8. THE PRIORY OF SHELFORD
Shelford Priory, a house of Austin Canons,
was founded by Ralph Haunselyn or Hauselin, (fn. 1)
in the reign of Henry II. In a suit between
William Bardolf and Adam de Everingham in
1258 for the patronage of this priory, the former
pleaded that his ancestor Ralph Hauselin,
whose heir he was, in the time of the then
king's grandfather founded the priory and enfeoffed it of all his lands in Shelford and elsewhere, and of the advowson of certain churches.
Adam, on the contrary, asserted that Robert de
Caus, his ancestor, was founder, because the
canons presented a certain person to John de
Birkin (Adam's grandfather), whose heir he was.
The prior himself could not say who was patron,
as he had one charter by which Ralph Haunselin
founded the priory, another by which Robert de
Caus gave lands to 'his monks (sic)' of Shelford,
and a third recording a joint grant by Ralph and
Robert. The litigants each held a moiety of
the barony of Shelford, (fn. 2) but the jury decided in
favour of Bardolf, declaring that Ralph Hauselin
was the true founder. (fn. 3)
The Taxation Roll of 1291 sets forth the
income of the house: in spiritualities, the church
of Saxondale £4, part of the church of Muskham £10 13s. 4d., and pensions from the
churches of Shelford, Burton Joyce, and Gedling
£1 2s.; and in temporalities, in various parts of
the county, £2 2s. 11d., making a total income
of £37 18s. 3d. (fn. 4)
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 shows a
great rise in the annual value of this house; the
gross income is entered at £151 14s. 1d., and
the clear at £116 12s. 1¼d. The spiritualities
were considerable, including the rectories of
Shelford, Saxondale, Gedling, Burton Joyce, and
North Muskham, Nottinghamshire; Elvaston,
with the chapel of Ockbrook, Derbyshire; and
Westborough, Rauceby, half the church of
Dorrington, with several pensions from other
churches in Lincolnshire. The temporalities
were chiefly in Nottinghamshire, but also included rents at Weston, Elvaston, and Kirk
Hallam, Derbyshire, and at Fulbeck and Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The heaviest outgoing was
£10 a year to the chantry of Corpus Christi in
the church of Newark; the sum of £2 6s. 8d.
was also paid annually in alms to commemorate
the founders, who are there set down as Ralph
Hauselin and Robert Caus. (fn. 5)
There are various references to this priory in
the earlier of the York registers. Archbishop
Gray in 1230 confirmed to the Prior and Convent of Shelford several pensions out of Nottinghamshire churches, half a mark out of the
mediety of the church of Gedling; half a mark
from the church of Laxton; half a mark from
the church of Burton-on-Trent, i.e. Burton
Joyce; a stone of wax from the church of
Kelham; and after the deaths of the then
rectors of Gedling and Laxton, each of these
churches to pay a mark as pension. (fn. 6)
On 4 November 1270 Archbishop Giffard
instructed his bailiff at Southwell to deliver
three oaks suitable for timber to the Prior of
Shelford, out of his wood of Sherwood. (fn. 7)
In January 1270-1 the archbishop gave an
award as to the right of pasturage in the field of
Basford, about which there had been a fierce
dispute between the priory of Shelford and the
burgesses of Nottingham, the parties having
bound themselves under oath to observe the
award, under a penalty of 100 lb. of silver.
The award was in favour of the burgesses, but
the town had to pay the priory 30 marks for
damages and expenses. (fn. 8)
Consequent on a personal visitation of Shelford Priory, the following injunctions or corrections were dispatched to the house on 4 June
1280:—The prior to discard all torpor both in
spiritual and temporal affairs, and to rely on the
counsel of his brethren; the sub-prior to restrict himself to his office, such as the joint
custody of the seal; useless servants in granges
to be removed; the rule of silence at stated
times and places not to be infringed; worthless
persons not to be allowed to eat and drink in
the frater; no one to be admitted to the farmery
save the doctors; no one to be allowed to drink
or eat after compline, save in the presence of
the prior and by his express licence, or in case of
sickness; the sick to be better treated and fed,
and alms (in kind) to be more safely kept;
canons not to go out of cloister save for necessity
or by express leave of the president; carols and
chests with locks to be opened twice a year by
the prior in the presence of a fellow canon, in
order that the vice of private property might be
expelled; no money to be paid for clothes, but
they are to be allotted out of the common store;
no little gifts or letters to be received without
licence of the president, and these to be applied
to the common use; and these injunctions to be
read in full chapter at the beginning of each
month. (fn. 9)
The visitation of Shelford Priory by Archbishop Romayne in 1280 produced the following injunctions: The prior to do his duty
better, to refrain from indulgence in drink (a
superfluis potacionibus se temperet), and to avail
himself of the advice of his experienced and
faithful servants, to frequent church and chapter
at the proper hours, to correct excesses without
favour, to sell no corrody without the diocesan's
special licence, to feed with the convent, except
at the advent of guests or for other reasonable
causes, to correct the obedientiaries after a temperate fashion, to retain no waster nor quarrelsome person, and to take the advice of the
convent on the expenditure of the house. The
sub-prior was to obey the prior, to punish with
discretion, and to abstain from all manner of business. The cellarer and the bursar to render
their accounts yearly. Silence to be strictly observed at the appointed times and places; no gifts
to be received but by leave; all canons to keep
within the cloister, save by leave, which is to be
freed from seculars and closed after compline;
old clothes to be given to the poor without payment; the carols to be opened now and again,
with the view of excluding private ownership;
the sick to be better fed and tended, and the
farmery kept clear of secular persons; the
canons' boys returning from their exterior labour
to be excluded from the farmery and to have
their meals in a proper place in the common
hall; and no seculars or unfit persons to enter
the cellarer's buildings or the frater. These injunctions were to be read in full chapter thrice a
year, in a distinct and intelligible voice. (fn. 10)
On 30 March 1289 Archbishop Romayne
issued licence to the sub-prior and convent of
Shelford to elect a new prior in the place of
John de Nottingham, who had held the office
for many years. (fn. 11) On 21 April the archbishop
confirmed the election of Robert de Tytheby,
canon and sacrist of Shelford, as prior. (fn. 12)
The mandate of the archbishop was addressed
to the (rural) Dean of Retford 5 September 1293,
ordering him to forbid the Prior and Convent of
Shelford to use the divine offices in the parish
church of Shelford, polluted by the shedding of
blood, until it had been reconciled, and citing
the prior to appear before him on 1 October,
wherever he (the archbishop) might happen to
be. (fn. 13)
The priory obtained the royal licence in 1310
to appropriate the moiety of the church of
Gedling, which was of their patronage. (fn. 14)
Diocesan sanction was given in 1311 to the
appropriation of the churches of Shelford and
Saxondale and the mediety of the church of
North Muskham to the priory of Shelford. (fn. 15)
The priory had licence from the Crown in
1316 to appropriate a moiety of the church of
Westborough, which was of their advowson. (fn. 16)
From the dating of various entries on the
Patent Rolls for 1317 and 1319 it would appear
that Edward II made brief sojourns at Shelford
Priory during those years.
Part of the income of the priory was derived
from the sale of wool from sheep feeding on
the demesne lands. In 1333 Crown licence
was obtained for Godeking de Revele and
Robert Stuffyn of Newark, merchants, to convey
to the staples and thence export at will, notwithstanding the ordinance of the staples, wool
purchased by them from the Prior of Shelford
before the making of such ordinance. (fn. 17)
At the pleas of the forest held at Nottingham in 1335 the Prior of Shelford successfully
maintained his rights in a wood at Gedling
commonly called 'le Priors Parke.' Thomas de
Birkin, soon after the foundation of the house,
gave to the canons of the Blessed Mary of Shelford all his park of Gedling and the wood
therein. (fn. 18)
In 1348, on payment of £20 to the Exchequer,
the priory obtained the Crown licence for the
appropriation of the church of Burton Joyce. (fn. 19)
In May of the following year confirmation
was obtained of an indenture of Prior William
de Leicester (who died of the plague a few
months later) and the convent of Shelford,
granting to John de Woodhouse, perpetual
chaplain of the altar of Corpus Christi in the
church of Newark, and to his successors, a yearly
rent of 5 marks to pray for the souls of Alan
Fleming of Newark and Alice his wife, their
sons and daughters and others; for due payment
the prior and canons bound their house and
goods, and specially their manors of Saxondale
and North Muskham. (fn. 20)
Confirmation was also obtained in June 1350
of an indenture of Prior Thomas de Chilwell
and the convent of Shelford, binding themselves
to pay yearly to the chapter of Lincoln £6 13s. 4d.
to a chantry chaplain celebrating daily for the
souls of Henry de Edwinstow, late canon, and
his benefactors, in return for a welcome subsidy
from the executors of Canon Henry's will. As
a special security for this payment every prior
of Shelford, within fifteen days of his appointment, was to swear on the Holy Gospels to
observe the premises. (fn. 21)
In 1392 licence was obtained by John de
Landeford, vicar, for the alienation in mortmain
of a moiety of the church of Gedling, and by
John Ward of Shelford for the alienation of
three messuages, lands and rents in Shelford and
Stoke Bardolph, co. Nottingham, and one messuage
in Alvaston, co. Derby, to the Prior and Convent
of Shelford. (fn. 22) In the following year licence was
granted for further gifts of lands in Lowdham,
Gunthorpe, and Caythorpe. (fn. 23)
The second half of the church of Westborough, co. Lincoln, was appropriated to Shelford in 1398. (fn. 24)
At the time of the death of Prior William de
Kynalton and the succession of Robert Lyndby,
in 1404, it was found that during the rule of
the late prior, which had extended over a period
of nearly forty years, the house had become
indebted to the extent of 80 marks, the burden
of the perpetual pensions amounted to £20, and
the corrodies to a total of £40. The temporalities and spiritualities were declared to be of the
annual value of £120. (fn. 25)
Shelford was subjected in 1536 to a visitation
from Legh and Layton, who stated that three
of the canons were guilty of unnatural sin and
three others of incontinence, and that three
desired release from their vows. They also
stated that the girdle and milk of the Virgin
and part of a candle which she is said to
have carried at her purification were here
venerated. The priory was further possessed of
some of the oil of the Holy Cross and of St.
Katherine. They estimated the annual income
at £100, and the debts at £30. (fn. 26)
Archbishop Cranmer was not above asking
favours of Cromwell out of the wreck of the
monasteries. On 25 March 1536 he wrote
from Lambeth to Cromwell:—'I desire your
favor for the bearer, my brother-in-law, who is
now clerk of my kitchen, to have the farm of
the priory of Shelford, or of some other house in
Notts, now suppressed.' (fn. 27)
In June 1536 the Crown granted almost the
whole of the manors, advowsons, and other
properties of the priory to Michael Stanhope for
sixty years, at a rental of £20. The property is
described as 'late of Henry Norres, attainted.' (fn. 28)
In November 1537 Michael Stanhope and
Anne his wife obtained grant in tail male of the
house and site of the suppressed priory of Shelford, with church, belfry, churchyard, 174 acres
of arable land, 30 of meadow and 60 of pasture
in Shelford, together with the common fishery. (fn. 29)
Michael Stanhope was the second son of Sir
Edward Stanhope of Rampton.
There is a cast from a 13th-century impression
of the seal of Shelford Priory at the British
Museum. (fn. 30) It is a pointed oval, displaying the
Blessed Virgin, crowned and seated on a carved
throne, beneath a canopy supported on slender
shafts and with the Holy Child on her left knee.
Remains of legend:—
SIGILLUM . . . HELFORDIE
Priors of Shelford
Alexander, occurs 1204 (fn. 31)
William, occurs c. 1225 (fn. 32)
John de Nottingham, occurs 1271, (fn. 33) resigned
1289 (fn. 34)
Robert de Tithby, 1289 (fn. 35)
Laurence, died c. 1310
Thomas de Lexinton, c. 1310 (fn. 36)
Robert de Mannesfield, 1315 (fn. 37)
William de Breton, 1320 (fn. 38)
William de Leicester, 1340 (fn. 39)
Stephen de Bassyngborn, 1349 (fn. 40)
Thomas de Chilwell, 1349 (fn. 41)
(Alexander de Insula, elected 1358) (fn. 42)
Roger de Graystock, appointed 1358 (fn. 43)
William de Kynalton, 1365 (fn. 44)
Robert Lyndby, 1404 (fn. 45)
William de Righton, 1408 (fn. 46)
Walter Cutwolfe, died 1459 (fn. 47)
John Bottesford, 1459 (fn. 48)
Richard Stokes, 1479 (fn. 49)
Robert Helmsley, 1491 (fn. 50)
Henry Sharp, 1498 (fn. 51)
Robert Dickson (fn. 52)