7. THE PRIORY OF CANNINGTON
Cannington is a village about 3 miles north-west
of Bridgwater, on the road to Nether Stowey
and Holford. The priory, founded about 1138
by Robert de Courci, an adherent of the Empress
Matilda, was situated 'hard adnexid to the est
of the parish church.' (fn. 36)
The endowment began with the grant of the
manor and the advowson of the church at
Cannington.
Hugh de Wells, Archdeacon of Wells, and
afterwards Bishop of Lincoln (1209-35), left in his
will (1212) 5 marks to the nuns of Cannington. (fn. 37)
In the Taxatio of 1291 Cannington, on account
of its poverty, escaped assessment.
In 1333 (fn. 38) Robert Fitz Pain obtained licence
to alienate to the prioress and nuns 80 acres of
land at Cannington and Rodway, to maintain a
chaplain to pray for his soul, and in 1354, (fn. 39)
John de Chidiok and Robert de Sambourn
obtained similar permission to give to the convent
a rent-charge, and the advowson of the church
of Witheridge in Devonshire, and this was
confirmed in 1380. (fn. 40)
In 1382 (fn. 41) the rector of Spaxton, Robert
Crosse, was the intermediary for a grant to the
nuns of 120 acres of land in Pawlett.
In the Valor (fn. 42) of 1535 the house is declared in
possession of the church and manor of Cannington, the church and lands in Witheridge, the
free chapel of Puddletown St. Mary, Dorset,
and lands and tenements at Stowey, Skilgate,
Bridport and Bradford, Fiddington, Blackdown,
Bristol and Godley. The value of the property
was declared at £39 15s. 8d., of which 75s. had
to be distributed in alms under Robert de
Courci's bequest.
The nuns were drawn largely from the local
county families, (fn. 43) and the house was used, as
most houses of this size and kind were, as a
place of retirement for the ladies of the county,
either for the festivals of the church that they
might observe them the better, or for their
convenience and safety at times when their
husbands and brothers were away.
Nominally the permission of the bishop had
to be obtained before these houses could receive
as paying guests the ladies who desired to retire
there, but the ease with which these licences
seem to have been granted is noticeable. The
danger to the sisters from receiving these ladies
was obvious. They were not bound by the
rules which the sisters had to observe; they
were not under any vows; they had been
trained in the world; and they brought worldly
ideas and all the pride of their position into
these simple houses of sisters. Moreover those
who were called upon to attend them, and the
state in which they lived in the vacant rooms of
the nunneries, must all have influenced detrimentally the good discipline of the house.
In the spring of 1313 (fn. 44) we find Bishop Drokensford granting to Dyonisia Peverel permission to
stay (perhendinandum) at her own cost with the
nuns of Cannington. Then the next year (fn. 45)
the wife and sisters of John Fychet were allowed
to spend their Christmas there, and a similar
licence was granted to Isabel Barayl in 1315. (fn. 46)
His successor, Bishop Ralph, in June 1336 (fn. 47)
granted such a permission to Isabel Fychet, and
in the same autumn he allowed (fn. 48) Joan Wason
and Maud Poer to stay there for Christmas and
till the following Easter with their two maids.
In 1354 (fn. 49) Ralph issued a licence to Isolda, the
wife of John Byccombe, to spend some time in
the house.
In September 1311 (fn. 50) some disturbance had
taken place in the churchyard, for Bishop Drokensford issued a commission to his suffragan, John,
Bishop of Cork, to reconcile the cemetery of the
poor nuns of Cannington, polluted by effusion
of blood.
On 4 May 1317 (fn. 51) for some reason which is
not stated, Emma de Bytelscomb, the prioress,
resigned her office, and Matilda de Morton (fn. 52)
appeared before Bishop Drokensford at Wiveliscombe, together with two sisters, Agnes de
Newmarket and Sibyl de Horsy, who desired
confirmation of Matilda's election as prioress in
succession to Emma. On inquiry the election
seems to have been found irregular; the sanction of the patron appears not to have been
obtained, and at his request the house was
granted permission to carry out the new election
on 10 May.
On 31 May the commission appointed by the
bishop to inquire into the details of the procedure of the election of Matilda de Morton demanded from the sisters whether any objections
were made to the elected one, and Joan de
Bratton, one of the sisters, objected on the
ground of irregularity. The commission sat
again on 9 June, when, in addition to the four
mentioned, seven other sisters gave their evidence, and on 18 June the election of Matilda,
which had been provisionally confirmed by the
bishop, was quashed by the commissioners, and
she was found to be unfit and irregularly chosen.
In her place Joan de Bere was substituted. On 12
July Joan seems to have been induced to resign;
Matilda and Joan renounced any intention of
appeal against the bishop's decision, and on 15
August (fn. 53) the bishop, being satisfied that the
house would accept his judgement, formally
collated to the prioress-ship Matilda de Morton.
In 1328 (fn. 54) rumours seem to have reached
Bishop Drokensford, and he appointed Canon
Walter de Hulle to go to Cannington to inquire.
It was said that some of the nuns were in the
habit of walking about at night and wandering,
without permission, from the precincts of the
convent. The result of this inquiry is not recorded, but in 1351 Bishop Ralph issued a commission to John de Sydenhale and Nicholas
de Pontesbury to inquire and correct things
they might find amiss at Cannington. Here a
painful exposure resulted from their inquiries. (fn. 55)
The prioress, Avice de Raigners, was found to
have taken a bribe of £20 each from four whom
she had admitted as nuns, and to have sold several
corrodies, that is to say rights to nominate a
pensioner to live in the house. This lay as a
burden on the estates of the priory which were
already insufficient for the support of the nuns,
and brought in ladies with no vocation for a
religious life to live with those who were professed. Two nuns, Matilda Pulham and Alice
Northlode, the lady whom the bishop himself had
forced on the house in 1333, (fn. 56) were found guilty
of nightly conferences with the two chaplains,
Richard Sompnour and Hugh Wyllinge, in the
nave of the church of the said monastery.
Matilda also had used threats and had acted in
an indecent manner towards the servants of the
house. Worse was to be feared from their conduct. Matilda was ordered to sit at the bottom
of the choir, and at the bottom in the refectory,
and Alice was to take the seat next above her,
and they were on no account for a whole year to
be allowed to go beyond the cloister of the house.
Joan Trimelet who, to the grave confusion of
their religious profession and scandal of the
house, had given birth to a child, was ordered
a year's penance. The sub-prioress was suspended for neglect of her duty, and for absence
from the morning offices in the chapel, and two
other nuns were joined in commission with her
to carry out the duties of that post.
The charge against the prioress of having sold
corrodies without a licence took a definite form
in 1370 as the result of an inquest, in 1368, on
the death of Roger Montfort, who died an
outlaw and whose sole possessions consisted of
a life interest in a corrody at Cannington Priory.
Some slight evidence of the terror caused by
the Great Pestilence is perhaps shown in the
licences sought and obtained from the pope (fn. 57)
by 'Avis de Reigneres' the prioress in January
1349, and by Joan Trimelet June 1349, to choose
any confessor they could find at the hour of
their death.
Little is known of the later history of the
priory. In 1504 Cecilia de Verney was elected
and the mandate for her induction was issued
by Archbishop Warham (fn. 58) during the vacancy
of the see owing to Bishop Hadrian de Castello's
appointment not having been as yet confirmed.
In 1534 the house appears to have accepted
the Act of Supremacy and the Succession Act,
and on 23 September 1536 was dissolved.
On 20 November 1536 (fn. 59) the prioress, Cecilia
de Verney, received a pension of 10 marks. In
1556 none of the sisters are mentioned in
Cardinal Pole's list, but Thomas Hache, the
steward of the house, was still in receipt of a
pension. (fn. 60)
Prioresses of Cannington
Emma de Bytelescumb, resigned 1317 (fn. 61)
Joan de Bere, elected and deposed, (fn. 62) 1317
Matilda de Morton, collated 1317 (fn. 63)
Willelma de Blachyngdon, elected 1334, died
1336 (fn. 64)
Joan de Bere, re-elected 1336, died 1343 (fn. 65)
Avice de Reigners, elected 1343 (fn. 66)
Joan, occurs 1412 (fn. 67)
Joan de Chedeldon, died 1440 (fn. 68)
Joan Gofyse, elected 1440 (fn. 69)
Eleanor (fn. 70)
Cecilia de Verney, elected 1504, surrendered
1536 (fn. 71)