“Inrolments of Leases 35. 36. Henry VIII. P. 65.
“On the seventh of January, in the thirty-second year of his reign, the King, by an indenture and release, bearing that date, did, by the advice and counsel of the court, for augmenting the revenues of his crown, demise, grant and farm let, to Edward Baynton, knight, and Isabella his wife, all the site and capital messuage of the manor of Padyngton, in the county of Middlesex, and all houses, edifices, barns, stables, dovecotes, orchards, gardens and curtilages adjacent to the said site and capital messuage. And also all lands, meadows, pastures, commons, and hereditaments, commonly called the demesne lands of the manor aforesaid; and another messuage and tenement with appurtenances in the tenure of Edward North, esquire, situate and being in Padyngton, in the county aforesaid. And all lands, manors, feedings, pastures, commons, and hereditaments whatsoever in Padyngton in the county aforesaid to the said messuage and tenement belonging and appertaining, or with the messuage and tenement occupied and being. Also all the rectory of Padyngton in the said county of Middlesex; and all and every tenth, oblation, profit, commodity, and emolument whatsoever to the said rectory in any sort belonging or appertaining; which said manor, rectory, messuage, lands, tenements, etcetera, were part of the possessions of the late dissolved monastery of St. Peter, Westminster, and which were formerly let to the aforesaid Edward North, for a term of years; but excepting always and reserving for our Lord the King, his heirs and successors, all large trees and wood of and upon the premises growing and being, to have and to hold all and singular the premises above specified with their appurtenances, except as before expressed, to Edward and Isabella, and their assigns, from the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, next following, until the end of the term, and for a term of twenty one years next following and fully completed; rendering thence annually to our Lord the King, his heirs and successors, forty-one pounds, six-shillings and eight pence, legal English money, at the feasts of St. Michael the Archangel, and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or within one month after the said feasts, in equal portions, to the court aforesaid, during the time aforesaid, &c., &c.”
This indenture and release, which, so far as I know, has not been noticed before, and which certainly is not spoken of in any of the private Acts of Parliament relating to the manor and rectory of Paddington, is recited at length in another indenture and release, which is generally referred to, which was made and dated the twenty-first day of December, in the thirty-fifth year of Henry’s reign. The manor and rectory of Paddington, and that other “messuage and tenement with appurtenances in the tenure of Edward North, esquire,” being by it demised to Richard Rede, of London, Salter, for a new term of twenty-one years. The large trees and wood, as was usual in such cases, being again reserved for the uses of the crown.
We have already seen by the entries in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, taken by order of this King, that in the twenty-sixth year of Henry’s reign, twenty shillings per annum, half the rental of the wood spoken of in this indenture, which was then thirty acres in extent, was set apart for charitable purposes; that the other half was appropriated to the Blessed Mary’s Chapel; that the manor, bringing in nineteen pounds per annum, was dedicated to “the New Work,” probably Henry the seventh’s chapel; that the rectory was valued to the Abbey at two pounds, six shillings and eight-pence; that the tenement formerly belonging to the Countess of Richmond was valued at ten pounds; and that the lands at Knightsbridge and Westbourne were valued at eight pounds, one shining and seven-pence.
We see, also, the possessions in Paddington formerly belonging to the church produced the same rent within one shilling and seven-pence, as these lands were valued at six years before. [44]
But the crown was not in receipt of these reserved rents more than three or four years after Henry’s death; for his son, then about thirteen years of age, by his letters patent, granted the manor of Paddington, with several other manors and rectories, together, “of the clear annual value of five hundred and twenty-six pounds, nineteen shillings, and nine-pence farthing,” to Nicholas Ridley, then Bishop of London, and to his successors in that see.
The following are the words in this patent which refer expressly to Paddington—“Necnon totum illud Moneriu nrm de Paddington in dco com nro Midd cum suis juribs membris et ptien univeis nup Monasteio Sci Petri Westm modo dissolut dudam spectan et ptinen ac parell possessionu et revencionu ejusdem nup Monastei dudam existen.”
Newcourt, in his Repertorium, page 703, says “The manor and rectory of Paddington (which of old did belong to the Monastery of Westminster) were by Edward the sixth, in the fourth year of his reign, upon his dissolving the Bishoprick of Westminster then lately erected by King Henry the eighth, given to Dr. Nicholas Ridley, then Bishop of London, and his successors for ever.” From this one might imagine that Paddington had formed part of the possessions of that short-lived see; which, indeed, Lysons, in his Environs, and Mr. Brewer, in his “London and Middlesex,” distinctly state, but of this I find no evidence whatever; and the words of the patent itself, convey a different impression. There are in this patent other places mentioned as having formed part of that see, but as it will be observed, Paddington is stated to have formerly belonged to the Monastery. It will be observed too, that the rectory is not mentioned in the extract from the grant which I have given, neither do I find it anywhere else alluded to, specially, as is the case with certain other rectories given by this patent. But the spiritualities in all the places named, appear to have been given in general terms to the Bishop.
When, with Newcourt, we use the word “given,” we must not do the advisers of the young King the injustice to suppose that no reservation of the rights of the crown was provided for in this open letter; that indeed would be an injustice, for besides the payment of certain specified sums, to certain specified persons and officers an annual rent equal to one-fifth of the sum remaining to the Bishop was to be paid by him to the King, at his Court of First Fruits and Tenths every Christmas day. Which annual rent was in lieu of the first fruits and tenths paid by all bishops and incumbents. [45]
In estimating the first fruits of the manors and rectories granted by the crown to Ridley, at one-tenth of the income they brought in, no hard bargain was struck with the bishop; indeed the calculation was evidently favourable to the future occupants of the see. For not only did this mode of receiving the first fruits do away with the inconvenience arising from having to pay a whole year’s income at once, a system which formerly, when these first fruits bore something like a resemblance to the actual annual income, compelled many a poor man to mortgage his living, and involve himself and family in endless difficulty, but it was actually a bonus to the bishops; for those who made the calculation must have known that the seven bishops who preceded Ridley held the See of London but fifty-four years. [46a]
Intending, without doubt, to be liberal to the bishops, and at the same time just to the crown, the calculation of the proper sum to be paid in lieu of first fruits was made without any reference to the possible, or probable, augmentation of the income from the lands then granted. The advisers of the young King knew that with the assistance of parliament fresh arrangements could be made with future occupants of the see; and they fixed the sum to be paid to the crown at one hundred pounds per annum, as the then fair proportion for all the lands given by this patent.