, and many old charities were continuing and
receiving additions, though in some instances changes were made, as for
example, in the case of money left for the encouragement of the clothing
industry, which had been used otherwise when this manufacture so completely
died out. This had to be done with some of John Kendrick's generous gift
to Reading, and the ' Arcade,' when no longer occupied by cloth workers,
was used for the making of sail-cloth and sacking.

There was some change in the character of eighteenth-century bequests ;
rather less money was to be invested in the purchase of bread, in setting the
poor on work, in apprenticing poor boys, although all these occur from time
to time ; * 90 there were still gifts for poor maidservants chosen by lot (War-
grave, 1793), and almshouses were always in great request; 491 but more money
was now bestowed on workhouses,* 98 dispensaries,* 93 and above all on educa-
tion.* 9 * In the nineteenth century more bequests appear to have been for
schools than for anything else.

It still remains to consider the advance made in the county during
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in regard to crime and its punish-
ment. The ordinary administration of the criminal law was then largely
in the hands of the justices of the peace, who tried important felonies
and misdemeanours in their quarter sessions, although sentence of death was
only inflicted at the assizes. In 1761 a woman was hanged for setting fire
to a barn, 495 and until well on in the nineteenth century it was still possible
to suffer capital punishment for burglary.* 98

The most severe penalty inflicted by the justices of the peace was trans-
portation. This was constantly imposed for petty larceny, and even quite
small thefts were often punished by a seven years' sentence. Thus in 1771
Moses Mason, convicted of stealing a pair of gray worsted stockings, a sack, a
pair of leather shoes, and a blue and white linen handkerchief, was to be sent
for that period to 'one of His Majesties Colonies and Plantations in America'; 497
in 1774 the same penalty was inflicted for the theft of 'one brown-coloured
male ass,' and in 1800 for four net cheeses. In this latter case the severity
of the sentence is explained by the statement that it was the third conviction,
and this was probably the reason on other occasions, when it is hard to

498 Quarter Sess. Order Book. 49 Char. Com. Rep. xxxii, 117, 317.

491 New almshouses were built at Newbuiy (1609, 1754, 1790); at Harwell (1743), Lambourn, and
many other places.

49a 1730, New Windsor ; 1777, Cookham, &c.

493 1778, at Newbury. See Money, Hist. ofNetobury, 359.

194 See article on ' Schools ' ; and Char. Com. Rep.

495 Money, Hist. ofSpeen ; Ann Giles of Speenhamland.

496 Quarter Sess. Order Book, 15 July, 1818 ; ibid. 1833. Highway robbery was sent to assizes ; Money,
Hist, of Newbury, 405. One man was executed for his share in machine riots.

497 All that follows, except where otherwise stated, is from the Quarter Sess. Order Books Office of
Clerk of the Peace, Reading.

230

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

discover why one man should be transported while another is only being
imprisoned.

In 1830 several machine rioters suffered transportation at Newbury,* 98
and in 1833 a man threatening to burn barns and stacks was punished by
fourteen years, and transportation for life was decreed against two thieves,
one for stealing a mare and filly, the other a coat and shoes. Such punish-
ments seem terribly severe, but apparently transportation was not really dreaded;
hardened offenders were delighted to be sent where they said they could get
good food and lightish work, and were bitterly disappointed if their crime
was only bad enough to involve hard labour at home. 499

Imprisonment, as a means of punishment, not only for custody before
conviction, was becoming increasingly common. In Reading Gaol were
many who could not find sureties, and so were obliged to await their trial
in prison ; and also debtors, thieves, and forgers of counterfeit coin. The
House of Correction had still more inmates vagrants and beggars unable
to give a good account of themselves were sent there; boys also who had
got into trouble, and many who had been guilty of small thefts and misde-
meanours breaking of windows, and so forth.

Imprisonment in gaol was rendered more severe when necessary by
the addition of hard labour, or what was still more dreaded, confinement in
a solitary cell. In 1800 a man convicted of stealing a sack worth 2</.,
and some beans, oats, and barley worth 8*/., was sentenced to six months'
hard labour, every other fortnight in a solitary cell ; another had twelve
months' hard labour, two of them in solitude, for a theft of seven pennies and
ten halfpennies ! Receivers of stolen goods were also liable to similar
severity; at Hungerford in 1822 a misdemeanour of 'fraudulently obtaining
two umbrellas ' was punished by hard labour for three months.

In 1822 Reading Gaol set up a treadmill for the use of the prisoners,
and at first men were sent up from other prisons to do their hard labour
upon it. This, however, was so expensive and inconvenient, that Abingdon,
in 1827, set up a handmill of its own, not being able to go so far as to
afford a treadmill.

The variations in the length and severity of the punishments inflicted
seem to have very little to explain them, but the record does not say anything
of the age and character of the offender, which must have accounted for some
of the differences. Thus, until 1827 and 1830, we find three months' hard
labour inflicted for a variety of offences stealing velvet cloth breeches
worth icxr., a quart of milk, a tame rabbit, for leaving the workhouse without
leave, and for cruelty to a horse ; one month for ill-treatment of a cow ;
three weeks for neglect of work ; one week for stealing leather, a chain, and
a pair of scissors ; three days in the solitary cell for a theft of steps, chair,
and a rug ; and private whipping for a cotton shift. In 1831 those who
had broken machines were most frequently committed to hard labour for
a year or eighteen months.

Whipping was much in fashion all through this period, perhaps in
the case of thefts for the younger offenders ; this was generally inflicted in
public, often on a market day. In 1771 S. Johnson, who had stolen 'a foul-

498 Money, Hist, of Newbury, 405.

199 Chaplain's Rep. on Reading Goal, 1845 ; Quarter Sessions Order Book, 525.

231

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

weather great coat,' was to be whipped in the market between twelve and
one. In 1774 public whippings were inflicted on thieves, one of whom
had carried off a holland sheet, another a pair of fustian breeches, another two
bushels of wheat, and in 1814 for stealing a smock frock worth 6d. In 1804
a theft of two bits of wood was to be punished by ' whipping moderately.'
During the war period an alternative for imprisonment was occasionally
offered in the shape of service at sea. In 1805 a poacher who was com-
mitted to the House of Correction for six months might at any time before
that period be sent into the sea service, and this stipulation was fairly often
added about that time to any sentence of long imprisonment. In 1814
a rogue and vagabond found playing an unlawful game called ' Pricking in
the garter,' was sent at once to the depot in the Isle of Wight as a seaman.

Although prisons were now so much more used, they were for a long
time in a very bad condition expensive, badly kept, and most demoralizing
for the inmates.

In the eighteenth century prisoners were still expected to keep them-
selves, and when unable to do so had to be assisted from the poor rates. In
1720 the prisoners at Reading complained that the keeper compelled them to
pay extravagant prices for their lodgings and provisions and treated them
cruelly; and although he was cleared from the charge of ill-usage, he was
found to have charged them more than would have been done in the shops.
Great abuses resulted from the lack of space, which obliged those suffering under
suspicion, and possibly innocent, to be herded with condemned criminals ; and
in 1736 there were still chains and neck-yokes and thumb-screws belonging to
Reading Gaol, although there are no traces of the use of such articles being
commanded at so late a date.

People were, however, becoming alive to the need of prison reform, and
a good many steps were taken to improve the condition of Reading Gaol.
In 1731 it was inspected and ordered to be enlarged, and a table of rules and
fees was framed, which were ordered to be hung up so that there might be
no infringement of them. They were as follows :

1. Prisoners are to send for beer, ale, and victuals from what place they

please.

2. They are free to use bedding, linen, and other necessaries as they

think fit without having them purloined.

3. Two prisoners in one bed to pay is. 6d. a week ; for a single bed

2s. 6d. a week chamber rent.

4. Those who provide own bedding to pay is.

5. Keeper to sell beer in sealed pots.

6. No felon to share bed with a debtor without the latter's consent.

7. Prisoners for debt only to use ' Mumping Room,' charity there

collected to be distributed amongst those actually begging there.

8. No dogs nor pigeons to be kept in gaol.

9. I s. to be paid to gaoler on delivery of declaration against any prisoner.
10. Every debtor and felon to pay on his discharge 13*. 4^. to the

keeper and 2s. 6d. to the turnkey.

In 1800 special regulations were laid down as to the food of the
prisoners. They were only to be allowed one quartern loaf a week,

232

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

deficiencies to be made up by as many potatoes as they can eat on Sundays
(together with meat and broth), and also on three week-days with salt or
herrings ; the other three days they were to have rice instead of potatoes,
with salt, herrings, or treacle.

In 1804 a further inspection was made to see if the rules were properly
observed, to make sure that felons and debtors were kept separate, and that
acquitted persons were discharged without paying a fee. The walls were to
be whitewashed every year, warm and cold baths were provided, as also two
rooms for the sick, and a surgeon and a clergyman were appointed for the
care of the prisoners. (All these things were reported as being properly done.)

The security of prisons was greater than it had been in past days ; only
one escape is reported at the quarter sessions. In 1827 some 'capital
convicts ' reached the windows by using the seats of the wards as ladders, and
then let themselves down by broom-handles tied together with handkerchiefs ;
they were however all retaken.

As time goes on we hear less of the solitary cell and more of hard
labour ; punishments were getting fairer and more equable by degrees, but
morality in the middle of the nineteenth century was still at a pretty low ebb.
In 1841 the chaplain of Reading Gaol presented a most interesting report on
the state of the prison. According to him the decrease in commitments was
in consequence of the conclusion of the railroad, which had brought a good
many bad characters into the county, but he considered the neighbour-
hood still to be both immoral and ignorant. Bargemen especially were bad
in both these respects, chiefly through having no Sunday off as a rule. Out
of eleven of them he had found that only three could read, none could write,
and only two could say the Lord's Prayer. Amongst 443 other prisoners
only 127 could both read and write, 159 could do neither, and 157 could
only read. He also stated that there was a very great increase in juvenile
offenders, that much evil resulted from misdemeanants being often in the
same cell as felons ; and that the treadmill was rightly hated as being both
unhealthy and unequal, since the severity of labour upon it depended so
much on the weight of the worker. Since that date much has been done by
improvements in education and general well-being to diminish some at least
of the evils which are here described.

Beside transportation, whipping, and imprisonment, fines were imposed
at the quarter sessions for a good many offences, especially those of poaching,
of riot and assault, of smuggling, and the use of unfair weights and measures.

All through the early nineteenth century breaches of the game laws were
extremely common ; the ordinary fine for killing game was about 5, but for
a deer in Windsor Forest as much as 30 ; however, towards the middle of
the century these offences were becoming distinctly less frequent.

The date at which the prison and House of Correction were fullest was
in 1839, when, counting both together, 205 persons were committed either
as convicted or under suspicion. From that year the numbers began to
decline, and in 1 843 there were as few as seventy in the two establishments,
but that was an unusually low figure.

Comparing Berkshire of the present day with the county at the opening
of the nineteenth century, the state of the poor, the remuneration of labour,
the administration of justice, and the welfare of the towns have all shown a
2 233 30

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

very marked improvement ; although as an arable county Berkshire has suffered
from the general decline of agricultural profits. The population, however, has
more than doubled between 1801 and 1901. Some few of the villages are
smaller now than a century ago, the two Ilsleys, Blewbury, Brightwalton,
Woolstone, and many others have actually declined in population. The most
marked increase has been in the towns, or in such places as Windsor,
Cookham, Streatley, and Pangbourne, where residents have been attracted by
the scenery and the river.

On the whole, however, the county can still be described in the words
of Pearce, writing in 1794 : 'Berkshire may be considered a county highly
favoured by nature for the management and extension of its agricultural
produce. Its ready communication with the metropolis and the midland
parts of England ; its excellent roads, dry soil, and salubrious air, all
contribute to make it a county alike beneficial to the cultivator, the
manufacturer, and the mechanic.' 60

TABLE OF POPULATION, 1801 TO 1901

Introductory Notes
AREA

The county taken in this table is that existing subsequently to 7 & 8 Viet., chap. 61 (1844).
By this Act detached parts of counties, which had already for parliamentary purposes been amalga-
mated with the county by which they were surrounded or with which the detached part had the
longest common boundary (2 & 3 Wm. IV, chap. 64 1832), were annexed to the same county for
all purposes ; some exceptions were, however, permitted.

By the same Act (7 & 8 Viet., chap. 61) the detached parts of counties, transferred to other
counties, were also annexed to the hundred, ward, wapentake, &c. by which they were wholly or
mostly surrounded, or to which they next adjoin, in the counties to which they were transferred.
The hundreds, &c. in this table are also given as existing subsequently to this Act.

As is well known, the famous statute of Queen Elizabeth for the relief of the poor took the then-
existing ecclesiastical parish as the unit for Poor Law relief. This continued for some centuries
with but few modifications ; notably by an Act passed in the thirteenth year of Charles IPs reign
which permitted townships and villages to maintain their own poor. This permission was necessary
owing to the large size of some of the parishes, especially in the north of England.

In 1801 the parish for rating purposes (now known as the civil parish, i.e. 5 an area for which
a separate poor rate is or can be made, or for which a separate overseer is or can be appointed ')
was in most cases co-extensive with the ecclesiastical parish of the same name ; but already there
were numerous townships and villages rated separately for the relief of the poor, and also there were
many places scattered up and down the country, known as extra-parochial places, which paid no rates
at all. Further, many parishes had detached parts entirely surrounded by another parish or parishes.

Parliament first turned its attention to extra-parochial places, and by an Act (20 Viet., chap. 19
1857) 't was laid down (a) that all extra-parochial places entered separately in the 1851 census returns
are to be deemed civil parishes, (b) that in any other place being, or being reputed to be, extra-parochial
overseers of the poor may be appointed, and (c) that where, however, owners and occupiers of two-
thirds in value of the land of any such place desire its annexation to an adjoining civil parish, it may
be so added with the consent of the said parish. This Act was not found entirely to fulfil its object, so
by a further Act (31 & 32 Viet., chap. 122 1868) it was enacted that every such place remaining on
25 December, 1868, should be added to the parish with which it had the longest common boundary.

The next thing to be dealt with was the question of detached parts of civil parishes, which was
done by the Divided Parishes Acts of 1876, 1879, and 1882. The last, which amended the one of
1876, provides that every detached part of an entirely extra-metropolitan parish which is entirely
surrounded by another parish becomes transferred to this latter for civil purposes, or if the population
exceeds 300 persons it may be made a separate parish. These Acts also gave power to add detached

600 Pearce, Agriculture of Berks, i.
234

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

parts surrounded by more than one parish to one or more of the surrounding parishes, and also to
amalgamate entire parishes with one or more parishes. Under the 1879 Act it was not necessary
for the area dealt with to be entirely detached. These Acts also declared that every part added to
a parish in another county becomes part of that county.

Then came the Local Government Act, 1888, which permits the alteration of civil parish boun-
daries and the amalgamation of civil parishes by Local Government Board orders. It also created the
administrative counties. The Local Government Act of 1 894 enacts that where a civil parish is partly
in a rural district and partly in an urban district each part shall become a separate civil parish ; and
also that where a civil parish is situated in more than one urban district each part shall become a
separate civil parish, unless the county council otherwise direct. Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical parishes
had been altered and new ones created under entirely different Acts, which cannot be entered into
here, as the table treats of the ancient parishes in their civil aspect.

POPULATION

The first census of England was taken in 1801, and was very little more than a counting of the
population in each parish (or place), excluding all persons, such as soldiers, sailors, &c., who formed
no part of its ordinary population. It was the dt facto population (i.e. the population actually
resident at a particular time) and not the de jure (i.e. the population really belonging to any par-
ticular place at a particular time). This principle has been sustained throughout the censuses.

The Army at home (including militia), the men of the Royal Navy ashore, and the registered
seamen ashore were not included in the population of the places where they happened to be, at the
time of the census, until 1841. The men of the Royal Navy and other persons on board vessels (naval
or mercantile) in home ports were first included in the population of those places in 1851. Others
temporarily present, such as gipsies, persons in barges, &c. were included in 1841 and perhaps earlier.

GENERAL

Up to and including 1831 the returns were mainly made by the overseers of the poor, and
more than one day was allowed for the enumeration, but in 1841-1901 returns were made under
the superintendence of the registration officers and the enumeration was to be completed in one day.
The Householder's Schedule was first used in 1841. The exact dates of the censuses are as follows :

10 March, 1801 30 May, 1831 8 April, 1861 6 April, 1891

27 May, 1811 7 June, 1841 3 April, 1871 I April, 1901

28 May, 1821 31 March, 1851 4 April, 1881

NOTES EXPLANATORY OF THE TABLE

This table gives the population of the ancient county and arranges the parishes, &c. under the
hundred or other sub-division to which they belong, but there is no doubt that the constitution of
hundreds, &c. was in some cases doubtful.

In the main the table follows the arrangement in the 1841 census volume.

The table gives the population and area of each parish, &c. as it existed in 1 80 1 , as far as possible.

The areas are those supplied by the Ordnance Survey Department, except in the case of those
marked ' e,' which are only estimates. The area includes inland water (if any), but not tidal water
or foreshore.

t after the name of a civil parish indicates that the parish was affected by the operation of the
Divided Parishes Acts, but the Registrar-General failed to obtain particulars of every such change.
The changes which escaped notification were, however, probably small in area and with little, if any,
population. Considerable difficulty was experienced both in 1891 and 1901 in tracing the results
of changes effected in civil parishes under the provisions of these Acts ; by the Registrar-General's
courtesy, however, reference has been permitted to certain records of formerly detached parts of parishes,
which has made it possible approximately to ascertain the population in 1901 of parishes as constituted
prior to such alterations, though the figures in many instances must be regarded as partly estimates.

* after the name of a parish (or place) indicates that such parish (or place) contains a union
workhouse which was in use in (or before) 1851 and was still in use in 1901.

J after the name of a parish (or place) indicates that the ecclesiastical parish of the same name
at the 1901 census is co-extensive with such parish (or place).

o in the table indicates that there is no population on the area in question.

in the table indicates that no population can be ascertained.

The word 'chapelry ' seems often to have been used as an equivalent for 'township' in 1841,
which census volume has been adopted as the standard for names and descriptions of areas.

The figures in italics in the table relate to the area and population of such sub-divisions of
ancient parishes as chapelries, townships, and hamlets.

235

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

TABLE OF POPULATION
1801 1901

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

Ancient or Geographi-
cal County l

461,901

110,752

119,087

132,802

146,702

162,265

170.243

176,403

196,443

218,329

239.104

256,480

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

i8n

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

Beynhurst

Hundred

Bisham ....

2,478

596

619

707

771

659

743

665

652

703

751

745

Hurley ....

4,159

9'5

909

1,065

1,150

1,119

1,269

1,184

1,193

1,132

1 ,080

1,067

Remenham J . .

1,573

299

283

380

463

485

486

493

533

617

546

604

Shottesbrook f

1,316'

135

138

'37

123

148

'34

143

152

161

Waltham, Whitef.

2,576'

552

1,035

795

902

1,021

983

917

985

840

891

882

Bray Hundred

Bray :

9,065

2,827

2,604

3,159

3,48o

3,722

3,952

4,801

5,755

6,423

7,991

8,337

Bray ....

7,820

2,245

2,250

2,936

2,777

2,805

3,171

2,978

Maidenhead

1,245

1,477

1,702

1,865

3,038

3,618

4,820

5J59

Town (part oi) J

Char lion Hundred

Barkham J . . .

1,388

185

211

215

247

248

274

280

240

217

284

218

Finchampstead t

3,943

463

5'3

552

575

530

613

637

630

665

680

666

Hurst Par. Chap.

3,683

1,022

1,046

i,336

1,386

1,516

1,572

1,719

i,743

1,906

2,339

2,112

(part of) 8 :

Whistley Hurst

1,933

616

656

847

867

992

1,139

1,178

1,100

1,249

1,617

1,391

Liberty f

Broad Hinton

1,750

406

390

489

519

524

433

541

643

657

722

721

Liberty f 4

Shinfield (part of) 6

4,567

617

697

742

719

766

756

850

916

1,277

i,534

1, 608

Sonning(partof) " :-

Earley Liberty

2,252

436

440

447

441

471

487

566

1,534

4,463

6,658

10,196

Swallowfield (part

365

347

412

397

of) 7

1 Ancitnt County. The County as defined by the Act 7 & 8 Viet. c. 61, which affected Berkshire to the following
extent: (A) Added parts of the Ancient Parishes of Shinfield, Swallowfield, and Wokingham, and the entire Liberty
of Broad Hinton (in the Parochial Chapelry of Hurst St. Nicholas). All these areas were severed from Wiltshire.
(B) Deducted part of Inglesham Ancient Parish added to Wiltshire, the entire Ancient Parish of Shilton and part of
the Ancient Parish of Langford, consisting of Little Faringdon Tything and the main part of Langford Parish,
(i.e. Langford Civil Parish) added to Oxfordshire. In addition to the above changes a small detached portion of Great
Barrington Ancient Parish in Berkshire, which however had always been treated as belonging to Gloucestershire,
was added to that County.

The area is exclusive of the part of Whitchurch Parish in Berkshire, the whole of which Parish is included, for
convenience, in Oxfordshire.

As an interesting fact, it may be noticed that in 1851 the Census Commissioners were of opinion that a part of
Shinfield Parish still remained in Wiltshire, and even as late as 1871 a part of the land attached to Old Warren
Farm, in the Liberty of Broad Hinton, was stated to be in Wiltshire. This was a mistake in both cases.

The population in 1811 excludes 726 militia in training. (See also notes to Greenham, North Hinksey, Abingdon
St. Helen, Oxford St. Aldate, Chilton Foliat, and Shalbourne).

1 Maidenhead Town is situated in Bray Parish (Bray Hundred) and in Cookham Parish (Cookham Hundred).

8 Hurst Parochial Chapelry is really a Parish. It is situated in Charlton and Sonning Hundreds.

4 Broad Hinton includes Old Warren Farm, which seems to have been at one time Extra Parochial. It was rated
with Broad Hinton in 1871 and onwards.

6 Shinfield is situated in Theale and Charlton Hundreds. The entire area and population, 1881-1901, are shown
in Charlton Hundred.

e Sonning Ancient Parish is situated (i) partly in Charlton Hundred; (2) partly in Sonning Hundred; and (3) the
remainder in Binfield Hundred (Oxfordshire).

' Swallowfield is situated in Reading and Charlton Hundreds. The entire area and population in 1801 and
1861-1901 are shown in Reading Hundred.

2 3 6

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

i8Si

1891

1901

Campion Hundred

AldworthJ . . .

1, 806

273

279

293

288

314

317

275

304

275

266

211

Catmore 8 J . . .

710

123

121

1 02

ChiltonJ. . . .

1,448

244

241

229

274

309

282

3'5

300

276

268

216

Compton J . . .

3,863

488

432

482

554

544

569

590

598

632

629

623

Farnborough 8 J .

1,886

213

264

210

229

204

224

2 3 2

244

187

203

133

Ilsley, East, or

3,017

512

669

676

738

733

746

608

577

519

482

Market Ilsley J

Ilsley, West J . .

3,37

341

327

328

425

404

406

432

424

377

316

276

Cookham Hundred

Binfield J. . . .

3,489

808

860

1,057

i,i45

1,242

1,280

1,371

1,625

1,684

1,740

1,892

Cookham :

6,546

2,764

2,411

2,734

3,337

3,676

3,9i4

4,468

5,293

6,851

8,752

",495

Cookham . . .

5,666

1,838

2,013

2,438

2,158

2,249

2,965

3,874

Maidenhead

880

1,838

1,901

2,030

3,135

4,602

5,787

7,621

Town (part

of) 8 *

Sunninghill ' f

3,173'

700

913

1,125

1,520

2,062

1,350

1,596

2,236

3,042

3,933

4,724

Faircross

Hundred

Beedon J . . . .

3,012

303

295

313

306

334

332

3'7

36o

323

272

232

Boxford J 10 . . .

2,819

416

487

563

628

612

582

636

615

568

549

461

Brightwalton, or

2,054

420

365

450

442

441

465

450

453

428

365

299

Brightwaltham J

Brimpton J . . .

1,705

330

390

464

443

412

531

462

431

427

392

389

Chieveley :

9,217

1,422

I,7IS

1,842

1,857

1,936

2,029

1,923

1,920

1,815

1,592

1,471

Chieveley . . .

3,328

735

1,033

1,163

1,129

1,227

1,235

1,161

1,169

1,164

1,020

946

Leckhampstead

1,777

330

325

358

402

372

399

385

371

311

302

267

Chap. J

Winterbourne

2,1 1 2

357

321

326

337

395

377

380

340

270

258

Chap.

Frilsham J . . .

978

187

1 68

171

192

182

184

183

18 3

209

159

210

Hampstead Norris

6,046

855

875

I, III

1,179

1,280

1,325

1,358

1,240

1,378

1,204

1,144

Peasemore J. . .

2,049

266

284

298

309

369

332

344

302

263

231

Shaw - cum - Don-

1,996

424

480

S3'

620

642

653

680

747

694

632

nington J

Speen u . . . .

3,862

1,747

2,006

2,392

3,044

3,069

3,298

3,3H

3,443

3,592

3,540

3,334

Sandleford Priory,

520

Extra Par.

Stanford Dingleyft

927

133

126

135

139

'Si

178

145

169

138

144

130

Thatcham (part

4,000

973

i, 068

1,276

1,410

i,573

1,432

1,400

1,432

1,884

2,602

2,755

of) u :

GreenhamChap. 13

2,564

633

747

947

1,061

1,228

1,182

1,167

1,170

1,586

2,315

2,462

Midgham Chap.J:

1,436

340

321

329

349

345

250

233

262

298

287

293

Wasing J. . . .

690

IO2

WelfordJ . . .

5,228

866

906

1,058

i, 06 1

1,099

1,115

1,030

1,009

943

855

791

Yattendon J . .

1,400

2S3

2IO

230

241

246

263

279

309

326

274

Faringdon

Hundred

Coxwell, Great \ .

1,435

241

2 7 8

306

337

351

365

371

370

289

317

264

Faringdon,

6,784

2,153

2,343

2,784

3,033

3,593

3,676

3,702

3,525

3,391

3,384

3,120

Great " :

Faringdon',Great*

3,897

1,928

2,103

2,513

2,729

3,278

3,390

3,400

3,252

3,141

3,133

2,900

Coxwell, Little

887

225

240

271

304

315

286

302

273

250

251

220

Township

8 Catmore included with Farnborough in 1801 and 1811.
8a See note 2, ante.

9 Sunninghill. The population in 1841 included 536 visitors at Ascot Heath Races.

10 Boxford is partly in Kintbury Eagle Hundred, viz. the Tithing of Westbrook, but the whole is shown in
Faircross Hundred.

11 Sfeen is said to be partly in Kintbury Eagle Hundred ; none shown there.
la Thatcham is situated in Reading and Faircross Hundreds.

18 Grtenham. The population for 1811 is estimated.

14 Faringdon, Great, is partly in Shrivenham Hundred, but the whole is shown in Faringdon Hundred.

237

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1
1891

1901

Ganfield Hundred

BucklandJ . . .

4,505

727

763

893

946

987

912

818

723

747

665

HatfordJ . . .

993

114

132

123

122

116

132

Hinton Waldridge,

2,016

275

297

3'5

348

353

389

329

319

287

301

or Waldrist \

Longworth (part
of) 16 :

3,5o

617

662

780

810

825

847

870

918

818

756

642

Longworth . .

2,291

401

441

S37

540

550

588

629

660

596

554

479

Charney Chap. .

1,209

216

221

243

270

275

259

241

258

222

202

163

Pusey t . . . .

1,040

117

122

125

1 08

152

134

'S3

117

127

120

Shellingford \ . .

1,761

253

268

271

246

280

293

308

276

258

241

204

Stanford-in-the-

2,927

607

6 77

772

813

970

1,032

1,075

989

929

894

728

Vale(partof) 16

Hornier Hundred

Oxford, St. Aldate

(part of) 16 :

Grandpond (or

293

172

260

337

374

410

487

463

596

1,691

2,329

Gram pound)

Tithing f

Bagley Wood

639

Extra Par.

Bessels Leigh \.

906

119

130

124

106

105

IOI

Chandlings Farm

7 6

Extra Par.

Cumnor 17 . . .

5,962

702

806

993

1,024

1,058

1,048

1,021

968

1,011

919

870

Hinksey,North 17 ft

876

170

182

187

295

488

438

527

532

595

Hinksey, South f t

651

162

156

142

157

i>3

300

636

874

956

1181

i,43o

Radley 18 1

2,990

479

565

617

520

484

556

484

521

53i

664

530

St.Helen,Abingdon

327

372

329

368

574

597

641

605

(part of) "

Seacourt

814

Extra Par. M

Sunningwell w f .

i,454

197

229

277

339

332

357

364

370

327

310

352

Wootton f J. . .

1,564

236

275

310

34o

344

370

384

366

369

420

388

Wytham . . .

i,i79

246

262

241

218

189

195

176

210

198

225

200

Kintbury Eagle

Hundred

Avingtont . . .

1,185

104

109

129

Chaddleworth J .

3,4oo

385

408

448

494

481

5 r 3

539

468

412

441

405

Chilton Foliat (part

1,292

100

135

'43

122

136

of) 21

EnborneJ . . .

2,501

275

333

349

420

384

407

412

404

413

442

441

Fawley t ...

2,190

1 86

191

212

194

225

270

243

232

228

170

'55

Hampstead

1,852

271

292

304

313

325

345

299

295

249

219

244

Marshall J

Hungerford (part
of)*t

3,346

1,987

1,693

2,025

2,283

2,323

2,696

2,55'

2,699

2,560

2,513

2,364

Inkpen \ ...

2,886

590

569

617

729

743

763

748

743

692

667

658

Kintbury . . .

7,778

i,430

1,409

1,763

1,781

i, 88 1

1,899

1,802

1,847

1,683

1,655

1,648

Letcombe

1,662

230

236

280

288

293

292

283

262

221

191

211

Bassett t t

16 Longworth and Staafnrd-in-the-Vali are situated in Ock and Ganfield Hundreds.

18 Oxford St. Aldate. The remainder is in Oxfordshire, where the entire population is shown in 1821.

17 Cumnor and North Hinksey Parishes. Botley Tithing is partly in each. The whole, however, appears to have
been included in Cumnor Parish, 1811-1831. The part in North Hinksey Parish does not seem to have been
enumerated in 1801.

18 Radley and Sunningwell Parishes. Kennington Township is partly in each. The Township includes ' the Island,'
which was deemed Extra Parochial. The Township was apparently entirely included in Radley Parish in 1811 and 1821.

19 Abingdon St. Helen is situated in Hormer Hundred and in Abingdon Borough. The entire area and the population
for 1881-1901 is shown in Abingdon Borough. Barton Farm was wrongly enumerated in the part in the Borough in
1861 and 1871. The population for 1801 of Sandford Township {part of the area outside the Borough) is assumed to
have been the same as in 1811, there having been no return made in the former year for that part of St. Helen's Parish.

20 Seacourt. There seems some doubt as to whether it ever was Extra Parochial. It is shown as a Civil Parish
in 1861.

41 Chilton Foliat. The remainder is in Wiltshire (Kinwardstone Hundred), where the entire population is shown,
1801-1831.

M Hunger ford. The remainder is in Wiltshire (Kinwardstone Hundred).

238

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued]

PARISH

Acre-
age

iSoi

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

Kintbury Eagle

Hundred (conk)

Letcombe Regis :

4,551

808

831

800

895

1,030

968

1,014

1,074

1,022

1,082

1,090

Challow, East

1,353

229

264

256

303

336

321

391

409

397

428

431

Chap, f

Challow, West

739

185

181

156

148

248

231

192

206

172

171

143

Chap, f

Letcombe Regis

2,459

394

386

388

444

446

416

431

459

453

483

516

Township f J

Shalbourne (part

3,675

502

807

531

512

992

965

682

649

605

533

496

of) 23 t

Shefford, East J .

1,069

Shefford, West J .

2,243

422

421

490

559

562

523

538

524

485

499

422

Woodhay, West J

1,432

109

120

144

127

IS'

130

104

116

124

139

Lambourn

Hundred

Garston, East M J

4,409

609

538

6 3 7

699

662

623

589

5'7

459

436

360

Lambourn * . .

[4,873

2,045

2,136

2,299

2,386

2,595

2,577

2,529

2,379

2,165

2,238

2,071

Moreton Hundred

All Hallows, Wal-

lingford (part

of) 86 :

Clapcot Liberty.

Ashampstead J

2,082

314

355

337

346

404

439

385

331

345

328

3'3

Aston Tirrold f J

1,752

294

324

355

343

363

395

366

310

300

289

Basildon J . . .

3,139

623

621

686

780

812

798

712

698

651

675

583

Blewbury (part

2,737

4i3

374

369

426

443

5'7

475

454

583

401

338

of) " :

Aston Upthorpe

1,324

196

169

154

172

759

180

169

168

156

125

Chap, f

Upton Chap. 28 .

1,413

217

205

215

254

284

337

306

285

415

245

213

Brightwell . . .

2,064

491

473

546

578

611

678

703

618

613

632

DidcotJ ....

I,I2O

tii

207

197

181

203

241

349

369

373

337

420

Hagbourne J :

2,815

695

660

708

782

824

905

795

979

1,270

1,454

1,360

Hagbourne, East

7,755

499

460

524

562

585

696

631

798

1,108

1,297

1,231

Liberty

Hagbourne,

7,057

196

200

184

220

239

209

164

181

162

157

129

West Liberty

Harwell! . . .

2,521

6 7 I

66 1

701

780

857

884

876

889

810

729

648

Moreton, North J .

I,IO2

282

305

348

362

397

322

352

357

325

276

251

Moreton, South J .

i,35

320

330

364

410

417

420

371

372

328

356

283

Moulsford I . . .

1,441

152

174

176

169

144

168

1 80

168

170

150

124

Sotwell ....

708

164

145

157

148

133

149

1 80

196

192

200

StreatleyJ . . .

3,655

556

596

590

582

597

584

552

637

648

607

562

Ock Hundred

Appleton t . . .

2,077

341

369

389

441

496

540

549

613

573

532

466

Drayton J . . .

1,851

484

454

498

506

521

605

643

622

585

529

FyfieldJ . . . .

1,604

315.

350

407

403

382

428

439

396

337

297

Hanney,West (part

of) :

Lyford Chap. \

773

124

108

133

131

'47

140

149

134

133

147

38 Shalbourni. The remainder is in Wiltshire (Kinwardstone Hundred). The population of the entire Parish is
shown in Berkshire in 1811. It seems probable that Bagshot and Oienwood Hamlets (Berkshire) were included with
the part in Wiltshire in 1801, 1821, and 1831. The 1861-1901 figures are not for the same area as the 1841 and 1851 ;
perhaps because a part in Wiltshire had been included with the Berkshire portion in 1841 and 1851, as the 1851
figures are comparable with the 1861 for the entire Parish.

84 East Garston is really in three Hundreds, viz. : Lambourn, Moreton, and Wantage. It is shown under
Lambourn, the greatest part being in that Hundred.

a5 Lambourn included the Hungerford Union Workhouse in 1841. Inmates removed before 1851.

26 Wailingfori, All Hallows is situated in Moreton Hundred and in Wallingford Borough. The entire area is shown
in Wallingford Borough.

v Blewbury is situated in Moreton and Reading Hundreds.

28 Upton. The increase of population in 1881 is due to the presence of labourers engaged hi constructing a railway.

*> West Hanney is situated in Ock and Wantage Hundreds.

239

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

iSoi

iSn

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

Ock Hundred

(cont.)

Kingston Bag-

1,109

280

279

327

306

290

367

283

264

250

208

1 86

puize t

Longworth (part

of): **

Draycott Moor

1,054

141

187

194

224

238

272

261

229

225

20 1

168

Hamlet

Marcham :

4,717

938

1,030

1,173

1,170

1,109

1,197

I, III

1,118

1,128

1,024

947

Marcham t

2,422

607

706

829

832

805

845

778

804

786

707

687

Frilford Town-

1,240

148

150

152

129

141

160

148

178

150

115

ship t

Garford Chap, f

1,055

183

174

192

209

163

192

173

166

164

167

145

Milton J . . . .

1,466

310

338

421

413

466

449

429

423

410

420

341

Stanford - in - the -

Vale (part

Goosey Chap. .

968

139

146

159

203

179

176

202

163

161

160

125

Steventonf . .

2,401

537

584

652

691

948

978

886

829

924

878

797

Sutton Courtenay J :

4,456

1,272

1,117

1,147

1,284

1,378

1, 600

1,581

1,638

1, 600

1,503

1,295

Sutton Courte-

2,292

874

757

769

834

909

1,019

974

1,015

903

857

739

nay f

Appleford Chap.

862

200

160

161

179

187

272

288

299

346

301

251

Sutton Wick

1,302

198

200

217

271

282

309

319

324

351

345

305

Township f

Tubney t t

1,156

122

138

167

190

233

1 80

191

165

175

156

Wittenham, Little J

888

134

107

125

128

134

139

112

135

116

Wittenham, LongJ

2,275

45'

404

496

547

580

608

583

629

562

477

470

Reading Hundred

Beenham Va-

1,793

381

372

437

360

421

517

505

556

517

508

lence 1 1

Blewbury(partof) 30 "

4,246

553

538

572

630

653

623

639

659

746

628

545

Bucklebury ft-

6,168

1,122

1,117

1,143

1,300

1,277

1,219

1,178

l,'54

1,142

1,151

i, 066

Cholsey 81 \ . . .

4,438

814

807

975

983

1,191

1,224

1,127

1,362

1,735

2,014

1,826

Pangbourne J . .

1,940

593

620

703

692

804

800

753

757

737

885

1,235

Reading St. Giles

(part of) : M

Whitley Hamlet

260

276

363

518

639

744

952

1,324

Reading St. Mary

(part of) : M

Southcot Tithing

121

116

Stratfield Saye (part

of): 34

Beech Hill Ti-

949

184

225

274

249

261

253

260

272

277

292

265

thing J

Swallowfield (part

3,745

890

537

636

716

722

816

1,265

1,258

1,352

1,505

i,375

of) S4a

Sulhamstead Ab-

J,93

392

418

364

423

425

382

357

330

319

322

320

bots:

SulhamsteadAb-

1,417

305

319

279

357

350

318

285

296

302

290

278

bots

Grazeley Tithing

519

Thatcham (part

7,866

1,995

2,104

2,401

2,502

2,677

2,861

2,729

2,845

2,882

2,900

2,981

of)* 4 "

Tilehurst" . . .

5,259

1,353

1,521

1,760

1,878

2,147

2,188

2,330

2,418

4,408

5,341

6,899

!to See note 15, ante.

80 Stiventon includes, ia 1841, 209 temporary residents labourers on the Great Western Railway with their
families.

"> See note 27, ante.

81 Cholsey. The County Lunatic Asylum was erected in this Parish between 1861 and 1871.

99 Reading St. Giles is situated in Reading Hundred and in Reading Borough. The entire area and population in
1891 and 1901 are shown in Reading Borough. A great part of the population of Whitley Hamlet was included with
the part of the Parish in Reading Borough in 1801.

M Reading St. Mary is situated in Reading Hundred and in Reading Borough. The entire area and population in
1801, 1891, and 1901 are shown in Reading Borough.

M Stratfield Sayi.The remainder is in Hampshire (Holdshott Hundred).

* See note 7, ante.

Mb See note 12, ante.

s Ttlthurst contained 1,058 persons in February, 1783. The Brigade Dp6t Barracks for Berkshire was erected
in this Parish between 1871 and 1881.

240

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

Rippltsmere

Hundred

Clewerf 38 . . .

1,666'

1,695

2,096

2,115

3,0"

3,975

4,344

5,418

8,078

9,048

9,494

10,298

Easthampstead * J

5> 2 95

566

578

615

647

627

698

789

884

1,172

1,538

1,708

Winkfield . . .

10,278

1,465

1,439

1,676

2,009

2,178

2,185

2,508

3,291

3,622

4,005

4,243

Windsor, New (part

of) : '

Dedworth Ham-

347*

137

IOI

139

195

230

248

272

412

let f

Windsor, Old * f .

5.457

669

932

1,050

1,453

i, 600

1,785

1,835

2,112

2,521

2,976

3,379

Shrivenham

Hundred

AshburyJ . . .

5,609

654

643

683

698

819

786

742

731

684

706

589

BuscotJ . . . .

2,887

409

355

421

416

405

428

467

498

371

423

403

ColeshilUpartof) 38

2,014

261

262

324

35i

386

391

453

345

309

373

342

Compton Beau-

1,466

119

108

103

156

157

138

128

121

120

104

champ f

Eaton Hastings .

1,570

137

124

I 7 8

167

161

140

185

190

133

157

158

Shrivenham :

8,382

1,699

1,753

1,879

2,113

2,353

2,165

2,258

2,235

1,965

1,727

1,613

Shrivenham )
Beckett Tithing}

2,595

611

639

696

779

( 814
\ 42

757
34

784
23

719
60

I 727

635

633

Bourton Tith-

1,260

257

271

273

302

396

315

328

302

284

260

243

ing t

Fernham Hamlet

1,016

138

182

183

239

222

228

246

227

205

146

163

Longcot Hamlet

1,894

368

377

419

452

504

468

446

494

393

310

256

Watchfield

1,517

305

284

306

341

373

363

431

433

362

376

318

Township

Sparsholt(partof): 40
viz. Kingston

2,147

261

3 o6

357

376

397

385

370

3'5

338

279

280

Lisle & Faw-

lerf

Uffington :

6,690

8l3

8 7 I

925

1,019

1,170

i, 08 1

1,089

936

902

821

Uffington f

3,205

432

462

523

564

640

674

644

618

566

567

526

Balking Chap, f

1,473

173

160

155

185

193

208

181

203

169

159

752

WoolstoneChapf

2,012

208

249

247

270

337

288

256

268

201

176

143

Sonning Hundred

ArborfieldJ . . .

1,469

171

216

245

268

300

316

286

270

248

249

Hurst Par. Chap.

3,215

587

667

755

783

823

893

921

1,071

962

1,002

95'

(part of) : 40a

NewlandLibertyt

1,170

258

262

264

252

275

306

339

382

277

301

278

Winnersh Liberty

2,045

329

405

491

331

347

587

582

689

685

701

673

Ruscombe J . . .

1,294

170

1 60

208

1 60

202

239

264

281

375

349

323

Sandhurst 41 . . .

4,536

222

289

771

672

562

815

1,271

3,2"

4,195

4,148

5,571

Sonning (part

4,856

1,233

1,534

1,201

1,260

1,373

1,379

1,382

1,433

i ,606

1,610

1,429

of) :*

Sonning Town

7,247

442

464

550

483

463

465

494

575

442

Liberty

Woodley&Sand-

3,609

759

796

823

896

917

968

1,112

1,093

987

ford Liberty

Wokingham * f .

8,545

2,28l

2,365

2,810

3,139

3,342

3,752

4,144

4,652

5,43

5,314

6,002

Theale Hundred

Aldermaston \ . .

3,742

6 7 2

678

653

636

662

783

585

583

528

655

482

88 Clewtr. A temporary increase of 60 persons in 1841 owing to Ascot Races.

s? New Windsor is situated in Ripplesmere Hundred and in New Windsor Borough. The entire population is
shown in 1811 and 1821 in New Windsor Borough.

88 Coleshill. The remainder is in Wiltshire.

89 Bourton. A temporary increase of 73 persons (railway labourers and their families) in 1841.
"> Sparsholt is situated in Shrivenham and Wantage Hundreds.

<0a See note 3, ante.

41 Sandhurst. The increase of population in 1821 was due to the establishment of a military college and to an
inclosure. In 1841 the students were absent. The 1871 increase was partly due to Wellington College and Broadmoor
Criminal Lunatic Asylum being opened between 1861 and 1871.

03 See note 6, ante.

2 241 31

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

Theale Hundred

(cent.)

Bradfield * J . .

4,36o

678

817

946

956

1,042

1,216

1,167

1,182

1,161

1,458

1,526

Burghfieldt . . .

4,3"

738

791

88 1

965

1,115

1,193

1,139

1,197

1,296

1,327

1,352

Englefield J . . .

1,437

336

291

343

411

373

371

392

356

389

341

315

Padworth t t

1,211

218

2 7 8

271

234

272

284

298

273

268

277

235

Purley t t

874

153

I 9 7

196

172

198

2 2O

193

194

1 88

1 80

Shinfield (part

of) :

Hartley Dummer

252

251

323

38i

359

401

345

382

Liberty

Stratfield Mortimer

3,697

694

6 7 2

752

860

835

9 6l

977

941

1,185

1,362

1,405

(part of) : 4S

Stratfield

3,031

647

700

723

803

844

798

1,048

1^36

1,270

Mortimer

Wokefield

666

105

160

112

158

133

143

137

126

135

Tithing

Sulhamft . . .

. 699

118

'53

152

124

132

118

139

145

149

123

Sulhamstead

1,131

259

255

315

289

302

261

2 7 8

256

312

252

Bannister :

Lower End . .

576

150

128

145

133

114

116

102

110

102

Upper End . .

555

165

161

157

169

147

162

154

202

150

Tidmarsh \ . . .

785

134

127

'39

143

146

165

179

183

190

196

146

Ufton, or Ufton

2,189

334

320

350

357

391

421

367

364

3'5

304

272

Nervet J

Woolhampton J .

719

322

301

387

364

49 i

602

559

525

493

452

472

Wantage

Hundred

Ardingtonf

1,820

344

351

403

404

405

375

354

414

383

432

427

Childreyft. . .

2,861

402

413

478

561

546

553

504

502

516

454

483

Denchworth 44 J .

1,041

229

230

254

213

246

278

257

232

229

209

172

Hanney, West

3,503

865

925

974

1,030

i, 006

1,044

947

934

862

910

772

(part of) : 4S

Hanney, West

1J83

330

348

387

399

391

432

384

382

369

361

313

Township f

Hanney, East

2,120

535

577

587

631

615

612

563

552

493

549

459

Township f

Hendred, East or

3>"7

683

723

863

865

838

949

889

883

815

788

740

Great ft

Hendred, West or

2,007

309

293

319

335

320

335

351

367

35 i

344

298

Little 1 t

Lockinge, East f 46

2,878

305

333

342

373

325

297

3i8

357

330

325

307

Sparsholt (part
of) t 47

3,698

410

422

460

498

506

5'7

493

462

440

465

366

Wantage :

7,042

2,983

3,036

3,256

3,282

3,650

3,86o

3-925

4,200

4,378

4,563

4,726

Charlton Hamlet

1,884

247

224

215

255

252

214

255

278

253

260

302

Grove Chapelry J

1,791

397

426

481

520

485

530

540

547

557

559

580

Lockinge, West

864

Hamlet f 46

Wantage Town-

2,503

2,339

2,386

2,560

2,507

2,850

3,056

3,064

3,295

3,488

3,669

3,766

ship*!

Wargrave

Hundred

Waltham

3,640

572

593

638

739

724

783

848

86 1

853

851

867

St. Lawrence J

Warfield ....

3,435

820

1,016

1,155

1,207

1,317

i,374

1,497

1,621

1,986

2,273

2,343

Wargrave . . .

4,46l

i,'34

1,198

1,409

1,423

1,739

i,773

1, 806

1,785

1,882

2,027

1,983

41 See note 5, ante.

48 Stratfield Mortimer. The remainder is in Hampshire (Holdshott Hundred).

44 Denchworth is partly in Ock Hundred, but the whole is shown in Wantage Hundred.

45 See note 29, ante.

46 West Lockinge included with East Lockinge, 1801-1831.
4 ? See note 40, ante.

242

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued]

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

iSSi

1891

1901

Abingdon
Borough

St. Helen (part
of)f
St. Nicholas f . .

3,273

211

3,836
520

4,36o
441

4,568
569

4,693
566

4,947
638

5,555
696

5,317
742

5,732
606

6,410

609

6, 1 80
593

6,128
561

Town of Newbury

Newbury* . . .

1,242

4,275

4,898

5,347

5,959

6,379

6,574

6,161

6,602

7,017

7,102

6,983

Reading Borough

St. Giles (part of) 48
St. Lawrence . .
St. Mary (part of) 60

2,76o
328
1,867

3,416
3,170
3,156

3,66o
3,627
3,5I

4,014
4,091
4,762

4,749
4,048
6,798

6,287
4,285
8,365

7,8i7
4,57'
9,068

9,456
4,736
io,853

13,288
4,718
14,318

20,234

4,674
17,146

25,437
4,534
21,723

28,335
4,857
25,826

Wallingford
Borough

Allhallows (part
of) 61
St. Leonard . . .
St. Mary-le-More *
St. Peter t . . .
Castle Precincts
Extra Par.

859

236

97
34
3i

533
721

396
14

53i
865

4i3
15

632

873
47i
18

130

834

1,127

454
18

129

883
1,241
476
5i

929

i,34
499
Si

1,030
1,198

472
30

1,045
1,276
542
38

1,019
1,236

459
23

1,154
1,276
490
26

1,091
1,168
457
25

Windsor, New
Borough

Windsor, New
(part of) "

2,582

3,36i

4,340

4,648

5,513

7,786

6,734

6,841

7,584

7,831

8,251

9,59i

GENERAL NOTE AS TO BERKSHIRE

The following Municipal Borough is co-extensive at the Census of 1901 with one or
more places mentioned in the Table :

Municipal Borough
Maidenhead M.B.

Place

The two parts of Maidenhead Town shown respectively in Cookham
Parish (and Hundred) and Bray Parish (and Hundred)

48 See note 19, ante. 49 See note 32, ante.

60 See note 33, ante. sl See note 26, ante.

New Windsor (the part in the Borough). Windsor Castle is included, a part of which is still stated to be
Extra Parochial. See note 37, ante.

243

SCHOOLS

BERKSHIRE was well supplied with public schools in pre-Reformation days. Besides
those which still survive (Reading dating from before 1139, Abingdon of equal or
greater antiquity, the first extant mention of which occurs in 1375, Newbury, 2 March,
1467, Wokingham, c. 1390), there were schools at Lambourn endowed in 1502, and
Childrey in 1526, and it can hardly be doubted, though in the absence of documents
it cannot be proved that the old capital of the county, with its ancient collegiate church, Walling-
ford, kept a grammar school. All these, except Wokingham, were continued at the Reformation,
and Abingdon was newly endowed in 1563. The endowment of Wokingham disappeared in
the exchequer. Lambourn, though the warden of New College, Oxford, had the appointment of
the master, was allowed to cease in the reign of Elizabeth, and Childrey, though the appointment
of its master lay with Queen's College, Oxford, either never was anything more than, or was
allowed to sink into, an elementary school. Only one school, Wantage, dates from the days of
Queen Elizabeth. Nor was any addition made to the secondary schools of the county before the
days of the Commonwealth, during which those of Hungerford and Wallingford were founded or
re-endowed. Then there was again a cessation of school foundations, till the old foundations
having all sunk nearly into nothingness, with endowments which lapse of time had rendered wholly
inadequate, and buildings which were worse, in the middle of the nineteenth century there sprang
up the three great public schools of the county Bradfield, Radley, and Wellington Colleges ; the
first two created by modern imitators of William of Wykeham, and the last under royal patronage
by the subscriptions of the army and the public for a memorial to the great Duke of Wellington.
The general levelling-up of the old foundations which modern competition has produced has now
re-equipped them with adequate site and buildings, though scarcely with sufficient income from
endowment, and Reading and Abingdon are once more doing their educational duty, and fulfilling
the functions which they were intended to fulfil, and did fulfil from their first foundation, in the
dim and distant days before the Norman Conquest, to which their origin may no doubt be attributed.

READING GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Reading School, instead of being as commonly reputed the child of Reading Abbey, or the
creature of one of the latest of its abbots, existed before the abbey, and the monastic records them-
selves furnish the evidence that the school was not monastic.

Reading Abbey was founded by King Henry I in H25, 1 after 24 May of that year. At
some time between that date and 4 December, 1139, is the first recorded mention of Reading
School in a document which certainly implies its previous existence. It occurs in the chartulary of
the almoner of Reading Abbey : *

Charter of Roger Bishop of Salisbury of the School of Reading (de scoRs de Rading)
Roger bishop of Salisbury to the archdeacons of Berks and to all the deans and the whole clergy of
Berks, greeting. I prohibit everyone from teaching school at Reading except with the consent and
good will of the Abbot and convent. Witness A.Th. at Winchester.

The date of the deed depends on the interpretation of ' A.Th.' It might mean an Archdeacon
Thomas, Thurstan, or TlW oald. It may be Archbishop Thurstan of York, or Archbishop Theobald
of Canterbury, who becaif' ; archbishop on 8 January, 1139. If so, as Bishop Roger died on
4 October, 1139, this datj is between these two days. But it is more likely to be earlier in
Bishop Roger's episcopacy.

The fact that this chlrter is addressed not to the abbot and convent but to the secular clergy,
shows that one of them had been teaching school or had appointed the master against the abbot.
The bishop himself was the natural guardian of the schools of his diocese as ordinary ; and under

1 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v. fol. 12. The foundation-stone is said to have been laid in 1 121.
1 Ibid. 90^.

245

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

him in his own district the archdeacon. It is probable that here as at Durham the archdeacon
resisted the claims of the abbot, and that he or some cleric holding the school on his appointment
is aimed at. The foundation charter of Reading Abbey did not, as was the case, for example, with
the foundation charter of Llanthony Abbey, Gloucester, and the refoundation charter of St. Mary's
Collegiate Church, Warwick, at about the same date, specifically mention the school and its
governance, but it transferred to the abbot and convent ' Reading itself, in which their monastery
is built, with the churches and chapels of the same town, viz. St. Mary's parish church, with the
chapel of All Saints and all its other rights, and St. Giles' church in its integrity.' The temporal
lordship of the borough and the ecclesiastical patronage of the two principal churches may have
been construed as carrying with them the jurisdiction over the school. But the school is not
mentioned in terms in any of the charters until we come to two confirmation charters of Hubert,
first as bishop of Salisbury and then as archbishop of Canterbury. The first runs :

Charter s of Hubert, bishop of Salisbury, concerning Reading School and all the churches in
Salisbury diocese

To all the sons of holy mother church Hubert by the grace of God bishop of Salisbury greeting. It
is the duty of a bishop to pay special attention to the petitions of the religious . . . hence we grant
and confirm to the venerable and dearest in Christ the abbot and monks of Reading the school of
Reading ; \j. from the church of Sulham. . . . We grant also and confirm to them the church of
Cholsey (Chauscia) . . . and the church of St. Mary of Reading and the church of St. Giles . . .
to hold with all their rights and appurtenances, with all that integrity and liberty with which they
held them in the time of Roger and Jocelin of good memory bishops of Salisbury.

As Hubert became bishop of Salisbury in October, 1189, and archbishop of Canterbury in
1193, this deed is between those dates. At some date between 1193 and his death in 1205, and
probably early in his archiepiscopate, he granted the abbey a charter of general confirmation, 4 and
after, as in Henry's charter, specifying the churches in Reading, and the churches of Pangbourne,
&c., the bishop proceeds : ' We confirm also the school of Reading (scolas de Radingia) and 45.
from the church of Sulham,' and so on.

As the churches specified existed before the abbey, so no doubt did the school which is men-
tioned with and among them. Whether the original grant comprised the school, or whether the grant
of the school was considered to date from the writ of the bishop forbidding anyone to teach school
without the licence of the abbot and convent is perhaps doubtful. The writ certainly looks like the
enforcement of an existing right which was being disputed, not the conferring of a new one. It is
almost contemporary with the similar writ of Bishop Henry of Blois, acting as bishop of London in
1137, enforcing the similar right of the schoolmaster of St. Paul's to prevent persons teaching school
in London without his licence.

While there is thus reason to believe that there was a school at Reading before the foundation
of the abbey, the date and circumstances of its origin cannot be ascertained. In the foundation
charter of Henry I it is asserted that there had been an abbey at Reading in early times which was
destroyed (presumably by the Danes) ; according to William of Malmesbury this was a nunnery.
Domesday shows that there was in Reading a church endowed with 8 hides of land, an endow-
ment which is much too large for a single priest and points to a college of secular canons ; which
would have had a school in connexion with it. In 1066 the church and its lands were in the
hands of ' Leveva the abbess ' (i.e. Leofgifu, abbess of Shaftesbury). After the Conquest it was
bestowed upon the abbey of Battle, the chronicle of which house makes no reference to any
collegiate establishment here, though it duly records the five prebends attached to its church of
Cullompton in Devon. Henry I, on founding Reading Abbey, gave Battle other endowments in
exchange for Reading church and lands.

St. John's Hospital, in which in later times the school was placed, and the annexation of
which has hitherto been regarded as its foundation, was not at the date of Bishop Roger's writ and
Bishop Hubert's confirmation charter yet founded. Its foundation was clearly due to Bishop Hubert
as much as to Abbot Hugh, who has hitherto had the credit of it.

For the original charter 6 of Bishop Hubert is preserved, by which the bishop directs that 'the
fruits and donations of the chapel of St. Lawrence,' then not a church, 'shall be converted to the use
of 13 poor to pray there for my soul . . . and the souls of Sir Ranulph of Glanville and Lady
Bertha his wife who brought me up (qul nos educaveruni),' so that it might almost be claimed that it
was a partly educational foundation from the beginning. The hospital thus founded stood outside
the great outer gate of the abbey, north of St. Lawrence's church, which except for a narrow path it
adjoined. It is now swallowed up in the site of the town hall. The chaplain of St. Lawrence,
a secular chaplain, was constituted vicar of the church of St. Lawrence and master of the hospital.

3 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v, fol. 90^ ; Vesp. E. xrv, fol. 115.

4 Vesp. E. v, fol. 1 886 ; Vesp. E. xxv, fol. 109.
'B.M. Add. Chart. 19611.

246

SCHOOLS

In 13456 8 John of Chippenham was almoner, and had an income amounting to jn 7 <)s.
Some of this was spent on various pittances and ' expenses on the brethren in the new chamber ' or
common room. The rest went in educational and charitable payments. The hospital and appar-
ently an almonry school are included under ' Costs of Clerks and Sisters.'
The following appear to be educational payments :

' d.
Garments of 10 clerks . . . . . . . . . o 36 3

Additional food (compernagio) (sic) for the boys and others being at table [i.e.

in the almonry] ..........043

The schoolmaster yearly . .......034

For a bishop's mitre for the [boy] bishop on St. Nicholas' Day . . 050

Three pounds of candles . . . . . . . . . 007^

Total . . . . 2 9 s|

The 10 clerks are apparently 10 boys in the almonry school. For here, as in other monas-
teries in the first quarter of the fourteenth century, the abbey seems to have established a sort of
charity school in the almonry, lodging, clothing and feeding a certain number of poor boys, who, as
we learnt from the Durham accounts, were treated as menials and fed on the broken meats that
came from the monks' table. This must have been the case here also, as only their luxuries in the
way of food are paid for, not their bread and beer and other necessaries. The purchase of a boy-
bishop's mitre was for the performance of the boy-bishop's mummery on 6 December, the day of
St. Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of schoolboys, when the abbot and obedientiaries in a
monastery, the dean and canons in a cathedral or collegiate church, gave place to the boy-bishop and
his fellows who masqueraded in their seats and offices. The payment of 3*. \d. to the schoolmaster
(magistro scolarum] was no doubt a payment to the grammar schoolmaster for teaching these almonry
boys. At Westminster, 7 where there was no public school, the master, like the boys, was wholly
maintained in the almonry ; while at York, where there was a public school, the cathedral
grammar school, the 50 almonry boys maintained by St. Mary's Abbey are specially noted 8 as going
to it for their lessons. There was one other educational payment, but it was not a charity for out-

, siders but for monks themselves. That was 8* . 1 1 \d. ' to the students of the monastery ' and

SS3L ' ^ s ' 4^' more to tnem by grace.' The students of the monastery were, of course, as appears from
the next almoner's account, not students in the monastery, but 'students at Oxford,' all Benedictine 9
It monasteries being bound by the General Benedictine Statutes of 1337 to maintain at the universities
one young monk for every ten inmates that they possessed. Reading maintained as a rule two

jO g-students, but sometimes only one, at Gloucester, now Worcester College, Oxford. On what basis
the payments to the students were made there are not extant accounts enough to show ; nor why
half as much again was paid by way of increment ' as a present.' Thus the infirmarer, whose total

P 3 -' income was 6, paid only 2s. in 1400 to the students at Oxford, with is. ^d. more ex gracia ; and
the sacrist, whose income was 52, paid in 1442-3 4*. 8J^. with another is. by grace to one student
at Oxford ; the ' sartivarius ' or clothes mender, who received ^130 a year, paid 5*. in 1476-7 to a
single (unico) student at Oxford. The cellarer, whose income was ^150 a year, paid in 1512-13
no less than 36;. to one student at Oxford. The last account extant is that of the keeper of the
Lady Chapel for the year 1536-7. His income was i I 13;. 4^. only, which went chiefly in wax,
oil and torches for the chapel, and he paid to the students at Oxford 2s. These payments to the
student monks are the only educational payments made by any other officer than the almoner ;
unless the payment of 2s. 6d. 'given to the singing men and boys at divers times, and us. 6d. for
making an Epistolar and other Song-books (librorum cantilenarum) ' by the keeper of the Lady Chapel
can be so called.

In 1383-4 the schoolmaster was paid gs. <)d. for three-quarters of the year. In 1389-90
there were 1 1 clerks instead of 10, and their clothing cost 35*. 8d, and food for the boys and others
serving while the abbot was staying at Bere, an abbey manor outside Reading, cost* 3*. 6d. instead of
2s. The schoolmaster received 13;. ^.d. for the whole year. In 1391-2 the same payments were
made. The next and last extant almoner's account is that of Brother John Bristowe for 1468-9.
There were then in the hospital only 5 sisters. We find that the ' clerks (cleric!) ' are now definitely
called boys (pueri), that 24 yds. of cloth bought for them at 2Od. a yard cost 341. 4^., and bread for
them 6s. Sd. ; ' and their expenses and those of other servants at Advent, Shrove Tuesday, and
St. Nicholas' feast 3*. \d.j while new cups and plates bought for them cost "jd. t a new table-cloth

6 B.M. Add. Chart. 19641.

' Journ. of Education (Jan. 1905), 'The Origin of Westminster School.'
9 A. F. Leach, Early Turks. Schools, i.

9 Reading, though Cluniac by foundation, was by the thirteenth century reckoned with the Benedictines,
and subject to the government of the General Chapters of the Order in England.

247

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE

2Od. y a new table for the almonry hall 31. 4^., candles for the boys in winter 8d,, and ' the expenses
of two boys living wholly on the alms of the monastery 1 35. 4^.' This last is an important entry, as
it appears to show that the other 8 or 10 boys (the number is not stated) were only lodged and
clothed and partly fed at the monastery's expense, and had to pay something for their board and
schooling. The usual 1 3;. 4^. was paid to the schoolmaster, who is now called by the same title as
the head master of Winchester and Eton ' Informator puerorum.' Another new item is ' the wages of
a singer 265. 8d.' It would appear therefore that the almonry school was tending to become more
and more of a regular boarding school.

We now come to the oft-quoted tale, told by Leland : 10

St. Lawrence [church] stondith by west hard by cumming yn at the principal gate of th' abbey
church was an Almose House of Poor Sisters by al likelihood of the Foundation of sum abbate of
Reading, and remaynid ontyl such tyme one Thorne, Abbate of Reading, suppressid it in King Henry
the vij dayes, and gave the landes of it onto the use of the Almoner of his abbey. But Henry the vij
cumming to Reading, and asking what old house that was, the abbate told hym, and then the king
wyllid hym to convert the house self and the landes in plot usus \ whereupon the abbate desirid that it
might be made a grammar schole, and so it was. One William Dene, a riche man and servant in
thabbay of Reading, gave 200 markes in mony toward the avaincement of this schole, as it apperith
by the epitaphie on his grave in the abbay chirch of Reading.

This tale has been embellished with statements which have no authority at all, such as that of
Coates that Henry VII charged ,10 a year for the school on the Crown rents. It is obvious from
the documents already quoted that Leland or his informant was ignorant of the true history of the
hospital and of the school, while the story conflicts with contemporary written documents. For
there is preserved a document written between 1499 and 1505 which tells in detail what is clearly
the true story. 11 It is one of a series of documents connected with the struggle between the town
and the abbey at the end of the fifteenth century. It begins with an incident which is said to have
happened in 1479.

On a tyme as Kyng Edward IV came thorough Redyng towards Woodstocke, in the igth yere of
his regne, complaynts were made unto hym by the towne and the countrey upon th'abbot and the
covent of Redyng of certeyne weys, bridgys, chapells, and howsys of almes not kepte nor meynteyned
accordyng to ryght and conscience and as they have been wonte of old tyme, to the whych as hyt ys
sayd, they have both londs and lyvelods [livelihoods, endowments] sufiycyent.

The complaint then mentions the chapel of the Holy Ghost on the great bridge over the
Thames, Caversham Bridge ; and another chapel of St. Edmund in the west end of the town ' now
made a barn.' Another complaint was that Mary Maudelyn chapel for sick folk ' as lazarrs,'
i.e. lepers, and a house for them to dwell in had been taken down by the abbot ' and so no poor
people releved.' Leprosy being extinct, a great many leper hospitals all over the country were in a
similar condition.

Also there was without th'abbay gate a place called Seynt Johnys Howse, wherin were founde
and kepte certeyn religious women to say their prayers in certain seasons of the day and night, and
wher also masses were sayd many tymes in the yere, and other devyne service also ; whyche women
wont to have out of th'abbey every weeke certeyne of bred and ale and also money ; and as yt ys seyd
oons [once] in the yere a certeyne clothyng. And this was ordeyned for suche women as had been
onest mennys' wyvys that had borne ofiyce in the towne before, and in age were fall in poverte, or
that purposed no more to marye etc. And now there ys nother Godds servyce nor prayer, nor
creature alyve to kepe hyt. But th'abbot takethe the profytt thereof and dothe no suche almes nor
good deds therwyth.

Now it is certain that this paper states facts. For though it (apparently) came from the town
documents, 13 it is in part supported by a document in the almoner's register 13 itself, entitled 'A Falce
sugestion ymad to be take to owr kyng of the spitul.' This latter document refers only to the
lepers' hospital, and the chapels of St. Edmund and ' Holigost ' ; and was perhaps a translation of
the English paper quoted ; but it shows that at this time complaint was made to Edward IV as to
the cesser of service of one chaplain who had done duty for the lepers' ' spital ' and the two chapels ;
three days a week in the hospital and other three days in the two chapels.

Whyche complaynt made as ys above rehersed, the sayd King Edward iiijth commanded my lord
Rychard Beauchampe, then beyng bysshop of Salysburye, in ryght streyt wise to see the reformacion of
all thes thyng shortely to be had, and that every thynge were dysposed accordyn to the foundacion and
fyrst ordenannce etc.

10 Leland, I tin. (ed. Hearne, 1744), > 4- " B. M. Add. MS. 6214, fol. 14.

11 What is either another version of this paper or a very incorrect copy of the same is printed in Charles
Coates, Hist, of Reading, App. ix.

13 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. v, fol. 48. It begins ' Inquiratur pro rege ' and is in a hand of the date of Edward IV.

248

SCHOOLS

The bishop came to the place in his ordinary visitation and intending to take 'due examin-
acion and utter knowledge ' he continued his visitation (i.e. adjourned it) till a certain day and

departed from the place full ylle content, not only for this, but, as yt ys sayd, for many other thyngs
mysordered within the place in lykewyse by wylfulness of the sayd abbott and ,his accessories. And
within a few days after he dyssecyd by God's vysytacion. And so al thes matters stondyth styll
hyderto unreformed.

What date the ' still ' was we shall see in a moment. The paper goes on to say that ' the lord of
Salisbury who last deceased' i.e. Bishop John Blyth, 23 February, 1494 to 23 August 1499, said
that the bishop is exqfficio 'one of the founders of the house of St. John's as he had evidence to
show, and intended if God had lent him life it should have been returned again to the use of the
sisters as it was of old according to the first foundation.'

Whych place as now th' abbott hath transposed to the forme of a Fre Scole, seying unto hys
neighbores that he hath so provyded that a Scole master shuld have of hym yerly 10 marke and an
Usher 5 marke, to teche ther Gramar free etc , seying moreover that Master Robert Shorborne, now
Dene of Pollys (St. Paul's), had gevyn hym to the same entent 40. Nevertheless ther ys as yet
nother scole nor man woman ne chyld relevyd ther, but the place hath the prophytts thereof thys

Now Robert Sherborn, a scholar of Winchester College and fellow of New College, who himself
when bishop of Chichester founded a grammar school at his native place Rolleston, in Staffordshire, was
dean of St. Paul's from 1499 to 1505. His connexion with Berkshire was that among his numerous
preferments, he was rector of Childrey and archdeacon of the neighbouring county of Bucks. So
that if this account is correct as it pretty certainly is for it would be in the highest degree
improbable that the writer would have made assertions which, if untrue, must have been obviously
so to any inhabitant of Reading the Grammar School, so far from being founded in or endowed
with St. John's Hospital in 1486, as commonly stated, was not yet so endowed in 1499, and
Henry VII had nothing to do with it. For if Leland's