DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32039#0026
4
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF TIIE
and Henry V., which are grants to this college.* The former may liave
been in the time of Bishop Ralpli Erghum, who was a great benefactor to
the Cathedral Church of Wells, having, in his will, requested his executors
to build a College in the street then called La Mountery, but, afterwards,
College Lane, for fourteen priestsf or chaplalns,\ daily ministering in the
Cathedral, that they might live in common together : this has been by some
confounded with the Vicars' Close; and in notes taken by S. and N. Buck,§
at Wells, this prelate is made the “ founder” of “a neat college for the
vicars and singing men, on the north side of the Cathedral; ” evidently
referring to the Vicars’ College ; but Mountery College, or Mounterox
College, was destroyed, its revenues were confiscated at the time of the
suppression of the monasteries,|| and, in the reign of Elizabeth, a mansion
was built on its site, which went by the name of Mountroy House. This
mansion was pulled down about five years ago, and the site thrown into a
pleasure-ground. These worthies have also made him the builder of the
embattled wall round the Bishop’s Palace: and in pages 50 and 51 of the
Lansd. MS. 905, interlined but erased, is the name of Ralph de Shrewsbury,
as if the writer had received contradictory information.^y
The grant in Henry the Fifth’s time may have been bestowed by Bishop
* Tanner, Notit. Monasl. XLII. Somersetshire.—Pat. 1. Richard II. p. 5, m. 19, pro eccl. de Meriet approprianda_
Pat. 1. Ilenry V. p. 3, m. 8.
-f- Sacerdotibus porro quatuordecim, Collegium fundavit Wellise, ad exitum vici qui inde College Lane appellatur._
©odwyn, De Prcesulibus, p. 378.
f Fecit etiam construi per Executores suos in vico vocato La Mounterye, mansiones pro XIV. Capellanis in dicta
Ecclesia Wellensi indies celebrantibus. Anglia Sacra, pars i. p. 570. See, also, Harl. MSS. 6968, under the head
of Nomina Eporum in Somers., in which the above quotation, in the notice of Ralph Erghum, occurs verbatim, and is
extracted from the register of Wells.
§ Mus. Brit. Bibl. Lansd. 1233, LXXIX. G. “ Ralph Erglium built a neat college for vicars and singing
men, adjoining to the N. part of the cliurch : and also enclosed the Bp s palace witb a vrall. [but certainly Ralph
Erghum did it.] Qui ob 10 April die Sabbi, & vallavit muris et fossis Palatm Epi. apd. Wells, et jacet ibm
a.d. M.CCCC. lra dnical C. i. e. on the Sabbath day.”—Ibid. 905, PL. LXXIX. F. pp. 49 and 50. “ The palace on
the south side of the cathedral is neatly built, and, on that side, appears like a castle, being fortified vvith an
embattled wall and a ditch by Ralph de Erghum, wlio came to the chair a.d, 1388. He also made tlie college for
the vicars and singing men on the north side of the churcb.”
|| Willis’s Mitred Abbeys, vol. ii. p. 200.
U Lansdowne MS. 905, LXXIX. F. p. 50. “ The Bp s Palace on the So. side the cathedral is a fabrick to
be admired for its grandeur, looking towards the South like a Castle, being fortified with an embattled wall
and a ditch, and the prebendarys houses are handsomely built on the other side. This Bp also built a neat
college for the vicars and singing men on the North side of the Church.” And, in p. 51, “ The Bisliop’s Palace
is a handsome structure, stapding on tlie south side of the Cathedral, and appears lilce a Castle, being fortified
with an embattled wall and a ditch, by Ralph de Erghum, elected bishop a.d. 1388. He also built a neat college
for the vicars and singing men on the North side of the Catliedral.”
In Camden’s Britannia, Bisliop Erghum is also said to have built the “ College of Vicars, first founded by
R. de Salopia,” and “ enlarged by Bekington,” see vol. i. p. 77, London, 1789. See, also, p. 187 of the edition,
London, 1772. See Pugin’s Examples, 2d series, p. 43.
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF TIIE
and Henry V., which are grants to this college.* The former may liave
been in the time of Bishop Ralpli Erghum, who was a great benefactor to
the Cathedral Church of Wells, having, in his will, requested his executors
to build a College in the street then called La Mountery, but, afterwards,
College Lane, for fourteen priestsf or chaplalns,\ daily ministering in the
Cathedral, that they might live in common together : this has been by some
confounded with the Vicars' Close; and in notes taken by S. and N. Buck,§
at Wells, this prelate is made the “ founder” of “a neat college for the
vicars and singing men, on the north side of the Cathedral; ” evidently
referring to the Vicars’ College ; but Mountery College, or Mounterox
College, was destroyed, its revenues were confiscated at the time of the
suppression of the monasteries,|| and, in the reign of Elizabeth, a mansion
was built on its site, which went by the name of Mountroy House. This
mansion was pulled down about five years ago, and the site thrown into a
pleasure-ground. These worthies have also made him the builder of the
embattled wall round the Bishop’s Palace: and in pages 50 and 51 of the
Lansd. MS. 905, interlined but erased, is the name of Ralph de Shrewsbury,
as if the writer had received contradictory information.^y
The grant in Henry the Fifth’s time may have been bestowed by Bishop
* Tanner, Notit. Monasl. XLII. Somersetshire.—Pat. 1. Richard II. p. 5, m. 19, pro eccl. de Meriet approprianda_
Pat. 1. Ilenry V. p. 3, m. 8.
-f- Sacerdotibus porro quatuordecim, Collegium fundavit Wellise, ad exitum vici qui inde College Lane appellatur._
©odwyn, De Prcesulibus, p. 378.
f Fecit etiam construi per Executores suos in vico vocato La Mounterye, mansiones pro XIV. Capellanis in dicta
Ecclesia Wellensi indies celebrantibus. Anglia Sacra, pars i. p. 570. See, also, Harl. MSS. 6968, under the head
of Nomina Eporum in Somers., in which the above quotation, in the notice of Ralph Erghum, occurs verbatim, and is
extracted from the register of Wells.
§ Mus. Brit. Bibl. Lansd. 1233, LXXIX. G. “ Ralph Erglium built a neat college for vicars and singing
men, adjoining to the N. part of the cliurch : and also enclosed the Bp s palace witb a vrall. [but certainly Ralph
Erghum did it.] Qui ob 10 April die Sabbi, & vallavit muris et fossis Palatm Epi. apd. Wells, et jacet ibm
a.d. M.CCCC. lra dnical C. i. e. on the Sabbath day.”—Ibid. 905, PL. LXXIX. F. pp. 49 and 50. “ The palace on
the south side of the cathedral is neatly built, and, on that side, appears like a castle, being fortified vvith an
embattled wall and a ditch by Ralph de Erghum, wlio came to the chair a.d, 1388. He also made tlie college for
the vicars and singing men on the north side of the churcb.”
|| Willis’s Mitred Abbeys, vol. ii. p. 200.
U Lansdowne MS. 905, LXXIX. F. p. 50. “ The Bp s Palace on the So. side the cathedral is a fabrick to
be admired for its grandeur, looking towards the South like a Castle, being fortified with an embattled wall
and a ditch, and the prebendarys houses are handsomely built on the other side. This Bp also built a neat
college for the vicars and singing men on the North side of the Church.” And, in p. 51, “ The Bisliop’s Palace
is a handsome structure, stapding on tlie south side of the Cathedral, and appears lilce a Castle, being fortified
with an embattled wall and a ditch, by Ralph de Erghum, elected bishop a.d. 1388. He also built a neat college
for the vicars and singing men on the North side of the Catliedral.”
In Camden’s Britannia, Bisliop Erghum is also said to have built the “ College of Vicars, first founded by
R. de Salopia,” and “ enlarged by Bekington,” see vol. i. p. 77, London, 1789. See, also, p. 187 of the edition,
London, 1772. See Pugin’s Examples, 2d series, p. 43.