OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. sl 
of Pochewell, the Manor of Treglaston, and that of Bruham 
in the diocese of Bath. We learn from Tanner, that 
shortly before the Reformation there were here 17 monks, 
who were endowed with £155 10s. 5ld. per annum, an in- 
come which, though it sounds but little to our ears, was in 
the reign of Henry VIII. a very considerable sum. The 
names of the Abbots of Cleeve, as siven in Dugdale, are 
Henry, who occurs in 1297; Richard de Bret, elected in 
1315 ; Robert de Clyve, elected 1321; John occurs in 
1407 ; Leonard in 1416 ; William Seylake, confirmed 28th 
of September, 1419; John Stone professed obedience as 
Abbot Ist October, 1421 ; David Joiner, who occeurs 1435, 
and again in 1463 ; John Paynter occurs in 1509 ; and 
William Dovell, who succeeded in 1510, and after the 
Dissolution had a pension of £26 13s. 4d. On the 30th 
of January in the 29th year of Henry VIII, the King 
granted to Robert Earl of Sussex the reversion of the 
house and site of Cleeve Abbey, with all the messuages 
belonging to it, in the parishes of Old Cleeve, London, 
Bylbrook, Washford, Hungerford, Golsinggate, Roadwater, 
Leigh, and Brynham, in the county of Somerset, except 
the rectory of Old Cleeve, to be held by him and his 
heirs male. 
Although the ruins of Cleeve Abbey at the present day 
present far more that is interesting both to the Archxo- 
logist and Artist than can be found on the sites of the 
great majority of monastie establishments, time, that 
ceaseless destroyer, and the far more rapidly destruc- 
tive hand of tasteless and ignorant utilitarianism, have 
committed such extensive ravages upon this once magnifi- 
cent fabrie, that, I fear, I can do little more than 
give a description of its remains as they now exist, 
offering to your consideration such conjectures as to their 
voL. v1., 1855, PART II. L 
