FORD ABBEY. 141 



is situated, was granted in 1544 to John Earl of Oxford, 

 and passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by purchase to the 

 Bragges of Sadborow, in whose family it has continued to the 

 present time ; the vicarage of Thorncombe all that was left at the 

 last to the ex-abbot being now held by a member of the same 

 family. 



Richard Pollard, who was subsequently knighted, was succeeded 

 by his son Sir John, who sold Ford Abbey to his cousin, Sir 

 Amias Poulett, of Hinton St. George. Sir Amias Poulett, grand- 

 father of the purchaser, had been a benefactor to the abbey and 

 convent, and this may account for his arms being cut in stone on a 

 shield outside the cloister built by Thomas Chard. Sir Amias, the 

 purchaser of Ford Abbey, and his father, Sir Hugh, had been 

 appointed by Dr. Chard head steward of the abbey, which, in some 

 measure, may have been the reason for preserving the buildings 

 and granting the site of the abbey to the aforesaid Richard Pollard, 

 who was brother-in-law to Sir Hugh. Sir Amias was the direct 

 ancestor of the present owner of Hinton, and it was to his custody 

 that the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots was committed. Sir 

 Amias Poulett sold Ford Abbey to William Rosewell, Esq., who 

 was Solicitor-General to Queen Elizabeth from 1558 to 1565, and 

 was succeeded in the inheritance of Ford by his son Henry, who 

 was knighted after the coronation of James I. 



We now come to a more interesting period as regards the mansion 

 itself. Hitherto we have found no mention of its buildings or of 

 any alterations ; nothing, in fact, that gives us an idea of its state 

 after the dissolution beyond the present portions of the front built 

 by Thomas Chard and still so perfect. In the year 1649 Sir Henry 

 Rosewell conveyed Ford Abbey to Edmund Prideaux, Esq., who 

 was Solicitor-General in 1648, and became Attorney-General to the 

 Protector in 1649 and Postmaster-General for all inland letters. 

 " Being thus wealthy, he set about improving and adorning his 

 house ; and for that purpose employed the celebrated Inigo Jones, 

 who was at that time attempting to introduce the Grecian style of 

 architecture into the country, but did not live to see his designs 



