Page:VCH Buckinghamshire 1.djvu/349

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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

in the parish of Long Crendon : Chearsley and Lower Winchendon [1] ; in the parish of Chilton : Dorton [2] ; in the parish of Newport Pagnel : Little Linford [3] ; in the parish of Eton : Wexham [4] ; in the parish of Datchet : Fulmer [5] ; in the parish of Stewkley : Litcote [6] ; in the parish of Radclive : St. Michael's Radclive [7] ; in the parish of Biddlesden : St. Margaret's Biddlesden [8] ; in the parish of North Crawley : Little Crawley [9] ; in the parish of Eton : Cippenham [10] ; in the parish of Weston Turville : Lee and Brondes [11] ; in the parish of Mursley: Salden [12]; in the parish of Hanslope : Castle Thorpe [13] ; and in the parish of Aston Clinton : St. Leonard's, Aston. [14]

St. Werburga's Chapel or Hermitage at Brill, [15] the Chapel of SS. Stephen and Laurence at Chetwode, [16] and the Chapels of Tattenhoe, [17] Hedgerley, [18] Petsoe [19] and Okeney[20] were free or independent as far back as they can be traced. This makes a total of thirty-three certainly in existence before 1291 ; but this probably falls far short of the full number, [21] and some of those which are first mentioned in the fourteenth century may have been built and used much earlier. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were an age of strange con- trasts ; of extraordinary generosity and reverence towards the Church, and of equally extraordinary violence and irreverence. There are a great many instances of personal violence towards the clergy and sacri-

  1. Both in the foundation charter of Nutley Abbey.
  2. Ibid.
  3. In the charter granted to Tickford Priory about 1154. Round, Cal. of Documents relating to France, P-444-
  4. Earliest mention, Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Gravesend, 1271.
  5. Mentioned in the Taxatio (Rec. Com.), p. 33.
  6. Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii. 350 (7 Edw. I.) ; Harl. MS. fF. 338-3423 ; latest mention, 1481.
  7. Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Gravesend, 1276. Last institution, Ibid. Inst. Burghersh, 338 (1329).
  8. Harl. MS. 4714, f. 43 ; mentioned in a charter certainly of the thirteenth century.
  9. Mentioned in the foundation charter of Tickford Priory.
  10. Mentioned in the foundation charter of Burnham Abbey, 1266.
  11. First mentioned in the foundation charter of Missenden Abbey, 1133.
  12. In existence before 1258 [Line. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Gravesend, A° 1, and Gesta Attatum (Rolls Series), i. 425] : last institution, 1354 (Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, 258).
  13. Mentioned 1258 (Ibid. Rolls of Grossetete, A° 17) at the ordination of Hanslope vicarage.
  14. Founded 1242 (Ibid. Rolls of Grossetete, A° 8) as a private chapel.
  15. Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), 3 Edw. I., i. 37.
  16. In existence from 1243 (Line. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Grossetête, A° 8) till 1360 (Ibid. Inst. Gynwell, 270d). This chapel, as well as that of St. Werburga, is called a hermitage ; but it is also distinctly stated in one entry that it was only so called because it was in a lonely place. Both chapels were served by the canons of Chetwode : and one of them was still standing and reckoned amongst the property of Nutley Abbey at the dissolution. Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv. 233.
  17. First mentioned in a charter granted to Lavendon Abbey by Hugh of Wells, 1215. Liber Antiquus (ed. Gibbons), 76.
  18. First mentioned Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Gravesend, A° 7.
  19. First mentioned in a charter granted to Tickford Priory about 1154. Round, Cal. of Documents relating to France, p. 444.
  20. First mentioned Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Grossetete, A° 12. Petsoe and Okeney are sometimes called churches, but much more often free chapels.
  21. Only the institutions to free chapels, or chantries connected with them, are found in the Lincoln Registers : so that those dependent on parish churches are only mentioned incidentally. There are probably a good many of which no record whatever remains. In a series of papers, which were never finished, on the ' Desecrated Churches of Bucks,' published in Records of Bucks, the Rev. W. Hastings Kelke said he had found traces of as many as sixty but then he was reckoning not only these, but some founded later, as well as some parish churches now lost, and a great many private chapels.

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