William Darell (clergyman)

[2] On both 23 September 1553 and 24 March 1554, Darell was assigned to take over the third prebend of Canterbury Cathedral, Kent from the previous incumbent Robert Goldeston.

[1][2] In 1567, while obtaining an attorney (one Henry Style of Westminster) in the event he left England, Darell described himself as "Deane of Fernes in Irelande".

This nomination came to the attention of Edmund Grindal, Bishop of London, who apparently already regarded Darell as (in biographer John Strype's description) "corrupt in religion; though otherwise outwardly complying.

Grindal moreover spoke of his own negative experiences with Darell: "the said Dorrell hath been heretofore convented before me and other commissioners for sundry his misdemeanours, and therefore I know him to be an unfit man for so high an office".

[6] Ultimately, Thomas Lancaster, previously Bishop of Kildare, was elected to the Archbishopric, most likely on the advice of Sir Henry Sidney, Elizabeth's Lord Deputy in Ireland.

Darell developed such extensive debts that he could no longer afford to pay them back, even with his many benefices, so the Cathedral chapter was forced to bail him out.

[2] Clemence Ward, a lady of "suspect behaviour" living in a nearby parish, had been seen entering a laundry basket destined for Darell's residence in Canterbury.

One of the Cathedral lay clerks set upon the basket with a knife, stabbing Ward in the arm in the process, and thus substantiating the plot.

[8] The Privy Council wrote to the ecclesiastical commissioners in the diocese of Canterbury concerning "certain horrible offences" committed by Darell, requesting he be cited before them.

[2] Darell's Castra in campo was never fully published; relevant selections were translated for Alexander Campbell's The History of Dover Castle (1786, 1797).