8. THE ABBEY OF DALE
The abbey of Dale, or as it was often termed
Stanley Park (De Parco Stanley), was a religious
establishment founded in a dale of South Derbyshire of much quiet beauty, and possessing an
early history as picturesque as its surroundings.
There is a fine register or chartulary of this
abbey at the British Museum, consisting of 196
small quarto vellum leaves in the handwritings
of the reigns of Edward I and II. (fn. 1) At the end
of this chartulary is the old chronicle of the
founding of Dale Abbey, written in the middle
of the thirteenth century by Thomas de Musca,
a canon of the house; it is one of the most
vividly written and realistic accounts of the
gradual rise of a religious community anywhere
extant. This chronicle is now fairly well known
and has been several times printed. (fn. 2)
The initial letters of the different sections of
the story make up the name of the chronicler—
T. H. O. M. A. S. D. E. M. V. S. C. A. He is
doubtless the same person whose name occurs in
the chartulary as Thomas de Muskham, canon in
the days of Abbot John Grauncourt (1233-53).
The family of Muskham resided near the abbey,
and were in good circumstances, holding lands
at Stanton and Kirk Hallam, &c., and they were
considerable benefactors of the abbey. (fn. 3) The
chronicler was evidently a man of superior
education, with a knowledge of the old classics,
an exceedingly rare acquirement for a religious
of those days. He recounts in his opening
paragraphs that he was given by his father, in
the midst of the flower of his boyhood and
youth, to serve God and his Virgin Mother by
taking the habit of a White Canon from the
abbot, John Grauncourt, 'a venerable father
deserving of love from God and man.' He proceeds to praise the goodness and mutual charity
of his brethren there devoutly serving the Lord
Jesus Christ, specially naming Brother Geoffrey
de Grevell and Roger de Derby, adding that 'in
the magnitude of their virtues, if I had the fluent
loquacity of Homer or Maro, it would I think
fail to be expressed.'
As a good example of the style of this chronicle
the opening paragraphs of the actual tale may
be here cited, following the English version of
Mr. Hope:—
Four years and more had I been among them in
their veteran congregation when a noble matron, the
lady Matilda de Salicosa Mara, the foundress of our
church, whose memory is in our benediction, came
to us from the district of Lindsey, old and full of
days, because knowing the time of her vocation from
this world to be rather quickly approaching she had
disposed herself to commend her end to God by the
prayers of such holy men. And the holy convent
having been summoned before her on a certain day
for the sake of discoursing, and mention having been
made of the first inhabitants of this place, she began
the following narrative before them all:—
'Open your ears,' said she, 'to the words of my
mouth, my dearly beloved sons, and I will tell you
a tale—not a tale, but a circumstance which most
certainly happened.
'There was a certain baker in Derby in the street
which is called St. Mary's. Moreover at that time
the church of St. Mary at Derby had a large parish,
and the church of Heanor was subject to it and a
chapel. And the said baker, being in a measure
another Cornelius, was a man religious and fearing
God, so intent upon his good works, that whatever
food and clothing beside his own and his children's
and the needful things of the house he could procure
during the week, on every Saturday he would bring
to the church of St. Mary and bestow on the poor
for the love of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
And when with such pious exercises he had passed
his life for many years and had been dear and acceptable to God, it pleased God to prove him more
perfectly, and having proved him to crown him more
gloriously. Also it happened that on a certain day
in autumn when he had given himself up to repose
at noon, there appeared to him in his dreams the
Blessed Virgin Mary, saying, "Thy alms are acceptable
before my Son and me. But now if you wish to be
perfect, leave all that thou hast and go to Depedale
and there thou shalt serve my Son and me in solitude:
and when thou shalt have happily finished thy course,
thou shalt have the kingdom of brightness, mirth and
eternal happiness, which God has prepared for those
who love Him." The man awaking and perceiving
the Divine goodness which had been towards him,
giving thanks to God and the Blessed Virgin his
comforter, spoke nothing to any man but having left
all that he possessed straightway withdrew "knowingly
ignorant" as it is read of the blessed Benedict; knowingly, because he had learnt the name of the place;
ignorant, because he was entirely without knowledge
where the place was. Therefore turning his course
towards the east, whilst he was passing through the
midst of the village of Stanley, he heard a woman
saying to a certain girl, "Take our calves with thee
and drive them as far as Depedale and return hastily."
Having heard that, the man admiring the favour of
God, and believing this voice to have been made as
if on his own account, was astonished, and approaching near said: "Tell me, good woman, where is Depedale?" who replied: "Go with the girl, and she, if
you wish, will shew you the way." Whither when
he had arrived he found that the place was a marsh,
exceedingly dreadful, and far distant from every habitation of man. And turning himself to the southeast of the place, under the side of the mountain, he
cut out for himself in the rock a very small dwelling
and an altar turned to the south, which had been
preserved to this day, and there, by day and night,
he served God in hunger and thirst and cold and
nakedness.'
The Lady Matilda then proceeded to narrate
how one Ralph Fitz Geremund, a man of great
power and lord of the moiety of Ockbrook and
of Alvaston cum saka, when hunting in his woods
of Ockbrook, saw smoke issuing from the hermit's
cell, and was wroth at the intrusion; but seeing
the great poverty of the man of God he relented,
gave him the place, and also the tithe of his mill
at Borrowash for his support. The next section
tells how the hermit, attacked by the enemy of
souls, moved from his rocky cell, and eventually
moved a little to the west where he built for
himself a cottage and an oratory adjoining dedicated to God and the Blessed Virgin. On this
follows the recital of a vision that appeared to
one Uthlagus, when sleeping on the hill of
'Lyndrik, which is the hill beyond the gate of
our monastery towards the west.' He saw in
the vision a golden cross standing where the
monastic church was afterwards erected, and
multitudes adoring it. When he awoke he told
his companions and prophesied of the flowers of
virtue that would hereafter bloom in that dale
and draw many 'to adore the Lord and to serve
him until the end of time itself for a succession
of ages.'
The seventh chapter tells of the assignment
by Serlo de Grendon, lord of Bradley (who had
married Margery daughter of Ralph Fitz Geremund, the benefactor of the hermit), of the
place called Deepdale to his spiritual friend and
godmother, known as 'the Gomme (godmother)
of the Dale.' This pious lady had a son Richard,
who became a priest and served his mother's
chapel in Deepdale. The next chapter records
how Serlo de Grendon, at the intercession of the
Gomme of the Dale, invited some of the Austin
canons of Calke (c. 1160) to establish themselves here. Richard, her son, took their black
habit, and the canons ere long built themselves
a church and offices. Humphrey was the name
of their prior, and there were four other canons
in addition to Richard. Humphrey visited Rome
and obtained for them confirmation of the place,
right of celebration even when the land was
under an interdict, and many other liberties that
they afterwards retained. After a time, however,
these canons became lazy, and turned 'more to
hunting than to prayer and meditation; and
since the whole land was forest, the king, hearing of their unwonted conduct, on account of
the game caused them to withdraw from the
place.' But God having rooted out the sycamores, desired to put cedars in their place;
accordingly William de Grendon, a priest, son
of Serlo and lord of Dale invited White Canons
to take the place of the departed Black Canons.
Six canons from the abbey of Tupholme, Lincolnshire, were invited to settle at Dale, and the
place was thus brought under the control of the
Premonstratensian Order. At this time Stanley
Park was bestowed on the canons, but their
poverty was great, and the lord of Ockbrook
only allowed them the small plot of tilled land
that had belonged to the Gomme of the Dale.
After sojourning there seven years in many
straits, they at last sold the tops of the oaks in
Stanley Park, cutting them off at the middle, and
having received the money were recalled by their
abbot to Tupholme. Henry their prior, who
was guilty of coining false money, refused to
return, but was brought by force back to the
abbey, where he put an end to his life by letting
blood from both arms when in a hot bath.
The next step taken by William de Grendon
was to fetch five White Canons from Welbeck
in Nottinghamshire, under William Bensyt as
their prior. They too were sorely tried by
poverty and lost heart. The climax came when
the cord snapped as one of them was drawing
up the lamps before the altar, and all of them
fell to the ground and were broken. It seemed to
them that everything was going wrong, and when
their abbot shortly afterwards visited them from
Welbeck and found but little in the granary,
and still less in bakehouse and brewhouse, he
consented to their return.
Eventually Geoffrey de Salicosa Mara and his
wife Matilda came to the assistance of their
relative, William de Grendon, told him of their
intention of bestowing the town of Stanley on
the Premonstratensian Order, and agreed to
unite it with Dale to secure a better endowment. Nine canons of Newhouse, in the
county of Lincoln, were invited to colonize at
Dale. They came about the year 1195, and
an independent abbey, with Newhouse as the
mother abbey, was established in 1204. Walter
de Senteney was their first abbot, and from this
date Dale increased in possessions and influence
under eighteen successive superiors until its
enforced dissolution in the sixteenth century.
These canons proved to be the 'cedars' of the
chronicler. With Abbot Walter came John
de Byford, Hugh de Grimsby, Roger de Alesby,
and William le Sores, 'men of virtuous life and
great piety, together with other men of God.'
'These, O Dale,' concludes Thomas de Musca,
'are thy living stones—thy chosen stones—the
stones precious in the foundation of thy Church.'
On the death of the first abbot, Walter de
Senteney, in 1231, the appointment fell to
William, a canon of the house. William, the
second abbot, only ruled for two and a half
years, for in October, 1233, he was elected
father abbot of Prémontré, when he distinguished
himself by insisting that the fratres conversi or
lay-brethren throughout the order should wear
grey instead of white copes.
In 1283 there was a considerable affray
between the abbot of Dale and the master of the
hospital of Burton Lazars, Leicester; the latter
appears to have asserted a claim to one of the
mills at Borrowash, near Spondon, and to have
occupied it in force. Whereupon the abbot made
a great levy of his tenants and forcibly ejected
the men of the hospital. On the complaint of
the master of the hospital the crown issued a
commission to Nicholas de Stapleton and William
de Meynill to adjudicate, the jury to be drawn
from men of the three counties of Derby,
Nottingham, and Leicester. In the commission
upwards of ninety of the Dale forces are
mentioned by name, in addition to a multitude of
other armed men; they were chiefly drawn from
the Derbyshire estates at Dale, Stanley, Spondon,
Ockbrook, and Sandiacre, &c., but some were
from Stapleford in Nottinghamshire, and others
from Donington, in Leicestershire. (fn. 4)
Lawrence, the sixth abbot, ruled from June,
1273, to September, 1289, when he resigned.
Soon after his resignation he received a letter of
entreaty from Brother Robert de Derby as to the
reconciliation of Edmund, apostate, from which
the following is an extract:—
Reverend Father, in the Book of the Sacred
Scriptures it is noted and set down that judgement
will be the most severe on those who judge, and
especially on those who desire more to judge than to
be kind. And, on the contrary, it is written that
those who judge righteously are worthy of double
honour.
Moreover, if at the suggestion of your conscience,
you have acceptably brought about your own resignation, and have put off from your shoulders the staff of
a pastor, and the sceptre of an overseer of secular life,
I rejoice in your joy, but I will also rejoice in the
Lord, because this was not your own doing but that
of the Holy Spirit. For Martha was praised by
Christ for her solicitude, yet the better part was chosen
by Mary.
But because I now know truly how powerful you
can be, especially in those matters which concern the
restoration of the lapsed of our religion, I fall at the
knees of your paternity on behalf of your fugitive servant and lay brother, Brother Edmund Zouch (whom
I found wandering far from God in the region of
dissimulation, having but little regard for his own or
others' salvation, and whom God brought back to the
knowledge of Himself through me, so as to know the
way of Salvation), and I have esteemed your deepest
charity worthy the more devotedly to be supplicated,
so that you moved by pity may bring forth for him
the royal robe, as did the father for the prodigal son
and free him from his schismatical condition, and
that you may the more earnestly interpose, if it
please you, your influence on his behalf insomuch as
you are aware that he apostatised from you at the time
of your rule; so that if there has been in you (which
God forbid) a superabundance of rigorous discipline,
that your kindliness may abound. For he will be
judged without mercy who acts not mercifully.
And if the abbot and convent should not decree to
restore him to his former state, with penance, according to the exigency of his offences, this at least I ask
of your abundance (which according to all rights you
cannot deny him), that you would procure for him
letters dimissory for his transference, either to some
other house of your profession, or for the production
of a stricter life, for the salvation of himself and of
all of you. (fn. 5)
William Horsley, the twelfth abbot, who
ruled for over 21 years, was appointed on
10 August, 1332. The full account of his
election, 'by way of compromise,' was fortunately
placed on record by the deputies of the abbot of
Newhouse.
All the canons unanimously gave to Walter de
Tikhill, prior, to Thomas de Tikhill, sub-prior, to
Robert de Barton, Simon de Bredon, and William
de Horslaye, canons of the said church, full, general,
and free power, and special mandate assigned to them
for a certain time, to choose a new abbot and provide
a new pastor for that church from amongst themselves
or other brethren of that church, or from the bosom
of any other church of our order, as should seem the
more expedient for them and their church; so,
nevertheless, that, after they should have agreed concerning the person to be chosen, one of their number,
on the mandate of the rest, on his own and on their
behalf and on behalf of the whole chapter, should
choose that person in public and should bring him
before the said church; and they all and singular
promised, that they would receive him for their
abbot and pastor, whom they (the delegates) should
be led to choose. But the said delegates accepting
the power conferred upon them, and departing according to custom to a place separate from the rest, after
many discussions of a multiplicity of persons, at
length brother William de Horslaye, one of the said
delegates, being removed from their discussion,
making diligent enquiry concerning his person, they
finally, under the guidance of divine grace, accumulated
their votes on the said brother William, both as a
provident man, and as one most circumspect in things
spiritual and temporal.
Whence, on the same day, before the expiration of
the hour assigned to them, with the consent of all,
Brother Thomas de Tikhill, one of the delegated
body, at the mandate of the rest, acting for the whole
convent of that church, in the presence of all in
chapter who had a right to be there, chose and produced before them the said Brother William as Father
and Pastor of the aforesaid church; us also (acting as
vicegerent as mentioned before) he humbly begged,
that we would deign, by the paternal authority in
this respect committed to us, to ratify approve and
confirm the said election thus rightly legitimately and
canonically made and elected. But we, our consent
to that election being sought and desired, diligently
examining the said election and the elected person,
and no fault being found in them, praised, approved,
and confirmed, as was seemly, the said brother
William de Horseley, to be Father and Pastor of the
said church of Dale, as he had been rightly elected,
and the election done after the canonical form, and
this with the advice and assent of our venerable
brother abbot; and all things being accomplished
which pertained to the election and confirmation, the
brethren of that church in celebration of the election
and confirmation, by them gratefully received and
accepted, solemnly chanted Te Deum Laudamus as they
conducted the brother elect to the church. And when
this was sung, we inducted the brother elect into the
corporal possession of the government of the said
church by delivering into his hands the ropes of the
bells, installing him in the stall reserved for the abbot
after the manner of our order. And this being all
accomplished, and we and the brethren of the said
church having again returned to the chapter-house, all
and singular the professed of the said church stood up
to the elected abbot thus by us confirmed (and the
seal of the administration of his office being by us
handed to him) made their manual obedience.
In the spring of 1344, the abbot of Prémontré
deputed the abbot of Dale to make a visitation
for him of the houses of the order within the
realm of England: whereupon the latter applied
to the king for sanction. Edward III gave the
requisite permission and granted protection,
whilst thus occupied, for himself, the men of his
household, his horses and harness and all things
belonging to him. The permit sanctioned the
doing all things necessary for the visitation
according to his superior's orders, such as the
correcting and amending anything amiss, and
the punishment and chastisement of delinquent
canons and lay brothers, as well as the levying
charges and expenses and other things of right
due by reason of such visitation: but he was
prohibited from sending under any colour, any
cess or tribute to his superior or any others
beyond the seas. (fn. 6)
A commission of oyer and terminer was
appointed in November 1381, on complaint by
William de Boney fourteenth abbot of Dale,
that Thomas son of Godfrey Fuljambe, John
Smyth of Stanley and others lay in wait to kill
him at Derby, assaulted and by threats drove
him thence, and assaulted his servants. (fn. 7)
William de Ketelly chaplain, and Ralph
Palmer of Boney obtained a licence in October
1382 to alienate to the abbey a messuage and
two bovates of land in Trowell, two bovates and
two acres of meadow in Lambercote, and six
acres of land in Ratcliffe to the value of four
marks annually. (fn. 8) In July 1383 the abbey
received a large grant of lands in Stanley, Kirk
Hallam, Spondon, &c., of the annual value of
£10 for Geoffrey de Chaddesdon rector of Long
Whatton and John de Twiford, vicar of Spondon. (fn. 9)
Licence was granted in July 1385, to Hugh
de Wyloghby, clerk, and others to alienate to the
abbey the advowson and appropriation of the
church of Ilkeston. (fn. 10) In September 1473
John, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, William
Lord Hastings, Thomas Lord Stanley, William
abbot of Rufford, and others obtained licence to
alienate to the abbey of Dale the advowson and
appropriation of the church of Heanor, provided
that a perpetual vicarage be sufficiently endowed
and a competent sum from the profits of the
church be yearly distributed among the poor
parishioners. (fn. 11)
From the year 1475 a good deal can be learnt
of the condition of Dale from the register of the
visitations of Richard Redman, abbot of Shap,
and visitor-general of the order in England,
Scotland, and Ireland for more than a quarter of
a century. (fn. 12) Redman, who held the small
northern abbey in commendam, was consecrated
bishop of St. Asaph in 1471: he was translated
to Exeter in 1495, and to Ely in 1501.
In 1475, when John Stanley was abbot,
Richard Draykott is entered as prior, Nicholas
Grantham as sub-prior: the list numbered
sixteen, and included the vicars of Ilkeston
and Hallam, the chaplain of Stanton, and two
novices.
The visitation of 23 May, 1478, discovered
nothing worthy of blame, but good fame, charity,
and peace in all. The visitor forbad certain
devotions and prayers in quire, introduced
contrary to the customs of the order; regulated
certain feasts and functions, and the observance
of certain ceremonies: and injoined on the abbot
to provide suitable food and drink so as to
avoid cause for grumbling. He also commented
with approval on the new buildings lately
begun. (fn. 13)
The abbey was visited by Redman on 18 July,
1482. One of the canons, John Yorke, had
lately fled from the monastery, but by the laudable circumspection of the abbot had been induced
to return and submit to penance; the visitor
fully restored him to his previous position. He
prohibited games of chance under pain of greater
excommunication, and insisted more especially on
clearness of utterance and absence of haste in
singing the divine offices. (fn. 14) He congratulated
the convent on having accomplished the building of the new cloister and its circuit of
buildings; and on the considerable repairs
that they had carried out elsewhere. In
the list of the house no abbot is named, he was
probably absent on some official duty for the
order, but Richard Nottingham sub-prior comes
first; the total number of inmates is fourteen and
includes the vicars of Ilkeston and Hallam, and
the presbiter de Stanton.
The list of May 1488, from the visitation,
gives John Stanley, abbot, Thomas Stanley, prior,
Robert Aston, sub-prior; ten priest canons including the vicars of Ilkeston, Hallam, and
Heanor, and the presbiter of Stanton; and two
novices. The abbey was then using ten measures
(modios) of corn and two quarters of barley a
week; and they were killing twenty bullocks,
twenty pigs, and sixty sheep a year. At this
visitation Canon Richard Blackwall was found
guilty of rebellion and other excesses for which
he was in no wise penitent; and the visitor
sentenced him to forty days in pena gravioris
culpae at the monastery of Alnwick, with ten
years' detention at that house. Whereupon the
offender broke down, expressed complete contrition and begged, supported by his brethren, for
mercy; the visitor therefore deferred his sentence
till the ensuing feast of St. John Baptist, when
the abbot was to report as to his conduct; he
was at once to be placed in prison by the abbot
if he committed any fresh offence. The punishment gravioris culpae in the Premonstratensian
order was a serious matter. The offender had to
sit by himself in the fratry at a bare table where
he was served with merely coarse bread and water;
he had to lie prostrate at the gate of the quire at
the ingress and egress of the canons; he was to
be spoken to by no one, and he was not to communicate at mass nor receive the kiss of peace.
At the visitation of 22 August, 1491, Bishop
Redman formally restored Richard Blackwall to
his place in quire and chapter. The convent
was ordered to remove immediately all kinds of
dogs (Canes neque caniculos) out of the precincts
ere the visitor left. They were warned never to
play games of chance, and not to eat in secular
houses within a mile of the house. The visitor
records that he had ocular demonstration of laxity
of observance of rules, owing to the imbecility
and impotence of the abbot, John Stanley. The
list of the house numbered seventeen and included
a canon of West Durham, who had been sent
there for discipline.
The result of this visitation was to secure the
resignation of the aged and infirm John Stanley,
the seventeenth abbot, who had ruled the house
for twenty-two years. His successor, Richard
Nottingham, immediately after his election in
1491, made generous provision for his predecessor's needs so long as he should survive. He was
allowed a pension of twenty marks; the chambers both upper and lower, with storehouse and
woodhouse, which he had hitherto occupied,
and which were known as Chaddesden chamber;
a sufficiency of coal and faggots (with carriage of
same) for his fire, and of candles for light; one
of the canons, as chaplain, to say with him the
daily offices; a sufficiency of loaves of best bread
and dishes of meat, or fish from the kitchen
according to the day, and eight flagons a week of
the best beer; also board for two servants, a man
and a boy; pasture and hay, and stabling for two
horses; and the use of two silver salt-cellars, two
mazers bound with silver-gilt, six silver spoons,
and of all the furniture of his chambers, with
beds for himself and his servants.
In 1494, when Richard Nottingham was
abbot, the list of the house numbered sixteen,
two of whom were deacons, and two novices.
At this visitation Edward Hampton was found
guilty of incontinence, and was adjudged forty
days of heavy punishment, and five years' banishment to the monastery of Dureford. John Bebe
also confessed to a like sin, and was condemned
to forty days of heavy punishment, and seven
years' banishment to Halesowen. Apart from
these sad cases the visitor's report was favourable;
all things within and without the monastery
were stated to be most honourably preserved by
the circumspection of the abbot, and the house
was free from debt.
The last recorded visitation of Redman was
on 15 May, 1500. John Bebe's penitence had
secured a remission of his sentence, for he is
entered as cantor of Dale, and must have been
fully restored to quire and chapter at an earlier
date than this. The visitor states that he did
not leave any precepts, because of the fewness
of the brethren, on account of the plague which
the Lord had lately permitted amongst them, but
he doubted not but that the said abbot would fill
up the accustomed numbers as the means of the
church permitted.
In 1536 Henry VIII's commissioners, Legh and
Layton, were at Dale. They made charges of
definite and grave immorality against the abbot
and one of the canons. Had they been believed
by Cromwell, these charges would assuredly have
been made an excuse to withhold their pensions
when suppression came; this was not done, but
negotiations were almost immediately entered
into with the very superior who was supposed to
be living a peculiarly abandoned life. Under the
head of Superstitio, the visitor recorded that the
abbey possessed part of the girdle and milk of the
Blessed Virgin, and the wheel of St. Catherine
in silver.
The visitors returned the annual value of the
house as £140. This corresponded in round
numbers with the Valor Ecclesiasticus of the
previous year, where the clear annual value was
declared as £144 12s.
This sum brought the abbey well within the
£200 limit of income for the suppression of the
smaller houses, but in January, 1536-7, exception from suppression was formally granted by the
crown to John Bebe, who had been appointed
abbot of Dale in 1510 for his house; for this
privilege the considerable sum of £166 13s. 4d.
was paid to the king. (fn. 15) The receipt of the fine,
however, made no difference, for in less than two
years, namely on 30 October, 1538, the monastery
and all its possessions in the counties of Derby,
Nottingham, Leicester, and Northampton, were
surrendered to Dr. Legh for the crown. The
'surrender' was signed by John Bebe, abbot,
Richard Wheytteley, prior, and fifteen other
canons. (fn. 16)
The abbot's complacency was rewarded by
the considerable pension of £26 13s. 4d. The
prior and five of the canons obtained pensions of
£5 6s. 8d., the rest at lower rates. (fn. 17) Eleven
of the canons were in receipt of their pensions in
the days of Philip and Mary.
Abbots of Dale (fn. 18)
I. Walter de Senteney, 31¾ years, 1200-31
II. William, 2½ years, 1231-3
III. John Grauncourt, 19 years, 39 weeks,
1233-53
IV. Hugh de Lincoln, 14¾ years, 1253-68
V. Simon, 5 years, 11 days, 1268-73
VI. Laurence, (fn. 19) 16¼ years, 1273-89
VII. Richard de Normanton, 8 years, save
10 days, 1289-97
VIII. John de Lincoln, 6 years, 1297-1303
IX. Richard de Normanton (restored), 1 year,
38 weeks, 1303-4.
X. John Horsley, 26 years, 45 weeks,
1304-31
XI. John Woodhouse, 15 weeks, 1331
XII. William Horsley, 21 years, 41 weeks,
1331-52
XIII. Roger de Kyrketon, 3 years, 28 weeks,
1352-5
XIV. William de Boney, 42 years, 13 weeks,
1355-97
XV. Henry Monyash, 39 years, 11 weeks,
1397-1436
XVI. John Spondon, 33 years, 1436-69
XVII. John Stanley, 22 years, 1469-91
XVIII. Richard Nottingham, 19 years, 14911510
XIX. John Bebe, 28 years, 1510-38
The thirteenth-century pointed oval seal (fn. 20) of
this abbey presents a half-length of the Blessed
Virgin and Holy Child under a pointed arch.
Under a trefoiled arch in the base is a half-length
of the abbot with pastoral staff. The legend
is:—
s' ECCLESIE : SANCT : MARIE : DE : PARCO : STANLAE.