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been materially decreased and the signs of impending doom were 
unmistakeable. The execution of the three Carthusian Priors, 
Houghton of London, Webster of Axholme, and Laurence of 
Beauvale, had no doubt struck terror into the Carthusians. So 
called “surrenders” were the order of the day; and as to the 
spirit in which these surrenders were made, striking evidence is 
forthcoming in a letter written by Edmund Horde, last Prior of 
Hinton, to his brother Alan, of the Middle Temple (Cott Man). 
“In the Lord Jesus shall be your salvation. And when ye 
marvel that I and my brethren do not freely give and surrender 
up our house at the motion of the King’s Majesty, truly, brother, 
I marvel greatly that ye think so. And considering that there is no 
cause given by us why the house shall be put down, but that 
the services of God, religious conversation of the brethren, 
hospitality, alms-deeds, with all our other duties, be as well 
observed in this poor house as in any religious house in this realm, 
which we have trusted that the King’s grace will consider. But 
because that ye write of the King’s high displeasure, I will 
endeavour myself, as much as I may, to persuade my brethren to 
conformity in this matter, so that the King’s highness shall not 
have any cause to be displeased with us, trusting that my poor 
brethren, which know not where to have their living, shall be 
charitably looked upon. Thus our Lord Jesu preserve you in 
grace.” E. HORDE. 
Such was the spirit of the surrender of the Prior and Brethren of 
Hinton. And soon the surrender came. 
Cromwell had long had his eye on this House, and Walter 
Lord Hungerford, a near neighbour at Farleigh, had asked him 
for the “spoil” of it. Accordingly the King’s Commissioners, 
Tregonwell and Petre, arrived at Hinton, after dissolving the 
Abbey of Keynsham, on the 25th January, 1539. Persuasion 
was tried, at first without success, only three monks being 
“conformable,” one Monk Nicholas Balland expressly denying 
the King’s supremacy and affirming that the Bishop of Rome was 
