RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



of Ashby, Winwick, and Elkington, in North- 

 amptonshire. The bread cart from Causton 

 would have to make a considerable round. In 

 1287 the Warwickshire priory of Kirby laid 

 claim to Causton Grange, and at first gained the 

 day through the fraudulent dealing of the priory's 

 attorney, according to the chronicle of Pipewell. 

 There was grief and sadness at the abbey when 

 the community found themselves bereft of the 

 flower of their possessions. But Roger deSeyton, 

 chief justice of the Common Pleas, discovering 

 the fraud, went to the king, taking with him 

 both the abbot of Pipewell and the prior of 

 Kirby. Edward I. personally adjudicated, and 

 ruled that the abbey should retain Causton on 

 payment to the priory of 200 marks. The monks 

 in their joy and gratitude ordained that the an- 

 niversary of Roger de Seyton should be solemnly 

 kept in their house for ever.i In 1307 the 

 monks suffered grievous disaster in connexion 

 with this estate. A candle carelessly fixed against 

 the wall of one of the outbuildings of Causton 

 Grange caused a great fire, and the whole of 

 the buildings were burnt to the ground. The 

 description of the chronicler shows that the 

 Pipewell monks had then built for themselves 

 a monastery in miniature in the centre of their 

 Warwickshire domains. We are told that the 

 fire consumed the cloister, the dormitories of the 

 monks and lay-brethren, with the adjoining 

 rear-dorter, the frater and the chapel, together 

 with a certain little chamber adjoining it, the 

 abbot's chamber, the chamber of the monk 'de 

 Bruer ',' and also the well-built kitchen. The 

 buildings were restored, but, as ' years rolled on,' 

 in the first year of Abbot William came robbers 

 to Causton by night and burnt the kitchen of 

 the monks and lay brethren, as well as the stable 

 for the horses, but the monks and brethren there 

 escaped from the terrible danger.- When the 

 Valor of 1535 was taken the property of the 

 abbey at Causton was returned as bringing in 

 an annual income of £2,^ 6s. 8d. ; the whole of 

 their Warwickshire property produced a yearly 

 return of ;^9 3 13^. lid. The abbot and convent 

 also held the rectories or considerable outgoings 

 from the rectories of Geddington, Great and 

 Little Newton, Barford, Great Oakley, and 

 Elkington in Northamptonshire, Dunchurch in 

 Warwickshire, and Wickhambrook in Suffolk, 

 together with lands and rents both in these 

 counties and in the shires of Rutland, Bedford, 

 and Lincoln. The clear annual value of the house 

 at the time of its dissolution amounted to 

 ^^283 i;. J^d., and the gross value to nearly 



^350.' 



The abbot and convent received charters of 



1 Cott. MS. Otho. B. xiv. f. 154. 



^ For this account of Causton see Cott. MS. Otho. 

 B. xiv. fF. 154, 156, 192 ; Dugdale, Jnfij. of IVarw. 

 d. 285-6. 



s Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 294-6. 



various grants and privileges from Henry III.* 

 Edward I. granted them in 1276 quittance of 

 chiminage throughout the forest of Rocking- 

 ham.' Abbot John de Hillum in June, 1282, 

 obtained a grant of protection to last until All 

 Saintstide for the purpose of attending the general 

 chapter of his order j" he obtained similar protec- 

 tion in 1288, 1289, and 1294 for a like reason." 

 In November, 1329, the abbot of Pipewell re- 

 ceived protection for a year, being about to cross 

 the seas for the chapter general.* In connexion 

 with evidences of royal favour it is recorded 

 that the king exercised the right of imposing 

 pensioners on the abbey as in the case of houses 

 of royal foundation and patronage.* In May, 

 1 3 10, Edward II. sent John de Somery, his scul- 

 lion, to the abbey to receive the necessaries of life 

 in food and clothing for himself and a groom 

 and horse. 1" Thomas Barber was sent in 13 17 

 to receive maintenance for his lifetime in the 

 convent, ^^ and in 1 330 William atte Hall was 

 sent to receive such maintenance as William le 

 Hunt enjoyed at the late king's request.'^ Queen 

 Philippa, who made a stay at Rockingham Castle 

 in 1336, made a grant of letters patent to the 

 abbot and convent of Pipewell that their action 

 in bestowing a livery in victuals and raiment 

 from their house to Roger de Langale, her 

 Serjeant, should not prejudice the house as a pre- 

 cedent after his death. ^^ 



A list of the abbots of Pipewell from the 

 foundation of the abbey up to 1323 is given in 

 one of the chartularies \^'^ unfortunately the dates 

 are wanting. In connexion with the eleventh 

 name on the list, Gerard de Lega, who ruled in 

 the earlier part of the reign of Henry III., the 

 chronicler tells us that as he and one of the 

 monks were journeying between Naseby and 

 Kelmarsh they were set upon by malefactors on 

 horseback, who robbed the abbot of his palfrey 



* Chart. R. 19 Hen. III. m. 7, 12 ; 23 Hen. III. 

 m. 7 ; 36 Hen. III. m. 13. 



s Close, 4 Edw. I. m. 10. Edward I. lodged at 

 the abbey, 2nd September, 1290, coming from and 

 returning to Rockingh.im, so that his visit appears to 

 have been one of devotion and not of convenience. 

 Pat. 18 Edw. I. m. 10, 13. 



6 Ibid. ID Edw. I. m. 10. 



7 Ibid. 16 Edw. I. m. 6 ; 17 Edw. I. m. 13 ; 

 19 Edw. I. m. 6. 



" Ibid. 3 Edw. III. pt. ii. m. 14. 



9 This form of imposition was vigorously opposed 

 by another great Cistercian house, the oldest in Eng- 

 land, Waverley, the community of which maintained 

 that they were ' of the foundation of the bishop of 

 Winchester, and not of the icing.' See V.C.H. Surrey, 

 ii. 85. 



10 Close, 3 Edw. II. m. 6d. In the s.ime year the 

 abbot and convent received a request to aid with 

 victuals in the Scotch expedition. IbiJ. m. 5. 



11 Ibid. 10 Edw. II. m. 3 id. 



12 Ibid. 4 Edw. III. m. 36d. 



1^ Pat. 1 1 Edw. III. pt. 2, m. 34. 

 1* Cott. MS. Otho. B. xiv. f. 192. 



11: 



