Records of Bristol Cathedral

BRISTOL RECORD SOCIETY’S PUBLICATIONS General Editors: MADGE DRESSER PETER FLEMING ROGER LEECH VOL. 59 RECORDS OF BRISTOL CATHEDRAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 RECORDS OF BRISTOL CATHEDRAL EDITED BY JOSEPH BETTEY Published by BRISTOL RECORD SOCIETY 2007 1 ISBN 978 0 901538 29 1 2 © Copyright Joseph Bettey 3 4 No part of this volume may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, 5 electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information 6 storage or retrieval system. 7 8 The Bristol Record Society acknowledges with thanks the continued support of Bristol 9 City Council, the University of the West of England, the University of Bristol, the Bristol 10 Record Office, the Bristol and West Building Society and the Society of Merchant 11 Venturers. 12 13 BRISTOL RECORD SOCIETY 14 President: The Lord Mayor of Bristol 15 General Editors: Madge Dresser, M.Sc., P.G.Dip RFT, FRHS 16 Peter Fleming, Ph.D. 17 Roger Leech, M.A., Ph.D., FSA, MIFA 18 Secretaries: Madge Dresser and Peter Fleming 19 Treasurer: Mr William Evans 20 21 The Society exists to encourage the preservation, study and publication of documents 22 relating to the history of Bristol, and since its foundation in 1929 has published fifty-nine 23 major volumes of historic documents concerning the city. All the volumes, together with 24 their authoritative introductions, are edited by scholars who are experts in their chosen 25 field. 26 27 Recent volumes have included: Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade to 28 America (Vols. 38, 39, 42 and 47); The Goldney Family: A Bristol Merchant Dynasty 29 (Vol. 49); William Worcestre: The Topography of Medieval Bristol (Vol. 51); The 30 Topography of Medieval and Early Modern Bristol (Vols. 48 and 52); The Diary of 31 Sarah Fox (Vol. 55); The Pre-Reformation Records of All Saints’ Church, Bristol (Vols. 32 46, 53 and 56); Bristol Probate Inventories (Vols. 54 and 57) and Robert Sturmy’s 33 Commercial Expedition to the Mediterranean 1457–8 Vol. 58. 34 35 Forthcoming volumes will include The Topography of Medieval and Early Modern 36 Bristol, Part 3; Bristol Probate Inventories, Part 3, and the Bristol Hearth Tax Returns. 37 38 In return for the modest subscription, members of the Society receive the volumes as 39 they are published. The subscription for private members is £10 per annum, for UK 40 institutions £12.50, and for overseas membership £15. 41 42 Subscriptions and enquiries should be made to the Secretaries, c/o The School of History, 43 University of the West of England, St Matthias Campus, Oldbury Court Road, Bristol 44 BS16 2JP 45 46 Produced for the Society by 47 4word Ltd 48 Unit 15 Bakers Park, Cater Road Bristol BS13 7TT CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi Editorial Note vii Abbreviations vii List of Illustrations viii Introduction 1 From Augustinian Abbey to Anglican Cathedral 3 The Bishop, Dean and Canons of the New Cathedral 21 Reformation and Counter-Reformation 1547–1558 31 The Cathedral during the Elizabethan period 33 Relations with the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol 1542–1623 44 Bishop Robert Wright and Expenditure on the Cathedral 1630 52 Descriptions of the Cathedral in 1634 58 Civil War and Commonwealth 71 Chapter Business 1663–1719 81 Expenditure 1660–1670 99 Bishop Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol 1685–1689 104 The Cathedral Income and Expenditure 1699–1742 112 The Book of Particulars 1699–1745 115 Eighteenth-Century Descriptions of the Cathedral and Bishop’s Palace 144 Bishop Thomas Newton (1704–1782), Bishop of Bristol 1761–1782 149 Chapter Business 1751–1801 152 Notes on the History of the Cathedral by Dr Henry Beeke (1751–1837), Dean of Bristol 1813–1837 166 Chapter Minutes 1818–1831 179 The Re-positioning of the Codrington Memorial 1821 182 The Bristol Riots 1831 183 The Chapter’s Response to the Request for a Larger Room for the Consistory Court 1838 187 Conduct of Services and Relations with Bishops 189 Revival, Reform and Restoration 1836–1877 191 Postscript 1877–1897 210 Bibliography 213 Index 215 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 14 15 The help received in the preparation of this volume is gratefully acknowledged. The 16 Dean & Chapter of Bristol Cathedral gave permission for their records to be 17 published, and the Dean, the Very Revd Robert Grimley, and Canon Peter Johnson, 18 have been a constant source of encouragement and support. The staff of the Bristol 19 Record Office have been unfailingly helpful, and I am particularly grateful to Anne 20 Bradley for her invaluable help and advice. Assistance has also been received from 21 Michael Richardson, Hannah Lowery and Nicholas Lee in the Special Collections 22 section of Bristol University Library, and from Jane Bradley and the staff of Bristol 23 Reference Library. Thanks are also due to Martin Crossley Evans, Madge Dresser, 24 Prof. Christopher Elrington, Peter Fleming, Francis Greenacre, Philippa Johnson, 25 Roger Leech, John Lyes, Elizabeth Sabin, Warwick Rodwell and Alan Rome for 26 their assistance. I have derived much benefit from earlier work on the Cathedral 27 archives. Isabel Kirby’s Catalogue of the Records of the Diocese of Bristol (1970) 28 has been an essential guide, and likewise the studies produced by Arthur Sabin, 29 Elizabeth Ralph, Canon John Rogan and Michael Q. Smith. 30 31 Joseph Bettey 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 EDITORIAL NOTE Introductory material and editorial commentary are printed in italics. The original spelling and capitalisation of documents have been kept, but abbreviations have been extended. Some punctuation has been added for the sake of clarity. Wherever possible, the meaning of obsolete words or terms, the modern form of aberrant place-names, and the dates of saints’ days have been added within square brackets. Uncertain readings are followed by (?). Dates are given as they appear on documents, with the year beginning on 25th March until 1753. References for the location of each source appear at the beginning of the entry. ABBREVIATIONS A.P.C. Acts of the Privy Council B.G.A.S. Trans. Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Transactions B.R.O. Bristol Record Office B.R.S. Bristol Record Society Cal. S.P. Dom. Calendar of State Papers, Domestic (1856–1972) Great Red Book E.W.W. Veale, ed., Great Red Book of Bristol, Bristol Record Society, IV, VIII, XVI, XVIII, 1931–53 Hist. MSS Comm. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments Hockaday Abstracts Abstracts of Ecclesiastical Records relating to Bristol & Gloucestershire compiled by F.S. Hockaday L & P Hen. VIII Letters & Papers, Foreign & Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Nicholls & Taylor J.F. Nicholls & John Taylor, Bristol: Past & Present, II, (Ecclesiastical History), Bristol, 1881 Oxford D.N.B. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography T.N.A. (P.R.O.) The National Archives (Public Record Office) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 14 15 1 Chapter House 8 16 17 2 Tomb of Paul Bush 1558 22 18 19 3 Pulpitum or Quire Screen 44 20 21 4 Tomb of Sir John & Dame Joan Young 1603 46 22 23 5 Bishop Wright’s Pulpit 1630 57 24 25 6 Jacob Millerd’s Plan 1673 105 26 27 7 Memorial to Bishop Joseph Butler 1752 146 28 29 8 John Britton’s Plan of the Cathedral 1830 167 30 31 9 Medieval Reredos to the Altar of St Maurice 180 32 33 10 Codrington Monument 1618 181 34 35 11 Memorial Plaque to William Phillips 185 36 37 12 Example of Painted Plasterwork from the Old Deanery 197 38 39 13 The Four Doctors 207 40 41 14 Memorial Effigy of Dean Gilbert Elliot 211 42 43 15 Memorial to Archdeacon John Norris 212 44 45 46 47 48 INTRODUCTION The diocese and bishopric of Bristol was founded by order of Henry VIII in 1542, with the former Augustinian abbey as its cathedral. The monks’ quarters and abbot’s lodge provided accommodation for the bishop, dean, cathedral canons and other members of the establishment. This volume brings together extracts from the major documentary sources relating to the history of the cathedral from its foundation until the triumphant success of the ambitious proposal to re-build the nave which was completed in 1877. The documents include the sources relating to the dissolution of the Augustinian abbey, the creation of the new diocese and cathedral, religious life under successive bishops, deans and canons, the relations with the city of Bristol, and the vicissitudes of the cathedral building, its furnishings and precinct. As well as Charters, Statutes, correspondence, miscellaneous administrative records and copious material relating to the management of the cathedral estates and properties, the archive of the Dean & Chapter also includes a complete series of Chapter Minutes from 1663, with some material from 1542, and annual accounts or Computa for most years from 1550. A great deal of information also survives concerning successive changes to the fabric of the cathedral and about its restoration during the 19th century. The Augustinian abbey was founded in 1140 by Robert Fitzharding, later Lord Berkeley, on his estate at Billeswick, just outside the walls of Bristol and on the high ground across the river Frome from the town. It is probable that the site for the abbey was chosen because of its association with St Jordan who, according to ancient tradition, was one of the 40 monks who accompanied St Augustine to Canterbury in 597.

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