130 THE MANOR OF ABNEY. 



have formed part of the possessions of one Gilbert de Stoke, 

 for among the earliest of the Rufford charters (fol. 129) is 

 one which is dated 2 John (1200), and, as quoted by Mr. Pym 

 Yeatman in his section viii., p. 402, is as follows: — " Gerebertus 

 de Stoca gave half of Abbeneia to the Abbey of Rufford." 

 Another charter, from the same source, is quoted in section v., 

 p. 189, to this effect: — ^" Galfrey Pavelli had license of 

 concord with Eustace de Mortain. Robert Pavelli attested a 

 charter of Amicia, Lady of Stoke, to Rufford, concerning half 

 the manor of Abney — dated 3 John." — (Rufford Charters, 234.) 



Whether this is the same moiety granted by Gilbert, or 

 whether it alluded to the other half of the manor, does not 

 appear. 



To this day there is almost conclusive evidence that a portion 

 at least of Abney was held by the Abbey in the word " Grange " 

 attached to the smaller of the two hamlets. A grange, 

 although it signified a repository for grain, was, in feudal times, 

 the term specially applied to an outlying farm-house, with 

 barns, belonging to a religious establishment or a feudal lord, 

 where crops and tithes in kind were stored ; the land attached 

 to the house and buildings being farmed in the interests of 

 the Abbey. 



Whether Amicia, Lady of Stoke, owned the manor of Abney 

 in her own right, or in that of her husband, Gilbert, is not 

 clear. Nor is it clear as to the date or manner in which this 

 estate passed into their hands. Mr. Pym Yeatman more than 

 suggests that this Amicia was a member of the Albini family, 

 and obtained the manor of Abney through her father, and sees 

 in this fact another proof that Albini and Abney were one 

 and the same word, and one and the same family. 



According to his pedigree of the Albinis,i Amicia, daughter 

 of Henry Albini, Lord of Cainhoe {vita 1107), married Mathew, 

 son of Walthieu de Ponington, and by him, " who gave the 

 whole of Albenya to Rufford,'' had one daughter and sole heir, 

 Amicia, who married Lancelin de Stokes, son of Lancelin, 



'^Feudal History, cf. pp. 393 and 401, sec. viii. 



