Peter and Paul—of the Order of St. Augustine, was founded in 1121 by
William Warelwast, Bishop of Exeter, the nephew and chaplain of William
the Conqueror. He was one of the most gifted and energetic ecclesiastics
of his day, and to him we are indebted for the earliest existing
portions of Exeter Cathedral, including the two noble Norman towers. He
seems to have set his heart on making Plympton priory the richest and
most important in this part of the kingdom, and conveyed to it very
large properties in Exeter. Many noblemen followed his example.
The rental of the priory shows that certain lands and rents were
attached to the several conventual offices of almoner, precentor,
cellarer, and chaplain of the infirmary.
Some idea of the wealth of the monastery may be gathered from the fact
that at the dissolution it was rated at £912 12_s._ 8_d._ per annum,
whereas the whole annual revenue of the 173 Augustine priories in the
kingdom amounted to £33,027, the average being about one-fourth that of
Plympton.
The founder, Bishop Warelwast, was buried here (as Leland says) in the
chapter house of the priory, as were also the remains of his nephew, the
fifth Bishop of Exeter. “Whoever is acquainted,” says Dr. Oliver, “with
the deeds and writings of subsequent bishops, the immediate patrons of
Plympton Priory, must have observed how closely they imitated the zeal
of the founder in watching and guarding its interests and promoting its
welfare.” Amongst other privileges, the prior and convent possessed the
right of appointing the rural dean of Plympton.
The venerable building had been destroyed before Leland’s time, as is
evident from his saying “the chirch that there a late stood,” meaning,
of course, the priory church.
“At present,” says Dr. Oliver, “scarcely a vestige remains of any of the
conventual buildings”; but in this respect, as we shall hereafter see,
he is not quite correct.
Within one hundred and fifty years after the erection of the priory
church, another sacred edifice was required for the growing population
around; and Bishop Stapeldon, on Friday, October 29th, 1311, consecrated
one in honour of the Virgin Mary, for the use of the parishioners. The
present chancel and north aisle of Plympton St. Mary Church are portions
of the church then dedicated, the great body of the church, as we now
see it, having been re-built in a later age and style. It was situate
“_infra cemeterium prioratus_”; and, as a mark of subjection, the
parishioners were required to assist at divine service in the conventual
church on the feast of its dedication, and to receive the blest palms
there on Palm Sunday, and walk in the solemn procession of that day.
This obligation was sanctioned by Archbishop Courtenay, when he made a
visitation of the diocese of Exeter in 1387, and confirmed by Pope
Boniface IX. For some neglect of this ancient custom Bishop Lacy
expressed his high displeasure, and enjoined its strict observance in
the future.
In Plympton St. Mary parish there were several chapels, subject to the
priory—one at Newnham, another at Hemerdon, and a chapel attached to a
lazar-house, of which there are now no remains. Sutton or South-town,
now part of Plymouth, belonged to the priory of Plympton. “In the
priors’ court there the portreve of the commonality was elected and
sworne into office by his steward, and the markets, the instruments of
punishment, and the assize of provisions belonged to him.”
Those were not exactly the “furzy down” days of Plymouth; but it was
quite an insignificant place at that time, compared with its more
wealthy neighbour, Plympton. Its great market, in fact, was Plympton. As
Plymouth grew into more importance, as a naval as well as fishing
station, and as the inhabitants became more influential, they naturally
became anxious to obtain independence and the right of self-government,
with municipal privileges. Accordingly, the inhabitants petitioned the
king and parliament to be incorporated as early as 1412, and the answer
to the petition was, “Let the petitioners compound with the lords having
franchises before the next parliament, and report to them of their
having made an agreement.” As a matter of course, the prior and convent
at first opposed their views, but when the inhabitants succeeded, in
1439, in obtaining the royal licence and an Act of Parliament, which
constituted them a corporation, under the title of the Mayor and
Commonalty of the Borough of Plymouth, it was time for the prior and
convent to come to terms with the reformers; and animated with an
excellent feeling, they addressed a petition to Bishop Lacy,
representing that it would be desirable to convey to this municipal body
certain lands, tenements, franchises, fairs, markets, mills, and
services, which they had possessed therein from time immemorial, and
praying his consent to dispose of them. In January, 1440, as bishop and
patron, he directed a commission to the archdeacon of Totnes to hold an
inquisition, and to report to him the verdict of the jury. Accordingly,
a public inquisition was held in the nave of the priory church of
Plympton, on the 7th of January, the gates of the monastery, and the
doors of the church, being thrown wide open for all comers to enter.
That was a memorable day for the young town; and no doubt many
Plymouthians flocked to the priory, anxious to know the award. The jury
being sworn, found that the premises of the priory, within Sutton-Prior,
had in part been burnt by a hostile descent from Brittany; that the
yearly rental of the lands and tenements there was £8; of the courts,
fairs, and markets, 60_s._; and the clear profit from the mills
something more than £10 yearly; that the offer by the mayor and
corporation of the yearly fixed pension of £41 for the premises
aforesaid was deemed by the prior and convent a satisfactory
compensation, and that they were willing to accept the same; and the
jury concurred in recommending such alienation and sale on such terms.
The parish church of St. Andrew, in Plymouth, continued an appendage to
the priory nearly until the dissolution of the house. Its perpetual
vicar, William de Wolley, became a professed religious at Plympton; and
on resigning this benefice, the prior and convent granted, November
23rd, 1334, to Bishop Grandisson, the nomination of an incumbent,
saving, however, their yearly pension of sixty marks. The bishop
nominated Nicholas de Weyland, a canon of Plympton, December 23rd.
The chapel of St. Katherine on the How also belonged to the priory; but
the following list of chapels appendant to this house will give some
idea of the immense patronage which it enjoyed:—SS. Mary and Thomas,
Plympton, Brixton, Wembury, Plymstock, Saundford-Spiney, Egg Buckland,
Lanhorn (or Lanherne), Tamerton, Maristowe, Thrushelton, Uggeburgh,
Exminster, Islington, Newton, Stoke-in-Teignhead, Blackhauton, Bratton,
Meavy, St. Just, Petertavy, etc.; and the tithes of these places were
appropriated to the priory for the promotion of hospitality and charity.
Two subordinate priories or cells depended on Plympton priory—St. Mary
de Marisco, commonly called Marsh Barton, in Alphington parish, and the
cell of St. Anthony in the deanery of Powder, in Cornwall.
Most of the churches appendant to the Plympton priory have the parvise
over the south porch, as at both the Plympton churches and at Ugborough.
Here were probably deposited books written by the monks in their hours
of study—missals with rich borders, as well as writings of a more
secular character; and possibly the preaching monks tarried in these
chambers between the hours of divine service.
Dr. Oliver gives the names of thirty Priors of Plympton, from Ralph, the
first prior, to John How, the last, who subscribed to the King’s
supremacy in 1534. During the administration of some of the priors, the
hospitality of the establishment seems to have been unbounded. In
consequence of the great confluence of the nobility and their retinues
to the priory, the house became overcharged with debt, and Bishop
Oldham, after his first visitation of the house, in 1505, authorized the
prior, David Bercle,[8] to retire to a distant cell until a new system
of economy could be arranged.
-----
Footnote 8:
There is a quaint letter extant of this hospitable prior, which Dr.
Oliver gives. It is—
“To his rev’ende broders in Criste, Maister Dene and Maister Chaunter,
of Excester, or on’ of theym, this to be delyvd. in goodely haste.
Right rev’end broders in Criste, in my most lovynge maner y recomaunde
me unto yow p’ynge yow right hartely to be good maisters to a prieste
called I. David Neyton, a lovyer of myn’ which trustyth by your favors
to be on’ of your vicaryyes in Synte Peters Churche if he be a person’
necessary to occupye a such rome yn your’ sayde churche y p’y yow that
he may the rader for my desyre be accepte to the same rome, and he and
y shall p’y for the longe contynuance of your bothe prosperyteis,
which God p’sve to his pleasur’ and your hartes desyres—Amen. Writyn
in haste penultimo die Aprilis by your olde louyer and bedman’.
“DAVID, Prior of Plympton’.”
-----
The refectory was by no means an unimportant portion of the priory. It
and the cellar under (which was in charge of a much-envied functionary,
known as the cellarer) are the only considerable remains existing of the
once extensive monastic buildings at Plympton. Here the monks, according
to the seasons, had their one meal or two meals a day; the usual
allowance being “one white loaf, another loaf called Trequarter, a dish
called General, another dish of flesh or fish called Pitance, three
potells of beer daily, or three silver halfpence” for the teetotalers.
This is said to have been the ordinary bill of fare, but it was, no
doubt, amplified to any extent when the lords and squires were
entertained by the prior, and especially when, as in 1348, Edward the
Black Prince dined at his hospitable table.
But the time was coming when there would be “no more cakes and ale”—when
the prior and brethren would leave the monastery gates, never again to
re-enter them; when, with their “occupation gone” (like the stage
coachmen and guards of the nineteenth century), they would be lost in
the crowd of a bustling world, and never seen or heard of more. There
was a dark side to the picture which England then presented; and perhaps
the saddest sight was when, on the morrow after the dissolution, the
mendicant knocked at the almonry door, knowing no change, and least of
all in charity, and for the first time found no bread or alms for him.
The priory remains, though little known, are of considerable interest.
Besides the Norman cellar, and the Early English refectory over, there
are some scattered remains of the chapel and cloisters. The cellar is
sixty-one feet six inches by fourteen feet within, stone-arched, and
lighted on the south side by four small semi-circular-headed windows.
The masonry is of great thickness; and on the north side and east end,
in the width of the wall, is a passage two feet six inches wide, which
probably was nothing more than a dry area, though the common notion is
that it is the commencement of a subterranean way (now blocked up)
leading to the castle, about a quarter of a mile distant. The original
entrance to the cellar was by a fine Norman doorway on the south side.
It was only after diligent search that I found it, encased with many
coats of plaster. There are engaged shafts on each side, and the chevron
ornament is carried round the jambs as well as the arch, which latter is
formed of alternate voussoirs of grey and green stone.
Above the cellar is the almost perfect outline of the refectory, with
its original fire-place, windows, and roof, all of an Early English
character. The kitchen, a detached building of the fifteenth century,
situated to the east of the refectory, remains in a tolerably perfect
state, and the position of the old priory mill is indicated by a modern
structure erected about seventy years ago.
Adjoining the mill is the priory orchard, said to be the oldest in
England.
At some distance to the north-west of the domestic buildings were the
chapel and cloisters, of which some vestiges remain in their original
positions, but around them modern walls and hedges have been formed. The
bases of a doorway, deeply recessed, having four detached shafts on each
side, and beautifully moulded, lead to the supposition that the Priory
as a whole was a most important architectural work. I also found several
scattered fragments of Early English foliage. No doubt many interesting
objects lie buried in the priory lands, and possibly even the tombs of
the two bishops Warelwast.
In the Norman and Early English and Decorated work about here we find
that granite was never used, although to be obtained in the immediate
locality.[9] It was probably rejected, not merely because it was hard to
work, but on account of its cold and colourless appearance. Thus, in the
Priory and in the most ancient portions of the two churches, _i.e._, the
chancels, you will find no dressings or moulded work in that material,
but in the beautiful and durable green slate-stone from St. Germans or
Boringdon, and in Caen stone; and to give still more artistic effect to
their buildings, they used sparingly a close red sandstone, obtained
from a distance. There are some rather old-looking houses in Plympton,
which are said to be built entirely of stone from the priory, and in one
front in particular may be observed this beautiful masonry of the
thirteenth century, in green and red, arranged almost like a draught
board.
-----
Footnote 9:
This also applies to the Cornish churches.
-----
The Perpendicular builders were not, as a rule, remarkable for artistic
feeling. They saw beauty in size, uniformity, and in the endless
repetition of a stereotyped panel; and one can imagine archæologists of
the fifteenth century regarding contemporary architects much as we look
upon the designers of the glass and iron palaces of the present day. The
greater part of the churches of Plympton St. Mary and Plympton St.
Maurice are Perpendicular and built of granite, in large blocks, and
there is not that sharp and elegant detail in this as in the earlier
work.
St. Mary’s is a pretty and picturesque church now; but it was probably
more than two hundred years before the granite began to tone down, and
the ivy and lichen to cling to it—neither, as a rule, “take kindly,” as
the saying is in Devonshire, to granite.
The limits of this paper will not allow of my giving anything like a
detailed description of Plympton St. Mary Church. Full justice has
already been done this edifice by the late Rev. W. I. Coppard, who was
largely instrumental in its being restored. The Early Decorated
chancel—with its fine east window and elaborate sedilia and piscina—is
one of the best specimens of the period in the county. Not the least
interesting part of the church is the south porch and parvise over,
which the late Mr. H. H. Treby took most commendable pains to restore.
The groining of the porch is admirable, though in the re-dressing and
chiselling of the ribs and bosses the original character of the work has
been partially impaired. In restorations, much is lost through the
desire to see things look fresh and new.
In the Strode, or St. Catherine chapel, is the monument of Sir William
Strode, with the effigies of the knight and his two wives:—
Mary, incarnate virtue, soul and skin
Both pure, whom death nor life convinced of sin,
Had daughters like 7 Pleiades, but she
Was a prime star of greatest charity.
And over the knight:—
Treade soft, for if you wake this knight alone,
You raise an host, religion’s champion,
His country’s staff, right bold distributor,
His neighbour’s guard, the poor man’s almoner,
Who dies with works about him as he did,
Shall rise attended most triumphantly.
The Town Church of Plympton, originally dedicated to Thomas à Becket,
but, when rebuilt in the fifteenth century, to St. Maurice, consists of
a nave, north and south aisles, and a fine tower at the west end, in the
Perpendicular style of the fifteenth century, and a chancel, as at St.
Mary’s, of an earlier date, having an interesting sedilia and good
decorated window at the east end—speaking of the masonry, and not of the
glass, which is extremely bad. The south porch has a vaulted roof and
parvise over, as at the other church.
Much has been done of late years towards improving this parish church,
but its internal effect is entirely marred by the unsightly plastered
roof of the nave, and the close pews or pens. The nave-roof, I find by
reference to the vestry book, was re-constructed in the year 1752, after
the model of the new roof in Stoke Damerel Church, then recently put up.
That was the dark age of English taste. How very dark may be imagined
from this plagiarism.
There are memorial windows in this church to members of the Treby
family, and monuments to the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, Admiral Cotton, and
other local celebrities. The following epitaph is the most curious:—
Saml. Snelling, Gent.
Twise Maior of this
town, he died the 20
Day of Nov. 1624.
The man whose body
That here doth lye
Beganne to live
When he did dye.
Good faith in life
And death he proved,
And was of God
And man belov’d;
Now he liveth
In Heaven’s joy,
And never more
To feel annoy.
The shaft of a large granite cross, probably the market cross, was
discovered about forty-two years ago embedded in a wall of the
Guildhall, taken down in the course of some alterations.
In the register of this parish are some curious entries. Thus, there is
record of a plague which carried off a great number of the inhabitants;
and on one occasion forty marriages are said to have taken place in one
day, by proclamation, at the Market Cross. This was during the
Commonwealth, when the religious ceremony was ignored, and against the
entry some stout Royalist or disappointed bachelor has written: “This
was the hour and power of darkness.”
We have yet to touch on the politics of the town.
Plympton became a borough town, with the privileges of a market and
fairs, by a charter from Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon, dated March
25th, 1241. The borough sent members to Parliament as early as the
twenty-third year of Edward I.’s reign, and continued to do so until
disfranchised in 1832. It was a very respectable constituency of nearly
a hundred free burgesses, who were sworn in by the corporation, which
consisted of a mayor, recorder, and eight aldermen, called the Common
Council.
The Strode influence was great in the town from a very early time, and
several members of that family sat in Parliament for Plympton. In
Elizabeth’s reign, Sir John Hele, a distinguished lawyer, and at one
time King’s Sergeant, was returned for the borough. A little later, Sir
Francis Drake, nephew of the great Sir Francis, and successor to the
baronetcy, became member. In Charles I.’s reign, Sir William Strode, one
of the most distinguished of the great party which then resisted the
undue authority of the Crown, and who, with three other members, was
committed to the tower by the King, sat in Parliament for Plympton.
Another famous member for Plympton was Sir Nicholas Slanning, a staunch
Royalist, who distinguished himself, especially, as a brave soldier in
the siege of Bristol. Then we have the memorable names of Sir George
Treby (ancestor of the late Mr. H. H. Treby) and Sir John Maynard, and
at quite a late period in the history of this borough, Lord Castlereagh
represented it in Parliament.
In an interesting address delivered by the last recorder of the town,
Mr. Deeble Boger, on the occasion of the corporation resigning their
functions in 1859, it was stated that the borough was “what was called a
nomination borough, that is, those two families who had the greatest
number of friends, and to whom, from the period of the revolution, the
gratitude of the borough was justly due—the Trebys, in whom great
interest naturally centred, and the Edgcumbes, who were connected with
the borough in the same way—possessed the power of nominating a member,
and this nomination consisted in their recommending him for election.
This power was subject to one limitation, that the person recommended
should be of the same politics as the electors.”
Perhaps the greatest representative the borough ever had was Sir
Christopher Wren. It was in May, 1685, that this distinguished architect
was elected Member of Parliament for Plympton. How this came to pass,
and which of the two great parties he represented, we are not precisely
informed, but may easily conjecture, as Plympton was always a Tory
borough. No doubt he occasionally thought, though he might not say, with
Mercutio, “A plague on both your houses,” for men of science and
artists—and he was in a high degree an artist—are seldom very ardent
politicians. Still, we know he was a staunch Royalist and Churchman. His
father was Dean of Windsor; his uncle, the Bishop of Ely, had been
imprisoned in the Tower for nearly twenty years during the Commonwealth;
he himself was a Fellow of All Souls’, Oxford, and held a professorship
at that University, at an extremely orthodox period. There are other
reasons for supposing that he stuck pretty close to the court and
government of the day. His father being Dean, and Sir Christopher
himself having only the year before been appointed Comptroller of the
Works at Windsor, we may readily imagine that he came down to the
independent electors of Plympton with a rather strong recommendation
from the Dean and Chapter, who were, as they are still, the patrons of
the living in this borough. And when he came (always supposing that he
did come, and that he did not merely send his respects from London), he
was, no doubt, well entertained by the gentlemen of his party in the
town, and lustily cheered by the agricultural non-electors, who always
exhibited a great deal of enthusiasm under the stimulating influence of
an election, and were never heard again to express their sentiments
until the next parliament brought down a new member for the eyes of all
Plympton—not to say “all Europe”—to gaze upon. Many of the inhabitants,
however, who were acquainted with Sir Christopher’s fame, may be
supposed to have regarded their representative with admiration and
pride. Just nineteen years before, the terrible Fire had devastated the
metropolis, and now London was rising like a phœnix from the ashes by
his magic wand. Exactly ten years before he had himself laid the
foundation stone of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and now the first stage of
that great work had been just completed, the choir and its side aisles,
and critics, who remembered old St. Paul’s in its Gothic glory, and had
seen Inigo Jones defacing and tinkering the venerable fane with his
Palladian porticoes and urns, were flocking to the churchyard. The new
structure was already too grand and unique not to be commended; but
there was yet a quarter of a century’s laborious and incessant work
before the top stone could be raised, and the gilded cross could crown
the noble dome. The same architect, the same master-builder, and the
same bishop, who witnessed the beginning of the great work in 1675, saw
its close in 1710.
Sir Christopher Wren, the member for Plympton, was probably the first
architect ever returned to the House of Commons. There have been several
since then, and their presence in Parliament has no doubt tended to
advance public taste, and to further many great and important national
works.