ALIEN HOUSES
47. THE PRIORY OF EVERDON
Soon after the Norman occupation the manor
of Everdon was bestowed on the abbey of
St. Mary of Bernay (Eure, Normandy) in the
diocese of Lisieux, which had been founded about
1025 by Judith, wife of Richard, fourth duke of
Normandy. Henry II., by charter of 1156-7,
granted to the monks there serving God all
that they had held in the time of King Henry
his grandfather. (fn. 1) This included, amongst the
English possessions, the manor of Everdon. (fn. 2)
The same charter names the manor of Creeting
(Gratingis), Suffolk, first in the short list of
English possessions. Tanner says that Everdon
was sometimes considered a distinct alien priory,
but at other times reckoned as parcel of Creeting,
which was the chief English cell of the Benedictine abbey of Bernay. (fn. 3)
In the reign of Henry II. the monks of
Bernay held 2½ hides and 2 small virgates at
Everdon. (fn. 4) According to the Testa de Nevill,
the abbot of Bernay possessed about the year
1250 4 hides in Everdon, which were held
(saving 10 virgates) by him as lord of the
manor; but the abbey did suit twice a year
in the hundred court of Fawsley and rendered
4s. annually to the king. (fn. 5)
At the time of the Quo Warranto proceedings in 1329 the abbot claimed a view of
frankpledge, or right to hold a court leet, in
return for the yearly payment of 4s. to the
crown. He also claimed waifs on the manor,
but the jury found that the abbots of Bernay had
never possessed liberty of waif at Everdon,
although the abbot had seized a brood-mare
worth 3s. under that pretence. They also
found that he had punished offenders against
the assize of bread and beer by fining them
1 mark instead of imposing the legal corporal
punishment of tumbril and pillory. For these
offences the court leet was taken into the king's
hands, but it was restored to the abbey on payment of a fine of half a mark. (fn. 6)
The advowson of the rectory of Everdon was
in the hands of the abbey of Bernay. The
Lincoln episcopal registers give a long series of
institutions to this rectory, from 1218 downwards, on the presentation of the proctor of the
abbot of Bernay. In March, 1347, the king
presented, as the temporalities of the abbey were
in his hands owing to the war with France. In
1367 a rector was instituted on the presentation
of Roger Faber, prior of Everdon, who had been
a monk of Bernay, but in 1404 the advowson
was again in royal hands on the renewal of the
war.
When the revenues of the alien priories were
seized in the time of Henry V. the small priory
of Everdon ceased to exist and was retained by
the crown until its site and possessions were
given by Henry VI. to his newly founded college
of Eton in 1440. (fn. 7) This gift was confirmed by
Edward IV. in 1462. (fn. 8)
The Valor of 1535 estimates the annual value
of the rents, etc., of Everdon to the college of
Eton at £15 13s. (fn. 9)
When Bridges wrote, about 1720, he said:
'The remains of the priory, which bear many
marks of antiquity, are still to be seen in the
lordship house which belongs to the college of
Eton. In a close adjoining are the appearances
and hollows of ponds.' (fn. 10) The priory stood at
the east end of the village, but this 'lordship
house' has long since disappeared.