The Annals of Willenhall, Frederick William Hackwood [free ebook reader for pc TXT] 📗

land for the body of my husband," and another "ten hides of land" for the offences of her "Kinsman Wulfgeal" lest he should hear in the judgment the "dreaded" sentence, "Go away from me," &c. A third "ten hides" of land are granted on account of "my sole daughter Elfthryth," who "has migrated from the world to the life-giving airs."

Mr. Duignan, who has made a close study of the Charter, says "the limits of the parishes and of the townships included in the grant are now precisely what they were a thousand years ago."

The boundaries of the lands conferred by the noble benefactress are set forth with much precision, as in the noting of brooks and fords, of parks and woods, of fields and lanes and lands; and in very few cases has Mr. Duignan failed to recognise the old names and identify them with the modern appellations of the places meant, among the latter being Willenhall, Wednesfield, Pelsall, Hilton, Ogley Hay, Hatherton, Cannock, Moseley Hole, Twyford, Walsall, &c.

The original Charter has not been heard of since 1646, when it was supposed to be copied by Sir William Dugdale into his monumental work, the "Monasticon," assisted by Roger Dodsworth, a joint editor with him. If it is still in existence Mr. Duignan assumes it is in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of the Royal Chapel of Windsor, with which the Deanery of Wolverhampton was united--as will be seen later. The formal parts of the deed are in Latin, and the descriptions of the properties are in Anglo-Saxon, which makes it an interesting study of place-names.

Wolverhampton church, dedicated to St. Mary, was a collegiate establishment, with a dean as president, and a number of prebendaries or canons who were "secular" priests, and not brethren of any of the regular "orders of monks."

All the privileges which the College possessed in Lady Wulfruna's lifetime were afterwards confirmed by Edward the Confessor, and subsequently by William the Conqueror.

* * * * *

The dedication of Wulfruna's church and its consecration by Sigeric, the archbishop, have been described in verse by a local poetess. This was Mrs. Frank P. Fellows, a daughter of the famous Sir Rowland Hill, and once resident at Goldthorn Hill. Her husband was a native of Wolverhampton, a distinguished public servant, connected with the Admiralty, a Knight of St. John of Jerusalem, an antiquarian and a scientist. In a book of his published poems appear portraits of himself and his wife.

Mrs. Fellows (whose mother, Lady Hill, was a daughter of Joseph Pearson, Esq., J.P., of Graiseley), also wrote poems--some of which appeared in "Punch," some in "Belgravia," and some in other magazines--and published a small book of verse in 1857.

It is from one long piece, entitled "Fancies by the Fire," in which the long retrospect of Wolverhampton's ancient history unrolls itself before the imagination of the poetess, that the following extracts are taken. After a description of the battle of Wednesfield, we read:--

The Princess Wulfruna heard the deeds, Told by the fire in her stately hall. Alas! then said the gentle dame, It grieves me sore such things should be. Now, by the Christ that died on tree, The Christ that died for them and me, These heathen souls shall all be free From sin, and pain of Purgat'ry; In token of our victory, Where masses shall be sung and said, And prayers told for the restless dead That wander still on Woden's Plain-- It shall be raised in Mary's name.

The noble lady with her train, and accompanied by the Archbishop Sigeric, pays a visit of inspection to the locality she designs thus to honour, passing beneath the shade of "the forest trees of Theotanhall" on her way--

And as they passed thro' Dunstall Wood, And stopped to drink where a streamlet fell, Then said the lady fair and good Here will I build a wayside well. Now Hampton town before them lay. But first they sought out Woden's plain, Where lay the bleached bones of the slain.

After the Archbishop had offered up a prayer for the dead--

At length they stood upon the height That rises over Hampton town; There, amid knight, and dame, and priest, The Princess Wulfrune laid the stone, The first stone on the holy fane.

Then solemnly the pious lady removed from her royal brows the golden coronet that hitherto had graced it, and put in place of it a crown of thorns, saying--

It were ill done that I have worn A golden crown, while Jesus sweet For my sake wore a crown of thorn; And here I dedicate my days To Him until my life be sped.

Thus far the foundation of the mother church--much more of the town's history follows in like strain.

* * * * * *

Willenhall was slightly connected with another religious foundation. In the year 1002 Burton Abbey was founded by Wulfric Spott, Earl of Mercia. This establishment was richly endowed with lands, not only in Staffordshire, but also with estates in Derbyshire and Warwickshire.

The names of the various places included in this munificent grant afford a very interesting study in Saxon nomenclature. For instance, in the Second Indorsement of the Charter conferring the noble gift, we may be interested to discover that "2 hides of land in Wilinhale," lying in "Offalawe Hundred" are among the properties donated to this great Staffordshire Monastery.

Chapater V(The Collegiate Establishment)

 

We cannot be too insistent on the close connection long subsisting between Willenhall and Wolverhampton owing to the fact of the former being a part of Wulfruna's endowment of her collegiate church.

Wulfruna's foundation consisted of a dean, eight prebendaries or canons, and a sacrist. The dean was the president of this chapter, or congregation of clergy, whose duly was to chant the daily service. The sacrist was also a cleric, but his duties were more generally concerned with the college establishment.

A prebendary, it may be explained, is one who enjoys a prebend or canonical portion; that is, who receives in right of his place, a share out of the common stock of the church for his maintenance. Each prebend of Wolverhampton church was endowed with the income arising from the lands from which it took its name; as, the prebend of Willenhall. In the course of time the tithes derivable from these lands became alienated.

Sampson Erdeswick, whose history of this county was commenced in 1593, says the foundation was effectuated in 970 by King Edgar, at the request of his dying sister, Wulfruna.

"She founded a chapel of eight portionaries (is the way Erdeswick puts it) whom, by incorporation, she made rector of that parish (Wolverhampton) to receive the tithes in common, but devisable by a yearly lot. The head or chief of these she made patron to them all, and sole ordinary of that whole parish."

The foundation was designated the "royal free church of Wolverhampton," the term "free" signifying that it was free of the ordinary supervision of the ecclesiastical authorities, being exempt from both episcopal jurisdiction and the papal supremacy. Indeed, it had been better for the church had it been less free, for in the time of King John the debaucheries and gross immoralities of these undisciplined parochial clergy brought much discredit upon the priestly college.

The dean and the prebends had special seats or stalls in the choir of the church; the sacrist had no stall, neither had he any voice in the chapter. In modern times (1811) the sacrist has become the perpetual curate of the parish.

It will be noted that the head of this college of seculars was styled the "sole ordinary" of the parish, which is equivalent to saying he was invested with judicial powers therein like a bishop in a diocese. He had authority cum omnimoda jurisdictione, and was exempt not only from the episcopal over-lordship of Coventry and Lichfield by express composition, but also by papal bull from the legates and delegates of Rome for ever. In fact, so independent was the foundation made at the outset, it remained for centuries subject only to the royal authority of the Majesty of England, and under it to the perpetual visitation of the Keepers of the Great Seal for the time being.

In the year 1338, Edward III. confirmed the charter of the church as a royal free chapter, giving the Dean the jurisdiction of a Court Leet, and a copyhold Court Baron, to be called the Deanery Court of Wolverhampton. About this time, too, the church was rebuilt on more spacious and magnificent lines. Mrs. Fellows, in her topographical rhyme, previously quoted, sings of the erection of the tower

In the third Edward's time.

The college then consisted of the ten members of the foundation just mentioned, augmented by other ministers and officers necessary for conducting so large an establishment, the prebendaries being officially mentioned in this order:--(1) Wolverhampton; (2) Kinvaston; (3) Featherstone; (4) Hilton; (5) Willenhall; (6) Monmore; (7) Wobaston; (8) Hatherton.

By the fifteenth century Chantries had been founded, and chapels erected therefor, at Willenhall, Bilston, Pelsall, and at Hatherton; and in further depreciation of the mother church, King Edward IV., about 1465, with a desire to enrich the Collegiate Church of St. George, at Windsor, annexed Wolverhampton to that chapel royal.

In Protestant times the daily services were performed by the sacrist and the readers, the prebendaries officiating on Sundays in rotation, according to a set cycle. The time set out for the prebendary of Willenhall commenced on the Sunday after Ash Wednesday; till eventually exemption was purchased by the payment of a small fee to the Perpetual Curate.

In olden times it was a common practice to carve the choir seats. The prebendal stalls in Wolverhampton church were marked with heraldic shields charged with simple ordinaries, in the following manner:--the following manner:--

ON THE SOUTH SIDE.

The Dean. On a fess, three roundels. Prebendary of Featherstone. A pale cotised. Prebendary of Willenhall. A Chevron. Prebendary of Wobaston. A Chevron. Prebendary of Hatherton. A pale cotised.

ON THE NORTH SIDE.

Prebendary of Kinvaston. (Stall removed.) Prebendary of Hilton. A Chevron renverse. Prebendary of Monmore. A Chevron.

To assist in the identification of the various estates chargeable with the provisions of the prebends, or canonical portions, it may be useful to give here a brief account of a perambulation of the Wolverhampton parish boundaries made in 1824.

It was a regular Rogation ceremony of "beating the bounds" and occupied three whole days, so widely scattered is this extensive, far-reaching parish. It will be observed that the Hatherton here dealt with is not the Staffordshire village of that name, two miles north-west of Cannock. Wobaston, it will be remembered, has previously been mentioned as situated in Bushbury; while Monmore Green is still a well-known place-name. The other names occur in self-explanatory context. The detailed account of this perambulation, of which the following is but a summary, will be found in the appendix to Dr. Oliver's "History":--

On Monday, May 24th, the churchwardens and their party assembled at the Rev. Thomas Walker's, and proceeded to a cottage near the eighth milestone on the Stafford Road, and at the well in the cottage garden there, the Gospel was read for the first time. (It was the custom at these Rogation processionings to read the Gospel under trees--especially those growing near to some reputed "holy" well--located on or near a parish boundary, hence their name "Gospel trees.")

From thence a