Walter Combe, of Holethorne, married to Marie Stuckye 21 Jan., 1587. Zacharie, s. of Walter Combe, bp 29 Feb., 1587. William Combe and Alice Beere mard 16 Apl., 1588. John Combe and Katharine Elford mard 3 May, 1602. Other references to the family are: Edward Combe lived at Crewkerne 1646, mentioned in the will of his kinsman, Nicholas Bragg 22 Oct., 1646. Elias Combe, of Crewkerne, gentleman, lived there 1680, and was the father of the said Rev. John Combe, M.A., and of Wm. Combe. Richard Combe, of Hoarthorne, in Crewkerne, was feoffee of the School 1717. He spelt his name Coombe. In 1785 Mr. Richard Coombs was surgeon and apothecary of Crewkerne. The will of John Combe, clerk parson of Bettiscombe, co. Dorset, adjoining Pillesdon, was dated 3 Sep., 1554, and proved 22 Feb., 1554/55. He appoints his brother, William Combe, and his kinsman, Harry Dyvynell, to be his executors, and mentions his brother-in-law, Richard Lawrence, and his sister, Wm Hensbury's wife, but there is nothing to connect him with Crewkerne. There were Somerset families of the same name three centuries ago at Combe St. Nicholas, North Petherton, Hemmington, and Timsbury, co. Somerset. The latter family entered their pedigree in the Herald's Visitation of Somerset 1623, and obtained from Sir William Seager, Garter King of Arms, a grant of these arms, viz. :-Sable two bars between 6 bees argent 3, 2, and 1. Crest: A demi-lion sable, ducally collared argent. P CHAPTER III. The Chantry of the Holy Trinity. ART of the foundation now represented by Crewkerne different from those to which the revenues eventually succeeded. The foundation is described in the Survey of 1548 as "the free schole sometyme callyd the Chantry of the Trynitie there." This leads us to make a little enquiry as to the nature and uses of chantries; why they were so called and when they flourished. Chantries, so called because their express purpose and object of foundation was that masses might be chanted or sung for the souls of the founder and his family, were a mediæval out-growth of the Roman doctrine of purgatory. They multiplied exceedingly in England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, so that even in St. Paul's Cathedral alone there were no less than forty-seven chantries existing in 1548. Even at Crewkerne there were three if not more. A chantry was generally founded within a cathedral or parish church and had its chapel located in one of the side aisles at the east end of the said aisle, an ancient piscina being all that now generally remains to mark its position, e.g., at the St. Mary Chantry Chapel, now the vestry in Crewkerne Church. Sometimes & specially built side chapel was added to the church over the tomb of the founder and his family, and this was consecrated as a chantry chapel in which masses were said for the departed. A good example of this may be seen in the Wadham Chantry, in Ilminster Church. Sometimes, however, a Chantry was in the churchyard, in a building not attached to the church, still being of course erected over the founder's tomb, or intended tomb, if he were alive. For instance, at Crewkerne there were in 1548 two chantries of St. Mary, one described as "St. Mary in the Church," and the other "St. Mary in the Churchyard." And yet again sometimes a chantry was at a distance from the parish church as was the case with the Beauchamp Chantry in Stoke-sub-Hamdon. However, the intention of the foundation of a chantry was the same in every case, namely, that a daily mass should be said for the health, wealth, and prosperity of the founder and his family during life and for the repose of their souls after death. But this had to be paid for, so the Founder either endowed the chantry with land, tenements, etc., or else settled an annual rent charge issuing for ever out of his own estate for its maintenance. In the former case a Royal license had to be obtained because the Statute of Mortmain (1279) forbade the giving of lands to ecclesiastical or other corporations without the king's consent. Hence, if we can find the date of that license, we can fix the date of the foundation of the Chantry. We have had search made, but have failed to find any such license relating to the Crewkerne Chantry of the Trinity. Nor are there any entries of institutions of chaplains to the said Chantry to be found in the Bishop's registers. Yet this Chantry was endowed with lands at Templelands and elsewhere which descended to the Free School. How are we to explain this? Either it was founded before 1279 or the Statute of Mortmain was evaded by a legal fiction. Probably both are true; for Templelands is in Pillesdon, and according to Dugdale, though he gives no date, but certainly before 1300,1 Savarus de Pylesdon' lord of Pillesdon, gave lands in Pillesdon to the preceptory of 1. In 1217 Simon, son of Walter de Pillesdon, exchanged all his lands in Crewkerne to Warin de Ralegh for half a Knight's fee in Pillesdon, . |