The Marrick Priory Documents
Marrick Priory
The remote manor of Marrick in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, was most notable for centuries for the mining of lead in its vicinity. Although the evidence for lead mining there during the Roman occupation is slight, it was certainly being undertaken by the time of the Norman conquest and a century later, in about 1165, a priory for Benedictine nuns was established at Marrick, substantially supported by income deriving from the local lead mines. In 1540 the Priory's closure was brought about by Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. A complex history of changing ownership of the valuable surrounding lands then began, continuing until the nineteenth century decline of lead production in the area.
The Marrick Priory documents in Leeds University Library (which are complemented by a companion collection in the library of Hull University) provide an essential resource for studying the history of the area. A broadly chronological selection of images of the original documents is presented here to introduce and illustrate the archive; the examples are typical of their kinds.
The earliest document in the Leeds collection is of c.1170, a charter of Helia, son of Philip de Morton, confirming a gift of 'two bovates of land' to the nuns of Marrick. The Priory had recently been founded by Roger Aske, grandson of another Roger, to whom the manor had been granted by the Crown shortly after 1100.
Before the Dissolution
Two documents of about 1200 deal with further pieces of land for the Priory - an exchange with the monks of Rievaulx and a gift of property in Sandhutton - and in a charter of 1302, in French, Henry le Scrope confirms the Priory's ownership of a wood given by Milys de Stapelton. The collection's other fourteenth-century charter, dated 16 January 1382, concerns a 'tenement in Lartyngton'. In such ways, for some four hundred years from the Priory's foundation, the nuns of Marrick saw a steady increase in their income and landed property through benefaction.
A late fifteenth-century 'imprecation' or curse, promising punishment by authority of the Pope for any man who troubles the Priory, is transcribed here in full (with line numbers indicated):
1. Overmor We Comande on all' Wysse
2. that itt be noght leffull' vnto no man forto
3. dises ne dystrubell' ye befor sayd monestere
4. ne to take fra tham thar possescyones ne
5. their gud es ne to hald tham fra tham ne to
6. lesse tham ne to vex ne to trubell tham ne
7. to harm tham bott alle their gudes beto tham
8. saffye and kepyd haylle & sownde Forto
9. thar governaunce & sustenaunce thay ar
10. gyffen and on to their vsse in thym endlesse
11. to cum: Saffand the Right and the actorite
12. that falles to the Cowell' off Rome
13. and the lauffulle ryght off ye dyosyse that
14. is off ye Byschope and off ye Essbeke
15. Wherffor what so euer he be in tym
16. comynge man off haly kyke or seculer
17. man that wyttandly & wylfully dar
18. take on hym folely to do oghtt a
19. gaynes my bull': oone and twysse &
20. ye third thym ammonysched botte yff
21. he amendes hyes presumpcyon that is hys
22. mystakynge he schalle be deprivyd
23. of the dignyte off hys powre and
24. off his house//And weytt he welle
25. for hyes wykkednes// that he has don'
26. he schall be gylty in the domme off god
27. and putt away fra ye most hallyest
28. sacrament off the body & the blode off our
29. lorde god & our againe by ere Jesu crist
30. and to be putte vnto ye straytte vengaunce
31. in hyes laste examynnynge// Morover in
32. contrere maner vnto alle thos that be
33. kepand helpand & supportand ye
34. Ryght off ye housse he gyffen the pese
35. and the blessynge off owr lord' Jesu
36. criste swa that thay may ressayff and
37. take the froyte off gud werkes in thys
38. world and before ye strayte Juge
39. Fynde yay and take the medes ande
40. the Rewardes off euerlastynge pesse
41. Amen etc etc
This imprecation is complemented by a somewhat later document, a memorandum by the nuns in response to alleged wrongs done to them. It begins (again with line numbers):
1. Memorandum that thes be the artykylles off wronges that be done
2. to god & our lady & scaint andro off marryke
3. In primis the lord off the town doth mercy vs for
4. appearance in hys cowrte as hys frehold the
5. wych we deny
6. Item he hath inclossed a grett parte off the more
7. they wych we clame Enter/commone in & itt
8. lay opyn euer more // vs eldyng nor no lying to our husy.
9. Item he wyll pay no tende att the Schaw ffor
10. Intak' that ys latly inclossyd ne latt hys tennandes
11. pay none in pane of loseying of their farmoldes
12. Item we can nott haue no resonabyll way to bryng
13. gdes' part fro the twone feld bott to pay th[ere]fore
14. euery yere
15. Item because we wold not pay mercy ment for the
16. after Crope off a certyn grownd callyd the pykalles
17. the wich we haue the ouercrope & schold haue the after
18.the last yere he toke a nox to strys & thys zere
19. he causyd all' the towne cattyll to be put there in
20. Item he wyll pay vs no tende off the mylne the
21. wich we haue aspecyall' grantt off by our fyrst fownder
22. item yf there be ony that mak ony vareans with in owr presynkes
23. he wyll ned' haue the hay wherr in we Rekkyn that he dothe
24. vs wrong for as we trist by owr fyrst ded of gyft that we
25. ar mayd fre within owr selff ne suffer vs to haue no
26. stokes with in our self/ Item he wyll nott sufer vs to haue no
27. fold to fold these cattyll that cumys in to our feld bott says we
28. schall' haue thaim to the towne fold more ouer he says yff
29. we oppyn ony grownde ...
In 1530, barely six years before Henry VIII's suppression of the monasteries began, Christabella Cowper became the last Prioress of Marrick. A rental initiated by Christabella in 1533 summarises the Priory's substantial income.
John Uvedale and the surrender of the Priory
The surrender of the Priory and its property to the Crown was delayed by the Pilgrimage of Grace until 1540. A power of attorney dated 20 March 1538 (surviving as a later copy) leaves no doubt about the religious community's own view of the dissolution. It opens: 'Be it openly known to all men by these presents that we the convent of Marrick of the order of St Benedict within the statute of suppression by authority of parliament being notoriously constituted & known …'
The main beneficiary of the surrender of the Priory was to be John Uvedale, one of the two commissioners who supervised its closure. Uvedale had first come to prominence in 1488 when he provided transportation for the royal household and was entrusted with provisioning the army at Flodden in 1513. He prospered in an exchequer post, Clerk of the Pells, and in 1529 his speculative business ventures extended to obtaining leases of coal, iron and lead mines in various parts of the country.
In 1540 Uvedale petitioned to be granted a twenty-one year lease of the Priory's surrendered property and he succeeded in 1543. No doubt his established commercial interests alerted him to the potential of the lead mines. In 1545 he proceeded to purchase the property outright for £364; a receipt from Henry VIII acknowledges a part-payment of £304. 6d.
The Marrick Estate after John Uvedale
John Uvedale died in 1549, succeeded by his son Avery Uvedale. Avery was soon enmeshed in litigation with other local landowners, notably the Bulmers who had been his father's main competitors. Many documents in the collection relate to these continuing disputes.
Avery Uvedale died in 1583 leaving his Marrick estate to his son John, who in 1585 commissioned a full survey of the inheritance. It begins thus:
1. The Survey of the Manc[i]on howse Demeasnes
2. And Parsonage of Marricke lying w[i]thin the p[a]rishe
3. Of Marricke in Richemond ^shyr^ in the Countie of
4. Yorke p[ar]cell[e] of the possessions of Joh[a]n Vuedalle
5. esquier made by Thom[a]s James gent[leman] at the
6. appointm[en]t of the saide M[aste]r Vuedalle in the moneth
7. of Auguste Anno Elizabethe Regine
8. xxvijo et D[omi]ni 1585
9. First the Scite of the saide Mancion
10. conteyneth A meete dwelling howse for A
11. Wor[shipfu]ll gent[leman] all buylte and covered w[i]th stones
12. having at his firste Entrie, A faire gate =
13. howse w[i]th A Chamber belowe and an other
14. aboue/ w[i]thin it A greene Courte of half
15. an Acre p[ar]telie walled abowte w[i]th A stoane
16. wall[e] and p[ar]telie w[i]th the buylding[es] of ij
17. stables/ the Churche Yarde / the Towre the
18. Manc[i]on howse/ the garnard for Corne, the
19. kilne and Malting h....... .........f [i]t yow
20. enter into A p[ro]per courte Walled abowte/ The
21. waie into the Manc[i]on howse there is A faire
22. porche and w[i]thin [tha]t an Entree or half
23. plaice/ at the lefte side thereof is A
24. Buttrie A pantree. A kitchine. A wette iiiij aicres
25. larder and A drye w[i]th A storehowse/ on
26. the righte side is A Hall w[i]th iij light[es] -
27. therein looking into A litle Courte; w[i]thin
28. [i]t A faire dyning p[ar]lo[ur] w[i]th ij large -
29. light[es] one looking into A latle garden
30. walled abowte. thother into the lytle Courte
31. Over them in the higher storie ascending
32. vp by staires set in moste convenient
33. place there is A faire Dyning Chamber
34. w[i]th A Chymney in [i]t. and an other
35. Chamber w[i]thowt A Chymney and also
36. iij other Chamber[es] w[i]th Chymneyes in
37. them/ and ij p[ro]per Closet[es]/ moreover
38. A faire lodginge called the Bethowse
39. having to [i]t iij Chamber[es] with A
40. Chymney in one of them/ The Church
41. adioyneth to the howse …
In 1589 Avery Uvedale's sale of Marrick to Richard Brackenbury is recorded, but Brackenbury himself soon sold on to Sir Timothy Hutton in 1592. At this time, a number of remarkable maps of Marrick were drawn up, apparently in association with the sale. Though little more than sketches, they give a clear and vivid impression of Marrick and its environs at this time. The map shows 'marrig abbaie' (the Priory itself) at the bottom right as a cluster of ten triangles representing buildings, close to the River Swale. At the top left, a swathe of small circles represents the pit-shafts of 'Copperthwaite gang' (vein), a major lead-mining site; below it is 'priores bale' (Priory's bail) with further bales to the left, these being the mounds of stone, fuel and ore for smelting the lead.
This was essentially the Marrick that Hutton leased to a London upholsterer Richard Blackburne in 1596. When Hutton died the Priory estate was sold to the Blackburne family and remained in its possession until 1683 when a large part of it was purchased for the Marquis of Winchester, in whose family the property remained, through a long series of inheritances, until the nineteenth century.
Marrick in the eighteenth-century
The Blackburne family retained the actual site of the Priory itself and through this presence, alongside the Marquis's, continued to maintain substantial lead mining interests into the eighteenth century. The most ambitious of these was the creation of a new smelt mill at Marrick known as the Cupuloe. The collection contains many documents relating to this venture which failed in the 1720s after numerous disputes about its management. Remains of the Cupuloe and other physical evidences of Marrick lead-mining are still visible in the landscape, memorials of an industry that effectively had died out by the twentieth century, leaving only the local agricultural interests that had coexisted with it for over eight hundred years.
The Library gratefully acknowledges a generous grant from The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation in 2002-03 to enable the full conservation of the Marrick Priory documents and the preparation of this account of them. For further information about the documents and access to additional images, please contact Special Collections.