CROXDEN ABBEY. 133 
room, and an upper story, which was the dormitory of the 
lay brethren. These became known as the Billysdon build- 
ings; and, in later times, the name appears to have been 
corrupted to Botelston. 
In 1319, the patronage passed, by the marriage of the 
heiress, from the family of De Verdun to that of Furnivall. 
In 1329, Richard de Schepisched was elected abbot, and 
the following year the buildings suffered great damage from 
a violent storm of wind, which necessitated the re-covering 
of the refectory and belfry with shingles of oak. In 1334, 
the dormitories, the treasury, and other parts were also re- 
covered. This appears to have been done at the expense of 
Johanna de Furnivall, who, in the same year, was buried 
before the high altar. In 1335, a new chamber for the Abbot 
was constructed between the infirmary kitchen and the dormi- 
tory. I would remark that it has been customary, both 
here and at the ruins of other Cistercian Abbeys, to describe 
the remains of an important detached building, generally, as 
here, to the South East, as the ‘‘abbot’s house’’; but the fact 
is that, the Cistercian rule required the Abbot to live ab- 
solutely in common with the other monks, and even the 
chamber or set of rooms which was by degrees set apart 
for the abbot involved some evasion of the rule. The de- 
tached building I have just spoken of was, no doubt, in reality 
the infirmary, and contained a large hall and probably a 
chapel. In 1367, the affairs of the Abbey had fallen into 
great confusion, probably the result of the terrible pestilence 
known as the Black Death, which was so fatal throughout 
the whole population, and especially amongst the clergy and 
the inmates of monasteries, a few years before. Accordingly 
in this year there was a visitation from the parent Abbey of 
Aulnoy, this being the only occasion recorded of any in- 
terference on the part of the parent Abbey. 
In 1369, the ‘‘House called Botelston,” presumably the 
West wing, fell from the church, except three couples, and 
