The Great Fire in Lossenham 1275
The construction of a medieval priory was a major undertaking and was not undertaken lightly. Such a project could take several decades before the work was completed. A priory would be composed of a chapel, forming one side of the cloister garth with a refectory and kitchens usually on the opposite side to the chapel, a dormitory (with toilets) on another side and a chapter room where the community could assemble, a library, a prior's room with a parlour for receiving visitors, etc. This complex of buildings would require some skilled craftsmen. Under an architect or chief of works, there would need to be a number of skilled stonemasons who would shape and assemble the stonework for the foundations, the walls, doorways and windows. Following them would come the carpenters to shape the timbers for the flooring, the rafters and internal furniture. In addition there would be the unskilled labourers who dug the earth, moved material around and all the many other tasks.
Unlike the monastic communities which were much larger and had sizeable financial resources, the friars were mendicants or "beggars" who relied on offerings and gifts in order to survive. Hence, when Thomas Aucher, the lord of Lossenham, invited the Carmelites to found a priory near to their manor house, it was assumed that his family would bear the major part of the cost involved in building the new priory. When the first group of friars arrived, trudging over from Aylesford, their first priority would be to have somewhere to live. There might be a small building or some huts where they could take up temporary residence or, more likely, the Aucher family would have allowed them to stay in a wing of the manor house where they could use the family chapel for their prayers - and, of course, provide daily mass for the family and a priest for confession when needed, etc.
Planning the permanent priory buildings would have been the first major task and this could have taken some time. The design of the buildings was fairly standard but getting the necessary stone was difficult and expensive. There was local stone available within reasonable distance, but this was not of high quality. The best stone came from Caen in northern France but that was expensive. Lossenham was lucky in that sea-going ships could cross the Channel from France and sail up the Rother river around the Isle of Oxney and along the hillside where Lossenham was situated. The remains of a quay below the priory indicates that this might have been used for the unloading of Caen stone. A reasonable estimate would be that the preparation of the site and the laying of the foundations started some time in the 1250's.
The size of the community grew slowly during this period rising to around ten friars in the 1260's. By 1271, the walls had risen to a sufficient height for work to begin on the floors and the roofing. For this timber would be needed and the one person who owned most of the forests around Lossenham was the king. So, a petition was made to King Henry III and, on 16 July 1271, he issued orders for the friars to be given six oaks with their branches from the woods around Rolvenden. This would have enabled the work to progress more rapidly and so, on 20 January 1272, the king ordered the friars to receive another five oaks with their branches from the woods around Pease Hill (just north of Sevenoaks).
By 1275 the work on the roofs was well advanced and arousing some admiring and even some resentful remarks from those passing by. Then, in the autumn of that year, disaster struck. During the night, a great fire broke out and destroyed a large part of the newly erected timber floors and roofs and probably damaged some of the stonework. Fire was a common hazard in those days with hearth fires and lighted candles in use everywhere. In fact, there are records of fires in four other Carmelite priories. In 1490, the Carmelite Priory in Lincoln had a large fire which destroyed the church with its belltower, the dormitory and the library and, around the same time, the Carmelite Priory in Hitchin lost its library from another fire. In 1509, a major conflagration in Yarmouth destroyed the Carmelite Church and the Priory together with much of the neighbouring street. Finally in 1513, the Carmelite Church in Cambridge burned down. In fact, there was an instruction in the Carmelite Constitutions that the prior or subprior should visit each cell after Compline each night to check that the brothers were sleeping in their habit and scapular (which had to be worn at all times) and to check that all candles and other lights had been extinguished.
In Lossenham, it was quickly assumed that the fire had been caused maliciously. The buildings had only just been erected and were probably not yet in use, so it is unlikely that the fire was caused by the carelessness of the community. However, if the fire was intentional then who would have done it? Most of the local people would have welcomed the building of the priory. It added stature to the district, and many would have seen it as a place where one could go to attend mass or to make their confession. Some would have come on pilgrimage to pray before the statue of the Virgin Mary which would have been placed in a prominent position near the main altar. The one group of people who would have resented the arrival of the friars would have been the local clergy who could see that the priory would draw people away from their parish church and hence reduce their income.
The fire was such a serious event that a royal commission was quickly established on 25th November 1275, under the leadership of Ralf de Freningham, a local lord, and tasked to discover its cause. This commission completed its work quickly and, on 4th January 1276, it reported that the conclusion was that: ... James, rector of the church of Werehorne, procured the burning of the houses of the friars of the order of Mount Carmel of Lossenham. William the clerk, his servant, was at the burning by his procurement; afterwards the said rector harboured the said William and retained him in his household; the damage done is estimated at £80. The damage caused by the fire must have been extensive and the sum quoted of £80 would be around £80,000-£100,000 in today's currency. The commission identified the culprit as William , the clerk to James, the parish priest of St Matthew's church in Warehorne, a village nine miles east of Lossenham. Curiously, judicial proceedings proceeded very slowly, and it was not until 1279 that the accused came to trial in Canterbury. However, before this trial could start another matter had to be settled. The court record of the previous case to be held states as follows: ...Brother Thomas of Newenden and brother Richard of Oxford, brothers of Mount Carmel, fought together in their cloister at Lossenham in the county of East Sussex so that the said Richard killed the said Thomas in the said cloister and immediately after having done this, he left his cloister and removed himself and wickedly hid himself in the countryside. He had no goods as he was a brother of Mount Carmel.
There are no other details known about these two Carmelites who were fighting but arguing between friars was not unknown and, as all religious would have carried a knife attached to their belt to be used at mealtimes and for other purposes, then such quarrels could have serious consequences. In this case, the fight led to the death of brother Thomas and immediately brother Richard fled the scene, throwing off his religious habit and disappearing into the distance. The court proceedings clearly implied that Richard was declared an outlaw and, as such, his goods and possessions would be confiscated. But, as brother Richard was a religious with a vow of poverty, he left nothing behind to be confiscated.
The reason for this fight becomes clearer when the next court case was heard, that is the trial of James, the rector of Warehorne, his clerk William and, surprisingly the same brother Richard who had been declared an outlaw. The court record reads: ... The aforesaid accusation that unknown malefactors set fire to the church of Lossenham and immediately fled. It is not known who they were. Afterwards it was stated in the coroner’s roll that the said brother Richard and James the rector of the church in Warehorne and the cleric William, had burned the said church. Not guilty. ... And the 12 jurors said, to their knowledge, that they are guilty of nothing. Again, likewise, they were set free.
Now, it is possible to guess at the reason for the quarrel between the two Carmelites. Brother Thomas of Newenden appears to have come from a local family and so would be aware of the stories about who were the culprits for the fire. If he had learnt that brother Richard was to be in court accused of being one of those who had caused the fire then he would have seen Richard as a traitor to the community, someone who had accepted a bribe from the rector of Warehorne to open the gate for his clerk and help him to start the fire. Surprisingly, despite the commission identifying the culprits for the fire, the jury at their trial declared them to be "Not Guilty". It would be interesting to know whether the jury came to this verdict because of a lack of evidence against the accused or because there was local support for the action of the rector of Warehorne.
Fortunately, the developing Carmelite community in Lossenham were quickly able to put this mishap behind them. Thanks to the generosity of the Aucher family and/or other local patrons, the building work proceeded. The completed Priory must have been quite substantial as, in 1517, the Lossenham Carmelites hosted a provincial chapter. Although the overall number of friars was diminishing in the sixteenth century, such a meeting would have brought two representatives from each of the 39 houses in the province plus the Provincial and any Doctors of Theology who wished to attend. The priory would have had to provide accommodation for around 100 friars. Local families might have helped in this matter and, of course, friars were prepared to sleep on the floor in any vacant space in the priory.
Hopefully, as the excavations proceed, it will become possible to make better estimates of the layout of the Priory and its capacity. Will we, though, find any traces of the Great Fire of 1275?
Richard Copsey, O.Carm.