Richard Poore - Legacy and Death

Legacy and Death

In 1220, while Poore was bishop of Salisbury, he ordered his clergy to instruct a few children so that the children might in turn teach the rest of the children in basic church doctrine and prayers. He also had the clergy preach every Sunday that children should not be left alone in a house with a fire or water. Also during his time in Salisbury, he promoted the education of boys by endowing some schoolmasters with benefices provided they did not charge for instruction. In 1237, Richard established a retirement house for the old and infirm clergy of the diocese of Durham. Richard was also an opponent of pluralism, the holding of more than one benefice at the same time. He not only held that a clerk receiving a new benefice should give up the old one, but that if the clerk protested about the loss, he should lose both benefices. He also decreed that the clergy should not be involved in "worldly business". Poore House at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury is named in honour of his legacy to Salisbury schools.

Poore died on 15 April 1237 at the manor of Tarrant Keyneston in Dorset. His tomb was claimed for both Durham and Salisbury, but most likely he was buried in the church at Tarrant Keynseton which was what he had wished. He is commemorated with a statue in niche 170 on the west front of Salisbury Cathedral.