20. THE ABBEY OF REVESBY
The abbey of Revesby was founded in 1142
by William de Romara, lord of Bolingbroke,
and son of Lucy countess of Chester by a former
husband. (fn. 1) William de Romara himself ended
his days as a monk, and was buried in the house
of his foundation. (fn. 2) The first monks of Revesby
were sent from Rievaulx by St. Ailred. (fn. 3) The
benefactions of the founder were confirmed and
increased by his grandson and by Ranulf earl of
Chester. (fn. 4)
The house was fairly well endowed, and even
at the last did not come under the first Act of
Suppression: but it has not a very eventful
history. In 1216 a certain brother of Revesby
was arrested for having taken part in the war
against King John: but he was released when
it was found that he had taken the habit before
the war began. (fn. 5) There are entries on the Close
Rolls relating to this house which serve to show
some of the burdens of royal patronage. Here,
as elsewhere, the second and third Edwards were
wont to send their old servants to be maintained
in the monastery. In 1322, when another of
these unwelcome pensioners appeared, the abbot
and convent ventured to send him back, and to
plead with the king that their house was in great
need and poverty by reason of the prolonged barrenness of their lands and the death of nearly all their
stock; but Ed ward II considered the excuse insufficient, and returned the man again to the abbey to
be kept for at least two years. (fn. 6) Another duty of
the abbot was to provide a strong horse to carry
the roll of chancery. In 1322 the one sent for
this purpose was found ' insufficient and useless
for the said work, on account of various infirmities in his limbs.' He was therefore sent back
to the abbey, with orders to provide another. (fn. 7)
In 1335 the escheator seized certain lands
acquired in mortmain without licence, but was
ordered to release them, as the abbot and convent
had already been pardoned on this account. (fn. 8)
The monks had a further cause of distress in
1340. Wool had been bought of the abbot by
the king to the value of £115, with a promise
of payment in the course of the year: but time
passed and the debt still remained standing. In
1340 the abbot besought the king to advance at
least a part of the money, as his house was much
depressed by the loss of so much wool without
recompense, The slender sum of £ 14 14s. 7d.
was paid by the tithe-collector in answer to this
petition, (fn. 9) and perhaps the rest may have come
in later; but as the Cistercians depended almost
entirely on their wool for their sustenance, it
may be understood that the loss was a serious
one at the time. In 1382 the abbot received a
licence to acquire the manor of Mareham in
mortmain, (fn. 10) as a help to repair the fallen fortunes
of the house at this time.
Nothing further is known of the history of
Revesby until 1527, when the inhabitants of
Sibsey and Stickney brought a suit against the
abbot for not repairing the causeway and bridge
of Northdyke. They stated that for time out
of mind the abbot's predecessors had been liable
to repair this bridge, over which all their trade
passed to Boston, and that lands had been granted
to the abbey for this very purpose by William de
Romara in the time of King Henry II. The
jurors found that the claim of the people was
just, and that the abbot had a free tenement .
' where the hermitage stands by the bridge;' and
here he used to place a hermit or ' some other
sufficient man' to see to the repairs. (fn. 11) This
suit certainly provides us with a curious insight
into the possible uses of a hermit.
It was asserted by one of the witnesses after
the Lincoln Rebellion that monks of Revesby,
as well as those of Bardney and Kirkstead, were
seen in the field among the insurgents ' (fn. 12) but
none of them was brought to trial.
The last notice of the house that we possess
is in 1538, when the Duke of Norfolk wrote to
Cromwell that it was in great ruin and decay.
' The father of the house,' he said, ' is a good
fatherly man, but no husband,' and it would be
better to advance the cellarer, a kinsman of Sir
Thomas Russhe, to be abbot; Dr. London
was of the same opinion. (fn. 13) This last notice is
the only one which touches on the interior history of the house. We may infer from it that
there was no fault to find with its moral condition, but its revenues had been latterly somewhat mismanaged.
The date of surrender cannot be exactly given,
and there are no pension lists extant for this
monastery.
The original endowment of Revesby included
the lands of Revesby, Thoresby, and Scithesby,
with the church of the last place and that of
Hagnaby. (fn. 14) In 1291 the abbot had temporalities
in the deaneries of Horncastle, Hill, Bolingbroke, Candleshoe, Grimsby, Walshcroft, Holland, Gartree, Aslackhoe, Corringham and
Lawres, valued at £294 11s. 8d. (fn. 15) In 1303 the
abbot held one knight's fee in Claxby, one-third
in Fillingham and two-thirds at Tetford, threequarters in Salmonby, Scrafield and Hameringham, and smaller fractions in Walesby,
Hagworthingham, and Otby. (fn. 16) In 1346 and
1428 the returns are almost the same as in
1303. (fn. 17) In 1384 the king confirmed, at the
request of the abbot and convent, who had acquired the manor of Mareham, the grant of
20 Edward I to Robert de Bavent of a weekly
market and a yearly fair there. (fn. 18) The yearly
revenue of the abbey was valued in 1534 at
£1287 2s. 4½d, clear, including the rectories
of Frodingham and Theddlethorpe, and the
chapels of St. Laurence and St. Osyth, as well as
the manors of Mareham-le-Fen, Stickney, Sibney,
Hameringham, Hagnaby, East Keal, Toynton,
Claxby, and Marvis Enderby. (fn. 19)
There are no Ministers' Accounts for this
house. At the time of dissolution alms were
distributed annually to the value of 231. for the
soul of Master Edward Heven; 4s. were given
annually to the poor of Frodingham, and to two
poor persons also by the will. of a former archdeacon of Lincoln.
Abbots Of Revesby
William, (fn. 20) first abbot, 1142
Walo, (fn. 21) occurs 1155
Hugh, (fn. 22) occurs 1176 and 1200
Ralf, (fn. 23) occurs 1208
Elias, (fn. 24) occurs 1216 and 1231
Matthew (fn. 25)
William, (fn. 26) occurs 1255
Walter, (fn. 27) occurs 1257 and 1263
Robert, (fn. 28) occurs 1275
Henry, (fn. 29) occurs 1291
Walter, (fn. 30) elected 1294
Philip, (fn. 31) occurs 1294
Henry, (fn. 32) elected 1301, occurs 1314
Henry, (fn. 33) occurs 1385
John de Toft, (fn. 34) occurs 1390
Thomas, (fn. 35) (Stickney) occurs 1504-32
Robert Styk or Banbury, (fn. 36) occurs 1536
John, (fn. 37) occurs 1537
The pointed oval common seal of Revesby (fn. 38)
represents the Virgin with crown standing in a
carved niche, with pinnacled canopy and tabernacle work at the sides, the Child on the left
arm. Outside in the field on each side a wavy
branch. In base, under a carved arch, St.
Laurence kneeling to the left holding a gridiron.
The seal is of the style of the fourteenth century.
S' COVVNE: ABBATIS: ET: CPVENTVS: DE:
REVESBY
A pointed oval twelfth-century (fn. 39) seal of an
abbot represents a dexter hand and vested arm
issuing, from the right and grasping a pastoral
staff, between four estoiles.
SIGILLVM: ABBATIS: D': SBO: LAVRENTIP
A pointed oval seal of Abbot Henry (fn. 40) shows
the Virgin with crown, seated in a canopied niche
with tabernacle work at the sides, the Child on
the right arm, in the left hand a sceptre. A
corbel of masonry in base.
SIGILLVM ' HENRICI ' ABB'TIS ' MONASTERII ' DE
REVESBY
The borders are cabled.