Repton and its neighbourhood

by F. C. Hipkins

To complete the octave, two more bells are required, D♯ and E, then indeed Repton will have a “ring” second to none.

CHAPTER VII.
THE PRIORY.

THE PRIORY FOUNDED, &c.

Before we write an account of the next most important event in the history of Repton, viz., the founding of Repton Priory, we must go back to the year 1059, when Calke Abbey is supposed to have been founded by Algar, Earl of Mercia. Dr. Cox is of opinion that it was founded later, at the end of the reign of William (Rufus), or at the beginning of that of Henry I. circa 1100. About that date a Priory of Canons regular of St. Augustine, dedicated to St. Giles, was founded. Many benefactors made grants of churches, lands, &c., a list of all these will be found in Cox’s Derbyshire Churches, vol. iii., p. 346. There is a curious old Chronicle, written in Latin, by one T(h)omas de Musca, Canon of Dale Abbey. Each section of the Chronicle begins with a letter which, together, form the Author’s name, a monkish custom not uncommon. The section beginning with an E. (Eo tempore) records the arrival, at Deepdale, of the Black Canons, as they were called, from Kalc (Calke). Serlo de Grendon, Lord of Badeley or Bradeley, near Ashbourne, “called together the Canons of Kalc, and gave them the place of Deepdale.” Here, about 1160, the Canons “built for themselves a church, a costly labour, and other offices,” which became known as Dale Abbey, in which 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., Matilda, widow of Randulf, 4th Earl of Chester, who died 1153, granted to God, St. Mary, the Holy Trinity, and to the Canons of Calke, the working of a quarry at Repton, (Repton Rocks), together with the advowson of the church of St. Wystan at Repton, &c., &c., on condition that as soon as a suitable opportunity should occur, the Canons of Calke should remove to Repton, which was to be their chief house, and Calke Abbey was to become subject to it. “A suitable opportunity occurred” during the episcopate of Walter Durdent, Bishop of Coventry only, at first, afterwards of Lichfield. He died at Rome, Dec. 7th, 1159. The usual date given for the founding of Repton Priory is A.D. 1172, but this must be wrong for the simple reason that Matilda addresses the Charter of Foundation to Bishop Walter Durdent, who died, as we saw, in 1159: moreover, the “remains” of the Priory belong to an earlier date; probably the date 1172 refers to the coming of the Canons from Calke to Repton, as Dugdale writes, “About the year 1172, Maud, widow of Randulf, removed the greater part of them here (Repton), having prepared a church and conventual buildings for their reception.” To those interested in Charters, copies of the original, and many others, can be read in Bigsby’s “History of Repton,” Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” and Stebbing-Shaw’s Article in Vol. II. of “the Topographer,” in which he has copied several “original Charters, not printed in the Monasticon,” which were in the possession of Sir Robert Burdett, Bart., of Foremark, and others.

Plate 7.

Repton Priory.

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 chapels of Newton Solney, Bretby, Milton, Foremark, Ingleby, Tickenhall, Smisby, and Measham, the church at Badow, in Essex, estates at Willington, including its church, and Croxall.