57. THE ABBEY OF TUPHOLME
The abbey of Tupholme was founded some
time before 1190 by Gilbert de Neville and his
brother Alan, in honour of the Annunciation; (fn. 1)
Geoffrey the son of Alan was also a benefactor, (fn. 2)
and Ralf de Neville in 1342 endowed the house
with the manor of Ranby. (fn. 3) Henry earl of
Lancaster granted the manor of Burreth in 1329. (fn. 4)
Burreth had been held by the Nevilles, and later
by William Tochet of the honor of Bolingbroke which the earl held. The abbey was not
very wealthy, but it had sometimes as many as
twenty-four canons during the fifteenth century.
In 1347 it was heavily burdened with debt, (fn. 5) and
it is probable that the abbot died in the great
pestilence. (fn. 6)
Bishop Redman visited this house regularly
from 1475 to 1503. In 1478 one canon was
excommunicated as an apostate. (fn. 7) In 1482
another was found guilty of the same offence, but
was pardoned, on his penitence, at the earnest
intercession of the abbot and convent. A debt
of £20 had been cleared off since the last visitation, and the house was well provisioned and
had increased its numbers from eleven to sixteen. (fn. 8)
In 1488 there were as many as twenty-four
canons, including novices. (fn. 9) In 1421 they were
enjoined to wear their hoods outside their capes,
and not to carry long knives. Leave to go
without the cloister was not to be granted as
freely as it had been. (fn. 10)
In 1494 the abbot was ill; but the proctor
of Bishop Redman, who conducted the visitation,
found nothing to correct. (fn. 11) In 1427 one canon
was found guilty of fostering contentions among
his brethren, and was ordered to recite the whole
psalter as a penance. Another, guilty of incontinence, was condemned to forty days' penance
gravioris culpae and a five years' banishment to
another monastery. A third was guilty of disobedience and false charges against the abbot;
he had forty days' penance gravioris culpae and
ten years' banishment to Sulby. (fn. 12)
In 1501 Bishop Redman was well satisfied
with the house, and his injunctions were merely
formal. (fn. 13)
At the dissolution in 1536 the last abbot
received a pension of £18; his eight canons
the usual reward of 20s. (fn. 14)
The original endowment consisted of the
demesne at Tupholme and other smaller parcels
of land; with the churches of Burreth, Middle
Rasen, Market Stainton, Ranby, and Sturton. (fn. 15)
The temporalities of the abbey in 1291 were
assessed at £29 9s. 4d. (fn. 16) In 1303 the abbot
held only a fraction of a knight's fee in Ranby
and Stainton. (fn. 17) In 1346 he had a quarter of
a fee besides in Burreth, (fn. 18) and the same in 1428. (fn. 19)
The clear revenue of the abbey in 1534 was
£100 14s. 10d.; (fn. 20) the Minister's Accounts
amount to £137 17s. 1d., including the manors
of Middle Rasen, Ranby, Ashby near Horncastle, Brocklesby, and Gautby, and the rectories
of Stainton, Ranby, Sturton, and Burreth. (fn. 21)
Abbots of Tupholme
Ivo, (fn. 22) occurs late in the twelfth century
Geoffrey, (fn. 23) occurs 1202 to 1230
Thomas, (fn. 24) occurs 1276 to 1289
Ralf, (fn. 25) elected 1293
William, (fn. 26) elected 1310, occurs 1316
Roger, (fn. 27) occurs about 1348
Simon of Lincoln, (fn. 28) elected 1349
John of Beseby, (fn. 29) elected 1373
William of Tynton, (fn. 30) elected 1383, occurs
1385
John Spalding, (fn. 31) died 1456
John Coventry, (fn. 32) elected 1456
John Ancaster, (fn. 33) occurs 1474
Thomas Sotby, (fn. 34) occurs 1488 to 1491
Thomas Gryme, (fn. 35) occurs 1494 to 1509
John Sword, (fn. 36) occurs 1522
John Ancaster, (fn. 37) last abbot, occurs 1529
The thirteenth-century pointed oval seal of
Tupholme (fn. 38) represents the Virgin, with nimbus,
seated on a throne, with carved fontals and footboards; on her left knee the Child with cruciform nimbus, lifting up His right hand in
benediction, in the left hand a flower.
Legend on a bevelled edge—
✠ SIGILLVM : ABBATIS : ET : CONVENTVS :
S' : MARIE : DE : TOPEHOLM
The reverse is a smaller pointed oval counterseal, under a trefoiled arch with church-like
canopy the Virgin, half-length, the Child, halflength, with nimbus, on the left arm. In base,
under a carved and trefoiled arch with a pinnacle
on each side, the abbot, kneeling, in profile to
the left, with pastoral staff.