The Middleton Accounts of 1525: #21

The next entry in the Middleton accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 is one of the few remaining ones for this year that specifically refers to the activities of Sir Henry. This entry was dated as 22nd August and was described as being his costs to Feckenham Forest in Worcestershire and rewards to the keepers of the Forest. It added that he had gone there with “my lord prior” of Kenilworth and Sir Edward Ferrers. The amount was 34 shillings 6 pence, which was the equivalent of about £761.20 today.

The prior of Kenilworth referred to was the prior of St Mary’s Priory in Kenilworth. This Augustinian priory had been founded in 1119. By 1447, it had become one of the largest and wealthiest Augustinian religious houses in the Midlands and had been elevated to the status of Abbey. Although living in a communal setting, the inhabitants of St Mary’s were not monks but all ordained priests. The priors were not only expected to undertake their spiritual activities but also provide services for the local community and fulfil secular demands of the Lord of Kenilworth Castle, especially when he was away. This included entertaining and providing hospitality to travellers to the area, especially for those of high rank. On 15th April 1538, the Priory was handed over to King Henry VIII and was subsequently dismantled as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

The ruins of the gatehouse of St Mary’s Abbey, Kenilworth, 2007. Photograph by I, Snowmanradio, CC BY-SA 3.0, GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons

Feckenham Forest was an ancient royal forest that once covered a large part of Worcestershire and part of Warwickshire, where it adjoined the Forest of Arden. However, enclosure of the forest land in order to convert it to farmland, meant that from its greatest size of about 184 square miles in the time of King Henry II, it had reduced to about 34 square miles by 1525. As a royal forest, the King had legal rights over the game, the wood and the grazing within the forest and one of the main uses of the forest was for hunting game, in particular hare and red and fallow deer. These royal forests were managed for centuries by keepers who maintained the population of the various species in order to ensure that they could all continue to be hunted. Feckenham Forest was disafforested in the 17th century.

Further Reading: W. H. Stevenson, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911. p.378.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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