RELIGIOUS HOUSES £8 to the prioress of Dartford, with the in- those of the other priests at £5 13*. 4^., £5, tention that they should be given to the hos- and £8 12s. i,d. respectively. 8 The Chan- pital. 1 In the Valor Ecclesiasticus the stipend try Certificate or 1546 gives the clear value of the warden is valued at £8 13*. 2d., and of the warden's stipend as £13 2s. 9 COLLEGE 23. THE COLLEGE OF NORTHILL The parish church of Northill was made collegiate by the executors of Sir John Trailly and his son Reynold 2 in 1405 3 ; the rectors of the church were from that time forward masters of the college. The endow- ment was intended to maintain four fellows besides the master, and two choristers 4 ; and this increase of the staff of clergy must have been a real benefit to the parish, which con- sisted of no less than seven hamlets at con- siderable distances from the parish church and also from one another. 6 The royal commissioners sent to report on the condition of the chantries, colleges and hospitals in 1546 suggested that the college might well be turned into an almshouse, if that were the king's pleasure 10 ; and in 1548 reported that it was thought one priest alone would not be able to serve the cure. 11 It does not seem that any notice was taken of either of these suggestions. In 1 428 12 the master of the College held two-thirds of a knight's fee in Tempsford, jointly with Robert Scot, of the barony of Eaton. The Valor Ecclesiasticus assigns to the college an income of £61 $s. clear 13 ; the Chantry Certificate states it at £56 3/. yd., of which £22 10s. formed the stipend of the master. 14 The first master was John Warden ls ; the last was Thomas Grene. 16 ALIEN HOUSE 24. THE PRIORY OF LA GRAVE OR GROVEBURY The manor of Leighton was granted by Henry II. to the abbess and convent of Fonte- vraud in 1164 ; and it is probable that a house was built there for a cell of the order, not very long after. A prior is first men- tioned in 1 195—6, and is then called the prior of Leighton 7 ; the name ot La Grave or 1 Pat. 21 Hen. VI. pt. I, m. 10. « Chant. Cert. (Beds), I. s Tanner, Not. Mon., gives the date 6 Henry IV., and says that Sir Gerard Braybrook was one of the executors. Sir John Trailly died 1401, and his son in 1402. An inscription in memory of the first master, John Warden, and containing these two dates, was in the chancel of Northill church in 1582 {Beds N. and 0. i. 67, from MS. notes of Francis Thynne, Lancaster Herald).
- Chant. Cert. (Beds), I. The master was to
have his board, the pay of one servant, and finding for two horses ; the fellows their board ; the choristers board, lodging and clothing. s Ibid. " Round, Cal. of Doc. France, i. 377 ; Dug- dale, Mon. vi. 1085. The charter was confirmed by John {Chart. R. [Rec. Com.], i. pt. I, 72b, which states that the manor of Leighton was worth &6). ' Cur. Reg. R. 6 Rich. I. No. 5 ; Feet of F. (Rec. Com.), 7 Rich. I. p. 3. It would seem that the cell was founded between 1 1 89, when the manor of Leighton was apparently held directly Grava does not appear till late in the reign of Henry III. 17 The dedication of the church is unknown. The prior of Leighton had a good deal of trouble with his tenants on the subject of feudal services during the thirteenth century, which involved him in suits before the Curia Regis from 1 2 1 3 to 1 290. 18 William de Lyencourt, who was prior of La Grave during the latter part of the century, was a person of some importance ; he was proctor by Fontevraud, and 1 195-6, the first date of a prior. >< Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 211. » Chant. Cert. (Beds), 4. 1° Ibid. » Ibid. 1. ia Feud. Aids, i. 57. « Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 196. » Chant. Cert. (Beds), 1. •6 Beds N. and Q. i. 67. i" Chant. Cert.~{Beds), I. " Anct. Deeds (P.R.O.), D. 222. He is called the prior of Leighton as late as 44 Henry III. (Cur. Reg. R. 168, n. 2 in dorso). 18 These difficulties between him and his men belong to the general ecclesiastical history of the county ; they also serve to clear him from blame for the murder of a lay brother of Dunstable, killed by ' the men of the prior of Grava ' in 1259 in de- fence of the rights of his church {Ann. Mon. [Rolls Series], iii. 213). The property of the two priories lay in the same neighbourhood, and such a quarrel might easily arise without the knowledge of the head of either house.
