| Founded | 1636 |
|---|---|
| Type | charitable trust |
| Location |
|
Area served | Bridlington |
Employees | 14 |
| Website | Official website |
| Registered Charity number: 252207 | |
The charitable trust known as The Lords Feoffees and Assistants of the Manor of Bridlington, based in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, was created in 1636.
Bridlington is a coastal town and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, situated in the unitary authority and ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire approximately 28 miles (45 km) north of Hull and 34 miles (55 km) east of York. The Gypsey Race river runs through the town and emerges into the North Sea in the town harbour. In the 2011 Census the population of the parish was 35,369.
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding, is an area in Northern England and can refer either to the administrative county of the East Riding of Yorkshire which is a unitary authority, to the ceremonial county (Lieutenancy) of the East Riding of Yorkshire or to the easternmost of the three subdivisions (ridings) of the traditional county of Yorkshire.
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The Manor of Bridlington had been confiscated by Henry VIII from the monks of Bridlington Priory during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1537. [1] In 1624 James I conferred the Manor on Sir J. Ramsey, recently created Earl of Holderness, "as a reward for the great services the earl had performed by delivering his majesty from the conspirators of the Gowries, and also for the better support of the high dignity to which he had been lately raised".
Henry VIII was King of England from 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII. Henry is best known for his six marriages, in particular his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. His disagreement with the Pope on the question of such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated. Henry is also known as "the father of the Royal Navy"; he invested heavily in the Navy, increasing its size greatly from a few to more than 50 ships.
Priory Church of St. Mary, Bridlington, grid reference TA177680, commonly known as Bridlington Priory Church is a parish church in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in the Diocese of York. It is on the site of an Augustinian priory founded in 1113 which was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1951 it was designated a Grade I Listed Building.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland, appropriated their income, disposed of their assets, and provided for their former personnel and functions. Although the policy was originally envisaged as increasing the regular income of the Crown, much former monastic property was sold off to fund Henry's military campaigns in the 1540s. He was given the authority to do this in England and Wales by the Act of Supremacy, passed by Parliament in 1534, which made him Supreme Head of the Church in England, thus separating England from Papal authority, and by the First Suppression Act (1535) and the Second Suppression Act (1539).
On inheriting it, his son Sir George Ramsey of Coldstream sold it in 1633 for £3,260 to William Corbett and twelve other inhabitants of Bridlington, to administrate it on behalf of themselves and all the other tenants and freeholders of the Manor. A deed, bearing the date 6 May 1636, [2] was drawn up declaring these citizens as Lords Feoffees [note 1] [3] of the Manor of Bridlington, and empowering them to enrol twelve more Assistants. [4]
Rules to elect new Lords Feoffees and Assistants have been adhered to for over three hundred years, and they continue to fulfill their original charter by donating money (earned from rent from the many properties they continue to own in the old town centre) to worthwhile causes in Bridlington, for example the funding of the offshore D CLass D 557 RNLI lifeboat Lord Feoffees III at Bridlington lifeboat station, and the awarding of bursaries and scholarships to students from Bridlington. [2]
The Feoffees were also directed to elect one of their number annually as chief Lord of the Manor, in whose name the courts should be called and the business of the town transacted. The election is still continued on the second day of February, and a manor court is held in the Town Hall in February and November. [5]
The Courthouse and Town Hall of the Lords Feoffees is currently used as a museum, The Bayle Museum, dedicated to the history of the Lords and the townsfolk of Bridlington. [6]
