ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY marks, though the rectory was only worth iooj. ; and he ordered the canons of Newnham to make up the vicarage of Ravensden to 5 marks, even if the tithes greater and less did not amount to so much. Only occasionally, if the rectory was of considerable value, the vicar's portion was made larger ; the rectory of Great Barford, worth 22 marks, the vicar received 8 ; the rectory of Luton, worth 100 marks, the vicar had 24. The arrangement for Harrold is different to the rest and may serve as an example of the treatment of a case where the parish church be- came conventual. 1 The vicar was to have his living at the prioress's table, with 2 marks yearly for his clothing, hay for his palfrey, and the oblations at great festivals. His manse might be within the priory en- closure or out of it, according to what was most convenient for his parishioners ; and the prioress was to provide him with a deacon and a boy to serve his mass. 2 Bishop Grossetete continued the work of his predecessor, ordaining however only one vicarage in Bedfordshire — Caddington, 3 the property of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London. Bishop Gravesend ordained a vicarage for Wootton in 1272, Southill 4 in 1264, and pro- bably Sharnbrook. 5 He also ordained vicarages for the two prebendal churches of Leigh ton Buzzard and Biggleswade. 8 Streatley 7 was ordained before 1289, and Eaton Socon 8 before 1291. The last of this century was Oakley, 8 ordained in 1296. Mention has been made incidentally already of the parochial chapels, which served for the devotion of villages and hamlets remote from the parish church. They are a special feature of the twelfth century, being built in large numbers all over the country during the reigns of Henry I. and Stephen. They are mostly due to the generosity of lords of manors, who wished to provide not only for themselves and their own households, but also for the villagers amongst whom they dwelt ; and the chapels thus built were usually appendant to the parish church. The building of private chapels became common in the thirteenth century, as the bishops' registers show ; but the parochial chapels were nearly all earlier. It is probable that there were several, even in a small county like Bed- 1 No other church of this type in Bedfordshire had a vicarage ordained, except Elstow in 1 345 (Line. Epis. Reg., Inst. Belt. 102) ; and that was revoked almost at once. The canons of Newnham ap- pointed one of their own brethren as warden of St. Paul's, Bedford (Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Grey, 199) and so did the canons of Dunstable {Ann. Mon. [Rolls Series], iii. 220) until 1392 (Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Buckingham, 41 1). 8 All from the Liber Antiquus, Alfred Gibbons, pp. 20-5. 3 A vicar was instituted in 1250 (Excerpta from Line. Epis. Reg., Harl. MS. 3650). The church had two rectors before. 4 Wootton and Southill are both in Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Gravesend ; but the pope had ordered the reservation of a vicar's portion for both in 1255 {Cal. of Pap. Letters, i. 314, 316. Sugmele is evidently a misreading for Sugivele). 6 Vicarage vacant in 1283 (Harl. MS. 3650). a 1276 and 1277 (ibid.) 7 Ibid. 8 Vicarage noted in Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), p. 3 5 8 Hugh de Wells had compelled the prior and convent of Caldwell to present secular clerks, who were to receive half the tithes (total value, 24^ marks), but Oliver Sutton preferred to ordain a vicarage in 1296 (Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Sutton, 100). 317
