Spiritual income came as follows: £40 from Stone, £8 10s. in tithes from Milwich, £2 from Swynnerton, £1 from Checkley, and £24 from Tyso in Warwickshire. The revenue from Stone was £8 in Easter dues; tithes, £28; lesser tithes called “White Tythes,” £1, and oblations to St. Wulphade, etc., £3.
Spiritual outgoings consisted of Episcopal visitation fees £3 6s. 8d. triennially and £1 6s. 8d. annually for procurations, etc.; 13s. 4d. to the Dean and Chapter; £2 to the Vicars of the Cathedral; 19s. to the Archdeacon of Stafford; £9 to Kenilworth Abbey; and 13s. 4d. to Coventry Priory.
The payment of £9 to Kenilworth Abbey appears as £9 11s. 4d. in the Valor of that Abbey, but there is no entry of the 2s. paid by the Priory of St. Thomas, Stafford (V.E., p. 111), or of the £2 3s. paid from the churches of Berkswich, Bushbury, and Weston (V.E., p. 129).
In the valuation after the Dissolution (Monasticon, vi, 233), Coppenhall and Darlaston are omitted, but Myford, 3s.; Fulford, 8s.; Tittensor (tithes), £2 13s. 4d., and Burston (tithes), 10s. 4d., are added; also a fulling-mill at Stone worth £1 6s. 8d., and Madeley Rectory, £9 6s. 8d. Decreases are the demesne at Stone (to £5 0s. 4d.), rents in Stafford (3s. 4d.), Stone Rectory (£39 10s.), Tyso Rectory (£22), Milwich Rectory, £4. The rents at Stone had increased to £49 8s. 10d., at Stallington to £23 6s. 8d., at Walton to £6 0s. 4d., at Stoke (with Aston, Darlaston, and Burston) from £3 16s. to £7 11s. 6½d., at Shebridge to £2, at Walton to £8 0s. 5d., and at Hilderstone to 5s. The Court perquisites at Stone Manor had also risen to £1 6s. 8d.; this with the decrease in the value of the demesne and the enormous increase in rents shows that a considerable part of the demesne had been let. The total valuation is £199 19s. 1½d.
Trentham Priory
The Priory of Trentham had always been an aristocratic house, intimately connected in its early days with the Earls of Chester and later with the Earls of Lancaster, their successors. It had, of course, been involved in the struggles of its patrons. In the early days of Stephen, during one of the periods when Earl Ralf was on Matilda’s side, he allowed her (1139) to nominate the Prior of his house at Trentham. The Prior was declared to be appointed tam largitione quam presentacione venerabilis Domine nostre Matilde.[111]
During the rebellion of Thomas of Lancaster Prior Richard de Lavynden died (1321). Lancaster promptly asserted his claim to the presentation, forcibly entered the house against the wish of the Canons—or so they subsequently asserted when Lancaster fell—and insisted on the election of Richard de Dulverne. Dulverne petitioned the King, immediately after Lancaster’s execution, to allow his election. Edward II assented, on receiving a fine of forty marks, but asserted that the right of preservation had “always” belonged to the Crown.[112] Edward II also enforced his claim to nominate to corrodies at Trentham with vigour and harshness, and Valor Ecclesiasticus shows that the claim was still maintained in the reign of Henry VIII. But the royal patronage of Trentham did not avail to protect the Priory in times of disorder. In 1428 Prior Thomas had his goods plundered by Richard Twigg of Ashbourn, who also laid in wait to kill him, so that he had to keep a bodyguard of defenders.
The Prior in 1535 was Thomas Bradwall. According to Valor Ecclesiasticus,[113] the main part of the temporal income came from the Manor of Trentham (£39 6s. 6d. out of £83 19s.). There were demesne lands worth £26, arable, meadow, and pasture, and a water-mill. The remainder was chief rents (18s. 8d.), 11 tenements, another water-mill, and 16 cottages “cum pertinentibus” in Trentham (£11 15s. 10d.), and the perquisites of the Courts (12s.). The remaining property in Staffordshire was at Longton, Kybbulston, Blurton, Cokenage, Newstead, Hanchurch, Cleyton Gryffin, Chaldon, Mere juxta Caryswall, Elkeston, and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The proceeds from Longton include 4 barbed arrows, and there was a water-mill worth 30 shillings at Chaldon. In Warwickshire Fenny Compton produced £2 and in Leicestershire Gaddesby produced 13s. 4d.
Outgoings included 11s. 6d. to the King for lands, etc., in Newcastle, and 2s. 6d. for lands in Chaldon; 4s. to the Bishop of Lichfield; 3s. 6d. to the heirs of Robert Sheffield (Newcastle and Clayton Gryffin); 4s. 4d. to the heirs of Henry Vernon (Kybbulston). William Chetwyn is chief steward (£1) and his deputy is Thomas Ironmonger (13s. 4d.). The bailiffs were Henry Bredehurst (Franchises of Trentham, 13s. 4d.), and Richard Gynne (Elkeston, 13s. 4d.). Laurence Bradwell was receiver and was paid £2.
Henry Akers had a corrody of £2 a year ex dono regis.