[55] It may be noted that the authority for the existence of this cross is no earlier than Weever’s Ancient Funerall Monuments (1631). There is some reason for supposing that the funeral procession travelled by way of Newark and the old road, known as Sewstern Lane, and did not touch Grantham. The cross destroyed at Grantham in the seventeenth century, and known as the Queen’s Cross, was not necessarily an “Eleanor” cross.
[56] Charter Rolls, 11 Henry III., pt. i., m. 20 (1226-7, 17 March, Westminster): grant to abbey and convent of lands which they hold in the town of Graham, and manses and land which Colegrim granted. For privileges claimed by the abbey see Placita de Quo Warranto (Record Commission), p. 394, col. 2.
[57] This was a chapel to the parish church of St. Wulfran, mentioned in the interesting inspeximus and confirmation of the agreement between the Abbot and Convent of Vaudey and Roger de Wolsthorp and Richard de Saltby (1349, 16 October; Pat. Rolls, 23 Edw. III., pt. iii., m. 22) as the Chapel of St. Peter in the south street (in australi vico) of the town.
[58] There is a document relating to the Friars Minors of Grantham, Close Rolls, 19 Edw. II., m. 11 (1325-6, 6 March, Leicester).
[59] Grantham lay on the way to Boston, the great port for the export of wool. Allusions to the connection with Boston are common: see, e.g., Patent Rolls, 42 Henry III., m. 9d, where the mayor and bailiffs of various Lincolnshire towns, including (the bailiff of) “Graham,” are ordered to provide carts at the King’s cost to carry the King’s wines from Boston Fair to Chester. It will be remembered how at a later date local merchants, members of the Staple of Calais, built their houses in villages near the town.
[60] This was Mr. Street’s idea, and it seems fairly probable.
[61] It is mentioned in the grant to Prince Edward from Bazas (see [note 1, p. 134]), and is said to be mentioned in the grant to Edmund of Langley.
[62] e.g. on 30th and 31st August 1291 (Pat. Rolls, 19 Edw. I., mm. 7, 6).
[63] Street, Notes, pp. 121, 122, quotes the earliest minutes of this ceremony from the Corporation Records (21 October 1634).
[64] The Abbot and Convent of St. Mary at York presented to Belton; the Abbot and Convent of Croyland to Sapperton.