DALE ABBEY REPORT. IOI 



of some of the Conventual buildings, were cleared out, and 

 the foundation walls laid bare. 



Before describing in detail the results of the excavations, a 

 brief outline of the history of the foundation of the Monastery 

 may perhaps be of interest. 



The Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Dale, was 

 originally founded about 1160, by Serlo de Grendon, Lord of 

 Bradley, as a Monastery of Austin Canons. The Chronicle of 

 Thomas de Muscat a Canon of the Abbey, temp. Abbot 

 John de Gauncorth, 1229-1249, states that these Canons built 

 a Church, but, after a time, growing idle, and addicted to the 

 pleasures of the chase, they were removed, by order of the 

 King. 



William de Grendon, a priest, and son of Serlo aforesaid, 

 then invited six Canons of the Abbey of Tupholme, in the 

 county of Lincoln, to come to Dale, and thus brought it under 

 the rule of the Praemonstratensian Order. 



These Canons, however, after spending seven years in great 

 poverty, bade farewell to Dale, and returned to Tupholme. 

 They were replaced by five Canons from Welbeck, also a 

 Praemonstratensian House, but, after a stay of five years, 

 during which they met with nothing save misfortunes, these, 

 too, returned to their Nottinghamshire home. 



Undismayed by these failures, William, brother of Serlo de 

 Grendon, and his relatives, Galfrid de Salicosa-Mara and his 

 wife Matilda, finally endowed the Monastery about 1195, and 

 persuaded nine Canons of Newhouse, in the county of Lincoln, 

 the chief establishment of the Praemonstratensian Order in 

 England, to take charge of the Abbey. From this time Dale 

 Abbey increased in possessions and riches, under the rule of 

 eighteen successive Abbots, so that at the time of the Dissolu- 

 tion in 1539, when it was' surrendered by the Abbot and 

 sixteen Canons, its yearly value was estimated at ^144 4 s -> 

 a sum equal to nearly ^3000 in these days. 



* The original of this most interesting document is in the British Museum. 

 It is given in full by Dugdale, and a fair translation will be found in 

 Glover's " History and Gazeteer of the County of Derby," vol. ii, part i, 

 PP 37I-378- 



