Chapter V: Part 5

Sir Godfrey and his wife are represented in half-length figures of alabaster, carved in high relief, beneath a double-crocketed canopy. The knight is represented in plate armour, and having on his head a conical helmet or bascinet, with a camail of mail attached to its lower edge. The lady wears the reticulated head-dress or cowl. Over the knight are the arms of Foljambe—_sa._, a bend between six escallops, _or_—the same being represented on his surcoat; over the lady are represented the arms of Ireland—_gu._, six fleurs-de-lis, _arg._, 3, 2, 1. The monument is complete as it stands without any inscription, but in 1803, Mr. Blore, the antiquary, placed here a slab of black marble with the following inscription in gilt letters: —

“Godefridus Foljambe miles et Avena un: ej. quæ postea cepit in virum Ricardum de Greene militem dno dnaque manerius de Hassop, Okebroke, Elton, Stanton, Darley-over-hall, et Lokhowe, cantariam hanc fundaverunt in honorem sanctæ Crucis a^o. rr. Edri tertii xxxix + Godefrus ob: die Jovis pr: post fest: ascens. dni a^o: regis pdci 1^o obiitq Avena die Sabbi pr: p: nativ: b: Mariæ Virg: a^o. rr. Ric. II vi^o.”

This may be translated: —

“Sir Godfrey Foljambe, Knight, and Avena his wife (who afterwards married Richard de Greene, Knight), Lord and Lady of the manors of Hassop, Ockbrook, Elton, Stanton, Darley-over-hall, and Locko, founded this chantry in honour of the Holy Cross, in the 39th year of the reign of King Edward III. Godfrey died on the first Thursday after the feast of the Ascension, in the 50th year of the aforesaid King, and Avena died on the first Saturday after the feast of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the 6th year of the reign of Richard II.”

At the bottom of this slab is the word “Watson,” which is in itself sufficient to stamp this inscription as of modern date; for the old monumental sculptors were never guilty of the offence of advertising themselves on the inscribed slabs that they erected. It has been stated that Mr. Blore obtained this inscription from a document in the British Museum where the original epitaph was quoted. This, however, is an impossibility, for a contemporary inscription could not possibly have contained the blunders of this supposed transcript. The date of the foundation of the chantry is wrong, and it was, moreover, founded by Sir Godfrey Foljambe in conjunction with his first wife Anne, and not with his second wife Avena. The family from which Anne, the first wife, came is not known, but his second wife, Avena, was the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Ireland, of Hartshorne, by Avena, daughter and heiress of Sir Payn de Vilers, of Kinoulton and Newbold, Notts.

There has been much confusion as to the date of the founding of the chantry of the Holy Cross in Bakewell church—Lysons gives the date as 1365, whilst Glover assigns it to 1371; but the one has been deceived by an inquisition taken on the death of one of the chaplains or trustees of the chantry property, and the other by a confirmation deed of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield. The true date is 1344, as is proved by a variety of original documents now extant at the Public Record Office.[35] There was a gild of some importance in connection with this well-endowed chantry. The ordinances to secure the regular attendance of the chaplain of this foundation were rigorous. He was to reside constantly in the chantry house which adjoined the churchyard. This house was only pulled down in the year 1820. He was never to be away from Bakewell for as much as three days without licence from the Lord of Hassop for the time being, and if the lord was not in residence, he was to obtain leave from the vicar of Bakewell. If the chaplain was ever away without licence for so long a time as fifteen days he was to be at once removed, and another chaplain was to be presented by the Lord of Hassop for institution by the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield.

[35] See Cox’s _Churches of Derbyshire_, ii., 16, 17.

The site of the chantry of the Holy Cross was at the east end of the south aisle. This interesting mural monument is placed against one of the piers between the south aisle and the nave. It is not quite certain whether this is the original position, but it has certainly been there for two and a half centuries; Ashmole, who visited the church in 1662, gives a rough draft of the memorial, which he describes as “set upon a pillar betweene the upper end of the south Isle and the body of the Church.” There was daily mass at the altar of the Holy Cross, and the chaplain was instructed, after the _confiteor_ in each mass, to turn to the people and say in the mother tongue, “Pray for the soul of Sir Godfrey Foljambe and Anne his wife, and his children, and for the brethren of the Guild of the Holy Cross, and for all the faithful departed.”

This is the only Foljambe monument at Bakewell, but the following members of the family were probably buried in the parish church:—Alice (Darley), widow of Sir Thomas Foljambe; Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of the monument, and his two wives, Anne and Avena; three of the sons of Sir Godfrey by his second wife, Avena, viz., Sir Godfrey Foljambe II., Alvared, the fourth son, and Robert, the fifth son; Sir Godfrey Foljambe III., grandson of Sir Godfrey of the monument, who died in 1389; and Margaret, daughter of Sir Simon Leche, and wife of the last named Sir Godfrey.

Meanwhile, a younger branch of the family, founded by Thomas Foljambe, second son of the first Sir Godfrey, by Avena, his wife, settled at Walton, near Chesterfield, through the marriage of this Thomas with Margaret, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Loudham, of Walton. Sir John Loudham gained the Walton estate, in the parish of Chesterfield, by marriage with Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Bretton.

Thomas, son and heir of Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, and Margaret (Loudham), his wife, became heir male of the family in 1448, on the death, as has been already stated, of Roger Foljambe, of Tideswell. Though still landowners in that parish, the family ceased from that time to be residents at Tideswell; for in 1451, this Thomas, then aged forty, inherited further estates on the death of his uncle, and thenceforth the Derbyshire home of the family was at Walton. The Tideswell property was eventually sold by Sir Francis Foljambe, Bart., who died in 1640.

We now leave both Tideswell and Bakewell in the search for Foljambe monuments, and go to one of the south chapels of the great church of Chesterfield, which was the burial place of the family for more than two centuries. In this chapel of the south aisle of the quire, long known as the Foljambe chapel, there used to be a brass to Thomas Foljambe, who was the first of the family to acquire Walton. There were also brasses to his son, Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, who married Jane, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Ashton; and also to his son, a third Thomas Foljambe, who died childless in 1468. But these three brasses disappeared in the seventeenth century.

Among the Osberton muniments are letters testimonial from the commissary of the Bishop of Lichfield, dated 27th May, 1469, granting to Henry Foljambe, of Walton, and John Foljambe, administration of the goods of Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, deceased, in the estate, the same having been appraised by James Hyton, dean of Scarsdale, and others, and proclamations made at mass in Chesterfield church.

The oldest of the memorials now left is a finely wrought table or chest tomb (of the kind usually misnamed “altar-tomb”), which commemorates Henry Foljambe, brother and heir of the third Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, who married Benedicta, daughter of Sir Henry Vernon, of Haddon. On the sides of this tomb are many sculptured figures of squires and ladies under rich canopies, representing the seven sons and seven daughters of Henry and Benedicta. The names of these children were Godfrey, Thomas, Henry, Richard, John, Gilbert, Roger, Helen, Margaret, Joan, Mary, Benedicta, Elizabeth, and Anne. An agreement was entered into between the executors of Henry Foljambe, in conjunction with his widow and children, and Henry Harpur and William Moorecock, of Burton-on-Trent, “to make a tomb for Henry Foljambe, husband of Bennett, in St. Mary’s quire, in the church of All Hallows, in Chesterfield, and to make it as good as is the tomb of Sir Nicholas Montgomery at Colley, with eighteen images under the table, and the arms upon them, and the said Henry in copper and gilt upon the table of marble, with two arms at the head and two arms at the feet of the same, and the table of marble to be of a whole stone and all fair marble.” This agreement is dated 26th of October, 1510; £5 was paid in hand, and another £5 was to be paid when all was performed; it seems probable that this contract referred only to the stonework of the tomb. The brasses on the top of this table-tomb, consisting of the effigies of Henry and his lady, together with a marginal inscription brass, were for a long time missing, but were re-supplied by the late Lord Liverpool; the shields bear the arms of Foljambe, Vernon, Loudham, and Bretton.

Near to this table-tomb is a floor-slab bearing the brasses of a knight and his lady. This is the tomb of Sir Godfrey Foljambe IV., eldest son of the last-mentioned Henry, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir John Leeke, of Sutton-in-the-Dale.[36] He was born at Walton on Easter Day, 1472. By his will, made in 1531, he desires:

[36] The manner in which covenants of marriage were coolly made at the period by parents of the landed class, on behalf of their children, is remarkably illustrated by a covenant drawn up on 9th June, 1489, between Henry Foljambe, of Walton, and John Leake, of Sutton-in-the-Dale. By this document it was arranged that Godfrey Foljambe, son and heir of the said Henry (or in the event of his death Thomas Foljambe, second son), was to marry Catherine, daughter of the said John Leake, or in the event of her death, Muriel, the second daughter. It was further covenanted that John Leake, son and heir of the said John, was to marry Jane, daughter of the said Henry Foljambe.

“My carcass to be buried in the Chappell of Saint George, besides my lady my wife in Chesterfield ... my funeral mass and dirge, with all other suffrages and obsequies to be done and ministered for my soul according as worship requires, after my degree, that my sword, helmet, with the crest upon the head, and my coat of arms be hanged over my tomb and there to remain for ever.”

Tomb of Godfrey Foljambe, 1594.

[_From Ford’s “History of Chesterfield,” 1839._]]

The knight is depicted in plate armour, his head resting on his helmet and his feet on a stag; his surcoat bears the quartered arms of Foljambe, Loudham, and Bretton. The lady wears the low-pointed head-dress, with falling lappets, of the sixteenth century, and is clad in a long mantle, which bears the arms of Leeke; the gown is confined at the waist by a girdle, fastened with a clasp of three roses, and round the neck is a chain with a pendant cross. Sir Godfrey died in 1541, and his wife in 1529. This Sir Godfrey was thrice high sheriff of the county, namely, in 1519, 1524, and 1536.

Against the east wall of the Foljambe chapel is an elaborate mural monument to Sir James Foljambe, the eldest son of the fourth Sir Godfrey, who died in 1558. This monument was erected by his grandson, and is a costly and elaborate example of the fashion of mural monuments that then prevailed. Bateman, the Derbyshire antiquary of last century, wrote of it as a specimen of “cumbrous style and horrible taste.” But although it clashes with its Gothic surroundings, it is quite possible to admire the beauty and workmanship of some of the component parts. The kneeling figures of Sir James, his two wives and thirteen children, are all represented. This Sir James Foljambe enjoyed a plentiful fortune from his father, but had it much augmented through marriage. His first wife was Alice, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Fitzwilliam, of Aldwark,[37] who was slain at Flodden Field, 1515; she brought him considerable landed property at Aldwark, and in other parts of Yorkshire. By her he had issue, Godfrey, George and James, twins, and three daughters, Frances, Cecily, and Mary. Sir James’ second wife was Constance, daughter of Sir Edward Littleton; by her he had issue, a son Francis, two other sons, and four daughters. The Latin epitaph, composed by Sir James’ grandson, is expressed in grandiloquent terms. Sir James is therein described, according to a translation by Lord Liverpool, as “a man highly adorned by piety, by the integrity of his manners, by the heraldic bearing of his ancestors, and by his own virtues.” By inquisition taken at Chesterfield after his death, it was found that he died seized of 40 messuages, 7 watermills, 200 acres of meadow, and £5 rents in Brampton, half the manor in Bremington, the manors of Elton and Tideswell, as well as a great variety of lands, messuages, and rents in more than a score of other townships in Derbyshire.

[37] His brother, Godfrey Foljambe, married Margaret Fitzwilliam, the other co-heiress.

His eldest son, Godfrey, was twenty-four at the time of his father’s death. He was subsequently knighted, and died in 1585. He married Troth, daughter of William Tyrwhitt, of Kettleby. The table-tomb to the fifth Sir Godfrey and his wife bears their recumbent effigies in alabaster. Sir Godfrey wears a double collar ruff, and ruffles round the wrists; he is clad in the plate armour of the period, and is bare-headed; the head rests on the helmet, whilst a lion supports the feet. The lady is in ruff and mantle, her head on a cushion and a dog at her feet. Round the margin of the tomb are twenty shields, bearing the various Foljambe alliances, whilst at the foot is a shield of all these Foljambe quarterings impaling Tyrwhitt, whose arms are three tirwhits or lapwings. An elaborate Latin epitaph appears on a mural slab above the altar-tomb. Sir Godfrey is there described as “highly adorned by his innocence, his integrity, his faith, his religion, and his hospitality.”

Against the south wall of this chapel is the table-tomb and monument of Godfrey Foljambe, the only son of Sir Godfrey Foljambe V., who erected the elaborate monuments to his parents and grandparents. He also erected the monument to himself during his lifetime. He died in 1594; but the sculptor placed on the margin the true date of the execution of the work, which was 1592. The sculptured work round this tomb is a beautifully modelled example of renaissance carving, and has been considered worthy of special illustration in Mr. Gotch’s recent important work, _Early Renaissance Architecture in England_.

On the floor near by there is a large alabaster slab bearing the incised effigy of a man in armour, with a much mutilated marginal inscription. It appears, from church notes of the eighteenth century, that this is the monument of George Foljambe, of Brimington, who died in 1588; he was the second son of Sir James Foljambe. In this chapel there is also to be seen the exceptional kneeling figure of a knight in plate armour, which is described and engraved in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for 1794. It has undergone various mutilations and restorations. There is some difficulty in deciding whom this monument is intended to represent; but it seems probable that it was erected to the memory of Sir Thomas Foljambe, who was buried at Chesterfield in 1604. He was the son of Francis Foljambe, the eldest son of Sir James, by his second wife; he was succeeded by his brother Francis, who was created baronet in 1622.

One of the most painful features of the troubles of the Elizabethan recusants, or adherents to the unreformed faith, who were numerous in this county, was the deliberate way in which family feuds were promoted, and the bribe of inheriting forfeited estates held out to conforming relations who would give information as to recusancy.[38]

[38] See Cox’s _Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals_, i. 251–276.

Among the Talbot papers at the College of Arms is a letter from Francis Leeke to the Earl of Shrewsbury, dated February 2nd, 1587, wherein he states:—

“I was this day at Tupton where I found the Lady Constance Foljamb. I did impart to the Lady Foljambe my comitione to comitte her to the chardge of my cousin Foljamb. Her answer was that she was by age, and the sikeness of the stone, not abell to travell either on horseback or on foot, and so desired me to let your Lordshipp understand: whereuppon she yet remeenethe at Tupton till your Lordshippe’s pleasure be further knowne.”

The Earl answers that her commitment is necessary, and on February 16th of the same year, receives a letter from Godfrey Foljambe stating that he had apprehended “the Lady Constance Foljambe, my grandmother, and now have her in my custodie, whom, by God’s help, I shall safely keep.” The zeal of the conforming grandson was not altogether disinterested, for when he set her at liberty, twenty months later, by order of the Council, he retained for his own benefit “her living, goods, and chattels.” On September 22nd, 1589, the Lady Constance wrote to the Earl thanking him for her release. From another source comes an interesting evidence of the endeavours of the aged lady, within a few days of her release, to conform sufficiently so as to escape renewed custody at the hands of her grasping grandson. In the common place book of Roger Columbell, of Darley Hall, occurs this note:

“Mem. Godfrey Foljambe of More Hall, myself, my brother Blunt were at Tupton in the Lady Constance Foljambe’s house, the 28th September, 1589, when all the morning prayers, saving the ij. lessons omitted for want of a byble & the collect for the daye, for want of skyll to find it out, was distinctley read with the Latinne also by Nicholas Harding; her man-servant, & Elianor Harrington, hir waytinge woman beinge present, who reverently and obediently behaved themselves during all the service tyme, as we aforenamed with Edward Bradshawe, John Browne, and John Hawson, are to witness whensoever we shall be called by other or otherwyse as by a byll under our hand according to my sade cousen Foljambe of More Hall appeareth.”

Sir Francis Foljambe, Bart., sold Walton Manor House and the Derbyshire estate to Sir Arthur Ingram in 1633. From that time Aldwark became the chief residence of the family. Sir Francis died, leaving no male issue, in 1640, and the representation of his family devolved on his third cousin, Peter Foljambe, who was able to prove his descent and claim to the family estates. He lived at Steveton, one of the inherited estates in the parish of Sherborn, Yorkshire, and died in 1668. It is from the Foljambes of Aldwark and Steveton that Cecil George Savile Foljambe, Baron Hawkesbury 1893, Viscount Hawkesbury and Earl of Liverpool 1905, who died in 1907, was descended.

REPTON: ITS ABBEY, CHURCH, PRIORY, AND SCHOOL

By Rev. F. C. Hipkins, M.A., F.S.A.

Very early in the annals of England the name of Repton appears. In the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ it is mentioned three times:—(1) A.D. 755, “In the same year Æthelbald, King of the Mercians, was slain at Seccandune (Seckington, Warwickshire), and his body lies at Hreopandune (Repton)”; (2) A.D. 874, “In this year the army of the Danes went from Lindsey to Hreopedune, and there took up their winter quarters”; (3) A.D. 875, “In this year the army departed from Hreopedune.”

Professor Skeat thinks that “the name signifies Hreopa’s down, _i.e._, Hreopa’s hill-fort. Hreopa being the name of some Anglo-Saxon warrior, not otherwise known.”

In _Domesday Book_ the name is spelt Rapendun, and many variations as to the spelling of the name appear in mediæval and modern documents.

Stebbing Shaw, in the _Topographer_ (ii., 250), writes: “Here was, before A.D. 600, a noble monastery of religious men and women, under the government of an Abbess, after the Saxon Way, wherein several of the royal line were buried.”

Tradition says that this monastery was founded by St. David about the year 600, but as no records of the monastery have been discovered, we cannot tell with any precision when it was founded, or by whom. Penda, the pagan King of Mercia, was slain by Oswin, King of Northumbria, at the battle of Winwadfield in the year 656, and was succeeded by his brother Peada, who had been converted to Christianity by Alfred, brother of Oswin, and was baptized, with all his attendants, by Finan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, at Walton, in the year 632 (Matt. Paris, _Chron. Maj._). King Peada is said to have brought into the midlands four priests, Adda, Betti, Cedda (brother of St. Chad), and Diuma, who was consecrated first bishop of the Middle Angles and Mercians. In the year 657 Peada was slain “in a very nefarious manner during the festival of Easter,” and was succeeded by his brother Wulphere.

Tanner, _Notitia_, f. 78; Leland, _Collect_, vol. ii., p. 157; Dugdale, _Monasticon_, vol. ii., pp. 280–2, agree that the monastery was founded before the year 660, so that either Peada or his brother Wulphere may have been the founder.

One of the earliest references to Repton Abbey and Abbess is found in a life of St. Guthlac, written by Felix, a monk of Croyland, at the command of Æthelbald, King of the Mercians. Guthlac, after a nine years’ life of plunder, obtained by fire and sword, repented of his life,

“And one sleepless night, his conscience awoke, the enormity of his crimes, and the doom awaiting such a life, suddenly aroused him; at daybreak he announced to his companions, his intention of giving up the predatory life of a soldier of fortune, and desired them to choose another leader. So, at the age of twenty-four, he left them, and came to the abbey of Repton, and sought admission there.”

This happened in the year 694, when Ælfritha was abbess. She admitted him, and under her rule he received the mystical tonsure of St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles.

For two years he submitted himself to the discipline of the monastery, but, attracted by the virtues of a hermit’s life, he left the abbey in the autumn of 696, “when berries hung ripe over the stream,” and drifted down the Trent till he reached the Lincoln Fens, where he built himself a hut, and lived in it till he died in 714. It is related that Eadburgh, Abbess of Repton, daughter of Aldulph, King of the East Angles, sent a shroud and a coffin of Derbyshire lead for his burial.

_The Memorials of St. Guthlac_, edited by Dr. Walter de Gray Birch, contain the full text of Felix’s life of the Saint, interleaved with eighteen cartoons, reproduced by autotype photography from the well-known roll in the British Museum.

The next event is connected with Wystan, patron saint of Repton. In an appendix to the _Chronicon Abbatiæ de Evesham_, written by Thomas de Marleberge, Abbot of Evesham (published among _The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle-Ages_), there is a life of St. Wystan. Wystan was the son of Wimund (son of Wiglaf, King of Mercia); his mother’s name was “Elfleda”; his father died of dysentery when he (Wystan) was young. On the death of Wiglaf, Bertulph, “inflamed with a desire of ruling, and with a secret love for the Queen-Regent,” conspired against his nephew Wystan. A council was summoned to meet at a place known from that day to this as Wistanstowe, in Shropshire. Hither came Bertulph and his son Berfurt. Beneath his cloak Berfurt had concealed a sword, and whilst giving a kiss of peace to Wystan he drew it and smote him with a mortal wound in the head, and so, on the Eve of Pentecost, A.D. 850, “that holy martyr, leaving his precious body on the earth, bore his glorious soul to heaven.” The body was conveyed to the Abbey at Repton, “tunc temporis famosissimum,” and buried in the mausoleum of his grandfather.

Here the body rested till the days of Canute (1016–1035), who transferred the relics to Evesham Abbey. In the year 1207 its central tower fell, smashing the presbytery and all that it contained, including the shrine of St. Wystan. The monks recovered the relics, and at the earnest request of the prior and canons of Repton granted to them “a portion of the broken skull and a piece of an arm bone.” The bearers of the precious relics were met by a procession of prior canons, and others from Repton; “with tears of joy they placed the relics, not as before in the mausoleum of St. Wystan’s grandfather, but in a shrine more worthy, more suitable, and as honourable as it was possible to make it in their own Priory Chapel.”

About twenty years after the murder of St. Wystan, the Danes again invaded the land. During the reign of Alfred, in A.D. 874, they penetrated up the river Trent into the heart of Mercia, and took up their winter quarters at Repton, as we read in the _Saxon Chronicle_. Here they made a camp, a parallelogram of raised earth, still _in situ_, by the side of the river Trent. Its dimensions are: north side, 75 yards 1 foot; south side, 68 yards 1 foot; east side, 52 yards 1 foot; west side, 54 yards 2 feet. Within the four embankments are two rounded mounds, and parallel with the south side are two inner ramparts, and one parallel with the north. The local name for it is “The Buries.” The next year, 875, they departed, having, as Ingulph relates, “utterly destroyed that most celebrated monastery, the most sacred mausoleum of all the Kings of Mercia.”

For about a century the site of the monastery remained desolate, until the reign of Edgar the Peaceable (959–975), when, as the Rev. Dr. Cox writes, “Probably about that period the religious ardour of the persecuted Saxons revived ... their thoughts would naturally revert to the glories of monastic Repton in the days gone by.” On the site of or close to the ruined abbey a church was built, and dedicated to St. Wystan. In _Domesday Book_ Repton is entered as having a church with two priests, which proves the size and importance of the church and parish in those early days.

According to several writers it was built of stout oak beams, and planks, on a foundation of stone, and its sides were made of wattle, composed of withy twigs, interlaced between the oak beams, daubed within and without with mud or clay. The floor of the chancel, supported on beams of wood, was higher than the present one, so it had an upper and lower “choir,” the lower one being lit by narrow lights, two of which, blocked up, can be seen in the south wall of the chancel.

When the church was reconstructed of stone the chancel floor was removed, and the lower “choir” was converted into the present crypt by the introduction of a vaulted stone roof, which is supported by four spirally-wreathed pillars, five feet apart, five feet six inches high, eight square responds, slightly fluted, of the same height and distance apart, all with capitals, with square abaci, which are chamfered off below.

As the responds are not bonded into the walls of the crypt, the question has been asked if the walls might have pertained to the abbey, and formed the mausoleum referred to on previous page.

Round the four walls is a double string-course; below which the walls are ashlar, remarkably smooth. The vaulted roof springs from the upper string-course; the ribs are square in section, one foot wide, no diagonal groins. The whole roof is covered with plaster; traces of red colour wash can be seen on the capitals and roof.

There were square recesses on the east, north, and south sides, projecting two feet two inches from the face of the walls, six feet two inches wide, with openings in them two feet wide, used as windows. These recesses were capped with triangular shaped roofs, which served the double purpose of protecting them, and also formed buttresses for the walls. Similar triangular roofs are to be seen at Barnack and Brigstock.

In the west wall there is also a recess, formed by an arch; in this recess there is a smaller triangular-shaped opening, about 18 inches high. Many suggestions have been made as to its use: (1) it was a “holy hole” for the reception of relics; (2) an opening in which a lamp, let down from the chancel above, could be kept lit; (3) “a hagioscope,” through which the crypt and its contents could be seen from the nave of the church. Two passages led from the western angles of the crypt to the church above.

In the December, 1896, number of the _Archæological Journal_ there is an article by Mr. Micklethwaite in which he refers to the fact that the crypts at Brixworth, Repton, and Wing are alike in one respect—they each have recesses, which he calls “arcosolia,” or arched chambers, intended to receive tombs. At Repton and Wing there are three; at Brixworth, two. Repton and Wing extend two feet two inches from the face of the walls; those at Brixworth are in the thickness of the walls. In the year 1898 I excavated the earth on the south side, and found the foundations as before given; under a slab in the recess, a skeleton was found. The recess on the east side was destroyed when a flight of stone steps was made leading down into the crypt. Six of these steps are still _in situ_. The recess on the north side was destroyed, and replaced by an outer stone staircase, with holy water stoup in the wall, and a thirteenth century door.

All the various styles of architecture are to be seen included in the walls of Repton church. Saxon or Norman in the chancel, crypt, walls, and foundations of the present nave as far as the second pillars. During the year 1854 the Saxon pillars and arches of the church were removed for the sake of uniformity! The pillars are preserved in the south porch.

During the last restoration of 1885–6, the foundations of this part of the church, and those of the Early English period, were laid bare.

The Decorated style is represented by the pillars and arches of the nave, the north and south aisles, and the tower with its steeple. Bassano, in his _Church Notes_, records this fact:—

“An^o 1340. The tower steeple belonging to the Priors Church of this town was finished and built up, as appears by a Scrole of Lead, having on it these words—‘Turris adaptatur qua trajectu decoratur. M c ter xxbis. Testu Palini Johis.”

The Perpendicular style is represented by the clerestory windows, of two lights each, the roof of the church, and the south porch.

In the year 1779, the crypt was “discovered” in a curious way. Dr. Prior, headmaster of Repton School, died on June 16th of that year; a grave was being prepared in the chancel, when the grave-digger suddenly disappeared from sight; he had dug through the vaulted roof, and so fell into the crypt below! In the south-west division of the groined ceiling, a rough lot of rubble, used to mend the hole, indicates the spot.

During the year 1792 “a restoration” of the church took place; the church was re-pewed in the horse-box style! All the beautifully carved oak work on pews and elsewhere, described by Stebbing Shaw in the _Topographer_ (May, 1790), and many monuments, were cleared out or destroyed. The crypt seems to have been the receptacle for “all and various” kinds of this “rubbish.” In the year 1802, Dr. Sleath, headmaster of Repton, “discovered” the steps and door on the north side of the chancel, and having cleared out the one and opened the other, found the crypt filled up to the capitals of the pillars with “rubbish,” which he removed, and restored the crypt as it is now.

There are three ancient register books of births, baptisms, marriages, and burials, and one register book of the churchwardens’ and constables’ accounts of the parish of Repton. They extend from 1580 to 1670.

The register book of the churchwardens’ and constables’ accounts extends from 1582 to 1635, and includes Repton, and the chapelries of Foremark, Ingleby, and Bretby. It is a narrow folio volume of coarse paper (16 in. by 6 in., by 2 in. thick), and is bound with a parchment which formed part of a Latin Breviary or Office Book, with music and words. The initial letters are illuminated; the colours inside are still bright and distinct.

In vol. i. of the _Journal of the Derbyshire Archæological Society_ (1879) there is an article by Rev. Dr. Cox on these accounts, and he writes: “It is the earliest record of parish accounts, with the exception of All Saints’, Derby, in the county.” Space alone prevents me from making extracts from them and the other registers; they are full of local interest.

About the year 1059, a Priory of Canons Regular, of the order of St. Augustine, dedicated to St. Giles, was founded at Calke by Algar, Earl of Mercia. Here they dwelt till _c._ 1153, according to the old Chronicle written by one Thomas de Musca, Canon of Dale Abbey, when Serio de Grendon, lord of Bradley, near Ashbourne, “called together the Canons of Kale, and gave them the place of Deepdale; here they built for themselves a church, a costly labour, and other offices.” These buildings became known as Dale Abbey, and here they lived for a time “apart from the social intercourse of men, but they began too remissly to hold themselves in the service of God; they began to frequent the forest more than the church, more to hunting than to prayer or meditation, so the King ordered them to return to the place whence they came,” viz., Calke. During the reign of Henry II. (1154–1189), Matilda, widow of Randulf, fourth Earl of Chester, who died A.D. 1153—with the consent of her son Hugh—granted to God, St. Mary, the Holy Trinity, and to the Canons of Calke, the working of a quarry at Repton, together with the advowson of the church of St. Wystan, at Repton, on condition that as soon as a suitable opportunity should occur, the Canons should remove to Repton, which was to be their chief house; Calke Priory was to become subject to it.

“A suitable opportunity” occurred during the episcopate of Walter Durdent, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield (1149–1159).

Copies of the original charters are given in Bigsby’s _History of Repton_, Dugdale’s _Monasticon_, and Stebbing Shaw’s article in vol. ii. of the _Topographer_. The charters containing grants extend from Stephen’s reign (1135–1154) to the reign of Henry V. (1413–1422), and include the church of St. Wystan, Repton, with its eight chapelries of Newton Solney, Bretby, Milton, Foremark, Ingleby, Tickenhall, Smisby, and Measham; the church at Badow, in Essex; estates at Willington, including its church; and property at Croxall.

Very few events have been handed down to us in connection with the story of the priory. In November, 1364, Robert de Stretton, Bishop of Lichfield, was holding a visitation in the chapter house of the priory of Repton. For some reason unknown, the villagers, armed with bows and arrows, swords and cudgels, with much tumult, assaulted the Priory Gatehouse. The bishop sent for Sir Alured de Solney and Sir Robt. Francis, lords of the manors of Newton Solney and Foremark, who came and quickly quelled this early “town and gown” row without any actual breach of the peace. The bishop soon after proceeded on his journey, and on reaching Alfreton issued a sentence of interdict on the town and parish church of Repton, with a command to the clergy in the neighbouring churches to publish the same under pain of greater excommunication, and publication was to be continued until they merited the grace of reconciliation.

By the advice of Thomas Cromwell—_malleus monachorum_—Henry VIII. issued a commission of inquiry into the condition, etc., of the monasteries of England. An Act was passed in 1536 suppressing those which had revenues less than £200 a year. Those notorious men, Doctors Thomas Leigh and Richard Layton, had visited Repton the year before, and gave the amount of revenue as £180 per annum; they reported that the canons were not living up to their vows, and added a note to their report; but all competent historians agree that these reports are quite untrustworthy.

Under the heading of _superstitio_ the visitors made the interesting entry that pilgrims came to the Priory of Repton to visit (a shrine of) St. Guthlac and his bell, which they were wont to place on their heads for the cure of the headache. This relic formed an interesting link between the early pre-Conquest Abbey and the Norman Priory.

On June 12th, 1537, John Yonge, or Young, was re-appointed prior by the Crown; letters patent were granted exempting the priory from suppression on the payment of a fine of £266 13s. 4d. But this only delayed the surrender, which happened on October 26th, 1538. Prior Yonge died three days before that event. Ralph Clerke, sub-prior, signed the deed handing the priory and contents to Dr. Leigh, who, writing to Thomas Cromwell from Grace Dieu, said, “On coming to Repton they found the house greatly spoiled, and many things purloined, part of which they recovered.”

In the Public Record Office there is a very full inventory of the goods and possessions of the Priory. A transcript of this inventory is given by Mr. W. H. St. John Hope in vol. vi. of the _Derbyshire Archæological Journal_, 1884. This inventory affords a very good and detailed account of the Priory and its contents. It is termed a list of—

“all suche parcells of Implements or houshould stuffe, corne, catell, Ornamments of the Church & such other lyke found within the said late p^irory at the tyme of the dyssolucon therof sould by the Kyngs Commissioners to Thomas Thacker the xxvj day of October in the xxx yere of o^r sov’agn lorde Kyng henry the viij^{th}.”

A memorandum added to the list recounts that—

“(Thomas) Thacker was put in possession of the scite of the seid late priory & all the demaynes to y^t apperteynyng to o^r sov’aigne lorde the Kynges use.”

Thomas Thacker died in 1548, leaving his property to his son Gilbert; the latter, according to Fuller,

“being alarmed with the news that Queen Mary had set up the abbeys again (and fearing how large a reach such a precedent might have) upon a Sunday (belike the better day, the better deed) called together the carpenters and masons of that county, and plucked down in one day (church-work is a cripple in going up, but rides post in coming down) a most beautiful church belonging thereto, saying ‘he would destroy the nest, for fear the birds should build therein again.’”

The Priory differed in no marked way from the usual plan of conventual building—a square cloister, surrounded on all its sides by buildings. Owing to the river being on the north, the cloister was on the north of its church, instead of the south; the Refectory, or Fratry, on the north side, the church on the south; the chapter house and calefactorium, with dormitory over them, on the east side; the kitchens, buttery, and cellars, with guest hall over them, on the west side. Admission to the Priory precincts, which were bounded by the existing walls, was obtained through a gate-house, the outer arch of which forms the present entrance. The Trent formed a boundary on the north. The stream which flows down the village entered the precincts at the south-eastern corner of the boundary wall through an arch, still _in situ_, and supplied the fish-ponds, mill, and Priory with water for domestic, sanitary, and other purposes.

The Priory church consisted of nave, with north and south aisles, central tower, north and south transepts, choir, with aisles, a south chapel, and a presbytery to the east of the choir. In the inventory the following chapels are named: St. John, Our Lady of Pity, St. Thomas, St. Syth (St. Osyth), Our Lady, and St. Nicholas. Many beautiful fragments of painted canopies, tabernacle work, etc., were found among the débris when digging foundations for the Pears School in 1885; no doubt many of the shrines, such as those of SS. Guthlac and Wystan, had been robbed of their relics and ornaments long before the Priory was destroyed in the year 1553.

Leaving the church, we enter, through a door at the east end of the north aisle, the cloister. Passing along the eastern side we come to the Chapter House, with _slype_, or passage, through which the bodies of the canons were conveyed for interment in the cemetery outside. The _slype_ is still intact, with plain barrel vault, without ribs, springing from a chamfered string course; adjoining the slype was the calefactorium, or warming house.

Over the Chapter House, slype, and calefactorium was the dormitory, with its cells or cubicles.

The Fratry or Refectory occupied the north side, with rooms underneath used for various purposes, and a passage leading to the infirmary, an isolated building, now known as the Hall.

On the west side were the Prior’s Chamber and five others, devoted to guests who visited the Priory. Underneath was the cellarium, which included “the Kychenn,” “larder,” and “bruehouse.” The cellar was a long room 89 feet by 26 feet, divided by a row of six massive Norman columns, four of which are still _in situ_. Besides these, there were three other houses mentioned: “the yelyng house,” _i.e._, brewing house; the “boultyng house,” where the meal was sifted; and the “kyll house,” by which term is possibly meant the slaughter house, but more probably the kiln house.

The following is a more perfect and fuller list of the priors of Repton than has hitherto appeared:—

Robert, _c._ 1155; Nicholas, _c._ 1175; Albred, _c._ 1200; Richard, _c._ 1208; Nicholas, _c._ 1215; John, _c._ 1220; Reginald, _c._ 1230; Peter, _c._ 1252; Robert, _c._ 1289; Ralph, 1316–36; John de Lichfield, 1336–46; Simon de Sutton, 1346–56; Ralph de Derby, 1356–99; William of Tutbury, 1399; William Maynesin, _c._ 1411; Wystan Porter, died 1436; John Overton, 1436; John Wylne, 1438–71; Thomas Sutton, 1471–86; Henry Prest, 1486–1503; William Derby, 1503–8; John Young, 1508.

The fourth section of these outline memorials of Repton belongs to the school, which has this year (1907) celebrated its seventh jubilee. The founder of Repton School was descended from Henry Porte, a merchant of Westchester (_i.e._, Chester, west of Manchester). He had a son, also Henry, a mercer, of the same city. His son John was a Justice of the King’s Bench in the reign of Henry VIII., who conferred upon him, after the dissolution of the monasteries, the manor, together with the rectory and advowson of the vicarage of Etwall; these passed to his son, Sir John Porte (created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Edward VI.), the founder of Repton School. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, in which his father is said to have provided “stipends for two sufficient and able persons to read and teach openly in the hall—the one philosophy, the other humanity,” one of which “stipends” or lectureships was conferred on his son. Like his father, he was married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Giffard, by whom he had two sons, who predeceased him, and three daughters, Elizabeth, who married Sir Thomas Gerrard, knight of Bryn, co. Manchester; Dorothy, who married George Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon; and Margaret, who married Sir Thomas Stanhope, knight, of Shelford, co. Nottingham. From these three daughters the present hereditary governors of Repton School, Lord Gerard, Earl Loudoun, and Earl Carnarvon, trace their descent. By his second wife, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, of Norbury, he had no children.

In the year 1553 Sir John was one of the “knights of the shire” for the County of Derby, and served the office of High Sheriff for the same county in 1554. In 1556 he sat with Ralph Baine, Bishop of Lichfield, and the rest of the Commissioners, at Uttoxeter, in Staffordshire, “to search out heresies and punish them.”—Strype, _Memorials_, vol. iii., part 2, p. 15.

On the 6th of June, 1557, he died, and was buried in Etwall church. Built against the south wall in the chancel is “a comely and handsome tomb of pure marble,” under which lie the bodies of Sir John and his two wives. “Set and fixed, graven in brass,” are portrait figures of Sir John, his wives, and children.

By will, dated the 9th of March, 1556, Sir John gave and devised to his executors, Sir Thomas Giffard, knight; Richard Harpur, Esquire; Thomas Brewster, Vicar of Etwall, and others, certain estates in the counties of Derby and Lancaster for the foundation and maintenance of an almshouse at Etwall, and a grammar school at Etwall or Repton.

As we read in the report made to the Charity Commissioners in 1867—

“Sir John had no property at Repton. His executors were probably induced to establish the school there, rather than at Etwall, by finding the refectory of the building of the dissolved priory well adapted to the purpose. By indenture, dated 12th June, I Eliz. 1558, Gilbert Thacker, the grantee of the site of the priory, in consideration of £37 10. ‘bargained and sold to Richard Harpur, serjeant-at-law, John Harker, and Simon Starkey, three of the executors of Sir John Port ... one large great and high house near the kitchen of the same Gilbert Thacker, in Repton, commonly called the Feringre (Fermery or Infirmary of the priory) ... upon which the schoolmaster’s lodgings were then newly erected, together with all the rooms, both above and beneath, of the same long house, ... also one large void room or parcel of ground upon the east part ... lately called the Cloyster, and one other room thereto adjoining, lately called the Tratrye (Fratry), as the same was then inclosed with a new wall, to the intent that the same should be a schoolhouse, and so used from time to time thereafter.’”—(See page 43 of the Report.)

The erection of “schoolmaster’s lodgings, with rooms above and below,” on the ruins of the Priory, referred to above, makes it very difficult to identify the present Priory with the original building. As Mr. St. John Hope writes in the 1884 volume of the _Journal of the Derbyshire Archæological Society_:

“The western side of the claustral buildings consisted of the block under the charge of the cellarer, called the _cellarium_. It is here complete to the roof as far as the structure is concerned, but the original round-headed windows (with the exception of one) have been superseded by larger ones, and sundry partitions and insertions have quite destroyed its ancient arrangements. The _cellarium_ appears to be the only remaining part of the original Norman monastery, built when the canons migrated from Calke, in the middle of the twelfth century.”

The ground floor consisted of a large room, divided by a row of six massive Norman circular columns, with scalloped or plain capitals; four of these remain. At the southern end of the west side is a slype or entrance to the cloister; at the northern end are three rooms, probably the kitchen larder; and from the appearance of the third—with its groined roof, the ribs of which were intended to be ornamented with the dog-tooth moulding, which was begun and never finished—it was used by the cellarer as a “plate house,” etc.

The “causey” at the south end was erected to form an entrance to the school.

By Royal Letters Patent, dated June 20th, 19 Jac. I. (1622), a Charter of Incorporation was granted, by the style and title of “The Master of Etwall Hospital, the School Master of Repton, Ushers, Poor Men, and Poor Scholars.” The charter is quoted at length in the Report, and consists of twenty-four ordinances, which refer to the appointment, duties, salaries, and stipends of the said masters, ushers, poor men, and poor scholars.

The Thackers and the school seem to have lived amicably together for many years; but as the school increased in numbers, that state of affairs was not likely to last. When Gilbert Thacker sold the remains of the Priory to the executors of Sir John Porte, he little thought what a rookery he was making for his descendants! The boys in their “recreation” extended the bounds, and ventured too near the inner courtyard in front of Thacker’s house, much to the annoyance and inconvenience of the dwellers there, as we can easily imagine. At last, in the year 1652, a case known as “The Master, &c., _v._ Gilbert Thacker and others,” was commenced. It was settled out of court by the appointment of two arbitrators, Sir Francis Burdett, Bart., and Sir Samuel Sleigh, Knight, with Gervase Bennett as referee. They pronounced “theire award by word of mouth about the year 1653.” Thacker was to build a wall across the courtyard, beyond which the boys were not allowed to pass. This he refused to do, so the alleged trespass and annoyances went on for another twelve years, when, owing to the conduct of Thacker, the school brought an action against him. The High Court of Chancery appointed four gentlemen as commissioners to try the case: William Bullock, Daniel Watson, Esquires; Thomas Charnells, and Robert Bennett, gentlemen. They met “at the house of Alderman Hugh Newton, at Derby, there being at the signe of the George.”

In the year 1896 I found an account of this case in the school muniment chest. It consists of two rolled-up folios, lawyers’ briefs, with interrogations, depositions, etc., which were taken on April 15th, 1663, and fill sixty pages of folio. The interrogations for the school administered to the witnesses—of whom there were fifty, twenty-five on each side—referred to their knowledge of the school buildings, schoolmasters and boys, Thacker’s ancestors, rights of way, the award of Sir Francis Burdett and Sir Samuel Sleigh, the Thackers’ conduct, the value of the land, former suits at law, and the use of the yard for recreation by the boys, etc. For Thacker the questions referred to the knowledge of prohibitions by his ancestors and himself, and complaints made to the schoolmasters, etc. The depositions are most interesting, as the knowledge of some of the witnesses extended back to within forty years of the founding of the school. I wish I could quote them at length. Again “the differences between the parties” were settled out of court; “they were referred to the Right Honorable Philipp, Earl of Chesterfield, to be finally determined if he could,” which proved a difficult task, for Thacker would not come to terms; so another writ was issued on January 11th, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Charles the Second, calling upon Thacker, “his Counsel, Attorneys, &c., &c., to fulfil each and every thing contained and specified in the aforesaid order, and in no wise neglect this at your imminent peril.” Thacker pleaded ignorance of the order, “as it was written in short Lattin, some of the words written very short, he did not well understand it, nor could say if it was a true coppy.” His plea was allowed, and a settlement was arrived at; a wall was built, part of it still _in situ_, “by both parties, from the Chancel N.E. corner to the north side of the door of the Nether School House,” below which the boys were not allowed to pass. A receipt for £14 19s. for half the cost of the building of the wall, signed by Wm. Jordan, proves that it was built before or during the year 1670.

For over two hundred years the school consisted of the Priory, and a room called the “writing school,” now destroyed, which stood on the east side of the “causey,” a paved passage between the walls, with steps leading into the old “big school,” now the school library. The “schoolmaster’s lodgings” were at the north end; the usher’s at its south. The other “ushers” had their “lodgings” in a building, also destroyed, in what is now known as the “Trent gardens.”