House of Cistercian monks: The abbey of Pipewell

HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS

8. THE ABBEY OF PIPEWELL

Pipewell is a hamlet or liberty within the old bounds of Rockingham Forest, lying in the three parishes of Rushton St. Peter's, Great Oakley, and Wilbarston. Here in the year 1143 William Batevileyn founded an abbey for Cistercian monks, dedicated like all houses of that order to the honour of the Blessed Virgin. (fn. 1) It was a daughter house of Newminster, Northumberland, which was founded in 1137. (fn. 2) The earliest charters usually give the monastery the name of St. Mary de Divisis from the exceptional nature of its foundation. Not only did the demesne lands lie on both sides of Harper's Brook, which was the boundary between the hundreds of Rothwell and Corby, but the very outbuildings within the precincts stood on two distinct fees, and were always known as the east and west granges. The memoranda relative to the abbey in the first chartulary cited in the note give an excellent summary of the numerous early benefactions to the monastery quoted in the Monasticon. (fn. 3) The Taxation of 1291 gives the abbey an income of £121 0s. 8½d. derived from temporalities in the diocese of Lincoln, and £30 9s. 8d. in the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, (fn. 4) besides a rent of 4s. from the Norwich diocese, and a spirituality of £10 from the church of Dunchurch in the Coventry and Lichfield diocese. (fn. 5)

The most valuable part of the abbey's possessions, next to the woods and meadows by which the monastery was surrounded, lay in Warwickshire, in the parish and district of Dunchurch, just over the county borders. Here the monks had several granges, the most important being at Causton, to the north-west of Dunchurch. The gifts of a certain William de Causton, who afterwards became a monk of Pipewell, formed the nucleus of their Warwickshire estates, which were afterwards considerably extended in the reign of Stephen by Ingelram Clement, who held of Sir Henry de Arderne, who also confirmed the various grants. Turchil de Causton and Winmare his wife were also large benefactors in the same district; eventually they released all their property to the convent on condition that the abbot and monks should provide them with necessaries during their life and bury them at Pipewell when they died, with the like ceremonies as if they had been monks. In 1266 the chief men of Thurlaston united to claim common rights on Causton Common, but Abbot Gerard de Lega stood firm against them, and obtained a verdict in his favour at the Warwick assizes. There were then at Causton Grange two large ovens, where they baked weekly sixteen quarters of corn for common bread, and six of better quality for the monks and lay brethren and their servants in their granges of Dunchurch, Thurlaston, Rokeby, 'Lalleford,' Newbold, and 'Thirnmilne,' in Warwickshire, and for their granges of Ashby, Winwick, and Elkington, in Northamptonshire. The bread cart from Causton would have to make a considerable round. In 1287 the Warwickshire priory of Kirby laid claim to Causton Grange, and at first gained the day through the fraudulent dealing of the priory's attorney, according to the chronicle of Pipewell. There was grief and sadness at the abbey when the community found themselves bereft of the flower of their possessions. But Roger de Seyton, chief justice of the Common Pleas, discovering the fraud, went to the king, taking with him both the abbot of Pipewell and the prior of Kirby. Edward I. personally adjudicated, and ruled that the abbey should retain Causton on payment to the priory of 200 marks. The monks in their joy and gratitude ordained that the anniversary of Roger de Seyton should be solemnly kept in their house for ever. (fn. 6) In 1307 the monks suffered grievous disaster in connexion with this estate. A candle carelessly fixed against the wall of one of the outbuildings of Causton Grange caused a great fire, and the whole of the buildings were burnt to the ground. The description of the chronicler shows that the Pipewell monks had then built for themselves a monastery in miniature in the centre of their Warwickshire domains. We are told that the fire consumed the cloister, the dormitories of the monks and lay-brethren, with the adjoining rear-dorter, the frater and the chapel, together with a certain little chamber adjoining it, the abbot's chamber, the chamber of the monk 'de Bruer',' and also the well-built kitchen. The buildings were restored, but, as 'years rolled on,' in the first year of Abbot William came robbers to Causton by night and burnt the kitchen of the monks and lay brethren, as well as the stable for the horses, but the monks and brethren there escaped from the terrible danger. (fn. 7) When the Valor of 1535 was taken the property of the abbey at Causton was returned as bringing in an annual income of £36 6s. 8d.; the whole of their Warwickshire property produced a yearly return of £93 13s. 11d. The abbot and convent also held the rectories or considerable outgoings from the rectories of Geddington, Great and Little Newton, Barford, Great Oakley, and Elkington in Northamptonshire, Dunchurch in Warwickshire, and Wickhambrook in Suffolk, together with lands and rents both in these counties and in the shires of Rutland, Bedford, and Lincoln. The clear annual value of the house at the time of its dissolution amounted to £283 1s. 7¾d., and the gross value to nearly £350. (fn. 8)

The abbot and convent received charters of various grants and privileges from Henry III. (fn. 9) Edward I. granted them in 1276 quittance of chiminage throughout the forest of Rockingham. (fn. 10) Abbot John de Hillum in June, 1282, obtained a grant of protection to last until All Saintstide for the purpose of attending the general chapter of his order; (fn. 11) he obtained similar protection in 1288, 1289, and 1294 for a like reason. (fn. 12) In November, 1329, the abbot of Pipewell received protection for a year, being about to cross the seas for the chapter general. (fn. 13) In connexion with evidences of royal favour it is recorded that the king exercised the right of imposing pensioners on the abbey as in the case of houses of royal foundation and patronage. (fn. 14) In May, 1310, Edward II. sent John de Somery, his scullion, to the abbey to receive the necessaries of life in food and clothing for himself and a groom and horse. (fn. 15) Thomas Barber was sent in 1317 to receive maintenance for his lifetime in the convent, (fn. 16) and in 1330 William atte Hall was sent to receive such maintenance as William le Hunt enjoyed at the late king's request. (fn. 17) Queen Philippa, who made a stay at Rockingham Castle in 1336, made a grant of letters patent to the abbot and convent of Pipewell that their action in bestowing a livery in victuals and raiment from their house to Roger de Langale, her serjeant, should not prejudice the house as a precedent after his death. (fn. 18)

A list of the abbots of Pipewell from the foundation of the abbey up to 1323 is given in one of the chartularies; (fn. 19) unfortunately the dates are wanting. In connexion with the eleventh name on the list, Gerard de Lega, who ruled in the earlier part of the reign of Henry III., the chronicler tells us that as he and one of the monks were journeying between Naseby and Kelmarsh they were set upon by malefactors on horseback, who robbed the abbot of his palfrey and the monk of his horse, with all their harness, 'nor,' adds the scribe writing a century later, 'has it been discovered from that day to the present where they took the horses.' (fn. 20) John de Hillum is recorded in the diocesan registers to have received the abbatial benediction from the bishop of Lincoln in 1280. (fn. 21) An entry under the year 1286 states that the abbot of Pipewell came into chancery on 26 April, and desired that it should be made known to all that the seal of his house had been forged at St. Hilary by brother Ingeron of London, a wandering (vagabundum) monk of his house. (fn. 22)

It was about this time, and during this rule, that the grievous waste of the property of the abbey began, according to the chronicler. (fn. 23) The situation of the house in the midst of Rockingham Forest naturally accounted for so large a proportion of its endowments being in woodland. Timber and undergrowth were one of the chief sources of its income, and when these were neglected or squandered the convent became much impoverished. Six causes are set forth for this grievous loss. The first cause was the gross waste of wood in the house itself. When first founded certain of the inmates had respective duties assigned to them of keeping the bakehouse, hospice, convent kitchen, abbot's kitchen, the infirmaries of the (1) monks, (2) lay-brethren or conversi, (3) and seculars, as well as the east and west granges, supplied with fuel, care being taken to gather only the dead wood or the old roots of the oak trees. The brewhouse and bakehouse were also further supplied by two men, who went out daily into the woods to procure supplies of thorns and briars with a cart called, in lingua materna, 'thorn cart.' But in more degenerate days the nearest wood that came handy was used, green wood and the tops of young oaks or their roots being taken without any care or discrimination. The second cause was that various great men, whom the monks feared to oppose, obtained large quantities of timber from the woods of the abbey for private purposes. The greatest offender in high places was Walter de Langton, bishop of Lichfield, and treasurer of Edward I., who obtained from these woods sufficient material for building himself a sumptuous mansion at Thorpe-Watervyle. Others named were John de Hoton, described as the right hand of the bishop, who supplied himself for rebuilding his manse house at Brampton; Henry de Stokes, official of Northampton, for repairing and building houses at Stoke, and repairing his church at Ravensthorpe; Thomas Latimer, for building a large chamber at Braybrooke; and Stephen Brown, for a large parsonage house at Desborough. The third cause for the destruction of the woods was the large amount of timber used in the construction and repair of the granges, granaries, mills and other buildings pertaining to the abbey. The fourth cause was the wanton and wholesale theft of timber by great numbers of people, who came by day and night to plunder the woods in Desborough, Stoke, Wilbarston, Charlton, 'Acle,' and especially in Rushton. In the palmy days of the abbey the duty of warden of the woods was assigned by the monks to a mounted lay-brother, who had under him three foresters. A fifth cause was the great sales of wood for comparatively small sums during the rule of John de Hillum, and under his three successors. The sixth and last cause enumerated was the wholesale conversion of woodland into tillage, 'Colleshawe,' 'Rahage,' and 'Otha' woods being entirely cleared, and Wilbarston and 'Pykemede' grubbed up as early as the year 1237. (fn. 24)

This want of management seems to have continued under Andrew de Royewell, who succeeded in 1298, (fn. 25) and was in other respects an able and vigorous administrator. He is said to have made new quire stalls for the monks. He had held the office of cellarer under abbot Thomas of Grafton and two successive Abbots, and it was through his energy when cellarer that so much was done to the granges in different places. He built a chamber and kitchen for the use of the monks at the grange of Bigging (Thurleston), removed the grange of Rokeby, which had been in the village, to another place, and built some cottages, planted part of Causton Grange by the sheepfold, and rebuilt the Northamptonshire grange of Braybrooke, erecting there a hall, chapel, chambers, and rear-dorter. When he entered on his office as cellarer, the brethren were in the habit of using wooden spoons, but Andrew provided fifty silver spoons, probably from some special bequest, and on each of them was stamped his name. A very human touch of weakness is recorded in connexion with this stamping. When John de Hillum succeeded as abbot he took offence at the name of Andrew on the spoons, and caused the name to be deleted and his own substituted. Richard of Hayham, on his promotion as abbot, took the wiser course of erasing this name and substituting the word 'Pipewell' 'which remains on the spoons unto this day,' adds the monastic chronicler. (fn. 26)

On 26 February, 1311, during the rule of Thomas of Thockerington, the church of the Blessed Mary of Pipewell was dedicated. The following year the cemetery, cloisters, and chapter-house were dedicated by a certain bishop from Ireland on 5 April, by licence of the bishop of Lincoln. At the consecration of the church there was a vast concourse of men and women, and among the magnates attending the ceremony were Thomas, earl of Lancaster, Baron William de Ros, and Baron Richard Basset. (fn. 27) It appears also that there was at this date a complete rebuilding, not only of the church but of the conventual buildings, as otherwise they would not have required benediction. In spite of and perhaps on account of the outlay necessary for building purposes in 1320, when Abbot Thomas resigned, the debts of the house were very considerable. (fn. 28) Nicholas, the nineteenth abbot, succeeded in 1322, and in September of the following year the monks in general chapter resolved, on the ground of poverty, to abandon the abbey, the chronicles citing the six causes already mentioned as the reasons for this distress. (fn. 29) But this measure was only a temporary expedient. Thomas, who rapidly succeeded Nicholas as abbot, resolved to be more careful of the remaining woods, and took action against some of the offenders. (fn. 30) In 1328 one Robert de Rushton, clerk, received a pardon from the king for having felled five oaks in the wood of the abbot of Pipewell during the reign of the late king; (fn. 31) in the year 1331 a commission was issued on the complaint of the abbot that Robert de Veer, knt., and others depastured his grass at Benefield with cattle, took away three carts with nine horses sent to bring home his hay, prevented him from mowing the rest of his grass, carried away a great part of the hay and other goods, drove 60 oxen, 10 bullocks, 30 cows, and 10 heifers, worth £100, thence to the castle of Rockingham, and impounded them for a long time, not suffering the monks to replevy them according to law and custom. (fn. 32)

The abbey appears in the fourteenth century to have resorted to the appropriation of churches in order to lessen the weight of poverty and debt with which the community was perpetually overburdened. In 1344 Pope Clement VI. confirmed to the abbot and convent the appropriation of the church of Wickhambrook, Suffolk, of the yearly value of 27 marks. (fn. 33) In the same year the royal assent was obtained for the appropriation of the church of Hinxworth. (fn. 34) Boniface IX. in 1397 sanctioned the appropriation to the abbey of the churches of Elkington and Hinxworth, the united value of which did not exceed 36 marks, and that of the monastery 300 marks. The churches might be served by monks of the monastery, or secular priests presented by the abbot and convent. (fn. 35) The same pope in 1399 permitted the appropriation to the table of Roger, abbot of Pipewell, of the church of Dunchurch, Warwickshire, so long as Roger remained abbot. The church might be served by a religious or secular priest appointed and removed at the abbot's pleasure. At the same time the abbot received an indult for life exempting him from being visited by a visitor or chapter general of his order. (fn. 36) In 1366 Bishop Bokyngham granted an indulgence for the altar of the Holy Trinity in the conventual church of Pipewell. (fn. 37)

In spite of the alleviations thus provided, the abbey seems to have been in a very poor way in the early fifteenth century. In 1412 a petition was presented to the pope in which it was represented that the houses and buildings were very ruinous and worn with age, that many of the tenements had been abandoned by their inhabitants on account of the barrenness of the lands, so that their income was insufficient for the maintenance of the abbot and monks and for the due discharge of their ancient hospitality. The pope appropriated anew to the abbey the church of Elkington, which was of their patronage, and of which the parish, in consequence of pestilences, was destitute of all inhabitants save three or four servitors of the monastery. The previous appropriation of Boniface IX. in 1397 did not take place on account of that pope's subsequent general revocation of appropriations. (fn. 38)

Entries relating to this abbey during the fifteenth century and up to the eve of the dissolution are few. Henry VIII. on 3 August, 1511, spent Sunday at Pipewell Abbey; 6s. 8d. was charged in the accounts 'for the King's offering upon this Sunday.' (fn. 39) The sum of £66 13s. 4d. was exacted in 1522 from the abbey by way of loan, due from the spirituality towards the king's expenses in France for the recovery of the French crown. (fn. 40)

Sir William Parre wrote to Cromwell on 15 November, 1535, to intercede for the abbey, giving it an excellent character. He said: 'When the visitors were lately in these parts they visited the monastery of Pipewell, where the abbot and his brethren obeyed the injunctions. But this house being of very small revenue, keeping continual hospitality, relieving the poor, maintaining divine service in as virtuous and laudable a manner as any I know, by the virtuous provision of the abbot and two or three of his brethren who cannot now have access to make necessary provision for their house, I beg you will have pity on them in this behalf, and grant them a dispensation at my request.' (fn. 41)

At the very outset of the great and serious insurrection caused by the suppression of the monasteries in 1536, Thomas, earl of Rutland, was journeying up to town to see the king, and was lodging for the night within the abbey of Pipewell, when royal letters reached him ordering his instant return to Nottingham Castle, which was in danger. (fn. 42) Sir William Parre, the king's brother-in-law, wrote again to Cromwell, stating that the abbot had just told him that he feared the dissolution of his house, and was ready to give Cromwell £200 that it might stand. Parre repeated his testimony as to the abbey, assuring Cromwell that the abbot and his convent were men of virtuous condition, living according to their profession, that the poor over a wide circuit were relieved by their hospitality and charitable deeds as in no other house of double the rents, and that he had therefore promised to become a suitor to Cromwell on their behalf. The writer thinks he might be able to persuade them to give up their habits and take the habits of secular priests. (fn. 43) Parre wrote again to Cromwell from Brigstock, having received a verbal message that Pipewell must fall, once again imploring that it might be spared. He stated that he was moved by no vain pity or desire of gain, but by the strong pressure that was brought to bear on him by the honest gentlemen of the country-side, and because of the great relief and succour that the poor had daily at the abbey. He would rather that the house should stand than have ten times the free value. (fn. 44) On 30 September Parre wrote yet again, realizing at last that all his representations were in vain, and stating that the abbot was now content to surrender. If the king desired the house dissolved he suggested that a commission should be sent to Dr. Legh, Parishe, and Freeman, who were then at Sulby; he also requested to have the house and demesne for himself, but did not omit to put in a final word as to pensions for the abbot and his brethren, for he 'never knew nor heard but that they used themselves like honest men.' (fn. 45) A joint letter from Dr. Legh and William Cavendish, addressed to Cromwell, and dated 25 October, acknowledged the receipt of his letter 'admonishing us in nowise to deface the monastery of Pipewell, and promised obedience.' (fn. 46)

The formal surrender of the house and all the possessions was made to Legh 5 November, 1538. The deed was signed by Thomas Gyllam, abbot, and thirteen of the monks. (fn. 47) The following day the commissioners handed over to Sir William Parre the implements, household stuff, corn, cattle, ornaments of the church, etc., of the despoiled house. (fn. 48) The inventory of the ornaments and images in the church (fn. 49) mentions 'Seint Benett's Chapell,' 'Seint Stephen's Chapell,' the 'Chapel' of 'Seint Michell,' and 'Seint Nicholas' Chapell,' the 'Trynyte' Altar and 'Seint Katheryn's' Altar. 'Rewardes,' apart from pensions, were bestowed upon the elected community thus thrown out of their home. The abbot, Thomas Gyllam, received £10, eleven of the monks 50s., and two 40s. 'Rewardes' were also given to forty servants of the abbey, varying in amount from 20s. to 3s 4d. (fn. 50) The pension list, in addition to the above 'douceurs' allotted by the commissioners, gave the abbot £66 13s. 4d., five of the monks £6 each, another five £5 6s. 8d. each, to one £5, and to two £1 6s. 8d. The pensions, as in the case of St. Andrew's, Northampton, were probably on a scale regulated by length of service. There is evidence of an action fairly generally resorted to by Cromwell's tools, whereby the community immediately before their surrender and while their seal was still valid were cajoled or coerced into granting annuities to the spoilers or their servants and friends. In the case of Pipewell, Edward Montagu, John Montague, William Saunders, George Giffard, and thirteen others secured to themselves annuities varying from £2 to £1 6s. 8d. (fn. 51)

News of the illegal misuse of the buildings of Pipewell having reached London, on the complaint of Sir William Parre to whom the estate had been granted, a commission was appointed in 1540 to inquire into the matter. One of the commissioners was the late abbot. They found that the hall, with chambers over it, the buttery, pantry, chapter-house, and 'scole house' were still in good repair; that the paving of the dormitory had been given to Sir William Parre at the time of the suppression; that the iron standards and the glass of the windows of the cloister, of the parlour, and of various chambers had been stolen before last Michaelmas; and that the salt chamber, the fish chamber, and the cheese chamber had lost by theft not only their windows but their doors, and that the cart-house and smithy had been similarly stripped; that 'in the dormitorie every monk had had his chamber (fn. 52) gyven hym by the king's commissioners at the suppresyng which the same monkes toke away'; that 'in the same dormitorie a strong press is standing which contained, as the late abbot said, all evidence of the house, that the dore had been broken open, but what was wantinge not known'; that the iron out of the frater windows had been stolen, but that the panelling and 'delling' of the walls of the frater had been given to the abbot and taken away; that the doors, windows, and floorings of the cellarer's chambers and brewhouse had been stolen and taken away; that the floors of the steeple had been taken away by those who had come to clear off the lead for the king; that the desks in the quire and all the windows in the infirmary had been broken up and sold by consent of the commissioners; that at the same time the glass and iron of the nether windows of the cloisters had been taken away and sold; that many other doors and windows within and without were stolen; that the great bars of iron out of the chapel were taken and sold to my Lady Tresham by the commissioners; that one or two had been mentioned as the thieves and 'that a tynker stole out of the said late monasterie iron and lead and was hanged at Northampton.' (fn. 53)

Abbots of Pipewell (fn. 54)

Geoffrey 1143

Robert

William

Roger

Robert

Roger

William

Robert of Pateshull

William of Lynton

Robert of Newbold

Gerard de Lega

Reginald

Thomas of Grafton, elected 1265, resigned 1279

John de Hillum, elected 1280, resigned 1294

Richard of Heyham, elected 1294

Andrew of Royewell, elected 1298

Thomas of Thokerington, elected 1308, resigned 1320

William of Lalleford, elected 1320, resigned 1322

Nicholas, elected 1322

Thomas

William of Lalleford

Nicholas, (fn. 55) occurred 1334 and 1344

John, occurred 1367

John of Coventry, occurred 1405

Stephen of Rushton (fn. 56) died 1435-6

John Greyne, (fn. 57) elected 1435-6

Thomas Weston (fn. 58) occurs 1483

Robert Stamford, (fn. 59) occurred 1504 and 1510

Thomas Lenton, (fn. 60) occurred 1529 and 1535

Thomas Gyllam, (fn. 61) occurred 1538

The thirteenth-century pointed oval seal of the abbey, taken from a cast at the British Museum, (fn. 62) represents the Virgin with crown seated on a carved throne in canopied niche with trefoiled arch, the Holy Child on her left knee. At each side, in a small niche, a bust of a saint, below it a sprig of foliage. In base under a curved arch with the inscription AVE MARIA on the groining, and with an arcade at each side, an abbot with pastoral staff praying. Legend:

S' BŌE : ABBATIS : ET : CŌEENTVS : MARIE : DE PIPEWELLE