52 
be held by him in fee farm, as of the manor of Sheriff Hutton in 
Yorkshire, in free and common socage, but not in capite, paying 
to the Crown the fee farm rent of £143 165. 2%d. I have 
examined the duplicate of the grant on the Patent Roll for that 
year in the Record Office, and find that not only was there a grant 
on June 16th, to Thomas Chaloner and Johanna his wife, of Saint 
Bees, on the terms mentioned, but that the same document conveys 
the manor of Suytall in Yorkshire, parcel of the possessions of 
Kirkstall Abbey, also lands and rents belonging formerly to the 
Abbeys of Jervaux and Monkbretton, no consideration being 
named; the probability being that the grant was in satisfaction 
of a debt, and that such parcels were eked out as met the claim. 
The manor, rectory, and cell of Saint Bees had existed in the 
Crown from the suppression, and the receipts were regularly 
accounted for in the Exchequer Accounts. I quote an extract as 
referring to an old family long existing amongst us :— 
1548. Anthone Fox doth hold one messuage and two oxgangs 
of land, and doth pay yearly at the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin 
and St. Michael the Archangel 3s., and in customary dues and 
services 2 hens, xx. eggs, and 7 boon harvest days valued at xx. 
shillings. 
The grant at this time indicates that Sir Thomas was not 
absolutely in a position of hostility to Dudley, who had been 
created Duke of Northumberland ; his former patron, and the man 
to whom he was devoted, Somerset, having traversed the then 
well beaten track that led to the block. Now, several consider- 
ations arise in connection with this grant, and first I would like to 
make a few remarks upon the distribution of the abbey lands. A 
great outcry has been made on the mode in which this distribution 
was effected. Spelman on Sacrilege, and numerous other writers 
in the present day, lift up their hands in pious horror at the sup- 
pression and distribution. Undoubtedly, the latter was in some 
respects a scramble ; and, undoubtedly, grants were made to very 
unworthy individuals ; but, on the other hand, it must be remem- 
bered that the heirs of the great original donors, in numerous 
instances, did but receive back the lands granted by their ancestors, 
