Daughter Houses of Merton Priory

by Lionel Green

Profusely illustrated with plans, photographs, drawings and tables, the book traces the spread of Merton’s influence in England, Scotland and Normandy, through the setting up Augustinian communities at Taunton, Plympton, Canterbury, Bodmin, Edinburgh, Cirencester, St Lô, Dover and Christchurch within 33 years of the foundation of Merton Priory beside the Wandle.

Lionel has been studying all aspects of Merton Priory for over 50 years, and shares some of the results of his studies in this excellent book.

Review in MHS Bulletin 142 (Jun 2002)

DAUGHTER HOUSES
OF MERTON PRIORY

DAUGHTER HOUSES
OF MERTON PRIORY
MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2002

..
..

..DAUGHTER HOUSES
OF MERTON PRIORY
BUCKENHAM
C1146

HUNTINGDON #
..

BEDFORD

CIRENCESTER

1163

1131

#
CANTERBURY #
1123

MERTON DOVER 1135

TAUNTON CHRISTCHURCH

..#

1120 1150 BILSINGTON
1253

BODMIN
1123

..
#

..
#
PLYMPTON
1121
TREGONY
1267

ST LÔ
1132#

Introduction

The Church in England suffered a decline in the ninth century with a decay
in monastic life, no doubt aggravated by the ravages of the Danish invasions
when, for instance, Chertsey Abbey was destroyed. Parish churches did not
exist but many estate churches were built by local thegns. Saxon minster
churches began to flourish and their existence is reflected in the names of
many towns especially in Somerset and Dorset. These minsters became Saxon
mission stations serving the surrounding area.

Some former monasteries survived as secular colleges, which were
establishments of clergy living together in common and following a canonor
rule of life. This was not the Rule of any monastic order and the priests did
not take any monastic vows. These centres became known as Colleges of
Secular Canons, where ‘secular’ meant not monastic. Each canon was
endowed with a portion of landed property known as a prebend or provender,
which by virtue of the holding constituted a freehold benefice. Together, the
canons served the spiritual needs of the prebendal estates in the surrounding
area.

The minster possessed the right to bury the dead in the central cemetery of
the region and thus receive burial offerings known as ‘soul scot’ (Old English

– sawel scaettas). This right remained with the minster/college and was
jealously guarded to prevent loss of income.
The Norman Church

At the coming of the Normans, much land was redistributed and many
individual churches were set up by the local lord of the manor. These are
recorded in the Domesday Survey as aecclesiae (churches). The Old English
word mynsterand the German word münsterare derived from the Latin word
monasterium, i.e. the place of a religious community. In Surrey, only
Southwark records amonasterium. Other important former minsters in Surrey
such as Bermondsey, Croydon and Kingston were each listed as having an
aecclesia,an all embracing description. Leatherhead was attached to the royal
manor of Ewell.

Almost every church was now being served by a secular priest. The lords of
manors found that the ‘estate chapel’ could be a source of revenue, but there
was pressure from the bishops that the churches and the tithes should be
applied for higher purposes, for the good of the owners’ souls.

Further churches were given to the secular colleges where the houses of priests
could undertake the cure of souls in the parishes. Monks, not being priests at
that time, could not serve the community.

The Augustinian Order takes its name from St Augustine of Hippo (d.430). It
came into existence in France in the 11th century and is based upon the advice
he gave to religious communities. One of the first houses to follow the
Augustinian Rule in England was at Huntingdon c.1106 (see below and p
16). The coming of the Augustinian Order met a need, because being priests,
the canons were an ideal choice to continue the role of serving the needs of
dependent churches. Minsters/secular colleges became centralised and chose
to serve their own community rather than the parishes dependent upon them.
Some bishops made an effort to convert secular canons into adopting a regular
or monastic life, but this met with much resistance. This will become apparent
as the story of Merton’s daughter houses is revealed.

The success of the Augustinian canons reflected badly on the secular canons,
who began to be despised by some church leaders. This persisted throughout
the medieval period when the secular colleges suffered a poor ‘press’.

The early daughter houses of Augustinian monasteries were unlike those of
the Benedictines in that they were not dependent upon the mother house but
maintained themselves from the outset.

As early as 1092 Geoffrey, sub-prior of Huntingdon, became the first prior of
Cambridge (St Giles) at a time when the Rule of St Augustine was being
formulated for use in the English houses. A later sub-prior, Robert, left
Huntingdon in 1114 to become the first prior of Merton.

The initiative to found a new community came not from the mother house
but from a local lord or a bishop who requested a few canons from an
established and revered community to settle in and lead a new house of his
own patronage. In the case of Merton, this did not prevent the mother house
from recording its successes. It claimed to have founded seven, the names of
which were entered in the cartulary for posterity to know. These were Tantona,
Bothmsme, Ednesburch, Cirecestrensem, St Gregory of Canterbury, St Laud
and Holy Trinity Thwinham.

These are listed in the historia fundationis of Merton Priory in
the following words…

In the first place stands the church of Tantona [Taunton] founded
by William, bishop of Winchester; afterwards the church of
Bothmsne [Bodmin] instituted by William, bishop of Exeter, in the
second place. The church of Ednesburch [Holyrood, Edinburgh]
built by David, king of Scotland, let us place third. The church of
Cirecestrensem [Cirencester] of distinguished workmanship,
founded by king Henry, let us refer to the fourth place. The church
of St. Gregory of Canterbury sited and decorated by the archbishop
William, let us rank after this, in the fifth place. The church of St
Laud, adorned by Algar, bishop of Constanciensi [Coutances,
Normandy], beyond the sea, a canon of the Order, let us add in the
sixth place. The church of Holy Trinity Thwinham [Christchurch],
assigned to the institution of regulars by Aldewino the Count, let
us conclude in the seventh place of the sevenfold gifts of the Holy
Spirit. During thirty-three years the monastery … brought forth
fruits like a well-cultivated and fruitful vine, extending her branches
all the way to the sea and her shoots as far as the river.”

College of Heralds – Arundel MS 28 ff. 12v–13r

Date Date Founded by With
1120 Taunton,
Somerset
William Giffard,
bishop of Winchester
1107–29
Guy
d. May
1124
1121 Plympton,
Devon
William Warelwast,
bishop of Exeter
1107–37
Geoffrey
d. Aug.
1160
1123 St Gregory,
Canterbury
William Corbeil,
archbishop of Canterbury
1122–36
Alvred?
1123 Bodmin,
Cornwall
William Warelwast,
bishop of Exeter
1107–37
Guy
d. May
1124
1128 Holyrood,
Edinburgh
David,
king of Scotland
1124–53
Alwin
d. 1155
1131 Cirencester,
Gloucestershire
Henry I,
king of England
1100–35
Serlo
d. 1147
1132 St Lô,
Normandy
Algar,
bishop of Coutances
1132–51
Theodoric
1135 Dover,
Kent
William Corbeil,
archbishop of Canterbury
1122–36
1150 Twinham, Hants
(Christchurch)
Baldwin de Redvers,
earl of Devon – d. 1155
Reginald?

Taunton Priory, Somerset

Taunton Priory, Somerset
th-century Saxon burials in the 1970s suggests that the original foundation
was in the Castle Green area of Taunton. In 904 several estates with chapels
around Taunton passed to the bishop of Winchester. There is reference to the
monasterium, suggesting a minster with dependent chapels. The dead of
surrounding villes were brought, sometimes miles, to the college graveyard,
and fees had to be paid to the secular priests.The priests were known as
prebendaries as they were supported by ‘prebends’ i.e. fixed income from
church property. The Geld Inquest of 1084 shows that the priests held 2¼
hides (perhaps about 150 acres) of land. When William Giffard became bishop
of Winchester in 1107 he fortified his residence at Taunton1 so that the precinct
moat enclosed the Great Hall,2 the castle motte and the college.

St James

Site of Priory
from 1158

Town
Mill

Precinct Moat

St Mary

Bishop’s Great
Hall

West
Gate

Magdalene

Site of ?Secular
Saxon College East
burials Gate

TAUNTON CASTLE

TAUNTON

Bishop Giffard was familiar with the introduction of the Augustinian Order
into England, being personally involved with the foundation of Merton and
Southwark priories. He wished the existing secular priests at Taunton to follow
the new Rule, having observed how the canons of Merton were “sublimely
aspiring to perfection” after only three years. He therefore requested some
canons of Merton to “introduce into his church of Taunton those same

observances which they themselves employed”.observances which they themselves employed”. Five brethren set off from
Merton in 1120 “amongst whom was that Master Guy who with good reason
was the most famous amongst us”.4

The canons followed the Augustinian Rule at Taunton and a few “who had
been there, began to adopt the way of life according to the rule but certain
[secular priests] had no wish to change their firmly rooted bad habits”. Guy, an
Italian schoolmaster, used his best efforts to try to change them and was deeply
upset over his failure. These were priests who did not want to take vows, for
the vow of poverty meant giving up their ‘prebends’, and the vow of chastity
their wives or housekeepers.

At Merton, Guy had been zealous in religious duties and sincerely devout, but
at Taunton he lived an even more austere life, for no one could restrain his
fervour. As prior, he gave to the poor all that he could and would assign to the
sick and needy the food set on his own table and be content with bread and
water, declaring to his taunters that “what is taken from one’s own mouth is
more pleasing to God. Let me not fatten my flesh for the worms and see a
precious creature of God die before me with hunger”. He would buy capes,
tunics and shoes for the poor, but always provided whatever was necessary for
the canons. Guy was able to do this as he had control over the income from
former prebends. The bishop actively supported the new foundation with grants
of manors including Fons George which contained the Syreford (Sherford)
Brook “for grinding their corn and all advantage thence to be derived”. The
fish pond or vivary was within this parish.

It was no doubt Guy’s influence that resulted in the foundation of St Margaret’s
leper hospital and chapel served by the priory. The people of Taunton appreciated
Guy’s work and some believed he was a saint for he was said to have frequently
calmed storms.5

But within the priory there was dissent. The poor were never satisfied and the
rich were jealous over the gifts allotted to the poor. Complaints were made to
the bishop that Guy did not show respect to the men of influence who could
benefit the Church. He was now finding the administration of the priory irksome
and finally appealed to the Prior of Merton to recall him to the place he loved.
His wish was granted and instead of grieving that he was no longer a prior he
rejoiced “as if freed from a prison or like a bird released from a trap”.6

Giffard’s successor at Winchester was Bishop Henry of Blois and, when the
civil war in Stephen’s reign began, he strengthened the defences within his
diocese.7 The importance of the castle at Taunton resulted in a relocation of the

priory by Bishop Henry in 1158. This became the monastery of St Peter and St
Paul situated outside the East Gate. Sherford Brook was diverted to serve the
new precinct and the mill.

Building beside gatehouse of Taunton Priory centred on St James (see map).

1 J Collinson History….of Somerset (1791) iii 231.

2 A pre-Conquest bank underlies the Great Hall which might also be part of the precinct
boundary of the Minster.

3 College of Heralds: Arundel MS 28 fo.93v; M L Colker Studia Monastica Vol.12 (1970)
p 243.

4 British Library Royal MS 8 E ix; M L Colker in Medieval Studies, Toronto. Vol.31

(1969) ‘The Life of Guy of Merton…’ p 257.

5 Ibid. Ch xii p 259.

6 Ibid. Ch x p 259.

7 A record of 1138 states that he built castles at Winchester, Farnham, Bishops Waltham,
Merdon, Dunton as well as Taunton, but many of these, including Taunton, were already
in existence.

SURVIVING REMAINS:

Fragments in Taunton Museum.
The building above, which now houses the County Cricket Club museum.
The vivary is an open space facility to the south.

Plympton, Devon

William Warelwast, bishop of Exeter (1107–37), became displeased with the
existing four prebendaries and two ministers at Plympton “because they would
not leave their concubines”.1 He wished to dissolve their college, and in order
to recompense the loss of revenue of each, he set up a college of similar size
at Bosham in Sussex where Henry I gave him the lordship and chapel in
1120. He attached its income to the bishopric of Exeter for his successors,2
and thereafter the bishops of Exeter became the nominal deans of Bosham
with the sacrists acting as head under the dean. Early in 1121 Warelwast
transferred the establishment from Plympton to Bosham and invited regular
canons from Aldgate (London) and Merton3 to occupy the Plympton buildings.
They arrived in February 1121 and were installed as regular canons on 24
August.4 One of the Merton canons was Geoffrey, a close friend of Master
Guy (see p 15), and Ralph from Aldgate was made prior by September 1121.5

Bishop William Warelwast, as a cousin of the king, was able to obtain a royal
charter of foundation from Henry I. The new priory at Plympton was dedicated
to St Peter and St Paul, the same dedication as at Taunton.

Prior Ralph died in 1127 and Geoffrey was elected prior on Wednesday 18
January 1128 and remained prior for 32 years. Bishop Warelwast became
partially blind and finally joined the community at Plympton on 27 September
1137. Geoffrey was still prior when the bishop died. He was buried in the
chapter house of the priory on 1 October 1137.

When Geoffrey lay on his own deathbed in 1160, he was asked which brother
should succeed him in the event of his death. He expressly designated Richard
Pilatus but, following Geoffrey’s demise on 25 August, there was a dispute
over his successor. John of Salisbury, as secretary to archbishop Theobald,
had to write to the canons reminding them of the wishes of Geoffrey “your
prior of holy memory”.6 Geoffrey’s wish was granted.

1 W Dugdale Monasticon Anglicanum (1846) vi 51a.

2 J Chandler (edit.) Leland’s Itinerary (1993) p 111.

3 J C Dickinson Origins of the Austin Canons…(1950) p 117 n 10.

4 G. Oliver Monasticon Diocesis Exoniensis (1846) p 131.

5 Plympton Annals (Ungedruckte Anglo-Norm. Geschichtsquellen 1879) p 27. Reprint
Ridgewood NJ 1966. The annals record the foundation date of Merton as 25 March
1117. The correct year but the wrong festival.

6 W J Millor, H E Butler & C N L Brooke (eds.) Letters of John of Salisbury Vol.I (1986)
No.119 p 196.

SURVIVING REMAINS:

Rebuilt building with priory stone. Trace of watercourse.

St Gregory’s Priory, Canterbury, Kent

In 1123 the new archbishop was William Corbeil who had been prior of the
Augustinian priory of St Osyth, Essex. Hitherto, church leaders had been
monks following the Benedictine tradition. Archbishops of Canterbury were
elected by the monks of Canterbury as the archbishop was titular abbot of the
monastery. The choice of Corbeil was a compromise – he was not a monk but
a regular canon of a monastic order. He had been a secular priest at St
Gregory’s1 about ten years previously and decided that the ministration to
the poor and sick at St John’s hospital could be better performed if the canons
at St Gregory’s followed a monastic rule. Late in 1123, Corbeil requested
canons from Merton to assist his foundation.

Corbeil was a great builder2 who “sited and decorated”(see p 5) a new
structure at St Gregory’s, but on 2 July 1145 the church burnt down. Corbeil’s
successor was archbishop Theobald who rebuilt the priory, creating an
extensive complex of buildings in the precincts c.1155.

The foundation charter of about 1145 imposed a strict discipline and ensured
that there was to be a song school and a grammar school.3 As at Merton,
education was an important function.

Before Thomas Becket became archbishop, he was archdeacon of Canterbury
(1154–70) and would have resided in a house within the precincts when the
rebuilding began. The new church was approximately 300 feet (91m) long
and the cloister arcade consisted of Purbeck marble columns.

St. Gregory’s is depicted in a plan of the water supply to Canterbury cathedral
about 1160.4 This shows an apsed church with crossing and western towers.
In return for a piped water supply, the canons gave the cathedral a basket of
apples from their orchard each year in the second week of September.

ST GREGORY’S PRIORY, CANTERBURY

ST GREGORY’S PRIORY, CANTERBURY
1 C Johnson (Ed) Hugh the Chanter’s History of the Church of York 1066–1127 (1961)
p 50.

2 He had been chaplain to Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham, and was familiar with his
plans for Durham Cathedral and Christchurch, Hants. (see pp27–28). Corbeil rebuilt
Rochester castle and cathedral as well as completing Canterbury cathedral. He went on
to build the ‘new work’ at Dover (see p 24).

3 A M Woodcock (Ed) Cartulary of the Priory of St Gregory Canterbury Royal Historical
Society (1956) p x.

4 Trinity College Cambridge MS R.17.1.

SURVIVING REMAINS:

Only buried foundations.

Bodmin, Cornwall

When the Normans arrived, many of the estates which supported the
monastery were given to William’s half-brother Robert of Mortain. He was
given 248 manors in Cornwall including Bodmin, and 75 in Devon as well as
a house for himself in Exeter. On Robert’s death in 1091, the lands passed to
his son William until about 1110 when they reverted to the Crown. The monks
were not able to continue in Bodmin and the few possessions remaining were
vested in the hands of secular priests who ceased to follow the Benedictine
Rule. Henry I granted Bodmin to a young clerk named Algar in 1113 who
became dean of the college of secular priests. He had been a pupil of Master
Anselm of Laon in France.1 The cathedral of Laon was being restored
following a fire and some French clergy arrived in Bodmin seeking to raise
funds. They had brought with them relics of the cathedral and recounted 17
miraculous cures which had been attributed to them. The Cornishmen were
not impressed and claimed the superiority of King Arthur, who many believed
was still alive. Tempers rose and Algar had to intervene to prevent bloodshed.

In 1123 Algar sought permission from William Warelwast bishop of Exeter
(1107–37) to put the monastery on a firm footing. Algar knew of the special
attributes of Master Guy of Merton who had been at Taunton and wished to
make him prior. The record says “that it was with difficulty that he obtained
the services of Guy as prior for the new community”.2 Algar, “at his own
proper cost and charges, re-edified the church of St Peter at
Bodmin…consisting of three roofs, each sixty clothyards long, thirty broad
and twenty high”.3 Guy left Merton for Bodmin in the winter of 1123/4. His
efforts were crowned with immediate success and the religious life was firmly
followed. “Algar and very many others had become canons and were
strengthened in their way of life by Guy’s teaching”.4

Early in 1124 Guy was on his way to visit the bishop at Exeter when his
horse bolted, throwing him into a pit and causing serious injury. He was
carried on to Exeter, and both Algar from Bodmin and Geoffrey from Plympton
hurried to his bedside. His friends stayed to look after Guy, but his health
deteriorated each day until Ascension Day, when he died. Algar attempted to
take the body to BodminEarly in 1124 Guy was on his way to visit the bishop at Exeter when his
horse bolted, throwing him into a pit and causing serious injury. He was
carried on to Exeter, and both Algar from Bodmin and Geoffrey from Plympton
hurried to his bedside. His friends stayed to look after Guy, but his health
deteriorated each day until Ascension Day, when he died. Algar attempted to
take the body to Bodmin whilst Geoffrey probably had Merton in mind, but
the canons of Exeter insisted that the funeral should take place in the cathedral.
“Such a multitude flocked together for the rite as had never been seen in the
city. So much respect for the body was shown as no one of Exeter remembered
had been shown to the body of a bishop or of anyone else in the city. Guy’s
body was laid in a stone sarcophagus and set in a place of honour”.6 Thus the
bishop of Exeter wished Guy to be buried in his cathedral whilst he himself
chose Plympton for his own burial.

Bodmin continued to flourish, and Algar became bishop of Coutances (1132–
51). The stricter discipline of the Augustinian canons made it desirable to
allow parishioners the continued use of the existing church whilst the canons
built a new conventual church. This would have been in the late Norman
style, similar to Merton, with the Lady Chapel added later to the east end.
Bodmin priory church became one of the finest buildings in Cornwall.7

So the first prior of Bodmin came from Merton, as did the last prior. He was
Thomas Wandsworth (alias Munday) who practised as a lawyer whilst a
professed canon of Merton from before 1502.8 Following the death of prior
Vyvyan, he became prior of Bodmin in April 1534 and finally surrendered
all possessions on 27 February 1539.

1 F Barlow The English Church 1066–1154 (1979) p 232. Not St Anselm of Canterbury,
but Anselm of Laon (d. 1117). Peter Abelard was a contempory of Algar at Laon.
2 M L Colker in Medieval Studies, Toronto. Vol.31 (1969) ‘The Life of Guy of Merton…’
p 253–9, Epistola fo. 95v Ch 13.
3 D Gilbert The Parochial History of Cornwall Vol.1 (1838) p 73.
4 M L Colker Ibid. p 253.
5 F Barlow Ibid p 249.
6 M L Colker Ibid p 254.
7 C Henderson Essays in Cornish History (1935) pp 222 & 225.

8. A Heales The Records of Merton Priory (1898) pp 311, 312.
SURVIVING REMAINS:

Fragments in garden of Priory House and in museum.
Monument to prior Vyvyan (d.1533) now in parish church.

Holyrood Abbey, Scotland

David spent his time as a young man at the court of Henry I of England, his
brother-in-law, and he learnt the importance of centralised control to rule a country.
He also noted how Henry used the Church to further his aims by fostering a
network of parish churches, religious houses and cathedrals to operate the feudal
administration without any threat from men-at-arms. He looked to the monasteries
to produce educated men to run his newly formed civil service.

In 1107, on the death of his brother Edgar, David inherited a great estate in
Northumbria, Cumbria and Lothian (then part of England) and proceeded to put
his own plans into operation. With the support of Henry I and the permission of
his brother Alexander, king of Scotland, he began to colonise the area with Norman
settlers.1

In total David founded 15 monasteries in Scotland, most of them south of
Edinburgh.2 He also set up ten bishoprics and looked to England for a judicial
system by introducing sheriffs to Scotland. In the south he appointed Anglo-
Norman settlers but in the Central Highlands (Scotia) he chose the existing thanes.

In 1114 David married Matilda, daughter of Earl Waltheof and Judith his wife.
Through this marriage he received the earldom of Huntingdon which included
many possessions in Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire. He also received the
churches of Great Paxton, Little Paxton and Toseland, south of the town of
Huntingdon.

In the same year, Gilbert, sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon received
from King Henry, the ville of Merton in Surrey. Gilbert sought advice and aid
from the canons of Huntingdon, and in December 1114 the sub-prior of
Huntingdon with a few brethren left to settle in Merton and eventually found a
new priory. One of the brethren was Alwin (Ælfwin) who, as a canon of Merton,
became one of Earl David’s chaplains in 1120 and later his confessor.

Another of Earl David’s chaplains with Alwin was Osbert and both are found
witnessing charters before David became king in 1124. Osbert tried to convert
the church of Holy Trinity, Great Paxton, into a priory and sought the earl’s
support. He authorised an exchange of seven virgates3 of land in the parish in
return for nine virgates in Little Paxton and Accadena. The grant was to support
the church so that “a prior and clerks should serve the church as regular canons”
with Osbert as prior.4

David’s mother, St Margaret, had brought from the Holy Land a golden casket
shaped as a cross in ebony, ivory and silver and said to contain a fragment of
the Holy Cross. Tradition asserts that when she died at Edinburgh Castle in
1093, the rood (cross) was in her hand. David wished to provide a suitable
religious house nearby to house the relic and selected a site a mile from the
castle below Arthur’s Seat.
5 He presented the casket to his new
foundation and named it Holyrood in honour of the Holy Cross, the Virgin
Mary and All Saints. Alwin was the first abbot and began the Holyrood
Chronicle, entering the foundation date of 1128. Certain entries precede this –
the death of King Alexander in 1124 and in the following year the death of
Gilbert, founder of Merton Priory.

Around 1135 Osbert decided to abandon his monastery at Great Paxton. A fine
church had been built but it proved difficult to support the regular life. He
made his way to Holyrood over which his former colleague Alwin presided,
and about 1140 was made prior of Holyrood under Abbot Alwin.6 About 1155
King Malcolm granted the church (or priory) of Great Paxton to Holyrood.

After 22 years at Holyrood Alwin resigned the abbacy and returned to Merton
until his death in 1155.7 Osbert became abbot of Holyrood but died within a
year on 17 November 1151.

Holyrood has always had royal associations
and the church contained a royal burial vault.
Like Merton, royal lodgings existed within
the monastery until 1535 when a new west
range provided the beginnings of a Royal
Palace. Even today the Palace remains in
use by the royal family.

The first church c.1130 was cruciform with
a central tower and an aisle-less nave. The
south wall of the nave with its processional
door was retained in the subsequent
structure when the church was enlarged
1185–90.

Holyrood: north wall of nave

HOLYROOD ABBEY

SITE OF

FIRST
CHURCH

CHAPTER
HOUSE

SITE OF

SOUTH

NORTH

TRANSEPT

PROCESSIONAL DOOR

SITE OF
CLOISTER

NAVE

By permission of the

WEST

Superintendent of the

FRONT

Palace of Holyrood

1 Ailred of Rievaulx Relatio de Standardo p 193; R L G Ritchie The Normans in Scotland
(1953) p 125 ff.

2 Selkirk (1113), Kelso (1126), Holyrood (1128), Melrose (1136), Jedburgh (c.1138),
Coldingham (1139), Dryburgh (1140), Newbattle (1140), Cambuskenneth (1140), Isle of
May (c.1140), Dundrennan (1142), St Andrews (1144), Urquhart (c.1145), Brechin (1150),
Kinloss (1150).

3 A virgate could vary between 10 and 30 acres, but was usually about 25 acres.

4 Registrum Antiquissimum of Lincoln (ed C W Foster) Vol iii No 802; D R Parsons in
Scot. Hist. Rev. Vol 14 (1916/7) p 371/2.

5 ‘Holyrood Chronicle’ in Scot. Hist. Soc. No 30 3rd series (1938) pp 116, 128. According
to the Historia Fundationis of Holyrood, Alwin was still a canon of Merton in 1128.

(Book of Old Edinburgh Club III (1916) p 64).

6 ‘Holyrood Chronicle’ in Scot. Hist. Soc. No 30 (1938) p 121.

7 The Merton Cartulary (No 41 fo lxxxj) contains a document of this time witnessed by

Alwin. A Heales The Records of Merton Priory (1898) p 16.

SURVIVING REMAINS:

Ruins of nave include a Norman doorway and arcading.

Cirencester, Gloucestershire

At the time when the Merton canons were entering their new buildings in
1117, the king began building a new church at Cirencester,1 intending to
refound the college as a monastery with regular canons. The 1117 record
must refer to the rebuilding of the parish church on a new site to allow space
for an ambitious royal foundation on the old.

Sad events intervened in the king’s life. On 1 May 1118, while Henry was in
Normandy, he lost his beloved Queen Matilda, and two years later his only
legitimate son, William, in the White Ship disaster. In response to these losses
he set about founding other monasteries.2 No doubt work continued at
Cirencester, but Henry had to augment the diminished revenues of the extinct
college “with royal munificence”.3

The dean of Salisbury from about 1115 was Serlo son of Syred, under bishop
Roger (1107–39), a friend of Merton’s founder, Gilbert. Serlo became a canon
of Merton soon after its foundation,4 and was present at the funeral of the
founder in 1125 and styled “former dean”.5 In 1130/1 Serlo was blessed as
abbot elect of Cirencester.6 Although he was consecrated as abbot in 1131
and the monastery functioned from that date, the church was not consecrated
until 1176.7

Before leaving England for Normandy in 1133, Henry I drew up a foundation
charter endowing the new abbey with land including the sheriff’s hide8 and
the garden, mill, wood and streamlet out of the royal demesne. The properties
held by Roger bishop of Salisbury, William son of Warin the sheriff and
Nicholas nephew of the bishop of Winchester were to be protected for their
lifetimes. Another significant protection was “what the secular canons hold
in prebends”.9

Cirencester grew to be the richest and greatest of all Augustinian foundations
and one of the few with the dignity of being called an abbey.10 The church
building was a magnificent structure “of distinguished workmanship” (see p
5). A daughter house was set up about 1139 at Bradenstoke and Serlo’s brother
was the first prior.11

Serlo died on 30 January 1147.

10 0 50 100 ft.
5 0 10 20 30 m.
CIRENCESTER
ABBEY CHAPTER
HOUSE
PRESBYTERY NAVE
SOUTH
TRANSEPT
10 0 50 100 ft.
5 0 10 20 30 m.
CIRENCESTER
ABBEY CHAPTER
HOUSE
PRESBYTERY NAVE
SOUTH
TRANSEPT

2 In grief he called on the Cluniacs to found a monastery at Reading, laying the foundations
himself on 18 June 1121. In 1124 Henry founded an Augustinian house at St Denys near
Southampton, so that perpetual masses might be said for the soul of William. For the same
reason he gave the manor of Dunstable to that priory.

3 J C Dickinson Origins of the Austin Canons…(1950) p 119.
4 E J Kealey Roger of Salisbury: Viceroy of England (1972) Calif. Univ. p 121.
5 College of Heralds Arundel MS 28 “et dominus Serlo, ecclesie Salesberiensis olim decanus”.
6 Florence of Worcester op.cit. ii 92; W Dugdale Monasticon Anglicanum (1846) vi 176 states

that Serlo was abbot in 1117.
7 Chronica. Roger of Hoveden (1869) Vol 2 p 101.
8 The sheriff’s hide was an assessment for taxation purposes and differed from the cultivated

hide.
9 W Dugdale op.cit. vi 177; C D Ross Cartulary (1964) I No 28 p 23. “et de hiis que canonici
seculares tenent in prebendas”.

10 Both Holyrood and Cirencester abbeys were royal foundations.
11 J Chandler (edit.) Leland’s Itinerary (1993) p 167.

SURVIVING REMAINS:

There are buried foundations, and some of the precinct walls exist.
Norman Spital Gate north east of park.

St Lô, Normandy

The abbey at St Lô was an ancient foundation traditionally founded about
AD332 by St Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. The
settlement suffered from raids by the Northmen bent on burning and pillaging
the churches. In 805 Charlemagne rebuilt the abbey of Sainte Croix (Holy
Cross) but in 888 the Vikings destroyed it once more. Eventually a monastery
was set up which became a house for secular canons.1

In 1128, William d’Evreux, the king’s treasurer, decided to convert St Lô
into a house of regular canons to correct the “scandalous behaviour” of the
existing canons. Four years later, Algar prior of Bodmin (see pp 14,15) was
made bishop of Coutances (1132–51) and he introduced a few canons from
Merton.He also adorned the church of St Lô (see p 5).

The French records state that “Theodoric or Thiery I, belonging to Merton
Priory, was, according to Arturo, the first abbot of St Lô. Pope Eugenius III
(1145–53) sent him a (papal) bull confirming that which his predecessor
Innocent II (1130–43) had granted to Algar.”2 About 1126 a letter was written
by Gervase, a canon of Merton, to a certain Theodoric or Thiery about the
death of Gilbert, the founder of Merton, in 1125.3 The writer refers to Gilbert
as “our” founder, suggesting that Theodoric had been at Merton.

1 This church measured 81.9m x 25.8m. A Descoqs Topographie de l’Abbaye de Saint-Lô
p 4. (269 ft by 85 ft.)

2 “Theodoric ou Thiery 1er, appartenant au prieuré de Meretonia, fut, d’apres Arturo, le

premier abbé de Saint-Lô. Le pape Eugène III lui envoys une bulle confirmant ce que

son prédècesseur Innocent avait accordé a Algare.”

3 M L Colker ‘Latin texts concerning Gilbert …’ in Studia Monastica Vol.12 (1970) p 265.

SURVIVING REMAINS:

Rebuilt church may contain parts (see p 34).

Dover, Kent

Dover, Kent
1

When William Corbeil became archbishop in 1123, he probably recalled his
time as a secular priest at St Gregory’s, Canterbury, and at Dover. At Dover
there were 24 priests, and the collegiate church had many possessions, enjoying
the privileges of a royal castle, not subject to the bishop’s jurisdiction.

On 5 May 1130 Canterbury cathedral was rededicated following its rebuilding,
and to mark the occasion the king gave the church of St Martin at Dover to the
cathedral for the institution of the Order of canons regular. An abbot of the
same order was to be elected by the Chapter with the consent of the archbishop.2
Corbeil decided to refound the college and remove the secular priests whose
corrupt life was “but typical of their class” and who were more intent on business
than divine worship. He also concluded that the site was unsuitable as the town
had grown round the church. Thus to protect priests from the distractions of
town life he chose a new location in 1131 outside the town and began building
a sumptuous structure using Caen stone. Henry I granted Corbeil a quarry at
Caen, Normandy, from which the stone for the earlier portions of the buildings
came.3 The archbishop procured workmen and skilled masons from Canterbury.
By 1135 the “new work” had been largely completed and the new monastery
was to be dedicated to St Mary and St Martin.

The new church measured about 288 feet (87m) in length and 70 feet (21m) in
width with a square east end, in preference to the apse which had been built in
the cathedral. The chapter house had an eastern apse similar to those at Merton
and Cirencester.

Henry I died on 2 December 1135, which meant that Corbeil would need to
seek a royal charter from his successor. Both Dover and Canterbury refused to
welcome King Stephen, but the archbishop was persuaded to crown him king
on 22 December 1135. Following the ceremony Corbeil became ill and asked
the bishops of Rochester and of St David’s, together with the archdeacon of
Canterbury, to go down to Dover and introduce some canons of Merton into
the new church in order to follow the rule of St Augustine.

The canons arrived from Merton with carts and household needs and on the
following day they were solemnly inducted by the bishops wearing their mitres
with crosiers in hand, with much rejoicing. Present was Jeremias sub-prior of

THE PRIORY OF ST MARY AND ST MARTIN,
DOVER
CLOISTERS
NAVE
CHAPTER
HOUSE
REFECTORY
10 0 50 100 150 ft
KITCHEN
DORMITORY
5 0 10 20 30 40 50 m
PRESBYTERY

THE PRIORY OF ST MARY AND ST MARTIN,
DOVER
CLOISTERS
NAVE
CHAPTER
HOUSE
REFECTORY
10 0 50 100 150 ft
KITCHEN
DORMITORY
5 0 10 20 30 40 50 m
PRESBYTERY
25

Canterbury, who protested that the church belonged to Christchurch Canterbury,
and the bishops could not induct “those men from outside and professing a different
rule of religion”.
Canterbury, who protested that the church belonged to Christchurch Canterbury,
and the bishops could not induct “those men from outside and professing a different
rule of religion”. He threatened that an appeal would be made to Rome. The
Merton canons were asked by the bishops to leave whilst they sought guidance
from the archbishop. They departed in peace,5 with their wagons and gear,
“reluctantly relinquishing the property of others and going not without shame,
home again to Merton”.4

Archbishop Corbeil, although near death at his manor of Mortlake, tried to
intervene and was carried in a litter to Canterbury. This resulted in an accelerated
death on 21 November 1136, and consequently the Merton canons lost active
support.

The new archbishop was Theobald, a strong Benedictine, who completed the
‘new work’ at Dover but allowed the Canterbury monks to occupy the monastery.
However Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, became the pope’s legate on 1
March 1139, which gave him higher authority than the archbishop and he ordered
the Benedictine monks back to Canterbury.6 We hear no more of the Merton
canons, disputing no further for the house which had been built for them. Dover
finally became a dependency of Canterbury, but the relationship was never happy.

1 W Dugdale Monasticon Anglicanum (1846) iv p 538; Domesday Book 1.1b.2.
2 W Kennett Parochial Antiquities (1695) p 93; C R Haines Dover Priory (1930) p 62.
3 F C Plumptre in Archaeologia Cantiana 4 (1861) p 7. The quarry became known as the

Quarry of St Martin.
4 Gervase of Canterbury i p 97 and ii p 383
5 Although one record says that a canon was slain.
6 Dictionary of National Biography – ‘Henry of Blois’

SURVIVING REMAINS:

Refectory, Guest-house
and 14th century
Gateway still exist.

Dover Refectory
(c.1150), showing
washing trough (laver)

Christchurch (Twynham), HampshireChristchurch (Twynham), Hampshire

The ancient name of the settlement was Betweonan,Old English for ‘between’
which became more descriptive as Twynam Burna i.e. ‘between two waters’
referring to the rivers now known as the Stour and Avon.

An early collegiate minster of secular canons existed here but by the reign of
Edward the Confessor communal life had collapsed and the 24 canons
occupied their own houses. They continued pastoral work in the area and
received a stipend.

When the Normans arrived they allowed the secular canons to continue and
the Domesday Survey records that they possessed holdings in Hampshire
and the Isle of Wight.2 The canons received offerings equally and the land
was held in shares.

In 1087 Ranulf Flambard,3 a contemptible but forgivable rogue minister, “begged
the church [of Twynham] with the town, from King William [Rufus]. Since he
saw that God had worked many miracles there on many occasions, he gave many
kinds of precious things and relics of the saints to the church”.4 The relics of
Twynham included the alleged clothing of the Virgin Mary and of Christ himself,
and a piece of the table at which the Last Supper had been celebrated.

It was Flambard’s intention to build a grand church to display the relics and
he made arrangements to demolish the existing Saxon church “and the nine
others which stood about the cemetery”.4

Flambard was a great builder, and in 1094 he began his cruciform Norman
church, much of which still survives, and rededicated it from the Holy Trinity
to ‘Our Saviour Christ’, hence Christchurch.5 He persuaded the secular
canons to surrender their oblations until the building was completed and in
return promised to supply their provisions. As the number of canons decreased,
their prebends were left unfilled, and more of the revenue accrued to Flambard.

In May 1099 Flambard secured the bishopric of Durham, but on 15 August
1100 Henry I, the new king, arrested him and sent him to the Tower of London.

Responsibility for the collegiate minster passed to a clerk named Gilbert de
Dousgunels, “since the church had already risen up, fittingly, on its site and
was seen to be suitable for the community…”.6 Numbers had reduced to
five and each canon was based on a village church dependent on the minster.7

Henry I granted the town etc. of Twynham, the Isle of Wight and the lordship
of Plympton to Richard de Redvers (d.1129), sheriff of Devon. This was a

reward for not supporting the king’s brother, Robert, unlike most of the nobles
in Normandy who did. De Redvers built a motte and bailey at Twynham and
endowed the minster with lands in the Isle of Wight.
reward for not supporting the king’s brother, Robert, unlike most of the nobles
in Normandy who did. De Redvers built a motte and bailey at Twynham and
endowed the minster with lands in the Isle of Wight. Following the defeat of
Robert in 1106, Henry pardoned Flambard and restored him to the see of
Durham. Flambard spent the concluding years of his life (between 1110 and
1126) in architectural works,9 no doubt advising Gilbert de Dousgunels on
constructional work at Christchurch.

By about 1110 work was proceeding on the transepts of the church,10 and the
High Altar was consecrated in 1135.

When the dean, de Dousgunels, died about 1130, the administration of the
college passed into incompetent hands, until a clerk of the bishop of
Winchester named Hilary was made dean.

Community life had declined because the secular canons resided at their
prebendal churches. Some had even hired chaplains to fulfil parish duties.
Hilary was a reforming dean and an expert canonist or church lawyer. He
collected evidence to establish the obligations of the parish churches towards
their minster.

In 1147 Hilary had been King Stephen’s candidate for the vacant primacy of
York but the pope over-ruled him. However on 3 August 1147 in Rome,
Hilary was consecrated bishop of Chichester, and Eugenius III authorised
the introduction of canons regular, which was effected about 1149 by Baldwin
de Redvers and his son Richard.11

Canons from Merton Priory were introduced to the fine building and the
secular canons were allowed to retain their prebends for life, after which the
income reverted to the new priory.12 The canons began to erect necessary
conventual buildings – cloisters, dormitory, kitchen, refectory, etc.

Christchurch is one of the most complete churches of the Augustinian Order,
and longest (now 311 feet, 95m) with a nave of seven arcades (118 feet,
36m). The Lady Chapel, built 1395–1405, contains an upper storey. The
central tower was removed, but the west tower (120 feet, 37m) still houses
two bells cast in 1370 – St Augustine and All Saints.

SURVIVING REMAINS:

Much of the Norman work remains.
Norman crypt under each transept.

CHAPTER
HOUSE
NORMAN NAVE
CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY
………..
CLOISTER
REFECTORY
DORMITORY
CHOIR
CHAPTER
HOUSE
NORMAN NAVE
CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY
………..
CLOISTER
REFECTORY
DORMITORY
CHOIR

10 0 50 100 150 ft.

1 Now in Dorset.
2 Victoria County History Hants. I p 476.
3 A nickname, torch bearer, given by Robert the Dispenser (Orderic Vitalis iii 311) from his

burning ambition.

4 Christchurch Cartulary – British Library MS Cott. Tib. D VI A fo. 30b; W Dugdale Monasticon
Anglicanum (1846) vi pt.1 p 303.

5 F Arnold-Foster Studies in Church Dedications (1899) I. 18. The parish altar remains dedicated
to the Holy Trinity.

6 Christchurch Cartulary fol.193b.”Tandem vero quoniam situm loci cum ecclesia iam surgente
competens viderat, et idoneum religioni faciendae communi illorum.”

7 P H Hase “The Mother Churches of Hampshire” in J Blair (Ed.) Minsters and Parish Churches

950–1200 Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, Monograph No 17 (1988) p 50.

8 W Dugdale op.cit. vi p 304.

9 Dictionary of National Biography VII p 240.

10 A Clapham English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest (1930) ii p 59n. Prof.
Clapham noted that the apses of the transeptal crypts have ribbed vaults of an early form
dating from about 1110.

11 A H Thompson Bolton Abbey (1928) Thoresby Society XXX p 21. Baldwin held the manor
of Plympton and witnessed the foundation charter of Plympton (1121) see p 10. In 1150 he
would know the prior Geoffrey, a friend of Merton.

12 Victoria County History Hants. II p 153.

Other Daughter Houses

Other Daughter Houses
1

The church of St Peter-Merton in Bedford was in the gift of Merton priory, and
the influence of canons of Merton caused the secular college of St Paul’s Bedford
to become an Augustinian monastery. Once again, it was scandal within the
college2 which brought matters to a head. Canons from Merton went to St Paul’s
in 1163 and the patron, Simon de Beauchamp, founded Bedford priory soon
after. A dispute between the two priors in 1170 caused the prior of Merton to
write “… we, the canons of Merton church exact no subjection, or obedience
from Bedford church, though it was by our labour and care that, God’s grace
aiding it, took the beginning of religion and was promoted to the condition of
good life”.3 The need for larger conventual buildings and precinct gave rise to a
move to Newnham just outside the town about 1180.

John Mansell, counsellor of Henry III, owned land in the Romney Marshes and
in June 1253 he founded a monastery at Bilsington, Kent for seven canons and
invited them from Merton. Three priors were elected between 1253 and 1261
and all had been canons of Merton.4

A small priory atTregony, Cornwall, was founded before 1125 by Gosselin de la
Pommeraye. Tregony came into the possession of Merton in 1267 through an
exchange of properties with St Mary du Valle, Normandy. Approval by the bishop
of Exeter was given on 16 August and a separate deed provided for three priests
to be maintained in Tregony priory to keep up divine services.5 Conventual life
proved difficult and on 26 April 1282 bishop Quivil agreed that Tregony priory
should be returned to a grange and staffed by a single canon.

Patrixbourne, Kent, was an Augustinian priory of Beaulieu, Normandy, founded
1200, and the church was appropriated from 1258, when three Merton canons
performed parochial duties. In 1409 it was purchased as an ‘alien’ priory to
become a grange of Merton.

1. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Fairfax 7 fo.LXv; J C Dickinson Origins of the Austin
Canons…(1950) pp 159, 169.
2. Victoria County History, Bedfordshire. i p 377–9.
3. British Library Harl MS 3656 fo.71; translation in Victoria County History, Bedfordshire ii p 154.
4. A Heales The Records of Merton Priory (1898) pp l37–8 and Appendix xlix.
5. Register Collegii Exoniensis (ed. C W Bouse) p 321.
32

Conclusion

These were not ‘out of the way’ foundations, but thriving monasteries in
important towns such as Bodmin – once the county town of Cornwall; Taunton

– the county town of Somerset; Cirencester – a royal foundation which was
to become the richest Augustinian house in the country; Edinburgh – which
only became a town after the coming of the monastery; Canterbury – the
only Augustinian foundation in this great city. The Merton canons even
attempted to establish Dover – the key to England.
From its earliest days Merton was a significant social, economic and academic
centre in southern England.

Merton also changed the direction of the Church in England. All but one
(Holyrood) of the nine daughter houses were converted from secular colleges
to Augustinian monasteries. This change was encouraged by the bishops of
Winchester and Exeter as well as the archbishop, for it introduced a more
disciplined life for the secular priests, improved their education and that of
the rural clergy. The historian Frank Barlow commented that the career of
Guy of Merton suggests that the bishops and archbishop were interested in
the furtherance of education as much as the religious life.1

As a seat of learning from its foundation in 1117, Merton inspired boys like
Nicholas Breakspeare (Pope Adrian IV) and Thomas Becket, although schools
for children of the cloister disappeared as a class in the 12th century.2

Merton led the way in encouraging sound learning in the daughter houses, no
doubt partly due to the influence of Master Guy. Many of the foundation
charters set out the requirement for a song school and a grammar school.

Monasteries were the repositories of knowledge until men like Walter de
Merton worked with the priory to found his college at Oxford in 1264.

At Taunton, Canterbury and Cirencester, hospitals were set up and served by
their respective priories. These, together with St Bartholomew’s London,
were the earliest hospital foundations following the Order of St Augustine.

1 F Barlow The English Church 1066–1154 (1979) p 233.
2 D Knowles The Historian and Character (1963) p 194.

When the allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, the Germans decided to
strengthen a town in the Cotentin peninsula to prevent the allies from taking
Cherbourg, a vital port. This was the town of St Lô and today it has the sad
privilege of having earned the title of Capital of the Ruins. When the town
was finally liberated on 19 July, the first column of the American Army
formed a funeral cortège to bring the body of Major Howie into the town. He
had vowed to be the first to enter St Lô but had been killed the day before.
His coffin was placed in the ruins of the church of Holy Cross, the site of the
Augustinian abbey founded by Merton canons 812 years earlier.

The churches of Christchurch, Canterbury, Cirencester, Bodmin, Holyrood,
St Lô and Dover were huge undertakings and rebuilding in the late Norman
style went on at all the sites, not forgetting Merton itself. The lengths of the
Norman monastic churches give some idea of their importance.

Dover 288 ft 87 m
St Lô 270 ft 82 m
Cirencester 259 ft 79 m
Christchurch 250 ft 76 m
St Gregory, Canterbury c.230 ft c.70 m
Merton 220 ft 67 m
Bodmin c.200 ft c.61 m
Holyrood 175 ft 53 m
Plympton 104 ft 32 m

Lionel Green

This booklet is based on a talk given to the Merton Historical Society on 4th December
1999.

Religious
HouseReligious
HouseFormer collegiate churches
of Secular Canons
Dates No. ofprebendsAugustinian OrderEstablishment Valor
of Regular Ecclesiasticus
Canons 1535
from: to: No. £
Huntingdon
Merton
16 c.1090 c.1106 ?
— — —
13 188
36 960
Taunton
Plympton
Canterbury
Bodmin
Holyrood
Cirencester
St Lô
DoverChristchurch
7
10
12
14
1620
22
24
27
<904 1120 2 <909 1120 5 1087 1123 6 1113 1123 ? — — — <1066 1117 several 11 cent. 1130 ? c.619 castle 696 town 1131 22 <1066 1149 24 26 286 40 912 13 121 13 270 up to 25 5,600* max 40 1,050 ? — 13 — 25 312 Buckenham Bedford Bilsington 3232 32 — — — <1066 1162 6 — — — 11 109 15 293 7 81 * based upon returns for the Thirds of Benefices at the Scottish Reformation 1560. Cover: The prior's lodging, St Gregory's Priory, Canterbury. Demolished 1848. 35 Published by Merton Historical Society – April 2002 Further information on Merton Historical Society can be obtained from the Society's website at www.mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk , or from Merton Library & Heritage Service, Merton Civic Centre, London Road, Morden, Surrey. SM4 5DX