Rector of church accused in Court (in 1308)
Members of HVCP have wondered why a Chapel in Kildale upset the Archbishop of York so much that he closed it and made the order there ,The Crutched Friars, leave the village .
Could it be that the village church was mired in scandal for years and the local parishioners had been supporting the Chapel as their parish church instead?
On 16 April 1304 the Archbishop of York Registers record that the Rector of Kildale, Walter de Stavely was granted 1yrs non residence permission for Study.
By 5 November 1308, the Rector of Kildale, Walter de Stavely was being excommunicated ,suspended and being financially sequestered by the Archbishop.
Over 3 years later on 20 March 1313 the registers state that the Archbishop forbade the Crutched Friars to have land in Kildale in the Park of Sir Arnald de Percy. Later on 3 February 1315 the Archbishop registers state the chapel had been constructed without a licence.
On 7 February 1317 , the Archbishop agreed to remit the final 40 shillings of the 100 shillings imposed on Walter de Stavely due to his incontinence committed with Helen, sister of Paul, a priest in York!
However it wasn’t until 1 November 1323 that the Archbishops registers state that John de Middlesbrough was inducted to be the next priest at Kildale with his patron John de Percy son of Arnald de Percy who was now deceased.
Could it be that the village was without a priest for 19 years until John de Percy was involved in a replacement for the disgraced Walter de Stavely?