Prebendal Manor Of Bradford on Avon

The '' was given to the Dean and Chapter of Bristol by Henry VIII in 1543. In this gift was included all that hitherto had appertained to the Abbess as ' Hector' of Bradford. They hold the glebe farms and lands, (the latter lying dispersedly in small portions throughout the whole parish),-the houses built on them in the town itself - the great Tithes, the advowson of the living. The land possessed by them amounts to some 530 acres, more than half of which is in the -Tithing of Winsley.

Soon after the dissolution of the monastery at Shaftesbury the king bestowed the prebendal Manor of Bradford, together with the advowson of the various churches,* on the Dean and Chapter of Bristol, one of the new ecclesiastical corporations that he created and endowed out of the proceeds of some of the suppressed religious houses. They still retain the patronage and the prebendal manor. The Churches are thus enumerated in the grant which bears date 34 Henry VIII.-( "ae etiam omnes illas Rectorias et Ecelesias de Bradforde,Wynnesleigh, Holte, Attworth, Wraxhall, et Comerwell," &c. All traces of the church at Cumberwell have been lost. In this gift was included all that hitherto had appertained to the Abbess as ' Rector' of Bradford. They hold the glebe farms and lands, (the latter lying dispersedly in small portions throughout the whole parish),-the houses built on them in the town itself,-perhaps the site of the old Hospital of St. Margaret,-the great Tithes, -the advowson of the living. The land possessed by them amounts to some 530 acres, more than half of which is in the Tithing of Winsley. On the impropriate Rectory there are the following charges,-"Payment {it is called Pensio) to the Bishop of Sarum, £2."; and "Pension to the Dean and Chapter of Sarum 13s. 4d," From a Parliamentary survey made in 1649, the manuscript of which is still preserved among the archives of the Dean and Chapter of Bristol, we extract the following information, and with this we will conclude our remarks on the ' Manor of Bradford.' " Memorandums. There is a Court Baron belonging to the Manner of the Rectorie of Bradford to be kept at the will of the Lord within the said Mannor. " The Tenants of the said Mannor are to performe their suit and service at the Court aforesaid, "Gustomes. The Lord by the Custome of the Mannor may graunt estates for three lives by coppy of Court Boll. "The Widdow of the purchaser only to enjoy the lands that her husband ehall happen to dye aiezed of and not otherwise. " The Lord of the Mannor aforesaid can have no Herriott hy the oustome of the said Mannor but such aa shall be expressed in the Tenants coppye by agreement between Lord and Tenant." -extract from Rev. Jones History of Bradford on Avon