Abbots, knights and treasonous dukes: how an ancient manor changed hands
Part two of K.R. GREGORY’S history of Halesowen
AT THE time of the taxation of Pope Nicholas in 1291 the churches of Hales and Walsall were the only spiritualities belonging to the abbey. But in 1340 John Botetourt, Lord of Weoley, obtained licence to grant the advowson of the church of Clent with its chapel at Rowley to the abbot and convent in mortmain; in 1343 it was appropriated to the abbey by the Bishop of Worcester. The abbot and convent had recently obtained a grant of the manor of Rowley Regis at fee farm, and now held it for an annual rent of £10 6s 8d payable to the Exchequer. In 1337 Joan Botetourt, Lady of Weoley, had also granted the manor of Warley Wigorn to Halesowen on condition that the abbot found three canons to celebrate her obit and undertook to distribute 20 shillings yearly to the poor coming to the abbey on that day.
In 1464 the lands and possessions of the small Augustinian priory of Dodford, near Bromsgrove, were granted to the abbey in free alms by Edward IV. Little is known of the earlier history of this priory except that it was apparently founded by Henry II, whose charter confirming its possession was granted at the Council of Marlborough in September 1186. In 1291 its lands and rents at Dodford were assessed for taxation at only £4 17s and according to the royal patent of 1464 the negligence of the priors and other misfortunes had brought it so near dissolution that only a single canon remained there. The Bishop of Worcester effected the annexation of the priory to Halesowen providing that in future a canon of Halesowen should be prior of Dodford and that the abbot should keep in repair its church, refectory and other buildings. He was also to pay a yearly pension of 6s 8d to the Bishop of Worcester and his successors, 3s 4d to the prior and convent of Worcester, and 2s to the archdeacon in compensation for the loss of jurisdiction over what was henceforth to be the cell of an exempt house.
When Abbot William of Bromsgrove died in 1369, the prior and convent of Halesowen distributed 52s
11d to the poor on the day of his burial, at the rate of a penny to each person present. They also spent 6s 8d on wax candles to burn about the corpse, and 3s 8s on wine for those attending the funeral. In 1366 when the abbots of Welbeck, Dale and Croxton came to Halesowen to supervise the election of William of Bromsgrove, their visit cost the abbey £20 4s 4d. Three years later, at the election of his successor, the total expenditure was £6 13s. It included the purchase of an ox, a pig, several sheep, four suckling pigs, fish, eels and small fry for their dinner, and 20d spent on having their horses shod. Each abbot received a personal gift of 40s and their attendants were rewarded with small sums according to their importance. The Abbot of Welbeck’s chaplain got 6s 8d, his chamberlain the same, his penitentiary 2s, his palfreyman 12d and his boy 8d.
The Halesowen rolls show that important guests were not ill fed. In 1366, “the Lord of Dudley and his Lady” came to stay at the abbey. They seem to have been welcome guests, for 12d was given to the boy who brought news of their approach. They were certainly well fed, for the kitchen accounts tell us exactly what was bought “during the week in which the lord and lady of Dudley were with us”, namely, “the carcass of a cow (6s), a calf (2s 1d), four shillings worth of pork, a sheep costing 2s 2d, three sucking pigs (4s 6d), ten geese (1s 10d), some fish (5½d), and 750 eggs (3s 4d).”
Some weeks earlier, when another gentleman and his wife were expected, the accounts record the expenditure of 3s 7d on “specialia”, luxuries, bought against the arrival of Sir Richard Fitton and his wife, and for the lord abbot of Welbeck and others. 10s was also spent on beer bought at Hales, for the period of this account dated May 6 – September 30, 1366.
For more than 300 years the abbots were the lords of the manor of Hales. Throughout that time they held their manorial courts. These courts were held every three to four weeks to deal with a whole variety of matters, which in themselves give us some idea of life in Halesowen in those days. At these courts the local officers were appointed each year, such as:
The Constables for the manor and the deputy constables. These constables had to report to the next meeting of the manorial court any infringement of the law or custom of their district and if they failed to do so, they were liable to be punished themselves.
The victual tasters and the ale tasters, Two assizes of ale were held for the manor of Halesowen, one for each side of the Stour. Each assize of ale had its own ale tasters. Anyone in the manor who brewed ale was supposed to send for, or take some ale to, the tasters who, when satisfied that the ale was saleable, gave them the right to sell it.
Two overseers of swine, and towards the end of the Middle Ages, two searchers and sealers of leather. Like the constables and the tasters, these too were unpaid officers.
Lord and Lady Dudley feasted on a cow, a calf, a sheep, three sucking pigs, ten geese, some fish and 750 eggs
The earliest court roll that is known to have been kept is for 1229, but it is now lost. The earliest one that does exist is one that belonged to the Abbot of Bec, and it begins in 1246. Hales comes in with January 1270. In these early times they were written on parchment skins which were either sewn together endwise and rolled up, or by their tops bookwise, and then also rolled up. Sometimes they were written one side of the skin, sometimes on both sides.
William Talor, last abbot, surrendered the abbey and received a yearly pension of £66 13s 4d. The dismantled abbey gradually became a ruin and three hundred years later a farmhouse was built among the crumbling walls and parts of the abbey buildings were used for farm buildings.
The abbey with all its appurtenances was surrendered to Henry VIII and a fine was levied to the king’s use of which the king granted to Sir John Dudley, together with the site of the late dissolved monastery and all other manors and advowsons lateley belonging to the same, to be held by the service of the twentieth part of a knight’s fee and a yearly rent of £28 1s 9d. On February 15 following (30 Henry VIII, 1538-39), Sir John Dudley conveyed the manor of Halesowen with appurtenances to Edward Blunt and George Willoughby, to the use of himself and Joan his wife for life, with the remainder to her heirs and assigns for ever.
However, Dudley, being thus possessed of Hales, by his deed dated April 2, in the third year of reign of Edward VI, and then styling himself Earl of Warwick, granted to George Tuckeye, his servant, in consideration of his good services, the mansion house of Hales Manor, with the hall, buttery, kitchen and Laughton House, mill and garden together with all the tithes arising in Cradley, Lutley, Hawne and Hasbury; also the tithe corn of Hales Borough with all the pools and fishing on the premises of the term of 21 years.
Sir John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, was the son of the infamous lawyer Edmund Dudley who extorted money on behalf of Henry VII. He was afterwards created Duke of Northumberland and on the demise of Edward VI, endeavouring by force of arms to place his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne, was beheaded by Mary I and all his lands and manors, among them Halesowen, were confiscated to the crown. However, his widow Joan appeared personally before the court of augmentations and successfully proved her right to the manor of Hales. Having recovered it, she enjoyed it but a very short time, dying in January 1555 and by her last will bequeathed to her son Ambrose Dudley her house at Halesowen and £100 per annum in land with it.
It appears she also left two-thirds of Hales to Sir Sidney and Sir George Blount, John Somerville and Thomas Manow, who she made her executors, and the remaining third part, being escheated to the crown by the attainder of Ambrose Dudley, who had been convicted of treason for his part in his father’s plot but has his life spared, was granted by the crown to same four men.
By an indenture dated November 27, 1555, between the four executors, Sir Ambrose Dudley, his brother Henry Dudley, and their uncle Sir Andrew Dudley on the one part, and Sir Robert Dudley, youngest son of the late Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, on the other part, it was agreed that Sir Robert, in consideration of paying the sum of £300 to Sir Andrew and £800 to Sir Ambrose, should have the whole manor of Hales, to him and his heirs for ever.
Sir Robert Dudley, who was afterwards created Earl of Leicester and was the great favourite of Elizabeth I, being in full possession of Hales, sold it to Thomas Blount and George Tuckey, for £3,000. Soon after a fine was levied of all the premises and the sum of £600 was paid by Blount and Tuckey to Robert Dudley. The same year, on October 22, Blount and Tuckey sold Halesowen for the sum of £2,000 to John Lyttelton of Frankley. During the short time they were in possession they leased out several large farms for the term of 1000 years, which accounts for their paying so much more to Robert Dudley for the purchase than they received from John Lyttelton when they sold it.