Ronton Priory
The Priory at Ronton had been built on assarted land, that is, land reclaimed and cleared from the surrounding forests. Its full name was S. Maria de Exsartis or Ste Marie des Essarz, and in its precincts had formerly stood almshouses in connection with which we read of a gift of unam assartam in campis de Flotesbroc (Flashbrook). No trace of them appears in Valor Ecclesiasticus or in any of the records of the Dissolution. The Priory was dependent on Haughmond Abbey in Shropshire, to which it made an annual payment. So long ago as 1246 this had been fixed by the Bishop at £5, and this amount was paid down to the time of the suppression. The Prior of Haughmond was supposed to visit Ronton every year, but no effective control was exercised. In the fourteenth century Bishop Norbury found much to censure at Ronton, and Bishop Blythe had recently (1530) refused to institute one of its canons who had been nominated to a vicarage, as he found him indoctus et indignus. In 1535 the Prior was Thomas Alton. Valor Ecclesiasticus[102] records that the temporal income came from Ronton and Heathhouse Grange (£13 11s. 8d.), the town of Ronton (£3 18s. 8d.), Clanford, Knighton, Ellerton, Bachaker, Hevedale, Hevehall, Watteley More, Seighford, Brucheford, Ellenhall, Billington, Orslow, Apeton, Launde Stockton, Aston and Cokysland, Walford, Gnosall, Halghton, Offley, Eccleshall, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Milwich, Whitgreve, Wodeyton, and Cowley in Staffordshire, besides 7s. 4d. from Stafford. The amounts are all small. From Shepey in Leicestershire came £4 8s. 8d.; from St. Mary’s Gild in Newport (Salop), 1s.; and from Grenburgh (Warw.), £4.
The demesne at Ronton produced £4 6s. 8d. arable, £6 5s. pasture, and £3 came from “xxviii dey mathys prati ibidem.” The total amount is £13 11s. 8d., and from the Paper Survey we know the acreage was as follows: arable, 79 acres; pasture, 121½ acres; meadow, 39 acres. At the town of Ronton 18s. 4d. came from two parcels of land and a water-mill.
Temporal outgoings consisted of payments to the Bishop for houses in Eccleshall and Knighton; Henry, Lord Stafford (Billington), John Gifford (Dulverne), and Thomas Gifford, Kt., “Lord” of Cariswall (Hevehall), Thomas Astley, Kt. (Shepey), the canons of Penkridge (Billington), John Harcourt, Kt. (Ronton), the Prebendary of Chyltrenhall in Gnosal (pastures in Gnosal), William Essex, Kt. (Walford).
The chief steward was John Harcourt (£2). Bailiffs are Reginald Carte (Grenburgh), Robert Vincent (Shepey), and John Hoggson (Ronton, etc.).
The spiritual income consisted of tithes only: £13 8s. 6d. from Seighford and £32 17s. from Grenburgh (Warw.).
Spiritual payments were as follows: Bishop £3 6s. 8d. triennially as visitation fees, 6s. 8d. annually from Grenburgh, and 4s. from Seighford; £5 to Haughmond Abbey.
The valuation of Ronton after the Dissolution (Monasticon, vi, 259) amounted to £116 16s. 9d. There were additions as follows: A salt-pan at Nantwich, £1 11s.; rents at Brichford, 9s. 4d.; Heathcote Grange, £3 16s.; tithes in Aston (Staffs.); Doddington and Cotton, £3 13s. 4d.; Oldall Grange, £1 4s.; Ronton Rectory, £4 13s. 4d.; Ellenhall Rectory, £3 12s. 8d. The omissions are Ronton, rents £3 0s. 4d.; water-mill, 18s. 4d.; Clanford, rents, £2 13s. 4d.; Hevedale, rents, £1 4s.; Orslowe, 12s.; Apeton, 8s.; Offley, 9s.; Cowley, 6d.; and Newport (Salop), 1s. Seighford Church is £6 5s. 2d. only, and there are tithes there worth £4 13s. 4d. Watteley More Grange, £2 13s. 4d., is added. Aston (Staffs.) and Cokysland has risen from 6s. 8d. to 19s. 4d., including 1s. for “terra vasta.” Grenburgh Rectory was £36 7s. instead of £32 17s. The remaining items are either unchanged or usually show a slight increase. The demesne remained practically unchanged, though in the Paper Survey it is £16 7s.[103]
St. Thomas’s Priory, Stafford
The Austin Canons of St. Thomas the Martyr, near Stafford, had often given striking illustrations of the worldly spirit which gradually infused itself in the “religious.” They were such keen men of business that their transactions were sometimes questionable. It has already been mentioned that when a verderer of the Forest of Cannock, in the latter part of the thirteenth century, laid himself open to the severe penalties of the Forest Laws and fled for his life beyond the seas, St. Thomas’s Priory did not hesitate to strike a bargain with him and to buy his manor. They possessed it at the Dissolution. They built a fine church and had a well-furnished house, fit to entertain Henry IV on his return from his victory at Shrewsbury. They were paid 26s. 8d. for their hospitality on the occasion.