21. THE PRIORY OF TONBRIDGE
It was found by an inquisition taken in 1326
that Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, founded
a priory in his manor of Tonbridge and granted
to the canons regular there 10 marks yearly from
the manor, and 51s. 5d. yearly from his corn
lands of ' Dennemannesbroke,' and also granted
that they should have one hundred and twenty
swine pastured in his forest at Tohbridge, two
wagon-loads of dead wood daily from the forest,
and a buck yearly at the hands of his men at the
feast of St. Mary Magdalen. They duly received these benefits until the manor and forest
came to the crown by the forfeiture of Hugh de
Audeley the younger; and Edward II then
ordered that they should be allowed to continue
to do so. (fn. 1) The number of swine appears, however, to have been afterwards reduced to sixty. (fn. 2)
The date of the foundation of the priory,
which was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, can
therefore be assigned to the last quarter of the
twelfth century. Pope Celestine III, by a bull (fn. 3)
dated 2 January, 1192, confirmed the foundation
and the grants made by the founder, including
the church of Yalding with the chapel of
Brenchley, the church of Stradishall (Suffolk), and
the church of Mereworth.
A number of early deeds and other documents
relating to the priory are preserved in the Bodleian Library, (fn. 4) and the substance of the more
important of these has been given by Mr. J. F.
Wadmore in an article in Archaeologia Cantiana. (fn. 5)
Among the possessions of the priory were a
moiety of the manor of Bottisham in Cambridgeshire, granted by the founder, (fn. 6) and the church of
Tudeley, where a vicarage was ordained. (fn. 7) In
the Taxation of 1291 the temporalities were
valued at £21 8s. yearly in the diocese of
Rochester, £20 3s. 4d. in Bottisham, £8 in
Norfolk, £1 11s. 8d. in Surrey, 15s. in Sussex,
and 6d. in Suffolk, making a total of £51 18s. 6d.
In 1353 a payment of one halfpenny for each
mark from the goods of the Augustinian houses
according to their taxation for the support of
the order produced 6s. 2½d. from Tonbridge, (fn. 8)
corresponding to a total of about £99 6s. 8d.
On 11 July, 1337, the church, chapter-house,
dormitory, refectory, library, vestry, and other
buildings of the monastery, and the books, vestments, ornaments, and relics, were destroyed by
fire. John, archbishop of Canterbury, granted
indulgence of forty days to all who should assist
in rebuilding the priory, (fn. 9) and further indulgences,
amounting in all to 8 years and 230 days, were
obtained from the pope and bishops. (fn. 10) The
convent also made petition (fn. 11) to the king, the
bishop, and the pope to be allowed to appropriate
the church of Leigh, which was of their own advowson, in consideration of their losses; and
licence was obtained from the king in 1348, (fn. 12) but
the appropriation was not actually carried out until
1354. (fn. 13) Licence was also obtained in 1352 (fn. 14)
for Ralph, earl of Stafford, to grant the advowspn of the church of High Hardres and the
chapel of Stelling to the prior and canons for the
maintenance of certain chantries in the priory,
and for them to appropriate the church and
chapel; but disputes arose afterwards, and the
licence appears never to have taken effect. (fn. 15)
The priory was visited by the priors of Leeds
and Combwell in 1312 (fn. 16) and 1317, (fn. 17) and by the
priors of Leeds and St. Gregory, Canterbury, in
1356, (fn. 18) as visitors of the houses of the Augustinian order in the dioceses of Canterbury and
Rochester; and the prior of Tonbridge was
himself one of such visitors in 1322, 1334,1339,
and 1353. (fn. 19)
The founder was buried in the priory, (fn. 20) as was
also Ralph, earl of Stafford, in the fourteenth
century. (fn. 21) Clarice and Alice, the daughters and
heirs of Sir Roland de Hokstede, presented their
clerk Robert Quyntyn for admission to the priory
as a canon in 1319; (fn. 22) and in 1329 the prior
received Laurence de la Wealde at the instance
of Sir Hugh Audeley and his consort Margaret,
countess of Cornwall. (fn. 23) Among other miscellaneous information we have small grants by. the
prior and convent of corrodies and pensions, (fn. 24)
though they pleaded poverty when applied to by
a nominee of the archbishop of Canterbury, (fn. 25)
details of the dress and equipment of a novice (fn. 26)
and of the weekly consumption of food in the
priory, (fn. 27) , stipends of servants, payments, allowances, &c. (fn. 28)
Application was made to the crown by the
prior for the arrest of Robert, an apostate canon,
in 1280, (fn. 29) and of Thomas Starky, another apostate, in 1502. (fn. 30)
In 1393 it was found by inquisition that
John Osprengg, William Frendesbery, and William Mallyng, former priors, had acquired messuages, shops, gardens, and lands in Tonbridge,
Brenchley, Bidborough, Leigh, and Shipborne,
under a general licence by letters patent of the
late king and entered thereon without proper
formalities; and the prior had to pay 100s, for
pardon. (fn. 31)
Tonbridge was one of the monasteries suppressed by Wolsey for the foundation of his
colleges. It was dissolved by his agent William
Burbank on 8 February, 1525, (fn. 32) and granted by
him to Cardinal's College, Oxford, on 10 February, 1526. (fn. 33) By an inquisition (fn. 34) taken on
28 July, 1525, it was. found that there were at
the priory seven canons under the prior, Richard
Tomlyn, and these were transferred to other
places, and that its possessions in Kent included
the manors of Tonbridge, Langport, Shipborne,
'Nysells,' Leigh, 'Hallond' in Speldhurst,
Brenchley, and ' Lomwod,' and the ' rectories of
Tudeley, Brenchley, Leigh, and Yalding. The
whole of the spiritualities of the priory were
valued at £48 13s. 4d., and the temporalities at
£120 16s. 11d. yearly; (fn. 35) although a detailed
valuation, (fn. 36) perhaps incomplete, amounts to
rather less.
Wolsey proposed to found a grammar school
at Tonbridge for forty scholars, with exhibitions
to his college at Oxford; but it appears from
some letters of Archbishop Warham that a section
of the townspeople wished for the restoration of
the priory instead. (fn. 37) Warham called a meeting
at Tonbridge in June, 1525, to explain the
scheme to them; but they appear to have been
very apathetic, only sixteen appearing before him,
of whom thirteen were in favour of the priory,
but desired a few days' notice to discuss the
matter with their neighbours. A lukewarm
resolution in favour of the restoration of the
canons was reported to Wolsey, but nothing was
done, and with his fall Tonbridge lost both
priory and grammar school.
After Wolsey's attainder the priory came into
the possession of the crown, and was granted
with most of its possessions to the dean and
chapter of Windsor on 27 September, 1532. (fn. 38)
Priors of Tonbridge
John, occurs 1248 (fn. 39)
Peter, occurs 1272 (fn. 40)
David, occurs 1273, 1274 (fn. 41)
John, occurs 1286, 1305 (fn. 42)
Roger, occurs 1311 (fn. 43)
John Osprengg (fn. 44)
William Frendesbery (fn. 45)
William de Mallyng, occurs 1352 (fn. 46)
John de Pecham, appointed 1361 (fn. 47)
Robert Mallyng, resigned 1379 (fn. 48)
Robert de Maidenstan, elected 1379 (fn. 49)
John London, occurs 1455 (fn. 49a)
Thomas Burton, occurs 1463 (fn. 50)
Ralph Langton, occurs 1482, 1485 (fn. 50a)
Edmund, occurs 1493 (fn. 51)
Richard Thomlyn or Tomlyn, occurs 1509, (fn. 52)
the last prior (fn. 53)