A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



and the monk of his horse, with all their harness, 

 ' nor,' adds the scribe writing a century later, 

 ' has it been discovered from that day to the 

 present where they took the horses.' ^ John de 

 Hillum is recorded in the diocesan registers to 

 have received the abbatial benediction from the 

 bishop of Lincoln in 1280.' An entry under 

 the year 1286 states that the abbot of Pipewell 

 came into chancery on 26 April, and desired 

 that it should be made known to all that the seal 

 of his house had been forged at St. Hilary by 

 brother Ingeron of London, a wandering [vaga- 

 hundum) monk of his house.' 



It was about this time, and during this rule, 

 that the grievous waste of the property of the 

 abbey began, according to the chronicler.* The 

 situation of the house in the midst of Rocking- 

 ham Forest naturally accounted for so large a 

 proportion of its endowments being in woodland. 

 Timber and undergrowth were one of the chief 

 sources of its income, and when these were 

 neglected or squandered the convent became 

 much impoverished. Six causes are set forth 

 for this grievous loss. The first cause was the 

 gross waste of wood in the house itself. When 

 first founded certain of the inmates had respec- 

 tive duties assigned to them of keeping the 

 bakehouse, hospice, convent kitchen, abbot's 

 kitchen, the infirmaries of the (i) monks, (2) 

 lay-brethren or conveni, (3) and seculars, as well 

 as the east and west granges, supplied with fuel, 

 care being taken to gather only the dead wood 

 or the old roots of the oak trees. The brew- 

 house and bakehouse were also further supplied 

 by two men, who went out daily into the woods 

 to procure supplies of thorns and briars with a 

 cart called, in lingua materna^ ' thorn cart.' 

 But in more degenerate days the nearest wood 

 that came handy was used, green wood and the 

 tops of young oaks or their roots being taken 

 without any care or discrimination. The 

 second cause was that various great men, whom 

 the monks feared to oppose, obtained large 

 quantities of timber from the woods of the abbey 

 for private purposes. The greatest offender in 

 high places was Walter de Langton, bishop of 

 Lichfield, and treasurer of Edward L, who 

 obtained from these woods sufficient material 

 for building himself a sumptuous mansion at 

 Thorpe- Watervyle. Others named were John 

 de Hoton, described as the right hand of the 

 bishop, who supplied himself for rebuilding his 

 manse house at Brampton ; Henry de Stokes, 

 official of Northampton, for repairing and building 

 houses at Stoke, and repairing his church at 

 Ravensthorpe ; Thomas Latimer, for building 

 a large chamber at Braybrooke ; and Stephen 

 Brown, for a large parsonage house at Desborough. 



1 Cott. MS. Otho. B. xiv. f. i54d. 



2 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Sutton. 



3 Close, 14 Edw. \. m. 6d. 



■* Cott. MS. Otho. B, xiv. ff. 150-1. 



The third cause for the destruction of the woods 

 was the large amount of timber used in the 

 construction and repair of the granges, granaries, 

 mills and other buildings pertaining to the abbey. 

 The fourth cause was the wanton and wholesale 

 theft of timber by great numbers of people, who 

 came by day and night to plunder the woods in 

 Desborough, Stoke, Wilbarston, Charlton, 

 ' Acle,' and especially in Rushton. In the 

 palmy days of the abbey the duty of warden of 

 the woods was assigned by the monks to a 

 mounted lay-brother, who had under him three 

 foresters. A fifth cause was the great sales of 

 wood for comparatively small sums during the 

 rule of John de Hillum, and under his three 

 successors. The sixth and last cause enume- 

 rated was the wholesale conversion of wood- 

 land into tillage, ' Colleshawe,' ' Rahage,' and 

 'Otha' woods being entirely cleared, and Wil- 

 barston and ' Pykemede ' grubbed up as early as 

 the year 1237.^ 



This want of management seems to have 

 continued under Andrew de Royewell, who 

 succeeded in 1298,* and was in other respects 

 an able and vigorous administrator. He is said 

 to have made new quire stalls for the monks. 

 He had held the office of cellarer under abbot 

 Thomas of Grafton and two successive Abbots, 

 and it was through his energy when cellarer that 

 so much was done to the granges in different 

 places. He built a chamber and kitchen for 

 the use of the monks at the grange of Bigging 

 (Thurleston), removed the grange of Rokeby, 

 which had been in the village, to another place, 

 and built some cottages, planted part of Causton 

 Grange by the sheepfold, and rebuilt the 

 Northamptonshire grange of Braybrooke, erect- 

 ing there a hall, chapel, chambers, and rear-dorter. 

 When he entered on his office as cellarer, the 

 brethren were in the habit of using wooden 

 spoons, but Andrew provided fifty silver spoons, 

 probably from some special bequest, and on each 

 of them was stamped his name. A very human 

 touch of weakness is recorded in connexion with 

 this stamping. When John de Hillum succeeded 

 as abbot he took offence at the name of Andrew 

 on the spoons, and caused the name to be deleted 

 and his own substituted. Richard of Hayham, 

 on his promotion as abbot, took the wiser course 

 of erasing this name and substituting the word 

 'Pipewell' 'which remains on the spoons unto 

 this day,' adds the monastic chronicler.' 



On 26 February, 131 1, during the rule of 

 Thomas of Thockerington, the church of the 

 Blessed Mary of Pipewell was dedicated. The 

 following year the cemetery, cloisters, and 

 chapter-house were dedicated by a certain bishop 

 from Ireland on 5 April, by licence of the bishop 

 of Lincoln. At the consecration of the church 

 there was a vast concourse of men and women, 



'" Ibid. ^ Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Sutton, f. 205d. 

 7 Cott, MS. Otho. B. xiv. f. 156b, 



118 



