1. THE PRIORY OF BROMFIELD
Before the Norman Conquest Bromfield church
was a wealthy minster of royal foundation, (fn. 1) served
by twelve canons, who had at one time held all
twenty hides of the huge manor of Bromfield. About
1060 King Edward the Confessor issued a writ
granting extensive liberties to the canons: sac and
soc, infangenetheof, grithbreach, hamsocn, forsteall,
toll and team, and certain fines; also some kind of
exemption from episcopal interference in the words
'and I will not suffer anyone to take anything therefrom, neither bishop nor any other person, save
whomsoever they may themselves desire'. (fn. 2) An
unusually full entry in Domesday Book tells a little
of the early history of the community. Spirtes the
priest, a notorious pluralist, had held ten of the
twenty hides of church land and, after his banishment, the king had granted them to Robert Fitz
Wimarch as to a canon. Robert alienated the land to
his son-in-law and, though King Edward ordered
an investigation at Christmas 1065, he died before
the property could be restored to the church and it
subsequently remained in lay hands. (fn. 3) The other ten
hides, which covered a wide area in the valleys of the
Teme and its tributaries just north of Ludford with
outlying lands in Ashford Bowdler and Halford,
continued to support twelve canons. Gradually,
however, in the early 12th century the canons were
replaced by monks.
This phase of Bromfield's history is almost
undocumented. There are references to 'Osbert,
Prior of Bromfield' c. 1115 (fn. 4) and in 1132, (fn. 5) and
possibly an anomalous mixed type of community
existed. (fn. 6) Certainly both monks and canons were at
Bromfield in 1155, when Henry II's charter definitely
established a Benedictine priory there. As patron of
Bromfield church the king gave it to the prior and
monks to hold in free alms sicut meam dominicam
capellam, (fn. 7) together with all the lands that the canons
had held in the time of his grandfather, namely
Halford, Dinchope, Ashford Bowdler, Felton,
Burway, and Ledwyche. The priory was also granted
three prebends in Bromfield and three in Halton
but surviving canons were allowed to retain a lifeinterest in their prebends. (fn. 8) The wording of the
charter suggests the establishment of an independent
Benedictine priory, and indeed all such grants by
Henry II were addressed to the prior and monks of
Bromfield. (fn. 9) Nevertheless it marked the beginning
of the priory's subjection to St. Peter's Abbey,
Gloucester. A later entry in the History of Gloucester
Abbey states that in 1155 'the canons of Bromfield
gave their church and themselves as monks to the
church of St. Peter of Gloucester, by the hand of
Gilbert, Bishop of Hereford, and with the approval
of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury and papal
legate'. (fn. 10) In the same year Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of
Hereford, instituted the Gloucester monk Robert
Haseley as Prior of Bromfield. (fn. 11) Possibly Gloucester
Abbey hastened the process by putting pressure on
the canons to become monks of Gloucester: certainly in 1166 complaints of certain canons that they
were being coerced and imprisoned came to the
ears of the archbishop, who ordered the Bishop of
Hereford to make inquiry. (fn. 12) The outcome is not
known, but in due course all the property of Bromfield church came to Gloucester Abbey and the
priory remained a cell of Gloucester until the
Dissolution.
The exact nature of its exemption 'as a royal
demesne chapel' was sometimes uncertain and may
have changed with the passage of time. Gilbert
Foliot accepted the king's demand that the priory
should enjoy the same liberties as his demesne
chapels elsewhere, adding 'the king does not allow
me to have any jurisdiction over the prior or his
successors, neither may I take any procuration save
by grace if I happen to pass through'. (fn. 13) Later bishops
often passed a night at Bromfield and dated their
letters from there, but on one occasion at least the
bishop and his household paid for their food, the
priory merely providing fodder for their horses. (fn. 14)
Possibly an informal agreement was reached, whereby the priory fell in with the bishop's requests
provided that he did not demand provisions as of
right; (fn. 15) in time, however, the bishop came to take
procurations regularly from both priory and parish
church. (fn. 16) As for visitation, the priory resisted the
bishop and produced its charters in vain. From at
least 1275 regular visitations were carried out in the
priory and, when the bishop's right was challenged
in 1350-3, he was able to produce from earlier
registers ample evidence that such visitations had
been carried out. (fn. 17)
On the temporal side the exemption was clearer.
In additon to the privileges granted by Edward the
Confessor the priory had secured from Henry II
exemption from toll and other dues and from suit
of shire and hundred. (fn. 18) Henry III, when confirming Bromfield's status as a royal demesne chapel in
1258, provided that pleas of land involving the
priory should be heard nowhere but in the king's
courts and that the prior might do as he chose with
his lands and woods. (fn. 19)
The priory was occupied by Gloucester monks,
and priors were appointed and dismissed by the
Abbot of Gloucester. Legally they were the abbot's
proctors, with no right to a seal of their own, and the
abbots did not regard themselves as bound by any
agreement made by the prior without consent of
the Gloucester chapter. (fn. 20) An agreement between
Alexander, Prior of Bromfield, and Simon son of
Robert of Bromfield, sealed by Henry, Abbot of
Gloucester, represents normal practice; (fn. 21) so do
14th-century leases granted by the abbots of
Gloucester for rents payable to the abbot and his
successors and the Prior of Bromfield, (fn. 22) or to the
Abbot of Gloucester by the hand of the Prior of
Bromfield. (fn. 23) A court roll shows tenements held per
scriptum abbatis. (fn. 24) It was alleged after the Dissolution
that the priors had no common seal and therefore
leases granted by them were of no effect, (fn. 25) but the
judgement on this point is not recorded. There are,
however, some indications that priors of Bromfield
had a seal of limited validity. Entries in the court
rolls show the prior granting a lease of tithe and
warranting it, (fn. 26) and making grants (fn. 27) and leases (fn. 28)
by means of sealed deeds. Either there was such a
seal valid in manorial but not in royal courts, or the
abbot's seal was loosely described as the prior's.
There is no doubt that normally the prior was
simply the abbot's proctor, though practice may
have been a little less consistent and clear than
principle.
The small community took over the existing
parish church, which was apparently rebuilt in the
earlier 12th century as a cruciform building, perhaps
with a central tower. At some period the north
transept and the 12th-century chancel disappeared.
It has been suggested that they were destroyed by a
fall of the tower and were not afterwards replaced.
If such a fall occurred it is likely to have been before
the existing north-west tower of the church was built
early in the 13th century. (fn. 29) The priory appears to
have appropriated the crossing (the later chancel)
and the south transept for its offices, leaving the
western part of the church for the lay congregation.
Conventual buildings adjoined the south wall of
the nave. (fn. 30) At first the community was large enough
to include a precentor and a sacrist. (fn. 31) In the early
13th century some of the priors were able men and
one at least, Henry Foliot, subsequently became
Abbot of Gloucester. (fn. 32) Later, discipline declined
and numbers were not always kept up. On one
occasion the bishop complained that there were
three or four too few and that two monks had been
sent from Gloucester for the visitation in order to
deceive him. He found much to criticize: two of the
monks were entirely given over to hunting and
archery, and the others were so often out of their
priory that they were almost beyond hope. (fn. 33)
Conditions did not improve, for in 1325 the Abbot
of Gloucester petitioned the king to be allowed to
withdraw the Bromfield monks to Gloucester in the
interests of monastic discipline and orderly worship. (fn. 34)
The outcome of the inquiry that followed is not
known, but there is some evidence of decline in
numbers and a change in status by the time of the
Dissolution.
The endowment of the priory consisted of the
appropriated church of Bromfield, with its dependent chapels of Ludford, Ashford Bowdler,
Halford, and Dinchope, and the lands that had
made up the prebends of the twelve canons. There
were minor acquisitions (fn. 35) and adjustments of
common rights, (fn. 36) but the property remained substantially unchanged until the Dissolution. (fn. 37) Some
part of the priory's demesne remained in hand until
the 16th century: in 1291 this included 8 carucates
of arable land, worth £4, with hay valued at 15s., (fn. 38)
and demesne in hand was valued at £3 13s. 4d. in
1535. (fn. 39) Profits of its manor courts were a more
important source of income than is suggested by the
assessments of 1291 and 1535, when they were said
to yield £3 and 16s. 8d. respectively. In the 14th and
early 15th centuries pleas, perquisites, and fines
commonly produced between £8 and £9 a year and
sometimes as much as £22. (fn. 40) The priory's tithes
were being sold in the later 13th century to Ludlow
merchants, to the scandal of the bishop, (fn. 41) and the
great tithes continued to be farmed in the later
Middle Ages.
The priory, representing Gloucester Abbey, (fn. 42)
appointed a vicar to serve the parish church.
Although the obligation of the vicar to provide a
resident chaplain in Ludford and adequate service
at the chapels of Ashford, Dinchope, and Halford
was established in 1424, (fn. 43) the stipends of chaplains
at Ludford, Halford, and Dinchope were included
among the obligations of the priory in 1535. (fn. 44) At
this time the vicar of Bromfield was receiving, in
addition to his share of tithes and oblations, a
pension of £2 13s. 4d. from the priory 'for his
table', (fn. 45) an indication that, in the early days of the
priory, the vicar had probably lived with the
monks.
During the 15th century the priory was frequently exempted from contributing to subsidies on
the grounds of poverty and disaster, (fn. 46) and its gross
income was put at nearly £79 in 1535. (fn. 47) There
appears to have been a change in its financial
relations with Gloucester Abbey after the late 13th
century; the prior had then owed a token sum of
40s. (fn. 48) and £6 8s. 8d. for tithe, (fn. 49) but in 1535 all the
revenues of Bromfield were included in the assessment of Gloucester Abbey. This may indicate a
change in the status of the priory; up to 1325 at
least it was fully conventual but by 1535 it may have
become a small cell of two or three monks chiefly
concerned with running the estates. (fn. 50)
As a dependency of a wealthy abbey, Bromfield
survived until the surrender of St. Peter's, Gloucester, in 1538. It was leased, together with the
rectory and all its lands, in 1541 to Charles Foxe, (fn. 51)
who purchased the property in 1558. (fn. 52) Foxe set
about converting the conventual part of the priory
into a private house: the chancel, formerly the
crossing of the early-12th-century church, was
divided into two stories, (fn. 53) but the nave, north aisle,
and north-west porch remained as the parish church.
The house was burnt down in the 17th century,
when Foxe's descendants moved elsewhere and the
chancel was restored to use as part of the church. (fn. 54)
The south transept and the conventual buildings adjoining it have disappeared, but some ruined
walls of Foxe's Tudor house are still attached to the
south side of the church. At the western boundary of
the churchyard the priory gatehouse has survived.
The lower part is a buttressed stone structure,
probably dating from the 14th century: it has a
pointed archway and, in the passage, two small
single-light openings with cusped ogee heads. The
timber-framed upper story is likely to have been
added after the Dissolution. (fn. 55)
Priors Of Bromfield
Osbert, (fn. 56) occurs 1119 × 28, (fn. 57) 1132, (fn. 58) 1129 × 47. (fn. 59)
Robert of Haseley, appointed 1155. (fn. 60)
Robert, occurs 1193-4. (fn. 61)
Elias, occurs 1203, 1208. (fn. 62)
Henry Foliot, resigned 1228. (fn. 63)
Alexander, occurs 1228 × 43. (fn. 64)
Sampson (?), occurs 1243. (fn. 65)
John de Worme, occurs 1284. (fn. 66)
Thomas, occurs 1312-13. (fn. 67)
John Toky, occurs 1346. (fn. 68)
John de Eldesfelde (or Ellesforde), occurs 1355. (fn. 69)
Thomas Penyord, occurs 1385, 1389. (fn. 70)
Edmund Dursley, occurs 1401. (fn. 71)
Richard Horton, occurs 1424. (fn. 72)
Thomas Bromfield, occurs 1432-3. (fn. 73)
Thomas Wolriche, died or resigned by 1516. (fn. 74)
Thomas Stanton, occurs 1516. (fn. 75)
John Stamford, occurs 1526. (fn. 76)
Thomas Sebroke, occurs 1537. (fn. 77)
No common seal. (fn. 78)