Text Box: Lewes Priory: Household and casual servants © Graham Mayhew 2007 Text Box: Lewes Priory domestic household On 16th November 1537, the day on which the Prior and monks signed the deed of surrender and received their pensions and reward, the household was dissolved and 79 male household servants paid off at a total cost of over £205. In what appears an exceptionally generous settlement for the period, they were given a year’s wages and 20s for 3 months board, which was thus valued at £4 a year on top of their stipends which varied between 10s and £6 13s 4d, almost half (36) being paid 26s 8d plus board. A few servants, not in the list, like Nicholas Jenney, former collector of ecclesiastical pensions and portions in Chichester diocese, were kept on. The surviving lists specify only a few of their occupations, but they include the senior household officials such as John Stempe, auditor, who had been responsible for the collection of the Priory’s revenues, John Cotmot, surveyor of the Priory’s manors and stock, as well as the bailiffs of the home farm (the Grange) and of Falmer, together with the Clerk of the Kitchen, the warrener, the miller and a stoneheler (presumably the chief stonemason as he was paid £2 6s 8d plus board). Many of these servants had spent their lives in the Priory’s employment and were long term residents of Southover as can be seen from the 1524 lay subsidy returns. There were 3 fathers and sons in the list, showing the continuity in service over the generations, similar to the practice on Lewes’s East Anglian and Yorkshire properties. One, Thomas Denys, had been a ward of the Prior, who had custody of his goods, worth £18 in 1524, suggesting that he had been looked after by the monks after his father had died in service. More information on those employed within the Priory Text Box: precincts emerges from the surviving obedientiaries’ accounts, which although incomplete do provide an indication of the numbers of servants in several of the main departments. Each obedientiary also had his own servant, paid at 13s 4d, presumably to oversee the work for which his master was ultimately responsible. Thus there was a servant to the master of works, hosteler, refectorer, larderer, granator and procurator as well, presumably, as ones for those obedientiaries for whom records have not survived such as the chamberlain, almoner, infirmarer and sacristan. Since in general the offices alone are specified it is rarely possible to identify the individuals who held these positions and some obedientiaries’ servants may have combined more than one office, as did some of their masters. The master of works’ accounts list also a plumber, a glasier and a sub-glasier as well as a smith and his servant (the latter position left unfilled in 1534-5 although occupied the previous year). These were clearly responsible for the upkeep of the conventual buildings. The procurator’s accounts mention a keeper of the gardens, a servant in the infirmary, a tailor and the boys in his workshop who between them made the servants’ livery and the monks’ Text Box: habits. The granator’s accounts mention the miller, a cooper and the stablers of the Lord Prior and the poletar (either the brewer or maltster). The bailiff’s accounts of the Priory Grange also list several priory servants including a brewer, a maltster and his man, three different types of bakers, two carters and two porcars, who looked after the pigs within the Priory walls. There was also a launderer whose stipend was shared between several departments. All of these were employed by the year. In addition the accounts reveal many other named individuals who were employed on a casual basis. The master of works employed several carpenters, sawyers, labourers, a mason, a roofer and a joiner in this way, often for several weeks or even months at a time. His department was also responsible for the Priory’s barges which had been farmed out for £2 a year to Thomas Colthurst, from whom the master of works bought back transport by the load. A number of married women and widows were employed at a variety of tasks including winnowing, cleaning and scouring the cooking vessels and dishes. Additional help was bought in for the kitchens at major feasts such as the first Sunday in Advent and St Stephen’s Day, for cleaning, gutting and smoking herrings, and trawling the fishponds. The larderer’s accounts for 1533-4 also mention Thomas Pacchyng, employed for 9 months at 20s from Christmas to Michaelmas in maintaining the fishnets, the same amount as his annual stipend according to the 1537 list, suggesting that some of the Priory’s liveried servants were taken on from amongst the casual employees.

Left: Vezelay: Mystic Mill (milling flour)                                          Top: Hardham : Labours of Adam and Eve (trimming vine and milking)        Right: Labours of Month : October: gathering acorns (Souvigny); November: Killing hogs (Dewsbury)