Deans and Vicars of Penkridge, 1181 - 1964

From the earliest times Penkridge was an important ecclesiastical centre. It had a college with a large staff of clergy which ministered to the surrounding areas, rather than just a church.

At the head of the college was a dean. This was a prestigious and lucrative post. We can expect many of the holders to have been absentee priests, especially after 1215 when the sinecure was given by King John to the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors.

Under the dean came the prebendaries. There were eight of these - one for Penkridge and seven others for the outlying villages. It was possible that the prebends could be absentee priests as well. In 1535 the prebend of Penkridge lived in Anglesey.

The wealth of the church came from the payment of tithes, one tenth of all the produce of the land. The college collected these tithes and so acted as the rector of Penkridge.

At the Reformation the Crown confiscated the tithes and then sold them on to laymen. The tithes for Penkridge were bought by the Littleton family who also for the next 300 years or so appointed the vicar of the church.

DEANS of PENKRIDGE

Robert c. 1181

Elias de Bristow 1199

Henry de Loundres 1215 - 1228

Luke 1230

Fulk de Sandford 1256 - 1271

John de Darlington 1279 - 1284

John de Sandford 1286 - 1294

William de Hothum 1296 - 1298

Richard de Feringes 1299 - 1306

Richard de Havering 1307 - 1310

John de Leche 1311 - 1313

Alexander de Bicknor 1317 - 1349

John de St. Paul 1349 - 1362

Thomas Minot 1363 - 1375

Robert de Wikeford 1376 - 1390

Robert Waldby 1391 - 1395

Richard Northalis 1396 - 1397

Thomas Cranley 1397 - 1417

Richard Talbot 1418 - 1449

Michael Tregury 1451 - 1471

John Walton 1472 - 1484

Walter Fitzsimmons 1484 - 1511

William Rokeby 1512 - 1521

Hugh Inge 1521 - 1528

John Alan 1529 - 1534

George Browne 1535 - 1548

VICARS OF PENKRIDGE