2. THE PRIORY OF BRADWELL
The priory of Bradwell, like that of Luffield,
has scarcely any history at all. It was founded
somewhere about the year 1155 by Meinfelin,
lord of Wolverton, (fn. 1) and the patronage of the
house continued in this family for a century
at least. (fn. 2) Its endowments were very small,
and it had scarcely any property outside this
county.
As early as the reign of John the prior had
to contest with Alan of Etchingham the advowson of Padbury church, (fn. 3) and there were
several suits in the thirteenth century in
connection with the church of Chalfont St.
Giles, (fn. 4) which passed for some time out of the
hands of the monks. (fn. 5) This house appears to
have been among those which suffered most
from the effects of the Great Pestilence: the
prior, William of Loughton, died in 1349, and
a dispensation granted in the same year to a
certain monk of illegitimate birth to hold any
office, even that of prior, (fn. 6) suggests that the
number of those eligible was very small at
that time. It is stated by Browne Willis that
the prior in 1361 was sequestered for causing
or allowing dilapidation of the conventual
buildings, (fn. 7) and there seems to have been a
vacancy for some years after this. (fn. 8) Not even
the names of the priors between 1410 and
1492 have as yet been recovered: the history
of the house during that period is almost a
blank sheet. In 1504, at the resignation of
Thomas Wright, the number of monks was
insufficient for a canonical election, and the
bishop was obliged to collate a prior (fn. 9) ; and
in 1524 the site of the monastery and its
scanty revenues were granted to Cardinal
Wolsey for the endowment of his new college. (fn. 10)
During the latter half of the fourteenth
century, when the priory of Bradwell was evidently very poor and its monks few in number,
it nevertheless appears to have had a very high
character for the strict observance of the rule.
For one of those monks who obtained permission from the good abbot of St. Albans,
Thomas de la Mare, to leave his own monastery in search of a more perfect life, made
choice of this little house (fn. 11) as a place of holy
retirement; perhaps finding its simplicity
and very real poverty more attractive than
the stately order of the great abbey in which
he was professed. The priory seems to have
maintained this character for some time.
When Bishop Gray visited it between 1431
and 1436 (fn. 12) he had no serious fault to find
with anything he heard or saw. He encouraged the monks in spite of the smallness of
their numbers still to be regular in rising to
mattins; and if there were not sufficient
voices to sing the office they were permitted
to recite it without note, yet devoutly and
distinctly, observing the pause in every verse.
If they were unable to go to the refectory together every day, they should do so at least on
Wednesdays and Fridays: in other words, the
fact that they were few was not in any way to
hinder the regularity of their life. The bishop
concluded by bidding them increase their
number as soon as possible on pain of contempt, but it seems probable that their poverty made this almost impossible, for in 1455
they had to petition for the suppression of the
vicarage of Padbury and its union with the
parish church (fn. 13) : and the sum total of their
revenue at the time of the dissolution of the
monastery was less than £50.
The original endowment of the priory
comprised only certain lands in Wolverton
and Padbury, and the churches of Wolverton,
Padbury, Stantonbury, Chalfont St. Giles'
and Stoke Hammond. (fn. 14) The church of Stantonbury was granted at an early date to the
Cathedral at Lincoln, (fn. 15) and the church of
Chalfont St. Giles in the year 1259; the
latter was however reckoned among the benefices belonging to the monastery in 1527.
The temporalities assigned to Bradwell in
1291 amount only to £10 19s. 10d. (fn. 16) ; and
a survey taken in 1380 gave a total of £32
6s. 2d. (fn. 17) At the dissolution the total issues
of the house were stated to be £47 4s. 1¼d. (fn. 18)
Priors of Bradwell
Nigel, (fn. 19) occurs 1189
Richard, (fn. 20) occurs 1201
John, (fn. 21) occurs 1219
Richard, (fn. 22) resigned 1237
Simon de Kantia, (fn. 23) elected 1237
John, (fn. 24) occurs 1253
Bartholomew, (fn. 25) occurs 1272
Robert of Ramsey, (fn. 26) elected 1280
John, (fn. 27) died 1320
Robert of Rowsham, (fn. 28) elected 1320
Robert Foliot, (fn. 29) died 1331
Simon of Elstow, (fn. 30) elected 1331, resigned
1336
William of Loughton, (fn. 31) elected 1336, died
1349
John of Billing, (fn. 32) elected 1349
John of Willen, (fn. 33) deprived 1361
John Horwood, (fn. 34) occurs 1388, died 1410
William Horwood, (fn. 35) elected 1410
John Wells, (fn. 36) elected 1492, died 1503
Thomas Wright, (fn. 37) elected 1503, resigned
1504
Robert Boston, (fn. 38) elected 1504, resigned
1515
John Ashby, (fn. 39) last prior elected 1515
Pointed oval seal, one side of which is
chipped, attached to a charter (fn. 40) bearing the
date 1209, represents the prior standing on a
corbel holding a book. Legend, partly defaced, runs: . . . ILL' PRIORIS DE BRADEWELL.