so strongly recommended him to King William III that he was made Bishop of Chichester, and consecrated October 13th, 1689, being translated to Ely in 1691. As a Bishop, Symon Patrick was most active, speaking to his clergy with the experience that his long parochial life gave him. He was indeed one of the chief instruments in the Church revival of the first years of Queen Anne. He died in 1707, greatly mourned by the Church. The long list of Bishop Patrick's writings occupies many pages of the printed catalogue of the British Museum Library. He wrote treatises on the two great Sacraments, argumentative tracts on Romanism and Nonconformity, sermons on a great variety of subjects, addresses to the clergy, commentaries on parts of the Bible, poems on Divine and moral subjects, and the "Parable of the Pilgrim," an allegory on the lines which John Bunyan worked out more luminously. Besides these, in his "Autobiography" he tells us modestly the chief events of his life. Whether as a parish Priest, as a Bishop, or as a man, Symon Patrick appears to have set an example to his generation of genuine goodness, wisdom, and zealous discharge of duty, and he has certainly shewn to the inhabitants of his native town that a man of fair ordinary gifts, with few advantages of birth or station, may nevertheless so order his life that he may be of conspicuous benefit to the world at large. CHAPTER XIV. THE PREBEND OF CORRINGHAM. - PREBENDARIES OF CORRINGHAM. THE PREBEND OF CORRINGHAM. HEN by command of King William I, and sanction of Pope Alexander II, Remigius of Dorchester had transferred his Bishop's Stool to Lincoln, he provided for the due administration of the Cathedral by the creation of twenty-one canonries and eleven other dignities, assigning a specified endowment to each. His successor doubled the number of canons by founding twenty-one additional prebends, and later Bishops added others, until there were seventy dignitaries, a larger number than that possessed by any other English Cathedral. The Prebend of Corringham, one of the second creation, came into existence about 1100-1102, taking its name from the property assigned to it at Corringham, of which Brand, with the sanction of King Henry I, his over-lord, was the donor. A long account of this Prebend and its Prebendaries having appeared in the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine, October 1899 to January 1901, we think it well to abbreviate the information there given, adding a few minor particulars from other sources. In 1085 the chief land owner at Corringham was the King, who held seven carucates at Corringham and Springthorpe, besides four at Aisby, Yawthorpe, and Somerby, all being Soke of his great Manor of Kirton. The other great landowner was Robert de Todeni, who held two carucates formerly belonging to Turgot, the Lagman of Lincoln. Robert's property passed to the families of Albini and Ros of Belvoir, now represented by the Duke of Rutland. As we have no account of any other land-holders in Corringham itself at that time, and Robert's property did not pass away from his successors until a much later age, it is clear that Brand's gift was part of the Soke of Kirton; a fact which naturally accounts for the King's Confirmation Charter, printed as follows in the Monasticon : "H., King of England, to Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, and Ranulf Meschines, and Osbert the Sheriff, and to his barons and faithful men, French and English, greeting. Know that I have conceded to S. Mary of Lincoln the Church of Brand the priest of Coringeham, and his land; viz. two carucates and a half, in prebendâ ; so nevertheless that Brand himself, and his son after the death of the father, may hold the aforesaid Church in prebendâ of S. Mary, as long as they live. Witness, Ranulf Meschines, at Worcester." The pecuniary value of the Prebend of Corringham varied considerably. In 1291 it was valued in the Taxatio at £100 per annum, with the addition of a share in the revenues of Stow Church and "other chapels," amounting to 26 13s. 4d. In 1340 it had decreased in value, and in 1535 was £45 2s. Od. gross and £38 16s. 6d. net. In 1650 a careful computation was made of all the rents and income, when it was found that the prebendal estates were worth £215 11s. 7d., including £92 in tithes from the Prebend of Stow. In 1704 it was worth £20, in 1835 £88 gross, and £22 net. We are unable to account for these great fluctuations. In 1616 the Commissioners appointed to survey the Manor and Soke of Kirton reported of Corringham that "the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln have lands dispersed here and there throughout most of the lordship belonging to the Soke, and do pretend great privileges beyond the true extent of their grant, for all the lands which they now call their's were derived from the Soke, but how, when etc. fitt to be inquired. "Not only in this township where they pretend to have a Manor, but in all other townships where they pretend the lik, These Chapter and such royalties therewith as were never meant. In 1704, by a very unusual Act of Parliament, the Prebend of Corringham was united to the Vicarage of Gainsburgh. "Whereas the Parishioners of Gainsborough in the County of Lincoln have at their proper costs and charges built a convenient house for the dwelling and residence of their Minister, the Vicar of Gainsborough, and have consented to purchase lands and tenements of the value of £25 per annum, and to settle the same upon the said Vicar and his successors for ever, and in the meantime, and until such settlement shall be made, to augment the present maintenance of the said Vicar and his successors by an annual assessment upon themselves of £20 per annum; whereupon the Right Reverend James, Lord Bishop of Lincoln, who is Patron of the Vicarage in right of his Bishopric, being desirous to encourage a learned and worthy person to reside in the said Parish, is willing to make a further augmentation to the said Vicarage by annexing and uniting thereto the Prebend of Corringham cum Stow in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln. "Be it enacted that the Prebend or Canonry of Corringham cum Stow, founded in the Cathedral Church of S Mary, Lincoln, shall from henceforth for ever be annexed and united to the Vicarage of Gainsborough. and that the Vicars of Gainsborough shall ever hereafter be the Prebendaries of the said Prebend of Corringham cum Stow, and that at the time of the admission and institution of any person hereafter to be made to the said Vicarage of Gainsborough, the same person so admitted and instituted shall become Prebendary of Corringham without any other act or thing whatsoever to be done, and that the Vicars of Gainsborough by being admitted to the said Vicarage shall thereby be entitled to reserve and enjoy the rights, jurisdictions, liberties, privileges, and revenues, perquisites, profits, and advantages whatsoever, belonging to the said Prebend of Corringham, and shall have the right of nomination or presentation to the Church of Corringham, and likewise shall, with the Prebendary of Stow, have the right of nominating and appointing to the cure of Stow, that is to say, the Vicar of Gainsborough shall have two succeeding turns of nominating a curate to the said Church of Stow, and the Prebendary of Stow every third turn. "That the Parishioners of Gainsborough are hereby empowered to settle, convey, and assure land and tenements not exceeding the yearly value of £25 unto the Vicar of Gainsborough, without any licence of mortmain, and that until such lands are settled, the Churchwardens of Gainsborough shall yearly raise and levy, by such ways and means as moneys expended for repair of the Parish Church of Gainsborough, the sum of £20 per annum, and pay the same to the Vicar of Gainsborough at Michaelmas and Lady Day." [3-4 Anne, Cap. 21.] Power was given to the inhabitants of Gainsborough to settle land of the value of over £50 without licence of mortmain. The Parishioners never having settled the contemplated land upon the Vicarage, the Churchwardens have ever since made the annual payment of £20 to the Vicar. At present such contribution is given to him from the funds of the Offertory. PREBENDARIES OF CORRINGHAM. WILLIAM DE LA GARE. 1277 to 1290. Probably a native of La Gore in Kent. Archdeacon of Lincoln 1280 till his death, 1290. Buried in the Chancel at Corringham, with this inscription: "Hic jacet Willielmus de Lagare quondam Archidiaconus Lincolnie et Prebendarius hujus Ecclesie." A chantry in the Cathedral perpetuated his memory. WILLIAM DE ESTANAYCO. 1290 to 1826. Nephew of Otho de Grandison. Appointed Prebendary by the Pope. Archdeacon of Lincoln 1290 till his death. Still a Subdeacon in 1808. WILLIAM DE BONOVILLARIO. 1326. Provost of Lausanne Cathedral. Only nominally Prebendary. Probably related to Held also two Reginald de CUSANTIA. 1826 to about 1335. |