Wykeham in Scarborough / Wicam / Wicham / Wichame

INFORMATION

FontID: 22361WYK
Object Type: Baptismal Font1?
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary and St. Michael [at one point a Cistercian Priory church; destroyed before 1321]
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin & St. Michael
Church Location: Wykeham Abbey, Scarborough YO13 9QS, UK [cf. FontNotes]
Country Name: England
Location: North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and the Humber
Directions to Site: The remains of the priory are located off the A170, near Wykeham Abbey mansion, about 12 km WSW of Scarborough
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of York
Historical Region: Wapentake and Liberty of Pickering -- Hundred of Dic [in Domesday]
Church Notes: The Cistercian Nunnery here took over in late-12thC an existing church of the mid-12thC; the church and the priory itself burned down before 1321]; when the old ruins were demolished a chapel dedicated to St Mary and St Helen was built "on or near the site" and its ruins were near the inn at Wykeham [VCH entry]
Font Notes:
There is an entry for this Wykeham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SE9683/wykeham/] [accessed 26 September 2019], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The entry for this Wykeham in Young (1817) notes: "The church, which still remains, with some vestiges of the offices, was dedicated to St. Michael, as well as St Mary. It is now the parochial place of worship. The ancient parish church, called All Saints, was appropriated to the priory; but it appears to have given place to a chantry chapel of St. Mary and St. Helen, founded by the famous John de Wykeham in 1321, and endowed with lands in Irton, Ayton, &c. that the prioress might provide two chaplains to perform service daily, for his soul and the souls of his kindred. The ruins of this chapel, called St. Helen's, are beside the inn at Wykeham. The church, cloisters, and 24 other houses of this priory, having been consumed by fire, with all the books, vestments, chalices &c. king Edward III, in 1327, granted the nuns a release for 20 years from the payment of £3 12s. 7d., due to him for lands held in the honour of Pickering, part of the Dutchy of Lancaster." The entry for the Cistercian Priory at Wykeham in the Victoria County History (York, vol. 3, 1974) notes: "The priory of St. Mary [...] of Wykeham was founded about 1153 [...] by Pain Fitz Osbert for Cistercian [...] nuns. [...] With regard to the church of Wykeham a deed is printed in the Monasticon. [...] It is by Hugh, Prior of Bridlington, reciting an earlier one by Bernard (prior c. 1150), addressed to the Archbishop of York, which records that Wlmar, priest of Wykeham, and two other persons 'Urca filius Karli,' and Gamellus, of whom Wlmar held a portion of the church, had together appeared, and offered at the altar of Bridlington all the right they possessed in the church of Wykeham, and as a sign of their gift Wlmar had offered three candles in the presence of many witnesses. This right, which Bridlington had so obtained in the church of Wykeham, Prior Hugh (occurs 1189-92) and his convent conceded to the nuns of Wykeham." The VCH (ibid.) goes on to inform that the Priory had taken over the former parish church, which, unfortunately, burned down, together with the priory buildings, burned down accidentally before 1321, year in which King Edward III relieved the nuns from payements owed. The VCH entry (ibid.) further adds: "It seems possible that the fire had really taken place some years previously, for in 1321 [...] the church of All Saints was spoken of as ruinous, and was pulled down, and a chapel erected on or near the site by John de Wycham, in honour of St. Mary and St. Helen. This by the king's licence was granted to Isabel, the prioress, and the convent, and was endowed by him with 12 marks annually, for the finding of two chaplains to celebrate in it for the soul of John de Wycham and others. [...] The ordination of the chapel was confirmed by Archbishop Melton in 1323." The priory was suppressed at the Dissolution and the sources above appear to indicate that the present parish church may be a re-building of the later church ordained in 1323.

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 661269 6011259

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2020-01-20 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
Young, George, revd., A History of Whitby, and Streoneshalh Abbey: With a Statistical Survey of the Vicinity to the Distance of Twenty-Five Miles, 1817-