A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



assign to Roger of Petersfield and Henry 

 Deverel of Netley and their heirs, at an 

 annual rental of 40, 30 acres of meadow, 

 no acres of heath and 40 acres of turbary, 

 together with their fisheries on Terstwood 

 and Totton, as well as forty bondmen in 

 villenage in the same towns. 1 



The taxation of February, 1341, shows that 

 the church of Hound, with the chapel of Net- 

 ley, was endowed with two messuages, a cur- 

 tilage, a yardland of arable worth i os. yearly ; 

 the tithes of milk, hay, fish and salt, valued at 

 13;. ; the oblations on appointed days, IDS. ; 

 and tithes of gardens, orchards, pigs and mortu- 

 aries, i is. The ninths of lambs and wool were 

 that year i os. below the average, because sailors 

 and others appointed to guard the coast had 

 robbed the parishioners of sheep and lambs. 

 The ninths wanted 8s. of their usual value, 

 as a good part of the corn land was left fal- 

 low through dread of foreign invasion and the 

 marauding of the king's sailors. 8 In 1346 

 Netley was returned as holding half a knight's 

 fee in Wellow in perpetual alms. 3 



On 7 December, 1461, Edward IV. 

 inspected and confirmed three charters of 

 Henry III. and letters patent of Richard II. 4 



From a butlerage account of 1526 it seems 

 that the annual payment to Netley Abbey of 

 a tun of wine for sacramental purposes, out 

 of the prisage wine of the port of Southamp- 

 ton, had been resumed in kind ; at all events 

 in that year Netley was one of the five monas- 

 teries that received a tun of wine from the 

 king. 5 



In 1529 Thomas Stevens, abbot of Netley, 

 was summoned to Convocation ; he did not 

 appear personally, but was represented by the 

 prior of Breamore. 6 



The ominous Thomas Cromwell appears 

 on the scene in 1533. In December of that 

 year he wrote to Abbot Thomas, desiring him 

 to grant his friend John Cooke a new lease 

 for sixty years, at the old rent, of the farm 

 called Roydon ; being near the seaside it 

 would be convenient for Cooke to serve the 

 king in his office of the Admiralty in those 

 parts. 7 



A royal commission was issued in 1535, 

 which empowered Thomas, abbot of Forde, 

 to visit various Cistercian houses, in- 

 cluding Netley and all those of Winchester 

 diocese. 



1 Pat. 12 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 4. 



1 Woodward's Hist, of Hants, iii. 367. 



3 feudal Aids, ii. 323. 



4 Pat. i Edw. IV. pt. 6, mm. 26, 25. 



* Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII. iv. 2528. 



Ibid. iv. 6047. 7 Ibid. vi. 1502. 



The Valor of 1535 estimated the gross re- 

 venue of Netley Abbey at \ 60 2s. <)^d., whilst 

 the clear income was only 100 I2s. 8d. ; it 

 therefore came under the heading of the lesser 

 monasteries. Being of exempt jurisdiction, no 

 particulars are given in the return. 



On 30 May, 1536, Sir James Worsley and 

 his brother commissioners presented their re- 

 port on the religious houses of Hampshire. 

 Netley is described as 'A hedde house of 

 Monkes of thordre of Cisteaux, beinge of 

 large buyldinge and situate upon the Ryvage 

 of the Sees. To the Kinge's Subjects and 

 Strangers travelinge the same Sees great Re- 

 lief and Comforte.' 8 The commissioners esti- 

 mated its total revenues at i 8 1 2s. 8d. They 

 found there seven monks, all priests, ' by Ra- 

 porte of good Religious conversation, whereof 

 desieren to Contynne Religiar vj, and to have 

 capacite j.' There were thirty-two other in- 

 mates, namely ' ij freeres observantes comytted 

 by the Kinge's highnes,' four waiting servants, 

 four officers of the household, eleven officials 

 of the convent, seven hinds and three ' for the 

 dayery.' The church, mansions and buildings 

 were in good repair. The lead and bells were 

 worth 57 ; plate and jewels, 43 2s. lid.; 

 ornaments, ^39 4*. 8d. ; stuff, 9 35. 4^. ; 

 corn,io 175.; stocks and stores, 103 13^.4^. 

 The woods were worth j8 1. The debts of 

 the house were 42 3*. 4^., but there was 

 28 5*. owing to the house. 8 



The abbey of Netley retained most of its 

 early endowments, and at the time of its dis- 

 solution the lands belonging to it were, besides 

 the site, the manors of Wellow, Totton, Roy- 

 don, Nordley, Gomshall, Kingston Deverel and 

 Hound ; and lands and possessions in South- 

 ampton, West Setley, Mitcomb Regis, Charle- 

 ton, Shottishale, Sholinge and Shamelhurst. 10 



On 3 August, 1536, the king gave to Sir 

 William Poulett, the comptroller of his house- 

 hold (two of whose brothers had been the com- 

 missioners who reported so favourably of this 

 house in the previous May), the site and build- 

 ings of the suppressed abbey, together with 

 the grange, mill and lands in Netley ; the 

 manor of Hound ; lands and windmill, etc., 

 in Hound and Sholing ; the manor of Town- 

 hill ; lands, etc., in Townhill and Shamel- 

 hurst ; and the manor of Waddon and the 



8 There seems little doubt that the monks of 

 Netley, as well as those of Quarr, maintained a 

 light for the guidance of mariners (vide supra, 

 p. 56). 



8 Aug. Off., Certif. of Coll. and Chant. 



112. 



10 From the first minister's account cited in 

 Dugdale's MonasAcm, v. 696. 



148 



